#quitting my current job that does not give me any work would be a prt of this plan

[dykendireckt]

is a hypothetical five year plan worth it if i dont have plans past the next month. not in a bad way i just literally have jack shit going on. idk if i should be trying to 'get my life together' and have stuff going on

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #103

UPDATE 103: Undefeatable Suit

Last time there was an interlude featuring Piggot’s past, showing she used to be a squad member. She faced Nilbog and almost died because of it. It’s time to return to the story! Onwards!

Wow, I entered and the website is now white instead of black. This is easier on the eyes. Thank you, Mr. Wildbow!

So, in the latest chapter Piggot was successfully kidnapped and is now being held by the Undersiders and the Travelers. Trickster looks for Piggot’s personal phone, Imp has it. Looks like he wants to use it. I say you definitely shouldn’t. Grue points out Dragon may be listening on the calls – which is a concern I hadn’t thought about, admittedly – but the problem I was thinking was that maybe they could track their location by using that phone. I’m not sure if phone tracking can be done only when a call’s being made or if it can be done even when the phone is not being used, but either way it’d be a good idea to get the phone away from Piggot’s current location.

“I’m making the call anyways.  We can’t afford to wait.”

Goddamnit, Trickster, your judgment hasn’t exactly been stellar so far in this story. You really should listen everyone else. You’re such a stubborn guy. I hope this isn’t once another circumstance that will bring them a lot of trouble. At least he’s letting Grue handle the call thanks to the password system the Undersiders have. He allowed that much.

A minute passed, and she shifted position, her head leaving Grue’s darkness.

“Back up,” Regent warned.

“I have bad knees,” the Director said. “I will if you make me, but it’s painful.  I suppose that could be a way of easing into torture, if that’s your style.”

Bad knees, huh. That sure is a mild way of saying ‘monsters ate my leg muscles’. Then again, it’s not like they need to know about that.

While Regent doesn’t mind torturing Director Piggot – something I’m sure she expected – Skitter doesn’t want such a thing and allows her to sit however she wants. There’s more immediate stuff to deal with, anyway. There are many suits out there and they need to be dealt with. So, what to do, what to do.

Although Director Piggot has some privileges with the suits, she can’t give them extensive orders. It’s also known they’re programmed not to attack civilians and local heroes. Hmmm...well, if the villains are feeling particularly evil, meat shields are an option. There would be plenty of civilians for that. Such an action would ruin any kind of effort the Undersiders are doing to make themselves not seem like absolutely horrible people, so they better not do such a thing. Won’t be surprised if Regent makes the suggestion, though.

“Sure.  That didn’t stop the Cawthorne thing from shooting Trickster when he had Kid Win hostage.”

“I expect Dragon accounted for the fact that you might take hostages and use the nonlethality restrictions of the A.I. against it.  She would have given the machines tools or strategies to work around it.”

Neat, Dragon thought of everything! I wonder what other circumstances she’ll be able to counter. She’s bound to have quite a lot of info on the Undersiders and the Travelers, so I’m sure there are many tricks up the suit’s sleeves.

The reason why Piggot is talking about all this is because she wants them to realize they can keep owning the city and expecting there to be no retaliation, and that Dragon has the capacity to keep attacking with her suits and everything she has. Some of these villains have to be reasonable enough to realize that, so she’s being straightforward with that information. Unfortunately for her, these villains can realize that and also realize they can’t afford to let go of their grip on this city, so it’s a moot point.

They don’t want Piggot to keep talking, Imp suggests gagging her with a sweaty sock. Ew. Yeah, way to make yourself look like a sadistic person, Imp. This all is bound to reinforce her view parahumans are maniacs, just see how enthusiast Regent is about possibly torturing her and check out what Imp is saying. As if Director Piggot needed more confirmation for her worldview!

Bringing Director Piggot here really was a mistake. She’s given just a chance to talk and now she’s relentless, picking and poking at the scabs and getting under Skitter’s skin. Piggot surely knows Skitter has all these moral conflicts and personal values and is aiming to twisting and using them to her advantage. Her overture is denying how much work Skitter and others have put in helping the city heal, and then attacks with words that are bound to bother Skitter a lot.

The Director ignored him, her eyes on me.  “I presume you’ve been paying for the supplies and materials you’ve been importing to your territory with your own money?  You’ve been paying your people, I know.”

“Yeah.”

“How much damage was done in the course of earning that money?  I see the repercussions you don’t.  Things pass my desk: hospital bills, property damage, psychiatrist’s notes.  People lose their jobs, lose precious belongings. Parents are woken in the middle of the night because their children are seriously injured.   I see the details from detectives in narcotics who track the drug trade-”

“I-”

She interrupted me before I could protest.  “I know you don’t sell drugs, Skitter.  But you’re interacting with people who do.  If you buy a favor from someone who does, the Merchants, Coil, the Chosen, then you’re indirectly supporting that trade.  Just like you’re supporting any number of evils every time you help a fellow villain.  I’ve talked to homicide detectives who have dealt with the bodies in the wake of your shenanigans.”

“We don’t kill.”

“People die when you start feuds. Bakuda was injured by you in one altercation, and she attacked the city over the course of several days.  Do you know how many people were harmed, then? Because you set her off?  I could show you photos.  People with flesh melted off, frozen, burned, turned to glass. When I don’t see these things in person, I see them on my desk, in high-definition glossy photos.  I could arrange for you to see the photos if you don’t believe me, or if you want to see the damage you’ve done for yourself.”

Look at that. She doesn’t have the instant information power Tattletale has, but I’m sure she has thought about what she’d say in these situations. Nothing like feeding more of Skitter’s doubts and guilt complex she eternally has.

That aside, this kind of is going to give her even more of an incentive to fight Coil. I really don’t think Coil is in the drug-selling business, nor anyone the Undersiders have allied with does that, but if Skitter has any reason to think Coil does such a thing then she’ll have once another reason to get him out of the way. I don’t think Director Piggot intended that, but it sure is an advantageous potential consequence.

Maybe Regent noticed Director Piggot was getting a rise out of Skitter, because he interrupts and tells Skitter they should leave her to Tattletale. Oh boy, that’s something I don’t want to see. There’ll be a lot of mudslinging if that ever happens, coming from both sides. Skitter acknowledges she has to stop talking to Piggot because she let her get an advantage over her. Damn right she did! Piggot is force to be reckoned.

They’re going to move Piggot somewhere else. Grue is back, so she can be covered with darkness again so she’ll be moved. They mention Piggot herself may be bugged, something I never considered. It’s plausible! They don’t frisk her or anything, they just get her moving. Piggot is cooperative, moving and most likely glad she won’t have to sit and hurt her legs.

I was surprised that she cooperated. If she’d delayed us by forcing us to carry her, she might have bought time for reinforcements to arrive.  If we’d forced the issue with violence, it would have reinforced her argument.

In her shoes, I might have done it, just to apply that stress to my enemy.  It said something that she didn’t.  I just wasn’t sure what.

Yeah, it’s pretty worrying. You know what I’m interpreting here? I’m taking this as Piggot being satisfied with everything she said, maybe she got something out of all this. It’s the kind of demeanor you’d have when you know you’re getting away with something. Hell, she may even be looking forward to wherever they’re going to go, even if she doesn’t know what it’ll be.

Ah, here’s Tattletale, they have arrived to their destination and Piggot is looking pretty disheveled. Obviously, being a hostage doesn’t leave you looking fresh and nice, and it doesn’t help Skitter used her bugs on her.

But when she looked at Tattletale, the smallest smile touched her lips.

“What’s this, Piggot?” Tattletale asked, hopping down from the ledge to the parking lot.  “Looking forward to a duel of wits?”

Director Piggot shook her head, still smiling.

Thiiiis is such a bad idea. Tattletale isn’t immune to taunting and other stuff. I hope she has prepared herself mentally, because I bet Piggot will be merciless. The thing is, even if the conversation is on Tattletale’s favor, Piggot will get some useful information. So far Tattletale is a bit of an enigma on how her power works, so this is going to be good for the Protectorate anyway. Let’s hope it won’t be very enlightening.

They’re going to take a walk, so this place must be rather safe for the Undersiders. Skitter proceeds to first call Piggot incredibly obese – paraphrasing. How else am I supposed to interpret sentences like ‘I was more likely to be crushed beneath her than to catch her if she fell, but at the same time, I wasn’t sure we could get her off the ground without uncuffing her if she did slip.’, that’s rude even if it’s accurate from what I remember in past narration, Skitter – and then thinks about she doesn’t like Piggot, sentiment that’s shared by so many people both inside and outside of the PRT and Wards. It’s because she reminds Skitter of bullies and authority figures who did nothing.

On a more concrete level, she was indirectly or directly responsible for Armsmaster, for Sophia and the other bullies getting away with what they did.

Skitter has a point there. While I don’t think she knew about Armsmaster’s nature before he did his little stunt during Leviathan’s attack, she definitely knew about Shadow Stalker’s nature. She must be the one who ordered to get her into the Wards for a rehabilitation of some sort. Just as some were unhappy with the director who ordered Nilbog’s city to be walled up, I’m sure there were people who were unhappy with Director Piggot’s decision here. Upper management can do no right thing most of the time!

All this at least has revealed something good: the missing teammates weren’t captured neither by the PRT, the heroes, nor Dragon’s suits. They may be hiding in the territories, waiting for a moment to get out and run to safety. Hopefully the worst-case scenario of them being injured or dead is not correct. Tattletale also finds out Dragon is out, fighting the Slaughterhouse Nine. No mention of Defiant, not even a vague ‘she’s with someone else’, so that bit of information will still be unknown for the Undersiders for the time being. Oh boy, it’ll be a surprise when they find out who Defiant is.

Since Director Piggot is doing an exemplary job in letting as little information as possible leak, Regent considers the possibility of taking control over Piggot and ruin her career –this time she wouldn’t get a different cushy desk job – all so they can get answers. Piggot isn’t worried because she has some accurate info on Regent’s powers and past. No controlling her! Everything is up to Tattletale and her information gathering.

Ah, the reason why Piggot keeps mentioning torture is because she’s gauging reactions and how likely someone is to take certain actions.  Golly, I bet everything Piggot has said and asked all this time has a reason behind it. I’m growing more and more uneasy about having her around. Maybe they should be letting her go already, before she gets any more information. Well at least with all this she can be certain she’ll survive, she’ll thank her lucky stars people like Skitter is here.

Great! She’s prodding around and asking if everyone knows the truth of what Regent did to Shadow Stalker. Hardly! I wonder how Skitter will feel, as far as I can recall she doesn’t know a thing about what happened. It’s messed up of me to want to see it happen, but it could be so interesting! Would Skitter be thankful, or would she chide Regent? Part of me wants to see!

Tattletale says Piggot is intentionally trying to mess with them, as if that wasn’t glaringly obvious. To drive home how she’s in control here even though she’s literally handcuffed and in the hands of villains, Piggot proceeds to give a low blow to Tattletale, calling her Sarah and mentioning a brother. Oho, what a punch. It’s effective, even if Tattletale tries to pretend it isn’t.

“I’ve been looking forward to having a conversation with you for some time, playing it out in my head.  I paid out of my own pocket for information so I can beat you at your own game.

I’m pretty sure she didn’t do this just with Tattletale, I bet she imagined possible conversations with Skitter too. It’d explain how she can use her words so effectively. Piggot really is a force to be reckoned. If she ever got a power, I think she’d be extremely dangerous. Good thing she doesn’t seem to get one even during awful situations nor wants one, so she won’t get in contact with Cauldron. Oh hey, is she aware of Cauldron? I wonder.

One of the reasons why Director Piggot is confident she’ll be back home before the night’s out is because she’s dying and she knows a few of the villains she’s with right now wouldn’t just let her die. True! They’d leave her just on the brink of death, ain’t that right, Skitter.

I see why Mr. Wildbow made that interlude there. It was a prime chance to introduce a few facts, show us the readers how her current situation came to be. Her need for dialysis, how being behind a desk and having injured legs led to her current weight...it’s quite some nice details, nice foresight. She continues needling Tattletale as much as she could, enough to make her threaten do the same back. Given how Piggot is like, I don’t think that’d be very effective. She must be prepared for that already.

“I have no powers, Trickster.  I’m lowly, a mere mortal compared to you.  I admit it, I admit I’m weaker, slower, my options are pretty limited in a fight.  But I’m tenacious.  I’m shameless, if I have to be, because I refuse to lose to you.”  Her voice bordered on a growl as she uttered the word ‘refuse’.

This was the director of the PRT? Hearing her speak, I’d almost thought she was like Coil, at first.  Cultured, proud, arrogant.  Now that she was showing her true colors, it was almost the opposite.  And strangely, it was equally problematic.

I’d be pretty willing to bet her current personality and demeanor has been the result of having to work for so long with the kind of people she loathes. Right now she must be being finally able to talk like she wants, lording herself over the parahumans because she knows she’s right and she’s confident about it. It’s pretty ballsy, gotta say. I’m sure it’ll work. Her rant makes pretty clear to them having Piggot around is more trouble than it’s worth, and Skitter drags everyone away to talk to them and discuss their course of action.

Taking her back home to give her treatment is a bad idea because there must be a trap over there, or a way for her to be safe and out of their reach. Controlling her isn’t worth it and she’s trained to resist, so it’d be more effort than it should be. The more they talk, the better the need to let her free looks. By now it’s pretty clear they won’t get anything useful from her, nor it’ll be any good to stop the suits.

Despite that, letting her go just isn’t coming up in this discussion. They even mention running away from the city – vetoed, thanks Skitter – and actually torturing her. Tattletale says that wouldn’t be a good idea because it’d just validate her view that parahumans are people who carry their traumas with them and inflict said traumas on others through the use of their powers, meaning they can’t ever leave behind the tough points in their lives. Funny she says that, I’d say Piggot being irremediably injured and with this job is pretty much exactly the same, just that she’s doing it all without amazing powers.

Treating Piggot somewhere that isn’t her house would be fine, but there’s a risk she’d connect the dots and realize Coil is allied with the Undersiders, in which case...well, I’m not sure how bad it’d be, but the less information the heroes have, the better. Imp suggest just gagging her with the sweaty sock – no, thanks – and let Tattletale figure things out by reading her body language. I’m not very sure how well that’s going to work, but Tattletale is willing to try if it’s necessary.

Looks like gagging her is the plan, the gag is done. Does this count as torture? In some people’s opinion it would. I guess it’s not like they have abundance of clean socks lying around in these alleyways, but yeah. It makes me feel kind of bad for Piggot, hah. So, now that Piggot is silenced, they have to plan how to strike against the suits. Three are shut down, and rescuing the teammates is the important thing that needs to be done.

They’ll be divided in two teams. One will try to rescue Heckpuppy, the other will...fight other suits, I think? And then they’ll reunite later. Skitter, Regent (and by extension Shatterbird) and Imp are in one team, Grue is with Trickster and Sundancer.

This all was discussed in front of Piggot, who can’t wait to see what happens. She even mentions the names of all the suits, and says the newest one, a suit named Azazel, was created specifically to counter Skitter. Oh, is that so? Haha, everything in this story is made to counter Skitter, whether it’s intentionally or by accident. I think the fight against Triumph and Prism is the only one in recent history that didn’t have any kind of counter. Either way, one.in-three chance of encountering the special suit. Knowing this story, Skitter’s team will be the one fighting it. Let’s check the next chapter.

Looks like the start of this chapter is all about the logistics of having to move as fast as possible. The city is still wrecked and flooded in some areas, isn’t it? Oh geez, the mosquitoes must be a nightmare. It has been like a month or two since Leviathan attacked, perhaps? Time advances in such a slow and unclear manner in this story, so I don’t have the slightest idea how long it has been. Driving a car to where their teammates in need of rescue are isn’t going to work.

I was thinking about Sundancer and something like a hot air balloon, but I’m not sure how much forward acceleration you could pick up that way.

I love this mental image. A bunch of people in a rickety basket, being carried by Sundancer’s power, she with her arms extended to the heavens and a small sun in the middle of a huge bag, like some kind of fantastical book scene. It’d be hilarious. Sadly, that’s not happening, is it?

“You could try a James and the Giant Peach thing with us,” Imp said, “Only it’d be backwards: bugs on strings and the ‘bird along for the ride.”

I’m not entirely sure what Imp is envisioning, but the reference makes me think of them riding a giant peach down the flooded streets. How’s it possible they started with cars and now they’re thinking of sun-powered hot air balloons and giant peaches? I love this.

In the end they decide to embed glass into a door, make Shatterbird fly ahead of them, and ride the door like it’s a sleigh, using Shatterbird’s glass powers to propel the door down the roads. Creative, neat, and so deadly if any of them moves even a little. Thankfully, none of them fall off the makeshift sleigh, and they’re taken down the roads effectively.

Shatterbird hit the fence with a wave of glass, knocking it down to a forty-five degree angle.  Our makeshift craft lifted up fractionally and we hit the makeshift ramp, remaining airborne for only a second or two before hitting the ground and continuing forward.

“You dick,” I swore.

Lovely.

Team Skitter reaches the trainyard, where Heckpuppy and her parahuman henchmen are fighting the suit. From the description, it seems to me this suit is designed to be more like a tank than an attacker, to withstand as many blows as possible. This fight has been going on for a while, and the suit isn’t making offensive moves yet, but if it hasn’t been defeated then it must be for a reason, no? It must have some sort of trick that makes it a tough enemy.

The suit stood.  That didn’t surprise me.  It brought its claws to either side and clawed at the side of the train, crumpling metal in its massive claws.  My bugs gave me a sense of what was going on as the suit drew the metal into itself with crushing mechanisms and gears.  Its torso expanded slightly as it made room for the new material, armor plates reshaped by internal mechanisms and shifted into place to patch up the worst of the damage.

That’s why the fight is still going, they’re in the middle of a freaking trainyard. There’s plenty of metal to use. The obvious strategy is to stop it from getting scrap metal, but how do you do that? The location itself is working against them. Besides, now that more villains appeared, chances are this suit is signaling to others this development.

Pretty unlikely this is the marvelous Azazel suit, this must be one of the other two. Skitter takes inventory of the status of everyone here. Imp, being useless in this particular fight, is sent to be a medic. Some dogs are not as hurt as others, Heckpuppy’s henchmen are tired and injured. Skitter’s plan is to use long-ranged attacks first, then everyone else gets close and attacks. Thaaat’s...pretty basic, admittedly. It can’t be that easy, can it? Especially if it keeps repairing itself, as it does during the next few paragraphs once the plan is underway.

Some bugs are sent to examine the insides of the suit. It’s hot, the center is invulnerable to bugs due to heat. Most of the delicate components are inside cases, away from any outside interference like Skitter’s bugs. From what she can see, her only option is to try to mess with the mechanisms, keep open stuff that should close and force valves to stay shut. That sounds like it’d take a while to be effective, but right now they’ll need everything they can to tilt the scales on their favor, no? May as well try! And keep hacking off the machine bit by bit, keeping as much metal away as possible.

At some point they manage to make the machine fall, battered and torn. It’s not over, though. When it’s about Dragon and her suits, it just can’t be easy.

Hot steam hissed out from the gaps in the suit, seconds before it turned itself inside out.  The parts on the exterior folded out and were absorbed into the suit’s interior, new components emerged from within and locked into place. They still smoked from the heat of being forged and reforged in the heart of the machine.

The suit’s joints shifted position as it settled into a quadruped stance.

It pretty much rearranged itself into a different form, and from what I can read, it’s not so torn and destroyed anymore. It doesn’t seem like it used any external metal, too, it was all done with what it already had. Hoh! Of course this fight has been going on for a while. I bet they had already destroyed it once or twice, and then it did this and restarted the fight. Stopping this suit from regenerating sounds impossible.

I was left wondering what the black market price would be for something like Armsmaster’s EMP device.  Something that would serve as a get-out-of-a-fight-with-a-tinker-card.

That’s a pretty good idea. This team doesn’t have a tinker, anyway, so it doesn’t seem like there’d be any drawbacks to using a EMP. Still, I’m pretty sure Dragon’s suits are so advanced and sophisticated they wouldn’t be able to be stopped by an EMP device. It’d be too easy if they were.

Tinkers had so many options that they brought to the table, a crazy synergy with any teammates, and an ability to customize their approach to counter specific threats or individuals. I, on the other hand, was pretty screwed if I went up against anyone with flame powers, cold powers, electricity powers, enough durability to shrug off my bugs or a way to clear out large numbers of bugs at once.  I’d managed thus far by thinking on my feet, but it sort of pissed me off that tinkers existed as the antithesis of that.

I know, right? Everything counters you! It’s darkly hilarious. Good thing Skitter can think clever plans, or else she’d be imprisoned or dead so long ago.

“New plan,” I announced.  “We hit it hard enough to slow it down and then we scram.”

That does sound like the only sensible option. Still, it’s a bit of a letdown, I was looking forward to seeing how such a suit could be defeated. Oh well. Running away! Heckpuppy doesn’t want to, because it’s a retreat and Heckpuppy doesn’t retreat just like that, she doesn’t give up!

I stared at her, trying and failing to process how she was looking at the situation.  Then it dawned on me.  This was why Dragon and Armsmaster had pit this suit against her.  It wasn’t that it countered her power, exactly.  It was that it was set up to work against her stubborn nature.  With the way her mind worked, she couldn’t back down from a fight she subconsciously felt like she was winning.  It didn’t matter that we were losing in the long run, she was focused on the fact that we could do damage, and walking away would be a forfeit.

And they were damn right, look at that! She doesn’t want to run away. Skitter tries to put things in perspective, asking how many times she has defeated that suit. Four times?! Goodness! So that’s five wins and one loss, giving her a decent win percentage. Iiii’m not entirely sure that’s a convincing argument. Then she adds how the dogs may get hurt if they continue fighting, argument I think would work better than the win/loss one. What say you, Heckpuppy?

Well it seems she’s accepting it well enough. The problem is doing one last decisive hit before being able to run away. This new suit seems to have adapted to the new threats, it’s using heat and accelerants to ensure the villains make minimal contact. Team Skitter is forced to seek refuge in a building, the suit gets on the top areas of the building. They’re cornered, yup. Things turned pretty bad in no time!

Looks like the only option is to use the wolf puppy as the hard hitter here, and that’s dangerous because Heckpuppy still can’t get him to listen completely. There’s risk for collateral damage. Well, in my opinion, that’s not much of a concern if the rest are running away already, less chance of the wolf attacking anyone else. Skitter’s idea is to use a fetch command to bring something big and heavy, hit the suit with it, and then everyone runs away, leaving Heckpuppy behind to run away last. Whooops, better not make it look like you’re leaving her behind! She’s already wary enough about fleeing, a betrayal will make things worse.

It’s nice to know that even if it’s using incendiary methods and is, you know, a suit that weighs a couple tons and hits as hard as a truck, it still can hold back its strength enough to not only not kill anyone, but also keep the damage it inflicts on them to a minimum. Dragon’s main goal continues being to subdue and apprehend, not to injure. It’s a relief, honestly.

The plan is underway. The mutated wolf has brought a wooden post, and Skitter takes the time to analyze his appearance.

Bastard was as large as I’d ever seen him, and there was something about his appearance… he looked less wrong than the others.  The spikes and ridges of bone that lined his body weren’t asymmetrical, and there seemed to be more art to the design.

The Slaughterhouse Nine really were onto something, giving her a wolf pup. It does seem like the power works better with those than with normal domestic dogs, at least in terms of design. I wonder why it’s not backwards, it’s not like there are plenty of wolves near the user, nor one would have many chances of getting close enough to one to transform it – and doing that would be a huge risk to yourself, anyway. There may be something about Heckpuppy’s power that hasn’t been revealed yet.

Skewering the stomach of the suit with the pole – sounds like a decisive blow to me! – and then the hole is filled with glass, Regent using Shatterbird to manipulate the suit into moving erratically. Since the objective is to keep it from following them, this should be rather effective! And indeed, the suit is moved and pressed against a building, where it’s forced to stay while others start the retreat. Regent and Heckpuppy stay to do their thing and ensure they won’t be followed, and after a few goes, this counts as a win. Bam, six wins to one loss. A good ratio! Time to run!

And run they should do, because the suit is already starting to do all it can to recover. The glass that was shoved inside is being melted, and soon it’s found Shatterbird isn’t so adept at moving molten silicon. How curious, I didn’t think such a weakness would exist. I wonder why molten silicon isn’t so useful. Perhaps Shatterbird needs the molecules to be as close to each other as possible, as they’d be in a solid shard of glass? It’s a pity, molten silicon being manipulated willfully could be quite the weapon.

Team Skitter will have to get on sleds, so will Heckpuppy’s parahuman henchmen, and anyone else who is left around gets on a door. They intend to run away before the suit can reconfigure and take a form that will get rid of the glass or leave it inaccessible.

I found the next dragon suit before I found the others, and I immediately knew it for what it was.  It had to be Azazel.

Waa-haa-haa-haait. How far away did they get from the trainyard before they encountered Azazel? It sure felt like they got like fifty meters away before they stumbled upon this! That was sudden. I sure hope they’re nowhere close to the trainyard, there’s no way they can fight two suits at once. Still, this is the suit that was made specifically to counter them. Tough fight incoming! Next time.

Next time: in four updates

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #102

UPDATE 102: Working in the PRT Cuts Your Life Expectancy

Last time the Undersiders and the Travelers managed to kidnap Director Piggot in a move that not only attacked the heroes at the Protectorate, but also surely will enrage them further and make them take further action towards the villains. Let’s see what happens now that they have the Director in their clutches!

Or not. It’s an interlude, apparently because he received enough donations for it. I guess...it’s an okay point to do this? It’s not in the middle of the action, after all. I suppose it may have been the best spot if Mr. Wildbow couldn’t wait for the end of the arc.

I already see a couple names I don’t recognize, and the date says this is the past. I’m not sure who is the narrator, and it seems this is far enough in the past the containment foam is still a new invention and only a few parahumans are authorized to use it? Hm.

I’m not entirely certain what’s happening here. From what I’m understanding here, they’re trying to find out where a person is, most likely a villain. Whoever they’re hunting can adjust his body size, body shape and apparent powers. This specific power doesn’t sound familiar to me; it must be someone who hasn’t been introduced yet or is a rather minor character.

“So what happened?”

“Got downsized.  Stayed at home for something like three weeks, then the bills started rolling in and he realized he wouldn’t be able to pay them all. He sent out job applications, dozens by email, but he didn’t have the references.  Faced homelessness, a disruption of his boring, lonely life. We think that was his point-zero.”

“His trigger event,” Lady answered.

Huh. It’s a pretty bad situation, admittedly, but compared to the other trigger events I’m aware of it’s much milder. I suppose the intensity of the trigger events needed vary from person to person. So, this person got the trigger event by an unsurmountable obstacle in his lifestyle, and once he got his powers he turned into crime. That’s where the heroes I’m reading about now come in, they’re trying to stop him. Must be a pretty crafty criminal, if they need all these heroes and helicopters, as well as the foam.

Podunk town? So this likely isn’t Brockton Bay. I also read something about Toronto earlier, I think, this may not even be the same country Brockton Bay is in. Maybe that’s why I had never heard of these heroes before, they’re from another country. Canadian heroes!

I think I may have misunderstood. The people I’m reading about may be normal PRT agents instead of capes, because one of them asks where the capes are. Interesting, reading from the perspective of a normal non-powered person who has to deal with superpowered villains would be really fun. It’s a bit of a shame this is in the past, it won’t feature anyone from the present, most likely.

Nobody evacuated from the town the villain they’re looking for is in, for some reason. Some kind of mind control, perhaps? The squad is going to find out, and I have a feeling that, given what kind of things happen in this world, it won’t be pretty at all.

It’s like a ghost town in here. One of the stores was ransacked, and the thermal sensors aren’t showing anything anywhere. Even if it’s raining a person won’t get so cold they’re not distinguishable from the environment unless they’re dead. There aren’t even any animals or bugs around here. Something really is going on here, and it’s starting to feel very eerie. Nice atmosphere, Mr. Wildbow.

Ah, the found someone. It’s their target, most likely.

Rinke?  As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could make out a figure dressed in a jester’s motley, two contrasting colors predominating, blue-orange or purple-yellow.  The mask a patchwork cloth that covered his face, with only two dark holes for his eyes. But most daunting of all was the man’s size.  He was obese, bloated, ten feet tall and nearly as wide, advancing at a glacial pace as he lurched down the middle of the street.  His arms were drawn behind his back by the weight of the sack and the cloth he carried.

That’s quite grotesque. Ten feet is three meters and half, more or less, no? That’s enormous. Not only that, he’s clad with some god-awful colors in a jester’s costume. It’s like this guy went out of his way to make himself be as horrifying as possible.

Speaking of horrifying, in that sack there’s something that used to be alive, so I suppose that means this guy killed everything in this town. Not only people, he also killed the animals and the bugs. Just what kind of power does he have? No wonder the plan is to contain him with the foam and then incinerate him. Heck, if the Birdcage existed by now, it’s possible he’d be too dangerous to leave there. You know, it’s still pretty amazing this was the result of a trigger event that’s milder than most of the events seen this far.

They don’t try to make contact, all they do is start shooting as soon as Rinke sees them. Rinke didn’t mind the bullets, so the incendiary grenades came afterwards. No effect yet, either he doesn’t feel pain or he has a lot of resistance to this kind of thing. At least the containment foam is effective, and the fire is burning away the cloth. They’ll need as many advantages as they can get.

Ah, there are three squads. They’re all informed Zinke is currently burning and presumably dying. I sure hope so!

The bloated stomach split with the weight of the upper body, tearing across one of the recesses of a roll of fat. A slurry of half-dissolved bodies spilled out around him.

Ew. Ew ew ew ew ew ew. Was that thing eating everything? Pretty nightmarish, that! Not giving it a moment of reprieve, the squad keeps using fire, until it’s completely burnt. That...went easier than I expected, for something that consumed everything in the town.

Ah, there we go, nothing is easy. One of the other squads is being attacked by something. Maybe Zinke wasn’t the only hostile thing around here. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zinke’s attacks caused someone else to have a trigger event, maybe the result of one is what’s attacking another squad now.

I wasn’t entirely wrong. It doesn’t look like it’s another parahuman because there are two that are exactly the same, instead it is...here, this will explain it well.

“He’s not a Changer!”  Evan bellowed, clicking the button of his radio to inform the capes and squad three.  “Master-class cape!”

They’re minions. Zinke’s minions, most likely. Just like Skitter does, I suppose Zinke can control them. Does that mean they’re also made by Zinke? No wonder he’s such a threat. More and more minions come out from everywhere, due to the lack of thermal presence nobody had noticed they were surrounded all the time. Now that the attack is on, all the minions are attacking. It’s a cornucopia of minions.

Retreat! The retreat leads the squad the narrator – still unnamed and with no indication who it is, so my guess is that it’s a normal squad member who is still alive in present day, nobody that’s likely to appear again. This is worldbuilding! – is in to a place with more minions, where they describe what they see.

His team ducked back into a storefront through the shattered display window.  Bursts of fire took down the creatures that had been hidden within, a skinny faceless woman with blades for fingertips, a trio of what looked like babies with spider legs, a half-dozen waist-high people with deformed features and mismatched clothing that they’d clearly scavenged from nearby.

Strange mixture of minions, this one. I can’t seem to find a common element except that they’re humanoids. Not completely human, but mostly human elements. They may be actual people, deformed by Zinke, this possibility causes some conflict into the narrator. Hmmm...what matters here is if they’re still mentally residents of this city, if they really are minions made with residents of this town.

Golly, if I hadn’t already heard about who’s responsible for all this I’d have thought the squads were hunting Bonesaw. This all reminds me a lot of her creations. If this Zinke guy’s power is anything like that, gunning them down is a mercy.

One of the squad members is attacked in what’s most likely a fatal caustic goo attack, forcing another of the squad members to shoot him. Speaking of mercy kills! A flare is fired into the sky, signaling they need to get out, as there just isn’t anyone in this town they can save. Well, Zinke may be around, no? If he’s controlling all these minions then maybe he’s nearby? Someone with this kind of power would be really dangerous, leaving him unchecked would be a pretty bad idea.

I didn’t need to read the sentence “Holler gunned the mother-thing down before she could finish or spew more abominations from between her loins”. Thanks. Really made my day, that line. Also, sarcasm.

Things were clicking into place. It made sense, now, how the situation had gotten out of control so quickly.  How Rinke had seized the city so totally and absolutely.  It wasn’t just that he was a master-class cape who could make monsters with abilities of their own.  He could make monsters that bred, monsters that gave birth to more monsters.

That’s rather messed up. Still, I wonder why there were no remains of anything in this town, human or animal. Did these monsters consume everything that was alive? There’s a pretty good chance Zinke used the people as the base for the monsters, but I find it unlikely he would be able to handle as many people are there are in a town. The most likely scenario I can think is that he messed with a few, then the results went and killed a few, using the remains to make more monsters by themselves.

What the hell do you mean the capes vacated the scene? Did the capes really just leave these squads to handle an extremely dangerous parahuman all by themselves? I mean, these squads are highly trained people, but this threat is horrifying. I suppose everyone underestimated just how dangerous Zinke was, but seriously, what do you mean the capes left?! This is ridiculous!

See? Another one of the squad members is dead and two of the helicopters were destroyed, one must be left since there were three squads. This all went to hell in a handbasket pretty fast. At least they still have the containment foam as support, they’ll need everything they can get their hands of to get out of here alive. I admit part of me is doubting the narrator is even alive in present day.

In middle of the panic and the fight, one of the three remaining squad members hears a laugh coming from not too far away. The person who laughed is a man who’s dressed similar to the first minion they killed. Rinke, there he is. Also, I just realized I had been writing ‘Zinke’ all this time. Oh well. Learn by making mistakes, no?

Shooting Rinke is pretty effective, Rinke falls down and the creatures nearby gather around him immediately, no doubt to help him. Rinke stands up, so...I suppose the shot didn’t hit any fatal points. Goodbye element of surprise.

“You would shoot me!?”  Rinke roared.  If anything, his voice was all the more terrifying because it sounded so small, so human.  “I create life!  I am a god, and this is my garden!”

Evan could see flesh billow into existence in the man’s hands, embryonic sacs with the shadows of something forming within them.  They burst, and two struggling, childlike figures dropped to the ground to disappear in the midst of the stirring crowd.

That’s unspeakably gross. I can imagine it and it’s not a pretty picture at all. That aside, looks like he doesn’t need anything in exchange to being able to make flesh out of nothing but his hands. It doesn’t seem like he requires raw material or use anything in his body to do it, he just...makes weird life out of nothing.

This small demonstration is all the remaining squad members see before they’re attacked further. Not even all the foam they use stop them because the minions are using long-range weapons, so pointy and strong they penetrate even the armor the squad has. Heck, this all ends with the narrator dying. Pretty grim interlude, this one. I wonder what’s the point, though...it feels kind of random so far.

Oh, nevermind, someone survived! The one whose last name – I suppose – was Lady. She wakes up in a hospital and is greeted by someone else who survived the incursion in the town.

“I’m Thomas Calvert,” he introduced himself.  “Squad three. We’re the only ground forces that got out alive.”

Only two people out of three squads. Won’t lie, they’re very lucky to be alive. After all the horrors described I had expected everybody to have died.

Lady here will now find out about the prognosis, it’s not good. Rinke’s monsters ate her legs, crippling her. Looks like they also got her kidneys, she’ll need dialysis for the rest of her life. Calvert must have suffered similar damages too because he’s not going to be part of any squads in the future either. Then again, after these experiences, most people would retire from being in a squad, no? The PRT agents must see a lot of awful stuff and have to endure it, but this particular adventure seemed particularly awful. I for one wouldn’t blame Lady or Calvert for getting out of the job. Oh well. Lady’s injuries leave her with no choice.

“Rinke?”

“You mean Nilbog.”

“Huh?”

“That’s what he called himself. He’s alive and presumably well.  I saw out the window as the chopper pulled us out, Nilbog retreating to hide in some building, his creatures were returning to their hiding places.  I expect the man will be alive for some time.”

Doesn’t sound familiar. This must be the first time Nilbog is mentioned in this story. Once another major threat. With this situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Slaughterhouse Nine tries to get in contact with him, they have gotten in contact with people who did much less than Nilbog did. I’m sure Bonesaw would love to study the monsters and how they come to exist.

The reason why Nilbog survived the bullet is that he’s wearing one of his own creations. Ah, is that why he looked a lot like the first minion the squad encountered? Also, he’s making monsters that multiply when they’re set on fire, no doubt something he decided to do after a few of his monsters were incinerated in the attack. Live and adapt, they say. Well here he is doing that. Capturing him just got much more difficult now.

“He may have other countermeasures for other courses of action.  You’ll get your chance to talk to the Chief Director, but last I heard, they’re planning to wall the city off.  They’ll let the motherfucker be the god of his own little town, so long as he doesn’t try to expand any further, which they’re saying he won’t.  I almost envy him.”

So instead of killing or apprehending him they’ll make the cell all around the city. Should I take this to mean somewhere in Canada there’s a walled city, possibly with a dome all over it because no way they’ll risk creations escaping via air? They think Nilbog won’t try to expand any further and what I really want is see what kind of proof they got to conclude such a thing. Nilbog already proved to be extremely dangerous. I’m surprised they’re just letting this go on. Maybe it’d all have been different if the capes hadn’t bailed out at the first chance.

Calvert sighs and wishes he had gained powers during the excursion, while Lady vehemently disagrees. She sure has her reasoning set in stone, no doubt due to what happened:

“They’re monsters.  Freaks.  Lunatics. They fight only because they have the impression that they’re stronger than their opponents, and when they aren’t they run.”  She thought of the squad of capes that had accompanied them. “They abandon the rest of us.”

To be honest she has very good reasons to be royally pissed off. The capes just ran away! Like cowards. Who wouldn’t despise all parahumans, both heroes and villains, after such a stunt? Maybe it’s for the better she won’t have a career in the PRT anymore.

All this amuses Calvert a lot. This man needs better bedside manners. He doesn’t waste any time explaining why this is so funny to him.

“It’s ironic.  When the doctor and the Chief Director were talking to your sister, the Chief Director assured her that you still had a position in the PRT. Some of it is probably to keep you quiet, a cushy desk job and fat paycheck to make up for the fact that they sent you into a deathtrap and killed your teammates.”

“A desk job?”

“Director.  You’ll manage the local teams, handle the PR, convince everyone else that they aren’t freaks, monsters, lunatics and bullies.  I suggest you fake it, pretend you really do believe it.  You might start to believe your lies.”

Oh, she still has a career. Now she’s in charge of the kind of people she loathes, dealing with the power of PR. Huh.

...

Is Lady the last name or a codename? Because the strangest thought just crossed my mind but I don’t see anything in the interlude that confirms or denies my thought. Is this Director Piggot? Was it ever commented Director Piggot used to be a normal squad member? I think it was the part about PR what made me think of her. So much has been said in the story – and I have commented about PR so much when it’s about the PRT – I just made that connection and now I really want to know if that’s right or not.

Calvert isn’t getting cushy desk jobs even though his circumstances were similar to Lady’s. He’s going to jail because he shot his captain so he could escape. Well isn’t that a coldhearted move. Was the rope ladder so short both of them didn’t fit, or was their combined weight enough to make the helicopter unable to fly away, or what. Really, what reason was there to shoot the captain? Methinks there may have been personal history there. A crime of passion, if you will.

This confession disgusts Lady and she says she’d have never done such a thing if she had been in his position. Calvert says it’ll be a few years of his life in jail, he’s really calm when with the prospect of being in jail. Doesn’t such a thing usually ruin your life even after you’re out? Maybe after Calvert is free the PRT will try to keep him happy so he won’t talk about what happened. He may not be employed with them anymore, but he’d still be a person of interest. Gotta keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t speak more than he should.

The interlude ends in a sudden manner, with ‘It’s like the world’s gone mad, and I’m the only sane person left.’ being the last line. Kind of jarring, this was. Oh well. What would be a bit of a letdown of an ending is compensated by what’s directly underneath. The tags are usually a good way to remind yourself what characters took part in a chapter, so I went ahead to check.

This entry was posted in 16.x (Donation Bonus) and tagged Piggy by wildbow.

She really is Director Piggot! Most likely. Suddenly, having her hostage is looking like a pretty bad idea. She may not be fit and as trained as she used to be, but she must know a trick or two, no? Goodness gracious, I hope the Undersiders and Travelers’ plan of capturing her doesn’t bite them on the rear later.

Anyway, I think I’ll stop for now.

Next time: in two updates

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #49

UPDATE 49: The Predator

Last time Vista had been promoted to being the heart of the team, and her first action was to try to help Shadow Stalker. Take a guess how that went. Now it’s Shadow Stalker’s turn to be the focus. I’m both interested and dreading this. Let’s do it! Although...I admit I’ll be kind of rushing it. I just finished the customary skimming of the chapter, and, as usual when Sophia Hess gets involved, my patience is depleting so fast you’d think I’m about to plant my face onto my desk until it caves. And then I got to further than half of the chapter. It was quite unexpected.

So! Shadow Stalker is itching for a fight. She goes to the mall, hoping to encounter some looters, but the police are doing their job too well. Since she’s bored, she decides to call Emma, who is in Portland, away from the destruction and awfulness of Brockton Bay. Does that mean she’s out of the story? I...kind of doubt it, but yeah, nothing worthwhile would be lost if she didn’t return. Even though she was Taylor’s former best friend, Emma has been largely unimportant other than in the first arc or so.

Nobody’s surprised to hear Shadow Stalker doesn’t think highly of the other Wards, right? Because she doesn’t. It seems to me like she despises them. I know she was brought as probation, and would rather work alone than in the team, but it sounds like she utterly loathes that team.

“Two and a half more years, right?”  Emma asked, “Then you’re off probation, free to do your thing.”

“God, don’t remind me.  Makes me realize I’m not even halfway through it.  I can’t believe it’s already been this long, constantly hearing them bitch about dating, or clothes, or allowances, and every time I hear it it’s like, I want to scream in their face, fuck you, you little shit, shut the fuck up. I’ve killed people, and then I washed the blood off my hands and went to school and acted normal the next day!”

So it wasn’t that long ago that Shadow Stalker was integrated into the Wards. Was the exact time mentioned? I don’t really remember. The point is that she’s not even halfway through her probation. I don’t think she’ll last much longer. She simply doesn’t have the personality nor the will to play nice for that long. Just look at how she reacted with Vista. That’s not going to be a one-time thing.

She’s almost glad Leviathan attacked the city, mostly because it reveals people just like they are.

“Yeah.” Shadow Stalker didn’t elaborate too much further on the subject.  Leviathan had revealed the desperate, needy animal at the core of everyone in this city. He’d made things honest.

Most were victims, sheep huddling together for security in numbers, or rats hiding in the shadows, avoiding attention.  Others were predators, going on the offensive, taking what they needed through violence or manipulation.

Well, if anything, Shadow Stalker knows what she wants to be and is completely unapologetic about it. That much I can respect in some measure. I can’t say I like it, but I can see where that comes from and I can respect it. Being honest with yourself is very important, and yeah, Shadow Stalker is one of the rare people who are completely honest with themselves.

She didn’t care what category people fell into, so long as they didn’t get in her way, like Grue had a habit of doing.  Worse yet were those who seemed intent on irritating her by being lame and depressing, like Taylor or like Vista had been this past week.

Ah, yeah, right, Taylor and Vista were all like ‘hey, let’s mope around Sophia/Shadow Stalker to make her angry’. People being miserable doesn’t involve you unless you make it all about yourself by making them even more miserable. I’d even say Sophia brought that annoyance onto herself even if she doesn’t realize it.

They weren’t all bad.  The victim personality did have a habit of pissing her off, but she could let them be so long as the person or people in question stayed out of sight and out of mind, accepting their place without fight or fanfare.  There were some ‘predators’, she could admit, that were even useful.  Emma came to mind, the girl went a long way towards making life out of costume tolerable, and there was Director Piggot, who had kept her out of jail thus far, because she fit into the woman’s overarching agenda of PR and the illusion of a working system.

I think I get what’s her preferred attitude towards people: either be useful to her, or stay away. Hm. Quite pragmatic, but rather dangerous for people in general, because if she perceives someone as getting in her way, she’s not going to just let that go without comeuppance.

The conversation doesn’t last long, something happens that gets her attention: a convoy of vehicles with the headlights off, meaning it wants to go unnoticed. It could be a caravan of supplies, or it could be Coil’s men.

What follows is a short explanation about the mechanics of Shadow Stalker’s power. When she turns wispy, she is in a state where her body stops any biological activity except her cognitive functions. If it weren’t for the fact she can still move and think, she’d be clinically dead. Her very light weight, and the state of her body allow her to move at high speeds and jump at great altitude. That’s how she can follow the trucks with ease, observing and ready to move if necessary.

And here is trouble! Menja attacks! I suppose that means these are supplies trucks, then.

Miss Militia was climbing up out of the lead truck’s passenger door in an instant, hefting a grenade launcher to blast Menja three times in quick succession.

Okay, they weren’t. It was a trap organized by the Protectorate and the PRT. Many PRT agents and Miss Militia are here, attacking, and Shadow Stalker’s going to jump into the fray because I’m pretty sure she was aching for a fight, and there’s one! It’s a good thing she’s a very competent fighter, or I’d be wary of this.

Menja isn’t alone, though, other parahumans aligned with the now-gone E88 are here. Hookwolf, Cricket, Stormtiger, and several henchmen. There’s plethora of targets for her, but I think she’s likely to go for the big ones. And indeed, her target is Cricket, who…is tranquilized rather quickly. Well! That was a bit underwhelming, given how well Cricket had fought her last fight, but yeah, that’s how it went this time.

Who else? Menja was classified as a breaker, the spatial-warping effect that surrounded her made incoming attacks smaller even as she simultaneously made herself bigger.  The darts wouldn’t even be noticeable to her.  Stormtiger could deflect projectiles by sensing and adjusting air currents.  With the right timing, so her shots came out of the shadow state as they arrived to make contact with him?  Maybe. But he was engaged in a fist fight with Assault, and she’d be risking tagging the hero.  Hookwolf?  No point. He was currently in the shape of a gigantic wolf made of whirring metal blades.  Even if the dart did penetrate something approximating flesh, which it wouldn’t, his entire biology was so different that she doubted he would be affected.

All of those are pretty good points about why to target or not target them. Would Menja keep enlarging herself continuously? If not, maybe something could be done there, although…if the way her power works means that when she’s in a larger size all incoming attacks are smaller even if she’s not actively willing it to happen, then it’d be useless to attack her with the darts.

Since there was no easy target among the parahumans anymore, she focuses on the normal troops that came to fight. Those are no rival for her, being just…normal people, I suppose. Knocking them out is no problem. I have the feeling it’ll leave a lot to be desired, that this won’t make her feel any better. It angers Hookwolf, at least, and I’m pretty sure he knows who’s causing his troops to faint because all the villains in the city know what each Ward and Protectorate can do, but I don’t think he can do much against Shadow Stalker, can he? His abilities don’t allow much strategy to defeat her. It’s...it’d be like a stalemate, if they were mano-a-mano.

As expected, it’s extremely easy for Shadow Stalker to fight the human troops, but she can’t finish the fight because someone appears from an alleyway, there are bugs everywhere now. Oh, jolly! Is this what I think it is?

The girl glanced left, around the back of the truck, then glanced right, where she might have seen Shadow Stalker if she looked up just a little.  The lenses of her mask caught the moonlight, flashing a pale yellow.

Skitter.

Well hello there, protagonist of Worm! Last time I saw her; she was telling Tattletale about her plans, conveniently off-screen and unknown for the reader. Suspense! And she’s here...I’m pretty sure it’ll be related to her plans, and since she’s fighting the Chosen troops – and I really, really, really doubt she’d join any of the E88 remnants, and she’s not joining the Protectorate or the Wards...she most likely went rogue. Is she against the villains, meaning she’s trying to give herself a new heroic reputation...somehow? Pretty doubtful, since she’d get arrested at the first chance the heroes have. Is she just fighting people for her own satisfaction? No, that can’t be it...that wouldn’t lead anywhere. Maybe there’s a strategic reason to help defeat them.

The bug girl drew her combat stick, whipped it out to full length, and dispatched the Chosen one by one.  Shadow Stalker couldn’t see the hits, between the darkness and the obscuring mass of the swarm, but she saw the splashes and movements of the Chosen as they fell to the ground, clutching their faces, knees, and hands.

Alright, she has improved a lot since she started! Now she can hold her ground against a bunch of mooks without even using her bugs to defeat them, it was mostly her baton. Pretty nice! Boy, if only you knew that was Taylor Hebert, Sophia.

Many of the bugs fly towards the rest of the Chosen and to the PRT members, and Skitter takes the chance to steal a bag of supplies from one of the trucks. Oh, it wasn’t entirely a trap, it really was carrying supplies despite the large amount of agents. She takes the bag and runs, Shadow Stalker chooses to pursue her.

You saw my face.  Shadow Stalker thought, Records say you’ve got no team, now.  Operating alone between the old Boardwalk and the east end of Downtown.

Ah, right, looks like she was informed of what happened. That was to be expected, anyone would like to know if a dangerous villain found out how you looked like. It doesn’t guarantee a person knows your identity, but it’d be a starting point. Besides, Shadow Stalker wouldn’t let a chance to deal with a loose end pass. Knowing her, she’s going to pursue Skitter to the ends of the earth. What an unfortunate encounter. I don’t think Shadow Stalker and Skitter have fought each other before, this should be an interesting fight.

Leaving that aside, enough time has passed for the Wards and the Protectorate to have defined what are Skitter’s current activities. She’s staying near a familiar area. Not the Docks, but if I remember how the city is like, that’s not too far from there. I wonder what she’s doing over there, though? Has she taken possession of that territory, taking advantage of what’s in there? I can’t say I imagine there’s much there, what with how the tidal waves during the Leviathan fight destroyed all that place. On the other hand, that may mean she has time and a location to hide in until her plans with Tattletale are finished.

She withdrew a cartridge for her crossbow, each bolt loaded in at a slight angle, so the aluminum ‘feathers’ at the tail of each bolt stuck out.  She popped out one bolt to examine it, then turned it around so the barbed, razor sharp arrowhead caught the moonlight.  As Skitter passed beneath her, she turned the bolt’s point so her perspective made it appear to be at the girl’s throat.

Operating solo means there’s nobody to miss you.

Of course she’s going to kill Skitter, who’d have thunk it. I’m in absolute shock. Okay, no, not really. The good thing here is that I clearly remember Skitter’s narration mentioning how her armor is rather resistant, blades didn’t work very well even at that spot. Even if Shadow Stalker fired the bolt, there’s a chance Skitter’s costume will be sturdy enough to stop the bolt from burying into her neck. Although...um...I’m pretty sure a pointy object like that one wouldn’t need to get too deep before it causes a lot of damage. It’s not for nothing that predators try to crush large prey’s necks. There’s the spine, a couple arteries, the windpipe...you’d have to be lucky not to be hit in a lethal spot.

Skitter’s not stupid, she has ways to find out if there’s danger. There are a few clouds of bugs flying around, and one collides against Shadow Stalker. Even if Shadow Stalker is in her wispy form, I think the bugs would feel there’s something odd. Indeed, Skitter drops the bag and runs. Oh, the chase is on!

While running, bugs pass through Shadow Stalker. If there were enough bugs, they could even push back, that’s how light she turns when she’s in that wispy state. There aren’t enough bugs for such thing, but since she can’t turn back into a more physical state when there are bugs in middle of her, that slows her down a bit. Alright, then! Skitter will need every bit of advantage she can get.

Oh, welp, nevermind! Skitter just got a roundhouse kick to the face and fell to the ground. Man, these fights never go well at first for the character we have to root for, eh? Skitter isn’t giving up, of course, even though she’s on the ground, she takes her baton and tries to hit Shadow Stalker. It isn’t really working.

The stick passed through her head, once.  She resisted the urge to snap back to her normal form and retaliate.  The girl was powerless here.  Shadow Stalker could afford to hound her, drive her to the brink of desperation, wear her down.

For the love of—I’m not very knowledgeable about the superhero genre, but even I’m aware heroes and villains much better and/or likable than you have lost precisely because of what you’re doing. Overconfidence seriously can make you lose, seriously. Taunting is acceptable, and Shadow Stalker indulges in some of that, but toying with the person you’re fighting is giving them openings to strike back.

Skitter gripped her weapon two-handed again.  The grip was strange.  Something in her left hand?

Shadow Stalker realized what it was.  She simultaneously moved back, gripped her cloak with her left hand and shifted to her solid state to raise the fabric as a barrier.  The pepper spray spattered her cloak.

And there it is! It’s not like I wanted to see Skitter injured or anything like that, it’s just that losing a fight because of they toy with their opponent is something that kind of annoys me. Maybe it’s my pragmatic nature shining through. Leaving that aside, this was her plan. Even the simplest weapons can be of a lot of help against capes. You’d never think spraying a superhero with pepper spray would work, but it does!

The chase continues again, and the narration reminds me Sophia was in the school track team before. Of course she’d start gaining on Skitter, she has a lot of practice running, and her power helps a lot, too. Skitter tries to climb a fire escape, but she doesn’t go very far before she changes her mind and jumps over a fence – fence Shadow Stalker could pass through easily, of course.

A flash and spray of sparks erupted as the shot made contact with the fence.

Oh, it’s electrified, and apparently, that’s a big problem. Shadow Stalker isn’t sure why, but her wispy form is much more vulnerable to electricity than most people would think. The exact reason why is unknown. Hmmm...could it be that when she wills herself to be intangible, her body partly turns into water vapor? The human body has large amounts of water, and as everyone knows, water is an excellent conductor of electricity. That may be why she’s vulnerable.

Skitter had known the fence was electrified, judging by the route she’d taken through the fire escape.  The area here didn’t have any power, so the question was whether it something this area’s inhabitants had set up to protect themselves… or was it a trap Skitter had put in place well in advance?  No.  More likely the girl had studied this area before carrying out any crimes.

Hah! Waaaaaay to make some specific denial in the narration, Mr. Wildbow. I doubt Skitter didn’t plan this. She’s way too careful to not plan this. She also has Tattletale as an ally. Tattletale could have found out this weakness and informed Skitter. The problem is that I have no idea why she’d prepare a trap against Shadow Stalker. Just to be careful if she was pursued? Did she have a different plan in case Miss Militia or Assault were the ones following her? I suppose she did.

She really didn’t like the idea that the villain had not only seen her face, but that she might have figured out one of her weaknesses.  Two, if she counted the pepper spray.  Being permeable was a problem when she absorbed gases, vapors and aerosols directly into her body.  It wouldn’t affect her if she was in her shadow state, and it would eventually filter out, but if she were forced to change back, she’d suffer as badly as anyone, if not worse.

Tattletale definitely was involved in this, no way she wasn’t. Also, it makes sense that Shadow Stalker would be vulnerable to that kind of thing, her shadow state is permeable and since stuff can pass through it, air and gases can do it too. Transforming back while being in middle of a cloud of pepper spray can’t be a fun time.

While running, Skitter gathered as many bugs as possible on herself, splitting in two at the first chance and going in opposite directions. Hohoh, I see what you’re doing, Skitter. Looks like making decoys has turned into part of her skills by now! This is the third time she does something like this. Her control over bugs is so masterful she can make one of the decoys pretend to be injured and fall to the floor, Shadow Stalker falls for that, hook, line and sinker. Man, I missed reading about Skitter fighting. Something I have always liked of her is that she’s rather clever and uses her powers rather creatively. There’s always something new in her fights.

What worked once could perhaps work again? It was worth a try, just that this time instead of dividing into two, she divided into four. This time she manages to hit all four options, and one falls to the floor. Shadow Stalker doesn’t waste any time, she pounces and holds Skitter’s face onto the water, letting her turn around but not letting her stand up. Thankfully, Shadow Stalker isn’t in the mood to play anymore, she tries to cut Skitter’s throat with an arrow. How many times has your costume saved your life, Skitter? To this day, that costume has been pretty damn useful.

While Shadow Stalker tries to think of a way to kill Skitter without leaving a bunch of clues she’s the one who did it...something unexpected happens. I never thought I’d see this happen.

While she craned her head to one side to the next to search for something useful, her surroundings were plunged into darkness.

At this point, I associate darkness in this story with one single character. How nice of you to be around to save Skitter’s hide, Grue, what’s up? Or did Skitter make amends with him? Tattletale is a good mediator, she’d be able to convince him to lend a hand if this was some sort of plan, but after the way the eighth arc ended, I didn’t think Skitter would be in contact with any Undersider other than Tattletale. If this was a plan they agreed since the beginning, it must be a very good plan, if Grue agreed to take part in it.

The darkness and Shadow Stalker’s power aren’t a good combination. She is sluggish, has a hard time moving, and the fact something large is dissipating her body through well-timed hits isn’t helping. Skitter, I’d say, may be the one hitting now. Once Shadow Stalker has been weakened enough, the darkness disappears.

She tried to raise her right crossbow, but her hand seized up, no longer under her own control as it bent to a pain like a bad Charlie horse.  Her fingers curled back, and the crossbow tumbled from her fingers.

I recognize that power too. Regent? Is Heckpuppy around, too? It seems not only Grue is taking part in...whatever’s going on here, Regent is here too. What’s going on? I’m so lost right now, and at the same time I’m so intrigued. Clearly Skitter didn’t sit around doing nothing during this interlude arc!

A-yup, there are the dogs! Nice touch, Mr. Wildbow, using the narration to call Heckpuppy by her family friendly name. Heckpuppy has several dogs, one of them has one eye missing. I’m pretty sure I remember why’s that. I’ll reread after posting this update, as this is quite a minor detail. If I remember correctly, Angelica had lost an eye during the fight. Glad one of the dogs survived Leviathan’s fury! There’s something else that gets my attention more than that, though.

A girl Shadow Stalker didn’t recognize stood just behind him, wearing a black scarf and a pale gray mask with pointed horns arching over the top of her head.  The eyes of the mask had lenses that were black from corner to corner, stylized to look fierce, more animal than human.

That’s a new person. Did Coil get someone else to join the group? He has the resources and ways to find new capes to join his troops and groups.

Seeing the group all gathered together and contradicting the intel the Wards and the Protectorate had makes Shadow Stalker think the drama about betrayal and all that had been a ruse. Oh, if only it was. That’d have been impressive. But no, it was all genuine.

“Well,” she spoke, her tone sarcastic, “How wonderfully fucking nice for you, that you guys patched things up.  You even have a new member, congratulations.  I guess everything’s back to normal for you freaks.”

“No…” Skitter spoke, and the bugs around her chirped, buzzed and droned to match the pitch and tone of her words. The villain hadn’t done that when the Undersiders attacked the fundraiser, she remembered.   Her voice was quiet, which only made it more eerie. The girl held out her hand, and Regent passed his scepter to her.

“…Things are different now,” Skitter finished.

It was just for like five or six updates, but I missed Skitter. I’m so glad to read what she’s doing, and how her first actions after her return to the story is all this. This is awesome.

Skitter used a tazer on Shadow Stalker, pretty much winning the confrontation. All Shadow Stalker can do now is...lie down, all limp and unable to move, knowing she’s at the Undersiders’ mercy.

Imp? Give me a hand with her upper body, take the other shoulder.

Imp, huh...so that’s the name for the new teammate. I’ll be waiting for an explanation about this, Mr. Wildbow!

The interlude ends with Shadow Stalker being carried away. I feel...a nice feeling of satisfaction. It’s almost cathartic. And this chapter shed some light on Shadow Stalker’s philosophies and thoughts, which is always nice. It doesn’t make her the slightest bit sympathetic, and I doubt Mr. Wildbow ever has the intention to try to make her look sympathetic at any point, which is something I’m glad about.

I enjoyed the Sentinel arc a lot. It was good to read about the Wards, how each one thought, the different personalities and how they coped with the current problems in Brockton Bay. I like that Weld and Flechette are currently part of the Wards. Parian is a character I hope to see again, although...since she’s a rogue and the Wards are the only ones with some sort of contact with her, I doubt she’ll be seen as much as she was during Flechette’s chapter. Oh well.

Mr. Wildbow also introduced the next big threat: the Slaughterhouse Nine. I suppose that’ll be the topic of the next arc or two, but the problem I have with that theory is that I don’t know how kidnapping Shadow Stalker would fit in such story. There must be something I’m not seeing, and it’s because I don’t know yet what the Undersiders have been up to. Once I find out, I may be able to have more or less an idea of what’ll happen.

But that’ll have to be for next time.

Next update: in three updates