Chapter 3.6
Thursday April 21st, 2011
I set a record for a new Butcher: three weeks before premeditated murder.
Oh, I hadn't actually killed Kaiser yet — the numerous deaths in combat didn't really count — but the deceitful fucker had tried to kill my only remaining family. It was hard to tell where my predecessors' anger stopped and mine started, though I was starting to suspect that we'd been underestimating the impact my own personal emotions had on the collective.
The other Teeth gave me plenty of room to pace threateningly (hell, if I forgot to keep everything suppressed, the Butcher could make drinking a glass of water menacing) while they argued about something inconsequential. As much as I was tempted to just go off by myself and exact my revenge on Kaiser, the logical part of my brain had reminded me that that the Teeth would want blood, too.
At least Dad had survived.
"I want my arm back," I muttered to myself.
"I told you his power was shit!" Quarrel retorted. "A week for an arm, and it didn't fix my fucking allergies!"
Sabertooth snarled at her. "It worked fine for me!"
"You could call —" Knockout tried for the fourth time, and I had to stop myself from punching the wall in a rage.
"We are not treating Amy as a healing robot. I'll be fine, so let's just deal with the Empire."
"Pretty sure everyone saw you lose the arm," Chisel said reasonably. "So unless you're willing to go home with an obviously-regenerating stump…"
Several of the Butchers laughed, which did not help my mood in the slightest. I punched the offenders down with as much fury as I could divert, but it was a drop in the bucket. Fucking Hookwolf, I thought, thankful that I didn't have laser vision or I would have blown up his skull and the table it was perched upon.
"Well, he won't murder anyone else," Fester said with approval. "You shouldn't feel bad at all."
The worst part about the whole situation was that I agreed with Fester. I was furious at Kaiser for manipulating the heroes and trying to kill Dad, but not because he had almost succeeded. No, I was enraged because he had repeatedly forced me into impossible scenarios where I had to either kill people or watch my loved ones get killed.
Becoming the Butcher was always going to come with costs, and I would happily pay those for the power to force the Teeth into cleaning up their act and the city both. But now, the price of keeping Dad, Chrissie, and the others safe was to become the Butcher in truth. In retrospect, I didn't know why I had expected it to turn out any different than the rest of my life — taking the high road had only ever led to me being infuriated and my enemies laughing.
Well, I didn't regret saving everyone today, body count or no. I had probably saved the dockworkers too, now that I thought about it.
"Damn straight!" Pyro agreed. "But can we just get on with killing Kaiser so that we can talk about my power? It hasn't worked that well since I was the Butcher."
"That's true," Stratego said. "But —"
"I'm the one that told her to go!" Chrissie yelled, cutting off the voices and drawing my attention back to the ongoing argument among the Teeth. "I don't give a shit about my family, but I'm pretty sure that you do, Elliot!"
"Are you done yet?" the Changer demanded, clearly growing frustrated. "She abandoned us and for wha—"
I hurled Hookwolf's skull at him.
Elliot's eyes went wide, but he was far too slow to dodge the projectile. The speed and sharpness took his leg off at the knee, but he'd managed to partially transform and so would likely survive. Still, I was sick of his bullshit, so I teleported explosively beside him and put the barrel of an OTs to his now-transformed skull.
"If you want to challenge me, you know the goddamn rules, Animos. I've already killed Cricket and Hookwolf today." I pulled back the hammer. "Don't make me add your skull to my throne as well."
"Hemmy and Bitch got hurt because you abandoned us!" his monstrous form bellowed. "You don't deserve to —"
I hit him with a pain blast. "You fuckers aren't babies to be coddled! Grow a fucking pair and stand on your own goddamn legs for once! The Teeth won two major battles without my help and all you want to do is bitch that I wasn't there? What next? You gonna demand I wipe your ass and change your diapers too? Fucking pathetic!" I turned back to the rest of the Teeth, who were watching me warily. "Kaiser broke the rules today, just as he did with Fleur years ago. Unlike New Wave, however, I don't plan to sit back and do nothing. They die. The entire goddamn Empire ends here and now, no survivors."
"I fucking told you she would be great!" Sanguine cheered.
"About fucking time," my namesake grumbled.
"And since they targeted Weaver's civilian life, that means their own is finally open to reprisal," Lisa announced as she strode into the room with a thick folder tucked under her arm and a pissed off Amy trailing behind her.
"Rachel and Alice are fine by the way," Amy said, then turned her glare on the still writhing Animos. "You're welcome, you ungrateful fuck. I haven't even checked on any of the heroes yet."
"Thanks for getting to my dad so quickly," I said, watching Elliot shift back to normal… with his leg intact. Lucky bastard. I gave him another burst just for that. "It means a lot."
"Thank Lisa," the healer replied, looking away and doing a poor job of hiding a blush. "She's the one who got Vicky to stop fighting and get me there."
"I had to tell her I was Tattletale to get her to listen, so I can only imagine how awkward that flight was," Lisa said with a sigh.
I slumped down in my chair. "Shit. Let me guess, now she believes the Empire's little story about kidnapping you?"
"She'll get over it. I promised her answers after all the Nazis were dead," Amy said, walking up to me. I barely glanced up at her before she pulled out a plastic wrapped lump of something and began to unwrap —
"Huh, so that's where we left it," Knockout mused.
"Oooh damn, Panpan," Regent drawled out, "Gonna give Weaver a handie with your handhand?"
She flipped him off, then slapped me with my own severed limb. "Next time don't leave physical evidence behind at a crime scene, you idiot."
"Armsmaster would have a field day with it," Chrissie said with a grin.
I waved her off, only to frown at my stump. "Pretty sure he already figured out — wait, was that a fucking pun?"
Amy high fived Chrissie with my own damn arm and next thing I knew, my arm was airborne and Big Robbie caught it with ease. "Think you can preserve that?" Amy asked. "It might come in handy someday and trying to animate it to run around like Thing would raise questions I don't want asked yet."
The man looked at the severed limb, then grinned and nodded.
"Do things at your own pace, sweetie. Nobody here will pressure you to break the laws of nature." Lisa glanced at the blunt pile on the table. "Well, people might ask for some of your amazing weed," she added, earning a few jealous glares at that.
"Great, never gonna live that one down," I muttered, looking off at what was once my arm.
"You've got regeneration," Lisa said matter of factly, then tossed the folder on our strategy table. "But that can wait until we've dealt with Kaiser, also known as Max Anders."
More than a few members of the peanut gallery launched into a curse-filled tirade over that revelation, as did several of the room's occupants, Amy included. I didn't bother cursing or even attempting to hold back the rage from that revelation — I punched my only working hand straight through the reinforced wall and let out a primal scream that immediately silenced everyone else in the arena.
In my head, the Butchers laughed and raged in equal measure. Shaking the masonry off of my hand, I was once again thankful for the pain immunity. "Please, elaborate," I hissed, gesturing towards Lisa.
"Um, sure, boss," she said in a small voice, then launched into an abbreviated history of the Empire. I had to forcibly restrain myself a second time when Lisa detailed the several dozen independent heroes that had either disappeared or were found dead in a ditch since the nineties, and I felt any remaining reservations slip away as Lisa detailed all of the women who had likely been shipped off to Europe for the Gesellschaft.
The Teeth were bad, but now I could unambiguously say that we were better than the Empire.
I paused on the file for one Heith Anders, also known as Skadi when she had been alive. A very distinct memory from the conflict with the Nine came to the forefront where Sabertooth executed the woman after a particularly violent clash that ended in two dead Teeth capes — all thanks to the Empire. He killed her by using Fester's power to rot her face off, which explained Kaiser's absolute hatred of the Teeth that he had demonstrated in each engagement so far.
"The bitch was a true believer. I remember her shit talking the gay community shortly after Legend came out," Fester informed me, touching on the relevant memories. "She strained even the Marquis' patience more than once."
It was also a violation of the Truce that everyone was fighting under at the time. Even after Pyro killed Sabertooth it was too little too late. It's no wonder Marquis worked with the Empire and the Protectorate to run you all off once the Nine were gone.
"The bitch killed two of our own just to kill some nobody the Nine recruited one city over!" Sabertooth shouted.
You should have waited until after the crisis to kill her no matter how much she deserved it.
The chorus began shouting protests over my blunt statement, but I shoved it all into the void. Now was not the time, and it wasn't anything I hadn't heard before.
"You're sure of this?" Amy whispered, holding up one of the various files.
"Oh, he's definitely Kaiser," Lisa said with a predatory smile as she pulled up a video on the big screen for us all to see. "Now, what do you plan to do about it?"
All eyes turned to me as I looked over the map. "I intend to send a message about the Rules that won't soon be forgotten."
"Your orders, Mistress?" Chrissie asked. There was a hunger in her eyes that spoke of violence to come. I found myself admiring the viciousness within — she wanted to make the Empire pay as much as I did.
"Kaiser's death will be the signal, we will fall upon the Empire like the Huns and Mongols of old." I looked out across my assembled Capes, seeing the raw hunger looking back at me. Much as I wanted to deny it, that same primal urge was very much alive within me now. "They die. Spare none of their ilk. They made their choice to be the worst monsters in a city we call home. Make ready, my Teeth — soon, we ride!"
I watched as my Teeth cheered with wild abandon and bloodlust. Damien, Alice, Michael, Chrissie, and Elliot clamored for the violence that made the Teeth famous. Even Rachel and Alec had that selfsame desire in their eyes, nevermind Dinah's manic glint. Off to the side, Amy stood, looking rather uncomfortable in the sea of murderous intent. She had Lisa's hand in a deathgrip as I began to lay out the logistics of the situation and possible moves we might make.
My bugs could practically taste her growing discomfort in the air, so I brought a small swarm together beside her. "You don't have to stay. You've done your part and I'm sure the heroes will have need of you before we're done."
"Fuck them," Amy spat, though I could hear the unease in her voice. "The heroes did jack shit to avenge Aunt Jess, and at least you've proven you'll look out for your own. Hell, you haven't even asked me to look at your injuries yet. I think… I might be where I belong."
Ironsides whistled. "Damn, she's been hanging out with you for a week, and look at her."
I watched as Lisa pulled Amy into a one armed hug, which was happily reciprocated. Nah, Lisa gets the credit for this one, I just opened the door.
"You sell yourself short," Damascian stated.
Alkaline cut in next. "You're the one who reforged the Teeth, and it was your example that got her foot in the door. Stop downplaying yourself and take some fucking pride in what you've done!"
There would be time to have pride in my Teeth later, but I did take a moment to reflect that a group of axe-crazed supervillains had somehow become the least objectionable force in the Bay. Even Amy was here with us, by choice, instead of with her adoptive family.
"You've done well for yourself." Reflex said softly.
"I'm glad to hear that Amy. Tis but a scratch anyway," My swarm answered. "I'll heal on my own regardless. No need for you to stress yourself over it."
Amy snorted. "You're literally down an arm and planning war against an Empire irregardless of that fact… We can see about regrowing your arm later. Your muscles are hyper dense, we might need more than your blood power for it."
"If you insist." The bugs mumbled.
"That one won't work," Dinah interjected, pointing at a potential plan. "Too many bad ends if you try to do this privately. Greater than sixty percent chance someone in this room dies before the week is through."
I crumpled the paper on the spot. "Thanks Omen, good catch."
She preened under the praise as Big Robbie ruffled her hair. I'd been worried the man might hold a grudge against the girl for almost killing him, but if anything it just made him respect her more.
"Well, Kaiser has to maintain the illusion that it's business as normal for Medhall," Lisa said, pulling a few files forward. "Most of their capes hold prominent positions as a way to launder their Empire funds into their civilian lives. We can exploit that now that the Rules aren't in play."
"How so?" Alice asked.
"By being supervillains, how else?" I said with a wide grin. "Here's what we can do…"
Friday April 22nd, 2011
"What Parahuman Experts are calling the second coming of the Boston Games continues for the third straight day of continued bombings by the cape now known as Bakuda. Street level fighting has been limited to the downtown region as the Protectorate struggles to keep the combined forces of Boston's villain scene contained. Stay tuned at ten for a full breakdown of the ongoing conflict."
"I'm not sure which is more insulting, her bastardized name or how unoriginal it is," Quarrel snapped.
Stratego sighed. "No one naming themselves what amounts to 'bangy' could ever be taken seriously."
"Bang! Zoom! Straight to the moon!" Marauder cheered.
"I would give almost anything to be able to strangle you right now," Fester mumbled in a cold fury. Mom hadn't liked the context of the quote — or that old sitcom in general — either.
While the commentary was difficult to ignore without muting the Butchers, I barely paid any attention to the Friday morning news itself as I donned my costume, flexing and stretching my regrown arm as I did. Amy did good work, though people would be wondering how the hell I had a new arm so quickly. I needed my arm restored both for this morning's planned execution and the inevitable awkward conversation with Dad; luckily, he was at Alan's house and I was friends with the world's grumpiest healer.
Biomass had been provided both by Alkaline's power and me demolishing the Fugly Bob's Challenger. The latter had been on the Butcher's to-do list for a long time, but my predecessors were not exactly known for their ability to go out in public. Butcher XV, on the other hand, had borrowed Knockout's Brooklyn accent and dressed to the nines as a blonde college student.
Chrissie and I had shared a celebratory milkshake, afterwards.
The other Butchers were actually following the news about their old stomping ground. "Gotta love that bias against villains in the media," Sabertooth grumbled.
"Yeah, odds are Accord is doing all the heavy lifting while the Protectorate has a thumb up their ass," Marauder added.
"Sound familiar?" Fester chimed in with a chuckle.
"In other news, a human trafficking ring headed up by the Gesellshaft was intercepted in Philidelphia late last night as the supposed ringleader, James Fleischer, was arrested while attempting to board an international flight with a suspended passport. Details are unknown but an official statement was made that he was flying out with at least one underaged victim at the time."
"Holy shit," Sabertooth muttered.
"Was that us?" Knockout wondered.
"It might have been Lisa," Chisel said. "It would fit with how she likes to manipulate things."
"You'll have to ask her, because fuck the hell yes if was," Fester cheered.
"Now, please welcome our special guest, Mr. Max Anders, CEO of Medhall!"
The cheesy music fanfare began to play out as he walked out onto the stage, waving to the live audience. His suit was high quality, but not in an obnoxious way, and he carried himself with the confidence and grace of a man who led others. He wore the mask well, but the signs were there if you knew to look for them. I recognized a tic here, a tell there, all from the Butcher's memories of past fights.
"You ready to do this, kid?" Chisel asked.
"It isn't too late to back out," Alkaline added, tossing me that final lifeline.
I watched Max — as Kaiser — give a clearly rehearsed spiel about how much good Medhall does for the Bay on a daily basis, all with that practiced smile on his face. Probably the same smile he wore when he ordered Hookwolf after my dad.
To anyone else, it might have seemed genuine, but to me? It rang false.
Today, the world would learn just how deep the rot ran. The interview continued apace as they exchanged poor excuses for jokes and laughed their fake laughter. It was sickening. I secured my harness as they began to talk up a coming video segment on their cutting edge research. That Kaiser had to keep up the appearances of his civilian life, even as his Empire bled, was about to bite him in the ass in the worst possible way.
Then the video feed switched over, tolling the death knell of an Empire that should have long since been exterminated.
Coil had been a fucking bastard, but he had left a treasure trove of blackmail material in addition to Dinah's trophies. It had been the work of minutes for Lisa to find the appropriate clips from the hidden camera in Coil's files, and not much longer to break into the news station's computer network.
Thus, instead of a canned video of generic people in lab coats doing 'science,' the public of Brockton Bay was treated to a video of the unmasked Empire roster sitting in the Medhall boardroom, listening to Kaiser make grand declarations about how the undesirables would pay.
"Undesirables like the fucking Empire," Fester hissed.
Nothing was censored, every slur was made in that same smooth and articulated voice he'd been using for the interview. It was damning in the worst way; originally, this had been part of a media dump that would out the Empire in full and leave the mess for the Protectorate to clean up.
I had no intention of leaving behind a mess.
A final check of my weapons, and this was it.
My last chance to back out.
"Oh come on, this is the fun part!" Butcher whined.
The worst part? I couldn't even disagree with him. I could leave, and all too easily. It was just another line in the sand that I said I would never cross. One of my last. Sure, I'd killed on accident. I'd even killed in the heat of the moment. I'd never gone into a situation with the full intention of committing premeditated murder.
"On live TV no less!" Marauder cheered.
I pushed him down, mind awhirl at the drastic implications of what I was about to do. If I went through with the plan, there was no going back. I'd be able to justify any killing in the future. I wasn't standing on the edge of a slippery slope any longer — I was planning to do a swan dive off the damn cliff and perform several tricks on the way down.
Did it make me a bad person for feeling nothing about the atrocity I was going to commit?
"Is it really an atrocity?" Quarrel wondered aloud.
"The bastard ordered your dad's death. Fuck him," Chisel said.
"Even if you brought him in, at best they would just Cage him," Ironsides added.
Marauder snorted. "Please, we all know the Gesellschaft would spring him long before he made it there."
Which is why I'm doing this.
"It sucks, but sometimes, shit like this has to be done."
I know… Time to send a message. Keep quiet till I'm done, alright? I need to know this was all me.
Getting a round of affirmations from the chorus, I donned my mask and took a deep breath.
This was it.
No going back.
Kaiser and the host were gearing up for the return from the cut, one which they had no idea was replaced in the external broadcast. A fly buzzed by the window that showed Brockton Bay in all its glory and I took that not-step from my hotel room almost four blocks away. An explosion of flame and shattered glass announced the arrival of the Butcher.
My arrival.
The chair just in front of me flipped over from the concussion wave, sending Kaiser sprawling, while the hosts of the show barely felt a warm breeze. The audience began to scream with understandable panic as I stood up, with the bugs I kept on my costume taking to the air as a veritable plague flowed in behind me through the broken window. Light of the rising sun filtered through the gaps of my swarm, casting everything in writhing shadows.
"Camera feed is still looking good," Lisa said over my coms.
I reached down and gripped a handful of hair and hoisted the bastard up. "Hello there, Kaiser. Imagine my surprise when I saw you on the morning news, in civvies no less!"
His voice was choked, and near silent. "B—Butcher… You can't… The Rules —"
"No longer apply after you sent Hookwolf to murder my father," I whispered back.
Surprise and recognition rolled off Kaiser's face as I held him, his mouth moving to say something. I didn't give him the chance as Marauder's rage aura rolled off me, tight and controlled. At that same moment I hit him with a pain blast and applied Fester's touch to his face.
An unhinged laugh — one echoed in my head — tried to claw its way out of my chest while Kaiser screamed in agony, and despite myself, I started to cackle behind clenched teeth. Even without my bugs, it was an unnerving sound.
Then I sent every bug I could to invade his throat, burrow into his ears, sting his eyes and feast on his flesh. My danger sense pinged on his counterattack — steel erupted from nearly every surface around him, and I barely escaped getting skewered by the enraged Nazi by launching myself backwards. The evil fuck's death throes turned the studio into a piece of abstract art as he lashed out indiscriminately.
In the distance, my bugs picked up the rumble of a motorcycle screaming down the street towards the studio, which meant that I was now on a timer. Marauder's aura was short lived outside of direct exposure, so I drew my OTs-62s and let off two shots. Kaiser was still summoning steel obstruction upon steel obstruction within the labyrinth he was weaving around himself, but Quarrel's power again proved to be complete bullshit as the slugs snaked through the tangled mess and found the bugs I had on his shoulders. The explosive rounds tore through flesh and bone like tissue paper.
He flopped back into his own web of steel as the ruined stumps of his arms poured blood all over his art display. In the back of my head, the Butchers whistled — absent a hemokinetic, those were fatal wounds. Still, I wasn't done yet, because I needed this message to be as clear as possible. I teleported, landing inside his mangled cage and knocking the half-shredded man off his feet. Then I grabbed hold of one of his legs and threw him out the window, with my swarm descending after him.
The funny thing about Quarrel's power was that anything I could launch airborne technically counted as a projectile under its influence — including still-kicking bodies. My bugs followed the bastard all the entire way down as he was subtly guided onto a waiting gnat atop a flagpole out front. An opportunistic news crew quickly brought their camera around and trained on his falling body, so they got a spectacular high definition view of him being impaled from asshole to throat before momentum tore him free and sent the tattered remnants of his corpse splattering across the street…
To land directly at Armsmaster's feet.
Then my bugs fell upon the mess and began to feast. For as quickly as my bugs had stripped Menja's leg, she was a giant. Kaiser sure as hell wasn't, no matter how important he had thought himself. Seconds later nothing remained but bone as my swarm dispersed into the winds.
Back in the studio, I turned towards the remaining camera and approached it. Leaning in close, my swarm buzzed in unison with my words. "Let this be a warning to those who break the Rules — he got off lightly."
I vanished with a pop, emerging in my signature howl of flame on the street below amidst Kaiser's skeletal remains. Armsmaster, to his credit, made no hostile actions against me even as I picked up Kaiser's mostly intact skull and held it aloft, looking into the lifeless sockets. Less than a minute prior he had been whole and healthy, now he was naught but bone.
Fuck, I could be terrifying.
"Hell yeah you are!" Butcher cheered. "That was a fucking work of art!"
"I wish I had controlled bugs," Marauder complained.
The rest of the chorus joined in with the congratulations, but I forced down the remaining murderous giggles, the very visceral rush from the battle, and especially my own dark satisfaction. Yes, I had finally rid the city of a problem and done what the heroes had failed to do since before I was born. Yes, the Bay was now a safer place for Chrissie, Amy, and everyone else who the Empire demonized.
Yes, that had been a hell of a lot of fun.
But at this point, my (relative) lack of bloodlust was the only thing distinguishing Butcher XV from her predecessors, and laughing like the maniac that everyone believed I had become would not help my image now. This excessively messy and public execution would be the beginning of Butcher XV's legend, so I forced myself into a stoic, almost bored posture while examining Kaiser's remains.
Max Anders, the man I had just murdered.
I sincerely hoped I never had to do this again.
"That's a good thing, Taylor," Reflex assured me. "You can wield violence, but aren't lost to it. It is a tool, it does not own you."
"Okay, how the fuck is he speaking so much these days?" Sanguine grumbled.
"Because for the first time in a long time, I have a contemporary."
None of us had a chance to respond to that before Armsmaster spoke up.
"Was that necessary?" the hero demanded.
The events of the prior minute played over in my mind as I stared at my newest trophy, but they all came to the same conclusion. I turned my head to face the Protectorate hero and said a single word.
"Yes."
"Stormtiger, Menja, Fenja, Crusader, Victor and Othala all confirmed on site. No sign of Purity," I said from my place in Tattletale's overwatch van. The soon-to-be cadavers had the news playing in the background, and the coverage was all about the Empire and its Medhall ties and the protests already forming in the streets.
"Never thought I would want to watch the news," Alkaline said, to the others' chuckles of agreement. "They're finally showing something good, for once."
"Are their injured down there?" Animos asked as we watched the security camera feeds Tattletale had 'borrowed.' He was hiding with me at the moment, but would deploy with the rest of the Teeth once shit kicked off. His Changer form was too conspicuous and risked spoiling things.
"Crusader has the regeneration currently. He's mobile, but barely," I said, keeping my bugs around them as discreet as possible. "The bimbo is still down her leg and Stormtiger is missing his arm. They're actually arguing about that right now. Victor might be a pedo creep that we're about to rightfully kill, but at least someone is standing up for the girl."
"Even hearing that makes me feel dirty," Fester said with a shiver.
"Unfortunately, his words ring hollow, as if he's reading from a script," Stratego added.
Alkaline snorted in derision. "Yeah, guy's a creep through and through. He's only defending her because he feels it's his job as her owner or some shit."
"Team one is ready," Vex called out.
She was with Robbie's breaching team while the man himself was on overwatch with the biggest rifle we had in the armory. Regent was going with her to throw off any defenders so they could steamroll through them as swiftly as possible.
"Team two, ready," Spree stated. He was going in with Hemorrhagia and Reaver to cut off their escape routes.
"Team three, ready," Ripley said. She was on her own, hiding in the vents currently. Her job was to grab Othala in the chaos and get her into PRT custody, which was about as far as she was willing to go with an operation this brutal.
Of course, none of this was being said over our coms — I was hearing everything through my bugs. The Empire had some type of Tinkertech device set up, listening in to all of the police and PRT chatter, and the one time Lisa had tested our coms, they had picked it up as well. Now we were running garbage transmissions just to keep them from becoming suspicious. Todd's team of drug runners were doing a fine job of that.
As far as I could tell, the Empire remnants had no clue what was about to happen to them. It was unfortunate that Krieg had tried to escape the country without them, as it would have been nice to clean them all up in a single op, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
I didn't want to default to killing. I didn't want being the Butcher to be my first retort, but these were Nazis. People who were willingly associating with the worst examples of humanity. Did they actually deserve mercy?
"Mercy is well and good, but ask yourself this," Pyro paused, considering her words. "If they had Chrissie at their mercy, what would they do to her?"
Dozens of atrocities filled my mind, some from the pages of history, some witnessed by those sharing the space in my head, some further from the lists of vanished unaffiliated capes the Nazis had killed or sold off.
Then another memory was nudged forward, one far more recent and familiar. Dad's injuries after Hookwolf nearly killed him. The look of glee in Cricket's eyes as she readied her blade to spill his blood, the shouts of cheer from the rank and file just before my arrow ended that woman for good.
Nevermind the room full of corpses.
Lisa had run an in depth check on the victims, all white, but not straight. An indirect attack on the two of us, with the implication that it should have been her. Given that, it wasn't hard to picture the Nazi fucks that had attacked Chrissie, imagine her face among the bodies…
"Yeah, you get it," Chisel murmured. "Let the heroes reprogram the girl who was never given a choice, slaughter the rest."
"Better to end the threat than to have it bite you in the ass later," Fester agreed. "They already went after Danny once, don't give them a second chance."
There was one person who might have a dissenting opinion, and I was almost hesitant to ask, but I needed to know. Reflex, anything to add?
A beat of silence echoed through my head as even the usual murmurs of discussion died off. A gentle hum followed as he answered. "Honestly Taylor? Make it quick if it bothers you that much. Kaiser was the message; this is the follow through. You don't need to sell it with them, you just need to act."
Butcher himself whistled. "Even the resident hero agrees with us. Sound the Endbringer sirens!"
"Don't even joke about that!" half a dozen voices echoed.
I still hesitated for a brief instant, then used my bugs to give the order. "Robbie, on your shot." His only response was an affirmative grunt.
I targeted a fly beside the twins, prepared to take out the heaviest hitters as quickly as I could while the rest waited for my fireflies. The signal was rendered irrelevant when a deafening shot rang out, shattering glass as the hypersonic Tinkertech round lanced across the city and turned Victor's head into a modern art exhibit.
"Don't you dare —" "BOOM! HEADSHOT!" "Shut the fuck up!"
One down.
The remains of the Empire barely had time to panic as I burst into existence between the twin bimbos, leveled my OTs-62s upon each, and pulled the triggers. The deafening reports drowned out my explosive entry, but not the twin squelches of Valkyrie brain matter splattering against the white walls. Down the hall, a shaped charge breached the door and Vex spun forcefields all down the length of it.
The cylinders clicked over and my arms moved — coordinated, calculating, targeted. Two more reports, one slammed into Victor's corpse, startling Othala away from the dead monster in human skin, causing her to flinch backwards, to the vent where Ripley deftly dropped down and knocked the healer unconscious.
"Were those… tentacles?" Sanguine asked in awe.
"I prefer to remain ignorant," Damascian retorted. "For all that it could be useful, I enjoy not having eidetic memory among our powers."
The other shot was deflected by a wild torrent of air as Stormtiger rolled off his bed. The man stumbled to his feet, likely drugged to the gills or just disoriented from the suddenness of our attack. That, or Regent was doing his job. He tripped and fell right into Vex's fields, which immediately spun into motion and mulched the man into a red mist.
He died quickly.
It was probably too good for him.
I clamped down the Butcher's laughter and cheers, as this was an execution, not a spectacle. The Empire had only been able to ruin so many peoples' lives due to their relative cape power here in the Bay — even if I had been able to spare them some sympathy, I shouldn't. They weren't just my enemies, but the enemy of anyone with rational thought, of anyone that didn't fit into their neat little picture of reality, enemies of everything good and decent in the world. Mercy would just lead to more victims.
Crusader managed to gather his wits and try to escape, not knowing he was the only combatant still active. He was attempting to create his spectral soldiers, but Vex's force fields were enough to pop his projections as they rushed forward. Rather than grow frustrated, they attempted to flow through the walls, intending to flank her, only to find they couldn't pass through the bugs I had lining the walls inside and out.
"Never understood how she could do that," Quarrel noted.
"True, none of the arrows I've crafted ever managed to destroy his projections," Damascian agreed.
Speculate later!
Frantic, the man directed them outside the windows as he took cover only for another deafening retort washing over us as Robbie let loose another Tinkertech round. It ripped through one of the ghosts and blew a hole through the wall that Crusader leapt through without hesitation.
"Now THAT is bullshit," Quarrel bemoaned.
"Never managed…" Ironsides needled.
"Outsourcing is a viable solution to a problem," Damascian retorted.
"We've got a runner!" I called out, sprinting after him.
My teleport was still down, which meant my ability to intercept was limited. On the other hand, my bugs were surging, which prevented him from using his ghosts to harry me at least. Still, the bugs I had on Spree, Hemorrhagia and Reaver told me they were in motion, moving to ensure that Crusader didn't escape.
I was through the hole after him and immediately regretted it as I saw the grenade bounce off the wall in front of me. Searing hot shrapnel ripped at my costume but I kept running straight through the explosion. My eardrums would regenerate within the minute regardless. Ahead of me, Crusader reached the stairs and he was now shedding ghosts rapidly.
The instant my teleport was ready, I burst into existence in the midst of his spectral guards, popping the majority while the rest burst against my own fists. For a power that was supposed to ignore inorganic attacks, it was surprisingly vulnerable to a good old fashioned beating.
Crusader, in his panic, fell over the banister of the stairwell, landing poorly on the floor below, his arm now bent in the wrong direction. He scrambled to his feet as I fired off a round, a ghost popped into existence just in time to take the hit for him. The concussion wave was still enough to knock him off balance, instinctively catching himself on the nearest solid surface and crying out in agony as his mangled arm was caught between him and the wall.
"It's bullshit that he can selectively make them solid like that," Sanguine complained.
Spree clones burst into the hall at the same moment I landed in the doorway. Crusader looked frantically between us, his back to a window. A fourth floor window. Above us, Othala had been secured and Ripley was spiriting her away from the battlefield, climbing up the side of the building with too many limbs before leaping across to the next rooftop.
"Shit, she would be a nightmare to fight if she was allowed to leverage her full abilities," Chisel remarked.
"Too bad she's only a part-timer," Sabertooth grumbled.
Crusader was trembling as he barely squeaked out, "M-monster."
I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Oh, that's rich. A Nazi lapdog calling me a monster. If I'm a monster, what does that make you? Some say it takes a man to kill a monster, others think only one monster can kill another." I leveled one of my guns on him. "So, which will you be in the end? A man, a dog, or a monster?"
The fucker actually whimpered.
"Dog it is," Butcher snarled.
"Kill him like one of their bait animals!" Ironsides demanded.
"Too good for him," Fester said, pushing several memories forward as suggestions.
There was nothing but terror writ across his face as I readied my swarm behind me in preparation for their feast. That was when I saw the gun in his hand. I almost dropped him as he raised it, only for him to bring it to his own head.
Stunned silence filled the hall and my head as the single gunshot echoed through the hall.
Then Marauder began to cackle.
"He pussed out like a bitch!"
I sighed and holstered my gun. "All teams, final cape neutralized, commence clean up and extraction. Cash and high value items only. Get home, I've still got one last thing to attend to."
Kaiser's skull looked back at me from where I had placed it on the table, the hollow sockets seeming to judge me with their vacant stare. On my lap sat a laughing baby girl who wasn't even out of diapers. She was grasping for the butterflies I kept flitting around her head. On the couch across from me sat an oddly determined Theo Anders. He hadn't been fazed at all by my arrival. In fact, he seemed almost resigned. Given he had grown up with Kaiser as a father, I could understand where his nerve came from.
"You aren't going to hurt her?" Theo asked.
"How insulting! Slap the little bastard for that," Fester demanded.
"He ain't that little…" Knockout said.
"Fat shaming, really? Low blow," Marauder said.
"Coming from the guy that ate people. Really —"
I shoved that argument down into the void, because I didn't need a reminder of the sensation of thousands of bugs literally stripping the flesh from Kaiser's bones.
"Don't forget the giant bimbo!" Sanguine oh-so-helpfully pointed out.
He joined them in the dark.
"This little bundle of joy? Never." I smiled under my mask as said bundle giggled at the butterfly that landed on her nose. "Her mother on the other hand… Well, that's up to her, isn't it?"
My bugs had provided the unnecessary dramatic timing, of course — the woman in question sucked in a breath as she rounded the corner, glowing ever so faintly in the darkness. Small pinpricks of light in her open palms told me she was ready to strike at a moment's notice.
My swarm filled the hall, buzzing out their eerie speech. "Sneaking won't help you, I knew you were coming long before you landed on the balcony."
"Butcher," she snarled.
"Weaver, please," I answered from the living room. "I may have finally earned the name, but it's a title, nothing more."
"Tell that to the man you slaughtered!" she spat, stepping into full view. "You sit there with his daughter, my daughter, as your hostage."
"Not quite. I sit here with the hostage of the man that used her to bind you to him. Today, you are free." I ever so carefully passed the girl over to Theo, who took her gingerly.
Purity kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, even after Theo carried the child over to her. She wrapped little Aster in a near crushing hug, yet never took her eyes off of me, which was silly. Everyone who knew me was well aware that watching my physical body did jack shit for helping someone counter me.
"Let them dream," Pyro snickered.
"You're free to leave the Bay… so long as it's permanently. This offer shall remain until sunset tomorrow. Any hostilities within Brockton Bay will void this truce offer. Feel free to make new lives for yourselves, just not in my city."
Kayden froze. "Just like that? We're free to go?"
"Theo here isn't old enough to take custody and you never raised your hand against the Teeth since your departure from the Empire. I'm sure it was out of fear of accidentally killing the Butcher, but I'm willing to overlook past actions exactly once. Don't waste my generosity."
"You're asking me to uproot everything in my life."
"You're no better than Kaiser in my book and I would love to send you to whatever hell he is rotting in. No child should be deprived of a loving parent, yet at the same time, your influence on the girl worries me, Purity. My advice? Drive down to Boston or New York and turn yourself in. They love a good villain redemption story and hand out second chances rather liberally." I couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, present company excluded. You however? They'd snap you up and probably move you to sunny LA alongside Alexandria."
My swarm kicked up all around us, a perfect smokescreen from the retrieval of Kaiser's skull. When I settled the bugs, Theo held Aster once more and Purity was blindingly bright, radiating like a small sun within her apartment. Both her palms were aimed right at me.
"Oh yes, kill me," I deadpanned as I stepped closer. "You'd make the day of the thirteen assholes in my head. Reflex would probably be happy too, now that I think of it. They've always wanted to fly and shoot lasers. Funny how we haven't gotten a Legend package yet."
Purity dimmed back to Kayden in almost an instant.
Alkaline chuckled. "It will never cease to be amusing how people forget that you're the goddamn Butcher."
"It really is quite comical," Stratego agreed.
"She's somehow reasonable, and shit your pants horrifying all at once," Marauder nodded along.
Just to prove the point and make sure she understood, I hit her with a pain blast. She fell to the ground screaming as Theo scrambled away, clutching the child as if he could shield her from me.
"It is unfortunate you aren't of age," I said to him, "as you would be far better suited for raising your sister."
"You're a monster," he growled.
"No, the real monsters are those that proudly proclaimed themselves to be Nazis." Another burst of pain had Kayden screaming out once more. "She oversaw dozens of girls being sent to the Gesellschaft for breeding stock. She did nothing to stop the persecution and murder of every minority group in the Bay, and that assumes she ever stopped doing it herself. She came crawling back to the Nazis when the chips were down rather than walk away. She needs to understand that her leaving my city alive is a gift most generous."
"You would kill her in front of her own daughter?" He whispered.
"Alas, poor Kaiser." I sing-songed as I held up his skull. "What happens when someone pisses me off?"
"You melt our face off and have bugs eat the rest," My swarm answered.
"Correct. Remember, I did that to him on live TV before you ask more stupid questions. You have my terms, Kayden. Best to get packing so you can get the fuck out of my city before I change my mind and get… creative. I have fourteen rather enthusiastic tutors, after all."
With my warning delivered, my swarm rose back up, filling the room with chitin as I teleported away. Kayden gasped for air, her form trembling until well after the bugs vacated the premises. Only once she was sure I was gone did she spring into motion as she began to hastily pack her shit.
"I love it when a plan comes together," Stratego said.
Sabertooth nodded. "Smells like winning to me."
So, the stench of Nazi bitches pissing themselves?
"Same difference."