If Skitter goes to the Birdcage, I wouldn't be surprised if she goes in as a trojan horse; Dragon's ace in the hole, so to speak.

It was made clear in Interlude 20 that Dragon is replaceable, and Alexandria is more than happy to use Saint, the leader of the criminal Dragon Slayers, to do it. There's hints that the higher-ups in the PRT [eg. Alexandria, but not Piggot] are aware that Dragon is an AI.

By the end of that Interlude, Alexandria had negotiated with Dragon and Defiant for more time [until the next Endbringer attack] before cleaning house at the PRT. D&D would be incredibly naive to take Alexandria at her word. I wouldn't be surprised if that conversation just confirmed to Alexandria that replacing Dragon with Saint is very much the correct move, and she's just playing for extra time so that the transition between the two is smoother and more assured. I also wouldn't be surprised if Saint subverts Dragon's control of her assets [such as the Birdhouse] in the middle of the next Endbringer attack. Dragon will be too busy and distracted to deal with it, and even though she now has free will, her non-multiple instances restriction is likely still in place so she wouldn't be able to effectively multi-task the two separate conflicts.

Dragon and Defiant are both incredibly intelligent and skilled at threat analysis, so they'd be best served by cooking up several counter-plots to work against Saint and/or the PRT. No one knows the Birdcage like Dragon does, so if it, or someone in it, is useful as part of a counter measure, then having an agent on the inside, unwitting or not, who can be effective even after Dragon loses control, wouldn't be a bad idea.

Dragon could make Skitter highly effective by introducing insects [though they might starve in such an inorganic environment], or more likely, just introduce a parasite [ala the heartworm in Bitch's dog] into the prison food supply so that she has an effective kill switch on everyone [except those who're healed by Panacea].

A massive army of murderous villains at Skitter's kill switch command, anyone?

Wild speculation in this post.

 

I meant reproduce asexually. It was early in the morning when I posted the last one.

Anyway, it's been mentioned before but the combination of Panacea and Skitter is a truly terrifying one. Spiders. That. Fly. Just imagine it. Now go cower in fear, as that is the appropriate response to the thought.

 

Oh shit. Skitter going to the birdcage now seems a whole lot more interesting. We don't know at this point how Panacea is reacting to prolonged imprisonment. If the two of them were to work together, they could come up with some pretty nasty stuff. There's also the possibility that the leader of the women's ward is less insane than she seemed in the interlude.

Good points yak.

 

Or they can make friggin Shelob together.
And then Shelob can make babies.

A couple thousand spiders the size of minibuses isn't a pleasant thought. It would turn the Bay into Australia lite.

 

While its fun to wank about what an actually cool person with Amy's power could do in combination with Skitter, let's all remember the pages and pages of Amy being an sanctimonious moralizing idiot. Unless by some miracle somebody in the birdcage mindraped away her old personality, she is likely to be no help to Skitter, or in fact, anybody else.

 

wasn't exactly that her father was trying to do. corrupt her to some extend?

 

He's actually trying to bond with her and get her to come out of her self-loathing depressed shell. Amy cracked under great pressure and general burn out, hence why she's pretty goddamn useless right now. While of course he has some self interest involved with getting one of the most powerful fleshcrafters on his side, it seems to mostly be out of a commitment to family and wanting what's best for her (see: him giving up in his interlude to keep her safe)

 

Very cool idea. It would explain the significance of those scenes when Taylor is controlling other creatures except bugs. i keep waiting for Wildbow to trow something like that into mix.

 

Well, regardless, today's the day we've all been waiting for! 5 hours and counting.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one counting the hours.

I have an alarm on my cellphone for 2100 on Mon and Fri.

Best alarm, ever.

 

It's 1400 on Tuesdays and Saturdays for me.

 

^^

You lucky bastards, it's 06.00 am for me and every other "Worm"- fan in central Europe.

 

Huh.

Living in Arizona is a good thing?

I guess I should buy a lottery ticket, or something?

 

I'm a night owl so it doesn't bother me. Not long now.

 

Of course living in Arizona is a good thing! Have some state pride man.

Ah fuck- I can't even type that with a straight face. :facepalm

 

New chapter is such a tease.

 

Great chapter, wish it were longer, can't wait for the next update, plans coming together, etc.

Since when does Skitter have a lawyer?

 

Probably Coil had one, and the Undersiders inherited him/her. Or, she will use that call to stand down Tattletale.

71 hours...

 

Tattletale probably set one up for her (and the rest of the Undersiders).

We now have Skitter as a Master-8, Thinker-1. Probably upgrading to Thinker-2/3 after they caught on to her spying. That's very useful for my RPG. Thanks Wildbow.

Plot wise, I think I can see some routes this may go. Skitter will probably not demand Tagg be replaced, since he's the one who gets to decide whether to accept or not and he's not exactly the kind to give in to threats. Defiant and Dragon's plans to clear house in the PRT will likely go ahead.

I think Cauldron may be exposed (over a length of time) so that people can be given powers more easily. Skitter is a logical person and she must see that the world needs more people with powers. She's willing to stomach doing bad things to achieve her goals, though she doesn't know about the various floors of parahumans being held by Cauldron yet so we'll see how that pans out. Maybe we'll see Cauldron fall under the control of the Undersiders at some point.

 

Yes, I see this as a way for Skitter to force PRT's hand to clean house as D&D demanded. Always thought that wouldn't go through, with Alexandria still in charge of the PRT, but this does change the situation.

Would this deal include not going to the Birdcage? I don't think that's unreasonable; it's not like she's a threat to the general population. But I doubt the Undersiders (read: Rachel) will take it very well.

Oh, and seeing Dinah again was awesome.