Part 31:

I could feel my hand twitch. This was...

This was bad.

"You didn't get anything from that?" Lethe asked.

"Nothing useful. Jack...he's set up this impossible choice. He knows I won't claim Dauntless, but I have no clue who Shatterbird would have nominated." I said.

"Then go after her. Can you find her?"

"I...I don't know. There's not much to go off of, and...shit." I said. "Who would she have picked? I don't know enough about her to even guess..."

"We need to make a decision here." Lethe said.

I looked at her. She was right, but...

"Okay. Okay, yeah." I said. I looked down at Dauntless. I would need to keep Othala out for now to keep her regenerative power active.

"Having a tough time, bitch?" she asked me, hate filling every syllable.

That wasn't going to help here.

"How did they even get him with that dart? He should have been protected, right?" Tartarus asked.

"His shield...it's not passive. He needs to apply it." I said. "Not the point. This is bad."

"No shit." Lethe said.

"No, you don't..." I sighed. "They're cutting us off, making us fight separately. If I had to guess...one of them probably went after someone in each major group."

"Really?"

I sighed. "Maybe? Again, not enough info. We know Armsmaster, Panacea, and someone from Faultline's group were attacked. Are being attacked. Not by Shatterbird, though. We'd know if she was attacking them."

"So, you think the other groups are getting the same treatment?"

"Maybe..." I said. "Probably, but I'm not 100% sure. But either way, we shouldn't really count on...backup..."

"What?" Tartarus asked. "What is it?"

I nodded to myself. "Um, don't worry about it."

"You have a plan!" Lethe said, jumping up and down.

"Yes, okay, I do." I said. "Tartarus, the PRT building is still in your range. Take Dauntless and bring him there, see if you can help Panacea."

She nodded, unfolding and releasing her tendrils to pull the sleeping man in. "But, the heroes said..."

"Things have changed. We need to deal with things as they come. When he wakes up, tell him to track me down with my communicator."

Tartarus finished pulling the man in, then nodded. She walked over to the nearest shadow and sank in.

"Lethe, I need you to go and try to find the others. Start with Armsmaster, since we know he's in trouble."

"And leave you alone?"

"I'll be fine. I'm gonna try and get some more help." I said. "But if Armsmaster dies, then..."

Lethe looked down, then nodded. "Fine, but you better not get yourself killed. I'm not gonna be the one explaining to your dad what happened to you."

"I'll be fine. I'm tougher than I look."

And hopefully I won't be going alone.

I turned around, taking in the city. Smoke was still rising from the Palanquin. I needed to keep Othala out, I didn't want to go without Alabaster right now. For all I knew, one of the Nine could be waiting around a corner to take me out. But that meant...

"I know, it's cool." Tattletale said. "Swap me out for now. But...try to think critically. Jack's playing mind games with you. You need to be aware of that."

I nodded, then cast her aside for Aegis and took off into the air. I hated this. Being without Tattletale's power left me feeling so...muddled. Like losing my glasses.

Once I had risen away from the building, I pulled out my phone and went to the contact that was saved to it.

"Elysium. We weren't expecting to hear from you so soon." The Doctor said.

Was that a lie. I knew they were more aware than they let on, but...

Shit, I missed Tattletale's power already.

"The Nine." I said. "They're attacking Brockton Bay. I need help."

I was met with silence. I nearly repeated myself, but she spoke at the last moment. "Yes, we're aware. If you'd like, we can evacuate you and your team, and..."

"What?" I asked, appalled. "No, I...we need to fight them. We can't just let them..."

"Elysium, the Nine are a dangerous element. One that we do not feel that we can condone fighting at this time. We believe it would be in your best interest to leave the city until they have vacated."

"No, I...let me talk to Alexandria. Or Eidolon, or...anyone. They need to help, or..."

"If any of them enter the city, then matters will escalate. Bonesaw has made precautions against their interference and announced them when she entered the Brockton Bay PRT building."

I landed on a building and began pacing. "So...what about the others. Your less flashy members. The Number Man, Contessa, anyone. We can't..."

"There are...certain mitigating factors that keep The Number Man from interfering, and Contessa is..." another pause. "Otherwise engaged, at the moment."

"They're trying to recruit me." I said. "That'll throw a wrench in our partnership, you know."

"Which is why the offer to evacuate you and your team still stands. The Nine would be unable to touch you while you were here with us."

"But they would still be here, killing people. People who need us to protect them."

Another pause. Was she discussing this with someone? Receiving guidance?

"I can understand your point, but..."

"But...but nothing!" I said. "People are dying out here, the Nine...they're psycopaths. We need to stop them, not evacuate!" I paused, and it hit me. "Wait, your...Doormaker. He can open a portal to anywhere, right? I just..."

"I'm afraid that we can not allow the Doormaker to come to harm. He's too essential to our organization. Allowing any member of the nine near him would be far too risky."

"I...I need something here." I pleaded. "They're picking us apart already, and..."

"If you were to agree to evacuation, then we could plan and..."

I let out another growl and crushed the phone, tossing the pieces to the side. How could they just expect me to abandon my city, to let who knew how many people die?

I paced a few times on the roof, trying to compose myself. I had spent...5 minutes, so far. I had 55 left to try and find Shatterbird, or...

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I'm disappointed." I turned quickly to see another spider robot with a screen attached to it climbing over the side of the building, showing Jack reclining on a seat. The room he was in was featureless. I swapped Aegis for Tattletale, and began looking for something.

Mannequin built the room...chamber...whatever, that he's in. It completely encases him, hides any notable scenery.

Jack's shirt is slightly wet. He's been near the water recently...that's only about half of the city...

"Trying to cheat in our little game by bringing in ringers? And here I thought you were trying to be a hero."

while scowling at the man. "I am a hero. And you're just having that thing follow me?"

Jack rocked his hand back and forth. "Sure, you claim to be a hero, but then you cheat at a game? Which, incidentally, is why this is necessary. I had a feeling you would try something." he said, standing up. "In any case, as the game master here, I would be remiss if I didn't do my damnedest to try and cut back on cheating."

I narrowed my eyes. "Like you're planning on playing fair?"

"Ah, but I'm a villain. It's expected that I cheat. So, what's a fitting punishment?" He tapped his chin with a knife a few times, then gasped as though struck by inspiration. "I know! We'll dock you time. 30 minutes in total, leaving you...23 minutes to either claim Dauntless or Shatterbird's candidate."

I felt a pit form in my stomach. "You...you can't..."

"Oh, but I can. Now, I suggest you get moving. Only 20 some odd minutes to scour an entire city? Doesn't seem like much."

I clenched my teeth and let out a growl. He was pushing harder, trying to break me. This was life and death for countless people, but it was actually a game to him.

"You wanna play, Jack? Fine..." I said, swapping Tattletale for Hookwolf. "Let's play."

With that, I let my blade form burst out of me, adopting the shape of a large cat. I leapt from the building and down to the street and started running.

I still had no idea who Shatterbird could have nominated. It could have been another hero to fuck with them, could have been a villain that she actually thought would be a good fit. If I had time to research, I was sure I could figure it out with Tattletale's power.

With only 20 minutes? There was no way.

I ran through the city as fast as I could, looking for any sign of the maniac. I even made my way to the Palanquin, but by the time I showed up, Burnscar was gone.

After 10 minutes, I received word that Dauntless had woken up, and I was able to swap Othala for Tattletale, which afforded me extra clarity and less screaming in my head.

And I began to think things through.

Two members had gone after heroes. Panacea and Armsmaster. Who would go after them?

Their team...Jack had chosen me. Burnscar someone from Faultline's crew. That left Bonesaw...

It clicked, Bonesaw had gone after Panacea. A corrupt healer trying to corrupt another healer. It made sense.

By that same logic, I figured that Mannequin may have been the one to target Armsmaster. A fallen Tinker trying to take another with him? That fit too.

That left...the Siberian? No clue who she'd picked. She never talked, was seemingly invincible, had managed to fight off the Triumvirate, kill Hero...

Shit, I have no idea. Crawler, too. A regenerator who becomes stronger when he gets hurt? Would he...pick someone who could hurt him? Definitely. Who could even come close?

Dauntless came to mind, but he had been with me until he had been knocked out, and Tartarus would have called me if something happened to him. I didn't think any of the Wards could come close to hurting him. Neither could Coil, with what I knew of his abilities.

A member of the ABB? Lung came to mind. He could, probably, grow strong enough to hurt Crawler. Bakuda, there newest member, was a bomb Tinker. Could she make something that could hurt him? She had been pretty quiet, so it was hard to know for sure...

"I think she could, given the proper motivation." Tattletale said. "Tinkers are versatile, and one who makes bombs? Yikes."

"Oni Lee is an option, too...but I don't think so." I said. "So...we can assume that Crawler picked Lung. That leaves the Siberian, Hatchet Face, and Shatterbird. Even if one of them targeted a Ward, two would still need to double back and choose from the same group."

"Yeah, with no real sign of who could have chosen who." Tattletale said. "Shit, we really need to start researching any possible opponent ahead of time. Of course we should have looked up the Nine."

I started moving again, running as fast as I could. I searched for any sign of any member of the Nine. I even passed the Palanquin, but Burnscar had gone. All that was left were the people putting out her fires.

As I came down to the last five minutes, I shifted back to my human shape, gasping not from exertion, but from agitation.

"How...could they really have finished already?" I asked.

"If they were just trying to deliver messages, or kill people. Probably." Tattletale said.

"They have a lot of experience." Hookwolf said. "They're more or less murdering experts."

"Look who's talking." Tattletale said.

"Hey, leave him alone. He was waging a crusade against the inferior races, and..."

I tuned them out. I...couldn't find any sign of any of them. I had covered about a third of the city, but...nothing.

"I...I can't..."

"Aww, can't find Shatterbird?" Jack asked, a spider robot crawling out of the alley behind me. I turned to it, growling and allowing my arm to transform into a mess of blades. Jack was smirking. "I mean, I applaud you for thinking outside the box and trying to eliminate the problem at it's core, even if that was the obvious answer, but...it was doomed to fail."

I squinted at him, then it hit me and my eyes widened. "She's with you..." I said.

"All of them are, now. We've delivered our messages, and reconnected. We're perfectly safe."

I tried. I took the entire scene in, tried to get anything out of it with Tattletale's power. But, in the end, she mirrored my sentiment.

"I've still got nothing. I have no clue where he is..."

"Now, don't you wish that you had just claimed Dauntless when you had the chance? I mean, he was right there. This could have been over and done with." Jack said. "But, you had to stick to your morals and try to convince everyone else that you were a hero. But...would a hero decide that one life, even the life of another hero, was worth however many that Shatterbird can kill with her song?"

I shook my head. "Shut up. I know what you're doing..."

"Of course you do. You're a smart girl. You just get a bit...hung up on things. Like this hero complex of yours. And the sad thing is, no matter what you do, the Protectorate will never see you as a hero. You'll always be Elysium, second coming of the Faerie Queen."

"Shut up!" I said. "You're trying to manipulate me, and..."

"No, I'm just trying to get you to see that labels don't matter. Right now, you're afraid to let loose with your power because you don't want to be labeled a villain. It's to the point that you're willing to sacrifice hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives to hold onto that title that you'll never earn."

I shook my head harder. "Just...just shut up!" I said, practically screaming. I pointed my bladed arm at the monitor. "I will smash that thing if I need to. And I swear, I'll hunt you all down and..."

I heard a buzzing coming from the spider, and felt the pit in my stomach deepen.

"Oh, and it appears that we are out of time." Jack said. "Such a shame. Though, it's probably for the best that you failed. Shatterbird headed out a few minutes ago to get into position, and it would have been so embarrassing to have you succeed just for the same massacre to occur."

She was out? Somewhere in the city? That meant that I could...

Jack sighed, and fell back into his chair. "I'm also glad that I don't need to feel bad about going ahead with my other punishment. You know, for your earlier rudeness. I decided to take care of that while you were running around the city. So, if you had claimed Dauntless or managed to find Shatterbird's candidate...Lung, by the way. Well, boy would my face have been red."

He was building toward something, I could tell. I just couldn't quite grasp it yet. I clung to those words, though. Barely registering that he admitted Lung was her candidate. Ignoring that I had been wrong.

"Well, you may have failed this challenge, but I think we're in a good place to keep going. I'll be talking to you soon..."

My eyes widened and the feeling of dread that I had been fighting intensified 100 fold as Jack spoke his last words. Four words hit me harder than anything I had experienced since becoming a Cape. Information was flooding into my brain.

His punishment...

I saw the screen on the spider crack. Windows around me followed suit. Within a moment, I was caught in a whirlwind of glass.

My flesh was cut away, revealing the swirling mass of blades beneath. Every 4 seconds, my skin would heal, only to be cut away again.

I ignored it. I was lost in my thoughts. I wasn't even able to consider my teammates, the other heroes...

The countless innocent people who had surely died and been critically injured.

No, as I climbed to my feet and turned, there was only one thing on my mind.

I started running, heading toward my home. Jack's final 4 words echoing in my ears.

"Take care, Taylor Hebert."