Grrl Power #1063 – Olé olé, olé olé…
Happy 4th of July. Enjoy the fireworks…
If you’re a henchman participating in an assault on a base of superheroes, you gotta figure there are some pretty good benefits and/or pay. Also there’s probably an extensive briefing beforehand, depending on how disposable the henchmen are, and how serious the organization is about success. I mean, it depends on what their goals are, really. But there’s only so much preparation you can do, and the briefing probably isn’t going to cover all possible encounters, especially stuff like “an IT guy’s girlfriend who it so happens can hack reality.” Body armor and IR goggles aren’t really going to help you with that anyway. Your best bet is to incapacitate as many people as possible to limit responses.
Honestly if I was going to assault a super base, my opening move would probably be knockout gas in the HVAC. Knock ’em down before they know they’re being swung on. Maybe someone from the red team here suggested that, but learned that Archon has detectors in the system that would trigger alarms and lock it down. Basically, I’d want to win as many fights as possible before even entering the building. It’s a question of their resources and prep time vs your own, and how expandable your resources are. Not sure what the average henchman mindset is, really, but they can’t all be thinking they’re going to come out of an assault like this unscathed. Well, maybe they’ve got some invincibility cocktail coursing through their veins. That is to say, a cocktail that makes them think they’re invincible. The Grrl-verse is still hard at work on super soldier serums.
The June Vote Incentive is still up. I got overambitious with the new one and it’s not finished yet, but I’m working on a stopgap pic that should be up soon…ish. In the meantime, there’s still a nude version of Sydney (and guest) over at the Patreon version.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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sleeping gas would have to be super generated to be practical, sadly. Especially in archons headquarter.
It’s a science to get the correct dosage to knock someone out, and not kill them. you have dedicated personel for it during surgery.
getting the correct dosage in all rooms on multiple floors that open up to dropps to lower and higher elevation makes that borderline impossible to do. they would be just as good of with just using poison gas and kill everyone.
You say that like they’re not willing to use lethal force. Convince Arianna of that…
True… a nerve agent that paralyzes but does not have fatal effects or an overdose level would probably be better.
Yes, there are some of those… it is the reason why soldiers are drilled on how to get in and out of certain types of equipment very quickly.
Sufficiently strong levels of paralysis will paralyze either the heart and/or lungs, which last I checked it fatal. I don’t think there is any incapacitating chemical that can be administered that doesn’t have potentially for a lethal overdose.
This is why instead of using knockout gas, you should just flash-ignite a large volume of concentrated THC oil. It won’t kill them, but hot-box the room to a sufficient density and they won’t be fighting back.
I’d advise against it, simply because it can still explode in suitable conditions. DO NOT ignite oil vapor.
Don’t. If something vaporizes it can explode. In fact, things don’t even have to vaporize to explode. Just use the oil, without igniting it.
Movies have taught me that pumping sleeping gas into a building is a standard means of infiltration. Are you telling me movies have lied to me?? That the made up stories that don’t even try to be realistic got reality wrong?
What, they haven’t done lockdown drills with the whole staff?
…
They should do lockdown drills with the whole staff.
Especially non-combat staff.
yeah… this doesn’t seem like the U.S. Military I know and work beside…
Possible easy ways to explain this:
Next quarterly lockdown drill scheduled for tomorrow.
Last lockdown drill, coincided with an offsite court hearing or press conference, or both.
This facility has not been an operating Military Facility for very long.
btw, does it really matter which side of a CLEAR GLASS is a flash bang? it’s not like the glass will prevent the flash or anything
depends on how sound proof it is i guess
Not the flash, but the loud sound it also creates to help disorientate will be stopped, because I assume that Glass isn’t a thin piece of glass but probably some bullet proof super resistant sound proof glass, A flashbang is more then just a “flash” and Leon isn’t looking towards it and Krona can probably just hack the flash away from herself.
Hack it away or put something in the way of the flash… like a “No light over this amount of lumens gets past X spot!” thing.
The glass appears to be at least somewhat tinted, and is stopping the bang part. So 65% of the total effect neutralized?
It might – this is Archon, after all. Guess we’ll find out soon.
But if it’s sturdy enough “glass”, like say an inch thick plexiglass or tempered glass or something, it may do wonders for the bang.
Also, is that just a flash bang, or does the smoke from it also have effects? Oh, wait, the smoke from it will *always* have effects, the question is does the smoke from it also have targeted effects?
It’s probably not glass at all. Transparent Aluminum exists, it’s just expensive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DduO1fNzV4w
Google “Transparent Aluminum”. It’s a real thing nowdays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DduO1fNzV4w
it’s been a thing for a long time. Sapphires and rubies are literally transparent aluminum
Sapphires and rubies are aluminum oxide crystals, not technically transparent aluminum.
When they’re talking transparent aluminum, they mean stuff like aluminum oxynitride, which is a ceramic alloy. Basically it becomes a powder which you heat up at 1650c, then press together under high pressure (a few tons of pressure), then polish until it’s see-through. Perfect for when you need to take a couple of humpback whales on a spaceship to the future to save Earth from destruction.
Well yeah. Scottie showed that one guy how to make it back in 1982.
That movie came out (and largely takes place) in 1986. I was born in ’82 and one of my earliest coherent memories that I can place chronologically is the scene with the whaling ship because I very specifically recall being terrified until the harpoon went *clink* against the cloaked bird of prey. Also the first time I remember being in a movie theater.
It might not hep much with the flash part, but it will help a lot with bang part (flash bangs generate both a lot of light and sound). Plus better safe than sorry in case it’s not a flash bang, but some other kind of grenade. And I think that it is some kind of reinforced / bullet proof glass.
Yeah, it’s probably ballistic glass for the bang part and smart glass -> micro blinds for the flash part.
The numpty has set the carpet on fire though so El Flamo might be in for a surprise when the sprinklers go off.
I would guess, if that glass is there and used to lock the room down, it’s likely better than just normal, easy to break glass.
It will prevent the bang at least.
How do we know it’s “Glass” and not “Transparent Aluminum?” You know SOME Trekkie Super has made that a thing.
Transparent aluminum aka ALON has been around, for quite some time
Seems like someone with an extensive bank account, lacking natural super armor, and an operating defensive lair with tech supervillain level… knowledge. This is some Trekkie who would do so, at least very least after glass shattering from Maxima’s Glass Shattering strikes on Halo’s interview day.
A logical PR powerset is a Teflon ability. Attacks just slide right on by
Between Sydney’s relationship with Blue Space Poodle and Króna jumping Leon with no pants on, I’d say Leon’s chances of polyamorous “benefits” are pretty much zero by now.
I am just thinking, that is A LOT of fire, but arianna does not look as burned as you would think she should. It is possible, that the fire blast is intended to knock a normal person out, instead of kill. (just as a possible evidence for that being true, the other device looks like a flashbang, which is also non-lethal)
It’s the first .5 seconds of the fire hitting here.
My bet is on Ariana secretly having super powers but only wanting to be an administrator.
My guess is she ignites and dies in seconds.
Everyone they find dies horribly.
Then Krona hits her savepoint to reset back to before the attack and hits the alarm immediately, giving the entire building the warning they need to survive the attack.
This does not work because Krona’s reset is not actually time travel. On meeting certain prerequisites (like death, massive physical trauma, etc) she would be “reset” to the physical state she was in at the time of the checkpoint.
she might have been planning to set up a fun time with Leon, and had set a savepoint to be triggered by her sense of danger?
Or she had a reset button to hit to do it again?
Or if someone interrupted them, of course.
BUT, she has to set it on certain people, I believe, so that she has a state to restore them to. If she didn’t set one on the bad guys, then they will still have the memories and progress infiltrating the building.
Now, maybe she only set it on Arianna, and will be able to bring her back…
Maybe we’ll find out
More like a witch or Lich. I doubt she is a super.
She could be a robot.
She is, after all, a soulless, unfeeling sociopath.
That could be true, or it could be the picture is of Arianna right when the flames hit, before there’s been time for much visible effect.
Sure, it’s possible to have flames that would have a visible effect instantly, but they wouldn’t be that color unless magic or super powers forced the color. Yes, this is a setting where that could happen, but there’s no reason for it to happen. As such, I feel like it’s reasonable to assume that those flames are consistent with the temperatures produced by burning dry wood. I know from personal experience those temperatures take a second or so to have a visible impact. It’s at least longer than the time it takes to feel the heat and put ones hands up like she has. Subjectively, a lot longer.
Xochitl hugs her 2 pages ago, coincidentally just so happens to transform into a flaming woman, and Arianna still has the required heat resistance from that contact?
X corps are doing thier jobs and the entire attack is known, scheduled and orchestrated by ARC themselves?
Hair goes up pretty much instantly in flame. Her hair didn’t burn. Her clothes didn’t singe. That could simply be artistic license, as frequently occurs in comics when fire is involved, or it could indicate something else.
or she may have some other defences, like a dedicated super or mage from the Council running protection for her as they have arc dark i doubt adminastrators and the main building are so unprotected ……
Kind of like a NASAghast, but for Archon.
I just realized something: They couldn’t have done many drills since Arianna doesn’t even know what the alarm is. Detail orientated person like her would have memorized each one just cause.
Even without any drills, I would have expected her to be familiar with the protocols for loud alarms in the middle of the night. Heck, I’d have expected her to have had a hand in writing those protocols or at least in editing them so they are as easy to understand/follow for the average person who’s been handed a packet of protocols.
Perhaps Xochitl was making that giddy expression two pages ago because she was admiring Vance’s Arianna impression?
Seriously, Arianna, you hear an alarm, and your first instinct is to start yelling at people? Don’t check your phone or monitor for messages?
… The internet and intercoms are down, right when she was in the middle of her latest hentai-binge
on an unrelated note, Leon and Korna are probably still ” conected” when they made these moves and it is not just suprise that has her making that expression in pannel one ……
Fairly sure they hadn’t reached that stage yet
“What’s happening!? Is this some kind of Drill?”
Imagine a small battery powered motor sound? (Not shown in the scene)
Excellent, hope next page is Arianna doing a Terminator 2 dream sequence where she is blasted into a charred skeleton!
Teach the damn press and their fake news couldn’t happen to a better person.
Arianna isn’t that stupid, this has to be some kind of hologram or spell of her as part of the defense system?
Oh she dead! She dead for suuure!
Mmmmm BBQ, do you smell bacon cooking?
Just so people know, I am not Pandering.
Acknowledged, you’re OK Pander.
Never thought you were, they are just another troll
You are only pandering to SmugD :P
Well that makes a change, I thought you were always pandering lol
Only to SmugD :P
yes but she lets us watch.
For a modest fee.
Does the price include munchies?
no, neither type of munchies.
Re: the rampant speculation about Arianna being empowered (not Empowered, that’s an Adam Warren comic), her hand position in the penultimate panel sure looks suspiciously like an superhero energy-projector pose to me, not something a Perfectly Normal Human Being does with their hand. The last panel is a bit more natural looking, but it could also just be a “damn, beaten to the draw” response from a startled blaster.
Her hair isn’t singed. As someone who has singed their hair with radiated heat/fire numerous times, even if her skin wasn’t affected yet, a good portion of her hair should have been burnt away in that initial blast. So it’s pointing to her having powers of some sort
or perhaps pointing to the fire having some properties that fire doesn’t normally have – perhaps it’s entirely ‘psychic’ fire?
Supers / magic can explain some of this
The Designers of that building have probably seen all the relevant films, and their ventilation system is pretty well sealed, filtered, and alarmed. You aren’t so much as putting a cockroach in one without setting off a whole board full of alarms.
Please note, they probably still have cockroaches from those that got in before the building was properly sealed, or more disgustingly, but hitchhiking with someone/something going in.
The windows probably aren’t glass either. There are other tougher materials available that are just as good with visibility. Sure, things like that are usually cost prohibited, but they didn’t just have black project government budget available, but they also had who knows what kind of supers they could nudge for some extra material help. (I’m not talking about providing money, probably more in the substance accumulation or transformation line.)
With those kinds of resources their windows could easily be transparent aluminum (it’s a real thing, and only partially aluminum), sapphire glass (which is neither glass, nor a gemstone), or some of the newer more exotic synthetics, and even the old standby of bullet resistant glass.
A software company I worked for got a single bomb threat, and they had the 1st floor windows coated that week to be explosion resistant. We used to joke that if somebody actually used a real bomb, nobody would be killed by glass shrapnel, but rather by the entire giant window pane with frame ripping through the cubicles. (I’m sure ARC would have properly reinforced the walls, frames, and doors.)
I figured they’d have that kind of security and durability/resistance not only because of the threats of potential enemies, but let’s face it, having that many supers in the building alone would have required that just to prevent “minor mishaps” from destroying it. (Anybody remember Sydney’s apartment wall after she checked out some of the orbs abilities?)
Sorry about going off topic here for a bit, but Sydney aka Halo is a very valuable member of the team for some obvious reasons if you think about it. She’s useful for combat, and so much more. For intents and purposes she’s the personification of a starship complete with shields, life support, flight, FTL, communications, sensors, life support, external manipulator, massive beam weapon, etc.
So her usefulness is far more than that of just a combatant, and can drastically effect battle in many circumstances.
For an early example of that, go all the way back to the fight at the restaurant. Another is her playing submarine for the little excursion under the ocean.
She’s an all-rounder with attack, defense, movement, sensory, and miscellaneous abilities.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-550-stealth-oh-hi-there/
And…
This building has surprisingly good security… like Taser Nets. Very stingy.
It breaks my SOD that Arianna doesn’t know what the alarms mean. As a military backed organization, even if she’s a civilian consultant, they should all know what the different alarm sounds, durations, and codes mean, and have drilled on what to do when one goes off. Sticking her head out into the hallway after the ‘lockdown’ alarm or whatever and yelling to draw attention to herself feels extremely implausible from a military competence perspective- even if it’s totally in line for how Arianna’s personality is.
She isn’t a civilian consultant. She’s a government employee tasked with the personnel side of the organization
Looks like we’re gonna find out Arianna’s powers on thursday.
Some are speculating about her already having powers, but I bet Arianna will be horribly injured and however they save her will get her powers. They have both super science and at least a few magic mcguffins in this building.
1) Ariana has superpowers.
2) Someone saves her.
3) It’s only an illusory attack that does no damage.
4) Sydney goes full-on Wrath of Azreal.
I’ve numbered them from most to least likely vis-a-vis the tone of the comic.
My money’s on “Krona hits her savepoint and the replay of these events go Archon’s way instead.”
As far as Arianna, I think Krona definitely would have been concerned Arianna would find her and Leon doing something unprofessional, and so I would fully expect her to have a save/respawn point set.
Question is, if someone actually dies, like has the time to succumb to the burns and loses faith and lets go and walks into the light, etc, etc, like… how long does the respawn point work?
Going to be disappointed if Krona just deus ex machina’s this, she swore off her savepoint usage to protect the spacetime continuum after the warehouse incident revealed it was behaving very differently than she had thought.
Nothing like a half-baked plan to really get a party going!
“The Grrl-verse is still hard at work on super soldier serums.” Except for maybe Deus?
I’m sure Arriana is alright as her power is discovered to be ”Cool Under Fire”.
Nope, it Counterblow… Dave cocked Chekhov’s Gun way back in the parking lot fight, courtesy of Sydney. I’ve been wondering WHO gets that MARVELOUS power? I’m voting Arianna, mistress of the perfect counterattack both verbally and when super powers are in play!
Fast forward to the aftermath: As before, some of the attackers go to jail, some get recruited. “Flaming Hoody Guy” (rename pending) fell into the latter group.
FHG: “Oh, by the way? That well-dressed blonde lady likes to wear her hair in a bun? What does she do around this place?”
Maxima: “Oh, Arianna wears a few hats around here. Officially she’s our PR manager, but also team lawyer and… oversees our payroll.”
FHG: “…. I’m gonna be making minimum wage until the sun turns red giant and envelops the Earth, aren’t I?”
Maxima: “Oh, I’m sure she’ll be MUCH more creative than that. She mentioned something about a court-order to replace her missing hair with a wig made out of all of yours.”
Someone who intentionally tried to murder-burn someone? They ain’t gonna see the outside of a damp cell this side of EVER!!
UNLESS of course, they work for certain real life politicians, in which case it is perfectly acceptable for them to murder-burn people.
Seriously? In universe, I bet fire guy gets stomped into a bloody paste and there is nothing to arrest.
@Guesticules
Well sure… but how funny is that?
Knockout gas in the HVAC would not work. At least not the way that was presumably intended by the use of knockout gas rather than the most immediately lethal nerve agent you can find.
See the thing is that if you want to knock someone out non-lethally, you need to get the dosage very very precisely for that person. That’s why anesthetist is a medical specialty, and also why anesthetists will consult with the patient first to know about any allergy or other condition they can have. Also why you’re not supposed to eat before getting an anesthetic, having the gut full of matter to assimilate will dilute the anesthetics and make them less efficient so they’d need to increase the dosage but it’s hard to know by how much. Keep in mind that too much anesthetics is lethal. The doctors really don’t want to have to guesstimate how much extra dosage to give.
So when it comes to combat operations with a knock-out gas: either the stuff is fast and efficient and it will kill a lot of people it was intended to merely knock out; or it’s relatively safe and therefore slow and the target will have all the time they need to react to the presence of the product, which makes it useless.
The Dubrovka Theater hostage crisis (Moscow, 2002) is a good example of why knockout gases don’t work.
While it is theoretically possible that Ariana turns out to be paranormal, I think that is not too likely.
When Vehemence created this aura of unbridled aggression she was caught up in its effect but resorted to hair pulling with Suzie News. If she had been hiding supernatural powers, I think it would have been likely for her to use them at that time. Of course the aura caused unbridled not mindless violence so it is conceivable that she still could hide her abilities, but I cannot find that realistic. Nobody likes to be hurt and if you can prevent to be hurt you generally will.
Besides, Ariana having convenient hidden superpowers would feel lazy, not funny. The story tends to make revelations in a slapstick format, not so much (fake out) life and death situations, being a comedy and all.
One of the funnier ways to resolve this is Dave remembering that central Africa is five or six hours later than the USA, so if it is unholy early morning in this scene it may be 18 hours after Maxima started to blow a sand dervish to pieces… With a little help from Sydney (or Dabbler) the team could actually be back at HQ.
Still not very funny but in my opiniong ever so slightly better than a deus ex machina (and not the magnificent bastard either).
Of course there does not have to be a revelation here, just a creative way to rescue Ariana by somebody we do not expect to.
well, don’t forget the “B team” where Achilles complained about not going on adventures anymore is still on base (and Hiro getting mad at them tempting the universe). Heatwave may save Arianna before she dies from the flames, and the healer doc is likely on base and can stabilize/heal her if she’s not too far gone.
I can imagine the away team getting back unreasonably fast, but yeah it would be pretty disappointing and disjointed.
Arianna got fired? Oh dear, this won’t be pretty.
So, this is Krona. She could hypothetically deal with it by teleporting the lot of them up 10,000 feet. Her only practical limitations are her perception, her imagination, and her reaction time.
She’s effectively a Green Lantern.
The transparent object will also reflect the bang (and perhaps also the bright part) so the villain gets hit by it twice. Yes, sound waves bounce. They are called ‘echoes’.
Is this where we learn that Arianna has had powers this whole time and never told anyone?
I’d say the odds are fairly good on that.
Lawyers are just undead with a degree.
Aside from being startled she’s unhurt.
Arianna’s superpower: Being a terrifying litigator.
Side effect: She can take the heat.
If I was going to pull an assault on a base of super heroes I’d send in one guy with a nuke in his backpack.
That was pretty brutal. No witty catch-phrase, no pun, nothing.
I think the fire Human Torch there is blasting off is actually an illusion. Notice how nothing Arianna is wearing, or herself for that matter, isn’t getting so much as singed in that panel? She looks perfectly fine despite her cries of anguish. In fact, in the previous page, he looked like he was just floating down rather then using any fire powers or spells to land himself.
Next panel, Hiro kicks down Achilles’ door and is like, “This is YOUR FAULT!”
You know the old saying “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen”?
My theory is that some dabbler or alien tech shield will save her.
Not likely anyone will see this but whatever. My money is on Arriana gets seriously hurt, maxima is informed, Max and Sidney, take the gloves off metaphorically, they get back, Sidney sees Arriana is hurt and her need to help reveals the power of the mystery orb as her medbay module.
Possibly, but they do have an actual doctor with healing powers on site already, so I hope it doesn’t go that route. Maybe Halo could assist or follow up with more than the doc can do, but it would be bad writing to just leave her out entirely.
I suppose that’s one way to reveal Arianna is a super too.
Oh man Krona could make it killing in the medical field for things like removing kidney stones.
You’re thinking too practically.
Non invasive plastic surgery, preselected sleeve meatblank.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-932-designing-women/
Perhaps even trans-human or supernatural body sleve uploading and downloading.
She does not do to herself because she actually chose her self image,
and a small socially accepted human body, can fit into an efficient exoskeleton.
Can’t wait to see what’s up with Arianna after that attack. All the best comments on what could happen have been made already, so I’m just gonna toss my hopes in for her either being a super, or discovering that she is one and didn’t know before. (really hoping she isn’t offed and replaced or horribly burned)
A significantly older Major Scoville reaches through TIME AND SPACE and yanks her into next week.
Ohhhh. So that’s what the Last Orb Of Power does!