Gray Boy

<tabber> |-|Original=

{{#if:King and Gray BoyLast 20.e3|

|-|Clone=

{{#if:Gray Boy to JackInterlude 26b|

“	Pathetic. Stupid, useless. I thought you’d do something interesting, but you made yourself prey, instead of the predator. If you’re going to be prey, I want you to be my prey.	”
{{#if:Gray Boy to Jack| —Gray Boy to Jack{{#if:Interlude 26b|, Interlude 26b}} }} }}

</tabber> <infobox> <title source="name"><default>Gray Boy</default></title>

<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>

<label>Status</label><format>

Deceased

</format>

<label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox>Nicholas, publicly known as Gray Boy, was a founding member of the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Personality

Gray Boy is dangerously unstable, even for a member of the Nine. Bonesaw speculated that he would likely loop someone in a room just because he could. Jack Slash had asked for only one clone of him, because he could only keep one Gray Boy under control.<ref name=":0">“Jack,” Gray Boy said.  His voice was high, clear as a bell.

“Nicholas.”

Jack extended a hand and Nicholas shook it.

Riley felt her stomach sink.It would be like Gray Boy to use his power and take out someone in the room, just because he could.  Jack had only wanted one, and the unspoken reality was that he only wanted one because he could only control one. - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref>

The original Gray Boy would not have known how to operate a computer, but Bonesaw's version possessed memories and skills taken from a child.<ref name="computer">A computer monitor on the desk flickered to life.

“I’m excited,” Jack said. “Gray Boy is working on getting the video up. Funny thing. The real Gray Boy wouldn’t be able to do this, but we gave this one the memories of a real child. Came with the necessary skills. I’m almost disappointed. People are so much more interesting when they’re flawed, aren’t they? Oh, here we go. I haven’t even seen this. Let’s see…” - Excerpt from Sting 26.6</ref> It is unknown how much Bonesaw's Gray Boy resembles the original in personality.

Gray Boy's clone is sadistic, using his powers to effectively torture people for eternity. When Purity disobeyed him, he devised a "special" punishment - she was left unharmed, but trapped, with the promise that he would eventually return and trap her daughter alongside her. On one occasion, he arbitrarily demanded a victim tell him an "interesting" story while torturing them, with the promise that they would be left relatively unharmed if he liked it.<ref name="26.6" /> He grew angry at Jack Slash when they attempted to flee the heroes together, telling him that he was making himself "prey, instead of the predator."<ref name="26.b">Excerpt from Interlude 26b</ref>

Reputation

Even after his first death, Gray Boy was the one of the most feared villains to have ever been part of the Slaughterhouse Nine.<ref name="Cast2">Gray Boy (Status Unknown) – Once a member of the Nine, one of Jack’s first teammates. Has been referenced in passing several times, with a measure of awe or fear. - Cast (in depth)</ref>

Appearance

Nicholas is prepubescent in appearance, older than ten but younger than fourteen, with neatly parted hair and a private school uniform complete with glossy black shoes. His voice is high and clear.<ref name=":0" />

He has a monochrome effect surrounding him, with spots of light and shadow flickering around him. Periodically he flickers, a transparent double image momentarily overlapping him looking in a different direction.<ref name="I25 e1">The boy stepped out, and there was no sign of any difficulty. He didn’t struggle as others had, nor have trouble finding his feet. He was prepubescent, to look at him, older than ten but younger than fourteen. His hair was neatly parted, and he wore a private school uniform, complete with glossy black shoes. Dry.

Even though he was naked in the tube.

Then again, that was sort of his thing. One of them, anyways.

Visually, the most notable part of him was the effect that surrounded him. He was monochrome, all grays and whites and blacks, with spots of light and shadow flickering around him. Here and there, he flickered, a double image momentarily overlapping him, ghostly, looking in a different direction.

As far as parahuman powers went, his was as unfair as they got.

“Jack,” Gray Boy said. His voice was high, clear as a bell. - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref>

Abilities and Powers

Gray Boy is able to form stationary time loops, and his power reverts any changes made to his body. A quirk of his power is that anything affected is heavily desaturated, giving him his namesake monochrome look.

Gray Boy was the only one who could enter the loops.<ref>Gray Boy is the only person who may be able to touch her, but that doesn't mean Bonesaw can't give him a few things. - Excerpt from Interlude 26b</ref> During these loops, the only changes to the victim to carry over are those he inflicts on them (such as a cut or burn) and in the progression of their thoughts. Pain inflicted on the victims is repeated over and over again.<ref name="List">Nicholas Gray Boy Can trap those around him in manipulable time loops of pain at will. Undoes any damage taken/negative effects applied via. his power. - Parahuman List, bolded edit by Wildbow.</ref> Gray Boy can modify the time between loops, extending them to give victims time to speak full words or shortening them to more quickly repeat the initial burst of pain from a wound. However, he claimed to be unable to turn it off for anyone except himself.<ref name="26.6 eDetails" /> The powers of anyone trapped inside them were unable to reach out of the loop.<ref>The well trapped powers within. Kayden's lasers wouldn't exit the area. Crusader's duplicates wouldn't be able to wander beyond the well's limits. - Excerpt from Interlude 26a</ref>

He claimed that victims would usually go insane after a few days, then work through that back to sanity, then crack again, in an endless cycle. He also claimed that they never grew used to the pain he inflicted.<ref name="26.6" />

According to Gray Boy's sources, a time loop that he creates will last until well after the sun goes out.<ref name="26.6 eDetails">“Until well after the sun goes out, they think,” Gray Boy said. “Speed of thought, can’t turn it off unless I’m using it on myself, and I don’t think anyone’s immune.” - Excerpt from Sting 26.6</ref> However, in truth it only lasts for around ten thousand years or so.<ref>“If that’s true, then I can’t kill you,” Foil said. “I’ll have to trap you somewhere else, in another state.”

“Even Gray Boy’s famous bubbles will only last ten thousand years or so,” March said. “I asked when we were working on the ways to break the time effects. That’s like delaying an eighty year marriage by two days.” - Heavens 12.x</ref><ref name="SB11">If it helps, Gray Boy's power doesn't really last forever. Or even until the sun runs out. After a few thousand years though, you have to wonder if it matters. - Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>

Gray Boy can affect an area roughly 5 feet across and 8 feet high,<ref name="IRC-1">8:43 PM <soulpelt|> Hmmm
8:43 PM <soulpelt|> how large an area could Grey Boy affect, Wildbow?
8:43 PM <Howdy> I'm unconvinced Gray Boy would work on Endbringers.
8:43 PM <notes> And there's the argument for Taylor using Grey Boy's defense only being seriously underestimated.
8:43 PM <Howdy> Their rule seems to be "anything that could beat me doesn't work."
8:44 PM <El> She can still create an indestructible wall, right?
8:44 PM <•Wildbow> Roughly 5' across and 8' high
8:44 PM <soulpelt|> Hmmm
8:44 PM <El> Try caging one of them, or just use it as a forcefield
8:44 PM <Alathon> not very good for the city she's doing it in
8:44 PM <Howdy> Nothing is indestructible in Worm...
8:44 PM <Alathon> and better be hella careful about friendly fire
8:45 PM <soulpelt|> I thought stuff affected by the power was basically intangible.
8:45 PM <Alathon> hm
8:45 PM <Howdy> There are powers we don't see defeated but it defies credulity to believe that any power is absolute, when we know the genesis of powers.
8:45 PM <Alathon> I just remember the siberian seeming to touch one
8:46 PM <•Wildbow> Chances are good Gray Boy's power would bind one of the Endbringer's limbs, it would pull free, doing massive damage to itself.
8:46 PM <soulpelt|> Huh, okay
8:46 PM <•Wildbow> And it would likely stop holding back up until Gray Boy was dead
8:47 PM <soulpelt|> so it is tangible.
8:47 PM <soulpelt|> (then you have random bits of Endbringer flesh in the air.)
8:47 PM <Alathon> could gray boy go all the way in and out? or just reach in?
8:47 PM <•Wildbow> If you have multiple effects in place and you trap the whole Endbringer, it'll count as dead.
8:48 PM <•Wildbow> All the way in and out.
8:48 PM <Alathon> so he could step inside his bubble
8:48 PM <•Wildbow> Yeah
8:48 PM <soulpelt|> But not pull anyone out?
8:48 PM <Alathon> does his power go out from inside his bubble?
8:48 PM <Alathon> by rights.. he should be able to solo leviathan with that
8:48 PM <•Wildbow> No. - Wildbow on the IRC, archived on Spacebattles</ref> and was able to freeze a ten-foot-high "wall" of air on one occasion.<ref name="26a">Interlude 26b</ref> He claimed his power operated at the "speed of thought," and that he believed no one was immune to it.<ref name="26.6 eDetails" /> His power can obliquely act on objects charged by Foil, allowing him to effectively freeze her darts in midair if he notices their approach.<ref>Foil threw darts. Gray Boy froze them in mid-air. - Excerpt from Interlude 26b</ref>

His power also makes him effectively immortal, constantly restoring his body to the exact condition it was in when he first got his powers. This prevented him from aging or even getting dirty. He retained memories despite his constant reversion.<ref>The corpse flickered, and Gray Boy reappeared, sitting atop the forearm of the hand that had squashed him. He hopped down.

His time loop power protected him. Any time he was hurt, any time he was debilitated, his power would kick in, taking him back as far as he needed, allowing him to maintain his position if he wanted. He'd remain conscious, retain any recollection, and with his offensive power, he could shut down any threat.

It was that same power that kept him from aging. Aging was a danger, change was a problem, so he continually retained his appearance from the very moment he'd triggered, reverting back several times an hour, or any time he even got dirty. - Excerpt from Interlude 26b</ref> Any time he was hurt or debilitated, his power would take him back as far as he needed, allowing him to maintain his position if he wanted or move out of the way.<ref name="26.b e1">The D.T. officer had turned the containment foam onto Gray Boy.

Except Gray Boy reappeared, out of the way of the stream.

The containment foam froze in mid-air. - Excerpt from Interlude 26b</ref>

Gray Boy knew Bonesaw's name before she told him, and she believed he - like Jack - was aware she planned to betray the Nine. It is unclear what aspect of his powers allowed this.<ref>“Bonesaw,” he said, voicing a name she hadn’t programmed into him. His hand found hers, and he held it. She felt a chill. “We’ll be inseparable, I think.

[...]

”Gray Boy squeezed her hand. She would have jumped, if her body language wasn’t in the system’s control. She looked at him, and he winked.

Her expression hadn’t wavered, she hadn’t allowed herself the slightest tell, but somehow he fell in the same category as Jack.

He knew. - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref> He had no special ability to aim his attacks, and didn't receive feedback from his power regarding what he'd hit.<ref name="26a" />

Vulnerabilities

If Gray Boy dies while his power is effectively nullified (e.g., his connection to his shard is disrupted), he will be permanently killed. For example, Glaistig Uaine killed the original<ref>She’d taken down Gray Boy, had attacked the King’s Men and slain Athrwys, and then she’d turned herself in. - Interlude 27.x</ref> by claiming him as a shadow (i.e., co-opting his power behind-the-scenes<ref>Other cases of the network being in play include Teacher setting up his own temporary networks of a narrow niche of shard (thinker/tinker shards), or Glaistig Uaine co-opting other networks and making them subordinate (ripping out the entire package and making it a ghost she can load/unload). - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>) at the same time of his death.<ref>Another to duplicate capes. Duplicating the telekinetic, in part. But more focused on duplicating the third spirit Glaistig Uaine had made.

Gray Boys.

She’d gone through a phase, hunting down some of the scariest capes around, defeating them, claiming them.

This was one. - Extinction 27.5</ref> A headshot by Foil's charged darts killed the clone by killing him at the same time as his shard connection being disrupted by the effects of her power.<ref name="26.b e2">She threw a handful of darts through the Siberian and Gray Boy’s head as his back was turned.

The Siberian flickered out of existence as Gray Boy collapsed.

Neither reappeared, healthy or otherwise. - Excerpt from Interlude 26b</ref><ref>They were thrown, and they disrupted connections to two shards at once. The projection disappeared, only to reappear a distance away. The boy who had created the time distortions fell as well. - Interlude 26.x</ref>

King's power can obliquely redirect Gray Boy's time loops away from him to other touched individuals.<ref name="SB1" /> Wildbow speculates that someone capable of disrupting their connection to reality, with weird relation to time, could theoretically escape a time loop.<ref>Blue Button - Little gadget by a time travel tinker. Acts as an emergency button, disrupting one's connection to reality, kind of turning you into a Breaker, with weird relation to time. Essentially lets you break free of some of the really nasty stuff (like, theoretically, a grey boy loop), and travel about 5-10 feet with no need to concern yourself about intervening hazards or power effects, before you return to normal. Each use of the button makes it less efficient. Each time it's used, it shaves off Xd6 years from the user's lifespan, where X is the number of uses, and has a cumulative 2% chance of misfiring, in which case it would shave off 6d6 and cause a time-based mutation. No saying how many times it's been used, but they think it's only once or twice. - Comment by Wildbow on Discord</ref>

Without outside interference, Jack Slash's secondary power prevents Gray Boy from looping him.<ref name="reddit eBeat">ReekRhymesWithWeak: He still gets wrecked by trumps like citrine, and there are some capes that just completely destroy him such as The Siberian, Grey Boy, Number Man (can dodge Jack's attacks), and so on

Wildbow: Jack beats Citrine, Siberian, Grey Boy (until interfered with by outside sources), Number Man and arguably Contessa. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit, archived on Spacebattles</ref>

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> 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. - 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.”

“What happened?” Brandish asked.

“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…”

“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.

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.

“Stand back.”

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.
[...]
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.

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.

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.

But it had tried, and as with the helmet and the rest of that crystallized effort, he felt it come due. Connections.
[...]
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.”

“Nothing specific? No details?”

“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…”

“Concentrations of power,” I said.

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.”

“And it’s not just the time-stop bubbles in Brockton Bay that are an issue?” I asked.

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.

“Hallo!” she shouted. The bent space captured her voice, made it resound in different ways.

“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!”

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.”

Using her power, I thought. She could free people from perpetual torment and she says no.

“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.

“Little.”

“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…”

“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!”

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.

There was a whole group of people caught in a time effect in the scar. Three at once?

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.

“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 triggers 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.

Every week, it seemed like there were new initiatives. New steps to get things under control. - Excerpt from Last 20.e3</ref> as the shards are still trying to establish a connection.<ref name="II12.none eConnection" /> According to 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.” - 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-
[...]
And the third- March’s blade impales his head, stabbing into a precise location of the brain.
[...]
She pulls her weapon free, and Ixnay is quick to catch the fallen Jotunn.

“Take care of your boy,” she tells him. “We’ll make a run for it while they’re all distracted. Same as the mayor.”
[...]
“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.” - Excerpt from Last 20.e3</ref>

Shard

According to Scion, Gray Boy's shard creates legitimate sinkholes of distorted time.<ref>A shard flared to life, and the entity saw an effect take hold around it. It reached out and found a barrier it could not penetrate.

Cell.

Its hand was moved back to the previous position. It was caught in a sinkhole of distorted time. Over and over again, it moved in a steady loop.

Snare.

A trap. - Interlude 26.x</ref><ref>Its physical body continued to loop in time. It didn’t matter. - Interlude 26.x</ref> Note that temporal powers are expensive for the Entities to use,<ref><Shemetz> [08:26] <Ridtom> Just... how does his power work with Entities? I mean, I get how most powers could (Vista and Legend could push them into FTL speeds, Aegis and Crawler apply better recovery and adaptions, all the thinker powers), but I stuggle to think of how Phir Se (or any time-power really) works on a survival level or on the Entities scale exactly. It seems like it'd solve a lot of
<Shemetz> energy or redundancy issues for them.
<Shemetz> [08:27] <Ridtom> *Issues that these two have in canon to be exact
<Shemetz> [08:31] <@Wildbow> It doesn't solve energy or redundancy issues if it costs more than it preserves.
<Shemetz> [08:31] <Ridtom> Ah
<Shemetz> [08:32] <Ridtom> It's the engine problem I see
<Shemetz> [08:33] <Ridtom> Have access to a new material/source of power, but the engine itself isn't proper for handling the source/material
<Shemetz> [08:34] <@Wildbow> Most of the time they hobnob it with simulation/precognition and manifestation - Conversation with Wildbow on IRC, archived on Spacebattles</ref> and are thus extremely limited for them. Although Gray Boy's shard can create a time distortion effect that spans a few seconds between loops and affects everything in its localized area by holding them in a kind of drastic superposition, extending the time between loops to say a minute or a day is effectively not possible due to its sheer cost.<ref>The way I have it in my head, if you're working with a localized area or a span of a few seconds, you can hold everything in a kind of drastic superposition.
[...]
But if you extend that to a minute? Or a day? That's a lot of things to hold, say, copies of, or calculate around.
Similarly, if you're looking into the future, then you're only working with information.
Which can then be passed around and accounted for. - Comment by Wildbow on Discord, archived on Spacebattles</ref>

History

Background

Originally a young boy named Nicholas, Gray Boy was created by Cauldron, much like Shatterbird and The Siberian.<ref name="costume">“It meant more people with powers to fight the Endbringers, that was the lie we told ourselves. But we created the Siberian and Shatterbird, in a roundabout way. We created the Gray Boy, selling him powers, finding ourselves unable to stop him when he went out of bounds. There were countless others. Echidna is just the latest in a long series of grave mistakes.” - Excerpt from Scourge 19.6</ref><ref>“Gray Boy? Siberian? Human experimentation?”

“Yes to all of the above,” Doctor Mother said. “I won’t lie to you at this juncture.” - Excerpt from 27.x (Interlude, Eidolon)</ref> Cauldron sold him powers and set him out to infiltrate the Slaughterhouse Nine, knowing that King saw a reflection of himself in disturbed young boys like Jacob and Harbinger. However, Gray Boy's mind was too affected by his powers, and he answered every question he was asked, revealing where he'd come from and why.<ref>“Hell on earth. Are you prepared, Nicholas?”

“Yes, sir,” Nicholas said. The boy was standing in the doorway. Monochrome, tidy, wearing a school uniform.

Nicholas had told King that he had been given his powers. Not by demons, not by angels, not by Scion. By humans. He’d told King that they knew King collected boys- he saw himself in children like Kurt and Jacob. They’d wanted Nicholas to infiltrate. It hadn’t worked- his mind was too affected by his own power, and he answered every question he was given, revealing where he’d come from. - Excerpt from Last 20.e3</ref> Out of Cauldron's control, he fell in line with King and became one of the founding members of the Slaughterhouse Nine.<ref name="I25e1">Her eyes tracked the rows and columns of incubation chambers. They weren’t her field either. A different row for each member of the Slaughterhouse Nine, past or present.

King
Screamer
Harbinger
Breed
Crimson
Gray Boy
Nyx
Psychosoma

There were ten of each in various glass chambers. The original members. - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref>

In terms of power-usage, the original Gray Boy acted similar to Labyrinth at full power; using his powers indiscriminately while staying within an area. King was effectively immune to him, as any loop used on King would be transferred to someone he had touched within the last 24 hours. His immunity to Gray Boy's power allowed him to introduce himself to him in the first place, and eventually lead him around and wield him as a weapon.<ref name="SB1">King had a flimsy hold, Jack had a stronger hold. The former Gray Boy was closer to a Labyrinth in full-on powers mode than anything else. Using powers indiscriminately, staying within an area. King was effectively immune to him, and used this to introduce himself and start leading him around.

Jack cheats. He instinctively, intuitively knows how other parahumans operate, their weak points and their motivations, and was able to leverage original Gray Boy in this way, and the new Gray Boy in a similar way.

Cauldron permitted Gray Boy because he was the closest thing to a weapon they had against Scion since Eidolon. When the S9 started picking up and more parahumans started getting removed from the fiend than Gray Boy was theoretically worth, they moved in. Maneuvering Glaistig Uaine into taking him over, so the power would still be in play. - Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> Despite this, King had only a flimsy hold over Gray Boy. When King died and Jack Slash took over, Jack's power allowed him to leverage Gray Boy and control him.<ref name="SB1" />

Cauldron allowed Gray Boy to survive because he was the closest thing to a weapon they had against Scion since Eidolon. When the Slaughterhouse Nine started picking up momentum and more powerful parahumans started getting removed from the field, the losses became greater than Gray Boy's theoretical worth, and Cauldron moved in, maneuvering Glaistig Uaine into killing him and taking his power for herself, so that Gray Boy's power would still be available against Scion.<ref name="SB1" />

Post-Timeskip

Jack Slash had been sure to tell Bonesaw bedtime stories about Gray Boy.<ref name="19.x">Interlude 19.x</ref> As such, she took particular care when she resurrected him as a clone for the Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand. Gray Boy was the only member who she only cloned once, as per Jack's explicit instruction.<ref name=":0" />

The cloned Gray Boy had skills the original lacked due to Bonesaw implanting the body of the clone with the memories of an actual child.<ref name="computer" /> He stepped out of the cloning chamber fully clothed and dry, and unlike the other clones, he didn't struggle before finding his feet. He greeted Jack Slash and approached Bonesaw. The two had a brief, seemingly friendly conversation.<ref name="I25">Interlude 25</ref> The cloned Gray Boy was shown to be completely lucid and highly sadistic. Due to the unique circumstances where Gray Boy's power restored his original body, it is unknown whether his power also restored his original memories and personality in addition to the new memories implanted by Bonesaw, or if his personality was purely Bonesaw's construction.

Gray Boy was sent to retrieve Aster as part of Jack's game with Theo. Following his orders, he trapped Crusader, Purity and two PRT agents in loops. He told one of the PRT agents that he wouldn't torture her if she told him a story he found interesting; she chose to tell him the details of the heroes' plans to prevent Jack ending the world.<ref name="26.6">Sting 26.6</ref>

During the final standoff with Jack, Gray Boy managed to loop Scion. This proved to be ineffectual, however, as Scion was able to break out of the loop with little effort. Gray Boy was eventually killed by Foil, but not before he turned on Jack Slash, trapping him in a time loop and torturing him.<ref name="26.b">Excerpt from Interlude 26b</ref>

Gold Morning

Glaistig Uaine made use of Gray Boy's power in the fight against Scion.

Trivia

• In previous drafts of Worm, Gray Boy was usually an independent villain. Some versions of him would shunt people into the future, during which they experienced sensory deprivation, rather than looping them; he began sending people thousands or millions of years when he was "broken mentally" during that story.<ref name="SB1aaaa" />
  • Gray Boy's power was inspired by Wildbow thinking of the worst thing he could do with a common time power.<ref name="SB1aaaa">Gray Boy is one of those characters that cropped up a lot in the drafts.
    
    Where Bonesaw sort of found her way to various teams in the drafts, Gray Boy was usually a loner. An independent who might have been in the same in-story role as Kaiser, with various tweaks to powers.
    
    So you think, just in general, "What's a horrible thing you can do with [common power], as a variant?"
    
    Fire goes out of control, that's sort of a metaphor for Burnscar. Water, Leviathan. Lightning strikes, there's not a fucking lot you can normally do about being struck by lightning.
    
    Remember the last chapter of Migration? Peaks are higher, valleys are lower. It's just a question of scale.
    
    Gray Boy was a fairly natural leap from 'time power'. I think in another variation, he just shunted you a duration into the future. For all intents and purposes, you disappeared, but you got to experience the ride in real time. In that incarnation, he was broken mentally, he started to shunt people around by thousands or tens of thousands or millions of years instead of the usual. Similar idea, less visceral, harder to get on paper. Idea gets refined, given his short appearance and need to 'show' more, and you wind up with this. -

Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>

• It is theorized that Nicholas took the Vestige formula, the same Cauldron vial taken by Perdition and possibly Epoch.

Fanart Gallery

• Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Illustration by Pabel and Nine on Tumblr
• Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Illustration by delta-sulfur on DeviantArt
• Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Illustration by What is Sleep on Tumblr
• Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Illustration by Cadillion on DeviantArt
• Error creating thumbnail: File missing
  Illustration by Epicranius on Reddit

References

<references/>

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Slaughterhouse Nine
Leaders	King {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Jack Slash {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Members	Bonesaw {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Breed {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Burnscar {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Cherish {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Chuckles {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Crawler {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Crimson {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Damsel of Distress {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Gray Boy {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Hatchet Face {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Hookwolf {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Mannequin {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Miasma {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Murder Rat {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nice Guy {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Night Hag {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nyx {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Psychosoma {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Screamer {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Shatterbird {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Siberian {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Skinslip {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Winter {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Bonesaw's Hybrids	Hack Job {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Laughjob {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Murder Rat {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nighty Night {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Pagoda {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Snowmann {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Spawner {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Tyrant {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Clones	Damsel of Distress II {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Damsel of Distress III {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger Clones {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} (Harbinger I {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger II {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger III {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger IV {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger V {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }})