Spoiler

Hmm... The police have the damning messages from Sophia's phone. Remember when Regent emailed an Emma/Sophia SMS conversation [about them tormenting Taylor] to the Brockton Bay police? You wouldn't if you don't read the interludes.

I think it's almost time for those chickens to come home to roost.

In the immediate term though, I think we're going to see Taylor move through this with words. Out-Emma Emma, you might say. We've seen how good Taylor's become at social manipulation, whether it's her image to her people, or managing her employees, or breaking Greg. In the last chapter she thinks "Except the difference from then and now was that I felt a hell of a lot more like an Emma than a Taylor".

I suspect Taylor will hurt Emma, emotionally and/or socially, with words. It will be a calculated attack.

Only two hours until we find out if I'm right. My previous guesses haven't been very accurate though. This isn't a super-predictable story.

 

Spoiler

I don't think there will be a notable confrontation between Emma and Taylor just yet. It's mentioned that everyone who's outside is paying attention to them, including the guards. I believe the guard at the front gate will step in before anything really happens, at which point Taylor will ask for her knife back and just walk away, giving Emma some food for thought at how much she's changed.

Also, I'll bet all everyone else will see is a Brockton Bay survivor being confronted/harassed by someone who fled the city, which won't win Emma any points towards her 'Queen of Arcadia' goal.

Really looking forward to the update.

EDIT: Updated.

 

Spoiler

I think Clockblocker squealed

 

Probably. It may've been KidWin if he's built the speculated device to detect unusual insect movements.

 

Dang, didn't even think of that. Especially since it probably looked like waves of insects crashing on a 'shore' around the school, as she got madder and calmer. Might as well be a LOLSKITTER IS HERE sign.

 

1) Read over the part where as soon as Howell enters Taylor's name into the computer, it promptly crashes on her.
2) Then take a look at the way she suddenly has access to a bunch of different e-mails and information and seems quite distracted.
3) Consider who already knows Taylor's identity.
4) Proceed to shit bricks.

 

The dragon comes? That's my guess anyway.

I'd be happy if it turned out to be clock though,

 

The interaction with Emma was a bit disappointing, she didn't get the smackdown she deserved, neither verbally nor otherwise. Maybe she'll end cought up in the Skitter/Whomever fight outside the school, getting wasted by flying debris or something.

 

It's kind of a let-down that Skitter hasn't upgraded her ability in terms of things she can control. I was expecting her to move onto larger and more intelligent animals as time went on (we know her power's not limited to insects since she uses rats) and would eventually be able to use it on humans to some extent, but that was wishful thinking, I guess. It'd make her too OP.

Spoiler

Two questions: can Cauldron give powers to people who already have them? And Clockblocker, who uses his ability on both humans and objects, has somehow bypassed the Manton effect, right? No one seems to mention it despite the fact he's the exception to a rule.

 

Ah, my bad. I think I confused them during the Echidna arc.

 

During the Echidna arc I think one of her clones can control rats.

Cauldron can't give powers to people that already have them.

There are several capes who bypass the Manton effect- I think it's just a plot device to prevent certain powers from being far too strong (like Faultline or Labyrinth or Vista).

 

During Echidna, rats were being directly made/controlled by the big bad (just like it did to bugs and ordinary people). Taylor has made a point of killing rats with her bugs on two or three occasions.

And about the Manton Effect, yea. It' supposed to be an effect that prevents harm from being inflicted to the bearer of the powers (in some theories). Since Clockblocker's power wouldn't really cause any permanent harm to himself then it's understandable enough that he wouldn't have this limitation.

 

Didn't think of that and it makes sense. I vaguely remember Dragon setting up something to keep track of Taylor? Trying to find her? Can't be fucked to try and find the exact spot in the story.

As to the story,

It's a whole engrossing world, well thought-out, well delivered, well imagined, and just written really damn well.

I really can't praise this piece of fiction any better. It's got some issues, they are there, including the pacing issues. They are a lot of ups, lots of tension, but few valleys between. I loved reading them, but sometimes it grew too much. I had to wait a few days before picking it up again at some points.

And the whole sub-plot with the how the Travelers got here? Interesting background, but could have gone without reading those chapters. (Trickster's characterization up to that point was not consistent.) I understand it's importance in the fic's future, but still did not like reading that POV.

But, it has two things that just blow my mind. Excellent characterization, an engrossing plot, and it's just so well imagined. The author doesn't tell us everything, just drops tidbits along the way. Breadcrumbs that we piece together slowly. And the powers and the imagination behind them is incredible. Though, some of the names seem kind meh at times.

Once again DLP has introduced me to mighty fine literature to partake and read. First Joe's Series, then the Anthology and now this. Awesome.

EDIT: Also have to mention, some of the visuals and situations in this beast were just fucked-up. And I'm not just talking about Bonesaw either, though that's just...yeah. I'll just say it's one of the fic's strengths and reinforces the author's impressive imagination.

 

Actually, one minor thing- he can't use his power on himself. He has to use it on his suit. Works on other people though.

Sort of like how Manton could extend invulnerability to everyone except himself.

 

Yeah it was sort of sad to see Emma just brushed aside. It makes sense and realistically was the only thing that could happen but still. I just want to see her smarmy face get pushed in a bit.

I'm also slightly disappointed that it looks like Skitter isn't going to get a second trigger event. I mean, if she was going to get one it probably would have been during the Echidna arch right? Even if it just expanded her range or let her reinforce her bugs or something. Fuck, who am I kidding? I just want more super bugs like Atlas.

 

She might have already had one. In the interlude where Purity was talking to that parahuman professor he did mention a theory where the first and second trigger events can happen almost simultaneously. Considering Taylor spent a week in hospital after she had hers... it's possible.

But yeah, a swarm of giant insects will be cool (and scary) as shit.

 

Brainstorm. Like what Bitch does to her dogs? That'd be a neat, albeit incredibly unlikely, second trigger event. I don't see Panacea recreating her feat for Skitter anytime soon. That tinker from Boston[?] who made the animated plants would've been a decent bet if the Slaughterhouse Nine hadn't caught up with him. He could've made some marvellous creatures for Skitter.

Regarding the limits of Skitters powers, her range of control has increased, and she's integrated them into her existence well enough that they may as well be a natural limb.

Skitter can control a lot more than just insects though. As far as we know, she can control anything with a simple nervous system.

Worms - Skitter's been seen to control at least 2 of the 3 categories of worms [nematodes and annelides]. There's no reason to think she can't control Platyhelminthes [flatworms, tapeworms, and flukes] too. I wonder if Skitter will fight someone suffering from worms one day. It'd be a brutal, silent, takedown [bar the screaming] assuming the worms can do much damage on the inside.

Arthropods - eg. Insects, arachnids, and crustaceans, all have a simple ventral nerve cord. Aside from the deadly scorpions, centipedes, and spiders we usually think of, the Japanese Spider Crab can measure up to 3.8m from claw to claw.



We haven't really seen what Skitter's able to do in marine environments. Jellyfish, squid, octopus, lobsters, krill, et al. are all possibilities. If you want to see what other giant arthropods, including insects, are out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_organisms#Arthropods_.28Arthropoda.29

I like Skitter being extremely limited and an obvious underdog. It forces her to use smarts, guile, and adaptability to resolve situations, rather than the author lazily using power creep. The one area I was guessing Skitter might unexpectedly gain control was AIs. They have extremely simplistic nervous systems, if you can call them that. They're still electric though. And depending on how mechanical vs. biomechanical they are... Seeing as we saw an AI using a human-analogue-meat-puppet though, the nervous system is probably far beyond Skitter's abilities.

edit: In the light of day, that was a bad weird post.

 

On the subject of Taylor 'upgrading' her ability. As much as I want it to happen - for reasons of awesome - I don't think it will. And it probably shouldn't for the reasons given by Yak.

Also, I think rats have a brain complexity easily within an order of magnitude of dogs (and just about anything non-human) which would create a buttload of tensions with Rachel.

Still a second trigger could allow her to control things that are not self-aware, would a be a good way of having a hard limit on what she can control rather than just the nebulous 'simple brains'.

Oh, true, I'd forgotten that. The Manton Effect works in mysterious ways, then

 

Please don't forget that controlling insects isn't Taylor's only power. She can multitask on a level that is a orders of magnitude above what any normal human can do. She was able to communicate with and organize dozens or even hundreds of people at the same time and do it while fighting.
She was able to function so well while being blind, that nobody even noticed.

If you gave her any additional powers she'd jump straight to the top of the list of parahumans in terms of powers.