Grrl Power #741 – High level meeting
Sydney is concerned about information propagation. One person can keep a secret, but the more people who know it, obviously, the more chances of it slipping out somewhere along the line. She was so concerned with other people getting mind-plundered, that it just didn’t occur to her that some telepath could come by and snatch it out of her mind. From what they know about her shield, its a reasonable assumption that it would block telepathy. But she obviously can’t be in it 24/7. Nor would she want to. They do now know the green orb does “life support” but whether that only includes generating breathable atmosphere, or if it extends to any form of calorie supplementation and hydration is something they haven’t tested yet.
If I was a superhero (or any kind of government agent that made a habit of making enemies of powerful people and organizations) I would be intensely paranoid about so many things. Even before Snowden and Wikileaks, I had zero faith in any organization to keep anything secret, much less any massive, sprawling governments. And that’s in a world without teleportation, phasing, cyberkinesis, or just good old fashion telepathy. Superpowers aside, how many people would have access to Archon’s classified files, and how many of them have families who could have guns put to their heads?
Let’s assume that the only people who have access to intelligence regarding Archon’s full suite of abilities is Archon themselves and everyone is in that one building. That’s clearly not the case, but just as a starting point. Even if an organization had a telepath who could make sure no one is a mole or on the take, you’d still have to check everyone who walked in the door every single day to make sure they haven’t started being blackmailed or have a family member who is “safe, at the moment” since the last time they clocked in.
Even if you did that, what stops someone from getting a video call in iChat or whatever in the middle of the day showing their wife tied to a chair holding a sign saying “leave the door on the roof unlocked” or whatever? Confiscate all phones upon entering, monitor all communications in and out? It doesn’t matter. In the end you’re still dealing with people, and they can be manipulated.
It’s for these reasons and more that people who believe in moon landing conspiracies are ultra-maroons. They really think no one would have slipped up or spilled the beans about it by now? In 50 years, not a single person might have mentioned it. No deathbed confessions? Not even an email anywhere on a server that got hacked? Come on. Come on.
I spent more time on panel 2 than anything else on this page, and I couldn’t get Sydney’s expression how I wanted. It was supposed to be that sort of pinched, “you’ve asked someone a question you know they’re not going to like answering” expectant look. Almost like a Robert de Niro-esque look. I don’t know if that makes any sense. Revisiting it now, I think the thing I goofed on is Sydney’s lips are kind of pursed. I think now that they should be tight, like she’s sucked them in between her teeth. Anyway, she just wound up looking weirdly smug, which isn’t quite what I was going for.
Oh my god you guys, moving sucks. There were like 3 or 4 days last week where I didn’t get any work done on the comic, instead getting like 20K steps in just carrying stuff around and disassembling and reassembling. And that was with movers who did the bulk of the heavy lifting. But we’re finally settled into the new place. Well, not settled. We’re here. We’re a ways away from being settled. Half of everything I own is still in boxes. I’ve already tossed a bunch of crap I never used, and I suspect by the time I’m done unpacking, I’ll have lost another 20%.
I will attempt to update the vote incentive later today. All I have is a bit of a doodle, but hopefully now that the bulk of the moving stuff is done with, I can get caught up in general and put some work into it.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
Ask anyonein IT. The more efficiently your tech communicates, the more efficiently it can be compromised.
As bad as you think it could be; it is actually worse. Possible by orders of magnitude if you fail to think big enough.
It’s not a pending apocalypse though, even cheap encryption mitigates things. You’re average home wifi network would last 5 years against brute force by a bot net or super computer (useing the default random numbers and letters password), banking encryption is another few orders of magnitude above that.
That’s why, if you have a specific target in mind, your hack of choice is kidnapping somebody with a password, and putting a gun to their head. Or, if they’re superhuman, kidnapping a loved one.
https://xkcd.com/538/
And I am sure Archon has thought of that and has a couple of plans for when somebody tries that. And they don’t just have superpowers and the weight of the US government behind them they also have actual magic.
expediently, shooting the family member and framing the kidnapper while letting super team go hulk mode.
China has gotten loads of good info from the US government and AFAIK they haven’t yet resorted to putting guns to people’s heads. The people at the top of the food chain are the oldest and often least capable with the technology and therefore most easily exploited.
The smart thing for ARC is to have multiple layers of information: What we tell the press as a subset of what we tell the politicians as a subset of what we have documented internally as a subset of what we actually know.
That’s because of the fuckwits who simply hand over the info
Not entirely. China spends an awful lot of effort on hacking attempts. I’ve worked in a US government SOC, I’ve witnessed with my own eyes intrusion attempts coming in from IP space located in China (and everywhere else around the world, but we’re talking China here).
Unlike you see in movies this isn’t some wiz kid performing a solitary attempt to bypass security. It is a non-stop, constant process which never sleeps or takes a vacation. Imagine hundreds or thousands of computers running constant attempts, cycling between all known vulnerabilities, running all known hacking scripts, and walking up and down and all across all known US government IP space one IP at a time. And then add in some more just for good measure.
Yeah, like (nearly) everyone else, have heard of the “Chinese Cyber Farms”, butt cereally doubt they really do have ‘hundreds of thousands’ of computers running constant hacking attempts
And didn’t say that that was the only way they get their ‘confidential secret’ documents, just the easiest (relatively speaking)
Well for one, I said “hundreds or thousands” and not “hundreds of thousands.” For two, your naivete is no longer surprising.
Or just sending them an email claiming to be admin requiring a password reset with a link to a bogus site that looks just like their password reset page. Most hacks are social engineering rather than coding, aren’t they?
they get those already. I work in IRAD stuff. every so often i get an email. my favorite was a ‘confidential’ matter i needed to discuss with hr. click this link to schedule a conference.
it was a phishing simulation sent by an IT contractor to keep us on our toes, and they are diabolical. so trust me- when Sydney starts spending time on her official e-mail, she will get far more simulated attacks than real ones.
Best place to schedule a conference now would probably be at a flat neath convention.
Don’t need to. Just call customer service and say that you’re X’s caregiver and they’re in the hospital and you need to be able to get temporary access so you can keep their bills paid.
If needed, photoedit some fudge paperwork, screenshot and fax.
Or you put someone on the cleaning staff who looks for post-it notes with weird words on them. Or you bribe an HVAC tech to stick a USB stick into a server. Or you bribe a secretary.
Or just leave a usb stick in the parking lot and someone will plug it in anyway.
https://www.wired.com/2011/06/the-dropped-drive-hack/
That can work in some poorly managed commercial business office. In a properly run government site, and probably at some private sector companies, no drive accessory attached to a computer will function unless it is formatted with the specific encryption that site requires. And doing so will wipe all data on the device. So some random idiot plugging in a USB thumb drive can’t bring down your network.
More importantly, any ‘found’ USB stick would be handed over to either IT to check it out or management to find out who it belongs to (and possibly reprimand the owner for having lost it in the first place)
Vance (in the comic, spider guy) mentioned something similar to that strategy about the guy who has the most gold on the planet and is a Geokinetic.
You can find that $5 wrench at a dollar store. For $1.
Nah that’s made of cheap metal. Probably too light for a good whack. Spend the extra $4 for a heavier wrench. Makes for better bludgeoning. :)
Security is an illusion, just ask people at defcon
Or, as Montgomery Scott put it, “The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.”
One of my favourite quotes about security: “Code like you’re being attacked, because you will be. … Think, ‘How could I break this?’ Because I guarantee you, there’s someone out there who’ll be thinking that, too.” (Tom Scott)
I know everyone sees something different in clouds, but the one in panel one looks kinda like the alien spaceship from Sydney’s earlier fight. Any chance it’s in a cloaking mode? (About 90% joking there but honestly if Cora had enough time to fly there, couldn’t they have done the same?)
That’s typically what thunderheads look like. They have a bit of an anvil shape.
It’s called a thunderhead, recognized by it’s anvil shape.
It would be.. interesting, if it really were them. If Cora and crew can follow Sydney, so can Squidward’s people, and they have every reason to want to know more about Sydney’s people. And after the beating she gave them, using a cloak is just common sense.
Does this need to be permanently linked in flashing bold rainbow-letters on every page? o_O
The only reason why Cora and Co were able to follow Sydney WAS BECAUSE THEY WERE ACTIVELY SCANNING THE ENTIRE PLANET AT THE TIME SYDNEY OPENED THE CAUSEWAY!!!
Cora explained that the Causeway leaves no trace after it closes, and Sydney opened it on the other side from where she blinded the tractor-Squid
Cora was only able to follow Sydney because they did so before the causeway closed. The causeways are untraceable after they close. Also even it the squidwards managed to trace it before it closed on tge opposite side of the planet, which Cora needed satellites deployed to do, it would lead to the Fracture, not to Earth.
I sympathize with the whole boxing everything up, then having to unpack 100+ moving boxes. Try a military life, where for example, I had to move to Scotland, 2 years later move the household back to the States, 1 year later move to Iceland, 1 year later move back to the States, 3 years later move to Alaska, 3 years later move to Florida, 3 years later move to Japan, 2 years later move to Panama, 2 years later move to Florida, and 2 years later move to Illinois.
Ewww. They made you move to Florida? Twice?!? Hazard pay!!
Although to be fair, the US’s most interesting real-life superhero lives in Florida, so it’s not all bad there.
Going by thoes headlines he’s more a bipolar super villain.
I’m pretty sure ‘Florida Man’ is just a pet name for the entire state population. I mean, when was the last time you saw what you could call a normal news story that began “A Florida man* [whatever]”?
* Or woman
If the military wanted you to have a family, they would have issued you one.
Military life is best suited to single people.
But with no family you have only your loyalty to stop you turning traitor and a lot of people have a price.
Everyone has a price, you’re right. Even those with families.
But think about this: who does the government monitor in the US? Some random nobody, or some military intel guy who could be a threat should his loyalty be compromised? So if he says something potentially damaging, the government is probably 10 steps ahead of them and 5 minutes away with a black van.
I’m pretty sure I’m being checked on periodically.
Or should be! :D
Your optimism and naivete is so adorable.
That is why for over two centuries the United States military paid so poorly (not that it pays massively now, just in comparison to now measured against civilian pay for whatever previous time) and housed personnel in cramped quarters with no privacy.
It was a spartan lifestyle which only attracted those with a sense of duty.
Also, few people stayed to retirement and a large cadre of trained soldiers within the civilian populace was engendered.
Just what did you keep if you give up belongings with each move?
Do your worldly possessions fit in a shoebo now?
Everything I kept with me fit in two seabags, an Alice Pack, and an aircraft carry on bag.
Mostly my uniforms and web gear, a couple sets of civvies, Champions the RPG, Star Fleet Battles, Advanced Squadleader, Tobruk, a Cassette Player, and as much music recordings as would fit.
Anything else I owned I sold, gave away, or sent to my parents house.
It’s almost impossible to keep secrets from those looking for them, in fiction as well as anywhere else. The best-hidden secrets are those that no one thinks to look for.
Bingo.
The alternative to that is “Or bury it so deep in other information that it’s virtually impossible without knowing the exact phrase or markers to find X.” And if it were never public, where would you start looking?
It’s why some intel is still stored in filing cabinets requiring 10 different methods of authenticating who you are to get in. I’ve held documents that I’ve been told can lead to nation-breaking consequences, but I had absolutely no idea which documents they were, when I held them or who I gave them to. Chances are they were written in code I had no idea how to crack and remember. Or I would have been arrested if I was suspected of reading so many things that passed through my hands, so I never tried reading any of it.
So there is that. The middle men who handle this stuff are not aware what is bluff or a double bluff or what is actually real.
Gasp! Sydney logical just beat Sydney logic!!!
I mean, technically anyone trying to read Sydney’s mind would have a lot of trouble and probably cry due to the ADHD, so she’s probably good in that department…
Still that Maxima knows her resistance to telepathy means it was tested at some point, so I’m now curious who’s a telepath in that world!
It could also be that Max never has been tested and just wants to know what Sydney knows so she can do her job with full access to the resources at the disposal of her underlings. She’s admitted she was a nerd and knows enough to be able to be able to manipulate Sydney when she bothers to try.
There was a translated webnovel I read (original language was Japanese) that the main character was telepathic and empathic. Was kidnapped and jailed and they had their own psychic interrogator try to forcefully read his memories. However, he was able to connect to all the prisoners they were torturing or had already killed (necro telepathy or something) and he let the interrogator “break” him, but it was really just him unleashing all the torture and fear and pain and hopelessness that everyone in the area felt, as a single burst attack.
Interrogator died instantly.
Sydney might be able to do something like this but with hypernerd ADHD overthinking and merging entire franchise storylines all at once both in video, audio, theoretical, and fanfiction.
what was it called? that sounds right up my alley
Problem is, people with ADHD can also be hyper-focused on one thing, shouldn’t be too difficult to trick Sydney into not thinking about the one thing you want, which will get her to think about the striped porcupine in her underwear drawer
The shading here is fuckin’ off the hilt, man. Absolutely stunning. Still getting used to character changes; Sydney’s kinda looking a little… muppety.. But it’s always a work in progress, and may have been for comedic purposes, so take my shat-ass criticisms with a truck full of salt. A grain is rarely enough. XD Love this comic in particular, good small-world building.
YOU FOOL! Once the audience knows, then EVERYONE KNOWS!
BTW, I love the work you did on the lighting for this page! It’s incredible!
And when EVERYONE knows…. then NO-ONE does!? (That sounded better when the Incredibles did it.)
And, yes GREAT lighting! Moving clearly doesn’t affect your art in a negative way!
I’ve moved. I’m in the middle of moving now. I suspect the fantastic art was Highly Necessary Therapy.
I’ve always preferred banging the spouse or partner in every room in the new place as my post-move therapy. But I guess fantastic art is ok, for some people. ;-P
Their undoing shall be when they go up against The Cameraman.
Watch out for Deadpool, Sydney.
Did his powers change again?
+3.14159
Bwahahaha. A Fourth wall social engineering attack!
Sooo…. Hey DaveB, …. any chance of giving Syd a weakness to
Isn’t the fact she is a normal human, with a long list of quarks that could lead to bad decisions count as plenty of weaknesses?
“Also, much like a vampire, she dies if someone drives a stake through her heart.”
Beheading might slow her down as well.
So technically she has TWO powers Maxi might not know about: The teleport and the Aetherium Causeways.
The teleport is more tactically useful, while the causeway is really a transport power that it would be hard to keep from the team if it is used. So my money is that Syd wants to keep the teleport off the books, while the causeway will probably be “on the record”
The Causeway will certainly be something she’ll reveal. It’s only “unknown” because she acquired it since last she saw Max. Teleport, that she’s had (unknown for a while) since the Demo in the Desert.
The Aetherium Causeway will need to be a very strict “Need To Know” and nobody not being taken on a mission outside the solar system ever needs to know.
It’s very existence is an existential threat to earth.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-690-gotterdammermcguffins/
This should be something that Sydney doesn’t tell Maxima or anyone else. If sometime in the future a trip through space is absolutely necessary to save the world or something similar, then she might reveal it. Having Cora and her entire crew know is already far too many people, and not really the right kind of people either.
I’m not saying that Cora and her crew are evil, but they appear to be operating as a kind of mercenary gang, and those typically look at opportunities for profit, as in the profit they could make by selling someone the location of Nth tech, as being within their purview if not their very purpose for existing. And mercenary gangs can usually make a better profit in times of turmoil, which an interstellar war is but one example of such.
It could be both… ::shrugs::
While the new powers are something that Max should hear about, the real information she needs to be brought up to speed on is Dabbler’s speculations about Nth level tech, and Cora’s comment that if the orbs really are Nth, then they could easily trigger an interstellar war. Plus, don’t forget that Cora had no great trouble tracking Sydney to Fracture, so it seems likely the Scary Monsters should be able to do so as well, and also that they seemed to be the first entities we’ve encountered that have at least some ability to scan the unscannable orbs.
The only thing they got was that they were holes.
Kind oh like Dazlers experience with them.
Not Quite.
They got tiny little spheres that can destroy a Kaiju, and create a force bubble strong enough to survive a Kaiju blast.
The Causeway leaves no fucking trace once it’s closed, and the Squids were on the other side of the planet when it was used
Because they definitely couldn’t have some drones orbiting the planet that would’ve noticed that or anything…
Unless stated, then no, they don’t, or they would have spotted Sydney attempting to flee to the moon
Simple reason: they had no reason to have drones orbiting the fucking planet
Or DID they? They were, after all, the Genocide task force for the Alari homeworld. Why wouldn’t they be monitoring the planet from all sides? They certainly picked up on the arrival of the ARC team and Sciona pretty quickly.
Even if they DID scan the Causeway like Cora did, however, that would only get them to the Fracture, not to Earth.
They ‘picked up on the arrival of the ARC team and Sciona pretty quickly’ because Sci-fright literally walked over a sentry-tentacle
If Sci-fright had gone a different direction, the Squiddly’s may never have known they were there at all
They had swarms of small fighter sized craft (like Sydney Roboteched the snot out of) all around the planet taking out defenses and hitting anything which might have been set up to fight the kaiju early on.
You see the remains a lot of them during the Alari fight arc.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-639-my-empire-of-dirt/
By the time Arc Swat chases Sciona through the portal most of the planet is pacified and the fighters are back on board the mothership.
So instead of a few fragile drones the invasion relied upon a vast fleet of combat capable craft.
Wild guessing: I don’t think it’s a power we’ve seen that she was keeping secret.
I think it’s the last orb.
I think she’s known what it can do all along, and kept it from everyone, and it’s gonna be revealed that stuff happened between panels that we weren’t partial to.
I am not normally a sports fan but I heard something on TV I wanted to pass along. Apparently, there are a lot of comics fans among hockey players. The story mentioned the NHL is currently having a competition of some sort and the winners will be awarded the “Stan Lee Cup”. I think that is a very kind gesture on their part to honor his passing last year.
See, what scares me here is I can’t tell whether you’re joking or actually being serious.
Then my work here is done. :)
Time to check the hot-sheets ;)
It’s a rebranding of the Fantasy Comics League award.
That’s the Stanley Cup.
Named after Stanley Martin Lieber, aka Stan Lee. I hear that pro golf has it’s own major award that they named the Ryder Cup because they are all such great fans of Winona Ryder.
And American Football named its award after Guy Lombardo, famous band director. Centers and Quarterbacks quote him almost every play. “And a-one, and a-two…”
It would seem more secure to have the bubble around both of them, and be even higher up.
Except, Sydney isn’t sure she can trust Maxi: if Maxi has gone evil, then Sydney will be trapped within her own bubble with a Tarnished Maxi
What? When did that happen
What made her think Max might be evil?
Didn’t say she had, just that if Sydney had bubbled to pair of them, and if Maxi had gone evil…
Go back to just after the Warhouse Wreckage, Sydney froze up contemplating telling Maxi and then having Maxi turn evil
Comic book logic
I would have said ‘minimize’, rather than ‘mitigate’.
But ‘could be clutch’ threw me. ( Google is my friend. )
Last panel Sydney face is, um, really good.
I think I got it:
A clutch will help you in a crunch.
More than a crutch.
Man, I can’t wait for the next part. Mostly because I am not at all sure what the power she said she hadn’t mentioned was. Unless it’s the Warp?
Pretty sure it’s the short range teleport using the projected image as the end point…
Or the warp ability that lets her go to other places in the galaxy. That might be more worthy of the security measures.
Its the teleport, not the causeways. The debriefing is about the battle first, which used the teleport. Also, Cora and probably Dabbker know about the causeways. Also this is beyong normal security measures. As afinsl strategy against someone that is thinking long term.
How do people not see that the secret power is the teleport? Or why does anyone think its the causeways when peopli in the story other than Sydney already know about the causeways. Its sort of incredibly obvious.
Ding ding ding!
We have a winna’!
I think this is one of my favorite pages… especially panel 3 of max’s face…
“I’ve got a built in tin foil hat, Sydney…”
Umm… THAT’S a huge assumption – unless Max is subtly telling Sydney she’s been verified to be telepathic-resistant. I see no reason at all to assume that any form of metal or metallic substance either inhibits or blocks telepathy (although I do admit it is kind of a trope at times).
Maxima is also assuming that Sydney’s Orbs don’t have a passive ability set that protects SYDNEY from telepathic intrusion – unless, of course, this has already been tested as well.
Since I don’t recall any team member being a straight up telepath, this sort of testing seems unlikely. Unless Dabbler or Krona has done this testing, which I concede is possible. But if this is the case, this should have been a part of Sydney’s initial feedback session on the scope of her powers and where she needs to explore next. If Maxima knows this, so should Sydney – and if Maxima knows and isn’t telling Sydney, then a pretty large breach of trust has already happened.
Waiting for the day when Max gets mind controlled into attacking Sydney and the bad guy finding out that Sydney is permanently mind-linked to the orbs whether they are active or not and is effectively a bottomless unfathomable black hole of mind (you go looking for Sydney, you get the cosmos… what we call the Mastermind Effect in my group…)
Please give Maxima SOME hole in her defenses – Mary Sues are boring…
I have to agree with you there. Maxima has been interesting largely because she’s NOT perfect. She makes mistakes. She can be hurt. And she admits it, allowing her subordinates to tease her (not talking about Dabbler’s antics, I’m talking about her muslim subordinate goading her into making yet another angry face for him to snap a pic of) rather than being self-righteous and punishing anyone who pisses her off.
I mean… hell, look at Superman. He’s not just vulnerable to kryptonite. Anything magical can influence/hurt him. Telepathy works on him. And of course good old fashioned trickery works on him. And in spite of his raw power, he remains a likeable character because of his good-natured humility. A farmboy with powers, trying to make Ma and Pa proud.
well Telepathy did work on him until he learn kryptionian meditation/marshal arts so now he can fight it off…
The hole in Maxima’s defenses is hitting her hard enough. Remember, Vehemence overwhelmed her with raw strength, forcing her to stay on the defensive (thus losing her ability to counterattack, and thus in turn losing her ability to get OUT of being defensive) until her team bailed her out.
Max is specifically intended to be one of the most powerful known(*) supers in the setting so far, she’s a very versatile and well-trained combatant, but she’s also a fist-to-your-face solution. She doesn’t really do ‘subtle’, and it’s been canonically stated that Dabbler fought her to a standstill simply by having more answers than Max does. Glaring Weaksauce Weaknesses are honestly as boring as Mary Sues, having a Kryptonite factor is a lousy way to balance out a powerful character both narratively and mechanically.
Oh, glaring and / or ludicrous weaknesses (looking at you, Green Lanterns) is also a truly boring thing too. Totally in agreement there.
Having her be less vulnerable to psychic attack *is* reasonable, given what we’ve seen; fundamental invulnerability to psychic attack is just too much in addition to everything else she has. I’m hoping that Maxima is talking a little out of her hat here.
Played a lot of HERO System in my day, and asking players to logic out reasonable vulnerabilities and other disadvantages is always a challenge. Once had a guy in the group whose character had a vulnerability to wood (“Why wood?” “Needed the points.”). Boy did the player get pissed when the GM ran a bad guy with titanium reinforced baseball bat and superhuman (but not absurdly so) strength – characters should expect to have Disadvantages hit from time to time.
And frankly, Vehemence is a classic Archvillain – they’e supposed to be absurd and capable of taking on a whole team until you find the hole in THEIR defenses. Being outclassed because of careful planning (which is what Vehemence did – he gamed the crap out of his power set) is not the same thing as a hole in someone’s defenses – being outclassed is a narrative device to give the heroes something to overcome. :D
Maybe the guy was a Alan Scott Green Lantern fan who was the Green Lantern phone number to Wood. Or perhaps he was a fan of power grow during the time when she was vulnerable to unprocessed natural objects. So you could hurt her by picking up little Sticks and Stones off the ground but not with bullets or hand grenades. The late 1980s early 1990s who was a weird, comics
Maxima has holes, we saw that at the restaurant fight.
But she is a higher tier than most of the other supers Arc Swat faces.
In Marvel, she would probably be in a tier with Nova, Quasar, and Starhawk.
Not quite Herald Of Galactus , Adam Warlock, Dark Phoenix, or Binary level yet definitely Cosmic.
Testing against telepaths in combat conditions seems extremely likely.
Before Archon formed Arc Swat Maxima fought in the middle east, which by the depictions, conversations, and authors notes appeares to have been a metahuman heavy conflict within the story universe.
They fought something similair.
Vehemics violence aura.
Telepathy probably does work on Maxima since pseudo-vampiric mind control works on Maxima.
A course, unbeknownst to Max is that Harem is playing spy for Deus currently.. and that’s just the prominent mole we know about. DaveB only knows who on the rather large roster a building the size of ARCHON HQ has (and an HQ infers branch locations, does it not?) is currently ‘on the take’, either willingly or unwillingly.
Max knows Harem is spying on Archon for Deus, because she’s also spying on Deus for Archon. And Deus strongly suspected as much even before she maybe blew her cover by calling Archon in on Sciona’s visit to Deus.
But she didn’t tell Archon that Deus was dealing with Sciona.
yes she did the moment she knew(wich is a lot less impressive if you consider that she is a teleporting duplicator.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-598-a-break-in-the-case-also-arc-light-hq/
Harem doesnt know that Deus was working with Sciona… just that Sciona wanted sonething from Deus and was willing to attack him for it.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-599-arch-off/
He admits they met before and Sciona forgot something. He also calls her his first customer and offers to let her look at his inventory. I’d say it’s heavily implied there that Harem knows about Deus’ involvement in the vault heist. Also she doesn’t contradict Deus when he tells Max that Vale and Sciona went off fighting over the rooftops.
I’m aware of the page. Notice that there’s nothing in it that says that Deus is working WITH Sciona. Just that he has something that she wants.
He’s even questioned by Maxima about it, and he says that he has no idea what she wanted. All she said was ‘she wanted ‘it’ and Deus, being a businessman and the most perfect man among men, stalled by offering to sell ‘it.’ Stalling long enough for Vale to ‘do her thing.’
In fact, he did not even admit to knowing her name until Maxima told him her name.
She said ‘where is it!’ then he said ‘his inventory is available for customers for the right price.’ But never was told what ‘it’ was. IT could have been one of his swords in his collection, property that he owns which, unbeknownst to mankind, has an alien temple buries underneath it, $600 million in negotiable bearer bonds, etc.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-603-schtooping-with-the-frenemy/
With Harem sitting right there, Deus says he didn’t know Sciona. On the page before that, he talks about “the last time we met you … forgot something critical” right in front of her. If she didn’t know about Deus and vault before that, she should have figured it out after that exchange. But still, she didn’t share that conversation with Max.
“The last time we met” could quite easily mean she’s tried to attack him in the past to get something from him which his bodyguards prevented her from getting.
Also he can always say ‘it wasn’t a formal meeting, unless you consider threatening to kill me while still not explaining what you want from me a meeting.’
The first thing to come up would not be ‘he probably means the impenetable vault which is even protected against teleportation because of an insane amount of wards which there’s no reason for Deus to even know the existence of.’ Even Sciona had no idea how Deus even knew about it.
So no, Harem does not know about Deus’s involvement in the vault heist at all. There’s no way she could have known, since they still have no idea what Sciona wanted FROM Deus.
Yeah, the ‘deal’ was made outside away from Abby, and then conducted in a sound proof bunker that Harem would not have knowledge of
I know you don’t like Deus, but do you think he’s so stupid as to talk about it in front of Harem? If so, why didnt Harem then tell Maxima, since she’s a triple agent (which Deus even KNOWS).
It didn’t need to be in a soundproof bunker, sarcasm does not become you. There are many ways for him to tell Vale to make a deal with her, which is apparently something he does with a LOT of creatures, without Harem knowing what he’s talking about. Your assumptions make no sense in light of what actually happens in the comic in the interaction of Archon and Deus immediately afterwards.
Why would Maxima not be going straight to Deus after Sydney is stranded behind? Because they do not know that Deus was in the Vault. They just know that Deus had something that Sciona wanted, but not what, or why he would have it.
Was actually agreeing with you, won’t make the mistake of posting something like that again
Eep! Sorry Guesticus. I thought it was sarcasm. I sincerely apologize.
Sorry, I thought you were being sarcastic – the ‘deal’ being in quotes and the ‘sound proof bunker’ thing gave me the wrong impression and I know we both have different opinions on Deus, the Manliest Man that ever Manned.
Seriously though, I apologize.
Apology accepted :D
Admit to being a dick about SmugD, butt not this time, didn’t mean to imply the sound-proofing was to prevent the screams (of pleasure or otherwise) specifically, just that someone like SmugD would have most (if not all) of his secret rooms sound-proofed to keep them secret (and of course we have no way of knowing where that particular room was, let along what continent)
Actually, Harem is a double agent in that she is spying on Deus while spying for him. She was actually assigned to keep an eye on Deus
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-604-rooftop-relationship-roundup/
“So it turns out our enemy is a telepath who can read what you’re thinking about Sydney–”
“On it! ADHD powers activate!”
she can go from profound to just confusing.
So her shield blocks Telepathy and Mind reading, but not sound waves? Or are they communicating over technology that can be hacked?
the implied answer is the shield is so advanced that it selectively blocks out anything that can hurt Sydney. it let sound through but only at levels that don’t hurt her ears, it lets light though but even a flash bang or a point blank nuke won’t blind her. so any kind of mind control would be filtered out just like that as well.
a mind reader my still be able to read surface thoughts off Syd but any of focused attack would be blocked
That’s what I’ve always thought about Sydney also, although I’m not sure that a mind reader would be able to read ANYTHING from Sydney while in the bubble, surface thoughts or not. Anything invasive is rebuffed. Sound over a certain decibel level, light over a certain lux level. It doesn’t even allow air in, even though air is necessary for Sydney to live (hence the life support orb). If the shield worked completely as you were supposing, for more than just sound and light at safe levels, then it would also allow air in, while keeping any atmosphere, or vaccum, dangerous to Sydney out. Instead, it just keeps EVERYTHING out, except a certain level of sound and light (and apparently just enough force for Sydney to know when the shield is being struck, although no matter how hard Maxima hit the shield, it felt the same to Sydney).
the joke is, by word of god, the shield did allow fresh air to pass through/keep a safe atmosphere inside originally. it wasn’t until the steakhouse fight that DaveB decided to change that because he felt it made Sydney to op so he added that weaknesses.
Actually the shield never allowed fresh air to pass in canon, since before DaveB changed his mind, the whole problem of ‘does air get allowed through’ never even came up. Most likely because Sydney never kept the shield up that long before the restaurant fight.
DaveB originally planned on having air pass through, then changed his mind, and what he changed his mind to is now canon. You have to take into account what’s DaveB’s canon, not what DaveB originally wanted then decided to not do.
Maybe there are shield upgrades that Sydney has not yet gained which would allow air to pass through, but then that seems like it would make the life support orb redundant.
We know that the shield lets Sydney speak through it, both through regular speech and over the radio. Basically it is advanced enough that it is permeable for anything that is necessary to function effectively.* But this does mean that the communications can be overheard or electronically intercepted, as the orbs do not provide scrambled communications or other anti-surveillance capability.
But it does have extremely strong protection against mental attacks, as shown by Halo having been immune to Vehemence’s aggro aura. And proven by her being able to shield everyone else, by raising the shield around him (thus protecting everyone else outside the shield). Some time has passed since the initial day or two we followed in detail (and before Sydney lost a month in her latest escapade), during which they have probably proven that the shield is impermeable to a broad spectrum of telepathy.
Prior to that I seem to recall Harem finding it uncomfortable being cut off from the rest of her mind, when inside the shield. But it has been a tough day and my brain is rather fogged, so I may have that wrong.
* “As a spaceship” being a good analogy, that Sydney has proposed, as it neatly fits much of the capability of the orbs. A spaceship which could not communicate beyond its shields would be of far less use to an organisation.
Nope on the “Harem bothered by shield”.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-308-harems-got-some-splainin-to-do/
Thanks.
Harem isnt bothered by being cut off – shes only bothered that she cant teleport tgeough the shield since normally she can teleport through ANYTHING. But it doesnt actually mess with her physiology or mental functions because her brains are quantum entangled as a single mind. The only thing so far thats actually messed with her perception and mental stare is when she is either forced to not be 5 separate bodies (because she is used to being in five separate bodies) or when she was on Alari because there were too MANY bodies, making it difficult to focus since she was probably getting too MUCH input instead of too little.
Two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead.
There’s an argument for not telling Maxima. An enemy would expect her head to have secrets not necessarily contained in the data files or at least be one-stop-shopping for all the good stuff.
Would anybody expect Sydney to harbor a strategically-important secret?
An average villain, in the street, no. But one who is carefully analysing every detail about all of Archon’s heroes, yes. It would soon become apparent that Halo has already been pivotal to the success of Arc-Swat’s initial engagements. In both an apex power front and tactics.
One thing a top-tier tactician needs though is full access to all pertinent information, in order to be able to make sound choices. And these have to be made near instantly, in the field, for a SWAT operation. There is no time to go through the beurocracy of authorising release of top secret material then briefing the individual.
I know a former warrant officer who had access to the highest secrets in the land, simply because his unit was armed with tactical nuclear weapons (about as comparable to a top tier super as we have). Choices he made, in the heat of battle, could lead to or avert world war III. So although he did not even feature on the list of officer ranks, he had secret knowledge way above many higher ranked individuals, who did not have the operational need to know everything.
Three may keep a Secret, if two of them are dead. – Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1735).
For thre may kepe a counsel, if twain be awaie. – Geoffrey Chaucer, The Ten Commandments of Love, 41. George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651). John Heywood, Proverbs, Part II, Chapter V.
The color shading on this page kills it. It almost looks like Pixar.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It being killed sounds really bad. But Pixar is really good.
*confused dog expression*
You’re just jealous because dogs can’t see some colors.
Where us humans can see a color that doesn’t exist in nature.
I don’t think nature got the memo:
https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-1b2a443f65f034c688d1aca6372d0da6.webp
https://live.staticflickr.com/7083/6946313494_c3c3fe4861_b.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IMwSIkbGou4/Uj3W-kTEUEI/AAAAAAAAJ30/KJp7ipbvu5o/s1600/Starfish.jpg
By doesn’t exist in nature, I mean that there is not a frequency of light that translates to purple. Purple requires that there be light corresponding to the frequency we call red, and light corresponding to the frequency we call blue. Purple is what results inside our heads when we perceive red and blue simultaneously. The color doesn’t actually exist outside of our headspace.
No colours do. In fact there is no spoon.
Other animals (or aliens) with different color receptors in their eyes would think our TVs were totally broken. There is no actual yellow light produced, just a green and red pixel next to each other. When our color receptors see both red and green light, the optic nerve sends the message ‘this is yellow’ back to the brain.
https://webstyleguide.com/wsg3/figures/11-graphics/11-19a-600.jpg
I went with urban dictionary’s top definition.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Killing%20It
You know, my buddy has a good saying when discrediting conspiracies (especially the moon landing):
“Conspiracy theorists are people who have never had a job in project management.”
Which makes sense. Trying to get more than 10 people to do the same thing, within the same time limits and with the exact same requirements and constraints is impossible, let alone a thousand people to flawlessly fake a moon landing.
Ahh, but the conspiracy goes even deeper. There is, in fact, no moon. Purely an orbital wensleydale cheese factory!
These are the same people who are behind the sightings of the Loch Ness Muenster.
Are you one of those people who bought into the ruse that the Earth exists?
Nope. Most certainly not!
Unless of course you have https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show_delusion in which case everything is a lie
I’ve read explanation saying that unlike now, at time of moon landing the technology to fake one didn’t exists. However, I think the best argument against moon landing conspiracy theorists is Russia.
The whole thing was a race between USA and Russia who will get there first, and it was in worst time of cold war, when both countries had nukes aimed at each other and were considerably closer to use them than now.
Yet Russia didn’t tried to say that the moon landing was fake. They had much more options than average person to verify that and they still were convinced that USA really got there. It would actually be more likely that russia would claim it was fake even if they knew it wasn’t, but admitting they were beaten if there would be slightest option it was fake?
People saying moon landing was fake are saying whole cold war was. And come on, are you gonna believe conspiration theorists who claim that people are more peaceful than they appear to be?
It’s the durn chemtrails making them peaceful!!
Then we clearly need low-flying airplanes deploying lots and lots of making-people-peaceful chemtrails all over America, especially open carry states, & anywhere white male domestic violence types gather, because those are the ones that are the least peaceful, and most likely to engage in mass shootings. Of which, in 2019, so far we have had almost as many mass shootings as we’ve had days in this year so far.
I have never wanted any chemtrail conspiracy theories to be true until now. A major pity this one isn’t.
Yes Marijuana.
I remember it, very well, I was a child then.
The whole thing was a race between USA and Russia who will get there first, and it was in worst time of cold war, when both countries had nukes aimed at each other and were considerably closer to use them than now.
That is the best possible defense to the reality of the moon landing. Russia didn’t try to discredit us, when it meant so much to them to be the “first” in everything space related. The race to space was such a big deal that the Russians actually didn’t care how they accomplished “first” just that they did it in a way that was proven. So when the US landed on the moon, the Russians knew it was true, and their space race to the moon basically vanished over the next 8 years.
It also helps that there is a mirror and several objects there that can be detected from Earth that were put there by the moon landings.
Cool, Sydney found a sensible way to rationalise her secrecy. Far more tactful than “I needed a secret way to kill you, in case you turned evil”!
Plus love the sky art and light/shadow effects. It makes the whole page unique. Although it does end up making Sydney a bit freaky in the last two panels featuring her. But even with that the attention is drawn to the light coming through her glasses. So the artistic effect outweighs her slightly odd expressions. Nicely done!
You presumably have heard “nobody beats the ponies”, That you can study the horses as precisely and in as much detail as you want, and after making the scientific logical choice on the best horse, you find you are no more likely to win than your maiden aunt who has never been to a track before and selected the horse to bet on by using a hat pin. Quite true actually. Every time somebody bets [or doesn’t] they are contributing a little knowledge into a pool, which changes the odds. The more betting, the more the betting odds will reflect the actual odds, and the less your chance of coming out ahead.
This logic also applies to Sid and keeping powers secret. An organization that operates on “need to know” is simply unable to know who needs to know. It will both inform those who don’t and not inform those that do. Its secrecy is hampering that pool of knowledge that does so well at the race track. In the comic, we see Sydney sharing the secret with Max improves the situation. Informing other teammates is likely to improve it further. Some spy might find out? The other teammates are likely to find ways to negate the spy’s knowledge. And they are even more likely to find ways to improve the team.
Even if they didn’t discover all the super heroes’ powers, the best thing a villain can do in the light of meta-humans is just create something that negates all of them at once. Sydney sharing details of her powers may be inconsequential in that case. It actually HELPS the heroes to know more, not less.
OR
As the supposed villain is doing now, do it in secret while pretending to be everyone’s best friend and distracting them.
Not true at all.
Sydney has a pocket sized device which creates Aetherium Causeways.
The universe seems to contain traces who would do to earth what the Cthulhuoids did to the Alari to try and obtain that orb.
Earth is crawling with alien sex tourists.
Nihilistic villains could make an alien tourist aware of just what Sydney has, if one knew.
It’s not a little threat.
Everyone is saying the ‘secret’ is either the teleport or the personal star gate.
She also has not revealed that her top speed has jumped from Mach 4 to Mach 16.
She said “I MIGHT have a power I haven’t told you about.” She had already had fast flying as a power, only its extent has changed. Teleportation and Aetherium causeways are completely new to Maxima. And since Sydney’s partial confession was in direct relation to her tactics against the huge, menacing biomecha-Chthulhus, in which teleportation was instrumental and interstellar travel wasn’t, this particular secret is almost definitely the former. Perhaps both the speed upgrade and the ÆC’s will be discussed as well, but the teleportation is what led to this scene.
The whole reason she chose faster flight and then that middle pip pie-wedge was because both Maxima and Zephan told her to select those two pips next. The entire reason why she got the teleportation pip is because she tried to use the truesight orb to see if there were any labels on anything, and then she got the gatling gun effect on the PPO (creds can be supplied upon request) pip when panicking while under attack at Sciona’s warehouse bunker lair. Prior to visiting the Alari homeworld, she either didn’t know what she was doing, or didn’t have time to decide rationally, and instead acted on instinct (fight back against the thing attacking her).
Either way, Maxima knew that the next thing Sydney was supposed to upgrade (if she followed suggestion-orders) was indeed the flight orb and that last pip on the fan-shaped arc that was supposed to unlock the next level of spiffy-thingy (which she also unlocked, duh, see causeway stuff). And Maxima already realized in the conference room that Sydney fought the squidward kaijus to upgrade the flight orb…so that’s not really going to be a revelation.
The extent of the flight orb’s speed, as Icarus says, has been changed, but it was a pre-planned/requested change. It’s not a surprise. Teleportation, however, well that’s an entirely different beastie. Not just a horse of a different color, but flat-out hippogriff/hippocampus/centaur beastie.
Unfortunatly Aeterium causeways are not new to Cora and soon Dabbler presumably very soon if not already .
Max is looking particularly spangly right now.
At the twilight’s last gleaming.
Watch Arianna’s mad glare
Look at Heatwave’s blank stare
As Dabbler’s boobs bounce and Math drools everywhere.
Couple of points: You are closer to the truth than you may know regarding “..listening through electricity in wires…”. Secure facilities have numerous safeguards, one of which is insuring that data lines do not run in parallel with electrical power lines. If you have a TV or radio in a room where you are having a conversation the technology exists to listen in which is pretty much off the shelf. In the old days KGB agents in the USA got the bulk of their surveillance equipment from Radio Shack and other electronic supply shops. Currently I imagine that that Fry’s, Best Buy and E-Bay are the go to places for GRU agents needing to outfit their operations. No real need for Bond’s ‘Q’. Then you have SCIFs (Sensitive Compartmented Intelligence Facility) which calls for even more drastic measure including being entirely encased in RF absorbent/reflective material. Regarding people working in Archon having access to classified info, yes and no. I imagine just to work in that building one would have to have at a minimum a SECRET clearance which would include janitorial services. If they’ve SCIFed a significant portion of that building that’s gonna require a Top Secret. Anyone over a janitor, file clerk, secretary etc, and even some of those depending on what they’re doing and working for will need a TS/SCI. Even then, if you don’t “have the need to know” then you’re not going to have access to the info. Then too, secure facilities/units normally have an allotted number of clearance slots depending on the need. Had a run in with a new unit commander (airplane driver) who thought it ‘NOT RIGHT’ that certain NCOs (my unit) had crypto clearances when his OFFICERS (also airplane drivers) did not and tried to reallocate them. Took our senior Warrant Officer going over his head to sort that out. That kind stupidity probably cost him further promotion.
On the bright side, Sydney’s thoughts would give most telepaths a headache, trying to follow them. Being someone who was only diagnosed late in life, but also being aware that I could think MUCH faster than other people, they’d still be on subject C, and I would’ve dashed ahead to G, H, or even M. Additionally, the side-branching thoughts would be even more of an annoyance for most telepaths to deal with.
After all, Sydney nearly defeated herself with the Batman ska song, and she’s *used* to her brain working like that! (For reference, it’s this comic: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-278-alarmingly-disorderly-harnessing-of-doom/ )
Interesting to note that Mr Bubble is (almost) impervious to all manner of attack, is hermetically sealed, but allows non-harmful light and sonic vibrations (ie speech) to pass through.
I’d pay good money to see any spy telepath Try and get inside her head. The fireworks would be greater than how all the traitors were properly dealt with on Kingsman.
Sensitive Compartmented Information. Not secret.
Shit. Was meant to be a response to LeitchNavy.
Actually, the best way to hide a conspiracy is to just… hide it normally. Anyone who leaks or squeals, so what? We, as a people, as a public, are indoctrinated to believe anyone saying anything LIKE a conspiracy theory is a ‘nutjob’. Unless every government official we personally respect tells us it’s true, we will hold doubt, and the majority of us will ignore it out of hand.
How many ‘nutjobs’ trying desperately to get the word out were right? How many of those ‘silly tinfoil hat men’ figured out or saw something they shouldn’t and, out of a sense of fear and duty, tried to inform anyone who would listen? How many of the truly crazy sounding ones were just paid actors meant to destroy the image and credibility of deep-state whistleblowers? If you liken someone talking about corporate or government coverups to some guy who looks like a walking trash heap talking about aliens putting brain control devices manned by tiny men in his anus, you’re going to have a lot less patience and respect for the first guy.
I won’t say how I came to this information or who gave it to me, because it’s irrelevant. It’s ultimately my word against anyone else’s… but… And this is information I’ve had since the 80s. Some of it has since been declassified, and in fact, enough of it has been declassified for anyone with two brain cells to rub together and spark a thought to figure it out for themselves.
The Roswell Incident was about a prototype automated spy balloon that was being developed to spy on the Russians and be disguised as a weather balloon. It belonged to the US Army. When it came down, it came from the sky, so naturally the farmer whose field it was called the Air Force. Due to compartmentalization, the Air Force didn’t know what it was, they just knew it was round and came from “up there”, so they announced they’d captured a flying saucer.
The Army brass in charge of the project read the headline, s$!& a brick, and had a cow. It was then quickly covered up. People were told not to talk about it.
The media started sniffing around, talking to people who were told not to talk about it, and obviously those people couldn’t talk about it, and the media wasn’t interested in such a mundane story. So… they made money by telling stories about flying saucers and aliens.
The government denied it was aliens, which it wasn’t, and the more they denied it, the more conspiracy theorists believed. That lead to a long standing policy of faking aliens to cover up top secret air craft. There’s no need to cover anything up or hide it if conspiracy theorists will do the job for you.
Buzz the population with a weirdly shaped but otherwise mundane aircraft, rile up the conspiracy theorists, and you can fly your top secret aircraft under the cover of aliens.
Any spies snooping around the area asking questions will just get idiots going “it was a cone shaped craft about 15 feet long with an air speed I’d estimate at about about mach 12. They kidnapped and stripped me, examined me briefly, returned my clothes, and dropped me here. They pressed my pants. Did a nice job.”
Area 51 is only maintained these days to draw attention away from where the real action is going on. Aliens have never been there. That’s just what the government wants you to think. Argue with the conspiracy theorists and they’ll just believe in Area 51 aliens that much harder.
The last thing to fly out of Area 51 was the B2 Spirit. These days it’s a pretty mundane aircraft, but back in the day it was cloaked with secrecy, and gave rise to all the “black triangle” conspiracy theories. Interestingly, the B2 isn’t the only black triangle.
They actually have a dedicated aircraft to spook the conspiracy theorists with that is known to the conspiracy theorists as the “TR-3A” and its successor the “TR-3B”. Now, I don’t know if those are what it’s actually called internally, but it’s purpose is to trick gullible people into going “OMG! ALIENS!” My guess is t hat the TR-3A and TR-3B are prototypes for stealth flying wings that eventually culminated in the B2 Spirit, and are kept around to just occasionally used to buzz drunk yokels in rusted pick up trucks.
The TL;DR is this… the UFO conspiracy theories are all just government ploys to hide stuff that’s boring by comparison, like top secret airplanes.
they doing drone testing at Area 51 these days
“Area 51 is only maintained these days to draw attention away from where the real action is going on. Aliens have never been there. That’s just what the government wants you to think. Argue with the conspiracy theorists and they’ll just believe in Area 51 aliens that much harder.”
That has been my hypothesis, for some years now.
Besides, everybody in the know is aware that all the real testing of alien artifacts goes on in Area 52.
Area 51 is where they store our stockpile of the stable isotope of element 115, used to power our secret fleet of spaceships. It was given to us by the Reticulans.
http://www.gravitywarpdrive.com/Element_115.htm
The artwork in this one is awesome. Really like the change of environ from last page. Good stuff.
The more I look at Sydney’s pout-grimace, the more I realized I initially took it as a “look of disappointment in Maxima for trusting the government that much”…and still do.
It is part of Maxima’s job to behave like she believes the government acts in the people’s best interest. But we have seen where she pulls the responsibility, to ensure that, onto herself. Namely when she indicates that there will be “… no whisking away [to secret laboratories for confinement and experimentation] whilst she has anything to say about it”.
So I think Maxima is well aware that the government has flaws (as borne out by her silent reply in the next panel).
…I could’ve sworn there was a panel somewhere on one of the comic pages wherein Max mentions that her skin is pretty much impervious even to telepathic probing, but the closest I could find is this: https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-415-are-you-there-god-its-me-maxima/ …which isn’t the same thing.
Sydney’s orbs are impervious to scanning, including lacking any obvious Psy abilities (emitting such energies and/or being able to be scanned by such, as per https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-80-she-used-this-spell-to-scan-a-hotdog-once-once/ ) …but Maxima’s powers aren’t mentioned in that scene…so chalk it up to faulty memory.
But still, I’ll presume that if the regular civilian doctors couldn’t find anything, the military ones probably tested Maxima against whatever & whoever they could find…and if they have a doctor who can heal patients psychically/superhero-ly (oh hey, I made a new word, superheroly…oy, that’s not gonna look good on my resumé, forget I mentioned it), then they possibly have someone who can do telepathic scans (however limited in distance, etc). Which could include not only superhero types, but also the Fae, Vampires, etc, borrowed from the Shadow Council.
I’m dead-certain ARC-Swat at the very least would’ve tested her, and it would’ve been remiss of the military not to do so, too. We also know that Maxima can resist vampiric mesmerising powers, so obviously they tested her for that (in friendly request or in combattive engagement, we don’t know which, but we do know the results).
So if Maxima says her impenetrable gold skin stuff is the equivalent of a telepathic shield, I’m very certain she does know what she’s talking about. In fact, the only thing less scannable on Earth could be Sydney’s orbs.
Which makes one wonder if that geode-that-wasn’t-a-geode was indeed a similar Nth tech device (whether or not it was made by the same race/individual is irrelevant). I think it’s quite possible. Deus’ comment about it being handled by lots of others before choosing Maxima is a very poignant one. We know Sydney’s orbs can permit what she wants or needs to pass through the shield in terms of general non-harmful light, but not lasers, and general non-harmful sound, but not the sonic percussion damage of the flash-bang, the squidward explosions, the sonic attack that damaged Jiggawatt’s hearing, etc, etc.
So…yeah. I’m gonna trust that Max is talking about the results of testing, whether in the lab under controlled conditions or in the field mid-combat (so to speak).
I don’t think Sydney’s orbs actually permit anything to pass through. They just stop everything, and then display full 3D audio/video representations of what’s on the other side.
At some point she’s going to discover the night vision and invisibility settings…
…I like your headcanon, sir. +5
Mmm, not a bad interpretation. I can’t think of any flaws in that.
Maxima really is beautiful
That is the first time ive seen someone make my argument against these idiotic conspiracy theories, but in particular the moon landing. But let me add TO it.
you covered our side rather well, but you ignored the FAR bigger issue: That our chief rival/enemy at the time, the USSR ALSO admitted we landed on the moon. Lets ignore every other country with advanced enough tech (such as britain) to watch us do so as well, as most of them are allies, and therefor could be “roped” in to the conspiracy. Even though that does increase the amount of people who have to be in on the secret(which is what at this point? a few hundred thousand?). We have PLANS for a secret train rail in moscow that to this day they WILL NOT admit is there, even though people have PICTURES of the tunnels, and the blueprints were released by the NSA on the internet. THAT is how deeply penetrated we were in russia at the time, and how bad they were at keeping secrets. IF they were colluding with us on reaching the moon first, there WOULD be evidence on the black market, that secret would NOT have stayed kept. Hell considering we were in a damn near nuclear war wtih them SEVERAL times, what possible reason would they have TO collude with us and say yes we reached the moon before them. It is just ridiculous.
I have long said the same thing. Let me add another one. For the 911 truthers, if Bush etc had been able to manage this massive massive 911 conspiracy to justify invading Iraq.
– Why didn’t they have Iraqi’s on the planes
– Why didn’t manage to ‘find’ some nukes in Iraq. Come on, a massive conspiracy couldn’t arrange a couple of nukes to be in the desert? Or, even have one detonate out in the desert. That would have provided so much cover to justify Bush and Americas actions.
On a totally unrelated note, since two months have passed the Marble Maiden situation should have reached some sort of conclusion/closure.
Whats the sitch with Marble Maiden?
Good question.
As they had such a hard time tracking her down she probably isn’t a simple bruiser.
If she were, she might also have been caught early by setting up a fake robbery, so perhaps some ability for locating where crimes will happen or are happening, like a day job as a detective or wide scale telepathic scanning?
Maybe she will have a power Arc Light can use and she can team up with Pixel.
I know her last appearance has whet your apatite for a resolution, but try to be gneiss to the author. It may seem the story is moving at a glacial pace, put I’m sure he’s not taking us for granite. So keep your chert on and try not to get jaded.
Are you trying to stonewall us regarding her next appearance? *finger waggle* A’a! That’s not allowed! Besides, we don’t know if she’s committed basalt and battery; we just saw the bad guys tied up and her standing in front of them, taking selfies. And for all we know, she could be a gneiss gal, a true pillar of her community; there’s no foundation for assuming otherwise. As much as ARCHON wants to coral her (hush, it’s made of minerals!), the justice systems says that we are innocent until proven guilty in a quartz of law. As serpentine as it’s been to try to pin down her identity in the past, she may have decided to cooperite with ARC-Swat in the meantime. It has been fifty-three days…though azurite to point out, we do long for some sort of update…
You’re both stoned.
They rock.
We all want to be grounded in the origins of the metamorphic metahuman, and look forward to her exciting adventures as she pursues her quarry under the auspices of the appropriate Archon Branch.
X’-))
Just saying, if she really wants to be paranoid and keep it secret, shouldn’t she have Sydney INSIDE the force field, not outside it.
Given that she is worried about mystery powers, every little bit might count, and its trivial to do. eg if Sydney had a broadcasting audio bug secretly placed on her, this would at least prevent that broadcasting the conversation.
Sensible suggestion.
Do recall though that Sydney has had her new equipment checked out, by Arc-Sparq, to ensure it is bug-free. Implying that similar checks are probably periodically done on all their gear, in routine anti-surveillance measures. So they are just taking an extra precaution by moving away from any area that is less easy to guarantee being bug free. The common room, for example, often has guests in there. Who are not searched upon entry, so it is wise to avoid there for the most classified needs.
Remember that any bug sweep is only as reliable as the people making it. If Arc-Sparq aren’t aware of a particular bugging technology, they’re unlikely to recognise and remove it.
{Paranoid_Devil’s_Advocate}And as for the bugs that Arc-Sparq may have installed and/or activated on their own behalf under the guise of that sweep…{/Paranoid_Devil’s_Advocate}
Ooh, that’s a good question. How does radio get through the shield? Or are they both lipreading?
Both radio and sound get through the shield, they always have. No lipreading needed. The technology is simply advanced enough (nth generation) that it lets through things that are desirable to do so. Being able to communicate with others is important, so that is allowed. Despite the fact that it poses some (lesser) risk that the communication might be intercepted.
How it does that has never been touched on, simply because the orb’s technology is so advanced that humanity cannot even study it, let alone replicate it. Although we can do similar things, so we understand the principle even if this is done in a much more sophisticated way. For instance we have one way mirrors, where you can look through them in one direction, but the light is reflected mirror-like in the other. Something that would seem impossible to less advanced civilisations.
Technically, “one way” mirrors aren’t actually one way. They’re partially reflecting in both directions, but the people observing through them are in a very dark room, while the people observed are in a well illuminated room, so you can’t see the observers because your own reflection gets in the way. (Unless you happen to be wearing dark clothing, or stand really close to the mirror, or something of that sort.)
There have been some very recent advances in metamaterial optics which *might* lead to genuine one way glass.