because he is not an idiot and i sure than thanks to the trauma he has with Tayzilla true form he wants every help he need to make sure than the "Demon" is not born.
and the fact than it can count as an "Endbringer cape" could directly attract attention of the conspiracy
because he is not an idiot and i sure than thanks to the trauma he has with Tayzilla true form he wants every help he need to make sure than the "Demon" is not born.
and the fact than it can count as an "Endbringer cape" could directly attract attention of the conspiracy
I'm pretty sure Coil would assume that Cauldron already know, and IIRC he doesn't really have a method to just 'contact Cauldron'; he doesn't know about Clairvoyant\Doormaker. Like, he could if he really wanted to, presumably by following the same channels that he used to reach them and buy his power in the first place, but he can't just pick up a phone and ring Cauldron. Coil is not a part of and has no influence over Cauldron, his relationship with them is (from his side) purely business.
Plus, he doesn't know that Cauldron are anything more than a shady organization that sells powers with an implausibly unstoppable 'troubleshooter', and that he owes them an undisclosed favor as part of the price of his powers. Why would he call Cauldron about what he thinks is basically a nascent Endbringer? He'd want to call the Triumvirate or Costa-Brown, but that would require revealing his super secret power, and he doesn't know that Alexandria both is Costa-Brown and is also part of Cauldron, so that's out too.
Double plus, Coil is a control freak; probably due to a combination of his power and his past experiences, he's not going to trust someone else with something really important, or rather he's going to use his power to make sure that he doesn't have to trust anyone. He's also an arrogant son-of-a-bitch, and while he has clearly demonstrated that 'hard' control\influence over Tayzilla is a no-go, that still leaves 'soft' options, of which he has many. Having any degree of influence over someone like Tayzilla is priceless to Coil, especially with his ability, even if ultimately the only real influence he has is 'point Tayzilla at villains by leaking the right bits of information and then sit back and watch her dismantle them.'
e: Given that Coil's shard is evidently able to at least partially model Tayzilla, I bet PtV\The Eye can too, which probably means that Contessa's Path has condensed down to two steps.
Step 1: Wait for Tayzilla to come into conflict with Zion.
Step 2:
Somethings I wonder about during the power testing.
Did they check her dorsal plates? What form did they take or do they change shapes depending on which incarnation's abilities she is mostly using? Do they have any particular appearance when she is using her breath weapon and type (there were some versions where the plates did not become noticeably energized)? How hard and sharp are they (some of the promotional pictures for King Kong makes it look like King Kong somehow got an ax where the blades were made from the dorsal plates of a relative of Godzilla)?
When in "metallasaurus"/mechagodzilla form, can she manufacture technology she has devoured as a separate item that can be given to others? This might be a way to support other tinkers where they give her a template to eat and she can make copies of (like containment foam grenades). Possibly even better is if she is not constrained by particular material, just mass, as it appears that her mix of Godzilla types apparently makes sure she is not limited in the amount of energy she has or material (being able to convert matter to energy and back as needed). They might have overlooked seeing if she could convert tinker tech with their blackboxed technology into "mundane technology" (the black box aspect being removed).
I wonder if in mechagodzilla form if she were to eat enough Kid Win tinker tech (modular tech) and Squealer tinker tech (vehicle tech), whether she might get the ability to "transform" like the mechagodzilla from Godzilla Earth or maybe even the mechagodzilla expy from the Transformers franchise known as Trypticon.
e: Given that Coil's shard is evidently able to at least partially model Tayzilla, I bet PtV\The Eye can too, which probably means that Contessa's Path has condensed down to two steps.
Interlude says PtV can't path Tayzilla, and you are forgetting Coil is capable of Seeing Endbringers in his timelines. He is an exception to Shard Precog immunity
Interlude says PtV can't path Tayzilla, and you are forgetting Coil is capable of Seeing Endbringers in his timelines. He is an exception to Shard Precog immunity
But you are right:
Addendum to my previous statement: Stimulating natures growth beyond regularly occurring natural effects, like for example sunlight in form of a radiation.
I do wonder if she has all of the mechagodzilla powers or just the ones that were built around a Godzilla skeleton. Since Mechagodzilla City is one of those. Wonder if she has Hedora and Spacegodzilla powers since those a derived from Godzilla DNA in certain versions.
It can even give you cancer meaning it's ionizing. Moles? That's a form of cancer that isn't malicious... Till it is that is. Then it becomes one of the most dangerous forms of cancer.
It's literally called "Solar Radiation" and the only reason nothing on Earth is incinerated is because of the Magnetosphere. Look at Mars to see what happens when the Magnetosphere weakens even a little.
Although I was under the impression it wasn't so much simulating growth as the plants were more resistant then humans. Sunlight doesn't simulate growth in plants anymore then eating plants stimulates growth in humans. That is unless radiation is being treated like magical terraforming in the Legendary series like it is in the Anime Trilogy.
Although I was under the impression it wasn't so much simulating growth as the plants were more resistant then humans. Sunlight doesn't simulate growth in plants anymore then eating plants stimulates growth in humans. That is unless radiation is being treated like magical terraforming in the Legendary series like it is in the Anime Trilogy.
I mean, photosynthesis is the basis for plant grows, and it only happens with radiation, so I think that qualifies. And yeah, eating (plants or otherwise) also stimulates human growth.
Remember kids: Technically correct is the best kind of correct.
Again, plants are more resistant then humans to radiation. In fact almost all animals are more resistant then humans to radiation. That being framed as a News Article Tweet thing also means it has a Theme of using sparky Clickbait words like "incredible". Given it's over multiple years it really isn't thst surprising. Doesn't necessarily mean that it's the radiation doing it, it just means radiation is keeping Humanity out. There are Real World Examples of such. Just look at the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone or anywhere that has been abandoned, it doesn't even have to be radioactive. Infact in the case of the CEZ it was slower since the trees were killed by the radiation they seeped out of the soil and air for several generations of plants. But of course the speed of recovery can be ignored Because Hollywood.
Although I do wonder is Taylor now has a magical terraforming field that rewrites everything down to the DNA while bending its Evolution to homogenize like Godzilla Earth did (and pretty much all Kaiju in the Anime Trilogy). Wouldn't be noticable for decades at a minimum though.
Again, plants are more resistant then humans to radiation. In fact almost all animals are more resistant then humans to radiation. That being framed as a News Article Tweet thing also means it has a Theme of using sparky Clickbait words like "incredible". Given it's over multiple years it really isn't thst surprising. Doesn't necessarily mean that it's the radiation doing it, it just means radiation is keeping Humanity out. There are Real World Examples of such. Just look at the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone or anywhere that has been abandoned, it doesn't even have to be radioactive.
Sure, being resistant means plants can move in while humans are gone in a radioactive zone. And a city (depending on the region's climate) would easily start seeing a green growth over things within the decade. But to have a whole city look overgrown like that in the pictures? That's usually thirty to fifty years at minimum.
Even Chernobyl is nearly a four-decades long expansion and isn't anywhere close to being this green (and is more like trees growing all over the place and not plants growing all over the buildings).
IIRC, the end of King of the Monsters hints that Kaiju have a significantly beneficial effect on non-human life. So an abandoned city the Kaiju stomped through will be overgrown far faster than we would normally expect.
Sure, being resistant means plants can move in while humans are gone in a radioactive zone. And a city (depending on the region's climate) would easily start seeing a green growth over things within the decade. But to have a whole city look overgrown like that in the pictures? That's usually thirty to fifty years at minimum.
Even Chernobyl is nearly a four-decades long expansion and isn't anywhere close to being this green (and is more like trees growing all over the place and not plants growing all over the buildings).
Infact in the case of the CEZ it was slower since the trees were killed by the radiation they seeped out of the soil and air for several generations of plants. But of course the speed of recovery can be ignored Because Hollywood.
Loving the story so far, excited to see where this goes.
On reading Jumpkick's powers, I have to wonder is she a bud of Assualt? Got the same storing then using kinetic energy things he has going on. Also had some Battery style using charge to cause different effects than just kinetic manipulation, so she could have been pinged off of during the trigger. Secret/adopted child maybe? Or both were just near when she triggered, so Jumpkick's shard just pinged off both of them.
Interlude says PtV can't path Tayzilla, and you are forgetting Coil is capable of Seeing Endbringers in his timelines. He is an exception to Shard Precog immunity
So was Contessa, originally. The Thinker just used its last moments priornto its pen-knife lobotomy to manually flcik the 'Child Safety Lock' setting on her PtV shard from 'Off' back to 'On'. Arguably, any Cauldron thinker could potentially model for the entities or Endbringers, it's just that by the scrambled nature of the vials, they probably only give useful Thinker powers very rarely.
Even Chernobyl is nearly a four-decades long expansion and isn't anywhere close to being this green (and is more like trees growing all over the place and not plants growing all over the buildings).
The excessively greenery came the sadness images of places humanity has abandoned (like Chernobyl, places postcarded from the Fifties, or the occasional abandoned amusement/theme parks) invoke to a minimum.
I do wonder if she has all of the mechagodzilla powers or just the ones that were built around a Godzilla skeleton. Since Mechagodzilla City is one of those. Wonder if she has Hedora and Spacegodzilla powers since those a derived from Godzilla DNA in certain versions.
I do wonder if she has all of the mechagodzilla powers or just the ones that were built around a Godzilla skeleton. Since Mechagodzilla City is one of those. Wonder if she has Hedora and Spacegodzilla powers since those a derived from Godzilla DNA in certain versions.
Emily Piggot was a simple woman with simple desires for a person of her position as Director Of The PRT East-North-East.
Her very honest and reasonable desires could be summed up as thus: For all the villainous parahumans in the city to be rounded up and behind bars, and for her troopers and heroic parahumans to not cause her any splitting headaches. Unfortunately, neither of these were happening any time soon, as life was typically full of disappointments, and so she remained in a constant state of displeasure.
Today, she knew, was going to another one of those days where she would be greatly tempted to grab a damn drink. Ah, if only if she could do so, but her liver and kidneys would protest such an action by going into shock and either send her into a coma or kill her. Just another reason for the woman to remain as grumpy as she always did, couldn't even enjoy a small and simple vice every now and again.
Director Piggot was behind her desk, waiting patiently for Armsmaster to arrive for the very meeting which he had called for concerning the powers-testing of a certain reptilian Ward...
Speaking of that particular Ward, Dragalier's very existence had been a constant source of headache due to her unique peculiarities of situation which differed greatly from most other cases which the Director would normally deal with.
The first headache was the person who had indirectly caused Dragalier to trigger -- though, in Emily Piggot's opinion, calling it 'indirectly' was simply sweeping the fault of responsibility under the rug (fires didn't start without a spark, after all).
By all probability, it was a fellow schoolmate of Dragalier's from Winslow High, a one Sophia Hess who also moonlighted as Shadow Stalker -- an aggressive Vigilante with as much anger issues as a bull seeing red -- was the source of the troubles.
Now, normally, the PRT and Protectorate wasn't able to just draft any Independents into the Wards or Protectorate, but after procuring a great deal of evidence concerning Sophia Hess' psychology and her involvement in the incident which caused a Dragalier to trigger, the PRT and Protectorate had enough casus belli to induct the girl as a Probationary Ward.
The vigilante was assuredly a danger to herself and others if left alone.
However, under the mandates of reformative justice, Sophia Hess was given a second-chance, which included strict monitoring, mandatory counseling, and intermingling with stable individuals to straighten her out. And if that didn't work, if the parahuman girl stepped out of line one too many times, then the Director had the jurisdiction to immediately ship the girl off to one of the Parahuman Juvenile Detention Centers and let them deal with the unrepentant troublemaker.
'A shame that I couldn't just toss the unruly girl into a PRT boot-camp, that would have quickly instilled discipline into her.'
The second headache was the huge drop in reputation for the PRT and Protectorate again.
It was reminiscent of that disgraceful day nearly five years ago, when Lung made his infamous debut into Brockton Bay by defeating the whole of the city's Protectorate, thereby making clear of his claim of sovereignty over the city's docks. Then he further solidified his status as untouchable when no amount of reinforcements could defeat or capture him, which gave the criminal even more power to claim the heavily Asian-populated sectors of the city as well.
So, when half of the Protectorate had essentially failed to stop the incident in the early stages, it was really only a matter of time before the citizens started making comparison between the immovable dragon-man and the unstoppable reptile-girl. Nor did it take long for the residents to start complaining about the PRT and Protectorate being a waste of the taxpayers' money.
'Lizards,' the Director grouched, 'What's next? Leviathan?'
No, better to end that thought and not tempt the Spiteful God known as Murphy's Law.
The third headache was the city's bipolar attention-span and her own department's failures to enrapture it.
It didn't matter how logical of an appeal the counterpropaganda the PRT had utilized, mob-mentality rarely cared for such things and simply rode high on tense emotions -- a visceral reaction to hurt that which had hurt them.
The fact that the Empire had managed to keep the mobs riled-up for more than two weeks with their media network, revealed a critical weakness about how the PRT's own methodology was severely outdated and out-of-touch with the public. Furthermore, damningly so, the city's mobs did eventually redirect their animosity back towards the Empire, but that was only after one of the gangsters had run over an old couple and their dog during a car chase.
It was extremely galling that the Public Relations Department attempts at counterpropaganda had no effects whatsoever on the ultimate outcome.
Unfortunately, this was not Emily Piggot's area of expertise, so she could only gather the opinions of other experts, while also grilling the heads of the involved teams about what went wrong and how they planned to fix it. She could only wonder if the current re-training of the teams wasn't going to be a monumental waste of time, money, and effort.
'A person is smart. But people are dumb and panicky animals.'
The fourth headache was Dragalier's or rather Taylor Hebert's complete lack of a secret-identity.
The Ward was about a six foot and two inches reptile-girl, which actually wasn't completely out of the norm. She was similar to other permanently-changed parahumans known as Case 53s, who needed to be given special care and aid to make their daily life more comfortable, along with integrating them back into society -- though it was often the reverse: trying to get society to accept them back.
However, proving herself to be the exception again, the girl had made enemies with the footmen of one of the largest gangs in the city. Fortunately though, the whole of Empire Eighty-Eight seemed too busy with waging more territorial disputes with the Azn Bad Boys to bother with harassing a Ward and her friends and family.
Fortunate if it wasn't so suspicious.
Kaiser was a cunning criminal who would grab a hold of any weaknesses -- like he had done with New Wave. The analysts had given a very high chance of him doing the same to Taylor Hebert to further destroy the PRT's and Protectorate's credibility. But what they didn't predict was for the Leader Of The Empire to engage in increasing skirmishes with the Azn Bad Boys which could even result in a second Hell's Kitchen. It just didn't fit Kaiser's typical modus operandi and the two major gangs had always been in a stalemate because neither had the muscle to overpower the other without significant loses. And yet, here they were, fighting with each other and losing their superpowered members.
'It would be quite nice if the two gangs just destroyed each other without endangering civilians and causing property damage.' But the Director knew better than pray for pipe dreams. A portion of the city was more likely to go in flames and burn down if the disputes continued to escalate.
The fifth, incredibly massive headache was Dragalier's nuclear-powered biology.
The word 'Nuclear' was enough to have most people twitch in alarm or running for the hills. The Ward's powers-testing had confirmed she could unleash that radioactive nuclear-energy as a beam from her mouth to accurately shoot down a number of targets which were nearly one-third of a mile away. The Blaster testing had been immediately ended then, before the girl was allowed to shoot down the rest of the targets which were placed as far out as one mile -- too much destruction, the scientists and researchers had feared.
It was back then a number of days ago, as soon as Director Piggot had seen the reports and watched the recordings, the woman had instantly sought out a private discussion with Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown.
Thankfully, due to Armsmaster's discretions, the information was highly classified under PRT Black-Level Security, which gave time for Director Piggot to also issue a gag-order to the scientists and researchers. However, that security level was still accessible by the Board who was above her, and Emily Piggot knew that more than a few members would be frothing at the mouth to send the girl to the Birdcage, while the normally sane or neutral few would likely still lose their wits upon hearing 'Nuclear-Powered Blaster Parahuman'.
No, none of them could know about this, otherwise they would very likely end up needlessly provoking a congenial Parahuman.
And, to Director Piggot's surprise, the Chief Director had readily offered her full support while promptly censoring the Board -- hiding and redacting the full extent of Dragalier's powers behind PRT Midnight-Level Security. The public records of Dragalier's powers would soon be heavily edited, if they weren't already.
However, no matter how well they tried to hide it, they were still dealing with a nuclear-powered parahuman.
Simply ordering the girl to never use her Blaster abilities and allowing her to roam freely in the city was an absurdly astounding amount of good faith. But the PRT and Protectorate by large were organizations which hoped for the best but expected the worst -- they had to account for things going wrong.
For example...
"What would you do if she quits the Wards, Director Piggot?" the Chief Director had inquired.
It was a subject matter that Emily Piggot had thought long and hard about and her opinion had been only reinforced with the most recent discoveries.
"After she's finished with her probation, then by all means, Taylor Hebert is free to leave the Wards to become Independent or otherwise," was how she had answered.
"By the powers vested into the PRT and Protectorate by the governing bodies of the United States, we do have the legal jurisdiction to place parahumans with potentially extremely dangerous powers under our supervision. A parahuman with the capability of turning an entire city into a radioactive wasteland more than easily qualifies," the Chief Director had stated.
"With all due respects, Chief Director, I believe it to be the height of stupidity if we were to cause the very thing that we were trying to prevent by aggravating a Parahuman who is willing to cooperate with us," she had responded with a hard expression.
The two women stared at each other, their piercing eyes looking for weakness, until the Chief Director finally nodded, "Very well. As I said before, you have my full support, so do what you deem fit, Director Piggot."
And that was how their private discussion from a few days had ended.
Director Piggot stepped away from her recollection and returned back to the present moment. Armsmaster would be here soon bringing with him another fresh headache. In fact, she just received a message on her intercom from her secretary that the blue-armored hero would be arriving shortly at her office.
Soon enough, the man walked in and stood front and center, he didn't bother to take a seat.
"Armsmaster," she acknowledged and gave him permission to speak at the same time.
"Director Piggot, we need to discuss Dragalier's tracking powers."
"Yes, I've seen your report, you suspect that she can track down the Endbringers and other S-Class Threats."
Had this been anyone else, they would have most likely been utterly astounded, but not Emily Piggot. When Parahumans like Scion or Eidolon existed, then the actual limitations of powers were ill-defined. Someone finally appearing with the ability to track the previously untraceable only elicited a 'Took damn long enough' reaction from her.
"It is merely supposition," he clarified, "Relative to her position, she could only give us a direction but not the exact distance of where the targets currently were nor could she explain why these targets were sensed with certain descriptors to her powers."
"But the accuracy of her information correlates well enough to be concerning, otherwise you wouldn't be here," the Director narrowed her eyes, "This is clearly important enough for you to bring it up despite being mere supposition."
He nodded, "Yes. Dragon and I have interpreted and cross-referenced the information with our own databases and found Dragalier's tracking to be generally concrete. Her Thinker powers has named all current and potential S-Class Threats on our global watch-list. If her powers are as solid as we believe then she has even named a number of other unknown S-Class Threats as well."
"Valuable information, indeed," commented Piggot, "Which is why you pushed to lower her Thinker rating, and why I approved of it afterwards."
Dragalier's Thinker powers had been intentionally rated at a mere Four, downgraded by nitpicking the ambiguous and imprecise details, to have prying eyes more likely drawn towards her high Blaster rating instead. Thinker were extremely valuable assets, and if individuals or governments knew exactly what she could do, then they would want to take possession of her for themselves.
At the very least, if the usually covert and underground S-Class Threats knew that someone could track them down then that would paint a gigantic target on the girl's back. And Director Piggot certainly didn't need more villains or otherwise to come to this city to provoke a nuclear-powered parahuman -- no thank you.
Only a select few knew the exact details and the true extent about Dragalier's Thinker powers -- about as many who knew she was actually nuclear.
"Dragon and I believe that with Dragalier's assistance, the PRT and Protectorate may be able to at last locate the Slaughterhouse Nine."
The Slaughterhouse Nine was an infamous group of violent, dangerous, and murderous Parahumans who roamed the United States and would surface from time to time to satisfy their sick cravings. Despite having a colorful membership that blended in about as well as clowns in a barren wasteland, the group had consistently remained under the radar and eluded attempts to find them. The only reasonable conclusion that could be drawn was that Jack Slash -- the current leader and one of the original founding members -- had some combination of Thinker and Stranger powers which prevented conventional methods and superpowered abilities from finding the group for more than two decades.
However, though finding them was one problem, actually defeating them was another.
While the individual members were typically not S-Class Threats on their own, that didn't necessarily mean they would be easy to kill. None more so than the notorious Siberian who was renowned for having killed Hero and also injuring Alexandria in the past -- turning the once glorious Quadrumvirate into a Triumvirate.
It would take extremely careful planning along with the gathering of the most powerful Parahumans in the Protectorate to be able to put the final nail into the Slaughterhouse Nine's coffins. And the only person with enough information and authority needed to make that decision was the Chief Director herself.
"I will inform the Chief Director about this later."
The armored-hero nodded his awareness and acceptance before moving onto the next subject, "We are also approaching the deadline for the next possible Endbringer Attack. By utilizing Dragalier's powers, we may be able to watch their movements as they happen and prepare accordingly."
The Endbringers had an almost predictable routine, about once every twelve weeks, one of the three would come out of their secretive domain to attack a city. Unfortunately, that was merely an average and therefore more of a guideline than a hard rule, the Endbringers could attack earlier or later if they so wanted to. The uncertainty of when the next attack would truly occur meant that all of humanity would always wait anxiously with bated breath for when the hammer would drop.
It just so happened that the next Endbringer Attack was most likely to occur in the middle of March 2010, which meant within the next week or so.
"Is Dragalier aware that she can track the Endbringers?"
"I did not inform her."
"Then, if we bring up this aspect of her powers to her, I will be the one to inform her about it. Even if she is not directly participating in the battle, a parahuman's participation in an Endbringer Attack is strictly voluntary. The decision to lend assistance is entirely up to Dragalier."
Armsmaster stood still, silent as if he was considering how to argue otherwise, but reluctantly agreed, "I understand."
And he did indeed understand. For as strange and mysterious as the Endbringers were, they were not simple creatures and possessed a level of intelligence that could only be called malevolent. More than a few potentially promising Anti-Endbringer assets had been expeditiously eliminated by the Endbringers before they could brought to arms or bare results.
If the PRT and Protectorate used Dragalier's Thinker powers to track the Endbringers right now, then the next attack after this one could come to Brockton Bay. And the city nor its heroes were prepared to handle such an attack.
'Not yet,' the hero thought, his mind flashing to a certain secret-weapon which was still in the development phase, for when it was to be completed then the tides would quickly turn. But until then, he would have to deal with being on the defensive.
"Good," the Director replied, "Is there anything else?"
"No, ma'am."
"Good, then I'll see you and Dragalier in my office on Monday to further discuss our Empire Eighty-Eight problem. Dismissed."
==🚨===🚨===🚨==
To be honest don't quite like how this chapter came out. It's an info-dump, which I don't think was too heavy or bloated, but it doesn't feel like it flowed quite as nicely as I wanted it to. But whatever, that's done, I can move on from it.
How I imagine the forced-recruitment for Sophia down:
* BBPD 1: "(Checks camera) Hey, how did this person get into the shop with nobody seeing? They sorta just popped up."
* BBPD 2: "Might be powers, toss the files to the PRT and Protectorate for a second-opinion."
* PROT Analysts: "Yep, probably superpowers. Don't think it's coincidence that this Hooded Parahuman showed up after the phone-call, very likely to be Sophia Hess."
* Director Piggot: "Alright, people, I want a report on her yesterday."
* PROT Analysts: "Hooded Parahuman's behavior and tools matches the description of the vigilante Shadow Stalker who's lately been beating up gangsters. As for Sophia Hess, we've investigated her, and she's a real doozy. We're also 99% sure that she's Shadow Stalker."
* Director Piggot: "I've read enough. Book her."
* Sophia's Mom: "I didn't call for any plumbers."
* Undercover PROT Agent: "(Flashes badge) Well, the owner of the building called for us about leaky pipes, so we need to perform an inspection, ma'am."
There's no canon-date when Lung comes to Brockton Bay, so I'm dating his arrival to around five years ago (ie 2005).
