You might be right. I'm still holding to my theory, but we might not ever know for sure which, if either, are correct.

On another note, does anyone else wonder if Accord [leader of The Ambassadors and perfectionist ex-Boston crimelord who made Sundancer dance for him] is Tattletale's father? I was re-reading Tt's origin story at the end of 19-7 [ctfl-f for 'Rex' to get to that convo], and realised that most of it seems to fit. If Accord was the distant father who blamed Tt for Rex's death and then used Tt's powers for his family's gain while pretending to love her, then it'd go a long way towards explaining why Tt strongly dislikes Accord, the leader of The Ambassadors. It'd also explain Tt's ridiculously wealthy origins and her ability to steal a substantial sum of money from her parents before scarpering. Accord and Tt were both associates of Coil.

There could be a thousand different reasons why Tt hates Accord, but this one fits. Loosely. Any holes in it?

 

Dragon does get weekly backups, so he can just roll back the changes if shit goes south in a serious way. She'd lose memory, and it wouldn't be optimal, but it's a possibility. With that possibility in mind, it's feasible to take a chance and upgrade in the field.

 

Possibly her trigger. It was under duress that she got it, and supposedly second generation parahumans are said to have an easier trigger than first generation.

 

I assume you meant "easier trigger than first", and that's true. It doesn't necessarily rule it out, but it does suggest against it. It would mean that Tattletale had a harder trigger than many 2nd gen capes experience [I say 'many' but the only one I specifically recall is Glory Girl being fouled in a sports game], or Accord isn't her father.

 

You assumed right, just fixed it.

I just finished reading that part you linked and well, she had it in her sleep. Nightmares? Not sure, but that actually lends credit to your theory, because Taylor was in a locker full of fucking used tam-pads. Lisa's trigger seems utterly sublime when compared to that. Not as easy as Glory Girl's, though.

 

Walking Disaster linked a pic in the WTF Image thread, which immediately reminded me of Panacea.

http://i.imgur.com/ujcn35H.jpg

 

Sweet christ, the FMA flashbacks.

 

I wonder if Cauldron had a hand in this stunt at the school; they can't be too happy with Skitter and the Undersiders at the moment. The entire Protectorate almost falls apart and its top three superheroes get outed as, essentially, Cauldron agents? Yeah, I bet they're pretty pissed.

If they have a few people placed within the upper echelons of government as well as still maintaining a grip on the PRT it would explain why Dragon is so adamant in getting rid of her shackles, especially if they know of her status as an AI compelled to obey any order from a legitimate body. Which is likely considering she was hijacked to carry out this hasty plan despite her protests.

(Interlude 16 Donation bonus 2)

If the PRT and the government really is under Cauldron's thumb I can see Dragon going rogue after getting her code tweaked (and she's really only an honorary Protectorate member, she's part of the Guild from memory). It would be awesome if she and Skitter teamed up against Cauldron for the inevitable confrontation but I think I'm getting ahead of myself.

Anyways, fantastic chapter.

 

updates. and ya. I wont add anything this is just too much.

 

Well fuck, I was wrong yak. God dammit.

That part was way more depressing than the end. I'd been worried for a while that Defiant would somehow irrevocably fuck Dragon up, and that THAT might be part of the end of the world- Jack escapes, causing D&D to chase him, causing Defiant to start fiddling with her programming, and eventually he breaks something. No S9 to chase, no changing of Dragon's stuff.

But it looks like she'll heal from it, if her touching his arm is any indication.

 

Yeah, I really feel for him. It's terrible that he didn't get to watch until where she had the support of a few hundred students, but someone'll probably talk to him about it. I'm sure it'll be in the papers, so the head of employment (or something along those lines) in the worker's union should hear it being discussed, or at least, someone will come up to him and thank him on behalf of someone for what his daughter did for them.

On the other hand, Cauldron was responsible for Gray Boy. In particular, it's implied they repeatedly sold him powers, so he's got to have a pretty varied powerset. I'm terribly curious about him and his powers, considering the S9 took Blasto in order to mass clone the past and present members. The thing I wonder, though. If each passenger gives the carrier their powers, would cloning actually activate the Corona Pollentia?

Also, since the clones are created from stored samples with "a really complex fungus" bridging the gaps in DNA, it's pretty unlikely they'll actually come out with the exact same powers, especially since some of them were Cauldron creations. Wouldn't an actual trigger event caused by trauma give them different powers, if powers are trigger event related? The aide in Theo's interlude seemed to imply such. Even then, Manton/Siberian wasn't triggered by his daughter's death and had to take a projection based formula to achieve his powers. How likely is it that his clones can actually manifest another Siberian as a result?

In addition, they don't have the memories of their past members ready to download into vat-grown clones, so there's nothing to say the clones won't just go beserk and try to kill them... Or maybe that's the point. Unleash dozens of insane and angry clones of some of the most powerful parahumans to have ever lived which have no experience except pain. I'm intrigued to see what Wildbow's gonna do with them.

 

They did? For some reason I don't recall, I'd thought that taking more than one vial wouldn't work properly or something.

Hmm...

On the matter of Gray Boy, we don't know if the original is dead. He could make a reappearance when he realises his clone is running around.

Echidna would say yes.

I'd forgotten about the mechanics of how the clones were created. I wonder if the heroes will be able to use that knowledge to come at them sideways, instead of taking the direct and confrontational path.

Echidna cloned both the 'natural' and 'Cauldron-made' capes and powers alike.

Goddamn but Bonesaw scares the shit out of me.

 

“It meant more people with powers to fight the Endbringers, that was the lie we told ourselves. But we created the Siberian and Shatterbird, in a roundabout way. We created the Gray Boy, selling him powers, finding ourselves unable to stop him when he went out of bounds. There were countless others. Echidna is just the latest in a long series of grave mistakes.” - 19.6

Emphasis mine.

Echidna was creating clones of the same age, with their memories. Bonesaw/Blasto would be creating clones that are vat aged. So Echidna is attempting to create carbon copies, Bonesaw is using a DNA sample and plant matter to grow a baby to an adult in hours.

Echidna's interlude said it. Too early and they come out deformed (Regent's clone was missing an arm or something), too late and they have extra stuff (tumours and the like).

Effectively, Echidna is doing magical cloning, and Bonesaw is doing magically accelerated scientific cloning. Though perhaps, after trigger events, the clones would have twisted versions of the original's power. Like Echidna clones.

See above.

 

It could be that Echidna passenger was able to let those capes use their powers when they were cloned.

Either way it doesn't matter. There's no way in hell wildblow would actually have that Interlude there without it working out. So, yeah, mass produced S9 on the way. How it works, though, is any one's guess. One passenger, but multiple people having access to the same passenger would be my guess.

 

Wildbow, not wildblow. Regardless, he could have. Just dozens of psychotic clones with only vague memories and abilities (Blasto copied his scientific knowledge and languages to his monkey thing) with varied powers running around is almost as terrifying as them organised. If the Conservation of Ninjutsu principle holds, then it's even more so. And even if one clone had half of what any of them had, it'd be terrifying. Or just for Bonesaw and Jack to sigh about how they had such plans which went awry, which only made them feel the need to pull off something even more extravagant.

That said, I don't see why Crawler would be scary without his years of prior regeneration and evolution. A human whom you can't really effectively hurt isn't scary for someone like Eidolon, or Legend. Or even someone who could restrain him long enough to seal him in a vault of some kind, straightjacketed and bound.

 

Is Accord the only other person who knows about the possibility of S9 clones? I mean, he provided the lab in the first place, so he probably could've put the pieces together from the aftermath. If the Ambassadors are moving in then I can't see how he won't play a larger role in the next arc.

 

Yeah what Ennead said. I think that if we also connect Tattle Tale to Accord then this entire situation begins to make a lot of sense from a storytelling perspective. I feel absolutely terrible for Danny. He didn't even really get to see any of the good things Skitter has done.

Hearing your own kid talk casually about cutting out someone's eyes? That's awful.

Stan and his TV crew were annoying on a personal level but a useful lens to look at the aftermath with.

 

So, I've just finished the story. Again. Yeah, I've read the entirety of it twice now. It's amazing how many of the small details you miss on the first time through.

 

I think the interlude was interesting but might shift the power of power too dramatically. One Siberian was enough, what with her complete and utter invulnerability that she can also impart to others. Hell, she could've taken down Leviathan or Behemoth single-handedly with zero risk to herself, and now there's gonna be clones of her running around?
I doubt it. At least in regards to her, I don't think there's gonna be clones running around. None of the other S9 are nearly on that level of danger, with the possible exception of Gray Boy who we don't know about. Bonesaw is terrifying, but decently killable and even Crawler wouldn't stand a good chance again Legend or Alexandria.