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The next paragraph is Skitter making the point I was making, that ‘para’ doesn’t really mean ‘half’. She even brings up the word ‘paranormal’, like I did! Aaah, same wavelength! And she finishes her argument by saying her parents can’t judge her for stuff she didn’t choose. To that Iiii will have to disagree. They certainly could. They shouldn’t, but they could. Nothing to do but hope they don’t. I wonder if perhaps Skitter will get to talk to them before they see Dinah? I’m not entirely sure it’d be a good idea or not, but...perhaps she should consider that. Maybe.

The reason why Skitter is so aware of things like prefixes and semantics is because her mom used to be an English teacher. She has continued paying attention to that sort of things as a way to remember her. Honestly that’s pretty sweet of her. It’s...it must be nice to have something to remember your deceased loved ones by, like that. I’m glad. Speaking of family! She also mentions how she has a father, and how he is, well, not someone she has seen for a while because she puts him in danger.

As expected, the effects of Dinah’s withdrawal happen pretty quickly. Dinah is already heaving, with Skitter holding her hair. Damn, I hope she’ll be okay – but she says she won’t, the painkillers didn’t help at all. Afterwards, she says once again there’s no way her parents will accept her. You know, from how many times she’s saying it, I’m starting to fear she’s right. I want to think they will, but...with how much she has repeated it...I fear she’ll do something that’ll force the futures where they don’t accept her.

“And even if they do take me, it’ll be weird, because they can’t ignore my power now.  They pretended I didn’t have one.  Pretended I was an ordinary kid.  Pretended the headaches didn’t mean anything, like they pretended the heart disease wasn’t a thing.”

“Heart disease?  You?”

Dinah shook her head.  “Not me.”

She didn’t elaborate.  Related to her trigger event?

Oh. There’s that too. It’s going to be impossible to pretend things are fine and back to normal when Dinah was kidnapped because of her powers. I mean, measures will have to be taken so something like that doesn’t happen again, right? That’s got to include some sort of tinker technology, or guards, or something. Also, they’re a former mayor’s family. That could be used as a cover story of sorts for any noticeable security measures.

Reassuring Dinah this is the drug withdrawal talking, Skitter gets a comb and tries to make her look more presentable, so at least the parents don’t have a first sight of a young, haggard girl in the middle of the throes of withdrawal. Golly, I get shivers just from thinking about how Dinah will look. She’s feverish, she’s sweating like crazy...this won’t be pretty at all, obviously. But surely Dinah’s parents would look past all that and take her back, right? At least because seeing her like that will make them worry. Right?

...right?

Dinah asks Skitter to go knock on the door and bring her parents out. It’s time to face the music, let’s see how this particular subplot ends. Crossing fingers for a positive result! Skitter goes to the entrance and rings the bell, it doesn’t work. Instead she knocks on the door and lets a pair of flies go inside, she finds Dinah’s parents. The father takes a frying pan and gets ready, in case it’s an attack.

...

Skitter still has her costume on, doesn’t she? Cripes, what a thing to find when you open the door. No wonder the father closed the door right away! Damn! Still, I’d like to think that, if villains were to attack a residence, they wouldn’t be politely knocking on the door. Not that this fact is going to make the dad lower his guard, is it.

Of course, their first reaction is to think Skitter is trying to extort them – a reasonable thought, given she’s a villain and the first thing she says is that she has their daughter! Well, she said she brought Dinah, but still. Skitter hurries to make things clear, and doesn’t mince any words. Better that way, probably. Better for them to be aware of what Dinah is going through, than seeing her sorry state and then fall into more despair. I mean, the blow will be hard, but it’s...easier when you’re aware of what’s coming, no?

...

Gosh, that must be a nightmare for any parent.

“She has abilities, then?” the dad asked.

Oh. They didn’t know? If they didn’t, then that really adds to Dinah’s fears, then. Would they accept her, even though she has a power? Honestly, I had interpreted it all as the parents trying hard to pretend she didn’t, but...there’s really no point to feign ignorance here. Even if Skitter is a villain, she already has Dinah in her clutches.

Even though Dinah is still afraid, she accepts Skitter’s help and steps out of the car, being brought towards her family. Contrary to what Dinah was predicting – and much to my relief – her parents don’t hesitate to approach. The mother immediately hugs her, the father comes behind just a second later, which I’m sure was more out of caution towards Skitter than because of anything from Dinah. There we go! A family reunited, and there doesn’t seem to be even a bit of trouble brewing. Times will be hard for them, given Dinah’s withdrawal, but I’m sure they’ll be fine. I hope.

The father even thanks Skitter! Which she tries not to acknowledge. The guilt of having been indirectly responsible for the kidnapping in the first place, you see. There’s also something else, something that’s somewhat selfish, but perfectly understandable, in my opinion:

I wasn’t sure I felt good about that.  I’d gotten this far by making the most out of every resource I had available, and by being smart about things.  This was throwing away a resource, tying my own hands.  The decision felt dumb, even as I knew it was the right thing to do.

I know, right? It’d have been so tempting to try to convince Dinah to stay and give advice about how to fight the end of the world. Dinah herself saw that in the cards, so to say. If Dinah hadn’t said it, I think Skitter would have kept her, justifying that with how it was to prevent the end of the world. She’d have promised herself that she’d return Dinah once the end of the world was averted, even if that took two years, no? I don’t know what the rest of the Undersiders would have said, but I doubt they’d have tried to return Dinah to the family. All in all, Skitter has done the right thing, even though it may feel dumb right now.

With nothing else to do there, Skitter asks the driver to get going. She also finds two pieces of paper, probably left by Dinah. I hope they’re not meant to be private, because Skitter will have to ask someone else to read those for her. Perhaps they’re little predictions about odds? Possibly about the end of the world?

Scene cut!

Heeeere’s the team! The team and also Ballistic, who isn’t part of the Undersiders, but personally I’m not discarding he may join in some manner. The situation kind of demands it. Parian is also here.

I turned to Parian.  “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Tattletale got in touch.  I… I apparently missed a lot.”

“You’re up for this?”

“No.  But I want to know what’s going on, in case it affects my territory.”

Oh dear! I’m pretty sure it involves the entirety of Brockton Bay. Welcome to the Noelle situation, Parian, we’re very screwed right now. There’s only one hour and forty minutes until dawn, and then it’s showtime. Probably.

There’s been one sighting of Noelle. What’s she doing, I really have to wonder. Is she just wandering around aimlessly? Either way, Parian makes a wiener dog for everyone to ride, which is simply hilarious. Here comes the cavalry, riding a wiener dog! Hah! Awesome.

“This is so lame,” Imp said.  “How are you supposed to build a decent rep if you’re caught riding a wiener dog?”

Aw, come on, Imp, it’s great! Don’t be like that.

There’s some nice banter that ends in Imp having to settle for the plush wiener dog, while Skitter rides on Bentley with Heckpuppy. Along the way, Tattletale asks if everyone is okay with she taking charge, and they all ask Ballistic for an assessment of how dangerous Noelle is. Give the deets, pal!

“It’s why I’m here.  Consider Noelle a triple threat,” he said.  “She’s strong, she’s got nothing to hold her back, now, and she’s smart.”

She’s a natural tactician, he says. I’m going to have to doubt that a little, not because I doubt Noelle isn’t smart, or able to come up with plans. I’m doubting it because, well, she was in a gaming team. That’s completely different to something like this. Skills usable there may not transfer to other things. Still, it’d be bad to underestimate Noelle. It has been said a lot about how she’s very dangerous, I’m sure she’ll be a genuine threat.

Whooops, Ballistic is sitting out of the fight. So is Parian, but that one isn’t really terribly surprising, Parian has nothing to do with any of this beyond protecting her territory. The reason why Ballistic is sitting out is because he’s sure Noelle will use him against them somehow. That’s...a reasonable concern, really. It can happen.

...is Skitter seriously underestimating Noelle right now? Come on, you can’t be serious. Ballistic says the reason why Noelle was fooled with all the lies she was told was because she trusted Trickster blindly. Even though he got her into this situation in the first place, technically? I guess that, although she blamed him, she saw him as the only one who could help her. He being the only one visiting her must also be a factor, I’m sure.

“He became team leader more because he’s fast at thinking on his feet than because he’s good at making the right call.  He took it on himself to make a whole lot of wrong calls.  I let a lot of that slide because he used to be a friend.  And maybe because they weren’t blatantly wrong.  Just a little wrong, a little disagreeable.  But at some point every call was a disagreeable call and every word out of his mouth became a white lie.  He started lying to us for what he saw as our own good.  Not Noelle with her delicate state, but us.”

I read earlier Noelle was good at being intuitive and making moves because she read the situation well. This paragraph here makes it sound like they named Francis the team leader because he was the closest they got in terms of skill.

Speaking of Trickster! He may make things much worse, or he may be of help, depending on if he’ll help them or not. Personally I think he won’t help. Tattletale just said his focus would always be on Noelle and himself. No way he’s going to do a thing if it’ll hurt Noelle, even if it’s to save Brockton Bay. What does he care, if this isn’t even his world?

There’s some briefing about what Noelle can do, I don’t really see anything we don’t already know. What’s important to remark here, at least the way Ballistic says it, is that they have to get this all done before Noelle makes clones. Parian tries to say those clones are people, Ballistic quite reasonably says they’re not. And yeah, they’re not. The way those Cody clones were acting...yeah, I doubt they could be considered people. Oh boy, there’ll totally be some clones going on, right? I bet some if not all of the Undersiders will have to face clones of themselves.

As a general rule I still don’t like clones, but...honestly, the way Worm is doing it, it seems like it could be interesting to read! Neato!

The regeneration will be somewhat troublesome, especially since it’ll make it much harder to kill her. Skitter right away says she doesn’t want to do that unless there’s no other choice. Hum.

Ballistic turned my way, and he had a funny tone in his voice as he asked, “How do you think you’re going to handle this?”

“Containment,” I said.  “If I get enough spiders together, I could try to surround her in web.”

Hum. You know, I’m not sure containing her will be a terribly good idea. She has gotten stronger; the kind of long-term containment she’d need would have to be carefully planned in order to work. She can’t just be shunted into the Birdcage, after all! And anything can happen in the time it takes to finish a vault or something to contain her. It’s way too dangerous, way too risky. I’m not sure it’s worth it. I hate to admit it, but...maybe lethal force has to be considered? Because Noelle is pretty close to being too dangerous to not subdue lethally anytime soon.

I mean, personally I think it’s not impossible the characters will figure a way to defeat Noelle without killing her, but...given the situation...I admit lethal force is more and more like a necessity here. Oh well! Skitter has been really resourceful in the past, it’s not really impossible she’ll figure something out!

Still, Tattletale accuses Ballistic of having no consideration towards Noelle because he’s suggesting to kill her, and needless to say, Ballistic didn’t like that at all. Geez, Tattletale. That could have been handled waaaay more tactfully. I can’t blame Ballistic for deciding to leave right away, he doesn’t even wait for the sausage dog to stop moving before he gets off. Welp! There gooooo all the chances of Ballistic joining the Undersiders. No way it’s happening now, or at least it’s much less likely.

Then again...maybe I’m being too callous about Noelle? I just think she is a huge danger, given everything that’s been shown. It’s always possible I’m just taking it waaaay too callously. After all, it’s way easier to make these calls when they’re fictional characters in a story.

In what’s another possibly bad move, they try to convince Parian to fight. She refuses, asking what she can do to protect her territory. She’s not interested in dealing with Noelle.

“I really don’t think we have a choice.  You fought Leviathan,” I said.

Parian shook her head, “I almost wish I didn’t.  I only did it because I promised myself when I was a kid, when I first learned about the Endbringers, that I would fight them if I ever got powers.  That’s why I did it, because I didn’t want to betray the kid version of myself.”

“Wouldn’t your child-self want you to do this?”  I asked.

“I don’t know.  But I didn’t make any promises to myself about this.”

Honestly I can’t blame her for not wanting to get involved in that. Leviathan is an Endbringer who threatens to destroy so much of the world. Its name makes everyone tremble in fear. Noelle is...well, for now, she is more of a domestic affair for the Undersiders. I don’t discard the possibility Parian will have to fight at some point, but right now? I think it’s fair she doesn’t join the fight.

Not really any time to discuss it further, because they encounter the heroes. They’re right over there. Hi! Guys, there’s a pseudoEndbringer about to destroy the city! It’s another day in Brockton Bay – and I’m so making that the slogan for Worm: It’s Another Day in Brockton Bay.

Miss Militia is here, and her immediate reaction is to aim at them with a rifle. How welcoming. There’s some wreckage here, and Miss Militia wants to know if the Undersiders had anything to do with it. Skitter very truthfully replies they were indirectly responsible, which...is that really the best thing to be saying?

...maybe, because it’d be coming out at some point, anyway.

Miss Militia’s reasoning is that there are reports that fit with what the Undersiders have done in the past, and a hero has been kidnapped. Huh. Noelle is already making her move, it seems! How screwed are we?

“Vista,” I finished Miss Militia’s thought.  “You’re talking about Vista.”

Huh. That so? That’s one versatile combatant out of the fight, indeed. I remember Skitter had mentioned earlier that they should ask the heroes’ help so they could bring containment foam and also have Vista use her powers to help. That’s going to throw a wrench into Skitter’s hopes for containment. Right now, though, the priority is explaining to the heroes they didn’t do this...directly, and that Noelle is a huge threat. That shouldn’t be hard to convince, right? I hope, at least. Time to take a look!

...or not. It’s an interlude. Well, I guess that was a time for a cliffhanger, but it certainly wasn’t what I wanted to read, I admit. I wanted more of the current situation. I hope this interlude will be worthwhile, because...yeah, I wish I could skip it to continue with the story. But hey, let’s tackle it. Onwards!

Kevin Norton, hm...the name doesn’t sound familiar. Then again, it’s likely it has been a while since I read it, so it’s not impossible I just don’t remember him. Hell, it’s possible a Norton was already shown and this is a relative. Who could this man be? He has a dog, too.

“I’ve saved millions of lives.  Billions.”

Another hand signal bidding another small woof of agreement.

He’s making some hefty claims, too. I won’t be surprised if he’s telling the truth, though. A lot can happen in Worm. Who knows, maybe he singlehandedly prevented a widespread tragedy, by foreseeing it or something. Who knows.

Nobody’s paying Kevin Norton any heed. Some parts of his clothing are pretty much falling apart. Kevin talks to the dog he’s with, saying he’s not getting much money and calling himself ‘the most powerful man in the world’ when asking for money. There’s not really much success here, so instead he decides to give the vital backstory info for the reader’s benefit. Just who are you, Mr. Kevin Norton?

Seems like he was in this area ages ago, and so much has changed since then. Kevin reminisces, remembering people who treated him well, and hopes they’re okay. Meanwhile, he gets some comfort for himself by saying he has a lot of responsibilities and he hasn’t shirked them – in fact, he makes it sound like the mere thought of having left them aside is the worst thing that could ever happen.

Also, he’s very alone. Nobody to support him, it seems. As if the world wants to make things a little worse for him, it starts raining.

Seems to me Kevin has regrets. There sure is a lot of talk about courage and cowardice here. Perhaps it’s related to he being the most powerful man in the world, according to himself? Maybe if he had been a little braver, he wouldn’t be in that position – like being the most powerful man in the world ruined his life. It’s one of those ironic things so popular in fiction, no? I wonder what’d be Mr. Wildbow’s take on it.

A woman gives Kevin ten pounds. So this is England, most likely. Quite a distance from Brockton Bay. Kevin braces himself for the judgmental scolding people who give him a lot of money usually give, and the woman doesn’t do anything like that. Instead, she makes conversation, praising the dog and asking why it’s called Duke. Kevin brings up once again he’s the most powerful man in the world. Boy, he’s fixated on that.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Hm?” he perked up, withdrawing his hand.

“You had a look on your face.”

“Just wondering when the last time I had contact with another person was.  Might have been a few years ago.  Pastor gave me a hug as I left his shelter.”

“That sounds so lonely, Kevin.  Years without human contact?”

“Not so lonely.  I’ve got one friend,” he said, scratching Duke’s head.

Lisette nodded.

“But you shouldn’t forget.  The little stuff.  Even a handshake?  That’s something special.  Meaningful.  Value it, even if you get it every day.”

A lonely existence with many, many years without contact. Meaningful contact that wasn’t, say, the brush of fingertips when giving money. Makes me wonder what kind of life Kevin used to have before. So much melancholy in his tone, that’s for sure.

Kevin asks the woman – Lisette, is her name – to walk with him while he talks about himself. While the woman comes with him after some hesitation, she keeps her distance because hey, no harm in being cautious. Kevin starts talking. The beginning of his problems happened when he got into a relationship with a woman who in the end wasn’t really the right one for him, but he doesn’t blame her for his trouble. In the end, Kevin realized he’s gay. Still, that wasn’t the cause for the destruction of his relationship, anyway. It turned abusive in pretty much all ways possible, and Kevin left after a while. Since then he’s been living on the streets.

The place he has taken Lisette to is where he slept first. A bit of nostalgia there – I guess...we all look to our beginnings, huh.

Lisette is asked to hold Duke’s leash for a moment while Kevin got to the water’s edge, splashing some on his face. The situation takes a turn for the unexpected when suddenly there’s a golden man floating there. Huh. Parahuman, no doubt. Duke seems a bit...hm, ears flat against the head is a sign of apprehension, right? And Lisette is speechless.

You know, unless something changed very drastically in Worm and I don’t recall/didn’t notice, there’s only one golden guy floating around untouched by debris and dirt. Is this Scion? Did Scion just...appear out of nowhere to hang out here?

“Hello old friend,” Kevin said.

The only answer was the pouring rain.  The golden man didn’t speak.

“Wondered if I would see you here,” Kevin continued.  “Been a long time.  I’d nearly convinced myself I’d imagined you.  That old dog over there, he wasn’t even born when I left, and he’s on his last legs now.  Twelve years old.”

Apparently he did, and it’s not the first time. Kevin had met him before, in this same place. Probably after leaving that abusive woman. Kevin nonchalantly returns to Lisette, and reveals Scion wasn’t ever that guy’s name. An alias, really, like all parahumans have.

This here is the reason why Kevin is the most powerful man in the world. Oh, please give more details! I’m actually intrigued by that. What’s up?

So, looks like I was right in that he met Scion shortly after he fled, encountering him and finding out Scion is sad – even if golden man’s face never changes, he’s sad in the inside, and has always been. Kevin hadn’t liked that and went to shout at him for being more miserable than Kevin was back then. Since Kevin wasn’t instantly vaporized with a laser beam back then, I guess Scion didn’t take offense to that.

In a fit of frustration, Kevin shouted at Scion why doesn’t he go and help someone. Why doesn’t he do something useful with his powers like save people or something. I guess he didn’t use to do that before, hm. And so, since then, Scion has been the hero everyone knows...because that’s all Scion has, it seems. He’s empty, according to Kevin. Saving people is...pretty much all he has. So that’s why Kevin says he has saved billions – he gave Scion the push to go be a hero, and therefore countless lives have been saved. Good thing it was Kevin who found him, then. If Scion was as easily influenced as Kevin is making it sound, then someone coming and telling him ‘hey, go commit crimes’ could have happened too, and things would be so much different right now. Maybe there’s an alternate universe fanfic with such a premise, it could be interesting to write and/or read.

According to Kevin, Scion understands, he just...doesn’t say a thing or react much or even does anything. He marches to the beat of his own drum, except when Kevin gets his hands in the way and makes him stop the beat for a second.

“It’s almost like he’s autistic,” Lisette said.

“How’s that?”  Kevin asked.

“Too connected,” Lisette said.  “Too much in the way of stimuli, drowning everything out.”

“Enhanced hearing, hearing the whole city at once?”

“Maybe.  Or maybe he senses things we don’t,” she said.  “The most powerful person in the world, and looking at him now, he’s like a child.”

Huh. Interesting thought. I wonder if that’s what’s going on. Sensing too much at once, and willfully having to cut the connections to things – or perhaps even unconsciously as some sort of protection mechanism for his psyche. Could be, no? If so, it’s a bit of a miracle Kevin got through to him at all. Hmmm...lucky, that was.

“Why?  Why avoid him?”

Kevin didn’t take his eyes off the golden man.  “He scares me.  He chose me to listen to, of all people.  I’m the most powerful person in the world, just because of that.  Because I can tell the strongest, most capable man in the world what to do.”

Hmmmm...yeah, that sounds like it can be kind of unnerving. Scion is...a mystery. His origins are unknown, all that’s known is his actions, and those are thanks to Kevin. Kevin’s nudging is what has built Scion, pretty much.

At this point I just have to wonder if maybe there’s something up with Kevin and he doesn’t know it. I mean...there’s always the possibility Kevin is being deceitful in some way, but...I don’t know, something about him seems kind of sincere. I don’t think he’s hiding something. Why is Scion listening to him, of all people? There has to be a reason, no?

Still, that’s...such a scary thought. Because since Scion doesn’t even give any indication what he’s thinking, or how he’s interpreting things, if Kevin says a wrong word some bad stuff could happen, and I think Kevin is well aware of that. Honestly, anyone would be terrified. I know I would.

It seems Scion returned every once in a while just to listen to Kevin talk. Kevin just...tended to oblige, not really minding it much, until one night Kevin said something. Something that somehow got a reaction from Scion, and given how it was established he doesn’t bother reacting to anything, that’s very significant. Kevin doesn’t say what it is, but later Scion said it and the entire world latched onto it. That scared Kevin to no end. Okay, what was it? No way this intermission won’t say it! With all that’s been said about it, Mr. Wildbow just has to, no? I want to know!

“What did you say, if the word wasn’t Scion?” Lisette asked.

Ah, I see. So, I don’t really remember the details about Scion’s one and only word, but I faintly recall it was, well, ‘Scion’, and that’s why they’re calling him that. It seems Kevin said something and Scion latched onto it, but it actually was a word similar to that one.

Shenanigans ensue when it’s revealed it was actually Xion, because Kevin is a huge Kingdom Hearts fan and wanted to share some theories he had been building.

Okay, no, hah! Just joking. That’s just what came to mind when trying to think of something similar to ‘Scion’. I got nothing, I admit. Can’t think of a word.

“Only realized later.  Was talking about home, religion and family.  Talking about a memory from my childhood.  Don’t even remember it that well, now.  But the word he paid attention to was Zion.”

“That’s Hebrew, isn’t it?”

I went to search ‘Zion’ in Google, of course. The first result is Zion, a reggaeton singer, but unless Scion here is about to bust out some urban rhythm, that can’t be it. The next result sounds more like it:

Zion (Hebrew: צִיּוֹן‎ Ṣîyōn, LXX Σιών, also variously transliterated Sion, Tzion, Tsion, Tsiyyon) is a placename in the Hebrew Bible used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Israel as a whole (see Names of Jerusalem).

That’s from Wikipedia, of course. So, as I see it, maybe it can be a hint about an origin. Nothing indicates Scion popped up into existence twenty years ago or whenever Scion first appeared floating in the air, maybe he has existed for way longer than that and heard that word before. Could be a hint about origins? Hm...

The other possibility is that it’s not so much something related to him, instead it’s something he’s familiar with. Or maybe he’s searching for it. I don’t know. Something’s up with that word, that’s all that’s plainly obvious. Doesn’t seem Kevin here has any ideas, either.

The reason why Kevin came here was to talk to Scion, and make a request. Seems that Kevin once told Scion to go fight the Endbringers, but he fears he wasn’t specific enough, that maybe he should have said to kill them so they couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. That because of that, Scion just...wasn’t bothering to try all he could to kill them, and that because of his bad choice of words, a lot of people have died. Boy that’s terrifying. It’s pretty much what I had said earlier. Part of me almost hopes this doesn’t work, if only so Kevin doesn’t blame himself for all the death and destruction.

Kevin is close to death. He came here to get his affairs in order, which he’s doing by telling Scion that about the Endbringers, and also by telling him to come to Lisette here if he ever needs anything.

Kevin sighed.  “I’m here to get my affairs in order, and you’re most important after Duke.  I want you to keep doing what you were doing.  Help people.  Try to communicate with the good guys more.  I told you to do that before and you didn’t listen, but you should.  And if there’s a problem, if you need someone to listen to, someone to visit from time to time, look for this young lady.  Lisette.  Because she’s good people.  She’s a better person than I am.  Braver.  Has to be braver, if she’s stopping to talk to a homeless motherfucker like me, following him someplace.”

Wow. That’s got to be pretty awful for Lisette. Here, Lisette, you deal with the superpowered guy who doesn’t even give any indication he wants to listen to you. Honestly, it’s a bit of a curse, given how much grief that brought Kevin, and how Lisette, who is privy to why exactly it made Kevin so antsy, will have to undergo it too. It sucks for her, honestly. Goodness gracious.

I’m not sure if Scion will come to her or not, but...what’s done is done, no? Guess she...well...will have to deal with it, if he does come. I know it’s not like Kevin could have asked her permission because really, who’d say yes? But still, wow, that’s rough for Lisette.

Of course, Lisette seems kind of panicked about this. With good reason!

Kevin didn’t turn around or stop walking as he raised his voice to respond over the sound of the pouring rain.  “Good deal, isn’t it?  Ten pounds to become the most powerful person in the world.”

Methinks she may be regretting giving those ten pounds, honestly. That’s pretty rough.

That’s where the interlude ends. I see the tags here, where the character names usually are written, only has ‘Scion’. I guess that means Lisette won’t appear anymore, which is...understandable, honestly. What are the odds she goes to hang out in Brockton Bay for no reason at all? As I see it, it’s possible she’ll appear in a future interlude, but that’s it. I hope she’ll be okay, even if she was given this burden to deal with.

Somewhere else, a pair of men who are undoubtedly aligned with the Library are in a hunting lodge, where Gil and Bangladesh arrive to ruin their day.

Nobody can ever say the Library’s people aren’t dedicated to their cause, really. It’s admirable, in some strange, bizarre way.

Gil is on the warpath, interrogating and incinerating hands to get the information he seeks. Looks like Tarvek has been taken underground! To where exactly...they don’t say. Hm. I wonder if, somehow, what Aldin and Larana are doing is related to Tarvek being kidnapped. It’s possible, no? At least I’m not ruling it out. Having obtained the info, it’s time to move on to parts unknown! Shouldn’t be long before Gil finds Tarvek, I bet.

Speaking of Aldin and Larana! There they are. They’re fighting a clank that looks like a snake with like ten poisonous fangs. So cool! Hoffman doesn’t even question why they were away from everybody else and fighting this clank, he just joins the fight. So, what’s the story, guys? Is this related to your secret mission?

They’re fine, they say. I mean, if neither Zeetha nor Dimo are worried I guess it’s fine, but this sure looks painful and dangerous. But on the other hand, the Heterodyne Boys used to do this Heroic Freestyle technique too and they fared relatively well, so maybe it’ll all be okay. I’m sure Aldin would love the comparisons to the Heterodyne Boys, haha! He has to face it, he and Hoffman truly are the new hero team of brothers and what not.

Apparently there’s never any mention of the Jagers coming along with the Heterodyne Boys in adventures and the such. Something juicy is going on here, hm? What’s the deal here?

So the Jagers were in the area, they just stayed out of sight because that’s what the Heterodyne Boys wanted. Sounds like they hated the Jagers. Damn, that’s a shame, but maybe it was for the better. Jagers would have been so useful in heroics, but they have...what, hundreds of years of reputation coming along? A few heroic actions aren’t going to solve that. But it seems the sentiment wasn’t mutual, the Jagers’ loyalty was as strong as ever.

Also, the Heterodyne Boys were doing something new and interesting, and that was alluring to the Jagers. Seems to me like they were truly fond of those two brothers. Soon they got caught and told to scram to Mechanisburg, and being the loyal army they were, they obeyed. That’s why nobody was there when the Heterodyne Boys disappeared.

Hm. Depending on what happened, it could have made things worse, really. What exactly made them disappear? Well, “disappear”, because I recall Barry was with Agatha for a few years after the disappearance. It’s possible they just went into hiding, nothing else. If the Jagers had been with them, they wouldn’t have been able to do such a thing, hm?

Dimo does seem to realize the point I made, that the Jagers’ reputation would have made it hard for heroes to do their thing. He can’t really blame the brothers for not wanting to deal with that, can he. It’s pretty amazing people gave them a chance despite their last name, I’d say.

Oh yes, Agatha definitely is more like the Heterodyne Boys than like...literally every other Heterodyne in the family. Still, you know what I think? She shouldn’t be afraid of taking the Jagers along! Who cares what people think? Agatha isn’t trying to be a hero, she’s trying to help her town and that’s it! She isn’t going to subdue sparks or save helpless towns, she’s going to do her thing, nothing else. The might of having a Jager army on her side may be what she needs, really. I trust Agatha would be able to use them well.

It doesn’t really take much thinking, Agatha has a few things clear: for one, she’s not like the Heterodyne Boys, she won’t be rescuing things around. Her duty is with everything that belongs to the House of Heterodyne. That’s the priority. Besides, she doesn’t get cold feet over public image, so she isn’t really going to care. Alright! That was settled nice and easy.

This may be a good spot to stop, yup.

Well at least she’s not terribly hostile. She doesn’t take kindly to Madwa’s intrusion, but she’s talking politely with Agatha and pals. That’s better than throwing them out or trying to kill them. Agatha informs the new Storm King is currently trapped in a time bubble, unaware he has been freed very recently. Not that it isn’t a reason to get the lantern, they still have to set free the town.

Huh...well, Tweedle is the other option, really, but this clank was locked here waaaay before Tweedle even existed, no? So she can’t be saying she supports Tweedle over Tarvek. I’m not really sure what Prende means with this, but it’s clear: the lantern must not be moved. What now, Agatha?

Nothing to do but maybe let Tarvek convince her later, which isn’t a bad plan. Still, Agatha argues there’s a whole town needing help, and although Prende doesn’t seem so callous as to want to let all those people stay in stasis forever, she insists. The pleasant conversation is interrupted when the other Smoke Knights come by, telling them to not let Madwa escape.

Oh, she got out of the clank’s grasp. How does she do that? Smoke Knights are so bizarre.

How courtly of you to stand around to brag villainously, Madwa. You truly are aligned with Lucrezia. As seen in that image, it gives Violetta enough time to throw a pebble and...tell me she didn’t break the lantern. I see it’s disconnected from something, and I’d be willing to bet this is aaaall very delicate. They came all the way down here to get the lantern, if it got broken I’ll be kind of upset, honestly.

There are other immediate problems, though. Is that a skeletal hand?

Well what Madwa has really is close enough now. Also yeah, Madwa, how dare you break that lamp. It was you, totally not Violetta, nope, it was aaaaaall you. Let’s all pile the blame on her, for convenience. She took the lamp out of that nook on the wall, after all! Her fault.

Now that the lantern is broken, something is coming out of the wall, something enveloped in a green light. Prende talks about how she knew Agatha’s friend isn’t the Storm King, and the reason is...huh.

Okay, I didn’t see this one coming!

Would I be mistaken in thinking that’s the Storm King? And as long as he’s alive, nobody else can be the Storm King. Hoh, what a problem that is. Tarvek better get ready for some good ol’ fashioned regicide.

Apparently Van Rijn took the king right before, or during a fight, and Andronicus is real pissed off about it. He even is calling Van Rijn a sorcerer, which is rather curious. Maybe Andronicus wasn’t too familiar with MAD SCIENCE. He also refuses to believe anything about Van Rijn, not believing he’s dead. Well...seems like, to him, his imprisonment lasted only a moment, he doesn’t know it has been such a long time since then. If he escapes maybe he will notice. The thing is, I sure wouldn’t trust him to behave and not...try to smack people with that bloody club he has. Andronicus seems kind of volatile.

So, first things first: that beard looks ridiculous on him! What kind of curlers do you need to style that beard? Good thing this is just a costume, because it’s seriously a silly style. If anyone reading this has a beard like that one, I’m sorry for being rude, the beard looks good on you, but on Tweedle you have to be kidding me.

Now that the elephant in the room has been addressed, let’s address what’s important. He can feel where his sword is at, hmmm...I guess that means we know where Andronicus will be going, if he escapes from the vaults. I think I can already see where this is going now: is Andronicus going to crash the costume party? Will people believe he’s just another partygoer with a costume? I have to wonder.

Desperate and trying to get Andronicus from, you know, slaying the entirety of Paris with a sword, Prende says once again that Van Rijn is dead and that two hundred years have passed. Andronicus doesn’t seem to like that at all, he looks rattled by that revelation, and decides to go find out by himself. Then he orders Agatha to tell her nonexistent master he will receive a visit from Andronicus soon, not knowing he’s talking to the current scion of the Heterodynes. Alright! Looks like this will be a problem. How to deal with a rogue Storm King?

Well that sure sets the tone for the next arc or so. I mean, Andronicus being on the loose is kind of a big deal! I’ll be very surprised if this isn’t what they had to deal with for the rest of their stay in Paris, especially since Madwa escaped and took the lantern with her.

...oh my god, I love this. They just looted the vault! They took everything they could get their hands on! May as well have something so you don’t leave with your hands empty, eh? Yeah, I think I get it – they’re taking everything they can just in case there’s a clue or something, but still! It’s kind of funny they were all ‘welp we’re not gonna get out of here without some booty, are we now. take this chest of gold, it’s gonna sell great in the black market’.

Say, this may be a good spot to stop. I’ll continue next time!

Outside, Emil celebrates his mind is clear for once, and tries to tell Lalli, but he’s not waking up. Lalli is still unconscious, and unless he gets free from...I don’t even know how to describe the thing grappling him...he’s not going to wake up. I guess that means for now Emil will have to keep carrying and dragging Lalli a bit longer. That should be okay now that he isn’t forced to listen to the trolls. Things should be more or less okay!

Okay, he’s on the move. There have to be rooms they can hide in, right? The problem I see is that he may not be able to make a barricade if he moves somewhere else, and it’s not like he can take the barricade he already made. There’s just no time and it’d leave the door undefended. He’s doomed unless dawn comes in the next minute or so.

They have locked themselves in a bathroom. I see a window over there, a possible way out? There’s a lock on the door, but I’m not sure that will be enough. Hmm...there’s nothing to block the door with unless he rips off the toilet and the sink, which...well, could he even do that? I doubt there’s any water in the pipes, rupturing things should be fine.

Wrong javlar.

Concise and completely understandable. Alright, Emil, carry on.

The dusklings manage to shatter the window, jumping in to attack! Many of them are bleeding, they even have pieces of glass stuck onto them. It doesn’t take long for them to find the door Emil is behind of, and are shouting about getting food behind that weak door. Emil’s threats do nothing to persuade them not to keep hunting. How unfortunate! Emil is not very intimidating unless he has fire.

Ah, time to try to make the escape! Emil opens the window and looks outside. Time to gauge how feasible it is to escape!

Not very feasible, it seems. Hmmm...but possibly, once they all go into the house maybe he can get out? The problem is that maybe they’ll hear him fall outside the window, and since there’s nothing stopping them from going outside...yeah, that’s a problem. Additionally, he has to drag Lalli. Finally, it’s dusk, night is coming, and it’s not like there’s going to be other shelters around here. Nope, this is bad. The only solution I can think is climbing on the roof and that’s hella dangerous.

No wonder both Lalli and Emil are saying they’re done for! And so, this update ends. This is a bit like a cliffhanger, haha.

Looks like this is meal time, time for a break. They must have been down here in the crypts for quite a while already. I for one want to know what happened with the naked mole rat queen and why people think it was a spicy thing. Since we’re sitting around you may as well tell the story, Aldin! Inquiring minds want to know!

Some time later, one of the good Smoke Knights return, informing them Zardeliv is at the vault he wanted. No word about Madwa, so she either was hiding, or she’s somewhere else. Hoffman is almost blind but it’s no big deal, because thanks to the power of MAD SCIENCE he can get that fixed. It just...will be weird. Very weird. Par for the course for the world. Agatha gave a temporary solution in the form of a helmet, so in a way this was all a boon...for a while. I hope he will be okay.

Ah, no, she’s right there, and in my opinion, Zardeliv isn’t being coerced or anything right now. He’s taking things very calmly and is frustrated he’s having a hard time opening the vault. I guess that means it’s confirmed: Zardeliv is working for the Other. Violetta isn’t going to be happy about that.

That’s a neat looking vault. I have no doubt Agatha will manage to open it, sooner or later. I’m more worried about Madwa’s presence. There’s no way she will be a pushover to deal with.

Their conversation is cut short when Madwa detects a disturbance nearby. She quickly takes action, covering her face with a mask and running away while...leaving a cardboard cutout of herself. I really want to know how these people do that, but that’s a trade secret. There are more important to worry about, anyway! Like that they can enter the vault, thanks to Hoffman using the helmet to see how to open it! He losing his eyesight was truly a short term boon.

Violetta is having a moment of self-loathing.

Honestly I don’t really put much stock on them. I trust Violetta far more, because I know what she’s capable of, and that she’s a great person. Those two don’t seem like bad guys, but they’re definitely not Violetta. I hope she can realize she’s far more capable than she’s making herself sound right now.

Aldin did his part doing the actual fiddly stuff while Hoffman informed him what he could see. Say, for someone who was a genius and what not, Van Rijn sure made his stuff easy to open. First the Hermitorium that just needed a key in a keyhole, and now this vault defeated thanks to a visor I’m sure many sparks would be able to make. Disappointing, Van Rijn.

The vault is open! Oh, what a place to end this update.

So what happened here is that a member of Dr. Zardeliv’s entourage died from poison, and they took the chance to turn the body into a facsimile of Dr. Zardeliv? In that case, they want to make them think the doctor died. Not only that, I think they knew someone would come very soon and did this so Agatha and friends would turn back and not go any further. Well it sure didn’t work, they caught on real fast this isn’t the real doctor.

It takes no time to disprove my thoughts – well, not disprove, but what the characters say go against all I had said. I wondeeeer...so, what they’re saying is that yeah, someone tried to fool them with a fake Zardilev, but it was meant to be found in a few weeks, not right now. Also, what killed this person was a rare poison. Sounds like foul play to me, then! Could it be the real Dr. Zardeliv did that, to make people believe he had died?

Frankly, given what family this is, I’m inclined towards thinking he planned this and is indeed working to take part in the schemes of the Storm King or the Other. Violetta may think he stayed away from the intrigue, but I have my doubts.

You know, given what story this is, I would be really surprised if they were after anything other than Prende’s lantern. That has to be it! That they were looking for something else down here and taking all these precautions...there would be a bit of a coincidence if they were after something else, something that’s conveniently located also down here. Hmmm...

Aldin and Larana are not very subtle at scheming, hah! I mean, they’re right there murmuring things a foot away from Agatha. Really, it almost makes me think they’re not bothering hiding...which, in turn, makes me think whatever they’re scheming is unrelated to Agatha. Maybe?

Turns out Violetta, always being far more competent than people expect, has deduced a couple things, such as for example there are Other agents down here – rogue Smoke Knights led by one Madwa Korel. The cause of death of the fake Zardeliv proved it. Hm! So something down here is of interest to the Other, possibly the lantern. Could it be she’s trying to get it to stop Agatha and others from stopping the Mechanisburg time bubble, all so the Baron would continue trapped inside? If one of your enemies can’t fight you, you do your best to keep that status quo.

While Aldin over there freaks out about potentially troublesome Smoke Knights sneaking into the library, Agatha and Violetta get briefed on the situation. The Smoke Knights that had been following Agatha and the group will go ahead, seeking Madwa to dispose of her. Well then! Two new allies, albeit temporary. That has to be useful.

Sounds like the Smoke Knights have the potential to be overpowered, then! In that case, the Other having access to them is baaaaad. That’s going to be troublesome to deal with in the future, since I really, really doubt this Madwa Korel will die anytime soon. Sure would suck if what seems like a decent threat is taken out shortly after the introduction.

Um...Violetta, are you sure those two are good Smoke Knights? Maybe they were kissing while they were going around, I guess, but really, this happening one page after their competence is proved is kind of...silly. Either way, now Agatha and pals have a big and presumably ancient clank to deal with. That’s got to be fun.

Hoffman, always eager, runs towards the clank and gets blasted with acid, prompting Larana to pretty much obliterate the clank with bombs. Good! Hoffman doesn’t seem to be having much of a good time, as the acid may have hit his eyes. These crypts down here are a really, really bad place to be blind at. This could be deadly.

I think I’ll stop for now.

...Eeeemiiiil, giving ideas to your enemies is like the second worst kind of ‘something’ you could have done. Bad job! Very bad job! When I go to the next page will I see a couple of these starting to use their faces as hammers instead of trying to break through the window like a battering ram? Hm. Maybe it will all be fine as long as the same spot isn’t hit every time. That’s the only way I can kind of see things working, by progressively weakening the window pane.

Welp! It’s hitting the same spot over and over! And it’s working, because that sure is a crack in the glass. The duskling doing this is now dead, but there are at least three dozen more out there. Sacrificing three or four more to get this done will be a cinch. If Lalli is finally going to leave Emil’s headspace, then this will be the right time to do so – he can’t run away and seek shelter if he’s being lured by the trolls. He’s going to need a clear head for that.

Like I imagined, it’s not possible for him to go to a safer place because, as soon as he tries to move, the trolls mentally get a hold of him. All he can hope is that Lalli leaves before those dusklings breach the window and eat them. Lalli seems to be hesitating a bit, though, he’s still there. He has his head into the water, but...given how usually he’s not afraid of going headfirst into danger because he knows what to do, there are two possibilities. One, he has no idea what’s the best course of action – which isn’t too unlikely, but I lean more towards the second one: that he knows what’s out there and it’s so dangerous he’s afraid. Goodness gracious.

That’s the surface? There’s far less water than I thought. Also, it’s far more...full of things than I thought. Look at that. I’m surprised it can even be called water, it looks more like a wall of scales and spikes. But it works, Emil stops hearing those dusklings’ black speech. That’s one step more towards safety!

Lalli emerges and looks around, unsure of where to go. Say, hadn’t Lalli fallen into the water of his own personal dream territory? And somehow that led to Emil? Now he’s in the middle of nowhere. Emil’s headspace must be humongous, if it reaches all the way here, haha! But yeah, I suppose spatial rules don’t apply to the International Mage Hub.

Onni isn’t anywhere nearby, but there’s someone here. Someone orange and nebulous. Reynir? That sure is Reynir-orange! It’d be great for them to know the two missing crewmates are still alive, that’s soothe so many of their worries. Besides, imagine this scenario: the ship arrives, ready to take the survivors back to the safety of civilization. Sigrun, Mikkel and Reynir, knowing their missing partners are alive, try to stall and make the ship wait, and when everything seems hopeless...Emil and Lalli arrive! Making their heroic entrance! Maybe even with fire roaring behind them thanks to Emil’s pyro skills. Bam! Instant drama. Give me a screenwriting award, everybody, haha!

Apparently whatever that red person is...is not good. Lalli turns around and swims away, hoping he doesn’t get noticed. What’s that, then? A hostile spirit? Is it the swan of Tuonela that took Tuuri and you shouldn’t approach it? A mystery! At this point of the story, to boot. Interesting!

While Lalli’s fleeing went unnoticed by that orange thing, it didn’t go unnoticed for...other entities.

Oh well. That’s going to be troublesome to deal with, it looks pretty big and with ill intentions. Lalli is in trouble!

But this may be a good point to stop, so I’m stopping now. Until next time!

They may have a few hours before dawn, but they should start contacting the Protectorate right away – without telling them Calvert is dead, of course. Oh joy, what a time for the PRT to not have a leader. I hope that won’t be a problem.

Ah, here’s something interesting! Coil asked Tattletale for help about Noelle, showing he did at least make a token effort towards helping her, even if he didn’t really put that much effort into it. Tattletale used her power, but she didn’t get anything particularly useful. What she can tell is what approach Coil and the Travelers were taking, though. That information may be of some use.

“And I don’t know the full story. They were working on the assumption that she’s turning into an Endbringer.”

What I’d like to know is if maybe Trickster said that was a possibility, or Coil and/or Coil’s men reached that conclusion by themselves. If it’s the latter then I’d start getting very worried such theory may have some credence. It’d be two different people considering it, after all.

Thankfully for everyone involved, Tattletale doesn’t think the same, she has her own theories. They’re not any more pleasant, though.

Theory one is that she is turning into an Endbringer, with her body serving as the host to a growth that’s eventually going to shed off the Noelle bits and go full-monster.

Hmmmm...I doubt it. I mean, the powers would have to go incredibly, monstrously wrong to gain a consciousness of its own and go be an Endbringer. Even if she drank only half of the concoction, I really hope Cauldron wouldn’t have serums that would have ‘could create Endbringers’ as a side effect if handled improperly!

“And theory two?”  Grue asked.

“Someone’s doing their level best to make their own Endbringer.”

“Who?” I asked.

Tattletale shrugged, “No clue. Could be any of the major players. To figure out which one, I’m going to need time with the database on capes we downloaded from the PRT.  Even then, I’m not sure it covers the high-clearance stuff we need.”

Honestly this theory here seems to be more believable to me, although not in the way Tattletale means it. I’m ready to accept the possibility the Simurgh is trying to create an Endbringer – or as close as it can get when it’s a human with a botched superpower. Doesn’t seem like such a possibility ever crossed Tattletale’s mind, though. That means Coil didn’t inform her the Travelers are Simurgh thralls. Otherwise I think she’d consider the possibility it’s the Simurgh’s end goal.

There we go! Tattletale unknowingly hits half of the truth of what’s going on, guessing Cauldron is involved. It’s just a possibility among many, but she considered it briefly. That’s a start, now that she considered it, it wouldn’t be strange for her to develop a theory based on it once she gets more information.

Those sure are some tinkers I hadn’t even heard before. Also, Blasto is in this list. Neat.

Since they need to get some guidance about who may be behind Noelle’s current status as a dangerous parahuman, they decide to ask Dinah questions, who is willing to answer them because it won’t be long before she goes into withdrawal. Not having Coil’s drugs is going to wreak havoc in her, unfortunately, and it’ll be very soon. Confirmed thanks to her powers, it must be a complete certainty given the way she describes it. So, let’s play twenty questions!

“Chance she’s turning into an Endbringer?” Tattletale asked.

“Those aren’t the kind of odds I can give,” Dinah said  “It has to be something I can picture.  Scenes.”

She needs something concrete, I’d say. How do you define an Endbringer? Is there a standard she’d have to reach before she attains such a title? Would ‘turn into an Endbringer’ mean biologically being like one of those? Invincible and all – more than she is already? Do you have the Endbringer title once you rack enough destruction on your path? That question must have been real vague. Of course Dinah was unable to answer it.

They also won’t be able to use the questions to pinpoint who exactly is responsible of Noelle’s situation and powers. They’ll have to find out some other way, I suppose.

“Chance of trouble in the next twenty four hours?” I asked.  “Violence, she attacks us, she attacks other people…”

“Ninety-nine point three four six three zero one percent,” Dinah said.

The more time passes the more chances there are for Noelle to use violence, naturally it’d be real high. Noelle is extremely upset, and there’s an entire world that’s not even hers to use as a punching bag. With some luck, the scenario this story will take place in will have Noelle starting her violence late in those twenty-four hours – because I sure doubt this will be the one or few universes where Noelle does nothing harmful during an entire day.

Twenty-three percent chance she flees Brockton Bay, presumably in the span of twenty-four hours. No word on if it’d be with the Travelers’ help or not. I’m pretty sure if she escapes, the Travelers as a group are over. Things will be tense now that Ballistic bailed, Noelle escaping would pretty much dissolve what little is keeping the group united, I imagine.

“Chance someone stops her?” Tattletale asked.  “Defeats her, kills her?”

Dinah shook her head.

“You don’t know?”

“I can’t see it.”

“Okay,” Tattletale said.  “That means we probably can’t stop her with sheer firepower.”

Zero percent, huh. Okay, that doesn’t have to be as big of a scenario it seems at first sight. Maybe it won’t be a ‘someone’, maybe it’ll be a group of people at once. Or maybe what stops her is the indirect result of somebody’s action in a way that makes it so they’re not stopping her directly. Or...maybe it’ll just take more than twenty-four hours. This doesn’t have to mean the very worst case scenario!

The situation is bad, and Tattletale was going to assume the Travelers were going to leave the city after Coil’s death. Which isn’t really a ludicrous thing to think, they’d have to keep moving with Noelle, after all – and since Tattletale isn’t aware how much hope the Travelers had on Coil helping them, she expected the pattern to hold up, for them to take Noelle and move somewhere else. The thing is...I don’t think they would leave quietly, even if Coil hadn’t made Noelle listen to how they killed him. She’d have found out later from Trickster or anyone else who tells her. Her ire would have been delayed just a little while longer.

The plan right now is to take Dinah to someone who can help her with her withdrawal symptoms, while Tattletale tries to convince Ballistic to give them a hand. Will he be willing to fight Noelle? I’m not sure if he will, even if he hasn’t talked to Noelle in a long while. This is a delicate situation, and there’s not really an optimal way to handle it, so really, they can just hope their decisions won’t lead to making things worse than they’d be otherwise.

One scene cut later, Skitter and others are on their way to a hospital Tattletale arranged to receive them, to get the medical attention many of them so sorely need. Along the way, Dinah had considered asking Heckpuppy if she’d let her pet the puppy – the wolf puppy – so of course Rachel says no. You can’t go around touching wolves just like that! Dinah accepts the rejection without any complaints.

“Rachel,” I said.  “Just curious, but you’re hoping to eventually adopt your dogs out, right?”

“To good owners.  So?”

“Just saying, but as much as the owners need to adapt to the dog and understand the dog, the opposite is true.”

I couldn’t read Rachel’s expression.

“The dog has to adapt to the owner?” She asked.

“Right.  And that means the dogs need a chance to get used to people.  Dogs and humans have a partnership, right?  So they need to meet halfway in that understanding.  Mutual understanding.”

“Okay.”

Enough time passed that I wasn’t sure if she’d picked up on my meaning.

Hah! Here’s Skitter, trying to get Heckpuppy to open up a little more towards others, apparently. And she’s doing it with dog metaphors. She knows what Heckpuppy understands best. The effort isn’t wasted, she did understand what Skitter was hinting, and makes it so Dinah can pet one of the trained dogs. It’s kind of sweet, really. I don’t think Heckpuppy would have even considered this a few arcs ago.

Months since she’s seen a dog, let alone touched one.  How would that affect her in the long run?  I hoped she wouldn’t be in therapy for the rest of her life.

Wouldn’t be surprised if she is, really. Maybe not for the rest of her life, but I imagine she’ll be in therapy for quiiite some time. It’ll be for the better, really. Better to be in therapy for a long time than not have any therapy at all.

Doesn’t seem like there’s much chance of trouble here at the shady clinic they’re stopping at, so at least we can conclude it’s not very likely someone inside will call the Protectorate to tell them the Undersiders are there with the former mayor’s niece. Good! Last thing they all need right now is a confrontation, especially since they’ll need to work together to defeat Noelle at some unspecified point after dawn.

“Can you tell me who causes the trouble?”

“I only know we’ll be in there, so I have to look at each of us, one by one, and then I see the number.”

“Okay.”

“When there’s trouble,” she said, “It’s you.  Eighty percent of the time.”

Hah! Oh man, that’s so perfect. Don’t feel bad, Skitter, of course it’ll be you most of the time. You’re the protagonist. Everything happens around you, and you’ll be the cause like half of the time. Really, I’d have been surprised if it turned out someone else was the problem magnet here.

Is this the same doctor who has dealt with the Undersiders all the time before? I don’t recall he getting a name. Well I suppose if he is, Skitter will comment mentally about it, remembering him as the guy who performed surgery on her shoulder, or something. If it’s that guy, then he’s decently trustworthy, or at least I believe Tattletale wouldn’t send them to his care of he was the kind to betray them.

When Grue enumerates all the injuries everybody here has, it sure underlines just how dangerous their life is, especially because none of those injuries was from someone else’s power. Getting shot, drug withdrawal, smoke inhalation, and also being blinded from explosions. Having powers doesn’t make you more resilient unless you have some rather specific powers. Still, thank goodness for the armor. Skitter saved everyone’s lives

Yo, you think you can use like translucent bug carapaces to make special lenses for your mask so you’re not blinded again? Okay, maybe that’s not how things work because really, but hoping costs nothing.

Given the nature of this place, they’ll have to take off their costumes and masks. Given they’d be showing their faces and all, that’ll have to be quite the expression of trust. It’s not like they have any other option if they want the medical attention, though. Dinah requests to not be left alone, so Skitter tells the receptionist they’ll be sharing a room. This is where the Undersiders present here find out Skitter is currently blind. Oh, she never told them! Hah! This is definitely going to make Grue talk to Skitter again about talking to them when something’s wrong.

Now that Dinah and Skitter are somewhere else and alone, Skitter takes the chance to talk to Dinah, who is willing to answer questions and reassures Skitter that’s fine. No need to feel guilty! First she says how Coil used to work with her, asking often about the end of the world and about how likely success was for his many plans. Hm. Sounds about right.

“What’s the chance the world ends, Dinah?  That these billions die because of something Jack Slash does?  Has the number changed?”

“It’s changed.  Ninety-seven point seven nine zero seven three percent.”

Ninety-seven point eight.  It’s higher.

At first I thought maybe something that happened in Brockton Bay may have made the odds higher, like Coil dying or Noelle escaping, but then I thought that’s not necessarily true. Maybe it’s something the Slaughterhouse Nine did somewhere else. The world doesn’t revolve around Brockton Bay, no matter what the story makes it seem like, haha! But yeah, if it turns out something that happened in Brockton Bay made the odds higher, I’d wager it being Coil’s death. He was in a position to take actions to try to counter such a disastrous event, and now he isn’t. Dead and all. Better hope you didn’t accidentally ruin things, Skitter.

“People are spread out.  I know you’re there.  You’re different but you’re there.”

Huh. Okay, I have to wonder if Coil knew Taylor would be there during the end of the world that’ll happen in a couple years. Because if so, then he trying to kill her would go against those visions – unless Dinah said it was merely a possibility and Coil was aiming towards getting into one of the possibilities where Taylor isn’t around during the end of the world.

I notice she says ‘I know’, instead of ‘we know’ or anything similar. Maybe Coil really didn’t know. I’ll chose to believe that.

Dinah can’t go into much detail about what’s going on because there are too many capes and among them there are some that are blocking her power. I suppose it means some of those have precognition powers, then. This way there are no future spoilers of Worm and she can’t tell what led to that moment nor what’s going to happen. All she says is that billions will die. That’s a certainty, then? Should I expect that, by the end of Worm, almost all of humanity will be wiped out?

...

That sure is grim. Unless Skitter manages to hit the right set of circumstances for the end of the world to not happen, I thiiink it’s very likely there’s lots of death in the climax of Worm. At such a large scale stopping so many deaths is very difficult. So yeah, either Skitter and everyone manage to stop the end of the world from happening in the first place, or they manage to reverse the deaths after whatever will happen is over. Because really, a scenario where billions of people die is still pretty much the definition of a ‘bad ending’, hah! Not bad as in quality, mind you.

“Yes.  Five big groups, lots and lots of capes from all around the world, and armies.  Coil asked a lot about that.  He wanted to know about his chances for survival or the total number of casualties if he focused on one area over another.”

Big groups? How big are we talking here? I’m pretty sure the Protectorate must be one of those. Cauldron must be another, given that’s the one other large group around. The Undersiders simply can’t be, unless they recruit dozens of thousands of people, and that applies to virtually every other villain group around, so that leaves three big groups left. Perhaps they’ll be introduced later? Doesn’t even have to go in-depth about them, just mentioning them would be enough.

Dinah can’t even figure out what exactly is going to cause the end of the world, if it’s by natural disaster or by violence or...something. It’s hard to know, really. It’d be really difficult to stop a titanic natural disaster, so I’m inclined towards thinking it’s by violence. It doesn’t have to be one single person causing all that, maybe Jack Slash will cause a lot of people to turn against the general population. Could have something to do with the Endbringers. Perhaps the reason why there’s five big groups is because there are five big opponents, and they have to fight them to stop the end of the world?

“Theoretically speaking,” I said, “Just in the interest of problem solving, or figuring out what’s going to work or not, would the chance of this happening change if I just drove around America and killed everyone in my power’s reach?”

“Not really,” Dinah said.

Skitter asked that question to try to find out if she could narrow the location of the problem down to a specific place in the United States. Hm...I mean, last I remember it was stated it was Jack Slash’s fault, one way or another. I’m pretty sure if you get rid of Jack Slash, you stop the end of the world. Did he leave America?

Apparently that question kind of makes Dinah wonder if Skitter would really kill everyone in America if she had to. She wouldn’t, she reassures Dinah. Dinah presses doubt on that because Skitter killed Coil.

“You killed Coil, didn’t you?  I saw.  Thirty-two percent chance it was you who did it.  Five percent chance you couldn’t and asked someone else to.  Sixty percent chance you were dead.”

“I killed him,” I admitted.  “But that was a special case.”

Only thirty-seven percent chance Coil would die? Golly, the odds weren’t on her favor! Also sixty percent Skitter died, I suppose at the burning house or some other way. That leaves three percent intact, no? Maybe those take into account the possibility Coil and Skitter would reach some sort of agreement and they both survived. It’d be hilarious if the odds of that were just 3%

At first Dinah was a tad concerned Skitter would do something like kill Coil, but the longer she stayed imprisoned and filled with drugs and what not, the more okay she felt with it, as long as it ended in her rescue. And now it worked, precisely because Coil died. I don’t think by now Dinah has any sort of complaints about how things worked out. She already showed willing to take risks if it meant she’d be fine. She sent Skitter to get attacked by her teammates, after all.

It’s examination time. Heckpuppy, being the gentle and friendly soul we all know and love, refused to cooperate and stormed away. I don’t know what I expected, but since nobody is pursuing her to subdue to force her to rest, she must be fine. It’s now Skitter’s turn to get told how badly hurt she is.

It’s pretty bad. Broken rib, smoke inhalation, a burn, eye drops. It all sounds real bad, but in a way it’s a bit of a miracle that’s all she got from Coil’s murder attempt. Lucky Skitter. Now it’s Dinah’s turn.

Wow, this really is a sketchy place, this woman surely suspects Skitter is the one who was incarcerating Dinah and she has nothing to say about it. I guess the Undersiders really are safe here, even if they’re showing their faces around. What they do is try to pinpoint exactly what drugs Coil was using, asking Dinah for the effects and about how she feels now that she’s starting to go into withdrawal. Skitter asks if they can put Dinah in a coma, and that gets rejected. If she doesn’t face the worst parts of the withdrawal, she’ll relapse, or at least that’s what the odds say. And if Dinah says that, then they have to listen to her, she knows what she’s talking about.

Something about this place has Skitter alert, so much she asks Dinah to look around and see if anything says ‘Medhall’.

“These guys are too comfortable around supervillains, and this place is too expensive.  Medhall was the company that Kaiser ran, and he also ran the biggest gang of villains in town, before Leviathan came.  I’m just wondering if this was the place the white supremacists went to when they needed medical care.”

“Oh.  I don’t know.”

“If it is, I’ll have to have words with Tattletale.  And I guess I can see why you saw me possibly causing trouble.  If they said something to Grue, that’d probably do it.”

I imagine that, if this truly is the white supremacist hospital and they treat Grue badly or disrespectfully, there’d indeed be some words to be had. Skitter wouldn’t stand around and let that happen. That said, I don’t think it’s that hospital – because I’d like to think Tattletale would have at least warned them this was their best option and that they should go there. No way she wouldn’t be aware there’d be some objections if they found out later where they had been taken to. No, this must be some other place.

Apparently Skitter has decided this is Medhall, because she declares she’s not leaving Dinah in their care. Where are you even going to go, Skitter? This girl needs medical attention! No wonder you were the one most likely to cause trouble, you’re doing it right now. Dinah doesn’t seem very excited about Skitter taking her to who knows where, being quiet enough she realizes something’s up. Dinah is anxious about something.

She was afraid?  Was it the impending withdrawal?

I mean...she started getting quiet after Skitter started talking about taking her away to somewhere else. If I had to guess, she may be afraid of undergoing withdrawal in a place with no good medical attention. Relapsing would be very likely if that happens, I’d say. That’s plenty of reason to be freaking out, in my opinion.

“Okay,” I said.  “Chance we come out of this okay?”

“Sixty four point two percent chance.”

“And chance the rest of the city does?”

“…Not as high.  It depends how I ask the question, but if I do-“

I suppose they’re talking about the situation with Noelle, not the immediate ‘we’ll look for better attention for you’ situation. In that case, sixty four percent isn’t too bad! I certainly was expecting worse odds, given how strong Noelle likely is. Then again, ‘we’ may be only including Skitter and Dinah. At most all of the Undersiders. It doesn’t clarify if Brockton Bay in general will be fine, or if there will be a lot of casualties, or something.

...at least I’ll take the consolation this means the Undersiders likely are surviving anything Noelle does. That’s comforting.

“No.  I get it.  If you could ballpark it?”

“Eighteen point two two five eight percent.”

“Okay.  There’s going to be some catastrophic damage, then?”

“It’s very likely.”

Wow, the odds of the rest of the city coming out of this okay are as low as I expected. Noelle is going to be a destructive force! And since Mr. Wildbow isn’t afraid of making consequences and trouble hit as hard as possible, I’m taking for granted there will be a lot of structural damage and both civilian and parahuman casualties. I’ll still take comfort in that the Undersiders are likely to survive, although I don’t expect them to be uninjured, really. As if they need more injuries, hah!

What isn’t clear right now is what are the circumstances behind the number Dinah just gave. I imagine she went for the highest odds, but what leads to them? She can’t see for sure, I imagine, but...but if the odds dramatically shift upwards or downwards I imagine she’ll inform them, to tell them to stop whatever decision they took, or to tell them they’re doing something right. If she still can communicate, that is. She’s running out of energy.

“Fifty eight point five,” Dinah said, and there was a hint of emotion in her voice.

“What?  What’s that number?”

“It’s my chance of getting home.”

“Why is it so low?”

My immediate thought is that the withdrawal hit her harder than expected, even if she doesn’t relapse in the future. What’s the timeframe in this prediction? The near future, or does she mean overall? Like...are there really more than forty percent odds she never returns home? It could be Coil won’t be the only one to take an interest on her powers. Just in case she and her family should consider relocating. Anything so Dinah doesn’t get captured for her powers again.

She shrugged.

Did that mean she didn’t know, or she wasn’t willing to use her power to find out?

Then I sensed her lean slightly away from me, and I got an inkling why.

Me.

Oh.

…

…the odds are waaaaay too high. I won’t lie, I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact there are more than forty percent odds Skitter will keep Dinah captive for so long she never returns home. I don’t think she would treat her as badly as Coil did, but I doubt that’d make Dinah any happier.

Say, could it be some of the trouble Dinah sees Skitter causing is related to she trying to get away with Dinah? Or could it be the act of taking Dinah out of this maybe-Medhall is something that eventually leads to Dinah never returning home? That’d explain why she got quiet all of a sudden. Skitter freaking out without hard evidence may have increased the odds. Either way, this should make Skitter reconsider, and hopefully keep herself away from Dinah. If Dinah wants to help, then she will. Forcing her is just not going to be good.

If she was sick, after all, I could look after her while dealing with the situation.  Just a week of keeping Dinah close, drawing on her abilities to help everyone, and to ensure her safety.  With that in mind, and the way she’d clutched at me for security, I’d been assuming she’d stay with me for just a little while.

I have a lot of faith on Skitter’s skills and what not, but I really, really doubt she’s equipped to deal with the withdrawal Dinah would undergo. No, she’s really underestimating how it’ll be, I’m sure of that. Besides, one week? Given how often trouble happens in this story, that week will turn into two weeks, then one month, then two months...and so and so. No wonder Dinah never returns, always having to answer questions for Skitter.

But, you know, that Skitter is realizing all this makes me have hope. Skitter has been crossing her personal boundaries, but I don’t think she’s so far gone she would do anything to Dinah. Soon Skitter should realize she’s a danger and she’ll leave Dinah alone. Hopefully.

This makes Skitter ask Dinah to listen, and promises her she won’t be like Coil, she won’t keep Dinah at hand for the greater good or for any other reason. If any danger comes their way, she’ll face it. She’ll make it so Dinah goes home. She doesn’t say ‘I promise’, but it’s implicit. Dinah thanks her, which I suppose means she believes her. Good!

And that’s the end of the chapter. Alright! First chapter for the Noelle trouble!  It’s a moment of calm before things get hectic again. I don’t expect it to last long, maybe just a chapter or two more. Either way, I have to stop here! Hopefully the next update won’t take as long as this one did!

They’re doing the thing again! The thing with the black speech! Right, I think I see now what’s going on, I seeee...so, the black speech is what’s a psychic threat. Trolls can speak like normal, provided you have enough mage skills to hear them, and only when they want to compel you to do something they use the black speech. Or at least that’s how I think this works.

At the first sign of black speech, Emil covers his ears and yells for Lalli to help him, preferably in a manner that also involves backstory and bonding. Would be nice!  Lalli stars talking about the time he found a not-so-dead snake under the porch, but the story doesn’t get too far before Emil falls under the influence of trolls, getting closer to the door to open it. Welp. Time for a Lalli intervention. He’s angry and fired up!

This time there are no intense debilitating migraines, he’s covering Emil’s ears with magic. It works, although it also makes Emil have to lie down on the floor, I suppose because his head may be feeling mighty heavy right now. Alright! All should be fine as long as the dusklings don’t break through the door anytime soon...or the barricade falls down, because he’s a little too close to it for comfort.

So, right now they traded being safe from the psychic threat with being vulnerable against...pretty much anything. Even a rat beast could come and chew their necks and kill them, pretty easy. That’s true, Emil has fainted. Hmmm...if any of them have enough awareness of what’s going on out there, maybe they can stay like this until an emergency happens – but only if they can be aware of what’s happening, otherwise they’re in a lot of trouble.

Lalli has an idea! Another one! Oh boy, let’s see...

Easier said than done, Emil already showed a couple times he’s very vulnerable to the psychic problem. This is putting a bit too much stock on his capacity to resist. The only way to stop that is for Lalli to leave Emil’s magical spirit space, but...where’s he going to go, then? It’s not like he can just walk back to his own turf, that’s the whole problem he’s been having for a while already.

Turns out I didn’t give him enough credit, he does manage to just sit around and do nothing, at least until something crashes against one of the windows, leaving a bloody imprint upon it because either the dusklings are as soft as melons, or it hit the window real hard. Is that a hole? I think it made a hole in the glass! Things are getting baaad.

Hah! Emil does something: call the dusklings idiot. That’s good, focus on that, don’t think about the black speech.

In his head, Lalli is frantically looking for a way out! The moment he leaves, the moment Emil will be safe from the dusklings’ black speech, so he’s trying to find an exit to anywhere, I suppose. No matter where it is as long as he’s out. The windows lead nowhere, the door he had used to enter is not available anymore – maybe Emil’s head welcomed him subconsciously – and all the halls lead back to where he has been sitting around for a couple days already.

During the search, there’s the sound of dripping. Huh, that’s...new? Perhaps? A change in Emil’s mindscape that’ll facilitate his escape? I hope so, at least.

It’s a short update today because these are busy times! I apologize, seriously. Thank you for your patience.

I sure hope so, at least. I have gotten attached to the characters, except Mikkel, I think. I don’t think I could take very well someone else dying too. I was able to take Tuuri’s death with relative ease because she wasn’t that high in my favorites list, really. If anyone who isn’t Mikkel dies, well, I’m going to be so goddamn bummed.

How long before dusk? I’m not sure at what time ‘the shadows get long’, but I’m pretty sure that’s when it’s dusk. Depending on what time it is now, they may be in very mortal danger.

Apparently Lalli is fine with Emil leaving his body behind – as long as he shoots Lalli in the head, so the dusklings don’t rip the body apart. Oh boy, that sounds...pretty bad, actually. I’m pretty sure not even Lalli’s dreamland form can survive without the body being intact, so this would effectively kill Lalli, no? Golly. Obviously Emil rejects such a terrible idea!

The plan he has is better, really.

Great! Nobody is getting shot. The immediate problem now is finding shelter that can hold them safely throughout the night. I imagine the dusklings won’t just sit around to stare at whatever shelter the intrepid duo stay in, so they’ll need something that can endure any kind of attack the dusklings can make – and also has no ways for the dusklings to enter. There can’t be too many options out here in the wilderness, really.

Oh, nevermind, here are some useful buildings. Most of them are shabby-looking, but there’s one that looks promising. It has a roof, for example – Emil, of course you need a roof, leaving aside that there’s a bunch of trolls pursuing you you run the risk of hypothermia if there’s a hole where the cold air outside can get in. This is winter, you know!

Aha, there we go. Now there’s a barricade ready to try to hold the trolls outside. Better step away, when all those things fall down in a cascade of wood and broken bits you won’t want to be right there. So, how about the windows? Those are what I’m worried about, honestly. Glass is more resistant than many think it is, but it’s still breakable.

Naturally, Emil is not an idiot at all, he knows what needs to be done. First! Check everything, to make sure there are no other ways for the dusklings to sneak in. There are no other doors, there doesn’t seem to be any weak points, I guess? And the windows are thick, Emil approved. Overall it seems they managed to find a good shelter. Lucky! This could have gone much worse. If they had been out there right now, now that shadows have grown long...well, surviving would have been almost impossible.

I’ll be surprised if they’re not standing outside of the house right now. It’s got to give a lot of shade, no? They must be over there. Better not go peeking at the windows, just in case they’re watching.

Didn’t take long for them to find them. Oh well. They’re right there, behind the barricade, scratching and trying to get in, and asking why did they lock the doors. I guess the trolls, although they have some awareness what with...being able to speak somewhat even if it’s through Lalli’s mageness and all that, are ruled merely by instinct. The thought that nobody would just make themselves available to get eaten seems to never cross their minds. Whaaaat are these trolls, again? They look kind of small to be human, and they look very similar to each other, too. Perhaps some sort of social animal?

There isn’t even enough for all of you, you dumb balls of mold. Lalli barely will be enough for like two, he’s lean and mean.

This is where the chapter ends. Since the chapter ended, so does this update!

Hah! He asks for permission before committing crimes. I doubt many villains are like Skitter in that they want to keep their communities orderly and with the least amount of trouble possible, but it’s good he’s being prudent. You don’t want to mess with villains.

“If I granted that permission, Trickster,” Accord raised a warning finger. “I would not be doing so for free.”

Trickster nodded.  “I understand, and I wouldn’t expect you to.  We’ve recently passed through Richmond, Paine, Baltimore and Philadelphia.  Each time, we paid a modest up front fee to anyone that hosted us in their territory.  We also offered up a twelve, thirteen, twelve and ten percent share, respectively, of our take.  For you, if you’ll allow me to make an opening offer, I’d suggest ten thousand dollars up front and a fourteen percent share of anything we gain.  We’ll be saying for ten days.”

And it turns out ten days is longer than they usually stay. Golly, that means they have been a very, very, veeery long time in Brockton Bay by now, that’s the most stable place of residence they have had. It’s because Coil can help them, I’m sure. But yeah, they’re on the move more often than I thought. Destructive Noelle or not, I thought it was like...a monthly thing. At this rate they’ll run out of places to be at in this country!

Trickster seems to be trying to be particularly flattering, offering Accord more money and being generally polite. Since he gets information before making a move, I suppose he was told he had to be as flattering as possible. Regardless, it’s working. Accord sees right through Trickster, but he’s accepting the offer, although with a warning not to scam him.

I’m not sure what Accord’s power is. There’s a lot of emphasis on things being rather orderly, but I’m uncertain if that’s an indication of what his superpower is, or if he’s just a very neat person.

Accord looked down and corrected the position of the pen on his desk before turning back to Trickster. “Fifteen thousand dollars, and fifteen percent of any take.  The heroes don’t have a strong presence here because they don’t need a strong presence here. I maintain the peace.  It will cost me if I have people here, active and causing trouble.”

Okay! Maybe he does keep the community safe to some extent. In that case, he should keep under wraps that he’s getting a share of the bounty from any stealing the Travelers do. Just in case. I’m sure there’d be people who would be very upset about that, even if they can do nothing about it.

Since the Travelers are here, Accord offers to forgo the fifteen thousand dollars from his fee and reduce his share, as long as they complete a job for him. Hey, Luke, there’s a job offer! The job is to steal tools from a tinker. Seems like Accord isn’t a tinker at all.

“Blasto.  A tinker.  Not quite the destructive personality his name implies.”

“I read up on him.  Blasto from the latin prefix, meaning bud, germination or seed.  Tinker botanist, grows walking, sentient plants in giant glass tubes.”

Not what I’d have imagined from that name, I admit. My knowledge of latin prefixes is quite lacking, turns out – and given I speak Spanish as my native language, that’s kind of sad. But, you know, if the intent is to steal tools and destroy this Blasto tinker’s stuff, Trickster and Sundancer is perfect for this. They should be done in no time! Which is why I suppose it won’t be that simple.

That said...I doubt it’ll get written. It’d be quite the side story! But it’d extend this origin interlude for maybe a tad too long. I’m not sure how well this all was received back when it was written, but I know I’d be kind of annoyed at a meandering interlude. Still...hey, Mr. Wildbow, how much do I have to donate for you to write how this went?

Not only he’ll forgo the entrance fee and reduce his share, he also will make costumes for the Travelers! Oh boy! Does that mean the costumes they’re all wearing in the present were designed by Accord? Didn’t expect that, honestly.

And you bring the world a little more in order, Trickster thought.  Accord was a thinker, and the running theory on his power was that he got naturally smarter as the problems he was addressing got more complex.  It gave him an intuitive understanding of groupthink, politics, and convoluted designs.  It also made him a local warlord capable of devastating counterattacks.  The power failed to grant him the same advantages in a one-on-one fight, and he wasn’t quite the same battlefield strategist when it came to direct assaults.

Which was, Trickster understood, why Accord wanted him and the other Travelers to handle the attack on their own.

Huh. That’s...a power. I’m not entirely sure how useful it is, I admit. It’s...a bit underwhelming, to some extent? But he has achieved some success, so I suppose he knows how to get use out of it. Maybe he’s like Tattletale. More like a mastermind type of person. Just that instead of finding out secrets like Tattletale does, he finds...solutions to problems.

Say, I just realized that when they attack Blasto there really are veeeery high chances it won’t go according to plan, thanks to a certain leader whose name I won’t reveal. He hasn’t been a particularly impressive force when it’s about attacking someone else’s lair. Personally I can’t let go of the Slaughterhouse Nine rescue, really.

Only four people will need costumes. Trickster himself, Sundancer, Ballistic...hm. Genesis wouldn’t need a costume because she does everything with her creations, Oliver wouldn’t want to be anywhere near a battle, so...Noelle or Cody.

Cody. The text pretty much says Noelle won’t get a costume. So this Cody person is still going with the group, one year later. He hasn’t gotten in the way of their return home. Say, how far in the past is this, I wonder? Could it be Cody’s...not-being-in-the-team is a more recent change than I thought?

The relatively pleasant discussion is interrupted when Sundancer bursts into the office, alarming Trickster, who had told her to stay back and not meddle. That she was disobeying and ruining Trickster’s carefully calculated meeting plan meant something was very, very wrong, and he should be worried. Hah! He’s got more immediate things to be worried about, right there! Accord isn’t happy at all with Sundancer.

Accord stepped over to the window behind his desk and stared outside.  Trickster waited patiently as the man composed himself.  Long seconds passed, and Trickster couldn’t help but imagine the worst case scenarios that would have Sundancer forgetting common sense and crashing a private meeting between supervillains.

I can only imagine it’s related to Noelle. Maybe she’s out there, causing immense amounts of havoc, in a sample of what will happen to Brockton Bay in the present. It’d be quite the way to establish how big of a Noelle threat is.

And there’s the immediate threat! Accord isn’t happy at all, and is already laying a series of demands. One: he’ll get the full amount of money he demanded. Okay then. Two: they’ll complete the mercenary job and receive nothing in exchange. It’s going to suck, but I guess it was to be expected. Three: Sundancer has to die. Beg your pardon?

Trickster tensed.  Really, really didn’t want to have to fight this guy. “Let’s… not be so hasty.”

Okay then! Accord just made the stakes go way higher. So, Sundancer is very obviously alive in the present, so as I see it, there’s only one possibility: Trickster killed Accord. I really doubt by now fleeing Boston is an option, and given how upset Accord is with the...imbalance Sundancer brought to his turf, I don’t think he’d accept something else in exchange of her life. Unless she proves to be absolutely stellar in the mercenary job. Who knows, maybe she burned Blasto’s lair to the ground and that saved her.

How to convince the lunatic to leave Sundancer alone?  If he couldn’t, would it be better to fight and kill Accord now or wait until he could recruit the others?  Accord wouldn’t have invited him to a meeting if he didn’t have some kind of safeguards. Traps?  For all Trickster knew, there was a pitfall in the floor or dart traps in the walls.  Accord’s power, his knack for complexity, would make it trivial to weave such things into the architecture of his home and office.  If he knew, he could use his power, time it to put Accord in the way of his own trap… but it could be something else entirely.

I meeeean...if he has the ability to make traps and safeguards, I’m certain making it so Trickster can’t use his power effectively to attack him would be easy as pie. Also, given how it was remarked Accord isn’t very good in one-on-one confrontations and is a warlord, I think it’s plausible he has a few people ready to act if things go pear-shaped. He wouldn’t rely on himself to ensure his own safety if he knows he wouldn’t be enough.

Accord was still talking.  “Others aren’t so accommodating.  They are freefalling, careening elements, bouncing off any and every surface, damaging everything they touch.  Pyrokinetics so often fall into this category, I’ve found. Rest assured, it’s better to eliminate this disordered element before it does too much damage.”

...suddenly I have a nagging feeling Sundancer burning Blasto’s plants and lair to the ground would make things worse in Accord’s eyes. Scrap that plan. New plan: lose your powers, and then get them back before you get to Brockton Bay. There, problem solved. I’m a problem solver now, Accord-lite, praise me.

Turns out Trickster does think of a possible alternative on how to handle this. He appeals to Accord’s sense of order, saying Sundancer is an agent of harmony despite her powers, and that she’ll prove it to him. Trickster has effectively placed the burden of proof right on Sundancer’s hands. Masterful leader move, pal, throwing the weight onto your subordinate and friend. But hey, she’s alive in Brockton Bay, meaning it worked, meaning I have no grounds to complain. Besides, he’s going to discuss it with Sundancer right now. I for one am looking forward to finding out what he intends to suggest she does.

Trickster gets ten minutes to male Sundancer go into Accord’s office – alone. As expected, Sundancer is taken aback by the fact her life is in danger just like that. I share Trickster’s opinion in that Sundancer wouldn’t ruin Trickster’s meeting if there wasn’t a very good reason, though...she even tried to bring it up immediately, and Trickster didn’t let her speak. At least he’ll get briefed by someone else.

When the timer hits zero, you’ll walk into his office, then you’ll perform a ballet routine.

Well! That’s not going to bring up any good memories, is it. Given how one of Sundancer’s memories was freezing and not being able to do a thing, in front of a public, I hope it won’t happen again. At least she won’t have the Simurgh showing her those awful memories over and over, but still...ouch, the things she has to do to survive.

 If he gives any sign he’s not satisfied, or the second you fuck up, set the place on fire and scram.”

“Krouse-”

“Call me Trickster when I’m in costume,” he corrected, his voice hard.  “Don’t worry about burning him alive.  He’ll have escape routes.

Oh, yeah, he’ll have escape routes. You know what else he’ll have? A desire to have both your heads on a plate, just saying. If he gets his office incinerated, there won’t be anything that’ll stop him from getting everyone he has to pursue the Travelers, I’m sure of it.

Since she has to go get ready and hopefully save her own life, Sundancer hurries inside, leaving Trickster to find out what problem is going on that made Sundancer risk ruining everything like that.

“It’s Cody.  He touched Noelle.”

Trickster froze.  “How bad is it?”

“Three times, Krouse.”

“Three,” Trickster said.  “Fuck me.  I’m on my way.”

Okay then! It was Cody’s fault. Not surprised he’s being a pain, really. He touched Noelle a total of three times, and that is...bad. For reasons I imagine I’ll find out very soon.

There’s no way Cody’s stupid enough to make contact with Noelle.

There’s no way anyone would do it three times.  How?

Hm. I don’t know what exactly are the consequences of touching Noelle, but given the fact it was three times, I doubt it was an accident. It happening once would give him the benefit of the doubt, it happening three times pretty much guarantees it was on purpose, unless it turns out there was a really contrived reason like...some parahuman slamming Cody onto Noelle three times or something. But seriously, what happens when you touch Noelle?

Apparently whatever’s happening is among a crowd, and Trickster searches while thinking how everything they have been doing recently is minimize damage. Well, given how they keep moving because of Noelle, I imagine she’s the source of the damage. Does this mean lately she’s been getting worse? More powerful, dangerous?

What Trickster encounters reminds me a lot of those very mutated monstrous humans that arrived with the Simurgh. It’s a very deformed person, attacking bystanders and being rather violent. This mutant’s nature is revealed right afterwards:

Three seconds later, the man snapped back into the same position, in front of the creature.  Perdition… Cody.  Except not quite.  The man carried through the shoving motion, but Perdition wasn’t there any more.

That’s Cody? Goodness gracious, what did he do?! Holy crap. What I note is that nowhere in the description Trickster gave of that thing attacking, he mentioned it looked like Cody at all. The extent of those tumor things on him and the twisted crooked factions must be such there isn’t much left of Cody. Noelle must have some sort of mutagenic quality, then. Perhaps she mutates those that make contact with her skin? Since that was what was fizzing and all that. And the more you touch her, the worse it gets. Cody touched her three times. Here’s the result, I suppose.

Innocent children are about to get attacked, and Trickster shouts to get Perdition’s attention. May as well exploit Perdition’s hatred of him! And it works, Perdition swivels around, looking for Trickster to do him some harm. Trickster keeps moving around to stay out of his sight while Perdition shouts slurred threats, accusing Trickster of having taken everything from him. Technically he did – except the part about ‘my girl’, because Noelle was never his – but it’s not like Trickster one day woke up and thought ‘oh you know what’d be a riot? Let’s ruin that Cody guy’s life’. Perdition is lashing out as usual, really.

Some of the time, the powers would be different.  Most of the time, going by precedent, they were stronger.  Trickster was left to wonder how Perdition’s powers had changed.  Duration?  Range?  The amount of time reversed?

Huh, that so? It could be the mutations are an attempt to enhance the powers of those who touch her, then? And it doesn’t work properly because she didn’t take the vial correctly. That doesn’t take into account the eye thing from last chapter’s ending, though...right now my thought about that is that maybe she’s not immune to her own mutations. It could even be that Perdition touching her made her even worse.

Perdition uses his powers to keep track of Trickster, getting him closer and closer to him to perform some murderin’. Trickster tries to stay away, although that soon leads to...well...casualties. There have been at least two so far. Damn. Trickster makes some calculations and tries to think of a plan on how to handle this.

What he does is hurry, swap himself with one of the casualties’ bodies, and shoot Perdition to death. Well! That was anticlimactic. I’m pretty sure if Perdition knew how simple that was, he’d be very upset. So this is why he’s not part of the team nowadays...not really how I expected him to die, although I did expect Trickster to be the one to kill him.

The next scene starts with Francis arriving to a place, where I suppose the rest of the Travelers are hiding. Oliver is already waiting for him, and the effects of his half of the power potion are shown: Oliver is handsome. Like, real handsome and smarter and also learns skills? He got lucky, then. If this is the extent of what his botched power has, then he’s incredibly lucky. But it’s still Oliver, so he’s as milquetoast and socially stunted as usual. Maybe forever, given how he’s...pretty much in a stranger’s body.

...

Maybe he wasn’t as lucky as I thought at first, when I think about it like that.

Fuck you, Simurgh, Krouse thought.  They’d all been forced to deal with their individual tragedies.  Noelle’s went without saying.  Jess hadn’t gotten to walk, Luke hadn’t gotten to fly, Oliver got a physical and mental overhaul without any fixes for the real problems, and Marissa had been thrust into the situation she’d fought so hard to escape, where she was forced to pursue a life she didn’t want.

Krouse’s tragedy was waiting for him inside.

Wow. Things are pretty bad for everyone here, but the way it’s worded Luke’s plight is so out of place. He didn’t get the power to fly. That sucks, but it certainly isn’t on anyone else’s level. Surely there must be something else about this situation that’s more fitting to bring up as Luke’s tragedy. Maybe that he’s very dissatisfied with being part of this group and feels they’re getting nowhere? That’s the impression I have of him in the present, after all.

Between Francis and Oliver they manage to drag Cody’s corpse to the living room, where there are...another two. Two more of Cody. Okay then! Looks like something’s going on. Does someone care to explain? One Cody is bad enough, the universe doesn’t need two more, hah!

Noelle is upset right now and it’s Francis’ duty to go calm her down. Before he goes he glances at the bodies.

They all stared at the bodies. This would be the third incident. Or incidents three through five, if he wanted to count it that way.

This can mean either this is the third incident where mutated people go and cause destruction, or this is the third time Cody has touched Noelle. Both are equally plausible, honestly – but I lean towards the former, because...then it would mean Noelle is causing some awful terror and destruction. Just like a Simurgh thrall would. Everyone else in the Travelers, taking her around the country, are doing their part as well.

There’s a lot of injured people and a few casualties because of the many Perditions. The...real Perdition? He’s somewhere inside the house. Nobody has found out what exactly happened, why Cody would touch Noelle three times despite presumably knowing really well what would happen. Francis will have to deal with this problem, since he’s the leader. First he goes to smoke for a while.

Sundancer has arrived! And she’s unharmed, thank goodness. Looks like her dancing routine in front of Accord went well, then! Or not, as she says two lines later. It satisfied Accord anyway, so may as well take that as a victory.

“No,” she said.  “He said I wasn’t perfect, but that he saw what you meant. He said I was trying, despite myself. I… I don’t know if that was a compliment or not.”

That’s definitely a compliment. If it wasn’t, then she wouldn’t be here alive, or at the very least there’d be mercenaries pursuing her. She must have done well – not being the agent of chaos and disorder Accord thought she’d be, despite her incendiary powers.

Since Mars has been declared not responsible for the incredible chaos from today, Accord wants Francis to bring the real cause. He decides he won’t be bringing Noelle – obviously not, because that’d be incredibly dangerous and, more importantly, there’s no way Francis would backstab Noelle. Instead, he decides he’ll take Cody. Hah! Well it’s pretty clear Cody isn’t harmonious at all, so...maybe that’ll work. It helps that those berserk things were literally him.

Mars isn’t into the ‘let’s blame Cody for everything’ plan because it’s very likely Cody will die, and Francis although isn’t happy about it either, sees no other option. Is he going to inform everyone else of his decision? Because I figure everybody would like to be aware one of their teammates is going to be murdered by a local villain, even if it’s Cody.

As Francis sees it, there’s only one scenario where Cody would be in contact with Noelle three times, and it is that Cody went to wherever she is, was a major dick like he usually is, and made her so upset she attacked him so badly Cody has broken limbs. An arm and a leg. Well those sure are two of the three contact spots!

“He had a goal in mind, only he didn’t anticipate how fast she moves, how strong she is.  He was trying to do one of two things.  Either he did something general, said something, with the aim of making her go berserk… or he tried to kill her.  One way or another, Cody wanted to end this.  End our mission.  Free himself.  He doesn’t give a fuck about the promise, so I don’t see why the promise should protect him.”

Cody was trying to kill her? I’m not sure about that. He has to know Noelle has some form of fast regeneration, meaning hurting her physically is a chore and almost unlikely to work. Also, he has to know touching her is a very bad idea. No, I’m leaning more towards thinking he was once again disparaging people around and trying to not be an outsider, and for some reason he was...talking with Noelle...and said something he shouldn’t have...and...okay this reasoning is kind of falling apart by the seams. Fucking Cody. What the hell was he planning?

Well at least Francis is going to talk to everyone else before taking a decision, he even is going to have a word with Cody to see if his suspicions have a reasonable base or not. That’s more than Cody usually gets, really – although I doubt he’ll appreciate it at all, what with Francis being the one to talk to him and what not. Oh well. Now that that’s...somewhat settled, Mars has the task of going to get a lot of food for Noelle. A lot of meat, in fact. Right, I kind of remember that was necessary. Geez.

Before she leaves, there’s something else to bring up!

“I almost forgot.  Accord.  He wanted me to pass this on.”

She handed him a piece of paper. There was a number printed on it. Different area code.

Holy crap, Mars, you can’t just forget something Accord asked you to do. You almost died today because you metaphorically stepped on the guy’s toes, and you were about to do it again. Goodness gracious...and the reason why she’s hesitant to even remember stuff Accord asks is because she doesn’t want to interact with guys like him. Hah! Boy will her time under Coil’s employment be a treat, then. Coil and Accord seem to be a rather similar kind of person, just that Coil is far more sinister in so many different ways – although I’m sure Accord has his own shady plans, of course.

Once Mars has left, Francis dials the number and gets in contact with whoever it is. Francis doesn’t seem to appreciate much having to call acquaintances of Accord. It’s only when this person says it’s a long-term job I have a hunch of who it is. That you, Coil? Will it turn out Accord and Coil do know each other? Hah! Well! I was saying they were kind of similar in terms of the way they work, but I never thought they knew each other.

“I know Accord through a mutual acquaintance.  Through this acquaintance and my own resources, I’ve gathered a fairly robust set of data on you Travelers.“

Intereeeesting. I think there’s a pretty good chance this acquaintance is the entirety of Cauldron. In that case, could it be Accord got his powers from Cauldron? Also, if they got information about them through Cauldron, then it means that big shady organization that gives powers is aware of the Travelers and how they got the powers. Oh boy! No indication Cauldron has sent superpowered thugs to take due revenge for the Travelers pretty much stealing powers, hmmmmm...could it be Cauldron is letting them do whatever they want, knowing they can use them later? It’d explain that, at least.

The person, who I’m absolutely certain is Coil, says he’s offering a solution to three things in exchange for them working for him. That’s enough to get Francis’ attention, he’s willing to listen. Make your offer, Coil!

I thought he was Luke Brito, not Luke Casseus. Either way, there are records of one Luke Casseus and one Noelle Meinhardt who were once in the hospital at the quarantine, and seem to have appeared out of nowhere. Most people would simply think those teenagers used fake names for some reason, but Coil has more information that indicates there’s something going on.

Also, Meinhardt is a cool last name. I like it a lot.

“Rest assured, Trickster, there is no need for any alarm.  The fact that I know these things is an asset to you.  A contact of mine in the PRT has taken over your case file and requisitioned all details on your encounter with Myrddin.  That case will not be pursued further.“

I suppose Myrddin gave all the information and control of that particular investigation and just…focused on the myriad of other things he has to deal with. I guess that makes sense, but I’d have thought the PRT would be far more attentive with investigations involving roaming Simurgh thralls. Coil and Cauldron’s influence is quite notable.

So, Coil has three solutions that will solve all of the Travelers’ problems. One is that Coil will offer all the money they need. Right, about that...since you’re offering, can you send them $15000 in cash, they need it kind of urgently.

The second solution is that he’ll send them home. Naturally, they wouldn’t work for him unless he made such an offer. The contacts he’s talking about are undoubtedly in Cauldron, more concretely the one who can make portals to reach Cauldron’s buildings. Given Coil’s...demeanor, I think he really would have fulfilled his end of the deal once he had taken over Brockton Bay, at least when it’s about sending them home. Unlike Dinah, there’s really no reason to keep the Travelers around, it’s not like they’re especially noteworthy as a team and other than Noelle their powers are nothing too remarkable. Who knows, though...maybe he’d have tried to keep Noelle, for one reason or another. Make clones of his soldiers or something to have a permanent source of non-powered mercenaries.

The last thing Coil offers is not said in the text, but I imagine it’s related to Noelle, since that was the other thing the Travelers were so worried about. They wouldn’t work for Coil unless he promised to fix her. Which is very...unlikely, really...but not impossible. If there’s someone who maybe could, it’s Cauldron. At a very, very, incredibly exorbitant price, I suppose, but they could. Don’t ask me how, though, because I don’t have the slightest idea. I’m not part of the group who sells bottled powers around.

Francis goes into the house, where Luke tries to get him to join them into a meeting about what they’ll do about Cody. The chance to explain they’re throwing him at Accord and hoping for the best! But nope, first he wants to talk to Noelle.

“After, Luke,” Krouse said.  He spun around, faced his friend. “I think we’ve got what we’re looking for.”

“What?”

“A way home.  Maybe even a fix for Noelle.”

Maybe a fix for Noelle, he says, meaning that even though that may be what Coil offered, he didn’t phrase it as a certainty at all. Merely a possibility. But...a possibility is the best they can get, really.

Promising to tell everyone else – sans Cody, I imagine – what the solution to all their problems is like, Noelle knocks to the door of Noelle’s room, where she immediately tells him to go away. Boy, even if she returns to normal, she won’t be anywhere close to Francis, I’m sure of that. It’s over between them, isn’t it?

Doesn’t take much to convince her to let him enter, so he does. The inside of the room is all broken, no word on if it was like that before Cody pissed her off.

“Come to talk?” she asked.  “Keep me company?”

“I was planning on doing it a little later. Things are kind of a mess out there, you know.  The Cody situation.”

“Nobody keeps me company any more. Only you.”

Ouch. Not even Mars? That must hurt. I had the impression Noelle was in good terms with pretty much everyone, that only Francis visits her...well, that really sucks. Is it perhaps because they’re afraid of touching her and making more of those deformed copies happen?

Noelle sure doesn’t try to deny Francis’ theory about Cody’s murder attempt, she instead says she can’t die. She has tried to end it. So yeah, she does have fast healing.

“I’m one of them.  Or I’m becoming that way.”

“Maybe.”

“An Endbringer.”

So that was the Simurgh’s plan? To create a...pseudoendbringer? Since they were never human in the first place, from what I was told ages ago, it’s unlikely Noelle will turn into one, but she’ll...be pretty close to one if things get worse, she fears. And apparently, given what she can do, it’s not an outlandish possibility.

“I’ll be just as bad as the Simurgh. In a different way.  I touch someone, and then I spit out copies. Uglier, stronger… meaner.  I can’t control them.  If I got my hands on one of the major heroes?  Someone like that Myrddin guy?”

It’ll be even worse if she gets her hands on many of the major heroes. Many evil copies of the major heroes roaming around and destroying everything would make things go downhill fast, that’s for sure.

You know, in general I’m against clones as a plot point, but I think this is fine. This is interesting!

Francis brings up that he talked with someone who maybe will be able to help them, and that they should give it a try because this person knows a person who has a way, who goes between worlds.

Aha, so this is how Coil got Francis aboard. He promised hope, not by promising to heal Noelle and send them all back to their worlds – but by promising to get them out of the Simurgh’s plans.

“No, listen.  The Simurgh?  This guy said she has a weakness.  Two ways where she can’t see the future.  Two ways to break free of her cause and effect.”

Noelle didn’t say anything.

“The first way, you’ve got to be basically immune to powers.  Scion is.  He’s immune to precognition, throws everything out the window when he shows up.  I saw it when he fought the Simurgh.  She couldn’t automatically dodge his stuff, because she either couldn’t read his mind or she couldn’t see the attacks before they happened.  So he hit her, a bunch of times.  I saw it.”

That supposed weakness isn’t going to lead anywhere, really. What is Coil going to do? Get Cauldron to fill the Travelers up with powers until they’re like Scion? Hardly. I don’t think it’d even be feasible because...I mean...having more than one power into you has to make some of them interact with each other in nasty ways, no? Taking half a vial is bad, taking two or more has to be bad too if you don’t know what you’re doing. No, the whatever this second way is like has to be what they’re looking for.

Also, that’d be hella expensive and not even Coil would be able to buy it, I’m sure.

Krouse was getting more excited, had to press his hand flat against the floor to stop it from shaking.  “And the other way?  There’s thinker powers that mess with her ability to influence events. If another precog gets a hand in events, the Simurgh automatically shuts them down and vice-versa.  The way this guy said it, the precogs get overloaded with the second-guessing the other precog, on top of having to figure out all the quantum possibilities and split paths.  And this guy?  He has a power that messes with precogs some, and the precog working for him has a power that will help circumvent the Simurgh’s power.  Get it?  So long as we work for him, we’re free of it.  No more cause and effect.  No more feeling like we’re doomed no matter what choice we make.  We go from that kind of safety to home.  To our world.“

I suppose this precog is supposed to be Dinah, because I can’t recall anyone else who has that kind of power and is under Coil’s employment – also, employment is definitely not the right word to use when it’s about Dinah, Coil, that’s imprisonment. Either way, if not Dinah, then...Tattletale is the closest one I can think, but she can’t foresee the future and I’m sure Coil knows that rather well. No, it has to be Dinah.

Which would give the Travelers a lot of encouragement to get in Skitter’s way, really. If Dinah is giving them the safety they need to not be destroying everything in their path, then of course they would disapprove of Skitter trying to free her. Still...do things really work like that? I don’t know, something’s off here.

I just find a bit hard to believe Dinah can singlehandedly stop the Simurgh’s cause and effect. Is there a ratio of effect or what? Does Dinah have to think of the Travelers? The details are a tad vague. I’m sure Mr. Wildbow thought the details well, so I’m not going to insult him by insinuating he didn’t think things through with that paragraph, but the amount of details given to me the reader right now is kind of lacking. I’m kind of leaning towards the possibility Coil is wrong about how this all works. Or he’s hiding something. This just...needs more building upon.

What follows to this is the reveal of what’s going on with Noelle. I had months to imagine what could be so bad it needed a vault and widespread panic, and this doesn’t disappoint. It’s worse than I expected. What can I say, I’m somewhat optimistic by nature, the worst case scenarios aren’t something I indulge into if I can avoid it, haha...ha...but yeah, this is nasty.

Around where her pelvis should have been, she’d changed.  The mass of tissue left her tall enough that she had to hunch over to avoid hitting her head on the ceiling, and she was lying down.  Half of it was angry, red, wrinkled or blistered.  The other half was smooth tissue, dark greens, dark brown and pale grays.  The head of an animal, half-bovine and half-canine, extended from the front, large as a horse from the back of its skull to the tip of its flaring nostrils.  Another head was in progress, emerging just to the left.  Two forelegs extended to either side of the heads, rippling with powerful muscle, ending in something that fell between claw and hoof, massive and easily capable of tearing through steel.

There were the fingers and thumb of a hand, extending from her right hindquarters, each digit thicker around than Krouse was, with another, smaller limb extending from the palm.  Her rear left hindquarters featured only a mess of tentacles, some bearing partial exoskeleton, some long enough that they had to encircle the massive head and numerous limbs, or wind in a wreath around her as she lay down, lest their coiled mass fill the master bedroom of the house and leave Krouse nowhere to sit.  Despite the apparent lack of bones, the tentacles were capable of supporting her weight.

It’s like she’s piling more and more tissue and forming...limbs. And a couple heads, for some reason? I’m morbidly curious if she can see through that head that’s already formed. Oh god. Here I am, trying to distract myself with banal thoughts like...how do the Travelers manage to move Noelle from city to city, do they steal a freight truck every time? Sorry, I’m thinking of all kinds of things to distract myself about how horrible it must be to be Noelle right now, augh

I can see why nobody else but Francis visits her, though. It must be hard to...to see Noelle and try to not focus on what’s going on with her. Not many would have the...bravery to face her and try to make small talk or anything. What would you even say if you went to see her? How uncomfortable, for both Noelle and someone else, would it be to sit around and try not to talk about the elephant in the room? This is a situation nobody is prepared to deal with. I can definitely understand why it’s easier to just...not go see her at all.

But damn that must feel very lonely for Noelle.

She’d tried to starve herself, to die of thirst.  It had turned out badly.  She’d gone berserk and killed forty people in one autumn night.  Their tissues had played a large part in building the massive fingers and thumb that extended behind her.

Welp! The Simurgh really knew what she was doing. That’s all I have to say. Well played.

And so that’s how the Travelers started working under Coil. Because they were given hope. And nooooow that hope is gone. Here is the present time now, where Coil is dead. No wonder Noelle went berserk and escaped the vault. Where could she have gone...? Where could she be hiding? Because...if she was destroying anything, they would have heard about it even before they saw the broken vault.

But it still can happen. In the very near future. The rage of Noelle.

He had no doubt as to who had died here.  Could remember the scene as it had been just before he’d been knocked unconscious, could remember where people had been standing.

Another wave crashed against the beach.  He heard the seagulls cawing angrily, wanting the morsels that littered the ground in front of him.

Krouse spent a very long time staring at the stain.

This must be the end for this interlude arc. It’s quite the ending, pretty poignant. A quick check on the next chapter link shows that yeah, a new arc is starting next time.

So yeah, that’s it. The Travelers’ arc is over. Must say, this may be one of my favorite arcs so far. It sure makes a few things seem different than before. I appreciated the extensive peek into the circumstances of the Travelers and everything they went through. They’re quite a tragic group, really. In one single day they went from just a normal gaming team to a superpowered bunch without a home and having to lug around someone who is...slowly and horrifically mutating into a mess of flesh that creates mutant copies of people. Pretty amazing they all have held onto their sanity, really.

I’m sure the next arc – which I suppose will be about possibly finding and fighting Noelle – will be quite a thing! I’m looking forward to that.

Next time.

There we go, Lalli demands Emil stops talking to trolls and instead gets him to keep walking and pay attention to something else: Lalli’s stories! Oho, nice. I know it’s rather likely he’s talking about himself because that’s all he has to distract Emil, but I’d like to think if he could, he’d talk about himself with him in any other situation. If only the language barrier wasn’t there. His stories involve Tuuri, which is...kind of bittersweet. I miss Tuuri. Of course she was the one who dragged Lalli to have little adventures, I wonder how old they were back then.

The mossy troll doesn’t want dinner to walk away, especially when it’s dragging a second course with it, so it starts following, already eager for a bite of some fresh human.

You know, it’s kind of cute, for a post-apocalyptic creature that wants to eat your flesh! And not the brightest kind of troll, either, if it almost leaped onto the sun just like that. At least that means Lalli and Emil will be safe for a while longer. Even if sundown comes, this looks like not much to be worried about, anyway. As long as Emil shoots it before it gets too close, things will be fine.

...

He may want to carry Lalli in his arms for a while, though. Dragging him will leave him vulnerable. It sure would suck if Emil walks for a while and then turns around, finding that thing munching on Lalli’s leg.

This creature is called a duskling, as explained by Lalli. It’s an original Lalli™ term, which he hasn’t patented yet. He should, the name fits them. Usually they get more active at dusk, and even though they have more protection to the sun than most trolls, it still is somewhat vulnerable, apparently. How long until dusk, then?

Gotta put as much distance as possible, with that duskling following by the shadows of the trees. Lalli promises he’ll pay attention all the time and alert if the duskling gets too close, but Emil doesn’t want to play along. Instead he takes the rifle to shoot it and get done with this, as I was saying.

...you know, I was all for doing this, but then Lalli said ‘no, don’t-!?’ so this must be a bad idea. Here, let me file this under the ever-growing list of things that show I’m a city boy who would perish after three hours in the Silent World.

Doesn’t seem like the duskling gets any stronger when shot or anything like that, the bullet connects and pretty much shatters its head. It’s dead! And the noise of the gun got the attention of...at least seven more dusklings. Seven more than they’d have liked to have nearby, I bet. I guess dusklings live in colonies of some sort? Pretty bad thing to have following you! Shooting at least seven dusklings is pretty damn difficult, so now what?

What follows now is a stop because this is just a short chapter for today! Sorry, I’m somewhat busy, heh