Wolf Spider (Worm) (Complete)
- Thread starter The Laurent
- Start date
- Location
- United States
This feels like it is accelerating very quickly. I'd comment more but I feel like I kinda want to see how things go. Enjoying the ride though!
Flea 7.4
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Flea 7.4
We expected the Butcher at any moment, we didn't sleep for the fear of it, working in shifts again. I got just an hour of sleep, barely enough to count, and I knew that Lisa got even less, interrogating Dose and setting up plans and schemes to the very last. I could hear the interrogation, and could think--in a sleepy, out of it sort of way--of ways I could use what I'd learned, but the truth was that I was tired enough that a part of me just wanted to get it over with. I didn't know how, I just wanted to… figure something out.
And eventually I did. At around seven I had an idea, though I was pretty sure it was just the idea that Lisa was going to tell me, because to me it seemed… one possible way.
But we'd have to wait, we'd have to be prepared for the fight to come to us, because there was no way she wasn't coming.
Every minute she didn't, though, there was more stress. I paced, I tried listening to music and couldn't even sit still long enough for that. Something was wrong, and this something wasn't going to be fixed by ignoring it.
The question kept on echoing in my head: where was Butcher?
When I finally learned, I wish I hadn't.
I was sitting around the fire at seven in the morning, my bugs spreading out--I'd found more, or more had wandered into my range, though that had decreased--when Flechette approached me, holding the radio she'd brought.
It was blocky, but it was her contact with the Protectorate, and it was currently on. I hadn't been monitoring her because she'd been pacing in the apartment building that Parian occupied, and there was too much chance of hearing something I shouldn't hear. So I'd just decided to keep the bugs away from her, though perhaps I shouldn't have.
"Arachne," Flechette said. "There's word from the Director and Miss Militia, they wanted to speak to you."
"Yes?" I asked, looking at the communication device for a moment.
"We're going to have to recall Flechette, Kid Win, and Phase," Piggot said, gravely. "And we'd like to request that you send us Amp and evacuate your position in the camp. We can help you move, but we need to retrench and…"
"Explain," I said, frustrated. "Why?"
"The Butcher," Miss Militia said, her words sharp and formal, "Realized that with Panacea there, we'd been able to heal all our injuries. So they attacked the homes of New Wave. Only the homes."
"They destroyed them. Our analysts think that this was a move to force them away," Piggot interrupted.
Emily Piggot, the director, had a plain sounding voice. The kind of voice that asked you to pass the ketchup bottle and you didn't even bother to look at them.
"And?" I asked.
"They wounded multiple members of New Wave. Panacea heavily damaged two of their capes, and captured one of them, but her leg has been broken and she's been knocked out," Miss Militia said. "We now lack healing, and that's why we need Amp."
"She can heal at a distance. She can't heal people who can't hear her, but you know you don't have to demand her, and we won't be moving from our spot. We have this situation under control," I said. "Or… we have plans. We're not moving any of our people out of our location today. If you want to join us, we could use the help."
"Join you?" Piggot said. "By Tuesday at the latest, and probably more likely Monday, we will have an entire squad of reinforcements. Until that time, there is nothing any of us can do to stop the Butcher without killing her."
"Oh, and this squad is going to specialize in that?" I asked.
"As much as possible," Piggot said, her voice a little cold. "So we do not need arrogant, overconfident--"
"Yeah, we're not moving, and Flechette…"
"Flechette," Miss Militia ordered. "Please bring Kid Win and Phase here, they need to know that they are to leave the camp."
She bit her lip, and handed the radio to me. "I'll… be right back."
"Amp can help you, as much as possible over a radio connection," I said. "But we have our own plans."
"Plans that involve wanted criminals," Piggot said.
"Ah, Flechette told you about that," I said with a sigh, glancing around. A dog started barking, and Rachel moved to see what had made her so upset.
"She did," Piggot said. "It's foolish to work with villains to stop villains. Even if you don't leave, we're pulling…"
"I can't stop you, can I?" I asked. "You're going to kill people. We have a way to murder the Butcher. Come here, join the Camp, and then we can go our separate ways once the Butcher's done with. Where is she now?"
"She's not been spotted," Miss Militia said. "We think she's laying low and planning her next move. What's your plan?"
"We go at her with everything. I have a few tricks, and I think Tattletale has a few more. Either she comes today, or…"
I thought about Rachel, pacing, frowning.
"When's she fucking showing up?"
"...if she doesn't come today, we'll go after her," I'd promised, at six in the morning, and meant it.
Though, I couldn't imagine her avoiding it, now?
What was she, afraid?
"Or?" Miss Militia asked.
"Or we go after her and kill her. We have ways to make it stick for good this time. And we also have the strength needed to capture her, and certainly to destroy the Teeth."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Piggot said. "We won't…"
"Oh, they're back."
Kid Win looked tired, but he almost bounced up to the radio and said, "No!"
"No?" Miss Militia said.
"I'm helping Artificer. We have an idea that can take her down, just trust us," Kid Win said.
"Are you refusing the order to return?" Piggot asked, calmly.
"Uh, yeah," Kid Win said. "I am."
"That's insubordination and will be noted," Piggot said, coldly. "But we don't have the resources to force you to do anything. You need to understand that--"
"I'm going back to helping Artificer," Kid Win said, and turned on his heels.
"I... " Bryce frowned and then said. "I'll be back within the hour."
I didn't expect more from him. Even one of them staying was more than I could hope for, and it was also clear that I couldn't possibly hope for the Protectorate to grow a spine. They were content to wait a few more days in the hopes that the damage done wouldn't be too bad.
And if a camp was raided, well. The Butcher couldn't kill everyone. The anger I felt was cold, but precise.
"Let me think about it," Flechette said. "Can we… I'll call you in an hour with my answer."
"Flechette, you--" Miss Militia began.
"She said she'd call you back in an hour," I said, aware that I was raising my voice. "So just accept that. Some people… fuck." I shook my head. "I know you mean well, but you're wrong, like you've been wrong so many times before."
"We haven't," Miss Militia said. "Just because we disagree, doesn't mean we're not fighting. We've been fighting for days now."
"So have we," I said. "Maybe we should stop this conversation before we argue any more. Whoever comes back with you comes back with you. We won't stop them. We'll even give them some help to make sure that the Butcher or the Teeth can't ambush them. But those who don't… you're not going to come in here to try to stop us, are you?"
"No, we can't afford to," Piggot said, sounding as if she regretted it.
"Well, good," I said.
I clicked the radio off, and looked over at Bryce. Flechette was pacing away, clearly troubled.
"I'm not a coward," Bryce said.
I bit my lip, and said, "Oh?"
"I don't want to fight. Have you ever… fuck, you have, all the time. But you're never afraid. I thought I'd have power. I thought that's what powers meant."
I snorted, and bared my teeth at him. Bizarrely, he relaxed for a moment, before seeming to realize that I wasn't smiling. "Of course they don't. They don't even mean responsibility. I don't have to be here. I am because I want to be here." That was the way to look at it.
What I did here, it wasn't obligation in the way you were required to show up to your job on time. They were… I'd chosen all of this, and I didn't regret my choices, not now. "And you're here, or you're there, because you chose it. You chose to get powers."
"Not these powers…" Bryce said.
"Why not? When you go, you can take Sierra with you. If she'll go. She's busy helping some of the people who moved into the apartments. Evacuation drills. I'm sure your sister will be happy to--"
"You took her away," Bryce said, accusingly. "It's all she fucking talks about, how stupid and worthless I am, how great you are for saving me.:"
That didn't sound like her, but I didn't say anything, just leaned in and waited for more words.
"I… I feel weird when I'm using my power. Like I'm a robot, or something. My emotions are there, but I don't know what to do with them. I can't be afraid, there's not even room for that. It's just me and…"
He trailed off.
I felt the tiniest bit of pity. For a piece of shit like him, being alone with his own thoughts, being alone with himself and just himself, would be torture. I knew my thoughts were hard and sharp, the kinds of thoughts that didn't do anyone any good.
Didn't people deserve a second chance?
...Maybe? But that didn't mean I had to be the one to forgive him for all he did: he'd grasped, desperately, for power and notoriety, and now it wasn't what he wanted.
"You can stay here, you can help others. Or you can leave. I'm not going to spend all my time trying to convince you to stay." Bryce stared at me, as if waiting for me to say something else.
"I… Sierra."
"Yes?" I asked.
"Sierra would want me to stay."
"Family's nice, but make your own decision… and then don't be surprised when people judge you for doing as you do. That's just how it works," I said, turning away.
"Wait. How did…"
I turned back. "Yes?"
"How did Hellhound become a hero?"
"Bitch. It's not that hard. You're a hero now, or at least, that's what people would call you. A Ward. That's that. People will see you as a great dude no matter what. You think the people online will know, you think the average citizen will?" I shook my head.
People saw what they wanted to see. Rachel had changed since I'd met her, but as much of her being a villain, and then being a hero, was where she stood and what people saw her doing. I hadn't redeemed her, not in the way people wanted to think.
I wouldn't redeem him either: for one, he wasn't even worth the efforts I'd spent on Rachel.
"Fuck it, whatever. I'll help out here." He said it reluctantly, and I nodded.
"Good. Perhaps you could help protect people," I said. "We'll see."
I shrugged. I didn't like him, but I'd accept help from absolutely anyone out there, if it meant another warm body against the Butcher.
********
Flechette didn't decide in an hour. She didn't decide in two. Noon was approaching, and still she paced and sat, talked to a few people in the apartments about nothing at all, seemed to be wrestling with enough problems that I didn't know how I was going to rely on her if she even did come.
We had a sword for her. We had knives. There were ways she could use her power on people, and these ways would be important for the fight, if she could just manage not to kill the Butcher. And if the Butcher didn't have the time to just teleport away. If the Butcher didn't have time, if Flechette was too fast. But Amp's power sped up a person, not objects.
But I couldn't say this, no more than I could guilt Bryce into staying.
But eventually, when you saw that she was sitting in the lobby of Parian's apartment block, you had to interfere.
I didn't think this would go all that well, really. But I wanted to try, and I was curious about what was wrong. Did I think I could help? Maybe not.
Flechette looked up at me when I stepped in, walking over towards the bench that had been left there. I sat next to her, feeling suddenly slightly nervous. I wasn't sure why, because of course there was no pressure. This was just a gamble, and if it lost, that was that.
"Flechette," I said. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"You know what… call me Lily," she said.
I blinked. "Well, then. It's not as if you don't know? Or couldn't if you looked?" I pulled off my mask. "Just call me Taylor, then."
"Taylor, how did you… you're back together with Rachel, right? How did it happen? How do you have such a…"
"Such a?"
"I'm supposed to be… I should just go back. I'm supposed to be a role-model for people. For young people."
"Role-models are what you make of them. Look at all the people who look up to Rachel? It happens or it doesn't," I said, firmly. "But what do you mean?"
"Look at Legend. He fought for equality, he fought to keep the streets safe. He doesn't rebel. I've heard him speak about the man he's married to, never enough details to identify him, but… it's a partnership. They're equals: one of them isn't older than the other, and they don't just have random casual hookups just because they're horny sl-- I shouldn't be talking about this," Lily said. "It doesn't matter. I'm trying to decide something far more important.":
"I don't think you are," I said. "I mean, just care about what the fuck you care about."
"You say that, but your relationship with Rachel, even with the fighting, is equal, and fair, and it's a normal relationship, a model that young LGB--"
"It started with sex. Rachel is violent, I'm vindictive, we're never going to be the Brady Bunch, and she's gay and I'm bi. If you want normal, then look at, I dunno. My parents. And that's good and fine but that's not us so… I don't even know what you are, that makes you so afraid?"
"A freak," she said.
"How?"
"I want to stay here and help you just because I want to fuck Parian. How selfish is that?"
"And I first got together with Rachel over lust. It happens. Do you want to help people?" I asked, stunned at my position.
It was frankly absurd that I was giving advice on anything at all. I was the farthest thing from the right person to be giving this sort of advice. I wasn't Legend, I wasn't Miss Militia. I was oversexed, unbalanced, sometimes-violent and… I don't even know.
"Well, yeah."
"Then you have good motives. Yes, you want her, but… fine? You do? What about that makes you a freak?"
"I'd be happy just to throw myself down at her feet and tell her to do whatever she wanted," Lily said bluntly. Her eyes, her lips, they all said she was waiting for disgust. "She's years older than me, and wanting just sex isn't right. Wanting… I've always ruined relationships, and if I went to her I'd ruin this too."
"Ruin how?"
"I'm weak. I'm tired from a long day of being a Ward, and I want them to just handle things. I don't want to have to put in the equal effort that makes good relationships. Both partners should be equal… that's why it's called a partnership. I'm lazy, I'm stupid, I get stupid thoughts in my head, I let myself get led around by my stupid lust instead of something truer like my--"
"Heart?" I asked. "Listen. Just do what you want. If you want to go up to her and ask to have sex, do it. And I still don't get what you're so afraid of."
Lily frowned, and then she admitted, "Being found out. I'm a fraud. I present… I guess you haven't seen it. This sort of chipper, joking-but… like. It's all a lie."
"What? Online presence?" I asked. "And Bitch is idolized by many in part for things she doesn't even get are special. I wouldn't care about it."
"People rely on me," Lily said. "I've had people tell me that things I've said have helped them through tough times. Coming out to parents, dealing with relationships. I've mentioned some, but I never mention how they all fail. And how it's all my fault."
I looked at her, unsure what to say. "Fail?"
"Three relationships… not counting this crush I had on a girl back in first grade, of course," Lily said. I realized that she was… nearly teary-eyed. Her smile was a little too watery. "Three relationships, and none of them lasting longer than a year. I'm not counting three or four dates and then it doesn't work. Once is circumstance, twice can be coincidence, but if it's three times that it's failed… then it's me."
I frowned, "And?"
"I really, really like Sab--… I mean, Parian. And I don't want to fuck up her life and ruin a chance with her," Lily said.
"So you're going to just not start it at all? Or start anything?" I asked, a little outraged, despite the fact that… it wasn't any less brave that I was most of the time. If Rachel hadn't rubbed my face in it, like a person pushing a dog's nose into a wet spot while scolding it, I would have crushed on her for… well, forever, without even knowing it.
"I… maybe I should. But what would she say?" Lily asked. "I mean, look at her. She's… really, really pretty. She's a lady, and I'm…"
"What?" I asked, frowning.
"I don't know. If I reveal myself, she'll judge me. She'd be right to. She deserves better, really."
"You think she isn't attracted to you?"
"I don't know why," Lily said.
I laughed, and she startled. "Really? You're tall, and thin, with the kind of runner's build that… well, I see the appeal? And your eyes, they're very expressive. Not a lot of people could pull off skin-tight and purple, could they?"
Her face flushed, as I looked her over, and yes. She was attractive. She was no Rachel, in terms of making me look twice and then thrice, even after months of being around her, but… they'd make a cute couple.
And if not a cute couple, they could still find… something, if they just did it. It was frustrating, and I felt like a fraud as I looked her over.
"I…"
"So, try it. And even if not. I want you to stay here. There are knives we can give you. And clubs. Combine that with speed and you might be able to really hurt the Butcher. I think you can be useful, I think you would make this a lot more likely to succeed, and that's that."
"I… thank you for listening, even though I'm--"
"Don't say a freak. Just… don't," I said, frustrated. "Okay?"
"I'll try," Lily said, softly.
********
She didn't go straight to Parian. But she did go straight to the radio.
I added a little something to her message: "Tomorrow morning, if she hasn't attacked somewhere yet, we're going after her. If you want to help, join in or protect the camp." I didn't wait for a response.
Then I had to talk with Lisa and figure out our game plan. I didn't like it, there were too many things that could go wrong, and more than that, there were too many factors that were contingent. Contingent on things we shouldn't rely on, but that Lisa said she would, based entirely on what her powers were telling her.
Plus, there was Dad.
*******
I saw him ahead of time, of course, but there was no polite way to ward off your own Dad with bugs, and I didn't want to talk to him again with Rachel, because I really didn't want to get her in the habit of telling him to fuck off.
...which sounded mean, but that's basically what I was going to try to tell Dad when I met him. He needed to be somewhere else, somewhere safe. He at least was coming from the direction that was least plagued by the Teeth, but he was an easy target for them, and I didn't know what he was doing here.
So, I just paced around, and let Rachel deal with the dogs, and hoped she didn't notice too much how nervous I was.
Of course she did.
"Taylor, you alright?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
"Dad's coming. I can see him."
"Why?" Rachel asked, sounding baffled.
"I don't know. I need him to not be here, though. He's just going to get in danger."
"Then tell him to leave," Rachel said.
"That's my plan."
"Ok." She looked as if she thought that'd settle it. Like I'd say, 'go away' and then he would and things would be good and it wouldn't be awkward at all. It wasn't how it worked at all, but then again she didn't really have a family.
She never had: she'd had caretakers and that was it.
"Good, so now--"
"I'm going with you," Rachel said.
After a moment, I acknowledged and conceded defeat.
*******
We met Dad a block away from the camp. He stopped short when he saw us walking up, and then walked a little faster.
"Taylor," he said, his voice quiet and a little hopeful. "You're alright."
"Dad, what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to check in on you. It's chaos out there. The work on the docks has all stopped because of the Teeth."
"If you're here, you're in danger," I said, glancing over at Rachel. "And I don't know if I have the time and energy to protect you."
"Are you back together with Rachel?" Dad asked.
"Yes. Thanks for asking," I said. I reached out to grab her hand, because it was comforting. "But… you can't be here. You need to leave."
Dad looked embarrassed as he rubbed his head and said, "Taylor, I can help out. Even if it's just organizing an evacuation."
"Really? You want to help out? Do you have a van? Do you want to risk dying?" I said. I said it as a challenge, sure that he wouldn't say yes.
"I could get one. I just want to help you out," Dad said, sounding awfully a lot like Greg when he said it.
"Dad."
He looked at me from beneath his glasses. "The docks are closed down, I don't have anything else to do, and my daughter is apparently up to something. Online they're talking about… all sorts of things, including a mutiny."
"A mutiny?" I asked.
"Just… rumors of tension between you and the Protectorate."
"Yeah," Rachel said. "You wanna help. You should help."
I turned to look at her, betrayed. "Really?"
"Everyone's gotta work together, right?" she asked. She was turning my own attitude in on me. I'd worked at convincing Bryce and Lily to stay and help. But… Dad was different. He didn't have powers, and--
And I had an idea for what he could do, but it'd be dangerous and in theory anyone could do it. Anyone who wasn't going to be fighting.
But… asking Sierra wasn't any better, was it?
Dad managed not to smile as he stepped forward.
"Fine," I said. "If we go tomorrow, we could use the help. Now, Dad, did you eat dinner? Maybe we should…"
********
Everyone got ready in their own ways. Everyone waited in their own ways. I was no different. I tried to do what I could and focused on spending time with Rachel, but part of the nature of my power meant I couldn't help but see other people, and how they reacted.
I saw them.
Greg who paced and kept on building more, including a new gun which had only one real use. Kid Win was with him, enthusiastic if unfocused, but together both of them seemed to at least be able to keep themselves on track. It was nice to have someone to bounce off of, I assume. Greg was still Greg, powers or not, and that meant that he was sometimes hard to work with.
But apparently Kid Win needed the help and companionship, because he didn't seem to react negatively.
Cassie? She moved among the survivors with the sort of grace I both admired and envied. I wasn't a charming person, while she seemed to be able to make friends with everyone she met. I watched her, but her secret seemed to just be… to talk to everyone and never get frustrated or too angry?
I wasn't charming, and nor was I organized like Stefanie, who walked with Cassie everywhere, filling out paperwork and nodding to herself. Honestly, if it wasn't for my powers, this isn't the sort of company I'd be in, really.
I wasn't dumb, but neither had I been all that motivated even at the best of times, let alone capable of making loads of friends. Emma had been it, and look at how bad that had ended up?
It was all luck that led to this, luck of the draw and luck that I'd met people willing to tolerate me and work with me.
There were times when this all would have been cause for bitter envy, or at least brooding, but now I just felt… lucky?
Lucky to have Rachel, lucky to have Greg, lucky to have Cassie and Stefanie to help me out.
Charlotte was talking with 'her girls' with the people she'd talked with, the people she'd done all she could to try to help. She cared deeper than I did, or at least she was more able to talk people through problems. Even without her powers, she was very persuasive, even if it was clear that she was a follower, someone who liked to do good, but didn't like to make decisions.
I could imagine her as a therapist, just like I could imagine Stefanie as any sort of organizer, Cassie as an activist, Parian, of course, as a designer…
It was Rachel and I who were the ones who needed our powers. I didn't want to imagine where Rachel would be now if she didn't trigger. I could imagine where I'd be now if I didn't trigger, and the thoughts were ones I didn't want to dwell on.
But that just made us luckier, that just made us… more ready. I wasn't sure if this would all work, but I had hope.
*******
Citrine leaned against the wall, looking at the camp and at the dogs that were penned up with distaste. Of course she did. I knew her makeup was flawless even still, and she seemed as obsessive as Accord.
"Will you be able to help out?" I asked.
"Yes, of course," she said. Then she added. "But I think the idea is a foolish one. Accord had a better idea."
"What?"
"Wait a day or two. Gain specific capes that can allow the chance of success to be one-hundred percent," Citrine said, her frown deepening. "Your people are rough. A gaggle, a pack when it should be a team."
"Well, that's us," I said, with a shrug. "We have a plan, though. Do you trust Lisa to know what she's doing?"
"She's the one that lured Accord to his death."
"Really? Do you think she intended to betray him too?" I asked, less incredulous and more curious.
Lisa was keeping really quiet and pacing. Grue looked worried, Regent bored, all of them with a remarkable ability to keep away from everyone. Keep an eye on their vials, and the powers that they were no doubt planning on using once it all fell to pieces. They had a plan, they had a vision of the future: and while I needed to stop them, I needed their help more. Regent's power might work on the Butcher, and Lisa's analysis, and… something. I couldn't remember what, but there was another cape on the team, or something, that did… things?
"No. I think she's just a fool."
"Maybe I agree with you," I said.
"You're a fool too," Citrine said, with a sniff.
"Now I know I agree with you," I said, baring my teeth at her, but really amused deep down. "But as long as you'll help out… what can you do?"
"In theory, I could shut down the Butcher's powers, but in practice it's unlikely. My effect can slow down time in the radius, though, if you ever needed more time to move."
"Huh," I said, thoughtfully. "What will you do once you're done? Back to Boston."
"Yes, of course. All of us are going back."
I knew that Lisa had in fact talked to Codex and the other cape, and gotten answers which weren't yes… but weren't no. But now wasn't the time to reveal that, was it? "And what will be there when you're done?"
"Enough. Accord taught us well. We have power, and we have plans," Citrine said. "That has to be enough."
She said it all so crisply, and yet I heard a slight note of uncertainty, caged up and locked away, but still there, kicking at the door.
"I'm sure it will be.
*******
Dinner came, and Dinah came down, quiet and polite, closed in. A lot like me, but I was sure that was just on the surface. She seemed out of it, and I wondered if she was withdrawing. I wondered a lot of things as I watched her move, and sit. She sat and read, and despite being free, her routine looked almost the same as what she did before.
I wondered at that: but I couldn't spend time worrying too much.
I ate with Rachel, and watched her. I felt like I knew her better than I'd known anyone else in my life, maybe even my parents. I knew that this was… at least a little bit wrong. That it was at least a little bit of assumption going on here.
But I was fine with that.
******
There are times you pull the bugs away. There are things you not only shouldn't see, but that you should leave private.
Lily walked up to Parian's room. My bugs retreated, all of them. They left the entire building, and buzzed around outside, as if they had been kicked out.
I smiled, without teeth, genuinely and truly, and kept on reading to Rachel.
********
Why hadn't the Butcher came? Was she really afraid of me?
On Sunday morning, after a quick breakfast just after dawn, we set out, all of us--with one final message telling the Protectorate to either help or guard the camp--and went to confront the Butcher.
******
A/N: Whew. Next update tomorrow.
We expected the Butcher at any moment, we didn't sleep for the fear of it, working in shifts again. I got just an hour of sleep, barely enough to count, and I knew that Lisa got even less, interrogating Dose and setting up plans and schemes to the very last. I could hear the interrogation, and could think--in a sleepy, out of it sort of way--of ways I could use what I'd learned, but the truth was that I was tired enough that a part of me just wanted to get it over with. I didn't know how, I just wanted to… figure something out.
And eventually I did. At around seven I had an idea, though I was pretty sure it was just the idea that Lisa was going to tell me, because to me it seemed… one possible way.
But we'd have to wait, we'd have to be prepared for the fight to come to us, because there was no way she wasn't coming.
Every minute she didn't, though, there was more stress. I paced, I tried listening to music and couldn't even sit still long enough for that. Something was wrong, and this something wasn't going to be fixed by ignoring it.
The question kept on echoing in my head: where was Butcher?
When I finally learned, I wish I hadn't.
I was sitting around the fire at seven in the morning, my bugs spreading out--I'd found more, or more had wandered into my range, though that had decreased--when Flechette approached me, holding the radio she'd brought.
It was blocky, but it was her contact with the Protectorate, and it was currently on. I hadn't been monitoring her because she'd been pacing in the apartment building that Parian occupied, and there was too much chance of hearing something I shouldn't hear. So I'd just decided to keep the bugs away from her, though perhaps I shouldn't have.
"Arachne," Flechette said. "There's word from the Director and Miss Militia, they wanted to speak to you."
"Yes?" I asked, looking at the communication device for a moment.
"We're going to have to recall Flechette, Kid Win, and Phase," Piggot said, gravely. "And we'd like to request that you send us Amp and evacuate your position in the camp. We can help you move, but we need to retrench and…"
"Explain," I said, frustrated. "Why?"
"The Butcher," Miss Militia said, her words sharp and formal, "Realized that with Panacea there, we'd been able to heal all our injuries. So they attacked the homes of New Wave. Only the homes."
"They destroyed them. Our analysts think that this was a move to force them away," Piggot interrupted.
Emily Piggot, the director, had a plain sounding voice. The kind of voice that asked you to pass the ketchup bottle and you didn't even bother to look at them.
"And?" I asked.
"They wounded multiple members of New Wave. Panacea heavily damaged two of their capes, and captured one of them, but her leg has been broken and she's been knocked out," Miss Militia said. "We now lack healing, and that's why we need Amp."
"She can heal at a distance. She can't heal people who can't hear her, but you know you don't have to demand her, and we won't be moving from our spot. We have this situation under control," I said. "Or… we have plans. We're not moving any of our people out of our location today. If you want to join us, we could use the help."
"Join you?" Piggot said. "By Tuesday at the latest, and probably more likely Monday, we will have an entire squad of reinforcements. Until that time, there is nothing any of us can do to stop the Butcher without killing her."
"Oh, and this squad is going to specialize in that?" I asked.
"As much as possible," Piggot said, her voice a little cold. "So we do not need arrogant, overconfident--"
"Yeah, we're not moving, and Flechette…"
"Flechette," Miss Militia ordered. "Please bring Kid Win and Phase here, they need to know that they are to leave the camp."
She bit her lip, and handed the radio to me. "I'll… be right back."
"Amp can help you, as much as possible over a radio connection," I said. "But we have our own plans."
"Plans that involve wanted criminals," Piggot said.
"Ah, Flechette told you about that," I said with a sigh, glancing around. A dog started barking, and Rachel moved to see what had made her so upset.
"She did," Piggot said. "It's foolish to work with villains to stop villains. Even if you don't leave, we're pulling…"
"I can't stop you, can I?" I asked. "You're going to kill people. We have a way to murder the Butcher. Come here, join the Camp, and then we can go our separate ways once the Butcher's done with. Where is she now?"
"She's not been spotted," Miss Militia said. "We think she's laying low and planning her next move. What's your plan?"
"We go at her with everything. I have a few tricks, and I think Tattletale has a few more. Either she comes today, or…"
I thought about Rachel, pacing, frowning.
"When's she fucking showing up?"
"...if she doesn't come today, we'll go after her," I'd promised, at six in the morning, and meant it.
Though, I couldn't imagine her avoiding it, now?
What was she, afraid?
"Or?" Miss Militia asked.
"Or we go after her and kill her. We have ways to make it stick for good this time. And we also have the strength needed to capture her, and certainly to destroy the Teeth."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Piggot said. "We won't…"
"Oh, they're back."
Kid Win looked tired, but he almost bounced up to the radio and said, "No!"
"No?" Miss Militia said.
"I'm helping Artificer. We have an idea that can take her down, just trust us," Kid Win said.
"Are you refusing the order to return?" Piggot asked, calmly.
"Uh, yeah," Kid Win said. "I am."
"That's insubordination and will be noted," Piggot said, coldly. "But we don't have the resources to force you to do anything. You need to understand that--"
"I'm going back to helping Artificer," Kid Win said, and turned on his heels.
"I... " Bryce frowned and then said. "I'll be back within the hour."
I didn't expect more from him. Even one of them staying was more than I could hope for, and it was also clear that I couldn't possibly hope for the Protectorate to grow a spine. They were content to wait a few more days in the hopes that the damage done wouldn't be too bad.
And if a camp was raided, well. The Butcher couldn't kill everyone. The anger I felt was cold, but precise.
"Let me think about it," Flechette said. "Can we… I'll call you in an hour with my answer."
"Flechette, you--" Miss Militia began.
"She said she'd call you back in an hour," I said, aware that I was raising my voice. "So just accept that. Some people… fuck." I shook my head. "I know you mean well, but you're wrong, like you've been wrong so many times before."
"We haven't," Miss Militia said. "Just because we disagree, doesn't mean we're not fighting. We've been fighting for days now."
"So have we," I said. "Maybe we should stop this conversation before we argue any more. Whoever comes back with you comes back with you. We won't stop them. We'll even give them some help to make sure that the Butcher or the Teeth can't ambush them. But those who don't… you're not going to come in here to try to stop us, are you?"
"No, we can't afford to," Piggot said, sounding as if she regretted it.
"Well, good," I said.
I clicked the radio off, and looked over at Bryce. Flechette was pacing away, clearly troubled.
"I'm not a coward," Bryce said.
I bit my lip, and said, "Oh?"
"I don't want to fight. Have you ever… fuck, you have, all the time. But you're never afraid. I thought I'd have power. I thought that's what powers meant."
I snorted, and bared my teeth at him. Bizarrely, he relaxed for a moment, before seeming to realize that I wasn't smiling. "Of course they don't. They don't even mean responsibility. I don't have to be here. I am because I want to be here." That was the way to look at it.
What I did here, it wasn't obligation in the way you were required to show up to your job on time. They were… I'd chosen all of this, and I didn't regret my choices, not now. "And you're here, or you're there, because you chose it. You chose to get powers."
"Not these powers…" Bryce said.
"Why not? When you go, you can take Sierra with you. If she'll go. She's busy helping some of the people who moved into the apartments. Evacuation drills. I'm sure your sister will be happy to--"
"You took her away," Bryce said, accusingly. "It's all she fucking talks about, how stupid and worthless I am, how great you are for saving me.:"
That didn't sound like her, but I didn't say anything, just leaned in and waited for more words.
"I… I feel weird when I'm using my power. Like I'm a robot, or something. My emotions are there, but I don't know what to do with them. I can't be afraid, there's not even room for that. It's just me and…"
He trailed off.
I felt the tiniest bit of pity. For a piece of shit like him, being alone with his own thoughts, being alone with himself and just himself, would be torture. I knew my thoughts were hard and sharp, the kinds of thoughts that didn't do anyone any good.
Didn't people deserve a second chance?
...Maybe? But that didn't mean I had to be the one to forgive him for all he did: he'd grasped, desperately, for power and notoriety, and now it wasn't what he wanted.
"You can stay here, you can help others. Or you can leave. I'm not going to spend all my time trying to convince you to stay." Bryce stared at me, as if waiting for me to say something else.
"I… Sierra."
"Yes?" I asked.
"Sierra would want me to stay."
"Family's nice, but make your own decision… and then don't be surprised when people judge you for doing as you do. That's just how it works," I said, turning away.
"Wait. How did…"
I turned back. "Yes?"
"How did Hellhound become a hero?"
"Bitch. It's not that hard. You're a hero now, or at least, that's what people would call you. A Ward. That's that. People will see you as a great dude no matter what. You think the people online will know, you think the average citizen will?" I shook my head.
People saw what they wanted to see. Rachel had changed since I'd met her, but as much of her being a villain, and then being a hero, was where she stood and what people saw her doing. I hadn't redeemed her, not in the way people wanted to think.
I wouldn't redeem him either: for one, he wasn't even worth the efforts I'd spent on Rachel.
"Fuck it, whatever. I'll help out here." He said it reluctantly, and I nodded.
"Good. Perhaps you could help protect people," I said. "We'll see."
I shrugged. I didn't like him, but I'd accept help from absolutely anyone out there, if it meant another warm body against the Butcher.
********
Flechette didn't decide in an hour. She didn't decide in two. Noon was approaching, and still she paced and sat, talked to a few people in the apartments about nothing at all, seemed to be wrestling with enough problems that I didn't know how I was going to rely on her if she even did come.
We had a sword for her. We had knives. There were ways she could use her power on people, and these ways would be important for the fight, if she could just manage not to kill the Butcher. And if the Butcher didn't have the time to just teleport away. If the Butcher didn't have time, if Flechette was too fast. But Amp's power sped up a person, not objects.
But I couldn't say this, no more than I could guilt Bryce into staying.
But eventually, when you saw that she was sitting in the lobby of Parian's apartment block, you had to interfere.
I didn't think this would go all that well, really. But I wanted to try, and I was curious about what was wrong. Did I think I could help? Maybe not.
Flechette looked up at me when I stepped in, walking over towards the bench that had been left there. I sat next to her, feeling suddenly slightly nervous. I wasn't sure why, because of course there was no pressure. This was just a gamble, and if it lost, that was that.
"Flechette," I said. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
"You know what… call me Lily," she said.
I blinked. "Well, then. It's not as if you don't know? Or couldn't if you looked?" I pulled off my mask. "Just call me Taylor, then."
"Taylor, how did you… you're back together with Rachel, right? How did it happen? How do you have such a…"
"Such a?"
"I'm supposed to be… I should just go back. I'm supposed to be a role-model for people. For young people."
"Role-models are what you make of them. Look at all the people who look up to Rachel? It happens or it doesn't," I said, firmly. "But what do you mean?"
"Look at Legend. He fought for equality, he fought to keep the streets safe. He doesn't rebel. I've heard him speak about the man he's married to, never enough details to identify him, but… it's a partnership. They're equals: one of them isn't older than the other, and they don't just have random casual hookups just because they're horny sl-- I shouldn't be talking about this," Lily said. "It doesn't matter. I'm trying to decide something far more important.":
"I don't think you are," I said. "I mean, just care about what the fuck you care about."
"You say that, but your relationship with Rachel, even with the fighting, is equal, and fair, and it's a normal relationship, a model that young LGB--"
"It started with sex. Rachel is violent, I'm vindictive, we're never going to be the Brady Bunch, and she's gay and I'm bi. If you want normal, then look at, I dunno. My parents. And that's good and fine but that's not us so… I don't even know what you are, that makes you so afraid?"
"A freak," she said.
"How?"
"I want to stay here and help you just because I want to fuck Parian. How selfish is that?"
"And I first got together with Rachel over lust. It happens. Do you want to help people?" I asked, stunned at my position.
It was frankly absurd that I was giving advice on anything at all. I was the farthest thing from the right person to be giving this sort of advice. I wasn't Legend, I wasn't Miss Militia. I was oversexed, unbalanced, sometimes-violent and… I don't even know.
"Well, yeah."
"Then you have good motives. Yes, you want her, but… fine? You do? What about that makes you a freak?"
"I'd be happy just to throw myself down at her feet and tell her to do whatever she wanted," Lily said bluntly. Her eyes, her lips, they all said she was waiting for disgust. "She's years older than me, and wanting just sex isn't right. Wanting… I've always ruined relationships, and if I went to her I'd ruin this too."
"Ruin how?"
"I'm weak. I'm tired from a long day of being a Ward, and I want them to just handle things. I don't want to have to put in the equal effort that makes good relationships. Both partners should be equal… that's why it's called a partnership. I'm lazy, I'm stupid, I get stupid thoughts in my head, I let myself get led around by my stupid lust instead of something truer like my--"
"Heart?" I asked. "Listen. Just do what you want. If you want to go up to her and ask to have sex, do it. And I still don't get what you're so afraid of."
Lily frowned, and then she admitted, "Being found out. I'm a fraud. I present… I guess you haven't seen it. This sort of chipper, joking-but… like. It's all a lie."
"What? Online presence?" I asked. "And Bitch is idolized by many in part for things she doesn't even get are special. I wouldn't care about it."
"People rely on me," Lily said. "I've had people tell me that things I've said have helped them through tough times. Coming out to parents, dealing with relationships. I've mentioned some, but I never mention how they all fail. And how it's all my fault."
I looked at her, unsure what to say. "Fail?"
"Three relationships… not counting this crush I had on a girl back in first grade, of course," Lily said. I realized that she was… nearly teary-eyed. Her smile was a little too watery. "Three relationships, and none of them lasting longer than a year. I'm not counting three or four dates and then it doesn't work. Once is circumstance, twice can be coincidence, but if it's three times that it's failed… then it's me."
I frowned, "And?"
"I really, really like Sab--… I mean, Parian. And I don't want to fuck up her life and ruin a chance with her," Lily said.
"So you're going to just not start it at all? Or start anything?" I asked, a little outraged, despite the fact that… it wasn't any less brave that I was most of the time. If Rachel hadn't rubbed my face in it, like a person pushing a dog's nose into a wet spot while scolding it, I would have crushed on her for… well, forever, without even knowing it.
"I… maybe I should. But what would she say?" Lily asked. "I mean, look at her. She's… really, really pretty. She's a lady, and I'm…"
"What?" I asked, frowning.
"I don't know. If I reveal myself, she'll judge me. She'd be right to. She deserves better, really."
"You think she isn't attracted to you?"
"I don't know why," Lily said.
I laughed, and she startled. "Really? You're tall, and thin, with the kind of runner's build that… well, I see the appeal? And your eyes, they're very expressive. Not a lot of people could pull off skin-tight and purple, could they?"
Her face flushed, as I looked her over, and yes. She was attractive. She was no Rachel, in terms of making me look twice and then thrice, even after months of being around her, but… they'd make a cute couple.
And if not a cute couple, they could still find… something, if they just did it. It was frustrating, and I felt like a fraud as I looked her over.
"I…"
"So, try it. And even if not. I want you to stay here. There are knives we can give you. And clubs. Combine that with speed and you might be able to really hurt the Butcher. I think you can be useful, I think you would make this a lot more likely to succeed, and that's that."
"I… thank you for listening, even though I'm--"
"Don't say a freak. Just… don't," I said, frustrated. "Okay?"
"I'll try," Lily said, softly.
********
She didn't go straight to Parian. But she did go straight to the radio.
I added a little something to her message: "Tomorrow morning, if she hasn't attacked somewhere yet, we're going after her. If you want to help, join in or protect the camp." I didn't wait for a response.
Then I had to talk with Lisa and figure out our game plan. I didn't like it, there were too many things that could go wrong, and more than that, there were too many factors that were contingent. Contingent on things we shouldn't rely on, but that Lisa said she would, based entirely on what her powers were telling her.
Plus, there was Dad.
*******
I saw him ahead of time, of course, but there was no polite way to ward off your own Dad with bugs, and I didn't want to talk to him again with Rachel, because I really didn't want to get her in the habit of telling him to fuck off.
...which sounded mean, but that's basically what I was going to try to tell Dad when I met him. He needed to be somewhere else, somewhere safe. He at least was coming from the direction that was least plagued by the Teeth, but he was an easy target for them, and I didn't know what he was doing here.
So, I just paced around, and let Rachel deal with the dogs, and hoped she didn't notice too much how nervous I was.
Of course she did.
"Taylor, you alright?" she asked. "What's wrong?"
"Dad's coming. I can see him."
"Why?" Rachel asked, sounding baffled.
"I don't know. I need him to not be here, though. He's just going to get in danger."
"Then tell him to leave," Rachel said.
"That's my plan."
"Ok." She looked as if she thought that'd settle it. Like I'd say, 'go away' and then he would and things would be good and it wouldn't be awkward at all. It wasn't how it worked at all, but then again she didn't really have a family.
She never had: she'd had caretakers and that was it.
"Good, so now--"
"I'm going with you," Rachel said.
After a moment, I acknowledged and conceded defeat.
*******
We met Dad a block away from the camp. He stopped short when he saw us walking up, and then walked a little faster.
"Taylor," he said, his voice quiet and a little hopeful. "You're alright."
"Dad, what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to check in on you. It's chaos out there. The work on the docks has all stopped because of the Teeth."
"If you're here, you're in danger," I said, glancing over at Rachel. "And I don't know if I have the time and energy to protect you."
"Are you back together with Rachel?" Dad asked.
"Yes. Thanks for asking," I said. I reached out to grab her hand, because it was comforting. "But… you can't be here. You need to leave."
Dad looked embarrassed as he rubbed his head and said, "Taylor, I can help out. Even if it's just organizing an evacuation."
"Really? You want to help out? Do you have a van? Do you want to risk dying?" I said. I said it as a challenge, sure that he wouldn't say yes.
"I could get one. I just want to help you out," Dad said, sounding awfully a lot like Greg when he said it.
"Dad."
He looked at me from beneath his glasses. "The docks are closed down, I don't have anything else to do, and my daughter is apparently up to something. Online they're talking about… all sorts of things, including a mutiny."
"A mutiny?" I asked.
"Just… rumors of tension between you and the Protectorate."
"Yeah," Rachel said. "You wanna help. You should help."
I turned to look at her, betrayed. "Really?"
"Everyone's gotta work together, right?" she asked. She was turning my own attitude in on me. I'd worked at convincing Bryce and Lily to stay and help. But… Dad was different. He didn't have powers, and--
And I had an idea for what he could do, but it'd be dangerous and in theory anyone could do it. Anyone who wasn't going to be fighting.
But… asking Sierra wasn't any better, was it?
Dad managed not to smile as he stepped forward.
"Fine," I said. "If we go tomorrow, we could use the help. Now, Dad, did you eat dinner? Maybe we should…"
********
Everyone got ready in their own ways. Everyone waited in their own ways. I was no different. I tried to do what I could and focused on spending time with Rachel, but part of the nature of my power meant I couldn't help but see other people, and how they reacted.
I saw them.
Greg who paced and kept on building more, including a new gun which had only one real use. Kid Win was with him, enthusiastic if unfocused, but together both of them seemed to at least be able to keep themselves on track. It was nice to have someone to bounce off of, I assume. Greg was still Greg, powers or not, and that meant that he was sometimes hard to work with.
But apparently Kid Win needed the help and companionship, because he didn't seem to react negatively.
Cassie? She moved among the survivors with the sort of grace I both admired and envied. I wasn't a charming person, while she seemed to be able to make friends with everyone she met. I watched her, but her secret seemed to just be… to talk to everyone and never get frustrated or too angry?
I wasn't charming, and nor was I organized like Stefanie, who walked with Cassie everywhere, filling out paperwork and nodding to herself. Honestly, if it wasn't for my powers, this isn't the sort of company I'd be in, really.
I wasn't dumb, but neither had I been all that motivated even at the best of times, let alone capable of making loads of friends. Emma had been it, and look at how bad that had ended up?
It was all luck that led to this, luck of the draw and luck that I'd met people willing to tolerate me and work with me.
There were times when this all would have been cause for bitter envy, or at least brooding, but now I just felt… lucky?
Lucky to have Rachel, lucky to have Greg, lucky to have Cassie and Stefanie to help me out.
Charlotte was talking with 'her girls' with the people she'd talked with, the people she'd done all she could to try to help. She cared deeper than I did, or at least she was more able to talk people through problems. Even without her powers, she was very persuasive, even if it was clear that she was a follower, someone who liked to do good, but didn't like to make decisions.
I could imagine her as a therapist, just like I could imagine Stefanie as any sort of organizer, Cassie as an activist, Parian, of course, as a designer…
It was Rachel and I who were the ones who needed our powers. I didn't want to imagine where Rachel would be now if she didn't trigger. I could imagine where I'd be now if I didn't trigger, and the thoughts were ones I didn't want to dwell on.
But that just made us luckier, that just made us… more ready. I wasn't sure if this would all work, but I had hope.
*******
Citrine leaned against the wall, looking at the camp and at the dogs that were penned up with distaste. Of course she did. I knew her makeup was flawless even still, and she seemed as obsessive as Accord.
"Will you be able to help out?" I asked.
"Yes, of course," she said. Then she added. "But I think the idea is a foolish one. Accord had a better idea."
"What?"
"Wait a day or two. Gain specific capes that can allow the chance of success to be one-hundred percent," Citrine said, her frown deepening. "Your people are rough. A gaggle, a pack when it should be a team."
"Well, that's us," I said, with a shrug. "We have a plan, though. Do you trust Lisa to know what she's doing?"
"She's the one that lured Accord to his death."
"Really? Do you think she intended to betray him too?" I asked, less incredulous and more curious.
Lisa was keeping really quiet and pacing. Grue looked worried, Regent bored, all of them with a remarkable ability to keep away from everyone. Keep an eye on their vials, and the powers that they were no doubt planning on using once it all fell to pieces. They had a plan, they had a vision of the future: and while I needed to stop them, I needed their help more. Regent's power might work on the Butcher, and Lisa's analysis, and… something. I couldn't remember what, but there was another cape on the team, or something, that did… things?
"No. I think she's just a fool."
"Maybe I agree with you," I said.
"You're a fool too," Citrine said, with a sniff.
"Now I know I agree with you," I said, baring my teeth at her, but really amused deep down. "But as long as you'll help out… what can you do?"
"In theory, I could shut down the Butcher's powers, but in practice it's unlikely. My effect can slow down time in the radius, though, if you ever needed more time to move."
"Huh," I said, thoughtfully. "What will you do once you're done? Back to Boston."
"Yes, of course. All of us are going back."
I knew that Lisa had in fact talked to Codex and the other cape, and gotten answers which weren't yes… but weren't no. But now wasn't the time to reveal that, was it? "And what will be there when you're done?"
"Enough. Accord taught us well. We have power, and we have plans," Citrine said. "That has to be enough."
She said it all so crisply, and yet I heard a slight note of uncertainty, caged up and locked away, but still there, kicking at the door.
"I'm sure it will be.
*******
Dinner came, and Dinah came down, quiet and polite, closed in. A lot like me, but I was sure that was just on the surface. She seemed out of it, and I wondered if she was withdrawing. I wondered a lot of things as I watched her move, and sit. She sat and read, and despite being free, her routine looked almost the same as what she did before.
I wondered at that: but I couldn't spend time worrying too much.
I ate with Rachel, and watched her. I felt like I knew her better than I'd known anyone else in my life, maybe even my parents. I knew that this was… at least a little bit wrong. That it was at least a little bit of assumption going on here.
But I was fine with that.
******
There are times you pull the bugs away. There are things you not only shouldn't see, but that you should leave private.
Lily walked up to Parian's room. My bugs retreated, all of them. They left the entire building, and buzzed around outside, as if they had been kicked out.
I smiled, without teeth, genuinely and truly, and kept on reading to Rachel.
********
Why hadn't the Butcher came? Was she really afraid of me?
On Sunday morning, after a quick breakfast just after dawn, we set out, all of us--with one final message telling the Protectorate to either help or guard the camp--and went to confront the Butcher.
******
A/N: Whew. Next update tomorrow.
pantherasapiens
you were always my best friend
- Location
- somewhere over your shoulder
I T ' S C O M I N G
Also:
Also:
Yes, Taylor, you do. You so very much do.
This Taylor reminds me of one small thing from cannon. At one point one of the PRT directors said Taylor is talks like a cult leader or has charisma like a cult leader. Unlike cult leaders this Taylor and cannon Taylor goal isn't to gain people's loyalty but from the way she talks and acts she does.
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Flea 7.5
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Flea 7.5
We were trying to stay together as we moved. Flechette could go faster than a lot of us could, so she was keeping up top, while the rest of us mostly went on foot, except for Charlotte, who was with Dad and others in the van, following behind closely enough that I could see and hear them, but not so close that they'd be an easy target.
The roads were rubble, but that's what the van's wheels were made for. They'd been changed out for the kinds of wheels that did off-road stuff, which looked very odd with a van like that… but I didn't care about how it looked.
Flechette above, everyone who we could fit on dogs, with only Parian walking, and that because she wanted to keep among her stuffed animals.
They were a host unto themselves, a surprisingly adorable collection of stuffed animals. Lions, tigers, and bears oh my, and even stranger animals. There was a stuffed animal that… I think it was meant to be a squid, but it honestly looked as if someone had tried to make a tentacle monster cute. I tried not to say anything, or look (physically at least) in the direction of the girl whose eyes she kept on trying to meet as she marched with her animals.
Flechette, at least this time, at least this once, was wearing a costume that made her look more like a mustakeer than anything, a costume I knew that Parian had made for her, like all of the other costumes she'd worked over, labored over, with no expectation that it'd ever be worn.
There was a feather in her cap, I thought, looking up at Flechette as we… well, the dogs were marching, more than anything. Daring the Butcher to show up, daring her to come and attack us. We wanted to all keep together. Flechette's costume was less skintight, but at least as revealing, if not more so, mostly by careful cuts made here and there, and gaps. The chest area, for instance, had an old-timey ruffled collar, of sorts, but plunged slightly low. The tights looked painted on… little details like that which would have made me wonder if I didn't know otherwise.
Most of the people on the dogs had no right to be there. At least if how they were clinging to them as if they were going to throw them off was to be trusted. Codex, especially, looked like a huge lump on a log, and she made rather pathetic sounds every time we sped up slightly.
And still no Butcher. My range was vast enough that I should have noticed something, and what did that mean? Was she holding back? Did she plan to hit the Camp from behind? We had a radio left back at camp that would tell us if that was the case.
Slightly divorced from us, Kid Win and Artificer both flied low. Sometime in the middle of the night, Greg had finally figured out rocket-boots, and while he wasn't moving very fast, barely faster than if he were running, he could do it for far longer than he could ever manage to run… if we were being honest here.
So there were two groupings, but I was watching so I knew they wouldn't divide and conquer. I could see the capes, in their bases.
Reaver, and Animos, both together. One eye was enough for him to still fight.
Hemmorhagia, Spree, and Vex together with two new capes, both of them dressed so trashy I almost discounted them. I hadn't seen them fight, but I'd assume they were dangerous and make sure to knock them out as fast as possible.
I didn't want to fight fair, but I also knew that if I ended this too fast, the Butcher would run away.
A part of me was okay with that, of course. I could imagine her escaping to Boston, her men all captured, her gang broken, but alive enough to rebuild them, because of course there were wings of the Teeth who weren't here. It'd be a loss, and a humiliating one, but it was one they could survive. And ultimately I was a selfish human being: if the Teeth didn't mess around with Brockton Bay, I wasn't going to go hunt after them.
It was just that simple.
Just as simple was the fact that I wouldn't really be satisfied with that. The Butcher had hurt countless people, and just as importantly, she'd nearly killed me and everyone I cared about. Repeatedly. If she'd won, she'd no doubt enslave or hurt countless civilians. It was selfish, it was selfless at the same time. I wanted to help others, but I also wanted revenge.
That's how it was.
My spiders were marching ahead, I'd been working to set them up as I gathered every bug I could. The farther I moved, the more there were, and the Teeth hadn't seemed to practice the kind of hygiene that kept bugs from multiplying out of control.
It was stupid of them, but bug-proofing your little pocket empire was hard, especially since they should have been long-gone.
If this kept on going, we'd have to engage them and the Butcher would just stay away, I realized, looking over at Rachel as she scanned the crowd.
We all had Artificer's radios on us, and all of us had enough Amp power that the Butcher wouldn't be able to immediately kill us. But no more than that, not even the super-strength, because I had a feeling that Amp would have to same most of her frequency for those who needed it, rather than spreading it out uselessly.
Okay, the secondary plan if Butcher didn't show up immediately was to attack them all at once, and send a message. Demoralize the Butcher, and see what happened.
The sun was hot on my back, as I turned and said, "Get ready." Bryce tensed, Pelter nodded, everyone seemed to prepare in their own way, and I just tried to focus and not pay them too much mind. I had plans.
I was dealing with any of the Teeth close enough to see our attack coming, but that did mean that I'd need a chance to really announce myself.
So I gathered my bugs, around and about, as we closed in on the real hotspots of Teeth activity.
Their sense of architecture was bizarre, and they made every building they inhabited into some bizarre, post-apocalyptic fantasy. They hung skulls, fake and real, from the bannisters, they jammed rusty nails into the sides of the buildings at opportune places to keep people from climbing up them. There were all sorts of little elements like that that seemed to show a suspicion and hatred for their fellow man that was…
You know, completely expected.
It was the kind of careful attention to ruining the landscape that wouldn't stop most capes, but probably did pretty well for dealing with the average gang-banger, which was probably why they set it all up. Boards placed at careful locations with nails sticking out the wrong way, tiles beaten to heck in some parts of the place so that they'd creak and be easier to stumble over…
But we weren't going to play their games. Good luck trying to make a bunch of stuffed animals stumble.
First, I had to deal with Animos. He was peering down at the ground, pacing a little bit. Where was the Butcher? There was a radio nearby, and maybe that connected to her. But where would she be, but here? Was she attacking the Protectorate HQ, armed missiles and all?
Reaver was near his sword, but I wasn't afraid.
Spiders gathered, my bugs prepared to swarm, and then, at the same time as they leapt for Animos, I began to speak.
It was a challenge I was putting out, clumsily talking through my bugs. But I knew enough to do this, at least:
"Your Butcher is a coward, hiding away, running from me!"
A man screamed and started breaking out, clearly allergic to something I was biting him with. Reaver was retreating, Animos had transformed and was about to scream, while Spree was pumping out more and more clones to try to keep me from finishing him off.
Vex was retreating towards the streets.
"If she's so tough, then she should face us!"
People threw on patches, hurrying to get out into the streets, just as Parian began to direct her troops forward. We were upon the first hideout, the one where Spree, Vex, and the two new capes were all headed for the front.
Some of the powers they gained allowed them to survive easily against my bugs… but some of them didn't.
Kid Win and Artificer were closing in on the second of four hideouts we'd identified. And considering that we'd already raided one of the others, they'd understandably not put a lot of important people there.
Animos had finally started screaming, which meant I couldn't see the insides of the old apartment blocks, but Kid Win and Artificer just kept on firing at the general direction of the building.
The point, as much as anything, was to keep them freaked out.
A few gang members flew up into the air, leaping off windows to do it.
Artificer suddenly blurred as he shot all of them with his laser gun, which crackled as it was almost burnt out from the speed of firing.
He'd used Amp's power to get off the fast shots, and almost half of the pseudo-capes tumbled to the ground, while the other half were driven back, firing in return with what they could, a few of them just plugging away with rifles.
Parian's dolls were meeting an army of Sprees, but I could see that Vex and the other two capes, one female, one male, were going around the back, using the power patches to give themselves relative immunity to my bugs.
I picked up the radio, glancing over at Pelter. "Pelter, get back there, Vex is trying to break out. Flechette, same. Grue, Regent, Phase, provide support!"
Pelter nodded and sprung off her dog, racing forward and slipping past the dolls as they continued their stalemate with Spree, though the other cape was seeming to be pushed back a little by a little.
I glanced over at Rachel, who was looking intensely at the building and no doubt intended to set the dogs on it, if need be.
I was tense, waiting for the final shoe to drop, as capes began to run down the street. Fake capes, of course, with patches. The third and fourth hideout were now in full reinforcement mode, but if they went after Kid Win and Artificer, the two of them could retreat, having drawn them away, and Phase was keeping them busy, slipping through attacks.
I felt like I was a general, directing a victorious army. At least, it was victorious so far. I kept close to Rachel, and close to Lisa. Two people I'd definitely need if this fight started to get rough.
Pelter made it in time to start lobbing stones and glass at the three enemies, Flechette just a moment behind her, loading and firing at Vex fast enough to force the woman to stop making more of those jagged forcefields, and focus on getting undercover.
But in the time that took, Pelter had deflected one attack by the boy of the two with a shield, and returned the favor with a stone that sent him on his ass, all of his lasers useless as she kept on throwing things and he struggled to get up and fight back.
The girl, at least, had a different power, trying to dodge and step closer to Pelter in order to do… something.
Flechette hit her. The bolt went straight into her knee and she went down with a scream, extra powers or no. Regent and Grue reached around back in time to swathe the retreating Vex in darkness, and then hurry ahead on Inka, who was angry enough to not even need commands to tear at Vex.
So, that was under control. And Reaver and Vex were both clearly trapped in the hideout, which meant that the only real threats left were the swarm of gangbangers running down the streets, or flying in… and of course the Butcher.
I grit my teeth and watched, as Rachel no doubt watched me. Codex, Citrine, and Arturas were keeping close, because they'd have roles to play if the Butcher attacked.
The enemies were massing together just three blocks away from us, almost thirty people (28, to be exact) with super-powers that left all of them, or at least enough of them to deal with, basically immune to my bugs.
This was it, this was basically all of the active Teeth besides the two areas under siege, and I looked down at the dogs. Then at where Parian had forced her way in, standing back and seeming to look intently at the door.
"Parian," I said, raising my voice, "Let the dogs handle Spree! Move around to--"
"Got it!" Parian called.
Her dolls, when they stepped out of the building, were horrifying things, so thick with blood and gore that they weren't recognizable as anything except nightmares.
I stared for a moment, and then shook my head. I didn't have time to dwell on it. My heart was racing, stress and tension all building up, but without any release. The first line of defense was Flechette… someone else, or our dogs. If none of them worked, we had plans involving Artificer, as well as Pelter… and then after that? That's when we started getting down to me just running up and doing what I could to hurt her, to use her own powers against her.
It all flashed through my head, leaving brief blips of ideas like fireflies lighting up, only to die away. I'd been through all this before, I thought, clenching tighter to Bentley, my hands shaking a little from a sort of built-up stress.
"Taylor?" Rachel asked.
"Sorry, I'm just… trying to figure this out. Where is she?"
"We'll find her," Lisa reassured me.
I looked over at Rachel, glad that my mask was on. Because she didn't need to see the look on my face when she had to focus on the dogs.
"One sec," Rachel said, and then she started yelling out orders to a few of her dogs, the ones she'd made almost too big for the front entrance of the building we were camped in front of. The dogs hurried forward to meet Spree's clones, in a shower of blood.
I thought about how much work it'd be to clean them up after all of that, and I almost laughed at the thought.
"Yes?" Rachel said. I looked at the racing dogs, and checked that everything was going well. Artificer and Kid Win had torn their way through the walls, so they were really firing inside, by now, which meant that Reaver and Animos had to be hiding down low, away from the constant barrage of lasers.
"Where would Butcher be?"
"Dunno. Behind us?" Rachel asked, but she was moving her dog closer to me, and I could imagine her thoughts, if I could see her face. She had to think I was worrying, that I was getting panicked and stressing out.
Maybe I was. I looked at her costume, and felt that possessive surge of pride that I assumed that Parian felt, to look at Flechette. That same… control, or at least a little kind of control?
"If she doesn't come, we'll just have to capture all the Teeth, and--"
There she was. The Butcher was looping back around the long-way, through the Old Chinatown. I just barely see her at all, because all my bugs were here. What was that direction was as much tripwire as anything else.
But even from afar, I could tell. She smelled wrong. She was swaying a little bit as she ran, her body temperature higher than it should be. There was a lot of data I was getting in that I wasn't really processing. It was like how you didn't notice everything you noticed. It was only when I focused that, 'this is wrong' became…
She smelled sick. She was moving stiffly. She was angry, her face twisted into a mask of rage, wielding a hammer as she teleported through the city, in our general direction. She was alone, alone at last, her allies down or too far away to help her. We'd need that, I thought, as Parian's dolls terrified and pushed back all but the flying capes.
Some of them could take a single doll, but could they take an army of them? And Spree was ahead, in the back of a hallway, as the dogs -tore through to him. Was he going to keep it up, or was he going to die? Because I couldn't imagine them being held back that easily, with all that blood and pain and chaos driving them to do just the wrong thing.
"The Butcher is coming," I said, loudly, and then turned on the radio. "The butcher is coming!" I said, louder, and then turned to Rachel. "Alright, now…"
Grue and Regent emerged from the darkness carrying an unconscious Vex. That, plus, the two others meant… Spree, Animos, Reaver and Hemorhagia, the latter locked deep in the building with a set of patches, clearly waiting to ambush someone who came in.
That was it.
The Butcher had almost reached us when I gave the order, "Rachel, turn on the radio."
"Charlotte," I added.
"Angelica! Sit! Bullet sit!" She started yelling out the commands through the radio, and the dogs complied. And for that, they gained regeneration, they gained just a little bit more speed, not enough to put them out of sync of orders, and they became tougher, stronger. Five dogs, ready to hound the Butcher.
Reaver stumbled up, trying to slash at Kid Win when he got close, only to be knocked down by a spray of lasers. He collapsed, and Kid Win moved in for the knockout, Animos' screams still echoing through the building--
The Butcher appeared in the distance, as Parian turned to hide behind a doll or two while the rest of them were pushing forward against the Teeth reinforcements.
I looked at her: this mad, strange woman, who smelled of sickness and blood, whose menace had driven me to do all this. Had driven me here. Yet, she meant nothing to me, and I was pretty sure I meant nothing to her. At least, nothing deeper than hatred.
"You," the Butcher hissed, and however out of it she was, she was aware that I could hear her. "You!"
Rachel growled. "Angelica, kill."
The Butcher didn't bother dodging as Angelica raced forward. She slammed the hammer down on the dog. If it wasn't for Amp, it probably would have done more… but even with Amp's power, Angelica was knocked out of the way as Rachel ordered more dogs to charge her.
I knew it wouldn't work, and that even refusing to move was just… showing off. But there was something about the way she moved that meant… what?
That meant that I didn't think she'd be playing around much longer. And indeed, about two seconds after the fight really began, she disappeared in a loud pop of an explosion and appeared right next to me, swinging that hammer again. I blocked it with an arm, wincing.
Even with the extra strength, the hammer was a good weapon. My arm ached, and I knew I'd have a horrible bruise in the morning as I lashed out at her with my fist, just to see what she did. She caught my arm and tossed me towards a wall like I was a sack of potatoes, and then exploded again as she teleported farther away from the dogs, who had turned around and were still going after her.
Rachel roared and charged her, as Flechette put herself into place.
Pelter was almost here too, and she was another possible way to really hurt the Butcher. It all came down to speed. We needed chances to hit her as hard as we could, because we wanted her hurt, we wanted her desperate and afraid, if we were going to get her in any fit state.
In theory, all we had to do was knock her out. Once that happened, well, I'm sure that the Heroes could hold her if they knew that it was that or start it all again…
But even as I thought that, the pain in my arm and the absence of the Protectorate made me think otherwise. The dogs were going after her, and she paused for moments to deploy one power after another. But all the pain in the world didn't stop the fact that the dogs were regenerating from damage, and tougher than they seemed, and as she teleported around, the explosions merely knocked the five off their groove as I rose up, my bugs flying and surrounding her to provide a screen to keep her from seeing what was going on.
Animos howled, but Kid Win kept on firing, tearing chunks out of the monstrous flesh of the creature.
Spree was down, half-mauled, the dogs only refusing to kill him because of Bitch's long training.
The march of the Teeth was broken up as Parian's golems and Phase rallied.
Codex and Citrine both backed up, faster than they should have. Both of them were trying to use their powers on the Butcher, but she was moving so fast it was hard to do much. But she wasn't winning, either, I thought, as I tried to figure out what I could do.
She teleported, almost right into one of Flechette's bolts, the girl up top such a blur that she had to be using the power, but the Butcher just barely managed to--
Wait.
No she hadn't. When she next appeared in a huff of explosion, she had a bolt sticking into her leg. But she didn't even seem troubled by it, as she slammed the hammer down into one of the unenhanced dogs. It went down in a scream of pain, and Rachel roared, running at it, her orders yelled louder as she tried to surround the Butcher.
Who lashed out at… nothing.
She just hit the air. I was dazed, and also somewhat superfluous at this point. There were things I could do, but only if everything went wrong.
This was at once too hard, too easy, too boring, too tense. My whole body was a set of nerves, the pain the least of my worries, even that fading as I started to regenerate. Lisa was besides me, Rachel stuck in the middle of the fight, Flechette trying to line up another shot…
"That was… someone!" Lisa said.
"What?" I asked, turning to her confused. "Who?"
"A team member. We need to get to… her? I think it's a her," Lisa said, frowning.
"Fine," I said, gritting my teeth behind the mask as I looked around. Codex and Citrine were staying back, close enough to Arturas that he could defend them. They had enough of Amp's power in them that they should be safe, I decided, and so, despite not knowing who this was that was being talked about, I moved forward on the dogs, towards the general area that the Butcher had hit.
She was still teleporting around, and Grue and Pelter were both trying to double-team her, the darkness closing in her options for where she could teleport, or at least whether she'd know what she'd find there, as Regent seemed to be keeping as far away as possible.
And Accord's people were closing in behind, as I jumped off the dog, wishing I could just smell her the way a dog could. But… since I didn't even know who 'her' was or if she was a her, maybe I was being too optimistic.
Lisa was crouching down, searching the half-broken streets by hand. Each explosion by the Butcher had only made the road worse, and I tried to watch the fight while I watched her search. Right now, things were going well… but I knew that with the Butcher, all it'd take is a few moments and it'd get worse. There were already dogs down, crippled by the pain that she was sending out in all directions. A few others had run wild, because of the rage she was giving off.
But even with all that… she wasn't changing the fundamentals.
Animos was down. Hemophilia was running. So were the remains of the Teeth. Parian was vulnerable, yet another target that she could be going after.
But instead the woman was focusing on Grue and Pelter, as she teleported straight through the darkness that had built up in the middle of the road.
I blinked, as I saw Imp down there, in a pool of her own blood. I blinked, confused, shouldn't she have regenerated? Or did Amp forget who she was and then… oh.
Oh fuck.
Had she had the power up at all? She had to have, or she'd be dead, but she was bleeding really badly, and she squirmed when Lisa tried to move her.
Lisa reached for her radio, and I could barely pay attention to the fight at all. Aisha was on the verge of passing out, the smell of the blood filling the air. The radio clicked on.
"Amp," Lisa said, and I heard something in her voice that I'd never heard before. Terrified panic. It was a fear deeper than I had ever heard, fear enough to pass to me. "Order Imp to do something. Please. She needs healing."
"Imp, please say something, anything," Charlotte asked.
Imp didn't speak, and I looked down at her, feeling as if the world was closing in, but I knew it wasn't. There was an entire world, a world that was now just her and us.
That was the Teeth. They were done, and now… and now.
But I looked down at her, and she looked so young. Her mask had fallen off somewhere, and now… it was impossible not to realize how young we all were in that moment. We could still all die: she wouldn't show any mercy if we gave her a chance.
"Please," Lisa said, quietly, and her frown was deepening, her grip so tight that I could all but imagine…
I wondered who Lisa had, besides her team? She cared. She…
"Anything," Imp groaned, looking up at us with her teeth bared in amusement and then something else. Fierce, desperate… something in her face made me ignore the amusement and see deeper, as her wounds began to knit themselves.
"You idiot," Lisa said. "All of you. Of course Amp would…"
"I thought…" Imp began, and then she sniffled. "You came for me. You noticed me."
"Of course I did," Lisa said. "You're an Undersider."
"T-thanks."
"Amp," I ordered, a part of my mind watching the rest of the fight. "Give her some durability. She's leaving. Get a few blocks away, as fast as you can, and then drop the invisibility and tell Amp to get rid of your enhancements. Amp, even if you don't know why it's invested, get rid of no power investment unless you have orders to do so."
"I can still--"
"No, go," Lisa said, her blue eyes hard.
The Butcher was swaying, retreating in the face of a truly vicious assault. She was covered in glass, and Pelter must have asked Amp for powers at some point, because otherwise the Butcher would have teleported away.
She doesn't feel pain, I thought.
"Fine," Imp said, standing up slowly and limping over towards the sidewalk.
When I forgot her this time, it wasn't all the way. There was blood on my top, I was exhausted and glad that nobody had died yet.
*******
The Butcher was moving back towards us, teleporting quickly, not letting herself get pinned down. Another dog or two was knocked out, none of them dead, but injured enough that it'd take time to get them up. That's when Flechette blurred by us all, and went straight for the Butcher.
I could barely see her, and yet I knew she was doing something. Her knife buried itself into the Butcher's shoulder, and she drew another from her belt and seemed to have been stabbing for the other shoulder when she screamed.
At high speeds, the scream was odd, strange, barely human at all as the Butcher slammed her hammer into Flechette so hard it seemed to crack.
Flechette crumpled to the ground, clutching her arm as the Butcher prepared to bring it down again, only to have to teleport again to avoid a hail of Pelter's shot… some of which hit Flechette, down, and her arm apparently so broken that even the regeneration was taking time to fix it up.
But Pelter was managing to force the Butcher away from Flechette, who seemed to have passed out from the pain, as overwhelming as it must have been. Shit, I thought. She'd done real damage, even if the Butcher wasn't going to stop until her body literally gave out under her. But without her, who was the next hope? Pelter, and Codex. And then the rest of us for keeping her hustling, trying to find a way to do something.
My bugs were spectacularly worthless, though they did tell me that Regent was kneeling over Spree, waving around that baton almost playfully. As if someone he cared for hadn't almost died. He was speaking, in low, mocking tones. 'Wake up, Mr. Spree. You and I could do wonderful…'
Just gabble. Just nonsense.
Citrine too, except the Butcher wasn't staying still for long enough to actually do much. [Name] could be a good backup, with his powers, if he was strengthened and given the speed to really work the Butcher over.
It was amazing, how clearly I was thinking, considering the panic and stress the rest of my body was going through. But for all of it… what was I actually doing? I needed to get my bugs into those wounds, I thought. So I tried to position them, the better to expand them. Would the Butcher react to that? She didn't feel pain, so maybe she wouldn't.
I knew there was only so far I could take this. Because of course, if I killed her this way, then I'd be dead or in the Birdcage for the rest of my life soon. So I was going carefully as I backed up, and Pelter threw a few more stones, one of which hit her hard on the shoulder before she teleported… right into range of a blurring Codex, whose power made the Butcher's eyes glow bright for a moment before she appeared across the street… bleeding from her nose.
Of course she was, I thought, as my bugs tried to expand the wounds. It was slow work, and the explosions were killing them off en masse, but we had her.
Rachel crowded close to me as Lisa and I retreated behind a sea of dogs, all of them ready and willing to go after her, barking angrily. A mass of flesh and muscle, ready to be enhanced if need be. Codex was retreating in a blur, trying to set up another situation where she did even more brain damage, while Arturas clicked his radio to get some more powers. Citrine was retreating, and I assumed her powers weren't doing so hot.
Pelter advanced, a blur as well, and then…
I'd planned on this happening. Sort of.
But…
She pulled, from her ridiculous costume, right next to the sword, a patch and stuck it on her arm. One of the power patches. Her eyes glowed, and suddenly she was a blur herself, slamming her hammer into Pelter's head so hard that--
I saw her almost blur out of the way at the least moment, but that wasn't enough. She went down, and the hammer shattered at that, breaking into pieces as she kicked Pelter out of the way.
Stefanie hit the ground, and didn't move. My bugs could tell she was still alive, but… she wasn't moving.
The Butcher put another two patches on herself, and Codex tried to run away.
I clicked my radio. "Amp!"
The Butcher drew her sword in one motion, and slashed at Codex. But her skin was hard enough that only a little blood came up on the first swing.
On the backswing, though? Her sword glowed red as it went straight into Codex, ripping out the other side, disemboweling the woman. She gasped, and collapsed as the sword then sliced her in half.
Shit, shit.
Arturas slashed out of her two fast for her to dodge, because she seemed to need to deactivate the power she was using on the sword first. Another wound, combined with all the other ones inflicted… but it wasn't enough to stop her, not even close.
She teleported away in an explosion, and then there she was in front of me.
"You fucking bitch!" she yelled, and then she reached up and grabbed me. I knew she was going to kill me then, but I had the radio on, and maybe…
Rachel growled and leapt at her, but that's when she teleported away.
I looked down from the top of a building at the scene below me, clutched in her grasp.
Her face was twitching, running through dozens of emotions in the span of moments, as she looked at me. She was panting.
The sword pressed against my throat.
"Stand down, or I slit her throat!" she yelled. "You fucking… my Teeth… you! How did!" She was rambling, but… Lisa was backing off, and Citrine was staring at the corpse of her ally. Kid Win and Artificer were on their way, but not here yet. Parian was somewhat in the distance, Regent too, Grue backed off.
Rachel let out a loud sound and then took a step back as well. I could imagine her glare.
She whistled, and the dogs backed up from trying to find a way up to the Butcher.
They milled down below, though I hadn't seen any ranged weapons on the Butcher at all.
She'd have to close in to kill everyone I ever cared for. But she had teleportation.
My heart was beating fast, faster, faster still.
She gripped me tighter, leaned in, and bared her teeth at me.
********
A/N: Thanks to @NemoMarx. Next update tomorrow.
We were trying to stay together as we moved. Flechette could go faster than a lot of us could, so she was keeping up top, while the rest of us mostly went on foot, except for Charlotte, who was with Dad and others in the van, following behind closely enough that I could see and hear them, but not so close that they'd be an easy target.
The roads were rubble, but that's what the van's wheels were made for. They'd been changed out for the kinds of wheels that did off-road stuff, which looked very odd with a van like that… but I didn't care about how it looked.
Flechette above, everyone who we could fit on dogs, with only Parian walking, and that because she wanted to keep among her stuffed animals.
They were a host unto themselves, a surprisingly adorable collection of stuffed animals. Lions, tigers, and bears oh my, and even stranger animals. There was a stuffed animal that… I think it was meant to be a squid, but it honestly looked as if someone had tried to make a tentacle monster cute. I tried not to say anything, or look (physically at least) in the direction of the girl whose eyes she kept on trying to meet as she marched with her animals.
Flechette, at least this time, at least this once, was wearing a costume that made her look more like a mustakeer than anything, a costume I knew that Parian had made for her, like all of the other costumes she'd worked over, labored over, with no expectation that it'd ever be worn.
There was a feather in her cap, I thought, looking up at Flechette as we… well, the dogs were marching, more than anything. Daring the Butcher to show up, daring her to come and attack us. We wanted to all keep together. Flechette's costume was less skintight, but at least as revealing, if not more so, mostly by careful cuts made here and there, and gaps. The chest area, for instance, had an old-timey ruffled collar, of sorts, but plunged slightly low. The tights looked painted on… little details like that which would have made me wonder if I didn't know otherwise.
Most of the people on the dogs had no right to be there. At least if how they were clinging to them as if they were going to throw them off was to be trusted. Codex, especially, looked like a huge lump on a log, and she made rather pathetic sounds every time we sped up slightly.
And still no Butcher. My range was vast enough that I should have noticed something, and what did that mean? Was she holding back? Did she plan to hit the Camp from behind? We had a radio left back at camp that would tell us if that was the case.
Slightly divorced from us, Kid Win and Artificer both flied low. Sometime in the middle of the night, Greg had finally figured out rocket-boots, and while he wasn't moving very fast, barely faster than if he were running, he could do it for far longer than he could ever manage to run… if we were being honest here.
So there were two groupings, but I was watching so I knew they wouldn't divide and conquer. I could see the capes, in their bases.
Reaver, and Animos, both together. One eye was enough for him to still fight.
Hemmorhagia, Spree, and Vex together with two new capes, both of them dressed so trashy I almost discounted them. I hadn't seen them fight, but I'd assume they were dangerous and make sure to knock them out as fast as possible.
I didn't want to fight fair, but I also knew that if I ended this too fast, the Butcher would run away.
A part of me was okay with that, of course. I could imagine her escaping to Boston, her men all captured, her gang broken, but alive enough to rebuild them, because of course there were wings of the Teeth who weren't here. It'd be a loss, and a humiliating one, but it was one they could survive. And ultimately I was a selfish human being: if the Teeth didn't mess around with Brockton Bay, I wasn't going to go hunt after them.
It was just that simple.
Just as simple was the fact that I wouldn't really be satisfied with that. The Butcher had hurt countless people, and just as importantly, she'd nearly killed me and everyone I cared about. Repeatedly. If she'd won, she'd no doubt enslave or hurt countless civilians. It was selfish, it was selfless at the same time. I wanted to help others, but I also wanted revenge.
That's how it was.
My spiders were marching ahead, I'd been working to set them up as I gathered every bug I could. The farther I moved, the more there were, and the Teeth hadn't seemed to practice the kind of hygiene that kept bugs from multiplying out of control.
It was stupid of them, but bug-proofing your little pocket empire was hard, especially since they should have been long-gone.
If this kept on going, we'd have to engage them and the Butcher would just stay away, I realized, looking over at Rachel as she scanned the crowd.
We all had Artificer's radios on us, and all of us had enough Amp power that the Butcher wouldn't be able to immediately kill us. But no more than that, not even the super-strength, because I had a feeling that Amp would have to same most of her frequency for those who needed it, rather than spreading it out uselessly.
Okay, the secondary plan if Butcher didn't show up immediately was to attack them all at once, and send a message. Demoralize the Butcher, and see what happened.
The sun was hot on my back, as I turned and said, "Get ready." Bryce tensed, Pelter nodded, everyone seemed to prepare in their own way, and I just tried to focus and not pay them too much mind. I had plans.
I was dealing with any of the Teeth close enough to see our attack coming, but that did mean that I'd need a chance to really announce myself.
So I gathered my bugs, around and about, as we closed in on the real hotspots of Teeth activity.
Their sense of architecture was bizarre, and they made every building they inhabited into some bizarre, post-apocalyptic fantasy. They hung skulls, fake and real, from the bannisters, they jammed rusty nails into the sides of the buildings at opportune places to keep people from climbing up them. There were all sorts of little elements like that that seemed to show a suspicion and hatred for their fellow man that was…
You know, completely expected.
It was the kind of careful attention to ruining the landscape that wouldn't stop most capes, but probably did pretty well for dealing with the average gang-banger, which was probably why they set it all up. Boards placed at careful locations with nails sticking out the wrong way, tiles beaten to heck in some parts of the place so that they'd creak and be easier to stumble over…
But we weren't going to play their games. Good luck trying to make a bunch of stuffed animals stumble.
First, I had to deal with Animos. He was peering down at the ground, pacing a little bit. Where was the Butcher? There was a radio nearby, and maybe that connected to her. But where would she be, but here? Was she attacking the Protectorate HQ, armed missiles and all?
Reaver was near his sword, but I wasn't afraid.
Spiders gathered, my bugs prepared to swarm, and then, at the same time as they leapt for Animos, I began to speak.
It was a challenge I was putting out, clumsily talking through my bugs. But I knew enough to do this, at least:
"Your Butcher is a coward, hiding away, running from me!"
A man screamed and started breaking out, clearly allergic to something I was biting him with. Reaver was retreating, Animos had transformed and was about to scream, while Spree was pumping out more and more clones to try to keep me from finishing him off.
Vex was retreating towards the streets.
"If she's so tough, then she should face us!"
People threw on patches, hurrying to get out into the streets, just as Parian began to direct her troops forward. We were upon the first hideout, the one where Spree, Vex, and the two new capes were all headed for the front.
Some of the powers they gained allowed them to survive easily against my bugs… but some of them didn't.
Kid Win and Artificer were closing in on the second of four hideouts we'd identified. And considering that we'd already raided one of the others, they'd understandably not put a lot of important people there.
Animos had finally started screaming, which meant I couldn't see the insides of the old apartment blocks, but Kid Win and Artificer just kept on firing at the general direction of the building.
The point, as much as anything, was to keep them freaked out.
A few gang members flew up into the air, leaping off windows to do it.
Artificer suddenly blurred as he shot all of them with his laser gun, which crackled as it was almost burnt out from the speed of firing.
He'd used Amp's power to get off the fast shots, and almost half of the pseudo-capes tumbled to the ground, while the other half were driven back, firing in return with what they could, a few of them just plugging away with rifles.
Parian's dolls were meeting an army of Sprees, but I could see that Vex and the other two capes, one female, one male, were going around the back, using the power patches to give themselves relative immunity to my bugs.
I picked up the radio, glancing over at Pelter. "Pelter, get back there, Vex is trying to break out. Flechette, same. Grue, Regent, Phase, provide support!"
Pelter nodded and sprung off her dog, racing forward and slipping past the dolls as they continued their stalemate with Spree, though the other cape was seeming to be pushed back a little by a little.
I glanced over at Rachel, who was looking intensely at the building and no doubt intended to set the dogs on it, if need be.
I was tense, waiting for the final shoe to drop, as capes began to run down the street. Fake capes, of course, with patches. The third and fourth hideout were now in full reinforcement mode, but if they went after Kid Win and Artificer, the two of them could retreat, having drawn them away, and Phase was keeping them busy, slipping through attacks.
I felt like I was a general, directing a victorious army. At least, it was victorious so far. I kept close to Rachel, and close to Lisa. Two people I'd definitely need if this fight started to get rough.
Pelter made it in time to start lobbing stones and glass at the three enemies, Flechette just a moment behind her, loading and firing at Vex fast enough to force the woman to stop making more of those jagged forcefields, and focus on getting undercover.
But in the time that took, Pelter had deflected one attack by the boy of the two with a shield, and returned the favor with a stone that sent him on his ass, all of his lasers useless as she kept on throwing things and he struggled to get up and fight back.
The girl, at least, had a different power, trying to dodge and step closer to Pelter in order to do… something.
Flechette hit her. The bolt went straight into her knee and she went down with a scream, extra powers or no. Regent and Grue reached around back in time to swathe the retreating Vex in darkness, and then hurry ahead on Inka, who was angry enough to not even need commands to tear at Vex.
So, that was under control. And Reaver and Vex were both clearly trapped in the hideout, which meant that the only real threats left were the swarm of gangbangers running down the streets, or flying in… and of course the Butcher.
I grit my teeth and watched, as Rachel no doubt watched me. Codex, Citrine, and Arturas were keeping close, because they'd have roles to play if the Butcher attacked.
The enemies were massing together just three blocks away from us, almost thirty people (28, to be exact) with super-powers that left all of them, or at least enough of them to deal with, basically immune to my bugs.
This was it, this was basically all of the active Teeth besides the two areas under siege, and I looked down at the dogs. Then at where Parian had forced her way in, standing back and seeming to look intently at the door.
"Parian," I said, raising my voice, "Let the dogs handle Spree! Move around to--"
"Got it!" Parian called.
Her dolls, when they stepped out of the building, were horrifying things, so thick with blood and gore that they weren't recognizable as anything except nightmares.
I stared for a moment, and then shook my head. I didn't have time to dwell on it. My heart was racing, stress and tension all building up, but without any release. The first line of defense was Flechette… someone else, or our dogs. If none of them worked, we had plans involving Artificer, as well as Pelter… and then after that? That's when we started getting down to me just running up and doing what I could to hurt her, to use her own powers against her.
It all flashed through my head, leaving brief blips of ideas like fireflies lighting up, only to die away. I'd been through all this before, I thought, clenching tighter to Bentley, my hands shaking a little from a sort of built-up stress.
"Taylor?" Rachel asked.
"Sorry, I'm just… trying to figure this out. Where is she?"
"We'll find her," Lisa reassured me.
I looked over at Rachel, glad that my mask was on. Because she didn't need to see the look on my face when she had to focus on the dogs.
"One sec," Rachel said, and then she started yelling out orders to a few of her dogs, the ones she'd made almost too big for the front entrance of the building we were camped in front of. The dogs hurried forward to meet Spree's clones, in a shower of blood.
I thought about how much work it'd be to clean them up after all of that, and I almost laughed at the thought.
"Yes?" Rachel said. I looked at the racing dogs, and checked that everything was going well. Artificer and Kid Win had torn their way through the walls, so they were really firing inside, by now, which meant that Reaver and Animos had to be hiding down low, away from the constant barrage of lasers.
"Where would Butcher be?"
"Dunno. Behind us?" Rachel asked, but she was moving her dog closer to me, and I could imagine her thoughts, if I could see her face. She had to think I was worrying, that I was getting panicked and stressing out.
Maybe I was. I looked at her costume, and felt that possessive surge of pride that I assumed that Parian felt, to look at Flechette. That same… control, or at least a little kind of control?
"If she doesn't come, we'll just have to capture all the Teeth, and--"
There she was. The Butcher was looping back around the long-way, through the Old Chinatown. I just barely see her at all, because all my bugs were here. What was that direction was as much tripwire as anything else.
But even from afar, I could tell. She smelled wrong. She was swaying a little bit as she ran, her body temperature higher than it should be. There was a lot of data I was getting in that I wasn't really processing. It was like how you didn't notice everything you noticed. It was only when I focused that, 'this is wrong' became…
She smelled sick. She was moving stiffly. She was angry, her face twisted into a mask of rage, wielding a hammer as she teleported through the city, in our general direction. She was alone, alone at last, her allies down or too far away to help her. We'd need that, I thought, as Parian's dolls terrified and pushed back all but the flying capes.
Some of them could take a single doll, but could they take an army of them? And Spree was ahead, in the back of a hallway, as the dogs -tore through to him. Was he going to keep it up, or was he going to die? Because I couldn't imagine them being held back that easily, with all that blood and pain and chaos driving them to do just the wrong thing.
"The Butcher is coming," I said, loudly, and then turned on the radio. "The butcher is coming!" I said, louder, and then turned to Rachel. "Alright, now…"
Grue and Regent emerged from the darkness carrying an unconscious Vex. That, plus, the two others meant… Spree, Animos, Reaver and Hemorhagia, the latter locked deep in the building with a set of patches, clearly waiting to ambush someone who came in.
That was it.
The Butcher had almost reached us when I gave the order, "Rachel, turn on the radio."
"Charlotte," I added.
"Angelica! Sit! Bullet sit!" She started yelling out the commands through the radio, and the dogs complied. And for that, they gained regeneration, they gained just a little bit more speed, not enough to put them out of sync of orders, and they became tougher, stronger. Five dogs, ready to hound the Butcher.
Reaver stumbled up, trying to slash at Kid Win when he got close, only to be knocked down by a spray of lasers. He collapsed, and Kid Win moved in for the knockout, Animos' screams still echoing through the building--
The Butcher appeared in the distance, as Parian turned to hide behind a doll or two while the rest of them were pushing forward against the Teeth reinforcements.
I looked at her: this mad, strange woman, who smelled of sickness and blood, whose menace had driven me to do all this. Had driven me here. Yet, she meant nothing to me, and I was pretty sure I meant nothing to her. At least, nothing deeper than hatred.
"You," the Butcher hissed, and however out of it she was, she was aware that I could hear her. "You!"
Rachel growled. "Angelica, kill."
The Butcher didn't bother dodging as Angelica raced forward. She slammed the hammer down on the dog. If it wasn't for Amp, it probably would have done more… but even with Amp's power, Angelica was knocked out of the way as Rachel ordered more dogs to charge her.
I knew it wouldn't work, and that even refusing to move was just… showing off. But there was something about the way she moved that meant… what?
That meant that I didn't think she'd be playing around much longer. And indeed, about two seconds after the fight really began, she disappeared in a loud pop of an explosion and appeared right next to me, swinging that hammer again. I blocked it with an arm, wincing.
Even with the extra strength, the hammer was a good weapon. My arm ached, and I knew I'd have a horrible bruise in the morning as I lashed out at her with my fist, just to see what she did. She caught my arm and tossed me towards a wall like I was a sack of potatoes, and then exploded again as she teleported farther away from the dogs, who had turned around and were still going after her.
Rachel roared and charged her, as Flechette put herself into place.
Pelter was almost here too, and she was another possible way to really hurt the Butcher. It all came down to speed. We needed chances to hit her as hard as we could, because we wanted her hurt, we wanted her desperate and afraid, if we were going to get her in any fit state.
In theory, all we had to do was knock her out. Once that happened, well, I'm sure that the Heroes could hold her if they knew that it was that or start it all again…
But even as I thought that, the pain in my arm and the absence of the Protectorate made me think otherwise. The dogs were going after her, and she paused for moments to deploy one power after another. But all the pain in the world didn't stop the fact that the dogs were regenerating from damage, and tougher than they seemed, and as she teleported around, the explosions merely knocked the five off their groove as I rose up, my bugs flying and surrounding her to provide a screen to keep her from seeing what was going on.
Animos howled, but Kid Win kept on firing, tearing chunks out of the monstrous flesh of the creature.
Spree was down, half-mauled, the dogs only refusing to kill him because of Bitch's long training.
The march of the Teeth was broken up as Parian's golems and Phase rallied.
Codex and Citrine both backed up, faster than they should have. Both of them were trying to use their powers on the Butcher, but she was moving so fast it was hard to do much. But she wasn't winning, either, I thought, as I tried to figure out what I could do.
She teleported, almost right into one of Flechette's bolts, the girl up top such a blur that she had to be using the power, but the Butcher just barely managed to--
Wait.
No she hadn't. When she next appeared in a huff of explosion, she had a bolt sticking into her leg. But she didn't even seem troubled by it, as she slammed the hammer down into one of the unenhanced dogs. It went down in a scream of pain, and Rachel roared, running at it, her orders yelled louder as she tried to surround the Butcher.
Who lashed out at… nothing.
She just hit the air. I was dazed, and also somewhat superfluous at this point. There were things I could do, but only if everything went wrong.
This was at once too hard, too easy, too boring, too tense. My whole body was a set of nerves, the pain the least of my worries, even that fading as I started to regenerate. Lisa was besides me, Rachel stuck in the middle of the fight, Flechette trying to line up another shot…
"That was… someone!" Lisa said.
"What?" I asked, turning to her confused. "Who?"
"A team member. We need to get to… her? I think it's a her," Lisa said, frowning.
"Fine," I said, gritting my teeth behind the mask as I looked around. Codex and Citrine were staying back, close enough to Arturas that he could defend them. They had enough of Amp's power in them that they should be safe, I decided, and so, despite not knowing who this was that was being talked about, I moved forward on the dogs, towards the general area that the Butcher had hit.
She was still teleporting around, and Grue and Pelter were both trying to double-team her, the darkness closing in her options for where she could teleport, or at least whether she'd know what she'd find there, as Regent seemed to be keeping as far away as possible.
And Accord's people were closing in behind, as I jumped off the dog, wishing I could just smell her the way a dog could. But… since I didn't even know who 'her' was or if she was a her, maybe I was being too optimistic.
Lisa was crouching down, searching the half-broken streets by hand. Each explosion by the Butcher had only made the road worse, and I tried to watch the fight while I watched her search. Right now, things were going well… but I knew that with the Butcher, all it'd take is a few moments and it'd get worse. There were already dogs down, crippled by the pain that she was sending out in all directions. A few others had run wild, because of the rage she was giving off.
But even with all that… she wasn't changing the fundamentals.
Animos was down. Hemophilia was running. So were the remains of the Teeth. Parian was vulnerable, yet another target that she could be going after.
But instead the woman was focusing on Grue and Pelter, as she teleported straight through the darkness that had built up in the middle of the road.
I blinked, as I saw Imp down there, in a pool of her own blood. I blinked, confused, shouldn't she have regenerated? Or did Amp forget who she was and then… oh.
Oh fuck.
Had she had the power up at all? She had to have, or she'd be dead, but she was bleeding really badly, and she squirmed when Lisa tried to move her.
Lisa reached for her radio, and I could barely pay attention to the fight at all. Aisha was on the verge of passing out, the smell of the blood filling the air. The radio clicked on.
"Amp," Lisa said, and I heard something in her voice that I'd never heard before. Terrified panic. It was a fear deeper than I had ever heard, fear enough to pass to me. "Order Imp to do something. Please. She needs healing."
"Imp, please say something, anything," Charlotte asked.
Imp didn't speak, and I looked down at her, feeling as if the world was closing in, but I knew it wasn't. There was an entire world, a world that was now just her and us.
That was the Teeth. They were done, and now… and now.
But I looked down at her, and she looked so young. Her mask had fallen off somewhere, and now… it was impossible not to realize how young we all were in that moment. We could still all die: she wouldn't show any mercy if we gave her a chance.
"Please," Lisa said, quietly, and her frown was deepening, her grip so tight that I could all but imagine…
I wondered who Lisa had, besides her team? She cared. She…
"Anything," Imp groaned, looking up at us with her teeth bared in amusement and then something else. Fierce, desperate… something in her face made me ignore the amusement and see deeper, as her wounds began to knit themselves.
"You idiot," Lisa said. "All of you. Of course Amp would…"
"I thought…" Imp began, and then she sniffled. "You came for me. You noticed me."
"Of course I did," Lisa said. "You're an Undersider."
"T-thanks."
"Amp," I ordered, a part of my mind watching the rest of the fight. "Give her some durability. She's leaving. Get a few blocks away, as fast as you can, and then drop the invisibility and tell Amp to get rid of your enhancements. Amp, even if you don't know why it's invested, get rid of no power investment unless you have orders to do so."
"I can still--"
"No, go," Lisa said, her blue eyes hard.
The Butcher was swaying, retreating in the face of a truly vicious assault. She was covered in glass, and Pelter must have asked Amp for powers at some point, because otherwise the Butcher would have teleported away.
She doesn't feel pain, I thought.
"Fine," Imp said, standing up slowly and limping over towards the sidewalk.
When I forgot her this time, it wasn't all the way. There was blood on my top, I was exhausted and glad that nobody had died yet.
*******
The Butcher was moving back towards us, teleporting quickly, not letting herself get pinned down. Another dog or two was knocked out, none of them dead, but injured enough that it'd take time to get them up. That's when Flechette blurred by us all, and went straight for the Butcher.
I could barely see her, and yet I knew she was doing something. Her knife buried itself into the Butcher's shoulder, and she drew another from her belt and seemed to have been stabbing for the other shoulder when she screamed.
At high speeds, the scream was odd, strange, barely human at all as the Butcher slammed her hammer into Flechette so hard it seemed to crack.
Flechette crumpled to the ground, clutching her arm as the Butcher prepared to bring it down again, only to have to teleport again to avoid a hail of Pelter's shot… some of which hit Flechette, down, and her arm apparently so broken that even the regeneration was taking time to fix it up.
But Pelter was managing to force the Butcher away from Flechette, who seemed to have passed out from the pain, as overwhelming as it must have been. Shit, I thought. She'd done real damage, even if the Butcher wasn't going to stop until her body literally gave out under her. But without her, who was the next hope? Pelter, and Codex. And then the rest of us for keeping her hustling, trying to find a way to do something.
My bugs were spectacularly worthless, though they did tell me that Regent was kneeling over Spree, waving around that baton almost playfully. As if someone he cared for hadn't almost died. He was speaking, in low, mocking tones. 'Wake up, Mr. Spree. You and I could do wonderful…'
Just gabble. Just nonsense.
Citrine too, except the Butcher wasn't staying still for long enough to actually do much. [Name] could be a good backup, with his powers, if he was strengthened and given the speed to really work the Butcher over.
It was amazing, how clearly I was thinking, considering the panic and stress the rest of my body was going through. But for all of it… what was I actually doing? I needed to get my bugs into those wounds, I thought. So I tried to position them, the better to expand them. Would the Butcher react to that? She didn't feel pain, so maybe she wouldn't.
I knew there was only so far I could take this. Because of course, if I killed her this way, then I'd be dead or in the Birdcage for the rest of my life soon. So I was going carefully as I backed up, and Pelter threw a few more stones, one of which hit her hard on the shoulder before she teleported… right into range of a blurring Codex, whose power made the Butcher's eyes glow bright for a moment before she appeared across the street… bleeding from her nose.
Of course she was, I thought, as my bugs tried to expand the wounds. It was slow work, and the explosions were killing them off en masse, but we had her.
Rachel crowded close to me as Lisa and I retreated behind a sea of dogs, all of them ready and willing to go after her, barking angrily. A mass of flesh and muscle, ready to be enhanced if need be. Codex was retreating in a blur, trying to set up another situation where she did even more brain damage, while Arturas clicked his radio to get some more powers. Citrine was retreating, and I assumed her powers weren't doing so hot.
Pelter advanced, a blur as well, and then…
I'd planned on this happening. Sort of.
But…
She pulled, from her ridiculous costume, right next to the sword, a patch and stuck it on her arm. One of the power patches. Her eyes glowed, and suddenly she was a blur herself, slamming her hammer into Pelter's head so hard that--
I saw her almost blur out of the way at the least moment, but that wasn't enough. She went down, and the hammer shattered at that, breaking into pieces as she kicked Pelter out of the way.
Stefanie hit the ground, and didn't move. My bugs could tell she was still alive, but… she wasn't moving.
The Butcher put another two patches on herself, and Codex tried to run away.
I clicked my radio. "Amp!"
The Butcher drew her sword in one motion, and slashed at Codex. But her skin was hard enough that only a little blood came up on the first swing.
On the backswing, though? Her sword glowed red as it went straight into Codex, ripping out the other side, disemboweling the woman. She gasped, and collapsed as the sword then sliced her in half.
Shit, shit.
Arturas slashed out of her two fast for her to dodge, because she seemed to need to deactivate the power she was using on the sword first. Another wound, combined with all the other ones inflicted… but it wasn't enough to stop her, not even close.
She teleported away in an explosion, and then there she was in front of me.
"You fucking bitch!" she yelled, and then she reached up and grabbed me. I knew she was going to kill me then, but I had the radio on, and maybe…
Rachel growled and leapt at her, but that's when she teleported away.
I looked down from the top of a building at the scene below me, clutched in her grasp.
Her face was twitching, running through dozens of emotions in the span of moments, as she looked at me. She was panting.
The sword pressed against my throat.
"Stand down, or I slit her throat!" she yelled. "You fucking… my Teeth… you! How did!" She was rambling, but… Lisa was backing off, and Citrine was staring at the corpse of her ally. Kid Win and Artificer were on their way, but not here yet. Parian was somewhat in the distance, Regent too, Grue backed off.
Rachel let out a loud sound and then took a step back as well. I could imagine her glare.
She whistled, and the dogs backed up from trying to find a way up to the Butcher.
They milled down below, though I hadn't seen any ranged weapons on the Butcher at all.
She'd have to close in to kill everyone I ever cared for. But she had teleportation.
My heart was beating fast, faster, faster still.
She gripped me tighter, leaned in, and bared her teeth at me.
********
A/N: Thanks to @NemoMarx. Next update tomorrow.
Last edited:
- Location
- France
For once there Taylor you may well be right. That definitely isn't a real smile.
Great update! I can't wait for the next one!
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
This is not going well.
I'm worried we're going to end up with a new butcher.
I'm worried we're going to end up with a new butcher.
Vindictus
XENO
- Location
- Texas
I think you forgot to substitute in a couple of names here
Vindictus
XENO
- Location
- Texas
I'm pretty sure that if that happens, it would be a bad ending.
- Location
- London, 1935. August.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Is it bad that I'm kind of hoping we're going to end up with a new Butcher?
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Find out tomorrow!
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- she/her
And then Rachel kills her, and together they become the first sane Butcher!
Also, there's a line about a character named [Name], which probably needs fixing.
Flea 7.6
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Flea 7.6
My world closed in on me. I was dangling, and while I knew that people were moving--Phase, below in the building--and that there were plans I could use, the truth was that I was even more helpless than I'd been in a long time.
My legs kicked, but there was nothing beneath me. The radio was on, which was a good thing, but I knew that no order I was given would be obeyed fast enough to save my life, at least as I was right now.
I looked at her, this psychopath in the knockoff samurai armor, ridiculous and deadly, her face flipping through emotions so fast they couldn't be real.
"You hurt them," the Butcher growled, and then glared down at the assembled throng. Bryce was slowly creeping up towards the third story, and Spree, somehow controlled by Regent, I had to guess--how?! Why hadn't I heard about that power?--stepped out and looked up. "You hurt them!"
"And you hurt people I care about," I said, feeling the sword against my neck. I couldn't play some clever word-game with her and convince her not to kill me like that. I didn't have witty dialogue like in some action movie starring fake parahumans. She'd kill me quicker if I said something mocking.
I also didn't feel like doing so.
I felt vulnerable and trapped, and honestly exposed. The tension was just making my muscles, my whole body, jolt and shiver, and I was going to die in front of people I loved, in front of people who cared about me.
When I imagined my death, I imagined the locker, and usually as a dark sort of nightmare. But one with an odd sort of comfort, in a way: the same way that a dying animal finds somewhere small, dark, and warm, in an attempt to feel safe.
It didn't feel safe… but neither did this public display.
The Butcher was holding me hostage, but I was entirely sure she intended to kill me, no matter what.
She was afraid, she was trapped, she was alone, at last… except for all the stupid voices in her head, who were no doubt urging her on to make a thousand and one mistakes. It took two, it took more than two, to actually not screw up everything.
"Butcher," I said. "You want the Teeth? Let me go, take them. Leave." I tried to sound quiet, I tried to not sound like I was begging.
I wanted to live. I wanted to hug Rachel and kiss her, I wanted… fuck. I was tired of this. I thought about how it'd been when I was first acting as a hero: that feeling had long since passed. Fights were routine or they were terrifying… or both, and there was nothing I could do but just try to do my best.
I wondered how she could be scared of me. But no, it was of us. I saw fear in those dark, ever-changing eyes. I saw a lot of things as she pressed me close.
I shouldn't be thinking at all. I should have my life flashing before my eyes, I should have some conception of what it all meant, or what I'd do. I should have a plan… other than to stall her as long as possible and see what happened.
"I think… not."
"They… the Teeth matter to you. My people matter to me," I said.
"If I--we-me- could… I'd make you watch them all die. I'd torture you to death. I'd eat you, bone, flesh, and fucking gristle. I'd throw you in that bay that is so beloved to your pitiful city, I'd--"
Each time she spoke, it was as if a different person was stepping up, their tone different, even their phrasing strange, and I realized that there was a weakness: decision-making was pretty hard when you had all those minds pulling together. Agreeing to murder someone was a lot easier than plotting out a method, or… things that actually mattered at all.
"You… are you--"
"You made me sick! You… you did something."
I did. I'd given her diseases. Ones that I didn't think she'd actually bothered to have treated, because of course she was the Butcher. They were one of the most powerful capes in the world, and they couldn't even feel pain.
They were bleeding from dozens of wounds, there were knives here, there, and everywhere, bolts that surely reduced her mobility, but she didn't seem to react to any of it.
"Butcher! It's the vials you want, isn't it?" Lisa asked, yelling up. I could imagine the look on her face.
Tattletale? She was one of the people who believed in comic-book banter. Though maybe she was stalling too. Because Kid Win was almost within line of sight of the Butcher, though I knew that if he fired, I'd die.
Artificer was a little behind him, and--
"Hey, fuck-face loser," Spree yelled. "You failed to protect me, and now I'm a--"
"Regent," Lisa said, her voice harsh, with a note of panic. "Stop it."
"Regent?! You dare…"
She moved the sword just a little bit away from me. I realized what she was going to do.
I saw it, as if I were dreaming my way through the individual acts: she would teleport, the explosion throwing everyone off. She'd cripple Lisa and everyone around with pain, and kill Regent, and then me. Or me and then Regent. Then she'd start the slaughter. Those eyes, as she turned me around, the sword away from the back of my neck, but close enough that she'd be able to twitch to me if someone interrupted… unless.
Bryce was right below her.
I still didn't know every specific of his power, but--
"Taylor, scream!" Amp yelled.
I opened my mouth wide, the Butcher's sword about to gut me.
I wouldn't have screamed in time. But then the ground collapsed. The Butcher half-tumbled, as it was shredded by… whatever Bryce was doing as the boy popped up, slamming his fist into the sword.
It was torn apart, shattering even more violently than the hammer had, but the handle of the katana and a bit of the blade were still there.
She slammed the remainder of the sword right into Bryce's other arm, at the wrist.
That wasn't glowing in his strange energy state.
He screamed and bled as he tumbled, and fell.
I screamed as well.
The world seemed almost to stop.
**********
I was strong, I had bugs. If I wanted to hurt her even more, I could have. But that's not what I wanted at all.
In fact, from her perspective, what I wanted most of all was to help her.
This was the part of the plan where we probably all died.
Because this was a dumb idea. The Butcher's danger sense was limited. Physical attacks and lasers were just about all it covered. Heck, as Bryce's attack on the ground showed, it couldn't even tell when someone was setting up an environmental hazard.
And more importantly, it thought that the patches were harmless. Harmless, when they did brain damage. We'd talked to Dose: it was slow for people without powers, and those with powers might need months or years to really face consequences… which is why Codex had hurt her, which was why we weren't going to just put a patch on her once every few weeks when she felt like she needed the extra boost. She'd given herself several new powers already, doing even more damage to a brain already feverish, already in no fit condition.
In theory, considering she was already bleeding, considering… everything else. Consider all that, and that was our chance. Destroy her mind.
Or worse.
I pulled out two or three specially designed patches. As strong a concentration as was possible in such a small space, and I slapped them on her stomach as I leapt off the building as it crumbled.
Her first only just began to move towards me as I moved. I fell fast, just as fast as normal, hitting the ground and rolling, reaching down to click off the radio, briefly, a sign to take some of the excess power from me while she still could.
The world sped up again, and there Bryce was, screaming… and without a hand, as he writhed this way and that, half-phasing through the ground as the Butcher teleported, the explosion showering everyone in chunks of masonry.
Then she was near Spree, who spat out more and more clones.
Without her sword and the hammer, she was forced to punch them. Splatters of gore went everywhere as she easily fought her way straight to the core spree.
"Fuck you, bitch! I'm not your subordinate anymo--"
A fist pulped Spree's head.
Regent, standing a little ways back, clicked his own special radio and blurred away, clearly running for his life.
That little bit of time was all it took for Arturas to go back on the attack, everyone near him and Citrine seeming to slow down a little.
Citrine had to be manipulating the flow of time, to make it slower in the range of the attack. Just slightly, but it was enough that we were all able to back up as he went at her with a sword, slashing so fast that it was only on the second stab that she teleported away, close to Citrine, who was fast enough to duck a punch, only to get a knee to the stomach.
I was making my way over to Lisa and Rachel, trying to think about what to do next. The air seemed to be heating up, and the Butcher wreathed Citrine in fire as she stepped away, shaking her hands out and seeming to run through her powers. She… well fuck. She was floating slightly. Not flying, or at least she hadn't done that yet, but of all the possible outcomes, it was flying that was most disastrous.
Only some sort of power that would let her heal the damage, or make her aware of what we were doing, were worse.
Of course, she could already move around at will, within a short-range.
I tensed, as Citrine burned, not healing fast enough to keep her skin from charring and beginning to crumble as the Butcher dodged some of the slashes by floating up, only to drift downward to continue hurting Citrine.
I stared, watching it all and trying to figure out what to do. "Rachel! We need to get some more dogs in there, and--!"
A laser blast caught the Butcher across the chest, though it seemed to basically do no damage as Kid Win came in, flying higher than he had the past few times I'd seen him.
Another blast caught her in the chest, killing the few bugs I had left working on making the wounds worse from the inside.
It charred her skin, slightly, which was when she threw some of that fire she was apparently able to conjure right up at his face. He turned, trying to dodge out of the way, and she caught his board as he did. She floated up relatively slowly, all things considered. But he hadn't expected her to get up that high, and he groaned.
"Kid Win! Jump!" Amp ordered.
Her fist went straight through the board, and would have probably broken his leg, except he'd jumped first, his eyes wide as he screamed, hitting the ground and rolling.
The air cracked with the explosion of force as she appeared near him and punted him back, lazily, as if he were a football.
Amp started giving orders to the dogs as Rachel ordered others of them to go right at the Butcher.
I stood near her, trying to figure out what I was doing now. Rachel glanced at me, and then at Rachel, and as soon as the Butcher had teleported again, out of the way of Kid Win, I said, "I'm okay."
"Taylor," Rachel said, with a grunt.
"We're almost out of people to throw at her," Lisa said, with a frown. "I think she's near the end, though. Look."
The Butcher stood on another building, this one close to where Artificer was hiding and waiting with his own final weapon. The last trick we really had, if this all didn't work.
I hoped it would, because the last thing we needed was to risk ourselves more than we had to.
Her neck was twitching, her eyes were narrowing and going wider, there was blood coming from both of her nostrils, and her arms were spasming a little bit. Her body was also warm, so much so that as the remainder of my bugs in the area swarmed around her, they could feel and register her body heat, coming off from her.
Then I had to duck, as she threw a fireball our way. ;Rachel mostly ignored it, and the spider silk actually managed to dampen most of the flames. I'd ducked out of habit, because I knew that if she had a long-range weapon, she could kill us all. Where was it, then?
Why was she… where had she even been? Just because she was afraid of us didn't mean that she'd just run away. If anything, she'd be facing us, growling and trying to put on a show of not worrying about us at all. It was like dogs… it was like people, for that matter. Poses, poses and fronts, those were just as important as anything else.
So… here she was. Almost dying, and yet also triumphing. We were starting to run out of people who could hurt her, and every body that was down meant that there was another person she might be able to kill if she wanted.
All it'd take is a quick teleportation to slice up the survivors, to finish us off entirely.
My heart was like stone, my thoughts both focused and unfocused, as I tried to figure out how we were going to get out of this intact.
"Lisa!" I said. "Should we send out Artificer?"
"I don't see what else we can do. Bitch's dogs aren't going to be able to reach her if she floats," Lisa said, frowning. Grue was shrouding darkness near us, slowly trying to build up some in front of her, as the woman swayed and seemed to be considering her options.
She reached down and the brick of the building began to form into what looked like thick bolts. She lifted up one, and then another, and began hurling them through the darkness. The arrows should have missed, but of course they didn't. They tumbled through the darkness, which kept her from aiming so well, and one of them caught the still-burning, still-healing Citrine in the shoulder.
Her shoulder tore clean off, and more blood soaked the ground. It was like a slaughterhouse here, and I grit my teeth as I clicked on my radio. We'd need something that'd let us stand up against her, and… I didn't know what else we'd need to do. "Lisa, we--!"
A bolt slammed into her leg, but she seemed fortunately… not dead. That's about all I could say as she doubled over with a scream. The bolt didn't go clean through, probably thanks to Amp's power, and I tried to think about who was left to work with.
Artificer, Amp, Grue, Regent, Arturas, myself, Rachel, and Parian.
"Parian!" I yelled. "Can any of your dolls climb?"
"They can try," Parian said, speaking over the radio was we began to bunch up. Grue and Regent were hurrying over, blurring just enough to throw off the continual barrage of arrows, but I knew that us all getting together would just make it easier for her to enrage us, to fill us with pain… she had too many powers.
That was the problem. And Citrine was down, perhaps dead, so there was nobody we had access to who could get rid of her powers. We just needed to ride it out, I thought, tensing a little. I was in pain, I was exhausted.
Rachel was here, and hopefully if we died we'd die together… and even if we did die, the damage wasn't going to go away.
"Can it be healed?" I'd asked, looking down at Dose, pacing in that tent.
"I suppose perhaps Panacea could… she can heal everything, right? But the damage itself seems to be caused by the stimulation of an area of the brain that's already overactive… or the creation of a sort of temporary brain tumor that allows you to interface with the powers."
"Interface?" Lisa asked, the look on her face thoughtful.
"Or… something. You have to grow the part of the brain that has powers to get them, and that implies that there's a direct link. The way I thought of it, it must be almost like accessing a… fuck, are you going to let me go?"
"Of course we are," I lied.
"Lisa!" I said, as one of the dolls blocked a shot that would have hit her. "How does Regent's power work?"
"I need time to get control of people," he said, sulkily, glaring over at where Spree's corpse lay. :"I actually already had control of him. Earlier."
"Can you try to take over Animos? He's still unconscious."
His power might be able to help now, even if it would be a bit of a trip. And I knew that Regent wouldn't be able to do much good.
"I can--" he began, then paused, waving his scepter slightly as the Butcher teleported and slammed her fist down at one of the dogs. At the same time, her leg gave way, and the blow glanced off the dog, which reacted by snapping at her hand, and drawing a little more blood. "Yeah, let's go."
"Lisa, Regent. Get some speed before you do," I said, tensing as she appeared again, this time even closer to us, still trying to take out all the dogs and the dolls which were going towards her. She'd rise up in the air briefly, and then slam back down to hurt them while they barked up at her and tried to leap.
She'd have to teleport out of the way every so often, but it was clear that with her new powers, she wasn't going to be threatened, and even with the enhancements given to some of the dogs, there were still just… too many of them for her. They got in each other's ways, and we didn't have anyone who could fly.
Lisa and Regent both nodded, and soon they were blurring away, able to dodge when the Butcher exploded outwards after them briefly.
But the distraction was enough for yet another slash from Arturas to send her retreating away yet again, no doubt to pull more arrows out of the ground. She knelt, panting all the time, unable to keep from twitching, from panting, from falling apart at the seams, and yet she still threw the arrows with perfect accuracy.
But they bounced off him.
The fewer people Amp had to enhance, the less work it was, I thought. I tensed a little as I felt someone at the edge of my vision… and then I realized, it was reinforcements.
Shielder and Lady Photon were flying through the air, as Manpower and Brandish were continuing on foot, though I figured that they'd take a long time to actually reach the fight, as compared to their flying allies.
Panacea, on the other hand, was… distanced from the rest. She was moving on her own, carrying what looked like a medical bag. But that wasn't the only change. Her clothing was darker, and she had what looked like a belt, filled with who knows what. But more importantly, it was just the grim look on her face as she looked at the bugs I sent her way. I couldn't spend long concentrating on that, not when Rachel and I were retreating before another Butcher assault.
If she had a weapon, we might even be dead, I thought, as Panacea strode forward… alone. On her own. As if this were her own decision, rather than something done by a team. I didn't know what to think about that, and the Butcher was closing in on us as Parian's dolls threw themselves in suicidal charges that managed to force her back only temporarily.
I let out a breath, as Lady Photon rounded a building and sent blasts down at the Butcher, who teleported out of the way, appearing on a far building to grab some more stone arrows. She threw them perfectly, but then ran straight into the forcefield that Shielder had quickly put up, as they all began to float down towards us.
"Arachne!" Lady Photon yelled. "Is she all that's left?"
"Yeah," I said. "Do you need… Amp!" I flipped on the radio and said, "Lady Photon, Shielder, can you distract her just a little bit longer?"
"Excuse me, can you touch your nose," Amp said, as Shieder kept on blocking with his forcefield. The younger guy was floating this way and that, and the Butcher seemed almost paralyzed by the failure of the tactic, as if she couldn't figure out what she should be doing instead.
If that was really so, then it was good news, and I wasn't going to look it in the mouth.
Lady Photon did, and then blinked. "That feels… odd. The rest of the team is coming, what else can we do to help, besides that?"
"The… rest of the people. If someone could find a way to lift them up, that'd be great. I know you're not going to really be able to hit them, though," I said, as Rachel growled and gave another order for the dogs to attack.
"I can do that," Lady Photon said, flying forward as fast as she could. The Butcher seemed to focus in on her, making a mistake that I knew she wouldn't have if she was in a better state of mind, and a better way.
I was glad for even a moment where death wasn't an option, or at least… the more she spasmed and made stupid mistakes, the better. I knew that it was just going to keep on going. Even if she won, she wasn't going to last that long, not with all of the damage she had.
It wasn't going to go away, but… I wondered who'd get the power if she survived only to die. I didn't know, but I knew what I'd have to do if I somehow got it, or if it went to Greg, or--
What was that music?
It was loud and tinny, and sounded like something out of a video game, triumphant and full of brass, but repetitive enough that it was probably looping.
And it was coming from Artificer.
...fucking hell.
I wanted to yell at that little idiot, but to his credit, the music started at the same time as the slop started pouring on her. It was a green liquid, the pure and concentrated results of a power patch, one chosen… to hopefully not lead to all of us dying?
It was basically just a firehose, and it soaked her as her eyes started glowing, because the refinement was the part that'd turned it into a usable product, so this was still working like the old version.
She shuddered, and turned to throw fire at Artificer, who barely dodged it, only to be hit with another stone arrow.
His armor held up to it, bending slightly at the point of impact, and he kept up the spray, as the Butcher didn't dodge, and just kept on throwing more and more arrows.
It was madness… and madness that allowed Flechette and Stefanie to be picked up, along with a few of the others.
"Holy fuck," Arturas said. "Is that…"
"Our last idea," I said. "Yes, it is."
Regent and Lisa were finally at Animos, waking him up and trying to get him under control, but it remained to be seen whether they'd return in time for it to matter.
I took a step back, closer to Rachel.
I didn't want her dogs to get into it, and Parian was glancing at Flechette as she was brought back up.
The Butcher finally teleported out of the way, and then zoomed from behind Artificer, slamming into him.
He tumbled out of the sky, and hit the ground with a crunch.
Then she was blurring again, moving in a straight line, shredding Parian's dolls as she went.
The fluff mixed with the blood on the streets as Parian dove out of the way, just enough of a blur that the Butcher roared past only to slam into the wall.
She'd clipped a dog on the way, and torn him apart. Rachel stared, and then I could feel the decision building in her, to advance on the Butcher. Thus far… she had maybe not killed any of the dogs. Maybe, just maybe.
Now she had. I didn't know which one it was, but… it might have been Nancy. I wasn't sure.
But she started seizing up.
The Butcher was shaking as she collapsed. "Amp! Get here, now!"
*****
The Butcher died alone. The Butcher was reborn alone.
I surveyed the battlefield as Dad drove up in the van.
Dad, Amp…
And Dose.
Dose stumbled out, under command of Amp, and walked over to sit on the dying Butcher's chest. She was still breathing, but her brain was so clearly bleeding, and her continued seizures were enough. And if they weren't, Dose had patches, more and more patches that he could put down on her.
Because of course, he was going to be the killer. He was the Butcher, his legs already probably unable to get up, dosed with a paralytic. Even if the Butcher somehow became immune to mind-control, 'he' wouldn't be able to do much.
I finally felt the Protectorate arriving, right on schedule, as Dad gripped the wheel of the van and stared out at the endless carnage.
At the deaths. Bryce, whose hand was just plain gone, the two Ambassadors, both of them dead… and all the others who were at best knocked out and badly hurt.
It was an absolute slaughter that lie before me.
But… we were alive. I looked over at Rachel, and I wanted to throw myself into her arms, even though she was absolutely soaked in blood.
This wasn't a pretty fight, but then fights weren't. I didn't like them, and I didn't think I ever would, no matter how willing I was to use vicious tactics.
But… there it was.
The end.
...Now all that was left were the Undersiders.
And I could deal with them later, I decided, feeling faint already. My arms were starting to shake, all of the excess stress and energy just pouring into me as I said, "Rachel… we did it."
"Yeah," she said.
I reached out, and I held her hand tight, and waited for the 'proper authorities' to arrive.
*******
A/N: This is definitely a fic where you need to read the Epilogue. So please, stick around. It'll start unspooling this week.
My world closed in on me. I was dangling, and while I knew that people were moving--Phase, below in the building--and that there were plans I could use, the truth was that I was even more helpless than I'd been in a long time.
My legs kicked, but there was nothing beneath me. The radio was on, which was a good thing, but I knew that no order I was given would be obeyed fast enough to save my life, at least as I was right now.
I looked at her, this psychopath in the knockoff samurai armor, ridiculous and deadly, her face flipping through emotions so fast they couldn't be real.
"You hurt them," the Butcher growled, and then glared down at the assembled throng. Bryce was slowly creeping up towards the third story, and Spree, somehow controlled by Regent, I had to guess--how?! Why hadn't I heard about that power?--stepped out and looked up. "You hurt them!"
"And you hurt people I care about," I said, feeling the sword against my neck. I couldn't play some clever word-game with her and convince her not to kill me like that. I didn't have witty dialogue like in some action movie starring fake parahumans. She'd kill me quicker if I said something mocking.
I also didn't feel like doing so.
I felt vulnerable and trapped, and honestly exposed. The tension was just making my muscles, my whole body, jolt and shiver, and I was going to die in front of people I loved, in front of people who cared about me.
When I imagined my death, I imagined the locker, and usually as a dark sort of nightmare. But one with an odd sort of comfort, in a way: the same way that a dying animal finds somewhere small, dark, and warm, in an attempt to feel safe.
It didn't feel safe… but neither did this public display.
The Butcher was holding me hostage, but I was entirely sure she intended to kill me, no matter what.
She was afraid, she was trapped, she was alone, at last… except for all the stupid voices in her head, who were no doubt urging her on to make a thousand and one mistakes. It took two, it took more than two, to actually not screw up everything.
"Butcher," I said. "You want the Teeth? Let me go, take them. Leave." I tried to sound quiet, I tried to not sound like I was begging.
I wanted to live. I wanted to hug Rachel and kiss her, I wanted… fuck. I was tired of this. I thought about how it'd been when I was first acting as a hero: that feeling had long since passed. Fights were routine or they were terrifying… or both, and there was nothing I could do but just try to do my best.
I wondered how she could be scared of me. But no, it was of us. I saw fear in those dark, ever-changing eyes. I saw a lot of things as she pressed me close.
I shouldn't be thinking at all. I should have my life flashing before my eyes, I should have some conception of what it all meant, or what I'd do. I should have a plan… other than to stall her as long as possible and see what happened.
"I think… not."
"They… the Teeth matter to you. My people matter to me," I said.
"If I--we-me- could… I'd make you watch them all die. I'd torture you to death. I'd eat you, bone, flesh, and fucking gristle. I'd throw you in that bay that is so beloved to your pitiful city, I'd--"
Each time she spoke, it was as if a different person was stepping up, their tone different, even their phrasing strange, and I realized that there was a weakness: decision-making was pretty hard when you had all those minds pulling together. Agreeing to murder someone was a lot easier than plotting out a method, or… things that actually mattered at all.
"You… are you--"
"You made me sick! You… you did something."
I did. I'd given her diseases. Ones that I didn't think she'd actually bothered to have treated, because of course she was the Butcher. They were one of the most powerful capes in the world, and they couldn't even feel pain.
They were bleeding from dozens of wounds, there were knives here, there, and everywhere, bolts that surely reduced her mobility, but she didn't seem to react to any of it.
"Butcher! It's the vials you want, isn't it?" Lisa asked, yelling up. I could imagine the look on her face.
Tattletale? She was one of the people who believed in comic-book banter. Though maybe she was stalling too. Because Kid Win was almost within line of sight of the Butcher, though I knew that if he fired, I'd die.
Artificer was a little behind him, and--
"Hey, fuck-face loser," Spree yelled. "You failed to protect me, and now I'm a--"
"Regent," Lisa said, her voice harsh, with a note of panic. "Stop it."
"Regent?! You dare…"
She moved the sword just a little bit away from me. I realized what she was going to do.
I saw it, as if I were dreaming my way through the individual acts: she would teleport, the explosion throwing everyone off. She'd cripple Lisa and everyone around with pain, and kill Regent, and then me. Or me and then Regent. Then she'd start the slaughter. Those eyes, as she turned me around, the sword away from the back of my neck, but close enough that she'd be able to twitch to me if someone interrupted… unless.
Bryce was right below her.
I still didn't know every specific of his power, but--
"Taylor, scream!" Amp yelled.
I opened my mouth wide, the Butcher's sword about to gut me.
I wouldn't have screamed in time. But then the ground collapsed. The Butcher half-tumbled, as it was shredded by… whatever Bryce was doing as the boy popped up, slamming his fist into the sword.
It was torn apart, shattering even more violently than the hammer had, but the handle of the katana and a bit of the blade were still there.
She slammed the remainder of the sword right into Bryce's other arm, at the wrist.
That wasn't glowing in his strange energy state.
He screamed and bled as he tumbled, and fell.
I screamed as well.
The world seemed almost to stop.
**********
I was strong, I had bugs. If I wanted to hurt her even more, I could have. But that's not what I wanted at all.
In fact, from her perspective, what I wanted most of all was to help her.
This was the part of the plan where we probably all died.
Because this was a dumb idea. The Butcher's danger sense was limited. Physical attacks and lasers were just about all it covered. Heck, as Bryce's attack on the ground showed, it couldn't even tell when someone was setting up an environmental hazard.
And more importantly, it thought that the patches were harmless. Harmless, when they did brain damage. We'd talked to Dose: it was slow for people without powers, and those with powers might need months or years to really face consequences… which is why Codex had hurt her, which was why we weren't going to just put a patch on her once every few weeks when she felt like she needed the extra boost. She'd given herself several new powers already, doing even more damage to a brain already feverish, already in no fit condition.
In theory, considering she was already bleeding, considering… everything else. Consider all that, and that was our chance. Destroy her mind.
Or worse.
I pulled out two or three specially designed patches. As strong a concentration as was possible in such a small space, and I slapped them on her stomach as I leapt off the building as it crumbled.
Her first only just began to move towards me as I moved. I fell fast, just as fast as normal, hitting the ground and rolling, reaching down to click off the radio, briefly, a sign to take some of the excess power from me while she still could.
The world sped up again, and there Bryce was, screaming… and without a hand, as he writhed this way and that, half-phasing through the ground as the Butcher teleported, the explosion showering everyone in chunks of masonry.
Then she was near Spree, who spat out more and more clones.
Without her sword and the hammer, she was forced to punch them. Splatters of gore went everywhere as she easily fought her way straight to the core spree.
"Fuck you, bitch! I'm not your subordinate anymo--"
A fist pulped Spree's head.
Regent, standing a little ways back, clicked his own special radio and blurred away, clearly running for his life.
That little bit of time was all it took for Arturas to go back on the attack, everyone near him and Citrine seeming to slow down a little.
Citrine had to be manipulating the flow of time, to make it slower in the range of the attack. Just slightly, but it was enough that we were all able to back up as he went at her with a sword, slashing so fast that it was only on the second stab that she teleported away, close to Citrine, who was fast enough to duck a punch, only to get a knee to the stomach.
I was making my way over to Lisa and Rachel, trying to think about what to do next. The air seemed to be heating up, and the Butcher wreathed Citrine in fire as she stepped away, shaking her hands out and seeming to run through her powers. She… well fuck. She was floating slightly. Not flying, or at least she hadn't done that yet, but of all the possible outcomes, it was flying that was most disastrous.
Only some sort of power that would let her heal the damage, or make her aware of what we were doing, were worse.
Of course, she could already move around at will, within a short-range.
I tensed, as Citrine burned, not healing fast enough to keep her skin from charring and beginning to crumble as the Butcher dodged some of the slashes by floating up, only to drift downward to continue hurting Citrine.
I stared, watching it all and trying to figure out what to do. "Rachel! We need to get some more dogs in there, and--!"
A laser blast caught the Butcher across the chest, though it seemed to basically do no damage as Kid Win came in, flying higher than he had the past few times I'd seen him.
Another blast caught her in the chest, killing the few bugs I had left working on making the wounds worse from the inside.
It charred her skin, slightly, which was when she threw some of that fire she was apparently able to conjure right up at his face. He turned, trying to dodge out of the way, and she caught his board as he did. She floated up relatively slowly, all things considered. But he hadn't expected her to get up that high, and he groaned.
"Kid Win! Jump!" Amp ordered.
Her fist went straight through the board, and would have probably broken his leg, except he'd jumped first, his eyes wide as he screamed, hitting the ground and rolling.
The air cracked with the explosion of force as she appeared near him and punted him back, lazily, as if he were a football.
Amp started giving orders to the dogs as Rachel ordered others of them to go right at the Butcher.
I stood near her, trying to figure out what I was doing now. Rachel glanced at me, and then at Rachel, and as soon as the Butcher had teleported again, out of the way of Kid Win, I said, "I'm okay."
"Taylor," Rachel said, with a grunt.
"We're almost out of people to throw at her," Lisa said, with a frown. "I think she's near the end, though. Look."
The Butcher stood on another building, this one close to where Artificer was hiding and waiting with his own final weapon. The last trick we really had, if this all didn't work.
I hoped it would, because the last thing we needed was to risk ourselves more than we had to.
Her neck was twitching, her eyes were narrowing and going wider, there was blood coming from both of her nostrils, and her arms were spasming a little bit. Her body was also warm, so much so that as the remainder of my bugs in the area swarmed around her, they could feel and register her body heat, coming off from her.
Then I had to duck, as she threw a fireball our way. ;Rachel mostly ignored it, and the spider silk actually managed to dampen most of the flames. I'd ducked out of habit, because I knew that if she had a long-range weapon, she could kill us all. Where was it, then?
Why was she… where had she even been? Just because she was afraid of us didn't mean that she'd just run away. If anything, she'd be facing us, growling and trying to put on a show of not worrying about us at all. It was like dogs… it was like people, for that matter. Poses, poses and fronts, those were just as important as anything else.
So… here she was. Almost dying, and yet also triumphing. We were starting to run out of people who could hurt her, and every body that was down meant that there was another person she might be able to kill if she wanted.
All it'd take is a quick teleportation to slice up the survivors, to finish us off entirely.
My heart was like stone, my thoughts both focused and unfocused, as I tried to figure out how we were going to get out of this intact.
"Lisa!" I said. "Should we send out Artificer?"
"I don't see what else we can do. Bitch's dogs aren't going to be able to reach her if she floats," Lisa said, frowning. Grue was shrouding darkness near us, slowly trying to build up some in front of her, as the woman swayed and seemed to be considering her options.
She reached down and the brick of the building began to form into what looked like thick bolts. She lifted up one, and then another, and began hurling them through the darkness. The arrows should have missed, but of course they didn't. They tumbled through the darkness, which kept her from aiming so well, and one of them caught the still-burning, still-healing Citrine in the shoulder.
Her shoulder tore clean off, and more blood soaked the ground. It was like a slaughterhouse here, and I grit my teeth as I clicked on my radio. We'd need something that'd let us stand up against her, and… I didn't know what else we'd need to do. "Lisa, we--!"
A bolt slammed into her leg, but she seemed fortunately… not dead. That's about all I could say as she doubled over with a scream. The bolt didn't go clean through, probably thanks to Amp's power, and I tried to think about who was left to work with.
Artificer, Amp, Grue, Regent, Arturas, myself, Rachel, and Parian.
"Parian!" I yelled. "Can any of your dolls climb?"
"They can try," Parian said, speaking over the radio was we began to bunch up. Grue and Regent were hurrying over, blurring just enough to throw off the continual barrage of arrows, but I knew that us all getting together would just make it easier for her to enrage us, to fill us with pain… she had too many powers.
That was the problem. And Citrine was down, perhaps dead, so there was nobody we had access to who could get rid of her powers. We just needed to ride it out, I thought, tensing a little. I was in pain, I was exhausted.
Rachel was here, and hopefully if we died we'd die together… and even if we did die, the damage wasn't going to go away.
"Can it be healed?" I'd asked, looking down at Dose, pacing in that tent.
"I suppose perhaps Panacea could… she can heal everything, right? But the damage itself seems to be caused by the stimulation of an area of the brain that's already overactive… or the creation of a sort of temporary brain tumor that allows you to interface with the powers."
"Interface?" Lisa asked, the look on her face thoughtful.
"Or… something. You have to grow the part of the brain that has powers to get them, and that implies that there's a direct link. The way I thought of it, it must be almost like accessing a… fuck, are you going to let me go?"
"Of course we are," I lied.
"Lisa!" I said, as one of the dolls blocked a shot that would have hit her. "How does Regent's power work?"
"I need time to get control of people," he said, sulkily, glaring over at where Spree's corpse lay. :"I actually already had control of him. Earlier."
"Can you try to take over Animos? He's still unconscious."
His power might be able to help now, even if it would be a bit of a trip. And I knew that Regent wouldn't be able to do much good.
"I can--" he began, then paused, waving his scepter slightly as the Butcher teleported and slammed her fist down at one of the dogs. At the same time, her leg gave way, and the blow glanced off the dog, which reacted by snapping at her hand, and drawing a little more blood. "Yeah, let's go."
"Lisa, Regent. Get some speed before you do," I said, tensing as she appeared again, this time even closer to us, still trying to take out all the dogs and the dolls which were going towards her. She'd rise up in the air briefly, and then slam back down to hurt them while they barked up at her and tried to leap.
She'd have to teleport out of the way every so often, but it was clear that with her new powers, she wasn't going to be threatened, and even with the enhancements given to some of the dogs, there were still just… too many of them for her. They got in each other's ways, and we didn't have anyone who could fly.
Lisa and Regent both nodded, and soon they were blurring away, able to dodge when the Butcher exploded outwards after them briefly.
But the distraction was enough for yet another slash from Arturas to send her retreating away yet again, no doubt to pull more arrows out of the ground. She knelt, panting all the time, unable to keep from twitching, from panting, from falling apart at the seams, and yet she still threw the arrows with perfect accuracy.
But they bounced off him.
The fewer people Amp had to enhance, the less work it was, I thought. I tensed a little as I felt someone at the edge of my vision… and then I realized, it was reinforcements.
Shielder and Lady Photon were flying through the air, as Manpower and Brandish were continuing on foot, though I figured that they'd take a long time to actually reach the fight, as compared to their flying allies.
Panacea, on the other hand, was… distanced from the rest. She was moving on her own, carrying what looked like a medical bag. But that wasn't the only change. Her clothing was darker, and she had what looked like a belt, filled with who knows what. But more importantly, it was just the grim look on her face as she looked at the bugs I sent her way. I couldn't spend long concentrating on that, not when Rachel and I were retreating before another Butcher assault.
If she had a weapon, we might even be dead, I thought, as Panacea strode forward… alone. On her own. As if this were her own decision, rather than something done by a team. I didn't know what to think about that, and the Butcher was closing in on us as Parian's dolls threw themselves in suicidal charges that managed to force her back only temporarily.
I let out a breath, as Lady Photon rounded a building and sent blasts down at the Butcher, who teleported out of the way, appearing on a far building to grab some more stone arrows. She threw them perfectly, but then ran straight into the forcefield that Shielder had quickly put up, as they all began to float down towards us.
"Arachne!" Lady Photon yelled. "Is she all that's left?"
"Yeah," I said. "Do you need… Amp!" I flipped on the radio and said, "Lady Photon, Shielder, can you distract her just a little bit longer?"
"Excuse me, can you touch your nose," Amp said, as Shieder kept on blocking with his forcefield. The younger guy was floating this way and that, and the Butcher seemed almost paralyzed by the failure of the tactic, as if she couldn't figure out what she should be doing instead.
If that was really so, then it was good news, and I wasn't going to look it in the mouth.
Lady Photon did, and then blinked. "That feels… odd. The rest of the team is coming, what else can we do to help, besides that?"
"The… rest of the people. If someone could find a way to lift them up, that'd be great. I know you're not going to really be able to hit them, though," I said, as Rachel growled and gave another order for the dogs to attack.
"I can do that," Lady Photon said, flying forward as fast as she could. The Butcher seemed to focus in on her, making a mistake that I knew she wouldn't have if she was in a better state of mind, and a better way.
I was glad for even a moment where death wasn't an option, or at least… the more she spasmed and made stupid mistakes, the better. I knew that it was just going to keep on going. Even if she won, she wasn't going to last that long, not with all of the damage she had.
It wasn't going to go away, but… I wondered who'd get the power if she survived only to die. I didn't know, but I knew what I'd have to do if I somehow got it, or if it went to Greg, or--
What was that music?
It was loud and tinny, and sounded like something out of a video game, triumphant and full of brass, but repetitive enough that it was probably looping.
And it was coming from Artificer.
...fucking hell.
I wanted to yell at that little idiot, but to his credit, the music started at the same time as the slop started pouring on her. It was a green liquid, the pure and concentrated results of a power patch, one chosen… to hopefully not lead to all of us dying?
It was basically just a firehose, and it soaked her as her eyes started glowing, because the refinement was the part that'd turned it into a usable product, so this was still working like the old version.
She shuddered, and turned to throw fire at Artificer, who barely dodged it, only to be hit with another stone arrow.
His armor held up to it, bending slightly at the point of impact, and he kept up the spray, as the Butcher didn't dodge, and just kept on throwing more and more arrows.
It was madness… and madness that allowed Flechette and Stefanie to be picked up, along with a few of the others.
"Holy fuck," Arturas said. "Is that…"
"Our last idea," I said. "Yes, it is."
Regent and Lisa were finally at Animos, waking him up and trying to get him under control, but it remained to be seen whether they'd return in time for it to matter.
I took a step back, closer to Rachel.
I didn't want her dogs to get into it, and Parian was glancing at Flechette as she was brought back up.
The Butcher finally teleported out of the way, and then zoomed from behind Artificer, slamming into him.
He tumbled out of the sky, and hit the ground with a crunch.
Then she was blurring again, moving in a straight line, shredding Parian's dolls as she went.
The fluff mixed with the blood on the streets as Parian dove out of the way, just enough of a blur that the Butcher roared past only to slam into the wall.
She'd clipped a dog on the way, and torn him apart. Rachel stared, and then I could feel the decision building in her, to advance on the Butcher. Thus far… she had maybe not killed any of the dogs. Maybe, just maybe.
Now she had. I didn't know which one it was, but… it might have been Nancy. I wasn't sure.
But she started seizing up.
The Butcher was shaking as she collapsed. "Amp! Get here, now!"
*****
The Butcher died alone. The Butcher was reborn alone.
I surveyed the battlefield as Dad drove up in the van.
Dad, Amp…
And Dose.
Dose stumbled out, under command of Amp, and walked over to sit on the dying Butcher's chest. She was still breathing, but her brain was so clearly bleeding, and her continued seizures were enough. And if they weren't, Dose had patches, more and more patches that he could put down on her.
Because of course, he was going to be the killer. He was the Butcher, his legs already probably unable to get up, dosed with a paralytic. Even if the Butcher somehow became immune to mind-control, 'he' wouldn't be able to do much.
I finally felt the Protectorate arriving, right on schedule, as Dad gripped the wheel of the van and stared out at the endless carnage.
At the deaths. Bryce, whose hand was just plain gone, the two Ambassadors, both of them dead… and all the others who were at best knocked out and badly hurt.
It was an absolute slaughter that lie before me.
But… we were alive. I looked over at Rachel, and I wanted to throw myself into her arms, even though she was absolutely soaked in blood.
This wasn't a pretty fight, but then fights weren't. I didn't like them, and I didn't think I ever would, no matter how willing I was to use vicious tactics.
But… there it was.
The end.
...Now all that was left were the Undersiders.
And I could deal with them later, I decided, feeling faint already. My arms were starting to shake, all of the excess stress and energy just pouring into me as I said, "Rachel… we did it."
"Yeah," she said.
I reached out, and I held her hand tight, and waited for the 'proper authorities' to arrive.
*******
A/N: This is definitely a fic where you need to read the Epilogue. So please, stick around. It'll start unspooling this week.
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Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah, it kinda has been. Still, one less Butcher!
- Location
- ⇙
So they used Dose as the new Butcher vessel and Amp's controlling him with her power in addition to paralytics. Not a bad idea to make sure that the person who becomes the next Butcher can't do anything with it.
That's a pretty horrible fate for Dose. Sure he's a bad guy, but turning someone into the Butcher and making them effectively insane is pretty harsh.
That's a pretty horrible fate for Dose. Sure he's a bad guy, but turning someone into the Butcher and making them effectively insane is pretty harsh.
- Location
- Australia
Pretty sure you mean Reagent, though I imagine both could be doing it.
Hotdog Vendor
Author of 'Sisters of Rail'
- Location
- (5 + 3 * sqrt(5)) / 8
- Pronouns
- She/Her
What's a firehouse?
Also the threadmark says 'Fleat'.
I wonder what the next arc will be called.
Pretty sure you mean Regent.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
Amp, actually, is the one doing it.
Firehose, and fixed.