So it begins. Simurgh & Contessa vs Scion

Battle of the precogs.

 

WTB Simurgh interlude...

It'd probably be something like a full seven thousand words of "Trolololol," though.

 

Welp, you pretty much called it.

Dangit doormaker. You were super useful. Now you're dead

Also, what exactly was Doctor mother implying, that she was responsible for khonsu?

 

It wasn't a Simurgh interlude but a Doctor Mother one. There may be a chance Doormaker lives, his "death" is by no means definitive.

 

Really enjoyed the Dragon and Defiant situation, I really, really hope we will see them get revenge on Saint and Teacher at the end. Either a happy conclusion to that or Dragon has become GlaDOS now. Both would work.

Well, I guess this is what happens when you play your game of survival so callously. Too many enemies hell-bent on revenge.

 

Contessa, Queen of Hax, laid low. That was honestly surprising, if it bears out to be true. Depending on the circumstances of her "defeat", it might just be another step on the Path to Victory though.

 

Most likely the case. As far as we are aware, apart from her Thinker power she is an ordinary human being. Against 50 parahumans of varying types, there was little she could do to contain them. Thus, the path to victory was likely GTFO of there and bide your time.

 

Also, the fucking Simurgh, man. Just... what the hell? Evoking Tattletale's dead brother with your body language? Low blow.

The Doctor also got a full dose of mindfuck:

Gee, it's almost as if telepathically invading the eldritch abomination was not a good idea!

Everybody's busy being fatalistic and shortsighted, while the Simurgh is sitting back, building superweapons and steepling her wingtips while going "Just as planned."

 

Another chapter chock full of people Taylor will be raging at for being so self-destructive. Joy.

On another note, Doormaker being dead or incapacitated could end up being a very serious problem for Taylor and Lisa. After all, wasn't Taylor surmising that Lisa's current base was in a place only accessible by Cauldron? What now?

Would be a real kick in the pants if Worm ends with those two being sidelined for the final battle because they had no way of making it there in time, only to finally break out to find that all the worlds had been effectively ended and Scion had skipped town due to boredom, defeat, whatever and having to pick up the pieces in Worm 2.

 

Update!

And once more we find Scion coming through with the inconvenient timing. I'm ready for this SimurghXScion showdown that seems to be imminent.

 

I seriously don't know how Weaver et al are going to manage this one. Foil was already lethally effective against Grey Boy, so I'd be surprised if she ended up having a substantial roll against Scion. Wildbow doesn't tend to repeat himself like that.

I'm not really sure how to feel about Worm anymore. The thing that I enjoyed most about it was the Villain-politics. Now that we're into the whole world ending threat I'm losing a touch of interest. Then again we've also got Weaver reunited with the Undersiders, so the friendships which made the first half of Worm so enjoyable are getting attention again. Maybe I'm just feeling residual resentment about Scion being revealed as the big bad. Cauldron's removal also feels anti-climactic. I hope there's more going on there (which there probably is).

 

I think the problem is that Worm for the longest time, was street level with the occasional event. That was the absolute best of the tale, but right now it feels like all of the incredible world building and characters are kind of shoved aside in a constant big crossover event.

 

That's actually a really succinct way of putting it.

 

I think we probably could have done with a larger intermediary period, where Taylor would grow up and gather allies to herself as the end of the world approaches. As it is we have a jump straight from street level to apocalypse, where I feel there could have been a greater exploration of international cape relations in between. More about the Yangban that didn't centre on Cody. The Thanda were too damn cool to just show up for Behemoth and then get wiped out by weaponised!Leviathan (or was it the Simurgh?).

I think that a plot arc that focused on fighting the Yangban or Thanda would have done a better job of introducing the Chicago Wards, setting the scene for the End of the World and showing Taylor's growth from defector to an important part of the Protectorate than the jumps between Endbringer attacks that we got. (Holy run on sentence, Batman!)

Fighting the Thanda especially would have been a nice mix of old and new because their cold capes don't wear costumes. We'd have gotten a look at how they operate, what their resources are and how powerful their capes could be before we got to the Behemoth fight. Or perhaps after, since New Delhi was all but destroyed after that battle.

Still, I've been enjoying the latest arcs. Weaponised Endbringers just made my day when I realised it was actually happening and this, this is the sort of situation that makes Taylor shine. The ABB, Kaiser, Leviathan, the Merchants, the Slaugherhouse 9, Echidna, Coil. Taylor faced down all of these and, for the most part, won. When her back is the to the wall and there are no good choices left, that's when Taylor shines, and that's what we're looking at here.

I may have very high hopes for these next few arcs.

 

The Thanda weren't wiped out by anyone yet. They fought against Scion with all of the powerful capes (Eidolon, Glaistig, String Theory, etc.) in the beginning. The people killed by Leviathan were the Elite.

 

Please recall that the Thanda aren't an actual group, they're a subcategory of all the capes in India. The "cold capes" comprise both the good and the bad, the bad ones got evacuated by Contessa when Taylor first met her. The "good" ones are the folks like Phir Se, who actually laid a trap for the Endbringers. And yes, the "good" Thanda have been playing ball and making a difference against the Endbringers and even the Nine. They're swell.

 

Word. Looks like it's going back to cape v. cape again with Taylor storming the Cauldron castle/lair.

 

Excellent. This seems like a return to the kind of Taylor story I like.

 

Did anyone else laugh when Spur was all, "You wouldn't cut us."

I really thought Imp was going to die laughing at that point. 'Cause, you know, she sort of shot Golem's baby sister in the face. And she got over knifing children a long time ago.