Things I know about Chester Merrick and the SSI.

[Guadalupe de Loop]

Merrick is a dangerous man. He is especially dangerous to those whom he thinks pose a threat to the public, including all witches.

The "witchburns" on his face are the size of a small child's hands. That's interesting.

He is probably right about witches being dangerous to the public, but if Valentine is right, the number of witches is constant; nothing Merrick or the SSI can do can reduce the number of witches in the world. At most, killing them can make the population of 57 witches younger and more traumatized, and you get to hope that the ones you kill will be replaced by new ones cropping up where they are someone else's problem.

Younger, more traumatized witches are drastically more dangerous than older, secure, and non-terrified witches. Stiletta is your basic example.

Chester Merrick was the "point man" in Vogel's botched raid on Sera's house a few years ago, with the express purpose (explained by Vogel himself) of putting a bullet in her head with no warning. This was after she demonstrated "dangerousness" with the bus incident.

If her bed had been at floor level where they expected it, that probably would have been a successful mission and Sera would be dead. Now that they know her bed is floating near the ceiling, it won't protect her again in another raid.

Contessa Rubikov was held by Vogel as a hostage, in case the mission went pear-shaped (which it did) and he had a need to "bargain" with Serenity. He could have tried to get
her cooperation (in the form of not killing all the rest of his people) by threatening Tess's life. Serenity resolved the matter, by expelling but NOT killing his people, too abruptly for him to put this backup plan into play.

When Merrick asked Sera to come down to the Doldrums with him, at a particular time, there was probably an ambush waiting. He's never been near her without three vans full of guys in combat gear nearby, and he himself admits that the SSI has been aching for an excuse to take her out.

When he asked about an MRI or brain scan, he may have been ready to claim he was worried about schizophrenia - that Stiletta might have been an alternate-personality manifestation of Serenity. But if he could have gotten Sera to submit to a brain scan, he would probably have used a version of the machinery that would instantly kill her. Magnetic imaging coils replaced by a set 12-gage shotgun for example. The public is safer that way.

The "new facility" is a lie. Given what Witches can do there is no power on earth - probably not even another witch - that can hold them and make the public safe from their manifestations. Sera's dreams kept popping up in the cave, miles from where she was actually sleeping. The witch whose indigestion-powered dream ended the Napoleonic wars was asleep, at least a mile from the enemy lines. Likewise, the self-induced-comatose witch in Spain or wherever, whose hair has been seen gambling in Monaco. Even if you can hold a witch's body in one place, you can't protect the public from his or her ectoplasmic manifestations. It doesn't matter whether they're showing "Superbad" or "Juno" - if they're really holding witches securely and protecting the public from them, then they're showing them to dead witches.

When Sera was ready to turn herself in, Merrick said he hadn't even brought his gun. Not only had he brought his gun, he was ushering her into a room with 20 guys in full combat gear ready to take her out. He was closing the door to prevent people from seeing what was about to happen, and reaching for his gun, even before he noticed that Stiletta had broken in and killed his goons.

He has no eyes. He can see. Therefore either his goggles are spellcast, or he is. There is some witch that is cooperating with the SSI in order to do this for them. Possibly because of coercion (or a "plea bargain" or "community service" sentence) or possibly because of patriotism.

Witches have fundamental control of elemental forces, but the SSI has an "electrical disruptor" that undoes ectoplasm. The SSI also claims it can run "tests" to see which witch created a spellcast creature if they get that creature intact. I'm callling bullshit. The SSI have a witch working with them. I bet the lower-level SSI goons don't realize that; that's why the toys are disguised as technological.

The magic-disguised-as-technology thing is familiar from the history presented in "Goodbye Crestfallen" when Sera's going to talk to the trolls though; it looks like the sort of thing the "Science Master of the Super-Radio Gravity Belt" might have done. Is Atlan Samuel still around?

In order to protect yourself from things like the SSI, I would advise a young witch never to be a recluse and never to be alone without witnesses in a place controlled by the SSI. "Use the attention of the world" as Vicious says, and become someone whose death would be widely reported and the investigation of whose death would be followed by millions of people who'd cry "foul" if the investigators were suddenly called off.

Guadalupe

[williamthebloody]

Atlan is indeed still alive. at the end of Goodbye Crestfallen on the news report "Witch War: The Fallout" is states that both Vicious and Atlan were traveling in Africa and unavailable for comment. some of us here have theorised that perhaps they were searching for that "next baby" who be born a witch.

i have thought about Merrick's witch burns also. clearly, his eyes are not visible, but i wonder since the wounds themselves have been spellcast, were they made in such a way as to ALLOW him to see, even scarred? maybe he does not need an SSI witch to grant him vision if the very witch who scarred his face let him continue seeing through the burns.

and yeah, Atlan is a government witch, so who knows what kind of stuff he does for them with his witchery. they may have some sciencey stuff that can dissolve ectoplasm or study because he was willing to subject his own conjuring to their tests. and maybe some of the "devices" they use were in fact conjured by him to use against hostile witches.

i wonder how it would turn out if the SSI got their hands on one of the "just born" witch babies and raised it themselves? would they have a totally loyal and unstoppable weapon? would it turn on them? if their witch could use magic to find the NEXT witch baby, could they make a small "army" of government raised witches? that might be interesting...

[Guadalupe de Loop]

It is difficult for me to imagine a witch that would inflict those wounds but harbor a desire that Merrick should be able to see anyway. It seems like the sort of wound one would not inflict to start with if not for the full intent to leave the man blinded.

Serenity gave Merrick another witchburn right after Stiletta cut off his arm. But that's a wound that shows a different intent. She cauterized a cut to prevent him bleeding to death. As a result his arm, which must surely have been recovered at the site, probably cannot be reattached - but given the alternative, that's probably the best thing for him that could have happened. Now that I consider it, I don't think we've never seen his hands. He has always worn gloves. Hmmm. Well, now he has at most one real hand left.

I tried to imagine Serenity making peace with Merrick. But on reviewing his actions and utterances, I have yet to see a single shred of behavior that is inconsistent with trying to trick her into an ambush so she can be killed. Particularly telling is the "New Facility" he described. Unless there's some non-magic way to interfere with or block raw wild magic and manifestations, it simply cannot be. Why describe something that cannot be unless you're trying to con somebody who isn't intended to live long enough to think through the lie? And then, immediately after that description, he's ushering her into her bedroom, without any mention of there being 20 guys in combat gear in there. Think about this. She's a witch. She's panicky. If you *surprise* her with 20 guys in full combat gear, a fight is likely even if you don't intend one. People could die needlessly. If it hadn't been intended specifically as an ambush, then for safety's sake he would have warned her that there was a squad of soldiers in there.

The more Serenity thinks about her interactions with Merrick, the more she's going to realize that even being anywhere near him is a danger to her life. Along with things like sleeping in a location known to him, or being anywhere he might find her in the absence of witnesses and innocent bystanders. She's in grave danger because she has not really learned to distrust anyone completely enough to understand him.

Unfortunately, I have. It is not an easy lesson.

'Lupe

[alphatroll]

i wonder how it would turn out if the SSI got their hands on one of the "just born" witch babies and raised it themselves?...

They tried that with Li'l Sera ("...let the government help raise me."). Her dad said no. Sera's dad was cool.

Serenity gave Merrick another witchburn right after Stiletta cut off his arm. But that's a wound that shows a different intent. She cauterized a cut to prevent him bleeding to death. As a result his arm, which must surely have been recovered at the site, probably cannot be reattached - but given the alternative, that's probably the best thing for him that could have happened. Now that I consider it, I don't think we've never seen his hands. He has always worn gloves. Hmmm. Well, now he has at most one real hand left.

Valentine fixed Merrick's arm, but it was an uuuuugly fix.


As far as Merrick can be thrown, I'm right with you: he just can't be trusted. But if it were to come down to, say, Merrick or Vogel, I'd say Merrick's probably a little *less* dangerous.

I also suspect Sera did *something* to Vogel's arm - the one that was holding a gun to Tess' head, and later seemed curiously limp in the TV interview.


(Of course, I also suspect that Stiletta's still out there somewhere, regrown from that missing eye which she'd hidden in a box or something. So take my theories with a grain of salt.)

[Guadalupe de Loop]

Merrick is slightly less dangerous than Vogel in some ways, and considerably more dangerous in other ways. On both counts, because he's less stupid and less cowardly than Vogel.

Vogel is all about the potshot from the dark. His fear of witches is palpable. Being cowardly he is likely to do something out of panic. Being stupid, he is predictably violent, and likely to do it without considering the consequences. Merrick is more courageous, which gives him the ability to talk and interact with witches without panicking. And he is smarter, which means he is more constrained by the consequences of his actions. He is less likely to do something random, violent, and stupid than Vogel. But he is far more likely to bide his time, gain someone's trust, and then betray it by attacking with a swift stroke from an unexpected direction when circumstances shift the likely consequences in his favor.

When Sera said, "I think I conjured the blonde witch in my sleep. I think she's part of me," in Merrick's presence, that was effectively signing her own death-warrant. After saying something like that, in front of witnesses yet, the SSI could have deflected any criticism for killing her in a sneak attack, with her own statement as "proof" that she was a public menace. Or might quietly have arranged a "suicide" before trial, like the German witch's. After an utterance like that, a suicide wouldn't be very likely to get a serious investigation (again like the German witch). Vogel wouldn't have waited for a moment like that. Vogel wouldn't have been smart enough to recognize that moment as open-season (in terms of public opinion) on short blue-haired witches, nor capable of the subterfuge needed to be in position for it, nor smart enough to think of faking a suicide. Merrick, on the other hand....

So anyway; Vogel and Merrick are different kinds of dark beast. Given the choice I'd rather have Vogel after me, honestly. Vogel may be cowardly, stupid and violent, but at least he's predictable and unambiguous. With him you know where you stand, you're more likely to stay mentally ahead of him, and (as with Sera) if you manage to survive him making one big-time public screwup, which as an idiot he *will* make, then he'll have his hands tied forever after. Merrick on the other hand is a very long-term enemy; he won't likely make the screwup and he won't commit until he's pretty sure he can kill you.

'Lupe

[Guadalupe de Loop]

i wonder how it would turn out if the SSI got their hands on one of the "just born" witch babies and raised it themselves?...

They tried that with Li'l Sera ("...let the government help raise me."). Her dad said no. Sera's dad was cool.

Hmm, that's true. I wonder how many witches they've "helped raise."

Well, now he has at most one real hand left.

Valentine fixed Merrick's arm, but it was an uuuuugly fix.

Oh, you're right. I didn't notice that the first time I read it (misinterpreted the visual, I guess). But that's an interesting bit. Serenity healed her own wounds during the fight, and Stiletta even reattached her own lower jaw - but I think Valentine fixing Merrick's arm is the only time we've seen a witch healing someone else. And it's quite the fix, too; not just rejoining flesh after a cut or break, but entirely regenerating a complex living structure.

That has implications. If Serenity can master that trick, she could, eg, make that hiker who had the run-in with ecto-Maddie whole. Which, I think, would do her conscience some good. And also do such things as fix Tess up after her bout of stupid sexy heroics.

I also suspect Sera did *something* to Vogel's arm - the one that was holding a gun to Tess' head, and later seemed curiously limp in the TV interview.

There's another thing I didn't notice. It's hard to tell in the interview whether his arm is useless or just not being used, though. Also, we never actually saw him holding a gun to Tess' head; we see him with Tess restrained, but the gun hand is pointing into the air in that scene.

(Of course, I also suspect that Stiletta's still out there somewhere, regrown from that amissing eye which she'd hidden in a box or something. So take my theories with a grain of salt.)

I certainly don't. Stiletta had served her purpose as far as Valentine was concerned, and her death is more than a little convenient for Valentine because it avoids the sort of thing that might come out if she were questioned about her "apprenticeship" and how she became convinced to attack Sera. If questions like that were answered, then the police might want to have words with Valentine, and that would be inconvenient for him. Valentine was right there, too, and not magically exhausted from the fight like Sera and Stiletta. Finally, Stiletta's apparent suicide involves a mundane difficulty; she stuck a sword through her own brain, and afterwards still had the strength, physical control, coordination, and consciousness to make that forward chop with it? While smiling? Isn't that more plausible as witchy telekinesis by Valentine, overpowering an exhausted Stiletta, than witchy ignoring pain and general badassery in extremis by Stiletta herself?

I think Stiletta is very, very dead, because Valentine wanted her that way. Of course, that healing trick Valentine demonstrated may apply to drastically more extreme cases than Merrick's arm, too, and the available corpse did as well for his purpose of deflecting questions as the death it apparently represents would. So if he still has some use for her, I suppose it's possible.

'Lupe

[alphatroll]

Admittedly, I have no reason for why it SHOULD be so, but here's why Stilletta's death seems suspicious to me:

-Vogel's li'l rant about how witches can "fix it so they can't die" sounded a lot like dramatic foreshadowing.
-The missing eye itself seems more like a plot device than a simple matter of style, especially given that most of the time you can't even tell it's not there (her hair covers it up).
-Mr. A loves him some Russian folklore, and the whole "preserving your life force in a severed body part" shtick is just the sort of thing them Slavic Warlock types (like, say, Valentine? See issue 1...) are notorious for.

So yeah, obviously I can't be *sure*, but I'll remain suspicious until we know otherwise.


Oh, and have I mentioned my theory that Vogel has vampires chained up in his spacious suburban basement? Yeah, I'm full of wacky ones like that.