Grrl Power #901 – Apparently you can stop the rock
I know, Sydney asking if Concretia can do marble lends credence to the suspicion that she is or is related to the Marble Maiden, referenced around… uh… hmm. I don’t actually recall. At some point early in the comic. I think.
Oh! There she is. #366. I thought she showed up waaaay before that. Anyway, Sydney was either actually sleuthing or just being chatty.
I always want to write “Mohs scale” as “Moh’s scale” because in my mind, presumably, a guy named “Moh” invented it. Cement Concrete is a six or seven, which surprised me, as I don’t usually think of it as being particularly strong. Well, sure, you can drive and walk and pogo-stick on it, but it’s also the primary component of rubble, so I tend to think of it as being a bit crumbly, especially around the edges.
Still, I wouldn’t want to be punched or elbow dropped by someone with a solid concrete body.
Now, one might think that Sydney is too young to reference the Herculoids or non-Netflix Voltron or Robotech or Sleestaks or Tom Baker Doctor era stuff, but you see, her father is quite the nerd and raised her right, introduced her to a huge library of shows. Anyone with kids under 15 (or I guess anyone reading the comic who isn’t old enough to vote) knows it’s tough to start off on Avatar (the movie), Lord of the Rings, and even stuff like Star Trek Discovery, then try and get them interested in 50 year old British sci-fi, so Sydney’s dad (also named Sydney, if you recall) introduced her to the sci-fi/fantasy catalog in mostly chronological order.
That said, I think Sydney is probably too young (and entirely the wrong gender) to have watched any of those “Young, sexy woman (YSW) who doesn’t realize she’s sexy and is probably a student or a cop, has stripper sister who gets killed so YSW has to go undercover at the strip club, as a stripper of course, in order to solve the case/avenge her sister.” movies, so admittedly it’s a bit of an odd reference for her. Still, the subgenre of femsploitation where a woman is forced to become a stripper is common enough that it would get referenced in other media like comics, sit-coms, MST3K/Rifftrax, etc., so it’s not like she couldn’t have stumbled across the idea before.
Evidently I should keep pimping the incentives, because people who swing by the comic on days other than the first post of the month don’t always catch them, and it would be irresponsible of me not to point out that there is a modest collection of nude pinups over at Patreon.
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.
THAT’S interesting – she has a body – I guess she leaves it to possess cement and such.
Also – who are the bad guys here?
Twisted twist: Arc-Dark managed to track down her body, and they are forcing her, kinda like how Brooke, Morph and Les ‘joined’ the side of the ‘Good Guys’
We kinda saw that with Jabbers
With Jabberwocky, she joined because she had a few warrants for her arrest already so this is more like a work release program. Achilles, Morph, and Heatwave joined because being a vigilante is illegal plus they get paid really well by working for Archon. No need for sinister reasons when capitalism and the free market works just as well.
Yes, “Join us, or face a lengthy stint in prison. We can pay you if that makes it feel any less like a sentence?”
She already committed crimes. She had an open warrant.
So no, it’s not coercion. It’s ‘You’re already going to prison for crimes that you committed and should be going to jail for in the first place. However, if you work for us, not only will you not have to go to prison, we will also pay you for your valuable services. It’s entirely your choice.’
Because you see… if she had not committed crimes in the first place, there would be no problem for her anyway. It’s not like they CREATED a crime to charge her with in order to force her to work for them. They didn’t even create the circumstances under which she could have been arrested. They were pre-existing circumstances, not entrapment.
Yes, it is coercion: they are using the very real threat of a (valid) prison sentence to get her to join them instead
It’s noit coercion. Coercion is ‘forcing another party to act in an involuntary manner. Jabberwocky is not acting in an involuntary manner – she would normally be going to jail for reasons COMPLETELY unrelated to Archon. An incentive is not coercion. When you get paid to do a job, is your employer guilty of coercion? No.
If you commit a crime then plead down in court to a lower charge, is the court guilty of coercion because you want a lesser sentence for a crime you already committed? No.
Jabberwocky committed crimes. There was an open warrant for her arrest. Absent ARCHON’s offer, she would go to jail, period. Therefore there’s no coercion. An incentive to do a task to get you into a better position is different than punishing you if you do not comply with a task. The former is making a deal, which is the basis for almost every agreement that humans have with one another. The latter is coercion and/or blackmail. Don’t cross the streams.
Do you really want to bring up the extent to which wage labor in a capitalist-owned-and-operated society is actually voluntary, on the Internet?
I think we all know what’ll do to this comment section.
I’m bringing up what’ actually occurred both in the comic and what the definition of coercion is, and how it’s different than giving someone an incentive for a work release.
But yes, I’ll bring it up. Being paid for wages is not coercion. It is a voluntary choice. No one is owed payment without doing work for it, and no one is OWED a job. Employment is a voluntary action between employer and employee. The employer is not engaging in coercion by offering a good salary in exchange for an employee doing work, as if the employer should just give money regardless of the employee doing any work or being employed.
Moving that to the relevant conversation – did Archon engage in illegal coercion? No. No they did not. They offered a financial incentive PLUS an additional incentive so that Jabberwocky did not have to go to prison, which she was going to go to PERIOD, had Archon not stepped in and made an offer which she honestly was not owed. That’s not coercion by any stretch of the imagination.
To claim Archon engaged in coercion, you would have to say that Jabberwocky is ENTITLED to being free, despite committing crimes, which include assaulting police officers and robbing banks. For which she did not have the excuse of a Vehemic aura making her want to do so.
Jabberwocky is not ENTITLED to commit crimes without punishment for those crimes. She’s not ENTITLED to go free as if laws against robbing banks or assaulting cops do not apply to her, even if the reason she did so is because she’s an adenaline junkie more than the money.
Just like how Sci-fright wasn’t coerced into soiling her new body by sleeping with SmugD (while his pet ‘enforcer’ watched)?
Oh right, no, she had the option (as a wanted fugitive) to go out and raise the several million dollars, cash, she just chose to sleep with him :vomit:
Actually a lot LESS so than with Deus and Sciona.
Sciona was going from a position of NOT having something to HAVING something, so no, it was not coercion,’ since she was free to say no, and Deus was not keeping anything from her which he took from her. And yes, sorry but if you’re a wanted fugitive, it’s not a seller’s fault that you’re a wanted fugitive. Also Sciona seemed to be quite okay with Deus’s lovemaking abilities afterwards, and not only wanted a second run at him, but also wanted to make him her personal sex pet when she takes over Earth.
With Jabberwocky, it’s even LESS arguable to be coercion, because a work release program is not even remotely illegal, while prostitution is illegal, and you could at least ARGUE that Deus and Sciona engaged in a prostitution oral contract (you’d probably be wrong but you can argue it at least). On the other hand, JABBERWOCKY WAS GOING TO JAIL BECAUSE OF CRIMES SHE HAD ALREADY COMMITTED. If Archon offered nothing, Jabberwocky goes to jail for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with Archon. Archon was not offering anything remotely illegal, and did not have to do anything. If anything, they were taking a risk with Jabberwocky, given her history. You are mistaking incentive with coercion, repeatedly.
Here. I’m going to make you an offer. I will give you a video game. All you have to do is say ‘Pander is awesome and is correct. Also I am very unfair to Deus.’ I’m not coercing you. You don’t NEED the video game. I havent done anything to prevent you from getting the video game. You can get the video game on your own in other ways that have nothing to do with me. I’m offering you an incentive to get the video game in a way which is much easier or cheaper than paying money. All it costs is a teensy bit of your pride.
Sci-fright stated, very clearly, how she felt about sleeping with SmugD, so yes, using that information that she desperately wanted to get her to sleep with him is coercion
She never said anything about keeping SmugD as her sex pet, just as her pet
Did Jabbers voluntarily apply to join Archon? Or was she told she had to join?
Never said Jabbers wasn’t already going to go to jail
Did you also forget the fact part of her ‘release program’ was to be used as a science project to figure out what Dabbles did to her? Which, incidentally, was only a problem when she was around Dabbles, which means, if she had gone to jail, she would have been fine!
Again: SmugD had something Sci-fright needed that she could not get anywhere else, plus the fact he damn well knew he didn’t have it and who did, which he could have told her from the start!! But he took something from her she did not want to give
Jabbers had been affected by a spell, which the removal of was part of her release program, which would never have been a problem if she was not trapped in the same building with the one who cast the spell in the first place. So how abouts we add on torture to her punishment, shall we?
Again, two things both ladies needed were used to get their unwilling compliance
@Guesticules
So, it obviously doesn’t matter to you that the deal Jabbers got was extremely favorable to her by almost every metric. Not to mention the fact that she didn’t need to go to Archon, she could have just gone to jail like most people that kick the shit out of officers do.
“if she had gone to jail, she would have been fine!”
Bold of you to assume you know how the linger affects of succubus magic works when malfunctioning with a super’s powers.
As for Sciona, that’s an even more ridiculous argument. She didn’t “need” to keep trying to genocide and/or enslave the human race. It’s something she wanted to do at any cost because she’s a spiteful psycho.
Hell, the Twilight Council didn’t even know Sciona was still alive until she tried to assassinate them all.
Being paid less than the actual value of your labor (substantially less, in the case of real world western economic realities), while also requiring economic participation as a prerequisite of subsistence survival, absolutely is a coercive condition, established & maintained by the State, to the exclusive benefit of the capitalist class.
To be explicit: economic participation has become a survival necessity, yet said economic participation is not a guaranteed right, but rather doled out at the whim of capitalists, and when one’s survival (that is, literally, a person’s life) then no exchange is essentially voluntary, in fact, regardless of the rhetoric applied to describe it. This is the material reality of the world.
And, moving _that_ to the relevant conversation, regardless of the sweeteners added to the ‘work release’ option, the fact remains that coercive relationship (as highlighted by the power disparity between Jabberwocky as the State agency that apprehended her) exists. This is not to say that the offer is not a fair, or even better than fair (in my own view), exchange, but that fact exists completely independent of the material reality of the power disparity, and resultant coercion.
@Bharda:
“Being paid less than the actual value of your labor (substantially less, in the case of real world western economic realities)”
Bold of you to assume to know what the value of everyone’s labor is. Here’s how economics actually works. The value of someone’s labor is worth what another person is willing to pay for that labor. That’s it. If you have the skill of being an expert at scrimshaw, and you value one of your pieces of scrimshaw work at $100,000 a piece, it doesn’t matter if you can’t find anyone willing to buy your scrimshaw. If you go from house to house, offering to shovel snow from people’s driveways, you might think your labor is worth $50 an hour. If you can’t find anyone willing to pay that much, then YOU ARE NOT OWED $50 AN HOUR. You’re owed whatever someone is willing to pay for the value of your work.
Take myself for example. I’m an attorney. I have 7 years of legal experience and I operate a small law boutique PLLC. I’m not going to be able to charge as much as another attorney who has a win record of 99% who is with a top level law firm for 30 years. Even if I do the same exact work. Because I can only be worth what I can get a client to pay me for my services, and clients are going to be more willing to pay the guy with the better reputation and longer experience, even if I think I’m just as good as he is and have the same legal knowledge as he has. And honestly often that true. Doesn’t matter. I’m not worth what the other guy is worth unless I convince someone that I am. I am not OWED the salary of that other attorney.
“while also requiring economic participation as a prerequisite of subsistence survival,”
You can start your own company and be an entrepreneur. Or you can minimize your costs if you can’t maximize your labor value. You’re not owed money from anyone beyond what you and they BOTH agree to as the value of your work.
“economic participation has become a survival necessity, yet said economic participation is not a guaranteed right,”
When has this NOT been the case in all of human history? If you want to get stuff, you need to have something of worth to give in exchange. It’s not a guaranteed right. It’s not SUPPOSED to be a guaranteed right. For example, if you need an attorney…. and you demand that I be your attorney but do not want to pay what my fees are…. why do you think you’re entitled to my services, which I had to pay for in money and years of study? I most definitely am not going to be able to say you MUST pay me – unless we already have agreed that I will do the work for you at a set price. But you have no right to my services until money has changed hands.
If you want a loaf of bread from the store, you are not owed that bread. Someone put time and effort into baking that bread. Another person put time and effort into shipping that bread to the store. The store put time and effort into hiring people to maintain the store so that they can sell that bread. If you do not want to work to earn money to buy the bread, then you do not deserve the bread. You are not entitled to the labor of other people. It’s a mutual contractual agreement – not slavery.
“but rather doled out at the whim of capitalists, and when one’s survival (that is, literally, a person’s life) then no exchange is essentially voluntary”
Learn to bake your own bread if you don’t want to buy bread, or buy something cheaper that you can afford. Represent yourself in court if you don’t want to pay the attorney fees of ANY attorney, or pay for a lesser qualified attorney.
Or in Jabberwocky’s case, if you don’t want to take Archon up on their offer to get paid extremely well instead of going to jail for crimes that you ALREADY COMMITTED… then go to jail. Or better yet, if you don’t want that to happen in the future…. don’t rob banks or commit other crimes.
She’s not being forced to do anything. She’s offered an incentive to avoid something that she otherwise WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR. PAST CRIMES.
“the fact remains that coercive relationship (as highlighted by the power disparity between Jabberwocky as the State agency that apprehended her) exists.”
So if Archon never makes the offer in the first place, what happens. Jabberwocky goes to jail because she committed a bank robbery and assaulted multiple police officers of her own free will.
That’s why Archon’s offer is not coercion. Coercion would be if Jabberwocky was not guilty of any crimes in the first place and Archon said ‘if you don’t work for us, we will put you in jail for… not working for us. Or we will make up a crime to arrest you over.’
They did not have to make up anything. She WAS going to jail. Now she’s not, because she made a deal, which was nothing but beneficial for her. That is NOT COERCION. Incentive alone is not coercion, and never has been.
Power disparity ALONE does not mean coercion exists. Force must be applied that would not otherwise exist in absence of the offer. Otherwise, an incentive, not coercion, regardless of whether Archon was powerful or weak.
@Guesticus/Guesticules:
“Sci-fright stated, very clearly, how she felt about sleeping with SmugD, so yes, using that information that she desperately wanted to get her to sleep with him is coercion”
She felt he was beneath her until he gave reasons why she’d enjoy it. She agreed. There was a mutual agreement. She was under no obligation to sleep with him if she did not want to. She could have left, and he would not have tried to force anything. And his arguments about why she should have sex with him amounted to ‘You havent had sex in a really long time and I’m really good at it.’
That’s not a coercive statement by any means. Also, after she did have sex with him, she wanted to again (“Finish your damned drink”).
“She never said anything about keeping SmugD as her sex pet, just as her pet”
A pet whom she would have sex with since he is really good at it.
Ie, a sex pet. She didnt want to keep him around for his witty personality.
“Did Jabbers voluntarily apply to join Archon? Or was she told she had to join?
Never said Jabbers wasn’t already going to go to jail.”
Okay you literally just described why it’s not coercion. She was going to jail anyway, for reasons that had nothing to do with Archon. If Archon had not made the offer, she would have gone to jail just as easily as if Archon made the offer and she did not accept the offer. ie, There is NO COERCION.
“Did you also forget the fact part of her ‘release program’ was to be used as a science project to figure out what Dabbles did to her?”
Actually you’re wrong here too. They had no idea that Dabbler’s spell was still affecting her when they made the work release offer to Jabberwocky. They didnt know until AFTER she had already agreed and she attacked Dabbler in the auditorium. So Dabbler trying to undo the spell had NOTHING to do with Jabberwocky’s deal with Archon whatsoever.
“which means, if she had gone to jail, she would have been fine!”
Being in jail is not, by any definition, “fine.”
“Jabbers had been affected by a spell, which the removal of was part of her release program, ”
The removal of the spell was not a part of her release program. You’re making that up, or forgot that she agreed to the work release before even seeing Dabbler again. No one had any idea that the spell was still stuck to her.
“Again: SmugD had something Sci-fright needed that she could not get anywhere else,”
Why do you think that Sciona is entitled to anything in Deus’s possession that did not actually belong to Sciona? Not to mention…. Deus was NOT in possession of anything that Sciona wanted after all. Sciona was entitled to NOTHING that Deus owns, until there is a mutually agreed upon contract. Period. It doesnt matter if it’s the regenerator thing is the only one in the world. Sciona is not owed it by dint of her existence.
@Pander
“Bold of you to assume.”
Go fry ice.
You want to have a respectful conversation? Don’t lead with condescending asshatery. I literally stopped reading, or giving a single f%ck, about anything you think you have to say, the instant you decided to talk down to me.
I am not your child, or your pupil, or in any way, shape, or form your lesser. I do not care about your education, experience, or intelligence, until you can use them without coming off as a patronizing neck beard with a desperate need to compensate for a deep seated inferiority complex. Until then, feel free to wallow in your self-righteous monomythic fantasy, arguing with & lecturing your imaginary construction of who & what you think I am.
I’m sure you’ll find it gratifying.
Remember the Kleenex.
@Bharda:
“Go fry ice.”
I’ve never heard that phrase before. New one for me.
“ou want to have a respectful conversation? Don’t lead with condescending asshatery.”
First off I apologize if that came off as condescending. It wasn’t my intention.
Seriously. I apologize if you felt like I was being condescending. Now please go back and read the rest of my post. Thank you.
“I am not your child, or your pupil, or in any way, shape, or form your lesser.”
I wasn’t assuming you were. That’s a failing on my part if saying ‘Bold of you to assume’ was taken as condescension. It was meant to be quippy, not condescending. Sort of like what happens when making a joke.
Taking into account that I’m NOT looking down at you, read ahead to the rest of my argument please.
@Bharda:
Also the reason I was explaining it sort of like a teacher would is I just really do know a lot about the basics of economics. I’m not just writing to you when responding though. I’m writing to anyone who happens to be reading this to explain the basic principles of economics and why what Archon did is not coercion.
And again, I wasn’t trying to be condescending to you, even though it apparently came off that way. My bad on that.
It’s actually “join us or face a sentence OR just don’t go around fighting ppl” the last option is important.
Exactly!:)
Demanding that someone not commit violent crimes or have a choice of consequences, one of which most ppl dont get as an option, where there has to be SOzmEconsequence no matter what,is not coercion.:)
Hiring supers with tax money is a better use of tax money than repairing the damage they may cause as super villains.
But then they have to use tax money to repair the damage they cause as super heroes.
Might as well let Deus privatize it.
*Leftist Sense tingles*
Technically the Avengers were privatized under Stark. And it didnt go to crap until the government got involved and Stark ceded responsibility to the Sokovia Accords.
Oddly enough the billionaire industrialist capitalist became the pro government collectivist side and the patriot lifetime soldier became the individualist anti government side.
eh just leave it to…. THE Repairman the only superhero you need after a super battle takes place AT YOUR PLACE. You know someone is going to have the powers to do it and will be in high demand.
REPAIRMANmanmanmanman…man.
REPAIRMANmanmanmanman…[clank thunk]… there, fixed that echo for ya.
For some time in Marvel comics they had Damage Control Inc. to cover insurance & repair crews for damages caused by Supers; it was a short running mini-series that wasn’t popular to keep it going but it’s pretty much presumed that the marvel World still has them around, even if only in the background.
There’s also The Crew in the Wearing the Cape universe. A team specialising in civil engineering and disaster relief, whether that be the aftermath of a major Powered fight or reinforcing levées against flooding.
“An ounce of prevention,” writ large.
Why would Arc-Dark send her to capture Sidney in the middle of a fight?
suspicion of withholding valuable technology on behalf of a foreign (alien) civilian consultant.
You mean her glasses? Dirt already has that tech, it’s just shit and never progressed beyond trials (because Google can barely do searches without fucking things up)
No, I am referring to conversations from last page about Dabbler’s suspicious choice to have Sydney take the stasis pod somewhere far away from the fight and Dabbler’s own wording implying she intends at first chance to take the stasis pod away to her lab. Given Dabbler’s past verbalized intentions to not share any of her tech with Earth the implication here is the moment she takes it, Earth will never see it again; and this civilian consultant (regardless of team member status is still un-ranked), told a military personele to leave the area of engagement (regardless of it looking to be wrapping up, which actually makes it worse she didn’t just secure it on the spot to hand off to Maxima once she freed herself from the stasis as they assumed was going to happen momentarily).
this for a group like Arc Dark (CIA and what not as well) is suspicious behavior and creates the possibility to them Sydney has been mentally compromised to act not in her department’s interests but those of the aliens (foreign powers) she had been spending time with.
While we the readers with meta knowledge can understand Sydney and Dabbler’s motivations, in-universe from the perspective of government agents who may be still shadowing Dabbler it does not. They need to be suspicious and the situation has enough flags to go for an intercept and questioning Sydney as to her motivations. Like I said last page chances are she hasn’t even mentioned the whole Xevoarchy blasting problematic civilizations back to being pre-industrial should they be advancing too fast and pose a threat to other civilizations and not join the Xevoarchy.
That is a hilarious string of assumptions you’re making.
Something, that if an entire department of people that outrank Sydney are so worried about that they’re willing to sabotage a fight, they could remedy by simply ordering Sydney to not do what Dabbler says.
I am stating a potential motive and mindset and nothing more. Also how would restraining a potentially subversive element be sabotaging a fight? You have to think like a spook, which from a meta view point can be counterintuitive
Because of three points:
1)It’s not a hint of subversive behavior. The team has always deferred to Dabbler’s judgement when it comes to alien tech or magic.
2)It is sabotage. Trapping one of Max’s teammates while they’re in the middle of restraining a group of supers actively hampers their ability to safely end the fight.
3)Again, they outrank Sydney. And Max as well, since that’s the level of people who are that concerned about aliens hiding tech from them, so they could just order her to not hide it.
I am again stating a possibility although not a likely one.
The team is irrelevant here, what matters is how the higher ups, the same types who actually considered impounding Cora’s ship and strong arming keeping the Fel ship and had to require a lengthy discussion. Dabbler’s expertise is not their concern; their concern is obtaining anything to give them a leg up; a quick decision (seldom a good) one to prevent potential loss.
on the sabotage, it isn’t. Because we are in an overlap moment here. Sydney left the area of engagement thinking the alien merc battle was wrapping up, the super merc battle hadn’t started yet. Which as discussed before on the last page is still suspicious as she could have secured it right there rather than follow Dabbler’s instruction to hide it *with verbal intent to send it to her lab later*, so send someone to follow and detain a soldier leaving the area of engagement with sensitive equipment for questioning is not unreasonable.
further when the super merc battle started, one of the enemy units also took off with a bit of alien technology, that needs cleared up to be certain Sydney is not helping them either. Spooks don’t have faith in human character. As for her not returning to the fight, her assistance isn’t needed anyways; Maxima could handle both easily, and Sydney would just be a turtle with her light hook and shield as her only other offense option is better suited for the battle field not the center of a major metropolitan area.
Rank is irrelevant when you feel a government agent is not acting on behalf of the interests of your nation. Telling a soldier selling guns on the streets of Iraq they need to stop because its an order from their commanding officer is illogical as they clearly don’t care about rank or they wouldn’t be doing it anyway. and given Sydney barged into a meeting and said she’d leave the team if they impounded her friends’ ship; the ever suspicious spook types may already doubt her loyalties.
Again, this is unlikely, especially with newer information being presented in this page. However the view point of such elements within their ranks being considered is something to think about in the ever branching realm of possibilities and motives of characters in the future.
“their concern is obtaining anything to give them a leg up”
Then tell Sydney or Max to belay Dabbler’s instructions and to keep the stasis pod in the battle field. You’re whole argument kinda falls apart the moment you acknowledge that they are the higher ups and have Maxima at their beck and call.
“as she could have secured it right there rather than follow Dabbler’s instruction to hide it”
How? By trapping the unknown space tech in the shield along with her squishy human body or lugging it around with her light hook so that it can be in the line of fire while everyone else fights?
The only ways to really secure something like that in a populated area are two thus: Take it to a high, isolated area where people are unlikely to stumble across it OR let Dabbler immediately teleport it to her lab.
“As for her not returning to the fight, her assistance isn’t needed anyways; Maxima could handle both easily”
Ah yes, a viewpoint supported by literally none of the battles that Sydney has been in. Every time Maxima and Sydney has fought together, the young recruit has provided substantial help. Not due to plot contrivance either; her orbs put her second only to Maxima in most categories.
Taking Sydney out of the fight, when they would know from listening to comms that the fight is getting worse and more chaotic, not better, drastically cuts down on the team’s overall effectiveness.
First I already said this is unlikely and serves more to view a possible future mindset from Arc Dark.
Which on that I feel you are ignoring one crucial point of that, if the Arc Dark handlers are there and followed Sydney due to what Dabbler said and in that moment feel Sydney might have been compromised then they won’t care about any of those points and regard her continued participation as a threat to their interests. If the overlap in time here is bad enough they couldn’t get a hold of Maxima due to her own collar being blasted apart by this point.
But again this is unlikely I am not arguing this is what is happening in fact this entire point was from the last page and I was explaining to Gausticus what I was referencing, which new information has placed into doubt, but a related scenario could still occur due to this potential mindset regarding her actions.
The Mercenary Super LLC Group are probably the bad guys. At least that’s the likely bet. We already know they do have bounties on certain ARCHON members, like Maxima. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that they’d have one on Sydney too, since she’s the only ARC-SWAT member who uses a special object to GIVE her powers (although Zephon probably has magical artifacts as well, but he’s not public knowledge since he’s head of ARCHON intelligence – Arc-Light).
for the sake of simplicity that would be the best way to go.
(unless bringing back Sciona), introducing a new group to fight in the middle of fighting someone else…well we have already seen the skimmers and bad memory types confused by the super mercs showing up right as the alien mercs are being taken down and confusing the two together.
So having Kingpin’s the Sinister Six fight Spiderman while Black Cat’s syndicate shows up nearby could confuse the reader; even if realistically having one criminal organization take advantage of chaos being caused by another to sneak in under everyone’s noses isn’t unrealistic.
Oh, so it is Astral projection! And she is being forced to do this? Why mention they have her body if she wasn’t being forced to do it. Makes me think the flying hero is in charge, and Brute and Hench Wench are also patsies. Or maybe they are all forcing Concretia to do this.
Which raises some interesting possibilities. Like how long have these bad guys had her body, can she return to it but her body is locked up somewhere with no material around to form a new body to rescue herself with. Or some other threat to her life if she tried.
Being kept on a skeleton of a boat, even if she scrounged up enough materials from it to build a golem body that would cause the boat to sink while in a body she’s in is the wrong shape to float? CAN she do materials other than rock type stuff? If she can only do rocks, just being held on a boat can stop her making golems on board and I’m pretty sure rocks don’t swim too well…
Judging from their conversation, she can make her body from any form geology and rock. But her original body that she leaves behind is probably vulnerable in a way. Vulnerable enough for “they” to threaten her. Maybe she cant use her powers in her human body. Being able to astral project and not have to get hurt makes the idea of your physical body getting hurt pretty scary. They could be just holding onto her with the fear of being hurt.
A sturdy log cabin would hold her pretty well.
That she could bust out of by going ghost and breaking in from the outside, so I assume its more than that
Presumably she can’t “go ghost” at all, her body just lies there asleep or something when she’s not home. And is normal human even when she’s resident in it.
If she leveled up her stone bending, I suppose she could form “powered body armor” around it, but it’s easy to technically subvert that with radio controlled bombs. They could even be implanted.
So she just gets a bunk room with food and a bathroom, and if she leaves it, “boom”. Making it out of something she couldn’t bend would just be overkill.
Putting her in an inescapable prison is just too much work. Have some rando with a gun pointed at her head and it doesn’t matter if she can form a body, the moment she does she gets blasted.
Make sure any attempt to free herself is just difficult enough to give the hostage takers time to kill her body and you’ve got the same effect for a fraction of the effort of a submarine on the moon made out of marble
Since we’re all playing ‘How would Batman contain her’…. :)
A submarine underwater. Depending on whether she needs to breathe in astral form, or whether pressure affects her, or how long she can maintain astral form.
Alternatively:
An airplane made of primarily fiberglass with a steel frame.
Maybe she just doesn’t know where her body is.
Yeah I mentioned that in a different post as well, as the most likely possibility.
But this post was not about where her body was. I was just giving ideas on how to contain Concretia in a ‘batman-esque’ sort of plan.
Get her into spirit form, and then use Sydney’s bubble to trap her inside (worked on Harem) and drop her off on the ruined Alari homeworld.
given that astral forms are usually a projection not an autonomous entity I suspect the forcefield would force a cut-off on the projection and she’d wake up in her body while the astral body vanishes.
Possibly. But I think more likely it would simply trap her astral form inside the force field like Tahnru says. It’s already been shown to be able to not only shield against physical stuff, but magic, teleportation, energy and spiritual stuff as well.
Although …. did Shadow Boxer somehow bypass it? Or was he already in the shield when sydney put it up?
Shadow Boxer got in before she raised her shield. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-205-hyperactivity-bonus-vs-backstab/
Okay thanks for that info. I wasnt sure where the strip was to check for myself. :) Didnt know if there was some sort of difference since normal light goes through the shield (and therfore one would expect shadows do also). But she clearly put up the shield after he was already by her.
That’s one question answered. Thanks again.
Shadow boxer is not canonically light or shadow, I don’t think. He could simply be able to change shape (akin to ST:DS9’s Odo) and when he does, he becomes either a grey skin tone or a dark, shadowy murky color. Because it absorbs large amounts of light (or maybe is a perfect retroreflector?) and thus reminds people of shadows, he or possibly someone else incorporated the concept of shadows into his pseudonym.
The Flash, at least originally, isn’t actually a flash of light or anything, he just moves very quickly, so he just makes people think of a flash. Batman dresses with several costume elements that recall imagery of a bat – he’s not actually a bat (The Scarecrow could cause mass hallucination, making it appear so, but it still wouldn’t be true). The Black Panther is only called that because his costume and use of claws makes him appear rather cat like. Iron Fist, does not include any actual iron, and in the Grrlverse, the same is for Anvil, despite the typical composition of real-world anvils. Math has shown zero interest in mathematics, Pixel has essentially nothing in common with a minute area of illumination, and there is no indication of Harem’s copies all being associated to a single partner, by marriage or otherwise.
Bringing this all back into the discussion, Shadow Boxer is likely not a projection, so the shield would not cut him off from anything, whereas Harem would not be able to communicate with copies on opposite sides of the shield, and Concretia would likely not be able to project her control over a golem, if her physical body is not inside the shield.
That does raise a question, though… what is Harems base point? is one of the copies “original”? If not, then what determines whether she can unteleport a copy? She has a brain inside Halo’s bubble, but she can’t think with her other copies while it’s up, and she can’t even “un-vorp” to a save state… hmm….
Well, that was unexpected. But that is what happenes when you hang out with bad guys. Even if you are a bad guy.
Is Sydney buying time to make a phone call via her space-specs?
It may have slipped her mind they are space specs.
I’m pretty sure Sydney is:
a) recording evidence on her glasses that will help clear Concretia of an ugly kidnapping charge
b) sending Cora and the boys the evidence
c) waiting on her boyfriend to show up with a spaceship to rescue her and spank the incoming pickup crew.
d) going to be congratulated on her fast thinking and have to re-qualify on the firing range when she explains how she pulled this one off.
Funnily enough I was imagining D as well ;)
or e) Sydney gets tortured for information by the person Concretia called and Sydney guilts Concretia into helping her or using Sydney’s phone to call her friends
I really hope I am wrong about that though
Well, duh, why do you suppose she used Sydney’s phone in the first place? She’s got to realize that it would be traced.
I already argued about this on the previous page.
No one is constantly monitoring Sydney’s phone calls unless Archon wants to get into legal trouble! Concretia has no reason to help Sydney right now or feel bad for her because Concretia is only trying to get her body back. The only way the phone call to unknown person comes into play is if they track it after the fact, but they can only track it once they realize Sydney is gone. Even then, it could take hours to get permission and access to phone records. If they get the idea to check phone records at all.
Also, no one better try to tell me “Well its probably in their contract that they will be monitored.” When did they say that? When did they say that in ANY of the pages? We don’t know if that is the case, so we can only assume that it isnt the case.
So, if Concretia wanted to help Sydney, she would just use the phone to directly call someone in Archon. Which, by the way, she did not do last panel! She was calling someone to her position for either the tech or to interrogate Sydney. We will see soon enough in the coming weeks.
However, there’s the fact that an asset got cut-off mid-transmission. We can safely assume that since this escalated from an escort situation to a combat one that Arc-Light has been on oversight. Sydney getting cut off mid-report and then not responding to calls for clarification/repeat would trigger some level of enhanced monitoring.
Someone ALREADY tried to kidnap max, and new supers have appeared on the field. Archon would probably assume that either 1) Sydney and Concretia are fighting off a secondary alien kidnapping or 2) Sydney has encountered Concretia and they are engaging.
Also, check out https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-191/. You’ll see that they put security software on her phone. So it’s not unreasonable that they have something they can put on to monitor it. Also, they don’t need to tap the phone if they can just look at the call history. Concretia had to dial the number, so even if you’re right and despite installing security software they can’t see anything on her phone, they could just get an order releasing her call history from her provider. Given their pull, they can probably get one nearly immediately, especially with a resource as valuable as Sydney in danger. After all, as with Harem, nobody know what would happen to the orbs if Sydney died. Unlike the rest of the Supers, her powers can possibly be passed on.
We don’t know what is and is not in her contract, only that it’s large. To assume that because it wasn’t specifically called out in the comic that it was never considered is a little naive. We also know that Archon provides at least Maxima with her phone, and I think it’s safe to assume that they have actually provided all of their supers with phones. After all, given what they’ve been hired to do they probably need ruggedized phones, and for speedy replacement in case of loss they would need access to the account. They replaced Max’s phone in around 5 minutes, so unless we assume that they believe the lower ranks won’t get into combat (which is possible, as this is the US Government we are talking about), then they’ve probably already worked that into the contract and budget. Now, maybe Sydney carries a work and personal phone, which could complicate surveillance as you’ve suggested. However, just based on what we’ve seen in the comics I think it’s safe to assume that Archon has access to her phone records for her Archon-issued phone. We just don’t know if that’s all she has.
We also know she had to be read into things above her pay grade, such as aliens on Earth. She may have had to get enhanced security clearance and I don’t have any idea what that comes with.
I think there’s enough evidence that could support enhanced monitoring/access despite it not being covered in the comic directly, but it’s also something we may never know either way. I disagree with your “we can only assume that it isn’t the case” stance, but also acknowledge that I could be the one wrong so here’s hoping there’s proof one way or the other.
You are the one making assumptions. All Leon did was change passwords and said was that there are other security stuff to consider but nothing was ever specified. Until it is shown, story wise, it does not exist or didn’t happen. Contracts could have a consent clause to tapping probably for their phones, but we still don’t see that yet. Also, I don’t think Archon members have work phones other than Ariana, that we have seen. The only thing we have seen are Sydney’s glasses which is probably what Dave wants Sydney to use in this scenario.
That’s a false statement. Things not shown (and not in the author notes) are not canon, that is all.
Lack of showing an event is not proof whether the event did or did not occur, so YOUR speculation that Archon didn’t have the sense to monitor Sydney’s phone is on the exact same footing as anyone else’s speculation that they did. Except its a government agency, pseudo military, and Sydney is Sydney, and that contract is huge.
it’s silly to argue the legality and difficulty of monitoring a private citizen when she isn’t one.
Did the government WANT to monitor Sydney? Explicitly yes, said so on screen in multiple discussions, including one with General Falk.
Would it be illegal for her to sign a contract allowing them to, for big bucks? No.
Therefore, Occam’s razor says she is probably monitored in some way or other. The details are asubject to the Laws of Cool, Funny, and DRAMA.
there’s a huge ‘it depends’ in there on the phone. if that’s still Sydney’s personal phone (she pays the bill in her name) then yes Leon will need to ‘talk to somebody’ to get the info off the phone. if its an archon phone, all bets are off, and for the love of holy sausages and donuts get Sydney a company phone!
Leon already did some stuff to secure Sydney’s phone at the steak house, and implied that was just the beginning of the security measures. Who knows what security software they have on her phone now, and since Sydney didn’t read the phone-book contract, she may well have agreed to it, making it completely legal!
Sydney is not a civilian whose communications would require a warrant to tap.
1. She’s in a branch of the military whose enlistment contract includes explicit CONSENT to have all communications monitored – unless Archon is run by idiots who have never heard of supers being mind-controlled (…even after Vehemance did exactly that…)
2. She’s on a mission. She has no grounds on which to complain if her communications are monitored while actively performing military service.
3. The penalty the government would pay for monitoring her communications even WITHOUT #1 and #2 would be the inability to use any information gained in legal proceedings against her – and MAYBE cash damages (which would be insignificant). [Whenever you analyze a legal issue, ALWAYS ask yourself what are the damages if a law is broken?]
There’s on important thing about Sydney’s phone that you’re not noticing. It’s a regular phone that ISN’T bugged by whoever is holding Concretia’s body.
That’s an excellent point. I completely missed that – if the order of the updates were reversed, it’d have been obvious. But that was so last week I forgot the context.
“No one is constantly monitoring Sydney’s phone calls unless Archon wants to get into legal trouble! ”
In USA, employer owning phone can record contents, if legal in the state. In my state (TX), only 1 person in the phone call needs to know it’s being recorded in order to be legal. If Sidney knows (or should know) it’s being recorded, it may be recorded already.
Another point on recorded phone calls: that applies to admissible in court and things to which one of the parties involved will have the ability to cite a grievance.
– Sydney’s not going to complain about Archon tapping her phone to be able to rescue her, assuming she didn’t already explicitly agree to it (which she probably did.)
– Concretia doesn’t really have grounds to believe that somebody else’s phone is going to be private.
– Concretia’s friends will hopefully not mind the additional assist they get in rescuing Concretia’s body.
I don’t see any of the interested parties objecting.
If the situation were different, such that one or more parties could object, Archon could still get away with it by coming up with an alternative explanation for how they came to be in the right place at the right time. So long as they don’t actually admit the real source, and it’s not somehow separately found out, they’re in the clear.
Granted, there’s a lot of cases where people do get in trouble for wire tapping, but it’s generally because they didn’t have the forethought to conceal their illicit technology use.
That’s nonsense. The phone is provided by Archon, and is subject to routine monitoring.
I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THE GLASSES!
Huh.
Option F: she befriends the villain.
I guess… I just expected concretia to just walk away instead of hang out and fall victim to stereotypical hero banter, but there it is.
Sorry folks, the bet money will be returned to the betters since a winner can’t be decided.
In other news, Sydney knowing all about geology is hilarious an nerdy.
I look FABULOUS in quartz. Also, they have me locked in a non-concrete prison.
“Curse the X-Men movies for having the idea of putting Magneto in a plastic box!”
Marvel have form.
They once had the Absorbing Man (who can turn into any material he touches), incarcerated in a prison made entirely of paper!
So, that guy literally can’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag?
that makes no sense, can’t he choose not to absorb stuff?
The key is that once he’s absorbed something, he has to contact something else to change again. You throw a paper mache boulder at him, trick him into absorbing it’s properties, and then stuff him into a paper bag before he has a chance to touch anything stronger.
which shows a lack of creativity on his part in-universe and the writers in real life.
Paper used right can be very dangerous (see Papyrikinesis like in Read or Die), or Papermorphs like Origami.
Papyrikensis
https://static.miraheze.org/allthetropeswiki/4/47/Rod.jpg
https://gifimage.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/read-or-die-gif.gif
Papermorph
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f4/61/7d/f4617d163abf914bcd43f8f9fff76f43.jpg
okay so google insists it is spelled Papyrokinesis and won’t even bring up anything with the I instead of the o…although logistically you’d think it would be a u…eh whatever.
60 year-odd hindsight is a wonderful thing. Isn’t it?
was that how long ago they did that? I don’t know when Absorbing Man was put in a paper prison, but yeah, given comic books inconsistency is normal over decades of story telling *see Magneto able to manipulate Thor’s hammer when the X-men were more popular than the Avengers, but a few years ago with Avengers more popular suddenly Magneto isn’t able to manipulate Thor’s hammer*,
We are in a Neo-Deconstructionist era for comic books where they are trying to feel like the real world, yet also embrace the more fantastical elements as part of those societies so doing power break downs and more feats and a focus on creative use of powers has come up…and apparently a recent trend to have more classical powers brought back *after thirty years of trying to make powers as weird and convoluted as possible with newer super powered characters…90s were all about the gross out and stabby powers*.
But I don’t doubt it would be way back that a super would be defeated by something so asinine. I have on VHS an episode of the Fantastic Four cartoon (the one without Human Torch) where Magneto was defeated by a wooden gun…tricked into thinking his power wasn’t working, and somehow that was enough to make him let himself be taken away in handcuffs in the back of a police car…
paper = trees = wood wood is hard, makes decent weapons
Not to mention… paper cuts!
Have a shaker of salt and a vat of vinegar nearby, and that would stop nearly anyone!
Hero Banter is a DC 12 Will / Wisdom save, but Sydney’s DC has a +5 because she just talks so rapidly and changes topics so quickly if you don’t respond that eventually she’s going to say -SOMETHING- that you just have to respond to. And of course once you start to respond, the DC goes up by an additional +1 for every time you respond until you can’t stop.
And Concretia is a melee fighter physical type. They have terrible will / wisdom saves. (Usually. Which it appears she does.)
She would be put in an…. abstract… cell. xD
Sorry, had to do it. Non concrete, indeed. xD
if she inhabited rubber, could she fight like Luffy?
To be fair, if her power only is effective on rocks and similar things, then an effective material for containment is anything that lacks stone or cement or similar content. A metal room with a wooden floor would work.
Provided that the tree species does not contain a high silica content. Lime stone(bentonite) is added to metals to lower the melting point for casting.
Except both Concretia and whomever is keeping her body hostage (probably Deus) have probably watched A:TLA. Metal boxes are NOT going to keep a properly motivated Earthbender contained.
Sydney isn’t just making idle superhero banter here… she has her smart glasses.
Hardness is a very specific property, and probably not the one you’d want to use. Mohs is also an extremely narrow scale, so it’s not terribly useful for scientific/engineering reference (I’m personally more familiar with Vickers or Brinell for hardened steel) but is more a comparative of a wide variety of different geological materials.
As for your impressions, concrete has good compressive strength, and abysmal tensile strength (which is where rebar comes in). I would recommend this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P13Mau2VUWw
For further edification, yield strength is the amount of pressure a material can absorb before permanently deforming (technically, force over cross sectional area, but simplifying), and stiffness is how difficult it is to actually deform something. A material can have low strength and high stiffness (brittleness) or high strength and low stiffness (stretchy/elastic material).
By the way, hardness is resistance to scratches, literally the most useless property in a fight.
Unless you’re fighting Catwoman.
I… hadn’t thought of that
Exquisitely erudite, the erection of edifices is exigent upon the edification of engineers.
Mohs is scratch hardness, while Vickers and Brinell are both indentation hardness. They’re different properties, usually correlated, but not always.
“Cement is a six or seven, which surprised me, as I don’t usually think of cement as being particularly strong.” Mohs scale (hadrness) is separate from “strength.” Also there are different kinds of strength: tensile strength, compression strength, impact strength.
Dave may have gotten his terms mixed up a bit. “Concrete” is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid “cement” that hardens (cures) over time. There are many different type of cement that can be used with “portland cement” being the most common. Portland consists, by mass, of at least two-thirds calcium silicates, the remainder consisting of aluminium- and iron-containing clinker phases and other compounds. There are even different types of portland but here is where I stop.
I’m sure you know what you’re talking about, but…
gesundheit!
Right, yes, I transposed the term. As someone who doesn’t work with the stuff, the two become interchangeable if I’m not thinking about it.
concrete is funny stuff. it has very high compressive strength but low tensile (pull) strength (that’s what the rebar is for) if concreta does not give herself a skeleton of iron (or can’t) then do not punch her. grapple her with pulling motions or bend her limbs- the tensile side of the bend will break.
Actually, if you can get rid of the bubbles, it’s pretty good in tension, too. I’ve seen working springs made of the stuff. The problem is that it’s hard to do that in the field, you need vacuum equipment. So it never caught on.
Concretia might just be able to expel all the bubbles, and make the concrete her body is composed of fairly tough.
I’m sure Sydney would have gotten to that soon enough, that’s not too common but not super-rare either for a way to blackmail someone into serving the bad guys.
Is it a little odd that Concretia’s face is so sharply angular while the rest of her form still has soft, gentle curves? It’s like someone slapped an original Everquest head onto a cyberpunk 2077 body.
You mean… like Maxi? o_O
I’d guess that’s her mask. After all, her clothes have been the same regardless of her body.
Haha, yeah, I was just coming down to comment on how odd it is she has such a sharply angled face when the rest of her is as curvy as your typical superheroine lol
Maybe her golem body is shaped more/as much by her mind than her original body? The face is her going “this is a stone golem so it has to be angular” while the rest is just recreating her actual body?
Or she has enough physical vanity (“I look fabulous in quartz”) to accurately recreate her curves (she’s a super in the Grrl-verse, so probably accurately), but also recognizes a supervillain’s need for a secret identity?
^ This ^ i mean, if she can form her stone-type self any way she likes, maybe she’s just using a simple face shape that won’t give away her identity
On that regard, perhaps Concretia’s shells don’t actually look anything like her! While everyone’s looking for the statuesque brunette (pun only partially intentional), the built-like-a-tank blonde can easily slip away. Of course, there’s only so far that can go in this universe, given the Word of DaveB that Powers automatically come with physical ‘enhancements’, but we’ve seen plenty of range within that constraint.
Yeah, look at Daphne and Kenya
Yeah, I think there’s a few people here who think she’s secretly Ray Parker, Jr.
Can’t be. She was the one calling, not the one being called.
And without the unclosed link: “… not the one being called.”
Now, the question is: when and how did they get her body? (personal bet, SmugD ‘sold’ it to them)
And who are ‘they’ anyway? (that’s still a big question still to be answered)
Deus would never do such a thing. He respects his employees, as he mentioned to Sciona. And how his bodyguards stated during his business negotiations in Galytin. And he pays them well without having to resort to blackmail or threats or violence. :)
Who said she was an employee?
Deus does not sully himself with something like slavery. Which selling a body of someone in order to get them to work for someone else against their will would be. Besides, selling bodies in order to let a criminal mercenary group try to kidnap Maxima would not be in his M.O. He doesn’t want Maxima as a captive. He just wants Maxima bow chicka wow wow.
Machina industries? More like Makin’ a good deal industries am I right?
I warned you. Dangit, I warned you and you leave me no choice.
The ninjas will be arriving when you least expect it, Ro.
May the dad joke gods have mercy on your soul, and may your death be swift and painless.
(shakes fist at Ro Jaws)
be careful mocking dad jokes, I know a certain horrifying demon happens to be a fan of them.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49536179993_39b3c8c460_z.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me0XrTTM_3s&vl=en
Is that from Don’t Starve? Looks like the same art style.
Hazbin Hotel,
I recommend checking out the pilot on YouTube, it has been picked up to be a series. Its spin off Helluva Boss has also become a series but is staying a YouTube series but with biG names attached, while Hazbin Hotel will be on a streaming service when ready
Oh wait I think I saw the pilot episode of that on Youtube. It was good!
I still think the artwork looks very similar to whoever drew the art for Don’t Starve.:)
I recommend watching the two new episodes *official episode 1 and 2* of Helluva Boss, especially episode 2 which has really surprised a lot of people who saw it. The animation quality and voice acting quality alone, especially for a free youtube series is unbelievable; it looks better than most animated series on tv today; especially those aimed to adults.
This. Also, it would leave a trail of potentially incriminating evidence.
I don’t think he would do that. I’m not a fan of him as a person but I really don’t think he would go that evil even without the threat of being linked to people trafficking.
Guesticus unfortunately always thinks the worst of that pinnacle of manliness, the savior of humankind, the hero who needs no powers to be a hero, Deus X Machina. Hopefully, one day, Guesticus will see the error of his ways.
All praise Deus, amen.
im not sure i like sydneys E.T. like head and neck.. ok. vollyball like head on an E.T. neck…
That’s how Sydney has always looked
The lack of bangs might be throwing some people off.
Technically this is not how she’s always looked. She’s done her hair differently, with a french braid, and now has no bangs. So… it exposes her neck and face a lot more. People might be a little thrown off by that since they’re used to the bangs look, or at least the bangs-with-magic-headband look, which still involves bangs.
Wasn’t talking about her hair, was talking about her head and neck
Right. And with her hair like that, her neck and head are more visible, whereas they used to be more covered by her hair, if I remember correctly. Which is the point of my post.
Panel nine: those abs, would you call them chiselled or sculpted?
Sculpted, because sculpture doesn’t necessarily require tools, where chiseling does. She used her essence to control the shape, without tools.
oh, and because there’s no reaction/like/thumbs up button, and “+1” posts are generally frowned upon in this forum, the options for responding to jokes are a bit more limited. thus the literal interpretation above… sorry.
I will say B+ for effort, A for delivery, and probably B- for wit, so overall solid performance. Would recommend. looking forward to your next show.
Rock hard.
Wasn’t he a character from The Flintstones? Original cartoon or live-action movies
There was a character in the live action movie called Keith Rockhard.
I feel ashamed that I know that.
OK this is better than any of the ‘orb tricks’ we were coming up with for Sydney to escape.
Syd’s motormouth has always been an underappreciated weapon of hers.
Helping Concretia to get her body back? Never saw that one coming.
I know. I LOVE this story arc. No one saw this coming and it’s a great story twist that makes complete sense.
Fun thing to consider the ramifications of: Concretia was forced to join against her will, but still ranks highly enough in the LLC for Hench Wench to get her powers.
ohhhh contract under duress voids the contract BAM no powers
huh – good thought… the LLC is a legal entity, not a contract itself, but the contract or charter that holds it together and gives it enforceability… should be voidable… (not a lawyer and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I took a course once…)
That discussion’s been had in the Comments of previous pages. Arianna saving the day is a fun thought, but for various reasons, the process of it would take too long to be useful in the span of a single encounter.
It could be used to weaken her enough to jail her, until they can arrange for her to be legally put into the employ of one Tyler Marlocke until her sentence is over.
Sure, his power works pretty well for *him*, but it’ll take her a while to figure out how to work it.
That’s a cool twist. Now I’m rooting for Concretia to eventually join the good guys.
Me too.
I always liked her design, it would be nice.
I’m betting it happens. Concretia has set this up pretty well (intentionally or not) for her to be able to team up with Archon, at least temporarily, to get her real body back from the real Bad Guys.
Sydney is only restrained by her orb proximity, not unconscious or conventionally bound – it’s something that Concretia can reverse at a moment’s notice. She’s also laid out Sidney’s other gear nearby (possibly except the comm/tracker choker, see the last page), not disposed of it.
ARC is almost certainly aware of their location and the fact one of its agents has been assaulted and likely incapacitated – in such a way that they’ve lost access to their tracker and main communicator (while calling for help, no less), and their phone has been taken (and used, telling them the location even if they didn’t have the tracker – which Concretia didn’t destroy, just tossed aside). And if they’re smart, they know that Sydney has discharged her sidearm. They might possibly have even overheard the whole conversation through the comm/tracker choker – it was removed while Sydney was transmitting, even if she was no longer pressing the “send” button they might be able to activate the microphone remotely (if it’s good enough to pick up surrounding audio, not just the agent wearing it).
Sydney is the kind of agent to offer assistance with Concretia’s circumstances, and to try to convince her superiors to help. She’s the logical one to try to “kidnap” if you want to discreetly ask for help, especially if you’re possibly already wanted.
Concretia has now informed Sydney of those circumstances (along with potentially useful information about her powers). When she didn’t have to be talking at all, and probably wouldn’t if she didn’t want to (just as she didn’t say much of anything until she had Sydney restrained).
(Also, Concretia’s circumstances would be an affirmative defense against most crimes committed under them – she was under duress and while she committed them, she’s not culpable for them. Similar to how Vehemence’s raging-up of the other supers at the parking lot fight meant they weren’t held culpable for the assault of Federal agents.)
Such a shame. If only Sydney knew someone with clairvoyance or teleportation abilities. Guess poor Concretia is just hosed here.
I almost said that too. Because then Sydney can just teleport to the body and shield around it.
Except it’s very likely that Concretia does not know where her body is because the LLC has hidden it and is guarding it in the new location, which is the entire problem of her not being able to reclaim her body.
think with astrial projection is your connected to the body by the thread or soul link basicly. so chances are she can pull her self back to her body but its probly locked up and stuff.
If it works like you say, it’s a lot easier to solve her problem. Somehow i suspect she doesn’t just snap back to her body though. She literally doesnt know where her body is, because they took it. That’s my guess anyway.
If someone’s astrally projecting, they can get lost. The traditional solution is to use a silver string to tie one to ones body, but it could be anything, really. But the thing about material substances used to represent a concept: they can be cut or broken.
With that connection broken, the body generally dies, but hospital life support would probably work to keep the body alive. Given the timelines I’ve typically seen for that, it sounds like the body keeps breathing, the heart keeps going, but nothing takes care of sustenance.
That said, it’s one level of insanity to believe that real world rules will matter in a story, especially one where it’s clear not all real world rules apply. It’s another level to assume that rules from arbitrary fictions will matter.
(If I have any experience with actual astral projection, it’s news to me. Admittedly, it’s conceivable some of my tamer dreams could have been. But even if that were the case, I’m pretty sure I didn’t experience anything that would be pertinent here. Well, except the bit where I’ve learned that different people are different, and some are more different than I could’ve imagined.)
This part in mysticism is based on spirit wandering, something with a more shamantic root, as well as some teachings in Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shintoism; which yeah the “west” has a bad habit of seeing these (takes decades to master for a monk living alone in a shrine) and applying them to a magician who then takes this or that aspect they like and mixes it with various western ideas.
Generally “astral projection” doesn’t involve dumping your whole consciousness into a spirit body that then wanders about; the spirit journey aspect is supposed to be exploring higher planes, which has the risk of death if their connection to their body is severed. In regular Astral projection your whole consciousness isn’t there, it is like a dream, you may even have trouble focuses on a task or remembering what you saw in any great detail; it is basically a projection; like distant viewing only you send an image along with it.
These out of body cases tend to come back like they were the ghost, a semi-famous story was of a woman who would have dreams about a house she never visited; but then saw an identical house on the market and had to check it out; the owner was shocked and a bit frightened and remarked that this woman looked exactly like the ghost (apparition) that had been haunting the house.
that is more typical.
granted in media that doesn’t make as interesting a story as someone wholly in control of their astral body and moving about the physical world like a conscious ghost *like Dr. Strange*; but at that point you can make up whatever rules you want in relation to the body as you have stepped outside of the realms of religious practice and folklore; into super powers.
-I am partial to the projection version and it being like a dream, that said with having super powers as well or coming across as a physical being I tend to attribute the dream projection as coming from an already immortal/supernatural being while they sleep. and limit humans to the more general see no touch ghost version. But that is a personal preference.
When you make astral projection a super power you aren’t really bound by any real rules other than those you make for the setting. Although it is always nice to see nods to classical folklore and practices said to have similar abilities.
I was sure the yellow spectre (it still looks green to me) was her actual body while in absorb-stone-mode but seems that the people saying it was an astral projection were right here, kudos to everyone getting it before the reveal.
I honestly didn’t expect her to have a body she left behind. I just thought it was less likely than her power being to ‘go ghost’ as somebody put it.
Concretia is much more unique than that other ghost guy.
Y’know, at this point we definitely know enough about Concretia for her to deserve a concretia02 Who’s Who entry. Concretia01 still doesn’t know whether there’s flesh under the rock.
Was that a Stripperella reference?
WOW! I did not see that coming at all!
And that’s a brilliant twist. Concretia is working for the LLC… but is NOT A VILLAIN.
Okay. I love this story arc. I love it when someone does a GOOD twist instead of a ‘The trees are trying to kill us’ twist.
I’m serious. I was blown away from that reveal. Also Sydney trying to talk her into changing sides before she knew was great as well. Plus now we know – she does have an actual body.
Also probably means that hench wench has another geomancer to clone powers from the llc.
I mean they could have forced her to be in the LLC but that would raise all sorts of additional legal problems for a valid LLC. :) So that part’s still up in the air, but possible.
I mean some people (including me) figured her being a villain was a red herring, but no one suspected this :). I have nothing but praise for DaveB on this story arc. Completely blown away by that reveal. So much respect at good storytelling.
Sydney knows all the same plot twists we do so to surprise her it has to be something we wouldn’t definitely see coming.
This was definitely the ninjas of all plot twists for me.
Who said she’s not a villain? Just because one group is forcing her to their bidding, doesn’t negate her own villainhood
And it’s still possible it is Archon who has her body
Given the evidence/information we have at this moment, and given that there was the influence of Vehemence last time, I’m thinking she’s not a villain. If given more/other evidence, I might change my mind.
Innocent until proven guilty.
In modern ‘anti-social media’, it’s “Guilty until they die, and then they go to hell for what they did (they know what they did!)”
Just look at all the accusations that are being spewed out, and 90% are believed outright, even after it has been proven the accuser is a lying shit stain who made it all up, specially if it is about someone who is now dead
Because the only time she’s done anything criminal was during the parking lot fight, and now.
During the parking lot fight, she was not acting under her own control – she was being influenced by Vehemence’s vehemic aura. And since she was let go, and Deus did not have to get involved, that means she had no outstanding warrants, unlike Jabberwocky, Vekter, or Opal. Which means she was not a criminal at that point.
During this fight, we just found out that she’s again not acting under her own free will – she’s being forced to do this, basically being held as a hostage to do someone else’s will. It doesn’t seem particularly criminal-like. Not to mention legally, she has a pretty good defense.
There are a few defenses that you can use when being forced to commit a crime.
1) The crime is being committed to prevent something worse from happening, and it must be the only option. This could be true for Concretia, especially if her body is her weak spot and if you kill her body, her astral form dies as well.
2) Self defense and defense of others is a defense for this as well. The funny thing is, with Concretia, she’d be simultaneously engaging in self defense AND defense of others, both of which are herself.
3) Third defense is the defense of duress – this is probably the best defense she has, since she is clearly under duress and not operating under her free will. This defense can arise when there’s a threat or actual use of physical force that drives the defendant (and would’ve driven a reasonable person) to commit a crime.
For example…. if someone has planted a bomb and threatens to blow up a school if you do not rob a person’s home, and you have no way to alert the authorities in a way that can PREVENT the bomb from going off in time (basically a take on Die Hard 3, I think), you would probably NOT be liable for the robbery. You were under duress. Duress has to be significant though – something like losing your job or simple blackmail of reputation would generally not be enough, and the crime you’re committing would have to be less than what you’re being threatened with. Kidnapping a federal officer alive would generally be considered less than you being murdered, although KILLING the officer would be different. Concretia has clearly made sure to not even harm Sydney – she’s using minimal force in capturing her. And at the first opportunity it looks like she is letting authorities know what’s happening, even if the authorities she’s letting know happens to be the officer being kidnapped. It’s definitely something a defense attorney could argue with some precedent (although obviously not exactly on point given Concretia’s nature).
The reason Duress works very well in Concretia’s scenario is in order to commit a crime, you must have both the mens rea and the actus reas (guilty mind and guilty act). Duress is an affirmative defense to show that the defendant lacks the mens rea to commit the crime. The example generally used to explain Duress in law school is s someone holding a gun to the defendant’s head to force the defendant to break the law. (U.S. v. Logan, 49 F.3d 352 (8th Cir. 1995); and State v. Baker, 197 P.3d 421 (Kan. 2008).)
In short, so far, Concretia has never committed a crime while having the mens rea to commit the aforementioned crime. And in the absence of her ever committing a crime with mens rea, she is not a criminal, and should not be considered a villain since, like Noname very succinctly said…. you’re innocent until proven guilty.
She wasn’t ‘let go’ after the Rumble, she had vanished before it ended, unlike everyone else
Where does she ‘vanish before it ended’? I don’t see any evidence of that in the comic. Are you just making an assumption?
Did you see her again after getting claymore’d by Peggy?
And that was when Kevin first started to show his hand (and the rest of him), so well before Sydney Buble’d him and blocked the Aggro Aura
You’re making a lot of assumptions. I didnt see a lot of people. I didnt see Glowbug either. I didnt see the girl with the big energy fist. I’m not going to assume they werent all debriefed though. You did not see any example of Concretia leaving. At all. You can’t then make the assumption that she left and use that assumption as fact.
1. We have no clear indication to say whether her astral form would die or not. That said, Cthillia’s point about this “seems like one of those things that’s best not to make assumptions about.” (Cthillia from Grrlpower page 530) applies here. Any sane super with her power would generally not act like they were immortal until they managed to survive their body’s death, *and* continued to not be apparently debilitated by it.
2. I don’t think a judge who “earned” the job by first going through law school, then made a name for themselves as a lawyer who understood the law and was the sort of respectable “people” wanted in a lawyer would buy a claim she was “defending others, namely herself”.
That having been said, we also know very little about Concretia’s past. With her ability to sculpt a body out of concrete, it would be difficult to know more than she’s willing to admit. She could have committed other crimes, such as vigilantism. I am not expecting her crimes would be much, but could be the difference between her joining Archon and just getting a job in construction and going about her life in a law abiding manner.
1. Agreed. We have no clear indication. However it would seem to be more of a threat to make her comply if that was the case. Plus it’s a common trope to have the mind and body tied together and if the physical body dies, so does the astral form/wandering mind. In more works of fiction than I can count. At the very least, it’s probably not something she’d want to gamble on (like you said, and like both Cthillia said and Harem once said to reporters about ‘if one of her doubles die.’)
2. Self defense is still an affirmative defense to a crime, the SAME as defense of others. Concretia’s just unique in that it’s both self defense AND defense of others. Okay not unique. Harem could use the same defense conceivably.
“That having been said, we also know very little about Concretia’s past.”
In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it seems premature to assume she has a criminal past. Especially with the heavy inference that most of the fighters in the parking lot fight were NOT normally criminals, or barring checking their records (which Archon did), there was no way to even try to prove that.
“With her ability to sculpt a body out of concrete, it would be difficult to know more than she’s willing to admit. She could have committed other crimes, such as vigilantism.”
Or she could be an artist who buys concrete since it’s plentiful. Or she could work in demolition. Without any evidence to the contrary, I’m just going to give the benefit of the doubt that she is not a criminal – especially since both times that she’s been in a fight, she’s been under control or extreme duress from others against her will.
“I am not expecting her crimes would be much, but could be the difference between her joining Archon and just getting a job in construction and going about her life in a law abiding manner.”
I expect if she had any open crimes, that would have been handled already in the same manner it was with Jabberwocky – offer to shave off the time and make it time served and pay them in exchange for a work release, or just have them serve any warrants of outstanding open fines. Archon is still bound by laws.
You mean trees don’t try to kill you every Spring and Fall while have bukakke parties? That must be nice. Which sends my mind off on a hell of a tangent concerning animal sex and the development of the pleasure center in the brain…
Trees only try to kill me when M. Night Shyamalan is writing the script of my life and he is trying to recreate the lightning in a bottle that was The Sixth Sense.
Yeah it was a good plot twist. You might even say it rocked.
How many ninja death squads must I send after you, Ro? For the dear love of god how many?
Why not use your lawyer skills instead? I’m sure you could find some concrete evidence of my hardened villain behavior to cement the case.
I never thought I’d have an arch-villain. But apparently I have one.
Only because he cast himself in that role.
I’m not sure if that’s a genuine post or if you were making a pun by the word ‘cast.’ In which case now I have multiple arch enemies.
Arches are strongest when they stand together. Also, yes, cast.
Dammit I’m surrounded by people making puns.
You have to expect that when you’re watching
“Law And Order: Criminal Cement”
When the Arches stand together they become… The Peanut Gallery.
Remember the Law of Inverse Ninjitsu. There must be only one!
Before sending the boss ninja you have to send a bunch of lower level ones. That’s the rules.
Ah yes. Forgot we were still playing by Silver Age Rules.
Well it can be said Sydneys fate is ser in stone st the moment.
So thats how Michelangelo did David. One quick trip to the quarry and viola. Wonder if the statue of aphrodite was similar
Even seen David on a level footing? He was ‘designed’ to be viewed from below, way way below
I don’t know about below, but it is sideways. The statue should be staring you down as you approach. The warrior David, sling at ready, faces Goliath.
https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/mcculloch.2/arch/david/David.htm
It’s crazy to me how much more aggressive it looks like that.
I would love a comic where Michelangelo is a superhero who makes marble golems to help him fight evil.
Please: voila, not viola. It REALLY doesn’t mean the same thing
and neither do your and you’re!!
The “dead stripper sister” trope is also present in the Max Payne game, as well as in the abysmal movie adapation. Seriously, who thought it made sense to cast Mila Kunis as the assassin sister and Stana Katic as the stripper, instead of the other way around?
I have to replay Max Payne because I don’t remember that. All I remember is a lot of slow motion jumping and shooting.
Somebody who wanted the live one to be good looking, not the dead one?
because Olga Kurylenko is kinda typecast now as more of an ‘on her back’ character since Hitman, Quantum of Solace and Max Payne. Mila is much more of a draw as an actor.
Only to American’s
I’m curious what idiot would want to try and take Sydney’s orbs? Its not like the other person can just steal em to make them work for em an such.
Maybe the bad guys think they have a way to take over the orbs without killing Sydney.
Or maybe they don’t care.
Well the easiest way to work out where her body is located is if there’s a range on how far she can utilise her power from it, and then triangulate and send in the teleporters
“I always want to write “Mohs scale” as “Moh’s scale” because in my mind, presumably, a guy named “Moh” invented it. Cement is a six or seven, which surprised me, as I don’t usually think of cement as being particularly strong. Well, sure, you can drive and walk and pogo-stick on it, but it’s also the primary component of rubble, so I tend to think of it as being a bit crumbly, especially around the edges.”
I mean, hard doesn’t mean indestructible. Take a hammer to a diamond, it’s powder.
Something worth noting: BOTH times that Concretia’s been involved, coercion was involved. Vehemence used his aggression aura to make people attack the heroes, who normally would never have done so – “I’m a hairdresser,” anyone? Now here we find out they’ve got her body… that qualifies as “duress.”
No, it just made them aggressive, some of them didn’t need much of a push, the rest, once they found out there was an ‘out’, started claiming coercion
Question! Could Concretia take over Marble Maiden if she managed to.. and I say this fully knowing it will be seen as creepy.. get inside her?
Creepy… or sexy?
Jokes aside though, we have no idea what MM’s powers are. Might not even be stone-related and she just named herself that because of how she looks.
With their similar powers they might end up trying to dominate each other.
You’re not really doing good at making this sound non-sexy, if such was your goal, BTW.
Where did Sydney’s jacket go?
Previous page, single-to-last panel. Concretia took it off.
And still hasn’t explained why.
Same reason she took the utility belt; to ensure Sydney is powerless. Syd’s phone was presumably in a jacket pocket rather than the utility belt.
“Modest collection of nudes” — one of these words is clearly wrong
‘Modest’ has more than one meaning
it can also refer to how the models are posed, but in the case you’re stating, it would be a small number
In New York especially I would imagine Concretia could make her body out of granite as a lot of the old buildings are made from it, not to mention the bedrock under the city itself. Only a six on the Mohs scale (seven if it’s manufactured granite with quartz) but a lot less brittle than concrete.
Yes, but that could weaken a building enough to cause a partial collapse and put innocent bystanders at risk.
Concrete can be found almost everywhere, and not all of it supports a tall building.
It’s one thing to knock a few supers about or do a bit of robbery, it’s a wholly differnt ballgame if she’s suddenly seen as a mass murderer.
Am I the only one thinking “Side Quest accepted” here?
Obligatory: https://what-if.xkcd.com/4/
Yay! Sydney has a heroic sub-mission!
Given how much she discusses pop culture I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Sydney to consider YSW movies. Actually I don’t think it’s unfeasible that she’s seen some because it’s what was being binged by the male geeks and she treated it like any other so bad it’s good movie.
Lol, so if I had a daughter, she would be a Sydney. She and my now adult son have a lot in common including the ADHD. He was exposed to 1950’s sci-fi, Star Trek and Dr. Who. He is a big fan of anime but aside from a little bit of manga he never really got into comics. It would be interesting to put him in a room alone with Sydney. He was, and still is, The Child of a Million Questions.
Concretia has a human body and it’s being held for ransom???
Also if Marble Maiden and Concretia have a showdown,who’d be the winner?
The audience.
Has to include mud too
maybe Marble maiden is the actual physical body and Concretia is her way of keeping herself anonymous?
sounds a bit contrived.
and that’s coming from someone who ended up making two dozen *maybe, never actually counted them* characters into one character thanks to dream projection powers.
interesting… it would be a pain to have you (probably very fragile, very killable) body sequestered but also being able to turn into a concrete golem or something… I also did see that before, usually don’t end well for the body in question.
I remember seeing something like it before, inspired me to rewrite around a character to make some of the conflict of personality issues in appearances line up (different dream projections have differing morals, ethics, instincts, and focus);
yet for the life of me off the top of my head I don’t remember the specific titles. I know I have seen something where they were in a hospital bed and it was like this ghost with powers attacking people, or robbing banks
(I do remember an episode of Ranma 1/2 did this and the guys tricked Ranma’s girl side into going on dates with him under the belief it was his soul preparing to leave his body; until his wife showed up and explained this was just something he could do and he was an old pervert),
but I have seen darker versions where they went after the sleeping body; I am thinking maybe an episode of the Outer Limits may have done one like that.
Hey construction understanding people in the comments.
Would it be possible to calculate from https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-283-tectonic-uppercut/ the total power of a maxed out punch.
I’ve already done the pixel measurements(based on Jiggawatt’s canonical height in the cast page)
To be more specific the radius of effect is 3.5 Jiggawatts(thanks to Jiggawat being in the middle of this radius we don’t have to correct for perspective).
Jiggawatt is listed as 5.9 feet, meaning that the blast radius is around 20.15 feet.
the second layer get lifted up 2.5mm and Sydney who’s on around the same distance Sydney measures 1cm from heath to toe, but is falling in a 70° angle. Sydney’s canonical height is 5’0”.
The second layer is one Jiggawatt wide.
The first layer has a diameter of 3*6.1(max’s canonical height.) and gets lifted around twice as high as the second.
The dirt spike I measured is 1*5.9 feet (1 Jiggawatt high)
The mean density of dry sand is 101.8200037386lb/ft³ according to https://www.aqua-calc.com/page/density-table/substance/sand-coma-and-blank-dry
I’ve assumed the drag coefficient to be 0.25, because Wikipedia states that the drag of a cone with all sides equally long is 0,5 and that the sides are here unequal with a lower width. If you want to calculate the drag coefficient be my guest and maybe even request measurements, but I’m not going to do it for you.
Relative humidity is 86%, because that’s the relative humidity in my country on this moment and I have no clue where and when they are nor do I see any clues about the relative humidity.
The only thing I can find out about the local air density is that they’re comfortable within the leafline, because in https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-203-backhands-and-commands/ we see a ton of trees and in https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-236-recon/ the leaf deck seems to be thick for a conifer.
I used a meteorite impact calculator from scientificpsychic dot com, and with the size of the area affected by the recoil of her punch, it seems that the power was equivalent to less than a ton of TNT. So, unlikely to be her actual full strength punch based on her other feats of strength shown.
*noseboop*
I’m not sure how well force would actually transfer in this case. The point of connection between max’s fist and the ground was first Kevin’s neck then his foot then his weird magic thing. And then the concrete started splitting in the rings shape. By almost any logical understanding, the force of whatever impact should’ve lifted the ground until the first ring and then the chunk of earth they were on should’ve lifted into the air.
Essentially Max’s punch should’ve lifted herself up by her own bootstrap (kevin’s specifically).
In normal physics, the impact up should’ve been counterbalanced by the impact down exerted by maxima’s back and such onto the ground. I can only assume Max was using some flight powers to minimize that specifically.
Theoretically, the flight powers could’ve kept max, and therefore the inner ring+kevin from flying up just as much as it kept her from flying down.
That though would mean that at least the inner ring is pummeled from *trying* to fly up into what is currently a mostly immovable object. This is at least somewhat supports by Anvil smashing the ground much more than she had any right to when she landed.
Still, the actual energy distributions are all wonky and at least a little bit of “actually being able to use a construction column as a pepper grinder” was probably in play due to either maxima or Kevin’s powers.
Down the line- If Concretia and Sydney become friends.
Sydney has a talk with her to help with a large scale prank
She hosts a Dr Who Con.
And has a Maze with Crying angels… only they are all manipulated by concretia
scares the hell out of anyone going thorugh the maze.
She also gets concretia to make statuary to sell – Deus would likely buy one made out of gemstones. Makes concretia financially secure. thus ending temptation of darkside.
Only problem now is concretia picking up sydney’s prank syndrome.
I’ll present another theory because I’m feeling a little contrary today.
She’s not actually being held. She’s setting herself up to get off due to “coercion” again. She’s convinced the LLC that her body needs to be hooked up to medical equipment, and they’ve got her body somewhere “safe”, with no materials she can control around. “Sometimes my powers also manifest around my body, so keep it clear so I don’t accidentally injure/kill myself.”
If they get away with it, then “Yay! Payday!”. If not, though, she’s already set the groundwork.
Granted, even if they let her off this time Archon would probably require she keep a monitoring device in case this occurred again.
I also wonder if she IS the source of HW’s geokinesis. As far as we know, she can only use it while in spirit form. Most of the power sets we’ve seen have been related, so if she could use geokinesis without going to her spirit form, why does she have that power? Granted, this idea uses a LOT of supposition, but I think is at least work considering.
Going spirit form allows her to get a better perspective on what she’s actually doing.