"There was no long-term, and trying to cling to one would only spoil it all."
This article contains spoilers regarding the ending of Worm and plot of the sequel.
Shortcut is a superhero with an attitude problem.
Personality[]
He has a volatile combination of pride and stubbornness. To the point that he is willing to play the game of vengeful attrition if necessary.[1]
Could take things badly sometimes.[2][3]
Relationships[]
He is not particularly popular even inside his team.[4]
Victoria[]
Thought she was a vindictive shrew. They have a generally antagonistic relationship towards one another.
Appearance[]
Shortcut has a typical Advance Guard costume, but modified with a buzzsaw motif.[5]
As a Titan he is sleek, long-limbed, uniform in color and shade, and unable to stand straight.[6]
Abilities and Powers[]
Shortcut has a mover power that seems to be a type of controlled spatial distortion,[7] this spatial warping was accomplished by drawing out circles with his polearm and then stepping on the affected space to propel himself forward.[8]
He surfed on the blade that allowed him to move at an unbelievable speed.[9]
He is one of Advance Guard's more mobile members. While retreating he was among the last to be evacuated by the team teleporter.
As a Titan, his abilities are hugely upgraded. He is capable of dropping into the ground as if it were liquid, doing a large amount of damage to everything around himself. He can move through the ground rapidly.[10]
Equipment[]
Axe blades galore. Uses a pole arm to move around.[9]
History[]
Background[]
Early-Ward[]
Met an uppity girl who manipulated an accident scene to her advantage to make him look bad. Then she got into a cape fight of her own. He made sure such a person would not be accepted into Advance Guard.[3]
When he heard this rude girl, Victoria, was applying for an interview with Advance Guard he told the team rep to turn her down and to inform her it was he who made the recommendation. Instead Advance Guard never replied.
During a Riot, Advance Guard is deployed and Shortcut meets Victoria again. She is being chatted up by Spright and Tandem. He relieves Spright and reveals to Victoria his opinion of her.
Two weeks later, he is with Advance Guard when they tried to aggressively reconnoiter Cedar Point.
Post-Fallen fall[]
Pursued Trial and Error.[11] Was unwilling to accept assistance, even if it meant tearing at them for a whole other day. But after Breakthrough and a dozen of other heroes added their weight, arrested villains at drop-off point.[1]
The Ice Breaks[]
Shortcut appears as part of Advance Guard's reinforcements to the group of heroes, that was fighting titans Eve and Oberon.[12]
Later he got into a verbal altercation with Antares at the camp, but was stopped by ReSound and his team.[13]
When Titan Fortuna broke reality again, Shortcut became a Titan, nicknamed 'The Flowing Titan'.[14] After killing several heroes he was quickly locked in a fight by The Gibborim Knight.[15]
Later he was seen fighting Dauntless' titans.[16]
Chapter Appearances[]
| ||||||||||||||||||||
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Beacon 8.6
- ↑ “Nice response time,” I said.
He turned my way and raised an eyebrow.
“You showed up quick. It was impressive.”
He nodded, studying me as if trying to find the catch. “It’s what I do.”
I wanted to say something more, but I didn’t want to push my luck. It would have been nice if he’d been less dismissive when I was throwing him a bone.
“Take care,” he said. “Cops are on their way. I’ll go let them know what’s up.”
“Thanks,” I said. “You take care too.” - excerpt from Daybreak 1.1 - ↑ 3.0 3.1 “Reaching out and talking,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure there’s no hard feelings.”
“About you not getting into Advance Guard.”
I’d emailed, they’d sent a reply a couple of hours later saying no.
“I didn’t devote a lot of thought to it,” I said. “Sucks, but you guys have to do what you have to do. And so does everyone else, apparently. I’ll figure something out.”
“They didn’t tell you it was me?”
“No,” I said. I frowned.
“I told them to tell you no and to tell you it was me, and why.”
“Alright,” I said. “They just told me no.”
“Well fuck that. I thought you needed to know, what you did back there, it was shitty.”
“Beg pardon?”
“I realized after your face came up on some of the events about the Norfair community center incident. You went up against Lord of Loss?”
“I don’t see what the issue is,” I said.
“You happen to beat me to the scene, and then you use your secret identity, condescension and anti-parahuman shit to take me down a notch? And then you want a place on Advance Guard?”
“I happened to be there. I’m sorry, it was not my intention to come across that way.” I tried to help you out some. - Excerpt from Flare 2.3 - ↑ Radiation 18.7
- ↑ My old friend Shortcut. He’d been an incidental run-in prior to the Community Center attack. Stupid fucking costume that looked similar to ReSound’s, except the circle bits were bladed and were crafted to look like they were stuck in his body. His weapon was stuck into the dirt behind him. - Excerpt from Radiation 18.7
- ↑ Slowly, he came together, sleek, long-limbed and tall, but incapable of standing straight, as his back arched in an ‘s’ shape. [...] Sleek, long-limbed, and uniform in color and shade. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.5
- ↑ He stepped down from the pole of his battleaxe and set foot on the road. Pavement splashed as if he’d stepped in a puddle. More splashed and rippled as he moved his axe in a circle around him.
When he took a step and moved, it was faster than I could track. I could see the splash that followed behind, a cresting wave that quickly settled, leaving only a faint wavy pattern in the road as it dissipated. - excerpt from Daybreak 1.1 - ↑ Moose stepped forward, and Shortcut took a step to meet him. The road distorted, space rippling and appearing like water, spray and all, and he leaped forth at Moose’s side. Shortcut was there, pole in motion, the blade at the end making the end heavy even as he used the dull side to connect with the back of Moose’s leg.
Moose didn’t go down, and swatted in Shortcut’s direction. Shortcut disappeared, appeared again, swinging. This time the blade was more apparent. Moose was forced to take a step back. - Excerpt from Shadow 5.4 - ↑ 9.0 9.1 Behind me, it seemed. A man in costume. It was a good outfit, too, more in the dollars that had been put into it than in terms of looks, but that was personal opinion. Partial discs of metal seemed to intersect his body, forming a look where he looked like a blender caught mid-whirl, axe blades and metal rings jutting from his breastplate, armguards, leg armor, and even his face, with blades running along one brow and cheekbone to frame one eye.
There were heavier blades at his hands and feet, such that it looked like he shouldn’t be able to walk or even stand without difficulty. As it was, he had one end of his long-handled axe resting on the ground, the length of it bowing beneath his weight as he perched on it, one arm outstretched to one side, hand gripping the head. He was crouching on the thing while it rested at a diagonal, in a way that looked like he’d wipe out if the end of the weapon lost traction on the roadtop. - excerpt from Daybreak 1.1 - ↑ He dropped into the ground like it was water, producing a liquid ripple that shook buildings, street, and cracks in reality.
I heard the reactions, the shouts.
His upper body sticking out of a crack between realities, he reached out to sweep nine people and part of a fallen building off of a section of street and into the crack. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.5 - ↑ Beacon 8.5
- ↑ Radiation 18.5
- ↑ “Stop, Shortcut,” ReSound said.
“I’m pretty tired, so maybe I am lacking the ability,” I told him.
“Maybe it’s not that you’re tired,” Shortcut told me. “I’m not going to outright say you might be embarrassingly dumb, so-“
“Shortcut,” ReSound said.
“-taking another stab at it,” Shortcut continued, ignoring his boss. “Maybe being on a team with two creepy kids, an ex-villain, and a bunch of ex-murderers has compromised you?”
“Get up,” ReSound said.
“The ex-villain died,” I pointed out. “Saving Warden lives. Every member of the team has bled for the side of the heroes.”
“Please don’t engage him,” ReSound said. “Up, Shortcut.”
Shortcut didn’t budge. “Someone needed to say it.” - Excerpt from Radiation 18.7 - ↑ Infrared 19.5
- ↑ Infrared 19.6
- ↑ Infrared 19.z
[]
| Leaders | Mayday • ReSound |
|---|---|
| Members | Scapegoat • Shortcut ‡ • Spright • Flapper • Gong • Siren • Chasmal † • Signal Fire • Prong • Tandem • Mapwright • Rescue • Tailgate • Blatherskite • Distill • Axehead ‡ • Gunnery Anne • Tritium † |
| Associates | The Wardens • Breakthrough • The Shepherds • Javelin |
| The Kronos Titan † • Titan Eve † • Titan Fortuna † • The Nemean Titan † • Titan Arachne † • Titan Oberon † • The Ashen Titan † • Titan Skadi † • The Ophion Titan † • The Strange Titan † • Auger † • Titaness Amenonuhoko † • The Flowing Titan † • Drillbit † • The Liminal Titan † • Pouffe † • Valkyrie † • Morgana † • Yakshini † • Ashoka † • Ghast † | |
| Endbringers | Behemoth † • Leviathan † • The Simurgh • Khonsu * • Tohu * • Bohu * |
|---|---|
| Titans | The Kronos Titan † • Titan Eve † • Titan Fortuna † • The Nemean Titan † • Titan Arachne † • Titan Oberon † • The Ashen Titan † • Titan Skadi † • The Ophion Titan † • The Strange Titan † • Auger † • Titaness Amenonuhoko † • The Flowing Titan † • Drillbit † • The Liminal Titan † • Pouffe † • Valkyrie † • Morgana † • Yakshini † • Ashoka † • Ghast † |
| Groups | The Slaughterhouse Nine ‡ • Three Blasphemies • The Machine Army |
| Parahumans | Ash Beast † • Echidna † • Khepri ‡ • Nilbog • Pastor † • Scion † • Sleeper • The Tower † |