ASH: Shadow Girls #11 - Super...or Not?

[Drew Nilium]

On 6/14/23 11:57 PM, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
>       [the cover shows a titanic zombie Supernaut looming over the
>        Morning Stars, taller even than some buildings, in a very
>        deliberately exaggerated "pop art 60s" style of cover, complete
>        with colored shadows and warped perspective.]

ooooooh, love it love it

>       "Oh, gross!" Tetra-Red shook her arm furiously after punching a Zombie
> 5th Avenue Snakeater in two, showering the stairwell with pieces best left
> unidentified.

ghehehe.

>       "It appears that even the best efforts of the houngans could not
> preserve the Snakeaters indefinitely.  I suspect that had we waited a few
> more weeks, the gang would have literally fallen apart on its own," Hexa-Blue
> theorized.

:3

>       "And we're in!  Holy...that guy's bigger than Killgamesh!" Tetra-Red
> finished ridding herself of zombie bits and pushed open the double-wide
> delivery doors.
>       "And twice as ugly!" Icosa-Pink added.

Love it, love it

>       "De new Supernaut LIVES!" Baron Saturday exulted.

Yesssss, cheesy fun lines

>       Jess hmmf'd.  She'd been more taciturn than even her normal, but
> everyone had been turning more extreme, to Maddie's deep concern.  The
> journaling exercises weren't doing as much anymore, and seemed more like time
> spent in bias confirmation than introspection now.

Oh dear. :/

>       For a moment, Maddie worried that she'd just lost the girls.  That
> they'd storm out and look for a fight that they weren't prepared for.  That
> it would be a huge disaster.
>       Julie sighed theatrically.  "I suppose we can wait a day or two, make
> sure we don't burst dramatically into an empty basement and scare the rats to
> death."

Good good @-@

>       "You weren't listening," Hexa-Blue explained, "if you had stepped one
> point two meters further to the right before pulling out that tube, the spray
> would have hit the technoloa in Dr. Jacky's hand and fouled it!"
>       "Don't tell me how to boss fight and I won't tell you how to be a nerd,"
> Octa-Green retorted.

X>;;;;

>       "Don't any of you remember who you are?" Icosa-Pink's voice pleaded.
> She'd been trying to get the zombie Supernaut to "wake up" from its near
> mindless state and turn good or something.
>       It was not working.

Oh sweetie ;-;

>       "Ho, I an' I recognize those moves, Miss Yellow," Dr. Jacky taunted.
> "Y'right t'fear the long arm of the loa!"
>       What?  Had Jacky been watching one of the fights from the shadows?
>       "Have you been soloing?" Tetra-Red asked.  "Also, I need to kick you in
> the head for that pun," she added, most likely not talking to the same person
> in both instances.

khehehe but oh no X>

>       "Fine.  If none of you will listen to the plan, I will reduce the
> variables to something simple enough for even Octa-Green to follow,"
> Hexa-Blue grumbled as she came into the drone's view.

X>;;;;

> Suddenly leaning
> in, she grabbed Saturday by his battered topcoat and threw him onto a patch
> of floor which exploded into tentacles of darkness, binding him to the ground
> as he screamed in terror.
>       Hexa-Blue looked directly at the drone.  "Simple trap to keep anyone
> from approaching," she explained to Maddie.  "He has now been hoist on his
> own petard, as it were.  If pulled down rather than hurled upwards.  The
> metaphor's validity does not require literal truth."

X3 She's adorable. And worrisome! <3

>       With Saturday at least temporarily out of the fight, Maddie turned the
> drone to take in the rest of the fight, making a mental note to build one
> that had cameras in more than one direction.  When she had time.  If the
> girls would ever slow down enough to let her fill in the gaps.

I feel it. n.n

> The floor was getting slick from both
> Supernaut's internal fluids and the contents of bubbling flasks that had
> apparently been part of the technomystical revivification process.

Move your dead bones, bones, bones

>       "Pink, it's not working," Maddie said over Liv's channel.  "Dr. Jacky's
> got direct control.  Maybe if you take him down it'll be possible to convince
> Supernaut to stop fighting?"  Maddie doubted that anything could talk the
> cyberzombie down, whatever was animating the body was not any of the original
> inhabitants of the constituent parts.  But if it got Icosa-Pink back in the
> fight, a little white lie would have to be okay.

*nodnods* X>;

>       Icosa-Pink turned towards Dr. Jacky, then paused.  "But what if that
> hurts Supernaut too?"
>       "THAT'S THE POINT!" Octa-Green shouted as she drove a shard of broken
> lab equipment into one of Supernaut's glowing orange eyes.

X3;;;;

>       Maddie whirled the drone around, stopping when she noticed Hexa-Blue
> holding the fanged head of a technoloa against an outlet.  "It stood to
> reason that there was a feedback mechanism in the devices, and I was able to
> overwhelm Dr. Jacky for a moment via an electrical surge," Blue explained.
> "Now, I suppose the 'hit the pile of undead meat until it falls apart' plan
> will be sufficient, carry on."

Amazing.

> Some of
> his officers resented the end of the relative quiet that had descended after
> Warden left, but Eiber was pretty sure that things were about to boil over
> again one way or another...

The status is definitely not quo.

>       Everyone held their breath for a moment, and there was nodding.  "Sounds
> like a man's voice," Sgt. Eiber confirmed over the secure line.  "Someone's
> awake, and might be a threat...go quiet, but be ready to go loud."
>       Of course, the stairs chose that moment to creak loudly, something that
> no amount of noise-baffling boot sole could prevent, and everyone burst into
> motion, pouring into the basement room.

heeheehee

> Dr. Jacky and Baron Saturday were mostly
> unconscious, tied up in what looked like the remains of Jacky's technoloa and
> random wires and tubes, plus at least one piece of rebar bent entirely around
> Jacky's hands like handcuffs.

Love it. <3

>       But it sure looked like the Morning Stars were doing their best to
> deserve his squad's attention....

Dun dun dunnnn...

>       I wrote the second half several months after the first half, I just sort
> of stalled out on the Big Fight Scene.  I finally decided to write it through
> a limited perspective, and then tacked on the final scene as wrap-up rather
> than have Maddie walk in on the carnage at the end.  This also let me bring
> back some named but minor characters from Warden and give the "technically
> illegal vigilantes" subplot some time.

Works for me! :D

>       Those of you who played City of Heroes, Supernaut II is (was) very much
> in the Vahzilok aesthetic.

Ohhhhh, immediately stronger mental image, thank you. n.n

Drew "Supernaut vs. Powernaut when" Nilium