Colin Wallis

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Colin Wallis</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>

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<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>Colin Wallis was the leader of the Brockton Bay Protectorate team as Armsmaster. After being critically wounded by the Slaughterhouse Nine, Colin took on the identity of Defiant and worked alongside Dragon in searching for and fighting the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Personality

Colin is exemplified by a stern and uncompromising personality, one which frequently serves as a source of friction between him and the people around him - including professional subordinates. Colin sees himself as being part of a war; a soldier of law and order fighting against the chaos of supervillains.<ref name="16.y">Interlude 16.y</ref> Because of this, he can be rude and abrupt to people who aren't on 'his side'.

Colin is defined by his tunnel vision.<ref>I dunno if he cares about friendly staff. He'd go to a place where the staff barely talks, just because the food is good and he can sit and eat. Just a loner with messy (helmet) hair sitting in the corner with a bowl and some bread, taking in much needed raw calories after a day of working out and inventing. Wifi doesn't matter - it's almost better without. He can just tap out notes on his phone as ideas come to him.

He's defined by tunnel vision, so for just that moment, the world is defined by that 3-foot diameter space which is him and the table and the food. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> He's a man who wants to be self-reliant at all times and to excel at everything he does, pushing himself to his absolute limit to a point that might be considered obsessive. He prided himself on this spartan existence which allowed him to take up any job and perform any role the Protectorate required of him.<ref>Interlude 24.y</ref> He deliberately went without a family, friends or a personal life in order to be that much better at his life as a cape and to not give any enemies additional ammo to use against him.<ref name="I11d">Interlude 11d</ref> In fact, until he developed a relationship with Dragon, he had no personal life to speak of whatsoever. Any time not spent on his official duties was spent training or working on his equipment. Despite his powerful drive to be a heroic cape, Colin's pride and anger can get the better of him, leading him to make errors in judgment or exhibit elements of narcissism. Along those lines, Colin also has difficulties with understanding people.<ref name="I10.5">Interlude 10.5</ref> As Colin himself puts it: he never knows what to say, how to say it, or who to say it to.<ref name="I11d"/> Miss Militia noted that he "didn’t have a head for this sort of thing" when discussing interrogations.<ref>Cell 22.6</ref>

Relationships

Dragon

His relationship with Dragon (and his new identity as Defiant) leads Colin to be slightly less stern and belligerent, although he still exhibits many of the same traits and habits that make him difficult for most people to deal with for an extended period. As Taylor puts it, Dragon is the only person on the planet who can stand him for more than ten minutes at a time,<ref>Sting 26.4</ref> and Dragon herself admittedly needs a break sometimes.<ref name="I24c1">Colin was commenting on how society tends to demand that women be pure and virginal but at the same time sexualizes them. He says Dragon is possibly the only entity that could possibly be both and satisfy society, and he’s happy to have her.

And if that isn’t misguided enough, he says it in a ham-handed way. - Comment by wildbow on Interlude 24.y</ref> In her interlude, Dragon notes that she and Colin have the same taste in movies and television shows.<ref name="I10.5"/>

Hannah

Besides Chevalier and Dragon she is one of the only people who considers Defiant a friend.

Taylor

Got off to a bad start with the young Would be hero. Taking credit for her and the Undersiders taking down Lung led to the first blemish on his record. And in turn led him to recklessly try for a win against Leviathan. His life crumbled because of her.

Later after having some time to recover and with somebody help he changed his mind. As Defiant states that he has officially retracted his statements calling Taylor a manipulator and a liar.<ref>Drone 23.1</ref>

Chevalier

Saw each other as old friends.<ref name="I24"> - Excerpt from Interlude 24.x</ref>

Reputation

Armsmaster was featured in photoshoots of the "core group of the top Protectorate members". He had his own action figures.<ref>Brockton Bay's team was officially ‘The Protectorate East-North-East', and were headquartered in the floating, forcefield-shrouded island that you could see from the Boardwalk.  This guy, Armsmaster, was the guy in charge of the local team.  When the core group of the top Protectorate members from around Canada and the States assembled in that classic ‘v' formation for the photo shoots, Armsmaster was one of the guys in the wings.  This was a guy who had his own action figures.  Poseable Armsmaster with interchangeable Halberd parts. - Gestation 1.6</ref> He appeared on magazine covers and did interviews on TV, so you could find almost anything about Armsmaster through various media, short of his secret identity. Taylor Hebert compared him to Michael Jordan and referred to him as "one of the top heroes".<ref name="1.6" /><ref name="SBWoh">Parahumans IRC said:
Wildbow: Armsmaster appears in the posters and such of the top Protectorate heroes.
Wildbow:When they do the image of everyone standing in a 'v' formation
Parahumans IRC said:
Wildbow: Nah. Legend in front, Alex and Eidolon to the left and right, respectively. Then Myrddin, Chev, Cinereal, Narwhal, Rime, Exalt, Armsmaster, Dragon suit silhouette in the background, wings echoing the wings of the PRT logo over their heads. - IRC conversation archived on Spacebattles</ref>

Armsmaster is mentioned as being under 'retirement' and presumably the public thinks this.<ref>Interlude 18.z</ref>

Appearance

Colin is a tall man in his late twenties or early thirties by Taylor's reckoning.<ref name="1.6">Gestation 1.6</ref> He has dark-brown hair and beard that he keeps short and cropped.<ref name=":3">Interlude 7</ref>

<tabber>As Armsmaster= Armsmaster's costume consists of a suit of midnight-blue power armor<ref>Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> with silver highlights and a helmet and visor that covers his eyes and nose<ref name="1.6"/>. He wears a neatly trimmed beard. He wields his personally designed and crafted Halberd weapon system which can shift into various weapons, cut through most metal, wreathe the blade in plasma, project electromagnetic pulses and act as a grappling hook, among many other tools and features. His helmet includes a lie detector and a computer program that allows him to predict enemy behavior - although these tools are not infallible. He also made use of a personalized tinker-tech motorcycle.

His chest emblem was a silhouette of his visor in blue against a silver background, and was featured on various merchandise, including underwear.<ref name="1.6" /> |-|As Defiant= Defiant's costume consists of an advanced, heavy-duty suit of power armor which is forest green and gold in coloration. Much of the armor is decorated in a styling that evokes dragons - such as frills or wings - along the green portions. His helmet, which obscures his whole face, resembles a high-tech knight's helm and the points where the visor meets the rest of the helmet are shaped like a dragon's wing. Much like Armsmaster, he wields a long polearm, although this one is a two-pronged spear as opposed to a halberd and is much larger, able to extend itself up to fifteen feet in length. The spear can deploy a number of different blades and tools, similar to Armsmaster's Halberd and is etched with a design like a lizard's skull in the spearhead. Much of this armor is obviously intended to invoke a comparison with his heroic partner, Dragon, who wears a similar set.

As Defiant, he has numerous cybernetic enhancements throughout his body and even inside of his brain. These include at least one prosthetic eye, a prosthetic leg, and a prosthetic arm to replace the one he lost fighting Leviathan (it is unclear whether more than one each of his arms and legs are cybernetic replacements; see trivia). This level of cybernetic augmentation allows Dragon to see what he sees and allows them both to communicate with each other privately. His scalp is covered in thin, neat surgical scars and he keeps his dark hair and beard shaved close. The level of cybernetic modification means he only has fifteen minutes of 'down time' each day, with six of those fifteen being for sleep. His cybernetic leg also mounts a nanomachine thorn generator.<ref name="16.y"/><ref name="26.2c1">The nanites don’t eat. His nanites are basically like thorns, which sever molecular bonds and effectively disintegrate the target material. - Comment by Wildbow on Sting 26.2</ref>

He usually has access to a personalized Dragon craft which he pilots. </tabber>

Abilities and Powers

Colin is a Tinker that specializes in miniaturization and efficiency. He uses this power to create ridiculously efficient technological devices which he outfits into his suits of armor or into his weapons.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Comment by Wildbow on Armsmaster's early days</ref><ref>Armsmaster is defined in large part by his tunnel vision. He focuses overmuch and without outside factors will lean too heavily on his own perspective, goals, or way of doing things, so his levels of empathy take a hit.

In the conversation, Dragon steps in to steer him back on course when he starts to get too tunnel-visioned. He's clever and intuitive enough to read people (provided his own biases or focuses aren't coming into play in the initial reading) and can even make programs that do it (combat analysis, lie detector) or leverage it into helping him conduct an investigation (gather evidence, read witnesses), but given a long conversation or a context that makes things less convenient for him, he'll wind up putting his foot in his mouth, inadvertently trampling over someone else's feelings and priorities, get too focused on his own goals, or devolve into tinker-talk that makes no sense to others. Depending on the context/subject, of course.

Defiant has the 'tinker up efficiency/hybrid/minimized technology' skill tree. Stinger has the 'missile' skill tree. Tecton has the 'Seismic and Architecture' skill trees. Leet has all of them, but all throughout those trees are entire sections with 'Use of this technology has a X% chance to fail'. You get further away from one design, that chance drops, but it's still there. - Comment by Wildbow on Sufficient Velocity</ref><ref>SB efficency trees</ref>

His equipment has demonstrated, or has been said to have, the following features:

Equipment Features

Blade that rearranges into various other weapons (Halberd)<ref name=":0">Tangle 6.6</ref> Blade that can cut through steel (Halberd blade, spear<ref>“No,” Defiant said.  He took two steps forward and swiped with the spear, cutting her in half. Almost in half.  Something like chainmail was wrapped around her spine, but the spear had cut through the matching mesh that had protected her abdominal organs. - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref>) Grappling hook (Halberd blade)<ref name=":0" /><ref name="1.6" /> Welding device (Halberd blade) <ref>His grappling hook released me, reconfiguring into what I suspected was the same setup that had fixed Lung to the ground with bars of stainless steel, back in my first day in costume.  It was shaped like a rectangle, and there were two ‘u' shaped bands of metal with electricity arcing around them, the tips of each ‘u' glowing hot enough to melt against any surface. - Tangle 6.6</ref><ref name="1.6" /> Flail (Halberd blade)<ref name=":0" /> Teleporting to his hand (Halberd)<ref name=":1">Tangle 6.7</ref> Temporal stasis trigger (Halberd) EMP Projector/Electricity field (Halberd, spear)<ref name=":4">Tangle 6.5</ref> Nano-thorn disintegration field (unique Halberd, spear, Defiant armour<ref>His leg flared with a gray blur as he reached her, and be brought it down onto her back from above. It sheared through her as though she weren’t even there, cutting her in half.  - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref>) Plasma blade (Halberd)<ref name="1.6" /> The ability to change its size (spear)<ref>He held out a rod in one hand, and it unfolded into a spear of ridiculous length. - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref> Spinning blades (spear)<ref>Blades sprung from the length of the shaft, and began spinning like propellers   One caught her from behind, and she slid forward, only to find herself sandwiched between two such sets. “That’s Mannequin’s trick!  That’s so cute, that you’re copying-” - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref> Echolocation (Halberd, helmet)<ref name=":0" /> Lie detector (helmet)<ref name=":0" /> Combat predictor (helmet)<ref name=":0" /> Psychic shielding (helmet)<ref name="6.6e1" /> Sealed biohazard capabilities (Defiant armor)<ref>“Biohazard safe,” Defiant said.  His spear shaft tapped against his armor. - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref> Enhanced strength (Armour)<ref name="SB1">Gallant's armor? More details on style? Does it enhance strength? Do anything else? The armor is primarily protective, with some cosmetic features. Think stylized medieval armor with lights recessed in the midst of it, to give him more of a 'gleaming' look, highlighting edges. The armor is basically a super-reduced version of Armsmaster's, which is a smaller-scale version of Defiant's (which is tanky and bulky). It primarily offers enhanced strength, but 80% of that boosted strength is going towards just allowing Gallant to move around easily with the armor and equipment. Between gauntlet and armor, he can throw a pretty mean punch. - Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>

He had a secondary ability that allowed him to "stick way more technology in a space than has a right to be there", but only while it was in his immediate presence, according to Tattletale.<ref name="6.6e1">“Which means you can stop trying to use your power on me, Regent.  I’ve got a little blinking light in the corner of my H.U.D. telling me you’re trying something.  I’ve set up psychic and empathic shielding, to protect myself from you and Tattletale.”

I glanced at Tattletale. He was psychically shielded against her? How did that work?

Then I remembered. When we’d gone up against Glory Girl and Panacea, hadn’t Tattletale said she read minds? And now Armsmaster had bad info and was figuring he was immune.

“I don’t need to read you,” she told him, “You’re the only one with shields, so your teammates and the PRT staff don’t have any psychic shields up, and I can read them to get anything I need. You’re not the best inventor, but like most tinkers, you’ve got a knack. Yours just happens to be condensing and integrating technology. Only works in your immediate presence, but still, you can stick way more technology in a space than has a right to be there… like your Halberd.” - excerpt from Tangle 6.6</ref> During their partnership, Taylor speculated that Dragon must have had Defiant adjust her gear, because "there was no way she could pack that much machinery in that much space" - unless "it was all crammed into her torso, which was impossible".<ref name="20.5">Excerpt from Chrysalis 20.5</ref>

As Defiant, he replaced his internal organs and parts of his brain with artificial equivalents, reducing his need to sleep, eat and eliminate waste to less than fifteen minutes a day.<ref name="I15">Interlude 15</ref>

History

Story Start

Helped save an unnamed bug girl from Lung by pumping him full of tranquilizers. He took the credit for taking Lung down, and agreed not to mention Taylor's involvement. This landed him in trouble, as Taylor had injected Lung with enough poison to kill most people, and his regeneration was not able to fight it properly, almost resulting in his death. Armsmaster was investigated, and ended up having his halberd and power armour confiscated, and checked for lethal poisons. Later, Armsmaster met with Skitter at her request, although his demeanour was considerably colder than it had been on their initial meeting. They argued over her plan to infiltrate the Undersiders, and he revealed the consequences arresting Lung had had for him. After the Undersiders robbed the Brockton Bay Central Bank, Armsmaster met with the Wards. He looked at the information that they were compiling about the Undersiders before noting that Tattletale's section was nearly empty. Armsmaster was present at the Battle at the Gallery alongside the rest of his team when the Undersiders hit it. He disabled their stolen containment foam sprayers with electromagnetic pulses. He ordered Bitch to call off her dogs. before explaining that he had studied the Undersiders' powers, allowing him to construct countermeasures to each.^[21] During the battle, he displayed telepathic shielding that blocked Regent's ability, a variation on his EMP that acted as a bug-zapper, echolocation that could see through Grue's darkness, and a powerful flail that disabled Tattletale, Grue, and Bitch's dogs. He also claimed that he had prediction software that could anticipate Bitch and her dogs based on footage of them. Eventually, he and Miss Militia managed to disable the team. He refuses Skitter's quiet offer of a truce, stating that he plans to simply arrest her. In response, Skitter swarms him with seven hundred hornets, manages to wrestle his Halberd from him, and throws it over the side of the building. The Undersiders rescue Skitter and escape. Skitter deliberately leaves her message to leave in place to mock Armsmaster.^[16] Armsmaster tracks the Undersiders down- aided by Dauntless. They fight, and Armsmaster pursues them, only to be ambushed by the Travelers , Circus , and Trainwreck. He is defeated, left bloody, bruised and unconscious, and Trainwreck destroys his halberd. He pushed the PRT into looking into the Undersiders backgrounds, where they found Regent's old identity as Hijack.^[29] 

At 6:30 in the morning, Miss Militia finds Colin in conversation with Dragon. Colin, who has forgotten to sleep again, claims that he has been talking 'Tinker stuff' with Dragon, using it as a form of procrastination. He demonstrates the result of his talks - a new disintegration field for his Halberd that seems like it can cut through anything except fire and forcefields. Colin informs Hannah that in light of recent events, he is being transferred to Boston and is likely being demoted. He and Hannah then discover that Brockton Bay is about to be attacked by Leviathan. Colin sounds the Endbringer alarms.

In the briefing session regarding Leviathan's imminent attack, Armsmaster is present with two Halberds on his back. He briefs the gathered capes about Dragon's armbands and how to use them and is assigned to lead a group of capes who think they can harm Leviathan in hand-to-hand combat alongside Chevalier.

During the battle, Armsmaster provides tactical advice and orders, but eventually finds himself in a one-on-one duel with the Endbringer itself.

Tired, but gloating and taunting, Armsmaster appears to be fighting Leviathan and winning due to his new disintegration weapon and his numerous devices giving him countermeasures for much of what Leviathan attempts. However, Leviathan tears the storm sewers up and out of the street and then pins Armsmaster to the ground.

Leviathan tears off one of Armsmaster's arms.

Skitter, who had been watching the fight, arrives and administers first aid as best she can. Armsmaster claims that she was dead. Shortly afterwards, Lady Photon arrives to take Armsmaster to receive proper medical attention.

Trivia

• Prior to his actions during Leviathan's attack, Taylor indicates that the fallout from Lung's poisoning was the first blemish on Armsmaster's record.
• In Miss Militia's interlude, Colin remarks that he would "give [his] left foot" for Miss Militia's no-sleeping perk.<ref name=":3"/> As Defiant, Colin needs almost no sleep and possesses at least one cybernetic leg.
• Colin has been seen fighting all three Endbringers. The Simurgh in Madison, Leviathan in Brockton Bay and Behemoth in New Delhi.
• In Fortuna's interlude, a version of Colin is glimpsed in an alternate reality. There, he is known as Arsenal. He wields a gisarme and works closely with someone named Richter (presumably that reality's version of Andrew Richter).
• It appears that Defiant may be upgrading his body with further cybernetic modifications as the story progresses. While he initially only has one cybernetic eye,<ref name="16.y"/> by the epilogue both of his eyes are apparently prosthetics.<ref name="E.3">Teneral e.3</ref> Similarly, during his interlude, Defiant works at further integrating cybernetic components into his calf - which is organic at that point - much to Dragon's disapproval.
• Armsmaster finished the nano-thorn halberd only the night before the Battle against Leviathan.<ref>To be fair to the man, though, Armsmaster did only create the first iteration of the disintegration Halberd with Dragon that very morning. - Comment by Wildbow on Extermination 8.4</ref>
• Armsaster was a recurring character in the various drafts of what would be Worm. His relationship with Dragon was exclusive to the final draft.<ref name="14.8c1">Comment by Wildbow in Prey 14.8</ref>

Quotes

• (To Leviathan): "You don't even speak English, do you? Or you'd know what I was saying, you'd know I already won. The others helped, slowing you down, stopping the waves. But this victory, this killing blow? It’s going to be mine.”
• (To Saint): "I'm inclined towards tunnel vision."
• (To Hoyden): "I never guarantee anything, except for a select few promises I make to people I love and people I hate."
• (To Dragon): "I'm about to put my foot in my mouth. Can I call in a 'Colin is a doofus' chit in advance?"

Fanart Gallery

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  Image by kesha9 on DeviantArt.
• Image by wolfofragnarok on DeviantArt.
  Image by wolfofragnarok on DeviantArt.
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  Image by liujuin on DeviantArt.
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  Image by lonsheep on DeviantArt.
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  Image by Sasha on Spacebattles.
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  Image by YunYunHakusho on Reddit
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  Illustration by Aerryi
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  Illustration by Lonsheep
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  Illustration by Icehipo
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  Illustration by aerryi

References

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