Taylor stepped into the Wards 'base' from the hidden elevator in the back later that day. There were actually more than two dozen secluded exits that they could use. And if they used one more than three times in a row, an alarm buzzed them to try another.
"Hey! Fifteen minutes until the next tour," Clockblocker called out.
"I'm supposed to stay out of view, right? And what is that banging racket?" she called out.
It sounded like someone hitting metal with a hammer at a very fast rate. As fast as a woodpecker.
"Sheila. She's making new gauntlets. Something about helping her to catch lightning bolts. You know, the normal crazy for her," he called back. "I'd change into costume just in case."
"I don't like this," Rachel said while sitting in front of the TV. Her three dogs were lounging at her feet resting. She had a more fancy, but still fairly utilitarian outfit and a carved dog half-mask she could pull on.
"See you after the tour," Taylor called out.
A hiss filled the room as a large cloud of steam rose up from the 'tinker section' of the dome.
Kid Win was watching Sheila work. He had his helmet on already. "How does that even work? I mean they are just new gauntlets for your heavy armor. I mean, they are sorta fancy. Not dissing the work. But there's no mechanism."
"Maaaaaagic!" she called out out as she finished buffing the gauntlets with lightning bolts and bird wings engraved on them. "Tada. Done!"
Aegis and Gallant were arguing about baseball teams while Vista sat on the on counter next to them.
Sheila buzzed by over their head, flittering around the upper part of the room. She landed next to the orange cones that were still out as the 'excuse' for why the tours had been closed. "Tada! Now I can fly anytime I want to without it draining me!"
Kid Win trotted out of the work area.
Aegis blinked. "How did that work before? It cost you mana or something to cast the spell?"
"I'm elementally aligned with storms and the sky, so I have several powers that all interrelate but on that theme. They can be a little taxing. Lightning bolts are kind of tough."
"I guess. No costume?" Aegis asked.
"No secret ID. I only did that because the Undersiders made me last time." She folded her gauntlet wearing arms in front of her torso. She was wearing a slightly scuffed T-shirt and jeans and boots.
The buzzer went off signalling that the tour was arriving.
"Say, what happened to Browbeat? I haven't heard anyone mention him?" Sheila asked after thinking for a moment.
"Killed by Leviathan. We had a ridiculously small amount of fatalities, but people still died," Vista said in a bitter tone.
"Oh, sorry." She clenched her fists in front of her. She would be ready for the next Endbringer attack.
"-and here is the home of the Wards. They recently gained two new members, Hellhound and Tactics. Pardoned for the efforts and destroying Leviathan, both have chosen to join the Wards," the tour guide was saying as the doors opened.
The small crowd from an expensive private school followed him to the observation window.
"She's not wearing a mask!?" one of the girls squealed out in shock.
"Ah. Tactics is not as worried about a secret identity as she has no family and only a few friends. Say hello to the most powerful tween in the world, folks!" the guide continued without missing a beat. He was paid professional, after all.
"Come on, Hellhound," Aegis called out to the burly girl.
"Don't want to be stared at like I'm in the zoo," she called back, still watching her nature show.
Sheila waved with a bemused smile on her face. "Actually, I'm a teen. I just turned thirteen today."
"You didn't say anything about that," Clockblocker said as he turned to her. "We could have gotten you something for your birthday."
Sheila looked a bit confused. "Why? Birthday presents were only for my step-brother."
Aegis felt like kicking himself all of a sudden. He'd been so focused on Bitch and the other problematic new Wards that he had not even considered that there might even be an issue. "Oh, I'm sure we can figure out something."
She just shrugged at that. What was the fuss? No one ever cared about her birthdays before.
The tour group finally departed, allowing Skitter and Dinah to come out of the private quarters area.
"So what's next?" the bug-mistress asked curiously even as she studied Sheila in the peripheral of her vision.
"I think that's the last tour today. So everyone will be headed up soon. We've got patrols to divy up-" Aegis was starting to say when the 'other' elevator opened, showing a small crowd of people. "Miss Militia? Is something up?"
Most prominently in the group behind Miss Militia were the two Laborn siblings, Tattletale along with two total surprises. Regent and Shadow Stalker who were in costume..
"Yes. We've got an emergency briefing. Everyone gear up, because it is going to affect patrols and security," the leader of the Protectorate ordered.
Five minutes later the very crowded room was filled with parahumans in armored costumes. Even Dinah was in an armored uniform, if the standard dark gray default one. She never planned to be out in the field.
"So what's so bad that you are dragging out the convicted?" Tattletale asked casually.
"You might as well tell them," Regent said with a snort. "Keeping a secret with her and Cassandra here is near impossible."
"True enough. I wish I could just keep you all here safely, but there is still a good deal of looting and anarchy after Leviathan's attack. We've kept it to a dull roar so far, but with the Slaughterhouse Nine in town that is not likely to stay that way." She took in the shocked expression of everyone but Tattletale, Cassandra and Tactics. "How did you two figure it out?" she asked them.
"I can use my powers a bit more than I used to without getting a headache. And Sheila is always good to heal it away. So I knew there was a 90 % chance that a new foe would attack the city within the next day or so. I'm starting to get a better better grasp on how to use my power," the ex-prisoner of Coil explained.
"I heard some guys at the water cooler downstairs while I was being tested today," Sheila replied with a shrug.
"One to two days? That's very short notice," Miss Militia said softly. "But yes, a new S-class threat has appeared. And because of that, Regent and Shadow Stalker are being allowed to earn their freedom from Juvenile Detention with work release. Once they've helped deal with up to three S-Class threats, their case will be reviewed by Legend, Alexandria and myself."
"So no patrols?" Aegis asked
"No solo or duo patrols. And one of your team will report in every fifteen minutes or else. Some people are exempt from patrols as their powers are best suited to be used in an administrative capacity. Everyone else will have at least one mostly invulnerable or heavy hitter on their team."
That got a lot of groans.
"So we have three teams, with Aegis, Tactics and Hellhound-"
"It's Bitch for combat," said Ward exclaimed angrily.
"-Bitch on a team at the very least. Tattletale and Cassandra aren't really great combatants, whereas the rest of you have powers that can at least affect enemies. So we are going to try and use them to plan and keep you on a safe patrol."
"There is a 90 % chance that Tactic's team gets attacked within the next twenty-four hours," the Ward's Cassandra said with a frown.
"Does it change if I go out with different Ward teams?" Sheila asked. At the shake of Dinah's head, she frowned. "That means that they are actually here for me specifically." She tapped the precog's shoulder with a finger.
"Thanks," the other girl said with a relieved sigh.
Miss Militia was thinking hard. She grabbed a pad and scribbled names down. "What are the chances that these teams will be attacked within the next twenty-four hours?"
"Don't forget that they'll be testing the villains here, too," Tattletale said as she listened very carefully. "And I'll need access to anything related to the S9 and what they've already been doing here."
"Good point. Is it too general if we just ask for what chance that one of the Empire Eighty-Eight, Merchants, Travellers or Faultline are attacked?" the leader of the Protectorate asked.
"No, that should be just general enough but specific enough for her power to work," Tattletale supposed aloud.
Dinah pulled off her mask, looking small for a second. "There is an 80 % chance that one of the Empire Eighty-Eight will be attacked within twenty-four hours. The chance for the others is a lot lower, roughly 10 % to 15 %."
"Basically if they randomly run into the S9. How about those files, Miss Militia?" their Intuitionpath asked of the Protectorate leader.
"Let me log into the overhead computer and pull that up specifically. If anyone is queasy at the sight of blood or gore, you might want to leave," Miss Militia warned.
"Well damn," Gallant said. "Those two working together are going to be a massive force multiplier in the future."
"I know I wouldn't want to be on their enemy's side," Sophia said, her face mask off and sitting on her lap. That was scary.
"So I guess we only have two teams or swap out Shadow Stalker for Tactics," Aegis decided as he planned logistics.
"Good idea-"
"Horrible idea. We have a 90 % chance of knowing where the Slaughterhouse Nine are going to be if I work as bait. That's priceless. We can trap them instead of the other way around," Sheila countered as she clenched her metal-shod fist. "We just have to make sure we don't tip off our hand, but we can hit them hard and put them back on the defensive. Maybe even make them scatter."
"No way," Gallant declared.
"Wait. She's absolutely right. I could not order her to do this, but with her volunteering this plan is good. Anyone else willing to volunteer to be on her team?" Miss Militia asked of the teens. "Just remember, if you do get into a fight, that your chance of dying is just as high as if you were facing an Endbringer."
"I have to say something. People aren't going to like it-" Dinah started to say.
"Shit. How many sisters do you have, Regent?" Tattletale suddenly said in interruption.
"Um, a few. Oh." The young man stared at the picture on the screen off to the side. "Cherish is part of the Slaughterhouse Nine? Fuck." Fuckfuckfuckfuck.
"Got a file for her. Mostly an empath and can sense people miles away? At least they think her ability to influence people is pretty weak at that range." Tattletale's eyes were soaking in information like a sponge. "That's definitely her, sending you a message that you might have never seen."
"I need to say something," Dinah shouted out. She was hyperventilating. "Him. If he lives and escapes? The world ends in five years. 81.3331 % probability." She was pointing to the masked, smirking man that actually looked rather handsome and suave to a degree. Her headache had come back twice as powerful.
Everyone in the room froze, not even hardly breathing.
"Jack Slash? His power isn't world ending-" Sheila shut up, little puzzle pieces fitting together in her head. She carefully removed Dinah's pounding headache, purging the poisons that were present. "What is the probability that Jack Slash has a subtle, secondary power that has kept him alive while being in the Slaughterhouse Nine?"
"One hundred percent. How did you know that?" the young precognitive demanded.
"There's little good reason that the relatively normal guy with a cutting power should have survived for so long. And I've managed to stumble into some of the information about a world ending threat, but I don't have enough information, yet." Sheila's eyes met Tattletale's eyes for just a second. 'If you figure out who is going to destroy the world, do not just blurt it out.'
Tattletale was opening her mouth when it clicked shut at the telepathic message. Her eyes were actually more than a bit wide right now. "My power is suggesting that he can subtly influence people around him, to keep them unsteady and do what he really wants. But they never realize that he's pulling the strings." Her own head was starting to pound. "He might not even realize it himself."
"So Jack Slash needs to either die or be captured here no matter what?" Skitter asked in a terribly cold voice. Her father.
"I can't ask you to follow a kill order," Miss Militia said, her voice still sounding semi-shocked.
"But we can do it anyways. I'm volunteering for Tactics' patrol," Skitter said, sounding very flat and devoid of emotion. She was already summoning her most lethal insects.
Miss Militia slowly turned her head to see the grim looks of everyone. "Bitch?"
"Yeah." The square features on the girl made her look even more grim than the rest.
"Shadow Stalker?" the Protectorate said to the last girl.
"Yes, damn it." She was insane to even be thinking or planning on attacking the Slaughterhouse Nine to try and kill some of them. "You'll have to get my bolts though."
"Count me in," Aegis said quietly.
"That's it for now. The rest of you will be here, ready to catch up to them using Vista's power. Too many people and they will know it's a trap," Miss Militia said as Gallant and Clockblocker were leaning forward.
"They have two tinkers. We need Panacea to counter Bonesaw. Don't trust any technology in the building, including the communications," the young demigoddess said as she studied the different members of the most notorious villains in the world.
"We've got the best security in the world," Gallant said confidently.
Sheila's voice was a bit flinty. "A building is considered a habitat." Concepts and themes were always important to watch out for.
It took a moment as the words sunk into the group.
"Shit, that's right. And Mannequin's specialty is designing habitats. He could probably break in here blindfolded," Tattletale said then had to lean forward as her headache turned into a migraine. "I've pushed my power as much as I can for a while." The feeling of pain just washing away was a blessed relief as a hand reached out and touched her arm.
Miss Militia opened her mouth for a second, then turned to the leader of the Wards. "Aegis, you have overall command, of course. If you get a shot at Jack Slash, take it." She had forgotten that Colin was imprisoned in this very building, only two floors below. But no one should know that. "We have a bit of daylight left. Aegis, Tactics? Take Vista to go gather Panacea. And probably Glory Girl. We'll have you go on patrol in two hours."
Everyone nodded.
"Okay, the dogs are damn cool," Shadow Stalker had to admit aloud. "I always wondered how you got away every time. Now I understand." The dogs were fast. Easily Mover 3 all by their themselves. Faster than she was, if not by a lot.
Underneath her, Angela crouched and then leaped to catch the edge of a building to scrabble up.
"Heh," was Bitch's only response. Brutus was right behind Angelica.
Skitter leaned forward on Judas as he followed them right up the wall.
Above them flew Tactics and Aegis nominally as backup, the girl was making sure to accidentally let a bit of light shine off her gray and silver armor. The dogs made good time and then even broke up a fight between some Merchants and the Empire Eighty-Eight thugs.
"I heard that Purity made a bid to free Kaiser. Did not work out too well and she almost got taken out by Legend," Aegis said as they moved over to the battered docks area.
All three dogs were in the air when the center of the building collapsed in front of them. They scrambled furiously with their claws but they sprawled in a small pile inside the building.
Aegis and Tactics zoomed in after them. Shadowstalker had phased off of her mount, but Skitter and Bitch had landed among the debris. The insect controller realized she was in shock, her leg broke under Judas's roll.
"Leg's broken," she said loud enough that she was sure her team heard.
"You know that we knew that you knew about your trap, right?" Jack Slash said as he played with his knife. "Well, maybe you didn't. We do appreciate you bringing three of our applicants right to our door."
Directly opposite Jack Slash and behind them, Crawler appeared from the darker shadow.
"Some sort of sensor jammer on the building," the young demigoddess said. And signal jammer. But that had been planned for.
The black and white, totally nude form of Siberian stepped out of the shadow to their left while on their right was Bonesaw and Burnscar.
"No Cherish, Mannequin or Shatterbird? Well, we are only the Wards, after all," Tactics said a bit glibly. How did Tattletale make that look so easy?
"They have their parts to play," Jack said with a smile. "People to test. Or kill." He hopped off the crate he had been sitting on, ignoring the growling monster-dogs. "So, here's how it will go-"
Tactics had managed to heal Skitter's leg at a distance quite silently, leaving her with severe bruises. Then she started off by using her new gauntlets, smashing down lightning bolts from the sky and striking all five targets around her.
Siberian just smiled in the darkness afterwards, as the very inhuman voice of Crawler chuckled from behind them.
"Nasty, nasty girl. Tried to kill us all. If we weren't careful (it's not paranoid when everyone wants you dead) we might have been hurt," Bonesaw said as she hopped back to her feet.
Indeed, all of the Slaughterhouse was getting up, looking only slightly singed. Excepting those that were totally immune.
"Fuck," Skitter said as she released her small amount of insects out to swarm towards Jack.
Bitch whistled, setting her three dogs to charge at Jack, Burnscar and Siberian. Angelica and the bugs were engulfed in fire, while Jack Slash lived up to his name as he cut a gash in Judas even while dodging adroitly. Siberian just ripped off Judas's right forepaw and a huge gash into the dogs monster muzzle.
Shadow Stalker floated up out of the ground, snapping a shot off with her crossbow bolt at the too fast leader of the Slaughterhouse.
Clattering arose from around them as macabre mechana burst out of piles of crates. They were armed with saws and knives.
"Prove that you are an Endbringer killer!" Crawler shouted out as he leaped up at the fliers.
Aegis dodged left while Tactics charged Crawler head on, slamming him with a powerful thunder enhanced punch that moved him... thirty feet back. Well, at least he would not land on Skitter and Bitch.
"Punching? That won't work even if you hit that hard." Then Crawler spat a toxic, acidic loogie that missed by a mile.
Aegis was flying right at Jack Slash. And then suddenly in his place was woman that rolled to a stop by him and then sprang to her feet.
"Lovely timing, young lady. Finally in position?" Jack asked casually.
Sundowner just started to form a sun between her hands. "The birds are in the air," she called back to Jack.
"The Travellers are working with the Slaughterhouse?" Shadow Stalker asked as she kept moving fast. She still nearly felt the claws of Siberian tearing at her jugular. Her crossbow thunked out another bolt at Jack Slash which he actually chopped in half to block
"I suppose it's time." His other hand clicked a button on a small handset on his belt even as he casually walked over to where Siberian was, slicing a knife at Shadow Stalker to keep her phased out.
Bitch was calling out orders to her dogs when suddenly she was replaced with another traveller. Ballistic's hands were already on the ground, flinging a large chunk of concrete to smash the flame engulfed Angelica into an I-beam.
And then the world and air were hit with the hammer of god as Shatterbird blasted the entire city with her silicakinesis. The Protectorate jumpjet was just crossing the beach when it exploded upwards to suddenly lift the Tinker designed vehicle over a hundred feet straight up, engines killed with sand. The PRT's heavy assault and combat lift helicopter tried to dodge the hail of glass as its windshield shattered, killing the pilots in an instant. It jerked to a halt, floating in mid-air.
And all across the city, hundreds and hundreds of people people were cut by one of the great materials of civilization as it betrayed them.
Shadow Stalker had more than enough of this. It was only Taylor and freak left. She dove through safe looking section and took off down the street.
Thousands of insects swarmed into warehouse as she tried to hobble away from one of Bonesaw's automatons.
"Oh no! The bug girl has summoned all these nasty, poisonous insects! Whatever shall we do?" the doll-like girl said with her hands pressed to her cheeks in mock fear.
Abruptly all three dogs were gone, replaced by shattered cars. All of the automations suddenly released a green gas that killed every insect in the building in seconds.
Tactics slammed a red-glowing knifehand into Crawler's neck. She was a blur as she rushed to grab Skitter and flee, only to find her back sliced open as she appeared and passed by Siberian, her armor as good as wet paper. Jack Slash smashed a boot into Skitters face and sent her onto her back across a piece of the roof.
"Stop," he ordered as Crawler put a huge clawed hand on top of Skitter. "Or I promise I'll make the bug girl's death agonizing for the last week she lives."
"Let her go," the floating girl called back. She could not leave with Skitter. She could not let these monsters escape. Her fear and anger was on a knife's edge.
"She's our insurance that you won't rabbit. If you even slightly resist, I'll let Crawler melt her face with his acid.
The monster purred at that, saliva dripping from his mouth. "Hurts. Hurts so good."
A translucent figure landed on the pile of debris from the hole in the roof.. "You promised you would kill her. Horribly."
"Yes, yes. And then you'll serve us for a year. You know that's a death sentence, don't you Trickster?" Jack asked as he talked to the shimmer.
"As long as Noelle is avenged, I don't care," the... thing said as he shimmered into view, almost like a chameleon. His skin looked reptilian, but his face and head were the most changed as he now had another four eyes on his head. Two eyes up at the top and two more on each side. Weird, large bulbous eyes with double irises. "Coil's information was good and we did what we promised."
"We're done, Krouse. Just like we agreed, we helped you capture the girl that got Noelle killed. If I ever see you again, I am shoving a sun down your throat," Sundancer called out. "Come on, Ballistic."
They just turned their backs and walked off towards where a door was concealed.
"Let them go. They'll have a death order out for them in a week," Jack Slash said to the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine.
Cherish walked in past the two leaving parahumans. "Time for the fun? Cool."
"We're still going to test our targets? I wanted to talk to Panacea, but she was at the PRT's headquarters," Bonesaw complained.
"I want to see how long Tactics survives being vivisected first. And there is Shatterbird and Mannequin," Jack said as he saw the two of them floated in on a cloud of glass shards through the hole in the room.
She turned around the moment they landed and filled in the hole in the roof.
"This isn't fun," Bonesaw complained as she sawed at the armor. "Her armor is dulling my blades. Siberian? Be a dear and rip it off her, okay?"
Crawler picked up Skitter, holding her upright with claws around her arms and torso, his monster head with too many eyes right above her own. "Watch. She will break."
"Wow, not a peep as I'm cutting. You are made of stern stuff, aren't you?" Bonesaw babbled on as she continued to work.
"She's doing something, as she glared at you Bonesaw," Cherish called out suddenly.
"Crawler, burn off half of Skitter's face," Jack called out.
Skitter shrieked in agony as acid poured down her left side of her face and down the front of her torso.
"Oh, that got some sort of reaction, even if she didn't say anything," Cherish noted as Bonesaw removed the threat. "She's almost insane with rage and loathing."
"Stop it. Stop it. She didn't do anything to you," Skitter sobbed out. "Why are you doing this to her?"
"She killed Noelle! It was her fault that Coil was arrested! That Noelle was turned into glass and shattered into dust!" Trickster shouted right back.
"She was just stopping Noelle from killing thousands of people. Sacrificed her own freedom and nearly got killed by Noelle. Then the Protectorate turned around and was going to throw her into prison for being dangerous." Her bugs were out there, but they could counter them with insane ease. She was back in the locker, except instead of just not being able to get free, she got to see a friend butchered in front of her. She struggled futilely, dimly remembering this desperation as more and more bug minds weighed upon her. "Just stop! Stop it!"
"Wow, this girl is about to break. How much longer, Bonesaw?" Cherish asked. Of course, she had been amplifying her feelings as much as she could.
Jack was frowning. He had a bad feeling all of a sudden.
Mannequinn was watching Bonesaw work, tilting his head as drops of blood splattered on his near featureless face. Shatterbird was actually tapping her toe in the background. Burnscar was just watching impassively next to her, seemingly not caring at all.
And then everyone except Sheila was suddenly engulfed in a vision of cosmic, nearly incomprehensible beings that travelled through dimensions in pairs, seeding powers as a horrible gifts, destroying world after world. Always absorbing more information, more horror. To birth every more power, more terror to create more madness and pain.
Everyone had dropped to the ground, except for Siberian who had just disappeared. Everyone lay still for a long moment, silence reigning for a short while.
"She... she triggered! A second trigger! What can you control now?" Bonesaw asked with an insane smile on her face as she sat up in the pile of red gore.
Skitter's one eye was wide and wild, because she could feel everything around her. People, bugs, rats... they were just minds now. She clamped down tight on the seven figures within her range.
"Oh, fuck! She can control people now," Cherish said as she felt a leaden weight engulf her limbs.
'DIE!' Skitter's mind ordered. But they fought her so much more than bugs ever could hope to. In desperation, she ordered just one mind. 'Kill them!'
Cherish took an unsteady step towards the maimed girl, when Crawler suddenly stomped over to her and smashed down one massive claw as she tried to stumble away. He then spat acid on her head.
Fire flowed over Jack in a wave even as a wave of glass swept in after it, flaying augmented flesh. Then Crawler started to pound what was left to flaming paste. Skitter had picked up the ruined form. (so much blood). "Heal. Please heal." Why wasn't her power working on Tactics? She clumsily picked up the light body and started to stumble towards the door. She had to get away before she collapsed in pain and shock. She set out for the door as she set the active members upon each other. She felt a flicker of power from a human mind only a few hundred feet away and then Siberian was back, looking around in pristine and nude beauty.
Skitter slammed her control into the mind and demand that it send Siberian against the others. Eight blocks away, she felt more Parahumans. People she felt she should know, all moving this way. Rescue? She almost reached out to control them, then shuddered. If they knew what she could do-
Bugs formed arrows, pointing towards her stumbling form as she ran as fast as her feeble body would allow. She had to hide her power. The Slaughterhouse were killing each other, but she needed to send in more insects against them. They were fighting back harder now. Only three were left capable of fighting and they seemed to have hit a stalemate. Millions of bugs were answering her call, burying the fighters.
And then down the road she could see loping forms headed towards her. She dropped her control. Could she make the Slaughterhouse forget? Forget-forget-forget!
"Help!" Skitter called out.