Grrl Power #279 – High risk reversal
A bold and risky, even potentially foolish, but obviously very effective opener to Sydney’s plan. She’s obviously banking on the fact that Vehemence doesn’t seem like a total d-bag. Besides setting up the whole thing, causing massive destruction, beating the hell out of the team and trying to kill Maxima. But in a strangely polite way for the most part. Appealing to him via the scared puppy eyes may be part of her plan, but also may be genuine terror. Does the aggro aura affect Sydney? Well, it’s been like 1 second. We’ll see on the next page.
It was pointed out quite a few times in the comments, but in case you didn’t notice it, Sydney’s shield cut right through Vehemence’s aggro aura (which obviously had considerable range on it, considering it reached Arianna and the news crew all the way on the other side of the highway. I wonder how that part of the newscast will go.) Luckily, Sydney did notice.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome which I can’t live without anymore, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
So, the previous stream of consciousness referred to two primary things as checked off, three steps ahead, and the conversation about fear vomit. Specifically, Max stating that she could catch a bullet but not dodge fear vomit because she wasn’t prepared for it.
She’s gearing up for another sucker punch, kinda like how she suckered the shadow ninja guy with the ‘where’s my glasses’ thing. Not necessarily a punch, per se, but she’s going to rope a dope.
Also, that’s the Telepresence orb in her hand with the shield orb. There’s no guarantee we’re seeing the real Sydney or the duplicate. Attacking illusions is a great way to get V to burn stupid amounts of energy to no effect.
Partially correct, my guess here is that she is acting as a distraction so that Maxima can get loose, after all Vehemence are not focusing on Maxima anymore, now is he? so if that caused the electric current to weaken or even stop, I would not like to be in Vehemence’ boots, considering Maxima would probably put Vehemence’ head into orbit first chance she gets, I don’t care how much of a Regen ability Vehemence has, it has been shown that needs to trigger it himself, as of such if he’s dead he can’t regenerate.
We can guess Sydney figured out the Power Pool part of maxima’s powers.
There is the option of Illusions, but we know the shield can only work while Syd is inside.
That area seems to small for her to hide her real body behind anything. And she can’t use her flightball to float jsut over V.
We can be sure that getting the Aggro on herself is Step 1 of the plan.
Step 2 will be whatever Vehemence reacts with.
And step 3 will be something that maxima does with the distraction.
The shield bubble is not too small for Sydney to be behind Vehemence, though. That’s probably where she is.
I’m actually thinking she’s using telepresence to fill Dabbler & friends in on this plan of hers.
Well, Max did suggest that Sydney draw aggro, mainly because she has the shield. But I don’t think drawing aggro on the boss villain while he’s inside Sydney’s shield is what Max had in mind. Then again, the shield is what’s preventing V from sucking up enough power to actually kill Max, so she’ll probably let that slide during the debriefing later…
Syd backed against her own shield, and it reacted.
Kind of indicates that she is actually there, pleading for her life. I must say, i can´t think of many instances where that particular plea could be more badass.
There is two bit of information that we know that is real syd. First comm-ball copies the shield too and there is only one shiled in the pic. Even if that was not the case the smaller yellow orb in com-ball is the one which creates illusionary syd and it is still in the ball so she is not using illusion mode at the moment.
I’m still in the something to do with deathtolls camp I think. He was willing to test his power against Maxima so he’s probably willing to test it against Vehemence. He’s probably annoyed about being used as a pawn by Vehemence and abandoned. Best I can tell nobody has had a chance to nail him with that tranq cocktail theyve been using on the downed guys. (They tried porting out as soon as he went down so Harem didnt get a chance then, and after that she was dealing with Vektor and his broken ribs) So how about this? Sydney coms to Harem to take Vektor to the doctor (who we know has healing powers) to get him awake again, then drops him behind Vehemence, and he just grabs Vehemences arm and uses his nemesis power to counter the lightning Vehemence is using. And if Vehemence tries to stop him, well, nemesis to the face. As Sydney said earlier, he never actually attacked anyone, ArcSwat attacked HIM, so offering him a walk in return for helping out isnt unreasonable, and makes him famous to boot which is likely what he wants. And since he knows Arc knows how to take him out he has motivation to behave in the future.
Oh, plus, since he’s part of this criminal attack on federal officers, even though he hasnt attacked anyone, if anyone dies then he’s suddenly he’s guilty of murder (per the law he’s guilty of murder even if he’s not the person who did the killing and even if the one who dies was one of his own accomplices) So if he refused the offer and Vehemence kills Maxima then Deathtoll gets sentenced for the murder of a federal officer and thats likely a death penalty case…
Good luck trying to give that sentence.
I tried to post a comment three times yesterday, only to have it not ever show up. The third time, I even got a message that said something like “you’ve already posted that”. And none of them have shown up. The comment did have a link, so I was thinking it was held for moderation, but other comments having links in them showed up. Any clues, anyone?
Just to prove the old adage about repetition and insanity, let’s try again, with the link removed:
I love the look of the aggro aura, but due to the large number of shoutouts, the only things it is likely to aggro in real life are copyright / trademark / etc. lawyers. Dave should consider using something like Penrose tiles for the aura: no legal issues that I know of, relatively easy to generate with graphics programs, non-repetitive patterns, and you can get some cool effects using different colors (see Google images). Any lawyers out there think I am wrong on the legal issues? Anyone else like to recommend other public-domain patterns?
if you could be sued by Atari by making something that could remotely resembling Pac- Man then you would be sued for just drawing a pizza with two slices next to each other eaten, as it COULD be a pack-man reference, same with the other stuff, resemblance does not equal being the real deal not only that but it’s hidden away not advertised, so it’s more like a reference than copyright infringement at worst.
IANAL, but I agree. I think you would only get in trouble for using these glyphs in a similar context to the original, eg. having someone use the Stargate symbols to dial an address (for Opal, perhaps 8-).
Unmaker: you could look at the Ammann-Beenker tiling, which has a nice “star” feel to it, and is probably easier to draw / code than a Penrose tiling.
Test reply: Firefox on Linux Mint.
FYI, the only comment I’ve had moderated contained 4 links, and there was a message stating it was in moderation.
Test: Chrome on Windows 7.
Test: IE on Windows 7.
Test: Firefox on Windows 7.
Test: IE on Windows XP.
F
F
Gee he missed the joke
You’ve done it now! Pander’s gonna be so mad with you!
MEH!
Not a thing. All OK.
And sorry everyone, for covering your screens in blue orbs…
Ermahgerd, bler erbs!
Ermagerd! Didney worl!
No problem. Sydney’s been covering the comic pages with different colored orbs throughout most of the comic…
;)
Test: Firefox on Windows 7.
No other way to test for reception. And they’ll just get lost in the clutter quickly.
Is it just me or is she combining the abilities of the 2 orbs? And it you look at her skill wheel thing, no part between those 2 is lit, so that would mean combining them doesn’t require a “skill point”, right?
I would think that means the opposite is true. Making the orbs interact *requires* a skill point, and none have been unlocked, so the powers can’t interact. She can still use them at the same time, but I doubt that she could use her orbs through her illusory self unless she’d invested in interaction between the Truesight orb and the orb she wanted to use.
Actually, looking at the skill tree from this perspective, there IS one interaction point that has been unlocked: the point between the Flight orb and the PPO. Sidney was complaining earlier that the PPO didn’t react the same way it had before during the live fire test. It might be that using the Flight orb and PPO together produced a new reaction during the test because the interaction node is active.
How is Sidney using the forcefield without holding the forcefield orb?
Or is the forcefield orb just coloured wrong when compared to her ‘Who’s who’ sheet?
When the orbs are ‘asleep’ in the case they don’t glow. When they are in orbit they glow dimly. When in use they glow brighter, which makes them appear to be a lighter color than their default image.
(and in the last panel the yellow glow from the TP orb is washing onto the forcefield orb)
Dave’s ability to color translucent orbs and show the effects on them is excellent.
So how long until everyone reads the speed texts Sydney sent out? And how long until vehemence goes for smashing Sydney? Will phase 2 of her plan go into effect before she meets death? All will be revealed at a time when everyone has already figured it out.
Same Bat-Time!
Same Bat-Channel!
You don’t suppose, just suppose, that given his prior knowledge about Dabbler, he’s just trying to impress her father so that he can be considered a proper mate for her, do you? Hey, he could rule a world or an empire as her consort and with the violence that would come with any sort of coup, who could defeat him?
That would be funny. This is how demons flirt. With war.
No i dont think so. What woukd he give as a dowry. Maximas head on a platter? :/
Demons don’t do dowries, they usually leave the parent alive
+1
No, a dowry is usually given by the female’s family. A bride price is given by the one wooing. Though if he wishes to give Dabbler something grand, now would have been the time to call out to her “Become mine and not only will I spare your friend’s life, I will help protect this world you’re so fond of!” Followed by an insane evil laugh. You all saw how she licked her lips when his pants split off and she saw what he “brought to the table” as it were. Be a pretty good bet she’d go for that. But alas, Sydney interrupted his wooing.
I ~knew~ her forcefield was going to play a major part in the fight with V X3 Really curious to see what the other two steps of her plan are.
I’m going to say that now that his aura isn’t out there, the FF is shielding him from absorbing more energy, which will drop his power significantly since he’s exerting so much. In the forcefield, Maxima will overpower him
She’s usually mid-shield, the bumping into the edge of it screams of illusion. Except the actual bump part, illusion passes through things, unless the shield blocks illusions too.
It occurs to me though that it might not be her bumping the shield… (Telikenticly controlled balls, plus illusions equals her using an orb or two as a “Thrown rock” to generate a distracting sound where she needs it.)
Then again maybe she’s counting on V knowing about her illusion orb…
Namely here is the scenario:
Enemy smart enough to not attack Sydney on sight(Because she might be an illusion, and he is smart enough to not attack her unless he is absolutely sure that she isn’t.)
He’s burning power faster than he can harvest it now which puts pressure on him to figure out if the Sydney he is looking at is real or not… (If he’s wrong his time limit becomes that much shorter, and he likely beleives his very life is on the line here since he’s locked in a bubble with someone who announced an intent to kill him since “he was too dangerous to let live.”)
Also this scenario was sprung on him by surprise, so he will likely be desperate to pop the bubble asap thus increasing the risk of him guessing wrong and assuming that the real Sydney is the illusion, and immediately blasting at the wrong Sydney, causing it to quickly devolve into a desperate shell game of whack a mole where each incorrect guess shortens the time limit he has to find the real Halo…)
Most importantly, just what is the maximum limit of Sydney Projections? If she can generate more than one at a time he will probably start to freak out because he really needs his aura a max to regenerate his Mana to stay in the fight.(Which of course means that anytime he shows up in the future all Sydney needs to do is show up with Max and bubble him right at the start of their next fight… (Which would be hilarious if he tries this stunt again and before he gets a decent power boost he finds himself staring down Sydney with a deck of cards…(She can play cards with one hand right?) I could see the two of them sitting there playing go fish for the entire fight since he doesn’t have enough mana to actually do anything cool and he can’t leave until the fighting is over and Sydney drops the shield.)
I missed some days when I was on vacation, so I wanted to comment on the previous page for how I see it tying in here. To me this seems relatively straight-forward.
The previous day’s screen shows Sydney going through checks and queries for things she learned:
1st question mark – Max was unable to dodge the “fear vomit” due to the unpredictable response from Sydney.
1st check – Max explains this so it makes sense to Sydney.
2nd question mark – Max is once again caught by surprise due to the unpredictable nature of the tube resisting her.
3rd question mark – Harem is caught by surprise due to the unpredictable response by Sydney.
4th question mark – Sydney and the group is caught by surprise from Dabbler’s entrance which (although predictable to those who know her) was unpredictable to Sydney.
5th question mark – Dabbler once again demonstrates her unpredictable nature by changing herself in front of the group.
6th question mark – the teleport caught Max and Stalwart bu surprise as it was unpredicted.
7th question mark – Sydney is caught by surprise due to the “unpredictable” nature of slurping her noodles hitting her in the eye.
8th question mark – Math is hit in the face due to the unpredictable nature of how Sydney controls her orbs unconsciously.
9th question mark – FWTBT absorbed Anvil’s attack, another unpredictable response.
2nd check – Math confirms that thinking “three moves ahead” helps combat unknown variables.
10th question mark – the explosion Max did caught the entire press by surprise due to its unpredictable (to them) response.
11th question mark – The “hypnotizing boobs” caused Sydney to react in an unpredictable (to her) way.
All of these demonstrate surprise as being a strategy worth utilizing as they all diverted attention.
Math’s comments stuck out to her as a means to solving the problem by thinking ahead.
I think, since we are seeing V notice his own aggro aura stops cold (and he CAN see it), then the actual forcefield is centered around him, which means Sydney is in the forcefield, and we are seeing her directly as she “Tump”s against its wall in front of him. She is holding the comm orb to confirm that it enclosed the aggro aura within the shield.
Completely unpredictable response, which should generate the same pause and refocus situation she has seen and been part of through this entire day.
I think what she typed into her gauntlet was the escape strategy when she drops the shield, in case Max can’t help her. I think what will also happen is Max is going to get free and the power balance will shift.
Anyway, with all the comments back and forth about what is going on, this seems to be the most logical and straight-forward way that Sydney can attempt to get Max free without violence, help power V down, and get Max free. At this point, Max will also be open to suggestion from Sydney on how to stop V (and I think FWTBT is probably involved with that part).
Lots of fun with the comments. I read and interact here now more than any other webcomic (and I normally look through dozens daily). Oh, and Happy New Year to everyone :D
She defaults to mid-shield, but we know for certain she’s allowed to move around within the shield too.
Having the illlusion-orb in hand screams illusion, though, so I’m definitely with you on “illusory Sydney” being part of phase 2 in Operation Batman Scatman.
It could be part of her a three moves a head fake out. She know he knows she has illusory telepresence so maybe hopes he would rather waste time searching for a real her, instead of wasting effort attacking what could be an illusion.
But we know (and V doesn’t) that the light pip in the center of the com-ball releases to become her illusion self (and doesn’t show up in the illusion com-ball). So that is the real Sydney, not the illusion, because the com-ball is complete with internal light pip.
wrong, we know that it disappears from the real ball, but we also know that it *does* show up in the illusion.
We also know that the shield is copied in the ilusion and we only see one shield (and its working).
Aha! Sydney needed Arianna free to threaten him with bad publicity and horrible spin offs.
Were his metal teeth supposed to return to normal after he leveled up?
possibly… Leveling up resets all damage and status effects in video games, so why wouldn’t it happen to V when he lvels up :)
possibly not… his left eye is still the orange glowy color he gained when it was regenerated. If leveling up reset his teeth, why not the eye?
Or hand
He probably have the Regen ability of a Looney Toon, where their teeth return to normal shortly after being altered in some way shape or form.
His face in the first panel is like the most evil and beautiful fairy.
well…. just thought of an evil way to use syd’s shield.. if she has expand and contract abilities for it and it is “air tight” bottle . expanding it fast to twice the radius would drop the pressure by the increased volume:
V = (4/3) π r³ so approximately dorp the pressure by 27 times (or 1/2 that as her shield is round and generally has 50% underground) or the inverse 1/2 the radius while keeping the shield up and explosive increase pressure…
looks like sydney needs a powered sealed armor suit to wear… MU HA HA HAH
gah 8x …. 27 times if radius triples…
Wont work. Her ears dont pop when decrrasing tge size so no pressure change. Reason … Space magic?
Have we seen her change the size of the shield without dropping it though? I honestly can’t recall. If your hypothesis stands, that means increasing the shield size opens up a weakness to gas attacks at the very least.
Mentally, I visualize the shield as nothing of the sort. Instead lost somewhere between galaxies is a planet size sphere of indestruct-unobtanium. When Sydney activates the shield, a corresponding section is carved out of the center of the sphere and plopped down right where Sydney is — was. Sydney in turn is transported to the center of that way distant sphere. What happens outside the ‘shield bubble’ is projected on the inside surface for Sydney to see, and the reverse for people outside to look in. This is why harem can’t teleport inside the shield bubble, its a solid mass. You cant read her mind either – its lightyears distant. This is why any external attack, no matter how powerful, can’t scratch Halo. The only things that get into the inner pocket of space are the things that the ‘shield ball’ puts there. Including gasses, radiation of all types, and obnoxious shadows that pretend to be lethal killers.
Yes we have. And they commented on it in the comic as well
With the combination of the rhymes and that face, panel one really feels like Vehemence is singing to me…
“CAN YOU FEEL IT COLONEL?”
Can you feel it colonel?
Every punch that’s thrown,
Every single broken bone,
They make me strongerrrr…
I’m crushing your bones,
Listen to them groan! You
Won’t last much longerrr…
[Chorus]
Oh Colonel, say goodbye,
Oh Colonel, it’s time to DIE!
You won’t last much longerrr..
And yes I’m getting strongerrr….
That’s what I have. Anyone want to carry it on?:P
Ok, I didn’t realize that was Arianna. The vest is slightly different from what we first saw her in. On page 184 (can’t do links proper) she is wearing a vest that is orange with outlines of black rectangles on it. However on the very next page all the rectangles are solid black. My brain was holding onto the outlines whenever I pictured her.
Oh well.
“Maxima, I…”
Im guessing that the Sydney that vehemence saw is an illusion and the real sydney is behind him. mostly because in the splash page two pages ago she was on his right side and he is seeing her on his left
Bingo!
I just wanted to say your page sits as a permanent tab on my browser so I can check for updates. I love your work. My only regret is that you can’t do daily strips, but I wouldn’t request them if it meant the art or story suffered. So Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, and I’ll make a donation. :-).
Sincerely, The Crimson F*cker.
Happy New Year (from UTC+0)!
I think this has been pointed out, but the Halo balls are a different color, the shield is up, but Sydney is not holding it. It’s a sky blue um purple . Looks more like the Lighthook and Telepresence thingy. So I think she’s behind him, well three moves ahead of him, for now. That “Thump, seeing the shield just by her, nowhere else, I think she’s not where he is looking at this point.
Can this shield be projected away from herself? Or must she be in it, somewhere? Could Gwen, or Zephan hide her in the shield? Or would they need to be in it too? Well, I guess we will see soon.
Oops forgot the rest, I’m asking this because if true then Max if alone with him, in the shield, can maxout without harming anyone with her explody stuff.
Word of DaveB is that Sydney has to be inside the shield she generates, but does not have to be at the center. She cannot yet project the shield.
No, you can see all seven balls. Around her head orbit the navy blue fly ball, the pink with blue core light-hook, the burgundy pew-pew orb, the orange and the green unknowns, and in her hands are the yellow comm-ball and indigo shield orb.
The colours differ from the who’s-who because they light up when active (in orbit) and become even brighter operating (in hand). The colours aren’t always quite distinct enough, so you also have to look at the core’s to be sure which is which. The fly ball has no core, the shield orb has a white core, and the light hook orb has the light hook inside when not in use.
Is it an image of her with 4 balls floating (2 in hands) with a real 7th to hit the shield and make the thump?
The image is live camera rather than C.G.I.. The image-balls float relative to image-Sydney in the same place real-balls float relative to real-Sydney.
I think there’s more to the spell then just making everyone agro, did anyone else notice how fair the match ups were? Hiro and Stalwart, Dabs and Punchy, the news gals? No instances of anyone going after someone who didn’t have a chance.
Makes sense. The more even the match, the longer it lasts.
And now you know!
and knowing’s half the battle
Sorry, no. Bat is half the battle. As is tle.
So is att
That makes sense as to why he is fighting Maxima as well, no challenge equals no charge. That would also explain why he thought the riots were less appetizing, where would he find anyone not made of tissue for him to hit?
That is an interesting theory. But if its true then Vehemence will have to deal with pissed off bad supers and good supers without any powers.
The instant Sydney drops the shield, vehemic energy will start to flow into V. Without any actual violence in range it will only be a trickle. If he is attacked again, it’s back to square one. Unless Sydney’s plan results in V’s KO inside the shield.
I dunno. Occurs to me that both tantric and vehemic energy could have very limited shelf-lives.
As in, if you don’t have the means to gather and contain said energies QUICKLY (ie. while they are actually being generated), then they don’t stay around for longat all. Think of a really major rock concert – tons of energy whilst the thing is happening, but afterwards? Some memories, maybe major property damage, and a few piles of garbage is all that is left.
Interesting thought. Dabbler doesn’t run strictly on tantric energy, so we don’t have any clue about how long such things can be stored. Tantric yoga works on a principle of delayed orgasm to maximize pleasure and energy gain. But that’s usually gone before they recover from the rush. People just cannot hold a high for more than a couple minutes without medical support. And that is where V is at. A constant rush sustained by the vehemic energy input. That Sydney just cut off at the source. She is being a real downer.
The point being, all the vehemic energy that was just generated but has yet to be acquired by V. How long will it stay around before dissipating or turning into something else or whatever?
I suspect not long, AND it is no longer being added to anyhow. Whenever the shield drops, one way or another, V could discover that that there isn’t much energy remaining for him to use.
Vehemence has to run out of energy rapidly, otherwise he could just attend minor brawls until he got to the power level he’s currently at. I guess the question is, how quickly will he weaken, now that he’s cut off from his energy supply.
Well, we have no idea how much juice V has managed to store up, or how energy-efficient he might be with it.
But he has done and/or is doing several things that are, arguably, VERY expensive in energy terms. Setting up and running that ward-thingie, hulking out, creating new pants, pounding on various and sundry people, regenerating his arm – probably these were all OK while he had ####kiads of energy being fed in.
But now, he is choke-holding the most powerful super on the planet and, suddenly, all he has is battery power. If he can’t finish things FAST or, at minimum, tip the balance back his way, then it is gonna get ugly.
Add to that, his basic inexperience. By V’s own admission, he has NEVER been this charged-up before. So he really has very little idea as to how long he can maintain it all.
Based on the suggestion of fair matchup and extrapolating that only Maxima can give him a real charge, having everyone _else_ and not Maxima pile on him may be the way to go. Loses more energy than he gains in the combat. (Not saying many of them can last past a hit or three, but lead with Anvil, Mr. buried invincible, and Stalwart)
Alright so if things are going about as I expect, her shield has cut him off from the power of them fighting, its also cut them off from being controlled by his power. This also means that only her, max, and V are in that shield now, and he isn’t getting more power pumped into him from outside the shield.My guess is with them in the shield max will subdue him nonviolently, which then will allow them to stop him.
Not convinced Maxi can do non-violent.
Headlock
And make sure Max doesn’t try to slip in a hard “noogie” on his scalp while he’s headlocked…
Well. At least she’s probably far enough away that he’d have to move to get to her. Which probably isn’t the best option for keeping Max pinned. Also Syd totally said please. Can’t punish bad manners. As a probably unrelated question, does napalm breath count as violence?
Napalm breath is more of an environmental hazard.
As of the moment of this writing, there are 666 comments on this page…..OooooooooO!
Well now you ruined it with a 667th post. Now lucifer will never take over the webcomic
What would really be neat is if she could dress up in a disguise and activate the ball, then pull off the mask and do dance routine with herself as a partner (line dance) while not looking alike. (simple things, simple minds) I wonder if a dabbler glamour would work through it too.
Also wonder if Harem has another set of googly eyes. A really good laugh can dissipate a lot of violent energy.
Did anyone else notice sydney is not being affected by the aggro aura or is that only temperary?
Someone suggested earlier that the agro field pairs up evenly matched (or close to) power levels. Sydney is unmatched ! I mean she has balls to spare…
As DaveB said under the comic (what, you don’t even read THAT before going here?), it’s only been a second
And Maxima will see it coming the second before it takes hold…
And we will discover Vehemence’s one weakness: cursing. Oh his delicate ears! Punches and kicks, he loves em. Gunfire is like candy. But profanities! Nooooo!
“Well, what are we supposed to use, man? Bad language?” — A frustrated Marine after being told he can’t use violence, Aliens
Sydney’s bad language is as nuclear as her choice of condiments. Damage can range from bleeding ears to cerebral combustion. Or even more distracting laughter as she amuses V once more.
Y’know, it only occurred to me now that he has such a clean, sparkling face when the last time he had blood running down from his eye to his left cheek for the last few pages. o.O
Alright, I’ll weigh in with my thoughts on the next step of this plan:
-As others have already noted, Halo has the Telepresence ball in her hand, yet the shield is reacting. Thus we know that we’re looking at the real Sydney here.
-Those outside the shield are no longer affected by the aggro aura, but many are still confused about what’s going on.
-Halo can’t use her Pip boy wrist com thing without talking out loud, and her plan clearly relies on surprise.
Thus, I believe she’s using her telepresence to fill the others in on her plan, as I’m certain at least one of them has a key role in the endgame. People I’m thinking are key players: Harem/Portal Girl (evacuate everyone who doesn’t need to be there), Dabbler (super genius IQ and possibility of non-violent takedown), and Death Toll (he seems to be the only one there who’s power can clearly counter Vehemence).
The shield doesn’t block the communication feature of the pip-boy, so all she had to do was set it to open-mike. She was off camera and V had his eyes closed a second, she could have gotten a Harem to jump in with her behind V. The shield doesn’t bock vision either so they could be set to act when she drops the shield… But I still think it is an image and she used a controlled ball to Tump the shield for her.
You know, Harem could “Hump” a Barrett and ammo. She could probably port Sydney as well –she is like what 90 lbs wet?
Harems’ maximum ‘port capacity is 50 lbs. & that’s with only ONE of her selves manifested; with all 5 of her, the ‘port capacity drops to 25 lbs. Regardless, Harem can’t ‘port with anything that’s living. That’s the Word of Dave.
Not an image. The small center sphere is still present, which it isn’t in either the original (solid) com-ball nor the projected image (since the small center sphere becomes the image).
WoG, Harem cannot, under any circumstances, teleport living matter. No matter how much or how little.
I notice one thing that gets through the shirld. Data transfer to her pip boy.
Personally i believe that its the Sydney in the shield is an illusion for one reason- She is now in V’s aura and NOT trying to beat the snot outta him and is doing the exact opposite of what the aura is inflicting. As shown by Arianna, Suzie, Stalwart, and Hiro all reasoning is lost when in the aura and they just want to inflict violence to the best of there ability.
That’s besides the point though, as it is the plan of Sydney’s that matters. Which i believe most people have guessed correctly so far. Drop in For Whom The Bell Tolls (with Muppet eyes!) into shield let his power deal with V. For Whom The Bell Tolls power is, literally, the perfect counter to V. How that happens though is unknown.
what if v turns again and spies syd outside the shield ((dabbler)glamored) saying (,please don’t kill me.)
Can’t happen. Sydney has to be inside of her shield.
Er… Dabbler (disguised as Sydney) would be outside.
But we know Dabbler can’t emulate other people, only reflect their deepest desires.
OTOH, what if she met a real narcissist?
Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Go fock yourself”.
I dunno. The shield is under Syd’s control, yah? So, maybe the control extends beyond just size and positioning. Why couldn’t she deliberately cause the “reaction” you’re talking about without touching it? We know the comm ball transmits sound.
Not claiming she is doing it for misdirection, just saying it may be possible. It suggests she is there, but it isn’t definite evidence.
Hmmm, from the comment by the author. “Does the aggro aura affect Sydney? Well, it’s been like 1 second. We’ll see on the next page.” We’ve seen what she is capable of doing in her enraged state. Could V actually absorb that much conflict energy or will he just explode all over the place?
The question is … How quickly do ongoing things like his arm and his size burn through Vehemic energy in absence of any refills or reinforcements.
When the bards write of the great rallying cries of war, let them devote a chapter to that common prayer “Please don’t kill me.”
That’s what the military teaches recruits. You don’t win wars by dying. You win wars by making the enemy die. It’s fairly common to tell recruits that they don’t have permission or orders to die.
So many disobedient soldiers….
What could stop Vehemence is a person with soporific powers. Hard to find, maybe impossible. Either that or some new kind of nerve agent. I’d love to try cone shell poison. Very serious nerve toxin.
In an old marvel comic series there was a chick who had that power.
She could make poisons that did just what she wanted.
The series was called “Operation Mottari” I believe.
Morituri
That is clearly Veh’s O-face in panel one.
…I just hope his new pair of trousers stays intact…
One, Arianna looks better with her hair down.
Two, Sedation mating call redux,
I like to think he won’t hurt Sydney- not immediately at least. They had such a nice bonding experience earlier! (See here –> https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1422 )
Yeah? She’s probably only alive because of her shield
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1491
V seems to have a temper when thwarted or made to look foolish
well… pretty sure its happened everywhere now so “Happy…. 2000 and 15th rotation around the sun since someone somewhere started counting for …. what ever reason…. …..”
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