Chapter 3.5
Thursday April 21st, 2011
I didn't bother to suppress my grin as I knocked on the steel door standing between a bunch of animal abusers and violent retribution. Several of the Butchers called out "Who's there?" followed by various lewd remarks, which thankfully distracted me from my bugs reported a guy hastily hiding the fact that he had been — nope. I was tempted to sting him in the nether regions, but the party hadn't started yet.
In fact, there weren't even any fights actively happening, though fleas on dozens of dogs indicated that several were being 'trained' by the monsters who ran the place. A Doberman slipped off its leash and snapped up one of the bait dogs, thrashing it before sending the poor animal tumbling. A fly landed on a shivering chihuahua, tasting blood on her fur. She wasn't going to live for long as the laughing handler pulled the victoriously smug pit dog away.
They were laughing that a dog was bleeding out, whimpering and crying for someone, anyone to help her. I could feel one of the Empire assholes coming to collect her, muttering about how she was a waste of a bullet while also suppressing her own mirth.
"Should have brought Bitch," Ironsides grumbled. "They wouldn't be laughing then."
I guess I'll have to do, I thought, abandoning the knock-knock joke opening and electing instead to send a swarm to protect the defenseless dog. The goons barely had time to dodge backwards in shock before I teleported inside, punching the Doberman's handler as hard as I dared. He flew back and left a dent in the metal wall before falling to the floor, while the dog got a mild pain blast to send it running away with a whimper. It wasn't the dog's fault, just the bastards that trained it.
Of course, my entrance had hardly gone unnoticed — the collector tried to run, but I rounded the corner and threw a knife at the fly perched on her shoulder. She screamed out, but the nerves to control her arm were severed and her gun fell from limp fingers. I kicked her away from the dog as I let Sanguine's power check the pup over.
"Huh, didn't know it worked on animal blood," he said, genuinely intrigued.
"Good thing it does, she would have bled out otherwise." Once again, Alkaline's blood recreation capacity was a godsend. The dog should live long enough for Amy or Rachel to help her.
"Move in," I instructed Big Robbie's team. Operation Get Fucked was a go.
It might have been true that no plan survives contact with the enemy, but it was equally true that few enemies survive contact with the Teeth. For all that the Empire had almost three dozen guys waiting for us, armed with expensive military-grade weaponry, they were not prepared for the Teeth's level of brutality. Big Robbie's attempts to get the Teeth to have something like discipline just made us more terrifying, as evidenced by the screams as he tore them apart.
However, loath as I was to admit it, Ripley was stealing the show tonight. They were ducking through the shadows of the poorly lit warehouse, snatching people like a literal alien before disarming and tying them up out of sight of their fellows. One goon even wondered aloud if some Aleph comic book hero had come for him.
When they grabbed him, they pulled him close and stepped into the light. "Guess again," their second mouth hissed, causing him to piss himself. It was an exercise in spreading terror, and it was working.
I dropped down beside them, shaking my head while cradling the pup in my arm. "You sure you don't want to be a villain full time? You're damn good at this."
"They deserve worse," Ripley growled, eyeing the now scabbed-over dog. "Will that dog be alright?"
"I think so, but I can have Pandemic take a look," I replied, passing the dog to one of my convenient (if confused) mooks. It seemed that even people who wore their enemies' bones could be unnerved, based on how quickly he ran off with the dog. Several of the Butchers snickered at his retreating back.
The fighting wound down pretty quickly after that, and I found myself on edge from the adrenaline rush of 'imminent cape fight.' Lisa had happily informed us that Hookwolf took attacks on his dog fighting operations personally, and we were already on his shit list for signing on Rachel. However, while his nominal underlings were being rounded up and his dogs being freed, the violent murderer did not bother to show up.
"Like you," Butcher reminded me unhelpfully. He cackled as I pushed away both him and the memories of earlier today — now was not the time to be worried about that. I had to ensure that the Teeth got our proportionate revenge.
"Fuck proportionate, just slaughter them all!" Knockout whined. "They're Nazis, you can punch them for free in America."
Damascian shook her head. "Taylor's reputation hinges on not engaging in mindless slaughter, deserving targets or no."
"I'm actually with Knockout, here," Fester admitted, followed by Stratego and Sabertooth both rumbling in agreement.
"Well too bad," I murmured. "This morning was a disaster and I have no intention of making it worse." I had to push down a few of the louder complainers, but I really didn't have time to be thinking about this. Maybe later, when I could talk to Chrissie… if she wanted to talk, that was.
I shook my head. Not the time.
Instead, I focused on a miniature swarm of bugs clustered around some electronics in a nearby van. Tattletale had come up with a rather clever trick to let me work several radios with my bugs, letting me stay in contact with the Teeth despite most of them being far outside my range. Having several of these vans around our troops gave me unprecedented control over the city-wide battlefield; at the moment, things were quiet. Too quiet, actually — several groups had hit resistance, but none of them had seen any of the Empire's capes yet.
"To be fair, three of them did die this morning," Pyro pointed out with glee.
Stratego made a displeased noise. "It's obviously a trap, you idiot!" They descended into bickering, but the point was made.
This whole thing did reek of a trap.
"You will simply have to wait until they play their hand," Chisel said. "Stay the course and react accordingly."
"Would be nice if you could just see everything," Ironsides pondered.
"Yeah, like anyone would let a power-boosting Trump near Butcher XV," Alkaline replied.
"We can dream!" Sabertooth said.
"Can the power fantasies be put on hold for five fucking minutes!?" Chisel bellowed as I picked up someone flying into my range.
I decided to not waste time on a potential fight and instead teleported right beside the flier. Rune barely had a moment to react as I punched her in the gut and slung her over my shoulder. It would have been easy to kill the girl, and given she was the first cape we encountered, I suspected that Kaiser might even be planning for me to do just that. However, the girl was barely a teenager according to Lisa's sanitized intel, and I wasn't about to execute someone because of a poor life decision when they didn't know any better.
In my mind, several of the Butchers chuckled darkly.
I landed on a rooftop with a heavy thump, followed by Ripley crawling over the edge of the building. Rune collapsed to her knees as soon as I set her down, coughing up the contents of her stomach before falling limply to her side. Ripley kicked the other villain onto her back, peering down through inhuman eyes and snapping at her with those freaky teeth. Madison might even give me a run for my money in the terrifying department.
"Let me taste your skin," Ripley hissed as their miniature mouth extended out, caressing Rune's exposed cheek… only for her eyes to roll back as she went limp.
"Ha, the bitch fainted!" Knockout exclaimed.
"Now eat her heart!" Marauder demanded. I slammed him in the dark.
"Imagine if she had a swarm of face huggers," Sabertooth said giddily.
Damascian hummed in thought. "I can't help but wonder if Amelia could produce such a thing, with… some encouragement."
The entire collective paused at that. I was embarrassed to admit that even I was salivating at the prospect of swarms of bioengineered creatures under my control, only for my thoughts to drift to actual Xenomorphs. That was in turn followed by a slew of other sci-fi and horror creatures, things that would see kill orders rushed through and the city walled off if we actually acquired them.
"So, what are we going to do with Sabrina here?" Reflex asked, jerking us all back to the present.
"Ripley, call your handler and let him know you have one for pickup, I'll leave the details to you."
"Any word on Othala?" they asked as they fired off a message on a burner phone.
I shook my head at the mention of the other high priority 'capture alive' target. "Rune's the first cape so far, which is concerning."
"Child brides," Fester spat. "How is that shit legal when weed isn't?"
"Because old fossils make the laws and the young suffer for them." Alkaline answered.
I had read over all the identity sanitized documents Lisa had given me in the hour before we took to the streets, cuddled with Chrissie in my room as I did. We were both disgusted when we reached Othala's profile: married to Victor at twelve, when he was in his twenties, now he was nearly thirty and she was barely eighteen. Even as the Empire's main force multiplier, the collective agreed with me that she deserved a chance to recover from that life.
Part of me was tempted to follow through on Fester's more imaginative retributions.
Of course, I would need to find the bastard first. Rune was still the only cape the Teeth had encountered so far, with most of our teams wrapping up their objectives and beginning to load or destroy the loot they found.
I was about to ask everyone for a round of status updates when Vex's oddly quiet voice came over the comms. "Boss, we have… bodies. Lots of bodies here, and blood, and… fuck, pretty sure these are civilians."
"Damn, this is some Marauder-level of fucked up." Reaver added in on the same channel, then both of them let out startled expletives. For a moment, it was just the sound of frantic footsteps, and when Reaver talked again, it with horrified fascination. "The fucking sprinklers just started spewing blood! What the fuck is going on here?"
Lisa must have switched to a camera feed or something, because I heard her take in a sharp breath. "I've seen the Nine be gentler to their victims. But it's probably not human blood, so —"
"They set a trap," I snapped, cutting her off. "Get out of there! All forces, withdraw!"
"On it!" Reaver called out, followed by the sound of something wooden being violently disassembled — probably a door. "What's our regroup point?"
"Charlie," Tattletale said. "Secondary route."
"Got i—" The reply was cut off by a deafening crash.
"Shit!" someone screamed just as Vex cried out in pain. I felt my heart drop into my stomach.
Reaver's voice came over the coms. "Protectorate! MM's sniping at us, Vex is down."
I cursed, keying up my Teeth wide broadcast option as I made the first necessary teleport, then took off at a full sprint across the rooftops. "All forces, we've got Protectorate inbound, the Empire's played their hand. Fight to disengage and fall back if attacked, stick to non-lethals if possible but prioritize survival above all else. Torch anything we can't take with. Bitch, Animos, take Pandemic and go reinforce Vex's team, I'm on my way!"
"Can I kill the cunt now!?" Chrissie demanded, her voice strained.
"Not if I beat you to it," I snarled, relieved she was able to speak. In the background, I heard the report of Reaver's own rifle fire off. I switched channels. "Robbie, wrap it up and assume overwatch for rapid response."
"Got it, boss," he said as he began barking orders.
"Ripley, she's all yours. I'm not about to ask you to fight your co-workers, but I would advise you to not end up being tricked into doing the Empire's dirty work for them."
"Wait, Tay — nevermind. Thanks. Go save your girlfriend." With them being a Xenomorph and all, I really wasn't able to parse the emotions in Madison's voice.
I made another jump, swapping channels again. "Tats, status!"
"They didn't drop com silence until MM took the shot. Grue began to blanket the area in darkness almost immediately after. It's looking like they sent everyone not sympathetic to you." I could hear her mechanical keyboard clicking away over the mic. "Still nothing on the Empire cape front, there's still another play to be made. I have an idea of the shape of it, but I'll need more info first. I don't want to give you bad info by saying anything in case I'm on the wrong track."
"Keep me updated," I ordered. Of course Grue would decide to fight us, fucking bastard.
"We told you," Butcher chided. "Shoulda killed the prick."
Noted for the future, now save the gloating for after we get a bit of revenge for the Birdcage attempt!
I was now focused on each and every communication coming from Vex's team. Reaver and Regent were with her, and Regent was the sole reason Grue hadn't managed to lock down the entire area in darkness yet.
"Regent, how good is your control over Grue?" I asked.
"I never bothered beyond fucking with him," he yelled back.
"Just do what you can!"
I was in range now, and immediately set my bugs upon the bandana'd figure on the rooftop holding a rifle. Every flier I had went for her eyes, biting and stinging where they could. Another shot rang out before she was forced to pull away and try to dislodge them. As soon as she was preoccupied, I arrived with fury and flame, sending her tumbling and smoldering across the rooftop.
Then, with Chrissie's cries of pain echoing in my head, I inflicted the worst pain blast I could manage upon her.
Her rifle burst into a cloud of green that swirled chaotically through the air as she writhed in the gravel. The Butchers howled their approval of my actions, but I pushed them aside. This was torture with a purpose, even if I was enjoying seeing the bitch that hurt MY girlfriend in such agony.
"Hey, that rhymed!" Pyro noted.
"No, it didn't," Damascian grumbled.
Sensing other heroes entering my range, I sprayed Militia down in blood, working Sanguine's power on the stuff to trap the heroine in a solidified cocoon.
"Stay down, bitch," I snarled, my swarm echoing me. "You better fucking pray she makes it."
"Aww, no classic 'or else' from our fledgling Butcher?" Alkaline complained.
"Should just kill her now," Sabertooth growled, a sentiment echoed by much of the chorus.
The heroine tried to mutter something, but I was already gone, reappearing in the air above a rapidly approaching Dauntless. My sword came unslung and I brought it down on the unsuspecting hero. He saw me at the last moment, deflecting it with his energy shield and batting me away. As I flew through the air, I managed to reattach the sword and pull out my bow.
Unfortunately for me, Dauntless had a modicum of experience. Lightning crackled down his Arclance and leapt through the air towards me while I was still midair, and I nearly fumbled the arrow I was attempting to nock. I still spasmed violently as the electricity coursed through my body — both Damascian and Quarrel had fought the Roman legion reject, but I wasn't totally prepared for the sensation.
By some luck, I managed to make a half-hearted shot clear into the afternoon sky, but even as I slammed into the asphalt with the sound of cracking bones, Quarrel's power ensured that the arrow struck true. The twist of space delivered the projectile directly into Dauntless's achilles tendon, causing him to scream out in pain and flail wildly in the air.
I tried not to smile at his crash landing.
Just as my regeneration was going to work repairing the abuse to my skeleton, Velocity appeared and rushed to Dauntless's crater. I used my one mostly good arm to pull a boomerang from my belt and let Quarrel's power go wild. Velocity saw it coming, of course, leaping over it at the last moment. Then the boomerang curved, attempting to compensate, and struck him square in the dick. Served the bastard right.
Around us, the battle was still raging. Bitch and Animos were chasing the PRT troopers around, as containment foam grenades were not effective against minivan-sized dog monsters. They weren't killing anyone, at least as my bugs reported, but that was largely because the PRT was disciplined and clearly aware that their cape support was downed. I directed the two of them to take out the foam sprayer trucks and transports, which freed the PRT to check on the heroes.
Chrissie, thankfully, had been cognizant enough to fill the mouth of the alley she was using to hide with a maze of her force fields. My bugs enthusiastically discouraged the PRT troopers trying to get onto the roof above her, Amy, and Brutus. With the heroes indisposed for the moment, I teleported as close as I dared to Chrissie.
"How bad is it?" I yelled as I limped to her side.
Amy barely spared me a glance as she worked, giving me an annoyed glance through the stylized half-skull mask taken from a Day of the Dead celebration one of the past Butchers had attended. Her hair was gelled, slicked back and had a greasy quality; the effect was good, you wouldn't have mistaken her for the famed healer even if you were specifically looking for her. Even her freckles were smoothed over by makeup at the moment, which was a shame. They were distinctively her, and she shouldn't have to hide them away like that.
Chrissie, on the other hand, didn't have any energy for snark. "Really bad, Tay." She sounded so weak.
It felt wrong to hear her like that. As soon as I was close enough, I took Chrissie's uninjured hand and held it, squeezing tightly, while she barely squeezed at all. My heart was a jackhammer in my chest, and my adrenaline was not being helped by the Butchers' howling for me to return and put a slug through Militia's skull.
If Chrissie died, I would do it.
The surety of that statement should have disturbed me, but she was my anchor, without her, what did I have to lose?
The girl in question smiled up at me, a tear trailing down her cheek. "It hurts, Tay." So weak, so frail… "All of this… and it won't even leave a scar," she finished in a perfect monotone.
My mind blanked completely as a grin slowly spread across her face. If I'd been holding her, I'd have dropped her onto the ground.
Then the Butchers burst into laughter in my head, echoed by Chrissie a moment later. "Dick move, but that shit was funny!" Sabertooth howled. "You should have seen your face!"
If not for the fact that even Amy was chuckling quietly, I might have done something stupid. But Chrissie was fine enough to joke around, and I didn't have to worry about becoming a raving lunatic after killing heroes.
I gave her head an affectionate pat. "I think you'll live." She chuckled at my comment, but I tore my mask off and kissed her all the same.
"I killed her pain receptors first thing," Pandemic stated clinically, not caring in the slightest at our display. "She nearly begged me to play along once it was clear she would be fine. Also, if you want a scar that bad, just ask."
"Ha! Who said the frigid bitch couldn't be funny?" Knockout laughed.
"I think we're a bad influence on you," I muttered even as Chrissie's eyes never left my own, my hand gently cupping her cheek. "You scared me there, you know that."
"I know." She leaned forward and kissed me again. "Sorry I've been an ass lately."
"Like I've been much better." I sighed and fell beside her, cuddling her as Amy worked. In the distance, my bugs were harrying Grue and Velocity as they tried to get Dauntless to the last waiting van, which was also being plagued by my swarm. Bitch and Animos were there, but Grue's darkness was throwing them off just enough to keep them held back. I had to wonder if the dogs still recognized Grue as a friend, or if his darkness was preventing Bitch from giving them clear orders. I'd need to work out some system with Rachel for guiding her dogs with my swarm to help counter him in the future.
No sooner than I started to think that the fight was winding down than a whole section of the swarm assisting Animos died — in a straight line. "We've got company," I said, standing up abruptly and pulling Chrissie up after me. Several more blasts carved holes out of my swarm and tore into Animos, and I had to teleport to a rooftop to see the offending source with my own eyes.
Luckily, it wasn't Purity. "Looks like the Brigade wants to play," I sent to the group.
"Fucking clam jammers," Chrissie complained.
"You need to get out of there," Tattletale said in a strangled voice. "They're shooting first and asking questions never." One of Bitch's dogs flew backwards with a yelp as Glory Girl rocketed onto the battlefield, while further out, my bugs reported the presence of Manpower and Shielder riding on a disc-shaped shield.
I was forced to dodge when Lady Photon sent a barrage of purple lasers my way, so I countered with my swarm, using it to obstruct her view before teleporting down to the street where the PRT was trying to organize their own fighting retreat. Luckily, Reaver had Brandish occupied, because I was still sore and didn't want to chance her hardlight weapons. She dodged around his scythe with considerable skill, but I held back my bugs to not deprive him of a fight.
"He'll appreciate that," Knockout said with approval.
Unfortunately, the Butcher was a lightning rod for heroes, and I only had time to take stock before Glory Girl tried to pancake me into the pavement. "Butcher!" she yelled, flying out of the range of my hasty sword swing. "I really thought you were better!"
"You'll have to elaborate!" I yelled back, taking a few more ineffectual swings at the heroine. She dodged my attacks as easily as I avoided her punches and dives, but if she was flailing at me then she wasn't going after my much less nimble team.
The fight was more annoying than anything else — I hated having fliers just out of my reach — but at least I wasn't as distracted as the heroes. Manpower's attempt to slam into me from behind might have worked, otherwise. Instead, I twisted at the last moment and smacked his chest with the flat of the blade.
He flinched just long enough for me to leap backwards, but I lost Glory Girl's attention as she tried to rocket into the alley that hid Vex and Pandemic… only to crash into a wall of nearly invisible force fields. The Butchers roared with laughter in my head, and I couldn't help but laugh myself as I fought Manpower.
"Damn good evil laugh," Chisel said. "Works like a charm every time."
Indeed, Manpower and Glory Girl both refocused their efforts on me, as did Lady Photon when she was able to see. I decided to humor both of them, actually fighting them in earnest instead of just taunting. Knockout's shields proved invaluable for blocking Manpower's absurd punches, and twice I forced Glory Girl back by breaking her shield with my sword.
"You're a monster," Manpower spat after I kicked him into another of his teammate's purple blasts. It didn't seem to do much but anger him. "First Amy, and now this massacre —"
"That wasn't us!" I retorted, ducking under a thrown axe. Brandish had apparently been unwilling to follow Reaver, Animos, and Bitch into a maze of Vex's power, and the heroes were more than happy to focus on me as my team escaped. "Also, who the hell would be dumb enough to mess with Panacea?"
"Hm, I wonder…" Quarrel said sarcastically, to the laughs of the others.
The Brigade heroes froze — apart from Shielder, who was assisting the PRT — and I used the distraction to let my swarm engulf me to hide my teleport into a nearby basement, leaving a swarm clone in my place. I gestured at them with my clone, using it to ask, "What happened to Panacea that you thought I was responsible for?"
"You kidnapped her!" Glory Girl yelled, ineffectually punching my bugs. "We got a tip that —"
"Enough," Brandish said, and even though my bugs I could tell that she was struggling to keep her temper. "We do not negotiate with villains. You will give her back, or so help me. I will pull the Teeth out, root and stem."
"You're welcome to try," Sabertooth spat, dredging up some of his favorite memories of sending the Brigade packing.
"Did Amy forget to leave a note that she was visiting Lisa?" Alkaline wondered.
Butcher cackled. "Holy shit, she snuck out to Teeth! This is amazing!"
Have your fun after the heroes aren't trying to bring the Teeth down while being unwilling pawns of the Empire.
"Are we actually sure they're unwilling?" Sanguine asked.
"I'm fairly certain Coil would have exploited that, or left a plan to exploit it were it true." Stratego answered.
"The timing of their accusation is suspicious, to say the least. Another Empire plot?" Damascian mused.
"Probably," I muttered, then used my bugs to say, "By chance, did you get an anonymous tip or other communication that suggested you come attack the Teeth instead of, say, interfering with whatever the Empire is doing? Or are you making your rumored Empire affiliation official by playing into their plans so effectively when all you had to do to confirm things was give Panacea a fucking phone call?"
I could see Brandish suck in a breath to yell, the words on the tip of her tongue only to die like the last three Nazis she punched should have. She made a vaguely demanding gesture at Glory Girl, who fished a phone out of her pocket and called her sister.
Amy picked up on the second ring. "Vicky? You weren't supposed to call for another —"
"Ames! Where are you?"
"Busy!" Lisa breathlessly yelled in the background, then Amy squeaked as the call abruptly ended.
My bugs could practically taste the stupefied embarrassment oozing off of the heroes, and I laughed along with the Butchers at New Wave's reactions. "Well, um, this is awkward," Manpower said, rubbing the back of his head.
"At least someone is having a good time," I buzzed.
"Don't you get off on murder?" Brandish snarled, waving her hands around. "Don't think we'll just let you go after this."
"You already have," I said. "But to answer your question, no — I was just as horrified by this trap as you were. Never mind the thirty three innocents they slaughtered back at my Arena. Who knew the Empire was capable of such atrocities? Oh wait, all of us — the Brigade has been fighting these assholes almost as long as the Teeth have. Tell me, why does a teenage hero have to become the Butcher to actually do something about the literal Nazis in our city?"
The adult heroes looked appropriately chagrined at that, and while I was tempted to twist the knife about how they'd treated Amy like an overworked meal ticket or the way they took down her father, the rest of my forces had finally escaped from the heroes. I teleported away before New Wave could mount a proper response, not that I figured they had one.
I found Amy and Chrissie hiding in a different — slightly less smelly — alley several blocks from the fight. My girlfriend had the sleeping pup curled in her good arm while she watched Amy work to restore the other. I leaned forward, having shed my mask again and kissed her forehead. "How are you holding up?"
"Could be worse, but not by much. Having to drain my gains to flex again. The trials of being so ripped." Chrissie moaned in faux despair. Amy scowled and swatted her across her crimson crown for it. "Fine, fine. She managed to find some fat… somewhere." Then she grinned. "Amy's gonna give me a nasty looking scar where the cunt shot me, just so I have something to remember it by."
"Shit, she can do that?" "She could give us tattoos after all!" "XV on your shoulder!" "Nah, tramp stamp it!"
"A memento for each gang you've eliminated would be nice," Reflex added after a moment, causing the other Butchers to go silent.
"Oh, I like that one," Ironsides said.
Alkaline hummed in thought. "A Dragon, a Snake, and soon… Shit, what creature should represent the Empire?"
"What about that eagle thing they love to use?" Sanguine offered.
"Fuck that, a pile of shit is the only thing fitting for them." Fester snarled.
"A wolf," Marauder shrugged. "Given Hookwolf, it seems fitting enough."
I found myself oddly drawn to the idea (despite having never seriously considered tattoos like that before), but I shook my head slightly. Let's not scare Amy away when she's already obviously outside her comfort zone. The Butchers grumbled, but the prospect of eventually corrupting Brandish's kid was worth more than tattoos.
"Treat her and Lisa to a weekend spa, she deserves it after all this." Chisel said.
"We can even kidnap her! Imagine the headlines!" Pyro cackled.
"Thank you, Amy," I said aloud. "You didn't have to do all this."
"Your girlfriend here kinda drafted me," she said distantly, pulling her hand away from Chrissie, who was flexing her now healed arm and admiring the blatantly obvious scar where her arm was reattached.
"You had the option to say no. You always have that option, remember that."
Fester nodded along enthusiastically.
My declaration gave Amy pause, but I couldn't see her reaction under the mask. Lisa, however, must have picked up something, as she pulled the freckled girl into a side hug; Amy curled into the embrace.
"Just, you know, don't refuse to heal Weaver when she's dying," Chrissie said with a fair bit of mirth. "That just seems to be a good way to potentially end up as XVI." She then eyed the healer up and down, saying, "not that I would mind all that much."
I smacked her shoulder. "Hey, you aren't getting out of our talk that easily."
She glared at me for a split second before she started laughing, then I was laughing with her. Ah, how I missed all of this, just being able to be myself with the girl who cared about me. I really did owe her, and I hadn't been giving her nearly as much attention as she deserved.
Can I ask for a favor? When Chrissie's involved, no more distractions or advice, please. She deserves that much.
"Why should we?" "You're hopeless without us!" "You're gonna fuck it up!"
Is she dating Taylor, or the Butchers?
"Is there a distinction?" Sabertooth asked.
For me there is! This isn't a negotiation or a partnership involving any of you.
I reached out, giving Chrissie enough warning that she could pull away if the contact was unwanted. I was relieved when she let me run my fingers over the faint scar.
"It suits you," I said softly.
"Thanks Tay… listen, I—"
"Shit!" Lisa exclaimed, interrupting the moment. "The Empire finally made their move, the PRT building is under siege."
"Sucks to be them," Chrissie said, though we both moved to watch the security feeds Lisa had pulled up on her laptop. Amy was already beside her, gripping Lisa's shoulder rather tightly.
"They're there for their people?" I asked, watching Fenja smash through the front wall with a thrown dumpster.
"Won't do them much good," Amy said with a smirk. "Othala's regen has never worked on things I've healed before."
"Wait a sec, I thought you didn't heal Nazis," Chrissie asked with a measure of accusation to her tone.
"She doesn't," Lisa cut in, likely detecting the hostility. "The PRT was surprised by her offer, and even more surprised when all she did was seal their stumps and make them healthy enough to stand trial. They won't be fighting at their best anytime soon."
"They both lost limbs in that fight, and I didn't heal Crusader at all," Amy said uncomfortably.
"He just had a few broken bones, Othala can fix that in an afternoon," Lisa stated. "Didn't stop them from getting overly excited about striking the PRT when they got the news."
"How would they have even gotten the news?" Alkaline asked.
"If Amy's visit was discreet, there shouldn't have been a leak this quickly," Damascian added.
"Please tell me Lisa didn't set the Teeth up as bait to make this stick and not tell anyone," Chisel muttered.
"Did you know we were walking into a trap tonight?" I asked with as much forced calm as I could muster.
Lisa's eyes immediately became saucers. "No!" she shouted. Good, she knew I wasn't in the mood for games. "Someone else leaked this, hell, it might have been a cape watcher on PHO or a sympathetic agent, there's too many possibilities for me to narrow it down and it isn't worth it. It wasn't any of us, hell, I didn't even know until Amy told me a few hours ago."
I snarled and turned my focus back to the screen. Clockblocker had tagged Fenja when she tried to clear out the debris from the entry, slowing them down. Outside, Assault, Armsmaster and Battery were fighting Kaiser, Krieg, and Purity head on. The Wards were providing long distance support where they were able.
Except for Shadow Stalker.
She was on the ground fighting the unpowered assholes like she did back when she was a vigilante. Back when the Teeth wanted to recruit her for how violently she put down the Nazis. Then she started coming after the Teeth, and cost us Whirlygig before joining the Wards just days later, making it suicide to attempt anything against her.
Still, that she was clearly defying orders to take the fight to the Nazis did little to change my opinion of her. Unlike Madison, she never made an attempt to try and be better. Fuck her, she could sink or swim on her own merits.
One of the windows swapped to the inside of the building, near the cell block, showing Victor and Othala as they worked their way down. She was empowering him and making short work of their troopers. They would have their men freed, and soon.
"Are we going to help them?" Amy asked.
"Too risky," I said, but I was slipping my mask back on just to be safe. "If we side with the Protectorate against them, it sends a message to villains everywhere. It's too obvious of a play for us to make without the Empire burning the whole city down. Best I could do is drop in, poke one of them for a bit, then leave, letting everyone think it's just the Butcher being the Butcher."
Lisa shook her head, mashing more keys. "That might work for those outside Brockton, but the Empire knows you're not crazy like your predecessors. It won't fool them and you would just invite harsher penalties."
"Why isn't Hookwolf tearing his way through the building?" Chrissie asked and all of Lisa's typing ceased.
"The murder blender didn't hit the HQ either, so what has he been doing all day?" Damascian wondered.
"It isn't like him to skip fights," Marauder added.
"Neither Hookwolf or Cricket have been active today, that just doesn't—" Lisa's voice cut off and her fingers flew into a flurry of motion, skipping through log-in screens like they were nothing. She was on some Empire affiliated site and soon, a new camera feed was on the screen, one that was set among an achingly familiar set of buildings, which instantly filled me with dread.
A dread that crystallized in a single, razor sharp, moment.
"Dad…"
Naturally, that was when Hemorrhagia brought us more bad news. "New Wave fuckers are hitting us!"
"Then fuck them right back! I'll put them back together after!" Amy shouted across the coms, but I didn't give her much mind. Dad was in danger, I had to save him.
"Just go!" Chrissie yelled, flexing her now reattached arm. "We got this."
"Thanks, Chrissie."
I teleported away, hoping against everything that I wasn't already too late.