Skin Horse

By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
By Shaenon K. Garrity & Jeffrey C. Wells
Color by Pancha Diaz
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2014-09-25
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2014-09-25

by shaenon on September 25, 2014 at 12:01 am
Chapter: Mixed-Up Files
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Discussion (30) ¬

  1. ngmatt8652
    September 25, 2014, 12:20 am | # | Reply

    something tells me the dave conspiracy is involved

    • Towering Barbarian
      September 25, 2014, 12:44 am | # | Reply

      Somehow I would not be surprised to learn that Mr. Minion is actually their spy. ^_^

      • Towering Barbarian
        September 25, 2014, 3:48 am | # | Reply

        Mr. Minion = Mr. Bravo. *^_^*

  2. Anson
    September 25, 2014, 12:25 am | # | Reply

    Couldn’t you just clone her? I mean if the Dave Conspiracy keeps an M.S. on retainer, shouldn’t Ansigma? Or would just end up like Mr. Bavo, then?

    • Towering Barbarian
      September 25, 2014, 12:56 am | # | Reply

      Problem #1: She and Sergio *are* their M.S.’s and I think Sergio has flown the coop. Never mind that she’s a sane scientist she is still their M.S. so getting her to clone herself might be awkward since it could very well tip her off that Something Is Up.

      Problem #2: The mental characteristics that make her loyalty dubious are probably linked to the mental characteristics that make her useful.

      Problem #3: Sparks who think their patron plans to do wrong by them can get cranky. This is not always a good thing for whoever made them cranky.

      Problem #4: Her friends might get cranky if they feel she’s been wronged and some of them are tough.

      Problem #5: Does Ansigma seem like the sort of employee policy consistent with high employee loyalty to begin with? Odds are that dubious loyalty is something they are used to in everyone from the Big Boss down to the bottom.

      It sounds as though Ginny has reached what TV Tropes might call Bunny Slippers Lawyer level with them. As long as her work outweighs her potential as a loose cannon there is probably no reason this has to change. ^_~

      • Tom Flapwell
        September 25, 2014, 10:55 am | # | Reply

        That’s “Bunny Ears Lawyer.” B-)

        • Mildweasel
          September 25, 2014, 4:27 pm | # | Reply

          slippers works too:p

    • Kitirena
      May 17, 2016, 2:30 am | # | Reply

      I’ll take a Dr. Lee clone, please! And one of Mell, too, nyao! I’d love to have my own Narbonverse harem, definitely!!

  3. Towering Barbarian
    September 25, 2014, 12:42 am | # | Reply

    Hot is always good! ^_^

    • oneuniverse2
      September 26, 2014, 12:37 am | # | Reply

      Hot is definitely a plus

  4. Ogden Wernstrom
    September 25, 2014, 1:24 am | # | Reply

    “I hope you won’t consider it an exposition if I ask you to listen to me ramble for a while.”

    I had wondered how the humans could keep pace with super-smart exotics without entrusting their strategy to the same kinds of beings they were fighting. Now we know. We saw Anasigma pursue timeline tech, but I didn’t figure out they already had success.

    • BRGR
      September 25, 2014, 3:05 am | # | Reply

      With time travel tech you don’t need to be successful right away. You can always receive updates from the future that was successful.

  5. jdreyfuss
    September 25, 2014, 6:46 am | # | Reply

    I guess to avoid death at A-Sig, you either have to be hyper-aware of everything or extraordinarily reality-blind. Bravo is clearly only hearing about half of what Mr. Green is saying. Also, judging by the name I assume he’s a clone, so he’s also probably genetically engineered or trained to be that blind.

    • Rex Vivat
      September 25, 2014, 11:20 am | # | Reply

      “Bravo” is part of his codename, “Echo Bravo”. It’s not necessarily as significant as, say, having the middle name “Beta”.

      • jdreyfuss
        September 25, 2014, 2:04 pm | # | Reply

        Ah. I forgot about that. I was assuming A-Sig uses the NATO alphabet for their clone serialization, rather than the Greek alphabet.

    • John Campbell
      September 25, 2014, 6:12 pm | # | Reply

      Or maybe he’s hearing the stuff Mr. Green isn’t saying. It sure seems, particularly after the whole Green-Violet-hitting-on-Lee fiasco on the train, that the “and hot” has more than a little to do with Mr. Green’s, and therefore Anasigma’s, treatment of Dr. Lee.

  6. Eddurd
    September 25, 2014, 7:05 am | # | Reply

    (TUNE: “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee” from Grease, Jacobs & Casey)

    Here we see Virginia Lee
    Scientist with sanity!
    We use her brain
    To make Mad Science sane!
    We need someone like she!

    Doctor Lee’s a tool of mine,
    Loyalty is borderline …
    Seems she might flip
    Since she met up with Tip …
    She must be kept in line!

     Now it just might seem
     That the Skin Horse team
     Would persuade Ms. Lee to defect …
     But the Second Gate
     I will activate,
     And her movements I will detect!

    Will we see Virginia Lee
    Extirpated presently?
    No, we will not,
    For she’s useful
    (And hot) …
    I’m keeping Lee with me!

    • Daibhid C
      September 25, 2014, 7:26 am | # | Reply

      The name of the agent seems appropriate here.

  7. Treesong
    September 25, 2014, 9:09 am | # | Reply

    I have found ‘Bunny Slippers’ under ‘Inspiration Nod’ in TVTropes and I still have no idea what you’re talking about

    • magecat
      September 25, 2014, 9:20 am | # | Reply

      The trope Towering Barbarian is referencing is properly titled “Bunny-Ears Lawyer”

    • Forrest M Davis
      March 2, 2020, 6:46 pm | # | Reply

      Bunny slippers are also a perfectly valid reference for someone quirky but highly valuable. The scientist (borderline mad) played by Val Kilmer in the movie “Real Genius” wore them most of the time, as did the dean of the science department at his university.

  8. Robert Nowall
    September 25, 2014, 12:09 pm | # | Reply

    I had to look up “extirpate.” Seems unusually harsh. Couldn’t they just fire her?

    • Rex Vivat
      September 25, 2014, 2:58 pm | # | Reply

      It may not mean exactly what you think.

  9. Lady Ice
    September 25, 2014, 12:27 pm | # | Reply

    Robert, after the last Doctor Who episode, extirpation is no worse than being fired.

    • Robert Nowall
      September 25, 2014, 1:04 pm | # | Reply

      Maybe in the Black Ops world where they all hang out it isn’t…

  10. Smithnik
    September 25, 2014, 1:31 pm | # | Reply

    No, even after watching Dr. Who, I think extirpation is a bit worse. In Dr. Who terms, it would be like going back in time and preventing you from ever happening, rather than just removing you from your job and/or killing you.

    It took me a while to figure out the Bunny Slippers reference. I liked Dresden Files, but not enough of a fan to remember the line.
    The thing is that most of the tropes of this kind refer to someone who is not nice, but is needed. In Ginny’s case, she’s TOO nice, but is needed. So it’s sort of a reverse trope, with a half-twist going into the water.

  11. BMunro
    September 25, 2014, 4:10 pm | # | Reply

    “Uniquely valuable” – does that mean that the ability to reverse-engineer madtech is itself an extremely anomalous ability?

    • Sheik
      September 25, 2014, 5:47 pm | # | Reply

      Perhaps to the point of being unique itself.
      Mad scientists seem to be a dime-a-dozen, but the ability to replicate their work by mundane means, and therefore repeatedly and sanely, has to be beyond any monetary value. Extirpating Ginny might mean the end of Anasigma.
      Now I have to wonder if Anasigma was actually built around Ginny in the first place.

  12. Shadowmehr
    September 25, 2014, 8:30 pm | # | Reply

    The advantage and disadvantage of being unique. Nobody can get rid of you, but nobody knows what to do with you either.

    Being hot helps in her defense, too, but it can’t be the main reason she’s still around.

  13. Frank Hightower
    September 25, 2014, 10:58 pm | # | Reply

    All I can think of is “plip!”

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