Scrub

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

<image source="Image"></image> <header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label> <header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label><default>Mercenary</default> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Alignment</label><default>Villain</default> <label>Classification</label> <label>Status</label> <label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label><default>Faultline’s Crew</default> <label>Previous Team</label> <label>Base of Operations</label> <header>First Appearence</header> <label>Web Serial</label><default>Unknown</default> </infobox> Scrub is a former recruit of the Merchants, eventually he settled with Faultline's Crew.

Personality

He fell prey to the strength and protection that the Merchants offered. May have issues with communication.<ref>“Scrub,” Tattletale said.

Scrub didn’t respond.

“So you don’t talk,” she said, “That makes this harder.” - Excerpt from Scourge 19.3 </ref>

Relationships

Seems to care more for people's actions than their intent, choosing to offer his Cauldron vial to Doug, who tried to pull him out of the melee, over Rick, who did not even try.<ref name="11.6e1">“You didn’t help me when I got pulled into the ring,” the boy with the powers told Rick, “Doug at least tried. He gets my prize.” Excerpt from Infestation 11.6</ref>

Appearance

As a result of his trigger Scrub has white hair that has traces of white smoke coming out of it. This smoke also billows from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, along with a glow emanating from the mouth.<ref name="Cast1">Cast (spoiler free)</ref><ref name="11.6"/>

Abilities and Powers

Scrub's power creates essentially un-aimed spherical holes in his surroundings, cutting through anything they hit, although they seem to leave the ground untouched. Tattletale speculates that his power works via Portal Cuts — he chooses spherical volumes, and their contents are replaced with the contents of the corresponding sphere on an alternate Earth with similar geography, architecture, etc.<ref name="19.3">Scourge 19.3</ref><ref name="Cast2">Cast (in depth)</ref> The blasts created are due to differences in atmospheric pressures between the two worlds.<ref name="playtest"/> He can kick his power up a notch increasing the frequency of his manifestations.<ref name="I12 e3">Crawler was one of the two group members who had yet to rejoin the group. He was engaged with a young man with a glow that suffused his hair and emanated from his eyes and mouth. White flashes appeared with little accuracy and devastating effect, carving spherical chunks out of the brute. This only encouraged the monster, and Crawler eagerly paced closer, his wounds closing together with a startling rapidity. So few things could hurt Crawler these days that Jack rarely got to see the regeneration in full effect. Crawler’s healing powers appeared to play out in fast-forward when compared to even the regenerators who could heal wounds in seconds. Hundreds of pounds of flesh were replaced in one or two heartbeats.

One eruption of light hit Crawler in the dead center of his chest. It made him pause, no doubt removing one of his hearts and some of his spinal cord. The boy with the glowing hair pushed his power into overdrive, calling forth a series of flashes that exploded in close succession. - Excerpt from Interlude 12</ref>

The amount of capes around him when Scrub triggers contributed to him manifesting a mild trump aspect to his power, able to negate many power-based defenses.<ref name="R4">Reddit Comment by Wildbow.</ref>

Scrub belongs to "can maim Alexandria" club.<ref>Wildbow's comment on Reddit</ref>

History

Post-Leviathan

Attended a party at the dilapidated mall and triggered in the midst of one of the gladiatorial combat orchestrated by Skidmark<ref name="11.6">Infestation 11.6</ref><ref name="Cast1"> Scrub – Triggered in the midst of one of a grand melee/free for all fighting match provoked by the Merchants.Cast</ref>. He did not have control of his abilities after triggering and this was not helped by being suddenly attacked by Shamrock as part of Faultline's assault on the Merchants.

He survived the Slaughterhouse Nine's decimation of the Merchants and was able to temporarily disable Crawler<ref name="I12 e4"> The boy with the glowing hair pushed his power into overdrive, calling forth a series of flashes that exploded in close succession. One caught Crawler in the face, revealing only a cross-section of his head, complete with a bisected brain, a skull six inches thick and the interior of Crawler’s mouth. Crawler collapsed.

Siberian watched as the boy ran, then turned as if she intended to give chase. - Excerpt from Interlude 12</ref>, but he still had not gained control of his abilities.<ref name="I12C1">Also, reworded from ‘blasts’. It’s a word I’m using too much, and it misleads, as you suggest. He still doesn’t have consistent control/accuracy with his power. - Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 12</ref>

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine

After this, Scrub fell in with Ballistic's crew, indirectly serving Coil. With the falling out between Ballistic's employer and the Undersiders, and the subsequent release of the Travelers fifth member things turned out badly, Scrub was captured by the PRT. Eventually during the Echidna Crisis Tattletale convinced him to work with Labyrinth and together they created a portal<ref name="11.6e2">“Scrub! Get closer to the tower! Everyone else, get back! Labyrinth, don’t use your power any more! Hold off!”

Heads turned. People had no doubt noticed the tower, but now something was happening.

Scrub stepped closer, and one of his explosions ripped through the air. Another followed shortly after, intersecting one area of altered road.

Like a gas in the air that had been ignited, the entire thing went up in a heartbeat. In an instant, it was a white void, as undefinable as Grue’s darkness, perceivable by the edges, but with zero depth or dimension. He’d shunted out the entire structure, as well as everything that had altered on the ground, but nothing had come back.

The door had been kicked out of the frame. - Excerpt from Scourge 19.7</ref>, with which Travelers went back to Earth Aleph and then linked Earth Bet with Earth Gimel, providing first accessible interdimensional portal between worlds.

Post-Echidna

Started opening inter-dimensional portals with Labyrinth as part of a duo<ref name="19.7">Scourge 19.7</ref>. His time with Faultline's crew seems to have become a long-term enterprise.<ref name="Cast2" />

Gold Morning

Collected by Khepri from Faultline's Crew along with Labyrinth for the final attack against Scion, as a duo replacing Doormaker after his power has run out, to create portals and collect capes.<ref name="30.6">I accessed the power of the reality warper. The girl who got more powerful as she lost touch with the world, who could fashion her own realities, then bring them into our world.

I had her create a door, then I used her partner’s help to smash it.

A freestanding hole in reality. The reality warper used her power to pick a world.

[...]

I didn’t have the portal man, but I did have this as a means of traveling sideways, like Scion could travel in this direction that wasn’t up or down, left, right, forward or back. - Excerpt from Speck 30.6</ref>

References

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