Welcome to the Parahumans Online Message Boards
You are currently logged in, WatchMaker (Cape Analyst Wannabe)
You are viewing:
• Threads you have replied to
• AND Threads that have new replies
• OR private message conversations with new replies
• Thread OP is displayed
• Ten posts per page
• Last ten messages in private message history
• Threads and private messages are ordered by user custom preference.
Topic: Do you know this Cape?
In: Boards Parahuman News Parahuman Groups Cape Watch Subforum
WatchMaker (Original Poster) (Cape Analyst Wannabe)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
The Triumvirate.
The bread and butter of the North American cape scene. One can scarcely begin any conversation about parahumans in this part of the forum without their names coming up in the conversation somewhere. Often in the form of senseless quotables used to shoot down arguments.
'Are they faster than Legend?'
'Are they stronger than Alexandria?'
'But can they beat Eidolon, though?'
Usually that leads to cyclical arguments, trolling, threads being locked and users being banned whenever someone goes against the grain. Only this time, I came with an answer to those questions and with the utmost seriousness can confirm that yes.
She could.
[Link 1]
[Image Folder]
What you are looking at are some of the rare, exclusive, camera footage and pictures taken of an unknown parahuman at the recent Endbringer battle in Canberra. The one announced as a resounding success, boasting the lowest number of casualties and shortest ever since Behemoth crawled out of hell.
According to reports, the girl in the video might be the reason why. And I don't know a single thing about her despite spending a whole lot of time trawling through these forums. Not even her name.
So here I am.
Do your magic, PHO. Have you seen this cape?
LiberTea (Cape Groupie) (United Kingdom)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Holy shit.
You sure Simurgh was the one at Canberra? Cuz that looks like a Leviathan thing to me.
Jackwabbit (Canberra Witness)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Can confirm that the winged bitch was there.
You could see her from out of town. At least until the lady in the video started trying to drown her. Shit was crazy out there. It was like the lake woke up and chose violence.
Look-Sky-Walker (Certified Cape)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Can't say I recognize her, though.
Are we sure she ain't a local? New capes pop up all the time so who's to say she wasn't already there.
FieryRed (Certified Cape) (Canberra Witness)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Not from our side, that's for sure.
Heard that she came to the fight with the Guild, even talked with one of the heroes who came with her.
Awesome to look at though. You wouldn't imagine how it was being there, it was like fighting in the middle of a hurricane. Water everywhere, strong winds, zombie machine monsters.
WhiteRussian (PRT Officer) (New York Sucks)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
The Guild brought her?
Like… seriously?
Don't get me wrong, they do good work, but you'd think everyone would know who that was if the lady were part of the Guild. We sure you heard that right? Maybe she's an independent.
Holy Hoser (Guild Official)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
And what is THAT supposed to mean?
Please enlighten me on what's so surprising about the Guild attracting talent.
WatchMaker (Original Poster) (Cape Analyst Wannabe)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Guys, now is not the time for the whole organization rivalry. I'm actually trying to keep this thread from getting locked.
@FieryRed - You were there, right? Did you meet the lady in the videos?
Velocity (Verified Cape) (Protectorate ENE)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
That's Fontaine. She's a rogue from the US. No idea how she ended up with the Guild, but I'm glad she did. If you want to know more, check out the official thread.
WhiteRussian (PRT Officer) (New York Sucks)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Wait a minute. That's Fontaine?
Holy shit, my folks and I got a memo from upper management about that! You guys been dealing with that for a month now? Damn, that's rough.
Look-Sky-Walker (Certified Cape)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Well I for damn sure didn't get a memo.
How long have you guys known she was a thing? How the hell didn't we know? Seems like a pretty big thing.
Velocity (Verified Cape) (Protectorate ENE)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Can't say. Upper management's orders. But there should have been at least a few news threads about what she's been up to since she came onto the scene.
Jackwabbit (Canberra Witness)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Well that's ominous.
Say @Velocity… Do you think Fontaine would be interested in moving to Australia?
Topic: Official Statement on Fontaine
In: Boards Parahuman News Official Statements Protectorate
Homus_Moderatus (PR-T Officer) (Original Poster)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
So, first off, due diligence and thread tax. [Here] and [Here] are the two declarations of Fontaine's status. First as a villain, with supporting information here, here, and from the city of Brockton Bay here. That last one is more of a general warning not to dump trash in the bay itself, so I'm not sure if it counts. But YMMV and it's not my job to tell you what to think.
Here and here are the local PRT statements, firmly insisting she is a rogue, which makes a lot of sense considering the mildness of her actions (to a point).
And we have the local Protectorate making a statement here about a bout of gang violence she was involved in. Apparently this was in retaliation for taking down a villain named Lung (see attached documentation on him), whose gang then escalated to domestic terrorism to draw her out.
To put it bluntly, my opinions on these things are totally irrelevant. All that is important is that she has no known affiliation with any gangs in her city, the crimes she committed are relatively discrete for a "villain" cape, and she has a history of calling in and warning the locals before she pulls one of her stunts.
(Apparently she also caused a bit of property damage, about 20k worth, when she had an unplanned meeting with the mayor.)
On the whole, the official line is clear. She is welcome to come in for a polite meeting - I am stressing that word because it will be absolutely nothing but polite and very much an off the record event - and there are two warrants out for her in relation to three different events.
The official unofficial line is that those warrants will stay unexecuted in perpetuity. And so long as she keeps doing what she did in Canberra the Upper Management is more than happy with that.
If you're reading this, you've probably seen the videos or read the stories.
They say more than I ever could.
TrashPanda#1 (Cape Watcher)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Well damn, how did something like that go unnoticed for this long?
Like, I get it, parahumans everywhere, but look at those pictures! She was ferrying massive ships over the city. It should have been national news.
Lens_Of_Verity (Wannabe Reporter) (Cape Watcher)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
I actually reported on that a couple weeks ago! I think there's a small thread over at the ENE subforum for her. But it got closed after a bunch of shit heads started acting toxic.
You can still find some of my articles [Here] and [Here]!
XxVoid_CowboyxX (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Wow, shameless plug much?
Like, was there even confirmation that the Lung thing wasn't Leviathan? Me and some friends have been trying to figure out if Fontaine could really have been around at the time Kyushu happened.
TrashPanda#1 (Cape Watcher)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
What the hell is he talking about? Kyushu? I thought Leviathan didn't go to Brockton Bay.
ProudSkinAlpha (Probationary) (#1 Could be Banned in the Future Award Winner)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Just ignore the idiot. He and his dumbass friends have been trying to sell us on their weird Leviathan = Fontaine theory for weeks now. As if that monster needed or ever showed anything resembling human behavior.
XxVoid_CowboyxX (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Better than that horseshit you've been trying about Fontaine being with the Nazis.
ProudSkinAlpha (Probationary) (Possibly Banned in the Future Award: 1st Place)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Look, all I did was point out that for someone who's supposedly flying solo, Fontaine didn't do a whole lot other than wiping out Empire competition. She hasn't said anything about them, or even tried to go after Hookwolf, and everyone knows that other than the big dragon, he's the biggest menace in town.
HerrMan (Probationary) (Possibly Banned in the Future Award: 2nd Place)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
He's got a point, you know.
How is it that the one gang in town Miss Leviathan went after just so happened to be the one asian gang in town. Outside of that all she's done is clean up the bay and filter out crap from the water.
Maybe that's how she saw the ABB?
XxVoid_CowboyxX (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
No, cuz she didn't hurt a single person who was a civilian. Yeah, things got spooky, but she didn't do anything to anyone but spook them. Not unless they started shooting the place up.
And you know what you asshats do?
You kill dogs!
So I hope Leviathan or Fontaine or whatever realizes that you're trash, too!
(User was warned for this post.)
Tin_Mother (Admin)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
A warning was issued purely because this counts as requesting vigilantism. Personal taste aside, these kinds of requests can result in real world harm. So please be careful.
ProudSkinAlpha (Probationary) (#1 Could be Banned in the Future Award Winner)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST.
HerrMan (Probationary) (Possibly Banned in the Future Award: 2nd Place)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST.
XxVoid_CowboyxX (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Tin_mother listen, I get that you guys have to be careful. I really, really do. But Fontaine did a lot of good for our city!
I hope she isn't Leviathan. Or maybe we should. Is it a good thing if an Endbringer isn't hurting people anymore, or bad that they might have been self aware the whole time? Either way, she's helped more people than she realizes and I'm rooting for her!
As for the failed artist simps, lol, lmao, lololololololololol. Glad to see that you got your --
(User was given a one week timeout for this. Even if you are happy about something, please do not use those letters in that order, thank you. - Tin Mother)
Topic: Fontaine: Rogue? Threat? Janitor?
In: Boards Parahuman News Discussion Forums Capewatch Subforum
Lens_Of_Verity (Wannabe Reporter) (Cape Watcher) (Original Poster)
Posted on January 19th, 2011:
Hello all! I'm pleased to be able to share a few new pieces of information with everyone.
Firstly, Fontaine (pictures attached), the newest cape in Brockton Bay (and don't we already have quite a few?) has recently cleared the boat graveyard. Now, that's not a small thing, as you all know, but she(?) did it in about an hour. With a solid fifty minutes of that just being gently putting things down.
Now. We don't know too, too much. But we have confirmed that she was responsible for kicking Lung out of town thanks to this statement from the mayor's office. But we don't know if she's responsible for this, where a giant water monster popped over the side of the road and spooked some trash dumpers.
So for now I'm just glad to say that the city seems to be doing better! But who knows what the future will hold?
HonorableServant (Brockton Bay Resident)
Posted on January 19th, 2011:
Who can say? Though I doubt Lung is gone for good. Someone as powerful as he, or as displeased by insults, is likely to tolerate this earlier disrespect, too.
AsuraAsuraAsura (Flame Bearer)
Posted on January 19th, 2011:
Hmm. Well, she seems nice? Or at least not too bad.
Mostly discreet in what she's doing, so that's nice.
So what happens now? is she gonna take over the abb?
Serpent_Hand
Posted on January 20th, 2011:
You disrespect Mighty Lung! He will burn you for this. Make no mistake, stupid girl, he will punish you all.
USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST. (No death threats or we forward your messages to the police.) - Admin
10centuries
Posted on January 20th, 2011:
USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST!!!!!
Do not, under any circumstances, use this kind of language or make threats on PHO. These threats have been forwarded to the Brockton Bay Police Department. - Tin_Mother
SEA-vangelist (Marine Biology Enthusiast) (Church of the Deep End)
Posted on January 20th, 2011:
What interests me is the fact she's supposedly a hydrokinetic. They aren't supposed to be all that strong, right? At most you might see one at a soda event or something but I haven't seen any of them really push it to the same level as the Great Deep One.
Has she shown any signs of a replicator power of any kind so far? This could very well be the first case of a cape showing a power that is an exact match for an Endbringer.
XxVoid_CowboyxX (Brockton Bay)
Posted on January 20th, 2011:
So what you're saying is that she might be Leviathan?
Topic: The Aftermath of Canberra
In: Boards Parahuman News Official Statements New Wave
As part of New Wave's goals, we have always pushed for greater accountability. Greater openness. And we find ourselves at something of a crossroads.
Fontaine, a recent cape in Brockton Bay, has been involved in a number of altercations. The most recent one involved the death of Oni Lee. And there was, and still is, an immense amount of internal discussion of the situation. But ultimately we have decided not to formally comment on the specifics of the situation.
New Wave considers the recent events in Canberra, Australia and Fontaine's actions against the Endbringer Ziz to take precedence over all previous issues.
It is now the official position of our organization to follow the PRT ENE in acknowledging the status of Fontaine as an independent vigilante.
We make this decision on the grounds of her repeated actions to protect human life, her defense of fellow Brocktonites, and the actions taken to prevent the widespread loss of human life. While her raw power is certainly a factor, it is the fact she has deployed this level of power solely in the defense of others that has motivated our conclusion.
To speak plainly, it would be foolish in the extreme to disregard such a powerful young woman. But it is out of respect for the bravery of her actions and the overall restraint she has shown in employing her abilities that answered the question for us.
Importantly this does not mean we are not willing to oppose Fontaine should she decide to escalate into villany.
But it means, right now, we believe she will continue showing restraint, a general respect for human life, and should she continue to display such bravery in contesting Endbringers - she will certainly always be welcome at any fight.
Silent BayBay (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Damn, a retraction? This quick? Wasn't it a week ago that they were all but telling people that Fontaine was wrong and overdoing it?
Anchorage (Brockton Bay) (Not the Butcher)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
To be honest I kinda forgot they even existed for a bit there.
Haven't done much lately since all the crooks are playing hide and seek with Fontaine in town. So maybe we should be a little bit thankful for the lady keeping the town safe?
Point_Me_@_The_Sky (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Right, because a few slow weeks means all the work New Wave does for the city suddenly doesn't mean anything. Look, I think Fontaine is cool and all, and she even has a cool costume, but that doesn't mean everyone else is useless just because she is around now.
Silent BayBay (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Everyone kinda is useless now though. With that kinda firepower… well… waterpower, who is gonna try and step out of line? Coil? Kaiser? Skidmark? I give the guy by the end of the month before he and his merry band of bums get washed out of town.
Laserdream (Certified Cape) (New Wave)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Please don't try and start anything. All we want is to promote a peaceful environment in Brockton Bay and avoid unnecessary violence. If you keep goading villains, all you're doing is risking people's lives.
Anchorage (Brockton Bay) (Not the Butcher)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
That's good and all, but it doesn't really do anything for us when the bad guys decide they are losing face or money or whatever and decide to go the way of Oni Lee and shit starts blowing up again.
If all you guys can do is promise to keep things the same and patch up whoever survives then I vote we elect Fontaine supreme overlord and let her handle it.
Malpractice (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Just be glad someone is there to put you back together at all when that loose cannon decides the bay could do with a trimming. Fontaine isn't following any rules save the ones she wants to and that's not the kind of behavior we should reward.
One (Buns for Days) (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Look, I'm not saying we should give her a crown and let her call the shots. We already had a super strong guy do that and it wasn't good for anyone. At the same time though, she's really doing things nobody else even tried to and she did it in a month.
The water is clean, folks are working around the clock to dismantle those big ships, and outside of normal crime, everyone seems to be walking on eggshells so there hasn't been a proper cape fight in weeks.
I dunno what it is, but she's doing it right.
Malpractice (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
And what happens when she stops playing nice?
Do we just give her a medal for doing whatever she wants so long as someone benefits? That's not what being a hero should be. She's just a vigilante that we have to put up with because when you can shoot Ziz out of a city, that means you can do whatever and everyone else has to clap.
Silent BayBay (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Sheesh. Laying it on a bit thick aren't you? What did the watery tart do to you anyway?
Point_Me_@_The_Sky (Brockton Bay)
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
You're gonna get the thread locked if you start a fight, you know? Besides, I think its more important to talk about how the city is going to change now that we know Fontaine is gonna be an Endbringer-must in the future.
We gotta live with that, and it's gonna get ugly if she thinks this means she can do whatever.
All Seeing Eye
Posted on February 25th, 2011:
Well, we got a couple hours until the woman of the hour comes back. Usually they take a while to come back from Endbringer fights so I hope you guys figure out how we're handling it when she does.
It's gonna be a migraine and a half.
Lisa frowned.
She was more confused than angry, but the overall situation was still very good practice for her actual intuition.
Thinkers benefited from building their own skills. Over reliance on powers could often be a death sentence. But she was not interested in improving right now. In fact, this particular Thinker was massively interested in not having her boss spray her brains across a wall.
"Now, now. I don't hear any more typing."
Swallowing, Lisa pulled up the video of the fight again.
"Well, boss, you know I'm not stupid enough to jerk you around, right?"
Her voice wavered ever so slightly as a bead of sweat pricked at the hairs on the back of her neck.
"Of course you wouldn't."
The sheer, unbridled threat in those words meant her power was not needed to grasp what he was considering.
'Believes you are prevaricating. Considering torture to extract information. A Thinker does not need arms and legs to share information.'
"So all the cards on the table. She's not using her full power, I don't think she knows what her full power is, and I have no idea why she collapsed at the end of the fight. I do know someone or something is feeding her information."
There was the sound of a pen scratching as that information was noted down.
"And?"
"I don't who, but whoever it is, is enough to both grant additional tactical awareness, as seen in the fight against Oni Lee, and is able to check certain impulses. A mentor, maybe, or someone with experience in cape fights."
"No name?"
'Is not conventional. No evidence of an ear piece or radio. No evidence of surgical implantation. No conclusive evidence.'
"No idea. It could be a person, some sort of combat Thinker power, or even a piece of tech. It's just not clear."
"Now, now. Surely the PRT files I managed to acquire gave you additional insight. I took a great risk there. Are you really going to disappoint me?"
Pulling up her notes, Lisa actually felt a moment of relief.
Because this was something she could work with.
"Their ratings are wrong. The Hydrokinesis is definitely a Shaker power, but the real core seems to be the Blaster power. The amount of energy and force that it produced was definitely above average. Enough to launch an aircraft into orbit."
There was a pensive hum from the other side. More theatrical than anything.
"Do you have any insights on what it could be?"
"Unconventional, exoteric, unknown. We only saw her push Ziz out with raw power so I can't draw any conclusions regarding the properties." And her powers were being awfully cagey about it, providing possible uses for the output of the energy but no details of its qualities.
It was like it couldn't make heads or tails of what it was actually for other than an energy source.
"On other news, you should probably update your files. She's not a Stranger. At least not how they think she is."
"Oh? What makes you think that?"
'Has waved off mercenaries. Tone of voice suggests he knows this is known. Implicit threat that he can always give the go order anyways.'
"Look, they think she can disappear into the ocean or something. But she didn't. She's got some kind of frictionless water movement. Or, hmm, no, it's more like she can control the water to accelerate her while moving the water out of the way so she's not coming into contact with it. Since she can use that to keep from contacting anything, even atmosphere, it's basically like having a personal hyperloop. Mover more than Stranger. But the big glowy thing…."
Her cursor slid over the screen, dragging the video so as to get a better view of the strange mass of swirling blue water as it went head to head with the Simurgh.
Literally.
"An obvious Changer rating. She's a clear grab-bag with high ratings across the board."
"Well…."
"Fontaine turned into a giant, glowing construct."
"I think it's more like a projection."
"That… is a consideration, then. Thank you, Tattletale. I knew I was right to believe in your abilities."
The phone clicked off and Lisa sank into her seat, glad that she was just edging a migraine and not about to puke from overusing her powers. Coil had been running her ragged for the last forty eight hours and she was exhausted and definitely suffering from information overload. Not helped by the fact her powers were pretty much insisting something was missing from all the data she'd had thrown at her.
Even just monitoring the city's reactions to Fontaine was draining!
"No fucking duh people are worried. I'm worried. And I pretty much know she's not a watery Lung."
Didn't stop her from being just as anxious.
Rationally speaking, she knew that Fontaine didn't exhibit a pattern compatible with a warlord. She wasn't controlling enough and her actions were more impulse driven than planned ahead of time. Even her biggest triumphs appeared to have been accomplished as simple whimsy, outside of her visit to the Mayor and constant calls to the Protectorate.
She wanted freedom to do as she wanted, but gave people the courtesy of knowing what she was doing and when it was happening.
It implied a strange, warped sense of fairness.
Like someone who felt guilty of drawing the winning hand in a card game so they let other players get ahead so they didn't have to feel bad when they won. Not that it mattered when Fontaine might as well flip the damn table and shoot the other players with how good her powers seemed to be.
'And I'm in charge of cracking that code.'
Lucky her.
Coil seemed to be obsessed with gaining as much information as he could on the hydrokinetic, not only offering bribes and threats to get information, but seemed to tighten his grip around her even more these days.
'I know he's using his mercenaries liberally with the power he has.' She scribbled down several lines in shorthand. Trying to put together the major through points she'd picked up on. 'He's totally focused on Fontaine, isn't trying to bribe her, maybe he knows that will fail or something will set her off, but he also isn't trying to just shoot her. So maybe that won't work either?'
There were concerns that she was missing something. But Lisa's gut was telling her that the most important thing right now was not getting shot.
'Signs of anxiety point to external pressures, unforeseen complications may have led to a change in behavior. Violence towards target of interest has likely proven ineffective. Gathering information for another attempt.'
So, whatever he had working behind the scenes was threatened by Fontaine's presence. And after attempting to kill her or push her out of town, he was resorting to good ol' intelligence gathering to look for another way to deal with her.
And that's why she probably had mercenaries staring at her window now.
'He is usually cautious and methodic. He pushes when he feels he has leverage.'
Only he didn't have leverage over Fontaine.
At least none he could use to achieve the outcome he wanted.
'If he is desperate that means he might make mistakes or give me more wiggle room in exchange for better odds.' A gambling man he might not be, but you can't go through life without making a single gamble. "I swear to God he better not tell me to go through her trash or steal her diary. He has trained killers for that."
All she had to do was promise results.
'And the best way to get results was to be up close and personal with the target.' Leaning over her desk, Lisa fiddled in the dark room, hands feeling around the desk and pulling open a drawer. She fiddled with the contents for a bit before pulling out a small package wrapped in plain paper, which she quietly tore through to reveal the small book she'd been saving up for.
'On the Mysteries of Water.' It was perhaps silly of her to think this would help, but if her powers were stumped, then maybe she should look in another direction. Remove what wasn't and focus on what could be.
If Coil was gambling, then maybe she should make a gamble of her own. Brockton Bay was soon going to get busy when Fontaine and the Protectorate heroes came back, so she should make some arrangements.
All for the sake of taking fate into her own hands.
Even if the outcome was fixed, there was always a chance of changing the details.
Or so the book said.