Crock o’Shit

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Crock o’Shit</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>

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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>
Crock o'Shit knows the world for what it is.

Personality

Operated in a military organization and then semi-independently in a paramilitary organization, before willingly going completely off the reservation.<ref name=bg/>

Given the iconography she adorns herself with, and her power, she cares about the 'truth'. Under the influence of a Master power, she put herself forward to disprove a lie that had been uttered.<ref name=Lie/>

Appearance

Crock o'Shit has tattoos beneath her eyes that stretch down to her jaw, that read from right to left 'Crock' and 'Shit'. She also has scales tattooed on her arms and neck.<ref name=Lie>“You serve me now,” Goddess told the Pharmacist.

“Yeah,” the Pharmacist replied.

“You’ll tell me about the drugs you brought into the prison.”

“Taken to the cafeteria, to be applied to the food. A berserker formula. Turning everyone he couldn’t use into ravening monsters.”

“She’s lying,” a woman in the crowd said.

I could see the Pharmacist tense.

“It’s a power nullifying chemical,” the same woman said. She stepped forward. Words were tattooed beneath her eyes, so they traced straight lines down to her jaw. ‘Crock’ and ‘Shit’. Colorful, for words in black ink. More ink put scales at her arms and neck. “Nullifying your influence, Goddess.”

“And you took some,” Goddess told the Pharmacist.

"She did. And she already got some to key prisoners,” Crock o Shit said. “The maximum security ones, who get meals delivered.” - Excerpt from Gleaming 9.11</ref> Her pale skin gives a good contrast to her tattoos.<ref name=White/>

Abilities and Powers

Crock o’Shit is a Changer with a secondary Thinker function. When she is lied to, she can sense these lies due to the reaction she can interpret from her guts, each reaction influences her changer form. Originally her changer form was a 10 feet tall beautiful women, but it grew more grotesque over time.<ref name="bg"/>

The exact paradigm that her powers operate under are unknown. The kinds of truth that matter and similar.

It has limits as any power does. For example it can be 'beaten' by a white lie; a lie of ommison.<ref name=White>Crock o’ Shit. The lie-detector. The tattoos of scales on her arms were standing out slightly in relief.

“Say it again. That you’re loyal, and that I don’t need to worry about you.”

“I’m loyal. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Crock o’ Shit nodded. “He’s fine.”

“He doesn’t feel fine,” Goddess said.
[...]
Coalbelcher would’ve been near Natalie, if he’d been protecting her or watching out for her as part of the deal. Had he taken some candy? Had he eaten some, or did he have it saved for later? Was that why Goddess didn’t like her sense of him? I could see him being loyal but not aligned, or aligned but carrying tainted candy. More the former, since he didn’t seem the type to save something for later. - Excerpt from Gleaming 9.15</ref> Her power can not function as a dangersense or give precognative feedback.<ref>“I’m in alignment,” I said. “We all are, in Breakthrough, Natalie excepted.”
[...]
“They’re fine,” Crock o’ Shit said..

"They feel like an ambient danger,” Goddess said. “Stay where I can see you, Breakthrough.” - Excerpt from Gleaming 9.15</ref>

History

Background

She triggered while serving in the marine corps. She left service to join the Louisiana Protectorate, as Fidelis. She mostly worked as a semi-independent investigator in regions not covered by other departments. After two years of work, the PRT decided to move her out of the public eye, something that happens with more problematic heroes. Fidelis continued with her investigation as vigilante.<ref name="bg">“Crock. She was Fidelis, once. Ex-marine who left the service to be a Protectorate heroine. Louisiana PRT.”
[...]
“Before your time,” I said. “Took on a position where she’d spend six months of the year with the Lousiana team, six months going from town to town in one of the dead zones without any nearby departments. Helping police with weird and tough cases. She’d work as a lie detector, then if there was trouble she’d mutate into an eerie, beautiful, ten foot tall woman.”

“I’ve seen hints of what she becomes and she isn’t beautiful and she’s barely [...] a woman,” Ashley said.
[...]
“Her lie detection’s a thinker power, technically, but in actual application it’s changer. She feels it in her gut because her gut morphs and mutates in response. About a year or two into the routine I was talking about, she gets dropped from official PRT stuff. Gets the same treatment as capes who are too vicious, ugly, or problematic to market. Essentially becomes nameless, the only reports of her are her turning into a ten foot tall woman that’s more unsettling than eerily beautiful.”
[...]
“When she detects lies she absorbs them, or some… some of the ugliness and intent, makes them part of the changer form she carries with her. She went from being a heroine who turned into a beautiful giantess to being nameless and disfigured. She got pretty into her investigation of something big that she’d uncovered, a conspiracy, taking down a crime ring. I don’t know because I don’t think she was communicating much with her bosses then, so the paperwork is a big question mark.”
[...]
“She took a leave of absence and dove into her investigation, and she… never surfaced, I guess. What came out the other side was a dark version of her, mean, tattooed, filed teeth, and blood on her face because she’d torn into some crime lord’s neck and the blood was still there after the mutations receded.”

“That’s what I saw,” Ashley said. “It wasn’t very crocodile.” - Excerpt from Breaking 14.12</ref> She reappeared with a new look and possibly taste for human flesh as she executed the crime lord by biting through his throat.

Post-Fallen fall

Crock o'Shit was incarcerated in the parahuman prison when Goddess attacked it, like others she was mastered to the dictator's side.<ref name=Lie/> Shortly though she was given drugged food that broke her from the effect, and played a role in assisting Cryptid killing Goddess.<ref>I felt it again. This time, he dropped to all fours.

“Harder!” Crock o’ Shit shouted, from the sidelines. “You almost had him!”

The Lady in Blue used her power again, more forcefully than before.
[...]
Crock o’ Shit hadn’t been telling the truth. Goddess’ power hadn’t almost worked. Crock had been among the people I’d given candy to, just before I’d reunited with the group. - Excerpt from Gleaming 9.15</ref>

She accepted the rule of the Red Queen and went to Earth Shin.<ref>“Everyone! You have a choice! We are going to Earth Shin! We are going to be an authority [...] There will be rules! This means submitting to my power! It will not be as Goddess’ was! You’ll follow a code of laws, you’ll maintain control and peace, and you’ll protect populations. You’ll be reasonably good! Or you can stay here. You’ll be freer, but you’ll also be a target for heroes!”
[...]
Some prisoners were fairly quick to leave to follow. Ones who knew her from the Birdcage? With them went followers, and once a critical amount had left, a majority followed. Only the heroes really stayed. - Excerpt from Gleaming 9.15</ref>

Post-Time Bubble Pop

Crock o'Shit reappeared in the Shin prison alongside Coalbelcher and Cryptid.<ref>Breaking 14.11</ref> She stayed alongside Chief Armstrong and Natalie Matteson.

Trivia

• Fidelis means "faithful" and is usually seen in semper fidelis, "always faithful" the latin motto of the United States Marine Corps.
• Crock comes from crock pot: an earthenware pot in use for centuries; currently in slowcooking. To call food a crock of shit is a vile insult.

References

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