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The term is usually referred to in a definitional way. "Assuming the mantle" or "Taking up the mantle" or "Being bestowed with the mantle". It lacks its own verb mostly because the mantle is treated as a noun, and its own discrete item, rather than a process (which is what requires the term "Mantling" from The Elder Scrolls)Okay, so what is the action of taking up a mantle called in Dresden Files?
Oh, Clayface you dumbass. Best deal he was ever going to get and he tosses it away for weird as fuck sky portal that didn't want him. PeteyPaul should reassess whether the guy is insane.
"What I planned to do all along." Honestly, has she not worked with him enough to know he plans ahead?Jade backs up further, a shock baton appearing in her left hand and a crossbow pistol in her right. But there isn't any particular surprise in her expression. Her life to date hasn't encouraged or rewarded trust and she certainly wasn't putting any faith in me at this point in our working relationship. To be fair, I don't trust her either, which is why none of my employees know why we're here.
"Hey, what the hell are you-"
There's an arrowhead next to my head-
"-doing?!"
Someguy Somewhere called it, it's a rescue and recruitment run!-as the battered canisters leak brown sludge over the floor of Mr Edge's vault. Liquids don't really compress that well but they do conduct blast waves. Thank you, Hollywood Science. I could shoot it again, but at this point-.
The mud begins purposively pouring out of the canisters, collecting into thick strands which writhe and twist around one another before merging into a unified mass.
What, never seen someone pulling themselves together?
"Yes, Arsenal, do try to keep up..." So none of his operatives knew what he was after?I lower the Gravity Rod and step forward as arms, legs and the outline of a face begin to appear.
"Mister Hagen? Are you compos mentis?"
I don't look, but I suspect that Roy is frowning as he reorientates his arrow. "Hagen. Clayface?"
Ouch, that'll make him a little upset, I think."Not my greatest role." Mr Hagen mimes cracking a neck he no longer possesses, then lumbers around to look at the canisters. "How long was I in there?"
"About four years, I'm afraid."
Significant amongst the charges: Kidnapping and Deprivation of Liberty... Never mind his whole secret crime boss thing.He turns back to the four of us, eyes -such as he has- properly focusing on me for the first time.
"Edge?"
"Will be spending some significant time explaining himself to the Federal Bureau of Investigation once we anonymously drop him off."
Easy assumption to make, really.He thinks about that for a moment.
"You some kind of superhero?"
Us or Them mentality. How nice.
Let's go with 'Mercenary'. Or maybe 'Freelance problem solver', mercenary is such an ugly word."Not really." I hold up the Rod. "Barely know how to use it." I indicate Roy with my right thumb. "He's a superhero. She's-" I look around and nod at Barbara. "-a former supervillain and she-" I nod at Jade. "-issss..." I raise my eyebrows. "Former supervillain?"
She shrugs.
It tends to be quite profitable for said people, too.I turn back to Mr Hagen.
"Former supervillain. I, Mister Hagen, am in the business of locating people who have -for whatever reason- made some rather unfortunate choices, but whom I think might be amenable to making better ones in future."
Quite literally. Pun not intended, as far as Peter is concerned, I hope."Uh-huh."
I reach down with my right hand, unclip a chemical flask and hold it out to him.
"MP Forty. I understand it helps you pull yourself into shape."
Ah, he's suspicious. Sensible, really.He looks at it hungrily. "It does more than that. It makes me feel human again. What do you want for it?"
I shake my head. "Nothing. First taste is free."
"Heh." He reaches forward with his left hand and takes it from me. "And the second taste?"
You haven't heard the whole plan yet. Patience.I shrug. "You need to show me that you're serious about reforming. I can arrange for you to continue receiving doses while you're in prison-"
"Ah, I already don't like this plan."
A little bit of carrot. Unfortunately, I suspect the stick will carry more weight..."-and for a legal team who will keep the time you'll serve to an absolute minimum. Doctor Bates is already working for me-."
He frowns. "Stella? She's still..?"
"Invested in your wellbeing? Yes. Her work has enough other applications that that I've been able to justify setting her up in a laboratory, and I'm happy for her to also work on a long-term fix for you."
You do realize there are four super-powered or exotically skilled individuals with weapons ready?"If I play ball."
"If you play ball."
He holds up his right arm and turns his hand into a morning star.
Wait for it..."And if I don't?"
"I don't intend to stop you." I step aside, leaving a clear isle towards the vault's exit. "You're free to go."
Heh, not much of a choice at all.He lumbers past us and sticks his head out through the door. "That sounds better. Where are we, anyway?"
"A small island in the South Pacific." He stills, then turns back to me. "I won't stop you from leaving… But if we don't come to terms then I won't help you to leave."
Ah, good, he's playing ball, rather than taking it and going home.He lumbers back, growing larger as he does so. Though his combat abilities are… Disturbing, he is restricted by conservation of mass. While he can whip out his arms to tens of metres long they're not particularly strong when he does that, which is why he makes dense patches in the shape of bludgeoning or melee weapons when he wants to seriously hurt someone.
I fold my arms across my chest and wait patiently.
"Not Arkham. Not Blackgate. Someplace… Nice. I think I want to take up gardening."
Eyes on the prize, eh?"I don't have the authority to negotiate, but… I'll see what I can do. Avoiding Arkham should be simple enough; whatever else you are you're clearly not insane."
"Guess that'll have to do." He shifts his right hand back into a hand, twists the top off the flask and downs the contents. Then he tosses it back towards the canisters which contained him. "How are we getting off this rock?"
Hasn't he been in a small tin can long enough already?
I'm guessing Morgan Edge either uses his own private VTOL aircraft, or a teleporter system..."Submarine. Why did it have to be a submarine?"
"The island's too small for an airplane big enough to carry you and I don't own a helicopter big enough to carry you. Cheshire, would you be so good as to lead the way out?"
I suppose the only Hero in the party has to play the Face...She stows her pistol bow, makes brief eye contact with Roy and then turns away, heading cautiously down the corridor towards the exit. Mr Hagen regard me for a moment, then turns away to lumber after her.
"Clayface."
"Arsenal, I don't like using their-" I make fleeting eye contact with Barbara, who looks away. "-nom de infamies. I think it encourages them to think of themselves as criminals and nothing else. Will you stay here until the navy arrives?"
Oh, dear, this again. And this Paul isn't exactly geared for it..."Yeah, no problem." He nods. "Good trip."
Barbara and I follow Mr Hagen towards the front door, the sky outside… Glowing red for some reason? Flares? Did we miss someone, or is the navy early? That could be a little awkward if-.
"Acquisition successful. Locating local variant 'Peter Wynne'."
Hey, wait. Is he really going to try...What the hell is-?
Mr Hagen smiles as he looks back at me.
"Guess I'm getting out-"
He shrinks, assuming my form.
Whoever that is just 'dun goofed' Seriously, working solely on visual data?"-after all. Thanks for the jail-."
A giant blue.. hand reaches down and grabs him, pulling him up into the air.
"Acquisition successful."
Cue that Tenth Doctor clip...
Not quite, Clayface has just been snatched instead. Gonna be funny to see how that affects the plans of whoevers doing the snatching, especially if they just think it's a Paul who got the Clayface treatment/powers.Well, as expected, an Alternate Paul got snatched. But this time, they got who they least expected... Wonder how this little bit of dirt in the works will mess up their plans. And... A giant blue hand... Hmm, an original Maltusian? Krona, perhaps?
I am pretty sure that Hagen decided to go with the hand is that he doesn't trust Peter that much.
For all we know Edge could have offered to help him and them put him in his collection.
While Hagen isn't Arkham crazy he has spent several years in isolation and is probably not all that there in the head.
Well, I did tease the Anti-Monitor...Was the giant blue hand the Hand of Creation? How does this work?
If the crisis happens in 2012 then can you tell us just say what time it will happen, like in summer, winter etc.?
Couldn't even if I wanted to.
The SI doesn't know.If the crisis happens in 2012 then can you tell us just say what time it will happen, like in summer, winter etc.?
No, he was too cowed to do anything except get back on his ship and head for Mars.Did that Martian porn star give renegade M'gann the pendant with the shape-shifting information?
stupid. stupid, not insane.Oh, Clayface you dumbass. Best deal he was ever going to get and he tosses it away for weird as fuck sky portal that didn't want him. PeteyPaul should reassess whether the guy is insane.
No, he was too cowed to do anything except get back on his ship and head for Mars.
Kinda surprised that the portal-thing was fooled by a mud-man.
they can detect people through dimensions and lock onto them with enough accuracy to find them seemingly anywhere, but will then grab the wrong guy just because they superficially look the same?
It's not doing a DNA scan or anything? Just going by facial recognition? And it wasn't stumped by there being two people with the same face at the same location?
This is DCAU Clayface, he is going to look EXACTLY like the person he is impersonating.
Yeah, superficially. Meaning he resembles them 'on the surface' not that he only vaguely looks like them.
Any sort of technological scan (even as primitive as an X-ray) would reveal him not to be human though.
If they're portaling dudes in from other universes, they should be doing dna scans or staring into the target's soul.