Let's read Worm and its sequel Ward by Wildbow (One chapter/every day)

AmbarGriss · May 27, 2018

And the party just keeps getting wild.
Now the only thing left is a random guy with a bazooka.

ExNihilo · May 27, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
And the party just keeps getting wild.
Now the only thing left is a random guy with a bazooka.

Unfortunately, Miss Militia wasn't available for the event.

AmbarGriss · May 27, 2018

ExNihilo said:
Unfortunately, Miss Militia wasn't available for the event.

And that is a waste.

blackarrow · May 28, 2018

ExNihilo said:
Unfortunately, Miss Militia wasn't available for the event.

Yep, she couldn't decide on the right dress to wear at the party. Believe me, for women is a pain in the ass to find the right dress.

blackarrow · May 28, 2018

ExNihilo said:
Links aren't working for me? Says the picture doesn't exist. Third one does.

What a great name. Like it better than the 'real' ones.

Alright, I fixed the broken links. Sorry about my mistake.
Thank you. I'm pretty surprised that I was good at least once at finding a cool name for something.

blackarrow · May 28, 2018

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, my fellow party lovers. I was very ready to tell you that we should continue with this party but then I remembered that a group of party crashers already arrived so....no more party for us

. But see the good side of this bad news. Merchants might have the last party of their lives if the party crashers were send by someone who really doesn't like Merchants parties. Either that or somehow Case 53 Scientists contacted Faultline Crew, asking them to find the power vials and give them back. But I kind of doubt that Case 53 Scientists are so desperate after few vials when they can make plenty of them in no time (btw I think these scientists are Tinkers because normal scientists can't create powers in lab no matter how smart they're). Let's see how bad Fautline Crew are going to crash this party 11.07 | Worm

Newter dropped from the ceiling. The main part of the mall had only the one level to it, but the roof was arched slightly, and he was dropping from one of the higher points. I was bad at estimating distances, but what was that? Fifty feet? Sixty?
He landed in a crouch, a hair behind the girl who was carrying the vial down the pile of rubble to the base of the platform. As she turned, dust, papers, cigarette butts and fragments of rock stirred around her. They moved in a counterclockwise orbit, rising, increasing in intensity over a span of one and a half seconds. Whatever her power did, Newter stopped it, smacking her in the forehead with his palm, almost gently. She stepped back, as if she'd lost her balance. The building whirlwind around her dissipated into a billowing cloud of dust and her legs turned to rubber beneath her as she tried to step back once more. She fell.
Newter's tail encircled the vial before she could drop it, and he flicked it into his left hand. An instant later, he was racing for the stage, almost casually finding stepping stones as he made a beeline for Skidmark and the rest of the group. He was going for the case and the vials.
Much of the crowd was running after Newter, rushing for the base of the stage and climbing the heaps of rubble to follow. In doing so, they were vacating the center of the mall where the casualties lay. I hated to get closer to the chaos, but I suspected it would be a long time before I had a better chance to find and retrieve Bryce.
"I'm going after the kid," I said.
"Minor, Brooks, escort her," Lisa ordered.
On the other side of the mall, Newter had reached Skidmark and pounced for him. In reaction, Skidmark used his power to coat his cape in a layer of his power. He raised it between himself and Newter. Newter was already airborne, unable to change course, but he had the presence of mind to hock a loogie into Squealer's face. He bounced off of the cape, knocking Skidmark back, and fell to the ground.

Skidmark used his power to saturate Newter and the ground around him. As his power took hold, Newter was launched through the rungs of the metal railing and down into the midst of the crowd at the base of the stage. Skidmark shouted something, but I couldn't make it out over the noise of the other Merchants.
I tore my eyes from the scene and we hurried toward the heaps of unconscious, bloodied and wounded that lay where the arena had been. We were halfway there when the entire mall began to brighten. The barred windows were expanding, and massive torches were lighting on the far sides. Shafts of orange light extended into the mall's interior, patterned into diamonds by the meshes of bars Labyrinth had erected.
The wall behind Skidmark and the other 'upper circle' members of the Merchants began to bulge inward. Features took form: a face, ten feet tall. Protrusions below it, near the floor of the platform, marked emerging fingertips.
Labyrinth wasn't stopping there. Minor had to catch my arm and pull me back to keep me from being caught in the path of another effect in the mall's floor. The ground cracked and bulged upward as though a mole was tunneling at high speeds just beneath the tile.
"Get back!" someone shouted behind me. I recognized Lisa's voice and took her advice, backing away from the hump. Minor stopped me from backing up into another hump that had appeared behind me.
Stone walls heaved upward from the mounds of broken tile, blocking my path and stopping at a height of twelve or more feet. As more walls rose around me, I saw a door form to my right, and the corridor to my left had a bend in it.
A maze. She was living up to her name.

Btw, before I'll comment this fight scene, I want to tell you about a scene from my childhood, when I was a 9 years old kid who didn't liked to do her homework and always blamed something else or someone else for my lack of will to do what my teachers told me to do. Last chapter -when Taylor had those visions about aliens being responsible for her shitty world- I remembered what I told once to my teacher when she asked my why I didn't do my homework. I told her that a tiny green alien entered in my bedroom, found my homework and peed on it, ruining it. Right under my eyes. And I couldn't do anything to stop the alien because I was too afraid of it. Aliens are to be blamed for everything, this is exactly what I told her back then. Of course my teacher didn't believed me, as she didn't believed me other times when I told her that a giant spider ate my homework, or burglars stole it or a ghost child destroyed it because he was envious that I can still have homework to do while he's dead. Still my teacher admired my imagination so I got away with it pretty easy

. Well, I was a stupid and lazy 9 years old child.

Alright, back to the fight scene. Newter being badass as always <3 I'm surprised that he can still use his drug pheromones power in his fight against Merchants since these rats are so used with drugs in their system that they can live very well replacing the food with drugs for a long period of time. Or maybe Newter's power is so strong that not even a professional druggy is immune at it. Fantastic how Labyrinth is playing IKEA with Merchants, gradually turning the mall into a freaking museum. They'll never find the exit from there. Never ever. Taylor still wants to find (again) and save Bryce. "sighs" A promise is a promise. "shakes her head" This boy....THIS boy.....

The walls at the outside edges of the mall were altering, now, more faces and body parts making themselves apparent. Like statuary or reliefs. Limbs intertwined and nude figures decorated the interior walls of the mall, each tall enough to extend from floor to ceiling, animated so that they moved with a glacial slowness. With a surprising speed, the interior of the mall was coming to resemble some kind of temple.

I had to admit, I was spooked. That girl's power was intimidating when she wasn't on my side. She wasn't all there, mentally, so the only thing holding her back was the person telling her what to do. If she could make those giant torches, she could set the floor on fire. Or she could have created spikes instead of walls, without leaving the rest of us any place to run. That nobody had been hurt was purely by her choice.
Stone poles speared down from the roof. Looking up, I saw that the edges of the crack in the roof had fanged teeth, and that figures were sliding down the metal poles. Two female, one obese male. Spitfire, Faultline and Gregor the Snail?
Not quite. Faultline and Gregor, yes. I didn't recognize the other woman, and she was too tall to be Spitfire with her mask off. Red haired, slender, older than Spitfire or Labyrinth had been.
She slid down the pole, up until the moment Trainwreck leaped from the stage and caught the base of the pole with his shoulder. He was built like a football player in a quadruple-thick layer of cast iron protective gear, steam billowing behind him as he tore past the stone pole like it was nothing. It cracked in four places, and the girl dropped out of the air.
One section of the pole hit the ground in an upright position, and she landed atop it with one foot, wobbling briefly. Controlling the angle the pole fell, she angled her fall toward a nearby wall of the maze.
It wasn't enough. Trainwreck smashed the pole from under her, sending her flying through the air to land in the midst of Labyrinth's maze.
Labyrinth created a short pillar below the metal case and canisters, and began to extend it towards the gap in the roof. Skidmark used his power to force the things off the top of the pillar and onto the platform, where they rolled. A few stray papers fluttered from the case.
There was a crack of gunfire, and I saw the momentary light of the shot to my right. I couldn't see over the wall, but I saw Trainwreck lumbering forward, one oversized metal gauntlet raised to protect his head, the only vulnerable part of his body. I directed some bugs to the scene, and realized that a woman with the exact same proportions as the red-haired woman was firing at Trainwreck. She'd made it through the maze and back to the skirmish with Trainwreck so quickly?
There was a brief pause in the gunfire, then a single shot fired. Sparks marked the ricochet between his shoulder, the back of his hand, and the armor that rose behind his head. He dropped to one knee with a suddenness that suggested he was wounded.
I hurried to the wall. I could use my bugs to find my way through the maze, getting a sense of the layout, but I needed something faster. Labyrinth was using her power and adjusting the battlefield with every passing second. The way things were, given how she wasn't aware of who I was, I was included among her enemies. If I didn't go now and the battle resolved one way or the other, I might lose my window of opportunity to get Bryce.

Yep, this is exactly what I was thinking. Whatever mission they have, Faultline Crew might hurt Taylor and Lisa too, probably believing them to be Merchants. They never saw them without their masks so its impossible for them to make the connection between Taylor and Skitter/ Lisa and Tattletale. So, they're in danger along with all other Merchants. I think I know who the new mercenary is. She's Shamrock, the girl from Vegas who can manipulate probabilities. Before you'll be all surprised by my "impressive" memory, I want to confess you that I cheated here a bit- I keep a file where I write all characters I meet in this story, even the most minor ones. I write their names, their physical details, costumes- if they have, powers- if they have, jobs and affiliations. Next to Shamrock's name, I wrote: "Vegas, casino, manipulate probabilities, non-monstrous Case 53, Faultline wants to recruit her." And when this new member appeared, I looked upon the file, to remember her name.

I have a good memory, but I also like to have a little organized helper. You can use my method if you like and find it more easy than to go back and try to remember from where you know a certain character. Ok, Shamrock is FREAKING AWESOME with her power. She's exceptionally lucky by manipulating probabilities during the fight. She's Worm-verse Vriska. I doubt that someone can ever defeat her since she'll always know how to dodge all the attacks and use her gun to precisely shoot her target in their most vulnerable points. She seems over-powered, but its IMPRESSIVE anyway. I'm impressed with her power, I like it, its freaking badass

. I love this kind of power (I always liked Vriska's power, btw, but I hated her as a character) Well, she can still be defeated by Masters, I suppose (she can't dodge a Master like Alec attack, probably), by some members of S9 and by Endbringers. I'm not sure if Taylor will stand any chance against her if they'll ever fight. She can simply dodge all Taylor's bugs while shooting her right into her heart in this time

. I should not be so happy about this, of course, I'm just hyper-excited with Shamrock's power, sorry. Faultline Crew, what an addition you made....

There was no way I was going back without him. The intensity of the emotion I was feeling on the subject surprised me.
I hated the idea of going back to Sierra and telling her I'd failed. Hated the idea of that conversation on top of the news I had about Bryce joining the same Merchants that assaulted her friend with a broken bottle. I couldn't do it. I couldn't be leader of a territory and know that someone out there was maybe telling others I hadn't followed through, fighting that constant nagging doubt in the back of my mind that wondered if 'my' people were whispering or laughing at me behind my back.

And maybe a small part of it was that my meeting with my father had been a reminder of how important family was. Bryce was the errant youth, his sister the anxious family member. Were my emotions here tied to the parallel between them and my father and me?
"Help me over," I ordered Minor. There was a crash not too far away as Trainwreck tore through one of Labyrinth's walls.
"Can give you and Brooks a boost, but not sure if I can follow," Minor told me, "Maybe if I find a place with something to stand on-"
"That's fine. Look," I drew an arrow on the wall with my bugs, "I can give you directions."
There was little surprise on his face at the demonstration of my power. He gave me a curt nod, dropped to one knee, and wove his fingers together to give me a stirrup for my foot. I sheathed my good knife, stuffed the spare between the sheath and the strap that attached it to my midsection and stepped inside the bridge of Minor's hands. He heaved me up, almost throwing me.
The cut on the back of my arm burned as I found a grip, then hurt twice as much as I hauled myself onto the top of the wall, my toes scrabbling on the untextured surface for traction. I reached down for Brooks, but he shook his head and waved me aside. He wanted to come up on his own.
Fine, whatever.
I hopped down into the next corridor. The far left had an archway leading into one of the more open areas, a circular area that was serving as a clearing for Trainwreck and the red-haired girl to fight.
I crouched down as I reached the doorway, peeking out and trusting my bugs to give me the fuller story of what was going on. Brooks appeared behind me and crouched, gun raised, his back to the wall. His breathing was quiet and controlled even after his recent climb and jog.
Trainwreck and the new girl on Faultline's team were facing off on the far side of this area. Behind Trainwreck, I saw a section of wall toppling, spotted Faultline dashing through the obstruction as though it were barely there. She ran up behind Trainwreck and slashed her fingertips across his heel as he was stepping forward.
As he set the foot down on the marble floor, his ankle shattered and his foot broke free of his calf.
He caught the ground with the stump of his mechanical leg, and she darted in close to cut through the knee of his other leg. He fell onto his back as she slipped between his legs, and she quickly turned to begin using her fingertips to cut down the wall, like a jungle explorer using a machete to hack through brush and vines. The red-haired woman joined her.
The ground rumbled as sections of the black marble floor rose to form into broad, shallow stairs, leading from the two young women to
Skidmark's stage. The capes in Skidmark's group were struggling to find ground to stand on, as they were crowded back to the edges of the platform by the statue that was still emerging from the wall. A head and two forearms with reaching hands, all in dark stone.
It was eerie, to see the changes that had occurred in our surroundings in the time it had taken me to cross the wall and wait for the fight to pass.
If the attentions of the Merchants had erased any familiarity I had towards the Weymouth shopping center, Labyrinth had cremated the remains and erected something else in its place. It was a cathedral, dedicated to a goddess that was very real and having a very active hand in current affairs. Labyrinth.

Well, it looks like Shamrock doesn't want to kill Trainwreck, otherwise she would have killed him without any efforts. So, Faultline Crew aren't there for murders but for taking back the vials. Alright, I got it, unfortunately. When there will be the day when I'm going to see Merchants getting killed? How much I have to wait? Taylor, stop being so creeped out by Labyrinth's redecorations. They're actually very aesthetic. Be thankful that she didn't filled the whole place with mortal traps or worse, lava floor. You can still find mr Bryce-I'm-A-Smarter-Than-A-Headless-Chicken, escape from there and bring him cuffed and chained back to his sister.

Which reminded me of the fact that I needed to get through this maze. Labyrinth's power was drawing many of the crawling bugs down into the ground as it refurbished the floors and consumed the piles of trash or rubble. I still had the bugs on the ceiling, but I didn't want to give our presence away. Of the relatively few bugs I was willing to use, a share were being used to direct Minor and placing them in strategic locations to get a sense of the layout. As the maze took shape in my head, I showed Minor the way.

I stepped into the clearing and, double checking nobody was in earshot, I approached Trainwreck. Brooks followed just behind me, watching my back.
Trainwreck didn't look like much, just going by the face. He had a round face, small eyes, greasy hair tied back in a ponytail and scarred cheeks.
He looked like a homeless guy who hadn't had a shower in a long time. The only thing setting him apart from the Merchants were the gunshot wound near the corner of his jaw and the steam-powered armor that rendered him strong enough to pound the crap out of Armsmaster.
I asked him in a low voice, "Trainwreck. Are you still working for Coil, or did you leave?"
He tensed, and his eyes turned my way, though he couldn't turn his head with the hardware around it. I stepped back as he used one arm to prop himself up and get a better look at me.
"No idea what you're saying," he said. He gave me a level stare, and I was almost convinced. But I'd seen him in the parking garage when I first found out Coil was the Undersider's employer.
"Right, total nonsense, sorry," I said. I tried not to show fear as he tried to get to a standing position with his ruined mechanical legs, looming over me. "But if you were working for the man, maybe you could find some excuse to knock over that wall over there…"
I pointed at the nearest section of wall.
"You're fucking nuts," he told me. He raised his arm, and my legs tensed, ready to leap towards him if he took a swing at us. As big as he was, without him being able to use his legs, being in close would be safer than trying to leap back out of his reach.
He brought his hand down on the wall I'd pointed at to heave himself to an upright position. The wall fell as he rested his weight on it. Using his other hand to help balance himself, he gripped the wall in his heavy gauntlet and flung the section of wall at Faultline and the red-haired girl. The girl turned and stepped out of the way as the wall rotated in the air, bounced between her and Faultline with mere inches gap between them, and slid back down the stairs. He didn't pay any further attention to us as we ran for the gap he'd opened.
My power let me get a general map of the people who were still unconscious or prone, and the bugs wouldn't stand out too much as they checked the bodies. I went by body types, trying to find people of Bryce's height and build. The path Trainwreck had opened gave us avenues to two people who could have fit the mark, with a third over the next wall.
Good news? The first of the prone bodies I went to was Bryce.
Bad news? He was injured.

Of course Shamrock can dodge a freaking section of the wall, she can dodge everything even with her eyes closed, she's awesome like that. I'm starting to like this girl + I adore her power. Thanks God she's a Faultline's mercenary and not a Merchant or a nazi or a S9 member.

Faultline, you have some kick-ass members in your crew, girl. Trainwreck still works for Coil which is bad (because he's very strong) but also good (because he's helping our favorite ~~heroes~~ villains). Bryce is injured. He should consider himself lucky that he's still alive.

Scrub's power had torn through the clusters of Merchants during the fighting, and Bryce's new 'family' was no exception. The girlfriend was dead, her head and shoulders gone, muscle and fluids flowing out where the flesh had been annihilated. The girl's mother was a goner too. She lay on her back, her face missing. Had she been behind her daughter, holding her, hit by the same blast?
'Thomas' was still alive, the black man with the scar on his lips. The man who had hurt Sierra's friend from the church, who had literally torn the guy a new asshole, if I'd gotten Sierra's meaning right. Thomas crawled slowly for the nearest arch, breathing hard, his face drawn with pain. A slice had been taken out of his arm, shoulder, and a section of his back, as though a guillotine had grazed him from behind. I wasn't quite sure how he hadn't died yet, with the amount he was bleeding.

Brooks stooped down to help Bryce, who had gotten off lightly compared to the others. He was missing a large portion of his right hand, and he'd had the presence of mind to try to loop his belt around the injury to control the blood loss, pulling it tight. He seemed like he'd lose consciousness any second. Brooks retrieved some medical supplies from his backpack and began tending to the boy.
I watched Thomas struggle towards the door.
Minor arrived fifteen or twenty seconds after Brooks had started to work on the boy, standing guard while our medic took care of Bryce's hand.
Brooks helped Minor to get the boy to a standing position, while I watched Thomas struggle on. He was getting weaker, fast. The blood loss had been too severe.
Skidmark had several parahumans working for him, and I didn't know all their powers. Maybe Thomas would get care. Maybe Skidmark would attend to his people.
Probably not. I knew that by leaving him here, I might be leaving him here to die, but the chance of him surviving anyways was pretty slim. Besides, bringing him would slow us down, and I wasn't sure we could afford that.

Taylor, you found Bryce, you saved Charlotte, now GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE, stop asking yourself if you can help a MURDEROUS RAT WHO DESERVE TO DIE A SLOW PAINFUL DEATH. Thomas is a monster who mutilated for life a good man. He doesn't deserve any help, just let him there and leave. Seriously, I wouldn't help this bastard not even if I had the possibility and the necessary time to help him. Not even if I'd have healing powers (I'm in general a compassionate person, but not with these monsters). Thomas deserves the worst. People like him will only hurt and kill more innocents if they're saved.

I shook my head a little, as if it could cast away the layers of little justifications and excuses I was putting together. I was searching for a rationale, a reason to leave him behind. Also, maybe, I suspected I was trying to give a reason to the fact that I had almost no sympathy for the man.
If I was going to leave him there, I'd own up to what I was doing.
Sierra had wanted Thomas and his followers to suffer, and I'd agreed to make it happen. I couldn't do anything about Bryce's girlfriend or her mom. They were dead, and it had probably been instantaneous and painless. Thomas, though?
Brooks followed my gaze to Thomas. In his accented voice, he asked me, "You want me to bandage him up? Don't know how much I can do."
Thomas heard and stopped crawling, dropping onto his belly. He didn't look toward me, but I knew he was listening.
"It's fine," I told Brooks. "Focus on the boy."
He nodded, then helped hold Bryce's prone form while Minor got a better grip. Thomas didn't move, react or say anything.
"Let's go," I said.
We ran, and with Brooks keeping one hand on my shoulder to guide me, I glanced behind us to get a sense of what was going on.
The battle was still ongoing. Gregor the Snail was here, but unlike the others, he wasn't operating in Labyrinth's world. He passed through the walls of the maze, spraying streams of slime at Trainwreck, who had apparently advanced halfway up the stairs by using his hands to help him walk. Trainwreck retaliated by throwing a chunk of stairs at Gregor with one hand while trying to block the stream of slime with the other. The section of stairs hit the wall of the maze just in front of Gregor, some of it bouncing over to pass through Gregor. Not real, as far as he was concerned.

What did this look like to Gregor? Was he standing in the mall as it had been, while Trainwreck seemed to stand on thin air? Or was Trainwreck on the ground? I couldn't parse it.
Mush had started pulling himself together, but Labyrinth was making his job into a struggle. His right arm had divided, stretched, forked out and reconfigured until it looked like a mass of reaching veins and arteries. He plunged it into one of the trash cans that Labyrinth was absorbing into the floor, and when he withdrew it, the tendrils had formed the connective tissue for an oversized hand crafted out of garbage. His other arm and much of his lower body had already gathered some garbage around it, letting him stand several feet taller than he had before. The skin of his head and body was peeling off into more tendrils, reaching for more trash and distributing some from his arms to his torso.
From what I could gather, he needed some kind of loose matter to form the body of his other self. Dirt, compost, trash, maybe even sand.
Problem was, however fantastic his surroundings might have been for this five minutes ago, Labyrinth was screwing him over by cleaning things up, maybe inadvertently. One upper arm, his naked upper body and his nearly bald head were all exposed and vulnerable.
Scrub had climbed up to one corner of the platform, and was keeping to the edge of the fight. His intent was clearly to be close enough to Faultline's group to possibly tag them, but not so close that one of his uncontrolled blasts would catch a fellow Merchant.
My bugs told me we were close to Lisa, Charlotte, Jaw and Senegal. I caught Minor's attention and pointed, and he put Bryce down long enough to give me a boost up to the top of the wall that stood between us. I straddled the wall and waited for Brooks and Minor to figure out how to get
Bryce up to me so I could pass him down to the others.
From my vantage point, I could see more of the battle unfolding on the far side of the mall.

I give you few reasons for not feeling bad because you let Thomas die, Taylor: he's a Merchant, Derrick have his whole life destroyed because of him and he surely mutilated/killed/raped before. Don't feel bad, Taylor, you took the best decision.

Of course Gregor the Snail can't be affected by Labyrinth's power. She probably touched his forehead, like she did with Taylor during ABB War, and made him immune to her power. I'm surprised Taylor didn't noticed already that Labyrinth can choose who is immune to her power and who will be affected by it. Mush apparently is a Changer who can change his body using debris, sand and trash around him. He's like a fucked up version of Sandman. Nice to know.

One powered Merchant charged Faultline and collapsed through the ground she had strategically weakened. She kicked him several times in the face before the next member of Skidmark's group tried to take her on, drawing and pointing a gun. Faultline drew her feet apart, and then dropped through the floor of the platform in a spray of splinters.
To her right, the red-headed woman was striding towards Scrub. He aimed a shot and missed by a fraction, and she didn't even flinch. Another try, another miss. As she got close, he let his power go haywire, and a dozen flashes erupted in close vicinity to him. None touched her.
She had her gun drawn, but she didn't shoot him. Instead, she grabbed him by the collar, then wrenched him to one side so he tipped over the side of the platform and fell the twenty or so feet to the ground below. It wasn't enough of a fall to guarantee that he was out of the fight, but she seemed confident enough to turn away and move on to the next target before he'd even finished falling.

Gregor was keeping up his steady pressure, alternating between blasting Trainwreck and blasting Mush with one hand and aiming at Skidmark with the other. Skidmark used his power to push away the worst of the slime, but it was clear he was losing. His power wasn't strong, it didn't have much more push to it than a strong wind. Any attempt to get it as effective as it had been at the edge of the arena took time and multiple layers of the effect. In short, Gregor could make the slime more easily than Skidmark could get rid of it.
A knotted bandage tied around Bryce's good arm was thrown up to me, and I used it to draw his arm up while the others managed his lower body. Once I had his wrist, I gripped it firmly in one hand, my upper body hugging the top of the wall to keep myself from being pulled off.
Minor gave Brooks a boost and the medic straddled the wall facing me. We worked together to raise the unconscious boy over the top of the wall and pass him down to where the others waited.
I glanced back towards the fight. Faultline had emerged from beneath the platform and moved around to the side, and using her power to draw hand holds into the side of the platform. The cape who'd been aiming at her with the gun stooped over the hole she'd dropped into and looked down to see if she was still down there. He was oblivious as she hauled herself over the edge of the platform and attacked him from behind, striking him with one elbow, then reversing the turn of her body to sweep his legs out from under him with one extended leg. The sweep of her foot had apparently coincided with a use of her power, because there was a cloud of stone dust as he collapsed onto broken, uneven ground.
From my angle I couldn't see for sure, but I thought maybe he'd fallen head first into the hole she'd first descended into.
Brooks and I hauled Minor over, and I waited while he climbed down, since I was already fairly secure where I was.
Skidmark was losing. It was obvious from where I sat, and I could see his changing expression as he saw Mush collapse beneath Gregor's sludge and realized he had no friends left. Gregor, Labyrinth, Faultline and the red-haired woman were all in action, and Skidmark was pretty much alone at this point.
I hadn't seen Newter or Spitfire, and I couldn't be sure if he was okay or not. Sure, the Merchants could have hit him with weapons rather than their bare hands, but he was quick, he had his tail, and he only needed to touch someone to drug them out of their minds. Spitfire might be the one babysitting Labyrinth somewhere out of the way.
It had to suck for Skidmark, losing like this. He'd risen to power based on a streak of good luck and momentum rather than any talent, deed or ability. Now it was falling apart. He'd lost, he'd had his ass kicked in front of the bulk of his followers, and he would likely never regain what he'd had. Not that I feltbad for him. There was a kind of justice to it.
He didn't even have a power that would let him go down in a blaze of glory. No, his final act here would be one of petty spite.
His power streaked from his hand to the ground where the canisters and metal case sat. I could see Faultline's expression change behind her mask, saw her set her feet and start sprinting for the case before Skidmark's power even took hold.

The only thing I feel bad about is that Skidmark didn't FUCKING DIED. Losing is next to nothing to him, he's angry now and maybe he feels abandoned by everyone but he'll find other stupid rats later who'll listen and follow him for drugs and debauchery. He deserved to be killed, I don't understand why they didn't killed him. I know that they don't have this order, but they're mercenaries, for God sake. Mercenaries usually kill their targets, even without the orders. The only times when they don't kill are if their customer orders a kidnapping or a blackmail. They're not burglars, looters or simply kidnappers. They're like professional soldiers executing missions for anyone who pay them. What soldiers usually do? Fucking kill. Don't tell me they're against killing, cause I won't believe this bullshit. And being nice and friendly doesn't have anything to do with the inability to kill someone. There are a lot of natural kind, good people who killed as part as their job or for personal reasons (even in this story, Hanah is one of them, for example). Shamrock let Scrub- the most dangerous Merchant- alive. Great, I pray that this mistake will never bite you by your ass, girl. You're very lucky and badass indeed but Merchants are very fucked up inside their heads and they might want revenge one day. I don't want nothing bad to happen to you and your teammates.

Isn't too much left of this chapter but I feel pretty tired now, I almost see double

. I'm going to finish this chapter tomorrow, once I'll wake up. Thank you for understanding. Good night and sleep well, friends.

Assembler · May 29, 2018

Faultline prefers to go non-lethal so as not to be too much of a disruptive force and keep getting clients; cape culture is a lot less forgiving of incidental deaths than military culture. That said, she is willing to go lethal if she deems it necessary, as seen by how she's been trying to break her Manton Limit.

blackarrow · May 29, 2018

Hello, friends, I think we're going to finish what was left of this party in the second part of this chapter 11.07 | Worm. Then there's Infestation 11.8 (I couldn't resist clicking further

) then an Interlude called 'a'. I was extremely curious why it was called like this and clicked the next one called 'b' and so on until I discovered there are 8 Interludes "a-h". 8 Interludes?!? Its like a freaking Arc of its own. 8 Interludes+ seven S9 members+ the mysterious one= each Interlude will be about each S9 member, right? THAT WILL BE AWESOME. Finally, I'm going to find more about these fuckers, maybe to get to know their personalities, to see their powers in action, their backstories probably. No other group of supervillains made me so curious like Slaughterhouse 9 did. Can't wait

But until then let's finish with this party already.

The metal box and canisters launched out over the edge of the platform and into the air above the crowd. Only a few papers escaped the case at first, but his power had saturated the insides of the box. Just after reaching the apex of its flight, his power seized the contents and the case expelled everything from within. Papers slid off one another and into the air, forming a small cloud.
"Taylor!" Lisa shouted.
I knew what she wanted. I drew clouds of my bugs from the ceiling, catching the papers that weren't saturated with Skidmark's power, collecting my bugs on them. I could have maybe carried them directly to me with enough bugs, but I found it easier and more discreet to use the bugs and nudge the papers into floating on the air currents, like paper airplanes without the 'airplane' aspect of things.
As they got close, I took a firmer hold over them and moved them directly to us. The papers crumpled as my hands closed around them. Four or five pages. I couldn't be sure two might have been stuck together.
"We need an exit," I said, as I hopped down from the wall. I handed Lisa the papers.

rofl:

rofl: Faultline and her crew made so many efforts to get back the vials and papers belonging to Case 53 Scientists, they fought and humiliated Merchants, but they failed to get the papers, while Taylor and Lisa didn't got involved in the fight against the para-rats, yet they managed to "capture" the important papers. Funny shit, one works hard for something but fails to get it and the other one takes advantage of the first one's failure. Life is a bitch like that. But don't lose your hopes, Faultline, maybe you'll get the vials, if they'll not break during the fall. Man, your employers will be so pissed.

Lisa nodded, "I've been thinking on that. Look."
She pointed at one corner of the mall. It looked like any other section, heavily altered by Labyrinth's powers. The shops had been almost entirely consumed by Labyrinth's powers, and were further shrouded by the floor-to-ceiling statues of human figures that stuck out of the walls. In the corner Lisa was pointing at, there were male and female figures, expressions solemn, hands reaching, moving so slowly I might have thought it was my imagination. The shop below was nearly gone, the entrance nearly covered up.
"Not seeing it," I said.
"Look at how they're standing. The male figure is sticking out of the left wall, reaching with his right hand, the female figure is doing the opposite.
Look past them, at the corner."
I did. Between the figures was the point where the two exterior walls of the shopping center joined… nothing jumped out at me. The walls were bare.
"I don't see it," I repeated, as she tugged on my arm and started running forward. As a group we started moving toward the corner. "What am I looking for?"
"Nothing! There's nothing there because her power isn't extending to that corner. She's too far away, on the roof at the other side of the mall.
Which means the interior of that shop isn't affected by her power!"
However ominous the giant statues were, they didn't react to our passing. The exit was small, barely three feet across. If Lisa hadn't given me her reasoning, I wasn't sure I would have had the guts to go through. It was spooky to think about putting myself in a smaller space like the store interior and having it close tight behind me.
The bodyguards had to go through the doorway in a crouch, and Minor dropped Bryce to let the others drag him inside, just so he could fit.
As Lisa had suggested, the shop interior was largely unaffected by Labyrinth's abilities, though it had been trashed by looters and the effects of Leviathan's attack. We found the back rooms, and Jaw kicked the door open. From there, we made our way to the emergency exit, cleared rubble away and escaped into the parking lot.

A handful of others had found escape routes too, I noted. Merchants were crossing the parking lot at a run, or helping wounded buddies limp away. We weren't so conspicuous.
I hurt. I'd been cut on the arm, and I'd taken my lumps in too many other places to count. My knuckles and fingertips were scratched raw from climbing the walls of the maze and moving rubble, my cheekbone throbbed where I'd been elbowed, and my fucking contact lenses were still irritating. Never ever something I could get used to, even with other things taking up my attention.
But we'd made it.

Blindfold Lisa, put her in the middle of any labyrinth/maze ever build, including the mythological Minotaur's Labyrinth, and she'll find the exit in like 5 minutes without breaking a sweat. Nothing is impossible for miss Lisa Holmes. I'm imagining her as a crime-scene investigator in a new CSI series. "sighs" She'll end up destroying the series. Each episode will last 5-10 minutes, if I'm not too generous. They'd be pretty boring. Alright, now that you escaped from the Ma(ll)ze of Culture, can you please give the files to Faultline? She needs them more than you, she was paid to get them back. Thank you.

We moved at a light jog for a good distance before Brooks called us to a stop. We lay Bryce down for him to look at, and he decided we needed call for a pickup to get the boy more serious medical attention.
While we waited for the car to arrive, Lisa, and I sat down on a nearby set of stairs. The other bodyguards were still on duty, still watching for trouble. Charlotte stood a distance away, hugging herself. She looked like she wanted to leave, but lacked the courage to go alone.
I was going to go reassure Charlotte, but Lisa retrieved the papers I'd given her and smoothed them out against her leg, and the widening of her eyes caught my attention.
"It's a letter or contract from the people who made the stuff, talking to the guy who'd bought this stuff. Let's see, we have… page two. Pages eighteen and nineteen. Page twenty-seven. Page sixteen. Wonder if we can put a narrative together."

"You probably could," I said.
She glanced over one page, then handed it to me as she moved on to the others. I read it.
client one, and clients two through six for confidentiality purposes. For clarity, and to help ensure that the proper clients receive the intended products, we must restate facts for client one to double-check. Client one is the negotiator for each of the clients, guardian of clients two and three and is not intending to consume the product.
This cannot be stressed enough. Client one is not to share or use any of the product intended for other clients. Ignoring this warning or failing to adhere to any other warnings or directions within this documentation will compel Cauldron to carry out the countermeasures and call in all debts noted in sections 8b and 8c on pages seventeen, eighteen and nineteen.
Clients two through six are noted here in as much detail as is allowed given the agreed-upon confidentiality.
■ Client two is the elder of client one's two relatives noted here, female.
■ Client three is the younger of client one's two relatives noted here, male.
■ Clients four and five are client two's friends. Client four is female. Client five is male.
■ Client six is the friend of client three, male.
Both vials and protective containers are noted with the numbers specific to each client, each containing the requested upon products from the catalogue.

......................................OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rofl:

rofl: Sorry, guys, but I'm laughing here. OMG, so funny.......

rofl:

rofl: no, I didn't lost my minds, I'm still sane...I think, but...what kind of secret/not so secret organisation of super-scientists call themselves....Cauldron? Fucking Cauldron man....I mean...what kind of name is this? They're scientists, for God sake, they're Tinkers, not wizards or witches staying around a cauldron and doing their spells. You're not in Harry Potter universe, dudes. Ok, now I can't stop imagining these super-scientists dressed in robes and creating powers inside actual cauldrons. Nice image you helped me create about them, Wildbow.

The funniest name of an evil organisation so far. I call them evil for some very obvious reasons: they make experiments on unwillingly people, destroying their lives in the process (maybe they even killed some), they sell powers for money and probably they force their clients to do dirty things for them as part of their debts, in the end they probably want to rule the world by having a lot of parahumans by their side. What is not evil here?

I wish to give written evidence of the verbal exchange between Cauldron and client one on February 18 2011. Client one is informed that client four scored a borderline failure on the psychological testing and that results may lead to a Deviation scenario
"What's on the other pages?" I asked.
"Sixteen is accounting. Bank statements, confirmation of money exchanged, a list of what was bought. Seven figures base price, more for this Nemesis program, still more for some powers. Don't have all the pages I'd need to get it, but I'm getting the sense the more unique powers and the stronger ones cost way more."
'The sense', she'd said. Her power filling in the blanks.
"Pages eighteen and nineteen refer back to something called the 'Nemesis program', potentially revoking it, they're talking about debts, services required by this 'Cauldron' using the clients' powers. There's a bunch of specifics on how the time, effort and risk of said services would factor in with one another."
"People can buy powers? How many people are doing this?" I felt a touch offended at the idea. I'd earned my powers through my hardships. Most of us had.

"Enough that there's a whole enterprise here with a private army. There's this bit that very politely notes that breaking the rules will get you hunted down and executed by Subjects, capital S. Clients are warned that these guys are entirely loyal to Cauldron, will not accept bribes. And these Subjects are apparently something different from Deviations."
"Cauldron calls us Subjects. The PRT calls us Case 53s," a voice said from above us. "Regular people call us monsters."

Silly name, very evil purposes. Maybe Cauldron will turn out to be the most dangerous organisation in the entire story, surpassing S9, for example. I mean, S9 are just a bunch of sadistic psychopaths while Cauldron have probably hundreds of Tinkers in Robes, one confirmed private army and a lot of other parahumans probably working for them. They're FREAKING DANGEROUS. And BADASS. And DANGEROUS. They're basically scientific and supernatural (but without the religious side) Illuminati+ Freemasons. I'm torn between hating them and being impressed by them (because they're so damn smart and well organized). But when I remember what they did to people like Weld and Newter (and many others, probably even children), I'm more inclined to hate them. I have my morals and they're absolute AGAINST experiments on innocents. It looks like either Newter or Gregor arrived to get back the papers. "sighs" You're not Subjects neither monsters. You're poor, unfortunate human beings who became victims of the REAL monsters.

Our bodyguards wheeled on the spot, a set of guns training on Newter, where he clung to the side of the building. They had been covering the possible approach points from the ground. They hadn't been expecting trouble from directly above us.
"I heard of the Case 53 thing," Lisa told him, backing away. "The rest is new. You work for them? No. But you're related to this."

"Gregor, Shamrock and I were test subjects. Guinea pigs to test the new formulas, so the buyers don't get fucked. According to Shamrock, three in five of us don't even survive. One in five Subjects are retained and brainwashed so they can protect the business and enforce the contracts. Shamrock was going to be one of them, but she escaped. The rest of us have our memories removed, and we're released as part of the 'Nemesis program.'"
"Which is?"
Newter glanced at the papers, "I'd really like to know."
"So you followed us."
"Something about the way that one moved," Newter pointed at Jaw with his tail, "Reminded me of some other mercenaries I've come across.
Don't bother shooting, by the way, I'm too quick."
Lisa gestured, and the bodyguards lowered their weapons.
Newter frowned, "I gathered you were mercenaries, decided to spy, but finding you'd taken the papers was a surprise. Who are you?"
Lisa looked at me, without a ready answer for once. I looked over at Charlotte and sighed. She'd already put some of the pieces together. She could probably figure it out from here. I might as well control when that happened, so I wouldn't get caught off guard further down the road.
I raised the piece of paper, as if to hand it to Newter, and I directed bugs to cluster on it. In moments, the half of the paper closest to him was dark with various flies and creepy crawlies.
Charlotte's eyes widened. This was apparently her putting the last piece into place.
"Ah, Skitter," he said. Apparently my having saved his life once and gifting him a paper bag filled with money didn't do much to ease his wariness.
He wasn't any less guarded when he asked, "Why are you here?"

So, Faultline's Crew weren't hired by Cauldron, they're trying to find more information about this possible world-threatening organisation. Maybe they want to get their own personal revenge or they're hired by someone else who want to expose Cauldron, showing the world what they're doing and getting them arrested. Also, now Newter knows Taylor's identity as Skitter and I think is not hard for him to guess who Lisa is. Watch out, Lisa, you and Faultline don't like each other too much and now that she'll probably knows your double identity, she might have you wrapped around her little finger, if she's interested. She's not stupid, even you said this during the meeting in the villain bar. Its going to be fun to see these two trying to outsmart and compete with each other, even if I doubt that Faultline will ever try to hurt Undersiders in a way or another on purpose.

I pointed at the unconscious Bryce. "An errand. Didn't mean to get in your way. I only grabbed the papers as a spur of the moment thing, and because they would've been ruined if they'd just drifted all over in there."

"That wasn't much of a concern. One of my teammates is collecting the papers as we talk, and I expect she'll find nearly all of them. The ones that she could find with some luck, anyways."
"We're honestly not looking for trouble, and I have no problem with giving you these." I banished the bugs on the paper and stepped forward to extend it towards him.
Lisa followed my cue, offering the others, "Wouldn't mind copies of whatever you've got."
Newter frowned.
Before he could say anything, Lisa hurried to add, "I'm good at figuring stuff out. I'm a fountain of knowledge. I want to know more about this stuff, and I could help you guys in exchange for what you've already got."
"I'd have to ask Faultline. She doesn't like you."

Ha ha ha, I was right about Newter figuring who Lisa is. He's not stupid, my adorable orange boyfriend <3 "puts on a hazmat suit and hugs him" Ok, I have an interesting theory about Coil. I think he bought his power from Cauldron. This is the explanation why he was afraid in his Interlude that some people might come after him because he's indebted to them. They're Cauldron. Possible he still have to pay them for his power and he doesn't want or they ask him to do something for them and he doesn't want. Either way, Coil is going to be so screwed if they'll ever find him. They know about his power, they can arrange for him to be killed in both timelines or they can take away his power through....super science. Since they can create powers, maybe they have to possibilities to take them away from their clients, right? Coil is going to be so FUCKED, I seriously hope they'll find him. Yes, they're bastards, but Coil is the king of bastards, he and Skidmark can go straight to hell for all I care.

Lisa grinned. "And I don't like her. But she's not stupid, either. She knows this is mutually beneficial." Lisa drew a pen from her pocket and
scribbled on the back of one page. "My number, if you're interested."
He took the sheets, looked them over, then rolled them up and stuck them in his back pants pocket.
"We'll be in touch one way or another," he said.
Then he was gone, around the side of the building and up to the roof in heartbeats.
I looked at Charlotte, and she shrank back, as if I could hurt her by looking at her.
Which was dumb. It was fairly obvious to anyone who considered my power that I didn't need to look at people to hurt them. Not that I'd hurt
her, anyways. She'd done nothing to deserve any such thing, beyond being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Charlotte, Bryce and Sierra. The civilians. I still had to figure out how to deal with them. My heart sank. Social interaction: not where my talents lay.

I have a suggestion, Taylor, you can hire them as your minions. At least you can hire Sierra and Charlotte because Bryce is too much of an idiot to do a serious job, not even if you write the instructions on his face and hands. I'm going to have a lot of fun if Taylor will really decide to turn them into her minions. :lol I think Sierra will be the best for this job, I like this girl, she's hardworking, responsible, brave, caring, helpful, protective towards her brother, she'll probably become my second favorite non-powered character, after Danny.

Good night and sleep well, guys and please....pretty please, when the S9 Interludes will start, tell me in which Interlude the Mannequin will make his appearance. I swear, I'll still read it from start to finish, I just need to prepare myself... with tons of icecream on my desk and plushies in my arms.

blackarrow · May 29, 2018

Assembler said:
Faultline prefers to go non-lethal so as not to be too much of a disruptive force and keep getting clients; cape culture is a lot less forgiving of incidental deaths than military culture. That said, she is willing to go lethal if she deems it necessary, as seen by how she's been trying to break her Manton Limit.

I think the only situation in which Faultline's Crew will stop holding back and go full lethal will be if they're either attacked by S9 or Cauldron. S9 would probably want to kill them and Newter/Gregor/Shamrock must hate Cauldron to guts.

ExNihilo · May 29, 2018

blackarrow said:
I'm imagining her as a crime-scene investigator in a new CSI series. "sighs" She'll end up destroying the series.

Not if the other side has superpowers too!

As for Cauldron speculation-can't say much. It will be interesting to see how this all continues.

Now that you've seen super power vials, you have to wonder, who got their powers the 'old fashioned way' like Taylor, and who got help?

AmbarGriss · May 29, 2018

Mannequin makes his appereance at Interlude 11d.

blackarrow · May 29, 2018

ExNihilo said:
Not if the other side has superpowers too!

As for Cauldron speculation-can't say much. It will be interesting to see how this all continues.

Now that you've seen super power vials, you have to wonder, who got their powers the 'old fashioned way' like Taylor, and who got help?

Yes, maybe CSI Lisa will discover the criminal fast, bu if the criminal have superpowers...Good Lord, this will be a more interesting series that the original one. Not boring at all indeed

Coil bought his power, Newter/Gregor/Shamrock/Weld were guinea pigs, Narwal might be another guinea pig because of her looks, Crawler is possible a Case 53, Mush and Trainwreck -other Cases 53. They're the only ones I can think about now.

blackarrow · May 29, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
Mannequin makes his appereance at Interlude 11d.

Thank you, you kind soul. Be blessed.

blackarrow · May 30, 2018

"The bearded men and bearded women (don't ask how its possible, they're scientists, they can do everything) are staying around a pentagram drawn on the dirty and bloody floor, reciting incantations and holding golden cups. In the middle of the pentagram, there's a large cauldron inside where an unknown liquid is seething hot. Behind these bearded people, entirely dressed in black robes and each having on their chest a badge with the Pyramid and the Eye of Providence, screams of pain, misery, desperation were heard, some of them surpassing the incantations, coming from dozens of tied up by metallic bed men and women, completely naked, some of them partially turned into devastatingly horrible looking creatures, other on the verge of dying and one or two already dead. After a couple of painfully long minutes, the bearded men and bearded women finished their incantations, poured some of the hot liquid from the cauldron inside their cups and went with them to the screaming people. They force the still living ones to drink from the cups. They smiled, happily and satisfied with the final results. Another day of work from the otherwise blank lives of Cauldron employees have ended."

This is how I imagine Cauldron employees during their jobs. Everything, including their beards. The difference is that I don't seriously think women also have beards. They only have mustaches. Hello, everyone, and welcome to 11.08 | Worm

I could see Dr. Q grow more irritated with every person that filed into the office.
Ten people in total. There were the eight that we'd all packed into the car and fake ambulance Coil had sent. Lisa, me, Bryce, Charlotte, Minor,
Senegal, Jaw and Brooks. Two more, our drivers, had stepped in to verify everything was okay before leaving to stand guard outside the front of the building.
The good doctor took one look at our group, ordered us to put Bryce on the first bed, then sighed and said he'd patch the rest of us up when he was done with the boy. Lisa suggested me for the next in line, which means I was made to sit down on the bed in the far corner. It wound up working out on several levels, because it gave Lisa a chance to talk privately with Minor, and it gave me a chance to have words with Charlotte.
Dr. Q ordered the remainder of Minor's squad to leave until they were called in, which meant there were more people standing guard outside. I wondered if it was reaching the point where the guards would attract more problems just by virtue of drawing attention to themselves than we'd face otherwise.
Charlotte looked spooked. Maybe rightly so. She had to be aware that she was privy to information and details to a degree that we couldn't just let her go.
I moved into a cross legged position on the bed, adjusting the pillow behind me to keep the headboard from rubbing against my back. I pointed, and told Charlottte, "Sit."

She obeyed, but she sat on the edge with her legs dangling, her body twisted to face me, as if she wanted to be able to run at a moment's notice.
After some consideration, I frowned and told her, "I don't know what to do with you."
"You don't need to do anything?" She made it a question, a request.
"You're the first person who knew me that knows about this." I paused. "Or knew of me."
She looked down at her hands, "I- I don't… I didn't see anything."
"Charlotte," I frowned, "Look up at me. Meet my eyes."
Reluctantly, she did.
"I'm not stupid," I told her. "And as cute as that whole cliche is, you and I both know you saw everything. This is serious."
She looked at the scene to our left, the doctor, Bryce, Lisa and Minor. Leaning towards me, she whispered, almost plaintive, "Why did you bring
me here?"
"Because you'd already seen too much. There was no avoiding it. We couldn't hide it from you without leaving you behind, and neither of us wanted that to happen, right?"
She shook her head with a glum expression on her face.
Seeing that, I answered her question from before, "I brought you here because I wanted you to know that our group isn't just a few kids in
costumes running around. We're an organization."

Well, Taylor, I have a BETTER suggestion about how you should treat Charlotte, in a more convincing and open manner. Something like: -Listen up, bitch. You're my ex- colleague, I can find all the information about you, I have plenty of sources, including a parahuman one, and my people will make a visit to your house and have some fun times with your family. So, if you don't want to cry after seeing your parents' cadavers, trying instinctively and desperately to re-attach their severed heads by their cold, horrible mutilated bodies, then you have to listen me. Become my minion and your family will be grateful for your smart choice. And don't ask me for a third choice, there's no such thing. Unless you probably want to die too along with your family.- Yep, this is the properly way of talking with this girl, Taylor. Do, it, do it. Another advice is...don't dare to go Muhahahaha after you finish talking. That won't do anything good, it will only turn you into the classic, mustache twirling type of villain

. And you don't have any mustache to twirl.

"I don't want to know this!" she said, clutching her pants leg in her hands.
"You need to," I started. I was about to go on to say something more, but I was distracted as another group of soldiers entered the room. They carried a white cooler between them, and set it at Bryce's bedside. I lost my train of thought as I watched to see if Bryce was okay.
The cooler was opened, and bags of blood were hung on the wall beside Bryce. Once that was done, the soldiers wordlessly carried the cooler out the door.
I sighed, "Look, Charlotte, I'm not your enemy."
"You saved my life," she said.
"That's maybe an exaggeration. I saved you from being assaulted by those men, probably-"
I could see her shrink into herself.
"-I'm sorry." I finished, lamely.
"You're a villain," she said, and it took me a second to realize it was more of a non-sequitor than an admonishment for reminding her of what had nearly happened to her.

"I'm a villain," I agreed.
"And you're going to tell me that if I ever open my mouth, you'll kill me."
"That is one option. Or, theoretically speaking, I could hurt you or your loved ones."
She deflated, which was pretty impressive given that she hadn't exactly been brimming with vigor before I'd opened my mouth. It was like she didn't even have the energy to be afraid.
"I'm not going that route," I told her, "I don't want to be that kind of bad guy."
She looked up at me.
"I'm improvising, and you're going to have to forgive me if my ideas are a little rough around the edges… but two ideas spring to mind. Number one is that you leave. I'm offering you an out."
"Leave? The city?"
I nodded. "Leave Brockton Bay. You have any family here?"
"My mom. She's doing the training to join the construction crews."
"You'd leave the city with your mom. Put all this behind you, the ruined city, what happened at the mall, me, everything."
"And I wouldn't say anything," she finished my thought.
"Right. You'd keep your mouth shut. Because if you did start discussing stuff you shouldn't know? Those soldiers, the hackers, the plants we
have with police and FBI and government? My psychic friend over there? They'd find you."
I could see her clutch her pants leg a little tighter.
"And believe me, Charlotte, I don't want to hurt you. But it would be out of my hands. I'm not the top dog here. The person in charge? They
would handle things after that. Understand? They would handle you."
"I'm not saying anything. Really."
"I know. And I know you wouldn't say anything even hinting at what you know, unless it was to a therapist and you were absolutely sure it was
confidential. That's what I'm proposing."
Her head hung, "I… don't think I can leave like that. I wanted to, before all of this, but my zaydee, my grandpa, he refuses to leave, and he can't
take care of himself when the city's like this. It's why we didn't evacuate."
"You could tell your mom and grandpa some of what happened. That the Merchants got you, that you got away, that you don't feel safe here."
She buried her face in her knees. "No."

On a serious note, I like how Taylor is talking to Charlotte. She tries to be understanding, patient, even kind towards her, fully knowing how frightened and defenseless Charlotte is feeling after she was basically a sex slave for villains, was saved by other villains and now one of them is forcing her to either leave the City of Black and Sorrowful Hearts or to remain there, but to work probably as a henchwoman for villains. On the other side, Taylor also seems commanding, a little harsh, even threatening, seeing Charlotte as a future danger for her since the girl knows her identity (not only her face, like Sierra, but also her name). So, I really like Taylor's approach and I hope that Charlotte will be wise enough to not choose the wrong path for her.

Also, it looks like she's jewish, since 'zayde' means grandfather in yiddish or at least she have a jewish grandfather (I'm half jewish myself so I know what I'm talking about

) Well then, hello, fellow jewish girl, hope you'll make me like you whatever your role in this story will be (except for betraying Taylor, of course).

"Okay. So that leaves option two."
"I-" she started. She stopped when I raised one hand.
"Don't say anything until I explain it. I'll forget what I want to say if I get distracted. You're going to work for me. And every doubt and possibility
that just made you tense up at that idea? It's not going to happen. You'll be safe. Safer than you were before. You won't have to do anything
illegal unless you're willing."

"I'd still be helping you, I'd be helping a criminal, indirectly."
"You would. But I think you'd be surprised at my approach. I'm not looking to hurt innocents. I'm not pushing hard drugs, I'm not demanding protection money."
"Then what are you doing?"
Funny, how everything always seemed to tie back to the beginning. I was put in mind of the conversation I'd had with the Undersiders on our second meeting. The same conversation that had led to me joining them.
"I'm afraid the full details only come with membership," I echoed Lisa's words to me from back then.
"I don't really have much of a choice, do I?"
"You do. More than you think. Don't give me a response just yet. Think about it for a bit. You're staying at least until you get those scrapes and scratches looked at."
Charlotte looked at her hands. Her knuckles and fingertips were torn up, and she had a shallow cut on the side of her neck. "This isn't anything worth worrying about."
"The way this city is right now? You'll get an infection if you don't get that taken care of. Relax. Believe it or not, you're safer right here, right now, than you've been for the past few weeks. Breathe, think about what you want to do."
She glanced around, and I could tell she didn't believe me. Still, she met my eyes and offered me a nod.
Well, I hadn't solved the Charlotte problem just yet, but I'd at least addressed it. If I was honest with myself, part of the reason I told her to wait on her answer was to buy myself a reprieve, give myself time to think.
Maybe that was a bad idea, because being left to ponder let the anxiety build up. I was worried. Not just about Charlotte, but about my territory. Had the Merchants attacked it in the meantime? Lisa had said they would mostly be at the party, but I couldn't be absolutely sure.
Grue would have been watching it for me, but he'd be tired, and he didn't have the same awareness over the area that I did.
I almost regretted leaving for this, for Bryce, even though I knew I'd do it again.

Accept her offer of becoming her minion, Charlotte. Its the best offer out of everything else. She'll pay you well, she'll take care of you and your family, she'll never force you to hurt or kill people, she'll never use you as a slave for men' pleasure, you'll have a pretty good life, even if it means working for a villain. Besides, she's doing what she's doing because she's trying to save a child from the hands of a monster. You don't know this yet but if you'll work for her and you'll prove your loyalty, maybe she'll tell you more. She's not that bad, compared with the beasts lurking in this City of Decadence, she's a freaking angel. Give yourself this chance and you're not going to regret, Charlotte.

If anything calmed me down, it was seeing Lisa with the two squad leaders. She laughed a little, and put her hand on the arm of the other squad captain, Fish. When she caught me looking her way, she smiled and gave me a wink.
When Dr. Q had done everything he could for Bryce, he turned his attentions to me. I got more stitches, in my arm this time, which was fun. I also got to see every single one of my cuts and scrapes fizz with foam as he disinfected my injuries, which stung like hell.
He was nearly done when a knock came at the door. Jaw was on the other side, and he was escorting Sierra, as I'd requested. She went immediately to Bryce's bedside.
"His hand," she said.
"Things got violent," Lisa said, stepping towards her. "We didn't start it, but they got ugly."
Sierra nodded mutely, then turned to Bryce. She knelt at the side of the bed and held his intact hand.
"I'm sorry," Lisa said.
Sierra shook her head, her dreadlocks swinging, "No. I understand. The hand isn't your fault. He's here and he's alive because of you."

"No. I'm sorry because I have something to tell you that's going to be hard to hear. But you need to know this."
Sierra looked up, her brow creased in concern, "Did they drug him? Dirty needles? Did they… was he-"
"They didn't touch him," Lisa reassured Sierra, "But that's because he wasn't one of their victims. He was one of them."
Sierra shook her head, "No. You must have misunderstood."
"The people who attacked the church? He was with them. He got hurt helping them fight to win some prize the leaders were offering."
"No," Sierra shook her head again. "He wouldn't!"
Lisa shrugged, unable to find the words to convince her.
Sierra sounded angry now. She stood, confronting Lisa, "No! Where's Skitter? Where's your boss?"
I hesitated. My secret identity, such as it was, was already falling apart. It wasn't that I was that committed to it, since I wasn't 'Taylor' that much
of the time these days, but there was always that worry in the back of my mind that I was burning my bridges as far as being able to go back
home, or that I was possibly giving out clues that someone could use to trace back to my dad and hurt him.
On the other hand, I could see how Sierra was on the verge of losing it. I couldn't tell if she was going to cry, hit Lisa or say something she shouldn't, but I couldn't let her do anything that would get her in trouble with the soldiers. I stood from the bed.
"Sierra," I called out.
She wheeled on me. I watched her expression change as she stared at me and realized who I was.
"You got hurt," she said, looking almost stunned by that realization. How bad did I look, that my injuries distracted her from her brother? Or was
it the realization that a supervillain could get hurt?
"Things got ugly," I said. Then I added, with emphasis, "Lisa wasn't lying."

I feel so sorry for Sierra

. She trusted her brother so much, she took care of him, she indirectly saved his life by convincing a villain to save him, and now she's going to be so disappointed, so sad because her brother is nothing like the responsible, brave, hardworking young man she expected him to be. Instead he's an irresponsible, stupid, coward and lazy young man, who thought that he was going to be respected by a bunch of murderous losers and druggies if he'll follow them like a blind dog. Sierra trusted someone so close to her and all her trust fell like an unstable tower of cards (I feel kind of poetic tonight, ok?) when she found out the truth about Bryce. Damn you, Bryce, I hope you sincerely regret what you did to your sister, what you did to yourself.

She shook her head, "It doesn't make any sense. He wouldn't do that. It doesn't fit with the guy I grew up with, ate dinner with."
Lisa spoke from behind her, "His parents were in the hospital, his home and school was gone, and he was a scared, confused kid that was offered a community and the power to change things. It's like what cults do. They prey on people who are at their most vulnerable, people who are lost, with no attachments, who are hungry and weak. It's easy to underestimate how readily they can get to someone."

"Fuck!" Sierra turned to kick the side of Bryce's bed. "Is that supposed to be an excuse? No way he gets off that easy! He joined them, you said! He wasn't brainwashed when he fucking decided to go with him!" She kicked the bed again, hard enough that it shifted an inch or two away from her.
I could see the Doctor start forward in response to the assault on his furniture and patient, but Minor, Jaw and Fish moved first.
"Guys, stop," I ordered.
They did. It was kind of strange, to have people listening to me. Sierra turned and saw the soldiers, and I could see emotions flicker across her face.
"He's not getting off easy," I said, "He lost most of his hand. I'm not a doctor, but he might lose the rest, depending on how the circulation is."
"He'll lose his remaining fingers, keep the thumb," the Doctor spoke.
"So he'll have the rest of his life with that as a reminder of his bad call," I told her. "The real question is what we do with him."
Sierra was so focused on the responsibility, the blame and the betrayal that I think it took her a few seconds to process the problems that came
with getting her brother back. I could see it hit her, the idea that she might have to repeat the experience of losing her brother, with all of the
same pain and worry, the moment he got a chance to slip away.
Dr. Q apparently didn't care about the drama. Once he was more or less confident that Sierra wouldn't be disturbing his patient, he got up and walked over to Charlotte to start patching up the girl. I walked over to Sierra and led her away from her brother's bedside to the far corner of the room, next to Charlotte and the doctor, where she wasn't getting in anyone's way.
"Can you keep him?" she asked, as we stopped.
"Can I offer him a bed? Theoretically. But he's just going to run. Not that there's anywhere for him to run to, but-"
I stopped as I saw a confused expression on her face.
"The Merchants may be done for."
"Because of you?"
I shook my head, "Someone else. The leaders got pretty badly embarassed, they may have trouble getting their followers to respect them after getting their asses kicked like they did. The actual criminals would still be on the streets, probably, but they won't be as organized. Add infighting, rival groups, greed… they won't be as focused."
"But that girl said my brother was with the people from the Church, he could find them, or they could find him."
"They're not a consideration any more," I told her.
Her eyes widened. "Because of what I asked you to do?"
What was the proper response, here? I felt like anything I told her might offend her. If I said yes, would she be horrified? If I said no, would she see it as a failure on my part?
"In small part because of that, yes," I admitted, leaving it vague.

There's no comparison between religious cults and gangs. Religious cults usually brainwash people or have entire families getting affiliated so they can raise their children as members of the cult already (so they wouldn't know a different life apart of their communitys). Like a big, fucked up community. They take advance over people's weaknesses, their own religious fanaticism or their naivety. Or all of them together. On the other side, gangs doesn't brainwash anyone, they attract people promising them freedom, money from illicit activities and power over weak and defenseless individuals. People can choose if they'd like to become part of the respective gang or not, they're not manipulated by anyone. At worst, they can be blackmailed, but Bryce wasn't blackmailed, mind controlled, neither forced through any means to be part of Merchants. It was entirely his choice and now his mutilated hand will be always a reminder of his poor decisions. I feel sorry for him but I feel more sorry for Sierra.

Her forehead creased in a frown.
"Look," I admitted, "I need to get back to my territory. If you need a place to stay, you're welcome to come with, but we do need to decide what to do with Bryce."
"Can you keep him prisoner? Until he comes to his senses?'
"I would if I thought it would do any good. He's only going to get angry and resentful at being locked up, and he'll be all the more eager to run."
"But he's going to run anyways."
"Probably. He won't believe me if I tell him about his buddies." It doesn't help that Lisa lied to him about Sierra.
"So what do we do?"
I was at a loss for an answer. I turned and called across the room, "Lisa!"
She broke away from her conversation with Minor and Fish to join us. "'Sup?"
"We're worried the kid will run. You have any ideas on what would work?"
She shrugged. "What if you give him what he wants?"
"Which is?"
"He wants excitement, he wants to feel like a grown up, he wants respect, and maybe a bit of power at a time in his life he maybe feels pretty
powerless, what with losing his house, his family, his safety, all that."
"Okay. And we do this by?"

"With your okay, I'd recruit him."
"That sounds like a monumentally bad idea," I admitted.
"The soldiers there can keep him in line. I'll keep him away from Senegal and Brooks. Minor, Pritt and Jaw could watch him and instill some
discipline in him, and they're uniquely equipped to track him down if he tries to slip away. I'd keep him out of trouble, and have him gather information and act as a pair of eyes on the street. He'll hate it at first, with the soldiers giving him a hard time, on top of the missing hand, but I think he'll take to it once he's actually doing something concrete. What kid doesn't want to be a secret agent?"
I had my doubts, but I didn't want to shoot Lisa's idea down. So I looked to Sierra and asked, "Thoughts?"
She frowned. "Can it be temporary? I don't want him to be locked into anything even after schools get going again and we're trying to get things normal again."
"It can be temporary," Lisa assured her.
"He doesn't get hurt."
"He'll have one of those guys with him ninety percent of the time," Lisa said, pointing to Minor, Jaw and Fish.
I saw Sierra look at me, noting my injuries, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. Still, she kept her mouth shut on that particular topic.
"Okay. But I join too, so I can keep an eye on him."
"I'd love to take on another recruit," Lisa smiled. She turned to me, "But she saw you first."
Sierra looked between the two of us, then asked Lisa, "You don't work for Skitter?"
"Partners, believe it or not," Lisa replied. "We're controlling different territories."
"Oh. Two territories."
"Nine," Lisa corrected her. "Nine villains, nine territories. The city isn't getting better and the people in charge aren't up to the task, so we're
taking over."
"You're trying to fix things?"

This will be a monumentally bad idea to recruit Bryce indeed. He'll suck at being a minion, especially a responsible one but if Lisa really believes that she can help him to became the man that Sierra always trusted him to be, then I'll listen her and hope for the best. Maybe Bryce will become a big surprise and after few Arcs I'll find impossible to recognize in him the stupid kid he was first time when I met him. I hope so

. As for the 9 territories, I forgot that Travelers also got their own territories. My bad :redface:

. Ok, then, let's try to find a name for Travelers territories as well, shall we? For Trickster- Tag Master Lair. For Sundancer- Rising Sun Lair. For Ballistic- Car Cemetery (because of his hobby to destroy people's cars

). For Genesis- Who's That Girl? (poor Genesis, she got the suckiest name for her territory)

"Some of us. Most of us. Some of us want to help, like Skitter there, and others are doing it because we know that when things are up and
running again, we're going to be a part of the status quo." Lisa grinned.
I spoke up, "That's the basic idea of what we're doing. You heard what I said to the people in my territory. I'm trying to get people fed, I want them safe, and I wanted to help you and your brother. If you're working for me, that's the sort of thing you're going to be helping me with."

Sierra shook her head, "I only said I'd join because I wanted to keep an eye on my brother."
Lisa shrugged, "Then I'll make you a deal. You join Skitter's group, and I'll give you a contact number. Whoever is babysitting Bryce will have the answering phone, to give you an update on your brother, anytime, anywhere. Or put you on the phone with him, if that's what you want."
"That's not-"
"It's not perfect, no. But Skitter's probably going to let you head into my territory to see Bryce any time you want-"
"Definitely," I interjected.
"-and not to put too fine a point on it, but the guilt over betraying you, coupled with resentment, and the fact that he's in this rebel-against-your-
parents phase and you're the closest thing he has to a parent right now? It's maybe best if you give him his space."
I saw the faintest change in Sierra's facial expression, saw her look over at Bryce, her eyebrows drawing together. Lisa's words had hurt her.
They'd been true, no doubt, but I had to find a way of gently suggesting that Lisa take a gentler approach.
"Okay," Sierra said to me. "But I can leave any time."
"You can," I replied.
"And I will, the moment you break our deal, or the moment Bryce gets hurt."
"I believe you."
She stuck out her hand to me and I shook it.
"Now go," Lisa said, "I'll send Sierra your way with one of my boys, when she's done visiting Bryce and seeing that he's settled in. I know you're itching to check on your territory."
I nodded. "Thank you. For the help finding Bryce, for making this work, here."
She grinned and waved a hand at me, "No problem, no problem."
I gave Lisa a quick hug before heading over to Charlotte.
There was no negotiation. She was close enough to have heard some of our conversation, and she'd seen the bit with Sierra, besides. Whatever
it was, it seemed to have grounded her. She didn't look as uncertain as before, and she had one hand extended for me to shake.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Because really, you can leave the city."
She shook her head, "My grandfather needs to stay. He's spent the latter half of his life in his home, and I think it would kill him to leave."
"If you're sure," I told her. She nodded.
I shook her hand.

So, Sierra and Charlotte are officially Taylor's henchwomen and Bryce is Lisa's henchman. This sounds very good, I'm very ok with this entire arrangement. I already like Sierra, I'm starting to warm up to Charlotte and maybe, maybe I'll end up liking Bryce too. Happy to see normal humans (without superpowers) getting minor, but important roles in this story. Makes the whole setting and implicitly the reading more close to reality.

"Grue?" I hollered into my lair, as Charlotte and I stepped inside. "Mask on! Got a guest here!"
Despite Lisa's relatively cavalier attitude on the subject and my own concessions, there was no point in spoiling his secret identity, too.
"Right!" he called down from upstairs. In a moment, he came down the stairs, his helmet on. He stopped as he saw me, "What happened?"
"Bit of a scuffle." I replied. I'd had a chance to see myself in the mirror. The bruise on my cheekbone had been a nice mottled yellow-green. I asked, "Any trouble?"
He shook his head. He wasn't smothered in darkness, so his voice was normal as he said, "Quiet. Was your errand successful, at least?"
"Successful enough. This is Charlotte, one of my new… employees." What was I supposed to call them? Henchmen, employees, minions?
"Already recruiting?" he whistled, low.
"Two new hires. The other girl's going to be on her way in a while."
"You've gotta slow down. I only heard what you'd done to take control here after I'd arrived. I was worried you'd provoked a war and left me to
handle things, until Lisa told me the major threats were occupied elsewhere."
"Sorry."
"Seriously, you're moving fast on this. Imp and I have only just started rooting out the gangs and other criminals in our territory. We haven't
even talked about who we're going to recruit or how."
"I'll explain later?"
"You don't have to."
"I want to. Just… later."
"I'm getting the feeling I'm in the way," Charlotte spoke up, "Is there any place I can go to get out of your hair?"

"Kitchen, if you're hungry, or-" I stopped as she practically lit up at the suggestion. I pointed at the kitchen, "Go. Take whatever, enjoy."
It was gratifying to see her glee as she started rifling through the cabinets to find piles of stuff ranging from treats to dry pasta to cases of soda.
Grue and I migrated to the empty room that had held the supply crates, where we were able to see Charlotte but not necessarily in earshot.
"If you're pushing yourself this hard to prove yourself to me-"
"It's not that."
"Okay. But really, you don't need to prove yourself. You know Tattletale just called me on the phone? Ten minutes ago?"
Ten minutes ago, I would've just left the doctor's place, en route for my lair with Charlotte. I frowned. "What did she say?"
"Chewed me out big time, about how I was being too hard on you, after the… revelations at the hospital, about turning you down. Calling me a clod, basically."
I felt a flush warm my ears. "I told her not to interfere."
"Well, she did, and I think she was right to. I've been a bit hard headed."
I shrugged. Couldn't agree without offending him, but I didn't disagree either. I'd been stubborn in my own ways too.
He asked, "So do you want to call it even? I said it before, but I thought maybe we could become best friends, somewhere down the line. I'd like to go there again, if you're willing. If it's not awkward or-"
I felt the flush deepen and hurried to interrupt him before he could bring up my asinine confession again, "It's good. Yes. Let's go with that."
"Good." He clapped one hand on my shoulder. A sign of camraderie, friendship, with the subtle effect of reinforcing that I was at arm's length.
Or was I reading too much into things?
I could live with it. It was worlds better than the quiet hostility and hurt I'd been sensing from him as of late.
"Is it cool if I drop by sometime?" he asked. "So we can keep each other up to date, or maybe just hang out?"
"Hanging sounds good," I answered him, feeling lame as I said it.
"I'm gonna go sleep. Long day. You take care of yourself, alright?" he said by way of a goodbye as he headed for the door.
I nodded, "You too."
When I walked over to the kitchen, Charlotte had a box of toaster strudels in one hand and a package of cookie dough in the other. She'd washed her face, and only trace amounts of the caked-on makeup were still there. She looked worlds younger, and was like a little kid as she asked me, "Can I use your oven?"
"Go for it. But I get some," I smiled.
As my new minion set about figuring out the oven, I was able to stop for a moment. Doubts and insecurities still weighed on me, but I couldn't feel guilty for not making more progress today. I'd done what I could to move forward on my plan to help Dinah. Both Lisa and Brian had acknowledged that I was making great strides forward, and that gave me hope that I might be impressing Coil as well.
Things weren't perfect, but they were better. I was on speaking terms with Brian, I was making headway on my plans, Lisa was making headway on her end of things, and in some small way, I felt like I'd finally followed through with that dream I'd had at the start of the year, of being a superhero.
I was a villain. I'd given the order to let a man die. Maybe my abandonment of Thomas would weigh on my conscience more after I got some sleep and my thoughts were clearer. Maybe not. But I'd also done something to help people, without ulterior motives. I'd given Sierra her brother back, I'd saved Charlotte. I was happy about that.
All in all? If I didn't think too hard about it? I could feel cautiously optimistic for the first time in a long while. For the first time in weeks, months, I could feel like everything just might work out.

Good thing: Grue and Taylor became friends again.....

; bad thing: but not lovers

.
Good thing: Taylor feels proud of saving Bryce and Charlotte.....

; bad thing: she feels guilty for letting a monster die. She should not feel like this. Never.
Good thing: Taylor is the best Crime Lady compared with everyone else

.
Bad thing: Rachel is still angry with Taylor and maybe with herself.
Good thing: Taylor finally feels optimistic after such a long time of having pessimistic thoughts

......; bad thing: but everything will change when the Slaughterhouse 9 Nation will attack

.

All in all it was an excellent Arc. Next- S9 own Arc. Prepare for HORROR

. Good night and sleep well, friends.

AmbarGriss · May 30, 2018

We S9 now, boys.

blackarrow · Jun 1, 2018

Hello, heroes and villains and S9 victims, welcome to the first one of a series of 8 Interludes, each one of them about a S9 members, as I believe they'll be. If you're an S9 victim, please, ignore this Arc of Interludes, I don't want my reviews to hurt you more by opening traumatic wounds. If you're not a victim, then I'll be happy to invite you to read my VERY BORING and UNIMAGINATIVE reviews

. Starting with 11.a | Worm But before I'll finally start, I want to tell you something about my plans involving this special Arc about super-villains. During each Interlude, I'm going to make a short analyze of the respective S9 member as I read through it. I'll tell you if I either find them repulsive enough to just hate them, I find them interesting and exciting enough in order to love to hate them or I find them plain boring so I'll be indifferent to them. At the end of this Arc, I'll make few lists with all S9 members: one starting with my favorite one and ending with my least favorite one, another one starting with the member I believe is the strongest and ending with the weakest member, and the last list starting with the member I believe is the most crazy one and ending with the most sane member (as sane as a member of such a murderous gang can be). Right.

A howl tore through the air. It wasn't the howl one would expect from a dog. It was ragged, with a guttural undertone that hinted at the size of the one doing the howling.

Before the howl had even finished, more took up the cry in answer. A second howl, then a third. More joining in, all at once. Seven or eight.
Bentley raised his head and joined them, his tail wagging on his undersized hindquarters, almost prancing on the spot in his excitement.

........Wow, Bentley is one of Rachel's new dogs, if my memory isn't a Bitch, right? So, we take a look here at Woof Lair for some reasons. But why? I expected this first Interlude to start already with a S9 member but....UNLESS...unless one of S9 members will visit Woof Lair, creating some troubles for Rachel and her ~~people~~ dogs. I don't know for who I'm going to feel the most pity if this will happen. Either for Rachel OR for the respective S9 member if he/she will make the mistake to kill one or more of her dogs. Rachel will fuck them up big time or at least she'll pull out an amazing brutal fight if her puppies will get hurt.

Water splashed around paws as wide around as bike tires as he landed, spraying Bitch.

His enthusiasm was infectious. She bared her teeth in a wide grin, then whooped, adding her voice to the cacophony. She hopped up his side, gripping ridges of hard muscle and bony growths so she could throw one leg over his other shoulder. A spike of bone scratched her upper thigh, beneath her skirt, but she didn't care. It was nothing.
"Go, Bentley!" She urged him. He surged forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
She could feel the heat of his body underneath her, the rippling movements of his muscles as he ran. She could smell him, like dog breath and the coppery tang of blood, that faint sweet smell of meat on the verge of going bad. She could smell herself, her body odor. She hadn't washed in two days, but she liked her own smell. She liked that her belongings and her place all smelled like her.

It wasn't that she wouldn't take care of herself. She would, just like she took care of her dogs. Just as she groomed each of them twice a week or more, she would tend to herself. But what did some scruff on her legs matter when she was treading down flooded streets or caked in mud up to her knees half the time anyways? What did some body odor mean, if she didn't even like the people who were around to be offended by it?
Barker, Biter and the others would be at the locations she had assigned them. She had given them the most menial of tasks. Grooming the dogs, feeding the dogs, picking up shit, checking the dogs for sores, cuts, ear infections and ticks like she'd showed them. She had a good number of dogs in her care, now. Most had been taken from kennels that hadn't been in a state to help the animals since Leviathan attacked. She was eagerly anticipating the moment someone complained.
Barker or Biter would be the ones to whine about the task first. They had powers. They had expected to be in charge, to be her lieutenants. The looks on their faces when she'd given them their tasks had made her day. Nothing like putting someone in their place.

Sweet, precious moments with just Rachel having fun with her puppies.

I like these scenes and I'm happy that she feels so happy. I hope that I'm not going to see all dogs getting slaughtered in the next paragraphs

. It will be such a nightmare and not only for Rachel but also for me as well. Kind of feel a little bad for Barker and Bitter because they have some of the most awful jobs in the history of awful jobs but they should not complain. Better to do what their boss lady is telling them to do than to have her ordering her puppies to rip off their throats, I think is a good deal.

If she did it really well, they would all leave.

Then she could be alone for a while, alone with her dogs. Nobody would be able to nag her about the fact that she hadn't given the henchman thing a try. Fuck it. She already had all of the assistance she needed. The best, most loyal kind.

Lucy appeared from a nearby street, making her excitement known with a noise that was half bark and half something else. She ran alongside Bentley.
"Good girl!" Bitch laughed, "Come on!"
Lucy responded by huffing out a noise that might have been a bark. Her footfalls splashed out of sync with Bentley's, and they were soon joined by others. Ink, Magic, Roxy, Buddy, Bruno and Socks. None of the others were as large as Lucy and Bentley. This would be their first run. A taste of her power. She would give them a little more each time, keep an eye out for the ones who listened, give more training to the ones who needed to be kept in line by the bigger and more obedient dogs.
But this was her territory. Her space. Finally a place where she could do what she wanted. Here, she was free, and that meant she could be dirty.
She could go where she wanted, hurt anyone who got in her face. She could roam free with her dogs and try her power on them without worrying about people getting hurt.
Which wasn't to say that people wouldn't get hurt, of course. Just that it was her territory, and she was allowed to make the call. Anyone who hadn't gotten the message already deserved what they got.
Bentley and the rest of her pack drew towards the source of the howling. Sirius stood outside an apartment block, filling the evening with that mournful, haunting sound that carried through the air.
She hopped down from Bentley's back, and used the back of her hand to wipe away some of the sweat, mucus and blood that had transferred from his back to her inner thigh. "Sirius! Good boy!"
He wagged his tail, and the tip of it made trails in the water.
"Sirius, guard!" she pointed toward the front door of the building. "Bentley! Guard!" She pointed at the little emergency exit at the side. The two dogs moved to their respective positions.
"Sit!" Her dogs all sat. She noted Magic was a little slower than the rest to obey. Would Magic have listened if the other dogs hadn't been here?
If she hadn't been following along with the others? Bitch made a mental note.

So, Bentley, Lucy, Ink, Magic, Roxy, Buddy, Bruno and Socks. 8 dogs. I'm going to write their names on the special file so I can remember in this way that there are dogs and not some new human characters

. At least she didn't gave them historical names anymore. More fun with Rachel, more fun for me. I don't think there are many people left in her territory, she made everyone run so fast anywhere they could see, taking their houses and giving them to her dogs, as their new shelters. Exactly how I predicted its going to happen.

"Stay…" she ordered, drawing out the word. She could see the group of dogs freeze.

She had a routine with her dogs. The first priority was making sure they were healthy. That meant grooming and possibly shaving them, getting their records and shots updated if they hadn't come from the shelter, cleaning their ears, and ensuring they were kept away from the other dogs so she could check the color and consistency of their shit and track any changes. Shit revealed a lot about the dog it came from, from the obvious of diet to general health to mood. An unhappy dog had unhealthy shit.

The second step was training, and every dog got some dedicated attention. 'Sit' was the first command they learned, followed closely by 'stay', 'off', 'fetch' and 'come'. Depending on the dog, it could take a couple of days before they had it down solid. These commands were absolutes. If a dog didn't listen to each of those, it wasn't allowed to go out, and it didn't get any use of her power.
Once a dog had those commands down, it opened the door to other orders. A dog that would stay put while she demonstrated with another would be that much more inclined to follow suit.
If only humans were as reliable, as easy to train.
"Dogs, attack." The word was quiet, but every dog present was waiting for it. Bentley and Sirius stayed at their positions, but the rest of the dogs surged into the building, the larger ones leaping through the boarded up windows, the smaller ones surging in the front door. Growls and barks that were twisted by the unnatural shapes of their throats overlapped into a single noise.
She waited outside the building, one hand on Bentley's neck. He wanted to go, she knew it from the tension, but he was obedient. Good. This was a test for him.
Another howl sounded, far away, startling her. If her dogs were here with her… oh. Only one dog would be elsewhere. She listened as the howl came again. Yes. Angelica's howl reflected her size and the degree to which Bitch had used her power on her. More than Bentley, Sirius and Lucy.
She whistled for them to come back, long and loud, and her dogs came tearing back through the building. She checked, and she couldn't make out any blood that didn't belong to the dogs. Good. Better to terrorize and inflict light wounds than to maim or murder. If the people in that building stayed in her territory, she would be surprised.
She climbed onto Bentley's back, then whistled twice. Come.
A jerk of the chain collar around Bentley's neck and a kick to his sides spurred him into action. The others followed, some yipping or barking with excitement.

Man, I feel sorry for the poor, unfortunate souls that she's forcing to leave her territory. She even trained her dogs to hurt them if they refuse to leave. Rachel, this is kind of fucked, you know? I mean, I can understand your reasons for not wanting human presence around you and your puppies, except for your henchmen, but you just can't maim people like this. You can kill someone accidentally, you can injure children (these little humans are very fragile and easily traumatized), you can trigger someone, possible getting a power that they might hurt you with it as revenge. Be more careful with your misanthrope way of making Woof Lair entirely yours.

Did other people experience anything close to this? Did Taylor, Brian, Lisa or Alec? She felt like she was one with Bentley as she caught quick breaths between his jarring footfalls. Water splashed onto her skin and his. Her legs pressed against his body, and she could feel the expansion and contraction as he huffed out breaths. She trusted him, and he trusted her absolutely in return. It varied from one dog to the next, but the same was true with the others that were following in Bentley's wake. They believed in her, and if they didn't love her yet, she knew it would come in time, with her patience and continued care of them. What did Lisa have that compared to that rush, this security? What did the others have?

Why, Bitch wondered, are they happier than me?
Unbidden, the answers came to mind.
She remembered living with her mother. She couldn't even remember the woman's face, but that was little surprise. Mom had worked anywhere from three jobs to none, but she spent little time in the apartment. When she was home, she was either drinking in her room or partying with friends. Little Rachel's questions or attempts to get attention were met with anger, rejection. She would be pushed away or locked in her room. Better to stay quiet, watch for an opportunity. If her mother passed out drunk, bills could be taken from her wallet, secreted away for later purchases of bread, peanut butter and jam, milk and cereal or orange juice at the corner store. If there was a party, and if she was successful in keeping from getting underfoot, she could often snatch a bag of chips, a box of ribs or chicken wings, to eat under her bed or on the roof.

So she got by. Until the day her mother didn't come home. The food in the cupboards had disappeared, even the cans of pineapple, pears and nuts in foul-tasting syrup that had been left behind by the apartment's previous residents. Desperate, terrified to leave the apartment in case the fifteen minutes she spent looking for food were the same fifteen minutes her mother stopped by, she'd turned to trying to cook the rice, standing on a chair to reach the sink and stove-top. After pouring the rice into the water that had been sitting on the hot stove, she'd accidentally brought her arm down on the arm of the pot, and tipped it all over herself. In retrospect, it was a blessing that she hadn't known that the water should be boiling. Still, it was hot enough to turn her skin pink and leave her screaming enough to drive the neighbors to call nine-one-one.
Then the foster homes. Home one, where the parents were kind, but lacked the patience to deal with a little girl who child protective services had labeled a borderline feral child. Her foster-sister there had been a mongoloid that stole things, breaking or ruining what she couldn't take for herself. Rachel had responded the only option she could think of, attacking the girl who was three years older and fifty pounds heavier, leaving the girl bloody and sobbing.

OMG.........

Yes, I'm crying, it doesn't take too much for me to get emotional and shit, especially when it comes to children and their fucked up lives. Rachel's backstory is simply....sad like that. Her natural mother was a BITCH in the purest sense of word, a drunk, irresponsible "mother" who liked only to party, who didn't give a shit about her only child, who suddenly left her house, taking all the food with her and letting her daughter to starve. I hope one day the police will find that bitch of a "mother"'s corpse dumped into ocean (possible killed by her party's friends). Next, there were her foster parents who also have a little bitch of a daughter, who was so mean towards Rachel, until Rachel lost her patience and beat the living daylights out of her.

They found a new home for her rather quickly, after that.

Home two, where the parents were not kind, and she had four foster siblings rather than the one. Three years there, a long series of lessons on what she'd done to the idiot sister from the first home, taught with the roles reversed. An education in violence of every kind.

Unable to keep the feelings bottled up within her, she screamed until she couldn't breathe any longer. Then she took a deep breath and screamed again. Even though she screamed until it hurt, it was tiny and insignificant compared to everything she wanted to convey.
Home three had been the breaking point.

Her next home - two miserable parents who beat her up for 3 years until she couldn't take anymore and screamed all her pain and ache and misery.

This is so incredible sad, I think I have to take a break from reading it....(after 10 minutes) already, I calmed myself down a little, now I'm ready to continue with Rachel's tormented life. Time for home three. Gosh, her caseworker reminds me of a character from another fictional work that I really dislike (the character, not the fictional work

) -he's generally well- meaning, but he's so incredible stupid and incompetent, even if he already lives in a world filled with stupid people

I'm talking about the banker Arthur Poe, who always takes Baudelaire orphans to the worst guardians ever

. This caseworker seems to want to make Rachel's life a living hell, even if they probably mean well.

Two foster siblings, a single foster-mother. She'd overheard her caseworker saying that the new foster-mother would be a disciplinarian, the only person that might be able to turn Rachel into a civilized human being. Bitch's opinion, years later, was that this had been a retaliation, a punishment inflicted on her by the caseworker for the countless trips to school or the home to deal with Rachel.

She hadn't believed that her foster mother could be more of a disciplinarian than her second set of foster parents. Realizing the nature of her situation had been unpleasant. The foster-mother brooked no nonsense, and had a keen eye for every failing and mistake on her children's part, quick to punish, quick to correct. If one of her children spoke with their mouths full, she would snatch that child's plate away and dispose of the contents into the trash can. Never the carrot, always sticks. Rachel was made to attend school, then after-school make up classes, with piano every other day, as if she couldn't be bad if she didn't have the time.
But Rachel hadn't been equipped for these things, would never be equipped for school or manners or piano. She fought back, challenged her foster-mother's authority at every turn, and when she was punished for this, she fought back twice as hard.
She might have gone insane if it wasn't for Rollo. She'd stumbled onto the mangy, hostile puppy in an alley between her after-school classes and home. After earning his trust with scraps of her lunch over the course of days and weeks, she brought him home and chained him up at the very back of the expansive backyard, out of sight of the house.
She had stayed quiet when her foster-mother complained about the neighbor dog's barking, feeling a confused mixture of smugness and terror every time it came up. Her lunch money went towards buying the dog scraps of food, guessing at what he needed, and this sacrifice of her lunches coupled with the frequent lack of dinner left her getting headaches and her stomach growling constantly during school. She would wake up at four in the morning to visit him and play with him, and the lack of sleep left her so tired she would drift asleep in the middle of class.

But a dog couldn't be chained to a tree, not for twenty-two hours out of every day. She'd seen him grow increasingly agitated and unhappy, to the point that she couldn't play with him without him hurting her. So she'd untied him to take him for a walk. He'd slipped free and headed for the house. Her blood running cold, she'd chased after him.

Well, I was kind of right about her caseworker making her life a hell, but I believed that it was completely accidentally, not something willingly and planned in advance. Fuck him or her, they're worse than Rachel will ever be if they did that on purpose. Her (maybe) last foster mother was even worse than her natural mother. She was the kind of woman PERFECT for Heartbreaker. He wouldn't even need to use her powers on her, since she was already an evil bitch and she'd have helped him with whatever he needed. A perfect couple made in Hell. The worst mother in the entire story+ the worst father ever= fucking <3. Can't believe this bitch left her children to starve if she believed that they're not "good" enough. She should have her children being taken away from her for mistreatment, not being given another child in care. Fuck the blind social services. Alright, so Rachel became friends with Rollo, her first dog friend and I think I know what will happen from now on. Lady Heartbreaker will catch the dog, she will try to kill him, thus triggering Rachel. Then she'll grow the dog big enough to kill Lady Heartbreaker instead. If this thing will happen for real, I'll be so freaking happy, because for what I know, lady Heartbreaker is nothing but a huge bitch who deserve to die.

When she caught up to him, she found him in the pool; she couldn't swim, and he couldn't climb out. She'd pleaded with Rollo to come out of the pool, tried to run around the pool's edge to get to him so she could pull him free, but he'd been scared, and swam away from her.

Then the plastic cover of the pool began to slide closed. When Rachel had looked to the house, she'd seen her foster-mother standing on the other side of the sliding glass door that opened into the backyard, her finger on the switch. Slowly, gradually, despite her screams and banging on the locked door, the cover had slid over Rollo's head, trapping him. For nearly a minute, there was the bulge beneath the cover of Rollo's head as he swam in tight circles, his sounds of distress muffled.
Her foster-mother's punishments always matched the crimes. There could be no doubt Rachel knew the dog from her pleading and shouts, and having a dog was against the rules. Or maybe it wasn't even that. Maybe it was the fact that she was making a disturbance at five in the morning, or the realization that the barking that had plagued her foster mother for so long was Rachel's fault. Whatever the reason, the dog was to be disposed of, much in the same way as a plate of dinner was thrown out for holding a fork the wrong way or sitting at the table with her legs too far apart.

She'd woken to her power in that moment of panic. Fed by her power, Rollo had grown enough to tear through the cover. He'd then torn through her foster mother. The shrill screaming of her foster siblings indoors had drawn his attention, and he went after them too, pouncing on them like any excitable dog might do with a mouse or rabbit. He'd torn through door frames and walls, and an entire section of the house and collapsed in on her foster family. In one fell swoop, she lost the closest things she had to a home and family. It hadn't been perfect, it had been nightmarish at times, but she'd had so little for so long, she found herself clinging to the scraps she did have. She ran, then, and she kept running for a long time after that.

YEEEEEEEEEEES, Lady Heartbreaker is getting mauled by a very monstrous and pissed Rollo. She tried to drown the poor dog, she was really fucked inside her head. Too bad that her kids shared her fate, they didn't deserved this shit. So, this was Rachel's backstory, the third saddest life story after Hannahs and Alecs (I still think Hannah's life story is the worst one). Alright, girl, I'm very impressed that you went through so many shit yet you still didn't lost your minds completely. You're strong, brave, you never give up, you keep fighting despite everything. I admire you, despite everything you did, you're a person with a lot of potential to learn from past mistakes and failures and to grow into a better human being in the future.

Her breath hitched as she drew in a breath. She shook her head violently, to shake away the tears. She had stopped screaming, but her dogs were making up for it as their voices had joined hers and continued long after she'd stopped, almost drowning out Angelica's howls.

So many bad memories. Memories she wished she could purge from herself, scour from her brain with fire and bleach and steel bristled brushes.
She was unhappy because humans were pack animals, she decided. Taylor and Lisa and Brian could smile and laugh because they had their pack, they had their family members and they had each other. Alec was more of a loner, but he could still joke and laugh with Brian. They had their pack, their dynamic. She wasn't really a part of it.

Bitch knew that she wasn't a lone wolf by choice the way that Alec was. There was a void there, some part of her that craved that human connection because she was a human and that's what humans needed. The way things had played out, things she had no control over, she'd never had a chance to figure out how to deal with people, how to invite them in to fill that void. Friendships and family, conversations and jokes, being close to others and knowing when to speak up and when to stay quiet? They were treacherous things, littered with complicated nuances, bad associations and worse memories. Even if she somehow got something right, she always managed to fuck it up sooner than later. Easier to leave it alone, easier to stay back and not try. And if they got in her face, if they challenged her and didn't let her keep them at arm's length? It was easier to fall back on what worked and what she knew than it was to try to guess how to respond. Violence. Threats. It earned her respect, if nothing else.
Then Taylor had made overtures at friendship. Taylor had invited herself into that place, that void, and had stayed when Bitch fucked up. The scrawny kid had stood her ground instead of running when Bitch called her out on something. And maybe, just a little, in some small way, Bitch had gotten a glimpse at what she'd been missing out on.
Only to find out it was a ploy. An act, so that Taylor could get the group's confidence.
And now the others had forgiven her? So easily? She could see them fawning over the little traitor. And there was nothing she could do about it.
They liked Taylor more. They would keep Taylor on the team and make Bitch leave if it came down to it. She knew it in her gut.
So she'd done something stupid. She'd tried to get rid of her teammate, and she'd done it in a way that haunted her. More than anything, more than all of the people she'd hurt, the people she'd accidentally killed, or the days she'd scrounged in the trash for food when she'd been homeless, wandering the cities on her own, she hated herself for what she'd done to Taylor. She had acted like the people who haunted her memories, using what should have been a position of trust to try to hurt someone.

I was so damn right about Rachel feeling guilty for betraying Taylor. She blames herself for what she did, she's aware that she tried to get revenge upon Taylor, for feeling betrayed by her, but she feels bad about the whole thing. Taylor was most of the time kind and friendly with her and she knows this. Taylor was the only human who tried to get close to her, to become the closest thing she ever had for a non-dog friend, and she knows this. It was a stupid revenge and she knows this as well. She's full of regrets and she berates herself for letting her anger darkening her mind. She probably wants to apologize and she feels like she doesn't deserve Taylor's forgiveness. Well, Rachel, Taylor already forgave her, she gave you a second chance, she told you this when she tried to break your jaws, now its up to you if you'll forgive YOURSELF and accept her friendship.

And she didn't know what to do about it.

A gunshot startled her from her thoughts.
"Go!" she shouted. "Go!"
More cracks of gunfire echoed through the night as her pack arrived on the scene. Angelica was there, her form hulking and rippling with muscle to the point that she couldn't move as fast as she otherwise might. That was fine. Angelica couldn't move as fast these days, anyways. Not since
Fog had hurt her. She was more comfortable like this; she was big, strong and able to move without pain.
Angelica flinched and backed away as the shots came, striking her flesh.
There was another shot, and Bitch saw a flash from the window, a glimpse of a face. Her face twisted with rage. "Attack!" her voice was shrill.
She leapt off Bentley's back so he could go too. "Fetch them! Fetch! Go, go!'

As they'd done at the previous location, her dogs tore through the building. This time, though, they came back with people in their jaws. Arms, legs and torsos in fanged grips. Men, women and children. Some screamed where the dogs didn't know their own strength and bit too hard.
She found the man she'd seen in the window and stalked over to him.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," the man repeated the word.
"You insulting me? You trying to act big?'
"What?" The man's eyes widened. Was he staring at her, challenging her? Was it a fear response? Was he rallying to fight, trying to get a wider sense of his surroundings? She could only guess.
"No," he said, his eyes moving around, as if searching for help.
Defiance? Sarcasm? A lie?
"I don't think you realize how badly you fucked yourself. You. Shot. My. Dog." She looked at Angelica. Her baby wasn't acting too hurt, but he'd shot her. He could have killed her, if the bullet landed in just the right place.
She kicked him in the face, and his head rocked back. Blood fountained from his nose.
"I didn't know," he managed, huffing out air, blood spraying at his words, where it had run down to his lips. "Didn't know she was yours. She was scary, I- I reacted."
Was he lying? She couldn't tell. She'd grown up with so many good liars, it felt like everything that sounded honest was a lie. If he was lying, and
it was obvious, she'd look weak if she fell for it. Others might not get the message about this being her territory, about her dogs being off-limits.
If he wasn't lying… well, he'd still shot Angelica.
"Nobody hurts my dogs."
"Please. I have a wife, kids."

God, Rachel, this chapter makes me feel pity for you, admire you and hate you, all filling the same package. You're hurting CHILDREN, INNOCENT PEOPLE, this is something that I hate you for doing it. You're such a pitiful, strong, interesting, loyal to what you care for, disturbing and disgusting- because of your actual actions- human being. Not even Alec treats humans like this and he's a damn sociopath who destroyed a teenager's life without any hesitation (well-deserved, of course). I know you hate humans because your past in their company was so hellish, but these people are innocent, they're not responsible for what the past people did to you, you can't mess with their lives like this only because you don't like them in your presence. You could just tell them to leave your territory, not have your dogs mutilate them. Alright, what you're going to do with this man? Kill him because he shoot your dogs, possible being too scared by their presence or trying to protect his family?

As if family somehow made you better than someone else? The idea nettled Bitch. Life experience had taught her that it was all too often the opposite. People were assholes, people were monsters. The exceptions were all too rare. Far too many of those same people started a family just because they thought it was what they should do, and then they were assholes and monsters to a captive audience.

She kicked him again, in the stomach. He screamed as the kick made his arm, still in Ink's jaws, wrench the wrong way.
"Angelica," she ordered. She kicked him in the stomach again. "Paw!"
Angelica stepped forward and placed one paw the breadth of a truck tire down on the man's pelvis. He howled in agony, his words rapid, desperate and breathless, "Heavy oh god please stop please let me go make it move itscrushingme!"
She looked at him with distaste. It bothered her that the only time she could be absolutely sure what someone meant, what someone wanted, was in circumstances like this.
"Angelica," she ordered, ducking beneath Angelica's outstretched limb, kicking him in the kneecap, "Take it."

Angelica bent and gripped the man's legs in her teeth, twisting his body further. His body was pressed to the ground by her paw, his arm and legs pulled up and away from it.
She stepped close to Angelica, burying her face in the slick muscle and hard tissues that layered the dog, wrapping her arms as far as they would go around Angelica's shoulders and neck. Just as her dogs came to trust her as she cared for them, fed them, and nurtured them, she grew closer to them as they shared experiences with her, as they learned and accepted their training. Angelica was one of the dogs she was closest to.
The only dog she was this close to. Brutus and Judas had passed, the only dogs she had been with for years.
Her heart broke a little every time she thought about it.
And this man? This family man? He'd thought he could take Angelica away from her?
Without looking at him, her head still pressed to Angelica's neck, she gave the order, "Hurt him."
She felt the vibration rattle through Angelica's head and neck as bone snapped and crunched between her teeth. The man shrieked, there was no better word for it, and others in the vicinity echoed his shrieks with their own.
She gave the hand signal and an order, "Drop him. Dogs, drop them!"
Angelica let the man drop. His shins were cracked, the ends of his legs bent at odd angles. One by one, the other captives were dropped to the ground. Each of the man's noises of pain was a little smaller and quicker than the last.
"Why can't you fuckers get it through your skulls?" she called out. "This is my territory!"
"We didn't know," someone said. A woman who was clutching a bloody arm to her chest. Her daughter beside her.
"You fucking challenging me on this?"
"No! No. We- we just… how were we supposed to know?"
"Are you retarded or something? It's obvious," Bitch couldn't believe the woman's stupidity.
"How were we supposed to know!?" the woman raised her voice, sounding plaintive.
"The howling. If you can hear the howling, you're too fucking close. Leave."
"You could probably hear that halfway across the city!"
"No fucking shit," Bitch retorted. The woman was challenging her authority. She had to respond to it, or the woman would keep talking, Bitch would say or do something that made her look stupid, and others would stand up to her. Best to stop that sooner than later. "Socks! Come!"

Damn you, Rachel, STOP. Stop maiming that guy. He only tried to protect his wife and his daughter, just tell them to leave your territory and never come back, not hurt them. Gosh, I'm feeling anxious with everything Rachel is doing right now. She's getting ready to order Socks to attack the mother, right? I seriously hope that a S9 member will appear now, challenging Rachel at fight so the family would have enough time to run away. "sighs" But I highly doubt that the father will be capable to run with all his wounds and broken bones.

The woman shrank back, clutching her daughter, as Socks advanced to Bitch's side.

"Stop," a voice ordered.
Bitch turned and saw two capes. From New Wave, weren't they? Brandish and Glory Girl.

GLORY GIRL AND HER MOTHER!!! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, Glory Girl and her mother are coming to save people from Rachel's dogs. This is the first time when I'm VERY HAPPY to see Glory Girl. Please, give Rachel a good beating from me, she already crossed the line when she wanted to hurt the mother and her daughter and almost killed the father. So, just like Battery keeping Skitter Lair under surveillance, New Wave are keeping an eye on Woof Lair. Each territory being under heroes' surveillance. Got it. And its a good idea. Just look how Rachel treats people, her methods are completely opposite to Taylors and Lisas.

Brandish spoke, "Glory Girl, call your sister. At least one of those people needs medical attention, fas-"

She stopped as Bitch whistled as hard as she could. Barking and snarling, her massed dogs charged the heroes.
After being ambushed and taken captive by the ABB, she'd learned her lesson. Hit first, assess the situation later. Besides, what was she going to do? Talk to them?

Brandish flicked her hands out, and beams of light drew into vague sword shapes. As the dogs stampeded towards her she flicked them out to double the length. They drew closer, almost reaching her, and she reconsidered, banishing the weapons to condense herself into a beachball-sized ball of orange-yellow light. The dogs hit her, there was a spray of sparks, and the ball was sent careening down the street and through the wall of a building.
Glory Girl was flying over the stampeding dogs, a cell phone pressed to her ear, in Bitch's general direction. Ink and Bruno leaped to the side of a building and then leaped from that point toward Glory Girl. She struck Socks across the head, sending him flying to the ground, and Bruno slammed into her, knocking the phone from her grip. She brought her knee up into the dog's side and pushed herself away before he could drive her down into the ground.
The heroine went for Bitch, who had only Angelica at her side. Angelica positioned herself between enemy and master, and Glory Girl hit the dog broadside. Angelica barely reacted, turning instead to snap at Glory Girl. Her teeth rebounded off the heroine's outstretched arm, and Glory Girl darted backward, to hover in the air. Catching her breath? Watching the situation?
That wasn't how you were supposed to fight. Bitch whistled hard, then shouted, "Magic, Lucy, Roxy! Come!"
As the three dogs barreled toward her, she used her power. She felt it extend outward like a vibration from deep inside her. She felt that power shudder and reverberate, as if to let her know it was making contact with them. She could see the effect. Could see them grow larger, see bone and muscle swell and shift.
"Attack!"
In moments, Glory Girl was contending with four dogs. Angelica advanced implacably, Bitch following at a walking pace. The other three were attacking from every direction, cutting off escape routes, leaping onto the side of the building, leaping down, running behind her, or flanking her from the sides.
"Mom!" Glory Girl shouted, a note of panic in her voice.
"Run!" Brandish called out her response.

Brandish can summon light weapons and can shapeshift into an indestructible light ball. Cool. She seems to be a Striker and a Breaker while Glory Girl is a Brute (I so HATE this classification for some reasons) and a Mover. I hope I got them right. Poor doggies, being beaten like this by Glory Girl

. Glory Girl, beat their Master instead, not them, they're just mindless animals, they're doing what they're told to do. Give Rachel a punch or too, but more gently, please. Even if she acted like a Bitch, she still doesn't deserve to be badly hurt. But it seems that they don't have time to do anything anymore because....they're getting scared by something. I doubt they're scared by Rachel's dogs. What if...what if a S9 member is there? Alright, before reading further, I'll try to guess which one. Crawler. Because he kind of looks like a monster dog and he probably noticed the monster dogs and took an interest in them. Finally, the first S9 member appeared. I hope that mother and her daughter already left from there because the things will become messy for everyone. Glory Girl, can't you take all of them (including the father) with you when you'll fly away? You have super-strength, it would be piece of cake for you.

She was facing much the same situation, unable to attack with the relentless pressure the dogs were putting on her. Instead, she changed herself into that ball form where she couldn't be touched or hurt, flying away with every hit she took, or controlling the direction so she could make her way for an escape route. She managed to find enough pause to lash out at one dog and shout,

"Get the wounded!"

Glory Girl caught Roxy around the snout as the dog lunged for her, and threw her down at Lucy. She used the momentary reprieve this granted her to fly straight for the man who'd shot at Angelica, who lay in a heap on the ground.
She stopped mid-flight.
A woman stood over the man's mangled body, her long hair blowing slightly in the wind. Which seemed wrong. With the light rain, her hair should have been wetter.
Glory Girl looked over her shoulder to see the dogs, looked back to the injured man and the woman, and then flew straight up, disappearing into the gloom of the night sky. She'd left him behind.
The barking and snarling ceased as the fight drew to a close. Each of the dogs returned, and Bitch noted a few injuries. A shattered plate of bone here, a gouge where Brandish's blades had made contact there. Surface damage. It was only the damage that penetrated deep, past the layers her power applied, which risked hurting the dogs or doing permanent damage. Nothing so serious. Bitch breathed a sigh of relief.
She stalked forward, her dogs joining her to form a loose circle around the woman. The crazy bitch was naked from head to toe, and her skin and hair were painted in alternating stripes of white and black, like a zebra… no.

No Crawler, I was wrong....Is....is Siberian, right? She's the naked bitch (damn you, Wildbow, you're kinky. Naked women, Narwal and Siberian?

Men! "shakes her head, smiling") who's colored like a zebra and can probably turn into a siberian tiger. Also, she probably is the strongest S9 member since not even Triumvirate was able to capture or kill her. I mean, Alexandria, Legend, Eidolon tried to fuck up this bitch and she fucked them up instead by humiliating them. Oh, God, Rachel, you won't stand any chance against her. She'll probably kill all your dogs. Better remember what Coil said, call all your dogs and run the hell out of there. You don't have any people to protect, you don't care about your henchmen anyway and you can't do jack shit against Siberian. Poor father, first maimed by Rachel, now this zebra bitch is probably going to eat him. The worst day of the rest of his life.

Paint would have washed off, and dye wouldn't be so crisp around the edges. It was a natural coloring.

When the woman looked up at Bitch, her eyes were yellow and bright, reflecting the ambient light like the eyes of a dog or cat might. She smiled, and there wasn't a trace of tension in her body, as though she'd just woken up in a safe place.
"Who the fuck are you?"
The woman didn't reply. She crouched down beside the man, then shifted her position so she was sitting sideways, her legs stretched out beside her. Her fingertips traced the man's injuries, almost lovingly.
"Answer me," Bitch ordered.
The woman reached over and pressed her index and middle fingers to the man's eyes. Pressing down, she penetrated the orbs, sliding her fingers down until they were two knuckles deep.
"Hey! Fuck off!"
The woman removed the fingers. Vitreous fluids and blood flowed from the open wounds in the man's eye sockets.
The woman turned towards her. She didn't meet Bitch's eyes, instead looking down at Bitch's feet. It struck Bitch that the woman was making herself small, was being inoffensive. It made her feel better, strangely.
Slightly calmer, her words measured, she called out, "I'm going to ask you again. Who the fuck are you?"
"Siberian," the woman spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. Barely audible.
"What the hell are you doing here? This is my territory."
"I'll leave soon. I just wanted to talk." Again, the whisper.

So, Siberian CAN TALK, she only pretends she's mute, her zebra color is natural and she have feline eyes (she's probably a Case 53), she have super-strength (or very sharp claws), since she was able to pull out the poor father's eyes (now I kind of want for the man to just die already, so he won't be tortured anymore

), she's not afraid at all by Rachel's dogs, meaning that she's kind of similar with Rachel- she have an animal mindset (Rachel have a canine mindset and Siberian a feline one). Maybe this is the reason why she visited Rachel, she was fascinated to find a parahuman almost identical to her, she probably believes that she can convince Rachel to join her quest of killing and eating people. Basically, cats and dogs.

Talking, always talking. "Not interested. Go."

Siberian looked down at the man, who was still writhing and twitching, making small noises of pain.
"Go!" She shouted. The woman didn't budge. Bitch glanced at her dogs to see who was the biggest, the least injured. Lucy. "Lucy! Attack!"
Lucy pounced on Siberian. Bitch saw Siberian stretch out her arm, saw Lucy's jaws clamp down on the limb.
There was no reaction. Lucy tugged, the full force of her body behind the movement, and the woman didn't move a hair.
With great care, Siberian stood. She looked at Lucy, her bright eyes roving over the dog's face and the length of the dog's body.
"Beautiful," she whispered. She pressed her lips against Lucy's nose in a kiss, as if uncaring that the dog had seized her arm between jaws that could crush a motorcycle. Lucy snorted in response.
Then she looked at Bitch. This time, she made eye contact, and despite her whisper, there was no-nonsense in her tone. "Your dog lets go of me now, or she gets hurt."
The confidence in the tone, the authority, the fact that the woman's eyes didn't waver in the slightest, they made it abundantly clear to Bitch that the woman was telling the truth. She was certain enough about it that it was worth weakening her position here. "Lucy, off. Come.

Lucy let go and backed off, moving to Bitch's side.
"They're beautiful," Siberian whispered, looking at the dogs.
Bitch nodded mutely in response.
Siberian approached her, walking with a great deal of care. There was grace in her movement, and she walked on her tiptoes, each foot carefully placed a measured distance in front of the other. Her eyes shone through the curtain of her white and black hair.
Bitch felt a moment's trepidation.
"What…" She regretted opening her mouth the instant she did, but it was already too late. "do you want?"
"You."
"I don't understand," she tried to inject more confidence into her answer.
"They told me I should pick someone. Someone they can test. I read about you, I heard about you. I want you on our team."

Siberian doesn't want Rachel only as her partner in crimes, but she wants her as a S9 member, probably replacing the dead Hatchet Face. Well, good luck with that, you....cat, because I'm 100% convinced that Rachel will refuse to become a serial murderer. I trust Rachel, she already regretted betraying Taylor so she'll not going betray everyone else for a group of psychos. She might be a Bitch, but she's a very loyal one. Siberian seems indestructible, as I already knew, she doesn't feel pain, fear, she also tries to be friendly and almost....seductive towards Rachel, by treating her dogs with care and affection. She have some pretty interesting methods to recruit people for Jack's team.

Team?" She hated the short answers that were coming out of her mouth, the way that they were uncertain and they put her on weaker footing.

The woman's response carried over the flooded street, through the growls that slowly ratcheted up from the dogs as the stranger approached their owner, "The Nine. We have only eight, not enough. So some of us are picking people. Then we test them. I picked you, and I like what I've seen. I've been watching you for weeks, now." She smiled again.
Has to be a lie, Bitch thought. Her dogs would have noticed someone following her, wouldn't they?
The woman was only a few paces away. The question was, should Bitch retreat and put herself in an even weaker position, or did she stand her ground?
She stood her ground. The woman stepped closer, within arm's reach, then another two paces, until her chest pressed against Bitch's body. She met the woman's gaze, unflinching, until Siberian wrapped her arms around her, holding her close, resting her chin on Bitch's shoulder.
"Aren't you tired of pretending?", the woman whispered in her ear.
"What?" Bitch tried to pull away, so she could ask the woman the question to her face, but the limbs were unmoving, more resisting than steel bars would have been.
"Acting like one of them. Playing and losing their games, decorating yourself in their clothing and their symbols, following their rules?"
"I-" Bitch paused, "Don't know what you're talking about."

The pause was telling. She knew it was telling. The woman understood her, she knew.
The woman understood her. The thought clicked. The way the woman moved, her body language, everything, she was making sense to Bitch in a way that so few people did.
The idea left Bitch shaken. How? Why? Was it some power? From the start, she'd known what the woman wanted to express as easily as she did with her dogs.
"You're an animal, Bitch."

Despite having a feral mind, Siberian is clearly a very intelligent psycho. She knows how Rachel's mindset works because its almost identical with her own mindset. Siberian completely detached herself from her human identity, accepting only her animal side (this is the reason why she never spoke before meeting Rachel so everyone considered her to be mute, because she doesn't consider herself human anymore. I don't know if she talks with her teammates or maybe she talks only if is really necessary). This is the explanation of her whispered words, she obviously doesn't like to talk but she can't communicate otherwise with Rachel. So, Siberian is a psycho who likes to be feral and dislikes to be human, she hates humanity as a whole (even more than Rachel, who still accepts her human side and longs after human company, despite hating it in the same time), she's naked because she hates anything that humans made, including clothes and will probably be the happiest one if Jack will succeed at bringing the end of the world. Damn, Siberian, I hate you (especially for what you did to that poor father's eyes and for trying to make Rachel betray her people), but you're pretty interesting to read about.

The woman gave special treatment to that last word. Bitch stiffened. The woman pulled away, one hand remaining to caress the side of Bitch's face. Her eyes were lowered again, Bitch noted. She was smiling lightly, her lips pressed together, teeth hidden. Playful, gentle. Bitch let herself relax. It hadn't been meant as an insult. The body contact was intrusive, but she could grit her teeth and bear it, at least until she figured out who this person was and how she could fight back.

"We're all animals," Siberian murmured. She walked over to Bentley, and Bitch hurried to give the dog the hand gesture for 'stay', then 'off' before the woman moved to touch him. "Some more than others. You and I, more than others."
"Philosophy shit?"
Siberian smiled, her hands tracing Bentley's snout, the exposed muscles and horns. "Philosophy shit. Yes. Touché. An idea given meaning because people think it should have meaning. But it's just words, isn't it?"
"Sure."
"Join me. Stop pretending to be like them. You know you're bad at it."
"I'm fine where I am."
"Mmm," the woman smiled, her eyes lowered. She clasped her hands together and pressed them to her chin, squishing her breasts up against her chest. She turned, taking in the neighborhood, assessing Bitch's territory. "Maybe for now. You have freedom to run, to do as you like. It's nice. But you're going to chafe at it sooner or later. You're going to realize that you're still in a cage they made. You're still following their rules, in the end."
Bitch looked around the empty, flooded streets as Siberian was doing. She didn't answer.
"Maybe you can be happy like this. A dog, collar around your neck, a fenced in territory. You'll never really understand what they're all talking about. The best you can hope for is a pat on the head when you're good, when you do as you should, maybe some companionship whenever you're a good girl. But maybe that's what you want."
"As opposed to what?"
"Being wild. Being free. Truly free. It's exhilarating," Siberian breathed.
Bitch frowned. Words that sounded nice, but that was all they were. Just words.
"I'm going to give you two presents, Bitch," Siberian whispered. "One will be waiting for you when you go back to your… what do you call it?"
Bitch didn't answer.
"Let's call it your den. I like that."
Siberian closed the distance to Bitch with a surprising speed, her steps less controlled, carrying her long distances forward as she zig-zagged over the flooded street. Before Bitch could react, or before the dogs could step in, she was next to Bitch, stopping. Siberian put a hand on her collarbone. Bitch was lifted into the air and pushed down into the water, soaked, landing hard enough that the air was forced out of her lungs.
As she struggled to breathe, Siberian whispered, "The second gift is special, a treasure for a kindred spirit."
Bitch coughed, struggled, but she couldn't move the hand.
"As of this moment, you're the only one to hear me speak and live afterwards."

Siberian is telling Rachel something like this: Strip off your human skin and standards, accept your animal side, forget about the rules of human society, be free (and listen only of Jack's rules) then we can run away hand in had and be happy lesbians under the rainbow

. Alright, without the lesbian thing, Siberian basically told Rachel to divorce her humanity and become an animal. Exactly like her. Ok, humans are animals too, but we still care about social, moral rules while Siberian is against them, considering them an obstacle in the way of the true animalistic freedom (but she still cares for Jack's rules, since he's her boss, so she kind of contradicts herself. Unless Jack probably let her do whatever she wants, as long as her actions doesn't hurt the team) She even gave Rachel two gifts: one probably being her henchmen killed and cannibalized, second....who knows.

She kissed Bitch on the forehead, like a mother would with a child. Bitch tried to twist away, and only succeeded in getting water in her eyes and nose. She sputtered as she struggled to draw air into her empty lungs.
When she could see again, Siberian was gone. Her dogs were looking up at a nearby rooftop.
Shaken, she gestured for Bentley to come to her, and climbed up onto his shoulders.
Coughing, snorting water from her nostrils, she gave the order, "Home."
Her thoughts were chaotic as she rode Bentley down the streets, a dull roar of too many things all at once, all too important to be ignored. At the same time, she didn't want to think about them, didn't want to put those pieces together, because she wasn't sure she liked where they would lead.
The gift Siberian left her. Some of her henchmen were at her den. More important, some of her dogs were there. Every minute the trip took left her more worried.
She hopped off Bentley as they arrived at the building, shoving the doors open.
Blood. Trails leading to Barker and Biter, who were on the ground floor, unconscious, still breathing. One of the girls, the one with veterinary training that Coil had sent to her, was sitting in one corner, nursing an arm that dangled at the wrong angle from the elbow, sobbing.
This was recent. Siberian had done this in the time it took Bitch to get here.
More blood, one of the boys, a dog groomer with years of experience, lying beside the kitchen counter, his shirt wadded up and pressed to his face. Around the shirt, she could see the four parallel tracks where Siberian's fingernails had left gouges running across his face.
None of the dogs were hurt. She had to double-check them to see. Most were cowering in the corners. Some had retreated up the stairs.

Wow, Siberian is so damn FAST. So, she's indestructible, super-strong, super-fast and can't feel pain. I'm still not sure if she can really transform into a tiger, but she's over-powered even without having to shapeshift. Surprising, she didn't killed Rachel's henchmen as I expected, but she maimed them. I feel bad for Barker and Biter- first getting an awful job from the worst crime lady ever, then being maimed by one of the strongest super-villains. They don't have a great day, indeed. As for the second gift....

The blood had a pattern to it, as though Siberian had painted a picture with the spray. A line drawing from each of the injured to the center of the room, where a box sat, faintly dusted with flecks of blood.

She was nervous as she opened it, but she couldn't not.
A furry bundle tried to escape, and she stopped it. It bit for her fingers. She pulled her hand back, gripped it by the throat and forced it down to the ground, making her dominance clear.
A husky puppy? No. The physical makeup was wrong. The smaller ears, longer limbs, and markings around the jowls and muzzle.
A wolf pup. Where had Siberian found this?
There was a card in the bottom of the box, stained with urine. Bitch picked it up with the very tip of her finger and thumb. She'd never properly learned how to read, so she had to work out the individual sounds, moving her lips to try to piece it together.
"Ah… air yoh… you. Air you a…" That letter, she didn't recognize it. After it was… "oll… wolf."
She gave up. She could guess, anyways.
Are you a wolf, or are you a dog?

The rule was to call Coil at a time like this. To let him know what had happened. She found her phone in one of her jacket pockets and she fumbled with the keypad to find him in her contacts. Her finger hovered over the button.
What was she holding on to? Who was she protecting? Her friends? Were they really her friends? It wasn't that she wanted to betray them, she wasn't about to repeat that mistake, but…
She couldn't articulate the thought, but it was Taylor's face that flashed into her mind's eye when she put the phone away.
Maybe she would see what this test was about. She wasn't about to back down. But in the end, she'd make the call about where she went and what she did.
"You," she told the man with the gouges in his face, "Go to a doctor. Take anyone here that needs it. But I don't want you telling Coil, I don't want you using his doctors. Got it?'
The man looked up at her, staring for long seconds. Finally, he nodded. She didn't know if he would, or if he'd be able to hide it, but if he did inform Coil, it would at least be an excuse to get rid of him and the others.
She looked down at the wolf pup, who was still struggling to bite at her fingers. She let it go, waited until it tried to attack her again, and pushed it down onto its side once more.
"Little bastard," she smiled.
Almost without thinking about it, she used her power. Just the smallest amount. She felt almost none of the vibrations or shudder she experienced as a visceral feedback on her power with the other dogs. It was only when she saw his skin splitting that she realized it was actually working. Faster, quicker, with so little of the temporary exhaustion she so often experienced on her end.
Was it easier with him? What did that mean?

Well, it means that you're probably going to repeat the same mistake you did with Hookwolf's dog fighting ring, when you didn't told your team about your little adventure. Now, you don't want to tell to Coil about Siberian's visit and her invitation to become a S9 member. An even bigger mistake, I can say. "shakes her head" Rachel, don't listen to Siberian. She's a completely animal now, utterly devoid of any humanity, you're still a human who deep down inside wants human friendship, have feelings and hate betrayal. You can't betray your...teammates for such murderous beasts. You can't repeat the same thing that you blamed Taylor for, you might be a lot of things, but you're never hypocritical or disloyal (except for your mistake-revenge with Taylor). Dogs are honest and loyal beings. So, I TRUST you that you'll take the right decision in the end and you'll remain by Undersiders' side.

As for the wolf pup, he was either genetically modified by Mannequin or Bonesaw or Crawler (if Crawler is a Tinker too, as I think he might be) to respond faster than other canines to Rachel's power or Rachel's power works better with wolves than with dogs. But I can see the pup wolf as a trap that might turn against Rachel if she'll directly opposite Siberian. So, she needs to be very careful with this animal.

Right, Siberian Interlude is finished. She's very interesting, smart, even a strangely gifted philosopher, but she's crazy, extremely misanthrope, destructive, brutal, doesn't care about rules, all in all a sadistic animal inside human skin who's very happy to be considered an animal and nothing else. I'll analyze her more once I'll learn more about her, of course. So, next time, a wild guess....since Undersiders and probably Travelers (9 territories; 8 S9 members and 8 chapters. Nobody will try to recruit Taylor probably) will be visited by S9 members who'll try to recruit them, Lisa is going to be visited by Bonesaw maybe because the child Tinker will be fascinated by the all-knowing teenager Thinker and will want her in the team. Let's see how wrong or right I'm going to be

. DON'T SPOIL, PLEASE. Thanks.

Good night and sleep well, my friends. Don't let Siberian eat you in your sleep (some boys will probably be very ok to have Siberian in their room but you know that she'll not be there for happy things but for yummy things

).

Assembler · Jun 1, 2018

blackarrow said:
She seems to be a Striker and a Breaker while Glory Girl is a Brute (I so HATE this classification for some reasons) and a Mover. I hope I got them right.

100%. Brandish's Breaker state has a Brute subclassification, while Glory Girl's aura gets a Shaker rating, but what you saw you nailed perfectly.

blackarrow said:
I don't know if she talks with her teammates or maybe she talks only if is really necessary

When Siberian said Bitch was the only living person to hear her speak, she meant it.

blackarrow · Jun 1, 2018

Assembler said:
100%. Brandish's Breaker state has a Brute subclassification, while Glory Girl's aura gets a Shaker rating, but what you saw you nailed perfectly.

When Siberian said Bitch was the only living person to hear her speak, she meant it.

Thank you.

But Siberian fought with Triumvirate too. And all of 3 are still alive. I guess she didn't said a word while fighting with them, right?

ExNihilo · Jun 1, 2018

blackarrow said:
At the end of this Arc, I'll make few lists with all S9 members: one starting with my favorite one and ending with my least favorite one, another one starting with the member I believe is the strongest and ending with the weakest member, and the last list starting with the member I believe is the most crazy one and ending with the most sane member

Can't wait!

AmbarGriss · Jun 1, 2018

Why do you dislike the Brute classification?

Prince Ire · Jun 1, 2018

Its rather telling that despite her arrogance and having having her mom as backup, Glory Girl immediately runs away when the Siberian appears on the scene.

Axiomatic · Jun 2, 2018

Prince Ire said:
Its rather telling that despite her arrogance and having having her mom as backup, Glory Girl immediately runs away when the Siberian appears on the scene.

Glory Girl is smarter than she looks?

blackarrow · Jun 2, 2018

Prince Ire said:
Its rather telling that despite her arrogance and having having her mom as backup, Glory Girl immediately runs away when the Siberian appears on the scene.

I still don't get why she ran away (or rather flew away). She and Brandish can fly while Siberian doesn't seem to be able to fly. I doubt that Siberian was able to hurt them unless she could jump very, very high. Or maybe they know that they couldn't do anything to fight Siberian, even if Siberian couldn't touch them, so there was no reason for them to stay. Btw, the only character that I'm sure will never run away from any S9 member is Taylor. Especially if her friends/people will be attacked. I can see her staying there and challenging any member (including Siberian) to fight, no matter if she'd win or lose- depends of the member (for example, I can't see Taylor winning against Siberian UNLESS she'll find a weakness in Siberian's defenses. Impossible for Siberian to be completely invincible, she must have a weakness, right?) Taylor is not only protective and heroic but she also have that almost suicidal side of hers, making her crazy enough to confront any enemy, even when she's aware that they're much stronger and experienced than her (Lung, Night and Leviathan are the perfect examples for my theory)

blackarrow · Jun 2, 2018

AmbarGriss said:
Why do you dislike the Brute classification?

Well, its not exactly that I hate this classification, I expressed myself wrong. I just don't like it because it seems like the least interesting and exciting classification. I mean, the Brute parahumans have super-strength and super-durability (I think Siberian is also a Brute), that's all, nothing really amazing or exciting about their powers. On the other side Tinkers have the most interesting powers (the ability to invent everything and to use their inventions how they want, they could either be the best heroes or the greatest world menaces, they're extremely interesting and versatile with their powers). That's the reason why I like Tinker classification the most (plus they're also super-smart and I can't really resist to smart people

).

blackarrow · Jun 2, 2018

Hello, kitties and puppies

and welcome to the second S9 Interlude 11.b | Worm. Last time, there was this curious combination between an evil Wonder Woman+ Zebra+ Siberian tiger+ A Stripper being the first member of Slaughterhouse 9 who made an on- screen appearance, casually visiting Woof Lair and trying to recruit Rachel as a new member. Rachel doesn't seem to want to be a S9 member, but she's curious about their tests, she accepted Siberian's gift in the form of an wolf puppy and she didn't wanted to contact Coil, despite being the right thing to do in her situation. Before I'll start this Interlude b, I'd like to say that Siberian reminds me of a manga character. She's pretty similar with Gavrill in so many ways-

they're both equally invincible, fucking crazy and ferocious, the difference is that Gavrill can shift for real into a huge wolf+ she wears clothes

. For those who didn't read this amazingly great horror/SF/comedy manga yet but you're interested, you can find it for free here Franken Fran Vol.1 Chapter 1 : Brains - Mangakakalot.com Alright, let's start. My wild guess....Bonesaw visiting Lisa.

Theo clutched the remote control in both hands.

.....................................

...........Well, that was completely UNEXPECTED. Theo? Max's son and Kayden step-son? Ok, I almost forgot that this character exists. I remember that he have a sister called Aster, a baby girl, and he didn't liked his father at all, didn't wanted to follow his steps, rejecting the nazi ideology. He also took care of his sister eveytime when his step-mother went to hunt down ABB members. He's a pretty good boy. Why S9 would want him (he doesn't even have powers)? I suppose that he'll the next one visited by a S9 member. Or maybe they're interested in Kayden?

For five minutes, he hadn't taken his eyes off the TV set.

For those same five minutes, the TV set had been off.
"Who's a pretty baby? Who's a pretty little girl? You are! Yes you are!"
Aster squawked in one of the little cries that foretold an incoming tantrum. Theo clutched the remote control tighter. He felt a throbbing pain where the corners of the remote bit into the heels of his hands.
"Oh, don't cry, don't cry!"
Theo's throat was dry, every thud of his heartbeat seemed to make his hands shake and his vision waver. He'd never been more intimately familiar with the television itself. The shape and color of the TV set, the proportion of the screen to the outer frame, the little border of silver around the very edges, and the 'Starry' brand name logo at the very bottom. He suspected it would be ingrained in his memory for the rest of his life.

Oh, God, Kayden is not there, right? Otherwise Theo won't be so FRIGHTENED and AGITATED. There's a S9 member already in his apartment, right? And Theo is alone with his baby sister, alone and utterly defenseless with a killer who might murder him and/or his sister. Gosh, fuck this, fuck this, I don't like this Interlude. I don't like it. The life of a baby is in the hands of a psychopath which is more than I can tolerate. Great, Wildbow, thank you for hitting me right in the feelings. All my feelings. All of them. :anger:

Which might just be a very short span of time.

"Nope. Don't see the appeal. Hey, boy."
Theo's heart leaped in his chest. He tore his eyes from the television and looked up at the man who was cradling Aster.
"The baby needs to be changed."
Theo nodded and stood. He was reaching for Aster when the man threw the baby at him. He had to scramble to catch her, almost let her slip through his arms, and only just barely caught her by pressing her against his stomach and pelvis. She started screaming.

My heart beats like a maniac. I'm dreading to read further thinking that this S9 member might kill Aster in any given moment. Theo, be blessed for catching you sister when the killer threw her at you, you're a good brother. So, this member is a man. Hmm, he can't be Mannequin (cause I doubt Mannequin can speak) or Crawler (the same, I doubt he can speak). Hatched Face is dead, so the only one left is their boss, Jack fucking Slash. Or maybe the mysterious member (I don't even know their sex do this member might be a man for all I know). I'd be surprised if is Jack, because I expected their leader to be the last one who'll make his appearance, but anything is possible.

"Don't drop her, now, or I'll be very annoyed."

Theo nodded, raising his voice to be heard over Aster's shrieks, "Yes sir."
"Must you keep calling me that? Do I really look like a sir?"
Theo looked at the thirty-something man. He wore a dress shirt that was open to show his muscled chest and stomach, and had the sleeves rolled
up to expose his forearms. His tight jeans were low slung, his limbs long, and his hair was longer and greasy.

Ok, it was enough for me to read the description of how this man looks like to be convinced 100% that he's the ~~hottie~~ leader of the psychos murderbeasts. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present you....Jack fucking Slash, or the long lost crazy brother of the actor, musician and producer Johnny Deep. Johnny, what the fuck your bother is doing in Theo and Kayden's apartment? Actually, I don't care is he tries to recruit Theo for....some reasons only he knows about, the only thing I care about is to not hurt Aster. Anyone who'd hurt a baby is officially the biggest jerk in the history of Worm-verse.

The man's beard had been trimmed, but scruff was growing in around the edges, obscuring the intricate pattern that had been trimmed into the inside border of the facial hair. A knife danced around his fingers constantly, making Theo flinch every time the blade turned to point toward him

and Aster.
Jack Slash.

"My father told me I should address my betters as sir, sir."
Jack laughed with the slightest touch of derision. "Well, your daddy taught you well, didn't he?"
True enough. Theo wondered if this measure of respect played any part in why Jack had let him live this long. "Yes, sir. I'm going to go change the baby."
"Yes. Do."
Theo's hands shook as he adjusted his grip on Aster, hauling her up until her head was at his shoulder, even though that meant she was screaming in his ear. He carried her to the changing table and set her down.
Kayden had reclaimed her old apartment after the catastrophe, found many of her possessions still there. The man never let the front door out of his sight as he walked around the living room, and was soon behind Theo. With the open window, Theo could hope the man was upwind of the aromatic diaper. How long before the squealing of the baby, an offensive smell or something else set the psychopath off?
"How long until your mother gets back?"
That was something else. That was the third time Jack had asked the question. Was his captor's patience running out?
"She's not my mother," Theo changed the topic. He dropped Aster's dirty diaper into the bin.
Jack walked up to Theo, until he was just behind the boy, his shadow cast long by the setting sun, stretching over Theo and the changing table.
Theo could feel the tension ratcheting up. "I'm going to get upset if you lie to me."
Theo didn't take his eyes off the baby, forced his fingers to keep working on the diaper. "Kayden is Aster's mother, sir, my dad's ex-wife. She's been taking care of me since my father died."

So, Jack wants Kayden in his team, not Theo. That makes more sense. Kayden is very powerful and even if she's a good and responsible mother, she's still a violent nazi who might be exactly what Jack wants in his team. Now I understand what kind of people they try to recruit. Violent, unstable, crazy, psychos people. Rachel is one of them. Kayden is another example. Ok, if I have to guess who will be the next recruits, then let's see who have the most behavioral problems. Hookwolf is another violent nazi and possible recruit. Skidmark or/and Scrub from Merchants. Alec might be another one. Sophia would have been perfect for them but she's not in the city anymore. Hannah- I'm not sure if they'll try to recruit a hero but if they'll do, Hannah might be an option (her PTSD), Krouse possible (he can be violent at times). So: Hookwolf, Skidmark/Scrub, Alec, Hannah and Krouse. 6 possible recruits. These are my speculations.

"Of course, of course, now I understand. I believe you," Jack said, before chuckling. He turned and walked away, leaving Theo breathing out a shuddering sigh of relief. When Jack spoke again, there was no humor in his tone. "Do you love her? The mother of that baby?"

"Yes, sir." But I don't like her.
"Good, good. Does she love you?"
"No sir. But she likes me."
"Ohhhh?" Jack drew out the sound, and it was vaguely mocking. "Do tell."
"I- I take care of Aster for her. I do my chores, I don't talk back. I don't make life harder for her," Theo began. He swallowed, "But my dad treated her badly, and I think she sees him when she looks at me, and she'll never let herself love me because of that." She has to look past the doughy face to see Dad in me, past the baby fat I never seemed to lose, but I have his genes, I look like him, beneath it all.
"Do you have some of your father in you?"

Jack is a smart bastard. Plus he seems to be a good manipulator. He tries to manipulate Theo enough to see if he's remotely similar with Max. Maybe he's expecting Theo to be another good candidate for S9. And if he'll be convinced of that, he might find a way to trigger the boy so he'll get powers. Honestly, I won't be surprised if Jack actually have some Cauldron's vials at him and will try to bribe Theo to accept to become a member in his mother's place in exchange of powers. Please, Theo, resist to his manipulation, show him that you're a much better person than your parents, I don't want you to become a heartless criminal. You have a sister to protect, you have to remain a decent and honorable person at least for your sister if you don't like your mother and your father's legacy.

Did he? "I'd like to think not, sir."

"I'm remembering now. Kaiser. His name in costume was Kaiser. I met him once, don't you know?"
"I didn't know."
"Years ago. Allfather still ruled Empire Eighty-Eight then. They held a big meeting between all of the factions. We stopped by. Great fun. I don't think they accomplished a thing that day. We provoked a bidding war instead. Group called the Teeth wound up hiring us to kill some members of the Protectorate team. We did it, and then we wiped out the Teeth before leaving the city."

The Slaughterhouse Nine must have been new, then. People today would know better. Hopefully.
Jack chuckled lightly, "I digress. I do remember your father. He was older than you are now when I saw him. He talked in a way that made me think he was an athlete."
"He was, sir," Theo confirmed. And he was disappointed I never followed in his footsteps.
"There were more teams in this city, then, more villains. Not many heroes. Lots of scary motherfuckers around, and yet I could probably count on one hand the people who made eye contact with me. Even then, when my reputation was a fraction of what it is today. Your father was one of those people. Ballsy fucker."

Jack is a sick fuck who's incredible smart and good at manipulating people (still I pray that Theo will prove to be smarter than him by resisting to his mind games). He's also a good fighter, he and his people fought against Allfather's Empire 88, killed some heroes then killed the stupid Teeth who hired them to kill the heroes. Stupid Teeth with your stupid group's name, you should have know that S9 are nobody's mercenaries. Even if you "hire" them to do your dirty job, they'll always do what they know their best, meaning....fucking kill EVERYONE, including their employers. They're not psychopaths for nothing. You kind of deserved your deaths, stupid Teeth

, for trusting obviously crazy people.

"Maybe he thought you'd respect him for it, sir? He was always good at reading people." And making them do what he wanted. Even me.

"Is that so? I'd like to think I'm much the same. A people reader. But myinterest is in the design of people. What makes them tick? What holds them together? All too often, it's one little thing. In architecture they call it a keystone. The one stone that keeps the entire arch from collapsing.
The weak point. And I'm very, very good at finding those weak points. Can you guess what I'm talking about here? Why I'm in this apartment?"
"Aster, sir?"
"And you say you're nothing like your father. You're sharp, little boy." Theo couldn't see Jack move, but again, the man's shadow fell over him. He felt himself shrink down, as if the shadow weighed on him.
"Thank you, sir," he managed.
"Yes. See, my compatriots are all busy with a task, tonight, you understand. I bet on the wrong horse. Come."
Jack's hand fell on Theo's shoulder, and he flinched. Still, he scooped Aster up and followed as Jack led him to the front of the apartment. There was a trail of blood leading from the front door to the nearby bathroom. Jack gave Theo a push on the shoulder, but remained outside the bathroom, where he could watch the front door. Theo entered.

I'm very surprised to see how politely and apparently collected Theo can be in this fucked up situation. This is something really amazing to see at a teenager boy (when most of people- including me- would rather cry and beg Jack to not kill them or have a freaking heart attack than looking so damn calm) and I'm starting to really like Theo. He's a brave kid (even if deep inside he's scared shirtless) but he knows that he needs to stay strong and calm for his baby sister. If he'll let Jack knows that he's afraid of him, Jack might kill his sister, in order to show him that he doesn't like weak and cowards. I already noticed that Jack admires strong people (like Max) and he'll probably snap if he'll consider Theo not strong enough for his tastes. And the poor boy wants to survive (at least until his mother will arrive home) by trying to be exactly how Jack EXPECTS him to be: strong and fearless. Theo, you have all my appreciation, your step mother should be proud to have you instead of judging you that you're her ex's son. Stupid Kayden, ignoring the treasure you have right next to you for your pathetic hate (she's also hypocritical because she kept Max's name, despite claiming she hates him). Alright, seems like Jack killed someone and dragged their cadaver inside the bathroom. He wants to show Theo his murder. Why? Testing him to see if he have enough cold blood to look at a probably horrible mutilated cadaver and not throw up?

There was a man in the bathtub. He'd seen Jack drag the man inside, had heard the taps running. What he hadn't expected was for the man to be alive.

The bathwater was crimson, and the man lay in a sea of things that had been taken from the freezer and dropped within. He was Japanese, Theo noted, his hair cut short, his body bearing the lean muscle of someone who'd honed their body into a weapon, and he was unconscious, though breathing.
"Oni Lee," Jack spoke from outside the bathroom. "Our habit is to nominate a certain individual. Then the others test them in their own ways. If that individual passes the test, they are recruited to the Slaughterhouse Nine."

...............Oni Lee is completely and utterly fucked. This is a great news. This is actually a great news. That bastard was an assassin, he deserved his fate. It looks like he wanted to be a S9 member but he didn't passed their testes (I suppose their tests consist in the candidate fighting against each one of them OR having to do something really awful like killing a loved one/enduring torture), so he was tortured almost to death. Lung, all your lieutenants are fucked: Bakuda is a zombie and Oni Lee will be probably turned into some kind of a twisted experiment by either Bonesaw or Mannequin. You'll have to find other lieutenants if you'll ever escape from Birdcage. But I remember something...you don't have any gang left either

. Enjoy your horrible downfall, you Commie Dragon.

Theo didn't know how to respond, so he kept his mouth shut. He rocked Aster in his arms, using one hand to shield her eyes from the scene. Not that he thought she could make it out or understand what she was looking at, but it made him feel better.

"I had a little conversation with Oni Lee. Found him living above a grocer's, with the help of one of my teammates. Someone shot out his kneecap, it seems, and he's been restless ever since. A few kills here and there, but perhaps a little harder when you can't walk. Need the right time, the right place. I kind of respected that, and the fact that he was another fan of knives was a point in my book."
"Yes, sir."
"But we didn't even make it to the test. I told him we had tinkers that could fix him up. He was interested. Then I told him he'd have to prove himself, he asked me how. Now, it isn't always done, that a member of the Nine tests their own candidates, but I decided to anyways. Something off about him, wanted to make sure he didn't embarass me. Told him to come up with something, and he couldn't. Do you know what tabula rasa is, boy?"
"No, sir."
"Blank slate. A piece of paper with nothing on it. A formatted computer. A tombstone without the name on it. Seems that fellow can copy his body just fine when he teleports, but something in his mind gets left behind. Once I realized it, picked up on the fact that he was little more than a robot wanting his orders, I informed him I had decided we had no need for his services, we fought, and… here we are."
"I see." And Jack was in one piece, while Oni Lee was bleeding out into the bathtub.
"So. Come on out of the bathroom, now." Jack ushered Theo out of the bathroom with the dying man. "There we go. Back to the subject of Purity and the baby… Aster?"
"Yes, Aster, sir."
"We're going to play a little game. See, the moment Purity steps in that front door, I give her just a moment to take in the scene… and then snicker-snack, you and the baby die."

Ok, so Oni Lee wasn't even tested because his power fucked up with his mind so much that he became like a freaking robot good at only taking and executing orders. Jack didn't liked this because he didn't wanted someone so stupid and useless in his team so he defeated Oni Lee in fight. Alright, I don't give a fuck about him, Bonesaw can do whatever she wants with him for all I care. But the thing I CARE the most during these moments or extreme tension is that once Kayden will be home, Jack might kill Aster. He's going to kill an INNOCENT, SWEET, DEFENSELESS BABY, only to make her mother lose her minds. This is stupid, Jack, this is so fucking stupid, if you think that Kayden will ever accept to work for the man who killed her daughter in front of her, no matter how crazy she might become. I will tell you what will happen: she'll destroy the whole city in order to hunt you down and kill you as revenge. She loves her daughter more than anything in the world and she'll turn into a fucking nightmare for anyone who'll hurt Aster. Yes, you'll change her, but you'll only turn her into your nemesis. Or maybe this is what you're planning, Jack, you fucking psycho babies murderer (man, I'm going to HATE him more than anyone in this story if he'll lay a finger to Aster, no matter the reason. And I mean it). Too bad, because I kind of liked Jack's intelligence and his APPARENTLY laid back personality (he kind of reminds me of Joxer, another sick fuck that I love to hate. But if I remember correctly, Joxer also killed children so he's a really huge sick fuck and the only reasons for me to love to hate him are his brilliant- in evil- mind and unpredictable behavior. That's it. He's an absolute monster in terms of personality). I fucking swear, Joxer 2, if you'll kill that baby.....I'll create a notebook only for you where I'll torture you worse than I'm doing with Coil and Merchants.

Theo felt his blood run cold. Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes. I'm going to die.

"I'll get to savor the expression on her face as she watches her keystone crumble. I'll get to see how she responds as that element in her life that supports everything else bleeds out on this nice white carpet. Maybe say something to just twist the knife." Jack mimed a lunging stab and then slow turn of his blade.

Straightening, Jack looked Theo over, "A pity she doesn't love you, but if she likes you, at least, then it'll have to do."
Why did I tell him that?
"She'll kill you, sir." Theo said. Then he added a hurried, "No offense."
Jack waved him off. "She'll try. So many have, and they've all failed so far. But it's good that it's a little dangerous, a little risky. It's no fun if I know how it's going to play out. Some unpredictability, it gives spice to life. Maybe I'll kill her right after I see the look on her face. Maybe I'll escape and leave her to wallow in her misery."
Escape? From a fifteen story apartment building, against a supervillain who can fly and level city blocks?
Then again, Jack had done worse things than murder the child of a cape like Purity, and he was still here.
"Sometimes," Jack started, pausing as if he was constructing the thought as he spoke it, "I like to imagine the impact I've made on the world.
What possible realities am I pruning, what events am I setting in motion, each time I take a life? If the flap of a butterfly's wing can alter the course of a hurricane, what am I doing when I take a human life? The life of a person who interacts with dozens of people every day, who would have a career, romance, children?"

I kind of want to take a break because this Interlude plays hard with my emotions (I dislike this Interlude, ok? I dislike the whole suspense with Theo and Aster) but I don't wanna because....my curiosity be damned forever in the darkest pits of hell. Now, I'm getting the confirmation about my previous suspicions that Jack is planning a butterfly effect for the end of the world. Like kill a very important person (Aster might be that person who'll probably become a heroine in the future and get some powers that she'll use to protect the entire world) and doom the entire world or break a person who might become very dangerous for the world (like Theo who might trigger seeing his sister dying in front of him and then gets destructive powers or like Kayden) and doom it. Jack either plans to create a nemesis in Kayden or doom the world by killing Aster. Aster is the most important person in this Interlude. She's the key to Jack's total victory or his total failure. I think I got it.

Tears ran down Theo's face. He clutched Aster tight.

"Can you tell me who you are, Kaiser's boy? What am I doing to reality when I open you up from cock to chin and let your entrails spill onto the floor?"
"I-I don't know," Theo said, his voice quiet.
"Don't shut down on me, now. Here, I'll make you a deal. If you give me a good answer, I'll make it quick. Thrust my knife right through the center of your brain. It'll be like flicking a light switch. You just stop, and there'll be no pain. It'll be as dignified as death can be."
"I-" Theo shook his head.
"I'll even let you relieve yourself in the bathroom beforehand so you don't shit yourself so badly when you drop dead. You'd have to be quick, unless you want to be on the toilet when she comes in, but it's a chance few get."
"I wanted to be a superhero," Theo blurted.

Jack laughed abruptly enough that Aster was spooked and started screaming louder. His laughs continued for several long seconds.
Theo went on, as if Jack were still listening, "I'm probably going to get powers, because I'm Kaiser's son. But I don't want to be a member of Purity's group, I don't want to cleanse the world or try to fix things by killing or through hate. Sir."
"And you'd fight people like me, I suppose?"
Theo nodded.
Jack was still grinning. "What would you do to people like me, then? Let's say you got powers. Would you right wrongs, lecture schoolchildren on doing what's right, and see bad guys like me carted off to the Birdcage?"
Somehow, knowing the inevitability of his own death gave him a measure of courage he had never had before. Even so, it took all of the willpower he had. Theo met Jack's eyes for the first time. The man's eyes were a very pale blue, and there were lines at the corners.
Theo swallowed the lump in his throat. "People like you? I'd kill. Sir."

Alright, I'm tearing up. AGAIN

. Goddamnit, Worm is so fucking good, Wildbow knows how to play with people's emotions. Now I'm certain that I have a new favorite character. His name is Theo Anders and he's one of the wisest and bravest boys his age. Not only that he confronts Jack without showing any fear but he also promises him that he'll become a hero (despite being the child of a villain; see, Amy, not all villains' kids become like their parents. This boy is younger than you, he knows his father, yet he's also sure that he'll never be like him. On the contrary

) Gosh, now I kind of want for Theo and Taylor to meet, they both have a strong heroic streak in them, despite one having villains as parents and another one choosing a villain life (but for some reasonable reasons). I can imagine them becoming best friends. Jack, if you kill Theo's sister and let him live, he might become your nemesis instead of Kayden.

Jack broke into a second spell of hysterical laughter, and it was all Theo could do to keep Aster from squirming out of his grasp in her distress.

"Can't-" Jack had to break off to let another small laugh pass, "Can't say I can imagine that, boy. You, as one of the vigilantes?"
Neither can I, Theo thought, but he remained silent.
"But you've piqued my interest, and if there's any reason I do what I do, it's because I find it interesting."
Theo could see the cell phone on the coffee table in the living room light up and shift position as it vibrated. It happened behind Jack, and the man didn't appear to see or hear it. The only person who called Theo's phone was Kayden, and she'd been out getting groceries. It was routine for her to call for him to open the lobby door, then come down to help bringing them up from the lobby…
She was coming up. He was almost positive. Could he distract Jack and give Kayden the opportunity to put the man down?
"I've changed my mind," Jack said.
Theo stared, trying to fathom what the man was saying.
"Don't let it be said that I can't delay my gratification. Listen carefully now, I'm making you a deal."
Theo nodded, mute.
"I want to see this. This picture you paint. So I'm going to give you a chance to make this happen."
Theo nodded slowly, but his thoughts were on Kayden's approach. How long until Kayden opened the door? Would Jack attack her? Attack Aster? Despite what he was saying now? Or would Kayden attack him and provoke something?
"How old are you? Fourteen? Fifteen?"
"Fifteen, sir," Theo said. Hurry up, finish before she comes.
"Two years then. Two years to get your powers, to train, to do whatever it takes to become the motherfucking badass you describe. That should be long enough without risking that one of us gets offed by bad luck or picking the wrong fight. At that two-year mark? You hunt me down, you kill, disable or sneak past my Nine, whoever they are two years from now, you look me in the eyes, and then you try to kill me. If you fail? If you cannot find me? If you chicken out? Hmmm… what's a good consequence?"

In his hurry to resolve this before the door opened, Theo made the first suggestion that came to mind, "You kill me."
"That goes without saying. No. It should be meaningful. What's your name, boy?"
"Theo."
"Fifteen year old Theo. How many people's lives will you touch in these coming two years, because I've spared your life? Two hundred? Five hundred? A thousand? How far will the flaps of your butterfly wings extend?"
Theo glanced at the phone. It glowed and moved again. Was Kayden in the lobby?
Jack went on. "If you fail in this, I'll kill nine hundred and ninety-nine people in your name. I'll even break my usual rules to get the body count that high, so it's something special, beyond my usual habits. Maybe a bomb, maybe poison. I'll come up with something. I can target the people you love, those you're closest to, people you've affected. Aster there can be the nine hundred and ninety ninth, and you'll be the thousandth.
Perfect. Canceling out the impact you've made in the world, it's poetic."

I personally agree with this deal. Jack is going to let both Theo and Aster live now, but after two years, he'll kill 999 people in Theo name if Theo will fail to kill him. Good deal. In this way, Theo will be motivated to discover his power (he should inherit powers from his father, right? I hope they'll be more powerful than metal summoning), train it, become a hero and fuck Jack up. I'm a bit afraid that he might hesitate killing Jack, if he'll have the possibility to have Jack at his mercy. He have a soft heart. But he also seems a determined young man and he'll think at his sister's life before everything else. Even people with soft heart can become fucking monsters if they're motivated by protecting what they love.

Theo swallowed. A thousand people? Could he say no? Could he refuse the offer? Or would Jack carry what he threatened regardless?

"Well," Jack spoke, smiling. "I'll be off."
He stepped into the bathroom, turning away from the door for the second time in his entire 'visit'. When he emerged from the bathroom, he held the naked form of Oni Lee over one shoulder, a knife in his free hand.
"A treat for a teammate, this is," Jack winked. "Doesn't need to be alive. Just fresh. Would you get the door, Theo?"
Theo hurried forward to open the door, shifting Aster in his arms to open it.
Kayden stood on the other side, groceries in hand.
Stern, she said, "Theo! I called you twice. Can you go down to the lobby and get the last two bags of groc-"
She fell silent as the door opened wider, revealing Jack. In a moment, the bags in her arms were tumbling to the ground, and her hair, eyes, and hands were glowing with blinding light.

"Kayden," Theo had to control his voice to keep it from shaking, "Let him go."
"I had a wonderful conversation with young Theo here," Jack spoke. He rested his hand on top of Theo's head. Theo could feel the hard handle of the knife tap against his scalp. "Very interesting."
"What are you-" Kayden started, her voice rising with anger, but Theo lunged forward, gripping her shirt and shaking his head. She looked down, confused.
Jack waggled a finger at her, "Don't bother, Purity. See, I've been studying you. I go into every possible fight armed with knowledge. You have a weakness. A flaw in that power of yours."
Theo could see Kayden tense, but she obliged when he pushed her away from the door and towards the end of the hallway furthest from the stairwell, stepping back.
"While reading up on you, I tried to put the newspaper clippings and online information in chronological order, and a funny thing happened.
Seems like your power is weaker some days, stronger on others. I mapped it out. You have some form of internal battery or fuel that drives your power. After going days without using your power, you're stronger. After periods where there's more sunlight, your power is stronger. You absorb light of any kind, I suppose, and later spend it to use your abilities."
Theo thought he might have seen a tiny flash of concern on Kayden's face.
"It's been an overcast week, and you've been using your powers a great deal, trying to put the Pure on the map. So think very hard about what you want to do next. Because if I'm right, and your power is spent, you might not succeed in killing me. And I would retaliate by killing all three of you."
"You're underestimating me," Kayden spoke, her voice hard.
"Then blast me away. Turn me into a smear in your hallway, if you think you're strong enough, quicker with your light than I am with a knife. Prove me wrong," Jack smiled. He waited a few seconds, and the only noises in the hallway were Aster's mewling complaints.
Jack stepped into the hallway and turned toward the stairwell. "Thought so. Be grateful. That boy is the only reason you and your daughter are alive right now. He'll explain. Train him. Make him strong, make him vicious. Let him take whatever path he needs to take. You and your daughter owe him that."
Kayden looked down at Theo, who glanced at Jack for just a second, then looked up at her and nodded quickly. Urging her. Jack wouldn't be doing this if he didn't think he could get away.
"Alright," she spoke.
Jack didn't offer anything further. His knife twirling in his fingers, he stepped toward the door by the elevators, kicked it open, and stepped inside. As he made his way down, he whistled a merry tune, the sound echoing through the stairwell until the moment the doors shut.
Theo handed Aster to her mother. He felt dazed at the magnitude of what faced him. Two years.

Ok, since its pretty late, I'll be as short as possible with this ending.
-Aster is alive which is the BEST thing that happened during this Interlude.
-Kayden have a weakness in her powers: if she's using it too much, she becomes weaker, and she used it too much already, because she's a fucking idiotic nazi full of hate, that's why (in terms of power, she's similar with Elle. Elle have to be as crazy as possible so she can use her power as its strongest).
-Jack is a very well informed person (among all other things) so he always knows about his enemies/recruits before he confronts them. He's similar with Taylor here. Taylor always informs herself in advance about people's powers before fighting them. But this is the only thing they have in common.
-Theo is my NEW FAVORITE HERO and I trust him with all my heart that he'll do great against Jack, maybe even stopping him from destroying the world, making Dinah's prediction to fail. Or maybe I have such high hopes and its possible that even if Theo will manage to kill Jack, he'll still not be able to stop the destruction. Or something even worse- by killing Jack, somehow Theo will be the one who'll start the end of the world. Which will SUCKS BIG TIME. But I'll never blame this kid if something like this will happen. After all, he tried to do his best.

I'll do an analyze for Jack, but tomorrow, sorry, you have to wait.

Good night and sleep well, kittens and puppies and don't let Jack give you cheshire grin in your sleep.

Let's read Worm and its sequel Ward by Wildbow (One chapter/every day)

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

SPACE!

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Rocking the life

SPACE!

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Rocking the life

SPACE!

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Section XIII