Well, the dynamic is already shot. She's in prison, unless they all plan to go to prison with her, there won't be any dynamic for a while. Kind of why I'm not looking forward to "Cell".

 

Jack gave Theo and Aster two years to kill him before he killed them. The 15/16 years might be referring to Aster, as she's a baby right now. Plus, they're among the first documented 3rd gen capes.

 

I think the endbringer might be related somehow to that fae queen in the birdcage.

 

And you thought it couldn't get worse with Blasto.

Damn tinkers.

 

At least the good guys have some idea of what the Nine are up to. Clone army is something they can sort of prepare for, even if they don't know they have the DNA of all the members.

Anywho, now I'm scratching my head as to what comes next. Skitter's plan to help D&D hunt the Nine would have been a good one, if it were still relevant. Not sure what she'll be able to get out of Tagg though, since he's so unyielding. We may even get to see a trial, which would be interesting, but can the PRT risk letting her have access to a public forum like that?

Her lawyer seems to think they could get most of the charges dropped and have her tried as a minor, which would probably rule out the Birdcage as punishment. Juvie? I really can't see her playing up the weak, misguided teenager role.

If Tagg stays firm, does Skitter allow the Undersiders to run head first into the PRT when they're fully expected? Say all you want about the Undersiders but the odds are stacked against them here with all the prep and reinforcements called in. Does Skitter have to wave them off to stop them being hurt or captured?

There are a lot of ways this can go. I'm pretty damn excited.

 

Awesome chapter of course.

That list of charges was a real eye-opener. At some point in the story, I stopped thinking of criminal acts as, well, criminal acts. The charge of treason surprised me even though it makes sense now that I think about it.

 

I don't know, it seemed quite superfluous to me. Skitter's mediated enough upon her acts in the past and even had a couple of conversations about them (eg. Clockblocker) with characters with a quite different moral and legal compass than her to keep the illegality of her actions very much in the fore.

Aside from getting a deeper look into Tagg, which makes me assume that Skitter will not be able to get rid of him so easily, this chapter was rather boring to me.

 

I have the feeling that Skitter's lawyer may be a hidden cape. Consider this:

Maybe he's Couldrons ace in the sleeve to get Skitter out of dodge... Teleportation?

 

Surely, the holding cell would be cleared for teleportation. It would be a cheap plotdevice, if she just teleported away with her lawyer.

Regarding Taylor's father, do you believe him to be angry, disappointed or accepting? Not really sure, if they're going to threaten her father or just make him talk with Skitter in order to get her to compromise.

 

I don't think a trial is going to take place on the very virtue it would be messy to write. Skitter wouldn't have to go and testify, but people will still need to recant her (entire) life story to a jury and/or judge. Would make for a good hook into the story, but at this point? A lot of pointless fluff. Plus, we'd need to see some witness testimony. Really, a trial would be fun to read I think, but be way too laborious to write. Essentially the story sits in stasis while it happens. Skitter probably doesn't want the spotlight like that either - she wants to make a public announcement then probably slink back and avoid the limelight.

These chapters would be completely pointless if she just walked away free, too. Or if the Undersiders spirited her away. I can't see this going any which way but prison.

 

I'm thinking he's Miss Militia's instead. I get the feeling he was the lawyer who was able to get Assault out of going to the Birdcage (I think that's where he was headed) way back when.

 

Assault didn't use a lawyer to get out of going to the Birdcage. He talked his way out of the situation by appealing to Legend's sensibilities and the Protectorate's need for more capes on their side. I think Legend enjoyed the idea of helping to get Madcap and Battery together.

 

I'm getting tired of Tagg. He's obviously too hardheaded to listen to reason so arguing with him any more is pointless. Here's hoping that he gets stepped on by higher authorities during the negotiation; like Alexandria, who's already been shown to be great at compromising (her morals).

 

I kind of agree with Tagg that the Birdcage is inhumane. The glimpses we've seen from it even seem too civilized for what I'd expect of the situation.

You don't even necessarily need a prison that is inescapable for most parahuman prisoners. As far as I know, escaping from prison is a crime itself in the US. If a parahuman doesn't submit to prison and is dangerous, a kill order is set on them.
For minor crimes, restitution could be enough (many powers seem very useful).

-----

I'm still not sure what Taylor really gets out of this. If the Undersiders didn't want the heat on them anymore, why couldn't they just quietly fade into the background? What reason do they have anymore to try and control parts of the city? Now that Brockton Bay is recovering, they shouldn't really be needed anymore as a police stand-in. The real police can just take over again, now that the chaos has passed.

Why not just go to ground? They seem to have more than enough money now. They're not even really earning money by holding those territories, but losing it.

 

They get status by continuing to hold the city. Plus, the portal is going to be a huge source of income for the city.

 

I'm actually feeling a little bit torn about this last update. On the one hand it's put Skitter in a situation dramatically different than pretty much anything she's been in before. I'm interested in seeing the guts of the PRT exposed a little bit more, but that doesn't seem to be what this is about. Which actually leads me to my problem with the current situation.

I feel like this arch, and the last one, might actually be both designed as a bit of a cool down. Imago was good because it ramped up the stakes, but still managed to make it seem like there was less pressure on Skitter on a more personal level. Skitter's been lost for a very long time (read: after Dinah was put into a safe place). The fact that her info on the S9 was out of date just seems to drive home further that her plans might not be as well thought out as she thinks they are. Also: Does anyone else feel like she's repressing her emotions like crazy? Or maybe having them spread out amongst her bugs? I mean, she didn't even notice how angry she was getting until her bugs started writhing around last chapter.

I don't know how Cell is going to play out plot wise, but I think the result has to be Skitter regaining (or sharpening) her focus.

 

I always assumed she turned herself in mainly because it was the last step in her grand plan of "Cut all ties". She's just trying to leverage the most out of it now.

As for still holding the territory, Skitter figured that if not them, the portal will attract other villains who won't be as caring as the Undersiders. She also didn't trust the Protectorate to be able to deal with the chaos that would bring. If I remember correctly, that's the gist of what she told Miss Militia in one of their exchanges.

 

Ergh so that chapter happened. I'm kind of underwhelmed with how Cell is progressing so far. It's not bad exactly, just so dramatically different that I don't really know how this is going to go. The meeting with Danny didn't really hit any of the right notes either. Probably because Tagg didn't want it to.

Speaking of, man is he getting annoying. It's cool that part of my hate for him actually comes from how well Skitter's views are being presented. Still, he seems to be endlessly confrontational which is exhausting. He doesn't even really seem to be anything other than a one-dimensional hardass right now either. Especially since he's surrounded by other characters who do have multiple dimensions to them.

It's also kind of annoying to see all these people being brought in to visit Skitter. Inevitable given the situation but still vaguely frustrating. Next up we have Alexandria! Give her a hand!

Joking aside, I'm looking forward to seeing where this is going. I just hope that we don't end up with an info-dump or something stupidly contrived happening.

 

Alexandria. Hmm. I had a bizarre dream last night that Alexandria and Skitter were actually estranged sisters.

Alexandria knows Cauldron's plans for Coil/Skitter right? I'm expecting we'll see her push things in that direction, or maybe get a peek at what those plans are.

Something has been bugging me about this arc. Skitter has a 5 block radius with her bugs, so why hasn't she used them for anything apart from arthropodaudience? She's used them for communicating during battle situations, but hasn't thought to talk to journos, newspaper men, the Undersiders, or the general public? She can create a blackboard out of ladybugs which people can write in with their finger, like a public bulletin board but direct to Skitter. Heck, she can just hear people's questions and answer with bugs spelling out words on the wall. It could be done publicly or inside any of the myriad buildings which exist in a five block radius.

Just because Skitter's being detained doesn't mean her communication is cut off. She could be playing a much larger field than the inside of the PRT building.

 

Probably because she didn't want to really cut loose with all of her dirty secrets when there was still a chance that Tagg could accept her offer. It'd also have tipped them off about her arthropodaudience. Now, she's pressed for time, busy negotiating with Calle and Alexandria, which probably demands most of her attention.

I lol'd at "bugging you," though. That pun never seems to lose its luster.