#made a bunch of guesses on the armor design when i first drew this since we only had like 2 real images to ref off of at the time

[ritterdoodles]

Revamped this Noelle piece from a while ago because I realized I never posted the full version

[codylabs]

Bad Cody, You made a bad robot suit Cody bad boy bad boy go sit in the corner

This is a very long post talking about POWER ARMOR. It has nice pictures. Keep reading if you’re a friggin’ neeeeeeeeerd

It’s no secret that I LOVE power armor. 

When I started writing Gravity Falls fanfiction and making my own stories within that world, one of the FIRST things I did was design a suit of futuristic power armor for Wendy to wear. Here it is now.

This suit is DogShit.

And I don’t say that lightly.

I designed the suit based ENTIRELY on looks, with no thought for function whatsoever, much to my present-day shame. Back when I designed it I didn’t realize my GF stuff would become as big as it would and build up as much story and mythology as it did, so the entire thought process at the time consisted of “Oh, I’ll just take a generic Samus suit, remove details to make it easier to draw, and color it green and black”. But now, it’s many years later. And now that I’m trying to migrate away from GF, I’ve started drawing new concepts for the Time Knight suits, so I figured now would be a good time to pick apart everything this suit did wrong, and explain why I made the stupid decisions I did.

Let’s start with the jetpack.

The jetpack is designed very poorly. A human’s center of mass is somewhere around the hips, so if the jets were up here, and at this angle, they wouldn’t lift you into the air or help you jump at all, they would just flip you forward onto your face. If the suit were to have jets at all, therefore, it would need an additional set of rockets either somewhere on the legs, or on the front of the chest. I left out this additional set for reasons of artistry and simplicity, since they would be visually distracting on the legs, and I really like the durable, sturdy look that a big smooth chestplate gives to the design, so I didn’t want to interrupt the shape with rockets. Plus, the back jets would look like boobs if you put them in front, and that would be both inappropriate and silly.

Also glowing circles.

What are these glowing circles? Why are they there? I put them there because the glowing-green hourglass insignia would stand out and be real distracting if it were the only glowing green part. In my head the glowing circles were ‘Time-Inductors’, which, when active, would anchor the wearer into a fixed point in time, and thus prevent enemies from from going back and killing them ask kids or something. This is stupid because A) it doesn’t fit with the rules of time travel I established and B) why would you have them exposed on the outside of the suit where anyone could shoot them and C) why would you need 6 of them and D) why are 4 of them so smol?

Also the joints.

This is by far the worst offense on the list, if for no other reason than because I have this same complaint with most power armor in fiction in general. As far as I have seen of games and movies, mechanized suits are NEVER (with the exception of Aliens and Edge of Tomorrow and Call of Duty) depicted with structurally sound joints. This thing is supposed to be running and jumping and fighting, you know? It probably weighs about 600lbs! ALL that weight and a lot MORE has to be supported in its entirety by whatever mechanisms are present in the hips and arms. It has to be robust, and I did NOT draw it so.

I want you to specifically look at the hips and upper arm here. Observe how the pauldrons are connected to the gauntlets, and the pelvis to the thighs, by tall stacks of silver rings just like Titanium Man™. Artistically, these tall stacks of silver rings serve several purposes: A) they make the armor plates stand out nicely by contrasting the black, B) they make the audience think “Oh well, something mechanical is happening there it must be high-tech”, C) they make the suit as a whole look slightly more cartoony and comic-book-y, by calling to mind things like Winter Soldier and retro astronauts and Titanium Man™.

( Titanium Man™:)

These tall stacks of silver rings make no sense. Are there supposed to be linkages beneath them with motors? An artificial layer of muscles? There’s hardly (probably not) room for the wearer’s own arms and legs inside them, let alone anything powered. Maybe the rings themselves are filled with hydraulic fluid or something? That’s needlessly complicated and needlessly fragile, and would break the wearer’s own bones if it malfunctioned, which would be bad.

EGGGHEHEEHHEHH

Hmm.

You may have guessed already, but this suit was designed mainly based on aesthetics. But there is good news! I just drew out a bunch of concepts redesigning it! So I might post that soon.

[commander-passiflora]

Miscommunication

Day 2 of Valentine’s fic week! Today’s prompt is Memorable Dates, so this is kind of a brief history of Toril’s relationship with Erlend, who eventually becomes her husband, but this is like. Early early days kinda thing. This is like awkward baby Toril though, before she was all confidence and swagger. It was really fun to play with that part of her history!!

Again, this is also posted on ao3, so here’s a link for that for anyone who prefers. Thanks for reading! <3

“Hi, um, is this--sorry, I’ve never been to Lion’s Arch before. I’m looking for a blacksmith?”

Erlend sighed from his place behind the counter. Normally at this time of day, he’d have someone else watch for customers while he tended the forge, but right now he was working on a design for a rather expensive axe someone had commissioned, so he had the distinct pleasure of fielding stupid questions from random LA tourists.

“Well, I’m a blacksmith, and this is my shop, but--” he said, turning to face the woman.

What he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.

She was large, tall even for a norn, with silver hair down to the small of her back, held neatly in a braid. She didn’t fit in with the tourist crowd in the slightest--this was a woman on a mission, that he could be certain of. She was clad in heavy, bulky combat armor, with a shabby iron sword strapped to either hip, and her eyes held...something. Something he couldn’t put words to. A power.

“But…?” the woman echoed as he stared at her, wide-eyed.

“But...it’s very dependent on what kind of services you’re looking for,” Erlend said, shaking his head to bring him back to reality. “My prices are a bit steep for the average adventurer.”

“Ah, well, it’s a good thing I’m not the average adventurer then,” she said with a smile that he could’ve sworn stopped his heart for a second or two. “You wouldn’t happen to be Erlend Holgerson?” 

“That’d be me,” he said. “I take it you’re here to commission something, then, if you’re seeking me out specifically.”

“That I am,” the woman said, reaching out a hand for him to shake. “Name’s Toril. Tainesdottir. I saw you eyeing my swords, and that is exactly why I’m here. They’re terrible. I need better ones.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Toril Tainesdottir. I’d be happy to help you out, but I have to warn you, it’ll be a few months before I can get to work on any new commissions.”

“I’m willing to wait,” Toril said. “I want the best, and everyone says that’s you. These swords are going to see quite a bit of use; I want something that’ll last.”

“Is that so?” Erlend inquired.

“Yeah, um, I was just recruited to the Vigil. About two weeks ago now, I guess, and my first official mission is soon, so I want to go in ready for whatever they throw at me. Make a good impression, climb the ladder, you know?”

“Sure, but like I said, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to get them done with such a quick turnaround.”

“I understand,” she said. “That’s not what--I mean, joining was what made me want to get--but I--you know what? I am making a terrible first impression here. You must think I’m an idiot.”

“Not at all. I try not to make a point of judging customers in general,” he said, “but honestly, you’re a refreshing change from my usual crowd.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I mean, I became a weaponsmith because I wanted to make weapons, but once you have enough of a reputation, you start getting inundated with orders from rich snobs who want showpieces. It’s a pleasure to have a proper fighter seek me out.” 

“Well, I promise your work will see plenty of fights in my hands. I’m going to be a legend, you know,” Toril said.

Erlend laughed heartily.

“I believe it,” he said. “Well, I can go ahead and get started on a design for you, even if it’ll be awhile before I can really get working on it. You have some time to talk shop?”

“Sure, but could we do it over lunch? I’m starved.”

***

“So you’re a revenant?” Erlend said, taking a sip of ale. “I’ve never met a revenant before. I’ve heard of them, o’course, but I sort of thought they were just a tall tale.”

“Well, we’re certainly not a common bunch,” Toril laughed, “but we exist. In my case, I ended up in the Mists because of Bear, and she was the one who set me on the path. I’ve heard all sorts of stories, though, of how other people got started on theirs.”

“What, do you have meet ups or something?” he joked.

“Not exactly, but since there’s so few of us, sometimes we seek each other out to train and swap tips. Personally, I’m a bit more of a ‘figure it out as I go’ type, but I’ve helped out a couple kids who were just getting used to it after an accidental foray into the Mists. It’s hard to cope with. Changes you.”

“Well, I’d love to hear more about it,” Erlend said, “but let’s focus on the swords for now, if that’s alright with you.”

“Yeah, of course, absolutely. Maybe I can tell you about it another time,” she said, and Erlend felt his heart flutter. “What do you need to know to get started?”

“Well, for one thing, what’s your budget look like?”

Toril chuckled and said, “How about you tell me what you think it’ll cost when all is said and done, and I’ll deal with it? Your work is the best. I’ve been saving for months to commission you.”

“Ah, that’s--you’re too kind.”

“No, seriously,” Toril said. “I’ve been planning this for a while.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Mhm. Everything really kicked off for me about a year ago, when I won the Great Hunt by slaying Issormir. After that, I was lucky enough to have Eir Stegalkin take me under her wing, and she recommended that once I was able, I come to you. Been saving every bit of spare change since then.”

“You’re Eir Stegalkin’s new protege?” Erlend asked, eyes wide. “I’ve heard so many great stories, but I never--wow, it’s--it’s an honor.”

“No, no, don’t do that, please. You’re the first norn I’ve met in ages to not lose it when they heard my name.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “I can understand that. I’ll let it go, on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You tell me your version of some of those stories yourself.”

She smiled, radiant and genuine and world-spinning. 

“I’d like that.” 

***

A week later and Erlend was meeting her at a practice field on the edge of the city. Turns out, it’s a bit hard to design weapons for a combat style you’ve never seen, and Toril agreed to give a demonstration. He was nervous, honestly, his stomach full of butterflies. Something about her was just...captivating.

“So the basics of how revenants fight are pretty out there,” Toril explained. “We, um, channel energy from the Mists, and it allows us to use a wide variety of skills.”

“So you use Mist energy to improve your combat abilities?”

“It’s...more than that. I channel specific people. Or beings, I guess. Their spirits. And they allow me to use their knowledge and strengths and skills to improve my own abilities in combat. Or, well, they don’t all allow it, per se.” She chuckled. “Sometimes it’s more that I just strongarm them into it.”

“I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I understand,” Erlend admitted. “Can you just show me?”

“I can certainly try,” she said. “Be prepared, though. I’ve had some people tell me it’s a little...disturbing.”

He didn’t know what to say to that, so he just shrugged and gestured toward a practice dummy. She smiled at him, winked (he thought he might faint at that), and then closed her eyes and drew her swords. When she opened them, they were glowing with a bright blue fire. It was like nothing he’d ever seen.

The same blue flames licked her wrists as she shadowstepped to a target and sliced it in half with a quick motion, sending sand spilling to the ground. She turned, raised a hand as if calling something down, and a moment later, a brick road--or magic shaped to look like one, anyway--was materializing before her, crushing three of the dummies as it went. She turned to another--the last one, now--and shadowstepped to it, before darting in and out of the Mists, delivering quick strikes faster than he could keep up with. When she stopped moving, she crossed her swords and conjured a chain, sending it flying to wrap around the target. Raising her hand again, she called down--he wasn’t sure he could describe it. It looked like the spirit of a dragon, but that was--that was ridiculous. Wasn’t it? 

It must have been real enough, because when it beat its wings it sent the target flying across the field. After a moment, Toril turned to him, panting, and sheathed her swords with a grin. He watched with fascination as the fire slowly disappeared from her eyes. 

“Yeah, I--sorry. I know it’s a little much,” she said, looking down as she approached him.

“No--I--that--” Erlend stammered. He took a deep breath, collected himself, tried again. “That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. You’re incredible.”

“Oh, um, thanks. I, uh...I’m not used to compliments. Most people seem really creeped out by revenants.”

“People tend to fear things they don’t understand,” Erlend says. “Me, I’ve always liked a good mystery.”

Toril raised a single eyebrow, and for one tense moment, the smith thought he may have overstepped, until her rough facade gave way to a tender smile.

***

They met up a few more times, here and there. It was always at her invitation and under the guise of talking about the swords, about Toril’s combat skills, about what it’s like to be an oddity, what it’s like to forge a legend--anything that could be dismissed as strictly business. Erlend thought that was all it was, really. Business. She was fascinating and wild and dangerous and beautiful, and he was a smith born and raised in Lion’s Arch and distanced from his own culture for so long that every time it came up with Shiverpeaks natives he learned something new. 

This time, she’d asked him to dinner, and how on Tyria could he say no to that? 

Toril told him about her first mission with the Vigil--a resounding success, of course--and about her mentor, a stern norn Warmaster who had made a point of keeping her ego in check. He told her about some rich bastard who’d stumbled drunk into his shop and demanded Erlend make him a fine greatsword within the fortnight. 

“So hey,” Toril said at one point, a little serious to fit within the laughter they’d been sharing, “I wanted to, uh, talk to you about something.”

“About what?” Erlend asked, just a touch nervous.

“Oh it’s--it’s nothing bad!” Toril assured. “I don’t mean to make you worried, it’s just that--well, with where this seems to be going, and seeing as I really, really like you, I think you should probably know that, um, well...I have a girlfriend?”  

“You have a girlfriend?” Erlend parroted.

“Yeah, well, see, we have this, uh, arrangement, I guess you could say. We both have other partners. Or, well, can. She’s the only one I have currently. Unless, y’know…”

“I, um--forgive me, please,” Erlend said, “but is there--is there a particular reason you feel I should know this?”

“Oh, um, were you not…? Like, I thought you were maybe interested in me, and I’m more than a little interested in you, and...you know…”

“Are you--has this--have we been going on dates?” Erlend babbled.

“Haven’t we been?” Toril answered, now just as confused.

“I thought this was--I didn’t think you were--I didn’t want to presume anything, but well, you’re so--and just--”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Toril said, holding up a hand in an attempt to calm him, “it’s alright, Erlend. Stuff like this happens. Miscommunication and all. I’ve been asking to see you because I like you. I think you’re sweet, and you understand me, and you have this grounding sort of energy about you that I can’t seem to stay away from. I thought I had communicated that, but I suppose not well enough.”

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“Well, y’see, you walked into my shop and I--” Erlend tried, took a deep breath, started again. “When I saw you, I think my heart stopped for a minute. You’re absolutely, stunningly gorgeous, and funny, and a badass, and just absolutely otherworldly, but I don’t go after customers. It’s rude. I’m not the type for that, bothering a lady just trying to buy a weapon. Too many other assholes out there who like to do that sort of thing. If someone makes the first move, well, I’m not opposed, but...I enjoy spending time with you, but I just assumed someone like you wouldn’t really be interested in...well, me.”

“Why on Tyria would you assume that?” Toril asked.

“Your life is so...I don’t know. Interesting? I’m just me, and you’re, well, you.”

She reached a hand across the table, placing it over one of his that had been fidgeting nervously with the wood. 

“Didn’t you hear the part where I said I like you?” she asked with a gentle smile.

“It may have gotten a bit lost in there somewhere,” Erlend admitted. 

Toril chuckled and lifted his hand, holding it in both of hers. 

“Every bit of time I’ve spent with you, I’ve enjoyed,” she said. “And I’d like to spend more time with you, if you’d like to spend more time with me.” 

“I...yeah. I’d like that, too,” the smith said, nodding awkwardly. After a long pause, he added, “So what do we do now?”

“Well,” Toril said, smiling brightly, “how do you feel about ice cream?”

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #52

UPDATE 52: Slaughterhouse Nine

Last time the Undersiders were getting ready to leave! But the reinforcements arrived – it’s Dragon with her speed armor. She came aaaaaall the way from Canada to Brockton Bay in, what, a few minutes? Since it’s an armor specifically designed for speedy travel, there’s a chance she won’t be able to hit as hard as she would otherwise, but I’m not going to think that means the Undersiders will have a clean victory. This will be tough!

Dragon’s first move is to fill everything with containment foam, spraying the lobby as if she’s wielding four firehoses and the place is on fire. Say, are the defeated heroes and agents still lying around? Guess they’re going to be even deeper in foam. Parts of the foam gets attached to the Undersiders and swell, making it harder to move.

Hm, Weld is being more like an...a side character in this fight now that Dragon is here. He’s having trouble fighting Shadow Stalker and one of Heckpuppy’s dogs, he doesn’t want to risk injuring his teammate.

The way Regent was having Shadow Stalker fight, there was no self preservation or defense, which worked out to being a more effective combat style than anything else, in its own way.

I’d like to remind you, dear reader, that Shadow Stalker is conscious and seeing what Regent is making her body do. Can you imagine how horrible it must be to feel your own body diving onto Weld and trying to attack him with everything she has? Getting battered and not being able to do anything to stop it? Not knowing just how painful the next blow is going to be? This is some bonafide nightmare fuel, that’s for sure. I’d feel sympathy for Shadow Stalker if it wasn’t for, uh, everything she has done and been during these ten arcs. That kind of got rid of any sympathy I may have.

Skitter is as resourceful as always, trying to use her bugs to fight back against the foam, but a bunch of bugs aren’t very good against something with the strength of a firehose. She had intended to cover bugs in foam and drop them onto Dragon, to hinder her movement. Ah...even if the bugs could carry foam, I don’t think that would do much. I’d be very, very surprised if Dragon didn’t make her armor immune to the foam. That just seems like the right thing to do when you’re shooting containment foam around like you’re shooting confetti at a kids’ party.

The bugs can carry glass, at least!

With this glass, I did my best to catch and block the outlying flecks and drips of spray as it flew through the air, at the periphery of the streams.

Ah, I think I get it, yes. She’s not using the bugs to block the streams – task that already proved to be impossible – she’s just trying to diminish how much foam will be sprayed around out of the hose’s stream. It still seems rather, uh, inefficient even though I understand the purpose, but better this than doing nothing, and also, credit where credit is due: that’s more than I’d have been able to plan in a moment of crisis.

“She’s got a disadvantage,” Tattletale spoke, her voice low, “This suit is meant to fly to serious crises at a moment’s notice, deal with dangerous foes.  She’s packing too many lethal weapons.”

Oh, that’s good! Heroes don’t aim to kill criminals, yeah. Even Shadow Stalker and Armsmaster had the decency of trying to hide their attempts to kill villains – at least the minor ones. The Undersiders are waaaay below the level of threat lethal weapons would be required for.

Skitter tries to use the foam she has gathered to impede the armor from moving and seeing, but it’s not working. Hm. What now? Part of the reason why this may not be working is Tattletale’s theory that Dragon is controlling the armor remotely. Makes sense to me.

“There’s someone in there, I tried using my power on her, experimenting, and I felt some kind of nervous system.  Too much material between me and it for me to do anything with it, and I wouldn’t really try it while I’m controlling Shadow Stalker anyways.  I’d probably backfire.”

Oh, Dragon may be here, after all. Or...at least someone is in there. It’s not confirmed it’s Dragon, but who else could it be? Does Dragon have assistants or something? Will it turn out Dragon is some kind of...I don’t know, team of people working under one name, since apparently Dragon likes to do things remotely?

Then again, she is the best tinker in the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has an ace up her sleeve.

Skitter continues directing her bugs to cover the armor with glass, but she’s not placing her hopes on this strategy. It’s not going to stop Dragon and she knows it.

The real issue was that this was too slow, and we were on a tight time limit.  Less than a minute, and the Protectorate would arrive.

Tattletale already said it, didn’t she? She said they had no odds of getting out of there before the Protectorate arrived. Heck, even if they did get out of that place, I’m pretty sure Dragon and the Protectorate wouldn’t stand around in the lobby doing nothing, surely they’d pursue the Undersiders. As I see it, it’s impossible there won’t be a confrontation. Maybe it’ll be for the better to get ready for that.

I bet this chapter will end before this ‘less than a minute’ passes. Time sure has a funny way to dilate when things are tense!

Looking for a way to gain time and, you know, not get captured in three seconds flat, the Undersiders get into the gift shop, gaining some reprieve that doesn’t last very long.

Sensing this, Dragon started to advance further into the lobby.  Her broad, mechanical feet began hissing with vapor, and the goo my ground-borne bugs were hauling towards her began to run, losing its consistency and stickiness.  She set one foot down directly on a pile of foam, and lifted it up again with no difficulty.  It was clear: the foam wouldn’t hamper her.

Hah! I knew it! Apparently it’s moot if the armor itself is immune to the foam or not, dissolving the foam with vapor is something that can be done.

It seems Imp wants to fight, and wonders if Dragon can see her. Hm. Given that stuff like security cameras and those watching them can see Imp, I’d say Dragon can, too. My guess is that electronic monitoring kind of...bypasses Imp’s power. She’s not as invincible as it sounded at first – at least in terms of stealth. In middle of a fight she still can be rather effective, in my opinion. Imp doesn’t listen to the warnings and tries to get to Dragon, apparently. It won’t go well, will it?

Dragon’s mouth had opened wide, and she was spewing something like an ignited accelerant into the lobby.  With this fluid, she drew a three-foot wide line of flame onto the lobby floor, stretching from just below her to the stairwell door by the front desk.  She’d cut off our escape route.

...hm. Completely unrelated thought: where is Grue? Covering him in foam to ensure he won’t get away once he can move again would be wise. I don’t think he was in the lobby, so I don’t think Dragon may have seen him, but if he was frozen there then by now he must be under a bunch of foam, right? Sorry, it’s just that the mention of escapes reminded me of that.

Weld attacks Imp without actually managing to hit her, thanks to Dragon relaying instructions to him – through the earpiece the Wards use, I’d say. Just like I had guessed, Dragon can see Imp. I suppose she’s out of combat, then. With Dragon tattling on her, she won’t be able to do much.

There’s a lot of property damage in this gift shop, what with the foam, the fire, the broken glass, and everything else that surely will happen from now on. Dragon will be willing to pay for all damages – her data is the priority. Makes sense to me! She did show getting her work stolen is a sore spot. Stopping them is far more important than the physical integrity of that shop.

Grue is back again! Just in time, pal, things have gotten a lot more troublesome while you were frozen. He coats Dragon and Weld in darkness. Do Dragon’s sensors work in Grue’s darkness? Maybe not, since his darkness is unlike normal darkness.

“Dragon’s here!?” he shouted, aghast.

Okay, he wasn’t in the lobby. Now that I think about it...do the people frozen in time stay conscious about everything around them? Or to them it’s like fainting and then waking up – like everything around them changed instantaneously, from their perspective. Maybe it’s the second one, or else the Wards wouldn’t be so horrified about Shadow Stalker being conscious while Regent controls her.

Now that Grue is here, they finally can try to get out, and the way they choose is to cross the gift shop and get through the window that leads to the street. Heckpuppy’s remaining monstrous dog leaps through the glass, opening the escape route into the gift shop. My bad, it seems they were in front of the gift shop windows back then, they hadn’t gone in yet.

The electric gun Tattletale uses to try to melt the bars covering the window to the street starts to malfunction, but at least it finished the job. Once she made sure the trigger would stay pressed, and tried to dissuade Dragon from following by aiming the electrical arch at her, she escaped through the window, Dragon right behind her.

Dragon heaved herself over and beyond the electrical surge the gun was still pumping out, chasing Tattletale, swiping with one mechanical claw.  I got the sense she was pulling her punches to avoid murdering my teammate, because the attack was slow.  Tattletale slipped past, stepping onto the bookshelf to clear the window.  Or maybe it had something to do with the bugs I had gathered on her sensors.

Frankly I find more likely it’s the first one. It’s unlikely bugs will be able to cover up enough of the sensors to hinder Dragon. It’s good to see Dragon showing restraint, though. Even though Tattletale is on the brink of getting away with all the data she gathered, she’s still careful about not harming her. In this world where some heroes have showed less then desirable traits, it’s still nice to see some that don’t let the situation stray them from their rules and principles.

Regent and Imp escape shortly after that, even though Dragon’s armor becomes electrified. Only Heckpuppy, her dogs and Skitter are left inside the gift shop, with Dragon trying to block the window to the outside with her armor. Since the spider silk she used gives her some insulation against electricity, she uses Dragon’s foot as leverage, making sure to make as little contact as possible. It was a...it was ‘something risky and borderline stupid’, in Skitter’s own words, but hey, if she escapes and is unharmed, then it’d have been worth it. Fortune favors the bold!

The gamble and assumption I was working with was that electricity followed the path of least resistance.  Insulated costume vs. vapor in the air?  It would travel through the vapor.  Insulated costume vs. metal leg?  It would travel down the leg.

I’m not entirely sure, but I think Skitter is right in this assumption. Electricity needs a conduit to pass through, and Skitter simply isn’t very good of a conduit thanks to her costume. This should be fine.

Unfortunately, during her jump she was thrown off balance by something large brushed against her, making her fall towards a side, towards foam. She doesn’t fall face first, thankfully, but her entire arm gets submerged into it, up to her shoulder. It doesn’t matter how much of her body gets covered, what matters is that, well...the foam caught part of her. She’s not getting free from that.

I tried to raise myself to see Dragon looming above, but the foam offered only a rubbery resistance.  It had set with the contact, bonded to my costume.  I was pinned face down on the ground.

What I did see, as I raised my head as high as I was able?  Bitch was astride Bentley, who’d grown large enough to ride, and they were standing near the window leading into the street.  I could only see her eyes behind the plastic of her mask, and everything else was communicated through her bearing, her posture, the angle of her head.  I’d seen something similar when I’d first met her.

It hadn’t been Dragon that knocked me into the foam.

...

...

...oh. Well...

...I should...have guessed something like this could happen sooner or later. Heckpuppy was furious and really didn’t want Skitter back. I should have guessed she’d try to get rid of Skitter sooner or later, and here was the best chance for that. The rest of the team had gone ahead, there was a very good way to trap Skitter, and if the rest asked something, she could lie and say Skitter stepped wrongly or something like that. Tattletale may find out what truly happened, but would that matter? The Undersiders aren’t going to risk getting all of them captured just to rescue Skitter.

In terms of getting rid of a traitorous teammate, that was decently shrewd of Heckpuppy, especially for the short window of time that’d be Skitter jumping in the air.

Dragon turned her upper body to strike at Bitch.  As she moved, her back leg was close enough that some of the vapor was getting on me, slowly liquefying the foam.  It was too slow to matter.  Dragon had me.

Hm. Maybe not everything is lost! Most of Skitter’s body is free, if enough vapor gets on her before the Protectorate arrived, then maybe she can get free?

Not lucky enough for that. Dragon can ask Skitter questions, trying to get her to say where the Undersiders are taking the information. I had noticed before that it seemed the Wards weren’t aware the Undersiders worked for Coil, this confirms it further. Would they be able to deduce the Undersiders are working for someone, or would they think they’d make use of that information by themselves? With some luck, it’ll be the latter.

“If they aren’t going to be loyal to you, why protect them?”

Because someone else was depending on it.  But I wasn’t going to say that out loud.

Hoh! I don’t mean to demean Skitter or anything like that, but in my opinion, Dinah’s freedom is depending on Skitter herself. If Skitter dies or gets captured, I’m pretty sure nobody in the Undersiders would keep trying to get Dinah out of Coil’s clutches. It just...yeah, Skitter’s the one that whole thing is relying on.

The questions stop when the lightning gun starts whining louder. Is it about to explode?

“Move the insects away from my suit, now,” Dragon ordered me.

...okay, uh, looks like, hm, I was wrong. Skitter’s insects really were hampering her sensors in some way. Alright. When will I ever stop doubting the effectivity of Skitter’s bugs? Because almost every time I doubt it, I get proven wrong.

Since the gun is about to explode and undoubtedly cause a lot of damage, Dragon hurries to cover the gun in a dome, spraying with foam, trying to contain most of whatever will happen. You’re kind of wasting your time trying to convince Skitter to abandon the Undersiders – even Heckpuppy, I bet, despite what Heckpuppy just did.

When the gun explodes a large portion of Dragon’s suit is destroyed. Worried and hoping Dragon survived, Skitter approaches and finds that, yes, Regent was right. Something was inside.

It looked like a fetus, the features were crude, barely humanoid in any sense of the word.  The eyes were half-formed, and it had no nose, only a beak-like mouth.  The head was half-again as large as the body below the neck.  Wires wove in and out of orifices.

Three words: what the hell?

But this means both Regent and Tattletale were right: there was something inside the armor, and Dragon was controlling this remotely. I’m not sure what this...thing...inside the armor was, but it’s impossible it was Dragon. I’m clueless as to how any of this works, though. I suppose the best tinker in the world has methods that are far beyond my comprehension, haha...

To avoid what happened with mercenaries taking parts of Dragon’s armor, it self-destructs, melting the metal and charring whatever that thing was. Say, now that this fight is ending...

...has ‘less than a minute’ passed yet? Because I feel like two or three minutes have passed, what with everything that was said and everything that happened. Did the Protectorate stop for snacks and a bathroom break along the way or something?

Skitter leaves the place, confused as to what she had just seen. Precisely what I’m wondering, Skitter, what the hell.

Had that been someone who was physically affected by their powers?  I wasn’t even sure if it was human.

I had a growing, uneasy feeling that this wasn’t related to powers and trigger events in the conventional sense.

I’m not sure if I should be excited to find out someday, or if I should feel dread. I’m both nervous and eager to find out more.

Ah, there’s the Protectorate! They’re already fighting the rest. Right! And they’re already losing. Well that sure was an inconsequential arrival. Skitter doesn’t care right now, she’s striding straight towards Heckpuppy. This won’t be pretty, will it?

Hm...I could stop right now, but...I don’t know, I think I’ll continue ahead a bit more. Just one chapter more. It’ll mean I’ll have to post this update tomorrow instead of today, it’ll be worth it to have more content.

O-kay, priorities, Skitter: bludgeoning a teammate in the middle of a fight with the Protectorate would be a stupid thing to do. Tattletale barely can do something to stop her, trying to get her to listen, but she can’t get not even two words out before smoke billows around them. It’s not bug spray, at least!

The smoke came from grenades Miss Militia is throwing, surely it’s a way to counter anything Skitter can do. By now they must have ways to deal with the insects before Skitter manages to do some crazy move to get the upper hand, yep.

The bees I had in the smoke were acting funny.  I was surprised to find out why.  I’d known that beekeepers used smoke to pacify the bees before collecting the honey.  My assumption had been that it acted as a tranquilizer, putting them to sleep.  In reality, it was forcing them to revert to instinctual behavior.  It made them want to eat and feed and to flee.  For those near enclosed spaces or even the corners of walls or the foundations of buildings, it made them adjust their wingbeats to divert the flows of oxygen.

If she’d been intending to use the smoke to screw with my insects, she’d underestimated my power.  I canceled out the instincts and sent the bugs through the smoke, blind, feeling out for her.

Huh. Really? That’s why beekeepers use smoke? I thought the smoke knocked out the bees, not that it made them use only instinctual behavior. You learn something new every day!

When Skitter alerts the others that Miss Militia was charging towards them, she also alerted her of her position, leaving her vulnerable to shots from a shotgun. Ouch! Even if it’s nonlethal ammunition, that must sting! As payback, she directs the remaining capsaicin-loaded bugs she has, so Miss Militia is the one who feels the sting now. Hah! Get it? Because the bugs have stingers and—sorry, this isn’t time for stupid puns. At least the capsaicin is effective against Miss Militia.

Darkness covers the area. Things go much easier when Grue is around, eh?

Tattletale helps Skitter stand up and guides her out of the darkness, where Grue is waiting. Apparently the smoke makes it troublesome for Grue to see. Pretty smart of Miss Militia, to make Grue unable to see! Good strategy! Speaking of strategies, what the Undersiders want to do now is run away, to achieve that, Skitter tells Grue where the rest of the team is at in middle of the darkness, and limps away.

Protip: if you get shot with nonlethal ammunition, it’d be swell if you told the ‘nonlethal’ part in the first sentence. Grue must have been rather startled for a moment!

The place to hide while everything calms down is in the lobby of an apartment building, three blocks away from the PRT building. Tattletale makes sure to send a message to Grue, most likely telling him where they’re hiding, and to Coil, surely telling him the mission was a success. Once another day of successful villainy!

Tattletale starts apologizing for what happened with the gun, saying she had deduced Dragon would deal with that above anything else – and she was right, yeah – so Skitter rightfully tells her she has nothing to apologize about. She doesn’t say what Heckpuppy did, though. That’s to be dealt with once the rest of the team arrives.

They’re still taking Shadow Stalker around, huh. For how much longer will they keep her? Do they intend to keep her captured or something?

Heckpuppy is surprised to see Skitter and tries to ask how she managed to get away, but Skitter is too furious to say even a word. She strikes her with the baton on the thigh, then backhands her.

It hurt. Damn it, I’d never really hit someone with my hands before.  I wondered if I’d managed to break something.

It’s not so easy to break anything with a backhand. I can’t say with certainty, but maybe you’d be at bigger risk of breaking a bone or two in your hand?

Everyone moves to try to stop Skitter, she avoids Grue and Imp’s attempts, and warns Shadow Stalker/Regent from interfering. Not having any other option, Grue demands an explanation. “Ask her”, Skitter says right before shoving her baton into Heckpuppy’s mouth. Well she’s not going to answer any question now, is she, Skitter. Not that she would have.

Once Heckpuppy is shoved down with the baton in her mouth, and Shadow Stalker is away enough and unable to hear anything, Skitter explains what happened. Wow, Skitter is using swears and all! She’s truly furious. Heckpuppy tries to fight back, forcing Skitter to move in a way that’d ensure she wouldn’t get hit in any place where it hurt.

“You’re a coward, Rachel,” I spoke, “You just did the very same thing you hate me for almost doing.  You stabbed me in the back.  You fucked over your own teammate.”

...uh...well she’s not wrong! Heckpuppy did what they thought Skitter would end doing – betraying a teammate. In terms of actions, Heckpuppy’s sins are heavier, so to say. Can there really be no retaliation for this from Heckpuppy later? Skitter’s trying to force her to not do anything else, telling her to just accept Skitter is back and to just...chew on that resentment and do nothing because Skitter’s not going to tolerate any further backstabbing.

I’m not sure if I approve how clear Skitter is making this be, or if I repudiate her methods. I feel a weird combination of both feelings. I mean, I know Heckpuppy can take the punishment with no problem, so...yeah, maybe if she was doing this to a civilian, I’d be disapproving this much more.

When I spoke next, I bent low and whispered the words for her and her alone, “When you’re tossing and turning and trying to sleep, remembering what I did and said here and getting pissed off about it?  Remember that you were the weak one.  You embarrassed yourself, fucked up, you were the weakling, the wuss who couldn’t even confront me face to face.  And knowing you like I do?  I’m betting it’s going to gnaw at you.  That’s as much a punishment as I could inflict, I think.  That’s on you, not me.

Wow. Just...wow. That’s savage. Savage and most likely effective. She finishes with a threat to break Heckpuppy’s jaw for real if she tries to backstab her again and is unsuccessful at that. Well this isn’t going to cause bad blood at all, nope, no sir! I’m not sure if she’d take this as an invitation to try again or not...

Now that she made very clear what the situation is, Skitter lets Heckpuppy stand up. She’s not immediately attacked by Heckpuppy, I’ll take that as a good sign, although if looks could kill, well, Skitter would be six feet under right now. Sensing she has control over the situation, she extends the olive branch, making clear this isn’t a sign of weakness, of course.

“I fucked up, you fucked up, whatever.  Insult for insult, blow for blow, I’d like to think we’re even.  So now I’m going to trust you to have my back.  I’m going to put myself in more situations where you have a prime chance at fucking me over, backstabbing me, catching me at my most vulnerable.  Because we can’t function as a team any other way.

“I’m going to treat you like a damned teammate, Rachel, but I’ll go one step further. You think you can put this behind you and satisfy yourself with what you tried to pull earlier tonight?  Cool.  Because if you’re willing, I’ll come with you to help take care of your dogs.  I’ll bring fucking lunch, if you want it. That’s the deal I’m offering you, pissed as I am right now.  I’ll be your damn friend.”

She’s right again, a team can’t work together if they have to watch out for backstabbing all the time. Either they bury the hatchet, or this simply won’t work at all. I don’t think Heckpuppy will ever think of her as a friend ever again, but yeah...continuing the feud isn’t a viable option. I wouldn’t count on Heckpuppy letting you come close of her or her dogs ever again, Skitter. I hope you’re not getting your hopes up on that regard.

But hey, at least she’s trying to defuse the situation, and that’s what matters. Even if it doesn’t work, she tried and that’s what’s important, and everyone else in the team will see she did try. If anything further happens, it’ll be clear Skitter won’t have any of the blame in it.

Surprise surprise, Heckpuppy’s not going to take the deal. Thought so. The matter is closed, though, so...yeah, what’s next? Right, deciding what to do with Shadow Stalker. Imp wants to keep her around, as if this was some random pet picked up from the streets but everyone else wants to let Shadow Stalker go – including Regent, he can’t control anyone while he’s sleeping.

“This kind of mind control is pretty high up there on the scale of fucked upness. People are going to respond to that. It might be the nudge they need to start responding to us with lethal force.  Think of how different tonight would have played out if Dragon and Miss Militia hadn’t held back”

Skitter’s making a lot of good points tonight! Truly, it’s in their best interests to keep a relatively low profile in the scale of danger. Is there someone in Brockton Bay who warrants being fought with lethal force? I think the global threats like the Endbringers and the Slaughterhouse Nine would be the only ones who would be a target for such measures, or those capes with powers that’d mean it’d be too dangerous to leave alive – dangerous as in ‘everything will be destroyed’ or ‘a lot of people will die’. I don’t think any villain from Brockton Bay would receive lethal force. Heck, Bakuda planted bombs all over the city, detonated them, killed and injured a couple hundred people, surely caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, and yet she was captured and sent to the Birdcage.

Now that it was decided what would be done with Shadow Stalker, Regent makes her stand in front of him, and liberates her from his control. She drops to the floor, grunts, and stands up again with a bolt ready to shoot. Speed truly is her forte, eh? Not that she gets any time to shoot, Regent stops her rather easily.

“There’s a catch,” he spoke. “My power?  Once I’ve figured someone out?  It’s a lot easier to control them, after.  Any time you come near me, I can do this.  I can use my power and retake control in the blink of an eye.”

Oh, yikes. That just right there? She was turned into a liability. Nobody can count on Shadow Stalker to fight the Undersiders from now on, unless some way to stop her from being controlled is invented in the near future. That sure must be frustrating for her, because if there’s something Shadow Stalker loves, is to fight. Physical violence is another thing she’s good at, and now she can’t approach the group she’ll hold a grudge on. That’s going to gnaw at her forever!

Besides, uh, how near is ‘near me’? What’s Regent’s ratio? I wouldn’t be surprised if he controlled Shadow Stalker for kicks and giggles just because she’s nearby, even if she’s fighting someone else, or just hanging around as a civilian. Regent pretty much has Shadow Stalker under his thumb.

Ah, there he goes, he does outright mention Shadow Stalker is now a liability.

“Unless you leave.  Skip town. Join another team.”

So...yep, Regent and the rest just obliterated Shadow Stalker’s life. She now has to leave everything behind to go somewhere else, to a place where Regent can’t reach her. I feel a fuzzy feeling of satisfaction, although...this would mean Shadow Stalker wouldn’t appear anymore in Worm, then. I may dislike her a lot, but it can’t be denied that of the three bullies, she’s the one I can say I tolerate the most. She’s the one with the depth and with the ‘heroic’ role, after all. She has a purpose and a reason to be an antagonist to the main characters, the story would change a lot if she didn’t exist. The other two bullies are much less important. Emma is a small fry in every way possible, now that Skitter won’t return to the school anymore, and...and...uh, whatever the third one was called matters even less. Madison, was it? I can’t even remember.

The bright side is that I can’t say with certainty Shadow Stalker won’t appear anymore. Mr. Wildbow has showed he isn’t afraid of messing around with characters, showing some that seem minor but appear again...yeah, despite how this looks, I’m not 100% thinking this is Shadow Stalker’s swan song.

It’s decided Shadow Stalker will be freed once she’s on the other side of the city, to avoid she following them. They still have to meet Coil and give him the information, yep. They’re not going to his hideout, they’ll meet him somewhere else, where he and a lot of mercenaries are waiting.

I’m absolutely unsurprised to hear Dragon has this information encrypted. Coil’s workers are the very best, though, with a whole team working on this they should be able to break the encryption and fill in the blanks the interrupted download caused. That’s a lot of talent! But that’s not what’s important right now, Coil has priorities: files about the Slaughterhouse Nine. Oh, please tell more about them! I’m curious. I have heard the Slaughterhouse Nine are rather popular villains among the Worm fandom, I wonder what kind of villains they are?

I felt a chill, but didn’t say anything.  Was he intending to hire them?  It would be a huge mistake in my book, if he was.

I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think the Slaughterhouse Nine are the kind of people you can hire. They sound a lot like loose cannons – in a way – and Coil doesn’t strike me as the kind of person that’d be willing to hire people who could turn dangerous in a moment’s notice. Dangerous towards him, I mean.

It’s known the Slaughterhouse Nine have been going around, preying on civilians and disrupting recovery efforts. Preying...hm. I have to wonder if that’s literal. I mean, I don’t mean in a cannibalism sort of way, it’s more like if their powers require killing people, or something like that. In this world such thing would be possible, right?

When Coil asks Dinah how likely it’s for one of his teams to encounter the Slaughterhouse Nine, Dinah asks who they are. Time to reveal one by one what kind of capes the Undersiders will unavoidably deal with in the future!

“Bonesaw.” he spoke.  The girl on the screen looked barely older than Dinah, maybe the same age as Aisha. The image showed her wide-eyed, a spray of dried blood painted her face at a diagonal.

That tells me absolutely nothing about her power, unfortunately. ‘Bonesaw’ is quite the ominous name, though. Whatever she can do definitely won’t be pretty.

“Shatterbird.” A dark-haired, brown-skinned woman with a helmet covering the upper half of her face, in a beak shape.  I was reminded of Iron Falcon, the boy I’d tried to help, who’d died in the Endbringer attack.  From what I’d read, Shatterbird usually used her power as the Nine arrived in a city, to maximize panic and terror.  I supposed they were flying under the radar for now.  Fuck, I’d have to do something about my costume, just in case.

What power is it, though? Some kind of psychological influence in the population, perhaps? I don’t think ‘Shatterbird’ is a real word, and I’m wary about looking in Google if it really is a word. I don’t want to stumble into spoilers, after all.

It’s strange Skitter is worried about her costume, though...I can’t seem to figure out why.

“Crawler.” No portrait, this time.  It was a still from a surveillance camera, a misshapen silhouette, not even humanoid, in a shadowy area.  I’d come across stories about him when I’d been researching possible superhero names for myself.  Not pretty.

You can’t say something like that and not go into detail, Skitter, welp. Crawler sounds dreadful, just from the fact there’s not even a clear image of him.

“Mannequin.” Another long-distance shot.  The figure was standing by Bonesaw in the photograph, with other hulking figures within the shadows of the background.  He stood almost twice her height, and he looked artificial.  His body was in pieces, each section wrapped in a hard shell of ceramic or plastic or white-painted metal – I couldn’t be sure.  His joints were a mix of loose chains and ball joints.  A Tinker with a body-modification fetish.  I couldn’t say how much of the transformation was his own power and how much was Bonesaw’s work.

Well, it looks like Mannequin was responsible for one of the bodies the Wards found, then. I can already guess what kind of power he has. Body modification, huh.

“The Siberian.” A woman, naked from head to toe, her body painted in alternating stripes of jet black and snow white.  She had gone up against the Triumvirate – Legend, Alexandria and Eidolon – on a dozen occasions, and she was still around to talk about it.  Or around, at least.  From what I’d read, she didn’t talk.

There’s an inherent irony on someone called ‘The Siberian’ going around completely naked. Siberia isn’t really a temperate place, you know. No clue about her power. I wonder if the stripes on her body are something she paints on herself, if it’s related to her power, or if her skin turned like that when she gained her powers?

“Burnscar.” Younger, maybe an older teenager or a young-looking twenty-something.  She looked almost normal, with her dark hair badly cut, but then I saw the vertical row of cigarette burns marking each of her cheeks, and a faint glow to her eyes.

Descriptive. I’d be rather surprised if her power has no relation at all to fire.

“Hatchet Face.” This was one I hadn’t even heard of. The man didn’t wear a mask, and his head was shaved.  He looked like he had been beaten, burned and just plain abused so often that his face was as much scar tissue than flesh, and he didn’t look like he’d been handsome to begin with.

Kind of an insensitive question that immediately crossed my mind: did the Hatchet Face moniker come before, or after his face was like that? Then I realized that was kind of a messed up thing to think. My bad.

“Jack Slash.” Jack looked like someone on the attractive side of average, his dark hair cut short and styled with gel.  His beard and moustache were immaculately trimmed so that each had a serrated edge, and his shirt was wrinkled, only half buttoned so his hairless upper chest showed.  He had kind of a Johnny Depp look to him, though he had more of a widow’s peak, a longer face and lighter eyes.  Good looking, if you looked past the fact that he was a mass murderer.  He held a small kitchen knife in the photo.

Pffft, you just had to namedrop Johnny Depp, Mr. Wildbow, didn’t you. You thought that’d be fun, didn’t you. Now every time Jack Slash is mentioned or he appears in the story I’ll forever picture him as Johnny Depp. Thanks a lot, buddy.

The Slaughterhouse Nine are people that were already pretty messed up before acquiring powers. I wonder what kind of situations were the trigger for them? It sounds like Jack Slash is the leader and Bonesaw is...I’m not sure...a recruiter, kind of, given what it says about Jack being able to keep the group more or less intact and Bonesaw attracts psychos. There are also eight members and they may be looking for a replacement for the ninth member, since the members change quite often.

Okay, uh, what comes is a bit long of a copy-paste, but it needs context, so...

“Mmm,” Dinah said.

“What is it, pet?” Coil murmured.

“It’s him.”

“Who?”

She pointed at the screen, at Jack Slash.  “Him.”

“You’re going to have to explain it to us, pet.  What about him?”

“He’s the one who makes everyone die.”

I shivered. What?

“Everyone here?”

Dinah shook her head, her hair flying out to either side.  “Everyone.  I don’t understand.  Can’t explain.”

If there were any feeble doubts about the main characters getting in the way of the Slaughterhouse Nine, all those doubts are now gone. It is unavoidable they will. Jack Slash is already being built to be a major antagonist in this story, just from Dinah’s prediction he’s going to kill everyone. ‘Everyone’ and ‘kill’ are not words you want to hear together, after all.

“Sometimes it’s in two years.  Sometimes it’s in eight.  Sometimes in between.  But if he’s alive, something happens, and everyone on Earth starts to die.  Not that everyone doesn’t die anyways but they die really fast when that something happens, all one after another, and in a year almost everyone is dead.  So I said everyone, if that makes sense and a few live but they die pretty soon after anyways and-“

Global apocalypse, then? And Jack Slash is the one who causes it? No, her wording is a bit odd. If he’s alive something happens. She doesn’t say he’s going to kill everyone. Maybe Jack Slash will trigger something, accidentally or intentionally, that will lead to the end of the world. Maybe his mere existence causes it. Heck, maybe some inconsequential action from him snowballs into something big and bad. All that matters is that something will happen and it involves him.

“His power isn’t all that, I don’t think,” Grue spoke, slowly, as if considering the words as he spoke.  “Space warping effect, so any blades he’s holding have an edge that extends a horrendously long distance, all with the optimal force behind the swing.  Swings his knife, cuts through an entire crowd. Doesn’t make sense that he’d be able to murder everyone on Earth.”

Well that sure is a fitting power for a superpowered killer. The edge must be rather sharpened, too, if it’s capable of cutting through an entire crowd like that.

“Unless he somehow cuts the planet in half,” Tattletale mused.

Sounds like the natural progression of his power. Who knows, maybe the more time passes, the more powerful he becomes, and in a few years his power is strong enough to be able to cut through kilometers of Earth crust all the way down to the core of the planet. Hey, this is Worm, something like that is theoretically possible.

The odds he destroys everyone are disquietingly high. Eighty-three percent? That’s...way too high! And the odds of successfully killing him soon are not very high. Thirty-one percent of someone killing him. The end of the world still happens, though. Hm. In that case, it sounds more like Jack Slash hastens whatever’s going to happen, it’s not his existence causing it. Welp. Everyone’s hella doomed, then!

If Coil sends one of his teams to kill Jack Slash, well, it’s more likely the team dies. The Travelers only have twenty-two percent odds, the Undersiders have even less. No sending any team, then. There’s no way he’s going to risk the deaths of his teams senselessly.

Oh, there we go! Sixty percent chance the Undersiders encounter some of the Slaughterhouse Nine. Only sixty percent? More like one hundred percent, Mr. Wildbow, you’re not fooling me. They’re so encountering them, and it won’t be pretty at all. There’s no way they won’t encounter them, not after everything you have written and done. At least Coil has the good sense to order the Undersiders to have staying alive as their priority, even if it involves abandoning a job. Hm. Now I have to wonder which ones of the Slaughterhouse Nine they will meet.

Coil may actually contact the heroes to let them know about what will happen. Would he actually do that? Well, most likely, if it’s beneficial to him, and I think the world existing would be mighty beneficial for him.

What follows is reorganization, giving to members of the Undersiders locations to be stations for them. They’re also expected to recruit people. Fantastic, the Undersiders have gone from an inconsequential team to full-fledged villains, now that they’re expected to recruit people! That’s bound to be fun. Everyone receives a territory, Heckpuppy and Tattletale even will have henchmen working for them already. This is going to be really fun, seriously!

Everyone will receive an email at their new location...I’m not sure why, but that sounds kind of sketchy, like they each will receive an order the rest can’t find out about. The Undersiders are dismissed, Skitter requests to talk to Coil in private.

I wasn’t sure I liked that our group was being split up like this.  The timing seemed bad.  I’d sort of been hoping I could repair the divide, and that would be hard if we were each in our own territories, doing our own things.

I don’t know, I think it may be for the better. The city is pretty much falling apart, making sure it won’t may be more important than mending bridges with the rest of the team. Besides, even if they’re separated, they still can talk to each other. Something could be done.

The reason why Skitter wanted to talk to Coil alone is because she’s now prepared to ask for her reward for helping him, like he had offered in the limousine.

“I asked you to fix the city, you told me you planned on doing that anyways, that I should ask for something else.”

“And you’ve decided.”

“Yeah,” I took a deep breath.  “Dinah. Your… pet.”

That’s not going to work. Coil is too attached to Dinah’s power to just let her go because Skitter asks that. No, this won’t stand. And indeed, he won’t. Skitter hurries to clarify, saying that once Coil has succeeded in taking over the city, he should let Dinah go. That sounds a tad more reasonable, I guess...not perfect, definitely not good for Dinah, but eh. It’s more reasonable to Coil than if she outright demands Dinah to be freed right now.

The problem is just how long it’ll take for Coil to take over the city. Months? A year or two? It’s not like there’s infinite time, I mean, the deaths of everyone on Earth is in the near future.

It’s a deal. Skitter now has an incentive to perform really well and help Coil. She goes downstairs, where Grue and Imp are unpacking their supplies for their new center of operations, and goes outside.

I took a deep breath, to calm my nerves.  I could do this.  Whatever I had to do, I was going to help that girl.

She’s making progress, at least. It’s not a definite solution, and Coil still has complete control over the situation, but it’s a start. I bet Dinah’s freedom will be a big turning point in Worm, like the Endbringer attack was. Given how the Slaughterhouse Nine’s presence seem to be the current focus of the story, I’d say that’s what will bring the most change for now, and once that plotline is done with, the Dinah plotline will be continued and finished.

I think I should end this here. The next chapter is the Interlude, so that means this was the end of Arc 10. Once another arc masterfully executed! I especially liked Dragon intervening, that I never saw coming. This chapter gave her more time to show her personality and convictions, and I liked what I saw. It also sets up plotlines, and shows more stuff is going to change in the Undersiders’ lives. The story continues, the pacing is good, I’m content. I like this.

I would add more points to the plot-o-meter for Worm, but it’s already full.

Thank you for reading!

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