Bonesaw
<tabber> |-|Worm=
{{#if:Jack SlashInterlude 12|| “ | Bonesaw wanted a family. Her stick was disapproval, a revoking of any ‘love’ from those closest to her. She was far younger, emotionally, than her outward appearance suggested. [...] When she didn’t sleep, or when her mood otherwise soured, she was as intolerable as any of the others, and among the most dangerous. | ” |
| {{#if:Jack Slash| —Jack Slash{{#if:Interlude 12|, Interlude 12}} }}}} | ||
|-|Ward=
{{#if:Riley and Ashley Stillons IIEclipse x.3|| “ | Mmm. I won’t know what I did wrong until you tell me. Some people can put those pieces together, but I can’t. Pay more attention to what you’re doing to my body and why. |
” |
| {{#if:Riley and Ashley Stillons II| —Riley and Ashley Stillons II{{#if:Eclipse x.3|, Eclipse x.3}} }}}} | ||
</tabber> <infobox> <title source="name"><default>Bonesaw</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><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> Riley Grace Davis,<ref>Interlude 10.y II</ref> known publicly as Bonesaw, was a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine.
Personality[edit]
<tabber>As Bonesaw= Riley once was a little girl who dearly loved her family. When Jack and the Nine came to her house, killed her family, and caused her to trigger, Riley was buried away, masked under the persona of Bonesaw to cope with her situation. From then on forward, Bonesaw's mind developed alongside her passenger, which, alongside Jack's influence, would cause drastic changes in her personality.<ref name="I25" />
Childish and carefree, Bonesaw lacks any aversion to murder and gruesome torture, taking delight in her victims' suffering. She is fixated on the idea of being a "good girl", constantly affecting a cheerful, happy-go-lucky demeanor even while torturing her victims. She has an aversion to swearing, never cursing herself and chastising others for doing so.<ref>Her mother’s final words rang through Riley’s head, the last words she’d before she had become a machine that had stopped working.
Be a good girl.
She’d be good. She’d be polite and cheerful and she’d do her chores and she would mind her manners and she’d eat all of her dinner and she’d keep her hair nice and she wouldn’t swear and… - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref>
Bonesaw constantly craves love from the Nine, who she considers her "family". She has nightmares about her trigger event if she sleeps without being held by one of her older teammates, usually the Siberian.<ref>Bonesaw wanted a family. Her stick was disapproval, a revoking of any ‘love’ from those closest to her. She was far younger, emotionally, than her outward appearance suggested. She had bad dreams at night if she didn’t sleep in the embrace of one of her older teammates, usually Siberian. When she didn’t sleep, or when her mood otherwise soured, she was as intolerable as any of the others, and among the most dangerous. - Excerpt from Interlude 12</ref> Bonesaw most especially seeks to please Jack Slash, who is her mentor of sorts, teaching her to see her gruesome creations and torture methods as a sort of "art". She tirelessly pursues innovation in her art, looking for inspiration and new, creative ways to make others suffer.<ref>Most days, if snuggling didn’t quite cut it, Jack would keep her busy, give her something to do, and entertain her. Always, his voice in her ear, always ushering her forwards, praising her for being a good girl, for her art, for her talent. Others were interested. Her family. - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref> When in a bad mood, she is one of the most dangerous of the Nine.<ref>Bonesaw wanted a family. Her stick was disapproval, a revoking of any ‘love’ from those closest to her. She was far younger, emotionally, than her outward appearance suggested. She had bad dreams at night if she didn’t sleep in the embrace of one of her older teammates, usually Siberian. When she didn’t sleep, or when her mood otherwise soured, she was as intolerable as any of the others, and among the most dangerous. - Excerpt from Interlude 12</ref>
|-|As Riley= Riley's return came about after Contessa approached her, telling her a few crucial words that allowed her to begin to realize her situation. Her conscience slowly and painfully returned in the lack of distractions to occupy herself with, and she began to realize that her passenger had been subsuming her personality from the day she had triggered. With the revelation, she resolved to become Riley once more, willing to even betray the Nine to do so.<ref name="I25" />
As Riley, she is no longer as happy-go-lucky, as she no longer can embroil herself into a carefree façade. She is unable to fully regret the things she's done as Bonesaw, but recognizes that she should, and knows something is wrong since she doesn't.<ref>No. She wouldn’t say she felt guilty about the things she’d done, but she recognized that she was broken, now. She recognized that maybe she should.
A part of her wished she could reach inside and find that carefree perspective, the innocence she’d enjoyed. Another part of her was glad. Everything about herself was modifiable, reversible, pliable. Pieces in the machine. But this? She wasn’t sure she could alter it, nor that she wanted to.
This wouldn’t be a penance. That would suggest penitence. But it’d be just, as best as she could figure. - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref> She no longer has an aversion to swearing, and swears herself at times.<ref>“Be fucking good, Eli,” she retorted, staring at him. - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref> While not fully divorced from her life as Bonesaw, sometimes acting borderline sociopathic, she is aware of her faults, and works hard to develop herself as an individual separate from her passenger.<ref name="I25" />
In later years, Riley is rather upfront about being unable to fully relate to other people. Her social skills have been severely stunted from her time in the Nine and her passenger's influence.<ref>She held her hand off to the side, and let the scalpel fall. “I won’t know what I did wrong until you tell me. Some people can put those pieces together, but I can’t.” - Excerpt from Eclipse x.3</ref> </tabber>
Relationships[edit]
Bonesaw has an obsession with building a "family" in the Nine to replace the one she lost. This influences her choices when nominating people for membership.
Jack Slash[edit]
Saw Jack as a mentor and a father figure of sorts, but also feared him intensely. She thought of him as very intelligent and all knowing, and constantly tried to gain his approval. She felt a sort of confusion and rebellion towards him when she began reverting into Riley once more.<ref name="I25" />
Siberian[edit]
Saw Siberian as the older sister or family pet, while Siberian saw Bonesaw as a daughter. Siberian was often the one to sleep with Bonesaw, as she had nightmares, and often accompanied Bonesaw when going out to protect her from threats. Siberian hated the idea of losing Bonesaw, and retaliated violently against threats to the girl.<ref>Siberian was tricky. He doubted anyone else in the group was even aware, but their most feral member harbored a fondness for Bonesaw. Siberian had little imagination, and was perfectly comfortable rehashing the same violent and visceral scenarios time and again, but she nonetheless enjoyed Bonesaw’s work. She saw a kind of beauty in it. Even more than that, he sometimes wondered if Siberian didn’t reciprocate Bonesaw’s desire for family. Bonesaw alternately referred to Siberian as an older sister or the family pet, but Siberian’s fondness for Bonesaw bordered on the maternal, like a mother bear for her cub. Did anyone else in the group note how Siberian seemed to keep Bonesaw’s company, to assume she would accompany the young girl when she went out, and carefully kept Bonesaw in sight at all times?
Siberian’s stick was Bonesaw, the possibility of losing the girl’s company in one way, shape, or form. Threats against the girl would be met with a fury like no other. Boredom, similarly, would see Siberian stalking off on her own to amuse herself, a scenario that grounded the group until Siberian’s return hours or days later. Such usually meant a hasty retreat as the heroes who had realized that they could not defeat Siberian came after the rest of the group. - Excerpt from Interlude 12</ref>
Mannequin[edit]
Often collaborated with her fellow tinker, such as when they disassembled Grue and hooked up his organs to an entire room, sustaining his body through Mannequin's life-preserving technology.<ref name=TR>It was some sort of collaboration between Bonesaw and Mannequin. He’d been partially flayed, the skin stripped from his arms and legs and stretched over the walls around him. His ribcage had been opened, splayed apart. An improvised metal frame held each of his internal organs in place, some several feet from their intended position, as if they were held out for display, others placed on the shelves of the freezer. Cases covered in a ceramic shell seemed to be pumping him full of water, nutrients and other fluids that must have been helping keep him alive. - Excerpt from Snare 13.8</ref> She also used Mannequin's technology to preserve Cherish under the waters of Brockton Bay, which would keep her alive for thousands of years to come.<ref name="20.3 c2">She’s hooked up to the same systems that keep Mannequin going. Chances are strong she’ll live for a few thousand years. Maybe ten or twenty thousand, depending on the degree of wear from tides. - Comment by Wildbow on Chrysalis 20.3</ref>
Panacea[edit]
Was highly interested in Panacea due to their similar powers over biology. She saw an opportunity for Panacea to become her older sister, collaborating together to create amazing projects of flesh and bone. Panacea did not reciprocate this feeling, disgusted by the idea.<ref name="I11h" />
Appearance[edit]
Bonesaw is described as a young girl in a dress with blond hair curled in ringlets. After being stabbed by Imp<ref>“I’m okay,” Bonesaw piped up. She held one hand to her eye socket, which had trails of smoke rising from it. “You don’t need to worry. I can put my throat back together easy, after I get my kit out to check the sheaths for my vitals to make sure there’s no abrasions, and I’ve got spare eyes. I could go with green eyes. Or one green and one blue, or if I alter them, I could have—” - Excerpt from Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref>, she has one blue eye and one green eye<ref>“I could convince you,” I told her. My swarm flowed forward, and she backed away. Her eyes, one green and one blue, flashed as she took in the breadth of the swarm, the composition of it. She was probably already brainstorming some solution. - Excerpt from Snare 13.8</ref>. Over her dress, she wears a stained, oversized apron, with a pocket that carries her vials and surgical tools.<ref>His teammate Bonesaw, was standing in the corner of the room just to my right. I could see the edge of a dress, an apron with tools and vials in the pocket, long blond hair curled into ringlets, and that same shroud of smoke around her, moving out to fill the room. - Excerpt from Prey 14.10</ref> Aside from her hair, which is kept immaculate, her body and clothes are unkempt, covered in dirt and blood.<ref>A girl stood in the living room, five or so years younger than Amy. Her blond hair had been curled into ringlets with painstaking care, but the rest of her was unkempt, filthy. She stared at Mark, who was struggling and failing to stand from the couch.
The girl turned to look at Amy, and Amy saw that some of the dirt that covered the girl wasn’t dirt, but crusted blood. The girl wore a stained apron that was too large for her, and the scalpels and tools in the pocket gleamed, catching the light from the lamps in the corner of the room. - Excerpt from Interlude 11h</ref> She is almost always accompanied by her biomechanical "spiders", which are small metal boxes with needles and scalpels at the end of their hydraulic legs.<ref name=":1" />
When Bonesaw returned to her Riley persona with the restoration of her sanity, Riley switched to a more unassuming look.<ref name="28.3">Cockroaches 28.3</ref> She temporarily turned herself taller and began maturing her body while the Nine were in stasis, but reverted her appearance before she let the Nine out from suspension to avoid suspicion. She retained her young appearance for the following years due to the technical difficulty of undoing her frozen aging.<ref name="II20.e4 eBiologicalAge">Some of those structures were the same ones that kept her apparent age at twelve. She had never gotten around to undoing that, in part because it required her to overhaul so many systems that were hooked into it. She wasn’t sure she wouldn’t end up over a hundred years old and still postponing the change to her appearance. - Excerpt from Last 20.e4</ref>
Abilities and Powers[edit]
Bonesaw is a powerful Tinker whose abilities make her an unparalleled expert in biological, anatomical, and physiological sciences.<ref name="list">Wildbow's Parahuman List</ref> She is capable of performing a wide array of surgical procedures, which she uses to modify her allies' bodies and her own to be tougher and stronger, and to modify her victims in order to subject them to horrific fates. Her sheer versatility makes her one of the most dangerous Tinkers on Earth Bet.
Her status was achieved thanks to her long period of activity and the materials she's used in her research. Bonesaw is able to alter the Corona Pollentia, allowing her to modify a parahuman's abilities to a limited degree and combine multiple coronas to fuse two powers into one. In one instance she altered Cherish's power so that she senses negative emotions more powerfully and cannot filter them out,<ref>Don’t worry about Cherish. She’s sleeping somewhere at the bottom of the bay. Bonesaw was kind enough to crank up her receptive range toward negative emotions and remove her filters. The girl will personally experience every awful feeling Brockton Bay’s inhabitants do- and with the benefit of Alan’s tech, she’ll get to do it for a very, very, very long time. - Excerpt from Prey 14.11</ref> and combining the powers of Hatchet Face and Oni Lee to create Hack Job.<ref name="I11h">Interlude 11h</ref>
Bonesaw is able to very effectively collaborate with and incorporate tech from other tinkers, likely due to her enhanced connection with her shard.<ref>mightbeaperson928: How much mechanical stuff do wet tinkers get? The big ones in canon are bonesaw and blasto, bonesaw can make her spiders and such but as a surgical tinker that makes sense. blasto however I'm not as familiar with but it was plants if I'm remembering correctly? But he used mechanical vats to grow them in. Are those included in his power?
Wildbow: Wholly depends on the tinker. Also depends on the tinker's development. Bonesaw is an example of a tinker who's collected enough shard experience points, for one way of putting it, to get her passenger to say 'hey, let's knock down some walls and let you experiment more with less wet technology'. - Conversation with Wildbow on Reddit</ref><ref name="Tinkertypes1" /> However, although she can get into technologies that are not biotech, she finds working with it frustrating and way slower.<ref>Tinkers have a lot of requirements and things that play into how they operate on a day to day basis. Time, resources, upkeep of whatever they've built, general mental energy/focus, and research.
Breaking into a new category takes research. A lot of the time you'll end up trying to ground whatever field you're moving into in whatever you already know & have built, which produces a leapfrogging effect. [...] Research takes time and focus and part of that focus is that you really want to and need to commit to a course to gain momentum. For some tinker types, leapfrogging around like this might be slower the further you get from your core field. Going the complete other direction, Bonesaw can get into tech that isn't biotech but it's way slower and the upkeep is lower quality and over time that degrades... which is where it gets complicated with the pocket dimension she's in and she's less confident about messing with that or changing things up. She can, it's just slow and frustrating.
That's building toward the future, but there's also the stuff you're leaving in the past: the stuff you've made that you don't use every day. It needs some upkeep and minor repair over time.
In both of these cases, you suffer if you're distracted and scattered.
[...]
The effect of being scattered gets compounded when you add in resources.
Resources differ by specialty but if you're breaking into a new specialty you'll tend to require new kinds of material. [...] The move from tech to 'wet' tinkering is a pretty severe one. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>
| Tinker Creations | |
|
She is very bad at giving names to her creations.<ref>“The other, I’m trying to figure out a name. The one on the bottom was Carnal. Healer, tough, and healed more by bathing himself in blood. Thought he had a place on our team, failed the tests. The one on the top was Prophet. Convinced he was Jesus reborn. What do you call a mix of people like that? I’ve got a name in mind, but I can’t quite figure it out.”
“I don’t know.”
“So you’re bad at names too?” Bonesaw grinned. “I’m thinking something like shrine, temple… but one with multiple floors. Um.” - Excerpt from Interlude 11h</ref>
Chemicals/Plagues[edit]
Bonesaw enjoys using vials of chemicals to her advantage. One gas she frequently employed was a white smoke that automatically kills diseases in her radius, useful against plagues that Bonesaw or her teammates were not yet immunized against. It had the side effect of also killing bugs and small rodents, much to the frustration of Skitter.<ref name=":2">“A benefit of little Bonesaw’s smoke,” Jack answered. “If I recall correctly, it’s something of a safeguard in case she accidentally deploys a concoction she hasn’t immunized herself or the rest of our team against. The fact that it works against bugs and small rodents is a side benefit, rather than the intent. Bonesaw’s work has made us members of the Nine more or less immune to disease anyways.”
“And the gunshot?”
“Subdermal mesh. There’s more protection around the spine and organs, and you landed that shot pretty close to my spine. It hurts quite a bit.” - Excerpt from Prey 14.10</ref> She can create specialized prions, available in liquid and powder form, which cripple the Corona Gemma, disabling the conscious use of powers while keeping the power itself intact.<ref>She tilted my head back and felt around the edges of my mask, trying to find the part where she could pull it off. “I’m really good at figuring out where the Corona and the Gemma are. I can even guess most of the time, if I know what powers the person has. And I can pry it wide open, make it so the powers can’t be turned off, or I can temporarily disable it, or modify it. The powder I blew into your face? It has the same prions I put in the darts I shot your friends with. Cripples the Gemma, but it leaves your powers intact. Can’t experiment with your abilities if I’ve fried your whole Corona Pollentia, right? Right.” - Excerpt from Snare 13.9</ref> She has vials of white smoke that can congeal into strands of movement-impeding gunk, similar to containment foam.<ref name="I19.x" />
She has a number of horrifying plagues and poisons designed to inflict painful death. Her poisons had the ability to cause slow, agonizing death beyond that of any natural toxin or venom.<ref name="I14.y">Those doubts had become quiet conviction after he’d gone to see Battery in the hospital. One of Bonesaw’s mechanical spiders had cut her suit. He knew exactly the kind of disorientation, hallucination and waves of paranoia she would have experienced as the gas took hold. While she reeled and tried to get a grip on reality, she’d likely left herself open for further attacks. Whatever the case, one of the spiders had injected her with a poison Bonesaw had devised.
Her death had been slow, painful and inevitable. It had been engineered to strike those notes in a way that millions of years of evolution had yet to refine a plant’s toxin or an animal’s venom. Lying in the hospital bed, still delirious, Battery had used halting sentences to tell him about Cauldon, about buying her powers, and about Cauldron asking her to help Siberian and Shatterbird escape. She’d planned to pursue the Nine, to offer assistance and then kill one or both of the villains. Battery had begged him for affirmation that she’d tried to do the right thing, that he would find the answers she didn’t. He’d reassured her the best he could. - Excerpt from Interlude 14.y</ref> She is also able to create epidemic plagues, able to spread to and kill huge amounts of people. However, Jack preferred her not to do this, so the plagues she creates are limited in their spread, an example being a plague she created that caused victims' bodies to explode and spread via bloody shrapnel, which would diminish with every person infected and eventually wear off.<ref name="I12">The man stumbled five or six steps before his body began to swell. His right arm bloated up to three or four times the usual size, turning crimson, before it exploded violently, sending shards of bone and a spray of blood into the people nearest him. He screamed, only for his cries to grow shorter and more frantic, as the rest of him reached that critical mass. In another ten seconds, the remainder of his body detonated.
[...]
Behind the child tinker, those in the crowd who had been struck by the blood and flying bone of her first victim were starting to scream as their bodies swelled as well.
,br>Jack frowned. “Bonesaw. You know my rule about epidemics. You have to play fair with the rest of the group.”
“No epidemic! I promise!” She said, drawing a little ‘x’ over her heart, “Four or five cycles. No more. Each transition is going to have only about half the catalyst of the last, and eventually they’ll be able to fight it off.” - Excerpt from Interlude 12</ref>
During the Nine's second visit of Brockton Bay, Bonesaw engineered an Agnosia Plague that spread through the water supply and rapidly vaporized into a red, airborne miasma. When inhaled, it rendered people unable to recognize others, causing a spiral of paranoia among the capes of Brockton Bay as they were left unable to distinguish friend from foe.<ref>Prey 14.8</ref>
Body Augmentation[edit]
Bonesaw has modified herself and her teammates extensively. All members of the Slaughterhouse Nine possess a subdermal mesh, reinforced more around the spine, organs, and major arteries, causing them to be much tougher than regular humans.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="13.7" /> The added protection was powerful enough to even allow members of the Nine to take shots from a sniper rifle.<ref name="13.7">Cherish shrugged. “Bonesaw gave me the works. Mesh sheaths for every major artery and organ, wire reinforcement for my skeleton. It’s not going to kill me anytime soon.” - Excerpt from Snare 13.7</ref> More recently, she installed artificial neurons into the Nine that were able to stay hidden from Cherish's emotion senses.<ref>Jack was getting heated, talking mostly to himself. “That was the whole point! To see how long we could go without tipping her off. Bonesaw helped with some surgery, even some artificial neural connections that Cherish wouldn’t be able to see. So much work and preparation ruined.” - Excerpt from Plague 12.4</ref>
Bonesaw herself is considerably more augmented. Her body is reinforced like the rest of the Nine, and she has redundant organs, able to function even with her heart pierced. She has numerous contingencies in the event of grievous bodily damage, including a prehensile spine that effectively serves as a third arm when exposed.<ref name="20.2 c1">Fully? No. But generally speaking, I try to stay one step ahead. If I decide to describe or unveil more of a character (be it their powers or their background), I try to give it some extra thought beforehand and think things through enough that there’s other traits or qualities that aren’t explicitly outlined (but perhaps implicitly).
The benefit of this is that, generally speaking, I’m not coming up with ideas at the moment I’m putting words to the page, and I’ve let thoughts & possibilities stew in my head for some time before it happens (One example: Bonesaw’s prehensile spine & the other accouterments she has set up in the event of major limb damage – I had it in mind well before Blasto’s interlude, but it never came up during the Nine’s stay in Brockton Bay). - Comment by Wildbow in Chrysalis 20.2</ref> Her prehensile spine has the ability to extend needles, which can interface with another victim's spine through the mouth to pilot that person's body.<ref name="I19.x" /> She can turn off the pain she felt through an internal 'switch', and is immune to most diseases, venoms, and allergens.<ref>“Just so you know, I’ve rendered myself immune to all those pesky little venoms and allergens,” she said. “And I can turn pain off like I’m flicking a switch. Don’t want to do that on a permanent basis, but it does make this easier to deal with.” - Excerpt from Snare 13.9</ref>
Among her various tricks is her ability to deploy poisons from vents in her body, alongside mechanical traps and needles that can spring out on command.<ref name=":3">Bonesaw laughed again, not for quite so long. Through the giggles, she said, “If you’re going to try to mind control me, I can tell you you’ve got another thing coming. I’ve got safeguards. You’ll only activate my berserker mode.”
[...]
Bonesaw bristled. Mechanical traps, spring-loaded needles and venom venting systems readied throughout her body. She let the bags drop to the ground. - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref> She is also loaded with lethal, potentially epidemic-causing plagues that are set to release into the air upon her potential death.<ref>“You know I loaded myself with a mess of epidemics, Defiant,” Bonesaw said. “You kill me like that and I’ll explode into a cloud of a bajillion plagues. It can’t be easy.”
“It is,” Defiant’s voice was distorted by his helmet, vaguely computerized. There was a processor at work somewhere there, Rey observed.
“What, you’ll unleash a thousand plagues on this world to finish me off? Me? A little girl?” Bonesaw smiled wide. - Excerpt from Interlude 19.x</ref> She has capsules in her teeth that she can break to release and spit acid from her mouth.<ref name="I19.x" /> In the case of Master influence on her mind, she has a berserker mode that will automatically activate.<ref name=":3" />
After Bonesaw reformed, Panacea removed everything Bonesaw had implanted into her body. Panacea did not turn off the pain while she was doing this,<ref>“I’ve had no sleep,” Bonesaw said. “Big sis here took out all the good bits I’d stored inside myself, and she didn’t turn off the pain. I feel too light. I feel weird. Can’t sit still, not that they ever let me.”
“First tier parahuman problems,” Imp said. Her tone wasn’t as humorous in nature as the words. - Cockroaches 28.3</ref> presumably to make sure she did not miss anything she was removing and because she was still wary of a potential relapse.<ref>“And they keep getting on my case,” Bonesaw said, apparently oblivious. She directed her attention to Panacea and Lung. “Trust me, I haven’t butchered you all yet, I’m not going to in the future. You can stop testing me.”
“I remember when you were cuddly,” Tattletale said. “You were so happy and fluffy and you had a good attitude. You were a complete and total monster, and nobody in their right mind would cuddle you, but you were adorable. Now look at you.”
Bonesaw scowled, but I wasn’t paying attention to that. Tattletale had used the past tense. You were a complete monster. Referring to the past, or an observation on a deeper level? - Cockroaches 28.3</ref><ref>“She is why I can’t leave,” Panacea said. “I’m the only one that can double-check her work. If we’re both here, you’ve got two stellar healers on the back lines. If I leave, you’ve got a healer with minimal combat experience on the front line and a defused bomb with nobody that’s capable of knowing if it’s reactivated.”
I couldn’t really argue that.
Well, I could, but not very well.
“There’s another way to deal with that sort of situation,” Imp said. “Get rid of the fucking bomb.”
“We will,” Panacea said. “If she gives us an excuse. Any excuse at all. But she gets one chance.” - Cockroaches 28.3</ref>
History[edit]
Background[edit]
Riley triggered in 2005, at the age of six,<ref name="II20.e4 eAge">“Breadth and depth,” Riley said.
“Hm?”
“The earlier you get powers, the more it spreads across your personality. Growing up with it, there’s less room for you. It’s where young triggers get more versatility, more natural instinct.”
Lookout nodded. “I was eight.”
“Six. Clones, like your friend in the cell over here… they start from zero. It does have an impact.” - Excerpt from Last 20.e4</ref> after she was forced to repeatedly provide medical care for her family by the Slaughterhouse Nine. Her mother, father, brother, and pet were spread throughout the house, each supervised by one or two members of the Nine, forcing her to rush between the rooms of the house to patch them up as they were injured over and over again.<ref name="I25" />
After triggering, she continued to stitch her family up using her enhanced knowledge of medicine, growing exhausted over the hours of work. Eventually, she gave up, watching as her mother slowly died in front of her. Dissociating her mother's body in her mind as a mere lump of flesh, Riley mentally broke. Taking the last words of her dying mother to heart, "Be a good girl", Riley faked a smile, resolving to take on the persona of what would eventually become Bonesaw.<ref name="I25">Interlude 25</ref><ref>Probably. You might be able to say that Jack had her family for weeks/months before finally running her into the ground, and that what we saw was only the final stage. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit </ref>
Post-Leviathan[edit]
The Slaughterhouse Nine came to Brockton Bay to recruit a new member shortly after Leviathan attacked the city. Motivated by the prospect of an "older sister" with a power that complemented her own, Bonesaw chose Panacea as her nomination, visiting the Dallon household to tell her as much. Accompanied by Murder Rat, Hack Job, and Pagoda, Bonesaw approached Amy and a brain-damaged Mark Dallon, making her recruitment pitch. After Amy expressed reservations with using her power, Bonesaw decided to test Amy, forcing her to disable Murder Rat and kill Pagoda in an attempt to make Amy get over her aversion to killing. After further refusal, with Amy claiming she couldn't use her power on brains, Bonesaw decided to force her to take action by having one of her spiders inject acid into Mark's brain. After Amy gave in, removing the acid and restoring Mark to his full mental faculties, Mark used his powers as Flashbang to drive Murder Rat and Bonesaw away.<ref name="I11h" />
Bonesaw participated in the Slaughterhouse Nine's slaughter of the Merchants, releasing a short term plague that caused victims to explode and spread the disease via shrapnel. After the carnage had concluded, Bonesaw began harvesting muscle and organs from the fallen and stitched them together into an artistic creation.<ref>Interlude 12</ref>
After the Slaughterhouse Nine captured Grue, she worked together with Mannequin to turn Grue into one of her "art pieces".<ref name="13.8">Snare 13.8</ref> This, along with her torturing of his friends and Taylor, eventually caused Grue to experience a second trigger event.<ref name="13.9">Snare 13.9</ref> With his newfound trump ability, Grue copied Siberian's power and used it to kill Burnscar and mutilate Bonesaw, chopping off her hands, before helping the Undersiders escape. She also modified the residents of Dolltown to resemble the Nine in order to provide cover for their escape.
She would later replace her lost hands with tech from Mannequin.<ref>Bonesaw’s hands were smooth as glass as she reached for her belt. She was cool and collected, even as the bugs slowly flayed her.
She was stopped short as the silk strands tangled her ceramic fingers. - Excerpt from Prey 14.7</ref>
With the intervention of Legend and his team, Bonesaw unleashed an agnosia plague on the city as punishment for "cheating" in the Nine's recruitment games. Bonesaw and Jack briefly fooled Skitter into thinking they were Tattletale and Grue, before Skitter realized who they were and ran away. Bonesaw and Jack had a final confrontation with Skitter and Panacea at the hospital before being repelled. She left another group of surgically modified people in the Boat Graveyard. as a final distraction while the Nine fled Brockton Bay, one of these people being Cherish as punishment for her attempted subversion and betrayal of the Nine.
Post-Echidna[edit]
While evading the pursuit of Dragon and Defiant, the Nine recruited Skinslip, Night Hag, and Damsel of Distress. Bonesaw surgically modified Damsel so she could control her power. Spearheading a raid on Accord's lab the tinker was confronted by Defiant, who stabbed the child tinker in the heart before bisecting her. Nevertheless, Bonesaw survived and kidnapped Blasto along with retrieved samples from the database.<ref name="I19.x">Interlude 19.x</ref> A later raid on Toybox gave the Nine access to incredible technology and resources, allowing the group to retreat into a private world where they could wait in suspended animation.<ref name="I20">Interlude 20.x</ref>
Timeskip[edit]
During the two year waiting period, before the Nine were revived from cryonic suspension, Bonesaw crafted an army of clones - The Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand. However, she began to have doubts about serving Jack Slash and about the distinction between herself and her passenger, prompted by Contessa. She allowed herself to grow up over the years, but reverted the changes and partially automated her nervous system before awakening the Slaughterhouse 9000 so as to hide the changes in her personality from Jack.<ref name="I25" />
Gold Morning[edit]
Riley joined the heroes during Gold Morning, although they didn't trust her. She was assigned to treat the wounded, paired with Panacea, one of the few that could check her work to make sure she wasn't reverting back to Bonesaw.
With the lab destroyed, she couldn't contribute to the fighting any other way.<ref name="29.3c1">Bonesaw isn’t equipped to make clones. They take some time to grow, anyways. Years to fully develop. Months to reach adolescence. - Comment by Wildbow onVenom 29.3</ref><ref name="29.3c2">Sure, but that’s Blasto’s balliwick, not Bonesaw’s. - Comment by Wildbow onVenom 29.3</ref>
Post-Gold Morning[edit]
Valkyrie, 'the keeper of the dead', thought that with the help of Panacea, she and Riley would be able to bring back the dead to refill their ranks.
Early Ward[edit]
Two years later Riley is working for The Wardens, still paired with Panacea and heavily restricted in autonomy.<ref name="Eclipse3" /> In this time, she developed some fondness for Nilbog.<ref>Interlude 3 II</ref>
In the last year Riley provided Ashley Stillons II with advanced prosthetics and their maintenance.<ref name="Eclipse3">Eclipse x.3</ref>
Post-Fallen Fall[edit]
After the portal sabotage, Riley was stranded alongside Jamie Rinke, Jessica Yamada, and multiple other Wardens' personnel and ex-prisoners near a remote settlement.<ref>Sundown 17.6</ref>
Riley ostensibly was the reason that the most of the people survived. However, she backslided to her old habits,<ref>Riley seemed to have saved us, if anything, by analyzing the food and curing the sickest of us- people I deemed so at-risk that it was unlikely she could do too much. Riley and Jamie Rinke were, to all appearances, angelic, all considered. Some reining in needed, naturally, and it took everything I had to stay on top of it all, especially with my own bouts with illness, but it worked. - Excerpt from Sundown 17.6</ref> raising suspicions and tension in the camp.<ref name="II17.6 ePersona">Some parahumans, one couple, a jolly fellow who fancied himself a survivalist and who was taking an optimistic view of the situation. He would stop in every day or two, and he hadn’t stopped in for two days. We sent out people to get in touch with him after Valkyrie’s arrival, and they couldn’t find his camp. [...] Terrifying. Crushing. Riley adopted her ‘Bonesaw’ persona, acting younger than she appeared- and with the surgeries she subjected herself to, she’ll never appear older than twelve. Laughing off my questions, being furtive.” - Excerpt from Sundown 17.6</ref> It eventually led to her fight with the similarly-stressed Jessica Yamada,<ref>This- a whirl of intensity, Jessica reaching out with a bleeding arm, grabbing a thin wrist, slamming it down into rocky ground until the attacker dropped the blade. Frantic, even though it meant losing traction, Jessica reached out and swiped the knife, sending it flying ten or fifteen feet.
The hands that grabbed her arms were small. Fingernails dug into forearm, and came away with fine white lines caught beneath small fingernails that had been painted pink.
Jessica knelt on the offending hand, pinning it down, and strangled-
Strangled Bonesaw. - Excerpt from From Within 16.12 </ref> shortly after they were found by Valkyrie.
There was no evidence found of other misbehavior on Bonesaw's part,<ref>Everyone accounted for. Everyone checked over. Nothing questionable. If I had to guess, she was protective of her work because it was all she had to show for the prior timeframe and as you say, it was fragile. I’ve gone over that conversation a thousand times in my head, since, and I think she might have misread my tone, or misread my impatience as my wanting her to leave it behind.” - Excerpt from Sundown 17.6</ref> but Riley chose to stay in exile, with Valkyrie making visits as necessary.<ref>“And Bonesaw?” I asked, quiet. “Is she okay?”
“Riley is Riley, Victoria. Physically? Even with nearly every bit of her technology removed from her body, I don’t think there’s much someone could do to her with physical wounds that would last.”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
“Mentally? Emotionally?” Jessica asked. “She asked to stay. Valkyrie tried to convince her. They struck a deal that Valkyrie would visit now and then. She was ashamed she hurt me like she did.” - Excerpt from Sundown 17.6</ref>
Post-Time Bubble Pop[edit]
She was still active, tending to The Flock.
Riley heard about Contessa being captured by Teacher and leaned into her paranoia, making it borderline impossible to contact her without an assistance from the members of the Flock.<ref name="II19.z" />
The Ice Breaks[edit]
She was visited by Photon and invited to the fight.<ref name="II19.z">Infrared 19.z</ref> Bonesaw accepted invitation, and it was decided that Riley was going to instruct Chris Elman on execution to stay on time.<ref name="II20.2">Last 20.2</ref>
She provided her opinion on severity of wounds of Victoria Dallon and Byron Vera, forcing Chris to share his emergency supplies.<ref name="II20.3">Last 20.4</ref>
Following Chris' defection Riley agreed to proceed on her own, despite not having obvious means to deliver results at the moment. She was later recovered by Valkyrie Titan as a part of the deal between Victoria and Contessa.<ref name="II20.a">Last 20.a</ref>
Her opinion was one of the reasons for the Wardens to attempt to capture Chris Elman during the Victoria's plague deployment.<ref>“And Chris?”
“They’re going to hunt him down. [...] He was spreading half-truths and they asked Jessica, who asked Riley, who said he was a problem. They’ll imprison him and take away his stuff if they can. Jessica said to, I think, as a compromise.” - Excerpt from Last 20.10</ref>
Ward Epilogue[edit]
Riley passed the winter in her camp, but returned to The City and the Wardens' custody at the end of the winter. She met Cryptid and Lookout during her visit to the local Wardens' office.<ref name="II20.e4">Last 20.e4</ref>
She was provided with a monitored apartment by the Wardens.<ref name="II20.e4" />
Riley informed Dragon about her conversation with Lookout, prompting Dragon to investigate.<ref name="II20.e5">Last 20.e5</ref>
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Trivia[edit]
- According to Valkyrie, she is the keeper of the "Chirurgeon" shard,<ref name="e.1">Teneral e.1</ref> a reflection of Valkyrie's use of outdated language.
- Wildbow had not read Franken Fran when Bonesaw was conceptualized; she went through several permutations before even being named Bonesaw, but after being told about the manga he included it on his influences.<ref>Massive Franken-Fran fan here.
Bonesaw’s original conception predates my discovery of the manga, though (just to head off the ‘that character’s stolen from ____’ guys.) - Comment by Wildbow on interlude 11h </ref>
Fanart Gallery[edit]
<tabber>Fan Art=
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Illustration by macabredanse on Tumblr
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Illustration by AstriSjursen on DeviantArt
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Illustration by asphaltandblackberries on Tumblr
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Illustration by liujuin on DeviantArt
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Illustration by Abyranss on Tumblr
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Illustration by Evaexe on Reddit
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Illustration by kingdaume on DeviantArt
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Illustration by LinaLeeZ on DeviantArt
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Illustration by Uberpigeon on Reddit
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Illustration by Scarfgirl
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Illustration by CPericardium on DeviantArt
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Illustration by Abyranss on Tumblr
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Illustration by Abyranss on Tumblr
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Illustration by Tacovacoaco on Reddit
|-|Cosplay=
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Cosplay by herp_derp_over9000's girlfriend
</tabber>
References[edit]
<references/>
[edit]
| 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=
}}) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||