We know that Rastov there only has to stop two more people before he’s free to go. (He said three before, and Phlogiston has been stopped, so presumably it’s now two.) That does leave two people from the party that can go on in any case, something that Veles almost certainly knew before sending them in.
However, one possibility that hasn’t been brought up, and may be how he got pulled into that job in the first place… what if the last person that he ‘stops’ is the one that has to take over his job?
There would be a certain poetic justice if Neuronet ended up stuck in there for decades until several more people got sent through the egg…
As fair as any battle can be, really. She fell because an ally backstabbed her. Fair or not, Neuronet was crafty (or lucky) enough to keep himself out of the line of fire, while Phlo failed to defend herself from his machinations.
I agree. You do not, you do NOT, YOU DO NOT take control of an ally’s body without their express permission, and ONLY in the DIREST of circumstances. Neuronet needs to be reminded/taught that.
That assumes Neuro knew his actions would result in her getting booted out of the egg or even dying (the heroes probably don’t know what exactly happened at this point). I doubt Neuronet is *that* Machiavellian and sociopathic (he is a hero, after all, even if vainglorious like Conjuror and Firedrake)- but we should soon find out if he actually is so.
True, but since it’s not like 84 is going to stab Phlo in the back, and Phlo’s not going to do that to 84 either, the narrative requires one of them to get killed off one way or another…
I can read the note just fine, but I don’t know the answer to her question, so I doubt being able to read the writing is the issue.
I vote for “got kicked out of the egg”. In fact, I think the answer is “sustained damage that would result in death, so got kicked out of the egg.” As in, it turns out nobody can get killed in the egg: getting “killed” just results in you appearing outside, whole and healthy. Just like Rostov reformed inside.
Because I don’t think Julie is quite ready to deal with death so close to her, and without someone she trusts to talk her through it, … she may react impulsively, and before she realizes it Neuronet may be joining Phlogiston.
But we really don’t get to choose when we first deal with the big issues of death.
So maybe Nueronet gets the life-lesson “don’t piss off people who can pound you into a moist stain”.
I think the addemendium to your statement would be “this time” or “while Veles is in charge of the test”. I’m betting Kodashi wants people to die in his egg.
Actually, the guy’s nickname was “The Deathless.” Maybe there’s a twist on the usual meaning of that name; maybe he got it because he never killed anyone. I wonder if the egg’s creator was not a bad guy. Given that the egg seems to be rewarding positive behavior, the designer seems to have intended for only good guys to get through. Both Rostov and Veles have been denied access to the eye, and neither seem like particularly pleasant people. Also, the note specifically calls Phlo a hero. Maybe the egg is a way of ensuring only heroes get the eye.
Koschei the Deathless was not a nice lich. In slavic folklore, Koschei the Deathless was a warlord sorcerer who could not be killed by conventional means, because he sealed his soul separate from his body. So long as his soul was save, he could not die. His soul was sealed within a needle, which was hidden in an egg, which was inside a duck, inside a hare, locked in an iron (or sometimes crystal or golden) chest, buried under a great green oak tree, on the island of Buyan, in the middle of the ocean.
After finding the island and uprooting the oak, when you break open the chest, the hare would flee. Kil lthe hare and the duck would burst forth and fly away. But if you catch the duck and come in possession of the egg, koschei would be in their power. he’d become physically weak and sickly, loose access to his magic and if the egg is shaken about, he would be tossed about.
Koschei could only be killed if the egg and needle are destroyed, and in some stories, the egg must be smashed against his forehead to drive the needle into his head to kill him.
The eye, that Veles seeks, is likely the eye of this needle, the space within which Koschei’s soul would be sealed. If Aaron is following folklore, anyway.
Koschei the Deathless is a major mythological villain, and “deathless” comes from being unkillable as long as his soul (which is traditionally in an egg behind multiple layered access barriers) is safe. He very definitely didn’t have any problems with killing his enemies or anyone else who happened to annoy him, for that matter.
Thankfully, 84 probably won’t be meeting him anytime soon. Maybe if/after she passes the test Veles will arrange an introduction at some point in the future – or maybe she’ll be rewarded with the egg, which is pretty much a win button in any encounter with Koschei.
She propably asks what “failing your quest” means for those that fail.
Is “the end” your death?
Being bound to serve as guardian for the egg from now on?
Being thrown out?
That’s what I was wondering… Man, if I were in that magic egg, I’d be checking out all the neat stuff like that! Of course, each one of them is probably a distraction leading to pointless detours so you never get to the eye, but on the other hand, the eye might be inside any one of them. A rock with a window in it and a smokestack on top looks like a major CLUE to me!
Even that doesn’t make sense, since “heroine” isn’t applicable in this context, in the same way as there is no such thing as a “Superheroine” or a “War Heroine”.
The term “heroine” is only really used in a narrative sense, ie, the hero or heroine of the story, what is more technically called the protagonist (because often the characters performing “heroic” acts are not the central character)
“Heroine” is a dated term that sees less use with every passing year, and good riddance. It needlessly punches the sexism button for many people, it’s commonly used to describe distinctly non-heroic female characters that serve as swooning arm candy for proper heroes, and if you’re familiar with the Greek myth of Hero and Leander, the “heroine Hero” is one of the ugliest constructions in the history of bad translations.
If you can’t live with employing hero as a gender-neutral word (which it is in English) then protagonist is more acceptable and more accurate than heroine usually is.
Don’t be too quick in saying hero and protagonist are so similarity or that protagonist is more accurate, except in mathematical sense that accurate and precise are near contradictory. A Hero is a special type protagonist. The protagonist can be down right non-heroic.
I think it’s because the feminine of hero and an illegal narcotic are spelled the same in English, all heroics are referred to in the masculine making the (former) masculine gender neutral.
Pretty sure that should be the other way around. The term heroine has been used to describe a female hero since the mid-1600’s. Bayer only coined the name heroin for the drug in 1795.
Perhaps it’s really a fine parchment, perhaps made from human skin? Perhaps it’s truly a piece of papyrus, harvested & prepared during the 1st kingdom?
Just a “piece of paper” leaves out so many possibilities.
It was found on the ground, so it could be scrolled to protect the content face of the paper. Scrolling is not just about reduacing size for storage but shielding the important side form the elements.
His using of humor and minimization may be a coping mechanism in face of Phlogiston’s apparent death.
His using of the impersonal “little girl” and “kid” may actually be a defense mechanism in face of imminent danger. Has he actually referred to Phlogiston, Neuronet, the Conjurer or Julie (84) by name yet?
Adahn, scarily enough, I could see that. Coping Mechanisms come in many many flavors, many of them apparently more benign than others. Now that you mention it, I don’t think he’s referred to anyone by name, but then again, all we have is a small amount of air time from him so its really hard to be sure if this is what he’s normally like.
When we first met Firedrake, my initial reaction was “young Johnny Storm”, in not only power set but attitude, both in his bragging and grand-standing and in his condescending but not, I think, intentionally mean comments to Julie.
Everything we’ve seen since seems to fit. It used to be that the only other heroes Johnny called by name were his family. With everyone else he used code-names, reinforcing his pride at being a member of that community. And now that Firedrake is seeing that their quest could have serious, possibly even fatal, consequences for people he was just beginning to know, it seems he may be starting to go through the growth that we’ve seen in Johnny over the years.
It’s nice that we can believe what brings us most comfort.
Julie, on the other hand, seems decidedly discomfited by what she believes.
It appears by the distance he’s keeping, Firedrake understands something about FISS psychology. Really, that he isn’t behind that stone hut suggests he understands too little.
It’s possible that he’s ready to back up 84. Drake might be all the negative aspects of the Human Torch, but that still makes him more than willing to back up 84 in a rampage of revenge. I don’t know that said rampage will happen, but he’s likely hedging his bets.
Does Julie rise above the dark aspects of revenge, or will she be just like some FISS Before her?
Is 84 a stereotypical rage-fueled FISS, or another kind?
I believe Firedrake is simply feeling the awkwardness of introducing a small child to the frightening reality of consequences in combat, and is no more ready to back up Julie than he would be ready for any parenting role. But it’s fun to project on characters our expectations from past experiences and present dread.
All of you are missing the point of this entire quest-line… Veles is looking for the “Protector of Earth” right? and who better to protect someone/ thing than a person that asks about a fallen/injured member BEFORE asking about or doing anything ELSE? notice that Firedrake is hesitant, almost like he’s been involved in a teammates death before possibly even the cause of it, he’s damaged… he would hesitate to “do the Right thing” at a critical moment… NOT a “Protector” type of personality… the guy that took control of 84 and Phlogiston, yeah, NOT a good thing to do by MENTALLY DOMINATING the people you are helping “protect” others. I’m sure that he did it for the “best of reasons”… like saving his OWN skin, right?… how long before that turns into doing it for fun and profit?… ALSO not a good personality choice for “protector”. and the other guy that’s BARGAINING with him right now, come on! WHY? all that means is that he can be BOUGHT OFF!!, once a super-villain gets wind of that, they’ll just be prepared to offer him whatever it is that he’ll finally accept as payment for letting them go!, ALSO not a good personality for Protector. When Veles finally lets them out of the egg and proclaims 84 as the Earth’s Protector, she’ll probably let him know that Atlas gave up the position here on Earth, only because we have so many OTHERS who can protect it now, but over on Krypton he’s the ONLY ONE fighting the good fight against tyranny and oppression, etc… so he’s not really giving UP, but doing a much HARDER job now…
So now we know where she got the paper she was clutching on the previous page. It’s unfortunate that the Only Sane Man (outside of 84) is the one that got eliminated from the start, now she’s left with the twits but given the nature of the note and that Veles doesn’t look to be the sort to actually have it where anyone would die from things Phlogiston is likely just fine beyond needing time to recover from what happened. Much like in that episode of DS9 with the aliens who had that game where they used actual living people as play tokens, it looked like they were in dire straits but it was actually harmless and as they put it quite succinctly ‘it’s just a game!’. This is just a game in the end.
Still it does darken things going on, I can see lots of trouble for Neuronet getting someone else taken out from his reckless need to prove himself. Still it COULD end up a learning experience for him and make him a better person in the long run, similar to a Danger Room simulation where you pull a poorly thought out stunt that gets everyone killed, but only in simulation so you have a chance to learn from an otherwise fatal mistake without any actual fatalities. The Egg is a well run Danger Room for everyone.
Well, I really, really hope that Phlogiston is okay. I also like the gradual unlayering of Fire Drake’s character as we move beyond the bad initial impression
Hmm, if Neuronet happens to “win” through exploiting/backstabbing all his teammates, in my eyes he would very much come out as a villain. That, however, would by the laws of dichitomy make Veles the hero…
The implications boggle the mind.
I think Veles is Genre Savvy enough that he knew he couldn’t get the best out of the assembled ‘heroes’ without giving them a cartoony villain threat to motivate them, since they likely wouldn’t cooperate with a challenge to prove who should be his next Champion if he just said ‘here’s my challenge if you don’t do it I’ll… do nothing at all’. Sure he’d be honor-bound to follow through on it (but maybe not) but it was more just done as a motivator for his chosen challengers than anything else.
It could also be that time dilation within the egg is such that the group has (for all intents and purposes) all the time in the world. If one second in the real world takes one year in the egg, seven hours equals thousands of lifetimes.
We better hope that he isn’t a villain:
Only the Conjurer is likely to have any sort of defense against mind control and he is busy keeping Rastov magically restrained.
Unless Neuronet is suffering from some sort of psychic backlash from Phlogiston’s death/disappearance, Julie and Firedrake wouldn’t stand a chance.
We know communication from outside the Egg to inside is feasible, if one has Veles’ energy manipulation abilities. We know Phlogiston has energy manipulation abilities.. and was psychically linked to NeuroNut at the moment of her.. departure.. from the Egg.
This _could_ play out, if that psychic link weren’t shattered, if NeuroNut isn’t a babbling bowl of soup fried by the feedback of his own amplifiers, if Phlo is in any position to converse from .. where she is, if she is.
Still, edge of seat excitement anticipating all that is to come.
It read more like an emcee or bard telling the tale. I hope 84 puts her foot down on how badly ALL the others are acting. After all, she’s one of the examples of how a hero with training and socialization will be better than the others. I’d trust Veles more than Neronut.
I wonder where are those kids who wanted to be Captain American but acted more like USAgent and The Comedian.
That and Cap is more like a hero with an American flag rather than an American hero. Or it only applied to Marvel Civil War and Nomad arc.
I know that the artist is busy and all but I am really interested in what’s happening in this storyline and it seems to me that it is moving along sooooooooooooo slowwwwwwwwwwwwwllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Does anyone know why?
Well, on the upside I strongly suspect that Phlogiston is back outside the egg. Potentially, with a nasty headache.
There is no reference to Neuronet, so I assume that he is still running around inside the egg.
Looks like this “race” may be more of a last man standing style event.
Actually, I just had an interesting thought.
We know that Rastov there only has to stop two more people before he’s free to go. (He said three before, and Phlogiston has been stopped, so presumably it’s now two.) That does leave two people from the party that can go on in any case, something that Veles almost certainly knew before sending them in.
However, one possibility that hasn’t been brought up, and may be how he got pulled into that job in the first place… what if the last person that he ‘stops’ is the one that has to take over his job?
There would be a certain poetic justice if Neuronet ended up stuck in there for decades until several more people got sent through the egg…
Not exactly fair — Phlo wasn’t the one in control at the time. Neuronet should be the one who flunked out of the egg.
(But it’s certainly possible that there’s a second piece of paper laying around.)
As fair as any battle can be, really. She fell because an ally backstabbed her. Fair or not, Neuronet was crafty (or lucky) enough to keep himself out of the line of fire, while Phlo failed to defend herself from his machinations.
Still wanna kick Neuronet ‘inna fork.
I agree. You do not, you do NOT, YOU DO NOT take control of an ally’s body without their express permission, and ONLY in the DIREST of circumstances. Neuronet needs to be reminded/taught that.
Things might not be so friendly when Neuro-nuts gets kicked out of the quest and he meets up with Phlogiston outside. I see bad things happening.
That assumes Neuro knew his actions would result in her getting booted out of the egg or even dying (the heroes probably don’t know what exactly happened at this point). I doubt Neuronet is *that* Machiavellian and sociopathic (he is a hero, after all, even if vainglorious like Conjuror and Firedrake)- but we should soon find out if he actually is so.
This isn’t a test of morality.
Perhaps not from Koschei, but I’d be *extremely* surprised if it wasn’t one from Veles.
True, but since it’s not like 84 is going to stab Phlo in the back, and Phlo’s not going to do that to 84 either, the narrative requires one of them to get killed off one way or another…
Ah, so 84 hasn’t learned how to read cursive yet?
That’s not really cursive. Fancy, yes. But not cursive.
I can read the note just fine, but I don’t know the answer to her question, so I doubt being able to read the writing is the issue.
I vote for “got kicked out of the egg”. In fact, I think the answer is “sustained damage that would result in death, so got kicked out of the egg.” As in, it turns out nobody can get killed in the egg: getting “killed” just results in you appearing outside, whole and healthy. Just like Rostov reformed inside.
Because I don’t think Julie is quite ready to deal with death so close to her, and without someone she trusts to talk her through it, … she may react impulsively, and before she realizes it Neuronet may be joining Phlogiston.
But we really don’t get to choose when we first deal with the big issues of death.
So maybe Nueronet gets the life-lesson “don’t piss off people who can pound you into a moist stain”.
I think the addemendium to your statement would be “this time” or “while Veles is in charge of the test”. I’m betting Kodashi wants people to die in his egg.
Actually, the guy’s nickname was “The Deathless.” Maybe there’s a twist on the usual meaning of that name; maybe he got it because he never killed anyone. I wonder if the egg’s creator was not a bad guy. Given that the egg seems to be rewarding positive behavior, the designer seems to have intended for only good guys to get through. Both Rostov and Veles have been denied access to the eye, and neither seem like particularly pleasant people. Also, the note specifically calls Phlo a hero. Maybe the egg is a way of ensuring only heroes get the eye.
Koschei the Deathless was not a nice lich. In slavic folklore, Koschei the Deathless was a warlord sorcerer who could not be killed by conventional means, because he sealed his soul separate from his body. So long as his soul was save, he could not die. His soul was sealed within a needle, which was hidden in an egg, which was inside a duck, inside a hare, locked in an iron (or sometimes crystal or golden) chest, buried under a great green oak tree, on the island of Buyan, in the middle of the ocean.
After finding the island and uprooting the oak, when you break open the chest, the hare would flee. Kil lthe hare and the duck would burst forth and fly away. But if you catch the duck and come in possession of the egg, koschei would be in their power. he’d become physically weak and sickly, loose access to his magic and if the egg is shaken about, he would be tossed about.
Koschei could only be killed if the egg and needle are destroyed, and in some stories, the egg must be smashed against his forehead to drive the needle into his head to kill him.
The eye, that Veles seeks, is likely the eye of this needle, the space within which Koschei’s soul would be sealed. If Aaron is following folklore, anyway.
Koschei the Deathless is a major mythological villain, and “deathless” comes from being unkillable as long as his soul (which is traditionally in an egg behind multiple layered access barriers) is safe. He very definitely didn’t have any problems with killing his enemies or anyone else who happened to annoy him, for that matter.
Thankfully, 84 probably won’t be meeting him anytime soon. Maybe if/after she passes the test Veles will arrange an introduction at some point in the future – or maybe she’ll be rewarded with the egg, which is pretty much a win button in any encounter with Koschei.
She propably asks what “failing your quest” means for those that fail.
Is “the end” your death?
Being bound to serve as guardian for the egg from now on?
Being thrown out?
I wonder exactly how long it’s been since Rastov pissed himself. If he knew she could put her fist through a dragon without serious effort…
And who is living inside that rock?
That’s what I was wondering… Man, if I were in that magic egg, I’d be checking out all the neat stuff like that! Of course, each one of them is probably a distraction leading to pointless detours so you never get to the eye, but on the other hand, the eye might be inside any one of them. A rock with a window in it and a smokestack on top looks like a major CLUE to me!
*Best Mr. Green voice*
Phlogiston was a MAN??
???
Are you referring to the term “hero” which should be “heroine”? Otherwise, the note does say “her”.
Maybe it’s Hero is being used in the same way as Actor is now used of actresses
yeah that was the point I was going for.
And just because Mr. Green was funny. So it’s not just nitpicking.
Even that doesn’t make sense, since “heroine” isn’t applicable in this context, in the same way as there is no such thing as a “Superheroine” or a “War Heroine”.
The term “heroine” is only really used in a narrative sense, ie, the hero or heroine of the story, what is more technically called the protagonist (because often the characters performing “heroic” acts are not the central character)
There is very much such a word as “superheroine.” See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_superheroines
The reason it isn’t appropriate here is because her gender is not relevant, and “hero” is the ungendered form.
“Heroine” is a dated term that sees less use with every passing year, and good riddance. It needlessly punches the sexism button for many people, it’s commonly used to describe distinctly non-heroic female characters that serve as swooning arm candy for proper heroes, and if you’re familiar with the Greek myth of Hero and Leander, the “heroine Hero” is one of the ugliest constructions in the history of bad translations.
If you can’t live with employing hero as a gender-neutral word (which it is in English) then protagonist is more acceptable and more accurate than heroine usually is.
Don’t be too quick in saying hero and protagonist are so similarity or that protagonist is more accurate, except in mathematical sense that accurate and precise are near contradictory. A Hero is a special type protagonist. The protagonist can be down right non-heroic.
I think it’s because the feminine of hero and an illegal narcotic are spelled the same in English, all heroics are referred to in the masculine making the (former) masculine gender neutral.
The drug is called Heroin. “Heroine” is a MISspelling of that drug, and also the correct spelling of an antiquated term for a female hero.
Pretty sure that should be the other way around. The term heroine has been used to describe a female hero since the mid-1600’s. Bayer only coined the name heroin for the drug in 1795.
I wonder who that home in the rock behind her belongs to.
My guess would be the solitaire player.
Just a sheet of paper? I would have expected a scroll for such a message in this setting.
Perhaps it’s really a fine parchment, perhaps made from human skin? Perhaps it’s truly a piece of papyrus, harvested & prepared during the 1st kingdom?
Just a “piece of paper” leaves out so many possibilities.
They certainly used the fancy font. Possibly handwriting.
And the fancy ink and design.
So this seems way distanced from “just a paper”.
Why a scroll? Would you expect a book in a modern setting? No need to scroll a short message.
It was found on the ground, so it could be scrolled to protect the content face of the paper. Scrolling is not just about reduacing size for storage but shielding the important side form the elements.
I’m glad Fire Drake looks abashed in the background. It gives me hope for him. That or he’ll be next on Neuronet’s back-stab / incompetence hit list.
Perhaps Firedrake has lost teammates before?
His using of humor and minimization may be a coping mechanism in face of Phlogiston’s apparent death.
His using of the impersonal “little girl” and “kid” may actually be a defense mechanism in face of imminent danger. Has he actually referred to Phlogiston, Neuronet, the Conjurer or Julie (84) by name yet?
Adahn, scarily enough, I could see that. Coping Mechanisms come in many many flavors, many of them apparently more benign than others. Now that you mention it, I don’t think he’s referred to anyone by name, but then again, all we have is a small amount of air time from him so its really hard to be sure if this is what he’s normally like.
When we first met Firedrake, my initial reaction was “young Johnny Storm”, in not only power set but attitude, both in his bragging and grand-standing and in his condescending but not, I think, intentionally mean comments to Julie.
Everything we’ve seen since seems to fit. It used to be that the only other heroes Johnny called by name were his family. With everyone else he used code-names, reinforcing his pride at being a member of that community. And now that Firedrake is seeing that their quest could have serious, possibly even fatal, consequences for people he was just beginning to know, it seems he may be starting to go through the growth that we’ve seen in Johnny over the years.
It seems a long time since we saw Neuronet, too. Maybe he was hit at the same time and 84 was the only connected to get through…
I agree; Phlogiston was likely just kicked out of the egg. Quite a relief, overall.
It’s nice that we can believe what brings us most comfort.
Julie, on the other hand, seems decidedly discomfited by what she believes.
It appears by the distance he’s keeping, Firedrake understands something about FISS psychology. Really, that he isn’t behind that stone hut suggests he understands too little.
It’s possible that he’s ready to back up 84. Drake might be all the negative aspects of the Human Torch, but that still makes him more than willing to back up 84 in a rampage of revenge. I don’t know that said rampage will happen, but he’s likely hedging his bets.
Interesting questions.
Does Julie rise above the dark aspects of revenge, or will she be just like some FISS Before her?
Is 84 a stereotypical rage-fueled FISS, or another kind?
I believe Firedrake is simply feeling the awkwardness of introducing a small child to the frightening reality of consequences in combat, and is no more ready to back up Julie than he would be ready for any parenting role. But it’s fun to project on characters our expectations from past experiences and present dread.
It’s my expectation that we don’t yet know Julie.
All of you are missing the point of this entire quest-line… Veles is looking for the “Protector of Earth” right? and who better to protect someone/ thing than a person that asks about a fallen/injured member BEFORE asking about or doing anything ELSE? notice that Firedrake is hesitant, almost like he’s been involved in a teammates death before possibly even the cause of it, he’s damaged… he would hesitate to “do the Right thing” at a critical moment… NOT a “Protector” type of personality… the guy that took control of 84 and Phlogiston, yeah, NOT a good thing to do by MENTALLY DOMINATING the people you are helping “protect” others. I’m sure that he did it for the “best of reasons”… like saving his OWN skin, right?… how long before that turns into doing it for fun and profit?… ALSO not a good personality choice for “protector”. and the other guy that’s BARGAINING with him right now, come on! WHY? all that means is that he can be BOUGHT OFF!!, once a super-villain gets wind of that, they’ll just be prepared to offer him whatever it is that he’ll finally accept as payment for letting them go!, ALSO not a good personality for Protector. When Veles finally lets them out of the egg and proclaims 84 as the Earth’s Protector, she’ll probably let him know that Atlas gave up the position here on Earth, only because we have so many OTHERS who can protect it now, but over on Krypton he’s the ONLY ONE fighting the good fight against tyranny and oppression, etc… so he’s not really giving UP, but doing a much HARDER job now…
So now we know where she got the paper she was clutching on the previous page. It’s unfortunate that the Only Sane Man (outside of 84) is the one that got eliminated from the start, now she’s left with the twits but given the nature of the note and that Veles doesn’t look to be the sort to actually have it where anyone would die from things Phlogiston is likely just fine beyond needing time to recover from what happened. Much like in that episode of DS9 with the aliens who had that game where they used actual living people as play tokens, it looked like they were in dire straits but it was actually harmless and as they put it quite succinctly ‘it’s just a game!’. This is just a game in the end.
Still it does darken things going on, I can see lots of trouble for Neuronet getting someone else taken out from his reckless need to prove himself. Still it COULD end up a learning experience for him and make him a better person in the long run, similar to a Danger Room simulation where you pull a poorly thought out stunt that gets everyone killed, but only in simulation so you have a chance to learn from an otherwise fatal mistake without any actual fatalities. The Egg is a well run Danger Room for everyone.
Found shortly after in a crater:
“And so the sociopathic domineering jackass sometimes known as Neuronet failed in his quest. The end.”
That said, I don’t think Phlogiston is dead as such in the real world. Veles is looking for an adversary, not a Nemesis.
There’s an important difference.
Well, I really, really hope that Phlogiston is okay. I also like the gradual unlayering of Fire Drake’s character as we move beyond the bad initial impression
Hmm, if Neuronet happens to “win” through exploiting/backstabbing all his teammates, in my eyes he would very much come out as a villain. That, however, would by the laws of dichitomy make Veles the hero…
The implications boggle the mind.
Why is it necessary for Veles to be a villain?
Veles is looking for an opponent. There is nothing to say that what we would call a villain cannot be the opponent to Veles.
We have been shown Veles to be a villian, only because he was previously opposed by Argos (and created a monster, granted).
Given his actual behaviour, he isn’t overtly evil.
At at this point, I’d rather have Veles around rather than Neuronet or the Conjuror.
Veles has made it clear what he’d do if they didn’t succeed. That kind of falls into what you would call the Villain Category.
As to Neuronet “winning” and Veles being the hero … don’t see that. After all its quite common to see villains oppose each other.
I think Veles is Genre Savvy enough that he knew he couldn’t get the best out of the assembled ‘heroes’ without giving them a cartoony villain threat to motivate them, since they likely wouldn’t cooperate with a challenge to prove who should be his next Champion if he just said ‘here’s my challenge if you don’t do it I’ll… do nothing at all’. Sure he’d be honor-bound to follow through on it (but maybe not) but it was more just done as a motivator for his chosen challengers than anything else.
It could also be that time dilation within the egg is such that the group has (for all intents and purposes) all the time in the world. If one second in the real world takes one year in the egg, seven hours equals thousands of lifetimes.
We better hope that he isn’t a villain:
Only the Conjurer is likely to have any sort of defense against mind control and he is busy keeping Rastov magically restrained.
Unless Neuronet is suffering from some sort of psychic backlash from Phlogiston’s death/disappearance, Julie and Firedrake wouldn’t stand a chance.
Or there’s another note laying where Neuronet used to be.
Hrm.
We know communication from outside the Egg to inside is feasible, if one has Veles’ energy manipulation abilities. We know Phlogiston has energy manipulation abilities.. and was psychically linked to NeuroNut at the moment of her.. departure.. from the Egg.
This _could_ play out, if that psychic link weren’t shattered, if NeuroNut isn’t a babbling bowl of soup fried by the feedback of his own amplifiers, if Phlo is in any position to converse from .. where she is, if she is.
Still, edge of seat excitement anticipating all that is to come.
I couldn’t help but notice that the note is a form letter. 🙂
It read more like an emcee or bard telling the tale. I hope 84 puts her foot down on how badly ALL the others are acting. After all, she’s one of the examples of how a hero with training and socialization will be better than the others. I’d trust Veles more than Neronut.
So, 84 is the only intelligent one left. That is going to seriously suck for her.
I wonder where are those kids who wanted to be Captain American but acted more like USAgent and The Comedian.
That and Cap is more like a hero with an American flag rather than an American hero. Or it only applied to Marvel Civil War and Nomad arc.
First time poster here.
I know that the artist is busy and all but I am really interested in what’s happening in this storyline and it seems to me that it is moving along sooooooooooooo slowwwwwwwwwwwwwllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Does anyone know why?
Love the comic, just wish there were more posts.