#chapter 13.i2

“Flechette will see if her enhanced shots can beat Siberian’s invulnerability.  Failing that, Clockblocker contains the woman.

But I thought-- oh! Right, he might not be able to stop her, but he can make immovable obstacles. Then we’ll really get an answer to the famous thought experiment.

His power won’t work on her, but we can cage her in thread or chains that he can then freeze.  If we can do the same with Jack and Bonesaw, we can starve them out, or wait until they let go of Siberian.

Oh man, the thread/chains make it even better, since she wouldn’t have the opportunity for a running start.

If you’re prepared, Clockblocker?  We can support you with relief teams.”

“If it means stopping them, I’m down.”

WoG is that Legend being openly gay as a top hero helped a lot with these issues, which would probably include gay marriage being made legal sooner, though things still aren't perfect and homophobia still exist.

Huh, that’s pretty neat!

That certainly ought to help.

The group of guests nodded.

“There’s more.”  Time to see how much information filters through to Coil, and how he reacts.  With luck, we might be able to pit one problem against another.

Oh boy.

If Chariot is Coil’s man, whatever she’s about to say might cause some internal trouble. Although she doesn’t know that the Undersiders, Travelers and Coil are allies, so pitting Coil up against the former two might not work as well as she thinks.

“Armsmaster’s confinement was technically off the record, to protect the PRT in this time of crisis.  He escaped, and thus far, Dragon has not been able to track him.  Without official record or reason to arrest him, our measures are limited.”

Ahh, right. “Nothing’s official until it’s on record.”

“It’s impressive that he got away from Dragon,” Kid Win said.

This seems like the sort of line that’s meant to make us think a little harder about what was just said and realize that Dragon is probably helping Colin. She probably personally let him out, even. Though she might not like his plans.

“It is.  Thus far, he has eluded every measure she had in place.  Either he is much more crafty than even Dragon anticipated, keeping in mind that she’s a very smart woman, or Dragon helped him.”

Well, one of those things.

They also have a versatile power you don’t know about yet, in Grue. Oh, and Imp, which you’ve probably forg-- actually, no, the PRT would know about Imp because Dragon was immune to her power. They might not know exactly what her power does, though, for the same reason, though video footage combined with the Wards’ memories of the battle ought to help them figure it out.

Piggot nodded.  “Skitter contacted us for assistance, as some of you will remember, and when we refused, the Undersiders took the fight to the Nine a second time.  Burnscar is dead, Bonesaw injured.  She’s invited us to attack them in the meantime.”

Gonna take that invitation? RSVP.

“Why would we do that now when we turned down her offer to cooperate?”  Weld asked.  “What’s changed between now and then?”

Well, for one thing, Burnscar and Bonesaw.

For another, this seems to be a bit less tight of a cooperation.

“Communications will be up shortly,” Piggot replied, “We now have the consoles and trained employees ready to man them, and so long as we’re going into this as a unit, we don’t need to worry about other groups stabbing us in the back at any point during the battle while we engage the Nine.”

Oh yeah, that too.

“Would they?”  Legend asked.  “I have a hard time assessing their motives and morality.”

The Undersiders wouldn’t, no. The Travelers probably not. Out of all the groups in town, these are probably the least likely to backstab you, followed by Faultline’s Crew (even though they can be bought into backstabbing you).

“I don’t know.  Could they?  Yes.  And that possibility is too dangerous, especially given what Regent can do.

That’s fair.

The Undersiders do not pull their punches.  The Travelers, oddly enough, are more moderate, but they do have sixteen kills under their belt, due in large part to the sheer power at their disposal.”

Oh hey, the three Taylor didn’t recognize.

Prism and Ursa Aurora both sound like they have light-based powers, unless Wildbow (or Ursa) looked at “aurora borealis” meaning “northern lights” and thought “aurora” was the part that meant “northern”. Which seems uncharacteristic of Wildbow and would more likely result in “Aurora Ursa”.

More likely, Ursa Aurora is capable of summoning bears made of shimmering green light. Perhaps also other beings.

Prisms have to do with light bending and colors, so it’s likely they have a power involving colors and/or multiple (seven?) different states they can put someone in with beams of light. That actually reminds me a lot of Legend. Also, if not for it having been established that Arthur is not a parahuman (”out of the loop”), I would’ve suspected Prism to be Arthur just because of how well both interpretations - light bending and colors - go with Legend’s power.

Cache sounds similar to Battery in that they save something up and then unleash it, but that can be interpreted in many ways. Their power could be anything from speed (unlikely because Battery already has a speed power that works that way) to strength to gadgets to hammerspace.

Miss Militia’s group was more worn out.  Where their costumes had been damaged, stained or torn, pieces had been replaced from the generic costumes the PRT kept in stock.

Clearly they have been doing something to deal with the situation. Probably helping victims and fighting the Nine when absolutely necessary.

The outsiders are less worn out because they can’t help as much against the active tester.

Miss Militia had doffed the jacket but left the scarf with the flag motif in place.  She wore a black tank top and camouflage pants with a number of empty holsters and sheaths for her weapons.

Look, I can’t be the only one who imagines Miss Militia looking like a sexy badass, right?

Battery was wearing a plain black costume and goggles, while Assault had replaced the top half of his costume with similar odds and ends.  Triumph still wore his helmet and shoulder pads with the roaring lion style, but his gloves had been replaced with the same utilitarian, generic ones the PRT officers wore in the field.

They walked past the reams of public servants, government employees and Piggot’s own people.  Emily knew she was not the only one overburdened with work, not the only one sweating, trying and failing to keep cool.

I’m also sweating, trying and failing to keep cool, but that’s because it’s currently 29°C out, in the shade.

The rest of her people were staying awake with the benefits of coffee more than anything else.

The moment the city’s problems end (which is very likely never), all the PRT mundanes are going to fall asleep at their desks at the same time.

She couldn’t turn away everyone that volunteered or was sent to Brockton Bay to assist her PRT division, but there were too many.  Space was at a premium, and there were too few places where she could establish secure offices, where buildings didn’t threaten to fall down and where assistance was actively needed.

May have to think a bit outside the cubicle.

Still, she’d sent people away when she could.

“How’s the family?” She asked.  “You adopted, if I remember right?”

Oh man, is this where we learn about Legend’s orientation, about how the guy is about as straight as his (rainbow) lasers?

From this, it really sounds like Legend is happily married, or at least has an official partnership with a loving boyfriend, and they’ve adopted a child together. If that’s the case, I’m really happy for them. :)

(It’s worth noting that gay marriage wasn’t legal in the U.S. yet when this was written, though it’s entirely possible Wildbow decided to use his power over this world’s timeline since the 80′s for good for once.)

“We did.  Arthur was worried that a surrogate parent would give birth to a parahuman, and if that happened, he’d be out of the loop.”

I love how casually this is established, too.

If there was such a tendency and it’s not just a matter of me using statistically insignificant numbers to support this idea, there are a couple different reasons there could be for that.

Maybe the Dandelions need to spend an amount of a finite energy to bestow powers, and are running low after bestowing strong powers early?

Or maybe they have a regenerating energy they spend, and changed tactics at one point, going for many weaker parahumans rather than few strong ones?

Oh, I was right the first time.

Fair enough. I suppose Siberian would also stay put because of having a victim to eat.

But what was up with the bit about drainage? Did they expect her to dig her way through the pipes, breaking them up in the process?

The Protectorate had been smaller, then.  The lead group had consisted of four members.  Legend, Alexandria, Eidolon and Hero.

...Hero.

How fucking generic can you get??

Hero had been the first tinker to take the spotlight, so early to the game that he could get away with taking a name that basic and iconic.

I’m not sure why you’d want to, besides having little imagination or wanting to brag that you’re the Hero.

He’d sported golden armor, a jetpack, and a tool for every occasion.

Go go Hero!

...I suppose Inspector Gadget is what you’d get if Bonesaw got her hands on Hero.

His career had been cut short when Siberian tore him limb from limb in a sudden frenzy of blood and savagery.  He’d been scooped up by Eidolon, who tried to heal him, who continued to hold the man as he joined in the ensuing conflict.