#int1

This was a great chapter! The Interlude (the first of several, judging by the number in the title) came as a bit of a surprise to me, and while I did predict that it might follow a different character, the introduction of Taylor's dad came as a pleasant surprise within the surprise.

As I've mentioned, I had been looking forward to meeting him for quite some time, and he did not disappoint - powerless, concerned and a wellspring of controlled fury, Danny DeVito Hebert is an excellent character so far, and I'm very interested to see where Projectile Launcher Located in the Wilderness takes his story and his relationship with Taylor from here.

We also learned a little about the early superheroes - or as I should probably start calling them, parahumans - and their emergence from hiding in the 1980's. Whether there was a sudden rise of people gaining superpowers around this time, or if Scion just jumpstarted a "come out of secrecy" party, remains to be seen.

          “Whoa, hey — I just asked if you’d call in the order. What’s your problem?”

Ah, yeah, this is believable - that there would be a bunch of heroes around in the shadows, that hadn’t gone public and were reassured by the acceptance of Scion that it would be alright to do so - but it doesn’t fully explain why it first happened in the 80′s.

We still don’t know what the main sources of powers are in this ‘verse, and I feel like that might remain a mystery for a while.

Though the villains followed soon after, it was the heroes who shattered any illusions of the parahumans being divine figures.

Scion must’ve caused a huge uproar in the religious communities at the time.

The other heroes... maybe a bit less so.

In 1989, attempting to quell a riot over a basketball game in Michigan, the superhero known to the public as Vikare stepped in,

Tangent time: I like how “Vikare” “stepped in”, because in Norwegian, the word “vikar” means someone who steps in when someone can’t do their job, like for example a substitute teacher. Though of course, I doubt Whirlboop knew that.

Also who am I kidding, it’s always tangent time.

only to be clubbed over the head.  He died not long after of a brain embolism.  Later, he would be revealed to be Andrew Hawke.

But see, that's the thing. Home and eating doesn't necessarily mean she's okay on a longer scale.

He should've checked on her. Though I'm glad he didn't do that while angry.

Danny, you're a very good man.

It was something of a blessing that, as the anger faded, he felt drained. He climbed into the left side of the bed, leaving the right side empty out of a habit he’d yet to break, and pulled the covers up around himself.

They say it takes three weeks to make or break a habit.

Relief became anger.

You should’ve gone in there before this kicked in, dude. Please don’t get motivated by anger to confront her.

He was angry at Taylor, for making him worry, and then not even going out of her way to let him know she was okay.

She thought you were asleep, and you willingly let her think that.

He felt a smouldering resentment towards the city, for having neighborhoods and people he couldn’t trust his daughter to.  He hated the bullies that preyed on his daughter.

...yeah, from what we’ve seen so far, this place is kind of a shithole.

Underlying it all was frustration with himself.  Danny Hebert was the one person he could control in all of this, and Danny Hebert had failed to do anything that mattered.  He hadn’t gotten answers, hadn’t stopped the bullies, hadn’t protected his daughter.  Worst of all was the idea that this might have happened before, with him simply sleeping through it rather than laying awake.

Poor. Fucking. Danny.

Good. Cod knows you need one.

He dreamed of the ocean.

Definitely too early to say, though.

“‘My brother, Andrew Hawke, was the last passenger to make any sort of contact with him, I remember.  He climbed up onto the railing, and, almost falling off, he clasped the hand of the golden man.

If touching his fingertips briefly cures cancer, imagine what a full hand clasp can do. Andrew Hawke, healthiest man in the galaxy...

...it probably doesn’t work that way.

The rest of us had to grab onto him to keep him from falling.  Whatever happened left him with a quiet awe.  When the man with the golden skin flew away, my brother stayed silent.

Here’s a thing about magic: It usually has a human consciousness.

It doesn’t always literally have a mind of its own, but most magic understands human ideas of, for example, what makes up one object out of a bunch of nearby atoms. Magic knows how the object should ideally be, after human ideals. Magic sometimes even respects human societal conventions.

What I sometimes think is “What if it didn’t?”