Interlude 9 II

9 (Interlude; Valkyrie) is the nineteenth chapter and forth interlude of Gleaming. Valkyrie and her ‘Flock’ of resurrected parahumans deal with a world-killing airgun, put down a dog with superpowers, fight warlords, locates the people lost during the portal incident. Yet a bigger threat looms.

Plot
A week in the life of Valkyrie and her Flock.

In the valley Valkyrie gets ready, gathers her team and heads up the tower. The team deals with wave upon wave of autonomous drones, making their way up the tower into Space before they reach the top. There they find a man at the mercy of his power forced to continually create. The builder is killed and Valkyrie collects him and the Flock begins dismantling the power. Valkyrie gets a call from her superiors turns down a chance to go after the simurgh.

She then deals with a distorted region of space in a backwater world. It turns out that the parahuman responsible is actually a para-canine. Valkyrie comforts the animal and snaps it's neck.

Next is war on the warlords squatting in Africa, battles in a poison landscape. Someone figured out how to force new triggers. The mission is successful and Valkyrie collects a spirit for interrogation. Is confronted by Crystal who views her power as wrong and has Ciara have a conversation she's had dozens of times before. Then she gets to wash the poison off.

A few days later after dealing with such threats as a breaker assassin and more craziness Valkyrie finds the people stranded by the Portal Sabotage.

Major Events

 * Ciara's shades are being resurrected.
 * World ending threats are routinely prevented.
 * Animals are getting superpowers.
 * The Wardens manage to get Ciara away from the frontlines.

Characters
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The Wardens

 * Valkyrie
 * The Shades
 * Glines, the Switch-Thrower
 * Waggish, Twelfth of the Fabricators
 * Dialback
 * Mushroom
 * Leadletter
 * Esclavage, the Rack
 * Knallen
 * Thirty-Eight, the Eye
 * Gobsmack
 * Goose Down
 * Zappatore, the Underminer
 * Yonder, the Gatherer
 * Diaspora
 * Mudstreaked
 * Mad Bomber
 * The Man Who Stands Atop
 * Eidolon
 * Machinavelli
 * The Flock
 * Milk
 * Birdcage-outcast
 * Skull-face
 * Cleo (Naja Haje)
 * Voltrage (Third Execution)
 * Edgeless (Forward Facing)
 * Chevalier
 * Legend

The Allies

 * The Wounded Man

The Threats

 * The Towerbuilder Tinker 15
 * The Tyrant Kings
 * European mercenaries
 * The Solemn Child
 * Messenger

PRTCJ

 * Laserdream
 * Other officer

The Stranded

 * Riley
 * Rinke
 * Unnamed thinker
 * Five Wardens officers
 * Jessica Yamada
 * Civilian refugees

Mentioned

 * Scion
 * Vikare
 * The Scholar
 * The Simurgh
 * }

Trivia

 * Valkyrie's ghosts confirmed as retaining personality.
 * Shard-possessed towerbuilder is based on older description of a Tinker 15
 * Powers interfacing with animals are not unknown, but the non-primary species directly manifesting powers is another thing entirely.