And we're back! Now that End of the Rope is complete minus a few minor epilogues, I can finally get back to finishing this one! Warning for strong language in this chapter (not from Skidmark for once).

Confrontation 03

Cherish groaned. I didn't need a video display on the phone to know she was rubbing her temple. "Okay, Mistress, seriously, this is a bad idea. I can do it, don't get me wrong. I can get the fearsome foursome of assholes out the door, that's not a problem. But for fuck's sake, I thought you were trying for stealthy. Why the Boss Rush at the end? Two days and we can mop up. Do the twins in one go, Krieg and the wannabe knight in the next."

I shook my head. Not that she could see. "Krieg's flying the coop. I just watched him get into a helicopter."

"Okay, that makes sense for why he's suddenly hovering a hundred feet in the air, but -"

"I've seen this particular helicopter before. It's Gesellschaft. He's running scared."

There was silence on the phone for a several seconds before Cherish replied, "Well fuck me. You've actually done it, kid. I didn't really think your little crusade was going to topple the Nazis, but damn, it did. Congrats! Okay, so you want to get rid of the girls before they skip town with Kaiser too then huh?"

"His empire has crumpled and his backers have abandoned him. I want to crush him."

"Careful, now you're starting to sound like Jack." She sighed. "I'll get the three out the door and in costume so it's less obvious this is a straight up hit. A bit of confidence and a lot of paranoia go a long way when you know how to stroke it just right. Are you already in place?"

"Give me two minutes to get outside."

"Got it, boss. Don't forget to play up the exit strategy before you finish off Kaiser. Otherwise we really are going to have to keep going and start in on the ABB too. If you want to be a scary-scary murderer, I'm down to keep playing. But -"

"I don't want to be like them," I said. "After this I'm done."

"Okay."

"And Cherish?"

"Yeah?"

I watched the helicopter as it angled towards the bay, my teeth bared. "Make Krieg kill himself."

"…Thought if they were leaving you would let them leave, kid."

"He's not leaving. He's just going to start his same shit with his real employers. He doesn't get to escape."

"One scary Master for another," Cherish muttered. "Fine, Mistress. Watch the helicopter. When you're fighting Kaiser say something about Shatterbird and they'll think it was Shimmery McBitch-face. Not killing Rune shores it up. She'd have wanted a confirmed kill under her belt."

Cherish hung up and a few seconds later I watched as the helicopter swerved out of control. It flipped over in the air and then dived towards the Bay, all semblance of control lost. I didn't know exactly what she had done, but I could guess.

Good riddance.

Three left.

Slipping out the doors of Medhall, I rounded the alley and changed my face. Falling into the role of Jack Slash was easy enough. Even if Sherrel's knife-car wasn't the simplest of tools to use, it was still leagues better than any of my other options. Besides, Jack was an ego-maniac and Cherish had confirmed that he would definitely have wanted to be present for the final blow.

It was broad daylight out, my only alibi was that I was supposedly helping Adam and Sherrel pickup the pieces after Crawler had attacked - which I still needed to get details from them on - and this wasn't going to be nearly as clean as the others. Not that any of this had been clean. Vicky had found me out easily enough and we hadn't even known each other before we started dating.

I scowled, my fist clenched into a ball.

That I had been dumped the same night I figured out I was dating someone burned. I couldn't even lay that on the Empire's feet. Or on Adam's. Neither of them had fucked that up. That was all me. I was just as bad as my father. Maybe worse. From the way Mom had told it, he had only started messing things up after college. I had been destroying lives since I'd been born. I fucked up everything I touched. Danny, Mom, the Merchants, Vicky…

At least I could take the Empire down with me.

My lips split into the rictus of a hunting grin as the Valkyrie twins ran out of Medhall, Kaiser's metal clad form hot on their heels. His own pace was measured, though when you looked close, you could see the spring in his step betraying the nervousness and tension. Cherish was as good as she claimed. I already knew that, but it was nice seeing her work directly sometimes.

That she hadn't been able to do anything to help steer Adam and Sherrel towards sobriety without tipping them off was frustrating. 'They're already working on themselves too much. Anything I do would have to be big and they would realize it if I backed off.' I hissed inside my head. What use was having a Master for a minion if you couldn't use said Master?

Ah well, she got to strut her power teasing the Empire fuckers into position so it would have to be good enough.

The twins weren't growing yet. They were just staring around themselves as the trio glared down Hampton Ave. They were perfectly placed. I wasn't going to get a better option.

Mousey appeared behind me, her fingers already extended and locked together in a parody of a knife-edge.

"Fast enough so they can't see you. Right across both throats. We won't be able to take them down if they start to grow. Remember, it has to look like a knife, just use your fingertip."

Mousey nodded and sped off. The screams started a moment later as people nearby realized that there was blood flying in the air and two blondes were keeling over, their hands clutching at their throats.

Don't stand so close together in such identical poses if you don't want a 'projecting knife edge' to slash your throats, you fucking cunts.

Time for my show.

I sauntered around the edge of the building, twirling Sherrel's creation in my hand and chuckling. More people screamed. Some ran. Kaiser just looked between his last two dying bodyguards, and me.

"Jack." The voice was soft, tired. So very tired. A man exhausted and beaten down. It was the tone of a man who had watched his life crumble to pieces around him and he wasn't even sure if it was worth fighting for the last dregs of it anymore.

Perfect.

I had fought tooth and nail to stay where I was. Danny had hated me because of my face. Mom had died. My father was a druggie. My surrogate mother was a druggie. I was scarred. I was beaten. I was feared. Everyone in the city knew who I was. My minder was a government stooge. My girlfriend had left me before I even realized I had found someone willing to put up with me.

I had never once sounded as defeated as this fucking piece of shit ass-stain.

"You seem to have lost a few supporters here, friend. Shouldn't they be getting some help?" I asked, inclining my head towards the twins. The Valkyries were crumpled on the sidewalk now, the pool of blood spreading around them proof enough it was already far too late. Mousey was good at what she did. "Oh! That's right, Othala's gone isn't she! I'm so sorry, I forgot. She never even put up a fight, it's so hard to remember some of these things."

"How dare you," Kaiser hissed. Oh so there was still some fight in him yet. Not much though. If he had been smart he would have tried skewering me right away. It wouldn't have worked on Jack himself probably, thanks to whatever bullshit Bonesaw gave him, but it would have hurt me for sure.

"Kaiser, friend, I dare quite a bit." I winked at him. "Just between you and me, the rest of my people and I had a bit of a bet going on! You see, Shatterbird thought that you would try to run away with your tail between your legs. I said that she was wrong and that someone as proud as you would never take that route! She claimed dibs on when you tried to leave and…well I guess we both won and both lost that bet, didn't we? Poor, poor Krieg. He won't even get to participate in the grand finale!"

"Must you gloat? It is unbecoming of civilized men."

My lips curled back and I raised the knife-car, snarling, "Civilized?! Civilized?! You call yourself -" I growled, cutting off the rest of the word even as every fiber of my being ached to finish him off. Forcing myself to breathe out, I continued in a more measured voice, "I don't think either of us have a moral high ground or can claim 'civility' here, my friend."

"I seem to have struck a nerve." Oh I was going to make it quick Kaiser. But not anymore. Not. Anymore.

"Well, it's just, my violence is rather equal opportunity evil," I commented, affecting an exaggerated shrug and doing all I could to hide my seething hatred. "I see something I want dead, I kill it. I want to play, I play. You, though, oh Kaiser, you're different, but we're two peas in a pod! You wrapped this town up in your swaddle and you rocked it and whispered sweet nothings to it; all while you kept on stringing up minorities in back alleys. I mean, I enjoy a good murder spree as much as the next serial killer, but there's murder and then there's being a Nazi."

Kaiser didn't move a muscle. I could almost see his brain freeze with the non-sequitur.

"You are the leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine."

"Ah," I held a finger to the air like I had had a revelation. This was how I could play up the exit strategy. "But we are American, old sport! Haven't you figured it out yet, Kaiser?" I cocked my head to the side. "I mean, a new game for a new city is fun and all, but really. Keeping Crawler on the leash for so long? Just going for a single gang? That doesn't strike you as weird?"

Kaiser took a step forward and I saw metal glinting from the surfaces near me. That was fine. I just needed a few more moments and then Mousey could do her thing and I could just…walk away.

"You think this was all a joke, Jack?" he snapped.

"A joke? No, no of course not. This was as far from a joke as it could be." I smiled, shrugging again. "Sport, we fought a war over this decades ago. No more Nazis. I may be a serial killer, but I am an American serial killer."

Mousey surged from her hiding spot across the street, arm extended. No one would be able to see her, as fast as she was moving.

It wasn't quite fast enough, Kaiser's blades rocketed from the smooth granite on the building next to me, their pointy shards angling towards my stomach and my head.

I didn't care. This was going to end. He was coming down with me. Fuck you Kaiser, I won. I won. You didn't break me, I got rid of you and you're filth.

It took me longer than it should have to realize that I wasn't skewered like a pig. Maybe it was the gasp from a far too alive Kaiser that brought me back to my senses. I glanced to my right, following the gaze of the helmeted villain.

Mousey was standing next to me, the metal blades striking her instead of me.

My projection had disobeyed me. It had moved to safeguard me instead of continuing the attack. Vicky was right, I hadn't killed Mousey.

"Nightmare mouse…Mistress? But…"

I screamed, blood dripping from my clenched fist and my hair flying as I threw my head back to the heavens. My control over my form wavered, it didn't matter, I surged forward, leaping towards Kaiser, lashing out with my knife-car. Mousey flickered and reappeared beside me, fully intact and blocking another wave of blades from the side of the building.

My own knife glanced off of his armor, not even leaving a dent.

"STOP PROTECTING ME AND KILL HIM!"

"What is -"

My enraged yell and accompanying swing of my knife cut him off as sparks flew from the front of his armor. He had a slit in his helmet for his eyes. If I could get close enough I could hit that.

Mousey flickered again, blocking a third wave of blades.

We passed next to a mailbox, and more blades flew out of the side of the blue metal. Mousey couldn't shift to stop those, not while we were still next to the building.

Something - Someone - else though apparently could. The sidewalk shook as an impact rocked it sending me stumbling. I looked up just in time to see the mailbox flying a hundred feet down the street.

And Glory Girl next to me, her fists up, as she stepped between me and Kaiser. "You don't get to touch her!"

Kaiser stepped back, gasping. "Mistress! You're a goddamn Stranger?! You're the one who's been killing us all?!"

"That's fucking right you piss-licker!" I screeched. Dropping Jack's visage entirely, I let my base form take hold as I tried to run past Glory Girl, my hand clenched tight on the knife-car. She held her arm out and kept shifting to block me from lunging around her, so I was reduced to spitting and shouting at the bastard as I continued to attempt to evade the flying cockblocker. "You tried to kill me to send a message! And you and all your cunts laughed about it and bragged about how you could get away with more the next time! Well who's laughing now Max Anders? Huh?!"

"How dare -"

"FUCK YOU!" Mousey swatted away a stream of half-hearted blades as Vicky blocked more from a frontal attack. "You kidnapped me from my APARTMENT before I ever even had powers! Nobody cares about the rules unless you can enforce them right?! That's what you shitstains claimed? WELL WELCOME TO THE ENFORCEMENT SQUAD!"

"Mistress," Glory Girl hissed. She threw me back again as she lunged to block another blade that Kaiser sent our way. "I can't keep this up forever and I can't block you and attack him. Please tell me that you have some other grand idea because I don't have backup!"

"You are a Ward!" Kaiser shouted. "You can't just go around murdering -"

"YOU tried to murder ME! You streamed it for everyone to watch! I didn't even really like my father but that didn't matter at all to you! No, all that mattered was the color of my skin! You don't get to walk away! None of you get to walk away! No one wanted to act, so I had to do it myself! I killed the Nine just so I could get to you motherfuckers! You should have been brought down after you killed Fleur, but you got to laugh and joke then! Pretty words and then welcoming arms for the murderer! WELL YOU DON'T GET TO LAUGH ANYMORE KAISER!"

"Mistress, please!" Vicky yelled. She thrust her palm forward and shattered more blades. Red welled up as one of them sliced across the top of her forearm.

I screamed, my vision wavering, all words lost to me. Mousey abandoned my right side. She grabbed me and shoved me towards the street in one fluid motion. Then, she twisted and lunged.

Between one moment and the next, Kaiser was just…gone. Even having an instinctive knowledge of my projection it took me a second to follow where she had gone. The roadburn on my left side didn't help. As my vision cleared and my ears stopped ringing, I centered in on the remnants of Kaiser's armor embedded half in the side of the building behind where he had been standing. A huge hole was punched in his chest and something was dripping out of it. All of Medhall's windows between where Mousey had originally been and Kaiser's position were shattered as well.

She wasn't supposed to be able to leave a pressure wave, even when she moved faster than sound.

I pulled myself up to a sitting position and kept staring at the remnants of the man who had caused me…so much pain. Holding my left arm, I whimpered as Mousey appeared behind me, crouched down and rubbing my side.

"It's just a bruise," I murmured. "Arm is worse. Not bad. I'm fine." The projection leaned back on her haunches and patted my shoulder.

"Taylor?" Vicky murmured from somewhere above me. I couldn't really see her. The world was very blurry and all I could keep looking at was the remains of Kaiser.

"Tay, come on, let me help you up. I'll get you to a hospital."

The buildings shifted, and I dimly realized that Vicky was probably lifting me off the ground. I kept watching the man who had tried to break me. The man I had broken instead.

As Vicky lifted off of the ground, I finally turned away, burying my face in her chest.

Oh.

I was crying.

AN: So funny story, Glenn basically fired everyone in Brockton Bay's PR department after word made it to him of the name they let her get away with. What started as a funny joke that she never thought would go past the first person she cracked it to, somehow made it through the whole chain as something 'edgy' and 'in-character'. And Glenn had a coronary.