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

Interlude 23
Hello, my adorable and so patient readers. Behemoth's fight just start (with plenty of deaths especially among civilians- nobody should be surprised :() and Theo is on the right path to become the hero that he wanted to be and try to save the people that Jack is going to sacrifice if the boy will fail in his mission to murder him. My personal opinion? Theo will fail -he'll either hesitate to kill Jack for some reasons that I'm not going to understand or Jack will manipulate him in a way so he will not kill him when he'll get the chance, Jack will kill all the people that he promised he'll kill (probably including Aster "shudders" :cry:) and Theo will be forced to accept his defeat and hate himself for all the casualties that he indirectly caused. Or maybe Theo will fail to kill Jack but will also stop him from killing thousand of people. That will be the best solution and Theo will feel less guilty but still Jack will continue his work of making the Apocalypse a real thing. Or...MAYBE....Theo will kill Jack but killing Jack will cause the end of the world. Like a sadistic butterfly effect bullshit. Theo carrying all the blame for Apocalypse on his shoulders will be worse than anything else that might happen to him. I hate to try to imagine how he'll feel. Theo will never forgive himself :cry:. Welcome into the hero world of endless suffering, Golem. Hope your God Wildbow will be merciful with you but hope is like a forgotten burning candle in this story. Its slowly melting with each plot development.

He's coming with the power of thousands of lightnings
He's shaking the ground around him
He's all hate and anger going apeshit
He's the kaiju who'll screw your daylights
He's Behemoth and he'll wrench your shit.

I think I'll start writing poems after I'll be done with Behemoth Battle. Worm is such an inspirational piece of literature :D Interlude 23


The Yàngbǎn raised their hands, already reacting.
I haven't paid attention to the fact that is not a Chapter but an Interlude, being too immersed in my sudden poetic skills. YANGBAN INTERLUDE! OF ALL INTERLUDES THAT PROBABLY MATTERED MORE, I GOT AN YANGBAN INTERLUDE. No Bonesaw Interlude or Fallen Interlude or Heartbreaker's family Interlude. But a damn Interlude about a communist paramilitary group of parahumans who practice brainwashing followed by a super creepy hive mind :(. Exactly the things that I always love to see in a Worm Chapter/Interlude "is fast drowning in her own sarcasm" :p. Well, I survived to countless of Cauldron Interludes so why should I not survive to ONE mind control bullshit Interlude about comrades fighting for the good of their country and their Party? Its not such a big deal, I can tolerate a little mind screwing....I hope so...I pray to resist until its end.
Man...this is going to be worse that any body horror, isn't it :(?
But at least I'll get to know more about the red comrades. JOY!!!

Cody was already moving to use the thirty-sixth path to rescue anyone who'd absorbed the remnants of the shock. None. It hadn't touched them. He was among the last of them to dismiss his forcefield. The forcefields drained their reserves of energy, and weren't to stay up for too long. They'd been drilled on this.
Cody?!? WTF!!!!!??? So, I get a Yangban AND Cody Interludes in the same Interlude :o? That is a thing that I never expected to see happening: an Interlude with two completely unrelated characters (or rather a character and a group). WTF Cody is doing with Yangban when he's a white man (a caucasian) and they're some very racist chinese people? They must hate him to his guts, they barely accepted Lung (who's half chinese) and you're telling me that they accepted a white man without any problem? Ok, maybe they're impressed by his power and they believed that he's going to be a great asset for them. One power added to the other 41? Its a big deal, especially since they can apparently share powers among themselves (they probably have a parahuman with the ability to make each one of their members use the same powers as the other 41...now 40). Cody have HIS power+ 41 other powers. He's basically a mini-Eidolon. Krause will be so roasted if they'll meet again and get into the second fight. But right now Krause is jailed in the super-prison and he relives the sweet years of highschool when he was just a student who had to listen his teachers and parents. He's back at being an obedient student but he only have a single Teacher to guide him on his way of becoming a great slave man. The best Teacher of all. Cody lives in the same brave new world. He's guided on his path of slavehood manhood under the Eye of the Party. Praise be ;).


"Yàngbǎn qiáng!" The group responded in chorus. Cody's voice joined theirs, quieter. His pronunciation wasn't good. In all this time with the group, he hadn't even managed to grasp the fundamentals of the language. Mispronunciation was punished, not by any reprimand, but in a subtle way. They would speak to him even less than they were now, he would get less food. Maybe for a few hours, maybe for a few days. The thought bothered him, and the degree to which it unsettled him was more disturbing still.


Cody joined the middle group in shearing through the remaining wreckage. Thirty-first path.
The cutting lasers. The first group was slowing a fraction, and Cody slowed his flight to hold formation.

The twelve members of the Yàngbǎn only accelerated, flying around the group members they had been following. They turned solid, space distorting around them as they rendered themselves invincible and incapable of any action but their pre-existing momentum, effectively human bullets. They tore through the wreckage, clearing a path for the rest.


Zig-zagging down the streets, they naturally settled back into their established rank and file.
With every member of the group having access to the same pool of powers, placement in the formation was a question of experience and how expendable they were. Cody was an essential defensive asset, no use if he was taken out of action, so he rested in the middle of the group, surrounded by people who could protect him in a pinch.
Wow, they put up a very good fight against Behemoth, but not even they are enough to hurt the monster. Anyway, its impressive, they seem like a destructive force of the complicated parahuman nature. Protectorate (without Eidolon and Legend) will not stand a chance against Yangbang if China will go all world domination on America. Legend and Eidolon will stop them but who know how many groups like Yangban China have at its disposition ;)? I doubt they only have 42 parahumans. China is a world power in our world, it is a world power in their world. Some things never change. I wonder how powerful and well (parahuman) armed Russia is in order to keep up with our Russia.
I'm in awe with their coordination and battle strategy but then I remember than they're a huge hive mind where individuality is forbidden, where your own body and mind is straightly controlled by the other members, when you can't be yourself anymore but part of a giant clusterfuck of powers and Passengers. They're not members of a paramilitary group, they're parts of a huge mechanism good only to serve and fight. They're like a huge brain formed from multiple brains who are useful as long as they can power the BIG BRAIN. Bodies and individual personalities doesn't matter to the Party.
SCARY SHIT, I think I hate them a little more than I hate Cauldron. And this tells a lot :D...

Cody had never experienced the adrenaline rush that Ten was no doubt experiencing over the simple act of getting a response from the squadron. The group had never deemed his statements acceptable, because his pronunciation was poor. He was a member of a tight-knit crowd, yet utterly, completely alone.


They'd drilled on abstracts, on possible situations. Attacks from any direction. Attacks in various forms. He'd never really considered the ideas behind dealing with magma, but he had the tools. Being a member of the Yàngbǎn meant being constantly drilled. They took your power, all but a fraction of it, but every member of the group had that same fraction. Every member was expected to know how to use every power, to know when and to do it in unison with the rest of the squad.

A small handful of individuals in the C.U.I. hadn't been brought onto the group. Null, the cape who made the Yàngbǎn possible, was independent. He couldn't be a part of the whole.
Others included Tōng Líng Tǎ, who had a power that was too slow to use, not worth the fractional decrease in power that came with including her in the network, Shén yù, the strategist, and Jiǎ, the tinker that supplied the C.U.I. with its devices, including the simulations for the drills.
Cody feels alone and an outsider despite being part of the Big Brain. Of course, maybe before I had some doubts, but now I'm convinced that Cody never choose this kind of (NO)life for him:(. He was coerced to become a member. He was either kidnapped because someone probably heard about his time reversing power and decided that- why not, this guy can be useful despite not having a single drop of chinese blood in his body. But the body doesn't matter, isn't right? Or he personally choose Yangban over a life of solo villain only to realize- much later- that he sank into a deep ocean of shit and he can't see the surface of it anytime soon. He wasn't very smart to begin with. Never very smart. I almost feel pity for him even if it was his choice then he made his own bed and I don't have any place in my heart for stupid people who destroyed their own life. Sorry but I hate stupidity and it looks like Wildbow hates it too. First Cherish paid for her stupidity, now Cody pays for his own stupidity if he volunteered to be banged by Yang :lol.
Tong Líng Ta, Shen yu, Jia...at least they have names and Cody remembered them. They told him their names so maybe they can call each other on their names when they don't fight. They're not just numbers, not just pieces of a machine. They're human beings. Too bad that they aren't allowed to be human most of the time. Gosh, I hate Yangban :mad:.



Path thirty-two. It made him think of Thirty-two, the member. The source of that particular power. He snuck a glance at her.

She was one of four outsiders, four people not native to China. She'd been his closest ally.
Something more.


. The bastard who had taken him, who had traded him to the Yàngbǎn for money.


"Do you know how easy it would be to kill you?" Cody asked.

Three gave an order in Chinese. Incomprehensible, but Cody could guess.

"If you killed me," the woman in yellow said, "He'd barely care, and you'd spend the rest of your life in a hole that Ziggurat made, if they didn't just paralyze you from the neck down and
leave you alive to borrow your power."


And Cody was left standing there, staring.
Cody have a crush on number 32, one of his teammates. Poor girl....Cody also had a crush on Noelle and we know what happened to her (well, Krouse and Simurgh and Noelle herself are the first responsible for all the bullshit but Cody was an asshole before getting fucked over by Simurgh. He challenged Krouse, he provoked him, he was an ass towards him and he played a part in influencing Krouse to become the Architect of Echidna :(). Poor Number 32. She's going to have a very painful fate, right? Breaking Yangban's rules for Cody (speaking english) and having a caucasian man falling in love with her?.....:(

RULES TO SURVIVE IN WORMVERSE AS A GIRL:
FIRST RULE: Be a badass, powers or non- powers.
SECOND RULE: Pray to any God you believe in that Cody will never ever fall in love with you :D.

Accord sold Cody as a slave to Yangban? Accord is a slave trader o_O? Hmmm, I'm not surprised to discover that Coil's best friend is a slave trader. I mean, how Coil was able to put his dirty hands on Dinah if it wasn't for Accord's suggestion? I'm sure that Accord suggested that Dinah was important for Coil's plans so he went ahead and kidnapped her :mad:. Man, I hate myself for liking Accord. He's everything I hate in a human: a non-sense idiot who pretend to be smart, sexist, slave trader, heartless bastard. He's fitting perfectly Cauldron's requirements for become one of their key members/people. If Cauldron will ever have a single ethical member in their ranks (Hero not included because he died and Legend not included because he's not Cauldron anymore after he found out the whole truth), the whole multiverse will implode from the sheer impossibility of this statement :D. Nothing is impossible...except for Cauldron recruiting (and keeping) ethical members. Congratulations, Accord, you made me hate you so much in just a single Chapter and a single Interlude. I'm going to agree with whatever Cody is planning to do with you as long as he doesn't hurt Undersiders or heroes. You're not a savior of the mankind, you're nothing but a SLAVE TRADER. Nobody deserve to be enslaved, especially people who didn't do anything wrong to you, like Cody. Fuck you, Accord, fuck you, sophisticated piece of shit (yes, maybe I'm idealistic but I'm not naive to believe that Accord's plan to stop the world hunger will ever become a viable reality ;). As long as there are rich people ruling the world, they will never agree to lose their businesses and profit if all the people in the world will have enough food for themselves (no request for food no profit). The rich people will stop Accord's plan before become fruitful. This plan was doomed to fail from the start. Any plan that Accord is making is a failure because this asshole cares only about order and balance and the world will never be in perfect order no matter what kind of fairy tales Accord's Passenger whispers in his ear). The world- in a big picture- will not lose anything if Accord will probably die. Cody deserves to avenge the daily nightmare that he have to endure being nothing but a piece of the Giant Brain.
But...and there's a bad...there are in the middle of a life and death fight against an indestructible creature. Getting revenge on the man who destroyed his life, RIGHT NOW, is the last thing Cody should do. Accord is still useful because he's a strategist (I'm sure he'll never find a way to kill Behemoth but at least he can help the fighters, coordinate them...right now, he's a general on the battlefield, just like Tattletale. He's an EVIL MAN with a sick mind and an equally sick obsession, but he's USEFUL. Being useful does matter, especially in moments like this one ;)). I support Cody's revenge but not in this moment. Wait until the battle will be over then go for the kill once Accord will not be useful anymore. This is the pragmatic way of dealing with the shit in your life. And people complain that I'm not pragmatic ;).
Don't be STUPID, Cody, for the sake of everyone having a small chance to survive until Scion will arrive. Including YOU :mad:. Yangban will rip you in pieces if you'll do the things in your own way without bothering to listen them and interrupting their hive mind-businesses. Ambassadors will destroy you if you will kill their boss in their presence. Even the heroes will be pissed, they don't like him, obviously, but they need him.


Lowest rung on the totem pole. If I didn't think Null would rescind my powers, I'd kill you
here and now.
Reluctantly, still stewing with anger, he obeyed, kneeling by the body.

The forty-second path. Teleportation. He could see the destination in his mind's eye, like an annoying spot of light in the center of his vision, gradually getting more detailed and focused.
Each person that joined his side to assist sped the process along.


"I know what you're going to propose," Chevalier said. "I'm sorry, it-"

"It's somewhat counter to our usual offer," Thirty-two spoke quickly to match Three's attempted interruption.

Chevalier fell silent.

"Your heroes here are scared. They want to help, they are good people. We're offering another way. They can help without risking their lives."

"I think I understand. You have to understand why I'm saying no," Chevalier said.


A part of him wanted to scream, to warn them, whatever the cost to him might be.
I'm literally screaming at the screen. This guy is even more stupid that Cherish if its even possible. Cherish ruined her own life, Cody will ruin probably millions of lives including his own :mad:. Yes, Accord deserves to PAY but not in this moment. Its not the right moment. Tattletale is there too, with him. This idiot Cody will hurt her if he'll have a chance, only to get a chance to kill Accord, right? Fuck, I'll rather see the whole world BURNING than have my girl being injured by this piece of shit. Dude, if you DARE to hurt Tattletale in any way then you'll be on my shit list, among the first assholes who are already there. I'm extraordinary protective towards people I like and I feel like Tattletale is my fictional best friend :mad:.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK, CODY, STOP THINKING BULLSHIT AND SAVE AS MANY HEROES AND CIVILIANS AS POSSIBLE, DO ANYTHING ELSE TO OCCUPY YOUR MIND. YOU SICK FUCK, STOP GIVING ME A HEART ATTACK HERE. I'M ON YOUR SIDE BUT NOT WHEN YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A STUPID SELFISH TEENAGER WITH STUPID IDEAS. Fuck you if you hurt my Tattletale and the good hero Chevalier. FUCK YOU :mad:!
Just try to get your hands on Krouse. A powerful Master like Teacher can't wait to get another obedient student. Of course, with the condition that you can break inside Birdcage.
Congratulations, Chevalier, for refusing this sick deal with the Mogwai (Chinese Devil). They want your heroes to add to their sick and demented hive mind then you'll lose them forever, they will never give back anyone. Chevalier is smart and care for his people. I like him quite a lot :D.


A laser with one hand, a vacuum sphere with another, pulling Chevalier off balance.

Again, it didn't work. The man barely reacted as the vacuum sphere caught his legs. He
aimed his weapon, and a combination of danger sense and a nullification wave stopped the
shot in the chamber, disabling the gun.

The x-ray vision was barely penetrating the sword or armor. Cody had to duck, back up and rely on his enhanced reflexes to avoid Chevalier's attacks. He had forty-four powers and not one was letting him beat, what, a swordsman in a suit of armor?

It was the lack of the power boost. The Yàngbǎn were only strong as a group, granting the aura to one another. Here, now, he was feeble. Forty powers, and not one of them sufficient.

Always second best. Always alone, Cody thought. No.

Keeping the laser trained on Chevalier, he used his own power. Perdition's power. The
thirty-sixth path.

Chevalier was moved back to where he was seconds ago. Cody backed out of the way, kept
the laser trained on the hero, and the instant his opponent got too close, he used his power again. It barely set Chevalier back two seconds, but it was enough.

Slow, steady, inevitable progress. Time was one of the fundamental forces of the universe, undeniable.

Accord and the girl in lavender made a sudden attempt to run to the door. Cody created a forcefield to bar their way.

They reached for phones. He used a vacuum sphere to pull them away.

It took nearly a minute to cut through Chevalier's armor, using the time reversals to effectively put the man on hold while he put some distance between them, and the laser to cut. The man folded over the second the laser pierced flesh, cutting straight from the front of his stomach to his back.


Cody lashed out with the laser. Accord's right arm was lopped off.

Another cut, for the right leg. Accord screamed as he fell.


Think about her. What would she think?
Tattletale's words struck him.

He thought of Thirty-two, and without even deciding to, he used his own power on the pen case, returning it to the state it had been in seconds ago.

He handed it back to Tattletale, then stood, his back to her, as he concentrated.

As goals went, it wasn't much of one. He'd barely talked to her. As far as kindnesses went,
hers had been minor at best. But he'd save Thirty-two.

It took two minutes to carry out the teleport. He didn't have much time before the Yàngbǎn found a free moment to contact Null and rescind his powers. Maybe they were calling
already. Maybe the electromagnetic radiation in the area would block the call.

He'd find a way, regardless.

He felt his power take hold and teleported. Back to the battlefield, back to Thirty-two.
Chest heaving as she greedily sucked in air through the plastic tube she'd jammed into the hole in her throat, Tattletale feebly crawled over to Chevalier. Her strength was depleted before she got halfway.

She stared across the room at Accord and Chevalier's bodies, straining to see if either were breathing.

She managed the only utterance she could, without the ability to bring air from her lungs to her mouth: A click of her tongue. "Tsk."
I SAID I LIKE CHEVALIER QUITE A LOT AND ONE OF THE MOST STUPID AND AWFUL CHARACTERS AND PERSONS IN THIS STORY (CODY) POSSIBLE KILLED HIM. GOSH, DON'T DIE, CHEVALIER, DON'T DIE, YOU FOUGHT BRAVELY AGAINST A PSYCHOPATH WITH 42 POWERS :mad::mad::mad:.
FUCKING ACCORD DESERVED TO DIE. HE STARTED ALL THIS BULLSHIT. HE ALSO DIED ASYMMETRICAL, RIGHT ARM AND RIGHT LEG. IF GHOSTS DO EXIST IN THAT WORLD, HIS GHOST WILL DIE AS WELL IF HE'LL SEE HOW HIS FORMER BODY LOOKS LIKE IN DEATH :D. FUCK ACCORD. FUCK YOU SLAVE TRADER. THE WORLD WILL BE A MUCH BETTER PLACE WITHOUT YOU AND YOUR IMPOSSIBLE PLANS.
Cauldron just lost another key person. DOUBLE WIN ;).
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU CODY FOR HURTING MY TATTLETALE :mad::mad::mad:. EXACTLY WHAT I WAS AFRAID HE'LL DO. HE HURT HER PRETTY BAD BUT HE ALSO GAVE HER A CHANCE TO LIVE IN THE LAST MOMENT. THIS DOESN'T EXCUSE WHAT HE DID TO HER. He's on my shit list, very high, higher than Doctor Mother, Cauldron or S9 (without Jack). RIGHT NOW, I HATE HIM ALMOST AS MUCH AS I HATE JACK AND HEARTBREAKER :mad:. Only because he hurt Tattletale and possible killed Chevalier. And killed Accord (even if he DESERVED) when he was so useful. Who knows how many innocent people will die as consequences of this stupid asshole criminal bitch of a man's pure selfish actions?
Tattletale is a super-badass. She faced the Death himself, looked straight into his eyes and survived him. She's a natural born survivor. She survived Jack, Leviathan, Coil, fucking Cody Death, she'll survive to everything and everyone :D. I trust my girl and I feel like Wildbow almost know that her death will be the only turning point for me. I don't know if I'll continue with this story if Lisa will ever die. I can tolerate everything, even the death of billions of people, but NOT Lisa's death. That will be too painful for me :cry:. I'm not sure I'll keep reading after her death...I don't promise anything but I love her character way too much "starts to cry out of blue" Cody Mr Death was so close to kill her...so close :cry:.
I feel very bad for the unlucky girl that Cody wants to "save". She'll be probably his next victim, even if he loves her. She's a nice person as little as I saw her.

Cody now got plenty of enemies who'll be up his ass soon:
UNDERSIDERS (for almost killing Tattletale).
TATTLETALE HERSELF (she can be pretty vengeful and unforgiving with ASSHOLES).
YANGBAN (for betraying them, stealing one of their members and causing troubles to their fight against Behemoth).
AMBASSADORS (ESPECIALLY CITRINE)- avenging their boss (the man she loved).
THE HEROES THEMSELVES (for hurting/killing Chevalier)
CAULDRON (for killing a very important person to them. I think that they're getting sick an tired of having to replace their key people all the fucking time and Doctor Mother will take the problem in Number Man or Contessa' skillful hands :D).
BUT THE WORST ENEMY CODY JUST MADE IS...WEAVER. HE HURT HER BEST FRIEND, SHE'LL ROAST HIM NO MATTER IF IT WILL LOOK BAD FOR THE PUBLIC OR NOT :lol.
HE WILL NOT HAVE HIS ADDITIONAL POWERS ANYMORE ONCE YANGBAN WILL TAKE THEM AWAY FROM HIM SO HE'LL BE COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY FUCKED.

I want to read an entire Interlude with Cody running away from all his new enemies until he can't take anymore and everyone will torture him in the most awful ways possible without giving him a second to rest :D.
I still feel bad for the poor Number 32 girl. Yangban is much better for her than the hell of a life that Cody wants to give her. She should remain there where she's now or run away. ALONE. Unless this bastard will kidnap her.
TATTLETALE ALMOST DIED....
WHAT AN INTERLUDE....:(
Sorry for so many Caps Lock(s), but I was under a total emotional stress during the whole Cody's MASSACRE OF SOME OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS. Please, understand me. Thank you.
What an Interlude...I....I think....
....I loved it. But I also hated it. The only Interlude I equally loved with intensity and hated with intensity :D.
Should I say that....I'm in kismesissitude with this Interlude. Without the sexual attraction, of course ;).

Good night and sleep well, my friends.
 
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Something to keep in mind. The Travelers were all under The Simurgh's influence. What does the third Endbringer do? She uses her precog and mind control powers to set people up as living missiles aimed at humanity. Noelle. Cody. Two shots fired by Ziz, out of how many total? This is the power of the scariest Endbringer.
 
Something to keep in mind. The Travelers were all under The Simurgh's influence. What does the third Endbringer do? She uses her precog and mind control powers to set people up as living missiles aimed at humanity. Noelle. Cody. Two shots fired by Ziz, out of how many total? This is the power of the scariest Endbringer.

I know they're under Simurgh's influence but I don't see this as an excuse for Cody fucking up with the lives of probably millions of people in just a couple of moments. Marisa was also under Simurgh's influence. Did she fucked up? No, she saved lives. Jess was under the same influence as everyone else. Did she fucked up? Absolutely not. Oliver, the same. What did he do? Nothing bad at all, he only took care of Noelle. Noelle fucked up but she was desperate enough to survive to her wounds. Its an acceptabile excuse. Krouse fucked up but he was a desperate idiot în love. Not an excuse, but neither a nonsese situation.
Cody was an asshole before Simurgh, that was clear, her influence only made him a bigger asshole, and probably more vengeful, but this is not an excuse to fuck up over the long term more than Echidna and Krouse ever fucked up. How many people will die because Cody wanted to get his revenge NOW and not wait until the end of the battle and he became obsessed with saving a girl that she probably doesn't want to be saved or be his girlfriend? I'm telling you, more than Echidna killed or had the intentions to kill.
Simurgh is an excuse for Cody becoming more of an asshole but is not an excuse for his own personal selfish and impulsive caracter and his lack of inteligence. He is his own responsability. FUCK HIM. :mad:
 
I know they're under Simurgh's influence but I don't see this as an excuse for Cody fucking up with the lives of probably millions of people in just a couple of moments. Marisa was also under Simurgh's influence. Did she fucked up? No, she saved lives. Jess was under the same influence as everyone else. Did she fucked up? Absolutely not. Oliver, the same. What did he do? Nothing bad at all, he only took care of Noelle. Noelle fucked up but she was desperate enough to survive to her wounds. Its an acceptabile excuse. Krouse fucked up but he was a desperate idiot în love. Not an excuse, but neither a nonsese situation.
Cody was an asshole before Simurgh, that was clear, her influence only made him a bigger asshole, and probably more vengeful, but this is not an excuse to fuck up over the long term more than Echidna and Krouse ever fucked up. How many people will die because Cody wanted to get his revenge NOW and not wait until the end of the battle and he became obsessed with saving a girl that she probably doesn't want to be saved or be his girlfriend? I'm telling you, more than Echidna killed or had the intentions to kill.
Simurgh is an excuse for Cody becoming more of an asshole but is not an excuse for his own personal selfish and impulsive caracter and his lack of inteligence. He is his own responsability. FUCK HIM. :mad:
All was a part of Ziz keikaku.
 
I wonder if the Simurgh actually influenced Cody into the attack, or just positioned him in the right place and let his personality do the rest.

Either way, Ziz is a great team player helping out her older bro like this. great to see such a supportive family.
 
Crushed 24.1
Hi, my friends. Last time, there was an Interlude. An Interlude that I equally hated and I loved. The second interlude that I had extreme mixed feelings for it (the first one was Carol Interlude- I felt a deep sadness for everything that happened until Amelia got to Birdcage but also a deep happiness when she finally meet her father :)). A lot of things happened during Fuck You Cody/YangBan Interlude. First, the whole Yangban bullshit reminded me of a phrase from a very popular dystopian book
"If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a PARAhuman face - forever."
(George Orwell- 1984. I recommend reading this book) Yep, this is what Yangban are doing. Treat parahumans (basically human beings who are a bit different from regular human beings only because they have powers and they're partially influenced by aliens) as SLAVES, good only to fight to protect Mother China, their individuality is forbidden to them and on top of everything their own life/body/mind are strictly controlled like they're only pieces of a huge paramilitary machine. Absolute disgusting. Slavery- Brainwashing- Mind Control. Everything I HATE is comprised in a single organisation that proved to be worse than even Cauldron (yes, Cauldron kidnaps random people and turn them into "monsters" then they wipe their minds so they forget everything about their kidnappers and tormentors BUT they still have their personalities intact, they're still their own individuals and are free to live their lives- as bad as their lives are now but they're allowed to be free people at least). But Yangban DESTROY people's minds turning them into slaves for the Red China FOREVER :o:o:o. No more freedom, no more individuality. If Cauldron is the face of the experiments made by fascists (numbers tattooed, experiments on people), Yangban is the face of communism's destruction of individuality and brainwashing. Both of them are bad, but MIND CONTROL scares me a lot more than body horror (this is one of the main reasons why I hate Masters' powers. The other one is that most of Masters are fucking assholes and jerkfaces ;)).
From the same Interlude, I also learn a lot of stuff about Fuck You Cody. Most important: EVERYONE SHOULD BE AFRAID OF FUCK YOU CODY BECAUSE HE'S THE KIND OF PERSON WHO'S ALMOST AS DESTRUCTIVE AS AN ENDBRINGER, WITHOUT BEING A S-CLASS HIMSELF.
Imagine Fuck You Cody being involved in different and completely unrelated situations:
-A child losing their toy:
Cody: Don't worry, kid, I'll get you a new toy.
The poor child runs away, screaming.
For God' sake, Cody.

-A girl breaking up with her boyfriend:
Cody: Don't worry, beauty, I'll be your new boyfriend.
The poor girl faints.
For God' sake, Cody.

-Broken Victoria asking for her sister to come and heal her:
Cody: Don't worry, I'll bring her for you.
Broken Victoria lifts from bed using her OWN FEET then runs out of Asylum, screaming from all her mouths.
For God' sake, Cody.

-Cauldron complaining that they lost another man:
Cody: Don't worry, you can recruit me.
Doctor Mother: Doormaker, can you open a portal to an Earth where he can't find us? Pleeeeeeease...Do it. QUICKLY!
For God' sake, Cody.

Bonesaw getting bored because she's all alone for two years:
Cody: Can I keep you company, little girl?
Bonesaw shivers and cries: MOOOOOOOOOOOOMMYYYYYYY!
For God' sake, Cody.

Cody finds the portal to his Earths and want to walk through it:
Finally, home.
Earth Aleph moves by itself from ITS OWN ORBIT.
For God' sake, Cody.

Cody getting angry on Simurgh for his messy life:
Why you did this to me, you bitch?
Simurgh telepathically replying: I'm sorry, I think I went too far "freezes in the midair for the rest of the year".
Fuck you Cody, you're scaring everyone!

Leaving the (no) jokes aside, the situation is pretty awful, if not downright horrible: Tattletale is injured, she's alive but I doubt that she can talk for a while and talking is her main weapon+ a precious tool for everyone else :(. Chevalier- one of the BRAVEST heroes- got an ugly scar across his stomach and back but maybe he's not dead (MAYBE) and Accord is VERY ASYMETRICAL DEAD. Millions of innocents will probably die because Cody killed a strategist and incapacitated another one because this asshole couldn't wait until the battle was over and Behemoth forced to leave to punish the man who sold him :cry:. Cody will probably die because he have now like hundreds of very pissed enemies and his death will be very satisfactorily but how many people will die as a direct consequence of his actions?
A NEW ARC...CRUSHED. This title is as optimistic as Extermination was :(. Can't wait to read it and.... lose count of Behemoths' kills Crushed 24.1

Each time I stopped, I took a second to try to grasp the situation. The streets were flooded with people, and it was only getting worse. The troops we had on the ground were struggling to make headway, and from my vantage point, I could tell that things were getting worse.


"Tecton!" I called out, as I returned to my roost.

He looked up at me. Even with his heavy body armor, he was struggling with the mass of people who were pushing and squeezing their way past him.

I pointed, "Go through the building! ASAP!"

He looked at the building, then raised his gauntlets. The piledrivers slammed into the wall,
punching out a rough, door-shaped hole.

He strode through, then did the same for another exterior wall. The Chicago Wards flowed
through.
Weaver is flying and ready to kick Endbringers' ass. But she's out of Endbringers' ass. Does Behemoth have an ass too? I don't remember that his description mentioned the existence of an ass. Anyway, he's enough of an asshole to need another ass :lol. Oh, Weaver, if only you'd know that Tattletale and Chevalier are injured (I refuse to believe that Chevalier is dead until I'll get the confirmation)...Maybe if she'll send bugs everywhere to scout for her, probably she'll discover the disaster that happened in the control room and let everyone know that Chevalier is injured and save his life in this way. Tattletale is injured herself and can't talk, I don't think she'll be able- given these conditions- to help Chevalier. But Weaver...Weaver can save him.
I like how Weaver works with Tecton. They're making a good team and...I almost ship her with him (I don't give a fuck that Weaver doesn't like Tinkers too much, I ship whatever I want ;)). He's a nice guy, smart and heroic and he'll probably have a good influence on Weaver in the same manner she can make him act more badass and without being afraid of his own limits. They can help each other a lot. Unless Tecton have already a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Or he's asexual. Or he doesn't like Taylor's personality type. Or Taylor herself still can't forget Brian :(.
Btw, I noticed something. Wards (including Weaver) are wearing metal armors. Behemoth have power of lighting. Their armors are basically LIGHTING CONDUCTORS. So, they're living targets for Behemoth. WTF are you wearing, you stupid children? Who told you that wearing metal around Behemoth is the best idea? This idea can seriously win a Darwin Prize, man :(. Now I'm starting to wonder if Accord wasn't more logical when he made his people to dress in an elegant manner than whoever made heroes into LIVING TARGETS FOR BEHEMOTH. My head hurts seeing so much stupidity EVERYWHERE.

"Reshape it," he said. He was still half-walking, half-jogging, but he stretched a white-gloved hand out four feet, touching a sign. His hand smeared against it as though it were more liquid than solid, coloring it the same white as his glove. The sign oozed back into the wall, virtually disappearing, and Annex removed his hand, slowly reeling in the extended flesh. The sign remained where it was, compressed against the wall, the surface flat.


Golem had to stop running to demonstrate. He dropped to one knee and plunged a hand into the street.

Ahead of us, there was a crash, a grinding noise. A hand made of pavement was reaching out of the ground, five feet long from the base of the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. The fingers seemed to move in slow motion as the hand pushed against stopped cars that were sort
of in our way, shoving them to one side of the road.


When she didn't pull herself together enough to reply, Tecton set a heavily armored hand on her shoulder, "She's a metallokinetic. Shape and move metal, short-range, including the stuff she's wearing. Some enhanced strength and durability, too."
More stuff about powers. Hell, yeah. Annex is like an inverse Vista. He merges himself with the objects around, turning himself into some kind of living space. A bit complicated, but very cool power. I was right about Golem. He's an earthbender. But he can also affect metal or any other available surface. Affect metal like his father but have additional influence on stone too. He creates huge metal and stone hands (how cool is that? I love his power. Wildbow is a MASTER at creating some of the most original powers I've ever seen :D), its enough for him to stick his hand inside a rock or piece of metal then crush his enemies with giant hands coming out of ground. He can crush Jack for death if he isn't interrupted by something else. Faster than Jack can cut him with his knives. AWESOME. However, I don't want to see Jack being crushed to death. He doesn't deserve to die so fast. Cuff is a metalbender as I said first time when I meet her. She also seem pretty innocent- no, Weaver, don't judge her, she's scared shirtless, yes, but she's there because deep down she's a hero and she wants to do heroic things despite not being exceptionally brave. I admire her for being like this: she wants to save lives even if she's afraid for her own life. This is the exactly opposite of being a selfish coward. I just want to hug her. She's cute :D.
Finally, they noticed that they're lighting rods. Congratulations but you still got Darwin Prize for demonstrating on your own skin that wearing metal armor during a fight with a SENTIENT STORM OF LIGHTING is not the smartest idea ever. Don't try this at home, kids ;).

"You sure?" Tecton asked. "Because this makes a pretty good lightning rod on its own."


Both Annex and his costume merged into the base of the tower, and gradually climbed up to the point where the upper part still stood. He could only 'annex' part of the object at one time, it seemed. No surrounding a whole building. He set about breaking the bonds, and the crane's arm began to bend. Cuff caught one end of it, then began heaving it towards the tower's base. The other half snapped off, and Annex helped guide it down, sliding it against the crane's shaft.


"Middle finger extended," Grace suggested. "A big 'fuck you' to the Endbringer."

"That'd look bad for the PRT," Tecton told her.

"Tell them it's the most efficient form," she said, with a shrug. "Have to make it as tall as possible."

"No," Tecton said. "Index finger would work nearly as well, and New Delhi might take offense at a metal statue of an obscene gesture in the middle the disaster area."

"A 'v'," Cuff suggested, making the gesture with her index and middle fingers. Her voice was shaky, her confidence rock bottom. "For victory. Almost as good."
Annex's power is absolute fascinating. He can avoid being injured if he's cornered by merging with the stuff around him. He can be the best spy (almost as good as Imp) if he's lucky that hew doesn't have to spy on Masters. He can break things apart or pull them back together. His power have plenty of utilities :D.
They're building a lighting rod using a crane, a tower and Gollem's giant hands? For what? Hmmm, maybe they want to use their lighting rod to distract Behemoth's attention so they can act behind his back. I don't know what they can do to him and they don't have Tattletale to help them with informatiom about his weaknesses but if I were in their place, I'll distract this attention in order to have enough time to save as many injured people as possible. Maybe they can't defeat Behemoth but they can save lives. Knowing Weaver, this is probably what she have in her mind too.
Awww, Cuff is a little ball of cuteness <3. "V" for Victory instead of Middle Finger? Awww, why not Middle Finger, Cuff? I like Grace idea more but Cuff is too much of a sweetheart and respectful towards New Delhi's citizens to offend them with the Finger. She's so considerate, I barely know her and I already like her. Well, I'll be less considerate and use the Finger but I agree with Cuff too ;).
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay for "V" for Victory. Or...."V" for Vendetta?


A lightning bolt lanced out from the midst of the cloud of smoke, striking the hand.

There were whoops and cheers from the Chicago Wards. I managed a smile.


"A 'v'," Golem said, his voice small.

"I get it. You're calling Behemoth a big vagina."

"It's for victory," Cuff said, sounding annoyed.

"That's lame," Imp said.

"Really lame," Regent echoed, "I prefer the vagina thing."

"Way you dress," Grace commented, "I wasn't so sure."

"Ohhhhh," Imp cut in, she elbowed Regent, "Ohhhhh. You going to take that?"

Regent only laughed in response, shaking his head.

"Is the little princess feeling brave?" Grace taunted Regent. "Come on."
Yessssssssss "applause" :D:D:D. They did it, they really did it! They can save as many people as possible now that Behemoth doesn't pay them any attention, being too busy with "V" and Legend/Eidolon's attacks. Too bad I can't enjoy this scene as much as I wanted because my mind keeps bringing me at 3 questions: is Tattletale really ok? Is Chevalier still alive? Will Fuck You Cody be FUCKED? Can't be happy if I don't know what I should know :(
Scion is "busy" like always. He'd rather save cats from trees than people from Endbringers. What are humans for this golden alien after all? He got the "priorities" right. They should need a Scion Signal or call Lisette everytime when they're in deep shit. If Lisette is the one who control Scion now maybe she can call him, I don't know, telepathically? She must have developed a method of communication with Scion just like Kevin Norton apparently had, when he asked Scion to do stuff for him and the Flying Oscar listened him. But they don't know about Lisette and can't contact her. They don't even know about Kevin. Unless Kevin or Lisette will be willing to contact them.
Regent and Imp are delicious as always :lol. Still not enough funny dialogue to make me NOT FORGET about Tattletale and Chavelier. If they only know about them...

When everyone was gone, Grue approached me. I felt myself tense up. Despite the adrenaline that already pumped through me, my heart rate picked up as he closed the distance.

He held my arms just above the elbows, very nearly encircling his middle fingers and thumbs around them. Large hands, thin arms. I'd put on a little muscle mass over the past few months, or he'd be able to do it for real.

And he rested his forehead against mine, as if he were leaning against me, despite the fact that he was maybe half-again to twice my weight.


The one I was helping was a child, burned. She wasn't any older than ten.

She said something incomprehensible. Another language.

"English?" I asked.

She only stared at me, unable to understand me any more than I understood her. Her eyes were a little glazed over, but the pain in her expression and the fear suggested that the benefits of being in shock were receding.


"Why did you come?" I asked. "I mean, I get why we all came, on a level, but… no offense, you're in a totally different headspace."

"For my mom and dad," she said.
Poor burned little girl :(. She's injured and scared and traumatized. She doesn't understand english and her parents probably died. Man, its not enough that I'm sad over Chevalier and Tattletale, now I have to be sad for poor civilians, for so many people who'll die because of Behemoth and Fuck You Cody Perdition. So many innocent lives wasted between an animal monster's hate for humanity and a human monster's pure selfishness. My heart cries for every single lost soul. This is exactly what I hate (among other things). Seeing innocents dying :cry:. I'd rather prefer seeing heroes/heroic villains (except for Tattletale because I'm her bitch, that's why ;)) sacrificing their lives for civilians, because this is a hero's ultimate job, right? You're doing an excellent job, Weaver, Bitch, saving as many innocents as possible. Bitch is using her dogs to carry wounded. Bitch, my respect for you is going over...


Sorry, couldn't help myself :p. I think nobody will approve me using old memes instead of new ones...
"Number Man approves"
YOU'RE THE LAST PERSON THAT I NEED TO APPROVE ME, YOU HOT ASSHOLE. MOVE YOUR NAKED ASS ON THE BATTLEFIELD AND ACTUALLY HELP, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HELP :mad::mad:!!!
Weaver and Grue hugged. What a nice moment between two ex-lovers >3 >3. Its nice and sad and beautiful and hopeless...My heart will cry bloody tears if Grue will die now because this whole "last hug" seems like a huge ass red flag to me, weaving from the top center of the Great Wall. Undersiders are awesome and everything, but they're still humans and Death avoided them so far but one day, it will notice them and they'll not be so lucky anymore.
Cuff is love, Cuff is life :D. She's fighting Behemoth for her parents, not for herself, neither for the rest of the heroes. Nothing is more moving and emotional than fighting to protect your family. FAMILY SHOULD MATTER FIRST, MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE. FAMILY SHOULD BE A SACRED THING FOR ANYONE, well as long as they don't have an awful family. If Cuff fights for her parents then they must be good parents, right :D?


"Send this message to Defiant," I said. "You said she was dead. You said you verified."

The reply crackled so badly it was almost inaudible. "Reply from Defiant. I saw the body myself, we checked her DNA, her … readings, we matched against the mountings for her prosthetic eye … carbon dated it to verify."

He didn't even need to ask who I meant.

I pressed the button, "Ask Defiant who the hell that's supposed to be, if it's not Alexandria."
Weaver, I just want to smack you. That flying brick is NOT Alexandria you know and you understandable hate. That is Pretender taking over Alexandria almost dead body "wants to puke over all this Master bullshit power and strategy :o" and he's using her to fight Behemoth. Think, my sweet summer child, think. Alexandria is fucked. You fucked her lungs with your bugs. Pretender have this vomit inducing power. He got "kidnapped" by Cauldron. Alexandria was Cauldron's most dedicated agent. Why they did "kidnapped" someone who can POSSESS BODIES? Just to have him knitting fedoras and pants for Contessa and Number Man :D? Weaver, right now you're too tired to think. Try to rest for like few seconds then you'll realize that the man you lost to Cauldron is the same controlling Alexandria's body. At least PreAlexandria is helping. Cauldron is helping even if not enough. Where is Contessa and Number Man? They're too busy collecting more people for Doctor Mother's fucked up experiments, eh :mad:? Thank you for HALPING, jerks, but you're still jerks. I'm sure that PreAlexandria is not as strong like normal Alexandria was but any help is welcomed, right?
Scion, how many people will have to keep dying until you'll get your shit done by doing what Kevin asked you to do :mad:? The most powerful being in the story is the most useless piece of shit. Useless until he'll probably meet Jack and let himself being influenced by him. Then you'll see how USEFUL he'll become. Useful like...destroying one Earth at every single minute :p.
MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.........


I think I found Yangban victory sign :(

Good night and sleep well, my friends.
 
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I wonder if the Simurgh actually influenced Cody into the attack, or just positioned him in the right place and let his personality do the rest.

Either way, Ziz is a great team player helping out her older bro like this. great to see such a supportive family.

I think that Simurgh positioned him in the right place and just let his EXTREMELY SELFISH personality to do the rest. Half is Simurgh's fault (but she's a great sister/mother- from Enbringers' POV, protecting her family like this. She knows that nothing is more sacred that one's family ;)), half is Cody's disgusting selfish nature's fault. He cared more for his personally revenge than for millions of innocent lives. Now, seeing what an asshole he's, I doubt that he truly love Number 32, his Yangban teammate. Maybe is lust or infatuation or just a crush but this boy...he can't love anyone else but himself. He's only: I, mine, I, mine...Just my humble opinion, anyone can believe what they want or feel like is right ;).
However, he showed a pang of pity when he almost killed Tattletale but Tattletale kind of manipulated him with her always well- chosen words.
 
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I think that Simurgh positioned him in the right place and just let his EXTREMELY SELFISH personality to do the rest. Half is Simurgh's fault (but she's a great sister/mother- from Enbringers' POV, protecting her family like this. She knows that nothing is more sacred that one's family ;)), half is Cody's disgusting selfish nature's fault. He cared more for his personally revenge than for millions of innocent lives. Now, seeing what an asshole he's, I doubt that he truly love Number 32, his Yangban teammate. Maybe is lust or infatuation or just a crush but this boy...he can't love anyone else but himself. He's only: I, mine, I, mine...Just my humble opinion, anyone can believe what they want or feel like is right ;).
However, he showed a pang of pity when he almost killed Tattletale but Tattletale kind of manipulated him with her always well- chosen words.
Everyone is selfish.
But you can use your selfinesh for the good of others,on the other hand...
 
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Crushed 24.2
Hello, my dear friends. Last time, we got a kick- ass message addressed to Behemoth, the giant V for Victory (even if a giant middle finger would have been a better choice :wink2:), Behemoth burning and killing civilians as usual :frown2:, Weaver saving lives as usual, Undersiders making team with Wards to fight against the lighting kaiju and Fuck You Cody still alive, free and possible doing even more stupid and destructive things 🤬. We also got Cauldron's involvement, with them sending Pretender in Alexandria's body to help the rest of Triumvirate keeping Behemoth busy enough so he won't kill more heroes and civilians. Maybe things happened in just one Chapter. And it is the first Chapter of an Arc with such an adorable title: CRUSHED. Can't think at more adorable and optimistic titles than this one 😒.
We also got a lot of new cool powers, something like:
Gollem's power


Annex's power
....and Cuff's power

Cuff is too adorable to continue to live in such a dark and horrible world....Oh, no, forget what I just said. SHE MUST SURVIVE. Even in such a dark and horrible world. It needs more people like her 🙂 Crushed 24.2


If I'd had any doubt it was Alexandria, it was banished when she followed up the attack. Behemoth started to rise to his feet, and Alexandria struck. It wasn't a punch with a great deal of wind-up, and she only crossed fifty or sixty feet before driving it home, but the impact was undeniable.
Behemoth absorbed the blow, and redirected it into the ground. He didn't move, as though the blow had never struck home, but the ground around him shattered like the surface of a mirror. Fragments of rock and clouds of dust flew up around him, and a three-story building on its last legs tumbled over. The damage to the ground made him sink a fraction.

In a fashion, she was doing the same thing the lightning rod had been, buying all of the rest of us a small reprieve. There was no guarantee, and there wouldn't be any until he was driven off or we moved a hundred miles away, but she was making the rest of this just a little easier, reducing the destruction
just a fraction unless he specifically took the time to work around her.


"Alexandria," I said.

"You murdered Alexandria," Regent commented. "Remember? You're a horrible person, doing things like that."

"You leave her alone!" Imp said, uncharacteristically. "She feels so bad she'sseeing things."

"Can we try to stay serious?"

"Don't be too hard on them," Tecton said. "Some people use humor to deal with bad situations."

"It's true," Regent said, affecting a knowing tone.

"No," Grue responded. "They're just idiots. You two keep your mouths shut. The adults are talking."
Imp raised her middle fingers at him.

He turned to me, "It's Alexandria? You're sure?"

"Can you ever be sure of anything? Clones, alternate realities, healing abilities… there's any number of possibilities."
In the distance, a glowing orange sphere flew into the sky. It reached a peak, then descended, crashing into the distant skyline.
Poor Weaver, she still have no idea that Alexandria is not Alexandria but Pretender pretending to be Alexandria. Come on, Weaver, is not that hard to think and MAKE CONNECTIONS. Anyway, looks like Pretender is pretty good at controlling Alexandria's powers that are still intact, but he doesn't have any experience with her way of fighting. Understandable. Behemoth doesn't recognize the trick, he doesn't have any idea that he's not fighting Alexandria anymore, only her avatar. Alright, just keep him busy enough time for heroes to evacuate/save the injured. Thank you for helping, Pretender. You're an ass and a traitor, but at least you're helping 😁. Any help matters.

"Message from Defiant," my armband declared. "Alexandria confirmed gone from PRT custody."

"For now it's an unknown factor," I said. "And there's one really big knownfactor that's tearing through this city, and we should be devoting all our attention to it. To Behemoth"

He narrowed his eyes. Except that wasn't the sum total of the change in his expression. His face hardened, drew tighter, high cheekbones somehow more prominent in the dim, lips pressed together. "No."

"No?"

"Not our duty. Yours."

"It's everyone's duty."

"We handle enemy you don't see, you costumes help enemies above ground. Scare Prathama away."

Like it's that easy. "We need your help. Everyone's help."

"No. We show ourselves, and all ends badly. We fight subtle war. Better to lose today and fight subtle war tomorrow."

Better to let Behemoth win than to show themselves and lose whatever edge they hold against their current enemies?

"You see me, I am done. Finished. You see all of us, they are done. No."

Maybe India had its own share of capes, on the same scale as the Slaughterhouse Nine. Cleverer capes who worked in the background.

Or maybe they were just deluded, too set in their ways, afraid to fight and searching for excuses.

"Go. Defeat him," he told me.

Grue was waiting. Or Grue was coming down here, maybe, with Rachel and the others. If they saw him, an intruder without invitation, would they act?

"Okay," I said. "We need a vehicle if, um…"

I trailed off as I mentally registered what my bugs were sensing.

A rush of cool, air-conditioned air in a space that had no right to have any, off to one side, the appearance of a person where there shouldn't be any.

"Weaver?"

I'd stopped talking, my attention caught by this visitor. She was close. All of the details matched the person I'd sensed inside the Kulshedra. The clothes, the hair, the dimensions, even the way she moved.

Purposeful, unhurried.

"It's her. The one who took Pretender."
Weaver got confirmation that Alexandria's body was stolen, but she can't still make the connection between heroes losing Pretender to Cauldron and who stole Alexandria's body and why. Man, Weaver, you're too tired. Go to sleep then you'll feel much better, I think. But she can't because she NEEDS TO SAVE LIVES. She can't rest when she's so damn busy 😁.
Wow, the indian COLD parahumans are truly COLD. They don't even want to cooperate with Weaver and her Merry Band of Heroes and Villains. They want to fight alone. Stupid...stupid, stupid, stupid. When you have such a murderous kaiju coming to destroy everyone's ass, you still refuse to work with heroes from other countries in order to stop him from RUINING YOUR OWN COUNTRY ☹. Good thinking, indian cold parahumans. I'm impressed "vomits tons of sarcasm all over keyboard".
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand....HELLO, CONTESSA, WHAT'S UP 🕵️‍♀️? Why did you come here? To help people fighting Behemoth? To use your instant win power to kick Behemoth's ass and save New Delhi? Bullshit. She's there to KIDNAP more people in order to use them for Doctor Mother's SICK EXPERIMENTS 👩‍⚕️. You can't convince me that she won't do that. Well, I hope that she'll also offer some helpful advises, but maybe I'm way too naive when it comes to motherfucker Cauldron.

"No!" I called out, once I realized what was happening. I thought of what the Eidolon clone had said, about them experimenting on people, kidnapping people from alternate worlds. "You can't trust her!"

But the people here were scared. Once the first few people tentatively made their way through, they ran for safety, running out into the open field,
disappearing behind tall wild grass.


"What the hell is Cauldron doing? Do you want to start a war?"

She shook her head. "No war. But we need soldiers."

That was all the confirmation I needed.

"Wards!" I called out. My bugs and my Wards converged on her.
Contessa just confirmed that I wasn't wrong about her intentions. Thank you, Contessa. Much appreciate. You're halping. Really, truly halping (well, at least they convinced Pretender to kick Behemoth's ass as Alexandria which is the nicest thing that Cauldron did so far). Well, ok, what are you planning, Weaver? Please, don't tell me that you're going to ATTACK her. Weaver, this bitch defeated (while alone) some of the strongest mercenaries in this world, Faultline's Crew. She also literally destroyed Kenta's thugs and created a motherfucking dragon. Weaver, you'll lose to her 😬. You don't know her power, you don't know her weaknesses, you don't know her fighting style, you don't know nothing about her. DON'T FIGHT HER. DON'T SACRIFICE THE LIVES OF THE HEROES UNDER YOUR LEAD BECAUSE YOU WANT TO PROVOKE CONTESSA. She CAN and she'll kill everyone if she's pissed enough. Maybe Golem and Tecton can do some damage to her but if she's a Combat Thinker with precog power as I predicted then she'll be aware of every single attack and evade it with the grace of a feline. She's that good, Weaver, trust me. She's a bitch, but she's excellent when it comes to kicking ass. Don't do something that you're going to regret very soon 😠.

"Coordinate!" I said, my voice tight. I activated the thrusters on my flight pack in an attempt to tear way, but she wrenched me to one side, tilting my upper body while using one leg to block my lower body from following suit. The end result was that the thruster only pushed me into the wall. I managed to avoid slamming my head against the surface, but I was now pinned against a solid surface. She still had my wrist behind my back.

Dodge this, I thought. I commanded my bugs to attack from every direction.

The Wards were taking my order seriously, attacking simultaneously. Annex was looming, a spectre in the ground, raising up to try to engulf her, Golem was beside a wall, already reaching into it, and Tecton was kneeling, pressing his gauntlets against the ground. Cuff and Grace had heard my order, and were stepping into view, advancing from behind the others.

The woman laid her free hand over the hand she was twisting behind my back. Then she pressed my own fingers down into my palm, hard.

The control mechanism, I thought. Too late. My bug was already moving towards the off switch when the thruster kicked in. She swept my feet out from under me, and the thruster drove me into the ground. The bug touched the off switch, but the impact had locked up the controls.

I hit Annex on my way down, buying the woman time to step back out of his reach. The bug managed to turn off the thruster, but I was already sliding across the floor, right through the lower half of Wanton's telekinetic storm body and straight into Tecton's gauntlets.

The piledrivers fired into the ground a fraction of a second after I bumped into the gloves. He'd likely aimed to place an effect directly beneath her, but my collision with the gloves had knocked his aim off by a fraction. It was directed into a wall, creating a crack ten feet high.

The crack, in turn, summarily severed Golem's outstretched hand of granite.

The woman pulled her suit jacket off and held it out, sweeping it through the air to catch the thickest collection of my swarm within. She folded it closed, simultaneously breaking into stride, heading right for Wanton. Grace and Cuff were just behind him, with Tecton directly behind them, and Golem and I off to one side. Annex was still pulling his spacial-distortion body together into something more useful.
Bug Hoe, don't do it...
Weaver:....Does it!
OH MY GAWD!!! 😱😱😱
Weaver, go to fucking sleep, you're fucking tired. You're so dumb that I'm almost under the impression that someone stole your brains. First, you have no idea who that "Alexandria" really is, second you ATTACKED Contessa without her attacking first despite everyone telling you that she's the BOOGEYMAN OF CAPES 💀. More than that, you're forcing the rest of the heroes to fight her. I hate Contessa for what she represents (but she's starting to become the only Cauldron member that I like and I actually give a fuck about) but I hate stupidity more than I hate her. You DESERVE to have your ass kicked by her, Weaver, I'm not going to support you when its clearly that not Contessa started this fight in the middle of a humanitarian disaster created by an unstoppable monster. Instead of conserving your forces and fight Behemoth, you're attacking Contessa like a bunch of morons. I understand that she must be stopped from kidnapping more people, but its not the right time now ☹. As long as her weaknesses are unknown, you can't really stop her, Weaver, and she'll probably kill some heroes who might be useful in Behemoth's Battle. Your lack of logic and constructive strategy HURTS me, Weaver. With all their sins, Cauldron probably hate Endbringers as much as everyone else (except for Endbringers's Fallen Brides, of course) and Contessa is not there to help Behemoth or stop heroes from killing him. Behemoth is your common enemy right now, there's still time for Cauldron after New Delhi will be safe. Gosh, I'm so frustrated right now with Weaver's decision that I feel good seeing Contessa beating the crap out of her 🕵️‍♀️🤜🐛.

"What I mean is that I can see the paths to victory. I can carry them out without fail."

I felt my heart skip a beat at that. She'd volunteered an actual answer?

"The fuck?" Grace asked.

"She's lying," Wanton said. "That's ridiculous. It's not even close to fair."

Powers aren't necessarily fair, I thought.


"My power is a form of precognition," she said. "Unlike most such powers, other precognitive abilities do not confuse it. That said, there are certain
individuals it does not work against, the Endbringers included."
Contessa won easily, as expected. She's indeed a Combat Precog using what she calls "Path to Victory" (that should be better called Instant Win). She can win against anyone because she predicts what her enemy will do in the next second and stop them. She can also look into the future and see the best and most optimal path she needs to take in order to obtain an easy victory. Did I got her power right 🙂? I think I did, her power doesn't sound complicated. She's like a walking and talking LUCK and VICTORY. Damn, her power is so freaking OP. I'm sure she must have her weakness (except that Endbringers represent blind spots for her power because they're immune to precogs) but she's not going to tell the heroes she just beat up about it, she's not Weaver stupidity level. Guys, let Contessa leave with her prisoners. I can't believe myself for saying that but what she's doing is less bad compared with what Behemoth is doing. Behemoth kills heroes, civilians, he's BURNING CHILDREN, for God' sake 😢. You can't stop Contessa from doing what she's doing but you can try to stop Behemoth. Or die trying. You can still save civilians. Or die saving. Because...I think that Scion will not save the day this time.


She turned back to us, but she didn't respond. The portal closed, top to bottom.
Contessa basically:
Path to WIN a battle: Instant win.
Path to WIN the heart of a man (or woman): instant win.
Path to WIN at lottery: instant win.
Path to....take out my goddamn fedora: ERROR. This path can't be found. Fedora is part of your scalp. You'll die if you'll forcefully take out.
Contessa: Damn it. My power is not perfect 🕵️‍♀️👎.
Thank you for not hurting anyone, Contessa, you defeated them without causing major wounds. You know that they still need to fight Endbringers and you took care to keep them in relative good condition (compared with what she did to the poor Faultline's people or to Kenta's thugs, she treated the heroes with kid gloves). Good, good, Contessa...Guys, I think I just found the only Cauldron member that I like. Of course I still 1000% hate what she's doing (and I'll always hate it no matter the reasons) but compared with Doctor Mother and Number Man, she's almost like a good person trapped in a bad place :smile2:. Well, if she's indeed a person and not what I think that she might be but I'll explain more once I'll finish with this liveblog.
I think is not wrong if you like a person but you hate their actions, right? For example, I like Bonesaw but I find every single one of her actions too repulsive to even describe in words. I hate her actions so much that sometimes I imagine strangling her until her soul leave her body. But other times I'm asking myself how this child became like that, what turned her into the little monster that we know and loathe :frown2:? Jack must be responsible for this smart, carefree and so broken monster girl's current behavior. Yes, she's just a child, children are usually modeled by the adults in their life. They're like pieces of plasticine that can be used by adults to build anything they want. During these moments, I...I just want to hug Bonesaw and keep her away from Jack. I'm wrong for liking someone whose actions are so fucking WRONG and evil :frown2:?
Contessa might be exactly like Bonesaw. Not a victim to Doctor Mother (however I'll not be surprised if she's actually a victim to Doctor Mother) but a person who choose to do something very wrong despite not being a bad human being herself. Clearly that Contessa is not so bad compared with the cold and merciless Doctor Mother or the cruel and sociopathic Number Man. This is the impression she gave me after her fight with Wards. She could have hurt them, kill them (Number Man TRIED to kill Rime...that hot bastard 🤬) but she choose to make the fight as easy as she could for her without bleeding her adversaries. I'm a hypocrite for hating Cauldron yet not hating Contessa that much? Damn, I feel so morally conflicted when I like/almost like/hate less than I should do someone who's actions are so wrong from my perspective (I also hate some of Taylor's actions but she's one of my favorite characters. WELP!).

"Armband, status of Tattletale?"

"Out of commission."

By all rights, I should have reacted, cried out, declared something. I only felt numb. This was falling apart too quickly.

"Status of the other Undersiders?"

"Two injured. Parian and Grue."


We don't have the organization. Our command structure is down
. Tattletale is gone, either dead or too hurt to fight.

He struck one area with lightning, and explosives detonated. A massive forcefield went up a moment after they triggered, and the explosion was contained within, a cumulative effect that soared skyward.

For a solid twenty, thirty seconds, the sky was on fire, and the Endbringer tore through our defenses, making his way to a building with capes clustered on the roofs. They weren't, at a glance, our offensive capes. They were our thinkers, our tinkers, the ones our front line was supposed to be covering.

The woman in the suit had declined to share the other reason her power wouldn't let her simply solve the Endbringer crisis.

The answer I'd declined to share with the other Wards was a simple one. She had the ability to see the road to victory. Maybe, when it came to the Endbringers, there was nothing for her to see.
Great, more of my favorite characters are injured: Grue and Parian :frown2:. Tattletale is missing in action but I KNOW that she's ok, Chevalier's fate is still uncertain and Accord probably started to rot. Who's going to be the next Ambassadors' boss? Citrine should be, she's his main lieutenant after all. Maybe Citrine will be a less crazy and more emphatic boss than Accord. MAYBE.
Too many deaths because Fuck You Cody couldn't wait for the battle to be over before he killed Accord :mad2:. Too many deaths because Weaver challenged Contessa to an already lost fight instead of actually saving injured. See, this is why I hate stupidity. More people are dying because of someone' stupidity and uncontrollable anger issues than pure malice :frown2:. Weaver, I'm afraid of your next decisions because...well, you weren't very bright so far. You still need time to get used with your hero identity, I'm sure about, but...this is an important battle where people are DYING. Forget that you have issues with your new identity and remember how good you're at strategy, not as Skitter, neither as Weaver, but as Taylor. Before being Skitter or Weaver, you're still Taylor and you'll always be Taylor :smile2:. I need Taylor the STRATEGIC GENIUS , not Weaver the idiotic hero or Skitter the brutal villain. This is not the time for brutality or stupidity. This is the time for NOT ALLOWING BEHEMOTH TO BURN MORE CHILDREN.
Ok, my theory about Contessa: if she's not a person, then maybe she's....Doctor Mother's Projection. Maybe Doctor Mother drank from the same vial as Manton and got similar power, creating an indestructible projection. Maybe the key to defeat Contessa is to...go after Doctor Mother. I guessed correctly that Siberian was a projection back then, maybe I'm going to be right this time too. But I don't wanna to be right because as I said before, I'm starting to like Contessa :frown2:. If she's just a projection projected by Doctor Mother herself and not a real person then...I can't like her anymore (but I'll still be fair and appreciate Doctor Mother a bit for not hurting the heroes).

Good night and sleep well, my friends.
 
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Yeah, this chapter was a big WTF moment for us readers when it first came out. The discussions about the Path to Victory and what limitations it might have was insane.

Most fanfic writers use Contessa as a story element to drive a plot event down certain paths saying "Contessa Did it."

She is basically the equivalent to Fanfic Zelretch from Fate/ for most writers.
 
Yeah, this chapter was a big WTF moment for us readers when it first came out. The discussions about the Path to Victory and what limitations it might have was insane.

Most fanfic writers use Contessa as a story element to drive a plot event down certain paths saying "Contessa Did it."

She is basically the equivalent to Fanfic Zelretch from Fate/ for most writers.

So, I got right her Path of Victory: seeing the best and most favorable (for her) outcomes in a fight (and anything else she's planning to do)? Her only limitations being Endbringers and some unnamed parahumans? Or does she have more? Good that she's OP but not very OP. Everyone should have their limits and weaknesses, after all.
Besides, you just confirmed that her power is indeed Path to Victory. So, she's not a projection but a real person. I feel a little better knowing that she's a real person. Don't tell me more, please 😃.
I have no idea who Zelretch/ what Fate is. Anime? Manga? Game? You can tell me, you won't spoil anything :wink2:.
 
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So, I got right her Path of Victory: seeing the best and most favorable (for her) outcomes in a fight (and anything else she's planning to do)? Her only limitations being Endbringers and some unnamed parahumans? Or does she have more? Good that she's OP but not very OP. Everyone should have their limits and weaknesses, after all.
Besides, you just confirmed that her power is indeed Path to Victory. So, she's not a projection but a real person. I feel a little better knowing that she's a real person. Don't tell me more, please 😃.
I have no idea who Zelretch/ what Fate is. Anime? Manga? Game? You can tell me, you won't spoil anything :wink2:.


More like, "Path to Defeating everyone who goes against Cauldron, using only a Pencil and 1 fingernail."

You've never heard of Fate? It's a massive series that has blown up over the last few years. Lot's of people have posted reaction videos/ Let's Watch's for the different fates. It's actually something I would highly recommend, but it is tricky knowing where to start.

It has a number of prequels, sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations. There are currently 12 Fate Anime's, 7 Movies, a bunch of specials and games.

Zelretch is a very weird and powerful guy who can see the past, present, future, and alternate realities, and travel between all of them. So, he can pop in and do whatever he wants. Plus, he is a massive troll. So, fanfic authors use him for everything. Especially when they want to cross different series's together.


Edit:
Zelretch being a troll is fanon.

I got confused by the fanon! Curses! Coulda sworn the Kaleido stuff and the insane apprentices stuff made it likely.

 
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Speaking as a Fate fan, that video is painfully accurate. And it doesn't even get into the really weird parts of Fate either.

BACK ON TOPIC. Blackarrow seems to have mostly figured out how Contessa's power works, and the rest will be explained eventually IIRC. Been a while since I read the final segments of Worm. And, incidentally, Contessa is also my favorite Cauldron member, so it's nice to see Blackarrow not hating her.
 
Yes Contessa is a character. Now i want know what you think her shard's name is, since you already especulated about Taylor's shard.
 
More like, "Path to Defeating everyone who goes against Cauldron, using only a Pencil and 1 fingernail."

You've never heard of Fate? It's a massive series that has blown up over the last few years. Lot's of people have posted reaction videos/ Let's Watch's for the different fates. It's actually something I would highly recommend, but it is tricky knowing where to start.

It has a number of prequels, sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations. There are currently 12 Fate Anime's, 7 Movies, a bunch of specials and games.

Zelretch is a very weird and powerful guy who can see the past, present, future, and alternate realities, and travel between all of them. So, he can pop in and do whatever he wants. Plus, he is a massive troll. So, fanfic authors use him for everything. Especially when they want to cross different series's together.


Zelretch being a troll is fanon.
 
Zelretch being a troll is fanon.

The guy canonically causes his apprentices to have mental breakdowns. And created Magical Ruby. Fanon does tend to way overplay how much of a troll he is, but Zelretch does pull some trolly moves in canon (Mostly Ruby honestly. If you've watched Fate Best Girl aka Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya you know that's definitely trolling).
 
The guy canonically causes his apprentices to have mental breakdowns. And created Magical Ruby. Fanon does tend to way overplay how much of a troll he is, but Zelretch does pull some trolly moves in canon (Mostly Ruby honestly. If you've watched Fate Best Girl aka Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya you know that's definitely trolling).
I know,he has troll tendencies,but he is not a complete troll.
 
More like, "Path to Defeating everyone who goes against Cauldron, using only a Pencil and 1 fingernail."

You've never heard of Fate? It's a massive series that has blown up over the last few years. Lot's of people have posted reaction videos/ Let's Watch's for the different fates. It's actually something I would highly recommend, but it is tricky knowing where to start.

It has a number of prequels, sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations. There are currently 12 Fate Anime's, 7 Movies, a bunch of specials and games.

Zelretch is a very weird and powerful guy who can see the past, present, future, and alternate realities, and travel between all of them. So, he can pop in and do whatever he wants. Plus, he is a massive troll. So, fanfic authors use him for everything. Especially when they want to cross different series's together.


Edit:


I got confused by the fanon! Curses! Coulda sworn the Kaleido stuff and the insane apprentices stuff made it likely.



Give Contessa a single paperclip and she'll take down a whole army with it 🕵️‍♀️ +📎= 💀

Thank you for telling me about Fate, I'll take a look once I'll have have more time at disposition. Right now I barely have time to read Worm and....read tons of webcomics and watch over 20 different TV series 😜

Zelretch's power sounds like a combination between Contessa and Coil's powers. Can predict the future but also can travel in alternative realities (well, Coil was able to experience alternative realities not travel between them but Zelretch's power is a bit similar with that asshole's power). Is Zelretch a good guy or a bad guy? Please, don't tell me that he's kind of like Coil in terms of personality cause a single Coil was ENOUGH for me (unfortunately, I'm not so lucky, because that Birdcage's cell leader, Teacher, reminds me so much of Coil 😤, but is good that he doesn't seem to have a major role).
 
Zelretch is very much a good guy. Hes... without going into the vargaries of the fate magic system, hes someone who (in addition to being a top level magus normally) has a unique power, Kaleidoscope, which is free travel between parallel worlds (which is otherwise nigh impossible). And since between these worlds time is malleable or something, he can effectively use this for time travel by exiting a world and reentering it at a different point in the timeline. While personally he can be prickly, strange, with weird humor, hes arguably one of the biggest heroes of the setting. His main featis somewhere during the middle ages defeating/killing* crimson moon, the evil embodiment of the moon/first vampire/all around one of the biggest bads of the nasuverse. He himself got vampirized and somewhat crippled in the doing, but it didnt change him mentally, though bizzarely, it seems to have visibly aged him when he was already immortal-ish.

He rarely appears directly, manipulating things from behind the scenes. There may be some confusion about how many Zelretches there actually are between the nigh infinite different timelines.

Hes mostly famous for building Jewel sword Zelretch, an artifact that draws nigh-infinite energy from nigh-infinite parallel worlds, and the Kaleidosticks, devices that can empower a user by dowloading possibilities they could have been from the multiverse onto them. This is effectively a magical girl transformation trinket, but the most known one is sentient and has a weird sense of humor, including loving to put people in extremely stereotypical magical girl outfits, and forcing the to act like sailor moon at her cheesiest.

*something like crimson moon is hard to keep down. Its possible he could return given the right circumstances.
 
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Speaking as a Fate fan, that video is painfully accurate. And it doesn't even get into the really weird parts of Fate either.

BACK ON TOPIC. Blackarrow seems to have mostly figured out how Contessa's power works, and the rest will be explained eventually IIRC. Been a while since I read the final segments of Worm. And, incidentally, Contessa is also my favorite Cauldron member, so it's nice to see Blackarrow not hating her.

Actually I hated her at first and I always hate most of her actions, but she's NOT THAT BAD compared with the rest of her teammates 😁. Plus, I'm starting to fell in love with her fedora 😍.
I'm glad that there are so many emoticons now because I can diversify the emoticons I use to better express my emotions. I even have an emoticon for Contessa 👌🕵️‍♀️. One for Doctor Mother 🤜👩‍⚕️. Another one for Number Man 🤜👱‍♂️👓. Emoticons are GREAT.
Now that I found a likable Cauldron member, only Merchants and nazis remained without any likable member from my perspective. Merchants are gone and nazis are playing now a very small role in the story, they're almost nonexistent entities. I couldn't find a single likable member of these groups. The same for barely known Fallen, the only Fallen I know is their vicious little bitch of their leader. But I think that I'm not going to like these incestuous Endbringers loving cultists 🤮 even if I'll get to know more than Valefor.
Wildbow is awesome at creating some very believable repugnant assholes.
 
Zelretch is very much a good guy. Hes... without going into the vargaries of the fate magic system, hes someone who (in addition to being a top level magus normally) has a unique power, Kaleidoscope, which is free travel between parallel worlds (which is otherwise nigh impossible). And since between these worlds time is malleable or something, he can effectively use this for time travel by exiting a world and reentering it at a different point in the timeline. While personally he can be prickly, strange, with weird humor, hes arguably one of the biggest heroes of the setting. His main featis somewhere during the middle ages defeating/killing* crimson moon, the evil embodiment of the moon/first vampire/all around one of the biggest bads of the nasuverse. He himself got vampirized and somewhat crippled in the doing, but it didnt change him mentally, though bizzarely, it seems to have visibly aged him when he was already immortal-ish.

He rarely appears directly, manipulating things from behind the scenes. There may be some confusion about how many Zelretches there actually are between the nigh infinite different timelines.

Hes mostly famous for building Jewel sword Zelretch, an artifact that draws nigh-infinite energy from nigh-infinite parallel worlds, and the Kaleidosticks, devices that can empower a user by dowloading possibilities they could have been from the multiverse onto them. This is effectively a magical girl transformation trinket, but the most known one is sentient and has a weird sense of humor, including loving to put people in extremely stereotypical magical girl outfits, and forcing the to act like sailor moon at her cheesiest.

*something like crimson moon is hard to keep down. Its possible he could return given the right circumstances.

Wow, he's like a God. I think he'd kick everyone's ass in Worm, except maybe for Endbringers and/or Scion 😀. Don't tell me that there are MORE POWERFUL guys than him in Fate because his power seems already...super-over powered. But, knowing japanese people and their crazy anime, its always a bigger fish in the ocean. Then, an even bigger fish and so on to infinity.
 
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