Editing Skidmark (section)

==History==
===Background===
Given his choice of name and choice of swearwords Skidmark may have been British.<ref name="11.6c1">Yep.<br/><br/>Also means a mark left on the road by spinning tires with insufficient traction.<br/><br/>Whether the double meaning is an intentional crudity on Skidmark’s part (as with Squealer) or if it was just a case of him being bad at picking cape names? I leave it to you guys to decide. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/infestation-11-6/#comment-2340 Comment by Wildbow] on [[Infestation 11.6]]</ref> His trigger was likely more of a natural [[Mover]] trigger then a [[Shaker]] one.<ref name="DG">'''Gate'''/'''Gate''': '''Skidmark''' - [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aHyZ7c7TIgt903mPinOakrgli2WZu5IRtiGYPCnCqDE/edit#gid=178101184 Detail Generator - Mover], spreadsheet by Wildbow.</ref>
===Story Start===
Following [[Bakuda|Bakuda's]] bombing spree, Skidmark went to [[Somer's Rock]] to discuss how they would deal with the [[Azn Bad Boys]]. He was denied a seat at the table with the other leaders and then stormed off to a booth with his teammates after failing to convince them that he deserved one.

He did not fight when the endbringer came to Brockton Bay.
===Post-[[Battle against Leviathan|Leviathan]]===
Skidmark gained a lot of power with the devastation to Brockton Bay.<ref name="9.1">[[Weld]] took the folders and opened the one for the Wards, glanced through it to memorize the faces of his new team.  Then he went to the next file, “Then the top priority as far as opposition goes is… the Archer’s Bridge Merchants?  Superpowered drug dealers.  A [[Skidmark|Shaker 2]], [[Squealer|Tinker 2/Mover 3]] and a [[Mush|Shifter 4]].  These aren’t big numbers.  Am I missing something?”<br/><br/>“Context.  They’ve become a rallying point, representatives and leaders for those on the lowest rungs of society.  Too many civilians who were the have-nots think allying with the Merchants is a way to become the haves.  People that were angry, disenfranchised or both have gravitated towards the group, are seeking to overturn the social order.”<br/><br/>“So they’ve got, what, a following of homeless?”<br/><br/>“Brockton Bay doesn’t, or didn’t,  have many that you could strictly call homeless, as there were so many abandoned buildings to squat in.  When the Endbringer attacked, he chose the area with many of these buildings.”<br/><br/>“I think I remember, yeah.  The area where the fight started didn’t exactly look upscale.”<br/><br/>“The sad irony of this is that the defending parahumans protected that area, while other locations were leveled by the tidal waves.  That area, known to locals as the Docks, was not under the control of any organized crime or villain organization even before the attack.  After the battle’s conclusion, it was swiftly occupied by the Merchants and growing numbers of their followers, and is now one of the areas with reliable shelter.  Not entirely, but more than many.  By the time our local heroes were finished with search, rescue and minimizing damage, their number of followers had reached a critical mass.  In the past several days, they’ve begun attacking the city infrastructure, the airport, grocery stores, malls and they’ve repeatedly seized medical supplies and food as they come in.”<br/><br/>“So a big priority will be safeguarding incoming supplies from relief efforts, protecting key areas of the city so it can recuperate from the disaster.”<br/><br/>“Yes, for the time being.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/cell-9-1/ Excerpt] from [[Sentinel 9.1]]</ref> At some point, his group discovered a case containing [[Cauldron vial|vials]] and documentation claiming that they granted superpowers.

====Gladiator Games====
He held what as essentially a gladiatorial match among members of the merchants. Explicitly for some to win 'powers from a can' as a prize, implicitly as a means to cause triggers among the participants.<ref name="11.5">[[Infestation 11.5]]</ref><ref name="11.6">[[Infestation 11.6]]</ref> [[Faultline]] and her [[Faultline’s Crew|Crew]] attacked and absconded with the most of the contents of the case, severely damaging his reputation.<ref>[[Infestation 11.7]]</ref>
====Post Game Show====
Skidmark later traveled to the island in the middle of the lake Leviathan had created on one of Squealer's vehicles. There, Hookwolf asked him if he knew what keeping a low profile meant. Skidmark told him that he did and then told Hookwolf that Squealer had created a box that that canceled out light and noise at a certain distance. Spotting Faultline, he then asked her why she had messed with his party. He asked her who had hired them, telling her that the Merchants wouldn't come after her group, and said that they would be even if she paid him back for the product they stole. Faultline refused and then went on to ask Hookwolf why Skidmark had been invited.

Skidmark listened as Hookwolf explained what the Undersiders and the Travelers had been doing. When Trickster told them that they didn't want to take over their territories, Skidmark swore under his breathe. His team was able to take part in the strategy negotiations with the local Protectorate team.

====Burnout====
Later, Skidmark addressed his underlings from an aircraft Squealer had made. He told them that a green armband meant poison before telling them that he was going to make it the worst of the bad trips. He then explained how they would take a handful of pills and then fall into a coffin where something bad would happen to them. He then told them that those who survived getting buried alive would earn the green armband and that, for those with the armband, everything that they bought from him would be ten percent off.<ref name="I12"/>

Skidmark stopped and then dropped his microphone. His hands went to his stomach where [[Jack Slash]] had hit him before he turned to run. He was cut on his arms, his butt, his back, and the back of his neck. He stumbled and fell whereupon he tried to crawl away only for his reaching fingers to be cut off. The aircraft lurched and Skidmark slid backwards. He used his power to right himself, but ended up dropping into the propeller blades.<ref name="I12">[[Interlude 12]]</ref>