10-24.

This was a neat little chapter. Dragon did less with her access to the building than I had expected, opting to simply delay the Undersiders, but then she went and sent one of her mechs after the Undersiders got out – allegedly showing up in person. (I’m not convinced until Taylor sees her body or we get an Interlude confirming that she was actually there.) Now the Undersiders are up against Weld, Dragon and, soon enough, more of the Protectorate.

Next time, the Undersiders will have to figure out… what do? They really need to live up to their reputation as masters of the getaway right now.

So… yeah! See you next chapter!

This was a good chapter, though some parts were kinda forgettable.

Nah, I’m kidding. It was overall a good battle and I love someone’s power, though I can’t for the life of me remember whose.

And then Dragon. Welp. I don’t know what all she can do remotely, but I wouldn’t underestimate her. One thing I guess she could do is send remote-controlled mechs into the building, but this is her filesystem we’re trying to copy, and she probably had a hand in designing a fair bit of the equipment around here. I’m guessing she can do a lot more.

By the way, I don’t think we’re ever going to actually see Dragon in person. It seems like her gimmick that she always, always, is remote and computery. She didn’t even show up to the Endbringer battle in person, as far as we know.

In fact, the only evidence we have that she isn’t completely virtual is that she’s supposedly the one building mechs and Birdcage security measures and such.

Anyway, next time, lets face the cold wrath of the Dragon. See you then!

This was a very good chapter! We got to watch Taylor humbling herself and asking to rejoin the Undersiders, explaining the situation and… possibly meeting Imp, even if she didn’t find out about that yet and it hasn’t been confirmed.

Then we got step three of Project Parasite, whatever that might be working towards, which worked out perfectly. This is really Regent’s time to shine, that much is clear! Unfortunately it kind of fell apart on step four because Weld is a smart guy.

So now the Wards are aware of the shenanigans in play, and we’re probably getting into a fight next chapter, in which the Undersiders are largely at a disadvantage, but we still don’t know what Imp’s powers are… it’s probably time to find out next time.

Hm. My standing guess is the super vague “something mischievious”, but maybe her powerset is kind of like the D&D cantrip Thaumaturgy, a compilation of a bunch of minor powers that all tieflings start with? Or maybe pyrokinesis is one of her powers… I mean, hellish associations and all.

I really don’t know. We’ll have to see next time. ‘Til then!

She totally gotcha, Taylor.

This was a nice chapter. Kind of relaxed up until that last bit, despite Sophia’s screams in the background, and we got to know Imp a bit – she’s restless, she’s a bit dramatic, she’s either somewhat disinterested or likes to feign that, and she is, predictably enough, mischievious. I like her.

That little trick she played at the end there – or at least I assume that’s what’s going on, it technically hasn’t been confirmed yet… y’know, Regent does have a habit of calling Taylor “dork”, and his power involves controlling other people’s bodies, just not to this extent. I suppose it’s possible that torturing Sophia somehow unlocked stronger aspects of his power??

But on the other hand, it’s the perfect timing to show off Imp’s power, and I did bring up the possibility of this being it before the prank happened.

Hm. Shit, now I’m unsure.

Anyway, that little trick either Imp or Regent played at the end there was kind of disruptive, and I doubt Grue is going to like it (maybe not Taylor either), but it seems like the kind of thing they could all have a good laugh about later. 🙂

So yeah, next time we’ll hopefully collapse the wave function on Schrödinger’s prankster and maybe see some results of the torture. Sheesh, that sounds like a terrible thing to look forward to. “Oh hi guys, I’m Krixwell and I hope to see results of t o r t u r e, doesn’t that sound nice?”

See you next time!

They’re back, bichesss!

This was a pretty good chapter. Shadow Stalker is even worse than I thought. She’s straight up a serial murderer, even while in the Wards.

The Undersiders, on the other hand, are great and I am very pleased to see them again. And we’ve got a mysterious new one, named Imp… I’m looking forward to getting to know her.

We’re definitely not in for a Chariot chapter now. At this point, we’re almost certainly either continuing with Shadow Stalker or moving to Taylor or Imp as the POV character, possibly getting into Interlude territory now that we’ve gone through all the Wards.

I don’t know exactly what the Undersiders plan to do with their new captive, but I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be pleasant for one miss Sophia Hess.

See you next time!

This was a good time.

We got to see the needle gals meet again, some insight into Vista’s philosophy of focusing on the present (something I actually share to some extent, though not because I expect I might die), her issues re: being patronized and taking responsibility in Aegis’ and Gallant’s stead, some fantastic advice from Weld and an interesting confrontation between Sophia and Vista.

Phew, this one was chock full of really good content! I guess that’s why it’s about 4 AM now.

Next chapter, I’m about 79% sure we’re following Shadow Stalker on patrol from her own POV, probably stewing with thoughts about the confrontation she just had. She might not be willing to tell Vista what her deal is, but maybe she’ll finally tell us.

Failing that, I guess we might be skipping Shadow Stalker in favor of what I think 9.7 might be (if it exists): A chapter from Chariot’s point of view as he joins the Wards. If that’s a thing we get to see in the next chapter or 9.7, it ought to be interesting.

See you then!

This was neat. We did get to see the end of the Traveler fight, learned who might be (and probably are) behind the corpses they found in 9.3, got to know Kid Win a bit better, and uncovered a possible wrestler Reverse Taylor plot in the making.

Shame Kid Win’s excellent recruiting skills are probably going to waste.

I mean, it’d be a hell of a thing if they pulled a Tattletale and invited him in with everyone being fully aware of his apparent real alignment. I doubt Piggot would allow that kind of shenaniganry, though. And, honestly, it sounds like the kind of thing one of them might suggest and then have everyone else immediately shoot down… maybe Tattle was right to keep it to herself.

Next chapter, we’ll probably learn what the Wards intend to do about this. I’m going to guess that Vista is our next POV character, which sounds like a good time. 🙂

There’s only her and Shadow Stalker left, so assuming we’re covering everyone, it’s just a question of which one comes first. Maybe we’ll also throw in a Piggot chapter, but that seems less likely.

So far, I really appreciate this Arc. It’s nice to get to know the Wards a bit better without having to cram it all into one Interlude, and we’re getting to see how they all deal with the situation after Leviathan’s visit, while also introducing new subplots involving characters like the Slaughterhouse Nine and Chariot. Hopefully the latter two aren’t connected. I don’t know much about them yet, but I feel like the Slaughterhouse Nine are among the last ones you’d want trying to infiltrate the Wards.

So yeah. See you next time!

This was a very nice look into Clockblocker’s, Vista’s and Glory Girl’s states in the wake of Leviathan’s attack. We got to learn about Clocky’s dying dad, followed by a heartwarming bonding between Clockblocker and Vista over the memory of Gallant.

Additionally, we learned about possible correlations between trigger events and powers, the fact that Glory Girl (and maybe Panacea – after Interlude 3, I have a hard time believing she would quit unless forced to, even if she doesn’t enjoy being a hero) might join the Wards, and the fact that someone (possibly Fenrir’s Chosen) is quite brutally murdering and desecrating people in broad daylight.

Why were the Travelers at one of the crime scenes? Maybe we won’t find out. Maybe they just happened to find it right before the Wards arrived? Maybe they were the ones to contact the Wards in the first place, and didn’t evacuate the premises quickly enough, though that seems unlikely. Especially since no one brought that up.

I don’t think we’ll get to see the end of the battle. I feel like the outcome wasn’t the point of it, so much as showing Weld and Clockblocker working together and addressing Clocky’s feeling of belonging in the battle. That said, we’ll probably find out who won… my money’s on the Travelers, just because I don’t think there’s much point in having them arrested right now and they did seem to have the upper hand in the fight.

Next chapter, we’re presumably continuing our trek through the Wards. I suppose the ones left are Kid Win, Vista and Shadow Stalker.

Glory Girl might also count. These last two chapters have sort of covered Shadow Stalker, Vista and Glory Girl to some extent as well as their respective POV characters, so I’m not completely sure we’re getting chapters from their POVs at all. As such, my guess is that Kid Win is up next. Out of all the OG Brockton Bay Wards, he seems to be dealing with this the best, but appearances can be deceiving.

See you then! Which is to say… now!

This was a very nice chapter. We got to follow Flechette as she a) gave us a look into Sophia’s approach to being a hero when Taylor’s not present, and b) warmed our hearts with the smooth beginnings of a beautiful lesbian romance that will hopefully blossom like a Lily.

I loved it, especially the latter part. Also, please let me know what some of the ship names for Lily x Sabah are. I’m sure there are some very nice ones.

As for next chapter, who knows. It seems we are going for the multiple hero POV approach to this Arc, so unless I’m wrong about that, we’re checking out another hero’s POV next time. Maybe Kid Win’s, or Clockblocker’s? Or maybe we’re visiting one of the adults next?

It’s also worth noting that both the heroes we’ve seen the POV’s of over the last two chapters have had something in common, namely that they just arrived. It’s possible that we’ll be alternating between these two, but I don’t find it particularly likely.

Anyway, that’s all for tonight. See you next year!

And thus ends the first non-Interlude chapter without Taylor in it. (Although Director Piggot may have been alluding to her at one point.)

We finally got to know Weld, which was fun! I had been looking forward to that, and what I found did not disappoint – he’s a very nice guy, with refreshing optimism, even if he did make a pretty big faux pas in not reading the room or researching the people he was replacing. I hope we get to see more of his experience as the new leader of the Brockton Bay Wards.

And it’s entirely possible that this Arc will stick to that topic. Nothing against her, but I’m okay with taking a break from Taylor for a while to follow a different POV.

Taylor may have been the primary POV character for eight Arcs, but it’s become increasingly clear that it’s hard to call her a main character, especially over the course of these last two Arcs. This story, so far, doesn’t have a main character. It’s a story not about a character, but about society at large, which we’ve so far happened to be seeing through the eyes of one Taylor “Skitter” Hebert.

(Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely do want to see what she’s up to later.)

So, next chapter… we might be going back to Taylor and presumably seeing the things I predicted for this chapter (whether her plan involves the Undersiders, what her plan actually is), or we might be sticking with Weld to see how he tries to rectify this awkwardness he’s created.

Or, hell, what if this Arc involves checking in on multiple groups of Sentinels, one per chapter? That’d be a neat gimmick, though I think I’d prefer sticking with Weld.

Either way, see you next time!