Sleeper

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Sleeper</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>

Alive

</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>

Sleeper is an S-Class threat of mysterious nature.

Abilities and Powers

Little is known about Sleeper's abilities, but he possesses a global reputation for having a great and terrible power.<ref name="I26.x" /> He is considered an S-Class threat like the Endbringers, the Slaughterhouse Nine, and Nilbog.<ref name="18.4 e1">“Didn’t need doing in the first place,” Triumph said, sighing. “I was prepared to risk my life the day I graduated from the Wards. Knew what I’d be getting into. Week I had clearance, I watched all the video we have of the class S threats. Leviathan, Simurgh, Behemoth, Slaughterhouse Nine, Nilbog, Sleeper. I knew what I was getting into. So I’m not shocked or horrified at the attempt on my life. What gets me is what you did to my dad. Set his career back years, if it’s even recoverable, by forcing him to take that stance. The whole thing, start to finish, was unnecessary.” - Queen 18.4</ref> Number Man described Sleeper, with Ash Beast and the Three Blasphemies, as living examples of the fact that the increasing number of parahumans would inevitably lead to cataclysmic events.<ref>“No,” the Number Man said, and he managed to sound only a little condescending. “I’m saying that parahumans as a whole are chain reactions waiting to happen, and we were already approaching a critical point. Every year, the percentage of parahumans in the population increases. At that same time, the odds of a cataclysmic event happening somewhere are increasing steadily. Imagine a situation like the Echidna event that turned out more unfavorably, or a Nilbog who wasn’t content to stay in one place. We have the blasphemies, Sleeper, and the Ash Beast, even the Slaughterhouse Nine, all as living examples of this concept at work. The world already stood on a precipice, and I’m not even mentioning the Endbringers in all of this.” - Extinction 27.2</ref>

In addition, Khepri declined to capture him while collecting parahumans during the battle against Zion, believing him to be "more trouble than he was worth".<ref name="30.4 e1" />

From a distance, his power manifested as a 'storm' that crackled, boiled, and popped.<ref name="storm" /> The storm looked like a cloud of rainbow shimmers;<ref name="II20.b e1">It was her first good view of it, and it kept getting more intense, but what had drawn their attention and brought everyone to the rooftop was the cloud of rainbow shimmers that hung over one part of the city. She’d heard about what it was, she’d seen pictures. She’d heard about what it was, she’d seen pictures. - Excerpt from Last 20.b</ref> the rainbow sheen somehow felt nonsensical with the way the colors unfolded.<ref name="storm" /> Defiant described the storm as being Sleeper: this could possibly imply Sleeper has a Breaker power where the awake state is the storm<ref name="storm" /> and the dormant state is humanoid.<ref name="30.4 e1" /> The storm was large enough to hung over one part of the City.<ref name="II20.b e1" />

While refugees were still setting up the settlements at Earth Zayin, Sleeper went through the Zayin portal<ref name="27.3" /> and the storm swept over them.<ref name="29.9 e1">The largest settlements that remained, the most obvious targets. There was one in Zayin, but the Sleeper had followed the refugees in there. Even if it still stood after Scion's visit, there was no helping any of the refugees there. - Venom 29.9</ref><ref name="Zcamp" /> Although Sleeper's storm did not cover a large area, it still swelled in size to be large enough to encapsulate the portal and every nearby settlement.<ref name="Zcamp" /> The storm disrupts communications in the affected area; by settling near the portal, he blocked fleeing refugees who left the area from getting back via the portal.<ref name="Zcamp">When everyone at the Zayin settlements had still been getting set up, that same cloud had swept over them. Nobody had been able to get a message to them to warn them. They’d fled, but communication had been all over the place, a few people had been left behind, most of the others hadn’t fled far enough. The storm had swelled in size, and it had encapsulated every settlement in Zayin. It hadn’t been a large area, but it had still been mostly everyone, and it had included the portal the rest needed to get back.

Bye bye Zayin. Entirely at Sleeper’s mercy, now. - Excerpt from Last 20.b</ref>

When the Simurgh was flung into Sleeper's storm, she was trapped, lay prone, and was taken out of the picture entirely.<ref name="storm" /><ref name="II20.10 e1">The Simurgh was out of action. Sleeper had her. - Last 20.10</ref> She was still dealt with even after he retreated from the area.<ref name="II20.b e3" /> Wildbow mentioned the following hypothetical capes would be 'goners' against Sleeper:

• A cape that can transform into a lightning-like state, who can cause damage by firing lightning bolts.<ref>NamedByAFish: Can transform your body into a "lightning" state, from which you also have a blaster power of -- you guessed it -- lightning bolts. Strong, but it acts like real electricity and tends to make both your lighting bolts and yourself follow a path of least resistance. Your lightning-like state is immune to damage, but can only cause damage via lightning bolts. You can also move nearly as fast as real electricity in your lightning state, but again find it hard to deviate from the path of least resistance.
  [...]
  Wildbow:

You: Goner. 0/10.

Fixed. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

• A cape that can absorb her own body volume of any inanimate matter more durable than herself to take on most of its properties, permanently destroying whatever she consumes.<ref>NamedByAFish: Can absorb her own body volume of any inanimate matter more durable than herself to take on all properties of the material aside from appearance and mass. This also grants her the necessary strength to move her body volume of the material as easily as she would normally move something weighing the same as herself. Using her ability permanently destroys whatever she consumes, but the effect to her only lasts for five minutes per "charge." She can "recharge" by any amount whenever she has access to the material she used for the original charge, but if she wants to change to using a different material, she has to use something more durable than whatever material she is currently mimicking. Synergizes well with your power if she chooses a conductive material. Causes property damage whenever she uses it for obvious reasons.
  [...]
  Wildbow:

Your GF: Goner. 0/15.

Fixed. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

• A cape that can sense and understand the emotions of others involuntarily.<ref>A bit of a "fourth wheel" to your synergizing trio. He senses and understands the emotions of others involuntarily. If he focuses, he can see why they feel that way, giving him a constrained but powerful retrocognitive ability. Adept at using this knowledge to his advantage during negotiations.
  [...]
  Wildbow:

Your GF's Sister's BF: Goner. 0/12

Fixed. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

The Wardens had specific countermeasures in mind and looked for capes with any of the following to go up against Sleeper:<ref name="II16.2 e1">Naphtha was striding down the hallway, coming in our direction. He stopped us. “Changers?”

“No changers in our team,” Tristan said. “Why?”

Naphtha getting close enough meant I felt the oil touch my skin, as it touched everything in a certain radius of Naphtha. He pulled it away from me as it touched me, but my skin crawled with the memory of the feel of it.

“Another crisis. Similar to the others. Going to announce it to the dining hall,” Naphtha explained. “I don’t suppose any of you feel brave enough to go up against Sleeper? Absolute invulnerability better than Alexandria’s, special brains, absolute annihilation powers?” - Excerpt from From Within 16.2</ref>

• Changers.
• Absolute invulnerability better than Alexandria.
• Special brains.
• Absolute annihilation powers.

Torso could counter and defeat Sleeper, given the ability to reach him.<ref>museofdoom2: Torso is metal as fuck. He is a truly top TIER cape, drop him over Sleeper and there will be no more Sleeper anymore :). I fucking love his character already. Weird, crazy ass OP power and his personality is pretty cool too.

Wildbow: You might be right. I was just thinking about it. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref> When Sleeper started to emerge at one point after the Attack on Teacher, Legend leveled around 30 km² of city in an unknown timeframe to cause him to go dormant again.<ref name="II17.9 e1" /> Wildbow noted that a hypothetical Shaker that can transform the atoms of any solid within 200 meters into a crystal-like organization, slowly spread the crystal effect through connected solids, and is Manton limited against herself and biological matter would have a very slim chance of surviving against Sleeper.<ref>Can transform the atoms of any solid matter within 200 meters into a crystal-like organization. Chemically, this substance straddles the line between covalent crystal and metallic crystal: it is nearly as durable as carbon crystals (diamond and graphite) and is chemically inert, but has an extremely high melting point and is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. This crystal effect slowly spreads through any connected solids after three seconds of sustained contact with an affected surface. Synergizes very well with her sister's ability and yours, as this arrangement of atoms is both extremely durable and a good conductor. Manton limited against herself and any other biological matter.
[...]
Wildbow:

Your GF's Sister: Would take a miracle. 1/36

Fixed. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

Based on the countermeasures and capes effective against Sleeper, some speculations can be made. The storm likely appears to be capable of devastating anyone inside unless they have All-or-Nothing defense, can physically keep taking on different forms, or have a special enough brain. His power might be fueled by some forms of matter or is related to some form of matter subversion/creation, as Legend leveling areas of city could deter Sleeper and the hypothetical Shaker had a very slim chance of survival. Destructive attacks that are All-or-Nothing are likely effective against the storm itself.

Sleeper is a blind spot to the typical Thinker precognition.<ref name="II11.4 e1">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.” - Blinding 11.4</ref> However, he is not on the list of blind spots for Contessa as of the Attack on Teacher;<ref name="II15.7 e1">Not as I or my power understand circumstances, and my power understands everything outside of the blind spots that are Teacher, Valkyrie, the Simurgh, and two broken triggers that authorities aren’t aware happened.” - Dying 15.7</ref> Titan Fortuna created a path that involved Sleeper.<ref name="storm" /> He is not a blind spot for the Clairvoyant.<ref name="30.4 e1">Sleeper. I could see him, sitting on a lawn chair on a balcony, reading a book out loud to himself.

More trouble than he was worth. I let him be. - Speck 30.4</ref>

History

Background

Sleeper has been known to move around though usually in Russia.<ref name="23.5 c1">Sleeper roams, but primarily Russia. - Comment by Wildbow on Drone 23.5</ref> He eventually settled in Mordovia.<ref name="27.3"/>

Post-Timeskip

Dragon and by extension Saint constantly monitored Sleeper's activity, including even the slightest shifts, despite his apparent dormancy.<ref name="I26.x">He shifted his foot, and once again, the screens changed their focus, the rest of the data shifting to miniature windows and moving to the periphery of the viewing area. The focus at the center was on the class-S threats. The Endbringers were stable, all in a resting state.

Secondary focuses. Not the kind of targets that Dragon checked on with any regularity.
[...]
Sleeper was, as far as anyone could identify anything about the threat, dormant.
[...]
The secondary threats… quarantine still unbroken. Sleeper had shifted fractionally, but that wasn’t so rare. - 26.x (Donation Interlude; Saint)</ref>

Gold Morning

The Mordovia Bubble was hit at the beginning of Scion's rampage, rousing Sleeper.<ref name="27.3">I nodded, but I was distracted from my response by another vibration of my phone. I picked it up to look at it.

Mordovia bubble hit. Sleeper has been roused, last tracked en route to Zayin portal. Casualties unknown. - Extinction 27.3</ref> He then traveled to Earth Zayin by portal and effectively cut it out from the greater humanity by settling near the portal and submerging nearby settlements in his power.<ref name="Zcamp"/>

Using the Clairvoyant, Khepri found Sleeper sitting on a lawn chair on a balcony in Earth Zayin, reading a book out loud to himself. Deeming him too troublesome to collect, she let him be.<ref name="30.4 e1" />

Early Ward

Since the events of Gold Morning, Sleeper stayed in Zayin.<ref>Interlude 5x II</ref> But apparently, was still uneasy enough to occupy The Wardens attention and resources.<ref>Beacon 8.2</ref>

Reported by Lisa Wilbourn to be "active".

Post-Attack on Teacher

Sleeper was confirmed as active, and was ranked as a non-immediate threat by The Wardens.<ref name="16.2II">From Within 16.2</ref> Legend was able to dissuade him from approaching by scorching out no man's land.<ref name="II17.9 e1">“Sleeper.”

“Restless but still around. Earth Zayin in the palm of his hand. He started to emerge, Legend faced him down.”

“How?”

“Leveled about thirty square kilometers of city.”

I nodded. “He’s dormant now?”

“For now. If he had motivations for making one attempt, he’s going to budge again soon. But I don’t have the instinct he’s our threat. He’s background. Someone else’s problem.” - Excerpt from Sundown 17.9</ref>

The Ice Breaks

The Wardens attempted to utilize Sleeper against Simurgh and the Titans. It had little effect by itself,<ref name="II20.9">Last 20.9</ref> but following the intervention from Titan Fortuna the Sleeper's storm was able to capture the Endbringer.<ref name="storm">The Simurgh lay prone within the storm that was the Sleeper. Unmoving. That hadn’t been him. That had been Dauntless, acting with the benefit of Titan Fortuna’s sight, guiding the direction of the blast.

The storm crackled, boiled, popped, the colors taking on a rainbow sheen that somehow felt it shouldn’t make sense with the way the colors unfolded.

That would be enough to take her out of the picture. - Excerpt from Interlude 20.a II</ref> Following that the Sleeper had returned to passivity.<ref name="II20.b e3">“First of all, the Sleeper is retreating. He is not an immediate danger, and we will let you know as soon as we can, if that changes.”
[...]
“The Sleeper was lured to the city specifically to slow down the Titans and was used to trap the Simurgh. Some of our best minds and strategists are confident the Simurgh is dealt with.”
[...]
“Didn’t you want to be a lawyer?” Presley asked, leaning onto the snow-dusted railing. In the distance, Sleeper’s cloud was receding. - Excerpt from Last 20.b</ref>

Trivia

• Wildbow has stated that Sleeper was included in Worm as a result of a fan's comment that not every character should be fully explained.<ref>"Wildbow: Sleeper was written in as a response to a fan saying that I shouldn’t go into detail and explain every character.  He featured in a snippet I wrote back in the day (I spent ten years writing bits and pieces of superhero stuff before settling on the story I wanted to write) and seemed like a good one to drop in.  He does have a power, but I think it’s best left unsaid, perhaps until the sequel." - Interview with Wildbow by t4nky</ref>
• In the parahumans list, under Sleeper's power, Wildbow had a message with a caesar shift of 5, saying "As if I'd really put something here. For real."
• Sleeper's name seems to be a reference to "let sleeping dogs lie" proverb, whose equivalent also uses the same sleep-metaphor in Russian language too, except with a specific evil bogeyman in place of dogs.

References

<references/>

Site Navigation

S-Class Threats
Endbringers	Behemoth {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Leviathan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Simurgh • Khonsu {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Tohu {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Bohu {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Titans	The Kronos Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Eve {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Fortuna {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Nemean Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Arachne {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Oberon {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Ashen Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titan Skadi {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Ophion Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Strange Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Auger {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Titaness Amenonuhoko {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Flowing Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Drillbit {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Liminal Titan {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Pouffe {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Valkyrie {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Morgana {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Yakshini {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Ashoka {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Ghast {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Groups	The Slaughterhouse Nine {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Three Blasphemies • The Machine Army
Parahumans	Ash Beast {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Echidna {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Khepri {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nilbog • Pastor {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Scion {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Sleeper • The Tower {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}