I’m sure some fans like the idea of Lisa whispering “Fuck me” to Taylor in a completely different cadence…
Tag: Chapter 11.5
People howled, hooted and jeered, but I could see some of the faces of the people trapped in the ‘ring’. Most of them weren’t cheering.
Sure, sucks for them. But most of them chose this life, did they not? When you willingly join a group like the Merchants without being just… dumb like Bryce, I honestly don’t care about your woes.
If there’s anyone in the ring who didn’t join willingly to partake in the debauchery, that’s a whole other matter, but as far as I’m concerned? Most of these people deserve a good beating.
“Fuck me,” Lisa whispered, “He’s trying to get people to have trigger events. That’s how he’s recruiting parahumans.”
Oh cod dammit.
The noise the crowd made reached a peak it hadn’t even approached before.
How is this the thing that makes me go “I’m glad I’m not there”?
“Last five standing in the ring get a prize!” a mean smile spread across his face.
I misread that as pizza.
I don’t have a good feeling about that prize, though.
Even from where I stood on the other side of the mall, I could see how bad his teeth were. “No rules! I don’t give a shitstained fuck if you jump in at the last second or if you use a weapon! Anything goes!”
Including murder?
But yeah, anything goes can make for some interesting fights, if not exactly fair ones.
It also makes me think of a boy who turns into a girl when doused with cold water and back when doused with hot water, but that’s a whole other matter.
Skidmark repeated the process to draw what I realized was a crude square in the middle of the mall, the ‘blue’ sides facing inward.
Guess he needed to round ‘em up. Why, though?
As he layered his power over the same area, the colors of the effect became darker, the ground below less visible and the effects on the people were all the more violent.
Oh boy, it stacks.
The blue sides had become dark blue, and instead of simply pushing against those who touched them, they threw people back towards the center of the ring.
The Merchants are gonna be even more eager to throw their comrades into the wall of “wind”, aren’t they.
“You piss-licking losers know what the red armband means!” Skidmark crowed, “Bloodshed! Violence! We’ve got ourselves a free for all brawl!”
Ahhhh.
…ahaha… nice.
Honestly? That’s a relatively good outcome. Provided it’s all Merchants in there, anyway, and provided it’s not just the warm-up.
The people who found themselves in the middle of the effect were dragged towards the blue side, as if they were standing on a steep slope.
Oh, nice. I guess it’s a form of spatial or gravitational manipulation, then?
The crowd roared, and began pushing people towards the effect.
Because of course they would.
Anyone who touched the purple side was caught with a greater force, dragged through to the blue side and cast towards the bulk of the crowd, sliding on the ground with enough force to stagger anyone they ran into.
Hm. I think we can rule out gravitational manipulation by the fact that gravity gets weaker the further away you are from where it wants you to be.
The blue side seemed weaker, with anyone stepping on it finding strong resistance, as if they were trying to move against a strong headwind on oil-slick ground.
Interesting.
So in combat, I guess this gives him the opportunity to create one-way barriers and throw enemies off their feet. Not too bad, honestly.
Only a handful of people made it out without being pushed back by the effects of Skidmark’s power or by the crowd that ringed the area.
Pretty good strength on the effect, too.
The cheering swelled again, that ear-splitting sound you got when hundreds of people all tried to shout louder than the rest.
No thanks.
Skidmark raised his hands, and then swept them in a downward motion.
“Shut up.”
Twin shimmers not dissimilar to the heated air you saw above a hot road blasted towards the crowd.
Woah.
So is his power literally heating air, or…
I do feel it’s worth noting that Skidmark and Squealer both seem to have something to do with cars and driving. I don’t really know what the connection might be, thematically, between that and their debauchery, but there’s a good chance they both have powers relating to that. Maybe Squealer is a vehicle tinker?
Where the shimmers touched the ground, they changed the color of the flooring, creating bands of glowing ground six or seven feet wide.
Huh. Can he pick the colors? Maybe treat an entire road to this treatment… with like seven bands… possibly up in space… with no railings?
After swirling for a moment, the colors settled into a gradient, stretching from violet on one side of the line to a pale blue on the other side.
I will say this is a lot cooler and a lot prettier than anything I would’ve expected from Skidmark of all people. Does it have actual applications beyond being cool, though?
Behind them stood their subordinates. I recognized Trainwreck, but there were five more I couldn’t place.
Oh, huh, Trainwreck’s in the Merchants now? I guess he’s one of Coil’s patented moles, like Chariot, then. That, or maybe he turned down Coil?
Five who, for all I knew, were new to the cape scene.
Interesting. More Leviathan triggerees? Judging by what we learned in Sentinel, they could be quite powerful.
Trainwreck’s presence was interesting. Was he still with Coil? On our side?
Good question.
“That’s more capes than they had a month ago,” I spoke, leaning close to Lisa and pitching my voice low.
Yeah, between their general growth and the high chances of an Endbringer event causing some people to get powers, that’s to be expected.
“They’ve been recruiting,” Lisa muttered.
When Skidmark spoke, his voice carried through every speaker and set of headphones in the building. “You quim-jockeys up for tonight’s main event!? They don’t get any better than this!”
quim-jockeys? 😛
Looks like Wildbow saw a chance to get creative with his insults here.
Well, “insults” is kind of inaccurate. That’s not what these things are in this context. I don’t really know what to call them, though.
Beside Skidmark, opposite Squealer, was Mush.
Mush… oh yeah, didn’t someone tell me at some point that Moist got renamed?
He bore a resemblance to a particular pink skinned, scrawny goblin of a creature from those fantasy movies.
Pfft. Hiya, Gollum.
Ssneaky little Undersiderses…
His hair was so thin he might as well be hairless, his large eyes were heavy-lidded with dark circles beneath them, and his skinny limbs were contrasted by a bulging pot-belly.
Huh, yeah, I can see the resemblance.
All of the worst features of an old man and a malnourished child thrown together. Except he was real; just an ugly, ill person.
I wonder if his power did this to him, or just a mundane illness.
His girlfriend was at his side, her shoulder touching his. Squealer was streaked with oil stains, with some even in her hair.
Squealer, huh. The oil stains sound familiar, did we meet her in 5.1?
*blog search*
Yep. Skidmark, Moist and Squealer. I guess that makes the third person on the stage Moist.
She wore a white top and jean shorts that were each so skimpy that she was more indecent than she’d be if she had been naked.
Funny how that can work sometimes.
She had a remote control in one hand, and her makeup was practically caked on. Not so dissimilar from the girl we’d just rescued, in that respect.
Wow.
Not gonna lie, she sounds like a total mess.
I’d like to officially apologize to potatoes. I’m sorry.
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