>I drew some bugs around my lower face and eyes as a makeshift mask. -> Remember that not long ago Taylor did not want put bugs on her skin. Now she does it casually.

Huh, yeah! I guess she’s grown used to it.

General fan speculation suggests that Hero is named after Hero of Alexandria, a prominent first-century scientist; this is in large part responsible for Hero/Alexandria being a popular Worm ship.

Huh. I suppose that makes sense given that he was a tinker.

“ it seems like there may have been a tendency for stronger capes early on.” It’s an interesting theory, but beware sampling bias. People probably remember the strongest capes longer. And weaker ones also die easier. I won’t say it’s impossible given Scion and Eidolon but it’s a risky guess.

Yeah, like I mentioned in the post, the statistics are iffy.

I think the main reason I still suggested it was that Eidolon is still one of the strongest capes, almost thirty years later.

Scion is a bit of a thing for himself, maybe. It’s unclear if he was ever human, and he’s way stronger than most.

Using a Bakuda bomb to open a portal into a parallel dimension (usually around Arc 4) is actually a trope I’ve seen in Worm crossover fanfiction. So you’re not the first here ;D

Hah, nice! 😀

Honestly, one of the main reasons I did it that way was so I could get on the Protectorate’s case about using them again, just for fun. 😛

Seriously, though, I can’t believe I wrote a story where unforeseen consequences happen because the Protectorate used Bakuda’s bombs while butting in on a fight between the Undertravelers and the Nine right before Piggot’s plan to do pretty much that exact thing was revealed.

29C? I hate you. It’s 43 where I am. :I My truck’s AC has basically given up.

Ouch. Rest in peace…

Also, you are 100% not the only one who pictures Miss Militia as a sexy badass.

*finger guns*

“Siberian is seriously not many steps below an Endbringer.” Glad to see you’re figured out how badly you were underestimating her at first. Also re Piggot outranking Legend, the whole point of the PRT/Protectorate is to put the capes under the control of the civilian government. So even though Legend is the head of the Protectorate any PRT director still outranks him.

Yeah, fair enough. It feels weird that the leader of the Protectorate as a whole is outranked by a local leader of the PRT, but it makes sense when given some thought.

Do you have any more guesses about the source of Grue’s duplicate power?

Hmm.

I suppose it would be possible for Hookwolf’s contingent to have a new member with powers that Taylor didn’t notice. Piggot did mention he’s been recruiting.

Or maybe Ursa Aurora was hiding in the bushes.

But honestly, my existing hypothesis that someone in the crowd of duplicates had triggered and gotten a duplicate-related power seems more likely and appeals to me. But it was set up as a mystery, so maybe the answer is going to be more interesting.

Whoever it was, though, they’re incredibly powerful. Grue only gets a tiny fraction of their power, and he creates a duplicate that’s this strong?