Grrl Power #891 – Enter the Wench! (Not that way, pervs)
Before anyone asks, “All of whose powers?”, that is the first line on the next page.
My first question is, how did she discover this powerset? Did she get a summer job at a home and garden shop that just happened to be owned by someone who had the super power to till soil with their mind. And was also evil, I guess. She specifically said “supervillains who hire me” so maybe it only works with bad guys? That would be my second question.
Hench Wench is a Patreon cameo character from… actually I didn’t ask if she wants her name here, so uh, stay tuned maybe. Anyway, she didn’t give me any instructions for the cameo beyond the name, so I came up with something that honestly might be a little overpowered, but she seems like she’ll be fun either way.
Max might need to talk to Heatwave about not trying to immolate tangos. Or suspects. I’m not sure what Arc-SWAT calls people actively criming. “Suspect” seems like you’re not sure if they’re guilty. If they’re actively punching your teammates, a more proactive term might be appropriate. “Tango” sounds a little terroristy, but can also mean target, so I guess it’s okay.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like!
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
So she gains the powers of those she is working under? Just sign up for Arc-Swat and then your a second Maxima. Super powers run on 90% bullshit so the exact definition of “works for” could be damn near anything, but she probably loses her (gained) powers if she disobeys an order.
Unless it’s specifically villains, like Dave already teased.
Also, power supply might be a limit, like previously when Sydney was worried about Maxima’s powers being copied. Maybe Hench Wench only gets the power as such, but not necessarily in the same magnitude.
There’s also the question if Maxima’s alien goo symbiote counts as a superpower
That goo maybe what was left of the alien that possessed Sydney’s orbs first
But in that case what does it actually require to be counted as a villain for her power? If Arc swat spent the last sunday of every month setting small children’s favorite toys on fire would that count as villainy? Or do you need to specifically have a higher puppy kicking to petting ratio to count as a villain?
Now I’m seeing her in a ob interview:
interviewer: “What are your powers?”
She: The powers of every villain that hires me. That brings me to it. Your boss does qualify as at least five villainous, do you?
Interviewer: “Currently just 3, but if you sign up will crank it up all the way to eleven.”
She: “How do you plan to do that?”
Interviewer: “We’re currently part of a bigger company of which we have the most evil middle-management team and the company is already on the edge of many management buyouts and splittings of the company, due to unethical monopolistic practices, so this would allow us to split off and offer stock options to all our super powered employees with more than 5 write ups par month.”
She: “Is two write ups per month not what is required to be fired.”
Interviewer: “Nobody, dares to…” (winches at the sight of some super bulky super passing)
She: “sensible”
if this interviewer can fire her then any threat she has is negated. It doesn’t seem like she gets to keep any powers from past employers so if fired she is rendered powerless. So any physical threat she can attempt to make is automatically nullified against her employer if they can just fire her to remove that threat.
her power has a massive self liability with such a degree of dependence.
The intended implication was that he was afraid of the bulky super, not her.
why?
the context of the conversations were about her. So implying someone is afraid of someone else when speaking to her about her powers isn’t clear in that dialogue chain you wrote; as the idea is she is gaining the powers of those above her. So why try to imply when she is asking how much she can get away with would you imply the person is intimidated by a third party rather than her having that person plus anyone else above her’s powers combined.
in short, it was unclear.
It was meant as an exaggeration of the supervillainic potential of the company and her by her powered skewed danger perception(safer with more mean super powerfull bosses).
The primary context was about her powers, but I said it was in a job interview, not that it was necessarily purely centered around her powers.
Yet I’ve to confess your primary comment strongly suggests that it was unclear, since I don’t assume you would intentionally misinterpret my comment.
I’m sorry I was so unclear.
I read it as the fear being the reason why the other miscreant employees had not been fired, and the passing goon simply raised a bad memory in the interviewer. Normally it would only take two write-ups to justify firing someone, but some of these guys take disciplinary action very badly and no-one’s yet had the nerve to push them into that next stage.
She gain the powers of people she works for. The LLC means that several supers can be a part owner.
For Arc-Swat, you might be able to pull an argument that they work for all American citizens or something but tying it to specific owners would be kind of hard.
In which case she has the powers of all American taxpayers…
well, since taxes are theft not voluntary labor trade, it wont work, even a Villains powers can tell the difference.
Taxation is payment given in exchange for maintaining citizenship and the benefits thereof. If you don’t want to pay then you don’t have to…but you can’t have it both ways. You can either help pay for the roads that let you get places, the military that keeps you safe, the public schools that educate your kids, etc etc, or you can repudiate your citizenship and move to a different country that is more in line with your values. IIRC the Bahamas have no income tax, although I’m not sure about sales tax. Regardless, I’m sure that you and your taxes-are-theft cohort can club up to buy a small island somewhere and build your own self-sufficient commune. Grow your own food, that kind of thing.
dawww, so mad just because someone noticed the gun to their head~
Taxation is decidedly not theft!
Here’s the thing… the gun isn’t to your head, it’s in any of various holsters or drawers, miles away usually. It’s not a direct threat, it’s an implied threat. Taxation is extortion, not theft, not slavery. It’s the statement that if you make the choice not to comply and make these “payments”, that you’re going to face consequences down the line… which may very well be enforced, should you provide enough resistance, by someone putting a gun to your head.
It’s extortion
I can’t help but think that though “theft” is very eye- and ear-catching, the inaccuracy relies upon hyperbole that must turn some possible adherents away from the idea. WHY do people insist upon that hyperbole? Theft is a direct threat. A knife or a gun pressed against you. Extortion is indirect and/or delayed, like it will happen eventually. Just because organized crime threatens a brick and/or molotov cocktail through your store’s window, and promises “protection” from said assault if you pay them, and the government threatens repossession or imprisonment, and promises “licenses” to conduct business if you pay them, does not mean they aren’t fundamentally the same thing: extortion. They are a threat of various future consequences… if you “make the wrong choice”
sigh….
Pedantry: Theft is not a direct threat. Theft is simply taking something without permission. If you break in to a shop and take their stuff without anyone knowing you were there, that’s theft.
Not pedantry: Taxation is not extortion because you can opt out by giving up your citizenship or by earning a small enough amount that you owe nothing.
Honestly, I have no idea why this is hard for people. I mean sure, it makes a nice talking point if you need to justify selfishness but y’all don’t *really* believe this, do you? I seriously hope it’s just trolling.
I think there’s an amusing amount of overlap between people who claim that taxation is theft, and people who complain about social welfare programs.
*sigh* I read webcomics to get away from having to be reminded about ignorant people. If you find the need to spout nonsense, please open a new table to a different site and post it there, rather than here.
I took it as just a humorous quip about a possibly disqualifying loophole, not a political treatise.
Maybe you should too (and skip the ugly personal attack), especially since you say you’re wanting comic escapism.
The username “taxationisslavery” isn’t political enough for you?
it’s hyperbole, that’s for sure
taxation is extortion
A business license is “protects” owners from repossession, like a “protection payment” prevents molotov cocktails from breaking through your store’s front window.
Now now, just because the US Federal Income Tax was originally passed in an underhanded and questionably legal way doesn’t mean taxation in itself is in any way illegal.
You… realise taxes have been part of civilisation since ancient Roman times? No, of course you didn’t
It has, and it was just as moral as the rest of their times~
Actually their system (at least early one) was ALOT more fair than the current American tax system, because the wealthy saw it as a symbol of PRIDE to give the most to contribute to the Empire; something they could lord over other nobles that they contributed more to the welfare of the empire.
maybe she only gets partial powers of each, since they joint hire her
Joining ARC comes with a lot of restrictions on what she is allowed to do. Not everyone wants to be the good guy.
She should run for public office. It’s pot luck how many supers, if any, are in her district/state of course.
She did the face-smush, like daredevil!
What really sucks is that she has to work under someone to have any powers. She’s designed specifically so she can never do her own thing. Can’t even maintain powers if she isn’t working for someone in a small group.
Though she could just get someone to pay her a dollar a day to carry out meaningless orders.
People like this always have some advantage over regular people, like she could still have her own strength twice, since she’s working for herself, but has no flashy powers unless contracted. They just tend to be tougher than normal people when not empowered, and this could be one explanation.
And some people prefer being the lackey, or the henchgoon, not everyone wants to be the Big Boss (and the even bigger target)
Sure, lackeys and goons tend to get beaten up, a lot, but the heroes tend to save the big beat downs for the Boss
Honestly?
If I could actually find someone TRULY worthy of following, I would prefer to be Nr. 2 or 3 to Nr. 1.
MUCH less stress about making the correct decisions,s till doing what you think is right, and on top, being payed to do so!
I mean lets be honest, dont we all want advantages with minimized disadvantages?^^
Sadly, 39 years and running I have failed to find someone like that…..:(
Especially if you could find a really good overlord to work for. Being a high-level leader comes with nearly all the perks of being the Big Bad, with almost none of the serious beatings when the good guys eventually break into the secret base, plus you can plea bargain your sentence way down just for confirming a few things the lawyers already know.
> What really sucks is that she has to work under someone to have any powers. She’s designed specifically so she can never do her own thing. Can’t even maintain powers if she isn’t working for someone in a small group.
Nah. She can be an independent contractor hired for a specific purpose that she suggested. She goes to SpaceRacistZillionaire and says “Hey, I really want to overthrow Wakanda so that I can get revenge on T’challa and steal all their awesome tech. How about you fund an LLC of supervillains and direct them to hire me for this project that I want to do regardless? I’ll give you 50% of all the stuff I steal.”
She just can’t be only owner, but that’s everything.
She works for everybody who hires her. Owning the same company obviously qualifies as mentioned here.
She just gives all villains stock options and boom she is the primary owner and works for all of them.
Ah, low cut tops. Have Math put a nickel down her “coin slot” and tell her she’s hired.
I know she’s wearing weird gloves but the last panel looks like she has the power to turn her hand into a foot.
I thought she had jumped up and grabbed someone by the foot at the last minute.
If she gained Heatwave’s powers,then she can also incorporate Sydney’s orbs?
She’s not working for Arc. What she just did gave us some insight into what other members of the team might have.
We have seen there is at least one flier in the L.L.C., and that wasn’t Wenchie gaining Brooke’s powers, that was her withstanding her attack
In a silly text superhero RPG on the very old Compuserve forums I had a character called “The Homonculous!” That sound a lot like Hench Wench here. He was a giant goof broadly patterned on The Tick that was a “professional sidekick”, even to heroes that didn’t want him or even know he was around. His main power was that he would gain whatever superpower the main hero he glommed onto and somehow do it better than the original hero, unintentionally ruining their careers. But he meant well.
He also gained a bit of an ability to warp reality to fit to bizarre narration he gave to every event that happened. And invented new Rules of Superheroing that always ended in “cause property damage” but those are tales for another time.
Does she have the power all the time or just during office hours? Basically, if she is not actively engaged in an Op, would she still be able to use her “employer’s” powers in a private endeavor?
shouldn’t her powers be limited to shielding the owners of the LLC from liability and providing the opportunity to treat income as either corporate or a pass through?
Since the villain is the LLC, and the LLC has to be treated as a separate entity (which is its raison detre)
Hah hah, it would be amazing for someone to take rules lawyering to that degree.
Sounds like a job for Deus.
Sounds like an employee for Deus. No taxes as long as she gets paid.
Which would be a tax, just not one levied by a government, and one that could be negotiated.
I’m looking forward to the hero in this gig being Leon, who takes down HenchWench by hacking into government records, finding the LLC and zapping its legal existence, thus ending her association with them.
I’m now totally picturing that her copying powers are actually psychological in nature, and thus pointing this out would alter her viewpoint and suddenly depower her.
Hey, self-doubt worked as a weakness for Thanatos.
Green Lantern too
Speaking of applied rules lawyering, I just finished Harry Potter and the Natural 20 and it’s every bit as fun as I’d been led to believe.
Her kryptonite is Arch-SWATs personal finance consultant. The nice fellow that Sydney meet with and talker down from a horse, purchase. He’ll shatter he ability to work for anything other than a Sole Proprietorship.
Aurelius Shrapnell – Financial Adviser and his stead Artax Ixion Roach Epona Ruin Shadowfax Sleipnir Sparkle Ed, Esquire.
Aurelius used ‘rescission of contract’
It was super effective
…Except the universe imploded from the time paradox it caused… Should have used ‘termination of contract’ then it’s only ended from the date and time of termination.
Couldn’t Max have Arianna call in to a Federal Judge and have the LLC suspended or otherwise disbanded due to being a clearly criminal enterprise? This kinda presumes the LLC was formed in the US where a judge would have jurisdiction.
More direct, Leon can just hack into government records and make the LLC go away.
Wait, it doesn’t even have to be done.
Since the LLC was formed for an illegal purpose, it is legally NULL.
Good thing you are not a lawyer
Do you have any idea how many ‘criminal’ companies there are? All perfectly legal, and you have no idea what the L.L.C. does when they are not mugging aliens and superheroes
Most of them existed outside of the idea of committing a crime – they are a front, either for laundering purposes, or “customer service” – If this one was specifically started for the direct benefit of this specific super, to take actions that were known to be criminal, and for no other purpose, then it is probably more clearly illegal and nullable than most of those others.
Regardless, if someone can come up with language that can convince her it’s NOT legal, and her powers relay upon her being convinced, or at least KNOWNIG who her employer actually is, then telling her could be an opening to de-power her.
It does appear she is durable, for being able to “hop” up from a faceplant like that, so who knows what other powers she may have, but even then, de-powering her may not be vital for beating her.
It’s my understanding that an LLC SPECIFICALLY formed to commit crimes is illegal on it’s face. Beside the fact that you cannot legally incorporate to commit illegal acts, an LLC (designed to limit liability – it’s in the name) would be doubly so: liability for a crime cannot be reduced in any way by anyone except by a Judge (and sometimes a jury).
If fact, ANY form of organized crime is in itself a crime… Conspiracy to Commit a Crime!
your understanding is incorrect. a contract formed for an illegal purpose is void or voidable depending on the state. An entity formed for an illegal purpose is not.
Oh great, another Periwinkle Butt Sniffer.
Well there’s something interesting. unlike “Knuckles”, Hench Wench actually has a Who’s Who character tab
That’s because Juggernot hasn’t been formally introduced, them’s the rules
Hench Wench is also a Patreon cameo. That probably factors into who deserves Who’s Who entries.
No, number one rule of getting a (s)Mugshot is: they have to be formally introduced
Second rules is: they have to have a speaking role (which is why Morph isn’t listed)
Aerenea was never introduced by name on panel, she was a patreon cameo.
Yep, Hench Wench is playing by Silver Age rules!
How about “targets” or “opponents”? The latter seems most appropriate, given the genre staple “two heroes meet each thinking the other one is the bad guy.’
Back in the restaurant battle royale, Anvil referred to one of the attackers as a “perp”. Most wouldn’t remember as that was 6 years ago… :) https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-206-the-velma-reversal/
Police call them “subjects”, generally.
From now on I’m calling her, Evil Tifa!
What amazes me is that it took over four hours for someone else to notice.
Check the first page
I did, several times. There’s “Copy-Kraut” and “bad Skyrim dress” references on the first page, but other than my comment, nobody pointed it out before Redguard. I don’t think I missed anything.
Hench Wench kinda fit thooo >.>
Much like Death Toll, this seems like a character that Arc should be scouting.
Even if her powers are somehow limited to supervillains, the LLC that she’s using already provides a workaround. ARC forms the company, make the relevant supers contracted employees, and then has the company take as it’s mandate the long term domination of the world through something silly, like cute photos of cats. And if that’s not evil enough they can take an extremely aggressive tax position.
We do NOT want someone of questionable morality to gain the powerset of everyone in Arc-swat.
As compared to the questionable morality of several of the actual members of arc-swat?
Ahem Harem, ahem Maxima according to her cast page(depends on how you intrepert “incidents”, but since she’s called “militant” and the incidents do have air quotes. It’s safe to assume not everybody liked how they were treated), ahem Dabbler(some agree with her, but if you read the comment sections about her morality we can at least say it is literally questionable) and ahem Amourphous, Heathwave and Achilles(they were vigilantes)
What is with these comments on every villain? The parking lot fight was an exception for some of them due to the mind control aspect. But not the ones who were there on purpose like Vehemence, nor these mercs. Just because so many comics hand wave dangerous villains because they are popular like Magneto and Juggernaut does not make it good story telling. If anything it is a massive suspension of disbelief breaker. A MMA fighter beating down some cops while he is robbing a store is not ever going to be approached in any sane reality that isn’t a feudal era one and asked if he wants to be law enforcement.
I can’t comment for every villain, but in this case the comic features as a central theme superheroes who are being utilized as strategic weapons by governments / organizations. Their personal morality doesn’t really come into it, so long as they can be motivated to fulfill whatever roll they’ve been designated to fill. To your specific comment, the world of grrlpower isn’t a sane one. The various governments of the world are essentially in a super hero arms race.
Deathtoll represents a hard counter to… well any super one on one. He’s a multi-use “anti-nuke” with a power that’s seemingly only effective against supers. His ability is hard to exploit against civilians, and exceedingly useful for a Super-Hero policing force. Notably, he is also a potential counter to Maxima, who at the moment is constrained by… nothing, apparently. Even assuming her continuous good intentions, it’s a super hero setting, she could presumably be mind controlled.
Hench Wench has a power set which can be easily customized, and easily controlled. She steps out of line, she gets fired / and thus depowered. Since she could assume Maxima’s power set, she also represents a potential counter to maxima, or other high powered members of Arc-Swat.
People keep saying Maxima is unbeatable, but her powers are actually just the most flashy.
Halo could pose a real challenge to Maxima with the following tactics:
– Bubble up, fly really high up, fly away if you notice her slowly withering down your shield with her energy attack on full speed, until you see her use a lot of power you can see(and thus not on super durability), then drop fly orb and fire ppo at Max.
– Bubble up, use aetherial causeway toward empty planet/space rock/other place with O2, bump Max through causeway, dismiss causeway, fly up at full speed, go back to earth.
– Bubble up, use aetherial causeway toward empty planet surrounded with city destroying meteorites, bump Max through causeway, dismiss causeway, Fly up to meteorites, drop meteorites on Max(she can’t breat in space)
– Bubble up, headbutt Max into space, if she starts flying back blow her head off.
– Bubble up, use aetherial causeway to drop her into Alari homeworld.
Dabbler could beat her into specking in super strength flight with her mummy missile and dragging her up with flight and blow her head off with her anti-mass driver. She could stay in a defensive position, but than she could be brought in a cell designed for her(Giant anti-tank cannons pointed at her and following her and mined with powerful mines and triggering speed camera’s.
Jiggawatt can try to outspeed, damage, fly and durability her in her lightning form.
Arc-Swat can work together.
The thing here might be that Halo’s bubble might cut her off from her powers….”nothing gets through Mr Bubble”….
that is actually a good idea as her orbs seem designed to counter act magic specifically at times. Now she has to make sure she keeps the bubble big enough to keep distance between them and either pull a gun or use a taser or magical sleepy spell card from Dabbler or something because Halo has no weapons from her orbs that work inside her bubble.
Harem has shown with her “quantum entangled brain” that it at least doesn’t stop some environmental super powers.
Imagining the harangue from Maxima over the use of “Wench” for a code name. Probably have a few choice words for her attire, too.
She went Full Scorpion. Never go Full Scorpion.
It hurts like hell.
Active supervillain event, similar to active shooters
Instead of “tangos”, maybe “opfor”?
Ok I’ll bite.
What’s opfor?
(waits for the punchline – I’m assuming it’s something like updog)
“Opposing force”, though Arc-Swat are police, so they should use “subjects”.
It would have been better if it was a joke, like ‘updog.’
Looking forward to the next page, to see where her Who’s Who image comes from :D
“Suspect” is the right term when dealing with crooks before they’ve had their day in court and get convicted by a jury, no matter how obvious the fact that they’re engaged in criminal acts.
To address them by any other term will quickly have a lawyer get the case thrown out in court, and since “double jeopardy” is a thing, they get away with it.
I suppose “Perp” would work as well?
“Subject”?
“Perp” is also previous canon, used by Anvil… https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-206-the-velma-reversal/
Double jeopardy only attaches after a trial jury is sworn in, or after a judge convenes the case (if there is no jury). It doesnt attach when they’re just perps or suspects.
Also it only attaches to that jurisdiciton.
That’s an oddly specific power.
…Could she join Arc and get the powers of all her superior officers?
No, they’d just be her superior officers, not her employer. Only General Faulk might qualify as an employer, and as far as we know he’s not a super. She would have to be an independent contractor hired by the ARC-Swat unit as a whole, which may or may not require a slight restructuring of the unit to make it work.
I mean, technically, we don’t know how well she knows her own powers…
If your powers rely upon employment, and your parents weren’t supers, you could have not even known you had powers until your mid-teens and your fast-food manager or dry-cleaner sole proprietor had some weird power that you just started to replicate.
It could be anyone that signs her paychecks.
So, does this means Arianna is her arch-enemy, then?
I can’t remember what show/movie it was but I remember once hearing some military types refer to zombies as Whiskey Deltas (Walking dead), so maybe ARC-SWAT could refer to supervillains as Sierra Victors? :)
Found what happened a little confusing for a start, was gonna ask if one of her powers was the power to swap clothes with her opponent…
I now realize heatwave was saved, the villainess hit the ground and bounced back. :P
A “superp”, maybe? As in, a superpowered perpetrator?
Super suspect
Also isn’t “supervillain” owned by Marvel and DC?
No, they tried to trademark the terms superhero and supervillain but failed to do so.
This is the most stupid power I’ve ever seen… and I know about the dude with super hindsight.
A Zero Contact Power Copier that requires Association with those whose powers are being copied.
Its not really an unheard of power; its just usually a one-off thing (my friends’ powers have joined with mine to strike down the dark lord), at least as far as that association limitation goes. But a zero contact power copier isn’t that rare; although generally they do have to see someone use a power first like in Needless or have something like only certain kinds of powers can be copied.
Mimic from the X-men can copy the powers of any mutant within I think a mile or so of himself (this fluctuated by writer, although I heard they actually brought this character back from retirement not long ago). But he couldn’t copy the power of mutates like Captain America or any of the Hulks, or powers from alien biology or magic.
Oddly enough at that point the zero contact is the rarer form, have plenty of power copiers who need a DNA sample like a strand of hair, blood, saliva from a kiss, skin contact, have sex with them.
(although power thieves are also common in this area: difference being a power copier copies the power without the target losing any power while a power thief takes their power leaving them either weakened or powerless for a time or permanently),
I would like to point out a keyword in explanation. If she is correct, and that is indeed how her powers work, then all that needs to be done is relabel supervillains as super criminals. Unless of course, her power is not based on a contract she makes with specialize conditions. Then again, it may have a clause for those
So, if they find said LLC a criminal enterprise (them being supervillains and all) and disband it (or whichever the proper term for ending an LLC is), would she suddenly find herself powerless?
Alternatively, if she ventures into a place where said LLC registration is not recognised (like, a different planet, different reality, North Korea, etc.), does that mean she also loses her powers there?
Sounds like the sort of power where you’d want to run for public office. Work for the people.
Actually, doesn’t “Tango” in the terrorist sense work here anyway? They are clearly political pawns as the rant of the buff dude implies. And they are using their powers for violence to an end that is politically acceptable to another group. Either way, Tango just refers to target in military speak. Not sure why though, they have the same number of syllables and everyone knows what generally Tango refers to or understands the intent behind the word.
The word for and activebut unconvicted criminal is “subject”
Just going to say that’s a good way to dislocate Brooke’s hip unless she has super durability as part of her powerset.
This character is ridiculous. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, depending on what you do with her; Galactus is also an absurd concept on the face of it, but proves an example of how a stupidly OP character who makes no sense can still turn out awesome. So I’ll stay tuned to see what happens with HenchWench, but right out of the gate, my suspension of disbelief is strained. A powerset that is affected by the signing of legal documents is almost as dumb as the basic idea of a subordinate who is more powerful than all of her employers. But then, Death Toll was pretty close to the same level of cheese, as was Vehemence. I’m beginning to think that David has a “type” when it comes to his bad guys.
From the very start of the comic, Sydney’s primary weapon has been comic book knowledge and rules lawyering. The orbs are just secondary support.
OOH! Call in Varia!
O. M. G.
…
This is pure f*cking genius! I never thought it was possible to die of jealousy, but I just might.
Ten bucks says Deus will be doing a quick reorg to allow his super-staff to hire her as an IC, and then oh jeebus…
I am sure no one else cares, but you organize a Limited Liability Company; you don’t incorporate it, as it is definitionally NOT a corporation. At least in the US. (The compulsive need to make these kinds of comments is what law school does to you, kids. Avoid it like the plague.)
I’m having some difficulties with the mechanics of superpowers activated by legal paperwork…
I mean, if the lawyers screw up the paperwork do her powers stop working? If she leaves the country the contract is binding in and enters a country where the law doesn’t allow an LLC to be formed in that way and requires different filings? Is there some aspect of her powers that is like a psychic legal arbiter constantly monitoring which powers she’s properly authorized to access?
Can her powers be neutralized by a lawsuit challenging her employment status?
Etc… this is just weird.
It looks to me like the “villain type” David has is powers that are stat-defined in some RPG, like GURPS, where he makes an effort to exploit the system imbalances and cost-system oversights to make characters that are more powerful than others despite having the same creation budget. This seems to involve bizarre, rules-lawyer gimmicks to dodge or twist the limits of the system, and therefore ends up producing powers that involve weird concepts and limitations. If you’ve been paying attention you’ll notice this also describes Maxima, Dabbler, and Sydney from the ADHD tribe.
I think he’s said as much, whether in the author blurb or comments, that several of his characters did originate from building characters for roleplaying games.