OK. I now have enough (some) time to go through the chapter in depth.
So Review Time!
You feel your sight and hearing increase to superhuman levels, even as your sense of smell leaves you. Plasticity.
So with Plasticity you get two Boosted Senses in exchange for losing one.
And suddenly, you're aware of what every other member of your team, the soldiers, the twins, and White Hawk are seeing. Perspective.
Pairs nicely with Plasticity granting Enhanced Sight.
Crimson Soprano moves to counter the soldiers, firing blasts of energy that curve around cover and home in on the soldiers. You're too focused on your own fight to do more than take a mental note of that—you had no idea she could do that. Then again, fighting her had always been left up to the other members of your team.
Black Swan sees her attacking the non-metahumans and seemingly takes offense. She flies behind her faster than the eye can see, and destroys the clone in an instant with a blinding strike.
Black Swan Destroys Crimson Soprano here.
Crimson Soprano Clone Destroyed!!!
. . . no.
It can't be! You would know! It would be impossible to hide a second Scarlet Maturity from everyone!
First Powers thanks to OG Scarlet Maturity then (possibly) Monarch with Princess' Power Copy and now Socialite Butterfly with Clone SM but at least I hope that when she copies a meta she can only access their powers at their base form (making powers that need buildup useless to her like with Algernons for example) meaning that SM is only useful as a Power Booster here.
It happens so fast that you struggle to process what you're seeing. One second, Indemnity is there, protected by an impenetrable shield. The next, he is gone. No body, no blood, no sign that a clone of a dead man ever existed. You erase him.
Indemnity Clone Destroyed!!
What an amazing first showing for
Railgun.
Especially compared to
Pilebunker.
Palisade knocks the panther away with a burst of energy—has her shield regenerated already?—but the snake catches her by the throat and sinks its fangs deep. Then the direwolf rips her arm off, and it's all over.
Clone Palisade Destroyed!!
Menagerie Witch is simultaneously making more clones and doing something to the real Seraph's body—ohhhh. That's what the vials are for.
Of Course Maddie would be the one in charge of Harvesting our enemies for their DNA.
Stockpile cuts the space between him as Seraph. Suddenly, Socialite Butterfly is whispering into empty air, and Seraph is right next to you.
A casual swing, and you decapitate your second clone. You refuse to thank the thief.
Now, to free Yara.
Look at Silvio being actually useful.
Clone Seraph Destroyed!!
Hail Valiant Gold! Second Kill (+Shutdown) Third Kill!!!
An opaque barrier appears around her head. You hear her muffled shout of outrage, before a moment passes and her hands begin desperately scratching at the barrier.
She can't breathe.
"Been practicing," Doctor Silver says, the kind, fatherly figure you know replaced by something far, far colder, "No oxygen gets in or out."
Daaaamn!
What A Stud!!!
Also nice to see that our Heroes keep on practicing their powers and developing new moves.
Now if only that was enough to kill SB.
She cuts his flesh-arm clean off, and catches Yara before she hits the ground. She steps back, holding her charge.
YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
YARA HAS BEEN SAVED! (for now)
Now they can all concentrate on killing Man o' War without needing to concern themselves with avoiding the captured Yara.
Time freezes. You don't have time to react. Doctor Silver's shields are all accounted for: one on Handyman, one on Châtelet, and one keeping Socialite Butterfly from touching anyone. Could he move one to Belle Sabreuse quickly enough? Can Stockpile teleport in time? Will he? Why doesn't she wear a full face-covering?!
Good Question.
Belle seems reasonable so the reason couldn't possibly be, a fashion statement.
The Brass Shield, without his armor and in new pants, clutching a piece of his armor in his hands.
Once we get a Telepath to verify his true loyalties I would happily consider him as a Prometheus Candidate.
Welcome to Justice Unlimited.
(Betray Us And We WILL Dispatch Cain to Hunt You Down)
"Kill him," Socialite Butterfly says without emotion.
Yeah. Was Expecting That.
"I will kill you all and decorate my Admirers with your armor! You're not even fit to join them! I have no use for children and an old man playing dress up!
As far as she knows she is correct.
Stockpile is Algernon so useless to her.
VG and DS and BS are all meant to be normies.
And
"I have no use for an Admirer who requires a zoo!"
Also true. MW is useless without her Menagerie.
"That's it! Enough games—I am leaving!"
Thank God!
Finally!
I can't stand hearing your awful screeching any longer, you delusional hag!
She gestures to Memoria, who pulls out a picture.
Bye Bye!!!
The picture in Memoria's grows until it nearly fills your vision, the image being projected on the wall behind the clone. The silhouettes of Socialite Butterfly, Memoria, Man o' War, Belle Sabreuse, and Yara all distort and pull toward the image. It's of some indistinct, forested area—it looks like a thousand places in Horizon. If Socialite Butterfly drags Yara there, you'll never find them.
Ugh. Right.
So thanks to SM, Memoria is Monarch Lite now.
What a drag.
. . . dives and wraps his arms around both Belle Sabreuse and Yara. His image distorts as well, and they drift towards the image created by Memoria. They stretch and pull and twist and then—
They're gone.
Okay. Okay. .................................................................. I AM CALM.
Yara WILL BE FINE.
And DOctor SilvER is NOT cgoing to DIE the saME ISSue that he was INTRODUCED IN.
........................................................................................
And that's all the opening Quetzalcoatl needs.
He races toward their positions, maw opened wide and swallows both of them whole in one fell strike. You hear a sickening crunching sound as it chomps down, and suddenly the world is two clones fewer.
Clone Miss Naught Killed!
Clone Gentleman James Killed!
Now THAT I like. 2/3 Killed and 1 left.
Sunlight Knight stands over it, a glowing sword plunged down.
Clone Automne Killed!
R.I.P.
Ohhhh noooooooooooo. That's your type!
. . .you're definitely bisexual now, you guess?
Well. That happened.
I ship them so, when is SK joining up with us?
Of course.
They were practically joined at the hip, weren't they?
Great. Radiant Silvergirl is here.
Of course she would be in reserve should Automne be defeated.
How the fuck are SK and Chatelet supposed to survive here?
White Hawk is still choking on concrete and still glaring daggers at you—yeah, fuck you too, buddy.
Of course WH is not lifting a finger to help.
Can't wait to add him to the Sample Collection.
Oh, wait, there they are! You spot them climbing into the sole, undestroyed APC with a few soldiers and two limp bodies . . . huh. It's Été and Joules.
Good news is that SB doesn't have Ete and Joules. Also the twins leaving makes sense since they aren't really useful without the soldiers.
You huck her in. Then, you turn and rip Millions Minefield's head clean off his body.
Millions Minefield Clone Killed!
she completely vaporizes Nox Esurientem's head. The clone dissolves into a pile of mush.
Nox Esurientem Clone Killed!
Black Swan Is Back!
For, the serpent whips its long tail around and smacks Umibōzu. She goes flying, smashes into a tree, and dissolves into sludge.
Umibozu Clone Killed!
Your hand comes down, and you drive a spike of lightning through her chest and into heart.
The clone's eyes go blank, and then it dies.
Uiara Clone Killed By Lady Leizi!
How much more trauma can LL handle before something breaks?
He turns to you, eyes cold as The Frozen Throne. In them, is a flash of triumph.
White Hawk attacks.
OF FUCKING COURSE!
Naturally he waited until JU exhausted themselves dealing with all the clones and then like the opportunistic asshole that he is Griffith moved in for the kill.
a pimple-faced pig dares strike me! Me!"
It says something about SB that among everything that has happened today her greatest grievance is with Brass Shield for throwing a piece of metal at her hand.
"I have some . . . associates who could use some fresh specimens. Yes . . . I'd love to see what they make you into. Yes, yes . . . you'll live for a while longer yet. Poetic justice!"
Please tell me that that isn't what happened to Uiara. That she hasn't been turned into some Flesh Zombie by the Philosophers.
"But only I could see it. The others thought me arrogant or conceited. So they had to learn their lessons. And I was careful. No one ever linked the bodies to me," she says with a self-satisfied smirk, "My parents spoke in hushed voices where they thought I could not hear. They called me 'a monster'. They said they 'broke me' and that they would have to start again."
Does this mean that she was already a murderer before she became a meta?
And it was her that led her to her death when those arrogant fools woke the Leviathan!"
I was going to speak about how the Clones were in fact torturing Harper under SB's orders but this is jucier.
SB KNOWS who awoke the Leviathan. And she uses They and not She so she isn't trying to lay the blame on Nora.
You jump in front of Triss and Doctor Silver and—
Several blades of metal, cold and sharp, pierce your flesh. You suddenly can't breathe. Someone is screaming, but you don't know what. Your blood, hot and wet, feeds and stains ground beneath you.
You feel cold.
Oh God.
Thank all the Gods of Olympus that Yara has the Symbiot on her.
First time one of the good guys dies in quest. And we were able to escape the bad end.
No, better than okay. Her skin is free of blemishes, she glows with health, and you think her teeth are a little straighter.
Also, please don't tell me that the literal death experience + symbiot ressurection resulted in a Tolerance Boost so Yara is now T10.
"Fucking shut up you monologuing fucking fuck and fucking die! Eat shadow snakes!"
My thoughts exactly.
Then, his body slides apart and he, mercifully, finally, dissolves into a pile of wax. He's dead.
Man o' War Clone Dies!
Thank fuck. Finally.
Now there are only Memoria and the still to appear SM.
Wait. No. It can't be . . .
Heavenly Astrologian descends from high in the sky, her gaze unwaveringly on all of you.
Radiant Silvergirl drops next to her. Your heart seizes in your chest.
Of course.
At least Chatelet is most likely alive. Bitterman wouldn't kill her off, off screen.
Justiciar stands before you.
"C-captain . . ." Stockpile says, shell-shocked.
Great. Things couldn't possibly get worse unless her SM is in fact in his Enhanced Form.
It's Scarlet Maturity, before any of his power-boosts.
As expected he is in Base Form.
Too bad that thanks to HA we can't stop him from boosting Justiciar. But we get to witness the boosting process at least.
Also are HA and RSG Boosted as well? Shit!! Double Shit!!!!
"EDICT: ALL THINKING CREATURES MUST LOVE SOCIALITE BUTTERFLY WITH ALL THEIR HEARTS. PUNISHMENT: A LOSS OF ALL MOTOR SKILLS."
"EDICT: ALL THINKING CREATURES MUST RECOGNIZE THEY ARE LOWER THAN DIRT COMPARED TO SOCIALITE BUTTERFLY. PUNISHMENT: A LOSS OF ALL SENSORIUM."
"EDICT: ALL THINKING CREATURES NOT NAMED YARA OLIVEIRA OR KAITLYN ENGLISH MUST KILL THEMSELVES. PUNISHMENT: CONSTANT STIMULATION OF THE PAIN CENTERS OF THEIR BRAINS."
That's just brutal Bitterman.
You, Handyman, and White Hawk were squaring off before a psychic voice rang through your mind. Then, all three of you collapsed on the ground.
Ok. So SB actually saved LL and HM from WH?
Fair's Fair. Thank You Socialite Butterfly! Now Die Die Die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunlight Knight was in your arms, bleeding to death, as you hid from the copy of your cousin's lover. You had just gotten the tourniquet on when three ultimatums were drilled into your skull.
Ok. So SK was stabilized and he and Chatelet are still alive.
Most likely RSG was called to SB's side before she could finish them off.
Activate: Module D̷̖̩̏̈́͝ŷ̸̬͓̌̎͛n̴̝̳̘̰̹̄̾ḁ̶̪͇̊m̵̦̍̓̋̕i̴͍̪̍̀̑ẗ̷̠̯̠́̇̕e̵̗͔̒̏̅̓.
E̵̥̎̈́̈́̚͜X̴̛̗͛̈́͗C̵̤̓͊͐̏E̷̢͖̖͝E̴͈̫̓̏Ḓ̵͉͠ ̴̦̠͝B̶̤̺͐̓͘È̵̛̬̟̫͜͠Y̸̛̲͑̒̄Õ̷̰̆̚N̸̩̂̉͑͝D̷̰̊̾͆̊,̶̢͎̏́͋ ̶̢̬̙̲̓͐͘͝E̸̛̮L̶͕̈́̆́L̵̹̭̭̳͆̆͝Ḯ̸̮̲̚Ë̵̤͕̯́.̷̨̙͙̣̐̅͝
Í̶̗͠ ̵̫̏̌C̷͈̲̑A̷̮̻͗N̷̮͌̄̚ ̶̈́̓̐ͅO̷̻̜̠͠P̷͊̆ͅE̵̪̤̅̂̋N̷̝̠̞͂̓ ̵̭͚͙͝T̴̢͚̿͐͛H̷̼̀́̈È̸̝͐̀͜ ̶͎̓D̴̰̫͋̊̿Ò̵͙͔͕̀̀O̷̮͝Ṙ̷̥͗,̷͔̺͕̇̚ ̵̰͓̿B̷̢͈͌̿̚U̶̥̍̎T̸̥͓̺͊ ̶̝̱̰̍̎͊O̴̡̓̈́̚Ń̴̺̜͚L̸͍̟̲̆̇Ÿ̷̺̈́ ̷͍͕̕Y̶̺͕͎̍͝͠Ö̶͕́̓̉U̸̳̍ ̶̡̩́͛̚C̵̢̹̯͌A̶̹̫̾̓N̵͉̄̕ ̶̮̯͈͆T̷̬͕̅A̵͕͌͑Ḳ̸͕̏͋͘E̵͓̫̘͆̎̈́ ̶̠͔̦̽͋͝Ţ̵̈H̸̻́E̷̗͂̈́͘ ̸̞̀͂̐ͅN̸̠̎̃̎E̴̪̦̽̂͝X̶̮͈̓̄T̶̠̈ ̶̧̡͊̚Ṡ̶͔̊T̷̨̳̊Ę̸͇̉P̴͕̈́.̶̼̠̿͐
I̶̛͓̺ ̶̭́̀L̶̜͗̈́Ó̸̧̬̙̯V̷̞̘̼͗͗̏͝E̷̢̪̞̔͋̄ ̴̱͕̦̣̉̓̒Y̶̧̘̏̆̓̚O̷̹̳͍͌̐͘Ǘ̴̙͕̒̀͝.̶̨̜̦̯̆͑̋͝
Time to see what the
Ultimate is capable of. Go DYNAMITE!
And with that, the Speaker of The Hand of the Mysteries leaves.
So
1.The Kyoko from WiB's memories is Speaker and we have her full name too.
2. The Hand does have a physical form. Is He a Biokinetic of some stripe?
3. Augur is confirmed as Oscar from the memories as well.
4.Ok. So there are the Mysteries aka The Hand of Mysteries and they are in opposition to the Hours who are most likely the Horae Guard.
That is very interesting if Star is a leader of HG, Honestly, considering Star is meant to have sent her agents to Horizon there are only three options I can currently see for their identity. Obvious is HG. Second is the S Tier meta suddenly returning from retirement. Maybe they are trying to infiltrate us by posing as allies.
Maybe Marvelous Shine is in fact Sun who we know to be controlled by Star and his so called granddaughter is Star herself?
Honestly it could work as a ruse, so long as we don't have a Telepath to check.
Third option is that Star is behind Wonderland. Maybe the Mysteries created Princess? It would explain how she got access to SM to copy his powers and why WH of HG aka the Hours would prioritize her if he stands in opposition to the Philosophers.
5. I don't like Mysteries as a name. Also I am pretty sure Hand of Mysteries is a flex by Hand so the others always remember who is in charge no matter the length of their leashes. Which is why I am going to continue calling them Philosophers.
6. Lantern's name is Lilith and she has a sister she is searching for. Considering Bitterman loves leaving little hints like with Faust calling Key eusocial, the sister is likely Moon River who is named Eve and we already knew the Philosophers were searching for her.
Also if Lantern and Moon River are sisters this does create a link between the Psychic Clairvoyant and the Technomancy Clairvoyant with both being able to use their powers to view and spy on all of Horizon.
It continues its search. In Horizon for certain, but where is she?
The Interlocutor is also searching for a female as well.
I bet this is also MR considering he is involved in her mission.
[Disagreement: Leviathan's head has shifted zero-point-zero-zero-zero-zero-one degree toward southwest. Shift coincided with anomalous readings. Connection likely.]
And here comes the R-Train as well. So the Looming God decided to turn his attention towards us PHYSICALLY. SHIT!!!!
I wonder if that would have even been possible before the Movement.
Also wonder what ALSW-1 was/is.
Nice to see Valkyrie. Nothing to say here.
