Let's read Worm and its sequel Ward by Wildbow (One chapter/every day)

hellgodsrus · Mar 13, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
Now deleted

Veering REALLLLY close to spoilers there. Let's not until she reads the next chapter? Please?

AmbarGriss · Mar 13, 2018

hellgodsrus said:
Veering REALLLLY close to spoilers there. Let's not until she reads the next chapter? Please?

Oh danm it, should I delete it?

hellgodsrus · Mar 13, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
Oh danm it, should I delete it?

I'm not sure. I don't mind spoilers very much so I'm... not good at judging? I'd say it's borderline but not worth deleting.

AmbarGriss · Mar 13, 2018

hellgodsrus said:
I'm not sure. I don't mind spoilers very much so I'm... not good at judging? I'd say it's borderline but not worth deleting.

I will delete just to be sure.

blackarrow · Mar 13, 2018

Hello again. Shell I start another chapter? Of course, I don't have any other things to do now anyway 4.03 | Worm So, mr. Wildbow is going to hit me, during this new chapter, with some very depressing life stories of Undersiders, about how they got their powers. Let's see how HARD he can hit me

. I'm ready for everything I might learn about Undersiders: abuse, violence, fear, torture, even rape, incest, let's see how bad the things will go.

Alec, surprisingly, was the one to break the nerve-wracking silence. "Let me put it this way. When you got your powers, were you having a good day?"

I didn't have to think long. "No."
"Would I be really off the mark if I guessed you were having the worst day of your life, when you got your powers?"
"Second worst," I replied quietly, "It's like that for everyone?"
"Just about. The only ones who get off easy are the second generation capes. The kids of people who have powers."

Lisa leaned forward, putting her elbows on the table, "So if you needed another reason to think Glory Girl is a privileged bitch, look no further."
"Why?" I asked, "Why do we go through that?"
"It's called the trigger event," Lisa answered me, "Researchers theorize that for every person with powers out there, there's one to five people with the potential for powers, who haven't met the conditions necessary for a trigger event. You need to be pushed to the edge. Fight or flight responses pushed to their limits, further than the limits, even. Then your powers start to emerge."
"Basically," Alec said, "For your powers to manifest, you're going to have to have something really shitty happen to you."
"Which may help to explain why the villains outnumber the heroes two to one," Lisa pointed out, "Or why third world countries have the highest densities of people with powers. Not capes, but a lot of people with powers."
"But people who have parents with powers?"
"They don't need nearly as intense an event to make their powers show up. Glory Girl got her powers by getting fouled while playing basketball in gym class. She mentioned it in a few interviews she gave."

So, Victoria and Amy are very lucky since they already have parents with powers (I was right about them "inheriting" powers from their parents). On the other side, there were a of of very unhappy people who suffered such strong traumas that made them the villains they're now. Just like in our world, if a child is raised in a hostile environment, he/she becomes aggressive or anti-social (well, maybe not everyone, but most of them). In their world, that child will turn into a criminal, because he/she also have powers, powers that, if they're mixed with the aggressive instinct, are capable to create with ease a supervillain from the person who got them. In our world, luckily, nobody have powers (or be able to trigger them) but if we had such thing, then our world wouldn't be different from their world. We still have mass murderers, terrorists, violent sociopaths, people with various vices, we don't need powers too

. As for the third world countries, knowing the dictatorship, poverty, constant wars that happen there, I'm not surprised at all why are so many parahumans there

.

"So you basically asked us to share the details on the worst moments of our lives," Alec said, before taking another bite of his burger.

"Sorry," I replied.
"It's okay," Brian reassured me, "It's one of those things you only really hear about from other capes, and you only know us. Maybe you'd hear more about trigger events if you took a university class in parahuman studies, but I doubt you'd get the full picture there. Kind of have to go through it yourself."

Lisa reached over and mussed up my hair, "Don't worry about it."
Why had I brought up origins? It would have eventually have been my turn, and I would've had to share my own story.
Maybe I'd wanted to.
"Lisa said you guys were talking about me, talking about how you thought I was having a hard time, speculating on what it was," I managed to say, "I dunno, I think a part of me wants to talk about it so you aren't coming to the wrong conclusions. Talk about when I got my powers. But I don't know that I can get into it without ruining the mood."
"You already ruined the mood, dork." This from Alec.
Brian punched him in the arm, making him yelp. Glaring at Brian, Alec grudgingly added, "Which means there's no reason not to, I guess."
"Go for it," Lisa prodded me.
"It's not an amazing story," I said, "But I need to say something before I start. I already said it to Lisa. The people I'm talking about… I don't want you to take revenge on them on my behalf or anything. I need to be sure you won't."
"You want to get revenge yourself?" Alec asked.

Alright, Taylor is going to tell her friends (I have decided to stop calling them teammates while they're in civilian) about her awful trigger event. Ok, I guess the Trio of Bitches did something really FUCKED who triggered her. I'm ready for everything (unless I will read about something related to mirrors/mannequins/dolls- I won't be ready for this shit :rage:

). She doesn't want her friends to get revenge, I already know this. But I think that Alec will be a little confused if she doesn't want to get revenge because...they're villains after all. Villains- even the nicest ones- are supposed to get revenge on their wrongdoers, otherwise they won't be called villains. I'm not a villain, I don't know their personal code, but I guess this is what should happen

(hell, even good people feel the need to get revenge, its natural). Ok, let's see what happened.

I found myself at a bit of a loss for words. I couldn't really explain why I didn't want them interfering, "I don't really know. I think… I guess I feel that if you guys jumped in and beat them up or humiliated them or made them tearfully apologize, I wouldn't feel like I'd dealt with things myself. There wouldn't be any closure."

"So whatever we hear, we don't act on it," Brian clarified.
"Please."
"It's your prerogative," he said, taking a deep-fried zucchini off of Lisa's plate and biting it in half. She pushed her plate closer to him.
"Whatever," Alec said.
I took a few seconds to get a few bites of my bacon cheeseburger and composed my thoughts before I began.

"There's three girls at school that had… have been making my life pretty goddamn miserable. Doing pretty much everything they could think of to make school suck, humiliate me, hurt me. Each of the three had their individual approach, and for a good while, it was like they were trying to outdo each other in how creative or mean they could get."
My heart was pounding as I looked up from my plate to check the expressions on the others' faces. This is who I am, I thought. This is where I'm coming from. When they heard about the real me, without whatever notions or ideas they'd gotten into their heads about me or how capable I was, how would they react?
"It went on for almost a year and a half before things quieted down. Last year, around November, they… I dunno. It was like they got bored. The pranks got tamer, then stopped altogether. The taunts stopped, and so did most of the hate mail. They ignored me, left me alone.
"I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I made a friend, one of the girls who had sometimes joined in on the taunting came to me and apologized. Not one of the major bullies, more like a friend of a friend of the bullies, I guess. She asked me if I wanted to hang out. I was too gun-shy, told her no, but it got so we were talking before and after classes and eating lunch together. Her approaching me and befriending me was one of the big reasons I could think the harassment was ending. I never really let my guard down around her, but she was pretty cool about it.
"And for most of November and the two weeks of classes before Christmas break, nothing. They were leaving me alone. I was able to relax."
I sighed, "That ended the day I came back from the winter break. I knew, instinctually, that they were playing me, that they were waiting before they pulled their next stunt, so it had more impact. I didn't think they'd be so patient about it. I went to my locker, and well, they'd obviously raided the bins from the girls bathrooms or something, because they'd piled used pads and tampons into my locker. Almost filled it."

..............Ok....I think I know the next move, right? They're going to push her inside her locket and lock her there until a teacher will find her. This is the big incident that Danny and Mr G were talking about. What should I said? I expected the worst so I'm not so socked. I'm just disgusted, horrible disgusted, but more for the idea behind the bullying action than for the action itself, even if its disgusting too. Nothing like this ever happened to me. Yes, my bullies were pretty bad, I was called names, they talked behind my back, they stole my stuff, they accused me for having sexual relationships with male teachers (because most of teachers really liked me because I was a good and conscientious student), they made me feel like I was a bitch who sold her body for good grades, like I was nothing. They even convinced a boy from other class to forcefully kiss me and when I hit him with my fist across his jaws, pretty HARD (my father taught me to defend myself so I guess I have the same story with Brian, except that my father was not a boxer neither a martial artist, he only knows the basic things) he called me a bitch, asking me how much money I want to sleep with him (because girls from my class told him how big bitch I'm). And they continued and persisted until I snapped and fought back. But still, nothing like what happened with Taylor. Luckily for me, they didn't have much imagination (or maybe they didn't dared to go so far)......POOR Taylor

. This is double painful to me: I feel like her pain is also my pain because I can understand what she went through.

"Ew," Alec interjected, putting down his food, "I was eating here."

"Sorry," I looked down at my plate, poked at a piece of bacon, "I can stop, it's cool."
"Finish now," Brian ordered me, if you can say he was ordering me gently. He glared at Alec.

I swallowed, feeling a flush creeping across my face, "It was pretty obvious that they had done it before the school closed for Christmas, by the smell alone. I bent over to throw up, right there in a crowded hallway, everyone watching. Before I could recover or stop losing my breakfast, someone grabbed me by the hair, hard enough it hurt, and shoved me into the locker." It had been Sophia, I was almost positive: She was the most physically aggressive of the three. But these guys didn't need to know her name.
Why had I brought this up? I was regretting it already. I looked at the others, but I couldn't read their expressions.
I couldn't leave the story unfinished, after getting this far, as much as I really wanted to. "They shut the locker and put the lock on it. I was trapped in there, with this rancid smell and puke, barely able to move, it was so full. All I could think was that someone had been willing to get their hands that dirty to fuck with me, but of all the students that had seen me get shoved in the locker, nobody was getting a janitor or teacher to let me out.
"I panicked, freaked out. My mind went someplace else, and it found the bugs there. Not that I knew what they were, at that point. I didn't have a sense of proportion, and with all the info my power was giving me then, my brain didn't know how to process it all. As far as I knew, all around me, in the walls of the school, in the corners, and crawling around the filthy interior of the locker, there were thousands of these twitchy, alien, distorted things that were each shoving every tiny detail about their bodies and their fucked up biology into my head.

I agree with Alec's reaction here. Also, I think the only cure of Sophia's bitchiness is a quick visit of a good and playful boy (or a girl) from Empire88. Or more. I'd cheer for anyone who's hurt her even if is one of the biggest monsters that Lisa was talking about. And not only her, but her friends as well. I don't think I'd feel any pity for whatever will happen to them. Even if I might feel pity I'll always remember what they did to poor Taylor and that pity will disappear like smoke. I feel like a monster thinking like this, I know but...I'm not a saint, neither an angel. I'm just a human being EXTREMELY PISSED OFF because there are people like these girls (and the girls from my life) in that (and this) world. People who doesn't deserve any kindness and forgiveness.

I sighed, "It's hard to explain what it's like, having a new sense open up, but you can't understand it all. Every sound that they heard was bounced back to me at a hundred times the volume, with the pitch and everything else all screwed up as if they wanted to make it as unpleasant and painful to listen to as possible. Even what they were seeing, it's like having my eyes open after being in the dark for a long time, but the eyes weren't attached to my body, and what they were seeing was like looking into a really dingy, grimy kaleidoscope. Thousands of them. And I didn't know how to turn any of it off."

"Damn," Lisa said.
"When someone finally let me out, I came out fighting. Biting, scratching, kicking. Screaming incoherently. Probably putting on a good show for all the kids that had come out of their classrooms to watch. The teachers tried to deal with the situation, paramedics eventually came and I don't remember much after that.
"I figured out what my power was at the hospital, while they observed me, which helped ground me, make me feel sane again. Bugs are a lot easier to wrap your head around, when you realize they're bugs. After a week, maybe, I was able to shut some of it out. My dad got some money from the school. Enough to pay the bills for the hospital stay and a little extra. He was talking about suing the bullies, but no witnesses were really talking and the lawyer said it wasn't going to be successful without hard evidence to identify the responsible. We didn't have the money for it, if it wasn't going to be a sure thing. I never wound up telling my dad about the main group of bullies. Maybe I should have, I dunno."

"I'm sorry," Lisa put her hand on my shoulder. I felt grateful that she wasn't pulling away or laughing. It was the first time I'd ever really talked about it, and I wasn't sure I could've dealt if she had.
"Wait, this thing with those girls is still going on?" Alec asked me.
I shrugged, "Basically. I went back after being in the hospital, and things were as bad as they ever were. My so called friend wasn't making eye contact or speaking to me, and they didn't even go easy on me after seeing my, uh, episode."
"Why don't you use your power?" Alec asked, "It doesn't even have to be that big. A bug in their lunch, maybe a bee sting on the tip of their nose or on their lips."
"I'm not going to use my power on them."
"But they're making you miserable!" Alec protested.
I frowned, "All the more reason not to. It wouldn't be hard to guess who was doing it if someone started using powers to mess with them."

"a loooooong sigh" Bugs are coming at misery. They came when they feel misery, both around Taylor (the used pads) and figuratively speaking (inside Taylor's soul). Her power was triggered by the general mystery. Yes, the trigger events were not so easy to guess, there are more complex than what I believed them to be. Anyway, I was a bit right about the fact that Taylor got triggered because of her bullies. I also have a feeling that Lisa will not keep her word towards Taylor and she'll find a way to discover the identity of bullies and fuck their lives for eternity, without Taylor even knowing this. Because this is how Lisa rolls. You just can't stop Tattletale from messing with people's lives

.

"Seriously?" Alec leaned back in his seat, folding his arms, "Look, you and I haven't talked all that much, maybe we don't know each other all that well, but, um, you're not stupid. Are you honestly telling me you're incapable of finding a subtle way to get back at them?"

I looked to Lisa and Brian, feeling a little backed into a corner, "A little help?"
Lisa smiled, but said nothing. Brian shrugged and considered for a few moments before telling me, "I'm kind of inclined to agree with Alec."
"Okay, fine," I admitted, "It's crossed my mind. I've considered doing something that couldn't be traced to me, like giving them lice. But you guys remember how I went off on Bitch after she set her dogs on me."
"A bit of repressed anger," Lisa said, still smiling.
"It's the same with these guys. You know what happens if I do something like give them crabs? They wind up miserable, annoyed, and they take it out on me."
"Oh man," Alec laughed, "Crabs. You need to do that every time we go up against another cape. Can you imagine?"
"I'd rather not," I made a face. Alec's dogged tenaciousness thus far in the conversation was giving me the impression he would be hard to convince without a good reason, so I fudged the truth a little as I told him,
"While I'm controlling them, I see everything my bugs see, feel everything they feel, pretty much. I don't want to make a regular thing of having my bugs crawl all over sweaty crotches."
"Awww."
"The point I'm trying to make, if you'll stop changing the subject, is that these girls would probably take their misery out on me, even if they didn't know I was doing it. I don't trust myself to keep from retaliating, upping the ante. You saw what happened with me and Rachel, the first time we met. Things would escalate, I'd take things too far eventually. Secret identity blown, or getting someone seriously hurt, like Lung was, only without the regeneration."
"I don't get how you can sit there and take it," Alec said, "Get revenge, or get one of us to get revenge for you. Go to someone for help."
"None of those things is an option," I said, with enough emphasis that I hoped my statement carried some finality, "There's too much chance for things to go out of control if I take things into my own hands or have you guys do it for me. As far as going to someone for help, I don't trust the system. Not after the court case, not after talking to some of my teachers. If it was that easy, I would have dealt with it already."
Lisa leaned forward, "Tell me it wouldn't be awesome if we kidnapped their leader, pulled a hood over her head, dragged her into a van and dropped her off in the woods at midnight, ten miles out of town, with nothing but her skivvies."

Taylor refuses any help from them, as expected. Lisa have a pretty fucked up solution for revenge. What the hell, Lisa, how you can ever thing at this shit? Are you crazy, girl? Mentally disabled? ALL the bullies should be dropped off in the woods at midnight, with nothing but their skivvies, not just Emma

. You just can't make only Emma pay and spare Sophia and Madison. I dare to say that Sophia should be dropped in front of Empire88 operations base, only in her skivvies. Lisa, please, think on the whole. Don't disappoint me, girl.

I smiled at the mental image, but I shook my head as I said, "That's exactly what I'm talking about. It's going too far."

"They shoved you into the grossest locker ever and locked the door!" Alec looked at me like I was trying to argue the earth was square.
"Leaving her in the middle of nowhere without any clothes on is practically inviting her to be molested by the first trucker to see her," I pointed out.
"Fine," Alec rolled his eyes, "So we tone it down some. Drop her off with no shoes, no cell phone, no wallet, no spare change, nothing she could use to negotiate her way home. Make her hike it."

"That would still be risking getting her assaulted," I sighed, "Pretty girl walking down the side of the road at night?"
"They've assaulted you!"
"It's a little different."
"The only difference I see is that they deserve it and you didn't. I mean, I'm not smart like you guys are, so maybe I'm missing something."
I shook my head, "You're not missing anything, Alec. We're looking at this from two very different perspectives. I don't really believe in that whole 'eye for an eye' business."
I was beginning to feel like I was getting control of the conversation again. Then Alec dropped his bombshell.
"Then why the fuck are you a supervillain?"

Alec is a sadistic motherfucker. Now its more and more clear that he has a sadistic streak in him, maybe he's a true sociopath. But a sociopath who isn't completely devoided of feelings, he seems to care (in his own way) for Taylor and her suffering. I think... I'm starting to like Alec more and more

. Also, he asked what I expected him to ask: for what Taylor became a villain if she doesn't even believe in revenge against people who deserve it? I wonder what she'll answer, because she can't say a word about the double agent bullshit (I think she doesn't even believe in undercover anymore, she's starting to become more and more used with Undersiders and their ways of doing things).

"Escape." The word left my mouth almost immediately, before I'd had a chance to even think about what it meant. I couldn't have taken the time to think before speaking, or they might have known something was up. Lisa almost certainly would have.

A few tense moments passed, and I chanced a look at Lisa and Brian. Lisa was watching the dialogue, a small smile on her face, her chin resting on her palm. Brian was kind of inscrutable, arms folded in front of him, no real expression on his face.
I explained, "I can deal with real life, if I can leave it behind for this. Kicking ass, making a name for myself, hanging out with friends. Having fun."

It kind of surprised me, but I realized what I was saying was true, so I didn't even need to worry about tipping Lisa off. A second later, I realized I might have been a little presumptuous. "I mean, assuming that we are frien-"
"If you finish that sentence," Lisa warned me, "I'm going to slap you across the head."
I felt the heat of a flush in my cheeks and ears.
"Yes, Taylor, we're friends," Brian said, "And we appreciate, or at least, I appreciate that you trusted us enough to share your story."
I wasn't sure what to say in response to that. The fact that he'd heard it and didn't give me a hard time, it meant a hell of a lot to me. Only Alec was really getting on my case about it, and he wasn't doing it in a mean spirited way.
Brian frowned. "Don't suppose either of you are going to share your stories?"
Alec shook his head and stretched his arms above his head before resting them on his full stomach, his silence answer enough.
Lisa, for her part, grinned and said, "Sorry. I like you guys, but I'm going to need a few drinks before I share that particular tidbit, and I'm not legal to drink for a few years yet."
"Doesn't seem fair that Taylor's the only one sharing," Brian pointed out.
"I- I didn't tell my story because I expected you guys to reciprocate," I hurried to add, "Really, it's fine."
"You're volunteering, then?" Lisa asked Brian, ignoring my protests.
Brian nodded, "Yeah, I guess I am."

The BEST answer you can possible give them, Taylor. And yes, they're your friends now. Told you

. Next chapter featuring Brian and his fucked up life story. I think that each Undersider will have their own personal sad chapter, except for Rachel, who's not present there and I also doubt that she'll ever tell a word about her trigger, knowing her.

Good night, my people, and sleep well "hugs" (cause I need some hugs after this chapter)

AmbarGriss · Mar 13, 2018

Taylor and Brian's trigger events are among the moments that find more interesting in this chapter

blackarrow · Mar 14, 2018

Assembler said:
Once you get through the next chapter, I can drop some clarifying WoG on triggers if that's okay with you, @blackarrow.

Of course I'm ok with knowing about anything the author himself have to say about this subject. Please and thank you.

Assembler · Mar 14, 2018

blackarrow said:
Of course I'm ok with knowing about anything the author himself have to say about this subject. Please and thank you.

Okay. The first thing you should know is that trigger events tend to have a thematic connection to the resulting power. I'll explain the process using three examples: Taylor's trigger, revealed here, and the triggers of Browbeat and Panacea, revealed through WoG.

Taylor was abandoned by everyone, treated like trash, and locked up in absolutely disgusting materials. So when her situation got bad enough to trigger, she received the power to reach out and gain absolute control of all the worthless, disgusting little creatures around her.

Amy was at the mall with her sister, who had powers by that point. A gang attacked the mall. Glory Girl tried to intervene but was severely injured. The shock of seeing her sister, the person she cared most about, suddenly bleeding out on the floor triggered Amy's power to modify the biology, the life of people she was touching.

Browbeat could never really buy into life, and he was diagnosed as being at risk for schizophrenia (which is not the same thing as Dissociative Identity Disorder, although they're commonly confused). As a result, he followed through on an impulse to step off a boat into freezing cold water. The resulting intense physical damage gave him highly physical powers: clumsy short-range telekinesis and personal biokinesis. Note that unlike Amy, Browbeat's capabilities are mainly focused on improving strength and durability as well as healing wounds. His telekinesis activates when he makes or receives a hit, amplifying his blows and dampening attacks against him. It is my personal belief that the two aspects of his mental state influencing his decision is part of why he has two powers working together to make him a walking tank.

Further facts about Browbeat: After he triggered, the hospital he was staying in noticed he was healing quickly and notified the Protectorate. While they were talking with his parents about him joining the Wards, he went out as an independent hero to experiment with his powers and had three major encounters: a fight with a couple of Empire capes (he won), a skirmish with powered drug dealers (he won again), and his encounter with Regent and Bitch. His defeat in that third fight convinced him he needed training and allies, so he agreed to join the Wards. Getting cleared by the psychologists to participate in the Wards was complicated (a stay in an asylum dedicated to helping mentally ill parahumans was seriously discussed), but he eventually got it. He and his parents agree that they don't want him involved in major conflicts, as they see his involvement in the Wards as primarily for the aforementioned training and learning about how to use his powers.

blackarrow · Mar 14, 2018

"throws SHELLS filled up with the words -Hello, everyone- in the air, waiting for people to catch them" 4.04 | Worm Yeeeeeeeeeeaaah, we're going to know Brian's backstory about how he triggered his powers. I'm sure its going to be a fucked up backstory but this is the point of Worm, after all- everyone have, more or less, a fucked up lifestory. Nobody is allowed to live normally otherwise they won't be a Worm's character in the first place

. So, what happened to you, Brian? Did you tried to hide from people who wanted to hurt you and you had to use your power? Or you did something bad and had to hide from authorities or people injured by you? I doubt that the last assumption is going to be true, because I just can't see Brian as the type who would hurt someone innocent on purpose. Maybe accidental, yes, but on purpose....Nope, he's not like this, despite being a villain.

An evening crowd had started to file into Fugly Bob's, large groups that were grabbing beers and moving tables together to accommodate their individual crowds.
As one group began dragging tables into one long row in the middle of the patio, not far from where we were sitting, Brian asked, "Want to go? I'll share my bit on the way back."
There were no arguments, so we paid our bill and left. Brian was gracious enough to carry some of Lisa's and my bags, in addition to his own, lightening our load. The Market itself had mostly emptied, with the various merchants and shoppers having left to get their dinners. Only the stalls and venders that were selling food were sticking it out. Brian apparently deemed it safe to begin.
"For background, I guess it's important to mention that my parents split up when I was thirteen," Brian told us, "I went with my father and my sister Aisha went with my mom. Aisha and I kind of stayed in touch, but there's four years difference in our ages, our interests were completely different, so there wasn't a lot to say. I'd send her a text message about how my day at school had been painfully dull, and a few days later, she'd send me an email about a cartoon she liked. Or she'd ask me for advice on what to do when she got an F on a spelling test.

"We weren't close. It wasn't really possible, since I was living at the south end of the city and she was up here. But one night, I got a text from her. Two words: 'Help me'. I called, but the line was busy. To this day, I don't know why I took it so seriously, but I got over to my mom's place as fast as was humanly possible. Ran out the front door, sprinted two blocks to Lord Street, downtown, and grabbed a cab. Left the cab driver shouting for his money as I charged through the front door of my mom's place and found my sister.
"She'd been crying, but she wasn't saying what was wrong. I didn't bother asking a second time. I gave her a hug, picked her up and started to leave. A man I didn't recognize got in my way. My mom's new boyfriend.

Awww, Brian have a sister named Aisha (since Brian is the oldest Undersider, he must be around 17-18 years old so his sister must be 13-14 years old). And their relationship is cute, even if they're not close, its still cute

. I suppose poor Aisha was abused by her mother's new boyfriend (fucking ASSHOLE; their mother was also a bitch for having a boyfriend who abused her own daughter. Fucking miserable people :rage:

) and the only person who was able to protect her was Brian. And Brian, like a protective brother he is, quickly came in her help. I think he's going to beat the crap out of that asshole abuser. GO, BRIAN, KICK HIS ASS!!!

"I knew he was the reason she had texted me for help, from the moment I saw her reaction. Maybe I'd suspected there was something going on even before that, from the way her emails and texts had changed in tone. It would explain that gut feeling I'd had that made me get over there as fast as I did. I saw her shrink back, I felt her hold me tighter, and I went cold inside.
He paused a second, just walking in silence. I almost thought that he was done, somehow, until he suddenly turned to me. "I think I mentioned, Taylor, that my father had been a boxer, while he was in the service?"

"Yeah," I replied.
"Well my father is a hard man. Not the kind of man that's meant to raise a son alone. I wouldn't say he was abusive, but there's never been any warmth to him, no charming anecdotes, no fatherly wisdom, no throwing baseballs in the backyard. The extent of our bonding was in the gym, him holding the punching bag in position while shouting at me that I was doing something wrong, staying grimly quiet if my form, my timing, the raw power of my hits were all flawless. Or we'd be in the ring, with boxing helmets and gloves on, a thirty five year old man in peak physical condition barely holding back against his fifteen year old son. He just expected me to keep up or take the hits, and I didn't have much choice in the matter.
"So even if I was only fifteen, I was tall for my age, I was fit, and I knew how to throw a punch. I didn't say a word, didn't make a sound. I put my sister down and beat my mother's boyfriend within an inch of his life, my mother screaming and wailing the entire time. When I was done, I picked my sister up and returned to the cab. We went to my father's that night, and we went to the police station in the morning."
"When you throw a punch barehanded, it doesn't leave your hands pristine. A few good swings, you connect solidly with someone's face, someone's teeth, and it tears the fuck out of your knuckles. It was at my father's place that night, washing and cleaning my hands, when I saw it. It wasn't just blood leaking out of my torn up knuckles, but there was the darkness too, like wisps of really black smoke. You hear about the trigger event, you might think it's all about rage or fear. But I'm a testament that it can be just the opposite. I didn't feel a fucking thing."
"Wow," I said.

He did beat the living hell out of that BASTARD who abused a 9 years old child. Fucker, FUCKER, yes, yes, Brian, you did good, you did GREAT, my strong, protective, handsome hero. I think you missed your call, you're more fitting to hero side than villain one, and I mean it. Oh, God, this chapter is pretty hard to read for me only because I can't stop both internally and externally fangirling about Brian. He saved his sister, he triggered his powers after he saved her (this is not what I expected and I'm not sure what is the connection between beating up someone and getting darkness related powers, I'll think later about this. Right now I'm way too busy fangirling over Brian

). Protective big brothers are the best. Ok, back to actually THINKING CLEAR

: Danny is the only good parent so far. The big majority of the parents I know about would win easy the title of the worst parents for year: Dallon mom and dad SUCK, Brian and Aisha's mother SUCKS, her boyfriend is an ASS, Brian's real father kind of SUCKED (except for teaching his son to fight part), so only Danny deserves to be considered a parent in the real sense of word. Hmm, I can see a theme here.

"That's my story," he said.
"Um, I can't think of a nice way to put this, but why aren't you in jail, after thrashing that guy?"
Brian sighed, "It was a close call, but the guy I beat up had violated the terms of his probation by not going to his narcotics anonymous meetings and Aisha backed me up as far as us saying, well, it was well deserved. He came across as the bad guy more than I did. He got six months in jail, I got three months of community service."
"And you've been as good as gold ever since, haven't you?" Lisa grinned.
Brian smiled at that. "These guys know already, but I don't think I mentioned it to you," he said to me, "I got into this for Aisha. My mother lost custody of her after child services stepped in, so Aisha's living with my father now. Problem is, he's not an ideal parent. It's been nearly three years, and he still doesn't know what to do with a daughter, so they mostly ignore each other. But she's acting out, getting into trouble, and she needs someone watching over her that isn't him and isn't our mother. I turn eighteen in June, and when I do, I plan to get my mother and father's parental rights terminated and apply to become Aisha's guardian. To do that, I'm going to need money."

"Thus his current, rather lucrative, form of employment," Lisa pointed out.

Oh, God, move aside peasants, I'm on my way to steal Taylor's future boyfriend, before they'll become a thing

. Taylor, you lucky "bitch". So that's the reason Brian accepted to work with villains. He wanted to get enough money for his sister (he's also 18 and he's Gemini). He have such a noble purpose. I hope everything will end well for you, Brian, you DESERVE to be happy with your sister and the person that you'll like "

to me".
TAYLOR: "EVIL glares"
ME: "sighs" Fine, he's yours.

Brian stuck his hands into his pockets, "My father has given me his blessing as far as my taking custody of my hellion of a sister. My mother made it clear she's going to fight it every step of the way. That means legal fees. It means paying a private investigator to get proof that my mother hasn't kicked her habits as far as the drugs and the fucked up boyfriends. I'll need an apartment that's going to pass inspection, with a space ready and set aside for Aisha. More than anything, I've got to present myself as someone that's financially secure and responsible enough to make up for the fact that the other option is Aisha's own mother."
"The boss is helping on that last bit," Lisa said, "The allowance and a share of the other income Brian is getting is coming back to him in the form of a paycheck from a legitimate company, and the manager of said company is both willing and able to provide a glowing recommendation on his behalf."

"Which I'm less than thrilled about," Brian admitted, "It's… convenient, I don't know how else I'd manage it, but I don't like being so reliant on someone I don't know at all. He could walk away with that forty thousand dollars, I'd deal. But if he fucked me on this…"
"You said it earlier," Lisa assured him, "He has no reason to."
"True. It doesn't make me feel much better."
"I think what you're doing is very noble," I said.
"No," Brian almost sounded offended at the idea. "I'm just doing what I have to. She's family, you know?"
"Yeah," I said, "I know." I could understand how family was a priority.
We fell silent for a minute or two, only partially because some mothers with oversize strollers had turned a corner and were walking in front of us, putting them easily in earshot. The other reason was that there hadn't been too much more to add to the conversation.

Brian's mother is thew worst parent so far: She's a drugged whore, what a shitty imitation of a mother. And your boss have no reason to fuck you up YET, as I said before. Don't trust him blindly, you might be very, very disappointed later. Another thing, Brian, learn how to accept a complement coming from someone. Yes, you're doing what you're doing for Aisha, but still is a very noble thing what you did

(I really want now to know his sister, I think she's an adorable rebel girl/maybe a bit of a spoiled brat that I'd like for sure. I wonder if she's also a parahuman, depends of how bad she was abused to trigger her powers).

I was relieved when the two moms parked their strollers and stopped to look in a store window, because it let us get ahead of them. Groups of people who take up the entire sidewalk so you have to step onto the road to go around them are a definite pet peeve of mine. Oblivious people who block the entire sidewalk and walk slowly enough that you're forced to dawdle, yet fast enough that you can't walk around them? They make me fantasize about bringing swarms of bees down on their heads. Not that I would actually do it, of course.
When we were free to talk again, I found myself struggling to think up a new topic of conversation. I glanced at Brian, trying to gauge how he was feeling after telling his story. Was he really okay, or was he just really good at repressing his feelings? He looked totally normal, as relaxed as one could expect from someone who was carrying as many shopping bags as he was.
"Hey, what did you buy?" I asked him.
"Some stuff for my apartment. Placemats, a piece of art I gotta to put in a frame. Kind of boring. I found a neat statue, the guy said it was a concept sculpt he did for a horror movie that never panned out. I was thinking it had a freakish looking face, and since I'm thinking of updating my costume, I was considering using the statue as an inspiration for a new mask. Move on from the skull."

"You'll have to show me," I said.
"Actually," he paused, "You're the person I was most interested in showing it to. Your costume is pretty cool, and I was wondering if you had any suggestions on where to go?"
"Where?"
"For costumes."
I stared at him blankly for a few seconds, trying to piece together what he was saying.
"Having my power is really frustrating, sometimes," Lisa complained, "It's like being the only person with eyes in the land of the blind. Taylor, Brian is asking you where you bought your costume. Brian, she didn't buy her costume. She made it from scratch."
"No shit?" His eyebrows raised.

Let me guess the next step Taylor is going to take: MAKE NEW COSTUMES USING SPIDERS FOR EACH MEMBER OF UNDERSIDERS. They'll all get some very ugly looking costumes, but resistant to knives and batons and bulletproof. AND VERY SMOOTH. That would be a perfect idea (I love how Lisa already knows how Taylor got her costume even before she'd open her mouth). Beware, Wards! Beware, Protectorate! Beware, New Wave! Beware, villains! Brace yourselves. The less fashionable but more badass spider silk dressed Undersiders are coming!

"It's spider silk," I said, "So it's got a tensile strength that's only a hair less than steel, but it's a fraction of the weight. It's not as strong as kevlar, but it stretches, which means it's going to handle regular wear and tear better than a costume made with steel, kevlar or rubber would. Making it was kind of complicated, because of how I needed to manage the spiders and weave it, but I basically had the spiders do the work while I concentrated."
Brian nodded, "That's pretty damn cool. Would you make me one?"
That gave me pause.
"I wouldn't expect you to do it for free," he added.
"How much are we talking?" I asked.
"Name a price."
I thought on it. "Two thousand?"
He chuckled, "No discount for me being a team member and a friend?"

"That is with a discount," I said, "It takes time, long hours of having to be in general proximity to the bugs as they work, which I can't do all the time, because my dad would see if I left them out while he was home. Plus I have to rotate the spiders so I constantly have a fresh supply of silk, but I can't have so many in the neighborhood that people would notice… it's not easy."
"If that's the big issue, then change locations," Lisa suggested.
"To where? It has to be a place I'm spending a lot of time, some place with room to work, where I can keep a few tens of thousands of spiders without anyone noticing."
"The loft?" Lisa shrugged, "Or to be more specific, the area under the loft?"
That stopped me. It made so much sense I could have kicked myself for not thinking of it the instant Lisa suggested changing locations.
"Woah, woah, woah," Alec cut in, "Tens of thousands of spiders?"
"If I want the work to be relatively quick," I said, "Yeah, we're probably talking about that much. Especially since I suspect Brian is going to want something a little heavier. The floor under the loft could definitely work. I mean, it's not like a few more cobwebs will attract attention if anyone sticks their head in, right?"

Yep, she's going to put her spiders at work into making costumes. Alec might have arachnophobia (fear of spiders), cute. Taylor Hebert alias Bug alias Skitter: student, hero wannabe, villain undercover, full time villain, fashion designer. Yep, she already have an impressive CV. And she didn't even hit the age of majority.

Alec ran his fingers through his hair, which I took to be a sign of stress or worry. It was a rare thing, to see him as anything but bored or half distracted. As if to confirm my thoughts, he said, "I don't want tens of thousands of spiders just lurking below me, making spider noises and climbing upstairs to crawl on me while I sleep."
I tried to reassure him, "Black widows don't tend to roam, and they're more likely to devour each other than they are to bite you. I mean, you wouldn't want to provoke one-"
"Black widow spiders?" Alec groaned, "This is the point where you say you're messing with me. It's cool, I can take a prank."
"They have the strongest dragline silk you'll get from any spider around here," I said, "I'd love to get my hands on something better, like a Darwin's bark spider. They've got the strongest silk of any arachnid or worm out there. It could make fabric five times as tough as kevlar. I'd ask our boss to see about getting me some, if I thought they could survive in this mild climate."
"You're not kidding about the black widow spiders."
"Remember the ones I brought to the bank robbery? I brought them from home."
"Fuck," Alec said, then he repeated himself, "Fuck. And now Brian's going to insist on that costume, so this is probably going to happen."

I considered for a moment, "I could have cages, if it would give you some peace of mind. It probably makes sense to have it anyways, since they're territorial, and would kill each other when I wasn't there."
"We'll work something out," Lisa grinned, "Think you could micromanage enough to make me one too?"
It struck me that I was thinking seriously about putting together some high quality costumes for villains. I wasn't sure how I felt on the subject.
"I can micromanage my bugs enough to make two at once, sure… but it's really just such a pain in the ass. I was so relieved to be done my own costume, I'm not looking forward to the idea of doing two more." All true enough. "Let me think on it?"
"One thousand five hundred," Brian said, "I'll go that high, now that we've come up with a way to maybe handle the logistics of it. I think it's a fair offer."
"Okay," I said. Money didn't hold any sway over me, really. I mean, big numbers could make my eyes widen, but at the end of the day, I had no plans to spend my ill-gotten gains.
All in all, it took us maybe an hour to get back to the Loft. I didn't mind. My training meant the hike didn't tire me out much, and the company was good.
As we made our way into the building and the others headed up the stairs, I stayed behind to look at the factory area on the first floor. If I could maybe secure some plywood to the frames where there had been treadmills, it would mean I would have several long countertops for my bugs to work on. Add some sort of cage at the back, to house them… but where would I find the sort of grid of cages or containers that could house thousands of individual spiders?
It was something I could figure out. Whether I settled on egg cartons or built the entire thing with the help of bug labor, I knew it was doable somehow.
The question was, did I want to do it?
I made my way upstairs, deep in thought.
"Where's Rachel?" Brian asked, as he returned from the other end of the loft, Brutus and Angelica trotting behind him, tails wagging. "Only two of her dogs are here."
"We're twenty minutes later than we said we'd be," Lisa pointed out, "Maybe she went ahead?"

I just want to hug Alec, he's cute when he's all agitated and panicked, maybe because its rare to see him acting like this.

Wait a moment, they returned to their loft BEFORE I'll get to know Lisa and Alec's backstories as well? That's not cool, not cool at all. It seems that Rachel is missing. Man, I have a bad feeling about this. She will NEVER leave anywhere without taking all her dogs with her. Ominous.

"You guys get ready," Brian directed us, "We told our employer we'd hand the cash over at some point tonight, and if we take too long, it's going to reflect badly on us. I'll take care of calling Rachel to see what's up, since it doesn't take me as long to get my stuff on."
Alec, Lisa and I headed towards our individual rooms. After shutting the door, I got my costume from the bottom drawer of my bedside table. I laid it out on my inflatable mattress, then gathered and lined up my arsenal for my utility compartment: pepper spray, knife, telescoping combat baton, notepad, Epipens, a change-purse with some spare change and a twenty inside and an unused, disposable cell phone. Everything I'd been able to think of, for what I'd want to keep with me.
Pen, I realized. It was a little thing, but a notepad did me little good without a pen. I headed for the dresser and stopped short.
On top of the dresser, there was a crystal. Except crystal was the wrong word. It was a teardrop shaped piece of amber, polished smooth, almost a foot tall, set into a stone base so it stood upright. Inside was a dragonfly. The dragonfly was so large it almost didn't fit – it wouldn't have fit, even, if the wings hadn't curled inward at the tips as the amber set. Where the light from the loft's windows touched the crystal, it cast the top of the dresser and some of the wall in deep shades of yellow and orange, with hints of dark blue where it passed through the dragonfly's translucent wings.
There was a note beside it. 'Saw it, seemed very you. Consider it a belated welcome present. Brian.'

I was stunned. He must have left it while I was still downstairs. I hurried to get into my costume, found a pen in the dresser and put the contents of my utility compartment in place. When that was done, I pulled on some jeans, a sweater and a jacket over top of the costume, finishing up with a nearly empty backpack to cover the slight hump of the armor on my back.
It was only after I was totally ready that I headed out of my room and found Brian on the couch. While I was sure he'd be gracious either way, I was assuming he would appreciate it more if I got ready first and then thanked him, instead of the other way around.
He was still in the living room, pulling on his leather motorcycle jacket over a protective vest.
"I-uh, don't know what to say."
His forehead creased, "Is it okay? I was thinking, maybe giving you a rock with a dead bug inside it wasn't the nicest-"
"It's perfect," I interrupted him, "Really. Thank you." I never knew what to say when getting a gift. I always worried my thanks sounded false, forced or sarcastic, even when they were genuine.

Brian brought Taylor a very impressive looking dragonfly in amber as a gift!!!! Awww, the Fireflies are starting to fly into the power of the night. Nice... start "is a bit jealous while few random bees land on her hand"
TAYLOR: "demented grin"
ME: .....Yours, only yours.

Impulsively, I gave him the briefest of hugs. It seemed like the only way I could make my gratitude clear.
"Hey!" a voice from behind me startled the wits out of me, "No romance in the workplace!"
I turned around to see Alec and Lisa standing in the hallway, grinning. In Lisa's case, grinning more than usual.
I must have turned beet red. "It's not, no, I was just thanking him for-"
"I know, dork. I was with him when he bought it."
Mercifully, Lisa changed the subject, "Any word from our resident sociopath?"
Brian frowned, "No. Her phone is out of service, which it shouldn't be, since I was the one who turned it on, activated it and gave it to her earlier today. Something's up."
The good natured mood from moments before was gone. We exchanged looks between us, and nobody was smiling now.
"I think…" Brian said, weighing his words carefully, "It would be a very good idea to check on the money, ASAP."

I think Lisa (not so) secretly ships the Fireflies. And this chapter ended in a very serious and creepy tone. Someone KIDNAPPED Rachel and maybe even took their bank robbery money. Other villains? Solo villains? ABB? Empire88? Maybe I'm going to find in the next chapter.

Later for it, bye, my dears.

AmbarGriss · Mar 14, 2018

Hohoho, Grue and Skitter are pretty cute indeed, I ship it too

blackarrow · Mar 14, 2018

Hi, again. I think we're going to have a Shell of a time with this new chapter 4.05 | Worm, alternatively called: What ever happened to Bitch? We have our female Sherlock Holmes- Lisa, female dr Watson- Taylor and their boys helpers, all trying to figure out who kidnapped Rachel and why? They could have just take the money and let Rachel unconscious, but they decided to take her with them as well. I think there are more than one person because Rachel is a pretty strong parahuman and she can defend herself pretty well having the dogs by her side. Brutus was also kidnapped, what the kidnappers want from a single Undersider and her dog? Let's solve this mystery along with Lisa Holmes and her merry team of investigators.

Sunsets are always best after a spell of bad weather. Today was no exception. Following the day and a half of heavy rain we'd just suffered through, the sky was turning vivid shades of orange and crimson, with purple highlights on the thin clouds that were moving briskly in the strong wind. It looked especially amazing as we approached the water of the Bay, but none of us were really in a mood to appreciate it.
It was like we were an entirely different group of people from the group of friends that had walked from the market to the loft. There was no conversation, no joking, no bonding. We were all thinking the same thing: that something was wrong, that something had happened. Nobody voiced their suspicions, though, as if there was the unspoken agreement that we would only make it come true by saying it aloud.

In silence, we caught the bus at the ferry and got off at the Trainyard, the part of the Docks that sat opposite to the Boardwalk.
As a group, we walked a half block from the bus stop, around the back of a derelict building, and stripped out of our civilian clothes. The storage facility was just a block from the Trainyard. Just past the chain link fence, I could see long abandoned boxcars sat like oversize, crumbling tombstones, overgrown with weeds, surrounded by discarded bottles and makeshift shelters. The entire area was desolate, empty. It was hard to say why the bus even came this way. I supposed maybe there was a skeleton crew of employees maintaining the rail for the trains that happened to pass through.
We descended into the maze. Each storage locker was only about ten feet by ten feet across, but there were hundreds of them, each one joined to the one beside it, organized into disorganized rows of ten or twenty brick shacks. It was a common enough sight; places like this were scattered all over Brockton Bay. Decades ago, as unemployment rates skyrocketed, people had started using the storage lockers as a place to live. Some enterprising individuals had caught on and storage blocks much like this one had appeared in the place of dilapidated warehouses and parking lots. It was, in an off the books sort of way, the lowest budget living accommodations you could find, a way for people who'd had apartments and homes of their own to keep their most cherished possessions and sleep on a bed at night.
But things turned sour. These storage facilities became drug dens, gathering places for gangs and areas where the crazies would congregate. Epidemics of the flu and strep throat had swept through these 'neighborhoods' of closely packed, unwashed and malnourished groups of people, and left people dead in their wake. Some who didn't die to sickness were knifed for their belongings or starved, and corpses were left to rot behind the closed doors of their rented storage lockers. In the end, the city cracked down, and the lockers fell out of favor. By then, the local industry had crashed enough that the homeless and destitute were able migrate to the abandoned warehouses, factories and apartment blocks to squat there instead. The same general problems were still there, of course, but at least things weren't so densely packed into a volatile situation.

More description of the fucked up city where they live. My humble opinion is that Brockton Bay had other name before being renamed like this and its name was...Detroit. Too many similarities between these cities, I swear. How Taylor...no, Skitter describes the surroundings, it looks like Brockton Bay is an half abandoned, half destroyed city. And its getting worse with each new description. I'm amazed that tourists actually are interested in visiting it but then again there are also tourists (in our world) interested to visit Chernobyl (I wouldn't go there because the whole city looks VERY depressing and I don't wanna spent my money to visit a place where I'd cry all the time and become depressed). Depressing cities attract tourists, life is weird like that.

That left these sprawls of storage lockers scattered over the city, particularly in the Docks. They were largely unused, now, just row upon row of identical sheds with faded or illegible numbers painted on the doors, each with a corrugated steel roof bolted securely on top, slanted just enough that people wouldn't be able to comfortably walk or sleep on top of them.
"We're looking for thirteen-oh-six," Grue spoke, breaking the silence that had hung over us for half an hour. It took us a few minutes to find. There wasn't really any rhyme or reason to the layout of the lockers or the numbering. Probably, I guessed, the lockers had been set down where there was room, and given the first number that was available. The only reason we found the locker as fast as we did was that Brian had been here before with Rachel. The vastness of the space and the disorganization was a large part of the reason we had stashed the money here, of course. If we had trouble even when we knew where we were going, then someone who knew the number and got the key from us would find it even more time consuming.

While Grue fiddled with the lock, I glanced down both ends of the alley we were in. Except for a forklift parked a short distance away, it was eerily quiet. A ghost town, I thought. If ghosts existed, they would reside in a place like this, where so much misery, violence and death had occurred.
"Shit," Grue said, as the door swung open. My heart sank.
I stood on my toes to get a look inside. The locker housed only a broad smudge in the thick layer of dust on the floor, a single lightbulb dangling from a power cord, and a dark stain in the corner. No money.
"I vote we kill her," Regent said.
My eyebrows went up, "You think it was Bitch? Would she just take the money and run?"
"If you asked me five hours ago, I would've said no," Regent replied. "I would have told you, sure, she's a loose cannon, she's reckless, crazy, she's easily pissed off and she'll hospitalize those people who do piss her off… but I'd have said she's loyal, that even if she doesn't necessarily like us-"
"She doesn't like anyone," I interrupted.

Shut up, you nincompoops. Its not her who took the money. Rachel would never run away without Angelica and Judas no matter how much she doesn't like you. Her dogs are her WORLD, nobody will ever let their world behind not even for money (only in some very rare situations). She was kidnapped by other villains who took the money as well. Or maybe is your boss and he wants to test you, how will you react in situations of stress and incertitude and betrayal. If that's true, then his main specialty must be: fucking with his employers' minds for shit and giggles 24/7.

"Right, she doesn't like anyone, us included, but we're the closest things she has to friends or family, besides her dogs. I wouldn't have thought she'd throw that away."
"She didn't," Tattletale spoke, "It wasn't her."
"Who was it?" Grue asked. The haunting echo of his voice had an edge of anger to it.
"A cape," Tattletale replied, almost absentmindedly, as if she was focusing on something else, "Someone who can pick locks. That door wasn't forced."
"A villain?" I asked.
"A villain," Tattletale echoed me. I couldn't tell if she was clarifying what I'd said or if she was just echoing my words while she paid attention to something else. "More than one. And they're still here."

A soft clapping answered her. It was slow, unenthusiastic to the point of being sarcastic.
"Brilliantly deduced," the same person that had been clapping spoke out. As Tattletale whipped her head around, I took a few steps back from the storage locker, to get a better look at the two people who stood on the roof.
They were standing with one leg higher than the other, to keep from sliding off the angled roof, and both were wearing identical costumes. The costumes sported blue man-leotards with broad belts cinched around their waists, skintight white sleeve and leggings. Their hoods were elastic, clinging to their heads so they left only a window for the face, and each sported a single white antenna. Of all colors, their gloves, boots and the balls at the top of their antennae were bubblegum pink. Their faces were obscured by oversize goggles with dark lenses.
Other than their costumes, though, they couldn't have been more different. One of the figures was scrawny, with a weak chin and a bad slouch. The other had a sculpted physique, broad shouldered and tall, the lines of his muscles clearly visible through his skintight costume.
"Über and Leet," Tattletale greeted them, "I can't tell you two how relieved I am. For a few seconds, I thought we had something to be worried about."

Tattletale Holmes have the same impression as me: other villains are responsible for this clusterfuck. And the respective villains are RIGHT THERE....OMFG, UBER and LEET, finally, the most retarded villains in the town that not even Birdcage wants them (and not because they're too dangerous), nice to meet you, guys. So, you're the ones who kidnapped Bitch and took the money? Hmm, I think either someone else helped you or you took her by total surprise because you you'll never defeat her in a fair fight, I'm sure, you damn cowards. Your costumes are so RIDICULOUS its hurt, especially since they're inspired by Bomberman (one of my favorite childhood's games; I still play it even now). Just look how similar their costumes are with Bombermans Bomberman. Since they're obsessed with video games, I guess the game they're playing now is Bomberman (even the whole maze of lockers reminds me of the game). And if they have powers to summon items from games as I said first time when I heard about them, then they might try to bomb the hell out of Undersiders.

"Rest assured, Tattletale, you do," Über proclaimed. He was the sort of person who proclaimed, announced, broadcasted and declared. Just like Grue's power altered his voice to make him sound haunting and inhuman, Über's power made him sound like the guy who narrated trailers for action movies or late night commercials. Overdramatic, intense about everything he said, no matter how mundane. Like someone overacting the role of a gallant knight in a kid's movie.

I looked around for what I thought of as the snitch. I finally spotted it as a small round shadow against the backdrop of the sunset-red sky, just above the glaring sliver of sun. It was a camera, mounted in a golden sphere the size of a tennis ball. It was capable of moving like a hummingbird, staying safe, always recording. Über and Leet streamed all of their costumed activity online, so people could tune in whenever to see what they were up to. I was pretty sure they had a time delay, so events that the camera recorded would play out online in a half hour to an hour.
I could admit I had watched myself, a couple of times, which was how I knew about the 'snitch'. Each time I'd tuned in, I had been surprised to see there were thousands of viewers. I'd stopped because it wasn't feel-good watching. They were real underdogs, struggling to succeed, which made you feel sorry for them, made you want to root for them, until they did something despicable. Then you found yourself looking at them in a negative light, looking down on them, cheering whenever they failed. It felt a little too much like I'd been looking at them in the same way Emma, Madison and Sophia looked at me, and that had been a major turn-off.
After spotting the camera, which was no doubt positioned to catch a view of us looking up at the two villains, our shadows long behind us, I turned my gaze back to the pair. With my power, though, I sent a collection of flies to congregate around the camera. It didn't take long for the camera to start going spastic in the periphery of my vision, as if it were trying to shake them off. I smiled behind my mask.

rofl:

rofl: These idiots are comedy gold. They suck so bad at whatever they're saying and doing, I kind of feel pity for them when Undersiders will kick their collective asses. Skitter even fucked with their camera, no recording for your subscribers this time, stupid assholes (its funny and pathetic when I think that there are even much more stupid people than Uber and Leet who watch them doing retarded things and believe that they're very cool bad guys who might serve as source of inspiration for them- at least Taylor stopped watching. Not many differences between our and their world, here are the same idiotic people, only without powers).

Leet frowned and turned to the camera, "Is that really necessary?"
"You fucked with us," I replied, "I fuck with your subscriber base."
Tattletale and Regent grinned and chuckled, respectively. Only Grue stayed quiet. He was standing very still, but the darkness around him was roiling like a stoked fire.
"What's the theme tonight?" Regent called out, "Your costumes are so terrible, I can't look directly at them long enough to try and figure it out."
Leet and Über glared at him. Their entire schtick was a video game theme. With every escapade, they picked a different video game or series, designing their costumes and crimes around it. One day it would be Leet in a Mario costume throwing fireballs while Über was dressed up as Bowser, the two of them breaking into a mint to collect 'coins'. Then a week later, they would have a Grand Theft Auto theme, and they would be driving through the city in a souped up car, ripping off the ABB and beating up hookers.
Like I'd said. Despicable.

Über approached the edge of the roof and stabbed his finger in Regent's direction, "You-"
He didn't get to finish. Regent swung his arm out to one side, and Über lost his footing. I joined the others in stepping back out of the way as he fell face first onto the pavement at the base of the locker.
"Too bad you're fucking with the camera," Regent commented, tilting his head in my direction, "I would have liked to see how many hits that clip would have gotten on Youtube."
"Give me some advance warning next time," I told him, "Maybe a hand signal?"

Well, they're terrible from all points of view, but still they're kind of dangerous and even mentally deranged (they're beating up hookers and attacking ABB members, all of these in the name of HAVING FUN). Still, I'm surprised how they managed to fuck with ABB for a while and not ending up being incinerated by Lung or bombed by Bakuda. Lucky imbeciles. Regent, you're playing games and you still don't know what is their present theme? Please, don't tell me you never played Bomberman :jackiechan:

. What kind of respectable gamer never played Bomberman before? Btw Grand Theft Auto ROCKS!

We had backed away from the locker as Über fell, and we retreated another few steps as he stood. Leet hopped down to stand beside him.
"The money," Grue spoke, "Where is it? How did you find it?"
"Your fifth team member led us straight to it. Lucky happenstance, really," Leet grinned, "As for how we found her…" he trailed off.
Grue spoke in a low voice that wouldn't carry to the pair of villains, "They did something to Bitch, they've got the money. If we don't get a decisive victory here, our reputation is fucked."

"No holds barred?" Tattletale murmured.
"Leave one of them in a state to be interrogated. Make it Leet, since Über's powers make him annoying to keep contained. Give him a chance and he can figure out how to do anything like he's a goddamn expert at it, and that probably extends to escaping from ropes or handcuffs. Alright?"
"I'm game," I answered. I was surprised at how excited I was. This was the sort of thing I had put on a costume to do. Sure, the context wasn't what I would have chosen, but going up against bad guys?
I smiled behind my mask and reached out for my bugs.

So, its confirmed: they kidnapped Bitch and locked her somewhere, maybe in one of those billions of lockers. Also they took the money. Fuck them, show them how good YOU're at playing games, Skitter. Infest their game with some annoying bugs. Make it unplayable. It seems that Uber must be a thinker, judging by how Grue described him. Anyway, still an idiotic and impulsive thinker. So, place your bets: Undersiders vs The Crapiest Version of Bomberman Ever.

All my bets are on Undersiders.
Now, good night and have pleasant dreams.

ExNihilo · Mar 14, 2018

You're in for a surprise, you can probably figure it out right now. Spoiler isn't an actual spoiler, though.

Why are they in those particular costumes? Why Bomberman?

blackarrow · Mar 14, 2018

ExNihilo said:
You're in for a surprise, you can probably figure it out right now. Spoiler isn't an actual spoiler, though.

Why are they in those particular costumes? Why Bomberman?

Well, I''m not sure yet, I have a suspicion, but I don't understand how it happened. I was actually thinking pretty hard about this: they couldn't capture Rachel by themselves, this is clear, her monster dogs would have tear them to pieces. And they don't seem to me smart enough for a surprise capture plan. I think they were helped. The person who helped them is the one who made them play this theme. Bomberman theme. Bombs....Bakuda? I think she must be behind everything. But its kind of weird to me since Uber and Leet attacked ABB members when they play GTA, they must be her enemies for now. Unless she forced them to help her kill the Undersiders (even if she doesn't know about their involvement in Lung's capture, Lung and his people already planned to kill Undersiders before the whole capture thing) and she promised them that she'll spare their lives if they'll help her. Yep, she must be...Bakuda. I'm not sure yet, but its a theory.

AmbarGriss · Mar 14, 2018

Next chapter will be comedy gold

rofl:

:lol

blackarrow · Mar 15, 2018

Hi, everyone. Shell yeah, we're so ready for another chapter review 4.06 | Worm, featuring two very bad dressed Bomberman cosplayers, four more BETTER dressed cosplayers, one Bitch who doesn't even put any effort in her cosplay probably unconscious and locked inside a locker (this is part of their game, nothing to worry about

) and another cosplayer, who couldn't find a better other mask than a fucking pathetic gas mask lurching in the shadows of the lockets, watching the playful fight between the two teams of already mentioned cosplayers over the title: The Best Villain Cosplayer of the Year. So let's have fun with young people's shenanigans

.

We weren't the only ones who were discussing strategy. As I turned my full attention to the pair, I saw Über and Leet were muttering to one another.
When they realized I was looking at them, they stopped talking. Über wiped again at the blood under his nose and took a step forward. "Enough talking."
I wished there were more bugs in the area. The storage facility made for a disappointing selection. Bugs had to live off something, and there was little around here except pavement, concrete and brick. That left me only cockroaches and moths that had lived off of the contents of the lockers they could access, and spiders that dwelled in the dark corners. However lame the pair of them were, I wasn't happy about going up against two supervillains with so little at my disposal.
I didn't get a chance to dwell on it, because Über charged us. I hurried to get out of his way. Über's power made him talented. It didn't matter if it was playing the harmonica, parkour stunts or Muay Thai, he could pull it off like he'd been working on it for hours a day for most of his life. If he really focused on it, the way I understood it, he could be top notch.

In short, there was no fucking way I was going to let him get close to me.
Grue had the opposite perspective. He stepped forward and then disappeared as darkness swelled around him. A second later, Über stumbled out of one side of the cloud, landed on his rear end, and then did a fancy spinning kick maneuver to bring himself to his feet again. The juxtaposition of clumsiness and technique was outright bizarre.
My bugs were gathering nearby, now, but very few of them were useful. Somewhere in the periphery of my consciousness, I'd connected to a fledgling wasp nest hanging from a storage locker near the Trainyard. They were more useful, but extricating them all from the nest and bringing them to my location would take a minute. I brought the rest of the bugs into a small swarm nearby, letting the group grow until I had use of them. Both Kid Win and Lung had obliterated my swarm when I'd attacked them, and I couldn't risk being more or less powerless if Leet pulled a similar stunt.
Leet stepped in as Über circled around us. Reaching behind his back, Leet retrieved what looked like an old school bomb; Round black iron casing with a lit fuse sticking out of it.

So Uber is the most stupid tinker one can possible meet in hundreds and hundreds of tinkers aggregated in one place. He's theoretically good at doing everything, but practically he's only a ridiculous clown who tries hard but always fail to appear cool. On the other side, Lee is able to create videogames items (he can either build them or just summon them or he just borrowed them from Bakuda) and appears a little more dangerous than his teammate, but not someone that Undersiders will have troubles to beat up. I give them few minutes before they'll have their sorry asses kicked.

The way the light bounced off it made it look wrong, though. Like it was a picture of a bomb instead of a real one.

Regent waved his hand, and the bomb slipped from Leet's grip, rolling a few feet. Leet's mouth opened into a round 'o', and he bolted. Über wasn't far behind.
As he joined the rest of us in running for cover, Regent half turned to thrust out one hand. Über stumbled and fell just ten feet from the armed explosive.
The blast radius was thankfully small. The shockwave that rippled past us didn't even make me lose my footing. Über, though, went flying.
Leet watched his friend roll with the impact, try to stagger to his feet and fall again. He turned to us with his face etched in hard lines of anger.
"I keep wondering when you guys are going to give up," Tattletale grinned, "I mean, you fail more often than you succeed, you make more cash from your web show than you do from actual crimes, you've been arrested no less than three times. You're probably going to wind up at the Birdcage the next time you flub it, aren't you?"
"Our mission is worth it," Leet raised his chin – inasmuch as he had one – a notch.
"Right," Tattletale said, "Spreading the word about the noble and underrated art form that is video games.
That's from your website, word for word. People don't watch your show because they think you're righteous. They watch because you're so lame it's funny."
Leet took a step forward, fists clenched, but Über called out, "She's provoking you."

OMFG!!!!

rofl:

They fucked each's other's ass trying to fuck Undersiders up (wow, this sounds so lewd out of context :redface:

). Oh God, these dicks are beyond any idea of stupidity and uselessness, I kind of feel pity for them and I mean it. If Bakuda is the one behind them, I wonder why she hired them in the first place, knowing them. Maybe to put out a good show, having a little fun before her own fun will start. Maybe I'm overestimating her and she'll prove (when she'll decide to fight) to be as useless as Uber and Leet (or worse) but I doubt that she'll be THAT useless. I mean, these two set the lowest bar of uselessness and no one can't go lower than them. Its not possible.

"Damn right I am. And I can do it because I'm not scared of you. I don't have any powers that are useful in a fight, and you guys don't intimidate me in the least. A guy who's good at everything yet still manages to fuck up half the time, and a Tinker who can only make stuff that breaks comically."
"I can make anything," Leet boasted.
"Once. You can make anything once. But the closer something you invent is to something you've made before, the more likely it is to blow up in your face or misfire. Real impressive."

"I could demonstrate," Leet threatened, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.
"Please don't. I hear the carbonized ash of geek is hell to get out of a costume."
"You say geek like it's a bad thing," Über said, in his characteristically overdramatic tone, "It's a badge of honor."
"Among geeks, sure," Regent replied, "But there's clowns out there that consider being a clown to be a noble calling, while the rest of us just laugh at them. Catch my drift?"
"Enough," Leet growled, "It's obvious you're trying to antagonize us-"
"I just admitted it. That's not obvious. That's fact," Lisa pointed out.
"We won't be baited!" Leet raised his voice, I think it's time for our grand reveal, our guest-"
He was cut off as Grue blasted him in the face with a cloud of darkness. Leet stepped out of the cloud, sputtering.
"They're laughing at you, Leet," Tattletale heckled him, "You're trying to be all dramatic, all intense for your viewers, and they're just sitting at their computers, snorting over how much you suck. Even Über is laughing at you behind your back."

Both Uber and Leet are tinkers and Leet can build anything but only one and SUCKS everytime. Man, you need to take some lessons in tinkering from Kid Win. He's younger than you (I portrait Uber and Leet as adult men for some reasons, despite their childish mind) YET he's an amazing tinker, he can create some really powerful and sophisticated weapons and if he was a villain, then he'd have been surely a force to recognize (honestly, I think I'd prefer Kid Win more like a villain than hero; I dunno why, but I'd have liked him if he was a villain. Maybe because he'd made a GREAT villain?). Maybe he'll visit you at Birdcage (if he's allowed to do that) and give you some tips about how to use your power without destroying your ass in the process

. I guess their guest is Bakuda. I wonder when she'll appear. Maybe after her clown henchmen will be beaten up so bad that not even their own mothers will recognize them.

"Shut up!" Leet spat the words, glancing over his shoulder at his teammate, "I trust Über."
"Why are you even with this guy, Über?" Regent asked, "I mean, you're kind of lame, but you could at least accomplish something if he wasn't fucking up half your jobs."
"He's my friend," Über replied, like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"So you don't deny he's holding you back." Lisa pointed out.
"Shut up!" Leet roared. Except he didn't have a very deep voice, so it was probably closer to a screech. He pulled out another bomb and flung it at us before Regent could make him fumble again. We scattered, with Regent, Tattletale and I running away while Grue shrouded both himself and Über in darkness.
As I scrambled for cover, I directed my bugs to attack Leet. He'd done something different this time, because the bomb didn't take half the time the first bomb had before it detonated. It caught me off guard, and I didn't get a chance throw myself to the ground as a result. The blast caught me full in the back.

The air and the fire that rolled over me wasn't hot. That was the most surprising thing. That wasn't to say it didn't hurt, but it felt more like getting punched by a really big hand than what I would have thought an explosion would feel like. I could remember Lung's blasts of fire, Kid Win shattering the wall with his cannon. This felt… false.
"The bombs are fake?" I asked aloud, as I picked myself off the ground. I ached, but I wasn't burned.
"They're solid holograms," Tattletale said, "Actually pretty neat, if you ignore how ineffective they are. I guess he couldn't make real bombs without fucking up."
Leet snarled, though it was hard to say whether it was Tattletale's words or the moths, wasps and cockroaches that had settled on him. As I'd suspected, they weren't doing much. Even crawling for his nose and mouth, they didn't really slow him down. Maybe there was a downside to getting him furious, like Tattletale and Regent were intent on doing.

Leet can't even make real bombs, he's such a HUGE DUMBASS

rofl:

(this fight play is so funny). This is not fair. Fool people get great powers. There's no God up there "sighs". I like how Tattletale manipulates both bastards, trying to turn them against each other. Please, Tattletale, use your powers for later, when the true challenges will show their gas masked face, right now your efforts should be spared. Your teammates are doing great by themselves.

He whipped out two more bombs and Regent was quicker this time, snapping his hands out. Leet recovered before he dropped the bombs, and pulled his arms back to throw them. Regent was ready, though, and one of Leet's legs jerked out from under him. He fell to the ground, the bombs rolling only a few feet from him before going off.

He slammed into a door hard enough I thought he might have managed to kill himself. Before I could approach and check his pulse, though, he began struggling to get to his feet.
"Good thing you made those things nonlethal," I muttered, half to myself, "You're one for four."
Glaring at us, he reached behind his back again and withdrew a sword.
"Link's sword?" Regent taunted him, "That's not even from the right game. You're breaking theme."
"I think I speak for everyone when I say we just lost what little respect we had for you," Tattletale quipped.
Leet lunged for the two of them. He didn't get three steps before Regent made him stumble and fall to his hands and knees. The sword slipped from his grasp and slid over the pavement before flickering out of existence.

Dude, you're either cheating or you can't make your goddamn mind. How in the SHELL did you brought the Link's sword in a game of Bomberman? This is not fair for BOTH games, you're breaking them, you make my geek side RAGE :anger:

. This is NOT funny anymore, this is horror, terrible, dramatic, BRUTAL. Leet broke two favorite games by mixing them. I'm starting to hate this guy, he deserves the worst. And I mean it. DON'T BREAK A GOOD GAME! NEVER EVER!

He was only a few feet from me, too focused on Tattletale and Regent to pay enough attention to me. I reached behind my back, withdrew my baton and snapped it out to its full length. As he started climbing to his feet, reaching behind his back for what I realized was a thin, hard backpack, I swatted at his hand with the length of metal. He yelped, pulling his hand to his chest to cradle it. I hit him in the calf, just below the knee, a little harder than I'd intended to. He crumpled.
Stepping around him, I grabbed the end of the baton with my other hand and pulled the length of metal hard against his throat.
Leet started to make strained choking noises. He caught me off guard by bucking backward, throwing the two of us onto our backs, him on top of me. I winced as the impact brought his weight against the bruised area of my chest where Glory Girl had thrown Tattletale at me. I didn't lose my grip, though. Ignoring the one hundred and thirty pounds on top of me, I was glad for the extra leverage being on the ground afforded me.

"You okay?" Grue asked me in his echoing voice. He stepped forward so he was standing over me.
"Peachy," I replied, huffing with the exertion.
"Don't pull it against his windpipe. You'll get tired enough that you lose your grip before he ever passes out. Here," he bent down and forced Leet's head to one side, moving the baton so it was pressing against the side of Leet's neck, "Now you're pulling against the artery, obstructing the blood flow to his brain. Twice as fast. If you could put pressure on both arteries, he'd be out in thirty seconds."
"Thanks," I huffed, "For the lesson."
"Good girl. Über's down for the count, but I'm going to go help the others make sure he's not going to give us any more trouble. We're only steps away, so shout if you need a hand."
It wasn't fast, even with the technique Grue had instructed. It wasn't pretty either. Leet made lots of ugly little sounds, fumbling awkwardly for his backpack. I pressed my body tight against it, though, and he gave up. Instead, he tried pressing against the bar, to alleviate the pressure. When that didn't work, he started scratching uselessly at my mask.

I'm still triggered right now. I need to calm down. Ok, Skitter is beating the living daylights of this bastard who made fun of games without any care at all. Yes, yes, my girl, choke the fuck out of him, fill his Bomberman costume up with bees and wasps and make them have some fun with his manhood (I know that I'd be a pretty bad/weak/heroic villain if I was one, I mean because I'd always feel the need to help people around me- even heroes and I'll be physically incapable to hurt innocent people but a thing is sure: I'll bring HELL over game breakers like Leet, I'd make him fall into his knees and beg forgiveness from every gamer who ever felt offended by what he did

). Uber is out of the game and everything ended as I expected. Even better than I expected.

I released him when he finally slumped over. Extricating myself from underneath him, I adjusted my mask, drew my knife and cut the high tech backpack off him. When I'd done that, I searched him. If we were going to interrogate him, it wouldn't do to have him digging out some little trinket to free himself or incapacitate us. His costume was skintight, so it was easy enough to verify there weren't any hidden pockets or devices on him. Just to be safe, I cut the antenna off his head and removed his belt.

The others returned with a battered and unconscious Über in their arms, his arms bound behind him with plastic wrist ties. They dumped him beside Leet.
"Now to find out where they stashed Bitch and the cash," Tattletale said. She looked at me, "Got any smelling salts?"
I shook my head, "No. These guys have henchmen, don't they? They've probably got them watching over the money. We'd likely find Bitch in the same place."
"Close but no cigar," a mechanical hiss answered me.
We wheeled around to see a woman in the same outfit Über and Leet were wearing. The difference was that she wore a gas-mask style fixture over her lower face, and the lenses of her goggles were red, not black.
The woman's mask seemed to take what she said and replay everything in a robotic, monotone hiss, "I really hoped they would take one or two of you out of the picture, or at least injure someone. How disappointing. They didn't even get around to introducing their guest star for tonight."
"Bakuda?" Tattletale was the first to put a name to the face, "Fuck me, the game their costumes were from… Bomberman?"
Bakuda stood and bowed in one smooth motion. Regent raised his hands, but she let herself drop to her knees, gripping the roof's edge with one hand to avoid sliding off.
"Nuh uh uh," she waggled one finger at him, "I'm smart enough to learn from the mistakes of others."
"You seriously left the ABB to join Über and Leet?" Regent asked, astounded.

I was so right about her being behind this foolery....Konnichiwa (hello in japanese), Bakuda, great to finally meet you

! The genius japanese young girl with the UGLIEST MASK EVER who's surprised that her henchmen failed to at least injure one of the Undersiders. Girl, don't make already a bad impression to me by being stupid. Its impossible for you not to know how ridiculous incompetent the men that you hired to do your job are. Don't be so naive, please. I don't blame Tattletale for not knowing the game, she doesn't seem like a gamer to me. The only one I blame for is Regent, he should be ashamed of himself.

"Not exactly," Bakuda said. She snapped the fingers of the hand she wasn't using to keep hold of the roof.
Below her, the door to the storage locker opened. Three men in ABB colors stepped out, each holding a weapon. A gun, a baseball bat, a fire axe.
Then other doors opened, all down the corridor of storage lockers. Thirty or forty doors, each with at least one person behind them. Some with three or four. All of them armed.
"Those two were cheap hires. They just wanted a few hundred dollars and I had to wear this costume. Guess you get what you pay for.

"Goes without saying, I'm still with the ABB," Bakuda stated the obvious for us. "In charge, matter of fact. I think it's fitting that I commemorate my new position by dealing with the people that brought down my predecessor, don't you agree?"
She didn't expect an answer, nor did she wait for one. She pointed at us and shouted, "Get them!"

Now THE REAL FUN BEGINS! Featuring as main enemy -Bakuda, who is not stupid at all (she had a pretty good plan to catch Undersiders in trap), who's the temporal leader of ABB (I'm going to count her as the third female leader until Lung's return) and who brought the entire ABB upon our hero....favorite villains. And I suppose she also have some very well placed bombs.
Right now I'm worried for Undersiders, even if Bakuda is the only parahuman, all ABB's members are armed and look ready to fight and no matter how powerful someone is, a gun is a gun. Except for Skitter, no other Undersider have bulletproof costume or powers that can make their bodies immune to bullets. Still, my bets are on Undersiders.

Next chapter, later. Have fun in meantime, people. Bye.

blackarrow · Mar 15, 2018

Assembler said:
Okay. The first thing you should know is that trigger events tend to have a thematic connection to the resulting power. I'll explain the process using three examples: Taylor's trigger, revealed here, and the triggers of Browbeat and Panacea, revealed through WoG.

Taylor was abandoned by everyone, treated like trash, and locked up in absolutely disgusting materials. So when her situation got bad enough to trigger, she received the power to reach out and gain absolute control of all the worthless, disgusting little creatures around her.

Amy was at the mall with her sister, who had powers by that point. A gang attacked the mall. Glory Girl tried to intervene but was severely injured. The shock of seeing her sister, the person she cared most about, suddenly bleeding out on the floor triggered Amy's power to modify the biology, the life of people she was touching.

Browbeat could never really buy into life, and he was diagnosed as being at risk for schizophrenia (which is not the same thing as Dissociative Identity Disorder, although they're commonly confused). As a result, he followed through on an impulse to step off a boat into freezing cold water. The resulting intense physical damage gave him highly physical powers: clumsy short-range telekinesis and personal biokinesis. Note that unlike Amy, Browbeat's capabilities are mainly focused on improving strength and durability as well as healing wounds. His telekinesis activates when he makes or receives a hit, amplifying his blows and dampening attacks against him. It is my personal belief that the two aspects of his mental state influencing his decision is part of why he has two powers working together to make him a walking tank.

Further facts about Browbeat: After he triggered, the hospital he was staying in noticed he was healing quickly and notified the Protectorate. While they were talking with his parents about him joining the Wards, he went out as an independent hero to experiment with his powers and had three major encounters: a fight with a couple of Empire capes (he won), a skirmish with powered drug dealers (he won again), and his encounter with Regent and Bitch. His defeat in that third fight convinced him he needed training and allies, so he agreed to join the Wards. Getting cleared by the psychologists to participate in the Wards was complicated (a stay in an asylum dedicated to helping mentally ill parahumans was seriously discussed), but he eventually got it. He and his parents agree that they don't want him involved in major conflicts, as they see his involvement in the Wards as primarily for the aforementioned training and learning about how to use his powers.

God, I feel bad for both Amy (well, now I feel even more bad for her than I felt before, if that's even possible) and Brownbeat

. To see your sister dying before your eyes is something understandable awful and triggering. However I'm surprised how the gang managed to injure Victoria. Lisa knew about her forcefield's vulnerability before shooting it but I doubt that gang knew the same thing as well. Unless someone from gang had Tattletale's powers or Victoria wasn't good at controlling her forcefield back then. As for Brownbeat, Regent and Bitch did a pretty good job by beating him up, they basically turned him into the hero he's now. He should at least tell them thank you next time when they'll meet again.

AmbarGriss · Mar 15, 2018

Actualy Uber's classification as a Parahuman is not Tinker. ( Tinkers only build technology).
As said there are 12 types of Parahuman classifications, they are explained in Arc 9 if I remember correctely, but I could post them here if you wish.

blackarrow · Mar 15, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
Actualy Uber's classification as a Parahuman is not Tinker. ( Tinkers only build technology).
As said there are 12 types of Parahuman classifications, they are explained in Arc 9 if I remember correctely, but I could post them here if you wish.

Funny is that the only parahuman class I know is Tinker and a lot of characters I've meet so far are tinkers

. But you can tell me each class and maybe even explain (if you wish) what they can do, but please, don't tell me which character belongs to a certain class, I'll try to guess myself.

AmbarGriss · Mar 15, 2018

blackarrow said:
Funny is that the only parahuman class I know is Tinker and a lot of characters I've meet so far are tinkers . But you can tell me each class and maybe even explain (if you wish) what they can do, but please, don't tell me which character belongs to a certain class, I'll try to guess myself.

The classifications are:
Tinker
Thinker
Shaker
Trump
Stranger
Master
Changer
Blaster
Brute
Stryker
Breaker
Mover
I'll leave you to guess what they can do because is so much fun whem you speculate.

Keep in mind that the same Parahuman can have more than one classifiction.

blackarrow · Mar 15, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
The classifications are:
Tinker
Thinker
Shaker
Trump
Stranger
Master
Changer
Blaster
Brute
Stryker
Breaker
Mover
I'll leave you to guess what they can do because is so much fun whem you speculate.
Keep in mind that the same Parahuman can have more than one classifiction.

Hmm, okay, thanks. I wanted at first to read/review the next chapter but I guess I'll do that after having fun with these classification.
So, Tinker (mad scientists, sparks, people who build stuff, they're clearly geniuses, but not all of them are smart during the day-by-day life): Kid Win, Armsmaster, Leet, Bakuda, Miss Militia???;
Thinker (similar with Tinker, but its more about intense knowledge, psychics): Tattletale, Simurgh, Panacea, Uber???;
Shaker (someone who shake things/people around them): Regent???;
Trump (this is EASY. Someone who's incompetent enough as a politician, makes people rage and yet becomes a president): I don't know any example from Worm but I know one from our real world

;
Stranger (someone who can become invisible, or hide or shapeshift): Shadow Stalker, Grue, Lung, Oni Lee and Endbringers;
Master (someone able to control others): Skitter, Bitch, Regent;
Changer (can change things around them, reality warping kind of): Vista, Clockblocker; Kaiser;
Blaster (someone who shoot beams/lasers/light/auras from their bodies): Glory Girl, Gallant, Legend, Miss Militia, Lung;
Brute (super-strength, resistance): Glory Girl, Alexandria, Aegis, Lung;
Stryker (very good at close combat): Brownbeat, Aegis, Grue, Glory Girl;
Breaker (someone who completely breaks reality): Scion (he changed a whole world even since he arrived on earth);
Mover (super-speed): Velocity???;

That's all my stupid mundane brains can think of for moment

ExNihilo · Mar 15, 2018

Tinker: Miss Militia's gun isn't Tinker, it's a morph weapon she got from her power. Other than that, correct.

Thinker: Also extrasensory. Panacea is a thinker, but her main power is striker.

Shaker: AoE. Vista is a good example. Regent is master. Think superman's Freeze breath.

Trump: Power that effects other powers, such as nullifiers. Rare.

Stranger: Shapeshifting is usually Changer. Disguise powers, you don't know any dedicated strangers.

Master: Also includes people who can create minions/clones.

Changer: Shapeshifters, think Lung, or Hulk.

Blaster: Yep, exactly.

Brute: Also yes.

Striker: Opposite of Blaster, melee powers. Clockblocker is the ur-example, but also Panacea.

Breaker: Alters Physics. Think Vista.

Mover: Teleporters are also included, as is flight.

Note that these are often rough. Where does blaster end and shaker begin? When is a changer power also a stranger? Etc.

Edit: A person can be more than one. Laserdream is a blaster and a mover, for instance.

blackarrow · Mar 15, 2018

Hello again, ladies and gentlemen, guys and girls. We're back with....another Interlude. WTF!!?? 4.x (Bonus Interlude) | Worm I clicked the next page and this Arc is not over yet so this Interlude is included inside Shell Arc. Ok, for what we're RUDELY interrupted when we couldn't wait to see what Undersiders would do against so many enemies? Maybe we're going to see an Interlude from the perspective of Bakuda, making plans and recruiting Uber and Leet to fuck Undersiders up with their "help"? You know what: I'm very ok with that. Let's see how dangerous this lunatic parahuman terrorist can get.

Kayden crouched by the crib, her arms folded over the edge, watching her baby's chest rise and fall.

....What? Bakuda's name is Kayden? Doesn't sounds too japanese but maybe she's only half japanese. Also, she's a mommy. Cute. I never saw Bakuda as a young mother. Who's the happy dad? Oni Lee?

She felt at peace. Aster was perfect, flawless, untainted by the chaos and the evils of the world beyond the apartment and the nursery. Even in her waking moments, she wasn't overly demanding, quick to reduce her wails to quiet whimpers when she heard assurances that food, company or a diaper change were on the way. Not that she understood, of course, but she trusted her mother would provide. Kayden couldn't have asked for more.

Literally, there was nothing Aster could do, have or be that would make her better than she was.
In an odd way, Kayden supposed, she took refuge in Aster. She found succor in the company of her child, in the midst of a world she had little hope for.
It took willpower to force herself to step away, to quietly step from the nursery and half-close the door behind her. When she saw pudgy fifteen year old Theo sitting in front of the television, she was momentarily disoriented. Then she felt a stab of guilt. She'd forgotten about the boy, in the midst of caring for Aster and her preparations for the night.
"Theo, I'm sorry," she spoke. The boy had been captivated by the final votes of some reality TV show, but he didn't give a second thought to muting the TV and giving Kayden his full attention. "I've been so preoccupied, I haven't fed you."

"It's okay," Theo answered her, breaking eye contact. It wasn't.
"Look, I'm going out-"
"In costume?"

She also have a 15 years old boy?!?!? How old is Bakuda? I thought she's pretty young. Maybe Theo is not her child, maybe is someone's else boy and he just visited her. He seems to not give her any attention, he either doesn't like her, is mad on her for what she's doing (he knows about her secret life since he asked her if she's going out in costume) or he's just a spoiled brat. Kayden surely is a psycho but she CARES quite a lot for her baby girl, Aster, which is a very good thing of her. Finally, another good parents (besides Danny). This is enjoyable even if is Bakuda the good parent I'm talking about.

"Yeah," Kayden replied. She tried to read the expression on the boy's face, but Theo was a stone wall. He'd had to be, really, with what he'd grown up with.

Resisting the urge to comment or push the boy to offer some commentary, criticism or support, Kayden continued, "I'm leaving you thirty dollars here on the kitchen table. If you want to use it to order out, please feel free. Otherwise, raid my cupboards, my fridge, or use the money to go down to the convenience store in the lobby, okay? If you decide to rent a movie, leave it here for me to take back. I might want to watch it." Kayden smiled, trying to coax a matching expression from him.
"Okay," Theo said, his face blank. "When will you be back?"
In time to take you back to your dad's, Kayden almost said. Then she had an idea, "I might be late. Would it maybe be okay if you spent the night? You'd just have to check in on Aster every few hours. Keep an ear out in case she cries? I'd pay you for the full night's babysitting."

The times when Theo let a glimmer of emotion show were few and far between. A smile, genuine, touched Theo's face, and almost broke Kayden's heart in the process.
"I'd love to," Theo replied, meaning it.
"Then it's settled. Sorry to interrupt your show," she said.
"It's fine," Theo said, just a touch too fast. It wasn't fine, apparently, but he would never admit it. Could never admit it. Kayden felt a flicker of hatred for the man who had eroded every ounce of personality and assertiveness from his son. She would give her right hand for a smart-alec remark, rolled eyes or to be ignored in favor of a TV show.
She had to console herself that she was at least giving Theo a night's respite from the man. It wasn't enough, of course, but there was so little she could do. All she could offer were small kindnesses, little gestures of love and affection, and hope they helped. With that in mind, Kayden took the time to get some sheets out and set up the other couch so Theo would be comfortable when he was done watching TV.

I'm very pleased to see the human side of Bakuda. Kayden seems to love Theo as her own son even if he's the son of her ex-husband (and she hates that bastard; another bad father who fucked up his own son emotionally. I agree with Kayden: FUCK HIM!). They seem to share Theo's custody. Theo is not a spoiled brat, but an abused boy who forgot how to be happy and show his emotions overall, all "thanks" to his damn father. Kayden is such a good mother and I feel bad for her because she'll have to bring Thero back to his abuser and she can't do anything about (maybe a bomb or two placed under the asshole parent's bed will simplify the situation? Cause I doubt that Theo will ever miss him).

When that was done, she double checked the TV to see that she wasn't interrupting anything, and told Theo,

"Wish me luck."
"Good luck," the boy replied, in a tone that was all affectation. The false words stung Kayden more than if Theo hadn't said anything at all. Tonight wasn't the night to confront that issue. She left the apartment, locking the door behind her. She took the stairs up to the roof, and shucked off her bathrobe. The garment went in the gap between two flowerboxes, where nobody would find it unless they were looking for it.

Then she stepped off the edge of the roof.
The wind ripped at her hair, blew cold against her face. As she tumbled head over heels, seeing only glimpses of the streetlights and cars below her, she waited. Her apartment building was fifteen stories tall, which gave her less time than one might expect. All it would take was one second of doubt, one mistake, a momentary hesitation, and she would hit the ground.
Energy suffused her body. The entire sky lit up in a brilliant, blinding flash of light. By the time the spots cleared from the eyes of the people on the street, she was already gone, hurtling over Downtown Brockton Bay, a white trail of light following behind her.
Kayden didn't wear a mask, but it wasn't necessary. With her powers active, her brown hair and eyes became a radiant white, emanating a light so brilliant it was impossible to look straight at her. The fabric of her alabaster costume, too, radiated with a soft glow that rippled like light on the surface of the water.

Oh, fuck, I feel so stupid now. Kayden is NOT Bakuda. She's a new character. Ok, my mistake

, don't kill me. So what this new character who can fly and can turn herself into a literal human lantern, infusing her body with brilliant white energy, and have such a complicated person life, have anything to do with Bakuda, ABB and Undersiders? Kayden, Kayden, who you're? A hero, some kind-hearted villain?

Her usual routine was to patrol for an hour or two, get a sense of things, and then take action where she thought it was most appropriate. Tonight, though, she was frustrated, and she hadn't even begun.

A year ago, she had made the ABB a priority target. Three to five times a week, she had carried out surgical strikes against the low level operations of the gang, interrupting shipments, beating up dealers and thugs, attacking their places of business and all the while, she had been gathering information. That information had paid off from time to time; she had clashed directly with Lung on no less than four occasions, had encountered Oni Lee on two. In all but one of those encounters, she had successfully forced them to retreat, to abandon whatever it was they were doing at the time. Those were the good days.
There had been bad days too. Most of the time, she made a point to rough up the lower level members of the gang when she'd taken them down, enough to make them reconsider their career choice. Make them consider going to another town. At one point, Lung had set a trap for her, and succeeded in returning the favor. It had taken her two months to recuperate from all of her injuries. Other days, which were somehow worse, she found herself struggling to make a difference, coming to the dawning realization that she had failed to change things.
This week had been a long series of those bad days. When she'd read in the news that Lung had been apprehended, she'd cleared her schedule. Kayden had taken her vacation days and called Theo about babysitting. It had been the best chance she'd get, she thought, to clean up the ABB once and for all. Get that scum out of her city, while they were leaderless.

Oh, so she's a solo vigilante who's actively fighting against ABB? THAT'S WONDERFUL. I support her 100% in everything she wants to accomplish. Most of ABB are scums (well, their leaders and the willing members, of course). This is the connection, maybe she'll come in Undersiders' help if the things become too HOT for them. But why does she hates especially ABB? Maybe her ex-husband is one of them? Possible Oni Lee? Or one of them traumatized her so bad that she triggered her powers?

Five of her seven vacation days had passed, and she'd accomplished nothing. Less than nothing. They were getting stronger.

Breaking her usual patrol route, she headed straight to the northern part of the city and investigated the Docks. It was empty of ABB members, aside from two Korean girls were taking a break from turning tricks near the ferry, talking to their aged, fat, matronly pimp. Kayden resisted the urge to take action and run them off, resisted grilling them for information. She had done that last night with a group of dealers, and accomplished little to nothing.
The ABB was still active. Even with their boss gone, they were more organized than they had been under Lung's influence. But her interrogations had failed to get any details on why. Even broken arms and legs hadn't hurt or scared the thugs enough to get them talking about what was going on.
This was the situation, usually, where Kayden would go to informants for information, resurrect old alliances and get help in squashing the ABB before they could get their footing again. She had hunted down old buddies, contacts and teammates three days ago, and had been frustrated by the lack of response, the lack of enthusiasm. Max, Theo's father, was to blame for that. Just as she'd left his team a more broken person than she'd been when she joined, others had gone through the same experience. With charisma and a keen sense of people, Max had convinced people from across the country to join his team. Just as easily, he'd tore them apart without them realizing he was doing it. Confidence broken, wracked by doubts, paranoid regarding everyone except the one man that had caused the paranoia in the first place, they'd splintered off from the team. Not that Max minded. There was always a fresh supply of bright eyed recruits ready to replace anyone he broke.

GUYS, GIRLS, GUYS, GIRLS....I think I'm starting to understand this whole complicated situation. ABB are asians. Both Kayden and her asshole ex-husband hunted them down. After she broke up with him, she left his team (Max have a whole team) to hunt ABB down by herself. What other teams we know that are in the city fighting against ABB? Empire88 and Coil's Super-Amy. I doubt that Coil's soldiers would be obsessed especially by asians. So..........Max's group is Empire88. Max is Kaiser. Max and Kayden are NAZIS, Alright, Max is DOUBLE BASTARD: first for being a fucking nazi, second for being one of the worst fathers so far. At least Kayden is a very good mother (even for Theo) and even if I don't agree with her opinions and her way of seeing anyone who's not Aryan, I admire her for her motherly soul. I admire and hold her in regard. Kayden, you got some points from me from hunting down ABB and being a good mother but I also dislike you for being a nazi.

Now most of the gang was gone, quite possibly on a big job, and she had no idea where. She had no idea where to find out. Kayden grit her teeth. This wasn't working. If she was going to make any headway before her vacation days were up, she had to act now. Make a deal with the devil.

She returned Downtown. It was hard to navigate the streets from so high up, even if they were roads she traveled on a daily basis as her uncostumed self. From here, the buildings all looked the same, with mirrored outsides and gravel rooftops. Twice, she circled around the top floors of the wrong buildings, looking for the logo set on the side of the building would mark Max's building apart from the others.
The black crown against a red and yellow background. She stopped when she saw it, cursed under her breath. When she approached, she saw him, still in his office. Not so unusual, he'd worked late during every night of their marriage. He had a laptop directly in front of him, a sandwich in a paper wrapping to his right, and an array of papers spread over the desk to his left. He swiveled around to face her as she got close to the window, smiled softly.
Damn him, he was five years older than her, pushing thirty five, and he was still the best looking man she'd ever looked in the eye. Even the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes only made him more attractive. He'd taken off his tie and suit jacket, and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled halfway up his forearms, forcing her to note he was still working out.

He waited, his hands clasped over his stomach, the faintest expression of amusement on his face. She knew he was capable of opening the window to his office. He was waiting for her to ask to come inside. It was the sort of little power game he was so fond of.
On another night, she would have tested her will against his. To no avail, usually, but she would have tried. It probably would have ended with her flying away, making it clear she could do without his assistance. Tonight, though, she felt the frustration of her fruitless 'vacation' and brought herself to reach out and knock on the window.
Before she could rap her knuckles against it a second time, it clicked and opened upward. She navigated her way around it to make her way inside. He hadn't seemed to move a muscle when he opened the window. He liked little demonstrations like that. She set foot on the carpet of the office and let the light glowing from within her fade. Her hair stopped stirring and writhing in response to the energy rippling through it, going limp and turning brown. Her eyes dimmed to their dark hazel color. She could hear a click followed by the faintest of hisses as the window slowly closed behind her.

Oh man, poor Kayden is so desperate that she can't do jack shit against ABB that she decided to ask her JERKASS of her husband for help. There he's, he seems like a powerful bussinessman, handsome and arrogant as hell. Also, he likes to play his little games with her, maybe to humiliate her and show her how powerful he's and how "small" she's compared to him. This man SUCKS SO BAD, I hate him even before he got a single moment to open his mouth.

"Kayden. It's been a little while," he managed to greet her and make it sound like a criticism in the same breath. He half-turned to type on his computer, and the lights in the office adjusted to a halogen glare. She shut her eyes briefly and basked in the glow, feeling her internal supply of energy recharge.

"Max. Thank you for the light."
"You're fine, I take it?"
"I'm fine."
"And our daughter?"
"Aster's well," she said, as calmly as possible, as her hearbeat pounded in her ears. She knew he didn't really care. He was letting her know that he hadn't forgotten about Aster, reminding her that he, at any time, any moment, could take custody of her baby girl. He had the money, he had the contacts. She'd be helpless to stop him. She remembered to mention, "Theo's babysitting her tonight."
"I know. He called a little earlier to ask if he could spend the night. I told him that was fine. It'll do him good to spend time with you and Aster. Some female influences in his life."
Kayden answered with a curt nod. To anyone else, this conversation would have sounded perfectly innocent. As someone who had worked alongside Max for ten years and been married to him for one, she knew this was all negotiation. He was making it clear he was doing her a favor, and he'd expect recompense at some point, tonight or a week from now. It was how he was – always playing for power, for advantage, for dominance. All the while, he was doing it in a way that you couldn't confront. If she called him on it, he'd play innocent and she'd look like the crazy one, the one in the wrong. Sometimes even to herself.

So, the light from a room/or from outside recharges her with energy? Kayden is like Superman, since the sunlight recharges him with energy. This means that she would be defenseless in a place completely devoided by light. Maybe that's the reason why Lung was able to catch her into trap and injury her that bad. Lung is not stupid and I hope that he'll escape from Birdcage and meet Kaiser and FUCKING KILL EACH OTHER because Max is an absolute monster who tries to manipulate a poor mom into taking her daughter (the most precious thing she have) away from her only because he have the power to do that. Fuck Max! OMG what a shitty father and human being. You're married to him for one year, Kayden? I wouldn't marry him for a single day, no matter how good looking and charming he's. Fuck men like him.

"So, what can I do for you?" he leaned back in his seat.

"The ABB is lacking leadership. Or, at least, lacking experienced leadership. I want to take them down before they regroup. To do that, I'm wanting to reunite our old team."
"And you're admitting you can't do it without my help."
"Yes," it pained her to admit.

"Not interested," he said, spinning around in his chair to face the computer. There was a click, and the window behind Kayden began to open again. As the air blew in from outside, a strand of hair blew across her face. She tucked it behind her ear.
"I've talked to the others, but nobody that's worked for you is willing to be the first to join me. Some say they're worried they'll offend you. Others are just spooked, or they've already given up. They ask me why would a group of your rejects do any better than they'd managed as part of your team? I'm not getting anywhere, and time's running out. All it would take would be one word from you, and I'd have a team of four or five people. With that, I could root out and squash the ABB."
Max stood up and sat on the edge of his desk so he was facing Kayden, "I don't see it being worth the effort.
What's in it for me?"
"The ABB would be gone, for starters."
"They'll be gone eventually. I'm patient. What else?"
"I don't have anything else to offer you, Max," she answered. That was a lie, she knew… but the closest thing she had to a bargaining chip was something she would never give up in a million years. Never Aster.
"I want you. On my team again."
"No."
"You'd be my second in command. I'd talk to the old members of the team, and get them to form a separate group to work under you. You'd double check with me on anything you did, but other than that, you'd be completely autonomous. Free to use your team as you see fit."
Other than that, she thought. As if it was inconsequential, to be checking in with him on every move she made. "I don't agree with the way you do things. I don't want to be associated with you."
He laughed, throaty, deep, rich, while she stood there in stony silence.
"Kayden," he said, when he'd stopped, "You're already associated with me. People say our names in the same breath, even when we haven't worked together in two years. When my name appears in the newspapers, yours is never far behind."

He's manipulative, sadistic, racist, extremist, cruel, vindicative, abusive father, probably abusive husband, absolute sure abusive ex-husband, he's a big piece of shit wrapped up into a golden swastika. Kayden will accept his proposition of being his second in command because she have no other choice. She wants to get rid of ABB, who're actually bad for the city (let's not lie to ourselves), she's blackmailed with her daughter, also this is how she wants to live: she's also a violent and biggot human being and she have no problems hurting people to get what she wants (I can even see her capable to hurt innocent asians, people like her are usually doing this).

"I'm working to change that."

"And you'll be working against that impression for decades, to no effect, I guarantee you."
Kayden turned and looked out the window, unwilling to look Max in his brilliantly blue eyes for any longer.
He continued, and she knew he was smiling smugly at her even without looking at him, "Regardless of our different methods, we always shared the same goals. To clean up this filthy world of ours."
"You do it by putting drugs on the street, stealing, extorting. I can't agree with that. I never did. It doesn't make any sense, to improve things by making them worse."
Max smiled, "It's ugly on the surface, but it's more money, more power, and it gives me the leverage to really affect things. The only people I hurt are the same people who cause the problems in the first place."

It was a refrain she had heard often enough before. She folded her arms.
He changed tactics, "Let me ask you – would you rather be doing things your way, failing to change things or would you rather work under me and make a difference?"
"I am making a difference," Kayden answered, "I'm working to make this world a better place."
"Of course," he replied, and she didn't miss the hint of condescension in his voice, "You left my team to go do good work, it's just pure coincidence that it's black, brown, or yellow criminals you target."
Kayden frowned, "Hard to avoid, when the only notable gang of whites is yours. Some old friends and allies of mine still work for you… I can't go around attacking them, can I? I'm working to improve our city, but I'm not going to beat up people I've been out to drinks with."
"And in the process, you're doing little to shake the notion that you're a part of Empire Eighty-Eight," Max smiled, "It's amusing to hear you try and justify your perspective, but you're ignoring the elephant in the room. Cut the B.S. and tell me you don't feel something different when you look at a black face, compared to when you look at a white one."
Kayden didn't have an answer to that. It was his fault, really. The high school baseball player she'd had a crush on when she'd been in middle school had wound up being the same person that first approached her when she started going out in costume. Blinded by his good looks and his way with words, she'd been swayed, convinced of his way of thinking. She'd tried to change her outlook since the divorce, but she had seen a great deal in her ten years as a member of his team. It was impossible to look at the city now and ignore the fact that too much of what made it an uglier place to live and raise a child in could be traced back to the same kinds of people. Sure, the whites had criminals too, but at least they were fucking civilized about it.

You're both bad, guys, you're both bad. But at least Kayden is not a hypocrite like you, Max (heh, another flaw I found at Max, I'm going to add it at his other billions of flaws. Max, you're like a can big as a whole city full with worms. One can't find nothing good there, only worms). Max eliminates ABB not only because they're druggies and criminals, but to make place for his own druggies and criminals. So, he's replacing asian criminals with white criminals. Fucking hypocrite monster he's. Kayden really wants to make the world a better place, but her ideals are twisted because she's also a racist fuck. Anyways, I can sympathize with her, but only when it comes to fighting against bad asians and protecting her child.

"And in the process, you're doing little to shake the notion that you're a part of Empire Eighty-Eight," Max smiled, "It's amusing to hear you try and justify your perspective, but you're ignoring the elephant in the room. Cut the B.S. and tell me you don't feel something different when you look at a black face, compared to when you look at a white one."

Kayden didn't have an answer to that. It was his fault, really. The high school baseball player she'd had a crush on when she'd been in middle school had wound up being the same person that first approached her when she started going out in costume. Blinded by his good looks and his way with words, she'd been swayed, convinced of his way of thinking. She'd tried to change her outlook since the divorce, but she had seen a great deal in her ten years as a member of his team. It was impossible to look at the city now and ignore the fact that too much of what made it an uglier place to live and raise a child in could be traced back to the same kinds of people. Sure, the whites had criminals too, but at least they were fucking civilized about it.

When no response was forthcoming, Max said, "That's what I thought. However our methods differ, regardless of whether you're willing to admit it out loud, I think we share a very similar perspective. My offer is this: Let me prove my methods work. Join my team, serve as my second in command for one more year. Only person you answer to is me, and I give you a team of your own. You can handpick your own squad from our prospective members and ex-members, though I can't guarantee every person you name will come running…"
"Max…" Kayden shook her head.
"The final part of the deal is this. If you aren't satisfied with how things went when your year is up, Empire Eighty-Eight is yours. Lock, stock and barrel, including my business, every employee, every asset, legitimate or otherwise. I become your second in command, and I follow your orders. You can make Empire Eighty-Eight into a humanitarian effort, sell the business, turn us all into superheroes. I don't care. If I can't impress you, then what I'm doing simply isn't worth holding on to."
That caught her attention. Years ago, Kayden probably would have snapped up an offer like this without a second thought. Being married to Max for eleven months, waking up to who he really was, it had given her perspective and caution. She considered for a few long moments, trying to figure out the angle. He was telling the truth, she knew. Whatever else Max was, he wouldn't break his word on something like this.
"Is the business failing?" She asked. Was she getting a booby prize?
"Thriving. Promise."
"What would you have me doing?"
"The same thing you did before. You'd be my heavy hitter. My enforcer. If I needed you to make an example of someone, you'd do it. Only difference between then and now is that my Empire is bigger. Better. You and I can make a greater impact."

I'd rather have my whole left hand (I'm left handed) entirely burned by Lung that to trust a single word coming out from Max's beautiful moth. He's lying her constantly, in order to manipulate her to do his bidding. His promises are empty exactly as his very soul but Kayden, even if she might not believe them, will return back into his team (and maybe even his arms) because she truly believes in this fucked up ideology. All non-white people are bad and the few white criminals are civilized. White criminals- civilized? (I'm white and I'm laughing at this shit) Just look at your ex-husband, Kayden, and tell me, is he really that civilized white man you're talking about? A civilized man will abuse his child, even emotionally? A civilized white man will try to steal a child from her lovingly mother? "shakes head" You're so delusional, Kayden, you don't have any idea how delusional you're.

More blood on my hands. As the thought crossed her mind, she looked at her gloved hands. Pristine white cloth, stark in glare of the halogen lights. She knew what he was doing, had known when she decided to come. He found a person's weakness, attacked it, turned it to his advantage. He'd known she was frustrated with her efforts as a solo agent, had probably had this conversation planned out days or weeks ago, playing it out in his head, having an answer ready for anything she could say. How could she compete with that, when she rarely looked beyond the next twenty-four hours? It was just how she was, how she thought.

Which was probably why they were so effective as a pair, she was forced to admit.
"So I ask you again, Kayden, do you want to spend your time failing to make a name for yourself on your own, or are you willing to join me in actually changing things? Come with me, and I guarantee you win one way or another."

Her eyes lit up, and her hair began to turn white from the roots outward. In moments, she was her radiant alter ego. Purity.
As if in response, he picked up a letter opener and held it in front of his chest. Blades of metal began to branch out from it, each forking out into more. Slow at first, the network of metal swiftly encompassed his chest, then the rest of his body. Bars, blades, tubes, sheets of the metal found their place around him. With his power, she knew, he could bring metal to sprout from any solid surface around him, including the metal he had already created. As readily as he could bring thirty-foot spears of iron to erupt from the ground or walls, he created a finely worked suit of armor, then embellished it with blades and curling spikes. He finished it with an uneven crown of blades.
He extended a gauntlet, left it there for her to take. It was the smallest gesture, henever made a move where someone could refuse him, leave him hanging, and it meant the world to her, even as she suspected it was calculated for just that effect
Forgive me, Aster, she thought. I'm doing this for you.

Mr Alt-Right, Kaiser, already costumed in his all metal armor (I have to admit that I like his metal summoning powers, pretty rad; the only good thing about him btw) is inviting Mrs Alt-Right, Purity (this particular code name fits Kayden so well, both figuratively and literal) to join fighting shoulder by shoulder against those "inferior races".
I hope you'll open your eyes, Kayden, I hope. You're not a bad seed, only a desperate mother, a broken woman and a blind in your biggoty human being. Open your eyes and see how wrong you're, how ashamed your daughter will be by some of your actions when she'll grow up and who is your real enemy

.

Wow, what an Interlude....Good night and sleep well, friends.
FUCK YOU, KAISER! JUST FUCK YOU!

djd · Mar 15, 2018

blackarrow said:
I support her 100% in everything she wants to accomplish.

You still sure about that?

blackarrow · Mar 15, 2018

djd said:
You still sure about that?

Nope, but I never correct (unless its bad spelling or grammatical errors) what I write everytime after I read few paragraphs, no matter how wrong the ideas are. I keep the instant/impulsive ideas there, unchanged, just as I kept the first idea about her being Bakuda. This is how I roll with the reviews. Read paragraphs- type ideas/opinions, read again- repeat and repeat and repeat the whole process. So, at first I supported Kayden 100%, now I still support her and I find her sympathetic in some ways but my overall opinion about her changed drastically. But if she'll ever realize her true potential and how wrong she's then my admiration for her will exponentially increase. She deserves a second chance, I feel like she's an interesting character with a lot of potential. While Max is the kind of character that I can't stop saying "FUCK HIM" everytime when I'm referring at him.

AmbarGriss · Mar 15, 2018

djd said:
You still sure about that?

Not anymore I presume, but we can't blame her, Kayden was presented in very simpathetic light before the reveal that she was a fucking nazi scum.

Let's read Worm and its sequel Ward by Wildbow (One chapter/every day)

Actual Real Game Dev!

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Actual Real Game Dev!

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Rocking the life

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

SPACE!

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

SPACE!

Totally not four rats in a trench coat