More likely he'd backstab them, IMO. Tagg might since he doesn't seem to give a damn about the unwritten rules, but I don't think Mayhem and company would want to be villains breaking the S-Class truce and even Tagg might be unwilling to break that since it's what makes villains willing to volunteer for Endbringer fights.
H+ Mayhem (Worm)
- Thread starter Jurric
- Start date
-
- Tags
- worm tinker transhumanism mayhem
More likely he'd backstab them, IMO. Tagg might since he doesn't seem to give a damn about the unwritten rules, but I don't think Mayhem and company would want to be villains breaking the S-Class truce and even Tagg might be unwilling to break that since it's what makes villains willing to volunteer for Endbringer fights.
- Location
- Israel
Or may be Tagg is not so dumb, but instead have idea what his superiors actually want. May be he read some info how exactly S9 always manage to escape PRT/Protectorate
The Stormbringer
Worm Fanfic & Crack Connoisseur
- Location
- Spaaaaace~!
Oh my god... I fucking love Mouse Protector, and continue to fucking hate Tagg. He won't even accept vital information because 'they already know enough' and 'it might be tainted'. Someone really needs to get his head out of his ass before he suffocates.
GiftOfLove
From the Heart
Or possibly you guys are biased against Tagg, and he's actually smart to be cautious when it comes to someone that was in the hands of the Nine and Mayhem, known for working with a self proclaimed 'psychic' Thinker.
I mean, imagine how much damage there could be if someone started spreading that the Siberian's weakness was a spot just above her armpit on her inner arm. There'd be a lot of dead dudes just testing it. Or fed false info about traitors in the hierarchy.
I mean, imagine how much damage there could be if someone started spreading that the Siberian's weakness was a spot just above her armpit on her inner arm. There'd be a lot of dead dudes just testing it. Or fed false info about traitors in the hierarchy.
The Stormbringer
Worm Fanfic & Crack Connoisseur
- Location
- Spaaaaace~!
And how exactly are you going to 'verify' information that she gained from literally hanging around the S9? I'm pretty damn sure they would have the information already if it was possible. You don't have to take it at face value, but at the very least you listen to it. Not to mention the fact that actually TELLING them might be a cathartic and mentally/emotionally helpful experience for someone who suffered the sort of serious trauma she did.
Not to mention they wanted information on what Mayhem was planning, and then promptly say 'oh no, don't tell us, it could be tainted'. Contradictory much? Giving someone an order and immediately rescinding it because they happen to be able to go to the source to get an answer? That's just stupid.
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Van Ropen
Angry, angry about elves.
Why do you think they are trying to verify her right now? "Unverified but from a trustworthy source" is a step above "unverified and from a compromised source".
I'm honestly confused. Do you really think precaution isn't warranted here? Strip the names of the characters and reconsider the scenario - including the bit where the character teleported away and then came back.
Tagg is a shit, but that's irrelevant. The actions, if on the stringent side, are all easily justifiable.
The Stormbringer
Worm Fanfic & Crack Connoisseur
- Location
- Spaaaaace~!
@Van Ropen
I fail to see how refusing to hear what she has to say works as a precaution. Do they think she has gained Canary's ability to control people by talking? Are they not confident enough in their own ability to keep things under wraps that they think their agents and members will act on her information before they can try to verify it or her? The reality of the situation is that they're panicking because they can't control her and are scrambling like chickens with their heads cut-off to figure out a way to take her down and secure her until they feel safe enough.
I fail to see how refusing to hear what she has to say works as a precaution. Do they think she has gained Canary's ability to control people by talking? Are they not confident enough in their own ability to keep things under wraps that they think their agents and members will act on her information before they can try to verify it or her? The reality of the situation is that they're panicking because they can't control her and are scrambling like chickens with their heads cut-off to figure out a way to take her down and secure her until they feel safe enough.
Van Ropen
Angry, angry about elves.
Did you raise a similar set of complaints about Mayhem when he went on at length about how you don't let a Thinker talk?
Sure thing, Tagg.
I know ridiculous paranoia is par for the course, but bureaucracy doesn't actually cackle villainously because they are meaniefaces. I mean, you don't think they couldn't secure her if they committed to it, do you? Dragon says as much.
The Stormbringer
Worm Fanfic & Crack Connoisseur
- Location
- Spaaaaace~!
@Van Ropen
A Thinker is different than someone recounting their experiences. A Thinker has a power that typically allows them to dissect the people they're talking to and pry at secrets or weaknesses. A potentially compromised Hero who admittedly still shows all the signs that she is herself wanting to report on the horrors she's experienced and things she's overheard or seen? Not quite the same thing.
And Tagg is the one I'm referring to with the 'panic'. Don't forget, he's the one who okayed Alexandria coming in and pretending to murder a bunch of teenagers in an act of psychological torture, trying to force another teenager to break to their whims. He is the sort of person who will do whatever he can to have things go his way, and most certainly will throw a tantrum when it doesn't. Mouse Protector not being able to be sedated is things not going his way.
EDIT: I will freely admit I'm wrong if this doesn't actually appear to be the case, but considering what we know of Tagg, his actions here seem to be pretty stupid to me. Even if they put everything she said under M/S Protocols (as they should) and just had a computer doing a voice-to-text recording of her experiences (something they are clearly capable of doing), surely this would be useful to do now and get it out of the way, wouldn't it? I just don't see what waiting will do, especially since it will be extremely difficult to verify anything with this frankly bizarre and unusual circumstance. It's probably the first time a Hero has ever come back from being held by the S9 with any sign of having their faculties and capabilities intact. Seems like the sort of thing they should be trying to take advantage of, instead of claiming they 'already know enough' and ignoring her testimony for an indeterminate amount of time.
A Thinker is different than someone recounting their experiences. A Thinker has a power that typically allows them to dissect the people they're talking to and pry at secrets or weaknesses. A potentially compromised Hero who admittedly still shows all the signs that she is herself wanting to report on the horrors she's experienced and things she's overheard or seen? Not quite the same thing.
And Tagg is the one I'm referring to with the 'panic'. Don't forget, he's the one who okayed Alexandria coming in and pretending to murder a bunch of teenagers in an act of psychological torture, trying to force another teenager to break to their whims. He is the sort of person who will do whatever he can to have things go his way, and most certainly will throw a tantrum when it doesn't. Mouse Protector not being able to be sedated is things not going his way.
EDIT: I will freely admit I'm wrong if this doesn't actually appear to be the case, but considering what we know of Tagg, his actions here seem to be pretty stupid to me. Even if they put everything she said under M/S Protocols (as they should) and just had a computer doing a voice-to-text recording of her experiences (something they are clearly capable of doing), surely this would be useful to do now and get it out of the way, wouldn't it? I just don't see what waiting will do, especially since it will be extremely difficult to verify anything with this frankly bizarre and unusual circumstance. It's probably the first time a Hero has ever come back from being held by the S9 with any sign of having their faculties and capabilities intact. Seems like the sort of thing they should be trying to take advantage of, instead of claiming they 'already know enough' and ignoring her testimony for an indeterminate amount of time.
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Van Ropen
Angry, angry about elves.
She's a bioroid. Of course they should assume this entire conversation is being monitored (ignoring the bit where she just teleported back to a known Pseudo-Master Tinker with known Thinker associate), even if she isn't getting a direct feed of what to say. And sure, they could have her recount things into the voice-to-text they have running right now. That doesn't actually matter until they are ready to analyze said information, which they are unwilling to do yet because they are trying to analyze her first.
Look, I'm not saying he is right. I'm saying these actions are justifiable - that there is a framework for the justification. That's enough. Jurric has been doing a good job with that sort of thing.
The Stormbringer
Worm Fanfic & Crack Connoisseur
- Location
- Spaaaaace~!
@Van Ropen Justifiable to someone like Tagg, sure. 
But I will give you that. I'm not saying Jurric is doing a bad job at writing, just that I dislike the character and think his justifications are crappy.
But I will give you that. I'm not saying Jurric is doing a bad job at writing, just that I dislike the character and think his justifications are crappy.consequences
Not A Nice Person At All
- Location
- Jerkville
Even the lies that Mayhem tells could be useful, if only the Protectorate had a nationwide organization that included multiple Thinkers to analyze his attempted manipulations. If only.
Seriously, the only plausible reason to completely shut her down is an acute case of Shit-Headed-Panic-Child-itis. Well that, or an ongoing effort by Cauldron to drive Protectorate Capes to leave in disgust.
Seriously, the only plausible reason to completely shut her down is an acute case of Shit-Headed-Panic-Child-itis. Well that, or an ongoing effort by Cauldron to drive Protectorate Capes to leave in disgust.
Van Ropen
Angry, angry about elves.
consequences
Not A Nice Person At All
- Location
- Jerkville
So what the heck are they going to analyse if they aren't actually taking her statements? I mean, I guess it's possible that a new hire by the name of Wisa Lilbourne will piece together everything from the way she makes motorboat noises to annoy Armsmaster, but that's something of a long shot.
In actuality, this would be the convergence of the 'don't let certain members of the S9 get killed idiocy', and the ' parahuman feudalism case study that ignores the existence of Africa fuckwittedness' preventing anything resembling effectual action.
Love to see how the PRT responds to this.
On the one hand, he has restored Mouse Protector and sent her back to them.
On the other hand, he has restored Mouse Protector and sent her back to them, and they're not sure if this counts as an attack of some sort, even if she's not Mastered somehow.
Mayhem: "Tell them I'm willing to cooperate under a truce to fight the Slaughterhouse Nine."
Mouse Protector: "TROLOLOLOLOL"
On the one hand, he has restored Mouse Protector and sent her back to them.
On the other hand, he has restored Mouse Protector and sent her back to them, and they're not sure if this counts as an attack of some sort, even if she's not Mastered somehow.
Mayhem: "Tell them I'm willing to cooperate under a truce to fight the Slaughterhouse Nine."
Mouse Protector: "TROLOLOLOLOL"
consequences
Not A Nice Person At All
- Location
- Jerkville
Well that is the fastest way for her to prove that she is herself to clear M/S protocols
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Too old
have you come back?
up in drag? Bonesaw had been
what you're up to.
sort of joint assault
limited the world's greatest
Dragon certainly had a fondness for Colin at this point, but it certainly wasn't love.
- Location
- Australia
Thanks, fixed. A fondness, definitely. Mostly because she was actually an AI, and there were a few hurdles to overcome before she could get a boyfriend. My own impression is that the fondness was relatively strong, and while we see through Armsmaster and Dragon's eyes during the story they didn't recognize that fairly strong mutual fondness. Being alternately, an AI Tinker blinded by her own feelings, and Armsmaster.
Everyone else saw it straight away.
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Notice how she most pointedly did NOT say "open random doors." No, she fully intends to just run through them... and with her new body, she might be able to, too.
And now I'm thinking about the bear scene from Super Troopers.
Cut to Mouse Protector holding a flashlight into a pair of eyes she's drawn on the side of the bus station, demanding that it "answer her, I know you know the truth!"
*coff* Oh, is THAT what she calls them. I would have thought she'd call... something else that.
Mouse Protector: Keeping the IMPORTANT things firmly in mind. Kidnapped and tortured by the Slaughterhouse 9 for months, made to kill a bunch of people? WHO GIVES A SHIT. Did the PRT already sell off her Captain and Tennille vinyl collection? VERY IMPORTANT.
And I immediately start thinking about the mundane utility of that. Like... can she leave behind dirt?
*puerile giggle* I dunno, some people really like a girl with a good sense of humor... or your sense of humor.
In her defense, Armsmaster was TOTALLY taking too long to blow out the candles on his birthday cake. He was all "It's not my birthday. It's no one's birthday on the entire team. No one here is 57 years old. Why is the cake addressed to Harold? Who is Harold? Did you STEAL this ca-" And on and on and on and on.... Obviously, she HAD to shoot the cake. It was the only way to save the birthday party!
*puerile giggle* Which, incidentally, is what USED to be tattooed directly about her*coff* NEVER MIND, MOVING ON.
I... holy shit, why has no one ever used Clockblocker's power for that before? That's AMAZING.
He did EVERYTHING stiffly around her. If you get my meaning. *eyebrow waggle*
And because he was a giant tool. And not one of those cool giant novelty tools, either! No, just a generic, useless tool.
I... I think I would pay good money to see a comic with Mouse Protector as Rorschach.
I REALLY hope part of those preparations are "Kiss my own fuckwit ass goodbye," because you desperately deserve it, Tagg.
Oh, right. Worm. Gotta have some horror and nightmares in there, too.
Captain Garterbelt, for example. ...in fact, she was pretty certain he didn't even have powers.
(The Goddamn Maidman on the other hand... everyone agreed that HE was fucking terrifying in a thoroughly practical, 'Oh, god my bones, he broke ALL MY BONES!' kind of way.)
And, just like that, Mouse Protector has done more to help Mayhem's opinion of the PRT than anyone else... by trusting him a little.
"If need be, I can build a device designed specifically for that in about 45 minutes."
You know, she jokes and is overly corny and flighty, but... god damn, Mouse Protector is a smart one. She put that shit together in no time flat!
I like her. I like these chapters. I hope she has a happy ending.
*puerile giggle*
That's not true! You just need a big hydraulic press or a giant vat of molten steel....
When someone is enough of a dick that even ARMSMASTER notices and doesn't like them....
"Right. OK." Melissa said, looking down.
...
...
...THANK YOU,
I NEVER WANT THIS CHAPTER TO END. I WANT TO HAVE THIS MOUSE PROTECTOR FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER!
Meanwhile, on the Rig, Assault pauses, overwhelmed by the feeling that he's missing out on something. Something WONDERFUL.
...IT'S ON THE CHART. OH, MAN. IS IT ON THE CHART.
And a chill runs down Armsmaster's spine.
YES. DO THAT. IT CAN'T FAIL. *crosses fingers* *hopes like he's never hoped before*
*wild, hysterical laughter* That's AMAZING. Seriously, I never want these chapters to end. Never, ever.
...actually, I have yet to see a Mouse Protector chapter in ANY Worm fic that wasn't amazing and wonderful. Maybe she's just one of those characters that somehow manages to be awesome no matter what? (You know, like Ben Grimm.)
Got it. Miss "Lilbourne" will need to get Mouse Protector to motorboat her to get answers. I understand entirely.
*puerile giggle*
- Pronouns
- she/her
To be fair, look at what she's doing to Colin right now. How cruel a monster she is!
- Location
- Australia
"You Died." The screen announced. Regent looked at it blankly, and then shut the computer down.
It was a stupid game anyway. Not as fast-paced as he liked them.
He looked around the empty loft. Bitch, still in PRT custody. Grue, training hard, trying to prepare himself for a fight against the Slaughterhouse Nine. Tattletale, fled the country.
It should feel empty, but for Regent, it felt the same as it always had. A hollow lie of companionship and friendship.
Well, whatever. Life was like that.
He got up, and wrote a note which he then stuck to the fridge.
'I'm out. The Nine are too big for me. Thanks for the pizza.'
Regent tilted his head, and snorted. He knew irony when he saw it, it just didn't do anything for him.
He went to his room, packed a backpack with the essentials, put a pair of Tinkertech earplugs in, and smirked.
"Door." He said.
A shimmering, hexagonal portal opened on the wall of his room, leading to a corridor lined with heavy, reinforced doors.
He walked through the door, checking his earplugs to make sure that he wasn't able to hear the melody playing over the speakers. He'd caught a few words once, it was less powerful than his father's ability, but more subtle, you wanted to keep listening, and while you listened, even thinking of fighting, or moving, or doing anything other than listening to the entrancing melody was like ripping your own teeth out.
That was a few seconds of partial exposure, and the speakers were never turned off. Part of Regent's new job was to come here at least twice daily, and make the prisoners feed themselves. Many would starve otherwise, the music didn't let them eat on their own.
Regent reached out to the nervous systems in the cells and started making prisoners who hadn't managed to muster the will to move clean up their mess, sanitize their bodies and their cells with the cleaning equipment provided inside, and then force down a simple meal which had been delivered like clockwork an hour before.
It wasn't work that he particularly enjoyed, playing nursemaid for a group of drooling criminals, but it paid well, and it had its perks.
He stopped at a cell near the end, and made one of the three women inside walk towards him. When she reached the door she just kept going, the metal rippling and then resetting behind her. Her skin was alabaster, and she wore a ruby-lipped mask, the lips permanently set in a frown.
Regent made her move to the side, and checked the sheet stapled to the door. The Three Blasphemies were a favorite of his. Most of the other criminals here had a time limit stuck on their doors. A number of minuets, that was the maximum amount of time they could be taken out of the music before Regent had to bring them back. Not because Regent's control might slip, but because if he died, there wouldn't be enough time to retrieve them.
The Three Blasphemies were different. There was no time limit, just a small note mentioning he should only ever take out one at once.
Capturing them had been difficult, Regent was sure of that. He wondered what sequence of events lead to all three of them being placed together, and having their minds numbed by the music simultaniously. Nothing else would have done it, if one mind was free the master effects could be shunted to that mind, and the effected sister or sisters would destroy whatever threatened them, but now all three minds were captive, and they willingly shared the music, because they all wanted to keep listening.
While Regent controlled one, even if he left this room, and took a Door to another earth and left the other two miles and realities away from the reach of his powers, he controlled the other two as well, and so long as at least one of the Blasphemies was listening to the music, they could not resist, couldn't do anything but languidly enjoy the endless serenade.
Other prisoners occasionally managed to cause a bit of trouble. Pain could help them wake up a bit. Or a long sleep. They sometimes gathered the will to try and jamb fingers in ears, and when that didn't work some would intentionally deafen themselves. Regent was sometimes called in to help deal with those cases, as were some of the other Masters on staff.
These three though were model prisoners. They simply drifted slowly around their cell. Listening, without even the need to sleep or perform the bodily functions that plagued the other prisoners.
The frowning Blasphemy was a Shaker, one who could peform matter rearrangement limited only by the Manton effect. She also had lesser versions of her first sister's Blaster power, and the third sister's Thinker ability, as they both had lesser versions of her power. Not quite S-class threat status, but the three of them had been on their way there. Then they vanished, and everyone simply assumed that they had run afoul of an even bigger monster.
Perhaps they had.
"Door. Heartbroken." Regent said.
The portal shimmered into place, and Regent turned and gave a half bow.
"Ladies first." He said, puppeteering the compliant monster through the portal, and into a shed. He immediately set to work with her power, making the ground vanish beneath himself and beneath the sleeping form in the corner of the shed.
The shed had been recently converted into a very rough laboratory, and Regent resisted the urge to poke around. When he had asked to do this, and been given permission, he had also been given very specific orders on where to stand inside the shed, and when he should come here.
The ground continued to drop beneath him, gently lowering him to a chamber that the second Blasphemy had created with her powers. Above the ground was already sealing itself. Bonesaw would return to her lab to find her latest creation missing, for no apparent reason. Doubtless she would alert the others, and there would be a search. Regent would be long gone by then.
He reached through the Blasphemy into the walls, and made them glow brightly enough to see by, then looked at his father, two of his mothers, and five of his siblings. They were sleeping, Bonesaw had obviously sedated them so she could continue her work.
Bonesaw had used a horse as the base, only she'd given it an additional set of legs to help support the weight, they sat behind the front hooves, blatantly a different color than the rest of the body, and unnaturally bulky.
The front of the horse rose into an unnaturally thick waist, which then split into three torsos. On one side were the two mothers. Their bodies were almost melted together somehow, and two arms came from the left of their torso. They only had one head, the features somehow twisted into a horrifying rictus of love. They had three eyes, and all three were locked on his father, the central head, even as they slept.
The second Blasphemy raised her arm. Her Blaster power wasn't as strong as her sisters, but it was more than enough for this. A small, invisible ripple of force surged from the Blasphemy's hand, and the two women unraveled into a shimmer of red mist that condensed and splattered onto the ground rapidly.
Regent blinked, and turned to look at his siblings.
On the right hand side three heads were visible, separate, but wired together somehow. Still, there were five minds there. Traces of five nervous systems in the one torso. He could feel them. If he concentrated, he could probably pick out the names, figure out which of his siblings had been made into this abomination, and which might have escaped.
Instead the Blasphemy raised her arm again, and his siblings unraveled as well, leaving only the central trunk of Bonesaw's monster, and his father.
Heartbreaker's body had been left mostly untouched, except for spiked lines of metal that climbed his musclebound frame, binding it upright, and connecting to some kind of headband, almost a crown, only the spikes flowed around the crown and into Heartbreaker's head. Regent wondered idly what it did, and decided that he didn't want to know.
"Always the center of attention father. I hope you appreciate that." Regent said, letting the creature bleed silently inside his earthen bubble. He'd run out of air soon, but not for a little while, and he could leave whenever he wanted. He had a little time. None of the Nine were particularly good diggers, and he'd heard no sounds of alarm from above.
"You'll be pleased to know that I have a new job. I'm the Junior Head of Parahuman Resource Management for a very powerful group. I've held more power that you ever could. I hold more power than you can imagine right now. Do you have any idea what this lovely lady could do, if I let her run her leash a bit?" Regent said.
The bleeding body didn't move. Probably for the best. He was resistant to his fathers power, as was the Blasphemy, who could shunt Master powers to her sisters if necessary, but who knew what sort of augmentations Bonesaw had made to that power. How it had been changed. From what he saw of the nervous systems earlier, it seemed likely that his father and his siblings Master powers had been linked together somehow, possibly in an attempt to generate something greater than the sum of it's parts. Something dangerous enough that his new employers had allowed him to risk their secrets dealing with it.
Or perhaps this monstrosity was not as dangerous as he assumed, and his new employers simply wanted him to have some closure on this part of his life? Who knew, with them. Cauldron kept secrets like misers kept money.
"You hate it, don't you? You're used to being the one in control, but now you're the one being Mastered. The one who had to follow Bonesaw's whims. This is a mercy, really." Regent said, gripping his scepter, and swinging it into his sleeping father's skull. It dented the strange crown, and left his scalp bleeding.
Regent kept going, until his scepter was bent and twisted, and his father's head was nothing but broken eggshell fragments, and scattered bits of gray and red. Regent stepped away, panting, and made the Blasphemy raise it's arm and unravel the rest of the body, turning it into nothing but a red stain on the earth.
"Heh. You died. Don't worry. Life's a shitty game anyway." He told his father, his brothers and sisters, and the women who had acted as his mothers.
He could have continued. Could have gone back and collected Ash Beast, maybe even Slicer, and used them together with the Blasphemy to destroy the rest of the Nine. Even just the one Blasphemy would make a good go of destroying the group. Probably not all of them, the Siberian and Crawler were likely to survive, but a fair few, perhaps Shatterbird at least, she had the biggest kill count when they went to a new city. And Bonesaw, who had done this to his siblings. He did feel something for them, even if it was a stunted, muted emotion.
The Blasphemy would be fine, if they killed her, she would simply re-grow in her cell, along with her sisters. The Nine were closing in on a city that he'd spent some time in. There were people there who he knew. Did he care?
Regent paused, and considered. Was he willing to go against his employers orders like that? They'd made it clear that doing so would result in his death. Did he care about that?
Perhaps he did.
He made the Blasphemy bury the blood stains, and move the bubble of air lower, and far enough to the side that it couldn't be easily discovered if one of the Nine suddenly took up subterranean explorations. Then he checked his Tinkertech earpieces. Still in, still functional.
"Door." He said. He didn't need to give destinations when he was going into the prison. Doorkeeper knew where to put him.
He returned the Blasphemy to her cell, finished making the rest of the prisoners feed and cleanse themselves, and checked that there wasn't anyone new he needed to work his power through. No one, they normally warned him if there was anyone new in the prison, but sometimes there were rush jobs.
"Door. Hawaii." Regent said.
He was done here for now.
It was a stupid game anyway. Not as fast-paced as he liked them.
He looked around the empty loft. Bitch, still in PRT custody. Grue, training hard, trying to prepare himself for a fight against the Slaughterhouse Nine. Tattletale, fled the country.
It should feel empty, but for Regent, it felt the same as it always had. A hollow lie of companionship and friendship.
Well, whatever. Life was like that.
He got up, and wrote a note which he then stuck to the fridge.
'I'm out. The Nine are too big for me. Thanks for the pizza.'
Regent tilted his head, and snorted. He knew irony when he saw it, it just didn't do anything for him.
He went to his room, packed a backpack with the essentials, put a pair of Tinkertech earplugs in, and smirked.
"Door." He said.
A shimmering, hexagonal portal opened on the wall of his room, leading to a corridor lined with heavy, reinforced doors.
He walked through the door, checking his earplugs to make sure that he wasn't able to hear the melody playing over the speakers. He'd caught a few words once, it was less powerful than his father's ability, but more subtle, you wanted to keep listening, and while you listened, even thinking of fighting, or moving, or doing anything other than listening to the entrancing melody was like ripping your own teeth out.
That was a few seconds of partial exposure, and the speakers were never turned off. Part of Regent's new job was to come here at least twice daily, and make the prisoners feed themselves. Many would starve otherwise, the music didn't let them eat on their own.
Regent reached out to the nervous systems in the cells and started making prisoners who hadn't managed to muster the will to move clean up their mess, sanitize their bodies and their cells with the cleaning equipment provided inside, and then force down a simple meal which had been delivered like clockwork an hour before.
It wasn't work that he particularly enjoyed, playing nursemaid for a group of drooling criminals, but it paid well, and it had its perks.
He stopped at a cell near the end, and made one of the three women inside walk towards him. When she reached the door she just kept going, the metal rippling and then resetting behind her. Her skin was alabaster, and she wore a ruby-lipped mask, the lips permanently set in a frown.
Regent made her move to the side, and checked the sheet stapled to the door. The Three Blasphemies were a favorite of his. Most of the other criminals here had a time limit stuck on their doors. A number of minuets, that was the maximum amount of time they could be taken out of the music before Regent had to bring them back. Not because Regent's control might slip, but because if he died, there wouldn't be enough time to retrieve them.
The Three Blasphemies were different. There was no time limit, just a small note mentioning he should only ever take out one at once.
Capturing them had been difficult, Regent was sure of that. He wondered what sequence of events lead to all three of them being placed together, and having their minds numbed by the music simultaniously. Nothing else would have done it, if one mind was free the master effects could be shunted to that mind, and the effected sister or sisters would destroy whatever threatened them, but now all three minds were captive, and they willingly shared the music, because they all wanted to keep listening.
While Regent controlled one, even if he left this room, and took a Door to another earth and left the other two miles and realities away from the reach of his powers, he controlled the other two as well, and so long as at least one of the Blasphemies was listening to the music, they could not resist, couldn't do anything but languidly enjoy the endless serenade.
Other prisoners occasionally managed to cause a bit of trouble. Pain could help them wake up a bit. Or a long sleep. They sometimes gathered the will to try and jamb fingers in ears, and when that didn't work some would intentionally deafen themselves. Regent was sometimes called in to help deal with those cases, as were some of the other Masters on staff.
These three though were model prisoners. They simply drifted slowly around their cell. Listening, without even the need to sleep or perform the bodily functions that plagued the other prisoners.
The frowning Blasphemy was a Shaker, one who could peform matter rearrangement limited only by the Manton effect. She also had lesser versions of her first sister's Blaster power, and the third sister's Thinker ability, as they both had lesser versions of her power. Not quite S-class threat status, but the three of them had been on their way there. Then they vanished, and everyone simply assumed that they had run afoul of an even bigger monster.
Perhaps they had.
"Door. Heartbroken." Regent said.
The portal shimmered into place, and Regent turned and gave a half bow.
"Ladies first." He said, puppeteering the compliant monster through the portal, and into a shed. He immediately set to work with her power, making the ground vanish beneath himself and beneath the sleeping form in the corner of the shed.
The shed had been recently converted into a very rough laboratory, and Regent resisted the urge to poke around. When he had asked to do this, and been given permission, he had also been given very specific orders on where to stand inside the shed, and when he should come here.
The ground continued to drop beneath him, gently lowering him to a chamber that the second Blasphemy had created with her powers. Above the ground was already sealing itself. Bonesaw would return to her lab to find her latest creation missing, for no apparent reason. Doubtless she would alert the others, and there would be a search. Regent would be long gone by then.
He reached through the Blasphemy into the walls, and made them glow brightly enough to see by, then looked at his father, two of his mothers, and five of his siblings. They were sleeping, Bonesaw had obviously sedated them so she could continue her work.
Bonesaw had used a horse as the base, only she'd given it an additional set of legs to help support the weight, they sat behind the front hooves, blatantly a different color than the rest of the body, and unnaturally bulky.
The front of the horse rose into an unnaturally thick waist, which then split into three torsos. On one side were the two mothers. Their bodies were almost melted together somehow, and two arms came from the left of their torso. They only had one head, the features somehow twisted into a horrifying rictus of love. They had three eyes, and all three were locked on his father, the central head, even as they slept.
The second Blasphemy raised her arm. Her Blaster power wasn't as strong as her sisters, but it was more than enough for this. A small, invisible ripple of force surged from the Blasphemy's hand, and the two women unraveled into a shimmer of red mist that condensed and splattered onto the ground rapidly.
Regent blinked, and turned to look at his siblings.
On the right hand side three heads were visible, separate, but wired together somehow. Still, there were five minds there. Traces of five nervous systems in the one torso. He could feel them. If he concentrated, he could probably pick out the names, figure out which of his siblings had been made into this abomination, and which might have escaped.
Instead the Blasphemy raised her arm again, and his siblings unraveled as well, leaving only the central trunk of Bonesaw's monster, and his father.
Heartbreaker's body had been left mostly untouched, except for spiked lines of metal that climbed his musclebound frame, binding it upright, and connecting to some kind of headband, almost a crown, only the spikes flowed around the crown and into Heartbreaker's head. Regent wondered idly what it did, and decided that he didn't want to know.
"Always the center of attention father. I hope you appreciate that." Regent said, letting the creature bleed silently inside his earthen bubble. He'd run out of air soon, but not for a little while, and he could leave whenever he wanted. He had a little time. None of the Nine were particularly good diggers, and he'd heard no sounds of alarm from above.
"You'll be pleased to know that I have a new job. I'm the Junior Head of Parahuman Resource Management for a very powerful group. I've held more power that you ever could. I hold more power than you can imagine right now. Do you have any idea what this lovely lady could do, if I let her run her leash a bit?" Regent said.
The bleeding body didn't move. Probably for the best. He was resistant to his fathers power, as was the Blasphemy, who could shunt Master powers to her sisters if necessary, but who knew what sort of augmentations Bonesaw had made to that power. How it had been changed. From what he saw of the nervous systems earlier, it seemed likely that his father and his siblings Master powers had been linked together somehow, possibly in an attempt to generate something greater than the sum of it's parts. Something dangerous enough that his new employers had allowed him to risk their secrets dealing with it.
Or perhaps this monstrosity was not as dangerous as he assumed, and his new employers simply wanted him to have some closure on this part of his life? Who knew, with them. Cauldron kept secrets like misers kept money.
"You hate it, don't you? You're used to being the one in control, but now you're the one being Mastered. The one who had to follow Bonesaw's whims. This is a mercy, really." Regent said, gripping his scepter, and swinging it into his sleeping father's skull. It dented the strange crown, and left his scalp bleeding.
Regent kept going, until his scepter was bent and twisted, and his father's head was nothing but broken eggshell fragments, and scattered bits of gray and red. Regent stepped away, panting, and made the Blasphemy raise it's arm and unravel the rest of the body, turning it into nothing but a red stain on the earth.
"Heh. You died. Don't worry. Life's a shitty game anyway." He told his father, his brothers and sisters, and the women who had acted as his mothers.
He could have continued. Could have gone back and collected Ash Beast, maybe even Slicer, and used them together with the Blasphemy to destroy the rest of the Nine. Even just the one Blasphemy would make a good go of destroying the group. Probably not all of them, the Siberian and Crawler were likely to survive, but a fair few, perhaps Shatterbird at least, she had the biggest kill count when they went to a new city. And Bonesaw, who had done this to his siblings. He did feel something for them, even if it was a stunted, muted emotion.
The Blasphemy would be fine, if they killed her, she would simply re-grow in her cell, along with her sisters. The Nine were closing in on a city that he'd spent some time in. There were people there who he knew. Did he care?
Regent paused, and considered. Was he willing to go against his employers orders like that? They'd made it clear that doing so would result in his death. Did he care about that?
Perhaps he did.
He made the Blasphemy bury the blood stains, and move the bubble of air lower, and far enough to the side that it couldn't be easily discovered if one of the Nine suddenly took up subterranean explorations. Then he checked his Tinkertech earpieces. Still in, still functional.
"Door." He said. He didn't need to give destinations when he was going into the prison. Doorkeeper knew where to put him.
He returned the Blasphemy to her cell, finished making the rest of the prisoners feed and cleanse themselves, and checked that there wasn't anyone new he needed to work his power through. No one, they normally warned him if there was anyone new in the prison, but sometimes there were rush jobs.
"Door. Hawaii." Regent said.
He was done here for now.
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