Victory! Actual victory! The Heroes had somehow managed to not screw up containing the villains: Bakuda and Oni-Lee were safely behind bars, with no one to break them out. In celebration Taylor had finally used a small portion of Lord Doom's remaining money to buy a cellphone, strictly for caping purposes.

Texting the Wards on their PHO accounts to arrange the next patrol together certainly counted as caping purposes. This time she was patrolling with Kid Win and Gallant. Kid Win had privately said they were doing the most exciting Wards patrol route. It was supposed to go through the docks and there was a real chance they might see some crime.

Well, Taylor and her camera drones would make certain of it. She doubted there wouldn't be a single robbery or mugging or something reachable from their patrol route, even if she had to stretch her advanced sensor's excuse a little bit.

They were showing the flag of course, even if the PRT couldn't claim the actual victory, they could be seen owning the new, villain free, territory.

Kid Win had also told her that the PRT provided cars to bring the Wards to the headquarters anonymously, which sounded amazing right now to Taylor. Her lab was a 40 minute bus ride away from her house, which had been fine when she was being Lord Doom. But Myriad had to suit up in person and it was an annoying hassle.

Taylor switched over to browsing PHO, she had to keep up with Lord Doom's thread after all. The less said about Myriad's thread and its inactivity the better.

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Topic: Lord Doom Thread 2

In: Boards ► Places ► America ►Brockton Bay Discussion (Public Board)

Posted On Mar 17th 2011:

Copied from the previous thread due to post limit:

So, we have a new villain in town. Since there's some footage floating around online and the PRT confirmed that he exists, he gets a thread.

He's done mostly non-violent robberies and tangled with the Heroes twice, both times escaping with his stolen goods.

Update 4/8: He ran into Manpower after an ATM robbery and got chased off without the cash. Also first appearance of new Hero: Myriad

Update 4/11: He's also robbed an dog-fighting ring that belonged to the Empire. In a bit of a departure from his usual style he used a lot of firecrackers.

Costume: Long black cloak down to the floor, with a hood hiding his face. Inside you can see two glowing red eyes. Sometimes wears a metal crown. (Yeah, he's that kind of Villain)

Link to video of him vs Clockblocker and Vista

Link to video of him vs Armsmaster

This is the best image we have of him, sitting on top of Armsmaster's motorcycle.

Link to video of him vs Hookwolf.

Update 4/20: He took down Bakuda and Oni-Lee both. Didn't steal anything as far we can tell.

Link to (high quality!) video of him vs Bakuda and Oni-Lee.

(Showing page 45 of 60)

►Procto the Unfortunate Tinker (Not a tinker)

Replied On Apr 21st 2011:

Not gonna lie, I was disappointed when I heard U&L were going to be enjoying the hospitality of the feds for a bit.

But damn I can't complain. The stuff Lord Doom is posting with their snitch is a million times better! And he doesn't nag us for donations.

►Divide

Replied On Apr 21st 2011:

Come on, it's not the same. Lord Doom isn't live and he doesn't react to the viewers. We don't even know for sure he used the snitch to record the stuff, it just leaked mysteriously.

He isn't the newest U&L show.

►TheGnat

Replied On Apr 21st 2011:

The man just straight up pwnd Bakuda and Oni-Lee and you're seriously comparing him to U&L? Reminder: The Entire E88 couldn't do what Lord Doom did! That was straight-up epic.

I know he's a villain, but you've got to love him. Especially since we're getting that HD footage.

►Iblis

Replied On Apr 21st 2011:

Call me crazy, but I think Lord Doom may be turning vigilante?

Did he even steal anything this time? Or just take down two villains who were clearly insane?

►Chrome

Replied On Apr 21st 2011:

Lord "yeet the Heroes" Doom?

Lord "felony theft is my hobby" Doom?

Lord "grand-theft-armscycle" Doom?

Lord "glowing red eyes and black cloak" Doom?

Lord "I wear a literal evil crown" Doom?

Turning vigilante? Lol. Shadow Stalker was the edgiest vigilante and she's got nothing on LD.

►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)

Replied On Apr 21st 2011:

Summary of the official PRT statement:

Lord Doom is a villain, wanted on multiple counts of felony theft, breaking and entering, assaulting a law enforcement officer and fleeing a law enforcement officer. He is not an independent hero or vigilante.

While it's true he captured Bakuda and Oni-Lee, it should not be lauded. He was primarily able to capture them due to the PRT's successful strategy of containment applied to the latest gang war. This minimized civilian casualties and pinned down both Bakuda and Oni-Lee.

If it weren't for PRT, Protectorate and the Independent Heroes, Lord Doom would never have been able to make the final capture.

My own viewpoint: Villains fight each other all the time and I doubt the people in the territory Lord Doom helped the E88 conquer are happy about it.

►Good Ship Morpheus

Replied On Apr 21st 2011:

Finally, a word of sanity!

This wanted criminal does one thing that's not evil and everyone is falling over themselves to pat him on the back.

Lord Doom is a thief, a bad guy. He literally says he's a bad guy. He wears a bad guy costume. He never claimed to be anything but an evil villain.

►Forgotten Creator

Replied On Apr 21st 2011:

As someone living in the docks, where the PRT was happy to "contain" the gang war, I'm feeling a lot more gratitude to Lord Doom.

Seriously, there were people fighting in the street in front of my apartment!

Look at the footage, Armsmaster was baffled when Lord Doom threw Bakuda at him. The PRT did nothing to earn this victory.

►Saskatchew

Replied On Apr 21st 2011:

Yeah.

All the people calling Lord Doom evil and stuff, you just don't get his power level. The modern Cape scene is all about irony. He doesn't wear a crown and glowing red eyes because he's trying to out edgelord Shadow Stalker, he does it because it's hilarious.

►Dawgsmiles (Veteran Member) (Banned)

Replied On Apr 21st 2011:

LORD DOOM IS BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL.

Mod Post: You, on the other hand, are not. Take a 48 hour vacation from the thread. When we said no all-caps roleplaying, we meant it people.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 43, 44, 45, 46, 47 ... 58, 59, 60

It smarted, just a little bit, how the PRT downplayed Lord Doom's role. Well, they tried. Regular in-fighting among villains, even implying Lord Doom had taken the E88's side. They could play a nasty PR game, if they wanted to.

Well, so could Taylor. Lord Doom's footage had, of course, been posted online. No blurry faked cellphone footage either, full glorious 3D UHD with surround sound. Leet's Snitch made a wonderful cover story. At least the people on PHO, the informed cape fans, knew the true story. Even if the media was parroting the PRT's lines.

Suddenly a heavy figure grabbed her from behind, something metal sticking into her side. "That's a gun," it whispered with foul breath along the side of her face. "Come quietly or you die."

Taylor's blood turned to ice in her veins. She had been stupid, idiotic. This was a bad neighbourhood, she knew that much. She had to stand here for 10 minutes, changing busses to get further into the slum her lab was located. Raised in Brockton Bay, she should have known better than to look at a phone instead of her surroundings. She was too used to having camera drones in costume.

Panic flooded her veins, she tried to take deep calming breaths, but the figure had his arm wrapped around her tight enough to make that uncomfortable. This was real, actual in the flesh danger. She was playing for keeps.

Keep calm, Taylor, she thought as the figure dragged her backwards, away from the street. Being mugged in your civilian identity was the classic trope. Give him your cellphone and wallet and live to fight another day. Then have Lord Doom visit the thug and make him regret his life choices.

The figure roughly snatched her cellphone with his free hand, which was good, a quiet part of Taylor's mind thought. It was going according to plan. She could try and fight him, but he had a gun. And she was an unfit sixteen year old girl. Her power didn't rely on her physical body and she had neglected it.

"I can give you my wallet," Taylor said. "I don't want any trouble."

The figure just laughed and continued dragging her away. When Taylor saw the inside of the alleyway she knew why.

Hookwolf stood there, his stupid metal welder's mask of a costume hiding his face except for his eyes. They glimmered with a vicious smile. Three other skinheads stood with him, all armed.

"Bring her closer," Hookwolf said.

Taylor was moved forward towards Hookwolf, her feet dangling just above the ground, her hands shaking with terror. He stared into her face, looking for something.

"Yes. She looks like her. That's Myriad."

"What!" Taylor barked out, despite the thug crushing her lungs. "You unmasked me?"

"Oh yes." Hookwolf laughed. "Unmasking Myriad was easy. You always take the same bus to your lab. We have people in the area, they notice things. You should really have learned some caution. Lord Doom is much smarter about it, but you always attack a chain at its weakest link."

It fit. Of course it did. Hadn't Taylor just learned how brutal the villain scene was? But somehow, despite the crushing terror and real physical danger, she was indignant. "Lord Doom obeyed your truce! He actually took down Bakuda, which helped you! He played by the rules all the time, and this is how you repay him?"

"Kaiser told me you'd react like that. He said I should point out that we haven't moved against Lord Doom, just Myriad, a minor independent no one cares about. But don't worry, we're not going to hurt you, not if Lord Doom does what we say. If he remains obstinate though, well, things could get ugly. Bring her." Hookwolf walked further into the alleyway and Taylor's captor followed him.

Taylor knew how ugly things could get. In the dark corners of the internet, far away from the well moderated brightness of PHO, there were rumours and even pictures. The Empire was not a nice group of people.

But no. Despite everything, Taylor wouldn't let fear dominate her. She felt a boiling rage. She had played nice, obeyed the rules, even sent a warning instead of breaking the truce! She had been scared of revealing her identity to a mugger, but apparently that ship had sailed.

Well so be it. She swallowed, clearing her nervous throat. And she heard herself speak. Her voice came to her own ears from far away, like she was trapped in a deep pit.

"Do you truly think you have defeated Lord Doom?" It was, undeniably, the voice of a teenage girl. But it was cold and confident and full of scorn. "Fool."

Taylor needed Hookwolf angry and it looked like she had gotten it. His body stiffened like someone had run a live wire through it, his fists clenching. "YOU!" he snarled as he turned around to face her.

"Yes," Taylor said and a mocking smile formed on her face as she met his eyes. "Lord Doom is nothing if not merciful. Let Lord Doom go and we can forget this happened. Or else face his wrath."

She saw it, Hookwolf hesitated. He almost believed her. He was expecting her to vanish in a burst of smoke, pull out a duplicate, or do some other trick. Lord Doom always had the upper hand, always humiliated everyone who confronted him.

But Hookwolf was a simpleminded person and that made him paradoxically harder to fool with a bluff. "Bullshit," he said with confidence he looked like he didn't fully feel. "We got you dead to rights. If you could do something, you would have done it. This day just got a whole lot better, for me at least. You will learn to respect the Empire."

"Lord Doom will say it in terms your small mind can understand. You're a bad doggy. Go away and stop barking at your betters. Go on! Shoo! Buzz off!"

Hookwolf blitzed forward, incredibly fast on his feet for someone who looked so heavy, and his fist with hard metal underneath the skin struck Taylor in the stomach. Her world was pain, she tried to take the heaving breaths her body demanded, but it was impossible, her lungs refused to take anything but short shallow breaths.

The important thing had been done. When Hookwolf had punched her the guy holding her from behind had been pushed, he recovered well and didn't lose his grip, but Taylor no longer felt the gun pressing against her side. She gambled and twisted her fingers.

Hookwolf's entire body spasmed and jagged spikes of metal burst out from underneath his skin in wild patterns, only to withdraw and stab out again, as Taylor's drones repeatedly tasered him.

The other skinheads fell down and the guy holding Taylor let go, but there was the sharp crack of a gunshot.

Agony.

Taylor fell down onto the ground, her entire back burning, her vision darkening.

The drone-mind had been given its orders and it obeyed. The dozen Taser-drones swarmed down from the roof, where they had been shadowing Taylor. It was not very smart, but it could recognize firearms and it could understand Taylor's gesture.

It encountered a problem. Four of the five targets went down easily, but the fifth was resisting multiple shocks and remaining upright. The drone-mind applied its limited intelligence, spread out across the nodes, to this problem.

They repositioned themselves and all twelve of them stung the tougher figure at the same moment, an outpouring of high voltage electricity that managed to overwhelm the metal underneath the skin that would conduct the charge away.

There was a pitched howling sound coming from the figure, but this meant nothing to them. Within seconds, after their energy reserves had recovered, they stung the figure again. And again. It still refused to go down and managed to burst more metal from its skin, increasing the total amount of mass and making it harder for the electricity to reach its core.

The drone-mind was resourceful and could adapt to this new obstacle. It was incapable of giving up, it couldn't understand the concept. It signaled to the reinforcements arriving, negotiated with their systems. The center of their network was not giving them any new orders, but this mind had a priority request to handle, which gave it a certain amount of authority. The other drones agreed and swarmed Hookwolf.

The next burst of lightning came from forty drones in coordination. Hookwolf kept on making the loud sound from his mouth and rushed forward blindly, trying to escape. Things fleeing from them was a concept the drone minds understood. They zapped him again to prevent that.

Hookwolf's metal back, partway to forming a wolf shape, arched up wildly as his body twisted. The drones identified this as meaning he was not incapacitated. They stung him again.

Finally, finally, the figure collapsed onto the ground, unmoving. They had fulfilled their command. The drone mind felt pleased.

It applied Bayesian reasoning. The figure that sprouted metal had resisted them before. There was a chance it still resisted them and was faking. The mind came to a decision, to ensure their orders remain fulfilled they stung Hookwolf once more. He had lost the metal, showing his flesh again, which was good, because their prongs could get a bitter grip.

As they zapped him a final time he barely twitched at the lethal surge of electricity.