Editing Gray Boy (section)

===Breaking a Time Loop===
A tuned Stilling attack, such as one from [[Scion]], can break a time loop.<ref>Scion equipped himself to be able to fight pretty much any threat. His big weapon is a very versatile 'stilling' ability, which lets him cancel out wavelengths, which can be applied in a variety of ways, defensive or offensive - it lets him counteract, manipulate, and cancel virtually any parahuman or human generated effect. He can cancel out heat, eliminate sound, break Grey Boy's ability, disintegrate molecular bonds, etc. He can do so with beams, thrown orbs/bullets, a light he emanates, and a personal forcefield, among a variety of other mechanisms. - Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref><!-- https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/15025980/ --> [[Jeanne Wynn]] was confident she could do the same, though she was not willing to do so after the risk assessment she and [[the Wardens]] did.<ref name="II11.4 e1" /> [[March]] outside of a time loop can break it,<ref name="26.6 eLoop">I’d already seen, in a sense.  I’d figured out what was behind the tarp back in Killington.  Gray Boy’s victim.  The only one, as far as I was aware, who was still alive. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/03/sting-26-6/ Excerpt] from [[Sting 26.6]]</ref><ref name="II12.2 eBroken">I beat her to the punch.  “March got to one of the time effects.  It was the Killington Mayor, in an area that was folded into Brockton Bay.”<br><br>“What happened?” Brandish asked.<br><br>“Broken trigger,” I said, my voice soft.  I could remember the last one I’d been present for.  The construction worker’s rally.  It had been bad.  This was apparently worse by orders of magnitude.  “It incapacitated everyone in the ruins of Brockton Bay and left them defenseless while the initial effects took place.  They’re calling it a Class-S problem.  Not a ''threat'', because that implies a consciousness, but…”<br><br>“Everyone on duty offworld and internationally has been pulled to assist,” Harbinger One said. - [[Heavens 12.2]]</ref> presumably with the help of specialized tinkertech that was used on a [[Bakuda]]-derived time bubble.<ref>A bubble sits suspended in the sky.  Some earth still clings to it, but the ground dropped and the bubble remained fixed to this point in space.  Off to the side, a scarab beetle is cast in bronze, the pedestal broken, the statue sitting askew on broken road.<br><br>March reaches into a pocket.  The second of her devices.  Courtesy of Cradle and Cradle’s back and forth with the Khonsu Fallen, who are led by time manipulators.<br><br>“Stand back.”<br><br>The device makes the bubble fragile, and March’s blade cuts into the skin of it.  It distorts, and it breaks. - [[Heavens 12.all]]</ref>

Gray Boy's victims are repeatedly trying to [[trigger]]; however, the [[shards]] are unable to establish a connection to those trapped inside despite their best efforts.<ref name="II12.none eConnection">The bubble popped.<br>[...]<br>There had been ten thousand times he’d snapped while in that bubble.  Ten thousand times he’d broken from reality, broken from memory, from hope, from everything.<br><br>And in those moments, he’d glimpsed something greater.  For longer, and longer, each time.  Each effort a vain attempt by his collaborator, his agent, to forge a connection and reach out.<br><br>But that wasn’t how this worked.  He didn’t get to have connections.  That hadn’t been the unspoken bargain he’d apparently struck.  He didn’t get the tools to better cut and cauterize wounds and save his son’s mother for nothing.<br><br>But it had tried, and as with the helmet and the rest of that crystallized effort, he felt it come due.   Connections.<br>[...]<br>The connection came, and the connection ''stayed''. - [[Heavens 12.none]]</ref> Because trigger events are a blind spot for the typical [[precognitive]],<ref>“We’ve heard of incidents where one person became a very large-scale effect.  The kind that would cover this whole colony, and then some,” I said.  “I think the catch is that most precogs and danger sensers can’t see triggers coming, even broken ones.” - [[Gleaming 9.12]]</ref> they cannot see the consequences of breaking a time loop with people inside.<ref name="II11.4 e2">It wasn’t Jeanne who answered.  Cinereal gave me my reply.  “Thinkers say no.  They’re either drawing blanks or they don’t like what they see.”<br><br>“Nothing specific?  No details?”<br><br>“No,” Cinereal said.  “But if you look at some of the other major thinker blind spots, you’re going to find yourself running into topics like Eidolon, Sleeper, the Endbringers, Valkyrie, the Island-state, the Pastor incident…”<br><br>“Concentrations of power,” I said.<br><br>Jeanne shook her head.  “''Complexity'' of power, most often.  Whatever thinker powers come into play, with these cases, there’s often too many variables to fully consider, thinkers report that their powers are fuzzy, inconsistent, or blacked out.”<br><br>“And it’s not just the time-stop bubbles in Brockton Bay that are an issue?” I asked.<br><br>Jeanne shook her head.  “But Brockton Bay is one of the largest collections.  Keep that in mind.” - [[Blinding 11.4]]</ref> What little they could indirectly see afterward looked "bad" to them.<ref>“March!” a hero bellowed.  He stood on a rooftop directly above her, looking up at her while she looked up at him.  Twenty feet separated them.<br><br>“Hallo!” she shouted.  The bent space captured her voice, made it resound in different ways.<br><br>“You can’t do this!  You can’t touch the time bubbles!  Every person with a power that looks at the future says the result is ''bad!''”<br><br>She laughed. - [[Interlude 12.z II]]</ref>

After much research, [[the Wardens]] initially believed it was too risky to free his victims,<ref name="II11.4 e1">“The Wardens were looking into those effects, as well as the ongoing Gray Boy loops,” Jeanne said.  “They researched it and decided no.  The same people who petitioned the Wardens then petitioned the government.  It crossed my desk, but I already had some faint knowledge of what it was about.  I considered, researched, and came to the decision that ''yes'', I know a way to undo the effect.  ''No'', I won’t actually do it.”<br><br>''Using her power'', I thought.  ''She could free people from perpetual torment and she says no''.<br><br>“Why no?” I asked. - [[Blinding 11.4]]</ref><ref name="II11.4 e3">“And you don’t know why?  The thinkers can’t shed any light on this?” I asked.<br><br>“Little.”<br><br>“You’re saying you checked, you’re saying no, risky for reasons you can’t disclose.  The Wardens checked, and ''they’re'' saying no, the thinkers think it’s volatile somehow…”<br><br>“Yes,” Cinereal said.  “Volatile is a good way to put it.  It might not explode.  It might be devastating.” - [[Blinding 11.4]]</ref> especially once they learned that freed victims would typically have a [[broken trigger]]<ref name="II12.all eWorms">“Careful, Withdrawal!” a woman shouts.  “She’s dangerous!  She set that thing off to the west!”<br><br>The west.  The mayor.  The first one from the time bubble.  The blackout that had followed had bought March the chance to slip away, take another angle of attack.  It was occupying a good portion of the defending forces.  Worms were crawling out of every crevice and hole, binding together into bigger things if not cut down fast enough. - [[Heavens 12.all]]</ref> after [[Scion]]'s death.<ref name="II12.2 eBroken" /><ref>Same as before.  That meant this wasn’t an isolated incident.  It was even possible that ''everyone'' who was released from time bubbles was going to trigger the instant they were released.  Possible that everyone who was released was going to be a ''broken'' trigger.<br><br>There was a whole group of people caught in a time effect in the scar.  Three at once?<br><br>I wasn’t going to rule out worst-case scenarios. - [[Heavens 12.2]]</ref> For example, when [[March]] broke a time loop<ref name="26.6 eLoop" /> containing the mayor of Killington, he became an [[S-Class]] problem<ref name="II12.2 eBroken" /><ref>“What’s happening?” Colt asked.<br><br>“March released something bad,” the Fallen boy said.  “They’re calling it Class S.  She’s going to release more.” - [[Interlude 12.e II]]</ref> that involved giant worms.<ref name="II12.all eWorms" /> However, after the [[Titans]] crumbled, the Wardens began efforts to let people out.<ref name="II20.e3 eCleanup" /> Still wary of broken triggers, they made sure to communicate with those they intended to keep alive in order to prepare them.<ref name="II20.e3 eChance" />

Although [[Titan Fortuna]] fixed the [[shard network]] so that [[broken trigger]]s are on a sharp decline,<ref name="II20.e3 eChance" /> freed individuals would [[trigger]] or [[second trigger]]<ref name="II20.e3 eCleanup">The fight against the Machine Army was seemingly endless, but they were making fractions of a percent of progress.  It was the same mentality that drove the cleaning up of the time bubbles and Grey Boy loops, taking pre-emptive action where possible.  If someone let any of those people out, they would trigger or second trigger, and they weren’t mentally fit.<br><br>Every week, it seemed like there were new initiatives.  New steps to get things under control. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/04/18/last-20-e3/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.e3]]</ref> as the [[shards]] are still trying to establish a connection.<ref name="II12.none eConnection" /> According to [[Limerick|Five]], breaking a time loop creates a 94.1% chance that any person inside will trigger or second trigger the instant they are released.<ref name="II20.e3 eChance">“Breaking time effects apparently creates a ninety-four point one percent chance that the person or people within trigger or second trigger the instant they’re out.  We’re not seeing many more broken triggers, but they’re still wary, still making sure they can communicate with the person on the other side and prepare them.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/04/18/last-20-e3/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.e3]]</ref> However, it is possible to prevent an individual from triggering by immediately stabbing the released individual in a specific part of the brain,<ref>March is quick to move, helped by the three faces.  She lunges-<br>[...]<br>And the third- March’s blade impales his head, stabbing into a precise location of the brain.<br>[...]<br>She pulls her weapon free, and Ixnay is quick to catch the fallen Jotunn.<br><br>“Take care of your boy,” she tells him.  “We’ll make a run for it while they’re all distracted.  Same as the mayor.”<br>[...]<br>“All of ''this'' to give Ixnay the ability to bleed his cluster-mate out?” Tori asks.  “We just unleashed-” - [[Heavens  12.all]]</ref> or collapsing the time loop such that it kills the individual in the process.<ref>“They’re not inclined to let you out, Jacob.  They intend to collapse the effect and kill you in the process.  They’ve already started elsewhere.  You’re second to last, and at the rate they’re going, accounting for travel time, it will be another seven weeks, and three days.  In the meantime, you get your ruins.  You get your blood.  You get to be king of your own desolate little world.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2020/04/18/last-20-e3/ Excerpt] from [[Last 20.e3]]</ref>