I’m not dead (yet)! Working on the chapter, though I’m quite busy with a lot of other stuff, too.
As a small apology, I’ve decided to start a “Random Fact” series. Every day that a chapter is overdue, I’m gonna share some random fact from the Brennusverse with you guys and gals.
To that end, I’ve assembled a long list of interesting (hopefully) but not plot-critical facts, and I’m gonna roll every day from now on on it, until I complete this chapter.
Here’s the first one:
- Hemming is not only the most skilled, but also the fastest shapeshifter in the world, capable of taking on 300 (400 if he really pushes it) distinct forms per minute. He can shapeshift quickly and precisely enough that, if fired at from point-blank range, he can create a hole the size of the bullet for it travel through.
Tieshaunn 
Mmmm I wonder how to beat him… If I remember correctly he isn’t limited to biological forms and he can be many things bigger or smaller than his actual mass… I guess only energy based attack would work, and only as long has he did not take an appriate form to counter it…
Weird mental/magic/status attacks and exhaustion might work also.
1. Goku Method. chuck the asshat into the sun. if the trip there doesnt kill him the sun will. hell unless he can produce an inexhaurtive propulsion thing he is pretty much screwed as soom as he hits vacume. 2. Journeyman Method. pucch that guy into a different dimemtion. let him and mightmare sun play with each other for the rest of their lives. 3. Angry Superman Method. Ties states that Hemming can shift fully 400 times if he PUSHES it ergo just keep making him have to shift and you can eventually kill im with exhaustion. i think the whole reasom Hemming uses the carefully comtrolled dimemtioms amd the rules in his games is because he and the others are far earier to kill or defeat then their reputatinn would lead you to believe.
That last part is very true and I believe it has been brought up in canon as well, that Heretic is the main reason for the S6’s success. Hemming’s smarts and Atrocity’s precognition are the (lesser known) others.
Hemming could adapt to space
I’m not sure the Sun would be deadly enough, there has been cases of fictionnal characters surviving it. If you’re going to go through the trouble of dragging someone through space to throw them into something I would recomend selecting a black hole. Even if he can survive the pressure he won’t escape anytime soon.
About the exhaustion thing, would that really work? He can turn into machines and other inorganics, and machines don’t get tired… Though I guess he can’t cheat his body forever, he probably still has needs like eating, staying hydrated… you could probably beat him by forcing him to fight you for days without rest.
The Sun would suffice for killing him. However, getting him there might prove more than just problematic.
Remember that Hemming’s greatest power is not his shape shifting, but rather his enhanced intelligence. And I do mean actually enhanced intelligence!
He doesn’t just get a lot of external information fed into his brain (Calculass) or can see probable futures (Atrocity), nor does he have any of the other classical “Thinker” powers (thanks to wildbow, I can’t use that term without feeling like a ripoff). He is actually, truly, super-intelligent. Assume that any idea you come up with to kill or disable him, no matter how weird or exotic, has already been considered and counter-measures have been developed (even if they boil down to “never fight this guy”).
Really, the shape shifting is just barely a secondary concern when dealing with Hemming.
So he is NOT a probability manipulator, he just makes it look like he is?
yup. exploits his smarts and the properties of the pocket dimensions they fight in to make it seem like he is
But how would you get him into the sun? Figure he could turn around any thruster attached to him. And if he was just thrown, he’d probably shift into a form with a solar sail, and use that to ride back to Earth.
Maybe if you used some form of contriver effect to paralyze him?
a solar sail would take for ever, trying to catch a moving planet, contending with various gravities, and i believe Ties mentioned that this verse is more advanced with space tech and even we could keep track aod shoot at something we put in space. aod super intelligence? uuuugh if he is so rmart why didnt he make Basil take off his helmet before declaring him Not Maciam…uless maybd HE doesmt want to find Macian for some rearon?
a twisted super-intelligent villain with a hidden agenda even his teammates don’t know about?
pfffff. no way.
“Assume that any idea you come up with to kill or disable him, no matter how weird or exotic, has already been considered and counter-measures have been developed (even if they boil down to “never fight this guy”).”
This means that the way to beat him is to hit him with the unexpected. Worst threat to him would be a newly manifested super with an unusual (or unique) power. Second worst would be a tinker new enough that their work hasn’t settled down into a “specialty”. As we’ve seen, tinkers CAN work outside of their specialties, but work so much better within them that once they know what they are, tinkers usually stay within them.
An unplanned encounter with Hastur, say, or a Niven style disintegration ray would ruin his day quite thoroughly. Which is why he always lets someone else encounter any surprises first.
A Null, a gun, and a will to use it.