Calamity Read-Along Chapters 20-24

*rubs hands together* All right, let's see what David has in store for us this week...

Chapter 20

The one who created the Diggers, I wrote. Back in Newcago.

Yet another nice callback to Steelheart. Sweet! I was always curious about the Diggers and the crazy tunnels they created in Newcago. Maybe we'll get to learn a little more about them.

"I'm still surprised, sometimes, at the things that leave your mouth," he said, reclaiming his pack.

I'd like to think that here, everyone just gives Abraham a long-suffering look and says, "Me too."

I moved, noticing as I passed that the dowser had given me a negative reading, as it should. I was no Epic.

This is me, not convinced.

source

Tia.

See, I knew it. I knew she couldn't be dead. What she's doing here, on the other hand, is highly questionable.

Chapter 21

Tia groaned, putting her hand to her face. "My cola?"

Ummm... didn't Prof look at that too?

"But I heard him calling for me. Pleading, begging me to help him with the darkness."

Aww, dang it. This book is going to make me cry, isn't it?

source

"And so he lives his life with a great dichotomy--he takes every opportunity he can to gift his powers away, to let the team use them so he doesn't have to. But each time he does, he gives them a weapon that could be used against him."

What...did...I...just...read?
I kid you not, I stared at that paragraph for a good three or four minutes, just processing. This is insane. Incredibly, amazingly insane. What a way to go full circle. I can't imagine what Prof's nightmares must have looked like.
But this kind of blows a hole in David's theory that the phobia comes before the powers.

Chapter 22

Nightmares were directly tied to Epics and their weaknesses. If I was having a persistent one... well, it might mean something.

He's getting nightmares. The dowser took longer than it should have to register him as human. I don't care what David thinks, there is something about him that is Epic, even if he did reject Calamity's offer of outright powers.

He has to be facing it continually, I thought. Whatever his fear is, he must see it every day, and defeat it.

That would explain Larcener's lack of rages. He's certainly arrogant enough, but he seems too lazy to be an Epic. He also admits that Epics do awful things, while most of the others seem to not talk about it. He sounds a little like Obliteration, talking about how men deserved to be destroyed.
Ooh... what if that also explains some of the weirdness going on with David? Sure, he was scared of the water, but maybe Calamity miscalculated and that isn't his true fear. Maybe his fear is losing people he cares about (plausible with how his dad died, and how Prof turned evil), but every time he leads the team on a mission, he faces that fear. He's continually pushing away his own darkness.

Chapter 23

"I sent you through by accident," Megan said. "You vanished completely, until you popped back out. Sparks!"

Is it just me, or is David way too chill about this? I mean, I'm sure having a girlfriend and a mentor who are Epics would kind of dull someone's reactions to them, but seriously... he is way too calm about getting Megan to experiment with her powers. I wonder if, since he refused powers of his own, he now acts like a sort of calmer/amplifier for Epics.

How were there still Epics, if there was no Calamity to give them powers?

David. I'm certain it has something to do with David. (At this point I'm just going to blame all weird things on David. It's not his fault, of course, but it's all I've got at the moment.)

Chapter 24

In those eyes, I swear I saw it. The darkness, like an infinite pool. Seething hatred, disdain, overwhelming lust for destruction.

Honestly one of these days I wouldn't be surprised if Larcener tries to stab him in the back, because David has got to be annoying him. But what does an Epic fear enough that it keeps him from going power-mad?

Thoughts? Theories? Any bets on when David finally pushes Larcener too far?