Editing Cradle (section)

==Abilities and Powers==
{{main|Mall Cluster}}
===Tinker ability===
Cradle primary ability is a [[Tinker]] one, with a specialty in making limbs. He has a dedicated workshop.<ref>“I guess I get to be pretty strong today,” the recluse said.<br/><br/>“You won’t need your workshop,” Snag said.  “And we could use a better sense of tech, for reasons we discussed on the phone.  Give me your share tomorrow, too, and I won’t need it for a while.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/02/06/shade-interlude-4a/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 4a II]]</ref> His primary ability comes from the shard, [[Grasping Self]].
====Equipment====
Cradle collaborated with others in his trigger group, designing things with them. By the time of the attack on the Fallen compound, he had been refining his equipment for around a year.<ref name="6.5 3" />
{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" style="width:100%"
|Tinker Creations
! scope="col" |
|-
|
*Megacarpus<ref>[[Heavens 12.f]]</ref> - Pseudo-mech composed of 4 gargantuan hands, with a reach of around 50 feet, supported by a framework of 6 smaller (but still large) limbs.<ref name="5.12 e1"/><ref>Cradle turned, his attention on those on the ground.  A lot of strength in those mechanical hands.  There had to be a good fifty feet of armspan when the two longest arms were extended, and he had a lot of arms.  He hopped over to one of the shorter arms- almost just a wrist that connected to the central hub, and stepped onto the hand, where he crouched with the hand cupped around him. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/04/28/pitch-6-5/ Excerpt] from [[Pitch 6.5]]</ref>
**Later upgraded into the Megacarpus II.
*Detachable transparent cables that stretched between the fingertips of the mech, used as whips or barriers.<ref>I could see it now.  Cords or cables, normally transparent, were illuminated in red light.  There was lag, the light tracing one cord that extended from each fingertip, snapping to another position when it fell out of sync. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/04/28/pitch-6-5/ Excerpt] from [[Pitch 6.5]]</ref>
*Body suit - Costume decorated with hands, has functional tinker lenses he can use to command his mech.<ref name="5y II">"What?” Cradle asked.  He sat on a mechanical hand, one leg dangling.<br/><br/>“With the hood, near March.  It’s him.”<br/><br/>Cradle had goggles as part of the suit that networked with his robot.  He adjusted one. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/04/10/shadow-interlude-5-y/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 5y II]]</ref> 
*Portal-whip, that was created from [[Disjoint]]'s read, and used to collect hostage bodyparts.
*The Egg - device used to drain clustermates and keep hostages, while Cradle is forced into dream.
|}

===Striker/Shaker Power===
Cradle could imbue his tech's attacks to let them hit with an explosive force beyond what they should have hit with. [[Victoria]] speculated that this might have been his version of Rain's [[Blaster]] power, or otherwise an adaptation of another Tinker's tech.<ref>The cable hit the ground around the base of Cradle’s robot, and the soil exploded with the impact.  Again, that surrounding force.<br/><br/>His version of Rain’s power.  Or something he’d begged and borrowed for, maybe, another tinker’s tech, modified to work with his gear.  That was a thing tinkers could do- a thing that drove them into tinker enclaves or the PRT.  Past tense ‘drove’. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/04/28/pitch-6-5/ Excerpt] from [[Pitch 6.5]]</ref> It was later proven to be the case, as when he took Rain's tokens on their sixth night in the dream room, he described the ability to run this power through objects.<ref>But he had the power- he could feel it running into the floor, as he pushed the power out toward his feet.  He felt it conduct into his bed, then his desk, as he touched them, struggling feebly to find a path to travel. [[Heavens 12.f]]</ref>

The upgraded version of this, resembles a [[Shaker]] ability, as Cradle can summon glowing lines in the area surrounding him, that cut anything they intersect, including powers.<ref>It wasn’t a bullet I had to worry about.  I was flying, thinking I was safe, when lines began to appear.  Silvery, but crisp, like slices in reality, reaching well over the building.<br/>
Not meant for me, but dangerous all the same.  I flew past one, and the Wretch had a limb extended.  I felt the Wretch get sliced, felt the dim sensation that was the Wretch’s extended being part.  The forcefield didn’t collapse.  It cut.- [[Heavens 12.7]]</ref> These lines stay stationary wherever they are placed.

===Mover Power===
In addition, he appeared to have an intuitive ability to stay balanced, even while standing upon his hand mech; this was his version of Snag's [[Mover]] power.<ref>He hurled himself at the bars, at the same moment hands moved apart and the stone shattered.  The bars had broken just in time that he didn’t collide with them.  A hand moved to provide footing below him as he descended, bobbed to absorb the impact of the fall.<br/><br/>Was that intuitive sense of how to stay steady on his contraption his mover power? - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/04/28/pitch-6-5/ Excerpt] from [[Pitch 6.5]]</ref> This ability, when supercharged with extra tokens, allows Cradle to warp space in a way that allows him to move between spaces extremely quickly, in a way that resembles teleportation.<ref>He took a deep breath, reaching out with a hand- and he distorted.  Teleportation wasn’t the right word.  It made me think of Vista closing the space between herself and something else, to get where she wanted to be faster, but it was instant, a snap, and Cradle was perched on the side of his mech, crouching with no regard for gravity, one hand at a panel window.<br/><br/>
He didn’t need a deep breath for the movements that followed.  There was a tall toolbox resting against the wall, and he was there.<br/><br/>
Okay, it was kind of like teleportation, but not like I’d dealt with.  A surgical removal of everything between point A and B, including reorientation.  It made me think of someone walking through a hall of mirrors, some mirrors angled or set up to portray things at right angles.  He was getting more fluid with it by the second, snatching up a dangling wire while upside-down, and bringing it with him to a point where he was standing perpendicular to the ground, to the vent he pried open with the tool from the toolbox.  The mechanisms at the interior of the vent illuminated him. [[Heavens 12.7]]</ref>

===Emotion Power===
Cradle also had a secondary emotion power, his version of Love Lost's power. When boosted, it allowed him to sense people in his vicinity.<ref>And… two drainings of other denizens of the room completed, the emotion power with no tokens felt instinctively stronger than any other power he’d had before, when he’d had all three tokens in hand.<br/><br/>
He only felt out the barest traces of it, the flexibility and the shape of it, and he sensed the people outside the building. [[Heavens 12.f]]</ref>

Cradle's emotion power allows him to sense the emotional weaknesses in people, letting him know exactly how far he can push things with them before they will break.<ref>“You stupid bitch,” Lionwing said.  “He can draw it in.  Read your weaknesses in chemical code, running through your head and your veins.  He earned money blackmailing people by targeting them.  He got more ground with people by sensing how far he could push them before they gave.  And all of that was before.  When he woke up tonight, he was strong.  What he’s been doing?  He’s been gathering what he needs.”- [[Heavens 12.9]]</ref>

This ability comes from his connection to [[Anguished Heart]].

===Cluster Dynamic===
Unique to Cradle's cluster, every night, Cradle and his cluster-mates re-lived their memories of the mall incident and were placed in a room where they could exchange tokens to shift the balance of power among the cluster. Cradle's tokens were coins.<ref>The others were sorting themselves out.  Five shards of glass for Snag, three coins for the recluse.  The muzzled woman stared him down.  She’d already handed out two of the teeth that served as her token, keeping one for herself. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/02/06/shade-interlude-4a/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 4a II]]</ref> After Snag's death, as the power balance began to be more uneven, Cradle was apparently stronger<ref>“Keep an eye on her?” Rain asked.  “She’s stronger than she was.  Cradle too.  The bias of power shifts around a lot between our group.  Since Snag’s gone, it’s… stormier.  The pendulums swing further and harder.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/07/14 Excerpt] from [[Beacon 8.4]]</ref>

He has gained good experience using his knife.<ref>Knife fights were ''ugly'', and Cradle seemed to know that.  There weren’t good moves to defend oneself from a knife user who was aware of the full potential of the weapon, and any move that was anything less than good meant horrific damage, often going past skin and into muscle, if not organs. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/09/14 Excerpt] from [[From Within 16.10]]</ref>