Chapter Five: The Slaughterhouse None
- Location
- Arizona
Chapter Five: The Slaughterhouse None
January 24, 2011
Alexandria
Their plot to destroy the Slaughterhouse Nine ended up being put off. As much as Alexandria might have wanted to go fight them right then, it didn't really work out, logistically. Instead, they decided to wait until Auspice's costume had been finished and she was about to be officially announced as a Protectorate hero.
In the meantime, they planned out their attack -- it took about as long as planning sessions with Contessa, which was not very long at all -- informed the PRT ENE that they would not need to announce Auspice, and waited. Finally, it was almost time. The Slaughterhouse Nine would be in position soon -- all together and far away from any other people. Legend should have already told the PRT what they were planning.
At the prearranged time exactly, one of Auspice's portals appeared in front of Alexandria -- now easily differentiated from Doormaker's by a helpful golden edge. Alexandria raised her eyebrows, but didn't hesitate in going through.
The portal let her out in Legend's office in New York, where Legend was already waiting. Eidolon and Auspice were just exiting portals of their own next to Alexandria. Alexandria had to do a double take when she saw Auspice, who was now wearing her new costume, plus an unexpected addition. She elected to ignore it.
"It's almost time?" Alexandria asked.
She knew full well that it was, but it still felt strange to be waiting for battle in the Protectorate base in New York. They hadn't really used Doormaker's portals like this; only for official Cauldron travel, for secrecy reasons.
"Yup. In about six minutes, the Slaughterhouse Nine will be on an empty road near-ish the PRT Headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That would be, uh… the PRT 47. I think." Auspice shrugged.
Alexandria nodded once in acknowledgement.
They fell into a tense, awkward silence.
After a moment, Legend spoke, in much the same tone he used on his Wards. "Your costume looks very nice."
It did. The costume consisted of a black bodysuit with tasteful patterns embroidered in gold. Over that, she wore a pure white hooded jacket that had gold edging at the sleeves and hood, with loose sleeves that stopped just before her wrists to reveal the tighter sleeves of the bodysuit underneath transitioning into fingerless black gloves.
As Alexandria had expected, the costume made Auspice look much more impressive. The designers had done a good job.
The cloud of inexplicably golden smoke covering the top of her face under her hood, however, was a bit over the top.
Auspice smiled brightly at Legend. "Thank you," she said, doing a quick twirl. "I'm pretty pleased with how it came out."
"Please tell me you're at least wearing a mask under there," Eidolon said dryly.
Auspice laughed. "I am, I'm wearing a domino mask," she said, lifting a hand, which disappeared into the smoke as she tapped at, presumably, her mask. "I just thought the smoke looked cool."
"It does look cool," Eidolon said, because this was the man who put LEDs in his own costume for effect.
Legend let out a quiet, muffled chuckle. Alexandria didn't bother to be polite, snorting audibly. Auspice and Eidolon both ignored her, anyway.
Alexandria didn't quite have room to mock them, however, she acknowledged to herself. Though she hadn't gone nearly as far over the top as Eidolon (or now Auspice), she had also put considerable thought into the appearance she wanted when in costume; they all had. Appearances were important, especially for capes, and heroes and villains alike put a lot of work into their costumes.
After another moment of silence, Legend spoke again. He always was the worst with silences.
"Does everybody remember the plan?"
Alexandria couldn't help but give him an incredulous look, a little offended by the implication.
"Because it's so difficult to remember 'attack through the portal as soon as it opens in front of you'," Eidolon said.
Legend smiled ruefully. "Yes, fair enough," he said. "What about you, Auspice?"
Alexandria could understand being nervous about Auspice's role in the plan. She was in charge of the majority of it, and the rest of them would be relying on her to do her part correctly. And she was twenty-two and had been a parahuman for less than two weeks. But Legend hadn't seen her seemingly effortless defeat of Scion. The proof that Path to Victory made her just as ridiculous and impossible as Contessa, except with added superpowers.
"I remember the plan," Auspice confirmed obligingly. "It'll be fine. Four minutes to go, by the way."
Apparently bored, she pulled out a phone.
They lapsed back into a tense silence that only Auspice seemed immune to. Legend was frowning faintly, looking pensive. Eidolon was difficult even for Alexandria to read, too much of his body disguised under his costume.
Alexandria was anxious. No, not anxious; excited, maybe. Something like that. There was some anxiety about going after the Slaughterhouse Nine, but for the most part, Alexandria was… looking forward to it. She would be glad to finally kill Manton and eliminate the Slaughterhouse Nine. After twenty years, they would no longer be able to kill and torture people as they pleased. Alexandria would not be sorry to see them dead.
Several minutes later, Auspice looked up and put her phone away. "Thirty seconds."
Alexandria readied herself as the seconds ticked down. With three seconds to go, Auspice made a small portal, just big enough for her hand to fit through, before getting rid of it just as quickly. Only because Alexandria had already known the plan did she realize that Auspice had done it to poke Manton and copy his power.
The mental count Alexandria had been keeping hit zero, and two portals appeared: one for her, and one for Auspice. Alexandria launched herself through her portal and slammed directly into the front of a van. As the van crumpled around her and the windshield shattered, Alexandria saw Manton's startled expression in the few seconds before he died. Good.
Extricating herself from the wreckage of the van just in time to see a second portal open, Alexandria went through that one too. In an abrupt shift of perspective that would be dizzying for anyone else, Alexandria found herself going from flying horizontal to the ground to flying downward at an angle. She didn't let it affect her, simply kept going -- directly into Mannequin, who was midair in an attempted leap to safety. Aware of how difficult Mannequin had made it to kill him, Alexandria reduced him to scrap and pulp before considering him dead.
It didn't take long.
Then Alexandria was able to look around, easily locating the charred, smoking remains of what had probably once been a bus. It had been broken into so many pieces that it was barely recognizable as a vehicle, making it impossible to tell what damage had been done by Auspice and what had been done by Legend. Eidolon's contribution, however, was obvious. On one side of the wreckage was a bubble of space, large enough to fit a person and steadily growing, which appeared to disintegrate everything inside its area.
Alexandria wouldn't have been able to tell what had happened at all, aside from her parts, if she hadn't known the plan beforehand.
The plan in question being: at the same time as she opened a portal to Manton for Alexandria, Auspice had gone into the bus with the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine because she wanted to collect some of their powers -- and she'd assured them that she could do so without any issues. Once she was done, she used her copy of Legend's lasers empowered with the ability she'd gotten from Flechette to kill Crawler and Hatchetface. Then she'd left the bus and opened portals for both Eidolon and Legend -- Eidolon to use one of his powers on the section of the bus that held Bonesaw to disintegrate her before she could release any of her plagues, and Legend to destroy the rest of the bus.
With the Siberian, Crawler, Hatchetface, and Bonesaw all dealt with, the only member of the Nine left who was even remotely, temporarily able to survive a barrage from Legend was Mannequin, who fled the bus, only for Alexandria to hit him.
It was a good plan. Worthy of Path to Victory. It certainly went as perfectly as anyone could ask.
Alexandria ignored the ashy taste in her mouth from the knowledge that Auspice could have done it entirely alone if she'd wanted to, instead basking in the knowledge that the Slaughterhouse Nine was gone. She'd finally gotten to kill Manton.
Eidolon and Legend passed through their portals to join Alexandria in the aftermath of the Slaughterhouse's destruction. Auspice returned from where she'd gone when she'd left the bus -- back to Manton's van, to destroy the evidence of him having ever been there.
For a moment, they all stared in silence at the bus.
"So, who actually has to report about this? Not it," Auspice asked finally.
Eidolon and Legend both groaned a little. Whether at the question itself, or Auspice's childish behavior in asking it, Alexandria wasn't sure. She, for one, had an answer. Or at least part of one.
"Not me," she said.
Legend looked at her with surprise. "Not you too, Alexandria," he said with some amusement.
"I'll have to do the paperwork either way; I'm not doing it twice," Alexandria said.
Auspice seemed neither confused nor surprised at the comment. She probably already knew Alexandria's secret identity -- undoubtedly thanks to Path to Victory, if not Clairvoyant's power. It was a little annoying. Alexandria knew Auspice's identity, of course, or rather, she knew the civilian identity the PRT ENE had created for her so that they could hire her, but it wasn't the same. As the Chief-Director of the PRT, she had access to every hero's identity. Auspice's cheating meant that she was now one of three Protectorate or PRT members who knew Alexandria's identity.
It didn't really matter. If nothing else, Auspice seemed to be good at keeping secrets. Cauldron had already shared secrets far more important than Alexandria's identity with her.
And she seemed to have enough secrets of her own, too.
January 24, 2011
Velocity
Velocity went to the PRT Headquarters five minutes before he was supposed to go on patrol. Auspice was already there, getting set up with a Protectorate headset to communicate with each other and the Console. Though she was facing away from him, Auspice must have noticed him immediately, as she looked over her shoulder at him. The PRT agent helping her with the headset grumbled at her.
"Hey, Velocity," she said.
"Hey. Almost ready?"
"Yeah, almost finished."
"We are finished," the PRT agent corrected. "It should work now. Don't bother the Console unnecessarily, but let me know if it doesn't work during your patrol."
Auspice looked amused. "Okay. Thank you."
The agent nodded once and left, in a hurry to do whatever it was that people who worked for the PRT did all day. Auspice put her hood back up and a cloud of smoke the same color as the edging of her costume formed underneath the edge of the hood, hiding the top of her face.
Velocity raised his eyebrows. Tinkertech? A power she'd collected? Tinkertech made with one of the powers she'd collected? It was hard to imagine Armsmaster ever making a purely cosmetic device, but Velocity supposed that didn't mean his power couldn't do it.
"Neat effect," he said. He thought about it. "Can you see through it?"
"Thank you, and yes, I can see through it," Auspice said around a laugh. "It's still a little early, should we get started, senior member?"
"Yeah, let's just go," Velocity said.
Normally, Protectorate capes patrolled alone, unlike the Wards. They could generally handle themselves in a fight until reinforcements arrived. However, there was a bit of a training period for new Protectorate capes, where they would be sent out with another hero for a week or two to get a handle on procedure and the lay of the land before being let out alone.
They usually hated it. The only Protectorate cape Velocity had seen join since he'd joined that hadn't been at least silently annoyed was Assault, and though he'd been on full probationary status for a lot longer than the usual week, he'd been surprisingly good-humored about it, like most things.
For now, Auspice seemed more amused than anything, but Velocity wondered how long that would stay true.
"So the route they have me on right now is through Downtown, up onto the Boardwalk, then through the rest of the docks into the trainyard, and back again," Velocity explained as he led the way out of the building.
"Sounds like a long route," Auspice said.
Velocity nodded. "It is. And through a lot of empty territory, too, once we get into the docks and the trainyard. I use my power most of the way to speed things up, but as Protectorate heroes we're supposed to have visible appearances, so on a couple busy streets in Downtown and on the Boardwalk, I slow it down and walk through at normal speed."
"All right," Auspice said, sounding ominously as though she was committing his words to heart.
Velocity ignored that and continued.
"Patrolling heroes are supposed to call it in if they encounter trouble, but in case they can't, Console tracks us. Also, for when Console needs to direct backup to somebody, they know where everyone is," he said. "Since we're obviously not wearing tracking devices, that means that there are a number of prearranged check-in points, where we're supposed to contact Console and tell them we're moving on to the next segment of the route. And on that note, I need to check in that we're starting."
Auspice nodded.
Velocity activated his mic. "Velocity and Auspice beginning patrol at Lord Street and 27th," he said, and deactivated his mic.
The response came almost immediately. "Console here. Roger that, Velocity and Auspice. We've got you on the board."
"Did you get Console's response?" Velocity asked.
"Yeah, I heard it."
"Good. That's the basic format for the entire way. It changes up a little, but not by much," Velocity said. "I'll do the next check-in, then you can do the one after that to get used to it and make sure your headset's hooked up properly."
"Okay, cool."
Lord Street was pretty busy, but the patrol route didn't have them stay on it for long. Soon, they were turning onto a much emptier street.
"Are you ready?" Velocity asked.
Auspice nodded. "Yup. I'm ready."
Velocity activated his power, and the world slowed to a trickle around him. Auspice must have activated her copy of his power immediately after he did, as she only slowed down for a few seconds to his new perception. Then, Velocity started forward at a brisk walk. He could have run; it would make his patrols go much faster. But, apparently unlike Assault and Battery, Velocity could get tired even while using his power. Physical exhaustion still affected him, but he didn't get any mental exhaustion from the extra time he experienced while sped up.
"Seems kinda slow," Auspice commented after some time.
Velocity jumped and looked at her, surprised.
"What?" she said.
"Nothing, I just -- I've never tried to talk like this," he said. "I didn't think it was possible."
He supposed it wasn't that surprising that he could talk, given that his power let him breathe when he shouldn't be able to, but he'd also never had any reason to talk while using his power before.
Velocity shook his head. "Anyway, what were you saying?"
"You could go faster, right? Why don't you?" she asked.
"There's no real point," Velocity said, shrugging. "And, if I go too fast, it makes it hard to hear if somebody says something over the coms."
"Oh. That makes sense." Auspice nodded in understanding.
Several streets later, Velocity paused. "All right, this is the first checkpoint."
He dropped back to normal speed, followed shortly by Auspice.
"This is Velocity and Auspice, we're at the corner of Elm Street and 7th, moving on," Velocity told Console.
"Roger that, Velocity and Auspice. Marking down your route," Console said.
"Did you get that?" Velocity said, just to check.
Auspice laughed. "Yes, I got it," she said. "I am now ready to do it myself. When we get to the next one."
"Good."
They continued on, and eventually made their way onto the Boardwalk. The Boardwalk was not always the busiest part of the city, but it always had the most foot traffic. A couple of people paused and whispered as Velocity and Auspice passed; the vast majority, however, ignored their presence. Most of the people in cities with a Protectorate base became inured to the presence of heroes.
Even so, it wasn't long before a woman approached them, looking nervous. Auspice glanced at Velocity questioningly, and he nodded slightly.
"Excuse me," the woman said shyly.
"Hello," Velocity said with his perfected PR smile, stopping to talk to her.
The woman smiled back. "I'm sorry to bother you, but could I get an autograph? And maybe a picture?" she squeaked out.
"Of course," Velocity said.
The woman brightened and held out a pad of paper and a pen. While Velocity was writing, she turned to Auspice, who had been watching curiously.
"Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before."
"Yeah, I just joined the Protectorate here in Brockton Bay," Auspice said. "I'm Auspice."
Once Velocity was done, the woman got an autograph from Auspice as well, and then a picture with each of them. Finally, thanking them effusively, she left, and they kept going.
"As long as there's nothing going on, we usually stop to talk with civilians," Velocity said in an undertone.
He was prepared to explain, but Auspice was already nodding in understanding.
"Ah. For PR reasons," she said.
"Image already gave you the whole spiel, huh?" Velocity said, laughing a little.
Auspice sighed. "Yeah."
In the end, their patrol turned out to be exceedingly uneventful, and they returned to Headquarters without any incidents. Velocity wasn't surprised; patrols were boring more often than not. Villains couldn't be getting up to crime all the time.
It would probably just be a boring day, he supposed.
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