Editing Weld (section)

==Personality==
Possibly influenced by his own experiences, Weld is an accepting and trusting individual,<ref name="CMI">https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/interlude-19-donation-bonus-2/#comment-12845 Comment] by Wildbow in [[Missing Interlude]]</ref> generally being respectful, honest, and kind to just about everyone barring [[Cauldron]], the [[Slaughterhouse Nine]], and the rest on the far end of the villainous spectrum. Weld speaks with a noticeable Boston accent.<ref name="27.3">[[Extinction 27.3]]</ref><ref name="10.2">[[Parasite 10.2]]</ref>

While his size and strength lead many to view him as a simple front-line combatant, Weld has a keen intelligence with analytical and tactical insight.<ref name="10.2"/><ref name="29.4 e6"/> Socially he has been known to misstep,<ref>[[Sentinel 9.1]]</ref> sometimes greatly but always memorably.<ref name="29.4 e6">“Weld isn’t dumb,” Shadow Stalker said, as she stepped out of one room and crossed the hall.  “Except maybe with people.  Kind of put his big metal foot in his big metal mouth, I remember.  But he’s not dumb when it comes to powers or strategy.  He’s had a few years to figure this out.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/venom-29-4/ Excerpt] from [[Venom 29.4]]</ref>

He struggles with the changes his body has gone through, having lost much of his ability to taste, feel pressure, and smell. The full extent of the effects on his sensorium are unknown.<ref name="outside source">[http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/question242.htm What constitutes a "Sense"]</ref> He is highly reliant on music as a coping mechanism as a result<ref name="9.1" />, with his quarters among the Wards having wall to wall stacks of CDs. Weld does like super bitter coffee, though, as he is able to taste it.<ref>“What coffee?” Sveta asked.  “Weld and I were trying to find one he might like, but it turned out he wants it super bitter, because that’s the only way he can taste it.  We had a bunch of things of coffee taking up space, and I took it on myself to drink it.  I even gave some away.” - [[Shadow 5.1]]</ref>

He does not strictly need to eat and functions on less sleep than normal for humans. In fact, he used some of his Wards food stipend to buy music.<ref name="9.1c2">Ah, but you have to weigh it. How self-serving is it, really? I mean, he’s not really cheating the system or stealing money. He’s thinking, “Others get $400 a month to spend on food and other essentials, but I don’t sweat and my clothes last a long while if I get durable ones, and I don’t eat, so why shouldn’t I spend money on something more ‘quality of life’?”<br/><br/>Sure, he’s bending the rules a smidge, but he’s a teenage boy, not a saint, and he puts up with a hell of a lot with his condition. It’s really pretty tame as sins go. -[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/cell-9-1/#comment-15016 Comment by Wildbow] on [[Sentinel  9.1]]</ref> His emotional range is also affected. He states that he does not have adrenaline or really feel fear because his body does not produce the chemicals for it.<ref name="27.5">“[[Sveta]] idolizes me.  She sees me as a hero, a spokesperson for our kind. [[Jessica Yamada|Her therapist]] asked me to come visit, because she heard about [[Battle against Echidna|what happened]] in the [[Echidna]] attack, what [[Cauldron]] was doing.  All of her progress, gone.  So her therapist wanted her hero to show up.  Give her guidance, support.  It worked.”''<br/>''“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” [[Taylor|I asked.]]<br/><br/>[...]<br/><br/>Weld was shaking his head.  “She thinks I’m fearless, but I’m not.  I don’t have any hormones, any real heart that can pound, adrenaline to flow through my veins.  But I still feel fear, still feel despair.  I can’t jump into the water and sink to some point lower than mount Everest is tall, spending months or years without any goddamn music.  So I stay here and… I try to convince them to leave.  I’m a coward in the end, putting them at risk because I’m scared I’ll sink.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/extinction-27-5/ Excerpt] from [[Extinction 27.5]]</ref>

===Relationships===
====[[Sveta Karelia]]====
Originally Sveta idolized Weld. then she became his teammate and a fervent supporter. They eventually started a relationship together, moving into the same apartment and sleeping in the same bed together. He talks about everything with Sveta, including things she is not supposed to know.<ref name="4.5 e1">“Where are ''you'' at?” I asked.<br/><br/>“Weld has been telling me things about what’s going on elsewhere.  Things he shouldn’t be telling me, but I think a lot of it is the kind of thing like a husband with a certain position might tell his wife, sometimes, even when those things are confidential.”<br/><br/>“Wife?” I asked.  I raised an eyebrow.<br/><br/>“Shut up,” Sveta said, lifting her chin a bit, looking mock-affronted.  “Not another word about that.”<br/><br/>“You’re the one who said the word.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/02/10/shade-4-5/ Excerpt] from [[Shade 4.5]]</ref>

====[[Director Armstrong]]====
The two are never seen interacting together in-story. However, Weld explicitly references Armstrong as a father figure when defending him to [[Director Piggot]], who was saying that Armstrong prioritized research over trying to integrate capes and [[Case 53|deviants]] into society. Weld elaborates he will be visiting Armstrong over the summer.<ref name="9.1" /> Armstrong is also one of the only PRT Directors who was not hostile to Weaver after the [[New Delhi|Battle of New Delhi]].<ref name="25.1">[[Scarab 25.1]]</ref>

He survived Gold Morning and now works as in [[The City]] under the new title of "Chief".

====[[Taylor Hebert]]====
Weld was genial to Skitter at their first meeting though neither of them had been introduced at the time and were about to face an [[Endbringer]] under [[Unwritten Rules|the Truce]].<ref name="8.1"/> While professional in his obligation to place her in custody as a PRT sponsored hero, Weld was willing to listen to Taylor when the situation called for it.

Weld is described by Taylor as being "one of the only decent ones out there..."<ref name="29.3">[[Venom 29.3]]</ref> Weld admitted to her that he did not see himself as a hero and was worried about being isolated without any music. She did save him when he came closest to death.<ref name="30.6" />

====[[Parahuman Response Team|PRT]]====
Weld was promoted to leader of the Brockton Bay Wards to be the ‘face’ for the more "[[Case 53|deviant]]" members of the Protectorate, with the hope that after success leading the Brockton Bay Wards team he would eventually go on to lead a city’s Protectorate team.<ref name="9.1" />

He was able to secure funding from the PRT when he started his own team of 'ethical mercenaries'.<ref name="CastG">'''The Irregulars'''<br/>''Formed of a splinter group of ex-hero Case 53s and others, following the revelations of the Triumvirate’s involvement with Cauldron.  The group does mercenary work, with a focus on doing good deeds more than on making money, and retains loose ties to the Protectorate and Wards.'' - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/cast-spoiler-free/cast/ Cast (In Depth)]</ref>

====[[The Wards]]====
Despite initial difficulties, Weld was able to become a competent leader of the Wards and successfully lead them in many perilous confrontations.<!-- <ref>More out of an attempt to minimize the damage to Shadow Stalker than actually being bowled over, Weld fell.  I did as Tattletale had done before, and struck Weld with the metal of my gun’s barrel.  As I’d hoped, he was still hot enough that the gun bonded to the metal of his body, I could help to hamper his movements.  Rather than hit him in the face, I struck him across one arm, so the gun made contact with both his forearm, where the hook-hand started, and his bicep.  My hope was that it would limit his range of movement. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/parasite-10-4/ Excerpt] from [[Parasite 10.4]]</ref> -->