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

Assembler · Jun 12, 2018

Aris Katsaris said:
No, you can't. I know what you're thinking of, but you'd be confusing fanon with canon.

I want to very much warn people that Worm has LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of fanon, and half the time people don't remember that it's just fanon, that things have NOT been verified by Word of God or in the text itself.

So everyone, be highly mistrustful of what explanations of events you *think* you remember as canonical, when they're not. Yes, that includes you, random person who's reading this and who thinks the thing that *you* remember is actually canon.

Wildbow neither confirmed nor denied the idea when somebody brought it up.

Aris Katsaris · Jun 12, 2018

Assembler said:
Wildbow neither confirmed nor denied the idea when somebody brought it up.

Yes, I know. Which *isn't* confirmation, but my point is that some people wrongly treat it as so.

Now let's stop talking about this.

AmbarGriss · Jun 13, 2018

Assembler said:
Wildbow neither confirmed nor denied the idea when somebody brought it up.

Wich means that that theory is still fanon.

blackarrow · Jun 13, 2018

Hello, awesome friends from everywhere. Before we'll start the new Arc called Plague (I think this title refers to our friendly and helpful neighborhood Slaughterhouse 9, how ungrateful people they're trying to help perceive them

. Or maybe Bonesaw will create a virus, spreading it through the city, with the only intention to make people feel happy and relaxed. See, nothing to worry about

. Btw, it going to be really funny if Bonesaw's real name will turn to be Alice), I'm going to work at the promised lists. Starting with My Favorite S9 Members List: 1) BONESAW; 2) BURNSCAR; 3) JACK SLASH; 4) SIBERIAN; 5) CRAWLER; 6) SHATTERBIRD; 7) CHERISH; 8) MANNEQUIN. Hatchet Lee doesn't actually count.
SECOND LIST -The Most Powerful S9 Members: 1) SIBERIAN; 2) CRAWLER; 3) MANNEQUIN; 4) BONESAW; 5) SHATTERBIRD; 6) BURNSCAR; 7) CHERISH; 8) JACK SLASH. Hatchet Lee still doesn't count.
THIRD LIST -The Most Crazy S9 Members: 1) MANNEQUIN (nobody is more crazy than a human who completely abandoned his humanity- both internal and external); 2) CRAWLER; 3) JACK SLASH; 4) BONESAW; 5) CHERISH; 6) SIBERIAN; 7) BURNSCAR; 8) SHATTERBIRD. I think that Hatchet Lee should start crying because this is another list where they doesn't count.
THE LAST LIST -How They Can Be Defeated/Killed: 1) SIBERIAN (either by Dragon- if she will find her weakness, Siberian won't stand any chance against an AI who can create and send after her countless of suits equipped with whatever she's vulnerable at; or by Amy- if Amy will touch Siberian, the tiger lady will be BONED, unless she's immune at Amy's power). 2) JACK SLASH (anyone can kill him, he's the most vulnerable, but I prefer Theo to be the one who'll give him the final blow); 3) BURNSCAR (by someone who can use ice or water against her; I think Elle will put Mimi out of her misery, which would be perfect, giving their common past); 4) MANNEQUIN (Faultline, if she'll touch his shell, she can break it completely; Taylor, by swarming his insides and attacking his human organs; Marissa, by melting him with her most powerful sun or Colin, by kicking his ass with his super-weapons); 5) SHATTERBIRD (mostly anyone with enough range because despite having a very strong attack, she doesn't have strong defenses); 6) CRAWLER (either Marrisa, melting him with her sun, Noelle- since Coil said that only Noelle and Marissa are strong enough to start against Crawler or a nuclear bomb, frying him completely before he'll have a chance to regenerate and become immune) 7) CHERISH (Alec is immune to her control so he can simply walk to her and put a bullet inside her stupid brains. Someone should give Alec a firegun because I'm sure that he'll not hesitate to kill his sister, especially after what she did to him by nominating him

); 8) BONESAW (can be killed apparently pretty easy but being a medical Tinker I'm sure that she already modified her own body making herself immune to a lot of things like stabbing, shooting, poisoning, burning, or even Taylor/Amy's powers). Hatchet Lee, go in your corner of shame, you're not allowed to bother these lists with your presence.
AN ADDITIONAL LIST- What Choices I Think the Candidates Will Make: 1) RACHEL (either will accept S9's tests or will ask Undersiders for their help, telling them everything); 2) THEO (will try to discover his powers- either by buying them directly from Cauldron- won't be any problem for him because he's very rich or by putting himself in dangerous situations so he'll naturally trigger; then he'll train his powers and hunt Jack down); 3) ELLE (nothing, but maybe she'll decide that her former friend will be better dead so she won't suffer anymore and end up killing her); 4) COLIN (once he'll feel a little better, he will build countless of weapons, a possible kick ass Iron Man armor- I really want this, please, he'll be awesome as Iron Armsmaster

, then he'll proceed to hunt Mannequin down, not stopping until his nemesis will be ashes. And maybe try to fuck up the other S9 members as well. Nobody can mess with the most BADASS TINKER in this story and remain alive for too long); 5) HOOKWOLF (will either ask Pure for their help or will infiltrate inside S9, trying to take them down); 6) NOELLE (nothing, because she's locked but Coil will surely do something, asking Undersiders, Travelers and Faultline's Crew to get ready for WAR); 7) ALEC (give him a chance and he'll fucking kill his sister with a big smile on his face); 8) AMY (will either ask Protectorate for help or will decide to be completely alone for a while until she'll decide what to do further) "glares daggers at a crying and shivering Hatchet Lee"
Ok, let's start a new Arc: 12.01 | Worm Taylor, my Dark Angel, I missed you so much, gurl. Compared with all the insane supervillains from the Interludes, you're incomparable SANE.

The first beetle gripped the corner of the paper in his mandibles and slowly pulled it back. Two more moved to the edges of the folds and held them firm. The fourth and largest of the four beetles ran its head left and right along the paper until it was firmly creased. Each of the four changed positions and repeated the steps at a different point.

Awesome, Taylor is using her bugs for....origami. She wants to be an artist. I know someone else who wants to be an artist and maybe one day you two will meet and impress the world by making giant flesh and bones origami, wait until dark, light them up and let them float to the sky. Like a macabre version of Lanterns Festival. Everything should be allowed when it comes to ART

. Btw, completely unrelated to this scene, but related to the previous Interlude, I'd like to talk a little more about what Amy actually did to Victoria. Its pretty similar with what an insane supervillain did to the main character of a series. Precisely this one

Kilgrave was a crazy man with the power of mind control- in Worm-verse he would be a Master- who made an obsession for the main character, Jessica Jones, mind controlled her and forced her to love him. He then mentally and physically raped her, making her dependent of him. So, the same thing Amy did to Victoria, the difference is that Amy is not an evil person like Kilgrave but a kind girl whose life really hates her.

She accidentally forced Victoria to love her and become dependent of her so no matter what Victoria will do to try to control her feelings, she'll always think back at her sister in a unwanted romantic way. Amy became like a drug for Victoria, an addiction that Victoria will never get rid of until she'll accept Amy's help to fix her back. Poor both girls

"That's really creepy to watch," Charlotte said, from where she sat at the kitchen table.
I looked up from the laptop I was using to view a webpage on origami. "Is it? I'm pretty used to them, so I don't give it a lot of thought."
"They're so organized and human. Bugs shouldn't act that way."
"I don't really believe in thinking that way anymore," I said, absently.
"What way?"
I had to stop to compose my thoughts. I glanced at Charlotte, and Sierra, who was standing by the fridge, silently eating her breakfast. "I don't believe in shouldn't, like there's some universal rules about the way things should be, the way people should act."

"So there's no right or wrong? People and animals should do whatever?"
"No, there's always going to be consequences. Believe me when I say I know about that. But I do think there's always going to be extenuating circumstances, where a lot of things we normally assume are wrong become excusable."
"Like rape? Are you going to tell me there's a situation where rape is okay?" Charlotte asked.

NO, Taylor, rape WILL never be ok, under no conditions. People who rape are the scums of the earth -I mean not accidentally "rape" like Paige and Amy did, (basically, the only reason for Alec being my least favorite Undersider is because he's a fucking rapist. I hope one day his dick will start rotting and fall). And the only reasons for murder can be justified are: 1) self-defense; 2) protect people you love; 3) put someone out of their misery; 4) stop an evil who can't be stopped otherwise. These are the only reasons for murder to be justified. Other reasons should not exist. Let's see what kind of answer Taylor will give to Charlotte.

I would have thought I'd touched on a hot subject if her voice wasn't so level.
I shook my head. "No. I know some things are never excusable."
"Right."
"But as far as bugs are concerned, at least, I figure anything goes."
"It's still creepy."
"Give it time. You'll get used to it." I picked up the tightly folded piece of paper that was the end result of my little experiment. I pushed at two corners of the tight paper square, and it settled into a cube about three-quarters of an inch on each side, with holes on two opposing faces.
I directed a housefly into one hole and settled it inside, then fed a braided length of twine through the holes. I handed the result to Charlotte and ordered the bugs to start making another.
"A necklace?" Sierra asked. She put her plate down in the sink and ran water over it.
"Or bracelet, or a key chain. So long as you have this, I'll know where you are, because I can keep an eye out for the fly in a box. The real purpose of this, though, is when there's an emergency. You can crush the box and the bug inside, and the moment that happens, I"ll use my power to protect you. It won't be instantaneous, but you'll have a swarm descending on whoever is giving you trouble in anywhere from fifteen seconds to a minute. If it works out, I can make something a little more stylish for the future."
There were nods from both of them.
"I can't protect you from a bullet or a knife wound, but I can screen the people in your vicinity, feeling them out to see if they have weapons on them and give you a heads up so you don't get in that situation to begin with. If there's potential trouble like that, I'll warn you by drawing this symbol with my bugs…"

Nice, she's making origami necklaces and bracelets for her two minions, Sierra and Charlotte, so they'll crush them if they're in danger. Good thinking, Taylor, now I wonder what kind of job she's going to give them. I'm thinking at spying on people- but Taylor have already her own mini-spies at her disposition so she doesn't need her minions to do this. Maybe she'll send them from door to door to ask people if they have a moment to talk about their Lady and Savior then give them Bibles for free.

I drew three lines that crossed in the center, using the flies and beetles that were working on a cube for Sierra.
"Okay," Charlotte said. Sierra nodded.
I got the bugs working on the second cube again. "I'll use numbers to inform you on the number of people nearby. You'll want to approach a situation differently if there's twenty people than if there's five. Maybe have one of you hang back and be in a position to crush the cube, or just keeping your distance. Or just avoid the situation. Trust your gut, use your best judgement."
"What exactly are we doing?"
"For now, just door to door. I'm going to mark the places you should visit, where there are families or groups of people. I need the info I can't get with my bugs. Who are the people in my territory? What do they need: Maybe medical care, clothes, more food, maybe someone's giving them trouble? You find out, take notes, then pass that information to me."
"That's it?"
"For now. I'm going to ask you guys to travel as a pair, obviously. You'll be safer and there's a better chance you'll be able to signal me with the necklace if something goes wrong. Not that you should need the cube, but I prefer having some redundancy."
The pair nodded. Sierra bent over to pull on the rain boots I'd provided her. Charlotte was already wearing hers.
"That's the general plan. We'll work out other tasks and maybe other signals later, in case you need my attention but not for an emergency, or if you want to cancel a request for help, whatever. That leaves payment."

"I was wondering about that," Charlotte said. "But didn't know how to ask."
"We'll try for six to eight hours a day, five days a week, but consider it flexible. Not to spook you or anything, but I'll know if you're slacking. I'm thinking two hundred and fifty dollars a day, and obviously it's under the table, so you're not getting taxed on it."
"That's a little more generous than I was expecting," Sierra said.
I didn't like Coil, pretty much despised his methods, but I did agree with his sensibilities on some things, like personnel and making sure people wanted to work for you. It wasn't like I couldn't afford it. I had yet to spend the earnings from any of my earlier villainous stints, since Coil was providing everything major I needed.
"There's another reason I'm putting you guys out there. Two people aren't going to be enough for what I'm planning long-term. I want you two to trust your guts on this, but you're also going to be keeping an eye out for possible recruits."
"You're hiring others?" Charlotte asked.
I nodded. "I'm looking for people who are young, reasonably fit, and able to follow orders. With you two out there, I'm hoping others see a pair of girls who are secure, happy and healthy in my employ. You recruit someone I decide is worth keeping? I'll reward you. But this isn't a competition, got it?"
Both girls nodded their heads.
"If you don't have any questions-"

Wow, for 250 dollars/day, I'll do whatever Taylor wants me to do, except for torture and murder.

I'll check her people and recruit them without any hesitation, I'll even spy, lie and steal. Yes, its pretty dangerous, but its worth it. Anyway, Taylor will never abandon her henchwomen, this is a certain thing. She'll always have their back. I'd like an Interlude featuring only Sierra and Charlotte recruiting people for their Crime Lady. That would be a fun Interlude, seeing how everyone react to their proposal.

"I do," Charlotte piped up. "Do you have a mask I could wear?"

I frowned. "I was hoping you guys would put a more human, less sinister face on things."
"I don't want to run into someone I know and have to explain. Not that I think anyone I know lives around here, but-"
"Okay, no, I wouldn't expect you guys to go unmasked when I won't. That wouldn't be fair. Give me a few seconds," I told them. I headed upstairs to my office.
Over the past few days, I'd received deliveries of the more specific and obscure items I had requested from Coil. Among them were cases of more exotic bugs, a sturdy work table I kept upstairs in my room and five mannequins with custom measurements.
Coil's people had taken the time with Brian, Lisa, Alec and Aisha to get comprehensive measurements and hand casts. Bitch had refused. This had led in turn to the creation of the mannequins, which had been shipped to me and set up on the pedestals beneath the shuttered window. One mannequin for each of my teammates and one for me. There was also a little folder of notes from each of the others on what they wanted, including some photos, clippings and print-outs for reference. Grue had included pictures of the little statuette he had bought at the Market, which he wanted me to copy for his new mask. I hoped to have a costume for each of us in short order.
I'd already finished a few draft attempts at designing Lisa's mask, since it didn't require much cloth and the nuances of it were tricky. The way her old mask fit her, it hid her freckles and eyebrows and changed the apparent angles of her eyes and cheekbones so her entire face had a different look to it. Emulating that was hard, since the texture of the silk compared to the material of her mask didn't let me copy it over exactly. I'd used the scrapped attempts to test different dyes and how they reacted with the fabric. I grabbed the failed masks, pressing each against a white piece of paper to ensure they weren't going to stain skin, and then headed back downstairs.
"Got black, more black, dark purple, blue and blotchy crimson. Take your pick."
Charlotte took a black mask that would cover her eyes and the lower half of her face, adjusted it until the eyeholes were in place, and then set about fixing her hair.
"Sierra?"
"Not much point. My hair is pretty recognizable," she flicked one of her dreadlocks.
"Won't do any harm."
She took the second, smaller black mask. While she put it on, I deposited a fly and threaded twine into the second origami cube so she had her emergency signal.
"Good luck," I told them, grabbing two black clipboards with attached notepads and handing them over. "Come back around noon, we'll eat, and you can give me an update on how things are going."
"Will do," Sierra replied.
My minions moved on to their morning's tasks. I headed back upstairs and finally let myself breathe.

Great, nobody warned me that this Chapter will have fucking MANNEQUINS :anger:

. Thank you, "friends", thank you a lot. Ok, Taylor, are you sure you counted correctly the mannequins that you're using to make new costumes for Undersiders? Count them again, maybe you missed one that should not be there. You know, with all this craziness going around, everything is possible. So, masked Sierra and Charlotte are ready to do their job. I with them good luck, they're both nice girls

.

I missed staying at the loft, when things were easy and I was free. I was happy with how things were going with my new recruits, but I was realizing that living with them would mandate changes to my lifestyle. There were appearances to maintain, and I couldn't be seen slacking off or being a slob. I couldn't sleep in or put off my shower until later in the day. I couldn't let myself collapse in a sweaty heap after a hard morning run. I'd woken up at six in the morning to be sure that I could run, shower, dress and look like I was on top of things by the time they were up. After a late night, it left me feeling a little worn around the edges. I harbored some concerns about my ability to help Dinah if this kept up.
The pair had spent some time with their families before returning to my lair. I'd been anxious in the meantime, worrying they would have second thoughts or turn me in, wearing my costume and waiting in a nearby position in case capes converged on my lair. I'd been both gratified and relieved when they'd returned. One hurdle crossed.
Both Sierra and Charlotte had seen me bleeding, when I'd come back from rescuing Bryce. It sounded so minor, but I didn't want them imagining me as hurt and mortal when they were supposed to trust me and look up to me. What bugged me even more than that was the fact that
Charlotte knew my secret identity. I was fairly certain she would keep it to herself, but she'd seen me as Taylor. She'd seen me at what was perhaps the lowest point in my life. From a distance, but she'd seen it.

Charlotte now served under me out of a mixture of obligation and fear, but I wouldn't feel secure in my reputation until I'd divorced Skitter from that image of a weaker, abused Taylor.
I worked on all five costumes at the same time. Low-level multitasking was either a minor benefit that had come with my powers or, more likely, a skill I'd developed in the half-year I'd spent micromanaging thousands or tens of thousands of bugs at the same time. I didn't need to expend any focus on the simple task of laying out the thread, and the only time I really had to pause to give them direction was when it came to the creative input and the more complicated tasks of deciding how everything fit together. I could only make some calls on style and what would suit the respective recipients' tastes when I'd made enough progress and seen the groundwork laid out. Where I could, I used my bugs to model ideas and options, forming possible shapes for masks, collars and armor panels.
When I wasn't occupied with that, I focused on Sierra and Charlotte. I checked their surroundings, discreetly screened nearby groups of people for weapons. I marked each door with symbols to count the people inside, notified the girls if people were armed, and I put a circle on doors that they were to visit, an 'x' on doors they should skip.
A lot of people were ignoring the knocks. I let them be. After a few days, if they were still ignoring my minion's attempts to talk to them, I'd maybe give them a bit of a nudge or leave them a message using my bugs.

What, Sierra still doesn't know how Skitter looks like without her mask? Hmmm, I'm honestly surprised, I was under the impression that she saw already Taylor without mask. Like how good Taylor is starting to be at her new role. In a couple of years, Coil will be put in a corner of shame by this young Crime Lady

. Look what my friend just send me: fanart with ponified Undersiders and ponified S9: My Little Undersiders: Wildbow is Magic ; My Little Slaughterhouse Nine: Wildbow is Magic. Pony Tattletale and Pony Skitter are adorable, Pony Bitch doesn't give a shit that she's spied by Skitter's bugs, and I have no idea who the Horned Pony is but looks funny enough

. For Slaughterhouse 9 Ponies, Pony Bonesaw is cuteness personified, Pony Cherish looks like a smug bit....strumpet, Pony Mannequin is downright SCARY even as a pony, Pony Crawler and normal Crawler are not very different. Hatchet Lee don't have any place in Equestria

. Cool fanart.

Apparently overwhelmed with the requests from his various rulers of the Brockton Bay territories, Coil had started delegating some of his people to act as intermediaries. I got in contact with Mrs. Cranston, the intermediary he'd designated to me, and outlined what I needed. Waste removal was a big priority, as was clearing out the storm drains so the water could drain from the flooded streets. I let her know that my services were available if she wanted help identifying where the blockages were, or if the trash removal teams needed protection from interference.
Once those big issues were resolved, a lot of the smaller ones could be attended to. Too many problems came with large numbers of people spending the majority of their time wading ankle-deep in water that was swimming with warm garbage.
Time passed quickly, what with my focusing on the costumes, Sierra and Charlotte, arranging the cleaning up of the area, using bugs to sweep for troublemakers in my vicinity and experimenting on a smaller scale with dyes and costume options. I had a smaller collection of Darwin's bark spiders that Coil had procured for me in a specialized terrarium to emulate the hot temperatures they were used to, but I couldn't use them to make anything until they had given birth to at least one new generation. When I did, though, I expected that the fabric they created would be as superior to the black widow's work as the black widow's silk was to conventional cloth. There wasn't much room for error with the small number Coil had provided, so I was being careful with the breeding process.
My cell phone rang, and I knew from the bugs I had placed on the two girls that it was Charlotte calling. That, or someone else had coincidentally phoned me the same instant Charlotte dialed on her phone and raised it to her ear.

"Yes, Charlotte?" I asked.
"Um," she was taken back a little. "There's this place here with two families, and they're in the middle of packing up to leave. I thought you'd want to know, in case they were gone before we came back at noon to eat and tell you about it."
"That's fine. What's the problem?"
"Rats."
Of course. The trash would offer a steady diet to vermin, and the flooding would deter many of their natural predators. The rodent population had exploded, and it could easily be getting to the point where it was interfering with people's daily lives.
"Their neighbors have the same problem?"
"We haven't been able to get any of them to answer the door."
I searched the area around Charlotte. Sure enough, there were hundreds of rodents lurking in the areas where humans weren't active. They nested in rafters, walls and piles of rubble. Some were apparently getting courageous enough to venture into people's living spaces, climbing onto tables and into discarded clothes and beds.
No wonder they wanted to leave.
"Tell them to step outside. If they hesitate, warn them they might get hurt. They won't, but it'll make them move."
"Okay."
I hung up, then hurried to pull on my costume, donning latex rubber socks before pulling on the leggings. At the same time, I gathered a swarm near the rat house. I began a systematic attack against the rodents there. Bees, wasps, hornets, fire ants, regular ants, mosquitoes, biting flies and spiders gathered and began attacking the rats furthest from the house and began steadily working their way inward. Some rats fought or ran, but more bugs gathered each second.

Merciless but fair Crime Lady and now merciless and professional Rat Exterminator. Nice evolution, Skitter. Yeah, kill all the rats, they're good only at spreading diseases and...plagues (so the title have to do with rats? That would be too easy. I think S9 will manage to capture few rats and contaminate them with some fucked up viruses. Then release them in the territories who don't belong to their candidates only to have fun seeing people being infected). Skitter, don't let a single rat to escape, otherwise there would be troubles. And check those mannequins again, I still feel uneasy thinking at them.

I hurried out the door and took my shortcut through the false storm drain to the beach. Drawing a host of bugs around myself, I headed toward the rat house with long strides.
The compartment of armor at my back buzzed, and I reached back to retrieve my cell phone. It was Grue:
can I come by?
I quickly replied:
On errand. Don't come to my place. Meet me at Bayview and Clover. Not too far from our old place.
It was only a moment before I got a reply:
got it. am already otw. close.
So he was already on the way when he called? I wasn't sure what to think about that. It suggested it was a social call with the assumption I would be okay with it, which I didn't mind, but that didn't really fit his personality. More likely there was something that he wanted to discuss with me in person.
The rats died at the hands of my bugs, thoroughly poisoned or envenomed, or even eaten alive by the ones that bit repeatedly and didn't even bother to chew or swallow the flesh. It wasn't a fast job, as there were hundreds of the rodents and they were surprisingly tenacious. I wanted to be thorough.
It took me eight or so minutes to arrive, with the roundabout route I had to take to get from my lair to the beach and then back over toward the Docks. A heavy cloud of bugs surrounded the house, and a group of eight people of different ages were clustered on the far side of the street, watching the scene like they were watching their house burn down. Sierra and Charlotte stood apart from the huddle, a short distance away.
I covered my approach with a cloud of bugs and slow, quiet footsteps. Nobody noticed me arrive.

"Just a minute or two longer," I said. Charlotte and some of the family members jumped.
"You," a man who might have been the patriarch of one of the families pointed at me, "You did this!"
"Yes," I answered him.
"Is this some sort of game to you!? We were prepared to leave, and you keep us from getting our things? Add another infestation to the one that's already there!?"
"She's just trying to help!" Charlotte said, with a tone like she wasn't expecting to be listened to. I got the impression she'd tried convincing him earlier. I raised one hand to stop her. It was better if I handled this myself.
The man drew himself up a fraction, "No reply, huh? I'd punch you right here, right now, if I thought you'd give me a fair, no-powers fight."
Irritated, I told him, "Count backwards from a hundred. If you still want to when you're done, I'll give you that fight."
He set his jaw stubbornly, refusing me the courtesy of a countdown.
Ignoring him, I looked at a young boy in the group. Eight or nine years old, "What's your name?"
He looked up at his mother, then at me, "R.J."
"R.J. Can you count to a hundred?"
"Of course," he looked offended at the idea that he couldn't.
"Show me."
"One, two, three…"

I wonder why Grue wants to meet. Maybe Bitch decided: fuck S9's tests and told Undersiders about Siberian's visit and little gift or Coil declared war against S9 because he can't lose his City to a gang of lunatics and called Undersiders and Travelers, as I predicted earlier? Anyway, I suppose its going to be important, Grue is not the person who make a fuss over an insignificant situation. The head of the family kind of piss me off, he treats Skitter like she's his family's enemy, not someone who genuinely wants to help them. They should not leave because they'll never find anywhere a safer place than in Skitter Lair, especially with S9 roaming around. Skitter protects and help them, feed and give them medicine, what else they want? Some people are so damn difficult. If you ask me, YES, I'd rather prefer the protection of a villain like Skitter than a certain death.

Only a small fraction of the rats were left. The largest mass of them had been herded into a corner by the swarm, and in their panic they had done nearly as much damage to each other as they were doing to the bugs. Stragglers remained elsewhere, but as good as they were at navigating the nooks and small spaces of the house, the bugs were just as good, organized by my will, and they vastly outnumbered the rodents.
"Thirty-one, thirty-two…"
Before the last of the rats were dead, I began organizing roaches and other sturdier bugs to have them cart the dead rats away. I filled the corners of the stairs with massed insect bodies, until it was more like a ramp than a set of steps. I stepped up to the house to open the door and let the swarm start bringing the dead rats outdoors.
"Seventy-seven, seventy-eight, seventy-nine…"
I knew I wouldn't quite have enough time to clear out the entire house of the rat corpses, so I cheated by hauling the rats through the walls, into the unoccupied neighbor's residence and out the kitchen window at the back of that building. The last of my bugs left the sky around the house. I timed the arrival of the last few dead rats with the end of R.J.'s countdown.
"So many," Charlotte gasped, as she saw the three or four hundred rats held high by the swarm. Judging by the family's expressions, they hadn't known how many rats they'd had nesting inside their home.
Turning to the dad, I told him, "Your rat problem is dealt with, and nearly all of the bugs are gone. Some of my swarm will remain so I can keep an eye out for any future infestations, but you won't see them. Now, if you still want to swing at me, I'm okay to go a round or two. No powers."
His mouth twisted in a scowl, but he didn't move to attack me.

Walking over to Sierra and Charlotte, I quietly asked them, "Would I be right if I guessed he wasn't the one who asked for help?"
"Yeah," Sierra said, "She did."
Sierra pointed at the woman who was protectively clutching R.J.'s shoulders.
"Is this satisfactory?" I asked the woman, raising my voice. "The dead rats will be cleared out of the area in a few minutes."
"They're really gone? They won't come back?"
"They're gone, and they won't come back until someone forces me to move out of this territory."
"Thank you," she said. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something else, then stopped.
Well, at least the mom thanked me.
"You'll want to sterilize the place. Rubber gloves, bleach. Boil or replace every dish, every piece of silverware, toothbrushes, linens and clothes."
"We don't really have the ability to do all that. We don't have much money, let alone those things. Stores aren't exactly open, and we don't have
running water or electricity either."
Geez. "What have you been drinking?"
"We have a rain barrel and we have a water collector on the roof that came with the supply kit."
That's not good enough for this many people. "Do you have a propane tank? One should have come with the supply kit."
"It's nearly empty. We've been using the propane to cook rice, but we don't have measuring cups, and if we use too much water, it takes too long to cook, and so we're running out of the gas."
She sounded so tired. Getting by with eight people in one household and no facilities would be such a chore. Add the stress of rats getting into the food, tearing at sheets to get material for nests, crawling on them as they slept? I didn't know how she'd coped.
I hoped my dad's situation was better.

Ok, these people have their own problems, too many individuals living in a single house without facilities. But Skitter can help them, right? She can take care of their needs, she have Coil's unlimited resources, after all. So, they have to remain there, if they leave, will be worse for them. Well, there's still Tale Lair, but Tattletale have already a lot of people to handle, especially Bryce, and I don't think she'll be thrilled if Skitter will send her more.

"Make a note," I ordered Sierra, "If these people are having trouble, it's easily possible others are in similar straits. We'll want a fresh set of supplies going out to everyone in my territory. For this family, a delivery of cleaning supplies; bleach, rubber gloves. They'll want some new clothes, you can get their sizes after I leave. Supplies, of course, and containers to keep the food in. Tupperware. We'll arrange for a doctor to come by and check them for bites, scratches and infections. Standard inoculations. The doctor will know how to handle that stuff better than we do." Hopefully.

"Okay."
"And measuring cups." I smiled behind my mask.
"We can't pay you back for this, even if you give us a loan, we won't be able to." the mom said.
So they were assuming I was putting myself in some loan shark role. Get them indebted to me, leech them for cash.
"It's on the house," I waved her off.
"Thank you," she said, again. I felt bad for feeling the way I did, but I thought her gratitude was a little muted for what I was giving her.
I could sense Grue a block away, my bugs settling on his helmet, unable to see as they got close. I could feel that faint push of the darkness billowing away from him. He'd been watching for a minute or two.
"If there's nothing else that's pressing?" I asked.
Silence, a few shaken heads. I turned to go and meet Grue where he stood at the corner of one building.
"Taking up a side business in extermination?" he asked me. I thought I detected a note of humor in his voice.
"Assisting my people. Some goodwill will help when I'm more firmly in power here." I couldn't help but sound a mite defensive.
"Yep. That guy over there will be singing your praises."
I looked over my shoulder at the 'dad' who'd been giving me a hard time. He was ignoring Sierra and Charlotte, who were talking to the larger group of people. Instead, he watched the bugs cart the dead rats down the street, as if he thought I would slack on the job.
"I don't understand people sometimes."
"My guess? When everything went to hell, he told himself he'd be the 'man' for his family. Take charge, provide, protect. He failed. Then some little girl waltzes in and takes care of all that all at once?"
"Little girl?"
"You know what I mean. Look at it from his perspective."
"What if I recruited him? Gave him the opportunity and the power to help others?"
"He'd be intolerable. I mean, sure, things would get better in the short-term. But over the long haul? You'd wind up with someone who criticizes every last thing you do, every last call you make, to make himself feel better about the fact that he isn't the one in control, the one calling the shots."
"Fuck," I said. "I thought you said you weren't good with people."
"I'm not good with girls, mainly. Guys? Or 'manly' guys like him? I've met enough people like him in the gyms with my dad, in fighting classes."
"Guys and girls aren't that different."
"Aren't we? Look at our group. Regent and I are going on the offensive. I've got Aisha and I making constant, coordinated attacks against enemies in my territory, terrorizing groups with attacks from the cover of my darkness, or from someone they can't even remember fighting. Regent's got a squad of Coil's soldiers with him, and he's tracking and kidnapping the leaders of enemy groups and gangs, using his power to control them and then having them sabotage their own operations, or start fights with other groups that leave both almost totally wiped out.
Then he cleans up the mess."
"And us girls?"
"Lisa's running the shelter, and she says she's doing it to get more info, but I think she doesn't mind how it connects her to the community there, either. You, too, are almost nurturing in how you're treating the people in your territory. And you're acting like you're getting that aspiring superhero thing out of your system. Or entrenched deeper into it. I can't tell."
I didn't like that he was mentioning that. Sore spot for both of us. "Just following my instincts."
"And maybe pushing yourself a little too hard, too fast in the process."
"Mmm," I offered a noncommittal response. I could have asked how Bitch fit into his interpretation of events, but I already knew the answer. Normal rules didn't apply to her. "I think all this ties more closely into how our individual powers work than it does to gender."
"Maybe. But… no," he changed his mind after thinking for a second. "I think both you and Lisa could be a lot more aggressive. It kind of worries me that you aren't."
"Worries you?"
"If you aren't taking out the other gangs in your territory and turning a profit, why should Coil bother keeping you there?"

Ok, ok, ok, so this is the reason why Grue wanted to meet? Because he wanted to tell Skitter that she kind of sucks playing her Crime Lady's role? Hmmm, I believed that it was something more important than this. Ok, I hope that I'm not going to offend people here by going into differences between men and women debate, so I'll try to be as objective and reasonable as possible. Grue is right in his own way, Skitter and Tattletale are right in their own ways. Grue is a boy, he's naturally more aggressive, action oriented, pragmatic, dynamic and get the shit done faster (I think that some men here agree with me- and some women will throw virtual eggs in my head

) so this is the reason why he and Regent (who despite looking so damn feminine, is still a guy mainly) are so quick to fuck everyone's days and nights and get rid of gangs. Bitch doesn't matter because she's...Bitch, indeed. While Skitter and Tattletale are more emotional persons, less action oriented (Skitter can be VERY action oriented but only if its necessary, not all the time), they appear more passive but they're better at planning on long term than the boys (now boys are going to throw virtual eggs at me

): Tattletale already have a spy network that Grue don't ever dare to dream at and Skitter will have in no time (I'm sure about) an entire gang formed from people she's now recruiting. They'll get their shit done, slower than boys, but better. We're talking here about motherfuckers like Lady Holmes and the Queen of Thousands of Eyes and Ears. Coil doesn't give a shit anyway as long as everyone are doing their jobs.

"First of all, I'm totally prepared to squash any troublemakers the second they make themselves known around here."
"Assuming you can find them."
"I can. Second of all, Coil didn't say a thing about turning a profit. He has money. Scads."
"He has his own money. Money that he has to devote time and attention to earning. If your territory never starts earning for him and just becomes some black hole that sucks up tens of thousands of dollars of his money each week, you think he's going to be okay with that?"

"What do you want me to do? That doesn't involve taking protection money or peddling drugs?"
"Those would be your biggest revenue streams."
"I'm taking control like he wanted me to. Faster than the rest of you."
"But you're not leaving yourself in a position to do anything with that control."
"I can get all of the people in my territory onto Coil's side. And I have over three hundred and fifty thousand dollars I can put towards infrastructure here."
"That's not as much as you might think it is, when you're talking about this much territory."
"No, but it's something. Look, Coil's a proud guy. He said it himself. He'd be upset if he took over the city and it wasn't better than it was before.
I've got the old Boardwalk here. I can help set that going again. I've also got the Docks, here. A part of it. If I can improve things here, if I can
take this place and make it better than it's been in decades, wouldn't that be a feather in his cap?"
"Even if things went smoothly, that's not going to happen fast, and it's not going to be easy."
Not fast. Grue had been pretty merciless in trying to poke holes in my approach, but the realization that he was right on that score was like a punch in the gut. "If I can show Coil I'm making headway…"
Even I wasn't convincing myself. Coil wouldn't give Dinah up for something as minor as a good start. I think Grue noticed my dejection.
"I'm sorry if I'm being hard on you," Grue settled one hand on the armor of my shoulder.
"No. You're right. I've been thinking too short-term."
"I really did want to come by and talk about less serious things. It's a shame we can't."
"We have time to do that, don't we? We could go back to my lair, hang. I can show you what I've got done on your new costume, and we could talk about the mask," I suggested.
He shook his head. "No. What I meant was that I'd hoped to spend todaytalking about that stuff. But we're not going to get the chance. Something more serious has come up."
"Oh hell." My initial suspicions had been right. This wasn't a social call.
"Regent got a visit from one of the Slaughterhouse Nine last night. So did Coil, though the man is quiet on details. Coil's also reporting that Hookwolf got a visit on Tuesday, and one of Coil's undercover operatives died in the ensuing carnage. The PRT office downtown also got hit, according to Tattletale…"

I think Grue is also protective towards Skitter- he's afraid that if she'll not gain profit for Coil (who have limitless money anyway and I'm sure he doesn't care about Skitter Lair's profit; all he cares is for the City to become his), Coil might find her useless and get rid of her (in any way he'd like). I don't think Grue is unfair or underestimate her, he's just afraid that something bad might happen to his "sister" Skitter. Grue is just a protective big "brother" and I personally like this. Skitter sees what she WANTS to see, ignoring Grue's true reason for apparently patronizing her- his need to protect people he cares for. So, the reason behind Grue's visit is not to talk about differences between sexes but about Regent, Hookwolf and Coil being visited by S9 members. It looks like Bitch didn't said a word about Siberian. Please, Bitch, don't be a Bitch and fuck things up for everyone, ok? S9 is NOT something you want to be part of, no matter what your dog half of the brains tells you.

"They're active."
"Yeah. More to the point, they're recruiting. Looking for a ninth to round out their group. Regent was one candidate."

"Who was the other, at Coil's?"
"Coil isn't saying. We think, with Tattletale's educated guess helping us out, that Hookwolf might have been another possible recruit."
"And at the PRT offices? Shadow Stalker?"
"As good a guess as any. We're not sure where she wound up."
"So what does this mean?"
"It means Hookwolf is calling together a meeting of the local powers that be. Crook, criminal, mercenary and warlord. We have to decide if we want to go."
"He was one of the people they visited."
"He was. Which means this could be a trap. Some kind of grand slaughter to commemorate his joining the group. Taking out the other
prospective members in the process, like Regent."
"Or it could be a target for the Slaughterhouse Nine to attack. Create chaos, maximum bloodshed, the kind of stuff that gets attention. They'd be killing some of their possible recruits, but that'd suit them, being unpredictable, never letting you think you're safe."
Grue nodded.
"At the same time, if we don't go, it's crucial info that we're missing out on." I thought aloud. "What does Dinah say?"
"Her power is out of commission after the attack on Coil's base, apparently."
"So we're flying blind, with only Coil's power to back us up."
"Whatever it is."
"Whatever it is." I echoed him, feeling bad for the dishonesty and my lack of disclosure. "What do Coil and Tattletale have to say about the meeting?"
"Coil wants everyone present. Tattletale thinks Hookwolf is on the up and up, but he's only one of the potential problems that could come up."
I thought of the others who would be at the meeting. "Like the fact that Skidmark is one of the local powers. Or he is if he's managed to recuperate rep-wise from the ass kicking that Faultline gave him. He's not exactly the type to keep to the truce at the meeting. An unpredictable element."
"Yeah."
"But if Tattletale is right, and Hookwolf isn't on the side of the Slaughterhouse Nine, if we can trust Skidmark to have the basic common sense to back the rest of us up if they attack-"
Brian turned toward me, and I could imagine him giving me an 'are you serious?' look behind his visor.
"-Or at least not get in our way," I corrected myself. "We could fight back, if it wound up being most of the villain groups against the Nine. Our group's powersets lend themselves to slipping away if that went sour, and Tattletale might be able to sense trouble before it hit us."
"You're talking like you want to do this."
"I do. Kind of. If all the top villains of the city attend and we don't, are we really doing ourselves any favors? Our rep will take a nosedive, we'll be out of the loop, and there's nothing saying we wouldn't be targeted by the Nine all the same if we sit it out."
"Why do I get the feeling your decision here is motivated by your rushed attempts to get more control, more rep and finish this phase of our territory grab as soon as possible?"
"Because it is."
He sighed, and the sound was eerie, altered by his darkness. "To think I used to like that you were hardcore serious about the supervillain thing."
That touched on that sensitive subject again. My original motivations, my act, such as it was back then. I turned the subject of our debate back to the meeting. "What do you think? If it was up to you and you alone, would you want us to go?"
"No. But it isn't up to me and me alone. When I weigh everything in my head, including the risk of our groups spending time fighting and arguing on the subject when we could be organizing and putting measures in place to protect our territory in our absence? I think it makes more sense to accept it and go with the flow."
"When is the meeting?"
"With a situation this critical? There's no time to waste. Tonight."

Better to fly blind than torturing Dinah again, Skitter. Besides, its more exciting and interesting for us, the readers, all the shit you'll go through by fighting blindly against S9

(told you I have a sadistic streak that I'm not afraid to show it). I don't trust Hookwolf and his meeting. What if he'll lure everyone in a trap so he can show S9 that he's a trustful candidate? I mean, he wants to be the mole. In order to be more convincing, he can set a trap for Undersiders+ Travelers+Coil+ Merchants and try to fuck them up to win Jack's trust and admiration. Yes, not even Tattletale trusts him so I have to agree with her. There's something off about Hookwolf and I have a bad feeling about this meeting. As for you, Grue, shut up! You wanted Skitter to be a terrifying villain and now that she's a terrifying villain you're not very happy about. Boys...boys..."shakes her head, grinning".

Good night and sleep, my boys and girls, see you tomorrow.

blackarrow · Jun 13, 2018

Aris Katsaris said:
Yes, I know. Which *isn't* confirmation, but my point is that some people wrongly treat it as so.

Now let's stop talking about this.

Gosh, you all made me so damn curious about the whole thing. But if there's a spoiler, then I'll shallow my curiosity with a big lemon and I prefer to not know what is about.

blackarrow · Jun 13, 2018

rafuki22 said:
I can tell you the reason why amy is in love with glory girl, but it would be spoiler.

The BIGGEST reason is....Wildbow really, really loves lesbian angst.

ExNihilo · Jun 13, 2018

blackarrow said:
if she will find her weakness, Siberian won't stand any chance against an AI who can create and send after her countless of suits equipped with whatever she's vulnerable at

Do remember, Dragon has known about MurderKitten most of her life. If she knew a weakness, she would have probably exploited it by now.

Assembler · Jun 13, 2018

blackarrow said:
The BIGGEST reason is....Wildbow really, really loves ~~lesbian~~ angst.

FTFY.

Sorry for not remembering those mannequins, but we got so distracted keeping an eye out for Mannequin that we forgot about the smaller ones.

AmbarGriss · Jun 13, 2018

Speaking of Mannequins. He comes back in five chapters.

rafuki22 · Jun 14, 2018

blackarrow said:
Hello, awesome friends from everywhere. Before we'll start the new Arc called Plague (I think this title refers to our friendly and helpful neighborhood Slaughterhouse 9, how ungrateful people they're trying to help perceive them. Or maybe Bonesaw will create a virus, spreading it through the city, with the only intention to make people feel happy and relaxed. See, nothing to worry about . Btw, it going to be really funny if Bonesaw's real name will turn to be Alice), I'm going to work at the promised lists. Starting with My Favorite S9 Members List: 1) BONESAW; 2) BURNSCAR; 3) JACK SLASH; 4) SIBERIAN; 5) CRAWLER; 6) SHATTERBIRD; 7) CHERISH; 8) MANNEQUIN. Hatchet Lee doesn't actually count.
SECOND LIST -The Most Powerful S9 Members: 1) SIBERIAN; 2) CRAWLER; 3) MANNEQUIN; 4) BONESAW; 5) SHATTERBIRD; 6) BURNSCAR; 7) CHERISH; 8) JACK SLASH. Hatchet Lee still doesn't count.
THIRD LIST -The Most Crazy S9 Members: 1) MANNEQUIN (nobody is more crazy than a human who completely abandoned his humanity- both internal and external); 2) CRAWLER; 3) JACK SLASH; 4) BONESAW; 5) CHERISH; 6) SIBERIAN; 7) BURNSCAR; 8) SHATTERBIRD. I think that Hatchet Lee should start crying because this is another list where they doesn't count.
THE LAST LIST -How They Can Be Defeated/Killed: 1) SIBERIAN (either by Dragon- if she will find her weakness, Siberian won't stand any chance against an AI who can create and send after her countless of suits equipped with whatever she's vulnerable at; or by Amy- if Amy will touch Siberian, the tiger lady will be BONED, unless she's immune at Amy's power). 2) JACK SLASH (anyone can kill him, he's the most vulnerable, but I prefer Theo to be the one who'll give him the final blow); 3) BURNSCAR (by someone who can use ice or water against her; I think Elle will put Mimi out of her misery, which would be perfect, giving their common past); 4) MANNEQUIN (Faultline, if she'll touch his shell, she can break it completely; Taylor, by swarming his insides and attacking his human organs; Marissa, by melting him with her most powerful sun or Colin, by kicking his ass with his super-weapons); 5) SHATTERBIRD (mostly anyone with enough range because despite having a very strong attack, she doesn't have strong defenses); 6) CRAWLER (either Marrisa, melting him with her sun, Noelle- since Coil said that only Noelle and Marissa are strong enough to start against Crawler or a nuclear bomb, frying him completely before he'll have a chance to regenerate and become immune) 7) CHERISH (Alec is immune to her control so he can simply walk to her and put a bullet inside her stupid brains. Someone should give Alec a firegun because I'm sure that he'll not hesitate to kill his sister, especially after what she did to him by nominating him ); 8) BONESAW (can be killed apparently pretty easy but being a medical Tinker I'm sure that she already modified her own body making herself immune to a lot of things like stabbing, shooting, poisoning, burning, or even Taylor/Amy's powers). Hatchet Lee, go in your corner of shame, you're not allowed to bother these lists with your presence.
AN ADDITIONAL LIST- What Choices I Think the Candidates Will Make: 1) RACHEL (either will accept S9's tests or will ask Undersiders for their help, telling them everything); 2) THEO (will try to discover his powers- either by buying them directly from Cauldron- won't be any problem for him because he's very rich or by putting himself in dangerous situations so he'll naturally trigger; then he'll train his powers and hunt Jack down); 3) ELLE (nothing, but maybe she'll decide that her former friend will be better dead so she won't suffer anymore and end up killing her); 4) COLIN (once he'll feel a little better, he will build countless of weapons, a possible kick ass Iron Man armor- I really want this, please, he'll be awesome as Iron Armsmaster , then he'll proceed to hunt Mannequin down, not stopping until his nemesis will be ashes. And maybe try to fuck up the other S9 members as well. Nobody can mess with the most BADASS TINKER in this story and remain alive for too long); 5) HOOKWOLF (will either ask Pure for their help or will infiltrate inside S9, trying to take them down); 6) NOELLE (nothing, because she's locked but Coil will surely do something, asking Undersiders, Travelers and Faultline's Crew to get ready for WAR); 7) ALEC (give him a chance and he'll fucking kill his sister with a big smile on his face); 8) AMY (will either ask Protectorate for help or will decide to be completely alone for a while until she'll decide what to do further) "glares daggers at a crying and shivering Hatchet Lee"
Ok, let's start a new Arc: 12.01 | Worm Taylor, my Dark Angel, I missed you so much, gurl. Compared with all the insane supervillains from the Interludes, you're incomparable SANE.

Awesome, Taylor is using her bugs for....origami. She wants to be an artist. I know someone else who wants to be an artist and maybe one day you two will meet and impress the world by making giant flesh and bones origami, wait until dark, light them up and let them float to the sky. Like a macabre version of Lanterns Festival. Everything should be allowed when it comes to ART . Btw, completely unrelated to this scene, but related to the previous Interlude, I'd like to talk a little more about what Amy actually did to Victoria. Its pretty similar with what an insane supervillain did to the main character of a series. Precisely this one

Kilgrave was a crazy man with the power of mind control- in Worm-verse he would be a Master- who made an obsession for the main character, Jessica Jones, mind controlled her and forced her to love him. He then mentally and physically raped her, making her dependent of him. So, the same thing Amy did to Victoria, the difference is that Amy is not an evil person like Kilgrave but a kind girl whose life really hates her.

She accidentally forced Victoria to love her and become dependent of her so no matter what Victoria will do to try to control her feelings, she'll always think back at her sister in a unwanted romantic way. Amy became like a drug for Victoria, an addiction that Victoria will never get rid of until she'll accept Amy's help to fix her back. Poor both girls

NO, Taylor, rape WILL never be ok, under no conditions. People who rape are the scums of the earth -I mean not accidentally "rape" like Paige and Amy did, (basically, the only reason for Alec being my least favorite Undersider is because he's a fucking rapist. I hope one day his dick will start rotting and fall). And the only reasons for murder can be justified are: 1) self-defense; 2) protect people you love; 3) put someone out of their misery; 4) stop an evil who can't be stopped otherwise. These are the only reasons for murder to be justified. Other reasons should not exist. Let's see what kind of answer Taylor will give to Charlotte.

Nice, she's making origami necklaces and bracelets for her two minions, Sierra and Charlotte, so they'll crush them if they're in danger. Good thinking, Taylor, now I wonder what kind of job she's going to give them. I'm thinking at spying on people- but Taylor have already her own mini-spies at her disposition so she doesn't need her minions to do this. Maybe she'll send them from door to door to ask people if they have a moment to talk about their Lady and Savior then give them Bibles for free.

Wow, for 250 dollars/day, I'll do whatever Taylor wants me to do, except for torture and murder. I'll check her people and recruit them without any hesitation, I'll even spy, lie and steal. Yes, its pretty dangerous, but its worth it. Anyway, Taylor will never abandon her henchwomen, this is a certain thing. She'll always have their back. I'd like an Interlude featuring only Sierra and Charlotte recruiting people for their Crime Lady. That would be a fun Interlude, seeing how everyone react to their proposal.

Great, nobody warned me that this Chapter will have fucking MANNEQUINS . Thank you, "friends", thank you a lot. Ok, Taylor, are you sure you counted correctly the mannequins that you're using to make new costumes for Undersiders? Count them again, maybe you missed one that should not be there. You know, with all this craziness going around, everything is possible. So, masked Sierra and Charlotte are ready to do their job. I with them good luck, they're both nice girls .

What, Sierra still doesn't know how Skitter looks like without her mask? Hmmm, I'm honestly surprised, I was under the impression that she saw already Taylor without mask. Like how good Taylor is starting to be at her new role. In a couple of years, Coil will be put in a corner of shame by this young Crime Lady. Look what my friend just send me: fanart with ponified Undersiders and ponified S9: My Little Undersiders: Wildbow is Magic ; My Little Slaughterhouse Nine: Wildbow is Magic. Pony Tattletale and Pony Skitter are adorable, Pony Bitch doesn't give a shit that she's spied by Skitter's bugs, and I have no idea who the Horned Pony is but looks funny enough . For Slaughterhouse 9 Ponies, Pony Bonesaw is cuteness personified, Pony Cherish looks like a smug bit....strumpet, Pony Mannequin is downright SCARY even as a pony, Pony Crawler and normal Crawler are not very different. Hatchet Lee don't have any place in Equestria . Cool fanart.

Merciless but fair Crime Lady and now merciless and professional Rat Exterminator. Nice evolution, Skitter. Yeah, kill all the rats, they're good only at spreading diseases and...plagues (so the title have to do with rats? That would be too easy. I think S9 will manage to capture few rats and contaminate them with some fucked up viruses. Then release them in the territories who don't belong to their candidates only to have fun seeing people being infected). Skitter, don't let a single rat to escape, otherwise there would be troubles. And check those mannequins again, I still feel uneasy thinking at them.

I wonder why Grue wants to meet. Maybe Bitch decided: fuck S9's tests and told Undersiders about Siberian's visit and little gift or Coil declared war against S9 because he can't lose his City to a gang of lunatics and called Undersiders and Travelers, as I predicted earlier? Anyway, I suppose its going to be important, Grue is not the person who make a fuss over an insignificant situation. The head of the family kind of piss me off, he treats Skitter like she's his family's enemy, not someone who genuinely wants to help them. They should not leave because they'll never find anywhere a safer place than in Skitter Lair, especially with S9 roaming around. Skitter protects and help them, feed and give them medicine, what else they want? Some people are so damn difficult. If you ask me, YES, I'd rather prefer the protection of a villain like Skitter than a certain death.

Ok, these people have their own problems, too many individuals living in a single house without facilities. But Skitter can help them, right? She can take care of their needs, she have Coil's unlimited resources, after all. So, they have to remain there, if they leave, will be worse for them. Well, there's still Tale Lair, but Tattletale have already a lot of people to handle, especially Bryce, and I don't think she'll be thrilled if Skitter will send her more.

Ok, ok, ok, so this is the reason why Grue wanted to meet? Because he wanted to tell Skitter that she kind of sucks playing her Crime Lady's role? Hmmm, I believed that it was something more important than this. Ok, I hope that I'm not going to offend people here by going into differences between men and women debate, so I'll try to be as objective and reasonable as possible. Grue is right in his own way, Skitter and Tattletale are right in their own ways. Grue is a boy, he's naturally more aggressive, action oriented, pragmatic, dynamic and get the shit done faster (I think that some men here agree with me- and some women will throw virtual eggs in my head ) so this is the reason why he and Regent (who despite looking so damn feminine, is still a guy mainly) are so quick to fuck everyone's days and nights and get rid of gangs. Bitch doesn't matter because she's...Bitch, indeed. While Skitter and Tattletale are more emotional persons, less action oriented (Skitter can be VERY action oriented but only if its necessary, not all the time), they appear more passive but they're better at planning on long term than the boys (now boys are going to throw virtual eggs at me ): Tattletale already have a spy network that Grue don't ever dare to dream at and Skitter will have in no time (I'm sure about) an entire gang formed from people she's now recruiting. They'll get their shit done, slower than boys, but better. We're talking here about motherfuckers like Lady Holmes and the Queen of Thousands of Eyes and Ears. Coil doesn't give a shit anyway as long as everyone are doing their jobs.

I think Grue is also protective towards Skitter- he's afraid that if she'll not gain profit for Coil (who have limitless money anyway and I'm sure he doesn't care about Skitter Lair's profit; all he cares is for the City to become his), Coil might find her useless and get rid of her (in any way he'd like). I don't think Grue is unfair or underestimate her, he's just afraid that something bad might happen to his "sister" Skitter. Grue is just a protective big "brother" and I personally like this. Skitter sees what she WANTS to see, ignoring Grue's true reason for apparently patronizing her- his need to protect people he cares for. So, the reason behind Grue's visit is not to talk about differences between sexes but about Regent, Hookwolf and Coil being visited by S9 members. It looks like Bitch didn't said a word about Siberian. Please, Bitch, don't be a Bitch and fuck things up for everyone, ok? S9 is NOT something you want to be part of, no matter what your dog half of the brains tells you.

Better to fly blind than torturing Dinah again, Skitter. Besides, its more exciting and interesting for us, the readers, all the shit you'll go through by fighting blindly against S9 (told you I have a sadistic streak that I'm not afraid to show it). I don't trust Hookwolf and his meeting. What if he'll lure everyone in a trap so he can show S9 that he's a trustful candidate? I mean, he wants to be the mole. In order to be more convincing, he can set a trap for Undersiders+ Travelers+Coil+ Merchants and try to fuck them up to win Jack's trust and admiration. Yes, not even Tattletale trusts him so I have to agree with her. There's something off about Hookwolf and I have a bad feeling about this meeting. As for you, Grue, shut up! You wanted Skitter to be a terrifying villain and now that she's a terrifying villain you're not very happy about. Boys...boys..."shakes her head, grinning".

Good night and sleep, my boys and girls, see you tomorrow.

Regent really did not have many options, and I do not blame him for it, his life was pretty horrible.
By the way, your justifications for murdering can be inaccurate, life is ... complicated, and, unfortunately, ruthless.

Vegetalss4 · Jun 14, 2018

You are correct that Sierra have seen Skitter/Taylor without her mask on (in the doctor's office when she got recruited) but there's a difference between knowing that Skitter is that girl with the black hair and wide mouth and knowing that she is Taylor Hebert the student at winslow high that got trapped in her locker by bullies.

blackarrow · Jun 14, 2018

rafuki22 said:
Regent really did not have many options, and I do not blame him for it, his life was pretty horrible.
By the way, your justifications for murdering can be inaccurate, life is ... complicated, and, unfortunately, ruthless.

There's NO justification for rape, not even a miserable life. Alec is a pretty good looking boy and I'm sure there are a lot of girls (and some boys) who'd sleep WILLINGLY with him, without being necessary for him to force them. Why he can't find willingly partners? How hard can be when you're a pretty boy, you're rich, you're a strong Crime Lord, you control a territory and so on. Please, don't justify what he's doing because he doesn't have many options. He actually have options, he's just a sick bastard who feels better if he force people to have sex with him. He doesn't care about people he hurts. He's more and more similar with his father and this disturb me. As for murder, there are my personal justifications, from my point of view. There are another justification (kill people for your country as a soldier) but this justification kinda sucks because most soldiers now are send by greedy politicians to kill innocent people, because of their greedy interests, not because its really necessary for defending the country. I don't find any justification in killing innocent people, but this is my point of view, some crazy people might find a justification in this.

blackarrow · Jun 14, 2018

ExNihilo said:
Do remember, Dragon has known about MurderKitten most of her life. If she knew a weakness, she would have probably exploited it by now.

So, the only person who can kill Siberian seems to be Amy, unfortunately. And she have to get close to Siberian so she can touch her. I doubt that Siberian will let her getting close unless she can trick her somehow. But I'm really curious, does Siberian have an actual weakness? Don't tell me which one, just tell me if she have one. For God sake, even Superman have a weakness.

Leila Hann · Jun 14, 2018

"Sick bastard" is right, but in Alec's case its not really a condemnation. He acts the way he's been raised to act, and probably turned out as well as he possibly could given the circumstances.

blackarrow · Jun 14, 2018

Leila Hann said:
"Sick bastard" is right, but in Alec's case its not really a condemnation. He acts the way he's been raised to act, and probably turned out as well as he possibly could given the circumstances.

I know what you're telling me and I agree with you, Alec is someone who was modeled the way he's by his father. But I will never justify his actions, I'll never agree with the fact that he traumatized a lot of people by taking control over their bodies and forcing them to have sex with him against their will and if he was a real person, I wouldn't stay near to him let alone be his friend. He appears easy to get along with but in reality he's more difficult than even Rachel (because he can hurt people with little no provocation). Rachel is someone more safe than him if you know how to talk to her

(well, she kind of piss me off now because she's hiding stuff from everyone but I still believe that she'll change her mind).

Leila Hann · Jun 14, 2018

blackarrow said:
I know what you're telling me and I agree with you, Alec is someone who was modeled the way he's by his father. But I will never justify his actions, I'll never agree with the fact that he traumatized a lot of people by taking control over their bodies and forcing them to have sex with him against their will and if he was a real person, I wouldn't stay near to him let alone be his friend. He appears easy to get along with but in reality he's more difficult than even Rachel (because he can hurt people with little no provocation). Rachel is someone more safe than him if you know how to talk to her (well, she kind of piss me off now because she's hiding stuff from everyone but I still believe that she'll change her mind).

Oh, I wasn't saying that he's safe to be around, or that I'd want to be his friend if I knew someone like him in real life, or that he shouldn't be behind bars. Hell, that's true of all the Undersiders.

I'm just saying that its hard to judge him for what he is. In fact, he might be the most unjudgeable of the lot despite his crimes being the greatest.

Birdsie · Jun 14, 2018

blackarrow said:
I know what you're telling me and I agree with you, Alec is someone who was modeled the way he's by his father. But I will never justify his actions, I'll never agree with the fact that he traumatized a lot of people by taking control over their bodies and forcing them to have sex with him against their will and if he was a real person, I wouldn't stay near to him let alone be his friend. He appears easy to get along with but in reality he's more difficult than even Rachel (because he can hurt people with little no provocation). Rachel is someone more safe than him if you know how to talk to her (well, she kind of piss me off now because she's hiding stuff from everyone but I still believe that she'll change her mind).

Leila Hann said:
Oh, I wasn't saying that he's safe to be around, or that I'd want to be his friend if I knew someone like him in real life, or that he shouldn't be behind bars. Hell, that's true of all the Undersiders.

I'm just saying that its hard to judge him for what he is. In fact, he might be the most unjudgeable of the lot despite his crimes being the greatest.

Alec is a difficult case to crack because he's a straight-up sociopath, and I am in no way exaggerating. If you put together the puzzle pieces of his fractured mind, you can quickly tell that he suffers from some kind of anti-social personality disorder. His amoral behavior, hedonistic impulses all point to him having the mentality of a textbook sociopath. I'm not certain if it's an issue with serotonin deficiency in his brain that he was born with, or the harsh conditions he grew up in, but either could lead to such a development, and it was probably both.

Regardless, I believe him not to be a tormentor as much as he is a victim bringing torment to other victims -- his father started it all. It's not really his fault he acts this way, with no regards for other people, but he's been shown to be capable of empathy (like when he avenged Taylor by giving Sophia what she deserved,) which means that may not be irredeemable; his sense of right or wrong is not only twisted and skewed, but also very shallow and transparent because of his youth, but it is still there in some extremely pale form.

I like to think of him as a broken clock. Some asshole screwed the gears the wrong way, and now the clock is showing the wrong time and everyone else has to suffer being late in return. (Yeah, I realize that's a poor metaphor for mind-control rape and turning someone into a sociopath, but it's not exactly wrong either.)

EDIT: Also, I don't want to spoil anything, but there are additional reasons why he acts the way he does.

blackarrow · Jun 14, 2018

Birdsie said:
Alec is a difficult case to crack because he's a straight-up sociopath, and I am in no way exaggerating. If you put together the puzzle pieces of his fractured mind, you can quickly tell that he suffers from some kind of anti-social personality disorder. His amoral behavior, hedonistic impulses all point to him having the mentality of a textbook sociopath. I'm not certain if it's an issue with serotonin deficiency in his brain that he was born with, or the harsh conditions he grew up in, but either could lead to such a development, and it was probably both.

Regardless, I believe him not to be a tormentor as much as he is a victim bringing torment to other victims -- his father started it all. It's not really his fault he acts this way, with no regards for other people, but he's been shown to be capable of empathy (like when he avenged Taylor by giving Sophia what she deserved,) which means that may not be irredeemable; his sense of right or wrong is not only twisted and skewed, but also very shallow and transparent because of his youth, but it is still there in some extremely pale form.

I like to think of him as a broken clock. Some asshole screwed the gears the wrong way, and now the clock is showing the wrong time and everyone else has to suffer being late in return. (Yeah, I realize that's a poor metaphor for mind-control rape and turning someone into a sociopath, but it's not exactly wrong either.)

EDIT: Also, I don't want to spoil anything, but there are additional reasons why he acts the way he does.

Yes, I'm aware he's a functional sociopath and he and Rachel are the most dysfunctional Undersiders: Taylor have troubles but she's an easy person to get along with, Lisa is even better than Taylor if you ignore the little bird whispering constantly in her ear, Brian is a pretty ok guy and Aisha is ok too (I like her even if I don't know too much about her personality, being such an unnoticeable character most of the time

). But I don't think that Alec is ever capable of empathy: what he did to Sophia wasn't because he cared about Taylor's torment- he even specified that he doesn't feel anything when he read Sophia/Emma messages exchange. Look: "Long seconds passed. He knew he should feel bad for the dork, but he only felt annoyed. He felt worse about the fact that he didn't feel bad than he did about what he'd just read." See? He doesn't feel bad for Taylor even if he wants to feel bad. He only did that to scare Sophia enough so she'll never get close to him and his team again. He's someone who entirely lacks empathy, even if deep down inside he wants to be a normal person, with feelings and other emotions than boredom and excitement. But he can't because Heartbreaker destroyed him, without any possibility of redemption. I feel bad for him, yes, but I feel more bad for his innocent victims than for him. I can't see Alec capable of having feelings for someone, not even for his teammates. While Brian would sacrifice even his life to protect his teammates, because Brian is a perfectly normal person (despite his villainous life) who cares for people close to him. Sociopaths can't become better persons, even if they WANT to be. Yes, they can pretend they're better persons, but pretending and actually being better are two different things. Anyway, Alec is a MUCH MORE BETTER person than his sister, this is a certain fact. Cherish is such a miserable person that I won't feel bad for her no matter what Jack would do to her, if he'll discover her plans involving his team (between us, I think he already knows, he's just testing her to see how far away she'll go

). Also, Alec is a MUCH MORE BETTER person than Coil and Merchants, so there are people worse than him in this story. I have to say some good things about him, ok?

Birdsie · Jun 14, 2018

blackarrow said:
Yes, I'm aware he's a functional sociopath and he and Rachel are the most dysfunctional Undersiders: Taylor have troubles but she's an easy person to get along with, Lisa is even better than Taylor if you ignore the little bird whispering constantly in her ear, Brian is a pretty ok guy and Aisha is ok too (I like her even if I don't know too much about her personality, being such an unnoticeable character most of the time ). But I don't think that Alec is ever capable of empathy: what he did to Sophia wasn't because he cared about Taylor's torment- he even specified that he doesn't feel anything when he read Sophia/Emma messages exchange. Look: "Long seconds passed. He knew he should feel bad for the dork, but he only felt annoyed. He felt worse about the fact that he didn't feel bad than he did about what he'd just read." See? He doesn't feel bad for Taylor even if he wants to feel bad. He only did that to scare Sophia enough so she'll never get close to him and his team again. He's someone who entirely lacks empathy, even if deep down inside he wants to be a normal person, with feelings and other emotions than boredom and excitement. But he can't because Heartbreaker destroyed him, without any possibility of redemption. I feel bad for him, yes, but I feel more bad for his innocent victims than for him. I can't see Alec capable of having feelings for someone, not even for his teammates. While Brian would sacrifice even his life to protect his teammates, because Brian is a perfectly normal person (despite his villainous life) who cares for people close to him. Sociopaths can't become better persons, even if they WANT to be. Yes, they can pretend they're better persons, but pretending and actually being better are two different things. Anyway, Alec is a MUCH MORE BETTER person than his sister, this is a certain fact. Cherish is such a miserable person that I won't feel bad for her no matter what Jack would do to her, if he'll discover her plans involving his team (between us, I think he already knows, he's just testing her to see how far away she'll go ). Also, Alec is a MUCH MORE BETTER person than Coil and Merchants, so there are people worse than him in this story. I have to say some good things about him, ok?

You raise a good point, but I believe that only makes him even more tragic. He's been turned from a person with the potential for altruism into something that is closer to a force of nature that has to always be cold and calculating, no matter how curious it could be about what it's like to be different.

Anyway, there are other factors that make Alec who he is, but like I mentioned, I'd be spoiling a lot on a very fundamental piece of the story. When you get to that part of the story where it won't be a spoiler anymore, I'll make sure to explain it in detail.

blackarrow · Jun 14, 2018

Hi, crazy and sane people. I have good news for you

. I think I just found S9 motto. Look, it fits them perfectly:
Bonesaw: Prepare for trouble!
Jack: Make it double!
Bonesaw: To bring the world to devastation!
Jack: To unite all people within our organisation!
Bonesaw: To denounce the evils of truth and love!
Jack: To extend our reach to the stars above!
Bonesaw: Bonesaw!
Jack: Jack Slash!
Bonesaw: Team Slaughterhouse Nine blasts off in the speed of light!
Jack: Die now or prepare to fight!
Mannequin: Click "morse code" - .... .- - .----. ... / .-. .. --. .... - (translate: That's Right)

Great, now I imagine Jack and Bonesaw dressed as James and Jessie

lol, killing all the pokemon trainers and turning their pokemon into scary violent monsters. Mannequin as Meowth however..."shudders". Alright, before we'll start the next Chapter 12.02 | Worm I'm absolutely convinced that the general meeting between the Gangs of Brockton Bay (I had to say the real name of this city- after such a long time- only because I liked it in the context, ok?) will FAIL, CRUSH and BURN without any chance of recovery. And the only one GUILTY for everything will be this FUCKASS- Hookwolf. He'll either lure everyone into a TRAP in order to impress S9 or he'll refuse to cooperate with anyone else but Purity's group, because despite his intelligence, he's not very reasonable, neither too righteous. I'll never forget that he almost broke Empire88 and Undersiders truce only because Bitch messed up with is dog fighting ring. The truce wasn't broken only because Grue and Kaiser were wise and reasonable enough. But honestly, I don't care if Hookwolf will agree to work only with the other nazi team, Undersiders and all others can handle themselves the situation pretty well without having to wait for nazi help. Better be a lone wolf than to beg nazis for help. All I care is for Hookwolf to not set up a trap.

I'd spent nearly sixteen years in Brockton Bay, living a half-hour's walk away from the ocean and I couldn't remember ever being on a boat. How sad was that?

I mean, I was sure I'd been on a boat before. My parents had to have taken me on the ferry when I was a baby or toddler. I just didn't remember any of it. My parents were introverts, by and large, and their idea of an outing had been more along the lines of a trip down the Boardwalk, a visit to the Market or going to an art gallery or museum. Maybe once in a while we'd go to something more thrilling like a fair or baseball game, but no… this was the first time I could remember being out on the water.

It was exhilarating, the boat ride. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I loved the feeling of the wind in my hair, the slight turbulence as the boat bounced on the short waves. It wasn't that different from how I had enjoyed riding Bitch's dogs, and there was none of that primal, deep-seated worry that the hulking monster I was riding would turn around and snap my face off. I'd almost think
I had been destined to fly, based on how thoroughly I enjoyed myself, and that it was only bad luck that I'd gotten other powers instead… except I remembered flying with Laserdream as the Endbringer attacked, and that hadn't been the most enjoyable experience. That might have been a special circumstance; I'd been dealing with the fact that I'd had a broken arm, I'd recently puked my guts out, I'd been soaking wet, and an Endbringer had been working on wiping my hometown and everyone I cared about from the face of the planet.
That day would almost feel like something that had happened in a dream, if I hadn't spent every hour of every day since living in the aftermath.
Coil's people had dropped us off along with two sleek motorboats, depositing them at the water's edge. Grue was in one boat with Bitch, her three dogs and a puppy she had on a long chain.
I wasn't sure if the puppy conveyed the image we wanted, but with her attitude towards me lately, I wasn't willing to comment and risk her going off on me. She'd remained angry after I'd called her out on her screwing me over and setting me up for Dragon to arrest, but she'd left me more or less alone.

The meeting is during night, in the middle of a lake, looks like. Maybe on an island, somewhere where S9 can't reach. Bullshit, Cherish can find them no matter where they're going and Shatterbird can reach the island without major problems since she can fly. But as long as they don't have any glass at them, they're safe from being hurt by her. I wonder if Siberian can swim. If she's a true kitty at her core, yes, she'll be afraid of water, but if she didn't completely embraced her animal side, they'll be so screwed if she can swim. Plus Mannequin can create wings for the non- flier, non- swimmer members of the team. Not even an island in the middle of the lake or ocean is safe from these bastards.

The puppy was cute. It was skittish, especially around people, which seemed a little odd. It wasn't the kind of dog I'd expect Bitch to favor. Too young, not vicious or intimidating in appearance. On the other hand, skittish as it was, it had an aggressive streak. It constantly hounded Bentley, nipping at his flanks, then spooking and running away the second the bulldog looked at him. It had made for a fair amount of noise when we'd been getting the boats into the water. One for Bitch, her dogs and Grue, one for the rest of our group.

Our boats weren't out on the ocean. We traveled through the area downtown where Leviathan had collapsed a section of the city. It was now more or less an artificial lake. The water was fairly still, lapping gently against the ruined roads and collapsed buildings that surrounded the crater, but with the speed these boats were capable of going, even waves a half-foot high made us ramp slightly off one and then crash down onto the next with a sudden spray.

Tattletale was at the back, steering the thing. It seemed counter-intuitive, with the boat going the opposite direction she pushed or pulled the stick. Still, she seemed competent at it. Better than Grue, which I found slightly amusing.
From time to time, I was finding myself in a strange emotional state. As I stayed alert for it, I was able to catch those moments, try to pick them apart for what they were. The high-end motor whirred and the boat bounced over the waves, the wind and water getting in my hair, all while we headed into the most ridiculously dangerous and unpredictable situation we'd been in for weeks. It was one of those moments; I felt almost calm.
For a year and a half, I'd spent almost all of my time in a state of constant anxiety. Anxiety about schoolwork, my teachers, my peers, my dad, my mom's death, my body, my clothes, trying to hold conversations without embarrassing myself, and about the bullies and what they would do next. Everything had been tainted by the constant worries and the fact that I'd constantly been preparing for the worst case scenarios and maybe even setting up self-fulfilling prophecies in the process. I'd spent every waking moment immersed in it. Either I was stressing over something I'd done or something that had happened, I was concerned with the now, or I was anxious over what came in the future: distant or near. There was always something.
And that was before I'd ever put on a costume and found myself caught up in my double-crossing plan against the Undersiders and everything that had stemmed from that. Before Dinah and running away from home, before I'd decided to go villain. Stuff that made some of what I'd been worried over before seem trivial.
So why could I feel calm now?

I'm 100% with you, Skitter, I completely understand what you're feeling. Believe me, I'm even more tense than you about the whole meeting (meaning that it will keep me on the edge to see if Hookwolf will sell them to S9 or not). It is organized by this big nazi piece of shit (no matter how badass he's and how much he cares for his people, I still can't stop myself to not hate Hookwolf. I hate his ideology, I hate how much he believes in his ideology, I don't trust him) and he'll either play you all or treat you like you're nothing for him. I'd be surprised if Hookwolf will turn to be as reasonable as Kaiser (despite all his evilness, Kaiser was someone with enough brains in his head to respect truces and cooperation), but I have my doubts about him. He's too prideful and arrogant to walk on Kaiser's footsteps. Also, I don't trust the puppy wolf either. He's Siberian's gift. He was either modified by Bonesaw so he'll become a monster (worse than how Bitch will make him to be) and turn against Bitch herself or her teammates when S9 will decide or he have an implanted microphone so S9 will know all the time about Bitch's team plans (and others in extension). There's something very wrong about this puppy, its enough to know that he's a S9's gift and no S9's gift is innocent and safe.

I think it was that realization that there were moments where I was helpless to act, oddly enough. This boat? Speeding across the Endbringer-made lake? I had to be here. There was no other option, really. As I clutched the metal rim of the boat with one hand while we soared forward, the wind in my hair, I could accept the fact that I couldn't do anything in this time and place to get Dinah out of captivity sooner.

With that in mind, I surrendered myself of that responsibility for the present. Much in that same way, I cast off all the other worries, great and small.
A light flashed ahead of us. Three blinks, then two.
"Regent!" Tattletale called out.
Regent raised a flashlight and flashed it twice, paused, then flashed it twice again.
There was one flash in response.
Grue slowed his boat as we reached our destination. Our meeting place was in the center of the lake, one of the buildings that still partially stood above water, leaning to one side so a corner of the roof was submerged, the opposite corner peaking high. Tattletale didn't slow our boat like Grue had his, and instead steered the boat in a wide 'u' to ride it up onto the corner of the roof. Regent and I hopped out to grab the front of the boat and help pull it up. When Grue rode his boat aground as well, a little more carefully, we helped him too. Bitch hopped out and spent a moment using gestures and tugs on the puppy's leash to get her dogs arranged and settled.
Hookwolf and his Chosen had situated themselves at the corner of the roof that stood highest from the surrounding water. Hookwolf stood with his arms folded, densely covered in bristling spikes, barbs, blades and hooks, only his face untouched by the treatment, covered by his metal wolf mask instead. Othala, Victor and Cricket were sitting on the raised edge of the roof behind him. Stormtiger floated in the air just beside Cricket, and Rune had levitated three chunks of pavement into the air behind the group, each the size of a fire truck, like weapons poised at the ready. She sat on the edge of one of the chunks, her feet dangling over Victor's head. Menja stood just behind Rune on the floating piece of shattered road, twelve feet tall, fully garbed in her valkyrie armor, a shield in one hand and a long spear in the other.

I almost missed it in the gloom, but when I did spot it, it was almost impossible to ignore. On every patch of skin I could see in the Chosen's group, scars and scratches had just barely healed over. There were still faint indents and lines of pale skin that marked where the deep lacerations had been. The little scars made patterns across their skin, some spraying out from a single point, others running parallel to one another, going in the same direction like a snapshot of rainfall imprinted on their skin. With that many scratches and scars, they must have been hit hard.
Faultline's group was gathered to one side. Faultline, Newter, and the new member Shamrock wore more concealing costumes than their usual. Faultline's face was covered in a tinted visor, and her arms and legs were covered in opaque gloves and leggings. Labyrinth and Spitfire were fully decked out in their usual concealing robe and fire-retardant suits, respectively. Only Gregor showed skin. The barnacle-like growths of spiral shells that covered his skin had multiplied on one side of his body, until there was more shell than skin. The skin around it was crimson enough that it stood out in the gloom. It looked tender.

So, Fenrir's Chosen (FUCK THEM) are already there, in the middle of the lake created by Leviathan, Faultline's Crew are there too, Undersiders just arrived, the only ones who still have to come are Coil, Merchants (FUCK THEM), Travelers and the last ones, Pure (HALF-FUCK THEM because they're a little more tolerable than Chosen...but then I remember they have motherfucker Night soooooooo........FUCK THEM too). Undersiders, Travelers and Faultline Crew (as long as they're paid) work for Coil, Fenrir's Chosen and Pure can go and fuck each others with fire-heated swastikas, and Merchants....they can serve as meat for experiments for S9, for all I care

. This meeting is going to be a disaster. And I'm going to enjoy quite a lot as long as there's not a trap.

I saw a flash of light above us, and spotted Purity in the air high above the rooftop, using her power to create a flare of light, extinguish it, then create it again. There was an answering series of flashes from across the water. It was a different set of signals than the ones she'd set up with us. It made sense for the light signals to be different from group to group, so Purity could keep track of who was coming and where from. The main reason we'd agreed on this meeting place were the seclusion it offered, and the fact that it was just hard enough to access that the Nine wouldn't be able to approach without us knowing. Hopefully.

All at once, an incoming boat made its presence known. As though a switch was flipped, there was the sound of something that sounded like the combined noise of radio static coming from a bank of speakers, an eighteen wheeler with the muffler off and an onrushing train. It wasn't just noise – the vehicle flickered with flashes of electricity and lights that people could probably see from anywhere downtown.

Seeing it approach, I had no doubt it was a tinker contraption. It was the size of a small yacht, but it looked outfitted for war, with what looked like tesla coils crossed with old school tv antennae fueling its forward momentum and sending arcs of electricity dancing over the waves in its wake, as though it was riding on a current of lightning. Various guns had been placed haphazardly around the upper deck, each manned by a Merchant. Skidmark stood at the highest deck with Squealer, the driver.
Squealer had apparently never grasped the concept of elegance in design. From what I'd read and heard, she went for size, augmentations and additions when she built her vehicles. She was kind of the polar opposite of Armsmaster in that regard.
The hull of their boat scraped against the edge of the building, nearly running over the boat that Grue and Bitch had come in on. All of the lights shut off, and the Merchants descended onto the roof. Skidmark, Squealer, Mush, Scrub, Trainwreck, the telekinetic whirlwind lady with the long hair and one other.
Another reason for this meeting place had been subtlety, keeping out of sight and off the radar. The Merchants apparently hadn't gotten the message.
"Hey!" Hookwolf growled, "What part of keep a low profile don't you fucking understand?"

"bangs her head against desk" I swear, this story will give me serious bumps on the head if I'll keep banging my head like this. And I can't stop doing that as long as people like Merchants EXIST in this story. People? I'm too kind with them. Rats are not people

. Yep, Hookwolf, you're right, but what good can you expect to happen coming from these primitive rats? Even their Tinker is a dumbass and she's the polar opposite of Armsmaster in EVERYTHING. Armsmaster is a Lord and a King compared with this bitch. Now I'm convinced that S9 know where they're, even if its not Hookwolf's trap. Thanks, rats, hope your vehicle will explode in your face and you'll all fucking die.

Skidmark smirked, raising his chin to give it an arrogant tilt, "We did. My Squealer built a box that cancels out light and noise at a certain distance. Nice and in your face up close, almost invisible and silent when far away. Isn't that right, baby?"

Squealer just smiled. It probably wasn't as sexy or cute as she thought it was. Aisha, when left to her own devices, was a pretty girl who dressed trashy. Squealer, I felt, was more of a trashy woman who dressed trashy.
"Hey, Faultline," Skidmark's smirk dropped off his face as he realized who else was present. "What the motherfuck were you doing, fucking with my party!?"

"You had something we needed." Faultline's response was as measured and calm as Skidmark's question wasn't.
"Who hired you, bitch? Tell me and my Merchants won't come after you in revenge. All you'll have to do is return that shit you stole or pay me back for it. Maybe you can spit-polish my knob for a little goodwill."
"Not going to happen."
"Then forget sucking my cock. Pay me back and tell me who hired you and we'll call it even."
She shook her head. It was more the kind of head shake that accompanied an eye roll.
Skidmark went on, "You're mercenaries. Don't tell me you don't have the cash. I'll only ask for five mil. One for each vial you took."
Fautline didn't answer him. Instead she looked at Hookwolf and asked him, "Did we really need to invite him? Does he contribute anything to this discussion?"

Well, at least Merchants did something smart for the first time in their existence. But still I'm going to squeal in joy if they'll be slaughtered by S9, I won't feel not even 0,00000000000% bad for any of them, on the contrary

. They're so shitty, Faultline is too much of a Lady for Skidmark, if she was less of a lady, then this pervert bastard's jaws and nose would have been gone by now (and not thanks to powers, I know how Faultline's power works; all she have to do is to punch the living daylight out of him; she already kicked his ass once, he won't stand any chance against her, powers or not). Yes, Hookwolf, explain: why Merchants? They have good powers, especially Skidmark and Scrub, but they have zero intelligence and zero self control. They're useless.

"He has nine powers on his team," Hookwolf responded. "Ideology isn't important."

"He doesn't have an ideology. He's just an idiot."
"Enough of that," Hookwolf snarled, his voice hard with a sudden anger. "We don't fight amongst ourselves. Not on neutral ground.
Both of you shut the fuck up."
Faultline shook her head and leaned over to whisper something to Shamrock. The Merchants settled themselves on the side of the roof opposite our group. Skidmark gave Grue the evil eye. Was he still resentful over what had happened at the last meeting? Being denied a seat at the table?
Another series of flashes served to alert us, indirectly, of incoming arrivals. The Travelers appeared soon after. Trickster, Sundancer,
Ballistic each stood on the back of some kind of turtle serpent. I couldn't make out Genesis's form in the gloom. What little light was available came from the moon and Purity's radiance from where she floated above us. I could have used my bugs to get a feel for the shape Genesis had taken, but my habit was generally to place my bugs on clothing where they wouldn't be noticed, and Genesis was effectively naked. I didn't know anything about them, but they were our allies. I didn't want to irritate her and upset anything between our two groups.

Coil was the last of us to arrive, maybe because he'd wanted to be fashionably late. The two soldiers who'd driven his boat stayed behind. Purity set down by where the boats had landed, followed by Fog and Crusader, who I hadn't seen in the dark. Night stepped out of the lake, between our parked boats and onto the roof, water streaming from her cloak. Had she been the just-in-case measure if an incoming boat hadn't known the signal? She would be invisible in the pitch black gloom beneath the water's surface, which would mean she wasn't in her human form.
The way the Travelers and Coil had positioned themselves, we'd formed a haphazard ring. From the top of the roof, going clockwise, the arranged groups were Hookwolf's Chosen, Faultline's crew, us, the Pure, Coil, the Travelers and the Merchants.
"It seems everyone is here," Coil spoke, taking in the collected villains. Forty-ish of us in all.
"Not quite everyone," Hookwolf replied.

FUCK YOU, NIGHT BITCH, FOR GIVING ME FUCKING NIGHTMARES WITH YOUR INHUMAN FORM AND PRESENCE! :rage:

Ok, all the good and gentle people are here: Fenrir's Chosen, Merchants, Pure, Coil...all of my favorite characters gathered in the same place "cough, cough" Sorry, I just drowned in my own sarcasm. I'm surprised that Genesis send her projection and didn't come personally. This is something definitely wrong with this girl and I don't think is her fault. She must be either blind or have another handicap, poor thing. There are more people to arrive? WTF, Hookwolf?............S9, right? Its a trap, I knew it.

"Victor, Othala."

Othala touched Victor, and Victor raised one hand. A fireball appeared in it, then disappeared as he clenched his hand. He repeated the process two more times.
"Who are you signalling?" Purity's asked. Her hand flared with light, ready to fire.
"It would be a grave and stupid mistake if you invited the Nine," Coil told Hookwolf.
"We're not stupid," Hookwolf said. Three answering flashes appeared over the water. I heard the faint noise of a boat motor. Everyone present on the roof readied for a fight, turning towards either Hookwolf or the incoming boat. I used my power to call on local crabs, and to draw out the bugs I'd stored in the boat, keeping them close to me.
There were three more flashes, close, and Victor responded again. In moments, the boat arrived. It wasn't the Nine. It was the good guys.
Miss Militia was first out of the boat, and Battery activated her power to haul the boat up onto 'land' in a flash before stepping up to Miss Militia's side. Triumph, Weld and Clockblocker rounded out their group. Our circle made room, though half the people present seemed to be tensed and ready to use their powers with the slightest excuse.

"It seems we have a problem," Miss Militia spoke, as her group took her place between the Pure and us Undersiders.
"We do," Hookwolf said. "Two problems, actually."
"Two?" Purity asked.
Hookwolf pointed at the Travelers, then pointed at Grue and the rest of our group. "They're being cocky, think they're being clever. Figure we should get all this out in the open, at least so you're aware. You too, Coil, Miss Militia."
"Perhaps you'd better explain," Coil responded.
Hookwolf pointed at each of us in turn, "Grue has been making attacks against my people in the upper downtown area. Howling has been heard in the Trainyard. Bitch. Regent was sighted in the college neighborhoods. Skitter made a move to take over the Boardwalk and claim it for herself.
Tattletale is either abstaining, or more likely, putting herself in the middle of the Docks and keeping her head down."
"So?" Tattletale asked.
Hookwolf ignored her. "Downtown we've got Ballistic attacking my people in the upper downtown neighborhoods, north of this lake here. Sundancer was spotted in the shopping district, Genesis at the downtown coast, near the south ferry station. Trickster has been driving looters out of the heart of downtown, the towers. You seeing the pattern? All of them alone. Most of them making moves to take a piece of the city for themselves."
"We already knew they were talking territory," Miss Militia responded, "This isn't a priority. The Nine-"

..........Impressive. Heroes. I honestly didn't expected at these guests. Well, hello, Miss Militia, Clockblocker, Battery, Triumph and <3 <3 <3 MY Weld. Ok, this is going to be better now that I know its not a trap. Still, Hookwolf pisses me to not end. This meeting should have the motto A GOOD S9 MEMBER IS A DEAD S9 MEMBER not LET'S KILL UNDERSIDERS AND TRAVELERS BECAUSE THEY'RE WORKING TOGETHER. Shut the fuck up, Hookwolf. Yes, you figured they're together, congratulations, but you should concentrate over the real menace, not over them. They're not even half as dangerous as S9 and you'll not stand any chance against S9 without external help, you damn bastard.

"They haven't taken territory," Hookwolf snapped back, "They're taking the city. Split it up all nice and proper between them, and now they're taking advantage of the distraction the Nine are giving them to secure their positions before we fucking catch on."

Grue looked at Trickster, and there was some kind of unspoken agreement between them. Knowing Grue, I was certain he was deliberately ignoring Coil. No use volunteering more information than necessary.
Trickster spoke, "We didn't know the Nine were around before we put this into motion."
There was a flicker of surprise on Purity's face. "So Hookwolf is right. You are taking over."
"Something like that," Grue responded.
What was Hookwolf's game? Had he brought everyone here under a different pretext so he could ambush us on this front?
"This isn't of any concern to us," Miss Militia spoke, stern. "The only reason we're here is to get information on the Slaughterhouse Nine, their motives, and strategies for responding."
"That might help you in the next week or two, but a month from now you'll be regretting it," Hookwolf told her.

"Quite frankly, I don't think we have any other choice," Miss Militia replied.
"We do," Hookwolf said. "They want us to lose our territories to them while we busy ourselves dealing with the Nine-"
"That's not our intent," Trickster cut him off.
"Pigshit," Skidmark muttered. He looked angry. Even Purity had a hard cast to her face, or what I could see of it through the glare of her eyes and hair. These were people who thought highly of themselves. Whether that self-esteem was deserved or not, they didn't like being played for fools.
All at once, this meeting had become about us versus them. The Travelers and the Undersiders against everyone else.
Hookwolf said, "Then agree to a truce. So long as the Nine are here, you're hands off your territories, no fighting, no business. We can arrange something, maybe you all stay at a nice hotel on the Protectorate's tab until this is dealt with. That'll mean we can all focus on the real threat."
Stay in a hotel until the Nine were dead, arrested or driven out of town. He couldn't seriously expect us to do that.
"I'm inclined to agree," Coil answered, after a moment's consideration. "Perhaps now is an opportune time to share this information: I have sources that inform me that should Jack Slash survive his visit to Brockton Bay, it bodes ill for everyone."
"That's vague," Faultline spoke.
"I'll be more specific. Should Jack Slash not die before he leaves Brockton Bay, it is very likely the world will end in a matter of years," Coil spoke.
"Bullshit," Skidmark answered. The others were showing varying reactions. I doubt many bought it.
"You contacted us to say something very similar a couple of days ago." Miss Militia said, "But I have the same questions now that I did then. Do you have sources? Can you verify this? Or provide more information?"
Behind her, Weld reached into his pocket and withdrew his smartphone.
"More information? Yes. I have sought further details and pieced together a general picture of things. Jack Slash is the catalyst for this event, not the cause. At some point in the coming years, Jack Slash kills, talks to, meets or influences someone. This causes a chain of events to occur, leading to the deaths of anywhere from thirty-three to ninety-six percent of the world's population."
That gave everyone pause.

On short long:
-Hookwolf is an IRRATIONAL BEAST. He wants to make everyone (Pure, Merchants, Coil and Faultline's Crew -without knowing that the last ones work with Undersiders/Travelers) hate UT, accusing them that they're stealing the city for themselves (the truth is that they're stealing it for Coil but this is something this brute doesn't know) even if he needs their help against S9. What Fenrir's Chosen/Pure and Merchants can really do by themselves? Not too much, they don't have a Tattletale or a Skitter in their teams. Or a Trickster or a Coil.
-Coil pretends to be as neutral as possible, not wanting for the irrational nazi to notice that he's involved with UT as well. A very good move coming from Coil.
-Miss Militia is neutral and wise as always.
-If I were in Grue's place, I'd be like: fuck, we're not going to hand off our territories, we'll keep them even if you'll refuse to cooperate with us. We can handle themselves better than you anyways.

Coil went on, "If Jack Slash is killed, the event is likely to occur at some point in the more distant future instead."

"Dinah Alcott," Weld spoke. All eyes turned to the metal-skinned boy.
"Beg pardon?" Coil asked.
"Thursday, April fourteenth of this year, Dinah Alcott was kidnapped from her home and has not been seen since. Dinah had missed several weeks of classes with crippling headaches in the months before her disappearance. Investigation found no clear medical causes. Police interviewed her friends. She had confided to them that she thought she could see the future, but doing so hurt her."
"You think Dinah is Coil's source. That makes a lot of sense." Miss Militia turned from Weld to Coil, and her voice was heavy with accusation,
"Coil?"
"I did not kidnap her. I offered Dinah training and relief from the drawbacks of her abilities on the contingency that she immediately cut off all contact with her family and friends and provide me a year of service."
He lied so smoothly, flawlessly. What really rattled me was hearing him refer to her as Dinah for the first time. Coil added, "She took a week to decide, then contacted me during one of her attacks."
Of course, the heroes weren't about to take his word for gospel. Miss Militia's lips pursed into a thin line. "Could I contact her to verify this?"
"No. For one thing, I have no reason to let you. Also, the process of gaining control of her power requires that she be kept strictly isolated from outside elements. A simple phone call would set her back weeks."
"So Coil has a precog," Hookwolf growled, "That explains how he always seemed to fucking get the upper hand when he pit his mercenaries against the Empire."
Coil clasped his hands in front of him, "I knew you might come to these conclusions if I volunteered this information. You all should already know I am not a stupid man. Would I weaken my position if I did not wholeheartedly believe that what I was saying was correct? Jack Slash must die, or we all die."
"And to maximize our chances for this to happen," Hookwolf added, "The alliance of the Travelers and the Undersiders must concede to our terms. They hold no territory until the Nine are dead."
Coil deliberated for a few seconds. "I think this makes the most sense."
Skidmark and Purity nodded as well.
Coil's response caught me off guard. He was throwing us to the wolves to maintain his anonymity in things. I felt my heart sink.
It made sense, on a basic level, and I could see why the other groups were agreeing. I mean, our territory wasn't worth risking that the world ending. Coil was apparently willing to delay his plans, or pretend to delay his plans while he carried them out in secret. But I would be giving up my territory, condemning Dinah to more days, more weeks of captivity.
I really didn't like that idea.

On short long:
-Weld and Miss Militia are convinced that Coil kidnapped Dinah and that he's lying now, pretending that she's his willingly student. Which is very good because they might try to save her in the near future, possible before Skitter. Anyone who'll save Dinah will do the best thing in this story so far.

-Coil is playing his role flawlessly, pretending to agree with the irrational brute Hookwolf, even if deep down he knows that UT will never agree with Hookwolf's stupid request; he probably split the timelines in the meantime and he knows their answers from Timeline A.
-Hookwolf is still an irrational bastard that I'm going to enjoy so much seeing him slaughtered by S9. I lost the small respect I have for him. He rather cares for some territories than for unity against an all powerful enemy. Kaiser would spit in his face.

"Easy decision for you guys to make," Trickster said, chuckling wryly, "You're not giving anything up. In fact, if we went with your plan, there'd be nothing stopping you from sneaking a little territory, passing on word to your underlings to prey on our people, consolidating your forces and preparing them for war, all while we're cooped up in that hotel or wherever."

He was right. I could imagine it. Not just weeks, but months lost. We'd just lost the element of surprise thanks to Hookwolf outing us here, and the local villains and heroes were now all too aware of the scale of what we were doing. Add the fact that they would get a breather? A chance to regroup and prepare? To retaliate? Regaining any of the ground we lost while we helped hunt down the Slaughterhouse Nine would be excruciating.
In those weeks or months it took to retake territory and slog ahead with constant opposition, there could be further delays. It would mean that my plan to efficiently seize the Boardwalk and surrounding Docks would fall apart. I'd have to pull away from my people and my neighborhoods to help the others fight off attacks. I wouldn't be able to offer exemplary service to earn Coil's trust and respect in the mess that ensued. The opportunity to free Dinah would slip from my grasp.
Worst of all, there was no reason for it. We'd claimed more of the city as our territory than they had assumed, and now Hookwolf was building on that, giving them reason to worry we had other sinister motives.
"No," I murmured, barely audible to myself. I could see some of the other Undersiders -Grue, Tattletale and Bitch- turn their heads a fraction in my direction.
"No," Grue echoed me, his voice carrying across the rooftop.
"No?" Coil asked, his voice sharp with surprise. Was there condemnation in there? It was very possible we weren't going the route he wanted.
Grue shook his head, "We'll help against the Nine. That's fine, sensible. But Trickster is right. If we abandoned our territories in the meantime, we'd be putting ourselves in an ugly situation. That's ridiculous and unnecessary."
Trickster nodded at his words.
"If you keep them you'll be putting yourself in an advantageous position," Purity intoned.
"Don't be stupid, Undersiders, Travelers." Faultline cut in, "You can't put money, power and control at a higher priority than our collective survival. If Coil's precog is right, we have to band together against the Nine the same way we would against an Endbringer. For the same reasons."
"And we will," Trickster said. "We just won't give up our territory to do it."
"Because you're hoping to expand further and faster while the Nine occupy the rest of us," Hookwolf growled. "We agree to this like you want, and you attack us from behind."
"We haven't given you any reason to think we'll betray a truce," Grue told him, his voice echoing more than usual, edged with anger. The darkness around him was roiling.
"You have. You're refusing the terms," Purity said.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, Grue and Skitter, your echoed my decisions. You're not going to give up your territories so the nazis would turn them into the concentration camps. Good, good, excellent. I'm sure 100% Coil agrees with you but he have to continue to play his role. Fuck you, Hookwolf, just fuck you. You fucked up a possible very strong alliance against the most dangerous human villains possible only because you're too prideful to give up at your stupid plans involving territories, your greediness that make you wanting to take something for yourself that belongs to someone else will fucking kill you. They worked hard for their territories, they protect their people (even Bitch protects her dogs) and you want to steal their work because you're too coward and weak to take their territories through a fair fight. You suck, you're the biggest LOSER. You'll only have your nazis and druggies' help, that's all. Not enough to fuck S9 up, eh?

Hookwolf was manipulating this. He wasn't as subtle about it as Kaiser had been, it was even transparent, what he was doing. Dead obvious. At the same time, the scenario he was suggesting was just dangerous and believable enough to the Merchants, to his Chosen, and to the Pure that they couldn't afford to ignore it. Coil couldn't talk sense into them without potentially revealing his role as our backer. Even the heroes couldn't counter his argument, because there was that dim possibility that he was right, that they would lose control of the city to villains if we continued to grab power.

Which was admittedly the case. Dealing with the local heroes was one of our long-term goals, for Coil's plan.
We were fighting for Coil's plan and Coil wasn't helping. He remained silent, inscrutable, sticking to the situation that worked best for him and him alone. Damn him.
"You'll be earning the enmity of everyone here if you refuse," Hookwolf said. Was there a hint of gloating in his tone?
"We'll be ruining ourselves if we agree, too," Grue retorted.
"I strongly recommend you agree to this deal," Purity said.
"No, I don't think we will," Trickster said.
"No," Grue echoed Trickster, folding his arms.
That only provoked more argument, along many of the same lines. It was clear this was getting nowhere.
I turned to Miss Militia, who stood only a few feet from me. When I spoke to her, she seemed to only partially pay attention to me, as she kept an eye on the ongoing debate. "This isn't what we need right now. Hookwolf's made this about territory, not the Nine, and we can't back down without-" I stopped as she turned her head, stepped a little closer and tried again, "We, or at least I have people depending on me. I can't let Hookwolf prey on them. We all need to work together to fight the Nine. Can't you do something?"
Miss Militia frowned.
"Please."
She turned away from me and called out, "I would suggest a compromise."
The arguing stopped, and all eyes turned to her.
"The Undersiders and Travelers would move into neutral territory until the Nine were dealt with. But so would the powered individuals of the
Merchants, the Chosen, the Pure, Coil and Faultine's Crew."
"Where would this be? In the PRT headquarters?" Hookwolf asked.
"Perhaps."
"You were attacked as well, weren't you? Who did they go after?"
"Mannequin went after Armsmaster. Armsmaster was hospitalized."
That was some small shock to everyone present, though I might have been less surprised than some. Armsmaster as a prospective member for the Nine.
"What you suggest is too dangerous," Faultline said. "We'd all be gathered in one or two locations for them to attack, and if Armsmaster was attacked, we could be too."
"And their whole reason for being here is recruitment," Coil spoke, "Perhaps the plan would work if we could trust one another, but we cannot, when many here were scouted for their group, and may turn on their potential rivals to prove their worth. We would be vulnerable to an attack from within, and we would be easy targets."
"We could make the same arguments about ourselves," Grue pointed out, "If we agreed, we'd be sitting ducks for whoever came after us."
"I think the Protectorate can help watch and guard nine people," Coil replied, "I'm less confident of their ability to protect everyone present."
So Coil wasn't willing to play along if it meant losing his ability to stay where he was, but he was willing to make life harder on us, his territory holders. Did he have some plan in mind? Or was he just that callous? Either way, he was an asshole.
"No. I'm afraid that compromise won't work," Hookwolf said, squaring his shoulders.
Miss Militia glanced my way. She didn't say or do anything, but I could almost read her mind: I tried.
Hookwolf wasn't about to give up anything here. He had us right where he wanted us, and he was poised to kill two birds with one stone: The
Nine and his rivals for territory.
"It seems," Hookwolf said, "The Travelers and the Undersiders won't agree to our terms for the truce. Merchants, Pure, Faultline, Coil? Are you willing to band together with my group?"
Purity, Coil and Skidmark nodded. Faultline shook her head.
"You're saying no, Faultline?"
"We're mercenaries. We can't take a job without pay. Even a job as important as this."
"I will handle your payment here as I did for the ABB, Faultline," Coil said, sounding just a touch exasperated.
"And Miss Militia?" Hookwolf asked, "A truce?"
"Keep the business to a minimum, no assaulting or attacking civilians," Miss Militia said, "We still have to protect this city, there's no give there.
Don't give us a reason to bother with you, and we'll be focused wholly on the Slaughterhouse Nine in the meantime."
"Good. That's all we ask."
The leaders of the new group crossed the roof to shake hands. In the process, things shuffled so that our group, the Travelers and the heroes were near the bottom of the roof. The heroes moved off to one side, as if to guard us from any retaliation, making the separation in forces all the more obvious.
"You guys are making a mistake," Grue said.
"I think you have things the wrong way around," Hookwolf said. "Nobody wants to break the peace at neutral ground, so perhaps you should go before things get violent?"
Tattletale asked, "You won't let us stick around and discuss the Nine, who they attacked, what our overall strategies should be? Even if we aren't working together as a single group?" She paused, looking deliberately at Faultline, "You know, the smart thing to do?"
She was met only with cold stares and crossed arms.
There was little else to be said or done. We'd lost here. I turned and helped push our boat into the water, then held it steady as everyone piled in. Tattletale had started the motor, and we were gone the second I'd hopped inside.

So, Hookwolf is the biggest loser and the most stupid person here (can't wait for S9 to deal with both nazis and druggies and utterly annihilate them

); Coil is the biggest asshole, but he have his plans and he's not going to abandon UT as long as they're necessary for him to take over the city; Faultline Crew is working for Coil; Trainwreck is Coil's mole in Merchants and Coil will know everything about Merchants/nazis' future plans involving S9; UT can fight by themselves, even if it will be very, very difficult (but again, they have Tattletale and Skitter

), Miss Militia is very smart but she's like one of the very few smart people at this meeting, at least she tried her best. I liked how this meeting ended, better to be a lone wolf than work with stupid and arrogant nazis.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

fabledFreeboota · Jun 15, 2018

The Undersiders kinda did try and stage a take over of the city. And they kinda worked for the guy that leaked all the Swashbuckling Swastikabucklers' identities. This is sort of a way to see the shift of power. Compare this to the last villain meeting.

blackarrow · Jun 15, 2018

fabledFreeboota said:
The Undersiders kinda did try and stage a take over of the city. And they kinda worked for the guy that leaked all the Swashbuckling Swastikabucklers' identities. This is sort of a way to see the shift of power. Compare this to the last villain meeting.

First, Hookwolf doesn't know that Coil stabbed Empire 88 from behind, only Kaiser knew this. Lisa said something like this in Buzz 7.7 (yes, I have a pretty good memory about some certain statements): "Coil says he told Kaiser straight up that he was responsible for the emails. I believe him. If Purity and Kaiser's other subordinates don't know, Kaiser either hasn't seen fit to tell them or he's intentionally keeping them in the dark." So, we can't say here that Hookwolf was so unreasonable because he was pissed on Coil+ he doesn't even know that Coil is UT's boss+ Coil played his role very convincing (he almost convinced Skitter that he's going to throw them under the bus).
Second, if you want to understand how irrational and blinded by greediness Hookwolf was, imagine something like this: you're a small Crime Lord who holds a territory in your city. A powerful Mafia group appears in the city, trying to take over and have certain people -including you, killed. You want to make an alliance with the leader of local skinheads (who's also in danger to be killed). The skinhead leader wants your territory but you're trying to make him understand that is MORE IMPORTANT to try to take down together the powerful Mafia group than any fight over territory. You want to be reasonable, pointing that your survival should matter the most, but the skinheads leader doesn't want to understand because all he wants is you to give him your territory. In this time, the Mafia will have both of you killed, because you're disunited and more vulnerable to them. This is where Hookwolf fucked things up. He fucked UT but he also fucked himself and his people. And I'm sure that UT will survive more than he and his people will do. I agree with making alliance with everyone, including nazis, against psychos so dangerous like S9. But I don't agree with making alliance with very stupid nazis who fuck everyone up. That's the reason why I said that I liked how this meeting ended. If Kaiser was in Hookwolf's place then the story would have been different.

rafuki22 · Jun 15, 2018

blackarrow said:
Hi, crazy and sane people. I have good news for you . I think I just found S9 motto. Look, it fits them perfectly:
Bonesaw: Prepare for trouble!
Jack: Make it double!
Bonesaw: To bring the world to devastation!
Jack: To unite all people within our organisation!
Bonesaw: To denounce the evils of truth and love!
Jack: To extend our reach to the stars above!
Bonesaw: Bonesaw!
Jack: Jack Slash!
Bonesaw: Team Slaughterhouse Nine blasts off in the speed of light!
Jack: Die now or prepare to fight!
Mannequin: Click "morse code" - .... .- - .----. ... / .-. .. --. .... - (translate: That's Right)

Great, now I imagine Jack and Bonesaw dressed as James and Jessie lol, killing all the pokemon trainers and turning their pokemon into scary violent monsters. Mannequin as Meowth however..."shudders". Alright, before we'll start the next Chapter 12.02 | Worm I'm absolutely convinced that the general meeting between the Gangs of Brockton Bay (I had to say the real name of this city- after such a long time- only because I liked it in the context, ok?) will FAIL, CRUSH and BURN without any chance of recovery. And the only one GUILTY for everything will be this FUCKASS- Hookwolf. He'll either lure everyone into a TRAP in order to impress S9 or he'll refuse to cooperate with anyone else but Purity's group, because despite his intelligence, he's not very reasonable, neither too righteous. I'll never forget that he almost broke Empire88 and Undersiders truce only because Bitch messed up with is dog fighting ring. The truce wasn't broken only because Grue and Kaiser were wise and reasonable enough. But honestly, I don't care if Hookwolf will agree to work only with the other nazi team, Undersiders and all others can handle themselves the situation pretty well without having to wait for nazi help. Better be a lone wolf than to beg nazis for help. All I care is for Hookwolf to not set up a trap.

The meeting is during night, in the middle of a lake, looks like. Maybe on an island, somewhere where S9 can't reach. Bullshit, Cherish can find them no matter where they're going and Shatterbird can reach the island without major problems since she can fly. But as long as they don't have any glass at them, they're safe from being hurt by her. I wonder if Siberian can swim. If she's a true kitty at her core, yes, she'll be afraid of water, but if she didn't completely embraced her animal side, they'll be so screwed if she can swim. Plus Mannequin can create wings for the non- flier, non- swimmer members of the team. Not even an island in the middle of the lake or ocean is safe from these bastards.

I'm 100% with you, Skitter, I completely understand what you're feeling. Believe me, I'm even more tense than you about the whole meeting (meaning that it will keep me on the edge to see if Hookwolf will sell them to S9 or not). It is organized by this big nazi piece of shit (no matter how badass he's and how much he cares for his people, I still can't stop myself to not hate Hookwolf. I hate his ideology, I hate how much he believes in his ideology, I don't trust him) and he'll either play you all or treat you like you're nothing for him. I'd be surprised if Hookwolf will turn to be as reasonable as Kaiser (despite all his evilness, Kaiser was someone with enough brains in his head to respect truces and cooperation), but I have my doubts about him. He's too prideful and arrogant to walk on Kaiser's footsteps. Also, I don't trust the puppy wolf either. He's Siberian's gift. He was either modified by Bonesaw so he'll become a monster (worse than how Bitch will make him to be) and turn against Bitch herself or her teammates when S9 will decide or he have an implanted microphone so S9 will know all the time about Bitch's team plans (and others in extension). There's something very wrong about this puppy, its enough to know that he's a S9's gift and no S9's gift is innocent and safe.

So, Fenrir's Chosen (FUCK THEM) are already there, in the middle of the lake created by Leviathan, Faultline's Crew are there too, Undersiders just arrived, the only ones who still have to come are Coil, Merchants (FUCK THEM), Travelers and the last ones, Pure (HALF-FUCK THEM because they're a little more tolerable than Chosen...but then I remember they have motherfucker Night soooooooo........FUCK THEM too). Undersiders, Travelers and Faultline Crew (as long as they're paid) work for Coil, Fenrir's Chosen and Pure can go and fuck each others with fire-heated swastikas, and Merchants....they can serve as meat for experiments for S9, for all I care . This meeting is going to be a disaster. And I'm going to enjoy quite a lot as long as there's not a trap.

"bangs her head against desk" I swear, this story will give me serious bumps on the head if I'll keep banging my head like this. And I can't stop doing that as long as people like Merchants EXIST in this story. People? I'm too kind with them. Rats are not people . Yep, Hookwolf, you're right, but what good can you expect to happen coming from these primitive rats? Even their Tinker is a dumbass and she's the polar opposite of Armsmaster in EVERYTHING. Armsmaster is a Lord and a King compared with this bitch. Now I'm convinced that S9 know where they're, even if its not Hookwolf's trap. Thanks, rats, hope your vehicle will explode in your face and you'll all fucking die.

Well, at least Merchants did something smart for the first time in their existence. But still I'm going to squeal in joy if they'll be slaughtered by S9, I won't feel not even 0,00000000000% bad for any of them, on the contrary . They're so shitty, Faultline is too much of a Lady for Skidmark, if she was less of a lady, then this pervert bastard's jaws and nose would have been gone by now (and not thanks to powers, I know how Faultline's power works; all she have to do is to punch the living daylight out of him; she already kicked his ass once, he won't stand any chance against her, powers or not). Yes, Hookwolf, explain: why Merchants? They have good powers, especially Skidmark and Scrub, but they have zero intelligence and zero self control. They're useless.

FUCK YOU, NIGHT BITCH, FOR GIVING ME FUCKING NIGHTMARES WITH YOUR INHUMAN FORM AND PRESENCE! Ok, all the good and gentle people are here: Fenrir's Chosen, Merchants, Pure, Coil...all of my favorite characters gathered in the same place "cough, cough" Sorry, I just drowned in my own sarcasm. I'm surprised that Genesis send her projection and didn't come personally. This is something definitely wrong with this girl and I don't think is her fault. She must be either blind or have another handicap, poor thing. There are more people to arrive? WTF, Hookwolf?............S9, right? Its a trap, I knew it.

..........Impressive. Heroes. I honestly didn't expected at these guests. Well, hello, Miss Militia, Clockblocker, Battery, Triumph and <3 <3 <3 MY Weld. Ok, this is going to be better now that I know its not a trap. Still, Hookwolf pisses me to not end. This meeting should have the motto A GOOD S9 MEMBER IS A DEAD S9 MEMBER not LET'S KILL UNDERSIDERS AND TRAVELERS BECAUSE THEY'RE WORKING TOGETHER. Shut the fuck up, Hookwolf. Yes, you figured they're together, congratulations, but you should concentrate over the real menace, not over them. They're not even half as dangerous as S9 and you'll not stand any chance against S9 without external help, you damn bastard.

On short long:
-Hookwolf is an IRRATIONAL BEAST. He wants to make everyone (Pure, Merchants, Coil and Faultline's Crew -without knowing that the last ones work with Undersiders/Travelers) hate UT, accusing them that they're stealing the city for themselves (the truth is that they're stealing it for Coil but this is something this brute doesn't know) even if he needs their help against S9. What Fenrir's Chosen/Pure and Merchants can really do by themselves? Not too much, they don't have a Tattletale or a Skitter in their teams. Or a Trickster or a Coil.
-Coil pretends to be as neutral as possible, not wanting for the irrational nazi to notice that he's involved with UT as well. A very good move coming from Coil.
-Miss Militia is neutral and wise as always.
-If I were in Grue's place, I'd be like: fuck, we're not going to hand off our territories, we'll keep them even if you'll refuse to cooperate with us. We can handle themselves better than you anyways.

On short long:
-Weld and Miss Militia are convinced that Coil kidnapped Dinah and that he's lying now, pretending that she's his willingly student. Which is very good because they might try to save her in the near future, possible before Skitter. Anyone who'll save Dinah will do the best thing in this story so far.
-Coil is playing his role flawlessly, pretending to agree with the irrational brute Hookwolf, even if deep down he knows that UT will never agree with Hookwolf's stupid request; he probably split the timelines in the meantime and he knows their answers from Timeline A.
-Hookwolf is still an irrational bastard that I'm going to enjoy so much seeing him slaughtered by S9. I lost the small respect I have for him. He rather cares for some territories than for unity against an all powerful enemy. Kaiser would spit in his face.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, Grue and Skitter, your echoed my decisions. You're not going to give up your territories so the nazis would turn them into the concentration camps. Good, good, excellent. I'm sure 100% Coil agrees with you but he have to continue to play his role. Fuck you, Hookwolf, just fuck you. You fucked up a possible very strong alliance against the most dangerous human villains possible only because you're too prideful to give up at your stupid plans involving territories, your greediness that make you wanting to take something for yourself that belongs to someone else will fucking kill you. They worked hard for their territories, they protect their people (even Bitch protects her dogs) and you want to steal their work because you're too coward and weak to take their territories through a fair fight. You suck, you're the biggest LOSER. You'll only have your nazis and druggies' help, that's all. Not enough to fuck S9 up, eh?

So, Hookwolf is the biggest loser and the most stupid person here (can't wait for S9 to deal with both nazis and druggies and utterly annihilate them ); Coil is the biggest asshole, but he have his plans and he's not going to abandon UT as long as they're necessary for him to take over the city; Faultline Crew is working for Coil; Trainwreck is Coil's mole in Merchants and Coil will know everything about Merchants/nazis' future plans involving S9; UT can fight by themselves, even if it will be very, very difficult (but again, they have Tattletale and Skitter ), Miss Militia is very smart but she's like one of the very few smart people at this meeting, at least she tried her best. I liked how this meeting ended, better to be a lone wolf than work with stupid and arrogant nazis.

Good night and sleep well, my friends.

Hookwolf is not being irrational, he is being rational, thinking about the future of "his people", just because he opposes your favorite characters does not mean he is silly, even if it is. It is true that all others want to be in a favorable situation manipulating the current situation, but that is the policy and diplomacy, in addition, if the undersiders did the same, being in the winning position, you will support them, your favoritism gives you little perspective logic, I agree with you in many things, but I think you are very subjective, without offending. So ... this is my opinion.
Ps: By the way, I remember you said earlier that the story was funny, but I can assure you, that worm is one of the darkest verses there is, and the darkness began with the leviathan attack, and I can assure you, it's not going to stop soon.

blackarrow · Jun 15, 2018

rafuki22 said:
Hookwolf is not being irrational, he is being rational, thinking about the future of "his people", just because he opposes your favorite characters does not mean he is silly, even if it is. It is true that all others want to be in a favorable situation manipulating the current situation, but that is the policy and diplomacy, in addition, if the undersiders did the same, being in the winning position, you will support them, your favoritism gives you little perspective logic, I agree with you in many things, but I think you are very subjective, without offending. So ... this is my opinion.
Ps: By the way, I remember you said earlier that the story was funny, but I can assure you, that worm is one of the darkest verses there is, and the darkness began with the leviathan attack, and I can assure you, it's not going to stop soon.

Sorry to contradict you but when they have to face an enemy who's incredible dangerous and powerful, you should stop whining about territories that doesn't belong to you anyway and make an alliance even with your enemies. Hookwold doesn't understand that his team will not stand any chance (even helped by Pure and Merchants) against all S9 members. He barely managed to defeat Shatterbird, helped by Stormtiger and Cricket, what he's going to do against someone like Siberian or Crawler? By whining over some territories, Hookwolf fucked up some big chances to defeat S9 if they're all worked together. Its normal for Undersiders to not give up at their territories when they did so much to protect and manage them. This is a strategy I definitely agree with. If Hookwolf wants territory, then he should wait until S9 will be defeated then fight to seize them. Too bad that now is too late for this strategy because he fucked everyone up, but worst his people. Let's not forget that he almost fucked up the Alliance against ABB by whinning over some destroyed business. This man thinks more like an wounded animal than a rational human being so I'm going to enjoy a lot if S9 will massacre all his people.
Well, its pretty dark, yes, I won't say no, but its also pretty funny too, especially from the moment when S9 appeared. I know they're batshit insane, I know they're going to do some really nasty stuff, i know that Jack might end the world but I still find some things funny in a fucked up sense of word. Well, there are also sad moments, especially when children are involved but...Everyone with their opinion, after all. While some people find this story entirely dark I personally find it more than just dark. Its also romantic at times, have some comedy gold moments, emotional, tense, nail-biting, original, imaginative, and so on

blackarrow · Jun 16, 2018

Hello, my friends, and welcome to Chapter 3 12.03 | Worm "sighs" I noticed that everytime when characters (especially various groups of villains) try to make an alliance against another group of villains more dangerous than everyone else, their meetings can be summarize like this:
Everyone: We must make an alliance against ABB. They're out of control and hazardous for us all.
Hookwolf: My fighting dog ring was fucked up by a Bitch. This is what bothers me the most now. I want to punish her.
Everyone: We have bigger problems than your bussiness, Hook.

Everyone: We myst make an alliance against Slaughterhouse 9. They're psychos and a real danger for everyone.
Hookwolf: Undersiders and Travelers work together and they're stealing territories. This is what bothers me the most now. We have to declare them our enemies.
Merchants: He's right.
Pure: He's right.
Undersiders/Travelers: We have bigger problems than this one.
Protectorate/Wards/Faultline Crew/Coil "thinking": At least Merchants have an excuse for their immense stupidity, but nazis... what kind of excuse they have?

Ladies and gentlemen, Hookwolf in a nutshell.
I hope this is not going to be something that is going to happen everytime when a new team of supervillains will appear. Will get boring with time.

"Fuck!" Grue swore the second his boat hit land.

"Let me guess," Regent remarked to Bitch, "He's been swearing since we left."
Bitch nodded.
The Travelers had already arrived. They stood in a huddle by the water while Genesis disintegrated into several vague floating body parts.
"Coil just bent us over and fucked us," Grue said.
"I dunno," Tattletale answered. "That might have been the only way for him to play things, with the way his power and operations work."
"That would do a hell of a lot more to ease my concerns if I had any idea what his power was."

Tattletale only offered an apologetic half-smile and a shrug to that.
I tried to help her out. "Look, we do know that Coil is smart, he's proud, and he's at his best when he's managing his enterprise. Being cooped up, he'd be hit hard in all three areas. Limited tools to work with, limited access to his people, and he'd be less powerful in a way that everyone would be aware of."
"That doesn't excuse how thoroughly he just screwed us, without even trying to help us out."

Looks like only Skitter and Tattletale know about Coil's power, the others have no idea. I seriously didn't noticed this till know, I believed that Tattletale told everyone but it looks like I was wrong. Ok, Grue, don't be so mad, Coil only played a role, he didn't fucked you. Even Tattletale agrees with me

. I think that in one timeline, Coil (probably knowing Hookwolf pretty well) had thought that the nazi leader will demand Undersiders/Travelers to give up their territories and asked UT what they want to do. They said that they'll refuse to hand off their territories and Coil agreed with them. Now, in this timeline, Coil already knew their answers and only pretended that he's upset, playing his card perfectly. Voila! Nothing is actually lost, friends, Coil still have his spy, Trainwreck, so he will inform you about Merchants+ nazis' each movement, so you know how to plan your own attack when their plans will fail. Let's not forget someone....I don't exactly remember that person, all I know is that is a girl, she's wearing a horned mask and have a connection to Grue and she can be the best SPY in the world for some reasons. You can send this girl to spy on Fenrir Chosen unless...unless she's already spying on them. What if she was in the building during the entire meeting but nobody noticed her so she wasn't even mentioned? That would be so neat. Again, does this girl have a codename and power? I don't remember anything about.

I shook my head. "I don't think he's completely screwed us over. We know Coil's got at least one undercover

agent, Trainwreck-"
Tattletale interrupted to say, "He's got a whole lot more than one."
"Thought he might. Doesn't it make sense that he'd assist us by being one himself? I get the impression he likes the control it affords him and the amount of information he can get this way."
"Maybe," Grue conceded.
"We should focus on where we go from here," I said.
"Agreed," Trickster called out.
Genesis had finished disappearing, and Trickster was walking over to our group, followed by Sundancer and Ballistic. He extended a hand for Grue to shake, then turned to Tattletale, me, Regent and Bitch to do the same.
Bitch didn't take his hand, turning away to focus on her dogs instead. Trickster took the snub in stride. "If nothing else, I'm glad we get a chance to talk. Unless things get a lot worse from here, I'm hoping we'll all be working side by side for a little while."

"Let's hope," Grue agreed.
Trickster said, "We just sent Genesis back in a more discreet form to listen in."
"Imp is staying behind as well," Tattletale informed him, "So we've got redundancy there."
"Christ," Grue snapped his head from one side to the next, as if he could spot his sister that way. With a note of alarm in his voice, he asked, "Imp's still there?"
"She's okay," Tattletale reassured him, "They won't notice her."
"They could. We don't know how consistently her power works, or if it works in a group that large, and we can't be sure we know every power the people there have, if anyone has some extra senses that might bypass her ability. Fuck! This is the exact type of situation I wanted to keep her away from. The whole reason I let her join this group was to keep her close enough that I could rein in this sort of recklessness."
"She's a bit of a rebel, but she's not stupid," Tattletale said, "Trust her to hold her own."
"I wouldn't trust myself to hold my own in her shoes," Grue told her. "Christ. Skitter, can you send a few bugs over that way, tell me if she's in one piece?"
I nodded, while Trickster slapped his forehead.

Ah, NOW I remember (my brain is such a bitch sometimes). Her codename is Imp and she's Grue's sister. Still I can't remember her real name

. And she indeed was present during the whole meeting (still is there because the meeting was over only for UT, the others are still talking and planning). Nice little trick, Wildbow, even if I kind of noticed it.

I can imagine something like this:
Hookwolf, pointing to Imp: Who's this new chick and what she's doing here?
Skidmark: Just a random trash bitch, let's ignore her.
Hookwolf: Agree. Back to our crucial discussion. So, Undersiders and Travelers' territories....
Too bad that S9 have Cherish, otherwise Imp would have spied on them in their own base (they should have a base where they eat, sleep and do whatever psychos are doing). But Cherish will feel Imp's presence based on her emotions and will notice that Imp is not someone harmless, good only to be ignored by them.

"The bugs," he said, "I could have told Genesis to stick around while you scouted, wait, no. Why send Imp if you have the bugs?"

"I can't see or hear through the swarm, really. Not well enough to listen in."
"You did once," Tattletale told me.
That surprised me. "When?"
"After the fight with Bakuda. You were doped up, hurt, you had a concussion, but you were able to tell us the kind of music someone was listening to, and he was way out of earshot."
"Seriously? And you didn't tell me this?"
Grue shook his head. "Just speaking for myself, I had a lot on my mind, between you and the others being in rough shape and the ABB setting off bombs across the city. I completely forgot until just now. Sorry."
Tattletale nodded.
"That's huge," I said, "Do you know how much I could use something like that?"

"Why can't you now?" Trickster asked.
"Bugs sense things so differently, my brain can't translate what they see and hear into something I can process. It's all black and white blotches, high-pitched squeals and bass throbs." I paused. "Imp's perfectly fine, by the way. At least, I can't find her, but nobody's reacting like they found a spy in their midst."
Grue sighed, "Okay."
"So this sensory part of your power, you stopped trying?" Tattletale asked.
The way she phrased that nettled me. "In the three months between my getting my powers and first going out in costume, I saw zero improvement in that department. None, zilch. When I did start going out in costume, I was worried the useless sights and sounds might distract me at some crucial juncture. Between that and the fact that it was like hitting my head against a metaphorical brick wall…"
"You gave up," Regent said. He was trying to get on my nerves, I knew it.
"I stopped trying. But now that I know it's somehow possible, I dunno. I can start looking for a way."
The degree to which it would expand my capabilities, it was tempting. That kind of expansion of my sensory abilities could be a matter of life and death at some point. I could theoretically listen in on most of the people in my territory. Would I want to, though? The invasiveness of that kind of creeped me out, and I had a pretty high creepiness tolerance.

I agree, Skitter should train her hearing-through-bugs part of her power because that would be pretty useful. She can hide bugs discreetly in S9's clothes (except for Siberian who's too paranoiac about people listening her through microphones planted in her clothes so she gave up at wearing them

) and listen to their conversations. I want Skitter to reach the maximum potential of her power, one day to be able to control all the insects in the world in the same time or even insects from other Earths. That would be the BEST thing.

"It might be like your range boosts. Tied to your mental state," Tattletale said.

"Except my range boosts are probably linked to me feeling trapped, and I somehow doubt I felt that way when I was doped up and waking up in that hospital bed or ambulance or wherever."
"It's something you can work through," she said. "And now that you know to look for it, you should push yourself to use that part of your power so you can see when it's stronger or weaker."
I nodded, and willed myself to tear down all the mental barriers and safeguards that walled my brain off from the sights and sounds the bugs wanted to send my way.
It was every bit as grating and annoying as I recalled. This would take some getting used to.
"Listen," Trickster said. "Ballistic's HQ is close by. Since my group is going to be waiting for Genesis, and you guys will want to hang around and pick up Imp when she's done, maybe you want to come by and we can discuss strategy in the meantime?"
"Sounds like a good idea," Grue said. "Thanks."
Ballistic gestured toward a nearby street and we all started walking in that direction.
Grue started us off. "Number one, we know that they were here to recruit. Who were they recruiting?"
"Me," Regent said. That drew a few looks of surprise from the Travelers. He elaborated, "My sister is their newest member, replaced Hatchet Face. She did it to fuck with me more than out of a genuine desire to have me join."
"Armsmaster is another," I pointed out. "According to Miss Militia, Mannequin wanted him."
"The, uh, sixth member of the Travelers is the next recruit, I guess," Trickster admitted. "Crawler hit Coil's place."
"Sixth?" I asked. "If there's four of you, then-"

"We have two group members who don't see any combat. They spend most or all of their time at Coil's headquarters. I understand if that raises a lot of questions, but I –we– would really appreciate it if you guys could leave it at that for now. I'm thinking we'll introduce you to the others soon."
"I'm okay with dropping it so long as you're not withholding anything crucial," Grue said. "I'm happy to stay on topic as much as possible anyways."
Trickster tipped his hat. "Appreciated. Looked like Hookwolf got hit. His entire group did. Shatterbird?"
"Yeah," Tattletale replied. "Can confirm that one."
"Shatterbird, Crawler, Mannequin and…" I trailed off, looking at Regent for help in placing the name.
"Cherish."
"If the condition of Faultline's crew was any indication," Tattletale said, "We can make an educated guess that Burnscar paid them a visit. Thing is, I can't even begin to guess who she visited. Spitfire's too nice, and none of the others really have the, I dunno, edge?"

They're going to Car Cemetery Lair until Imp and Genesis' projection will be done with spying...wait a minute, Imp is there and spying? Since when? I'm not sure I noticed this. So, there are 6 Travelers: Trickster, Ballistic, Sundancer, Genesis, Noelle and...Oliver, I suppose. Since he seemed pretty close to the team, like he's their friend. Yep, Oliver must be the last Traveler. I wonder if he have powers. Maybe his power is very weak/useless during combat, that's the reason why he doesn't help his teammates in combat and prefer to stay at Coil'a base all this time. "shakes her head" Bitch, Bitch, you still didn't told anyone about Siberian's visit and "gift". If something will happen to either team because of you cute puppy it will be only your fault. I'll accuse you first. And I'll be pissed even more on you for this than I was when you betrayed Skitter.

"In any case, that leaves the people who Jack, Siberian and Bonesaw nominated. Any ideas?"

I glanced across our groups. Nobody moved to reply.
"Maybe they're not done?" Sundancer spoke up, "Or maybe some of them aren't picking new members?"

"Maybe they're not done," Tattletale spoke, "But I think they are. From what I've read on them, and from what my power is giving me, I have the distinct impression they all would have made some kind of move by now. They either hit all at once, shock and awe, or they draw it out. This is the former."
"But are they all picking new members?"
Tattletale shrugged. "No clue. We know of four, at least."
Ballistic led us into a parking garage. We walked between rows of cars that had been pummelled by the floodwater. Panels had been dented, windows shattered, and some of the cars had been lifted and pushed into one another.
Sundancer formed a tiny 'sun' and held it up for light, while Regent turned on the flashlight he'd brought. We descended into the bowels of the garage, and stopped at the ramp between the second level down and the third. It had collapsed, and both rubble and two or three cars sat in the water that flooded the floor below.
"This way," Ballistic said. He grabbed a length of pipe that stuck out where the ramp had collapsed and climbed down. Trickster gestured and we moved to follow.
Clever, clever. Out of sight from any vantage point on the level above, short walls had been set around the fallen ramp. They ensured that the flooding and the wreckage were all contained to one area to sell the illusion, and kept everything else on the lowest level of the basement dry. Cars had been removed, clearing the area for use as an underground base.
Ballistic pulled off his mask and tossed it onto the bed that sat in one corner. He cleared a few dirty dishes from the table in the middle of the area and invited us to sit while he fetched some extra seats.
He had a bit of a heavy brow and a snub nose, and his short brown hair, damp with sweat, made me think of the jocks that always seemed to gravitate towards Sophia. Still, he wasn't a bad looking guy. If a guy like him had asked me out in some alternate universe where Emma had never stopped being my friend and I'd never been bullied? Just going by his looks, I might have said yes.
Trickster unmasked as well. He definitely didn't remind me of one of the jocks. His hair was longer than many girls wore theirs, he had light brown skin and an unfortunate hook nose. Combined with his intense stare, he gave me the impression of a hawk or some other bird of prey.
Grue, Tattletale and Regent all unmasked as well while they got themselves seated. Trickster offered each of them a cigarette, then offered one to me. I turned him down, as did the others.
"So what are we discussing here?" Sundancer asked from behind me. I turned and saw a rather attractive blonde girl with a long neck and delicate features. Her hair was expertly pinned up behind her head. "I was under the impression that the Slaughterhouse Nine were pretty much unbeatable."
"No," Brian said. "Some of them, maybe, but others are as vulnerable as you or me. Thing is, Dinah told us that our odds against these bastards aren't good. Our chances of winning are pretty low, and it's pretty damn likely we'll get killed if we confront them head on."

Car Cemetery Lair WITHOUT cars. Any explanation for this? Ballistic already send all the cars directly on the Moon

. Alright, everyone (except for Skitter) pulled their masks down. Why I still don't know Ballistic's name? I just can't call him Ballistic when he's unmasked. Feels WEIRD to me. And I personally think that Krouse is a handsome young man (even if he can be such an asshole at times) but this is my opinion. Skitter can think whatever she wants. Alright, they're discussing plans about how to effectively attack S9 and they agree that they won't have many chances in case of a direct attack. They must use their wits and intelligence to defeat their enemies by exploring their weaknesses. Maybe the nazis and Merchants have some powerful members but Undersiders/Travelers have something more that they completely lack: wits and intelligence.

"So we don't confront them head on," Trickster said.

Feeling conspicuous as the only one with a mask on, I pulled mine off. It took me a second to adjust to the blue tint that everything had after I'd spent over an hour looking through the pale yellow lenses of my mask. I realized Trickster was setting up a laptop. He placed it at one corner of the table, facing the rest of us.
"Oliver?"
"I'm here, Trickster," a male voice came from the computer.
"Feel like patching in Noelle?"

"Sure. She's in an okay mood. A little drowsy. I'll be right back."
Trickster pressed a button on the keyboard and then turned to us, "Tattletale. I'll be as quick as I can. Coil promised he'd get you to help us, but he's taken his time introducing you to our group. The cynic in me suspects there's a reason, and the pessimist in me says that reason is that he's already figured out what you're going to tell us, and it isn't going to be pretty."
"Okay." Tattletale was all business.
"Noelle's going to ask you for help. Lie to her. Tell her you're already on it. Roll with it if she gets angry, or if she gets impatient. She's sensitive. I don't know how your power works, really, but if you realize whatever it is that Coil doesn't want us to know, don't tell Noelle."
"She's the one Crawler visited?" I asked.
Trickster nodded once.
"Hello?' A girl's voice came from the computer. Trickster hit a key, which I assumed was to take himself off mute. He hit another combination of keys and a webcam feed snapped up to cover the screen.
Noelle had long brown hair and she wore a red sweatshirt. She looked like someone who was ill. She was horribly pale, she had dark circles under her sunken eyes, and her lips were chapped. I was reminded of drug addicts in an early stage of addiction, where they were deteriorating because the drugs took a higher priority than taking care of themselves. Was Coil drugging her too?

Oliver is a Traveler CONFIRMED. A Traveler with either a very weak power or without powers at all. Krouse seems to trust Noelle a lot, maybe she's smart enough to come up with a plan who'll actually works against S9. Sucks to be you, Hookwolf. Until you'll actually start fighting against S9, UT will probably manage to kill at least one or two of them. No territories for you, not even the sweet taste of victory. I don't think Coil drugged her too, Skitter. I think she looks so pale and tired because of her unusual power that not even her boyfriend/friend knows about. Maybe she's slowly turning into a monstrous zombie.

"Noelle, " Trickster said, "You've asked to be included more. I thought you'd be okay with this?"

She nodded.
"Left to right, we have Grue, Regent, Skitter, Bitch and Tattletale."
There wasn't a flicker of a smile or any interest on her face until she heard that last name. "Tattletale?"
"Noelle," Tattletale spoke, "It's nice to finally meet you. Listen, I'm working on your situation. Coil's filled me in on the basics and I'm chasing down some leads, but something's come up with the Slaughterhouse Nine, and everything's on hold until we can be sure they won't try to kill us in the meantime."

I could see Trickster tense. Was Noelle so high strung or desperate that she'd throw a tantrum over being asked to wait?
"Coil was telling the truth," Noelle said, in a small voice, "You can help?"
"Honestly? I don't know. But I'm a fucking genius when it comes to getting answers, and Coil's got all the resources in the world. If
there's help to be had, we'll give it to you."
"How soon before you know?"
"No idea. I don't think it'll be as fast as you want, but it's doable, and it won't take so long that you should give up."
"Okay."
"In the meantime," Trickster cut in, giving Tattletale a thumbs-up gesture from a position outside of the laptop's field of view, "We need our old field commander's brain on the Slaughterhouse Nine sitch."
"A distraction would be nice," Noelle smiled for the first time.
Field commander. She used to be the leader of their group? I wondered if I could dig up any information about her if I hunted far enough back.
I could see Brian fidget under the table. He wasn't liking the constant distractions from the subject at hand.
"Eight enemies," Trickster said. "Now, I'm not a serious player of the game, I'm sorry to any of you Undersiders who are irritated by the way I'm about to butcher it, but the way I see it, their leader is like the king in chess. More raw power than a pawn, but in the end, he's simultaneously the second weakest piece in the game and the one everything hinges on. We take him down without getting massacred in the process, I think we win."

Noelle was the leader of Travelers before Krouse took over? Unexpected. Then Krouse probably was her second in command, this is how he became the new leader in her place. Gosh, they describe S9 members as they're chess- pieces. I have no freaking idea how to play chess, someone tried to teach me once but I didn't liked so I gave up. Smart game but not interesting enough for me.

I'm more like a simple-minded girl who like to play soccer, tennis, skiing, skydiving and shooting people at paintball than anything else.

Ok, let's learn chess with Krouse and Noelle. Jack is the King and if he'll be eliminated then his group will fall apart and the Apocalypse will never happen (if he isn't allowed to kill/influence that certain person who can bring the end of the world, of course). He's very vulnerable to any attack, but he's smart and he's protected by ridiculous overpowered people.

"Jack Slash," Noelle said.

"Right. Siberian's like the queen. She's fast, mobile, one of the strongest physically, and the bitch of the matter is, she can't be taken off the board, and she can't be contained. A special queen, if you will. Physically she's an unstoppable force and an immovable object any time she wants to be."
To my right, Bitch picked up the puppy and settled it in her lap. It curled up and nestled against the cupped circle of her arms and hands.

"Then there's Crawler, who visited us the other night. Maybe not as fast or agile as Siberian, and he can be contained, but he can't be taken off the board. A special rook."
"I'm wondering how far you can stretch this chess analogy, Trickster," Ballistic commented.
Trickster ignored him. "Shatterbird and Burnscar are like bishops. They've got mobility, reach, and they can bury you damn fast if you don't have the right kind of cover."
"What about Mannequin? Another rook?" I asked.
"I'd peg him a knight. He's more close range, but he'll catch you from an oblique angle, maybe slip past whatever defences you think you have."
"Which leaves Cherish and Bonesaw," Grue said. "We'll have to trust Regent to give us the details on Cherish."
Regent nodded and tapped his finger against his chin, "My sister. I don't know if you could call her a third bishop or a knight. Long range on her power, gets stronger as she gets closer. Affects your emotions and as far as I'm aware, there's no way to defend against it or to take cover. If she decides she wants to hurt you or make you hurt yourself, she can find you and she'll make it happen."
"But she has no special defences," Grue cut in. "She's vulnerable to pretty much any knife, gun or power we can hit her with."
"Can we gang up on her?" Sundancer asked.
"She can affect multiple people at once," Regent said. "So it's not that easy."
"That means we have to beat her at her own game," Trickster mused, "Track her, beat her in long-range warfare."

Siberian is the Queen and Crawler is the Rook. Crawler can be either completely friend or have his brains entirely destroyed so he can't regenerate anymore. Scrub would be excellent against Crawler but...Hookwolf decided that they should not work together, fuck him. Probably Siberian can be killed in her sleep since she's indestructible only when she wants to be? Maybe if she's sleeping, she can't concentrate over her powers and be vulnerable just like everyone else. Shatterbird and Burnscar are Bishops and they CAN be defeated and killed. Mannequin is a Knight. I think Cherish is rather a Bishop than a Knight. She's very hard to kill because of her power+ she can control more people than one in the same time but Alec is immune to her power so if Coil will give him a firegun he can simply shoot the bitch until she'll be completely dead. Alec already killed people, hates his sister so nothing in the world will stop him from killing her. As long as there aren't other S9 members around, of course.

"I could use puppets to go after her," Regent said, "But she can paralyze them with the kind of uncontrolled physical reactions I can't cover with my power. Iam immune to her, for all the good that does."

"How far does her offensive range extend?" I asked.
"No clue. I'd guess she can sense emotions across the entire city, which is how she's finding people, but in terms of attack? I don't have any basis to make a guess. Farther than my dad, Heartbreaker, but not city-wide, no."
"The ability to track us by our emotions is a good enough reason to take her out of action ASAP," Trickster said. "So long as she's active, it'll be that much harder to catch the others off guard."
"Maybe…" I started, then I hesitated. Feeling the pressure of everyone's attention on me, I said, "…Maybe my power will outrange hers? Not in terms of what we see and sense, but in terms of who can do more damage from further away?"
"It's a thought," Grue agreed, "Risky, but we don't have many options. Trickster, where does Bonesaw fit into your analogy?"
Trickster shook his head, "She doesn't. She's relatively weak in terms of raw power, but her presence on the field threatens to change the rules. She's a medical tinker. The medical tinker. So long as she's in play, we can't be certain of our enemy's attack power, we can't know that any enemy we clear from the field will stay gone, and there could be harsh penalties if they catch or kill one of us. It sucks to think about, but if Bonesaw got her hands on, say, Sundancer, I'd be a hell of a lot more worried than if Hookwolf or Skidmark did."

Sundancer muttered something to Ballistic, but I couldn't make it out.
"What about our side?" Noelle asked.
"Lots of playing pieces, not all cooperating, and we have one debatable advantage," Trickster said, "We know in advance, pretty much for a fact, that if any of us, Undersider or Traveler, try to fight these bastards, we're going to lose, and we'll lose hard."
"Tattletale say that?" Noelle asked.
"Coil did," Trickster answered.
Odd. So Noelle was staying with Coil, but she didn't know about Dinah? Another secret or white lie from her team?
"I can't help but think of the Desecrated Monk scenario," Noelle said. I saw Trickster, Sundancer and Ballistic all nodding. When I turned to my team, they looked as confused as I was. Was this Desecrated Monk someone the Travelers had gone up against at some point before they came to Brockton Bay?

Bonesaw is the wild card and even if she might appear weak in front of an attack, she might be exactly like Siberian in terms of physically resistance: possible that she made herself immune at pain, her wounds can probably heal in like few seconds, she's probably having 2 or 3 hearts so if you stab one won't be enough to kill her, maybe she have an indestructible skin, etc. Everything is possible with a medical Tinker as talented as Bonesaw is. On UT's side, the most powerful combat- wise individuals are: Skitter, Alec, Sundancer and Trickster. Non-combat wise: Tattletale and Imp. Imp can be considered a wild card, just like Bonesaw. You never know when she's watching you, except if you're Cherish.

"Go on," Trickster encouraged her.

"The rules are unfair. Half of our opponents are pretty blatantly cheating. But we have to deal with them anyways. So either we cheat back-"
"Which we can't."
"Or you guys handle it the way we did it before. You don't fight the way they want to fight."
"Okay," Trickster nodded, "So the first question we ask ourselves is how they want to play this. What do they want? In terms a five-year-old could understand."
"They want their ninth member," I said.
"Right."
"They want to hurt, scare and kill people," Tattletale put in her two cents.
"Why?"
"Reputation, entertainment," Tattletale said, "These guys are monsters, and pretty much anyone who watches T.V., surfs the web, or reads the papers knows it."
I saw it out of the corner of my eye. Noelle's expression shifted all at once from being animated and engaged to the same look she'd worn when the webcam feed first went live. Disinterested, hurt, hopeless.

Oh, no, Lisa, you just made Noelle sad by talking about monsters when she feels like she's turning into one of them

. She doesn't have any hope left that she'll become normal again, it looks like she doesn't trust Coil anymore with his cure. You're not the only one here, Noelle, I don't trust him either. I never trusted him with anything.

She'd been scouted. Unlike Regent, it hadn't been to mess with her. It had been because a freak like Crawler legitimately thought she was one of them.
If Tattletale was sitting next to me, I would have kicked her under the table.
Noelle suddenly perked up, saying, "They want to hunt. They're predators."
"Okay, how can we use that?" Trickster leaned forward to look at the screen.
"They want to be the predators, we make them prey," Noelle said. She was looking more animated again.
"Not sure that's possible, but keep going."
"It's not possible because, um. You described them like they're chess pieces, and we're thinking in terms of a chess game. What if we
changed the game?"
"I always preferred Go," Trickster said, "But Go is about territory, give and take, less about aggression than an educational sparring
match between two master swordsmen, each walking away with a new kernel of knowledge. Go applies more to taking over the city than it does to this scenario."
"Shogi?" Noelle suggested.
Shogi. I got her meaning almost immediately, and I wasn't alone. Tattletale, the Travelers and I all looked at Regent.
Regent, Bitch and Grue, for their parts, were left looking bewildered.

"Maybe you should clarify?" Grue suggested.
"Shogi is an Eastern variant of chess," I said, "Some of the pieces move a little differently, though I can't remember how. But the big
difference is that there's a rule that says you can take any of the opponent's pieces you've captured and place them on the board as your own."

Yes, Skitter, kick Lisa for me, she accidentally broke Noelle's heart (for people who believe that if I like Undersiders, I'll always favor them, Lisa is MY FAVORITE character in the entire story and I'll still criticize her everytime when she makes stupid mistakes or she's spiteful with someone who doesn't deserve this. Nobody is free of my criticizes, except for Aster

). Noelle is so damn smart, I'm starting to seriously like her and she might quickly become my second favorite Traveler after Marissa. Never heard about Shogi game before, neither about Go. There people played a lot of mind games in their lives, looks like.

Ok, so what Noelle is trying to say here is that they can capture one of S9 members and use him/her against their teammates? Awesome, let's see: if they can restrain Siberian for a certain time until Alec will turn her into his puppet, then they'll defeat S9 EASY. S9 will not stand any chance against R Siberian unless they know her weakness. And I think they know her weakness+ Siberian can't be restrained. Crawler can't be hold for too long, Burnscar will escape easy, Bonesaw might have brain modifications so she'll be immune at a Master's control, won't work with Cherish either because she's immune at Alec's power, Jack is out of discussion, Mannequin doesn't have human limbs/body anymore, except for organs, so only Shatterbird is available to be controlled. Yep, that would be a pretty ok weapon against S9. Better her than nothing at all.

"More or less right," Trickster said.
"So the question becomes," Grue thought aloud, "Who can we beat in anindirect confrontation, capture and control?"
"Jack, Bonesaw-" I said.
Grue shook his head. "They know they're vulnerable. Either they'll be watching their backs or the others will watch their backs for them."
Regent said, "Siberian is out, and while we might theoretically be able to catch and contain Crawler or Mannequin, I dunno if we could keep them still long enough for me to use my power on them. If I can. Their bodies are different."

I counted the enemies off on one hand, "Leaving Cherish-"
Regent shook his head, "She knows me, has measures in place."
"Burnscar and Shatterbird," I finished.
"The bishops," Trickster said.
"Easier said than done," Grue sighed.
Noelle's face disappeared from the webcam, and a blond boy popped up in its place. Oliver? "Trickster, Genesis is waking up. She's done whatever you had her doing."
"Long stint," Trickster replied, "She'll be groggy."
"That means Imp is probably done too," Grue spoke.
"She'll need a ride back," I finished his thought.
"Should leave her there for a bit as punishment for staying behind," Grue grumbled. Still, he stood and pulled on his helmet. "But it's not worth the grief she'll give me."
"Softie." Tattletale grinned.
"Are you coming back?" Trickster asked.
"How long will it be before Genesis is able to brief us on the meeting?"
"Fifteen, twenty minutes?"
"Then we'll be back to finish the strategy session," Grue responded.
Trickster turned to his teammates, "Mind giving Noelle and me a minute to talk?" Sundancer and Ballistic stood.

You just can't restrain Burnscar, she'll teleport using her flames. Yep, I agree that Bishop Shatterbird is the only one Alec can turn into his puppet. Aaaaaand, Genesis was sleeping all this time? WTF?!? This means that she can use her power only when she's sleeping, creating projections through her dreams? This explain why she's never present on the battlefield, not even at non-violent meetings. Not because she have a handicap, but because she can't use her power while awake. This is good to know, she's healthy, but powerless if she's not sleeping. On the other side, its pretty dangerous because anyone can hurt her if they'll find her body but as long as she's in Coil's base, she must be ok.

Joined by the two Travelers, we made our way up the disguised ladder to the second sub-level of the parking garage. As one of the last to head up, I saw the adorable sight of Bitch managing the sleeping puppy, tucking it against her body with one arm so she could scale the ladder one-handed.
As she reached the top, I could hear Sundancer cooing, "It's so cute. Is it a he or a she?"
"He."
"What's his name?"
"Bastard."
"I'm guessing you named him?" Regent asked, as I reached the top and stepped down onto solid ground. I missed Bitch's response. Had she nodded?
"I was surprised you brought him tonight," Grue said, being remarkably delicate about the fact that Bitch had undercut any presence our group had by bringing the cute ball of fluff. It would have been better if he'd brought it up earlier, but he might have felt the same way I did about provoking Bitch before a major event, when she'd been so short tempered lately.
Bitch's response was surprisingly verbose. "Had to. For the first year and a half, he's going to be like a dog. Need to train him as much as I can, get him used to me. It'll be too hard if I wait."

"Like a dog?" I asked. In the corner of my eye, I could see Tattletale's expression change as she looked at the dog, clearly realizing something. As fast as I could turn her way to try and piece together what that was, somethingelse got her attention.
"Shit," she breathed. She clutched at my arm with one hand and at Bitch's with the other, stepping back to pull us with her. Bitch pulled her arm from Tattletale's grip, looking angry at the invasion of personal space.
"Oh fuck," I muttered, as I saw through the darkness to spot what Tattletale's power had noticed first.
Four of the Slaughterhouse Nine were stepping through the entrance of the parking garage. The Siberian was in the lead, her waist-length hair blowing in the wind from outside, her eyes practically glowing in the gloom. Behind her, Jack Slash held Bonesaw's hand as the young girl skipped to make it so she only walked on the yellow lines that divided the lanes. They were accompanied by a young woman who might've been eighteen or so years old, who bore a striking resemblance to Alec. Cherish. None of them wore costumes. The Siberian didn't wear anything. She was as nude as the day she'd been born, her skin patterned with stripes of alabaster white and jet black.
Jack Slash noticed us, and his his eyes drifted around the arch that led from the parking garage to the wet outdoors. He smiled, "This is not an exit."

Sorry, Rachel, but I don't trust Bastard at all. I don't dislike the poor animal, its not his fault that he was probably experimented on and used, I dislike the idea that S9 might try to control Rachel/hurt everyone else through him...........Heavens no!!...HEAVENS NO!!!! Bonesaw is here. And I can't cuss anymore. THIS IS THE ONE OF THE WORST THINGS THAT MIGHT HAPPEN IN THIS STORY. Bonesaw shows her cute face and I'm not allowed to swear. Brb "goes in a corner of her room to cry"

Bye, see you later, my friends.

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

Rocking the life

Banned Forever

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

SPACE!

Rocking the life

Totally not four rats in a trench coat

Anti-nihilist(maybe).

Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy

Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy

Sometimes frustrated.

Anti-nihilist(maybe).