Grrl Power #269 – Made you flinch
When Maxima says Vehemence is beyond conventional attack, the asterisk is “with the equipment we can bring to bear against him right now.” Obviously they haven’t tried a bunker buster against him or even an 80mm tank cannon, but then they didn’t have the foresight to bring either of those with them to dinner. Besides, when the best you can say after shooting someone in the eye with a .50 is “Made you flinch” conventional tactics pretty much go out the window.
DeviantArter Shadaan has done an excellent piece of fanart of the gals! Check it out and give him lots of faves!
I’ve finally ‘finished’ the vote incentive. All the double pages in this fight have kept me drawing 7 days a week so I appreciate the votes even though I wasn’t getting it updated as often as I would have liked. I say finished with quotes because really I’d love to keep adding girls to it. She-Hulk seems obvious, as does Ahsoka and a number of others. I’ve also added it to the DeviantArt page if you want to view/comment on it there.
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sidney ties him up with lighthook and keeps him in the aire till the vhemic energy burns off
He’s already torn that off of himself before his power-up though.
Not really. He was “hooked” by the lighthook, tying him up implies the lighthook has more coverage.
I’ve suggested before that Sydney wraps him head-to-toe in multiple layers of her energy coils. He’s managed to “pull free” of the lighthook but I haven’t seen anyone “break” it. And I’m thinking that with multiple layers of her energy coils V pushing out at the inner coils will only compress them against the outer ones, making them stronger.
It would probably be better to impaled him. In the mouth and out the ass.
best plan is to wait
the more you fight and the more aggressive the more power he has.
the best plan is to mock him and dodge all of his attacks via harem jumping around and mocking along with sidney and anvil. maxima will have to leave due to the fact that she is quite agresive naturaly and i don’t know if dabbler should be in this plan trying to suduce him or somethin.
And while everyone is standing around & “waiting,” V will just head further into the city, powering up even more by threatening the civilians &Y property…ARCSwat HAS to respond.
Vehemence has so far shown no interest in targeting civilians or those unable to handle his power. With his strength he could have killed or badly injured several of the less resilient members of the force. So far it looks like he wants a fight; not a slaughter.
up until the point that there is nothing that “the powers that be” CAN do anything to stop him… THEN he’ll go Godzilla on EVERYBODY!… up until now he’s only been ABSORBING violence in order to GET to that point, of course he’s gonna “play nice” and lull everyone into thinking that he’ll “come along quietly” (once we figure out how to STOP him) and he’s thinking: “Hah!, yeah that’s right, go ahead and believe the “nice guy” exterior… until it’s TOO LATE”…
you DO notice how Hanover Fist he get’s just as he absorbs the latest amount of Vehemic energy, right?
I can’t believe I’m adding to this segment of the discussion, but as I recall Hanover gets tossed into space.
Even if Vehemence doesn’t really *want* to threaten civilians, he has put all of those other villains in the line of danger just to get himself into the fight. He *definitely* wants to keep the fight going. What makes you think he won’t offer even an empty threat to civilians if they refuse to fight him? What makes you think he won’t back up such a threat, even if he doesn’t really want to?
And anyway, even if you don’t want to hurt anyone, collateral damage is hilarious… for everyone except insurance companies and the government.
As long as my house is in one piece, I’m all good with that.
Yes Sydney would be great at the mocking, and as a comic book nerd she must know about how effective Spiderman’s patented “snappy patter” was in a fight. Plus, I can see her using humour weapon: Remember the “killer joke” ?; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdWGlJrG6sQ
“Keep it up, Eddie! Your knockin’ ’em dead! You’re slayin’ ’em!”
~Roger Rabbit
You gotta admit, though: Those are some inhumanly impressive shots to make.
She took 8 half actions to increase her accuracy by 50% each time
Yeah, are we sure Peggy doesn’t have like a low level power? True Strike’s only a 1st level spell. Heck, a third level rogue could use it a couple times per day.
Yeah but a a rogue isn’t powered, just skilled
Yep. No longer vulnerable to your toys. And he’s just demonstrated a casual mastery of magic in the ability to create clothing out of nothing. This means — as I suspected, and mentioned several times before — that Vehemence has *other* capabilities, which we know little-to-nothing about, making just about any plan potentially flawed in that it cannot predict what he hasn’t shown off yet. The fact that he not only could cast magic, but could directly analyze and critique Dabbler’s mystical attack, indicates to me that “summon pants” is far from his only magical capability.
As for people repeating the “throw him into space/the ocean”, again: Vehemence THOUGHT THIS OUT. There is, in my view, very, VERY little chance that he didn’t consider “hmm, flying brick, what if she throws me into space or the ocean?”
We don’t even know if he’s actually vulnerable to suffocation at this point. if he is, well, space is a POSSIBLE solution, but water? Unless he doesn’t know how to swim, that’s at BEST a temporary slow-him-down measure; with his power and strength I wouldn’t be surprised if he can RUN on water by now.
Unknown unknowns aren’t a flaw in a plan, they’re a flaw in knowledge.
Technically these would be known unknowns, because we know we don’t know everything he can do. If we thought we knew everything, but we didn’t, and therefore didn’t know we didn’t know, it would be unknown unknowns.
What?
[Kosh] Yes [/Kosh]
Even if you understand that there are a whole bunch of unknown unknowns, it also stands to reason that you can’t even determine the ratio between the unknown unknowns & how many knowns are actually known.
These plans also revolve around the idea that Vehemence won’t punch Maxima’s lights out before she flies him to space.
Or, you know… She just throws him into space.
Which involve grapping, which involve being open to having your lights punched out.
We don’t know how fast he is at this point, but it’s a fair asumption that he’s faster than when this started
The counterpoint would be that they have to try SOMETHING. Trying something that probably won’t work is better than standing there and letting him attack on his own terms, which definitely won’t work.
Also, Vehemence has already spoken a true statement of his intent: Not fighting him is no longer an option; they’re way past that point already.
If they refuse to fight him, he can still continue to power up by going further into the city & threatening civilians & property…He’ll still gain energy. He’s giving them NO choice at all as to whether or not they should take him down. They MUST take him down…They just have to find some non-violent way to contain him so that he doesn’t *gain* more power as well as trying to drain what power he has now. Until they can take him down, Vehemence presents a clear & imminent danger to the public at large.
I propose taking Sydney back to that Thai restaurant to recharge her pepper-bees attack. Who knows, it might even work.
to *use* that attack directly, she’d have to get close enough to V’s face to launch the pepper bees…While she’s unshielded. Better bet would be to handle the Unmaker’s container with her Lighthook & just shake it out on his face.
OOOOOO… Put him in the AIR-TIGHT shield with pepper bees AND the unmaker!!! Sydney can wrap herself in the tentaclorb to defend herself from his attacks!
Even if Sydney wraps up in her own self-generated cocoon, just the mere impact force of V’s fist would likely kill her. Tony Stark has the same kind of limitation with his Iron Man Armor, in that an impact that might not get through the armor could still be great enough for inertial-force transferal to pulp his internal organs.
It would be the same as if you vigorously shake an egg…The insides of the egg will still be scrambled without even breaking the shell.
This fight is reminding me of how Spider-Man always Stopped Juggernaut. he didn’t really beat him he either slowed him down, immobilzed him temporarily or annoyed him enough He gave up and went home because it what he was up to became too much trouble. though V may have a different Endgame other just start trouble. he just may be a Frenemy.
Once, Spidey covered up the eyeslits in Juggy’s helmet (Juggy’s personal forcefiled kept webbing from sticking, so Spidey had to jump on his back & cover the holes with his arms). Stumbling around blindly, Jugs walked into a freshly-poured concrete foundation for a highrise building & sunk like it was quicksand.
Juggernaut doesn’t need to breathe, but he still sunk down to the bottom…It took him several *months* to walk out of it. In essence, Spider-Man is the one who came *closest* to actually stopping him *without* using psionic powers.
My favorite was when he Teamed with X-force, they kept trying to beat him down. Spidey stepped in. and used them in a strategy that involved Dogpiling him while Shatterstar used his MAGIC Sword to cut the Clasps on him helmet Spidey used his webbing to pull off his helmet and the team Telepath then put him to sleep
The example I used, Spidey was all alone. No one else was available to help. He *tried* to contact others for help, but he had to go it alone. Spidey didn’t actually *stop* Juggy, but at least managed to keep him contained for a few months…All by himself.
One of Spidey’s finer moments, IMO.
Well Maxima’s in a Position to do Either.
Perhaps if everyone stands in a circle around him and sings a happy song about solving their problems with non-violent tactics and mediation.
Or a variant of those non-lethal expanding sticky-ball things that were in “The Incredibles.”
I didn’t see that film sully – nieces have short attention spans.
But any varient on the Tanglefoot bag should work – Maybe there is a vat of marmite or vegimite we could drop on him.
Just drop a vat of super low friction lube on him.
Still a telekinetic or portal master would be really handy about now.
I was thinking of that low friction stuff myself. I don’t want to know what that makes me.
Oooo-kay. I think Dabbler might already have a bunch of salad oil & some rubber sheets to work with…
Snerk!
Can’t help but remember…
Grease Fight!
You can’t fight the grease. All you can do is go with the flow & cruise through it.
;)
ill repeat this is a meal for him nothing else he is here to validate arcs existence and get a free meal
Oh yeah, that’s just what I’ve been saying. Vehemence is attending a banquet for 100, all by himself.
Of course, he’s already shown enough smarts & savvy that he *must* already have an “exit strategy” in mind when he decides he’s eaten his fill. since he’s still enticing them to fight, he’s not full yet.
…The turkey hasn’t been stuffed yet…
I’m still behind the plan of having Maxima maximise her speed and fly Anvil into V’s way whichever way he goes (to lock him down in a non-violent way) while engaging him in polite conversation, so as to wear down his violence charge slightly.
Halo can act as back-up protection for any bystanders via shield and lighthook (pulling people out of V’s way if necessary).
Meanwhile Dabbler “powers up” with help from Harem, and any other team members who would be up for it, before going for a full on love-bomb on V.
Peace and love ftw.
After the pants incident, Anvil might be very interested in “engaging him in conservation”.
Something tells me Maxima really ought to be listening to Sydney… And I mean properly.
It looks to me like Sydney is *trying* to apply Math’s lesson to “think three moves ahead,” but the more that Max or anyone else makes *their* moves without Sydney knowing what *they’re* planning, Sydney won’t be able to keep up with it.
I’m going with the slapstick idea. Maybe the gang does an episode of “Who’s line is it anyway” in the parking lot. Where everything is made up and the points don’t matter.
okay am i the only one that finds it annoyingly obvious that one of sydney’s orbs is going to end up being able to cancel out vehemic energy?
You know how Dave likes to subvert tropes, which are commonly used story elements.
worse. He takes on the “Bane” type from DC Batman. Lose power, lose bulk and height
Nah, that’s an incredibly specific and rare power, while Sydney’s orbs seem to be much more generally applicable. She might be able to dampen other people’s powers, but not specifically Vestric energies.
Agreed.
Of course, what the team could really use right now is some kind of “depower / power syphon” ability… and that could be generic enough to be one of the unknown orbs :-)
(Also, it’s the sort of thing that she wouldn’t have had a chance to find out by experimentation yet, short of unethically experimenting on her new team-mates with the unknown orbs).
I think we all trust Dave enough, given he writes these in advance, not to write up a deus ex machina and go “yeah that’s good enough”.
while the last upgrade Sydney got will play a role its unlikely to be a solo takedown.more likely Sydney sees a flaw in V’s power and does a team take down.
Basically, they can’t power him down in a lot of ways right now. They could fly him up in the air, but he’ll punch whoever’s flying him. They could try to level up sydney again and hope she gets something useful, but it might not be easy.
Max carries Anvil flying just under Halo, who flys 100ft over V.
Halo makes big shield encompassing V at the bottom of that shield sphere.
They all fly into orbit. Halo drops shield for an instant, and reforms it with V outside.
Halo, Max and Anvil return to Earth. V orbits until he is ready to become a good guy.
Annnd…At that moment when Sydney has to drop her shield to let V out of it? What’s SHE going to breathe if she lets out the air that she brought with her? And once reforming the shield, what’s she going to breathe on the journey back down to breathable levels?
Eeehm.
Just because you flew up to space doesn’t mean you are in orbit. You have to be traveling 9km/s sideways to STAY in orbit
Actually the ISS takes 90 minutes to circle the Earth, so that statement is always false.
Not really. Because the ISS doesn’t fly over the same spot on the Earth each orbit. The Earth revolves, so the view from the station changes each go-round.
Drat it… Rotates, not revolves.
Its funny, but sydney i think still has the means to end him rather, well, messily. So few folks think barriers can be used offensively. If its created around something, well.. odds are want to be that she can see inside him with the true sight and make a barrier to cut off the blood flow from his heart and simply let him go that way? If its not, and originates inside from a set point, recall where the chestbursters start from?
And she’s very much one to see and consider something like that, sydney is clever, doom level clever. And where vehemence is going into the fight with a knowledge of them, especially the group before, he’s done one thing very right, he’s treated sydney as someone to respect. That, is scary because it means he’s certainly considered her a real threat then.
Sydney’s barrier is a sphere with herself in the center. She can’t just put it around Vehemance’s heart. Further, it doesn’t cut things in half a la The Dome when it appears, per word of author re: Shadow Boxer.
No, no, no. you’ve got it all wrong Dave. There is only one weapon capible of defeting Vehemeence! Some will need to break out the Fluffy Bunniy Cannon!
In that case, we really ARE going to need the Bunny Rehab center:
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1223
bring in the monty python bunny? cute and deadly
nope… it’s VIOLENT… it’ll just power him up more!
I think many of you people who are talking about using love to beat him or sink him in quicksand / fly him to orbit don’t quite get him. His power isn’t just ongoing. He’s like a battery that’s already been charged up. He has already stated
Stupid button. He has already stated that his power is a form of magic and demonstrated it by summoning pants. He can make himself super strong and tough and can increase his size. He probably has some degree of super speed too. Do you really think he couldn’t do some form of teleportation with a general power pool like that? He needs to be drained before he can be defeated. I’m honestly not sure how you could drain a vehemic user (unless you have someone who can outright drain power or put him to sleep) except by letting him knock down targets without fighting back until he runs out of power.
Doh! Forgot he gains energy from hitting people too.
Giving “love taps” to Anvil might drain him a bit, as long as she doesn’t hit back.
Wouldn’t be ironic if Sydney’s love of super spicy sauces was what was needed to defeat him?
Yeah, I’d recommend the Unmaker on your takeout order for all of your super-villain takedown needs
An alternative to ‘shooting him in the eye, with an anti-material rifle’ is to ‘poke him in the eye, with an anti-material rifle, rectally’. It might not hurt him, but it will make it damned hard for him to walk!
Ka-Pants might be Kevlar for all we know, and I doubt he’s gonna moon her. *grin*
Well, because of Peggy, you might say that he’s moon-eyed with her…Blood Moon, that is.
…then again, you might *not* say that…
I still like the idea of reviving Opal and getting her help in exchange for amnesty (maybe for all? Get them all out free so we can meet them again in other circumstances?). She could set up two horizontal portals offset in the vertical plane after someone else tosses him up in the air (lighthook? Maxima? Tenser’s Floating Disc?). Vehemence would just fall and fall and fall and fall… nice and gently. Could even put some amusing banter in while they wait for him to power down, with him getting repeatedly cut off as he falls through the portals.
Not bad, per se. However, he is demonstrably capable of magic; it’s a lot of work to go to for something that has about a 50% chance of not working when he just casts a violence-powered counterspell. Moreover, Vehemence backhanded Opal in the head. She has, if not a cranial fracture, then at least a severe concussion.
We can only hope that, as he falls, he isn’t as skilled as Sydney is in the Cursing Arts. Math has already analyzed Sydney’s skill as 7th Dan Black Belt for that…
I was going to jokingly suggest teleporting him and Achilles to a deserted island to depower Vehemence with 20 pages of crushingly awkward yaoi… but a man who gets stronger from the act of punching someone and a man who is immune to the effects of punching someone hitting it off would probably be the deadliest thing ever. Imagine twenty minutes of Spouse Hackysack before Achilles gets kicked into the moon so hard it shatters.
Our heroes clearly need to call in an outside expert–SuperHippie, with the power of the Kumbaya Circle!
They can call upon the Green Ganja. His aura of peace and mellowness will surely save the day.
Id think violence is a human concept so limited to human directed actions otherwise he would have charged up from sitting on an earthquake or dormant super volcano, also wondering how big a hole they could dig and drop him into and let him dig his way out to bleed off alot of energy, anvil isnt a good shield for this guy, she has a max capacity which he would hit easily and then anvil goes boom? from the stored energy. lighthook maybe he hasnt been seen bending it, just dragging sydney when she had him wrapped up
Well the Word of God (aka DaveB or David Barrack) is that Vehemence could power up from sitting on an earthquake. Problem is finding where the epicenter is going to be before the quake, or getting there quickly enough that the quake is still going when he plants his ass. The effective range for his power is said to be less than a mile, so powering up by earthquakes is going to be kind of hard to do. Storms are easier as they last longer, so even though the level of violence is generally lower than what an earthquake might generate he’d be able to harvest more power from a storm as it can last for days.
Perhaps the Niagara falls or the Victoria falls would be a potent source of energy for him? What all these sources lack is intent. As DaveB stated it, the intent behind the violence adds to the flavor and makes it more nourishing. So for V this fight has been a smorgasbord…
can’t she just put her shield around him? containment without violence.
Sydney cannot generate a shield remotely. She has to be in it.
It amuses me that people are still asking this.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1138
she contained Max’s explosions without getting roasted.
And she is inside the shield with everyone but Max and Achilles. If she could do that she would do it right now to stop Max from further powering up V.
She did not contain the explosions, she excluded them. Sydney (and all the non Maxima, Achilles people) were inside the shield, while the explosion was outside.
Oh, got it, okay.
Thanks!
Yes! Atlantis will rise again!
yeah, i think at this point we’re limited to either launching him into the middle of an ocean, sending him into orbit, or hoping anvil can take him.
or Sydney’s PPO, we’ve seen that he CAN be damaged, it’s just that the AMOUNT of damage has increased to beyond “conventional” means now. if Peggy had taken the second eyeball sniper shot BEFORE Maxima played cricket with him and TRIED to turn him into ground beef, and him subsequently absorbing all that power, she might have been able to blind him THEN, but not NOW, as seen… so it’s basically to the point that they need to TOTALLY OBLITERATE him with the initial input of whatever form of energy used, BEFORE he has a chance to absorb it and grow stronger… IE just like the damage to his eye and teeth, just more-so…
as far as we know, he can’t fly. so the trick is put him in a situation where only flying would allow him to reach a fight in a timely manner.
if he’s in stable orbit, he can’t reach the ground without a rocket or super-powered flight. if he’s in the middle of an ocean, he has to swim, and hopefully he can’t move much faster than 40mph in water, since there’s nothing solid to push off from, and his body isn’t shaped for hydro-planing. swimming through a thousand miles of water should take him all day, and maybe wear him out.
She can put her shield around him as long as she is inside it as well.
And all Vehemence would have to do to get it out is knock out Sydney.
Concidering she’s a normal squishy, that’s not exactly difficult
So no, bad idea
What… noone’s even THOUGHT that everyone sitting down and singing Kum By ah might reverse his growth effect…. What… NONE of you were raised by Hippies?
What…you’ve never thought of reading the comments before posting? That’s been brought up several times on this page alone.
Shhh! If everyone were reading the comments I wouldn’t be able to raise Atlantis using the trophies as landfill…
Max would never go for a plan like that (https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/370, panels 1&2), ESPECIALLY if it meant calling someone in that’s NOT currently a member of ARCHON.
New thought. What if those glowing lines on V indicate cybernetic electronics that enhance his ability to absorb violence? Maybe a nice EMP pulse, ala Dabbler, might take him down a notch.
Those tattoos on V exhibit properties more in line with magic-origin than with tech-origin. It didn’t look like he used technology to replace his pants, either.
Actually, there’s nothing to indicate a leaning to either magic or technology. Plus teleportation is an acceptable magic OR technical probability. I’m just exploring a possible option IF it is on the technical side.
I’d rather lean towards the magical than cybernetic. It may be possible for tech to be involved, but a lot less probable and be poor writing.
It is an option to be explored. One should not discount a possible solution simply because one doesn’t like it, or think it the highest probability. I think an focused EMP burst, most likely from Dabbler, is worth the attempt simply because it is a simple, quick, and easily explored possibility. I’m not sure how the cybernetic possibilty would be considered poor writing, other than as a personal opinion. Personally, I think it would open up a whole slew of conspiracy possibilities, especially when exploring where the money and technology came from. That could possibly tie in Deus Ex to this whole situation.
It’s poor writing because it adds a background that is ‘just there’, and adds another potential brain dead solution to taking him out. Plus, while the realm of possibility for tech being involved is there, chances of such with the way things are going is very much against it given the fact that people with superpowers operate just fine without assistance. Dabbler is the rare exception, of course, mainly since, in her case, it actually works. Some things are just more enjoyable when science does not try to explain everything and let powers be powers.
I wonder what the matter-vehemence ratio is for Ka pants-ing. For more standard types of energy E=MC^2 works but physics doesn’t cover nonstandard forms of energy. If indeed he did create pants directly from vehemic energy then I seriously doubt that any attempts to cut of his air supply would be effective, after all he could just generate himself some oxygen. Of course this does assume that the pants are real instead of illusory, but given V’s demeanor I doubt he would settle for anything less. On the other hand if they are illusory then I imagine that Dabbler is still getting a cybernetic eyefull.
Doubt it, her cybernetic eye doesn’t see through magical illusions and neither do cameras. Regardless, you’re assuming he didn’t simply transmute his old pants and shoes into new pants. The old ones tore, they weren’t vaporized.
As for speculation on Halo/Sydney’s remaining abilities invisibility is not outside off the realm of possibility given that it she would probably still be able to see herself and the only external viewpoint she would have had access to (without telling someone about her abilities) would have a powerful truesight effect. I wonder what other powers she could potentially possess that would be similarly difficult/impossible to discover given her limited testing constraints. Given the PPO’s safety feature it could be entirely possible that her other abilities refuse to activate due to her desire for secrecy during testing, I mean a loudspeaker type ability or anything particularly showy would likely have drawn attention to her.
I really want a better artist than I to draw a picture of Vehemence doing G.W. Bush’s infamous “Fool Me Once” gaff.
In Other news, I also want to Cosplay Vehemence at some point.
And, for the record, singing hippie songs while holding hands, projecting Sydney’s shield around V, launching V into orbit, and launching him into the ocean have all been suggested. Usually several times in each page of comments. Of these launching him into the ocean is most likely to be effective given his potential immunity to low oxygen environments (see comment above). because forcing him to expend energy moving water will drain his energy faster than juggling him in high atmosphere (unless he expends quite a bit of energy generating oxygen, unlikely given that Ka Pants-ing didn’t noticeably affect his energy levels).
I think you’re all overlooking the likelihood that he can use his magic to teleport. Dabbler can. In that case they need a nonforceful way to render him unconscious. Maybe an invisible gas so he won’t kapants himself some air or teleport away until it’s too late? Assuming he can be affected by gas of course.
From what I can remember seeing all the teleportation Dabbler has been doing has been technology based. Her “Hammer space” teleportation of weapons and gadgets are curtsy of her prosthetic arm. Once Sydney found out she was prepared to have Dabbler cut off her left hand so she could be fitted with a similar prosthetic, but Dabbler refused to do it.
Please leave a hint if you can recall some instance where Dabbler has used teleportation that was not technology based.
She did use Blink to escape Heavenly Sword blade whip. Blink is strictly short range though, so it is still unknown if she can do long range teleportation.
Good call! I forgot about her blink.
It is also worth mentioning that although he has demonstrated knowledge of magic he has so far not demonstrated the ability to cast magic, at least the way Dabbler casts magic. Unless he is a caster that casts without words or motions then Ka Pants-ing wasn’t a was not an example of magical ability, only one of manipulation,(either of matter/energy or the perceptions of those present).
Large energy source being used directly by his mind to alter either the matter around him, location of that matter or changing how people see? That’s either magic or psionic in nature. (psionics just being another kind of magic system as far as I’m concerned but eh)
Could be he knows the words and materials that make good focuses for the easy casting of this spell but having tons of energy he just “brute forced” it. In Harry Dresden’s world spells, materials, magic items helped either store energy or use less energy to greater effect by focusing it precisely where needed but if you had access to enough raw power you didn’t really need them. It was just wasteful.
Honestly- they should have killed him on the spot, as soon as he showed that he could SURVIVE a punch from Maxima.
I wonder how long he can sustain that level of excessive overkill?
As long as he has Vehemic Energy that he can absorb, he can keep his power levels either increasing or at least sustainable. For all practical purposes, he’s probably getting enough energy that he doesn’t need to rest his body at all. I’d say that he probably has a level of endurance in a similar category as Superman.
Supes’ *body* doesn’t really need to rest unless he expends so much energy that he has to give the sun time to recharge him…But Supes still needs to *sleep* because the brain needs time to cycle through dream states to prevent insanity. I’d think that, at this point, as long as V can stay physically charged up, his only limit to his endurance would reside with the need for sleep, for the same reason.
Bad villain is bad. It will likely be an innocuous weakness that brings him down. Like every other over-powered super-hero/villain ever has had their kryptonite, mistltoe, and unbathed heels; or even their own insecurities like Thanatos and his unerring gifts of things to defeat him with.
While I look forward to the story and how Mr. Barrick works through the trope as he is wont to do (I love that he does his best to avoid worst ones), an ability so vague and overpowering as “violence absorption” can really only be countered by draining or extreme stupidity (a la Achilles/Balder/Superman etc.)
He is not a bad villain though
He just solves his problems through violence.
Thanos* ugh.
My question is, when shot the second time, why didn’t he instantly jump to and attack Peggy? Easily killable, likely to make the team make rash and violent choices to make him even more powerful. It’s not like his enemies weren’t willing to kill him.
Actually BrandX they weren’t trying to kill him. Max only called in the eye bullet as a distraction after he’d proven himself super tough and the first eye can’t be that badly damaged or he’d have made more of the pain. Also if the bullet could penetrate the eye it would keep going and the fight would be over.
As to why he didn’t kill Peggy, he does seem to be showing some restraint. He might just be letting them continue attacking so he can continue powering up though. Once he’s powerful enough to take Max he can drop everyone else easily.
If he was here to kill them he would have done so already.
He’s here because he wants a good fight.
Now there’s offcourse no guarantee that the people he is going to punch would survive so, but there’s also no reason to go out of your way to squishy a squishy. That’d just be bad form
Bloodstains are so difficult to remove, even on a pair of black violent pants.
So, your plan is, “I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords?”
Not to hug or hump in hopes of sapping his power, not running in different directions, not erecting obstacles, using annoying sounds or smells, or ANYTHING else non-violent to try to slow or dissuade him?
It should have been tried sooner, but he’s clearly susceptible to things, and he may now be impervious to pain or damage, but he can be moved, and Max has the speed and strength to do it. Theoretically she could keep flying even as he’s beating on her – if he fails to stop her she can deposit him midatlantic and he’ll at least have to use up some stored energy swimming back. If she fails at it, she fails, but grabbing him by the foot isn’t, on balance, much violence with regards to pumping his power up. Definitely less than she’s thinking right now.
Dammit.
As big as he’s gotten, with her tactile telekinesis Maxi should be able to grab him from the center of his back. As long as she stayed there, with his musculature he wouldn’t be able to reach her and she could be able to move him. But if he has spells at his command, all bets are off that she could move him far enough to be of any advantage.
People keep forgetting the ‘Reverse Face-Plant’ move
Max sure is willing to take a lot of lip from the rookie.
That’s not the kinda stuf you should be discussing anyway during a fight. That comes later.
And she hasn’t even been trained yet, so she can be forgiven for not knowing proper form.
Also, Sydney has already saved Maxima from doing stuid stuf once, against FWTDT. It’d be stupid to dismiss suggestions just because someone isn’t trained yet
Sydney has presented ideas that work. No smart leader ignores or dismisses someone like that. That may be why Max had Dabbler get behind Sydney’s shield. They can work out a plan of action while Max keeps V bouncing around trying to stop her and Anvil. And Dabbler will have a better sense of when it’s safe to pass the ideas on to Max to help avoid her getting punched in the nose again.
Could V get unlimited evergy just by beating the stuffing out of the invulnerable guy?
I don’t think that beating a target that isn’t harmed counts as violence
Actually, it does. Violence of any kind, whether it can be harmed or not, counts. I just don’t think it would provide much of a power boost compared to a brawl.
Yeah, it would be like eating a plate of cardboard (plus the plate) when you would prefer a nice steak with all the sides
Cardboard… I recall some pizza that are like that…