Dreadnought: The Quest for Cringe - White-Kettle-Shufflepunk reads a trans YA superhero novel

[Alabama Gamer]

Red Steel would then go on to annihilate several B-list Western cape teams being thrown at him piecemeal during the Russian SMO.

Spoiler

Strangely, Ukraine's own homegrown supersoldier, Captain Bandera, doesn't get much attention in the Western press.

 

[IridiumDragon06]

So, I am not a Kerbal-bro, but my understanding is that the model of superheros in space is less rockets and more weather balloons (or that Red Bull skydiver). Rockets need to get into orbit because they have a finite fuel supply and fuel is heavy. My understanding is that you can, with super-flight, just fly straight up, stop at orbital altitude, put a big heavy thing in the path of your target satellite, and drop back down (and not have to worry about re-entry because you don't need to aerobrake).

Isn't de-orbiting a sattelite composed of unknown metahuman wibblies a really bad idea? Couldn't this be raining Nemesis-rock or worse all over a random inhabited area?

Hellfire, are we going to discover that Garrison has Ozymandiused up this bitch, has already done his plan to manipulate fate and coincidence and power-bestowing events, and that the sattelite is going to crash directly onto him after being imbued with magic gribblies and the powers of both Dreadnought and Red Steel, and give him All the Superpowers?

And finally, given the chaos of zero-G combat, how the flipping hell does Dreadnought maintain a grip on Red Steel all the way down? Telekinetic flight means that grappling doesn't actually shut down your opponent; you can't joint-lock them if they're not using their muscles to move. And Red Steel seems like he could have introduced just a bit of a tumble into the flight (which, hell, he couldn't not have done if he was fighting back and all) and now they're both getting baked. (Plus, again, I don't think that either of them need to be at orbital speed.)

Also, how the hell do you hold your breath at zero bar? We lost an opportunity for, e.g., Danny to be holding a bunch of air around him with his tactile TK field, and every blow both hurt him and made him lose air. Or better, he should have started with a helmet and air supply, as mentioned, and have Red Steel's sucker punch be breaking his air supply.

I don't hate the fight bits. The orbital mechanics have a weird mix of attention to detail and missing what feels like obvious things, but it's new and interesting and it's not pure power fantasy for Danny. Now, that being said, I don't like the fact that this is Danny's first kinetic space mission, and that Danny wins the fight because Doc somehow got an orbital weapon operational before Garrison. What might have been better was that what was gotten from the whole GreyWytch book debacle was that the satellites were not booby-trapped, but were both fragile and dangerous, and Bad Things were indicated if they were broken carelessly, so Danny's mission was to carefully de-orbit them for disposal, there was an added layer of tension as both he and Red Steel fought while avoiding harm to the satellite (which still got more ominous as the fight went on and near-misses seemed to charge it up), and then Doc's contribution wasn't shooting Red Steel, but crashing something into the satellite (after warning Danny to move to a given location, which meant that Danny was far away and Red Steel caught the bulk of the explosion. Then we have berserk Red Steel, who's even more dangerous now but leaves openings for Danny to exploit, and maybe even has a layer of Something covering him from the satellite reside that Danny can track with the matrix, and that's the turning point for the fight...but while Danny manages to win the fight on the long fall down, there is now the Consequence of the satellite blowing up and falling randomly instead of being de-orbited as planned.

When your hero wins every fight, even against people set up as stronger, tougher, and much more experienced, then there are no meaningful stakes. And in a medium like this, you know that the hero is going to win or fail forward. But your goal as author should be able to make the "Yes, the plot moved forward, but at what cost, and what does it mean that things happened the way that they did?" question interesting and meaningful regardless.

 

[Kosher Dill]

Doc somehow got an orbital weapon operational before Garrison

Is it just me or was the book implying that Doc just hacked her way in to take over somebody's orbital cannon?
And, you know, stole the entire state's electricity supply even though we've had it hammered into our heads over and over that the Legion are mere city employees.

Also, how the hell do you hold your breath at zero bar?

The whole thing makes no sense, obviously whatever fuels Danny's body (and Red Steel's similarly) is not oxygen from the air. He'd be breathing like a steam turbine even at sea level if all his supervillainry was powered by oxygen. And if you say "The super stuff is magic but running his body is mundane", then he couldn't hold his breath any longer than a normal human.
Similarly he can't be powered by body fat (because he has the body of a lingerie model and the Plot-Inciting Orb won't allow anything to happen to his two plot-inciting orbs), or ambient energy in the air (because there is no air). It's just space-rock magic.

 

[LoverofPi]

So, I am not a Kerbal-bro, but my understanding is that the model of superheros in space is less rockets and more weather balloons (or that Red Bull skydiver). Rockets need to get into orbit because they have a finite fuel supply and fuel is heavy. My understanding is that you can, with super-flight, just fly straight up, stop at orbital altitude, put a big heavy thing in the path of your target satellite, and drop back down (and not have to worry about re-entry because you don't need to aerobrake).

Daniels has been vague and inconsistent about the mechanics and effort of Danny's flight, but it does appear to be vaguely telekinetic rather than ejecta based, so yeah, re-entry can go at whatever speed he wants, though we know he can handle the heat of Mach 3 at below 150,000 feet and it's turbulence preventing accurate flying that keeps him at that speed.

So he can go as fast as the Blackbird, or about 2300 Miles per hour. Meaning he's perhaps an hour or two away from home at this exact moment.

 

[Kosher Dill]

rather than ejecta based

You sure? Why do you think he doesn't have a uterus? That's where the fuel tanks are installed.

 

[LoverofPi]

You sure? Why do you think he doesn't have a uterus? That's where the fuel tanks are installed.

Yeah but those tanks are so Danny can huff his own farts for five hours.

 

[White-Kettle Shufflepunk]

Just finished your recap of the first book and I'm very much enjoying your cogent and hilarious take-down, semper fi White-Kettle and keep up the good work, this is one of the best threads on the farms IMO.

Thank you, that's very sweet. I look forward to your thoughts on this travesty of a sequel.

It's absolutely a healing factor. Baseline humans have a "healing factor." What Red Steel has is "slow regeneration," though three months to regrow legs is nothing to scoff at.

Three years, but still, yeah.

The whole thing makes no sense, obviously whatever fuels Danny's body (and Red Steel's similarly) is not oxygen from the air. He'd be breathing like a steam turbine even at sea level if all his supervillainry was powered by oxygen. And if you say "The super stuff is magic but running his body is mundane", then he couldn't hold his breath any longer than a normal human.

I'm honestly not sure why Daniels doesn't just make Danny not need to breathe. It's not like this weakness ever really bites him in the arse. If we was concerned about Danny not having an Achilles heel, he's already particularly vulnerable to electricity, and his invulnerability is pretty mediocre by comic book standards.

Anyway, today's chapter begins with something wonderful:

I’m a few miles out from New Port when the cell phone antenna—a different system than my satellite antenna—sniffs a signal and tells my suit to rumble with a blizzard of incoming texts. Five from Doc, three from Cecilia, three from Detective Phạm, and one from Calamity.


The text from Calamity is the newest one, and when I pop it open, all it says is Take care, partner. They’re gunning for us now.


Which is not the most comforting thing I’ve ever read. The next in line is from Cecilia: Danny, do not meet with the police. Come to my office immediately.

Yes, that's right. Danny's wanted by the cops!

At the edge of panic, I flick through my texts until I slam into one from Cecilia that says plainly what’s going on: When you get this, come to my office immediately. The NPPD has a warrant for your arrest for the murder of Vincent Trauth, your parents’ lawyer.

I've been following Danny's strict first person POV for the better part of two books now, and even I'm not totally convinced he's innocent. Naturally concerned (and possibly wondering about all the villains Doc "sent to the Phantom Zone" for him) Danny calls Calamity, who's in the middle of a shoot-out with the police.

“Glad to hear you’re still with us, partner,” says Calamity. Her voice is oddly muffled, and there’s a lot of background noise. But through the noise, I can hear the grin in her voice. “You and the commie have a nice playdate? Things have gotten busy since you were gone.”


“He’s down. Have you heard anything from Doc? I can’t get through to her.”


“Not since I left to—” She cuts off abruptly, and one note of the background noise rises above the rest: the high, hard whine of her roadbike, the monster-engined crotch rocket she uses when she’s in costume.

"Monster-engined crotch rocket" sounds like something you'd sell an Aiden.

“You know all those warrants the cops had out for my arrest?” asks Calamity. Far below me, on one of the main traffic arteries, I spot her riding her bike flat out up the wrong side of a six-lane boulevard. What appears to be every police car in the city streams after her, sirens wailing. “It seems they’ve decided to make an issue of them.”


My guts turn to water. “I’m coming to get you,” I say as I throw myself into a dive.


“No!” she says sharply, and I stop myself. “Danny, I was wrong. Dreadnought can’t fight cops. People need to believe in you. I’ll be fine, you hear?”

Man, trannies can't stop sucking the state's cock even when they're writing an outlaw story. Also, does Danny even need to fight the cops? He could just pick up Calamity and fly the fuck away.

Calamity cranks her engine and cuts a burning doughnut on the asphalt. Billowing white clouds of smoke erupt from where her tire licks the road, far more than any normal friction would cause. A cotton-thick cloud smothers the intersection in a matter of moments. Cops begin firing into the cloud, cracking pistols and booming shotguns. The urge to dive in and protect her writhes and bites in my chest. A moment later her bike bursts free of the smoke, tipped up on her back wheel and streaming fingers of white behind her. She slams it through the just-too-narrow gap between two cruisers, then bolts across the street and down the concrete stairs of a subway tunnel.


My suit tells me the call has been dropped. The smoke drifts and clears from the intersection. At least three cops are laid out on the ground, writhing and clutching at brand new bullet holes.


Good.


I hope it hurts.

"How dare the cops do their jobs!"

Before any of them look up and see me, I flit away into the night. We very carefully kept the location of our new safehouse secret from the cops. They knew there was a big explosion out there earlier in the year, but it was only after they finished the paperwork that Doc moved in and took over. At the time I thought Doc was being paranoid, but she was right. We can’t trust them. Not really.

There's something pernicious about troons encouraging young troon initiates to hate and fear the police, while also using the law to strongarm opponents. It reminds me of how fundamentalist, polygamist Mormons will all sign on for welfare, even though they believe the United States government is in Satan's thrall. "Bleeding the Beast" they call it.

My suit isn’t so damaged it can’t still color shift, so I set it to a nighttime camo pattern. I haven’t used it much since I stopped wearing throwaways, but right now, the last thing I need is to be spotted by a police helicopter. A few button presses later, I’m a black-on-black smudge headed quickly out of town.

Convenient. Danny arrives back at the safe-house.

“Doc,” I call out as I cross the vast space. The particle cannon she was mounting to the front of the tilt-engine has been pulled off the aircraft, gutted, thrown back together, and pointed up at where the sky would be when the bay doors are open. At her bank of screens and computers, all three of Doc’s bodies are typing inhumanly fast on various keyboards.


“Are you okay?” one of them asks without looking up.


“Give me some morphix and a couple of days to rest up and I’ll be good as new,” I reply. Morphix is a pretty common hypertech painkiller. All the fun of opioids without the addiction risk. With today’s fight pushing me over the big Five-Zero in the How Many Bones Has Danny Broken This Year tally, I have become very fond of the stuff. “What’s going on?”

Of course he's chewing painkillers like candy, too.

“About two minutes after I finished with the supporting fire, I got hit from all sides by some pretty badass hackers,” says one of the Docs. “I’m holding them off for now, but it’s only a matter of time until they’ve got my physical location, so we’re abandoning the safehouse. There’s an improvised landing area out near Mount Rainier we’ll use for the time being.”

I'm not sure why hackers would be able to touch Doc, given she's not actually an AI, but a rather persistent delusion powered by space-rocks. For all we know, Utopia didn't even know how to code, and Doc's chassis just contains some loose wires and a hamster dead on its wheel.

“You’re not going to clear your name in front of a crooked court, either.”


“We don’t know they’re crooked.”


“Yes you do. First of all, every American court is crooked

Kinetiq: So naturally, I still make money from them to apprehend criminals.

--and second of all, this one must be especially crooked if you’re going up for murder just coincidentally at the same time you pick a fight with a supervillain.”

Or Graywytch used her magic powers to murder the lawyer, and the police are pursuing a pretty logical line of inquiry given plausible motive and Danny's track-record. Or Danny blacked out and murdered the guy. I could believe both.

“Did you know that Red Steel has eye lasers?” I ask Doc.


Doc shakes her head. “No, he doesn’t.”


“He does now,” I say. “They might have gotten Phase Two off the ground after all. Or maybe Phase One works on people who already have powers.”


Doc frowns. “So what you’re saying is we face a potentially unlimited number of superpowered mercenaries.”


“Not unlimited,” says Charlie. Doc looks at him hopefully, but he continues, “I mean, there’s only seven billion people on the planet, and probably not even 1% of them would be willing to be mercenaries so…”


“That’s less helpful than you might hope, Codex,” says Kinetiq. They and Charlie start arguing about the merits of specificity in doomsday scenarios while one of the Docs walks me back upstairs.

I don't recall Charlie being this much of a clueless sperg earlier. Also, I love how much this entire plot now depends on both sides being morons. The only reason the heroes haven't won is because they for some reason don't remember they can cast a spell on Garrison whenever they want, and the only reason Garrison hasn't won yet is because for some reason, he hasn't created thousands of A-tier super-minions.

“So Red Steel. Is he still alive?” she asks, her tone deliberately light.

“Yeah, but he might wish he wasn’t. I dropped him with some fishermen and had them call for a medical evacuation chopper.”

That seems like a really shit idea. One, Red Steel's healing-factor might be slow, but Garrison could've upgraded it. Two, he still has his arms and legs, and even a heavily injured superhuman is probably dangerous, especially when their "opponents" would be a bunch of fishermen and maybe some paramedics.

Ever so slightly, Doc’s shoulders relax. “Good. Good. Hey, Danny, before you go, I just want to say I’m proud of you.”


“I win fights, Doc. That’s what I’m for.”


She shakes her head, and I get the feeling that I’ve misunderstood her.

So, the implication is that Doc is proud of Danny because he didn't kill Red Steel. This is in fact, a fucking stupid reason to be proud of him. Red Steel is just another enemy combatant. There's no personal animosity between him and Danny. He tried to kill Greywytch because he fucking hates her. That was an actual murder-attempt because, at that point, she was completely in Danny's power, and couldn't do anything to fight back. Red Steel meanwhile was an active threat to Danny's life from beginning to end of that fight. So, what, is Doc proud of Danny for not murdering Red Steel after he fainted? Because that's... the bare minimum of being a superhero, I feel like.

“Look, if you go into court, people are going to say terrible things about you. I want you remember that the people who know you don’t believe them for a second. Okay?”

I nod. “Okay.”

Yeah! Nobody could ever know Danny Tozer and think he was a violent maniac, willing to murder someone in a fit of rage! Time to go see Ceilia.

When we arrive at police headquarters, there is already a crowd of reporters milling around waiting for something to happen. They descend upon us like a swarm of piranhas, and Cecilia does an amazing job of cutting a path for me. A constant strobe of camera flashes follows us up the steps. Cecilia’s called ahead, and they’re waiting for us. Detective Phạm and a few senior officers I know by face, but not by name. They usher us inside, and the moment we’re out of view of the cameras, Detective Phạm turns to me with a studiously blank look on her face.

“Danielle Tozer,” she says as she pulls handcuffs from her belt, “I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Vincent Trauth. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”

Book should end right here.

 

[Cnaiur urs Skiotha]

Thoughts on the sequel so far: I like it better than the first book but it's like saying horseshit is better than dogshit, they're both shit. Book two has a little more action and fun and a little less protag whining/performative fragility from a Superman clone. Calamity continues to be the only good character, and it's only because she's the love interest of a self-insert MC. Daniels has to make her likeable because he himself is partly writing this book to inhabit the fantasy of being a trans-lesbian superhero in love with a hot cis bisexual badass cowboy biker cyborg chick. In contrast the protagonist doesn't need to be likeable as long as he is relatable to Daniels and the intended MTF nerd readership. Having a likeable sidekick/love interest does make Danny seem all the more whiny, boring, and miserable, though. I agree with the thread's sentiment that Cassie would be a much better protagonist.

This one has more politics, but Danny's and by extension the author's politics are still unclear (besides the obligatory "rightwing bad"). We know Kinetiq is an anarchist, that Graywytch is "sort of" communist in addition to being a radfem, and the new villains are a clueless blend of "Dark Enlightenment", seasteading libertarians, and tech bros. Danny's confrontation with them was so weak, they explained their whole wacky libertarian-monarchist ideology and Danny didn't have one argument, just basically heard enough to understand it was rightwing and went "fuck you nazi" exactly like any given Twitter troon. Weak as fuck. This was a perfect chance for an author monologue on why democracy good, tolerance good, love good, hate bad.

As lame as that would also be, it would help the book a lot if it was clear what Danny is fighting for. Heroes in this genre especially tend to have explicit codes and ideals. The book vaguely tries to raise questions of the relation of supers to the state, of the state to its citizens, of use of force, of democracy and autocracy, etc. but I really couldn't tell you what Danny's opinions, and by extension Daniels', are about any of this shit. Besides being against wacky strawman neoreactionary libertarian fascism, and unconditional support for trans rights, what does Danny believe in? It's just so lame to gesture at ideas like this, and then refuse to explore them or take a stand. I'm sure part of that is being able to sell this to the broadest possible leftist audience without offending anyone's sensibilities (lol good luck). Also I get the feeling that the author's own ideals are shallow and that he finds it much more compelling to make Danny's only code be this "nobody can ever tell me who to be or what my truth is ever again!" trans shit, completely self-centered and atomized.

Speaking of politics though, I agree with White-Kettle that there is clearly a subtext of love for the state under the veneer of woke cynicism about state institutions. Danny comes off as merely trying to fit in with the more genuinely anti-government Kinetiq or Cassidy when he talks about this. And it's always the same dumb highschool-level cynicism, "ALL cops, ALL courts, ALL governments and institutions are corrupt". Um, not really, and certainly some much more so than others. The ones that are corrupt love the apathy this kind of easy cynicism entails though (since obviously if all institutions are corrupt there's no point in civic engagement for reform). But this is made doubly pathetic in that many of these Cool Rebellious Queer (TM) characters work for the state directly or indirectly as supers. By this book Cassidy is working with the state that she thinks killed her father and is clearly being groomed (lol) for membership in the refounded Legion Pacifica. The author also seems to be implying in this one that if the neoliberal democratic state falls we would descend into the hell of libertarian monarcho-fascism or whatever the fuck it is.

The neoreactionaries are a lame choice of villain overall (but I do think Princess Panzer is kind of dope). Not only did the author get their ideology wrong, actual Moldbug-style Dark Enlightenment neo-trad shit is incredibly niche. I guess trans twitter is the target audience and they know what this is, being extremely online culture warriors. I get these references because I'm interested in fringe ideas, kooks, and lolcows. But normies absolutely don't know what this is. Overall I think the author does want this to be accessible to normies. It's written much more safely and tamely than Manhunt, this shit has been PG-13 so far (I guess it's YA huh). But god damn would these be incoherent to general superhero fans, this is never going to have mass appeal.

And the "safetyism" that Gretchen hates so much, and that's so abundant in both these books, is a lot of what's dragging it down. These books are laaaaame as fuck, completely lacking in passion and mostly lacking in fun. As gross as Manhunt was there was some amount of (sick sick sicko) passion behind it that made it more entertaining. In this second book they try to sell Danny as a superhero on the edge of losing control due to rage, but all the rambling paragraphs about how much Danny loves to do violence on others are still pretty tame. None of the violence is that horrific and the opponent usually gets up and walks away. The author both shies away from anything that would be too hardcore for YA audiences, and anything that would morally compromise his self-insert too much, and so it just comes off as going through the motions.

 

[White-Kettle Shufflepunk]

And the "safetyism" that Gretchen hates so much, and that's so abundant in both these books, is a lot of what's dragging it down.

You don't know how much I want Gretch to write an angry, anti-superhero, Boys style book.

 

[IridiumDragon06]

I am not a fan of the comic series as a whole, but there are several moments in Injustice that I like, and one of them is Superman, after he decides to be more active in geopolitics, walking through a tight ball of a dictator's bodyguards without slowing or even being impeded in what he's saying. The deliberate nature of it drives home that Superman doesn't even need to work around whatever the dictator can throw at him.

And in this case, Dreadnought literally ignoring the cops would send a similar message without fighting them. But I also feel like this book was written pre-2020, and this is just a matter of Danny being as much of an NPC as his author, so AC aren't B yet. Then again, this could just be generic bad writing. The cops don't have anything that can get Danny's attention, much less threaten him, and Danny has never given a damn about being a heroic symbol up until now (and has even denied being or doing that).

This move feels like a desperation move from Garrison. But why isn't he trying to bump off Danny or his team directly? And why this is this going into motion now at satellite-time, and not before? Was the implication that Garrison had started this maneuver back when Danny escaped and it's only now coming to fruition?

Hmm. Maybe this is just GreyWytch going off-reservation and lashing out at Danny in a lazy and stupid way. But why not murder Danny's family directly, if that were the case? She knows where they live, and that seems like it would be a lot more directly traceable to Danny. Or maybe the lawyer had just made a statement that he felt his life was threatened by Danny being revealed as the plaintiff, and GreyWytch killed him because he was no longer useful to her ongoing schemes of Harras Danny?

This whole thing feels dumb and rushed. Garrison et al have no reason to set this up, Calamity has no reason to not start shooting cops (nonlethally), Kinetiq has no reason not to take this as an excuse for Revolution Now, and Danny has no reason to care one way or the other. I like that the book is trying to set up a challenge that Danny can't rip-and-tear his way out of, but the problem is that Danny can just gut Pham and dab on her bleeding body, and no one but another super can stop him. Hell, the moment Danny starts taking this shit seriously is the moment he flies back into orbit with a big-ass lump of steel with a nose-cone welded on, flies it away from Earth a bit, and then uses his Free Delta-V to drop kinetic kill rods on Garrison's island, the police station, the government of Florida, and whoever else he doesn't care for. (Of course, the other consideration is that maybe this whole convoluted bit is just to get him his day in court so Garrison can do the same to him, at a known location at a known time.)

But this feels even more insubstantial and less weighty than the candyfloss fluff that has made up the previous bits of the book. I hope we get some grounding for why this kerfluffle is happening, but I am not hopeful. This whole thing isn't even entertainingly dumb, and feels like we're going to get more Shitty Legal Drama of Danny proving his innocence in this specific and particular act of violence. Also, is there any reason that GreyWytch hasn't also gone to the police? Shouldn't "Danny busted into my house, again, and destroyed ancient and priceless heirlooms to intimidate me, again, but this time he got his filthy man-hands on me for a moment and this is what he did to me." get just as much if not more of a police response, plus have the advantage of being 100% true?

Of course, that would suggest that there are consequences to Danny's actions, and that would probably kill the fantasy stone dead. So we'll see how this resolves!

 

[Kosher Dill]

The particle cannon she was mounting to the front of the tilt-engine has been pulled off the aircraft, gutted, thrown back together, and pointed up at where the sky would be when the bay doors are open.

Is this supposed to mean that the cannon they shot Red Steel with was right in their secret hideout?
Why bother keeping it a secret at that point? Anyone interested can go right to the source of those two gigantic energy blasts, or the center of all the blackouts on the map.
No wonder there are "badass hackers" coming at Doc, she hacked first and stole all the state's electricity for a death ray in a secret underground lair. Everyone probably thinks this is a supervillain plot, because it sounds a hell of a lot like one. Those hackers are probably the FBI's hypertech division.

So, the implication is that Doc is proud of Danny because he didn't kill Red Steel. This is in fact, a fucking stupid reason to be proud of him. Red Steel is just another enemy combatant.

Well, Red Steel is also a mercenary - he's not irreversibly committed to the cause of supervillainy. And he's going to be out of commission for a while after Team Dreadnought's beatdown, so no matter how much money Garrison throws at him he won't be causing more trouble for a while. Given that, I think it did show some minimum level of decency not to kill him once he was down for the count.
But yes, I wouldn't have batted an eye if Danny killed Red Steel while the fight was still going on.

Is it just me or did the story take a hard left turn into ACAB nonsense? Before this, cops were mostly portrayed as well-meaning civil servants who might be just a little too underpowered and a little too square to deal with the superhero world. Now they're bloodthirsty morons who literally set up a circular firing squad.

I agree with White-Kettle that there is clearly a subtext of love for the state under the veneer of woke cynicism about state institutions

It's not subtext so much as billboard-sized text in neon orange. Danny's wish-fulfillment fantasy of a a life is a lingerie model's body, a hot bisexual girlfriend, an unlimited supply of people to beat up... and a steady government paycheck.

Also, is there any reason that GreyWytch hasn't also gone to the police? Shouldn't "Danny busted into my house, again, and destroyed ancient and priceless heirlooms to intimidate me, again, but this time he got his filthy man-hands on me for a moment and this is what he did to me." get just as much if not more of a police response, plus have the advantage of being 100% true?

Really, since what Danny cares about most is his government job, this would be a far more effective form of revenge than trying to go toe-to-toe with him again. Just get him fired! Have all the governments in the US blacklist him for being a blackcape! Roll in Acid Andy, Gerald, Utopia, and the rest of the Wheelchair Squad to tearfully testify about what Dreadnought did to them, while screening footage of the "Rip And Tear Highlight Reel" in the background. Talk about how he's always hanging out in the underground death-ray lair of Doctor Impossible, the murderer of the beloved Legion heroes who "skated on a bogus hypertech temporary insanity plea". And have Super-Gloria Allred going on every Sunday show with Graywytch, showing off bedraggled hospital exam photos with Danny's hand marks on her neck.

... Speaking of Legion heroes, what ever happened with Valkyrja and her forcible reincarnation? If the Dread Squad kills Garrison (as they surely will) that presumably means the suppressor necklace is kaput, right?

 

[White-Kettle Shufflepunk]

Good news, friends! I just finished the redraft of my second novel, and sent it off to my editor. Which means I have no use but to keep working on this let's read!

Oh dear.

Smile for the mugshot! We combed my hair so that the shaved strip with its row of bloody stitches is obvious to the casual viewer. That, plus the snarling line of laser burns on my face, makes it pretty clear I’ve been in a fight. Cecilia says it never hurts to remind people I put my life on the line for them. It’s not enough to keep me out of prison; we’ve got to keep my reputation intact as well or I could lose my contract.

Man, alternate universe Kiwi Farms must be jumpin' right now. I bet Janet Tozer posts under her own name and then gets put under pedo-restrictions by the police.

Actually, that reminds me, do you think alternate universe Sabaton does songs about famous superhero battles? Bet they're not writing any about D4.

We haven’t even spoken about what this might do to my still-pending federal license. I’m beginning to think it will be years before I’m allowed to fight for Northern Union.

You mean the the "super-team" that's apparently usually just the Legion when they play away games? I swear to God, this is those Temps stories without the comedy.

After I get fingerprinted, some officers lead me to an interview room. One of them handcuffs me to the table, and I look up at him with what I hope is withering skepticism. “Really?”


He blushes. “It’s policy.”


“Uh-huh.”

Man of Steel did this scene better.

The cop scuttles out of the room, and then it’s just me with four gray walls and the linoleum. Cecilia was with me when I got arrested, but they split us up for the booking part, and now we’ve got to wait for them to decide to let my lawyer talk to me. All that noise you hear about having a right to an attorney? It doesn’t mean having an attorney at whatever time is most convenient for you.

So I sit, and I stew, and I try to hold still so I don’t aggravate my injuries. They’re healing well. Already my hairline fractures have begun to fuse. In a few hours I get more healing done than most people do in a few days. My healing factor isn’t much compared with some capes, like Deathwish or Infinity, but it’s plucky, and it’s mine, and it gets the job done.

At this point, I'm shocked one of the heroes she just mentioned wasn't called "Bandicoot" or something.

A vicious thought occurs to me. If Garrison really did give Red Steel eye lasers he didn’t have before, he might have boosted his regeneration powers in the bargain. I might have to face him again before this is over.

Sure hope he hasn't murdered everyone on that boat.

I open up the phone program on my suit and tap out an email to Red Steel’s public address.

Hi!

This is Danny. We kicked each other’s asses earlier today. No hard feelings, I hope, but if I see you fighting for Garrison again, I will put you down for good. It’s not worth your life. Walk away.

Hugs and Kisses,
Dreadnought ^_^

A few minutes later, my suit buzzes with an incoming message. It’s from Red Steel and my heart flips over. Already? I was kind of hoping that after the ass-whooping I handed out, he’d still be asleep.

Why the fuck does he have access to his email? Surely he'd be in some kind of secure medical unit? Did--did nobody arrest him? Does he have diplomatic immunity? Is this like catch-and-release fishing? Or was Danny right, Red Steel regenerated, pulled a Demeter on the fishing boat, and swam off to safety?

So of course I have to write back.

Okey dokey! When this is over can we get a selfie together?
-D

I do not believe you will survive the next seventy-two hours.
-RS

Okay, but what if I do?
-D

Then, yes.
-RS

Cool beans. How are you feeling, by the way?
-D

Perhaps you should threaten me, and we shall see how I am feeling.
-RS

Don't indulge him, Red, you're too good for this.

I know from that last scuffle on the beach that he can sense his surroundings even when blind with cataracts. Maybe it lets him send emails as well, or he’s dictating them to someone. Or maybe he’s already back in action and simply wishes to sit the rest of this out. I decide that I need more practice at the better part of valor and close my email program.

Man, imagine being a superhero who debuted in the 40s and having the power to send email with your mind. What would you even think that was for?

“So?” I ask her. Little flickers of trepidation swirl around my ribs. I know I’m innocent, but being handcuffed in a police station for a few hours has a way of bringing home all sorts of unpleasant possibilities.

Like them finding the blog you ran with David.

Something’s rotten,” says Cecilia as she opens the first folder. Her voice is clipped. “They found his body a little under six hours ago. The coroner says he died early this morning.”


The trepidation explodes into full on anxiety. “That…doesn’t sound right. I mean, that sounds a little fast, doesn’t it?” I say this, but of course I know the answer, I’m just scared to say it out loud. The government can’t even decide whether or not to wipe its ass in six hours.


She nods. “No kidding. To go from body to warrant in less than a day is impossible. Someone has their thumb on the scale. I’ve got little birdies and they tell me pressure is coming from way up high.”

Amerimutts, is that true? I mean, I can see the cops being pretty fast if they have reason to think the most powerful superhero in the world has gone nuts and started slaughtering his personal enemies.

I lean forward anxiously. “But we can beat this, right?”


“I think we need to look beyond the legal case. It’s no coincidence this is happening now. This looks like a backup plan to me. Garrison wanted to recruit you, but since that’s fallen through he wants you off the field and tied up in court.

Garrison is banking a lot on Danny respecting the rule of law. Also, as many of us have pointed out several other times, this kind of wheeling-and-dealing feels pretty pointless when you can literally create an army of supervillains whenever you want.

We need to focus on getting you out of custody as quickly as possible so you’re free to counter whatever he’s following this up with.”

Everyone in this book vacillates between having no respect for the law and being raging, statist pussies. One minute we're breaking into a woman's home and threatening to murder them if our cell-phone signal ever fails again, or stealing a state's worth of electricity to power our death-ray, the next we're allowing ourselves to be railroaded in the courts while a villain monopolize superpowers forever.

Cecilia starts flipping through folders and arranging papers on the table. “In the longer term, their case doesn’t look too solid. At the very least, we can account for your whereabouts with GPS data for most of the past week, including the time you were supposedly—” Cecilia’s voice halts. Her fingers go white around her pen. After a moment, she continues, voice steady. “Supposedly murdering Vincent.”


“Cecilia, are you okay?”


Her lips twist into a sour smile. “Superhero law is a very small community. He wasn’t…we weren’t friends. But he was one of us.”

Why would it be small? Super-shit seems to be a pretty common occurrence.

The prosecutor is a man I know by face, but not name. I’ve testified in cases he was working on before, but usually I was on his side as his star witness.

Genuine question, would there be an issue then with him prosecuting Danny?

The judge enters from his chamber. Judge Wickles is an older man, hair like slicked-back steel and wrinkles that stand up like oak bark.

Wrinkles that... stand up? The fuck does that mean? Do his wrinkles protrude from his face?

“Danielle Tozer, you stand accused of murder in the second degree,” says Judge Wickles. “The District Attorney’s office alleges that you did seek out your parents’ lawyer, Vincent Trauth, that you found him at his home at approximately five in the morning earlier today, that you had an argument with him, and that in the heat of the moment, you broke his neck and killed him.

Well, I'm convinced, book him, boys!

As a licensed superhero, you are automatically required to be tried as an adult, and so the penalty for this crime is ten to eighteen years in prison. Do you understand the charges laid against you as I have described them?”

That seems a bit low? Again, is that a sentence you would expect for that in America? I'm not even going to touch the "tried as an adult thing."

All that brief, buoyed confidence I was feeling has melted, puddled in my boots. “I do, Your Honor.”


“Very well. You may enter a plea of guilty, not guilty, or no contest. How do you plead?”


With a heroic demonstration of self-restraint, I avoid pointing out that if I were going to murder someone, it would be stupid to leave their body lying around to incriminate me when I could very easily dispose of it by burning it up in the atmosphere. Instead, I settle for “Not guilty, Your Honor.”

...Danny's given Earth a ring thicker than Saturn's, doesn't it?

“Very well. I see you have retained counsel, so we will move on to the matter of setting bail. You may sit,” says Judge Wickles. “Does the prosecution have anything to enter into consideration for this decision?”


Hawser rises from his seat. “Your Honor, the prosecution moves that the defendant be held without bail until her trial. The unfortunate truth is that, other than by keeping the defendant in a special containment cell, the New Port Police cannot ensure the public’s safety. They simply don’t have the capability to confront her, to say nothing of the obvious flight risk of a suspect who can actually fly.” With a glance at me that’s one part nerves and two parts excitement, ADA Hawser sits back down. I guess he thinks this is going to be good for his career. Dick.

I bet if Daniels wrote to To Kill a Mockingbird, Mr. Gilmer would've been the one who tries to kill Scout at the end.

“I see.” Judge Wickles shifts his gaze to Cecilia. “And you, counselor?”


Cecilia rises and smoothes her skirt. “Your Honor, the defense moves that the defendant be released immediately upon her own recognizance pending trial. Aside from her sterling record of heroism and self-sacrifice, she is flatly innocent and wasn’t even in the city at the time the murder occurred.”


Judge Wickles takes the bait and asks, “Where was she?”


“She was being held prisoner by a supervillain who had contrived a way to temporarily nullify her powers.”


Hawser jackknifes out of his chair. “Objection! Your Honor, this is a conversation for the trial.”


“She was rescued earlier today by Doctor Impossible and a freelancer from California called Kinetiq,” says Cecilia, like Hawser hadn’t even spoken. She gestures at the railroad track of staples running through my scalp. “As you can see, my client was wounded in the ensuing gunfight. How could she sustain a bullet wound if she’d had her powers?”

Wait, this all happened on the same day? Fuck, Daniels is bad at creating a sense of time. Why the fuck would you have everything take place on the same day, anyway? What, we didn't even let Danny nap after her week long torture-fest? Also, ordinary bullets already sting Danny. It's not hard to believe a hypertech round being able to hurt him. Hell, how are they supposed to know that's even a bullet-wound and not... I don't know, a manticore scratch or something?

Judge Wickles looks at me curiously. “Who was holding her captive?”


Cecilia takes a deep breath and accuses the eighth richest man in the world of kidnapping and attempted murder: “Richard Garrison.”


Her words are almost immediately drowned in a swell of noise as dozens of reporters take that in and begin the slow, deliberate process of losing their goddamn minds with how juicy this story is going to be. The judge has to bang his gavel and shout for order for a solid minute or so. “Do you have evidence to support this claim?”


“We have GPS logs of her suit, and both Kinteq and Doctor Impossible are willing to testify.”

I feel like two out of three of those things are hackable.

Judge Wickles purses his lips and nods. “We won’t be considering exculpatory claims at this time. I do, however, find the prosecution’s argument that the defendant is dangerously uncontrollable to be implausible—at the very least, she has submitted to an arrest that, by your own admission Mr. Hawser, the police have no power to physically compel. I see no reason to deny her bail.”


“She is a danger to the city and everyone in it,” says Hawser, gesturing at me. “This is not the first time her temper has gotten out of control, and in fact, she has a history of threatening people she has disagreements with. If her temper has gotten the best of her in the past, it can in the future as well.”


“You have evidence of this?” asks the judge.

Hoo boy, does he.

A projector throws a large image on a blank spot of wall, big enough the whole room can watch. The image is grainy, but clear enough to see.


The inside of a condo. The camera is somewhere up high, on top of a bookcase, maybe, hidden among the leaves of a potted plant. Graywytch is sitting down to breakfast. The door explodes inward on a cloud of splinters. There’s no sound, but there doesn’t need to be. I stalk in, every line in my body heaving with rage. White-faced, clenched fists. Shouting at her.


The image cuts to another camera. I’m tearing the stone off the wall, crumpling it in my hands. My face is twisted, sour with hate. And Graywytch is scared. Now that I’m watching it through the distance of a screen, it’s obvious she’s terrified. Her smug voice, her sneering smile, it was all bluster. Her body is pulled in tight and high, she’s cleared her line of retreat. Her eyes are darting around. One last shot of me kicking out her window and leaving. After I’m gone, Graywytch sits down heavily and puts her head in her hands.


The video finishes playing. I’m cold.

You're cold?

Cecilia sags in her chair. After a moment, she turns to me, trembling with barely suppressed fury, and forces her words through clenched teeth, “Don’t you think I might have wanted to know about this?”


I bunch my fists in my lap. “This doesn’t have anything to do with anything. She had that coming.” She’s got to believe me. Graywytch was acting, making it look worse than it is. And anyhow, it turns out I was right about her—she had already been working with the bad guys for months by the time this happened.

Daniels is trying to do one of two things here. The better possibility is that he's confronting Danny with the monstrosity of his actions, which would at least be something. The other is that he's stealthily trying to tell his readers that "TERFs" will cry crocodile-tears to try and trick people into thinking they have feelings, so best hold off on publicly threatening to kill, rape, or eat them until the last holdouts have been dealt with.

Cecilia thrusts a trembling finger back behind us, at the packed audience section. “Look. Look at them, Danny.”


I turn.


The entire room is staring at me in undisguised horror. As I watch, two get up from the front row and start making their way to the back of the room, throwing harried looks over their shoulder. Everywhere my gaze lands, people flinch and shy away. A reporter from Channel 2 who I did my first interview with, who I’ve always liked, is wet-eyed with fear at being within arm’s reach of me.


Every good thought I ever had about myself shrivels up and dies. I think I’m going to vomit.


They’re not just upset with me, they’re terrified. Of me. Of what they think I’ve done.

Also, what you were recorded on camera doing.

 

[Alabama Gamer]

I swear to God, this is those Temps stories without the comedy.

What're those, and would you recommend them?

 

[White-Kettle Shufflepunk]

What're those, and would you recommend them?

Set of comedy short stories about like, daggy, state-managed, British superheroes with crap powers. I remember them being pretty funny.

 

[Alabama Gamer]

Set of comedy short stories about like, daggy, state-managed, British superheroes with crap powers. I remember them being pretty funny.

Got a link? Can't find anything on Jewgle.

 

[White-Kettle Shufflepunk]

https://www.amazon.com.au/Temps-Alex-Stewart/dp/0140145605

Seems to be out of print.

 

[M3xus]

I respect the author Daniels a bit for showing Danny his actions have consequences. Unfortunately, I share you sentiment this is going to be a "TERFs will cry all sorts of crocodile tears to get you to sympathize" moment.

 

[IridiumDragon06]

I respect the author Daniels a bit for showing Danny his actions have consequences. Unfortunately, I share you sentiment this is going to be a "TERFs will cry all sorts of crocodile tears to get you to sympathize" moment.

Firmly seconded. I wonder if the entire bits with GreyWytch this novel were the results of an editor; they feel so different in tone, and it also feels like this is going to be an actual turning point for Danny. Then again, I would not be surprised if the entire deal is leading to Danny triumphing over the forces of women not wanting to be violently assaulted by men pretending to be women. A lot still feels weird about this; why was the secondary murder done, if the tapes were out there? Why not just release those and accuse Danny of the aggravated assault and attempted murder he absolutely did and didn't deny doing?

And what is everyone's plan when the violent psycho just shrugs, decapitates everyone in the courtroom, and leaves? If the only thing keeping Danny cooperative was his self-image, and that's gone, what's the actual plan here? With maybe the exception of Garrison's electro-super henchman, is there anyone who can stand up to Dreadnought if he gets serious and murder-y?

My grim supposition is that this is just leading into the Ultimate Triumph of Troonery Via Gaining the Power of the State, and that Danny is going to skate due to legal bullshit, but if the book just sends Danny to jail and ends on that note, I will be grudgingly impressed. I'll also be...well, not impressed, but less pissed off if Danny does just start outright ignoring the law and slapping cops and judges around, and makes the point that he didn't kill the lawyer but could have and should have, and no one can stop him.

But I feel that there is Much Dumb in our immediate future.

---

Also, as a quick aside; how the hell is it that random Russian mercenary has a public email address, and the TERF Book Witch doesn't? Wait, how the hell does Danny have a public email address? Isn't that a big goddamn problem if he gets targeted by the super-hackers that are giving Doc a run for her money? How the hell does this even work?

I mean, I know the answer is that the Author is Extremely Online and incapable of imaging a world different than their own, or people other than their ego-stroking paper-dolls, but just thinking of the logistics of Danny having an email address that Red Steel knows is verifiably his raises a dozen technical and world-building questions.

 

[White-Kettle Shufflepunk]

Red Steel uses it for his secret Kiwi Farms account. Which of course makes that last fight technically weening.

 

[Kosher Dill]

We haven’t even spoken about what this might do to my still-pending federal license.

Troons, man, troons. Can they go one minute without thinking of another layer of bureaucracy to infest?

ADA Hawser sits back down. I guess he thinks this is going to be good for his career.

A projector throws a large image on a blank spot of wall, big enough the whole room can watch. The image is grainy, but clear enough to see.

I'm thinking he's right.

I'm pleasantly surprised that Danny is being called to account for his thuggery, but we're even later in the book now and I just don't see how this can be walked back. Exhibit A:

Now that I’m watching it through the distance of a screen, it’s obvious she’s terrified.

Graywytch was acting, making it look worse than it is. And anyhow, it turns out I was right about her—she had already been working with the bad guys for months by the time this happened.

In the space of a minute, Danny goes from possibly realizing he's done wrong to denying it all. The sum total of Danny's moral development over these two books is a grudging acceptance that killing unnecessarily is bad. It seems unlikely that the justice system is going to do anything here, and we already played the "Come To Jesus talk" card with Doc. So where can this all possibly be going in the time we have left? I feel a half-assed resolution to this is worse than none at all.

With maybe the exception of Garrison's electro-super henchman, is there anyone who can stand up to Dreadnought if he gets serious and murder-y?

Do you even need an electric superhero? Even a tazer might work fine if you can avoid his blood fury rampage and land a hit.

Also, as a quick aside; how the hell is it that random Russian mercenary has a public email address

Well, it makes sense that he'd have one to drum up business, but that should just be a mailbox for his secretary to sift through, not a line right to his cell phone. You'd think there would be millions of weens impersonating superheroes/villains and trying to start fights.
"DEAR RED STEEL, fyte me irl at newport middle school unless u chicken, SIGND DREDNAUGHT"

Sadly, that one was real.