Worm (Parahumans #1)
chapter-311

Subject: PHO Technical Assistance

August 24th, Y1

After discussion among the moderation team, we have agreed to allow the name change. As we discussed in the tech help chat, our primary concern in these situations is an abuse of the system or a lack of accountability. This being said, your account is in good standing and you’ve agreed to a probationary status.

Your in-account email, curated lists, private messages, badges, and accesses will remain intact, as will your forum account’s connection to your wiki contributions.

Let us know if there is anything else we can help you with.

Graham at PHO

Subject: Re: PHO Technical Assistance

August 24th, Y1

Thank you so much! I am having another problem. I’ve been getting caught up on my PMs/DMs/Emails and there is a lot of abusive content. All of the recent messages are very hostile or vulgar. It seems to have started before I even signed back on. I don’t know why. I’m so sorry to raise problems when I’m probationary.

Subject: Re: Re: PHO Technical Assistance

August 24th, Y1

Graham here. I looked at the incident log and found one major incident that another site admin handled. An article came out here. Two groups online identified the people in that article and shared out their screen names and other information. We took action when people used PHO resources (direct messages, email) to harass one of the individuals in the article. We took action and removed them, but they may be returning with the use of new accounts and expanding the number of people targeted.

If you could report any or all of those involved, it would help us a great deal. For solutions, I can think of three options: you can continue to report so we can continue to take action (as these are not the people we want on PHO) and we can hope this quiets down, you can move to a new account and start fresh, or you can agree to give PHO staff access to your private messages so we can take action. This would involve us reading anything private in the conversations, and it would mean anyone messaging you was notified that PHO staff can read your things. We would limit this to only recent and new senders, so your friends and pre-existnig conversation partners would stay private. As a bonus the notification could help stem the influx.

-Graham with PHO

Subject: Re: re: re: PHO Technical Assistance

August 24th, Y1

I’m not comfortable giving you access as I might receive sensitive or personal messages (and I would want to). I’ll report what I can.

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♦ Private message from AnonymousEDT103:

AnonymousEDT103: you’re not one of us and you’ll never be

User has been reported. We’ll look into it soon. Thank you!

■

♦ Topic: [Article] Weld to Warden

In: Boards ► News ► Events ►Gimel.US

Ball-Chan

Posted on August 23rd Y1:

[Article Text, Editorial]His list of credentials starts off good. A two year tenure as a member of the Boston Wards with no offenses or misconduct reported to the media. He was the third monstrous cape to feature as an actor on a television show, the first to make a second appearance on TV, and the first monstrous cape with an onscreen kiss. He was the subject of a viral online image, released with various humorous captions, and it was a combination of this and arguably his small-network television appearances that gave him his popularity. He rode this success to a position as the first monstrous cape to be the team leader of the Wards. Ambitious fellow, isn’t he?

Weld’s popularity and time in the spotlight made him a figure of interest when, following undisclosed events in Brockton Bay, he turned from the established heroes and brought the vast majority of the monstrous capes in the Protectorate and Wards with him. Speculation flew as to why, and Weld was cagey when asked. No comment, the teenager said.

Weld’s team was dubbed ‘The Irregulars’ in a play on the term for unconventional military squadrons and on the team being wholly made up of monstrous capes. At this stage, it was still possible to praise Weld for his efforts. He reached out to monstrous parahumans both American and international, and he kept his team together while carrying out deeds for the camera. Maintaining a group of such size isn’t an easy task when its numbers are swelling like his group’s did. He wasn’t too open about his methods or his team’s motivations.

Things take an ugly turn from here. When Chevalier announced that the PRT was mending its ways and that the person at the heart of the organization’s corruption had been defeated, Weld’s irregular team of monstrous capes kept away and kept silent. Heroes called for unity, the Suits answered that call, sending many members to America to serve, following a schism of their own.

Even the defeat of Behemoth or the appearance of the new Endbringers didn’t serve to bring Weld back into the fold. If anything, Weld seemed to note that his team’s numbers were dropping. He and the monstrous capes serving under him stopped making as many public appearances. We don’t know what he started doing at this time, but his team was still recruiting. No comment, Weld said.

It’s telling, too, that Weld’s appearance changed. He decorated himself with horns and scales. To those with an eye for the symbolic, Weld was a monstrous cape who was embracing the monster and turning his back on the cape side of things.

More time passed, and more silence followed. No comment, he said, on the rare occasions when he appeared in front of the cameras. No comment.

On that Thursday, June 20th, 2013, Scion took our world from us. He took almost everything from us. Based on our limited accounts of what happened, Weld was there for the initial foray, an organized series of attacks mounted from an oil rig. He was not there after, leading a substantial portion of his team to other venues. There’s no indication of what he was doing, but we do know he wasn’t there for the skirmishes on other worlds, against other major organized groups of parahumans. We do know he wasn’t there for the follow-up confrontation on the beachhead.

Many will argue it was a chaotic time. No reports are wholly accurate, the world was ending, and the number of parahumans fighting was no doubt mind-boggling. Why make a point of this in particular?

To start with, today was the day Weld returned to Gimel after some time elsewhere. We’ve been told he was doing a combination of work in Earth Bet and spending some time touring other worlds in the company of the mass-murderer codenamed ‘Garotte’ and a pair of unnamed capes the two were friendly with. He was extended an offer to join the Wardens as a leader of one of the group’s cells, and he accepted.

People are applauding, it seems. Weld led a rather formidable team of monstrous capes away from the field of battle, at that critical point in our recent history. He came back practically alone, his team gone. He’s tight-lipped as to why.

His Wards team didn’t do very well either, for the record. We haven’t heard the full story from him there either. He claimed that he didn’t want to disparage his former employer, and that they were still on positive terms.

Does he deserve the position?

Is he trustworthy?

Is he even that good of a cape or a leader?

I’ll remind you of two of his favorite words, while you mull over those questions.

“No comment.”

(Showing Page 13 of 13)

► Wytchmlj

Replied on August 23rd, Y1:

Nobody is saying why things happened like they did. Some are hinting @ it tho.

A lot are hinting at it. Conspiracy of silence.

Weld seems to know things and like the article says he’s keeping his mouth shut.

It is his right to keep quiet. It is our right to say he’s an asshole for doing it.

► Capricorn (Hero)

Replied on August 23rd

Guys guys guys. this is a hit piece and it’s a bad one at that.

Full disclosure: I know Weld some. he was and is one of my favorite people

But come the fuck on. Everyone has a motivation driving them. skimming through the comments on this article makes that v. clear. YES absolutely wonder at weld’s motivations. wonder about everyone’s. wonder about the people who are pushing hard for moving forward and about the people who want to go back to the way things were. wonder about the person who wrote this article and why he has the focus he does.

but don’t make the mistake of focusing so much on the question marks that you forget about the other punctuation marks & if someone shows you who they are then believe them. Weld’s teammates in Boston and Brockton Bay only had nice things to say about him. Period. Weld did charity work with kids he definitely didn’t have to do. Period. Weld served as team leader for a city in need and he kept his wards alive thru the Slaughterhouse Nine and God knows what else- exclamation mark.

Weld has never shown himself to be anything but decent. if you’re filling in the blanks or raising questions then take your cue from that first & foremost.

► Tdren

Replied on August 23rd

Silence isn’t an option. Things are heating up, people are scared and we’re scared for a justifiable reason. Powers came out, and we started seeing broken powers. People with mutations, people with no off switch. Monsters who needed to be quarantined. Endbringers.

Now we’ve got a different kind of broken power.

It keeps getting worse. It gets worse in a linear and steady way. These things follow from one another. There is a visible pattern and there is a sense to be made of things. The new broken powers follow from the people made monstrous by their powers. If Weld knows something we have to ask.

We have no authorities. We have no system of government. We have no national cape team or licensed heroes. We can’t even agree on a name for Gimel’s megalopolis!

We can discuss all day but at some point we need to make decisions. We need to say we deserve to know and if you won’t tell us then no you can’t represent us and no we won’t trust you to have our back.

► FFlash

Replied on August 23rd

@ Capricorn – I think you have some bias you’re not admitting to here. You disappeared too, didn’t you? You left Reach and disappeared. A couple of your old teammates are saying they’re thinking about joining the Attendant and you’re not included in that. Why? Are we supposed to use your metrics to evaluate you? Go by the face you presented to the public?

I think I’d rather read between the lines. Your old team doesn’t want you for a reason

► AtoLo

Replied on August 23rd

1000000000s of human beings died or have yet to make their way to us.

1000000000s.

1000000000s of humans with families. mothers and fathers. good days and bad days.

i say 1000000000s instead of billions because billions barely sounds different from millions and i think the zeroes drive it home

the city is as big as it is because we were lucky. we only lost about half of those close to us in N.E. US.

refugees of Earth Shin say a parahuman took over their Earth a decade ago. one woman. she went back home to continue ruling them.

there is a world not far from us which is at constant war. there are tears in reality they can use to reach us and they have a lot of incentive to do so. they have parahumans too.

there is a theocratic state which is more distant but they have some parahumans too.

there is a world of monsters like Weld and his irregulars.

there are others, smaller. there are probably others who we haven’t been told about.

every week we get a handful of reports of people triggering with broken powers. They burn bright and burn fast and they do a lot of damage.

on the smallest level we are quiet and still because we are afraid to disturb the peace. but on the big level our new neighbors aren’t focused 100% on us. we’re important. we’re a powerful few even though we lost 1000000000s. the tyrant queen is looking at us but also watching over her shoulder for the war world and the monsters and the broken triggers. the war world is wanting to venture out but maybe an expedition is hard to field and they get broken triggers too. they’re getting more regular triggers.

the truce will break, both on the small level and the big

we are hurting from the loss of 1,000,000,000s and we are only just now reaching the point where we need to make decisions. what do we call ourselves? what direction do we go? Do we move forward or backward?

Like i said we are smaller in number than we should be. we’re hurting. we’re distracted and scattered.

but i think we have the most powers at our disposal. that’s important.

and i think we’re best equipped to have the answers when others come asking. i think that’s the most important thing by far. they are going to ask and we are going to want to have answers to offer them

i think we need people to start telling instead of hinting. information is the most valuable resource at all.

► Yipper

Replied on August 23rd

Information is also more volatile than oil, nitro, or nuclear material. Look at the secret identity leaks going on in this thread. Targeted harassment of Weld & others. If hundreds or thousands agree to keep quiet about things then maybe there’s a reason.

Let’s not turn into a rabid mob

► Space_Squid

Replied on August 23rd

Humanity has seen its worst test yet and it came out the other side.

I’d like to draw a comparison. I’ve read some of these pages and I see an effort to make us out to be the enemy. the monstrous capes are this mysterious thing and some of us are made out to know things that we aren’t saying

I can tell you who we are. just like you we’re scarred. we were hurt very badly and altered very dramatically and we didn’t get to know why. we desperately wanted answers because our histories friends and families were taken from us. we were forced out of our homes and thrust into a strange place and many of us were left desperate or dangerous. Just like some of you.

We learned some partial truths and that made things worse. Then after a very long time and a lot of pain we learned most of the rest of the truth.

I won’t pretend its easy. I struggled every day and then I struggled more after the end of the world.

But we fought a hard fight whether it was to save the world or to get to safety or to climb out of dark angry depths. We came out the other side. Every day we survive is a day we can say “I was THAT strong so I can definitely survive this.” Replace I with WE because we are all together in this.

I don’t know if that will work for you but it helped me

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 11, 12, 13

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♦ Topic: help

In: Boards ► Groups ► C53

Casey_F08

Posted on August 23rd Y1:

I would like to thank you all for reading this. I was invited to post here by Quasi after I posted in some other places. Quasi has been talking to me and resurring me.

I remember hearing about the monster heroes and I never payed much attention to them. Now I think I am one.

My name is Casey Forks and I would be starting high school this fall if things hadn’t gone bad. My mom hasn’t been well for a long time and my brother has the same condition so we decided to stick it out and whether things. we had a shelter and we had some food. my dad and I went to stores and raided them for more foods that would last and we stocked up.

The shelter didn’t work out. we all got headaches and dad said the air filters weren’t sufficent. we went upstairs into the house and sealed all the gaps and dad tried to fix up the filters. long story short that didn’t work out either. I should have tried to get somewhere safe but I stayed. I shouldn’t have stayed.

I didn’t think enough about monster capes or about those with powers but now I am both. Maybe I am not Casey anymore. I am frozen like the dead people who have lying on the ground for the years since the world ended, like a mummy without bandages. Mold grows on me and grows around me and it covers everything I can see and think about. I am a god of death and decay and I am an open fridge door with mold growing inside it and spilling out. with every passing day and hour and minute I am less like casesy and more a god of gross fridge stuff. my world of mold gets bigger every moment

I grew mold on my dads body and I could make him move. I grew mold on his brain and I got him to think and with his thinking I finally got the generator and the router and the phones working. It helped that I grew mold on the pieces and parts.

Now I am making my sister type because I cannot move any part of me a milimeter and I am asking heroes for help. I’m internet famous and there are articles written about my situation so that gives me some hope

But more importantly I am trying not to lose my mind. Quasi is helping me with that and he said you would all help by sharing your stories.

I am so scared that the heroes won’t save me but I am just as scared they’ll save me but they won’t be able to fix me. I am scared that I won’t be able to move. I am scared I won’t be able to hug a pretty girl or lie next to her in bed. I never cared about the rude stuff that much I thought that the cuddling would be the nicest part. I want to see the world through eyes that aren’t moldy and to take a deep breath and scream or even laugh. I want to play soccer again with all my friends there and I want my parents to be there and be proud.

Tell me I’ll be ok.

(Showing Page 3 of 3)

► Casey_F08

Replied on August 23rd, Y1

Thank you thank you for your words. they give me hope.

►Engel

Replied on August 23rd, Y1

Be strong brother. With powers all things are possible. Through trauma and struggle we find ourselves so much stronger. It takes time to adjust and it takes time and effort to find the right keys to the right locks. With help (and you have so much help!) Clocks can be turned back and flesh can be reshaped. We killed a god and the worst is behind us. Slowly but surely we will put the pieces back together. If I did not believe this 100% then I would not be here to write this message to you. Be strong.

► Casey_F08

Replied on August 23rd, Y1

I am trying.

► Casey_F08

Replied on August 23rd, Y1

thank you all so much

► Space_Squid

Replied on August 23rd, Y1

I read some of your old posts Casey. when you fractured your ankle playing soccer you were worried you would never play again but you got there. When powers are involved the lows are so much lower but the highs are high enough to make it all so very worth it. You are funny, smart and cool and people wouldn’t be rooting for you if you weren’t. Your fears echo mine when I realized what had happened to me. I worried I would never have control or have a boy next to me or anything else. I can tell you it is possible.

► Fishie (Board Admin)

Replied on August 23rd, Y1

Thread locked. Article with details/wrap-up here.

Casey has been added to the names thread here. We won’t tolerate objections on the matter. He was close enough to being one of us.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3

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♦ Private message from Whippersnap:

Whippersnap: I saw you in the casey thread. you had your name changed but you did a bad job of covering up the change.

Space_Squid: I didn’t cover it up. The old name was a lark at a time I needed to laugh but I’m done with it. Its embarrassing now

Whippersnap: some of us were talking in the chat and we agree you weren’t an ally in the end.

Space_Squid: I see

Whippersnap: Egg was only one to come back from there. he said you and Weld stopped us from getting justice

Space_Squid: the messages I got. They weren’t from angry civilians. They were from you?

Whippersnap: from us.

Space_Squid: okay. no need to worry then. I won’t come back. I wish you all the best.

Whippersnap: fuck you

Space_Squid: You should know I killed her. The one who did this.

Whippersnap: you stopped us from getting our justice and took it for yourself.

Space_Squid: I guess so

You have left the conversation.

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Subject: PHO Technical Assistance

August 24th, Y1

Hi Graham,

Space Squid here.

I hate to be a pain. I’d like to ask if it’s okay if I just deleted my account and started fresh.

■

♦ Joined Group Conversation: Cap, Mangled_Wings, Weird_Insect, of5, Heart_Shaped_Pupil

Cap: pisses me off

of5: Its the way it goes. He’s a tough guy. He can roll with it.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: S!

Mangled_Wings: Hi S.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: hi

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: ! ! ! ! ! ! Yes !

Kraken_in_a_Jar: *hugs Kenzie to get her to stop wiggling*

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: *dies*

Weird_Insect: geez K, that’s not funny…

Weird_Insect: …we’re using short-form names btw, S.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: Oh I see. I don’t really see the point but ok

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: sorry

Kraken_in_a_Jar: its ok

Kraken_in_a_Jar: It put a smile on my face K.

of5: here we are. it’s really good to see you, S. Keyboard got?

Kraken_in_a_Jar: I got my fancy keyboard. Everything fine tuned. Saw the worlds. Spent time with my favorite person.

Cap: speaking of

Kraken_in_a_Jar: it’s ok. he’s tough.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: thank you for rooting for him.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: it meant a lot to see your name there.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: I see the anger and the agitation and I think really people are not complaining about what they are complainng about.

Cap: How is Weld doing?

Kraken_in_a_Jar: Hes good. Hard to tell sometimes because he is so strong. Emotionally. He busy but good. New position means a lot even if I can’t go with him.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: You’re with us

Kraken_in_a_Jar: Absolutely

Cap: things are stirring. world is about to shift. we ride the wave.

Weird_Insect: we have work to do first. organization to do. things to figure out.

Cap: (he’s so different online)

of5: don’t start cap.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: did I miss much?

of5: someone put a hit out on me. that’s fun

Kraken_in_a_Jar: !?

of5: It’s no big deal. Nothing is happening just yet. You’ve been gone 5 days?

Kraken_in_a_Jar: 5 days. Weld left to go talk to people and brought me with. we had to wait for keyboard order so we got a boat and permission and went looking. Tried to find my place of birth. no luck but was some of the best days of my life

Cap: I’ll take that as a challenge. see if we can’t top your boat trip.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: you didn’t make any major decisions?

Weird_Insect: No. we wanted to wait for everyone. Cap saw you online and figured it was you. he got ahold of R and I made sure the others stuck around.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I wouldn’t have let them either for the record. you’re one of my favorite people

Kraken_in_a_Jar: Thank you, C. *hugs K*

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: *dies*

Kraken_in_a_Jar: it means a lot to me.

Mangled_Wings: Strength in numbers

Kraken_in_a_Jar: Not in numbers.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: I don’t think so.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: I think its strength in difference. We all stand at different angles and places. See things differently. we can support one another and hold each other up because of that. but we have commonalities. A and me. K and me. K and C. R and B.

Weird_Insect: T&A.

of5: Haha

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: !!!!

Cap: oh my god, C. you can’t go being funny like that. you’re not allowed.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: I’ll PM you to explain, A.

Mangled_Wings: No need. I didn’t think it’s funny.

Weird_Insect: thank you, A…

Weird_Insect: …it was a lame lame joke…

Weird_Insect: …rest of you don’t laugh too much or I am going to quit

Kraken_in_a_Jar: we’re doing this because we work together.

of5: It’s been weird not having you around, s. I think the balance is defintely something we need to keep an eye on

Kraken_in_a_Jar: Balance 100%.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: we represent the lead we want others to follow

Kraken_in_a_Jar: stability

Cap: yeah

Kraken_in_a_Jar: strength

Mangled_Wings: Absolutely.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: cooperation

of5: Yep

Kraken_in_a_Jar: and honesty and good health and kindness and moving forward and all of that junk. I feel really awkward now because people keep saying yes and now there are expectations and I feel like there’s an order to it.

Weird_Insect: all that junk, yes.

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: Don’t feel awkward! no expectations. Well, some. but is good. we should have you be leader for this project and do the speeches.

Kraken_in_a_Jar: I am not a leader. Let me think on the speeches

Kraken_in_a_Jar: and I’m really tired of pulling on these knobs especially after all the travel. I think I’m going to get myself free and find another.

Weird_Insect: nobody say it

Heart_Shaped_Pupil: another knob? ! ! !

Weird_Insect: damn it, K

Kraken_in_a_Jar: He’s definitely not a knob

Kraken_in_a_Jar: I’ll probably see you all online at some point. if I don’t I’ll see you at the next meeting. Soon.

Mangled_Wings: Soon