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Mind and Soul Resistance Upgrade
John's mind and soul are pulled out of his body and into the "overworld" by two armies of angels:
After tricking both armies into fighting amongst themselves, John slips back into his body in the material world, then pulls his defenses back into place, protecting him from any further attempts to steal his mind and soul away:
Note that this was done to him by the angels' true forms outside of reality, not their lesser material selves. Once his defenses are back in place, they can't do this to him anymore.
Perception/Reactions Amplification
John studies a piece of glass soaked in time magic, and his third eye allows him to see "inverted tachyons" moving up and down the broken edges:
???
Evidence suggests that John's gift clashes with certain other powers, automatically defending him against those abilities while it's active.
When he and Tommy Oblivion raise their powers at the same time, the two clash, reaching a stalemate due to neither of the two powers being strong enough to overcome the other:
Later on, John encounters an alternate version of himself from another timeline, and when the two attempt to use their respective gifts against each other, their powers clash, actively defending them from each other and proving to be evenly matched:
I assumed this was power nullification a while back, but now I feel like it's something else. I don't know what, though.
Discuss.
John's mind and soul are pulled out of his body and into the "overworld" by two armies of angels:
So I sat there in the deep dark shadows, my back pressed against the wall, breathed deeply, and closed my eyes, concentrating. And opened the eye deep in my mind; my third eye, my private eye. Energies swirled within me, rough and roaring, then flowed out of me, rushing off in all directions, lighting up the night so I could See everything. The thunder of a million voices descended upon me, not all of them in any way human, and I had to struggle to focus, to narrow my vision to the one thing I was searching for. The bedlam died away, and already I could begin to sense a direction, and the beginnings of distance. And then Something reached down out of the overworld, snatched my mind right out of my body, and bore it away. There was a sensation that might have been flying or falling, as the alley and the material world disappeared. And I was somewhere else. This time, it was my turn to stand in the spotlight. A light stabbed down from somewhere above me, brilliant and blinding, holding me in place like a bug transfixed on a pin. I felt horribly naked and exposed, as though the light showed up everything inside me, the good and the bad. All around me there was only darkness, a deep concealing darkness, and somehow I could tell it was there to protect me, because I was not worthy or strong enough to see what lay beyond my small pool of light. But I could sense that I was not alone, that to either side of me there were vast and powerful presences, two great armies assembled on an endless unseen plain. There was a feeling of restless movement, and what might have been the fluttering and flapping of wings. My mind, or more likely my soul, had been hijacked. Brought into the overworld, the boundaries of the immaterial. The overworld wasn't Heaven or Hell, but it was said you could see them both from there. A voice spoke to me from one side, and it was a harmony of many voices, like a crowd chanting in syncopation, a choir that sang only in descants. My skin crawled at the sound of it. I'd heard such a voice before, in St. Jude's. It was a powerful, imperious voice, steeped in ancient, unanswerable authority. "The dark chalice is loose once more, travelling in the world of mortal men. This cannot be permitted. It is too powerful a thing to be abandoned to merely human hands, and so it has been decided that we shall descend from the glory plains and walk in the material world again." A second harmonied voice spoke from the other side, rich and complex and full of discords. "Too long has the Unholy Grail wandered at random in the world of mortal men. The sombre chalice, the great corrupter. It must be placed in the right hands and allowed to fulfill its purpose. Its time has come round at last. And so it has been decided that we shall ascend from the infernal plains and walk in the material world again." All I could think was Oh shit… | ||
~ Agents of Light and Darkness, Chapter 3: Meetings in Dark Places |
"You do not speak to us that way," said the first voice, its harmonies rising and falling. "Defy us, and there will be punishment." I looked across at the other presences. "Are you going to let them get away with that? If I'm hurt or damaged, you risk losing the one person who can definitely find the Unholy Grail for you." "Do not touch the mortal," the second voice said immediately. "You do not speak to us that way!" "We speak how we will! We always have!" There was a stirring and a disturbance in the darkness, as of two great armies readying themselves for war. There were angry voices, with vicious threats and vows, and ominous intent. And it was the easiest thing in the world for me to quietly slip away from them, and drop back into my body, which waited in the doorway in the alley outside Strangefellows. It had grown cold and stiff in my brief absence, and I groaned aloud as I made myself stretch reluctant muscles and pounded my hands together to get the circulation moving again. I closed my mind down tightly, pulling all my strongest mental shields into place. You don't last long in the Nightside if you don't learn a few useful tricks to guard your mind and soul from outside attack or influence. Walk around here with an open mind, and your head will end up more crowded than the underground during rush hour. But it did mean I wouldn't be able to use my gift again. Anytime I let down my defences long enough to See, you could bet agents from Above and Below would be waiting for a chance to grab me again. And make me an offer I wouldn't be allowed to refuse. So it looked like I was going to have to solve this case the hard way: lots of legwork, asking impertinent questions, and the occasional twisting of arms. | ||
~ Agents of Light and Darkness, Chapter 3: Meetings in Dark Places |
Perception/Reactions Amplification
John studies a piece of glass soaked in time magic, and his third eye allows him to see "inverted tachyons" moving up and down the broken edges:
I concentrated, raising my gift again, using it to study the reality of the thing before me, opening up my inner eye, my private eye, to See the world as it really is. And then I almost dropped the shard as I realised what it was I was holding. "What?" Bettie said excitedly. "What did you See?" "Temporal energies," I said. "This mirror shard is soaked in Time, in Time magic. I can actually see inverted tachyons, shooting up and down the broken edges." Bettie gave me a hard look, only slightly spoiled by her pouting mouth. "Yes, very nice, darling, very dramatic. But what does that mean?" "It means, I know what mirror this came from," | ||
~ The Bride Wore Black Leather, Chapter 2: You're Only Immortal As Long As You Don't Die |
Evidence suggests that John's gift clashes with certain other powers, automatically defending him against those abilities while it's active.
When he and Tommy Oblivion raise their powers at the same time, the two clash, reaching a stalemate due to neither of the two powers being strong enough to overcome the other:
"You're Lilith's only son," said Tommy. "You'd let the dream of Camelot die, just to further your own ambitions. I see right through you, Taylor. And I'll see you die first!" He raised his gift, but I was already raising mine, and the whole bar shook as our powers manifested and clashed head-on. I used my gift to try and find his weaknesses, and he used his to try and reinforce a reality where I never reached the sixth century. My gift dealt with certainties, his with probabilities, and neither was really strong enough to overcome the other. We both put all our strength into this clash of wills, and reality itself became hazy and uncertain around us, until it seemed the whole bar might unravel, leaving us the only fixed and real things in the world. | ||
~ Paths Not Taken, Chapter 8: Sacrifices for the Greater Good |
We stood facing each other, hands clenched into fists at our sides as we concentrated, both of us calling on our gifts. I opened my inner eye, my third eye, and studied her coldly, searching for some gap in her defences, something I could use against her. I could feel her doing the same thing. Strange energies flickered on and off in the air between us, a tension of unseen forces building and building until they had to explode somewhere. My gift versus hers. It was like arm-wrestling with invisible, intangible arms. I was vaguely aware of all hell breaking loose in the hospital ward, as Suzie and Stephen went head to head. Shotgun blasts were going off all over the place, accompanied by the roar of grenades. Beds overturned, and patients were thrown out, disconnected from their supporting tech. Dark smoke drifted across the ward as equipment caught fire. I couldn't let this go on. We were too evenly matched with our duplicates, and too many innocents were getting hurt. | ||
~ Just Another Judgment Day, Chapter 1: Retro Voodoo and the Spirit of Dorian Gray |
Discuss.
