#But the bigger city in our area has been given extra powers for the cops

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

The far right racist and xenophobic riots [im not fucking calling them protests] that have been happening here across the uk are fucking disgusting. Some small good measures are being put in place [extra security for Mosques] but the fact that this country is so deeply racist needs to be fucking adressed and dealt with. the far right protesters are already being arrested and tried, however I wonder how many counter protesters will also be dragged into the court rooms with the aim of 'fairness' despite in several cases being there to protect the hotels and communities first, and having to be human barriers before the cops eventually show up

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #37

UPDATE 37: Make Bets on How Many Capes Will Die

I apologize for taking so long to update, these are busy days!

Last time there was an interlude with the Protectorate, more concretely with Miss Militia, who was remembering the moment she awoke her powers. It was quite the important interlude, as it revealed the powers may have come from a dying being...somehow. It was weird, and that’s why it’s intriguing! So let’s continue with the next arc.

Okaaaay, if there were any doubts an Endbringer or more than one Endbringer was coming, then those doubts are swept away by the name of this arc. ‘Extermination’, huh. What a cheerful title, can only bring good things.

Tattletale and Skitter are walking around in plain sight, wearing their costumes. I guess when everything may be obliterated nobody will care that much about the villains, compared to the Endbringers, those like the Undersiders are minor threats. Besides, everybody else is too busy trying to get to the shelters. Just so you know, to ensure an orderly evacuation and lessen casualties, vehicles aren’t allowed, they couldn’t bring luggage, and pets are kind of a gray area as long as they behave. Guess how well these regulations are being met.

A chronic condition of our society, that so many people somehow thought they were special, the exception to the rule.  In this panicked crowd, every rule was being broken.

Very true. Makes me wonder how I’d react in a true emergency. I’d like to believe I wouldn’t do something incorrectly, but who knows...

Tattletale and Skitter approach a cop, who gives them some pieces of paper. Huh. As I thought, the Endbringer stuff is a priority here. That reminds me...Dad Hebert must be hella worried right now. An Endbringer is coming, and Taylor isn’t with him. He must be so, so worried and not knowing how to get in contact with her will make it worse. I really hope he’ll be okay.

Right, these were instructions for the Parahumans to gather in one place. So...truce? For everyone? They’re approaching the Protectorate and the squad of PRT officers without much fear of getting captured. Also, Dragon is here, away from the Birdcage. It’s a good thing that place is extremely good at keeping parahumans inside, or I’d be concerned about some of them escaping now that Dragon was away.

I saw what she was watching.  A stormcloud in the distance.  It hung over the water with an opaque curtain of rain descending down from it.  It was gradually getting closer.

Hah! I suppose the Endbringers aren’t known for their subtlety. That’s a clear red flag, right there. Makes me wonder how exactly everyone’s going to deal with that, because being under a constant deluge of water is going to make everything much more difficult.

Hero after hero is arriving here, it’s starting to seem to me like Tattletale and Skitter are the only villains here, for the time being. A hero named Alexandria appeared. She sounds familiar...I remember she’s a big deal among heroes, but I don’t remember the exact details. I’ll check later past chapters to see if I find the name somewhere.

More heroes arrive. Sounds like teams of Wards, given that they’re teenagers. Also, among them there’s someone that seems to have incorporate into his body a lot of metallic stuff. This must be the fabled hero the Protectorate wanted to bring to the city, the one who can absorb metal! He got here just in time for the big trouble, perfect.

Yep, truce. Anyway, everyone entered a building, maybe to be briefed about the situation. E88 was there – really? Well that’s something I didn’t expect! Kaiser isn’t there, right? – Hookwolf glares at Skitter. May I suggest to get the heck out of the area once the Endbringer has been dealt with somehow, to avoid trouble with Hookwolf? The Travelers are here too, and...that’s it on the villain side. Other than Coil’s soldiers, there aren’t any other villains here, not even Grue and the rest of the Undersiders. Maybe they’ll arrive later.

New Wave is here, Tattletale and Skitter are glared at. Armsmaster is here, not glaring at Skitter, thankfully. He’s too busy talking with Legend. Ah, right, I remember now! Legend, Alexandria, and...a third person are the Protectorate, worldwide scale. The big fish of the parahuman world! Exposition happens. Let’s just say Legend and Alexandria are the power standards many heroes aspire to reach, and I bet some villains would want too.

Eidolon, that’s the name of the third one.

Debating the relative strengths of various capes was common enough, in the schoolyard and elsewhere.  If Alexandria and Legend fought, who would win?  Would Boston’s Protectorate win against Brockton Bay’s team?  What if you removed Boston’s weakest members until the sides were even in number?

Right, the classic ‘if X hero fought and X hero fought, who’d win’, just that in this universe they’re talking about people that actually exist. Must be kind of weird, talking about real living heroes and not about fictional characters.

Turns out Kaiser really is here. I thought he’d stay away, let the city be destroyed and what not...since, you know, his life is ruined. If he’s here then when Mr. Wildbow said ‘Empire Eighty-Eight’ he truly meant that, everybody must be here. Hah! Must be kind of awkward to be in the same place than the people who were on a rampage less than 24 hours ago.

More characters that may or may not appear again are named. A couple rogues and villains...they sound interesting, but since I kind of doubt they’ll have any kind of role in the story besides being, hm, ‘extras’, so to say, I’ll refrain from talking at length about them. Also Shadow Stalker is here too.

Oh, the rest of the Undersiders are here! That’s great!

The two boys glanced my way, then turned their attention to Tattletale.  Ignoring me.

That… really stung.

 Cripes...I mean, I get why they’d be upset with Skitter and would treat her coldly, but I was hoping they’d leave that aside during this emergency, and that once this all was over they’d be able to make amends. This isn’t a good sign. Well, honestly, I’m pretty sure Skitter and the rest of the Undersiders will settle their trouble at some point, because there’s a whole lot of Worm left so of course they will, but...yeah, doesn’t make one feel any less bad for Skitter.

Not wanting to mingle with her now-strained friendships Skitter sits in the periphery, near the Travelers. Sundancer is there, and she isn’t exactly jumping with love and appreciation for Skitter either. Oh, great, just what Skitter needed, to feel even more like a pariah right before a big fight.

That caught me off guard, because I’d somehow let myself believe I’d left our cooperative battle against Lung with a good impression.  It seemed she wasn’t so willing to look past the fact that I’d carved out Lung’s eyes.

Hardly anyone would. You can be very dangerous, Skitter.

Legend walked to the front of the room for a speech. A speech from the big hero! That’s a one-in-a-lifetime chance nobody should want to see, because...you know, I bet it only happens when there’s huge trouble brewing, like now.

“We’ve had time to gather, and that means we have just a few more minutes to prepare and brief for Leviathan’s arrival, instead of jumping straight into the fray as we arrive.  With this advantage, some luck, teamwork and hard effort from everyone, I hold out hope that this could be one of the good days.”

The Endbringer’s name is Leviathan. Rather fitting, may I say. The storm cloud far away matches too. Makes me curious about other Endbringers. Not that I want them to come and wreck Brockton Bay, they have enough trouble for me to wish for even more! Although...knowing Mr. Wildbow, the city – or at least Skitter and the rest of the Undersiders -- will be in peril less than 48 hours after this Leviathan problem is dealt with. There’s no time to rest, ever.

“But you should know your chances going in.  Given the statistics from our previous encounters with this beast, a ‘good day’ still means that one in four of the people in this room will probably be dead before this day is done.”

And that’s the best case scenario? Well! I guess I couldn’t have expected different from a fight with an Endbringer, and I’m sure everyone in the room understands the risks, but still...that’s not going to lift anyone’s spirits, hah!

Well, that’s the end of the chapter. Going straight for the next one, of course!

There was a quiet murmur through the room at Legend’s words.  One in four dead.  And that didn’t mean the rest of us would get away unscathed.

Makes you wonder which ones are going to die horribly today. Let’s see...okay, Skitter is a given, yeah, there can't be a story if the main character dies. The rest of the Undersiders are fair game, they may die, maybe not. Of all them, I think Heckpuppy is the one with the best odds of the author having mercy. Killing Grue, Regent or Tattletale at this point would be a punch to the gut of the reader, Regent less than the other two, of course. Armsmaster and Miss Militia are unlikely to die, I’d say, although Armsmaster has a bit of a bigger chance to die, since he’s going away and all that. Dragon...eh, survives, I guess. Shadow Stalker and Grue’s fates will be the same, I guess, if one survives, so will the other. Glory Girl and Panacea...not safe. Nobody in Empire Eighty-Eight strikes me as particularly important or safe, the Travelers...hm. Hard to say. It’d depend on what Mr. Wildbow plans for the future. They’re very minor characters so far, therefore they’re in danger. The big Protectorate heroes are safe because it’d be kind of embarrassing for one or more of them to die today, unless Mr. Wildbow wants to use one of their deaths to bring forth plot points. All the other heroes, villains and rogues that appeared for the first time in this arc are as good as dead, as far as I’m concerned. So yeah, only Skitter and Miss Militia are what I’d say ‘safe’, the latter because of the very important plot point of remembering where the powers came from!

As you can see, there’s a lot of room for speculation. Boy are things going to get hectic in the story!

Legend’s speech wasn’t over; he tells them not to underestimate Leviathan. I...I think there was no risk for anyone underestimating him, there’s a big storm cloud coming. So, other Endbringers such as Behemoth and the Simurgh are different to Leviathan. Wait what, the Simurgh? That is...pretty much the opposite to an apocalyptic creature! Golly, what shenanigans are afoot with that Endbringer?

So yeah, as anyone may have guessed by now, Leviathan has power over water. He’s not hydrokinetic – okay, he has that skill but it’s not his main focus. It’s more like he can use water to his advantage, and there’s a lot of danger in that.  He could even move faster than the capes whose power is speed. That’s how fearsome Leviathan is.

“May ninth, 2005.  Nearly half a million dead.  The Canadian island simply gone, after the shelf of land holding it up cracked in the face of what we now understand were incredible pressures beneath the water level.”

...well! At least we can be assured the same thing won’t happen to Brockton Bay, right? Because...otherwise then everyone is doomed. And this is not the only time Leviathan has caused widespread destruction and hundreds of thousands of deaths. Truly the ‘Endbringer’ moniker isn’t for show.

Oh goddamnit, Brockton Bay is in trouble. There’s a large aquifier underneath it. Brilliant, this is the type of situation Leviathan can take advantage of. Welp. I guess only part of Brockton Bay will be saved, then, because I find it unlikely the whole city will stay intact.

I just realized this is another cape Skitter is likely not to be able to hurt with her bugs. Hah! She really can’t take a break, can she?

“You are doing a good thing.  The greatest thing.  This is why we are tolerated, why society allows and accounts for the capes that walk the streets and fight in its towns.  Because we are needed for situations like this.  With your assistance, we can forestall the inevitable. Your efforts and, if you choose to make them, your sacrifices, will be remembered.”

He’s not wrong about that, I’m pretty sure capes are tolerated precisely because of that and nothing else. Fight fire with fire.

Dragon made armbands for everyone, so everyone fighting can send messages and request assistance when needed. As you may imagine, there’s a program that’ll organize the messages, give priority to some messages, etcetera. Overall it’s a sensible decision.

Legend called out, “Capes!  If you have faced an Endbringer before, stand!”

I watched as the rest of the Protectorate, about a third of the out-of-town Wards, Bambina, half of a commercially sponsored cape team and the Travelers stood.

Huh! I didn’t think the Travelers had fought an Endbringer before! Interesting! I wonder if that had something to do with their former nomad status, having been in a place where an Endbringer attacked and moving out when the place was destroyed/the Endbringer was repelled. Could this be important enough for Mr. Wildbow to elaborate? I hope so, because I’m very curious about that!

All the parahumans gathered here start being divided into groups. Those who can receive a hit from Leviathan and not die in the process, go with them. If you can create ‘expendable combatants’ they are welcome too.

As a share of the crowd moved toward one corner of the room, Armsmaster stepped down from the podium to approach Tattletale, Grue and Regent, “Where’s Hellhound?”

“At least call her by her real name,” Tattletale glared up at him, “She’s not here. You knocked her dogs around enough to know they aren’t that tough, and that means you’re implying they’re expendable. Be glad she wasn’t around to hear that and figure that out.”

...ah. Okay, um, two things. First...that flew right over my head. I didn’t realize he going straight to ask for Heckpuppy meant he thought her dogs were expendable. Now that would have caused a scene, if she had heard it. Two...she isn’t here? I thought she was. Now that I think about it, she hadn’t been mentioned in the narration at all, how did I miss she wasn’t here? I suppose she’s trying to get all of her dogs to safety somehow and that’s why she isn’t here.

Another group, those who can harm Leviathan in close quarters. Assault, Battery, Night and Fog join. Seems like a good team, Night and Fog are fearsome. I’m not sure how Night will be able to do much without anyone seeing her, what with there being dozens of parahumans here, but eh.

Legend was still organizing the groups.  “-forcefields, telekinesis, whatever your power, if you can interrupt Leviathan’s movements or help reduce the impacts of the waves, you’re the backup defense! Bastion will direct you!”

At first I had thought Skitter could fit there, but then I realized she wouldn’t. Her insects are very weak against water, they’d get swept away, and it’s difficult for an insect to fly in the rain. Skitter will have a very hard time today.

More groups are gathered, and much to my relief, Skitter isn’t the only one left without a group. The rest of the Undersiders present is still sitting down. Panacea and Kaiser are another two I didn’t expect to see left aside – well, Panacea makes sense, she’d be excellent support to heal those who are injured, and Tattletale could be useful in some way for intel gathering in a pinch, but the rest, well, it’s going to be tougher to make them fit anywhere.

There’s no more time for discussions. A big wave hits the port, and there’s already structural damage around here. Damn...I hope everyone in this city has some good insurance because seriously! Everybody is teleported out, the wave already crushed the docks and what used to be the high end shopping district. Oh, damn...

The description of Leviathan makes him sound rather fearsome! He is huge, a veritable monster, with claws and tail. Just what I was imagining! I wonder how was the awakening to his powers? It can’t have been pleasant at all, this is astonishing! And he also...he has no facial features. What he has is four eyes. Wow...if there’s art of Leviathan I’d like to see it, because this is great! Horrifying, but great!

“Get ready!” Legend howled the words.

They all had like half a second to get ready before Leviathan attacked, and they weren’t wrong about how fast Leviathan is. In a moment he collided against many of the capes, the armbands are already naming those who died or are too injured to continue.

Carapacitator down, CD-5.  Krieg down, CD-5.  WCM deceased, CD-5.  Iron Falcon down, CD-5.  Saurian down, CD-5…

And that was just in like a second or two. This is going to be an extremely difficult fight.

But that’ll have to be for next time.

 Next update: five updates