A/N: I liiiiiive! Thank you everyone for the kind words and reviews. It definitely made a difference between this fic being on hiatus and being dead. Butcher's Bill is a lot harder to write than Gamer of Brockton Bay, so updates will be shorter, but hopefully that means I can make them more frequent. Reviews and criticisms are welcome!

Accord might be completely insane, but I had to give it to him; he had some pretty swanky hideouts.

Also, who was I to talk?

There was something about the underground base that reminded me of Coil's lair, at least, before Noelle had happened to it. I didn't know if it was the well-spaced fluorescent lighting, or maybe the quiet hiss of ventilation ducts, but something about it reminded me of those days of paranoia and guilt, the weeks of panic, of striving for the power and influence I needed to free Dinah. Then again, it wasn't like I didn't have other reasons to be thinking about Dinah, or gathering power, so maybe it was just a coincidence - because Accord's lair was very different from Coil's.

Whereas Coil's base had been first and foremost a military installation, complete with exposed catwalks and obvious surveillance cameras, this place was practically a jewel box. Everywhere you could see the sorts of little touches that only Accord would have included. The polished pink granite floors instead of plain cement for a surface that would stand up to heavy abuse but still be attractive; the comfortable couches, designed to be foldable and conveniently treated to be resistant to bloodstains instead of having to stitch yourself up on a cot; the little baffles on the overhead lighting to diffuse the harsh fluorescent glare; all of it added up to inspiring a... particular reaction.

"Holy fuck, I feel like Accord invited us over to his dollhouse for tea." Imp sashayed into the room, running her hands along elaborate banisters and decorative end tables before inspecting her fingers. "Did he send someone in to dust the place before we came over or something? Because, I mean, damn."

"I really don't know why, but I was expecting more of a 'sex dungeon' vibe than this." Regent followed right behind her, flipping his taser-scepter in a way that was almost certainly going to electrocute him one day and which I was sure he did only to annoy me.

"Hur hur hur, I'll show you a sex dungeon vibe." Imp snarked back.

I sighed. "That's enough. We have new recruits to impress." I cautiously placed my heavy duffel bags full of guns and money down out of the flow of traffic as Tattletale's mercenaries came in, four of the mercs carrying the unconscious forms of Reaver and Vex, strapped tightly to medical cots. "Othello?" I called out, grabbing the attention of the Ambassador in the black-and-white mask. "Does this base have a secure room where we can stow these two for now until they regain consciousness?"

He nodded. "Left corridor, any of the doors on the left. You can tell by the surveillance windows in the doors." Othello's arm gestured towards the hallway in question, and the mercenaries dragged the Teeth off in that direction. Idly, I sent a cluster of insects in that direction to watch over them just in case. I didn't think they would wake up for another hour or two given how hard I had rattled their brains, but if they did I would know about it immediately.

Which reminded me. "Lizardtail? Are there going to be any problems with those two? I didn't go to all the trouble to kidnap the Teeth just to have them die of subdural hematomas."

His elaborately carved Celtic knot mask contorted into the semblance of a smile. "Don't worry about it," he said with a cheerful tone in his voice, "I gave them a little bit of healing on the car ride. I don't have a lot of practice with my powers yet, but there's ... almost more of a pull, the more damaged someone's body is? They didn't have much pull to them, so I think they'll be okay. Concussed, but okay."

Regent tilted his head towards the healing cape thoughtfully. "You don't mind healing them all the way before I take them over, do you? Puppeting people with concussions tends to give me a headache."

As Laird shrugged his shoulders in agreement, Wicker Man and Bonnet - Blake and Nicole - were escorted through the door. Blake looked nervous, almost birdlike in his caution, a far cry from the fearsome appearance his powers gave him. Nicole, on the other hand, was soaked to the skin and looked as mad as a wet cat; every once in a while sending vituperative glances at Ligeia, who walked several careful paces behind the two 'guests'. Now that I wasn't distractedly pulling her out of a pile of gang members, I could see that she was actually kind of pretty in a severe way, with skin a few shades darker than Brian or Aisha's, and hair cropped close to her skull in whatever you called a haircut that was a few millimeters longer than 'shaved'.

It was going to be a rough interview, in all likelihood. Thankfully, I had a time-proven recruitment tactic. "Wicker Man. Bonnet. Please, have a seat." I waited until they obeyed - hesitantly on Blake's part, angrily on Nicole's - before standing up and walking over to them. Sadly, not even Accord was prepared for every contingency, so in lieu of the traditional Alexandria lunchbox I handed each of them a plain envelope, stuffed thickly with high denomination bills.

"First you beat us up, then you hand us money? What the hell? There's gotta be at least a grand in here!" Bonnet's voice was harsh, a faint burr to it that indicated damaged vocal cords.

"I would have preferred to extend a more gentle invitation, had it been an option," I answered. I almost continued with a 'Sorry about that', but in the end I moved past it. Offering them apologies would only weaken my ability to negotiate from a position of strength. Instead, I just continued by saying, "And it's actually five thousand dollars, Bonnet. I am offering you five thousand dollars to each of you to sit and listen to what I have to say. If at the end of my speech you decide that you aren't interested in the other things that I have to offer, you will be free to leave and to keep the cash as a reminder that it is more profitable to work with me than against me in the future. If you take me up on the offer... well, you can call it a signing bonus."

Blake looked back and forth to me, the envelope in his hand, and everyone around him before he nodded. "Fine. Sure." After a longer deliberation, Bonnet crossed her arms and scowled.

At their agreement, I took off my mask. An absent thought had beetles crawling into my hair to pull out the clips that kept it pinned up into a tight knot. I let the black curls fall down my back, smoothing them down with more of my little helpers. "So. You know who I am. Skitter. Taylor Hebert. The Warlord Of Brockton Bay. The leader of the Undersiders." I paused a second for emphasis, then pulled one of the Butcher's favorite tricks. I detached the combat harness I wore, dangled all of the heavy weapons effortlessly a few inches above the floor, then dropped them with a loud slam for emphasis. "And the girl who finally beat the Butcher."

I met their eyes, one at a time. "You're Blake Thorburn. A teenage runaway who had the good luck to trigger before he got in over his head. As far as the Butcher was concerned, you were cannon fodder." Before he could anything, I turned to Bonnet. "And you're Nicole Smith. You triggered after you were pepper sprayed and trampled at a political demonstration, and you decided to join the Teeth before your ex-boyfriend managed to talk the Chain Gang into selling you to someone who wanted their very own pet parahuman. Butcher thought you might have eventually made a good enforcer, once she got you used to hurting people." I smirked a little bit at this. "I firmly believe that she was wasting your talents, almost as badly as she was wasting her own."

Blake shook his at me. "... I don't understand. Is this related to what you were talking about in the apartments? About the Endbringers?"

I nodded in agreement. "Tell me. In what sane universe does someone like Jack Slash exist?" There was silence in response. No real surprise there - he wasn't exactly someone that most people would bother defending. "He came to Brockton Bay, and we came within inches of killing him. Do you know why?"

Nicole scoffed. "Let me guess. Because you, Skitter The Amazing, are such a fucking badass."

I couldn't help it. I snorted. She was like a balder, angrier, Aisha. There were answering chuckles from Imp and Regent. "Don't let her fool you," Regent butted in. "Skitter only fought like... let's see, Mannequin, Bonesaw, Jack Slash... am I forgetting anyone? No? Yeah, it's only the three of them that she fought one-on-one. The rest of them she had help for."

"Oh, that's right. I don't believe you've been formally introduced. This is Regent." I said. He gave a mocking bow and took off his mask. "Otherwise known as Alec."

"And I'm Imp!" I was sufficiently used to Imp's little 'popping out of nowhere' trick that I barely blinked, but Blake and Nicole both visibly started as a cackling demon head appeared between them on the couch.

I sighed at her antics, but I couldn't help but smile. "We won because we were a team. All of us, not just the Undersiders, not even just the villains. Same thing with Leviathan. We had some of the lowest casualties of any Endbringer fight ever because we all set aside our differences and fought together." I took a deep breath. "That needs to happen again, and it needs to happen just about everywhere, because otherwise... the Thinkers are forecasting a disaster. Societal collapse, either because the Endbringers win so badly that there's no pieces left to pick up, or because someone like a Nilbog or Echidna goes out of control, or just because all of this constant fighting is destroying society to the point that something is going to break permanently and irreversibly. They're predicting the kind of disaster that leaves billions dead."

I let that fact sink in. The fact that Imp and Regent, and all of the Ambassadors in the room watching from the sidelines were apparently in complete agreement with me saying something like that only served to drive home the point further. I cleared my throat to continue. "I plan to do everything in my power to stop something like that. And to do that, villains and heroes are going to need to cooperate as humans. If that means that I have to smash every group like the Teeth that thinks they can ignore their human responsibilities, and make a group strong enough and controlled enough that even the PRT has to negotiate and compromise? Then that's what I'm going to do. That's the group I'm asking you to join."

Blake looked at me, a little bit confused and a little bit overwhelmed. "Talking about all that stuff, trying to prevent a disaster... why aren't you one of the heroes?"

"Because the heroes won't mind-control scum like Shatterbird, Vex, and Reaver so that their powers can be put to use fighting the real enemies like the Endbringers." I answered bluntly. "And because the heroes are so concerned with the status quo, with keeping a good face on things, that they will waste all their time and strength fighting people like me instead of people like Jack Slash."

Bonnet looked at me, her expression now a little nervous. "If we turn you down, are you going to mind control us to fight Endbringers too?"

I rolled my eyes. What a ridiculous question. "I wouldn't be making you this offer if that were the case. Like I said - refuse the offer, and I'll let you go, free and clear. Even if you do join, you don't necessarily have to come to Endbringer attacks. We'll need a rearguard to protect our territories too." I spread my arms out wide, indicating our opulent surroundings. Sure, they were Accord's, but they illustrated the point nicely. "I could go on and on about how generously I'm willing to pay, but the fact of the matter is that I know what the Teeth were paying you and I'm willing to double it. To start. All I ask is that you take more or less the same risks that you're taking now, but for more money and for an important reason."

I raised one eyebrow, and leaned forwards eagerly. "So, what do you say? Are you in?"