I wasn’t sure I liked the implications of that.  “Then what’s the good news?”

“It’s kind of like a defense mechanism.  The worse a situation gets, the stronger you’ll get.  It’s probably happened before, to small degrees, but you haven’t noticed it.”

Yeah, sounds about right.

Good to know there was a sort of logic to this. I mean, I always assumed there was, but it’s good to know it’s not random and just conveniently happened to take effect during Leviathan’s attack. Instead, it was the sheer hopelessness of the situation that made Taylor stronger.

I wonder what the upper limits on this are. What would Taylor’s range be in a moment of utter crushing despair?

“Right,” I said.  “And the day Leviathan came.  It wasn’t just range.  The bugs were responding just a bit faster.  Maybe a tenth of a second faster, but yeah.”

Interesting.

“Ok.  Here’s my theory then.  I think your power’s strongest when you’re closest to the situation where you had your trigger event.”

…I see. That does make some sense. 

If the powers are indeed “granted” to those who seem to need them in a moment, then it makes sense that whatever is behind this all might grant more power when the parahumans are in similar situations again. It’s what the powers were meant to help with.

“What?”

“Honestly, I’m highly suspicious that it’s true for any cape out there.  Whenever you’re in the same kind of mindset or same sort of physical situation you were in when you got your powers, your powers get stronger.  The bad news is that you probably can’t leverage that to your advantage.  Your powers would operate off of hopelessness and frustration, because that’s what drove you to get your powers in the first place.”

Meanwhile, someone whose state of mind during their trigger event can be easily recreated in a combat situation would potentially be able to use it to their advantage. This might be the case with some of the stronger parahumans, like Eidolon, Scion or even Regent. Maybe Regent was already a broken kid by the time his trigger event happened, and has trouble not being in the same state of mind as then?

Fuck.  It fit, more or less.

Yeah, I’m afraid I have to agree.

“The really scary part is that it might be doing us a disservice, because it works like a Pavlovian trigger.  Like how the dog who hears the bell ringing every time he gets food starts to drool when he hears the bell, this might be subtly urging us back into ugly, violent or dangerous situations with the benefits of having our powers temporarily boosted.”

Between what we’ve seen with Taylor, Kid Win and Chariot, there does seem to be a sort of craving to use one’s powers, or a craving by the powers to be used.

“Okay,” I spoke, jamming my hands into my pockets.

“Tell me about your territory grab?”

I did, going into detail about the play I’d made, dealing with the Merchant who had tried to cut me, encountering Battery, then returning to my lair to fend off my enemies from a safe vantage point.

Neat story, huh?

“…Problem is my range only extends eight hundred feet or so around me.  My territory’s larger than that, which means I can only cover part of my territory at a time.  It bugs me, because I know I can reach further, I’ve had times where I could.”

Ooooh

This reads like it’s leading up to Tattletale’s take on what’s going on with the overdrive!

Also, nice to have a value on the range not given in blocks. American blocks are a unit I can’t really relate to.

“Right.  I remember you asking about that, but I was distracted.”

“Any ideas?”

“One theory, and there’s a good bit and a bad bit to it.”

Does the bad bit have to do with it being uncontrollable? Or is it something worse?

“Yeah?”

“Just going by how my own power fluctuates, hearing what you’re saying about yours?  You got a range boost that day of the hearing, right?  When you went to your school to talk about the bullies, and everything fell apart?”

…shit.

That, and on the day of the Endbringer, immediately after the Undersiders had a falling out.

Yeeah, that’s a bit of a steep price to pay for extended range.

So does this have to do with the power starting to crave being used when she gets enraged?

Lisa and I let the others walk a bit ahead.

“Doesn’t look like things are perfect here,” I muttered.

Yeah, no.

I guess it’s gonna take a while before everyone accepts their new leader, or refrains from being creepy, etc.

“I might have made a move for my territory sooner, if I wasn’t trying to wrangle this.”

That’s fair.

“Why’d you stick me with Senegal?”

She frowned.  The others had gotten far enough ahead of us that she felt ok to start walking.  I joined her.

Lisa explained, “Logistics.  I needed Minor around so I could have words with him about our long-term plans, and because I want to build a rapport.”

How about Jaw, then? He seems alright.

I nodded.  I wasn’t going to argue that point.

“The problems are Senegal and Brooks.  They’ve become friends, and Brooks is the kind of guy that’s influenced easily by his peers.  He’s good, he’s useful, but he wants to be in Senegal’s camp, and he’s not smooth enough to pull off what Senegal does, even if he’s smart enough to see what Senegal’s all about, so all you get is a dick who could be dangerous if things go the wrong way.

Ahh.

I wanted to keep them separated, so I couldn’t pair them together, and things would be worse if I stuck you with Brooks, on a lot of levels.”

Yeah, I can see that going wrong.

Coil’s guys were supposedly all ex-military.  My gut was telling me that Senegal hadn’t finished his tour or whatever the terminology was.  I couldn’t picture it any other way, having seen what I had.  He’d been relieved of duty.

Quite likely, yeah.

“The rest of you walk ahead,” Lisa instructed, “I want a few words in private with her.”

Yes, please.

“Who is she, anyways?” Brooks challenged her.  “Far as I can tell, she is dead weight.”

Well, I mean, Lisa did say your main specialty hopefully wouldn’t be needed on this mission. Who’s really dead weight here?

You might want to shut your mouth and respect the boss and her friend before she decides you’re not worth the hassle.

“I’m saying there’s a reason she’s here,” Lisa spoke, her voice firm.  “That’s good enough for you.”

It really should be.

“But-”

“Brooks,” Minor cut him off.  “Come.”

Unlike Brooks, Minor knows when to shut up.