Grrl Power #130 – Singularly skilled double agent quint
Wait, what’s this? Betrayal? Intrigue? Plot development? Are they bad guys? What comic is this? Before you know it dogs and cats will be living together!
I thought I might have been telegraphing it too much with Harem’s semi-sinister look on the last panel of the previous page, but given the little variances in my art from panel to panel, and given that nothing like this has gone on so far in the comic, I guess it’s not surprising that people didn’t pick up on it.
As for her nightstand, Harem probably has a number of seminal books featuring teleportation, portals, gateways, etc. that she rereads every few years. I’m sure there are a few other good ones she has on her bookshelf.
Edit: I fixed the upside down sword, the missing 3rd button on the jacket, and added “The Stars My Destination” thanks to several suggestions, and “Mein Bamph” courtesy of Too Old to be Cool. Also added a bra hanging off the bedpost to help establish the first panel as a separate location from the penthouse office in the rest of the page.
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Wow. Unexpected! Interesting stuff. And some gorgeous art.
Notice how she forgot to put her neckband/choker back on?
The choker is in her room, not at the meeting place.It probable contains communication-and/or tracking technology/magic.
This begs the question, What/Why are they meeting in her apartment witch probably has tracking/bugs that could hear about her nefarious machinations?
I seriously doubt it’s her apartment. My guess is it’s the Machina building.
They’re not in her apartment – her choker had to be left behind in her room so she couldn’t be tracked while at Machina Industries.
This can’t be her place, since if it were, the sword would be hers and Vale wouldn’t yoink it.
Unfortunately the panels make you think it’s the same place as panel 1.
If the get suspicious they will just put magical or technological trackers on all Harem-copies and don’t asks for alibis.
Aaaand either she is busted or doing triple spy stuff as she left her comm collar on the desk.
Interesting, I would have figured that Dabbler would be the one to sell out if anyone did, given the demonic heritage and all, hopefully Harem is actually a triple agent and reports all this back to Maxima and the General, I would hate to have to see her get ruthlessly thrashed by the whole team. Also, this dude’s name is Deus Machina and he has an x shaped scar on his face, nice one Dave.
Actually his last name is Deus. I haven’t decided on his first.
So his car is a Deus Coupe?
*Beats Adamas with BPS*
the Stick az? Please that deserved at least a Sat Shot!
Too bad he’s not one of those mother hen types. Then they could call him “Mama Deus”
I bet his employees are afraid to bring him bad news – it gets him rev’d up like a deus…
How about, “Uno” for a first name?
Wrong word, though. “Deus ex Machina” means God from the Machine.
Yeeeesss. I know that. It was a purposeful misinterpretation of the data.
Deus. Hrm.
Asmo?
Ama?
… Bob?
But then his last name would have to be “Page” and it just wouldn’t be the same. :3
Re-reading the comic after some years… first time through I immediately noticed the “Machina” and “Deus”, then I noticed he has a X shaped scar on his face… hence… Deus X Machina.
That was a bad, and probably unintended, (true)sight gag.
Hmm… he reminds me of some bald guy… smart, head of a Tech Corp, kick-ass female bodyguard…
Initials LL… bodyguard named Mercy?
No, no, it’s totally different*. Deus’s first name isn’t Dexx or anything.
Oh god I totally want to make his first name Dexx now.
*Ok there may be some similarities.
Why do I get the feeling that this guy is going to be trouble? He reminds me of Lex Luthor in so many ways its not even funny.
2 X’s in Lexx Luthor :P
One X in Lex (short for Alexander) Luthor. Lexx as a weird Canadian science-fiction series from the 1990’s.
Lexx was … Argh! Proofreed! Proofreed! (or Dave gets a Preview button beside Submit).
Well, I don’t actually, but I do get an edit button. :)
…which I’m working on for you guys as well. I have several updates to the page that keep getting put off.
Be careful with those, Dave. I’ve been a victim of edit wars before with people trying to pull fast ones and make you look like a fool.
Hm, now I imagine what Maxima would feel like if she ever found Harem out…
somehow i don`t think an atomic wedgie is gonna cut it this time ^_^
You keep the Edit button, but we get a Preview button, so we can make sure our comments will look proper before submitting. If we have the chance to change a posting, we would need to log in with password to keep us lowly readers from mucking up others posts. In fact, if I was able to determine someone else’s email address, I could probably post some pretty nasty right now, but I am usually not that kind of guy.
That is usually how you can tell the good Luthor from the bad one when they do alternate universe stories. The good ones get called Alexander, and the bad ones are Lex, one exception is the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths animated movie (quite good, has one of my favorite Black Canary moments ever).
You can still call him ‘Dexter’ :P
I still get the sinking feeling this guy is going to be really big trouble.
I guess when you have duplication powers there’s ALWAYS going to be a bad copy.
Note that Sydney is probably genre savvy enough to call Harem out on this.
ah but as it has been before harem only has one mind to go with all those copy’s so there is no way that only one copy would go rouge.
Ah, but the same was once true for Multiple Man – then one of his multiples contracted Legacy, and he lost control of some of them.
Except we were informed earlier that harem has a hive mind with the copies so this isn’t a case of a bad copy
“Dues Ex Machina”; cute :P
Only if he quits the company. :)
No, Ex in latin does not mean former. So he doesn’t have to quite the company to be Deus Ex (of the) Machina … Industries.
umm joke. (mimes hands passing over head) zoom
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeusExMachina
Gildomar made a typo
Since his role in the comic is being discussed as a Luthor stand-in, I think it would be more likely that he would introduce himself as “The name’s Clef. Roman A. Clef”
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RomanAClef
(I’ll see your trope reference and raise you and even more abstract reference!)
Whoa! Finally, some actual drama! :-O
Gotta say, I honestly and truly did NOT see this coming. Well played! And no, her expression on the last page didn’t give it away, at least not for me; I just took her expression to be along the lines of “Hehehe, I already know what Syd can do, everybody else is in for a shock.”
Although in hindsight, it does make some sense — Harem’s bio says she’s “obsessed with new experiences”, so she’d certainly be the most likely one of the bunch to pull some crazy espionage stunt like this, just For Teh Lulz. And like she says, her powers do make her the perfect spy/double agent.
Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!
Not to mention, an actual VILLAIN! ‘Bout time! ;-)
YES bewondering when will see the bad guy yes and its the government versus big business hmmm something wrong there hehehehe
Daphne should be glad Vale just put the sword away. Traditionally, once a samurai sword is unsheathed it can not be resheathed without first spilling blood.
As to her motives, you have to factor in the cost of five food bills, five wardrobes, five hair and nail appointments, etc. The maintenance costs need to be defrayed somehow. Although, with her skills she could probably just ‘vorp’ into a bank vault and help herself to anything she wants.
At the risk of starting a nerd-alanche of responses and speculations, has the specifics of her talents been spelled out yet?
Can she carry anything/anyone while teleporting?
Does she have to know the location beforehand? Is there a maximum range?
Does each copy return with the same clothing, equipment as when last employed?
If one is killed, is is it gone forever, or can it it be re-summoned?
Is there an ‘original’ copy that can not be un-summoned that if destroyed will destroy all others?
And when will we get a gadget-themed villain named The Coyote so we can drop Anvil on him?
Another question Since she’s got five bodies sharing one mind, do they all have to sleep at once, or can she maintain awareness in one body while other(s) rest?
In her bio, it says that one copy may be asleep while another one studies. I’d say we could imagine Harem as being (up to) 5 separate people, but with one multitasking mind.
I am fairly certain that her contract accounts for the additional cost of maintaining five separate physical bodies. A contract negotiator that wants to avoid any obvious avenues of disgruntlement would either, have put it her initial contract, or upgraded her contract at a later date once the problem had come to light. She is doing the work of 5 individuals, and is probably on duty in one form or another 24/7/365. As her supervisor, I would probably insist that she only have 3 bodies on duty at any given time, except for actual DSHD (Direct Super Hero Duty) when all her bodies might be needed. I would expect that she would get more PTO (Paid Time Off) as at least one of her bodies would always be available even if the others are on vacation, although I would negotiate for a 2 bodies on duty while 3 might be on vacation.
not ordinary samurai blades but the legendary Muramasa blades which if not fed the blood of another will force its wielder to kill themselves.
Jumper, the book has a better story and doesn’t feature a library wrecking, bank robbing, unrepentant asshole.
On the other hand given the script they did get the right actor to play a whinny insecure/overconfident guy who thinks the world owes him. (considering one of the other films he’s been in)
Good book.
Movie was so-so (IMO), but did have a couple of VERY good ideas for teleporter tricks.
Love all of Goulds books. Look up his latest Seventh Sigma. It’s really one of his best.
I’ve read the first two from the library. Never saw the movie.
Now I know how liberals feel when they read John Ringo.
What don’t you like about the Jumper series?
About Ringo. Yeah, I’m surprised that they havn’t tried to ban Baen books altogether. Read most of the stuff published by Baen myself because it’s some of the most entertaining books published right now.
Tom Kratman has the Greenpeace and NATO transies in a tizzy for wrighting about what they really are like, and up to.
Well, the main character, and his wife, are both members of the “guns are evil” camp, for starters. They really drive that one home. Of course, THEY can “jump”, and frequently enter a potentially dangerous situation with the mindset that nothing bad can happen to them because they’re literally only a thought away from escape.
Baen, oh Baen.
You’d think it’s a pure conservative/libertarian playground, but then you remember that one of the top authors, (and instigator of the Baen Free Library) is a self proclaimed communist. Or was it socialist?
Baen was always good about publishing what was marketable. I think his circle became conservative by default, (most of the liberal authors were writing for other publishers.)
Nagato!
‘Double Yoink’
Heh.
(iPad says YOINK (all caps))
Why would that be?
Left her choker behind, the entire team has them im thinking communicators . . . .yea she planted a mic in the guys room.
DD
Nah. That first panel is in her room, the rest takes place elsewhere. As other’s have said, there’s possibly tracking tech in it, and if you’re right about the comms, taking it with her to a meeting where she’s leaking classified intelligence would be downright stupid.
Yup, I expect Harem to be smarter than that. She may be young, but she seems to know her stuff.
Comes with her powers, whether as part and parcel with them or a natural consequence of having 5 bodies linked together and capable of experience so much at once.
Heh, that little fish in panel 4 looks like a sweatdrop from Daphne. Kind of funny when mixed with that grinning face.
And no wonder Harem is so smug a lot of the time. Perfect spy and double agent indeed.
And I bet if you look closely at the aquarium there is a small clownfish with a bad fin in it. Mr. D. saw the movie, couldn’t deal with the happy ending, went out and caught him again, and put him back in the tank.
Also possible panel 2 Easter Egg cameo appearances by – left:’Dory’, middle: ‘Gill’, right:’ Bubbles’
At first, I thought Mr. Deus “X” Machina there was the civilian identity of our shadowy friend “X”. Now, it looks like he’s more of a ci-villain identity :P
Deus’ build is significantly… beefier… than X’s, but you bring up an interesting idea… To carry it one step further, what if Daphne’s been under suspicion for awhile, and this is actually part of a mole-hunt?
No, no, obviously they are BOTH secretly reporting on the other ;)
I really hope Deus’ power is to have any one power he wants at any one time, just so he can pull something out the bag if he has time to prepare it before hand. Fits his name. Also means he’s not TOO powerful if he can only have one power at a time.
Probably has a power like Domino’s in the X-Man universe.
To manipulate probability in his favor.
and thats how she gets a revenge uh?
I was thinking the same. We all remember ATOMIC by Maxima some pages back, right?
Seminal books on teleportation, but no _The Stars my Destination_? Maybe Gully Foyle is too self-aware a villain to be enjoyable for Harem to read…
Agreed. “The stars my destination” is a must read. Although I prefer the original english title of “Tyger, tyger.” Apparently the American published thought we wouldn’t understand the reference. *facepalm*
I didn’t know they changed the title. I read it as Tiger Tiger.
Gave a good idea of the economical consiquences if everyone could telaport.
none of the “Journeys of Mcgill Feighan” books?
Seconded – I really enjoyed those.
However, Dave does say in the author comment that “Harem probably has a number of … other good ones … on her bookshelf.”
(ellipses just indicate words redacted to make the sentence scan.]
Damn it.
Of all the people in Archon to turn out to be a double agent (if not outright villain), it had to be Harem. It makes sense given her powers, but… I just don’t like it. For all her mischievousness, it would have been nice to know that she was actually someone trustworthy.
Well, recall that all this is basically Sydney’s flashback on “How I First Became A Superhero”. Inference being that, at some point, she actually finds out about all this,
Also, given Harem’s nature, why would she stop at being *just* a double agent? Given the mention in her bio about liking to “create complex social situations”, Harem could very well be a triple or even quadruple agent – she may not actually be a traitor to ARC, just instead yanking the chains of DM (and possibly others) for plain old s##ts and giggles.
…. Plus, noting Harem’s statement in the last panel. She could very easily be thinking the exact same thing about DM.
Also allow for the possibility that she is following orders, but is adding a twist. So, she may have orders to pass this info on to Deus (Does he have a doctorate? That’s Dr. Deus, not Dr. Seus. Heh), but she may have, in the past, noted something about his character, and decided to act as if she was divulging classified data, just to see where he might take the whole situation.
Unless Sydney’s flashback is ala Forest Gump, where the flashback is the first part of the narrative, and then the story picks up when the flashback ends.
Who say’s she’s a double agent? Maybe she’s a triple agent, helping Archon to feed misinformation to Machina
She is by definition a quintuple agent
Bad Monkey! You went there!
I really, really hope X at least has a clue that something’s already up.
I gotta say, I love Vale’s character design.
She left her necklace thingy!
Hmmmm. Vale says “Too bad virtually no one on this planet is an illusionist.”
Inference. Her personal knowledge of such beings extends to worlds / situations beyond Earth.
It also implies that she thinks she knows about all the illusionists on this planet. The best illusionists (with the possible exception of some of those on stage) are those that never get found out ^_^.
“A good magician never reveals how a trick is done. An evil magician never leaves any evidence there was a trick in the first place. Which shall I be today?” – Master Payne
Dabbler is an alien, and I’m sure Vale knows about Dabbler (or at least something about her) from Daphne.
An alien who is currently on this planet.
Gee. I wonder how much Vale knows about succubi glamours anyway.
Not much, but DM seems to know more than a little about that subject.
I dunno. I read that as an inside joke, infering that Vale is a succubus. Especially given that her hair design looks more than a little like a pair of horns framing her face.
That’s how I took it. So she’s a succubus under a glamor, so sydney has (had) a chance to find her out. And self-satisfied Harem is (possibly) oblivious to that, and to what she’s really doing. Maybe.
Also, cute to have Harem playing Harley Quinn (ie, “Mistah D” for “Mistah J”)… but that part makes me wonder if she’s consciously poking fun at him to his face, indicating that she’s perfectly aware that he thinks her role is enthralled subordinate, and she’s implying/gloating-to-herself that she isn’t. Maybe.
And finally, it seems to me Harem thinks she is having harmless pranks/fun. She should think again. And then three more.
Nah, took that as just part of this copies personality trait (but totally caught the Harley connection :D)
I didn’t expect this. I hadn’t even thought about the option of someone on the team being a double agent.
The first panel seems a bit confusing to me though (and judging the comments to others as well) since it seems that either she took her choker off and left it with Deus and Vale, or they are meeting in her chambers.
There is little to indicate the first panel and the other panels happen at different locations, especially since Deus already seems to be speaking in the first panel.
I love that Deus is sporting a trinity knot. It’s the little things that make this comic one of the best on the web. Bravo.
Thanks. I actually had never seen one until I came across one of those “What I tried to tie/What I actually tied” that looked like someone with two hooks for hands did it pictures, but I immediately stuck it in my Deus reference folder.
What a Deuce. Now how will Sydney spook this info out of her?
Hmm 5 total so a quintiple agent working for ARC > feeding info to him > getting the reaction to that info back to ARC > telling the general everything > telling Arianna Everything so she can spin a PR win out if it.
Deus. Pronounced “day-oos”
It’s Latin for “I have a great big ego” :P
Don’t forget Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner’s autobiography, Mein Bamph.
Hah hah I may have to go retro that into the stack of books. :)
Dave, T.O.T.B.C, I’m proud of both of you.
Well, while ‘Mein Bamph’ is apropriate with Nightcrawlers skill, it doen’t realy fit. Maybe ‘Mein Mampf’ would be way more apropriate? Mampf is a term for food (a little bit degrading – like found in a military cantina or such :)) and considering her eating habits it may fit here.
I wonder what Nocturne’s (Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch’s daughter in a different reality) Biography would be called?
Awwwwww DAMNET!
And I was starting to like her.
Meh, dogs and cats already ARE living together. At least where I live.
I don’t know if Harem is a good as she thinks she is. Her psych profile would likely tell that she is a espionage risk. This gave me an idea about the last two balls, something like Fox and Hound. One ball being able to follow anyone, anywhere, regardless of how they travel and the other ball able to follow the first, transmitting and duplicating the abilities needed to do so.
I admit that would be a little too useful, but it was just an idea.
she might be a “tripleagent”, and interesting that her HHH collar was left behind
Hyperion!? He’s in league with Handsome Jack!
oh shit that would be bad,,, seeing as handsome jack was one of the best mastermind tyoe villain i have seen in decades,,,,,
Did anyone else “hear” her saying “No sweat, Mr. D.” in a very Harley Quinn voice?
Well, I am NOW
[sigh] now I can’t unhear that as her voice…
well played.
Totally. I think it’s the posture and the smile that caused that.
Really? Daphne is using a pretty big shovel, there.
GAH! Katana OCD kicking in! She put in on the stand upside down!
I hear you, to see someone take a valuable blade and handle it wrong, does tweak you.
/good way to spot a kendoist or weapons collector
ohhhhh so when do we get to know about his scar? And which side is Harem actually on? You can name him Dexter so his first name can be shortened to Dexx if that’s what you like.
but I’d rather you didn’t name his assistant Mercy since thats my name :(
Naw, I came up with Vale for her, which I was certain I was ripping off from something else, but I’ve no idea from where, and some limited googling didn’t turn up anything, so… totally original as far as I know. But probably isn’t.
Vikki Vale maybe? From the first Michael Keaton Batman movie?
Viki Vale was around in Batman comics several decades before that horrendous movie.
hey those were great batman movie,,, much better then those that folowed with robin,,,
The only good Batman movies (live action) are Batman Forever and the Nolan trilogy (Batman Begins and the two sequels), you can disagree if you want but you will never change my mind.
The only good movie Tim Burton has ever made is Sleepy Hollow IMO. Only good one from Keaton is Multiplicity.
OK so I realized I may have come off much angrier/more combative than I intended. Please don’t think I am trying to start a fight, its just a very deeply held opinion, and it is not just about Burton and Keaton, Batman and Robin is the only superhero movie I have ever flat out refused to watch in my life. Anyhow, sorry if I was a dick, didn’t mean to be.
I’m not sure why Harem would take off her collar. Can’t she just teleport away without it instead of unclipping it and not risk any alerts from a broken collar? I guess she may not have that much control over the teleportation though, and has to teleport small things that are attached to her, although that raises more problems (unable to teleport out of solid restraints unless you want to take the whole building you’re locked to with you).
Of course, it would be much harder teleporting back into the collar once you get back though.
Actually, read a book with a teleporter who was able to either teleport a person out of chains, or the chains off of the person (although, the first time he didn’t do it properly and took part of the wall with him, but fortunately all of the prisoner)
If Harem likes Teleporter Fiction, is she a fan of A Certain Scientific Railgun. The teenage lesbian teleporter of that series has some really nice t-porter tricks. To a lesser degree, so does the Teleporter in Buck Godgot: Zap Gun for Hire.
Hmm, never heard of Railgun before, I’ll have to find some time to watch it.
Oh yeah! The Railgun series will not only give you some great and semi-original examples on how to use teleportation in a fight but intelligent uses for other powers as well. In fact, being an anime (based on a novel), I’d expect that Sydney would have this show in her arsenal of effective uses of superpowers.
… have to third the `RailGun’ recommendation (the anime has her doing power tricks that Marvel’s writers only let Magneto do in the comics…)…
Now a real rail gun uses an electromagnetic pulse to push an object out of a barrel at Mach speeds. The Germans during World War Two had a test model but it disintegrated during a test firing.
You might also want to look at docfuture.tumblr.com. Flicker’s exploits don’t involve teleportation, but she can get from Motionless in Minneapolis to Lounging in London in about 100 milliseconds. Leaving a plasma trail to dissipate the 50 megatons energy generated by air displacement. And of course there are other characters of interest, such as Golden Valkyrie who can open portals to step through. (Note: in Jumper, teleporting turns out to be very very fast portal generation.)
In any event, to see the extreme measures Flicker needs to go through to prevent harm to civilians when she needs to move fast, see
https://docfuture.tumblr.com/post/34152071413/flicker-phone-tag
“I feel like I live in a world made of carboard” to the umpteenth power. And Doc’s account of what happened when she tried to find out what her top speed was, was … interesting. She is by far the most powerful being/entity on earth (in that setting). Just from being able to go fast (and survive it).
I guess the relevant part is… the author’s thinking about many-if-not-necessary-all of the physical implications of the powers he gives his characters.
“Skybreaker seems an odd name for someone who can’t fly.
Does it have some significance I’m missing?”
“Yes. You’ve never seen Flicker throw a rock.”
— She Who Waits and Doc Future
Thanks for the docfuture.tumblr.com link.
It is awesome. Just read the entirety in one go.
You are my new favorite person. Thank you!
Damn it, Harem…
At least they’re not *overtly* the bad guys…
Guh. Harem needs a spanking.
yes – You must spank her well, and after you are done with her, you may deal with her as you like… and then…
…well, perhaps I could stay a BIT longer…
Thanks for picking that up.
…didn’t want to finish that joke myself
Hmmm, Harem discipline (with or without bondage), do you spank just one? or all five? and if all five, one at a time or all at once? (one at a time would make it so much worse for the 5th one)