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

blackarrow · Sep 5, 2019

Birdsie said:
I had mixed feelings, really, but I was mostly sad. Not stricken with heartrending sadness. A part of it may have been the suddenness of the whole thing, but also, he wasn't a good person, definitely, but he wasn't as malicious and power-hungry as his father, and clearly resented him to some degree. His lax attitude also helped endear him a little to me, because I like that kind of free-spirited character. But the way he went out was nobler than most dead people can say for themselves.

I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that whoever he raped and hurt was a mistake of his formative years. Maybe it was, or maybe it wasn't, but you can see that despite his apathy and general lack of care for rules or other people, he cared about his teammates to some degree. He made Shadow Stalker flee with her tail between her legs for Taylor (granted, at little cost to himself,) but now he pretty much sacrificed himself for Imp, since he was likely aware that attracting Behemoth's undivided attention meant certain death. That makes him alright in my books.

Add on top of that what the poster above said about his power. The fact that it was an act of logic for him to sacrifice himself for Imp, that he saw a sort of 'value' in her means it was a noble deed in my eyes; I'd like to think that when he realized it was either her or him, he decided that if he was ever going to try being a hero/good person, then this was the moment.

Either way, mad respect for Regent.

The son of a heartless monster, slaves maker and domestic abuser proved himself to be a hero and a martyr. Yep, Alec wanted to never be like his father and he ended up being the exactly opposite of his father

.

rafuki22 · Sep 5, 2019

blackarrow said:
When I said that you're pretty similar to Alec in terms of personality, I wasn't very wrong . No, don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad to have a personality similar with Alec as long as everything is limited only to personality and not his actions too . Btw, humor me a little, please, if you had Alec's power, what you'd do with it? Imagine yourself being a Master like Alec with the possibility to do anything you want and nobody have any idea of the power you possess. Your first actions?

Yes,I don't care about other people(But I am not a psychopath),but I would do everything I could to help.
After all,just because I don't care about others,doesn't mean I don't have morals or good intentions.
I like happy endings after all,like the end of the steven universe movie,I recommend it.
The power of Alec?
In our world?
I wouldn't use it,or just use it in the most subtle way.

blackarrow · Sep 8, 2019

Hello, my friends. Last time, there was something like: HEROES+ VILLAINS' LAST STAND AGAINST BEHEMOTH'S WRATH. Who'll die? Who'll survive? Will Scion FINALLY MOVE HIS USELESS ASS AND SAVE THE DAY? Because I don't know how they'll survive without Scion's last moment intervention or Behemoth being called by his mommy, Simurgh, because his play time expired and he needs to go to sleep

? Ok, you probably noticed that I wasn't so tense and panicked during this battle as I was during Leviathan Battle . Yes, there were few moments were I had to hold my breath and pray for a miracle: Fuck You Cody fucking everything and almost killing my fav character, Phir Sē ALMOST fucking up everything (I don't think this guy is dead; he probably was saved by his teleporter buddy just in time- he's smart, he'll not risk his life so easy without having some safeguards at his disposition), Imp almost dying followed by Regent' selfless sacrifice. But, during Leviathan Battle, I was tense all the fucking time, without being able to catch a breath. Why this change in my behavior? Maybe because I got used with Endbringers and so many people dying in Wormverse (Wildbow's version of Leviathan was something new to me, besides it was the first time when so many people died in just a single Arc). But this time, I was aware of what Behemoth can do (thanks to Alexandria interlude), I knew that Wildbow have fun killing lots and lots of characters (including lovable characters

) so I was well informed about what I should expect from an Arc called Crushed. You probably noticed too that I'm no longer afraid of Mannequin as I was first time when he made his completely unpleasant apparition. Because I got used with him, I started to know his fighting skills and attacks better while he was fighting the good guys and knowing that underneath that hard shell there were human organs instead of more layers of shells made me see him more like an insane human- cyborg who just happen to look like a living mannequin than an actual living mannequin. I still find him downright creepy and I'm not eager to see his clones in action (not at all, sir) but he doesn't scare me as much as he scared me before I got used with his character

. Look at how much the ordinariness can change someone. I mean, my biggest fear is still mannequins and I feel so bad for Endbringers' victims but Mannequin himself doesn't scare me that much and Endbringers' battles are less tense as the story develops to its end.
Btw, I'd like to tell you the opinions of my best friend and my father about Alec's death. My best friend was very shocked. She couldn't believe that he was death and she still hoped that he was just injured until Aisha confirmed his death. Then she started to cry, just like me. He was her third favorite Undersider.
My father: he didn't cared about his death that much. Or about the character himself. He only cared about Alec's power- he loved his power and he was pissed because he'll never see that power in action again once Alec died

. I think my father is TROLLING me because he knows how much I hate most of Master powers and he always talk with nothing but awe and admiration for this kind of indescribable awful powers. Or maybe he's honest and he truly love Master powers (especially since that he always keep saying how much he'd love to be a Master with the power to "TURN PEOPLE HE DOESN'T LIKE INTO COMPLETE OBEDIENT SLAVES WITH ZERO FREE WILL"

) but this still piss me off to not end. Its hard when your dad loves something that you hate. Its hard and nobody understands...

Looks like we have an Interlude instead of The Last Stand. Ok, either we're going to see The Last Stand through the eyes of everyone involved there (not just Weavers), or have Citrine's backstory and see her reaction after finding out that the sadistic and sexist man of her dreams is fucking dead or have Phir Sē's backstory and find more about the reasons behind his personal vendetta against Endbringers or Chevalier's backstory+ all the heroic feats he did until he got hurt. Lets see how close I'm with my predictions Interlude 24

Hero ushered him into the headquarters. "This is the last one. I'd like you all to meet Chevalier."

There was a chorus of replies. Mumbled greetings with one exceedingly enthusiastic response from a girl in the crowd. It was almost mocking.

Chevalier ventured inside, a touch hesitant. Not afraid. He'd told himself he'd never be afraid again. No. But this was unfamiliar territory. The others were difficult to read. Nine youths.

There was a boy, also, who had a professional looking costume, black and green. It was a costume that had no doubt cost money, with leather and a utility belt, a leaf emblem over his heart. Around him, Chevalier could see a vague nimbus, as though he could see only the brightest and darkest parts of some landscape that the boy stood within.

In the same way that the forest seemed to hang in the periphery of the boy, an older woman loomed just behind the girl. She was kindly in appearance, like a next door neighbor, with hands burned black from fingertip to elbow.

Close enough. Chevalier's backstory. I think that I'm going to enjoy his backstory, I already like this hero. Oh, hello, Hero. Man, I remember his death and I feel so bad for him

. He appeared to be such a nice guy. In fact, he and Legend were the only nice and truly heroic Cauldron's members. They're like a light shining through so much darkness around them. Why Hero had to die? Why Alexandria didn't died in his place? I couldn't see Hero being ok with human experiments if he knew about them even if I doubt that he could do something to stop Doctor Mother and co (but at least he could have tried). "sighs" Good people die first, exactly when the world needs them the most

. Ok, back to Chevalier. This is the time when he was recruited as a new hero and he meets his new teammates. What is his power again? I remember that he said that he can combine different weapons into one single weapon and different armors into a larger armor, something like that. He seems to be a Tinker and a Thinker because he's good at building stuff and he have the knowledge of the best items he can combine to create the best weapons. Something like that.
I wonder if I'll be able to recognize some of the future old heroes in these young heroes from the past. Lets see...I don't have any idea who might be the first two heroes but there's something that caught my attention. Chevalier (I hope that I'll learn his name before the end of his Interlude) have VISIONS. He can see other people behind the people he was looking at. Like...they're ghosts or specters. People that nobody else except him can see. Now, this can go in one way or another. Chevalier is a person with schizophrenia and he just hallucinate or these weird visions are a second power of his. Like, he can see the future of people and the older woman behind the young heroine will be the young heroine in the future. I prefer to think that he's a precog, much better than suffering from schizophrenia

.

At the far end of the scale, opposite the two professional, serious looking young heroes, there was a girl with a shield and sword. Her helmet sat on the table beside her, a homemade piece of equipment with ridiculous mouse ears at the sides. It wasn't a great helmet either; it didn't offer enough peripheral vision, was more decorative than protective. She stood off to one side, but two others had gathered near her. She was grinning, the one who'd stood out from the rest with her over the top welcome.

The images weren't an unfamiliar thing, but this was the first time he'd been confronted with so many in one place. It was distracting, unnerving.

Chevalier's attention fell on the girl; her white and gray jacket was short enough that it didn't reach the small of her back, a blue tank top with a shield emblem on the front. Her scarf, a complimenting shade of blue, was wrapped around her lower face, bearing the same emblem. She sat in a chair, elbows on her knees, toying with a knife.

In that instant, the knife disappeared, and there was a flare. The images were suddenly distinct, glaring, an image appearing in a flash, so brief he might have missed it. A cluster of children, blood, their faces stark with fear and in one case, pain.

Chevalier watched the exchange carefully. His eyes fell on the figure behind Hero, and he tried to focus his attention on it. It moved with glacial slowness, a four-legged creature with legs so long that the 'window' around Hero didn't even show its main body. Finger-like appendages at the base of each leg carved diagrams and ideas into the 'soil' beneath as it walked.

"We've got the serious part down," the girl with the mouse ears said. She drew her sword, thrusting it into the air, "Huzzah!"

"The important thing to remember," Hero said, "is that you've got time. You have time to figure out who you want to become, time to figure out what this team will become, time to breathe. To be kids again."

Oh, no, I recognize that army type girl. She's Hannah or Miss Militia. I think I recognize the mouse girl too even if I never had her description before this interlude. She's Mouse Protector, the heroine that was captured by S9 and transformed into a sad monster by Bonesaw after the mad bio-Tinker combined her with her worst enemy in the same body

. I recognize her only because of the mouse theme and I know that Mouse Protector should have a mouse theme. Aww, she seemed so fun and happy. Knowing that she was like this make Bonesaw's crime even more monstrous than it was already. I think that Bonesaw's only acceptable excuse for her horrible behavior is if she's suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and she feels like she must do the worst things to make Jack happy and proud of her or Jack manipulates her in some way (not even a super-sad backstory will serve as an excuse; she already went too far for almost all excuses...But she's still my fav S9).
I think I'm starting to understand Chevalier's visions. They're not visions of future neither insane hallucinations. They're...visions of people's trigger events. Looks at Hannah's trigger event that we already know about: children, fear, blood. Maybe the old woman with burned hands behind the unknown heroine was her mother who died being burned alive and the girl triggered as result. Chevalier's second power is that he can see people's triggers. Not super cool power, mostly scary and creepy because he's witness at so much pain and suffering and he can't do anything to stop the visions, looks like this power is beyond his control

. Or maybe it was behind his control back then, now he have better control over it. Hope so, for his own mental sake. I don't understand Hero's four-legged creature "trigger"....It doesn't sound like a trigger event, more like an extension to his Tinker power, unless he watched a four- legged giant monster stepping on someone dear to him and he triggered, which is not impossible in this universe but less probable in the context. Chevalier can see both trigger events and people's invisible extensions of their powers? Huh? How many powers this man have?
I wonder what Chevalier sees if he will look at Weaver. Tons of used pads and endless misery and bugs...Eww, he'd surely hate this power 🤢.

"I'm curious why you sat next to Hannah," Hero commented, as he served himself some cake.

"Maybe," Hero said. He laid a hand on Chevalier's shoulder. "But it's good that you did. She could use a friend. Might make a world of difference, in the long run."

"We're all ignoring the obvious reason," the girl with the mouse ears said, getting in Chevalier's way as she reached for a plastic fork. "He thinks she's hot. He wants the poontang."

"You didn't figure it out yet? Chevalier's the vigilante that went after the Snatchers," the leaf-boy said.

"No," Chevalier said. He used the distraction to push past her and get to the area where the two-liter bottles of soda were lined up. He poured the drinks for himself and Hannah. "They were ordinary people. Bad people, but ordinary. Except maybe the leader."

Chevalier felt strangely calm as he spoke, "Not like that. Alexandria caught up with me at the very end. When I was trying to decide what I'd do with him. She told me she'd stand by and let me kill the guy, if I really had to, but I'd go to jail afterwards. That, or I could come with her. Come here."

Chevalier shrugged. I'm not sure I did.

He was still angry. Still hurt. His little brother's absence was still a void in his life.

Aww, Chevalier and Hannah. Not a bad ship, Chevalier is a cool 1000+ powers guy and Hannah is a great person and heroine

. Surprise, surprise, Chevalier was a vigilante before becoming a hero. A vigilante with a personal vendetta against the people who killed his brother, looks like. Well, he wasn't wrong in what he did. He punished some assholes who hurt his little brother, something like anyone in his place would have done if they had the power to do it

. I actually admire him for his vigilante life especially because of the fact that he stopped some monsters from killing more children in the future. He was about to permanently stop their boss too if Alexandria wouldn't have stopped him from killing that bastard. Well, she actually was willing to let him kill him but she threatened him with jail afterwards. Aren't you nice, Alexandria? A sincere fuck you, Alexandria. Nobody threatened you with jail when you kidnapped and tortured so many people, nobody punished you when you hurt INNOCENTS (until she made the big mistake to fuck with Taylor, of course

), yet you didn't have any qualms to punish a desperate man who wanted to avenge his kid brother. What he did was the RIGHT to do, love for our family/friends can make us do some really crazy things, even turn us into "monsters" willing to inflict pain and suffering on the same monsters who hurt what we loved the most. Yes, a society where everyone can be a vigilante and get revenge on more or less assholes who wronged them will be an absolute chaos, an uncontrollable anarchy, but...sometimes...we need some good old fashioned vigilantes in our lives too, just to make us feel more protected against evil people who prey on our lives

. Not "vigilantes" like Sophia, but vigilantes like Chevalier. I think I'd have loved more a permanent vigilante Chevlier than a hero Chevalier but he's fine in any role. He's a good person, he's crazily brave and his determination make him so endearing. I think I love this guy.

Marun Field, December 13th, 1992. Behemoth.
São Paulo, July 6th, 1993. Behemoth.
New York, March 26th, 1994. Behemoth.
Jakarta, November 1st, 1994. Behemoth.
Moscow, June 18th, 1995. Behemoth.
Johannesburg, January 3rd, 1996. Behemoth.
Oslo, June 9th, 1996. Leviathan.
Cologne, November 6th, 1996. Behemoth.
Busan, April 23rd, 1997. Leviathan.
Buenos Aires, September 30th, 1997. Behemoth.
Sydney, January 18th, 1998. Leviathan.
Jinzhou, July 3rd, 1998. Behemoth.
Madrid, December 25th, 1998. Leviathan.
Ankara, July 21st, 1999. Behemoth.
Kyushu, November 2nd, 1999. Leviathan.
Lyon, April 10th, 2000. Behemoth.
Naples, September 16th, 2000. Leviathan.
Vanderhoof, February 25th, 2001. Behemoth.
Hyderabad, July 6th, 2001. Leviathan.
Lagos, December 6th, 2001. Behemoth.
Shanghai, April 23rd, 2002. Leviathan.
Bogotá, August 20th, 2002. Behemoth.
Lausanne, December 30th, 2002. Simurgh.
Seattle, April 1st, 2003. Leviathan.
London, August 12th, 2003. Simurgh.
Lyon, October 3rd, 2003. Behemoth.

"Stop," Chevalier ordered. The artificial intelligence halted the scrolling. The scroll bar wasn't even at the halfway mark.

Brighter future indeed.

There were so many elements like that. Little things. He'd heard so many complain about how the Protectorate handled the attacks. How they were disorganized, inefficient.

He allowed himself a moment to think of Hannah. They'd dated briefly, then separated. It had been a high school romance, and they'd both been too busy to really pursue things. What had been one or two dates a week became maybes, then had ceased to happen at all. He'd graduated to the Protectorate, changed cities, and they hadn't said a word on the subject.

It was a piece of the puzzle, but that puzzle was still far from complete. Until they had more to work with, it was merely data. Glimmers of memories and dreams, the conclusion had been, after long discussions with Eidolon and the parahuman researchers. An effect of the thinker power required to manage his own ability, tied to trigger events in some fashion.

"You ready for this? Being leader for the first time?" Exalt asked.

In truth, there were three. The largest was thirty feet long, running from the ramp at the back to the cabin at the front, almost entirely set into the floor. There was no decoration on it. Only mass, sturdy craftsmanship, and the mechanisms necessary for the cannon that was set inside the handle and blade.

It would have been too heavy for the ship to carry, except he'd already used his power, drawing it together with a second blade, an aluminum blade a mere four feet long. Lightweight.

His ability to see the 'shadows' about people was an extension of this power. He could see the general makeup of the two weapons, the phantom images, the underlying physics, in lines and shapes and patterns.

It was about perspectives. Relationships. He'd drawn them into one blade, with the appearance of the larger, the properties of the smaller.

His armor was the same, only it was too large to bring on the craft. A veritable mountain of construction grade steel, as light as aluminum, with the decoration of a third set. It had required some concentration, to maintain the balances he'd set, but he was confident he could fight outside of the kill aura's range.

What an irony of a "bright" future we have here! Endbringers ripping the world apart

. The only good thing I can say is that the Earth Bet's version of my city, Bucharest, is not on the list of the cities visited by these giant, not very friendly tourists. Good, Bucharest doesn't need such rude tourists, go and bother other cities of other countries

.
So, his ability to see the trigger events is related to his main power, is not a secondary power. He sees trigger events AND extensions of people's powers, just like he can see the deepest details of his own power (or something like that). He needs to have these visions if he wants to find the best properties of various weapons to combine them into the perfect weapon (now I understand his power better; he doesn't combine different weapons inside a single weapon but different properties of different weapons. This is why he's a Thinker and a Tinker. Maybe he's also a Brute but he doesn't need super-strength in order to hold those swords. They're not exceptionally heavy, they're probably as light as a baseball bat because he combines elements NOT materials. Anyone with a moderate strength can lift a sword or wear his armor).
Ok, I read it again and I was wrong when I said that he combines only elements, not materials as well. Yes, he can combine materials too, but make them very light, this ability allowing him to create a sword as big as a tank but as light as a baseball bat. Think at Jack and how he's able to increase the cutting edge of his knives and swords. He can make them cut you no matter where you're standing (of course, if he can see you) but the knife's size will still remain a normal knife size and Jack is not super-strong to maneuver it. The only thing that change is the cutting edge (invisible to naked eye but very painful for skin). Chevalier's weapons are just colossal looking weapons but nobody with moderate strength shouldn't have troubles picking them up. Pretty difficult concept of his power, but so damn fascinating

. Everything about Chevalier is fascinating, except for the fact that we still don't know his real name.

Tattletale's 'shadow' peered around with a dozen eyes all at once, each set different in design, in appearance and apparent function. A mosaic. Accord's was a glimmer of an old computer, the edge of a desk that wasn't there.

"I can try. But more than anything, I'm not going to put people on the front line if I'm not willing to go there myself."

"Foolish," Accord said. "Everyone has their place in the grand scheme of things. You do yourself and everyone else a disservice if you try to put yourself where you don't belong."

Chevalier could sense the attacker by the movement of the shadows. He whirled around, only to find himself face to face with a cloud of the 'shadows'.

The Yàngbǎn, one of them.

An assassin?

He couldn't even make out the figure, behind the layers of images. Glimpses of twenty, thirty, forty trigger events.

It didn't matter. The attacker didn't have offensive strength. Two more attacks failed to penetrate Chevalier's armor. He advanced, swung, thrusted, and his opponent stepped back, narrowly dodging.

But the opponent was sloppy. Letting him get dangerously close between resets. It was a question of letting him make a mistake, occupying his attention, so the thinkers would be safe. A chess game, moving the knight to keep the king in checkmate. There was only so much space in the room, and he could position himself to force the Yàngbǎn member to move further, to have less time to act, leaving more room for a mistake.

"No," he could hear Accord murmuring, the word barely above a whisper. He chanced a glance at the pair. Tattletale had a hand on her holster, and Accord had stopped her.

I imagined the vision of Tattletale's trigger event being the phantom image of her brother killing himself. But Chevalier sees now the extension of her power, many eyes watching everything. I said something about the possible name for her Passenger: Providence Eye. What Chevalier is seeing fits my the image I have in my head for her Passenger. Good shit. Lol for Accord's phantom power. An old computer? I imagined it to be more like a broken golden scales but old computer seems like an interesting idea too 😆.
We're going to see Fuck You Cody's attack through Chevalier eyes. I think that Chevalier could have beaten this bastard to a pulp if he wasn't distracted by so many images of trigger events (for every Yangban member) that Fuck You Cody carried with him. He seems to be stronger than even a crazy man with 42 small parts of others' powers+ his own full power. Fuck You Cody was lucky in the end, he wasn't a skilled fighter neither a badass warrior, he was just a very lucky asshole. Look, even Accord helped him to win this fight

. He stopped Tattletale from turning Fuck You Cody into a swiss cheese and I have to admit that what Accord did was exactly what killed him. Fuck You Accord, you signed your own death because you didn't let Tattletale do the RIGHT thing. Not only that Fuck You Cody deserved to die but it was a matter of survival: they or him. When it comes to matters of survival, almost everything is allowed with just few exceptions. Killing the attacker wasn't one of the exceptions. So, everything got fucked up because Fuck You Accord wanted to test Chevalier, thinking that the hero can beat the attacker by himself without any exterior help (this is the only explanation I can find for his gesture to stop Tattletale. Anyway, is still a non-sense and very selfish to let someone fight by themselves without helping them). A test that failed, Fuck You Accord own stupidity and excessive testing nature was exactly what that killed him

. Because of him, Tattletale almost died, Chevalier almost died, thousands of parahumans and civilians died, Citrine will be heartbroken and world hunger will still not be stopped. I can't believe I liked this dumbass before, he's a perfect example that not all Thinkers are naturally smart. Accord makes Phir Sē seems like one of the most sane and intelligent people on Earth. Rest in fucking Hell, Accord.

I missed the fight, he realized, as he woke in a hospital bed.

The ground rumbled violently. He looked up to see Tattletale in the corner of the room, half of her attention on what was happening outside the window, the other half on a phone.

She approached the bedside, attention on the phone. She held it out for him to read.

A notepad executable read:

hes here. defenses crumbled in a minute. rime dead. melted off more than half his outer body and he still fighting. last stand to protect hosp'l for evac and he cutting them down

She showed him her phone again.

they stapled your gut up. if outer body is like this then why does he have it? useless.

His chest heaved, and he growled out each breath. The growling helped, on a primal level, but that wasn't saying much. Just sitting upright was bad enough that he thought he might pass out.

"My breastplate."

She brought the front portion of the armor, resting it on the corner of the bed. She tapped the phone.

His eyes widened. "We destroy the center, we destroy him?"

She pointed with two fingers, at her collarbone. The base of the throat, between the shoulders. Quite possibly the deepest set part of his body.

"Help me stand."

She sighed, making her way to the end of the room. She collected his Cannonblade from the floor by the chair. He'd made it as light as it could go in every respect, before he'd passed out. Even so, moving his left arm to try to hold it made him seize up in agony.

He'd never forgive himself if they lost this fight and he didn't even fight.

So, Chevalier almost have his guts out and he still WANT TO FIGHT Behemoth? He can barely stand yet he wants to fight in order to protect the other injured? OMG, my fucking God, Chevalier is the most HEROIC HERO you will ever see 😀. Move aside, Legend, move aside, Miss Militia, you're no longer my favorite heroes. Chevalier is my NUMBER ONE now. He's MY MAN 😍. Guys, gals, I just found my new fictional boyfriend. How old Chevalier is? I don't care anyway, I love him, he's so brave, so protective, so full of determination..."wipes away few tears" if he'll die, I'll RIOT. Don't you dare to take my man away from me, Behemoth. Don't you fucking dare. I'll be super-impressed if Chevalier will manage to hurt Behemoth in his delicate situation but I feel like he only fights against the windmills (a noble but useless and disappointing fight). Speaking about windmills, now I can't stop imagining Chevalier as Don Quixote and Tattletale as his loyal squire, Sancho Panza, fighting a useless fight against an invincible giant. My fucked up mind...😀
I can't stop fangirling over Chevalier. Please, survive, please, survive, my fearless and crazy knight.

And the bodies… people who had died because he'd failed them. Because he hadn't been able to defeat the assassin, to take his role at the front of the battle lines, where he could bait Behemoth into the various traps they'd laid.

They'd been in a car crash, in the middle of a vacation. Strangers had stepped in, crowding the car to help his little brother out, while his parents were reeling, moaning in pain. They'd tried to get him out too, but he'd been pinned, the car handle had been scraped away in the collision, the interior handle protected by the child locks. They'd left, and for hours, as the emergency services arrived and the rescue continued, he'd wondered why. He'd triggered, caught in the wreckage, but had been too insensate to do anything about it, to even realize the full gravity of what had happened in the midst of the chaos.

It was only later that he found out they were serial kidnappers. The crash that had broken his mother's leg in three places had been orchestrated. So had the collection of his little brother.

Three years later, when he heard about the group again, he put together a makeshift club and armor and set about hunting them down. He appeared in the news in the midst of tracking down the individual members, and again and again, they had described him as relentless, to the point that it had very nearly became his codename. Revenge had been all he had left.

The size of the weapon and the effect of the firing pin seemed to help with the jammed mechanism. That, or the transition to being closer to his largest blade had shifted something in a fractional way. The shot blasted Behemoth in the calf of his weaker leg, and the Endbringer fell.

Chevalier pulled his sword from the ground, swayed, and very fell over.

Defiant caught him.

Old friend, Chevalier thought, though he didn't have the breath to speak.

Free of the armor, he could move his weapon. It was slag, barely a sword anymore, but the core still had some density to it.

He made it grow.

Before he could, the sword's tip touched the core, and everything went wrong.

His power abruptly ceased to take effect, and the blades came apart, in its three individual pieces. They slid from the wound, falling down around him.

Chevalier watched as the worst of the smoke cleared, and he imagined he might have seen the glowing blur of the sun through the clouds.

Not the sun. It was a figure. Scion.

OMG, the monsters who kidnapped his little brother caused the car accident on purpose

. There are 3 reasons why they kidnapped his brother and tried to kidnap him as well. Either to sell him on the black marked for organs, to sell him to pedophiles or they themselves were pedophiles and they took him for themselves

🤮. I can't see any other logical reason. They fucking deserved everything that Chevalier did to them after he triggered, fucking sick people. I hope that Alexandria arrested their boss or...even BETTER....brought him to Cauldron, to serve as their guinea pig

(as much as I hate human experiments, I'm making exceptions for the assholes who hurt children. I think I'd have agreed with Doctor Mother and support her if her only guinea pigs would have been child abusers, rapists and mass-murderers. Too bad that she decided that innocents were more interesting to experiment on. Call me hypocrite as much as you'd like, but I'll never hide how much I HATE these monsters

).
Knight Chevalier managed to HIT BEHEMOTH'S CORE. He managed to injure an invincible monster, while he had to hold his guts inside his body and strategize in his head the whole fight ♥. And he didn't do that for fame (like the former Armsmaster did when he fought Leviathan) or on a wim. He did that so the injured can be evacuated in time. I'm crying...I'm crying over the sheer awesomeness of this MAN. He's just too badass for words. Thank you, Wildbow, thank you for creating a TRUE HERO ✌.
SCION!!! I KNEW YOU'LL COME TO SAVE THE DAY. I KNEW IT. NO, ISN'T LATE, MY HERO CHEVALIER, NEVER IS TOO LATE. AS LONG AS THERE ARE PEOPLE TO BE SAVED IS NEVER TOO LATE 😀😀.

He held Behemoth in his grip, released the Endbringer to fall two or three hundred feet to the ground, struck his falling foe with a beam of golden light, as if to shove Behemoth into the ground.

Again, he held Behemoth in his hands. Thinner than a skeleton, the Endbringer was little more than a stick figure from Chevalier's vantage point.

A stream of darkness poured from one of the helicopters, filling the street Behemoth lay in. For an instant, the Endbringer was almost entirely obscured.

Scion fired one more beam, and the darkness was obliterated, swept away.

As noise returned to the landscape, the stilling effects of Scion's light fading, Chevalier closed his eyes, listening. With the noise of the helicopters and distant fires mingling with the shouts and hollers of joy from the defending capes, he imagined he could hear the whole world cheering alongside them.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS..............😀😀😀😀😀🙃🙃

BEHEMOTH IS DEAD. THE FIRST ENDBRINGER THAT SCION EVER KILLED. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS. HUZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH. NOW I REALLY DON'T CARE ANYMORE IF SCION WILL BECOME EVIL IN THE FUTURE AND HE'LL FUCK THOUSANDS OF EARTHS, RIGHT NOW HE DESTROYED BEHEMOTH AND THIS IS ALL THAT MATTERS. No, I still don't like him, but I'm super-happy with what he just did. Yes, take that, Behemoth. Simurgh, you just lost a child. Scion annihilated your baby and he'll do the same thing with the other baby. Time to give up and let humans alone or are you going to have more babies

?
"hears a faint song in her head" FUCK, NO. I'm gonna stop making fun of you, Simurgh, please, my winged beautiful queen, can you stop? I didn't mean to offend you...she must be so pissed....welp...

BEHEMOTH IS DEAD...BEHEMOTH IS DEAD....CHEVALIER IS THE BEST ♥♥...SCION DID IT...but lets not forget someone who was just as important as Chevalier and Scion, if no more...
THANK YOU, KEVIN NORTON, FOR SAVING THE WORLD ♥.
But...
...the song....
....doesn't stop....
🎵 Good night and sleep well, my friends 🎶

ImperatorV · Sep 8, 2019

Chevalier is crazy awesome. You'll note, he walked into Behemoth's instant-kill aura, while under the protection of Usher's power. A power which he had no idea if it would even work on the Kill Aura, and is explicitly stated to be unreliable. The man has courage.

Also, he kept trying to hit Behemoth while his armor was literally melting around him. Just, like, imagine that scene, of a guy struggling through a coating of molten metal that is all that remains of his armor, trying to fight a 45 foot tall monster. Metal as fuck.

This interlude cemented Chevalier as a fan favorite and the true leader the protectorate desperately needed after the betrayal of Cauldron.

blackarrow · Sep 9, 2019

ImperatorV said:
Chevalier is crazy awesome. You'll note, he walked into Behemoth's instant-kill aura, while under the protection of Usher's power. A power which he had no idea if it would even work on the Kill Aura, and is explicitly stated to be unreliable. The man has courage.

Also, he kept trying to hit Behemoth while his armor was literally melting around him. Just, like, imagine that scene, of a guy struggling through a coating of molten metal that is all that remains of his armor, trying to fight a 45 foot tall monster. Metal as fuck.

This interlude cemented Chevalier as a fan favorite and the true leader the protectorate desperately needed after the betrayal of Cauldron.

Chevalier is MY MAN. He was awesome as a vigilante. He's awesome as a hero. He can be whatever he wants and still be awesome. If you want to know my ideal version of a hero, without having me to explain it, look at Chevalier ♥. I think that he's better than even Legend (Legend is a flying brick so he knows that he'll survive in most of the situations, but Chevalier's only protection is his armor. Besides, Legend lied to cover his teammates' actions- even if I don't blame him for that- but Chevalier is 100% a honest and righteous guy). I'm glad that I'm not the only one who like him. I swear, I'm going to hate anyone's guts who'll hurt this guy in the future or worse, kill him, in the same manner I'm doing for my girl, Tattletale. Chevalier should be protected with any costs. He occupies a special place in my heart ♥.
Only Wildbow can turn a character into a very likable person or a very loathsome asshole/bitch in just a single Interlude/chapter.
PS: thanks to this Arc, I have now plenty of favorite new heroes: Tecton, Cuff, Annex, Arbiter, Golem, Usher. All of them are so great as heroes and as people 😀.

blackarrow · Sep 9, 2019

What was your immediate reaction when Scion appeared and killed Behemoth?

rafuki22 · Sep 9, 2019

blackarrow said:
Hello, my friends. Last time, there was something like: HEROES+ VILLAINS' LAST STAND AGAINST BEHEMOTH'S WRATH. Who'll die? Who'll survive? Will Scion FINALLY MOVE HIS USELESS ASS AND SAVE THE DAY? Because I don't know how they'll survive without Scion's last moment intervention or Behemoth being called by his mommy, Simurgh, because his play time expired and he needs to go to sleep ? Ok, you probably noticed that I wasn't so tense and panicked during this battle as I was during Leviathan Battle . Yes, there were few moments were I had to hold my breath and pray for a miracle: Fuck You Cody fucking everything and almost killing my fav character, Phir Sē ALMOST fucking up everything (I don't think this guy is dead; he probably was saved by his teleporter buddy just in time- he's smart, he'll not risk his life so easy without having some safeguards at his disposition), Imp almost dying followed by Regent' selfless sacrifice. But, during Leviathan Battle, I was tense all the fucking time, without being able to catch a breath. Why this change in my behavior? Maybe because I got used with Endbringers and so many people dying in Wormverse (Wildbow's version of Leviathan was something new to me, besides it was the first time when so many people died in just a single Arc). But this time, I was aware of what Behemoth can do (thanks to Alexandria interlude), I knew that Wildbow have fun killing lots and lots of characters (including lovable characters ) so I was well informed about what I should expect from an Arc called Crushed. You probably noticed too that I'm no longer afraid of Mannequin as I was first time when he made his completely unpleasant apparition. Because I got used with him, I started to know his fighting skills and attacks better while he was fighting the good guys and knowing that underneath that hard shell there were human organs instead of more layers of shells made me see him more like an insane human- cyborg who just happen to look like a living mannequin than an actual living mannequin. I still find him downright creepy and I'm not eager to see his clones in action (not at all, sir) but he doesn't scare me as much as he scared me before I got used with his character . Look at how much the ordinariness can change someone. I mean, my biggest fear is still mannequins and I feel so bad for Endbringers' victims but Mannequin himself doesn't scare me that much and Endbringers' battles are less tense as the story develops to its end.
Btw, I'd like to tell you the opinions of my best friend and my father about Alec's death. My best friend was very shocked. She couldn't believe that he was death and she still hoped that he was just injured until Aisha confirmed his death. Then she started to cry, just like me. He was her third favorite Undersider.
My father: he didn't cared about his death that much. Or about the character himself. He only cared about Alec's power- he loved his power and he was pissed because he'll never see that power in action again once Alec died . I think my father is TROLLING me because he knows how much I hate most of Master powers and he always talk with nothing but awe and admiration for this kind of indescribable awful powers. Or maybe he's honest and he truly love Master powers (especially since that he always keep saying how much he'd love to be a Master with the power to "TURN PEOPLE HE DOESN'T LIKE INTO COMPLETE OBEDIENT SLAVES WITH ZERO FREE WILL" ) but this still piss me off to not end. Its hard when your dad loves something that you hate. Its hard and nobody understands...
Looks like we have an Interlude instead of The Last Stand. Ok, either we're going to see The Last Stand through the eyes of everyone involved there (not just Weavers), or have Citrine's backstory and see her reaction after finding out that the sadistic and sexist man of her dreams is fucking dead or have Phir Sē's backstory and find more about the reasons behind his personal vendetta against Endbringers or Chevalier's backstory+ all the heroic feats he did until he got hurt. Lets see how close I'm with my predictions Interlude 24

Close enough. Chevalier's backstory. I think that I'm going to enjoy his backstory, I already like this hero. Oh, hello, Hero. Man, I remember his death and I feel so bad for him . He appeared to be such a nice guy. In fact, he and Legend were the only nice and truly heroic Cauldron's members. They're like a light shining through so much darkness around them. Why Hero had to die? Why Alexandria didn't died in his place? I couldn't see Hero being ok with human experiments if he knew about them even if I doubt that he could do something to stop Doctor Mother and co (but at least he could have tried). "sighs" Good people die first, exactly when the world needs them the most . Ok, back to Chevalier. This is the time when he was recruited as a new hero and he meets his new teammates. What is his power again? I remember that he said that he can combine different weapons into one single weapon and different armors into a larger armor, something like that. He seems to be a Tinker and a Thinker because he's good at building stuff and he have the knowledge of the best items he can combine to create the best weapons. Something like that.
I wonder if I'll be able to recognize some of the future old heroes in these young heroes from the past. Lets see...I don't have any idea who might be the first two heroes but there's something that caught my attention. Chevalier (I hope that I'll learn his name before the end of his Interlude) have VISIONS. He can see other people behind the people he was looking at. Like...they're ghosts or specters. People that nobody else except him can see. Now, this can go in one way or another. Chevalier is a person with schizophrenia and he just hallucinate or these weird visions are a second power of his. Like, he can see the future of people and the older woman behind the young heroine will be the young heroine in the future. I prefer to think that he's a precog, much better than suffering from schizophrenia .

Oh, no, I recognize that army type girl. She's Hannah or Miss Militia. I think I recognize the mouse girl too even if I never had her description before this interlude. She's Mouse Protector, the heroine that was captured by S9 and transformed into a sad monster by Bonesaw after the mad bio-Tinker combined her with her worst enemy in the same body . I recognize her only because of the mouse theme and I know that Mouse Protector should have a mouse theme. Aww, she seemed so fun and happy. Knowing that she was like this make Bonesaw's crime even more monstrous than it was already. I think that Bonesaw's only acceptable excuse for her horrible behavior is if she's suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and she feels like she must do the worst things to make Jack happy and proud of her or Jack manipulates her in some way (not even a super-sad backstory will serve as an excuse; she already went too far for almost all excuses...But she's still my fav S9).
I think I'm starting to understand Chevalier's visions. They're not visions of future neither insane hallucinations. They're...visions of people's trigger events. Looks at Hannah's trigger event that we already know about: children, fear, blood. Maybe the old woman with burned hands behind the unknown heroine was her mother who died being burned alive and the girl triggered as result. Chevalier's second power is that he can see people's triggers. Not super cool power, mostly scary and creepy because he's witness at so much pain and suffering and he can't do anything to stop the visions, looks like this power is beyond his control . Or maybe it was behind his control back then, now he have better control over it. Hope so, for his own mental sake. I don't understand Hero's four-legged creature "trigger"....It doesn't sound like a trigger event, more like an extension to his Tinker power, unless he watched a four- legged giant monster stepping on someone dear to him and he triggered, which is not impossible in this universe but less probable in the context. Chevalier can see both trigger events and people's invisible extensions of their powers? Huh? How many powers this man have?
I wonder what Chevalier sees if he will look at Weaver. Tons of used pads and endless misery and bugs...Eww, he'd surely hate this power 🤢.

Aww, Chevalier and Hannah. Not a bad ship, Chevalier is a cool 1000+ powers guy and Hannah is a great person and heroine . Surprise, surprise, Chevalier was a vigilante before becoming a hero. A vigilante with a personal vendetta against the people who killed his brother, looks like. Well, he wasn't wrong in what he did. He punished some assholes who hurt his little brother, something like anyone in his place would have done if they had the power to do it . I actually admire him for his vigilante life especially because of the fact that he stopped some monsters from killing more children in the future. He was about to permanently stop their boss too if Alexandria wouldn't have stopped him from killing that bastard. Well, she actually was willing to let him kill him but she threatened him with jail afterwards. Aren't you nice, Alexandria? A sincere fuck you, Alexandria. Nobody threatened you with jail when you kidnapped and tortured so many people, nobody punished you when you hurt INNOCENTS (until she made the big mistake to fuck with Taylor, of course ), yet you didn't have any qualms to punish a desperate man who wanted to avenge his kid brother. What he did was the RIGHT to do, love for our family/friends can make us do some really crazy things, even turn us into "monsters" willing to inflict pain and suffering on the same monsters who hurt what we loved the most. Yes, a society where everyone can be a vigilante and get revenge on more or less assholes who wronged them will be an absolute chaos, an uncontrollable anarchy, but...sometimes...we need some good old fashioned vigilantes in our lives too, just to make us feel more protected against evil people who prey on our lives . Not "vigilantes" like Sophia, but vigilantes like Chevalier. I think I'd have loved more a permanent vigilante Chevlier than a hero Chevalier but he's fine in any role. He's a good person, he's crazily brave and his determination make him so endearing. I think I love this guy.

What an irony of a "bright" future we have here! Endbringers ripping the world apart . The only good thing I can say is that the Earth Bet's version of my city, Bucharest, is not on the list of the cities visited by these giant, not very friendly tourists. Good, Bucharest doesn't need such rude tourists, go and bother other cities of other countries .
So, his ability to see the trigger events is related to his main power, is not a secondary power. He sees trigger events AND extensions of people's powers, just like he can see the deepest details of his own power (or something like that). He needs to have these visions if he wants to find the best properties of various weapons to combine them into the perfect weapon (now I understand his power better; he doesn't combine different weapons inside a single weapon but different properties of different weapons. This is why he's a Thinker and a Tinker. Maybe he's also a Brute but he doesn't need super-strength in order to hold those swords. They're not exceptionally heavy, they're probably as light as a baseball bat because he combines elements NOT materials. Anyone with a moderate strength can lift a sword or wear his armor).
Ok, I read it again and I was wrong when I said that he combines only elements, not materials as well. Yes, he can combine materials too, but make them very light, this ability allowing him to create a sword as big as a tank but as light as a baseball bat. Think at Jack and how he's able to increase the cutting edge of his knives and swords. He can make them cut you no matter where you're standing (of course, if he can see you) but the knife's size will still remain a normal knife size and Jack is not super-strong to maneuver it. The only thing that change is the cutting edge (invisible to naked eye but very painful for skin). Chevalier's weapons are just colossal looking weapons but nobody with moderate strength shouldn't have troubles picking them up. Pretty difficult concept of his power, but so damn fascinating . Everything about Chevalier is fascinating, except for the fact that we still don't know his real name.

I imagined the vision of Tattletale's trigger event being the phantom image of her brother killing himself. But Chevalier sees now the extension of her power, many eyes watching everything. I said something about the possible name for her Passenger: Providence Eye. What Chevalier is seeing fits my the image I have in my head for her Passenger. Good shit. Lol for Accord's phantom power. An old computer? I imagined it to be more like a broken golden scales but old computer seems like an interesting idea too 😆.
We're going to see Fuck You Cody's attack through Chevalier eyes. I think that Chevalier could have beaten this bastard to a pulp if he wasn't distracted by so many images of trigger events (for every Yangban member) that Fuck You Cody carried with him. He seems to be stronger than even a crazy man with 42 small parts of others' powers+ his own full power. Fuck You Cody was lucky in the end, he wasn't a skilled fighter neither a badass warrior, he was just a very lucky asshole. Look, even Accord helped him to win this fight . He stopped Tattletale from turning Fuck You Cody into a swiss cheese and I have to admit that what Accord did was exactly what killed him. Fuck You Accord, you signed your own death because you didn't let Tattletale do the RIGHT thing. Not only that Fuck You Cody deserved to die but it was a matter of survival: they or him. When it comes to matters of survival, almost everything is allowed with just few exceptions. Killing the attacker wasn't one of the exceptions. So, everything got fucked up because Fuck You Accord wanted to test Chevalier, thinking that the hero can beat the attacker by himself without any exterior help (this is the only explanation I can find for his gesture to stop Tattletale. Anyway, is still a non-sense and very selfish to let someone fight by themselves without helping them). A test that failed, Fuck You Accord own stupidity and excessive testing nature was exactly what that killed him . Because of him, Tattletale almost died, Chevalier almost died, thousands of parahumans and civilians died, Citrine will be heartbroken and world hunger will still not be stopped. I can't believe I liked this dumbass before, he's a perfect example that not all Thinkers are naturally smart. Accord makes Phir Sē seems like one of the most sane and intelligent people on Earth. Rest in fucking Hell, Accord.

So, Chevalier almost have his guts out and he still WANT TO FIGHT Behemoth? He can barely stand yet he wants to fight in order to protect the other injured? OMG, my fucking God, Chevalier is the most HEROIC HERO you will ever see 😀. Move aside, Legend, move aside, Miss Militia, you're no longer my favorite heroes. Chevalier is my NUMBER ONE now. He's MY MAN 😍. Guys, gals, I just found my new fictional boyfriend. How old Chevalier is? I don't care anyway, I love him, he's so brave, so protective, so full of determination..."wipes away few tears" if he'll die, I'll RIOT. Don't you dare to take my man away from me, Behemoth. Don't you fucking dare. I'll be super-impressed if Chevalier will manage to hurt Behemoth in his delicate situation but I feel like he only fights against the windmills (a noble but useless and disappointing fight). Speaking about windmills, now I can't stop imagining Chevalier as Don Quixote and Tattletale as his loyal squire, Sancho Panza, fighting a useless fight against an invincible giant. My fucked up mind...😀
I can't stop fangirling over Chevalier. Please, survive, please, survive, my fearless and crazy knight.

OMG, the monsters who kidnapped his little brother caused the car accident on purpose . There are 3 reasons why they kidnapped his brother and tried to kidnap him as well. Either to sell him on the black marked for organs, to sell him to pedophiles or they themselves were pedophiles and they took him for themselves 🤮. I can't see any other logical reason. They fucking deserved everything that Chevalier did to them after he triggered, fucking sick people. I hope that Alexandria arrested their boss or...even BETTER....brought him to Cauldron, to serve as their guinea pig (as much as I hate human experiments, I'm making exceptions for the assholes who hurt children. I think I'd have agreed with Doctor Mother and support her if her only guinea pigs would have been child abusers, rapists and mass-murderers. Too bad that she decided that innocents were more interesting to experiment on. Call me hypocrite as much as you'd like, but I'll never hide how much I HATE these monsters ).
Knight Chevalier managed to HIT BEHEMOTH'S CORE. He managed to injure an invincible monster, while he had to hold his guts inside his body and strategize in his head the whole fight ♥. And he didn't do that for fame (like the former Armsmaster did when he fought Leviathan) or on a wim. He did that so the injured can be evacuated in time. I'm crying...I'm crying over the sheer awesomeness of this MAN. He's just too badass for words. Thank you, Wildbow, thank you for creating a TRUE HERO ✌.
SCION!!! I KNEW YOU'LL COME TO SAVE THE DAY. I KNEW IT. NO, ISN'T LATE, MY HERO CHEVALIER, NEVER IS TOO LATE. AS LONG AS THERE ARE PEOPLE TO BE SAVED IS NEVER TOO LATE 😀😀.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS..............😀😀😀😀😀🙃🙃BEHEMOTH IS DEAD. THE FIRST ENDBRINGER THAT SCION EVER KILLED. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS. HUZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH. NOW I REALLY DON'T CARE ANYMORE IF SCION WILL BECOME EVIL IN THE FUTURE AND HE'LL FUCK THOUSANDS OF EARTHS, RIGHT NOW HE DESTROYED BEHEMOTH AND THIS IS ALL THAT MATTERS. No, I still don't like him, but I'm super-happy with what he just did. Yes, take that, Behemoth. Simurgh, you just lost a child. Scion annihilated your baby and he'll do the same thing with the other baby. Time to give up and let humans alone or are you going to have more babies ?
"hears a faint song in her head" FUCK, NO. I'm gonna stop making fun of you, Simurgh, please, my winged beautiful queen, can you stop? I didn't mean to offend you...she must be so pissed....welp...
BEHEMOTH IS DEAD...BEHEMOTH IS DEAD....CHEVALIER IS THE BEST ♥♥...SCION DID IT...but lets not forget someone who was just as important as Chevalier and Scion, if no more...
THANK YOU, KEVIN NORTON, FOR SAVING THE WORLD ♥.
But...
...the song....
....doesn't stop....
🎵 Good night and sleep well, my friends 🎶

A pity,he could have killed behemoth,but it appears that the core is immune to powers.

rafuki22 · Sep 9, 2019

blackarrow said:
What was your immediate reaction when Scion appeared and killed Behemoth?

Difficult to say,Behemoth gived us a good fight,scion saying NOPE to behemoth attacks was basically showcasing his allmightyness,overall,it was good and a hope spot.

Birdsie · Sep 9, 2019

blackarrow said:
What was your immediate reaction when Scion appeared and killed Behemoth?

Overall, it was a kind of touch of finality, and displayed Scion's... unstoppability, essentially. Keep in mind that he didn't finish off Behemoth because it was easier this time. He finished off Behemoth because a homeless guy in Britain told him he should do that: it displays that really, no matter what people do, Scion is going to do his own things. He only fought Endbringers earlier because he saw them as a form of natural disaster, and once the disaster 'went away' it was no longer a problem.

This again shows off that Kevin Norton, the man to whom Scion listened, truly was the most powerful man in the world. He could have told Scion anything, like, "go murder people" or "bring me lots of money," and Scion likely might've listened, but instead, Kevin decided to have the golden man go around and save people.

Beplatinum · Sep 9, 2019

blackarrow said:
What was your immediate reaction when Scion appeared and killed Behemoth?

I was excited, happy, basically very joyful! Till I started thinking about how easily that was for him, and my mind wandered I'm sure you could guess where. Also, Love the extra opinions of your father and friend. Thanks for sharing!

squibble · Sep 9, 2019

blackarrow said:
He stopped Tattletale from turning Fuck You Cody into a swiss cheese and I have to admit that what Accord did was exactly what killed him

Personally I subscribe to the theory that Accord was saving Tattletale here. Accord knew he was Codys target here, not Lisa. If she had shot Cody, he would have attacked her for getting in his way the same way he attacked Chevalier. Given her lack of armor in comparison, what wounded Chevalier would have likely killed Tattletale. Accord knew he was outmatched, knew he was going to die, and saved Tattletale from a similar fate.

rafuki22 · Sep 9, 2019

squibble said:
Personally I subscribe to the theory that Accord was saving Tattletale here. Accord knew he was Codys target here, not Lisa. If she had shot Cody, he would have attacked her for getting in his way the same way he attacked Chevalier. Given her lack of armor in comparison, what wounded Chevalier would have likely killed Tattletale. Accord knew he was outmatched, knew he was going to die, and saved Tattletale from a similar fate.

For pragmatic reasons,of course.

blackarrow · Sep 9, 2019

squibble said:
Personally I subscribe to the theory that Accord was saving Tattletale here. Accord knew he was Codys target here, not Lisa. If she had shot Cody, he would have attacked her for getting in his way the same way he attacked Chevalier. Given her lack of armor in comparison, what wounded Chevalier would have likely killed Tattletale. Accord knew he was outmatched, knew he was going to die, and saved Tattletale from a similar fate.

Interesting theory but I don't think that he tried to save her (my opinion). Tattletale could have shoot Cody in his head- BOOM, HEADSHOT. Cody would have died instantaneously from a heatshot (we know that Tattletale will never hesitate to kill someone in a life and death fight; she almost shot Night to death and only her weird ass power saved Night from dying). Cody still attacked Tattletale after he killed Accord- obviously trying to kill her- and the only thing that saved her from a certain death was her gift of manipulating people with the right words (Accord wasn't the one who saved her but her own wit and power). I see Accord more like a stupid asshole who overestimated Chevalier's chances to defeat Cody in fight and underestimated Cody than a gentleman saving the damsel in distress

. But, this is my opinion. Wildbow's brilliant writing allows us to develop different opinions for a single scene. Or different opinions for a single character. One character loved by some might be hated/disliked by others. One scene might be interpreted in various ways.
But I like your theory...you paint Accord in better colors after his death

.

blackarrow · Sep 9, 2019

Beplatinum said:
I was excited, happy, basically very joyful! Till I started thinking about how easily that was for him, and my mind wandered I'm sure you could guess where. Also, Love the extra opinions of your father and friend. Thanks for sharing!

Scion is going to be a BIGGER problem than all the Endbringers together (including Simurgh). In comparison, we're going to MISS Endbringers' battles with humans

.
I'll share more extra opinions, thank you.

blackarrow · Sep 9, 2019

Birdsie said:
Overall, it was a kind of touch of finality, and displayed Scion's... unstoppability, essentially. Keep in mind that he didn't finish off Behemoth because it was easier this time. He finished off Behemoth because a homeless guy in Britain told him he should do that: it displays that really, no matter what people do, Scion is going to do his own things. He only fought Endbringers earlier because he saw them as a form of natural disaster, and once the disaster 'went away' it was no longer a problem.

This again shows off that Kevin Norton, the man to whom Scion listened, truly was the most powerful man in the world. He could have told Scion anything, like, "go murder people" or "bring me lots of money," and Scion likely might've listened, but instead, Kevin decided to have the golden man go around and save people.

Kevin is the most SELFLESS PERSON IN THE WHOLE STORY. He had so much power over what is basically a combination between Superman and Jesus yet he chose to use this POWER only for the good of all others (not even for the good of himself, despite being such a poor man). KEVIN NORTON IS THE QUINTESSENCE OF SELFLESSNESS AND NO OTHER CHARACTER PROVED TO BE AS SELFLESS AS HIM

.
I wish to be a real person and to get to know him.

blackarrow · Sep 9, 2019

HERO- ANOTHER COOL TINKER WITH A GOLDEN HEART AND SUCH A SAD FATE ♥

Credit Hero of Alexandria by ElCuervoBorracho on DeviantArt

MOUSE PROTECTOR- THIS SWEET GIRL'S FATE MAKE ME WISH FOR BONESAW TO HAVE A TASTE OF HER OWN MEDICINE. JUST FOR A LITTLE BIT, TO SEE HOW IT FEELS LIKE

Credit: Mouse Protector by JediqueerArt on DeviantArt

MORE ADORABLENESS WITH MOUSE PROTECTOR

Credit Mouse Protector Chibi by JediqueerArt on DeviantArt

MISS MILITIA BEING MORE AMERICAN THAN YOU

Credit It's Called Dazzle Camouflage by CPericardium on DeviantArt

CHEVALIER AND DEFIANT - I SHIP THEM AS MORAILS (PLATONIC BROS FOREVER FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT INTO HOMESTUCK) AND I'LL GO DOWN WITH THIS SHIP

Credit Commission: Defiant and Chevalier by Yun-Yun-Hakusho on DeviantArt

Ridtom · Sep 9, 2019

That's Chevalier not Dauntless

blackarrow · Sep 9, 2019

Ridtom said:
That's Chevalier not Dauntless

Ah, sorry, my bad. What was in my head? 😅

The Richmaster · Sep 11, 2019

blackarrow

(I'm pretty sure that I managed to avoid saying anything that couldn't at least be inferred from the test you've already read)

This has been a pretty interesting read-through to see as it went along; your opinions have been pretty interesting to read and, even if I didn't agree with some of them, you did a pretty good job of explaining your reasoning for some of them. And am glad you came around to Dragon.
(Though, I have to say, it's definitely refreshing to see someone who doesn't think that Carol and Krouse are incarnations of pure evil... okay, I'm exaggerating a bit but few people seem to give them much thought)

I'm just going to to list a few thoughts on what I remember seeing you react to/ask since it's a pretty long thread:
- how did I first react when Regent died: "Dammit, I liked that guy" and "Good for you, Imp; you Heartbreaker's days are surely numbered"

- how did I first react to the death of Behemoth: well, after Phir Se's attack, it became pretty clear that the Endbringers have been heavily sandbagging but wasn't really surprised by Scion being strong enough to kill them... I was more curious about the reactions and aftermath

- You mentioned earlier that Tattletale could have killed Cody; this is false. One of the powers that he had access to at that time was a danger sense and multiple defensive abilities meaning that he wouldn't die so easily. so Accord actually did save her life by stopping her from becoming Cody's direct target.
--- I do think there are multiple reasons why Accord would try and save Tattletale; 1. she promised to look through his plan and implement it where possible meaning that his work would live on, 2. he genuinely does seem to care for his Ambassadors and it seems reasonable to believe that Tattletale would look after them, 3. looking at his interlude, I think he genuinely respects her abilities and empathises with her to a degree (but his powers make him prickly and she takes pleasure in pissing people off, which he is particularly vulnerable to, which is why it seems like he might not)

- Two things on Number Man's interlude:
- 1. you said Number Man was just messing with Reyner; I don't think that's true. i think he's kind of like Colin in that he probably thinks that people would want a proper explanation of the situation (and it's been mentioned multiple time that powers can change the way people think; NM's is based on numbers, statistics and cold hard facts so the idea that he might think in such a manner).
- 1.5. Now that you know about Contessa's power, it should be clarified that she is what NM was referring to win he said that Reyner had no chance of escape
- 2. from the various interludes about them, it is pretty clear to see that Cauldron consider themselves to be a "For the greater good" kind of organisation... however this sort of thing generally tends to be evil in its own right which actually reminds me of a certain quote from a HP fanfic

- As for Phir Se, I personally feel that I can respect him but I also think he can be an example of "he who fights monsters...". because his situation is definitely one that I tihnk would be painful and he clearly does wish he could have saved them but then it's a matter of perspective. I'll give a good comparison:

Imagine that you are a hero with the power to time travel.

You worked with the Protectorate and Guild and have managed to eliminate that Slaughterhouse Nine. However you family got caught up in the process.

If you go back to save your family, you will also cause the Nine to be spared.

Would you still save them, knowing full well that you would beat least partially responsible for countless other broken families since you also freed the Nine?

I'm not really sure what I would have done in that situation

On a less severe note, I was unaware of that Mouse Protector artwork and like it. An am now hoping she at least appears in a flashback in Ward (I'm still not caught up there).

Sorry, if this is a bit much, I just ended typing up anytihng that came to mind

blackarrow · Sep 11, 2019

The Richmaster said:
blackarrow

(I'm pretty sure that I managed to avoid saying anything that couldn't at least be inferred from the test you've already read)

This has been a pretty interesting read-through to see as it went along; your opinions have been pretty interesting to read and, even if I didn't agree with some of them, you did a pretty good job of explaining your reasoning for some of them. And am glad you came around to Dragon.
(Though, I have to say, it's definitely refreshing to see someone who doesn't think that Carol and Krouse are incarnations of pure evil... okay, I'm exaggerating a bit but few people seem to give them much thought)

I'm just going to to list a few thoughts on what I remember seeing you react to/ask since it's a pretty long thread:
- how did I first react when Regent died: "Dammit, I liked that guy" and "Good for you, Imp; you Heartbreaker's days are surely numbered"

- how did I first react to the death of Behemoth: well, after Phir Se's attack, it became pretty clear that the Endbringers have been heavily sandbagging but wasn't really surprised by Scion being strong enough to kill them... I was more curious about the reactions and aftermath

- You mentioned earlier that Tattletale could have killed Cody; this is false. One of the powers that he had access to at that time was a danger sense and multiple defensive abilities meaning that he wouldn't die so easily. so Accord actually did save her life by stopping her from becoming Cody's direct target.
--- I do think there are multiple reasons why Accord would try and save Tattletale; 1. she promised to look through his plan and implement it where possible meaning that his work would live on, 2. he genuinely does seem to care for his Ambassadors and it seems reasonable to believe that Tattletale would look after them, 3. looking at his interlude, I think he genuinely respects her abilities and empathises with her to a degree (but his powers make him prickly and she takes pleasure in pissing people off, which he is particularly vulnerable to, which is why it seems like he might not)

- Two things on Number Man's interlude:
- 1. you said Number Man was just messing with Reyner; I don't think that's true. i think he's kind of like Colin in that he probably thinks that people would want a proper explanation of the situation (and it's been mentioned multiple time that powers can change the way people think; NM's is based on numbers, statistics and cold hard facts so the idea that he might think in such a manner).
- 1.5. Now that you know about Contessa's power, it should be clarified that she is what NM was referring to win he said that Reyner had no chance of escape
- 2. from the various interludes about them, it is pretty clear to see that Cauldron consider themselves to be a "For the greater good" kind of organisation... however this sort of thing generally tends to be evil in its own right which actually reminds me of a certain quote from a HP fanfic

- As for Phir Se, I personally feel that I can respect him but I also think he can be an example of "he who fights monsters...". because his situation is definitely one that I tihnk would be painful and he clearly does wish he could have saved them but then it's a matter of perspective. I'll give a good comparison:

I'm not really sure what I would have done in that situation

On a less severe note, I was unaware of that Mouse Protector artwork and like it. An am now hoping she at least appears in a flashback in Ward (I'm still not caught up there).

Sorry, if this is a bit much, I just ended typing up anytihng that came to mind

Ok, first, nothing is too much because I enjoy people's opinions about my liveblog and I enjoy even more to to talk with them about their opinions and my opinions. Thank you for reading my liveblog entirely and liking most of my updates. I'm honored and I'm saying this with all the sincerity I can muster (being a sincere person is both one of my flaws and my qualities

).

As for answering your questions, I'll start with the most interesting one. If I have to choose between going back in time and saving my family and bringing back S9 as well and no going back in time, not saving my family and eliminating S9 forever, I will choose the first option. Sorry to say that, I'm usually a selfless and helpful person but I IDOLATRIZE my family and I'd do anything to save them/keep them as close to me as possible. When it comes to my family, I can be the most selfish person ever. I'll do a lot of things for them, including what I call ugly things. So, even if I'll bring back S9, as long as I have my family back in my life, I'll do it and I'll be ready to support any consequence and to pay for what I did. Even if I'll remain in history as a crazy and selfish hero who more or less indirectly helped S9, as long as my family is safe..."takes a deep breath"....I'll still do it. Yes, if I still have time and not get arrested or get a kill order, I'll try to find other methods to stop S9, methods that will not involve my family being in near danger. But, I'll do almost anything for people I love (if I know that they're exposed to a direct danger), even PROBABLY things that I won't do in any other circumstances, even if I'll hate myself when everything will be over

. Please, don't think at me as a bad person, I'm just very protective towards what I love, protective to the point of self-detestable selfishness

.

Ok, I keep thinking about Accord's gesture to stop Tattletale from killing Cody and I decided that...yes...I think he indeed saved her but only for the first reason "she promised to look through his plan and implement it where possible meaning that his work would live on". This reason seems to fit his way of thinking and general personality better than the other two. I don't think Accord actually cared so much about his Ambassadors (ok, he actually cared about Citrine, but he still couldn't stop himself from imagining how to push her down the stairs and hurt her; that man was so damn sick in his head) or he admired Tattletale since he always made plans in his head to kill them in various ways everytime when they did something like opened their mouth to speak (especially Tattletale). But he CARED for his work more than anything else and he trusted Tattletale that she'll follow on his steps. This is the reason why he decided to save her. Ok, lets say that I can respect Accord for partially saving my favorite character (because she saved herself too when she convinced Cody that its not worth killing her and he should go and look after his "girlfriend"instead) but he still deserved to die. He sold Cody into slavery, he's responsible for the pain and suffering of this young man and for his further actions. Cody had the right to get revenge on the man who ruined his life BUT in his blind need for revenge, he almost killed Chevalier and Tattletale and thousands of people probably died as direct consequence. He was motivated in his revenge but he did it WRONG. SO FREAKING WRONG (I support the idea of personal revenge on people responsible for someone's misery but with some limits: get revenge only on the responsible one but NEVER on innocent people too; get revenge only when is the right time, not when the life of so many people depend exactly of the object of your revenge; NEVER HURT the family or the friends of your target. If a person who want revenge break these rules then they're nothing but assholes in my eyes. Just like Cody is now. Look at Chevalier. He only hurt the people who kidnapped -and who knows what kind of horrible things they did to- his brother. He never broke the limits of his revenge. He wasn't an asshole but a rightful vengeful person).

Why people consider Carol to be a monster? Maybe she have her own sins, like when she wasn't a good and attentive mother for Amelia or when she emotionally abandoned her when she went to Birdcage, but she's a good person, in her own way. She suffered a lot when she was a teenager, she went through a brutal trigger and an equally brutal trauma, she adopted Amelia despite HATING her because Marquis reminded her of her abuser and she tried her best to offer her adopted daughter a family (even if she failed to be a good mother, at least wasn't a very bad mother either). Now, this woman lost the girl that she tried to love but couldn't to Birdcage and lost her natural daughter to a fate worse than death caused (accidentally) by the same adoptive daughter. Carol is not a monster but a VICTIM, first of all. A victim to evil abusers, a victim to herself and her own prejudices and personal fears, a victim to her adopted daughter, a victim to her own life that wasn't very generous and kind with her. I feel terrible sorry for the whole Dallon family, an example of a family of powerful and successful parahumans at surface, but so fragile, unstable and unlucky beneath the spotless surface

.
As for Krouse, he's a victim too, but he's also partially responsible of his actions. Still, not a monster, never a monster like others. Right now, I think Teacher is one of the real monsters (I feel like that guy is evil and not only because he is a Master controlling already a bunch of people in his cell block) and I feel terrible sorry for Krouse being under his control. He doesn't deserve to become Teacher's toy

.

Anyway, Reyner had no chance to escape, with or without Contessa's intervention. Number Man is just as badass as Contessa (maybe not as powerful but he really know how to defeat his enemy using only his pen. I don't think many people can defeat Number Man in a fight).

The Richmaster · Sep 12, 2019

blackarrow

- On Carol - I think the main reason she gets so much hate is because Amy is one of central characters in the fandom and Carol wan't the perfect mother to her. And anyone who mistreat the beloved Woobie must be punished. It's not always that bad but there is often an underlying tone when she's written in fanworks. I agree with you on the victim part.

- On Trickster - people mostly point to how he messes most things up and that he can be kind of an asshole. Which is is true to a point but I don't think he's quite that bad; I mean, it's not like he chose to be a Zizbomb and he did bring up the subject with the others, even going so far as to offer to become a hermit after helping them get back.
-- I also agree on the Teacher part; while I won't spoil anything that hasn't been seen yet, he's definitely the mastermind kind of villain

- On Reyner - He did have a chance against Number Man... not necessarily a good one but like an amateur going up in the ring against the heavyweight champion; with an immense amount of luck, things going just right and possibly some unforeseen factors, he could have beaten Number Man. However, Contessa is made of pure win.

On the first two points, I think it can be said that Worm can bring a large variety of opinions depending on each reader's preferences and background; for example there is one person on SB who jokingly said that to them, "Worm is the story of the whirlwind romance between Colin and Dragon that gets interrupted too often by the experiences of an emo girl". Other interpretations think that there are anti-government sentiments or go deep into thinking up meanings of small areas and then applying this to the whole story.
- If I were to give a summary that I personally think fits, it's be along the lines of... "Worm is a story about many traumatised people trying to do their best but often inflicting their traumas on others, whether intentionally or not"

blackarrow · Sep 12, 2019

The Richmaster said:
blackarrow

- On Carol - I think the main reason she gets so much hate is because Amy is one of central characters in the fandom and Carol wan't the perfect mother to her. And anyone who mistreat the beloved Woobie must be punished. It's not always that bad but there is often an underlying tone when she's written in fanworks. I agree with you on the victim part.

- On Trickster - people mostly point to how he messes most things up and that he can be kind of an asshole. Which is is true to a point but I don't think he's quite that bad; I mean, it's not like he chose to be a Zizbomb and he did bring up the subject with the others, even going so far as to offer to become a hermit after helping them get back.
-- I also agree on the Teacher part; while I won't spoil anything that hasn't been seen yet, he's definitely the mastermind kind of villain

- On Reyner - He did have a chance against Number Man... not necessarily a good one but like an amateur going up in the ring against the heavyweight champion; with an immense amount of luck, things going just right and possibly some unforeseen factors, he could have beaten Number Man. However, Contessa is made of pure win.

On the first two points, I think it can be said that Worm can bring a large variety of opinions depending on each reader's preferences and background; for example there is one person on SB who jokingly said that to them, "Worm is the story of the whirlwind romance between Colin and Dragon that gets interrupted too often by the experiences of an emo girl". Other interpretations think that there are anti-government sentiments or go deep into thinking up meanings of small areas and then applying this to the whole story.
- If I were to give a summary that I personally think fits, it's be along the lines of... "Worm is a story about many traumatised people trying to do their best but often inflicting their traumas on others, whether intentionally or not"

I like your idea of Worm's summary. Its very fitting to Worm's general theme

. My idea is something like that: Its a hellish world where people prefer to fight against each other (villains against heroes, heroes against heroes, villains against villains), keep innumerable secrets and act like antagonists despite having apparently noble final purposes (Cauldron) or being general assholes or monsters (Jack, Heartbreaker, etc) INSTEAD of working together to make the world a better place to live in. The world will never get better if people will never work together for the common good but nobody seems to understand this

.

I'm actually glad that Number Man is not OP. OP characters kind of rub me the wrong way. I just don't like anything OP, whatever is good or bad. On the other hand, Contessa seems annoyingly OP, but maybe she have her own kryptonite (except for being useless against Endbringers). Can't wait to try to guess Contessa's kryptonite and see how wrong or right I'm.

So, Amy is fandom's sweetheart. I didn't know that and I'm pretty surprised. I thought that people doesn't like her too much because of so many mistakes she did but I'm glad to see that people actually like her because I like her too. Yes, she did plenty of mistakes but all of them were horrible accidents, she never did anything on purpose or because she was an evil sadistic bitch. I see her more like poor Sveta than anything else. Poor Sveta is such a nice girl but she killed many people because of her mental impossibility to control a body so alien and frightening for her, not because she was a bloodthirsty monster. Amelia hurt her sister because she was almost driven nuts by Bonesaw, her own mental troubles, the lack of emotional support from her guardians, her general tiredness and even her own power. The only bad thing I can say about her is that she preferred to go to Birdcage instead of TRYING to heal Victoria. She ran like a coward, abandoning the sister that she romantically loved to a fate worse than death

. Poor Victoria, there are so many monsters who DESERVE her fate yet she was the one who got it. A girl who, despite being ill- tempered and sometimes excessive violent, have a good heart.
But still, Carol doesn't deserve such treatment. There are worse parents than her and she's not such a bad person anyway. She actually tried to be as good and capable as she could even if she failed in the end. I see Carol, Kayden and Marquis as very broken people who tried their best to be good parents. Kayden is a nazi, a racist and a violent criminal and I hate her so much for this but she clearly love Aster and fight for her little girl, despite failing to provide her a good and decent life (Aster will never have a normal life with a mother waging war against people that her fucked up ideology doesn't like

). Marquis is a villain but one of the best and most dedicated fathers I've seen in this story.

I'm not surprised about Teacher. Being an asshole/monster seem to be a specific feature for most of Masters (like 95% of them). Either their ugly personalities attract their powers like shit attracts flies or their powers made them like this. Master is the only Classification that I utterly hate: both as power and personality (exceptions still exist, of course).

I like when a story brings so many different opinions but I like more that people in this fandom RESPECT each other' opinions, even they they're so different and sometimes doesn't agree with them. I was part of fandoms that attacked my opinions without bringing any arguments to counter what I said and even insulted me because I didn't agree with their opinions or they didn't like my opinions. I was called "homophobe" because I said that I don't romantically ship two boys that weren't even a ship in canon, only in the fandom's imagination (Voltron, Keith and Lance. I see them only as friends/rivals but nothing more. I was called "homophobe" for my opinion 😡). But Worm fandom is one of the most respectful, intelligent and non-judgmental fandoms I've ever seen. I can say that I feel like I can be a very open person here (I'm actually super-annoying with my sincerity and I HATE to hide my opinions or change them in such a way to fit to the general opinions) without being afraid that if I say something people will insult me or say that I should keep my opinions for myself because they're "wrong". I ❤ this fandom.

Xexilf · Sep 12, 2019

blackarrow said:
I'm not surprised about Teacher. Being an asshole/monster seem to be a specific feature for most of Masters (like 95% of them). Either their ugly personalities attract their powers like shit attracts flies or their powers made them like this. Master is the only Classification that I utterly hate: both as power and personality (exceptions still exist, of course).

This was IIRC discussed to some degree in the crusader interlude.

Powers are to a degree shaped by your situation, and what unites masters most is loneliness. Most triggers happen when someone feels unsupported and helpless, but masters are often the most extreme there.

How this meshes with most masters being unpleasant... it may simply be that only the more unpleasant masters become famous, or maybe not master powers in general, but powers to seriously control human might come more often to those who desire such things on some level. And i can easily see that it makes people with the potential to be unpleasant worse... Power often corrupts, and while some parahuman powers seem little more than having a weapon strapped to your arm, to control the minds of others, paired with a personality that both felt alone or abandoned, along with (or because of) not having much empathy or respect for the free will of others... may well lead to very ugly results.

Taylor i wouldnt say is horrible. She has a tendency to feel like she needs to be in control, maybe mashing with being a "master" but it hasnt turned monstrous.

Dismissing Regent (who was "raised" by heartbreaker) and Noelle/Echidna (who was driven utterly insane by her broken power), what masters have we seen much of? Esspecially human controlling ones?

Valefor... ok, fuck that guy.

Teacher... the same.

Cherish... also horrible, but same as with regent, growing up constantly tortured by an emotion manipulator would likely screw up anyone.

Heartbreaker himself... yeah ok.

Canary however... Isnt horrible. Merely a victim of that same prejudice. So its not absolute.

Not human controlling masters arent nearly so bad, i think. Taylor is complicated but not monstrous, Genesis was ok, Manton/siberian is bad, Prism and some other heroes we havent seen much but they cant be that bad, Crusader is a Nazi but dosent seem worse than his compatriotes...

AmbarGriss · Sep 12, 2019

Oh... right... Voltron, let's forget that dumpster fire please.

blackarrow · Sep 12, 2019

Xexilf said:
This was IIRC discussed to some degree in the crusader interlude.

Powers are to a degree shaped by your situation, and what unites masters most is loneliness. Most triggers happen when someone feels unsupported and helpless, but masters are often the most extreme there.

How this meshes with most masters being unpleasant... it may simply be that only the more unpleasant masters become famous, or maybe not master powers in general, but powers to seriously control human might come more often to those who desire such things on some level. And i can easily see that it makes people with the potential to be unpleasant worse... Power often corrupts, and while some parahuman powers seem little more than having a weapon strapped to your arm, to control the minds of others, paired with a personality that both felt alone or abandoned, along with (or because of) not having much empathy or respect for the free will of others... may well lead to very ugly results.

Taylor i wouldnt say is horrible. She has a tendency to feel like she needs to be in control, maybe mashing with being a "master" but it hasnt turned monstrous.

Dismissing Regent (who was "raised" by heartbreaker) and Noelle/Echidna (who was driven utterly insane by her broken power), what masters have we seen much of? Esspecially human controlling ones?

Valefor... ok, fuck that guy.

Teacher... the same.

Cherish... also horrible, but same as with regent, growing up constantly tortured by an emotion manipulator would likely screw up anyone.

Heartbreaker himself... yeah ok.

Canary however... Isnt horrible. Merely a victim of that same prejudice. So its not absolute.

Not human controlling masters arent nearly so bad, i think. Taylor is complicated but not monstrous, Genesis was ok, Manton/siberian is bad, Prism and some other heroes we havent seen much but they cant be that bad, Crusader is a Nazi but dosent seem worse than his compatriotes...

You forgot some Masters. I'm going to mention all the Masters who appeared so far in the story and my personal opinion about them.

Taylor- a good person with a lot of flaws but she only wanted to help people and went so far to sacrifice her personal life (her friendship with Undersiders) in order to become a hero and try to change the world into a better place. Besides, she controls bugs, not people. I'd really hate if Taylor's eventual second trigger will allow her to control actual humans 🤮.

Rachel- uses dogs as her minions so not big deal besides she's a GOOD person. A feral teenager but an arguable good person.

Alec- was awful and his power was equally awful but his sacrifice said more about his personality than the appearancess: he wasn't completely incapable of love for someone else who wasn't himself.

Cherish- her behavior made Alec seems like an ANGEL in comparison+ she was soooooooo duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuumb.

Heartbreaker- the biggest asshole and abuser in the whole story (bigger than Jack; Jack abuses strangers, Heartbreaker abuses his own flesh and blood)

Sam/Prism -a good girl but her power is not so awful because she can only control copies of herself.

August Prince -he tried to kill Taylor; he's a murderer despite being only a child. Fuck him.

Paige -the most innocent Master in history.

Crusader- fucking nazi.

Echidna- influenced by her power/a tragic villain.

Gallant- he didn't really need emotion power to make you fall in love with him.

Felix Swoop- a villain who wasn't so bad but was dumb enough to not call himself Pheonix.

Jess- controls only projections and is the second best Traveler.

Rinke/Nilbog - killed an entire city just to live there with his creatures, is fucking nuts but I think he's also influenced by his power too.

Sabah -one of the best girls. And she doesn't control humans, another plus.

Glaistig Uaine - fucking crazy killer but I can see her mindset being similar with Nilbogs.

Manton- crazy sadistic mass- murderer.

Valefor -🐛🐛🐛+👀= 😭

Simurgh- the most dangerous Endbringer and the Master behind their existence.

Teacher- 👩‍🎓+🧟‍♀️= 👨‍🎓+🧟‍♂️=
🎶We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone 🎶

Most of Masters who control people are some of the lowest "human beings" ever. They're few genuinely good people, but not enough to make me change my opinion about them. I wouldn't be friend with a Master controlling people if they're real. Even when they appear to be nice I will still not trust them. I have troubles trusting people, I'm paranoiac and imagine the troubles I'll have trusting Masters. I'll always ask myself if my decisions are MY decisions and not theirs, if when I'm doing something or going somewhere is because I WANT and not because they make me do it, or if I like someone is not because I'm forced to like the respective person. I'll avoid Masters in the same manner classical vampires avoid the sunlight. On the other hand, I think I'll be very close friend with Tinkers. Most of them are opposite to Masters: cool, friendly and helpful people (there are also evil and asshole Tinkers but not so many). The only problem with Tinkers is that...some of them can act like Masters and use their tech to do some shitty mastery things, even when they have good intentions

.
The irony is that my father is a fan of Master Classification and he kind of like to control people. If he'll ever trigger, I think he'll trigger with a Master power. My trigger will be some kind of Thinker power, maybe similar with Lisas because of my general difficulties to trust people.

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

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