Hello, my friends, and happy New Year 2020. I was too damn busy with the whole Christmas and New Year stuff so not enough time for liveblogging Worm, but now I have more free time in my hands meaning more time for fresh updates. I'll start this year with an Interlude, looks like. I was more curious to see the meeting between the King of Horrors, Nilbog, and the Lord of Apocalypse, Jack, and how successful Jack will be at recruiting Nilbog in his team, but an Interlude is pretty ok too, I don't complain. Interludes are always good, even the ones about assholes and Cauldron (even if I don't like the central character(s), I still like how informative an Interlude can be, allowing me to see and learn things outside Taylor's limited perspective so I become pretty excited everytime when I discover a new Interlude). So, my best guess? Another Cauldron Interlude, which will be welcomed because I'm very curious to see how they managed to save the world once and from what kind of menace, I want to learn more about the mysterious Contessa and how in the hell she managed to get such an UNFAIR power( Cauldron power, natural trigger???) and yes, I'm interested to know more about Cauldron First Bitch too, Doctor (step)Mother- how did she came up with this diabolical idea of creating Cauldron, if she have powers or not (and if not then why not; if everyone around her is a parahuman why she refused to turn herself into a parahuman too? Or she was afraid to share the same fate as her VICTIMS?) Another characters that I'll be very interested about are Heartbreaker's kids. I'm actually getting tired demanding this Interlude and never getting it

. I'm going to eat my curiosity until the last crumbs if I'll be disappointed and never ever ask for it again.
Lets see if I'll start this year with assholes or with cool guys
Interlude 26 (Donation Bonus #1)
"Three Mannequins, three Murder Rats, three Breeds, a Nyx and a Tyrant taken out of action. Fifty hostages rescued. Jack's reported as being on a route to visit Nilbog. Information confirmed by Tattletale, but doesn't guarantee the clone wasn't misinformed."
"Thank you, Weaver."
Dragon's systems were already taking in the data. Two hundred and sixty-four individual maps that marked the possible locations of the Nine with colored highlights shifted. Eleven feeds went dark, their engines taking over calculations in other departments.
"Dragon," Chevalier's face appeared on a feed. One of the cameras on the PRT-issue phones, judging by the angle and resolution. "You've got the go-ahead from the commander-in-chief."
The words popped up. Cherie Vasil.
The Azazels relocated in an instant, firing every thruster to reposition themselves to hilltops and areas in the vicinity of the road. Long range cameras, infrared and electromagnetic resonance imaging gave Dragon eyes on the scene, verified what she was seeing twice over. No Nyx-crafted illusions fashioned of poisonous gas. No plastic surgery.
Seven Cherishes. Two Crawlers. A King. Forty hostages of unknown status, a bus driver.
A second stream hit his hostage, striking her out of his grasp and sending her flying straight into the first glob.
She was sandwiched within, safe.
"Ten more members of the Nine have been dealt with," Dragon reported the victory on every channel. "Seven Cherishes and two Crawlers deceased, one King captured. Will move to containment and interrogate shortly."
Ok, ok, I'm starting 2020 with a cool guy. Or better said: a cool gal. Or even BETTER SAID: a cool AI gal

. The second Dragon Interlude? My predictions are already dead and buried but at least I'm going to spend this Interlude reading about Dragon kicking serious S9 Clones' ass. Can't say that I'm disappointed, especially when Dragon is cleaning the streets using Cherishes and Crawlers' bodies as broom. Awesome. I like how she doesn't give them any chance to hurt the hostages, she actually saves hostages from them, she knows how to fight so no innocent will be hurt. Weaver and your Marry Band of Ass Kicking Heroes, see how you should deal with hostages? Save them not let them die just like that

(well, I know that it isn't their fault, they're doing whatever they can to save as many hostages as possible but most of them are mutilated beyond hope of salvation or they have Breed's pets nesting inside their bodies). Dragon is more lucky because the clones that she confronted didn't have enough time to mutilate their hostages. Interesting to see the fight against Crawler. Crawler still look like a human who slowly mutate into a monster in order to protect himself against Dragon's attacks. Now I understand his power better, the original Crawler turned into a monster as a form of adaptation to any other attack that could have threatened his life (he developed a monstrous skin to deflect aggressive attacks, he developed many eyes to better see his enemies, he got the ability to split acid to hurt his enemies, he got claws to be able to climb surfaces and so on. Its not like he wanted to physically turn into a monster- well, he was a monster at heart anyway, his power made him a physical monster as a very strange method of survival (if I have to compare him with a character from X-Men- my eternal obsession, sorry- he's like Darwin but Darwin's power allows him to remain human with the ability to adapt to any life threatening situation. But Crawler wasn't so lucky). His Passenger must be a smart asshole because it brings the monster inside of him at surface.
Crawler and his fucked up power aside, I don't like how Dragon captured a King. A living King. Not a good idea because King is not going to tell her anything about Jack. All the clones are very loyal to their masters and they'll prefer to die than betray him in any way. Nyx preferred to die instead of telling to the heroes where Jack is. They're created like this by Bonesaw who also have the remote control and will probably know if they'll betray and kill them before they'll actually do it. Well, if Dragon will be smart enough to remind King Clone that Jack was the one who killed his original that will probably change his opinion about Jack but...the remote control is still in Bonesaw's hands. King will not have enough time to help Dragon with information.
Saint closed his eyes as he listened to the congratulations, the affirmations and praise.
It was all hope mingled with horror, when he listened for what was beneath the surface. Minimal casualties. A few injuries – Vista and Crucible would be out of commission as Murder Rat's venom continued to widen their wounds, and Golem was being treated for a burn. One Dragon's Tooth had died, but the rest were holding positions, ready to support. Civilians were dying, but it wasprogress.
He opened his eyes to take in the whole of Dragon's work. Six widescreen monitors each tracked what she was doing with video images and white text on a black background. A slight movement of his foot on the trackpad in front of him shifted one of his cursors, changing the focus of the screens. He could see her directing the A.I. craft to more optimal locations, the related subroutines and tasks.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAT


? Wildbow is SAVAGE with his plot twists. He's officially M. Night Shyamalan of web literature. Yep. So, he made me believe that this is Dragon Interlude, I had a great moment seeing her kicking evil clones' ass, and now the whole POV changed to her worst enemy, Saint himself. You know, that hacker with an ugly cross tattoo on his face, who doesn't like Dragon and keep bothering her. Who is also one of Teacher's students. So, this is Dragon Interlude or Saint Interlude, I'm kind of confused at this moment. Well, Saint is watching Dragon on his monitors so I suppose that is HIS Interlude and what I saw till now was what Saint saw. Hmm, ok, I'm curious to know more about this Saint, why he doesn't like Dragon and stole suits from her and tried to sabotage her. Well, I can see his main reason, he probably doesn't trust AIs, not even a benevolent AI like Dragon and he's afraid that she'll go all evil over the world and doom or bring it under her control. His fear is not stupid neither illogical. Its a normal fear and this man just doesn't want to become a slave for an AI (even if he's already a slave for a Master but this is another story). A very realistic fear and I will understand him if this is his main reason to be so hostile towards Dragon but I just hope that he'll not try to sabotage her again- RIGHT IN THIS MOMENT- when she fights to save the world, because that will be a very illogical, idiotic and asshole move. Right now, Dragon is not someone dangerous, she actually fight against what is truly dangerous for the world. If she'll become dangerous after she'll deal with Jack then I will totally agree with any actions Saint or Colin will want to take against her (but I'm afraid that Colin will not do anything to stop her because he loves her. Yes, he's a hero but...the stupid things we're doing for love...

). But until then, all you should do is watch her kicking ass, Saint man. Kicking ass.
Who knows, maybe he'll even help her if he is a good boy who care to stop the end of the world. Should I have faith in Saint? Hmmm, its too early.
He didn't take his eyes off the screen, but when hands settled on his shoulders, he reached up to rest his own hand on one.
"Progress?" she asked. She rested her chin on his head, looking at the screens.
"Some, Mags," he responded. "Thanks for the coffee."
"Horrible stuff."
He shifted his foot, and once again, the screens changed their focus, the rest of the data shifting to miniature windows and moving to the periphery of the viewing area. The focus at the center was on the class-S threats.
The Endbringers were stable, all in a resting state.
Secondary focuses. Not the kind of targets that Dragon checked on with any regularity. Quarantine areas were silent and still. Canberra was sealed off under a dome, Madison was surrounded by walls. An area of wilderness in Alaska was marked off, but had no physical barriers to wall people away. There were no apparent issues in the vicinity of the interdimensional portals. Sleeper was, as far as anyone could identify anything about the threat,dormant. The Three Blasphemies were active, but the damage was being managed by the European capes. A temporary measure had been taken with Purity and her three year old daughter, with observation being provided for her by the PRT, and the feed showed her sitting on the couch in an apartment or hotel room, two very normal, plain looking people standing in the corner of the room with some PRT officers keeping their distance. No crises. Normal, as much as such could be normal.
And then there was Nilbog. The data focused around him. The city was quiet, and the roads leading into the city were being watched by satellite. Simulations, damage estimates and risk assessments were being run, old data being gathered, with essential data highlighted. It took her only a moment to put it into a format that was easily readable. An instant later, it was gone. He'd blinked, failing to look in the right spot, and had missed the moment the data had been emailed out. The file would inform everyone on the home team about who Nilbog was and how he operated.
"It could be that he intends to surround himself with a core group, with one of each previous member of the Nine, for a final showdown. Before he pulls out the big guns."
Dobrynja approached from the other end of the office. He was wearing his armor. He'd started out with the Wyvern suit, but now wore the Wyrmiston suit. It was based on the technology they'd recovered from a destroyed model, the one Dragon called Pythios. A wheel slowly rotated on his back.
"Everything does, from this side of the screen," Saint said. He stood, holding his coffee, "Adjusting for the time delay between what I'm seeing and what Dragon's doing, we've got six minutes more before Dragon intercepts Jack at the edge of Nilbog's territory. Twelve minutes until Golem and Weaver get there. They'll fight Jack, and somewhere in the midst of that, we may see the end of the world."
Saint is smart, despite not having any Tinker power. He understood Jack's plan to sacrifice most of his not very powerful clones in order to give the heroes enough hope that they can defeat him, then when they'll ever find him, he'll be surrounded by his most dangerous clones: Siberians, Gray Boy, Bonesaw, Nilbog (if he'll recruit him), Harbingers. Saint is a smart boy because he noticed something that not even the mighty Dragon noticed: Jack is playing with everyone. He waits until they'll be sure that they can defeat him to crush their hopes with his small army of UNFAIR powered clones. He doesn't care about Cherishes or Kings or even about Crawlers. They're not strong enough to protect him directly, when the time of final coundown for the end of the world will come. Good, Saint, good, what are you going to do now that you're aware of what Jack is planning? Perhaps you can contact Dragon and offer her your support? Come on, you seem like you want to help saving the world, why don't you team up with Dragon instead of being obsessed that she's not good? That wold be the smartest move

.
I'm glad that I get to know Saint's Dragonslayers. They're only two, Mag, who's also Saint's girlfriend and Dobrynja- judging by his name or codename, he must be russian. Both of them are smart and well prepared for the big fight. Sleeper is mentioned again, but no word about where he's, his intentions and his power. The Three Blasphemies were mentioned before, during Cauldron Meeting, when Doctor Mother said that she tried to locate them but she couldn't. I think they're a group of 3 very powerful and pretty evil/crazy/both parahumans (like Nilblog). I don't think that there's enough Worm left to develop these characters so I can imagine that they'll have a bigger role in Ward. Maybe they'll be the main villains.
"Trouble," Dobrynja said.
"Trouble?"
It was his face. As an aside, beyond all of the routines she was running to investigate the Nine, she was using the access she'd obtained to track him down.
The image she was using was of him at one of the meetings with the major players. It was soon joined by an image from surveillance camera. A camera image from three days earlier, showing him walking down the street in plainclothes.
From there, she had a location. A map like the one she'd used to find the Nine appeared, giving his likely locations. Another surveillance image popped up. It was of him, sitting with Mags at the coffee shop an hour away.
He felt a bit of a thrill as the duel began. This was the ultimate hunt, fighting an enemy that was bigger, smarter, faster. An enemy that couldn't truly die, because she wasn't truly alive.
"Ascalon," he said.
Dobrynja frowned. "The program? You can't do it now. Peoples lives are at stake. Even without this end of the world business."
"There's no other way? If you talk to Teacher, maybe-"
"Communications with Teacher are too slow," Saint replied.
That's not good. Hell, that's NOT GOOD AT ALL. Dragon somehow found Saint and his buddies' identities and location and Saint is afraid that she'll arrest him. And because he's afraid for his own freedom, he's going to use a special program- Ascalon, to probably shut her down or delete all her data. This is bad, bad, bad, bad, Saint

. Dragon fights to save the world, she's going to try to stop Jack from recruiting Nilblog and she'll be probably successful. And you want to sabotage her because she found you? Well, buddy, why you don't better help her defeat Jack and then she'll probably "forget" about you and let you free as a bird in the sky as gratitude for helping her? She's Dragon, she'll spare you if you're nice and helpful, you don't have to be aggressive and especially you don't have to be aggressive NOW, when there's not the right moment to attack Dragon. I agree with Dobrynja that if Saint will take action against Dragon, maybe he'll be the one who'll trigger the end of the world by allowing Jack to win (even if he doesn't actually have this intention). Saint, you may have good intentions but you're very selfish and stupid (technological wise he's incredible smart but life wise, he's just plain stupid). You care more about your freedom than allowing Dragon to save the world. Your mentality disgusts me. Don't do what you're planning to do, man, don't stop Dragon right now. Don't doom the world, please. I don't understand why Dobrynja thinks that talking to Teacher is a better idea

. Teacher is a criminal locked into a prison where the most dangerous parahumans criminals are usually locked. He's a criminal parahuman and a Master. Its written bad all over him. If I were in Saint's place, I'd rather prefer to go to jail than asking for someone like Teacher's help. Unless...Dobrynja is another one of Teacher's students, otherwise I can't explain his trust in Teacher. How many people Teacher can control at the same time? From what I understand, he must give people skills or enhance their powers first to get them under his control. He probably made Saint a better hacker than he was already and did the same with Dobrynja and Mag. I swear, making a deal with Teacher is like making a deal with Satan. Satan agrees to give you what your heart desires but he'll take everything else from you afterwards. No win for you

.
I love this Interlude. Its a BEAUTIFUL MESS. A group of apparently well-intentioned people will probably cause the end of the world because they're also too selfish and naive/stupid to take the right decisions at the right time. Kind of like Clovkblocker said: what if a mundane idiot will cause the Apocalypse? Will Saint be this mundane idiot? Will Apocalypse be triggered by a non-parahuman when everyone expect that parahumans will be responsible of it? Will Wildbow and Shyamalan become good friends over their common passion for mind-fucking twists? Lets see.
He glanced at Margaret. The woman leaned against the window just in front of the driver's seat on the small boat. She'd bundled up in a heavy jacket, but the way her arms were folded spoke of a different kind of discomfort.
Geoff only nodded. He climbed the ladder and half-sat, half-collapsed on the bench. He was slightly out of breath, and didn't volunteer anything.
The captain emerged from belowdeck.
"Sorry for the scare, Mischa," Geoff said.
"You are a bad man, Geoffrey," Mischa scolded him. The heavyset Russian took his seat behind the wheel of the small boat. "If you were still underwater, I would drive away and leave you to swim to shore."
It was packed with chips. A voice came from a speaker Geoff couldn't identify.
"My name is Andrew Richter, and if you are hearing this, I am dead."
"I am the most powerful tinker in the world, and I've managed to keep my name secret. People, both good and bad, would want to capture me and use me to their own ends. I prefer to remain free.
"They are my children, and as much as I harbor a kind of terror for what they could do, I love them and hope for great things from them. To keep their power from falling into the wrong hands, I have included a stipulation that a law enforcement officer must input a valid badge number into this device-"
The voice continued without pause. "-which must be input within three hours of the time this box was opened."
Saint's BACKSTORY. His real name is Geoffrey or Geoff, shorter. Dobrynja is Mischa and he's indeed russian and Mag is Margaret. Geoff found a message from Dragon's "father", Richter, where he was worried that his "daughter" will turn evil one day and he created the Ascalon's program to shut her down forever. No wonder why Geoff is so paranoiac if Dragon's own creator was afraid of what she might become. I understand him, I share the same paranoiac (or maybe not so very paranoiac) opinion about AIs. I know that Dragon is currently GOOD but who knows what will happen with her in the future? Not even Dinah can see so clearly in the future so only time will tell. Yes, Colin keeps her under control but he also loves her and even someone so cold and tough as Colin can become putty in the skillful hands of his girlfriend. I trust Colin's mind but I don't trust his heart. I think Geoff is right for being afraid for a future evil AI BUT he's not right for deciding to use the program right when she is fighting so hard to save the world. Incredible bad timing. The worst bad timing of all. Worst than Cody. At least Cody almost sacrificed a country for his selfishness but Geoff is ready to sacrifice the whole world. Congratulations, Geoff, if you'll deactivate Dragon when the world NEEDS her, then you'll be the worst. THE WORST. You'll make Cody appear like a smart and wise guy for attacking people fighting against Behemoth in the middle of the fight.
The father had feared his child was a monster, enough so that he'd left strangers a weapon to use against her in the event that she proved a danger to humanity.
Now, as Saint watched her reaching further and deeper than she ever had, searching much of America with millions of cameras, saw the machines she brought to the fore, he suspected the father had been right to.
The A.I. was dangerous. Richter's records made it clear. The wrong kind of corruption, involvement with the wrong kind of individual, willing to break the built-in restrictions…
"Convince me that this is wrong," he said. "Someone."
"She's a soldier on the battlefield," Mags said. "In a war we need to win."
"I don't want this to be about self-preservation," Mags said.
"It's not. It's about… there being only one man who can truly know what she is and what she could do. Tinkers are the only ones who can grasp their work, repair a critical flaw. Dragon isn't a generator that's going to explode and take out a small country if it's bumped in the wrong way. Not literally. She's something more dangerous."
Her voice cut off as more routines shut down. She closed her eyes.
The face disappeared.
"And the dragon is stopped," Mags said, her voice quiet.
"Rest her soul," Dobrynja said.
"You think she has a soul?" Saint asked, genuinely surprised.
"Yes. But that does not mean that the Dragon's reign does not need to end," Dobrynja said. "Too dangerous, as her maker said."
FUCK YOU, SAINT. FUCK YOU


. YOU DID THE WORST THING SOMEONE WHO ISN'T EVIL COULD DO. You doomed the whole world (I don't feel sad for Dragon's death because I'm sure that its not permanent- Defiant is skillful and smart enough to bring her back but I'm pissed because she could have stopped Jack from destroying the world because she can't do anything anymore because a fucking Saint decided that she'll become the most dangerous being in the world in 100 or 1000 years from now on and he had to stop her somehow). Saint, you could have worked with her, you could have helped her stop Jack and she'd have forget about arresting you, but nooooooooooooooo, your selfish nature decided that your freedom is more important than the lives of billions of people. Saint is not an evil person, he's actually a man who's trying to do what is the right thing to do, but he's selfish. Very selfish. Yes, someone can be a good person, yet selfish. He didn't even listened his friends and allies, Mags and Dobrynja, when they almost begged him to let Dragon alone

. Mags was very right when she said that they NEED Dragon but her boyfriend didn't give a fuck about her opinion, he only cared about himself. I swear, if I were the girlfriend of this guy, I would have knocked him out then tie him down until the world will be saved. I'd care more about the world's safety than his paranoia. Even if he'll hate me afterwards, I'd still do what is the most right thing to do. But Mags loved him too much to not let him do whatever he wanted, even if she was very much against his actions. She's the selfless half of their relationship. She accepts him even when she doesn't agree with him. She must love him very much. She's also a wise and nice woman. Too bad that she have such an ass of a boyfriend. Well, I think he loves her too, but he cares more about his own persona than anyone else

.
I wonder what other people think about Geoff. I think he's smart (at hackering), cautious and well-intentioned without resorting to Cauldron's atrocities or being a murderer (its not like he killed Dragon, come on, I'm absolute sure that she'll come back as long as her backup data and Colin's brilliant mind still exist) but he's also selfish, he doesn't care about his own allies' opinions, he's impulsive and utterly paranoiac. He reminds me of Krouse but at least poor Krouse had two big logical excuses: LOVE (more or less logical) and Simurgh. What kind of logical excuses Saint have besides his paranoia?
The cyborg opened communications to Dragon, but he didn't speak to her. "Saint. What have you done?"
"What her father asked me to do," Saint said.
"I'll kill you for this," the cyborg said. There was no emotion in his voice, and somehow that was more disturbing.
"A little extreme," Saint said.
"She was a hero! The woman I loved!"
"She did love me. She was a genuine person, a-"
"Don't enter," he said. "It's done. Sending the Azazels in will only spook Nilbog."
"So will Jack," Mags said.
The PRT records opened up. Permissions were accessed without difficulty.
Then the Birdcage opened. A self-contained world unto itself, a world containing people he'd made certain agreements with.
His access to the Birdcage was one with countless checks and balances. Dragon had put in one real barrier to entry for every one that she faced. Still, he was able to open a communication to Teacher. His own face transmitted to the screen. His tattoo flared to life, appearing from beneath the skin. The light pattern served as an unlock code, the cross-tattoo as a feeble mask.
This is our fight, Saint thought. Ours to win, ours to lose.
Colin: I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you reactivate Dragon, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you. -TAKEN 4: REVENGE OF THE NERDS (starring: Robert Downey Jr. as Colin/Defiant, Rami Malek as Geoffrey/Saint) Release Date: January 22, 2020. Don't miss it. Side note: the best actor I can see playing Colin is Robert Downey, can't be someone else

. As for Geoff, Rami Malek (Mr Robot's protagonist; I recommend this kick-ass TV series) is my best choice. He only need a cross tattoo on his face and he'll be perfect

.
So, Colin is going to kill Geoff if he'll ever find him. Well, I won't mind whatever Colin will do to him because even if Geoff is not a bad man, he did something so bad that not even hundreds of further good deeds will fix it. I just don't fucking care about his fate anymore. Geoff is like an inverse Phir Sē. The indian vigilante was ready to kill millions of people+ his daughter in order to save billions. But, when Weaver asked him to LISTEN her and follow her COMMAND and BEST JUDGEMENT, he actually listened her and allowed her to lead his actions. The result: his daughter+ millions of indians survived and Behemoth was injured

. Saint wanted only to stop potentially dangerous AI without killing a single human being. But, when his girlfriend and best buddy asked him to let Dragon alone because she was probably the only hope of humanity against Jack, he didn't even listened them and did what he wanted. The result: the whole world will be probably doomed even if Dinah said that the numbers of success increased (I'm sure is not permanent and everything will go to hell in a short time). Against his will, Saint probably helped Jack more than any of his people could do. Nice work breaking it, hero.
I also think that Saint was partially influenced by Teacher. Teacher wants to escape from Birdcage and probably....surely replace Jack as first world menace once Jack will be defeated. With Dragon in control he couldn't break free from Birdcage. But once Dragon was removed from equation and his student is in control, Teacher's chances to escape are bigger than ever. Its very possible that Teacher used his Master power on his student (now depends of how strong is his mental grip and how wade is the range), this serving as half of an excuse for Saint's horrible decision. Well, he was stupid enough for making the initial deal with Teacher (I mean, anyone making deals with Teacher while knowing that Teacher is evil and a Master must be dumber than the grass where the chicken poop

)+ his own paranoia and selfishness played an important role too.
Damn it, Saint. WHY YOU DIDN'T LISTENED YOUR GIRLFRIEND


?
The moral of this Interlude: Boys, always listen to your girlfriends. They're always right. If not, you'll cause the end of the world. Its a very legit warning

.
Good night and sleep well, my friends.