Doctor Mother
The five of us sat around the table, Contessa was off using the path to smooth out something important, Number Man was doing calculations while the three heroes glared at me. Alexandria slammed the newspaper on the table.
"Please convince us again why these maniacs need to live."
Ugh, this again.
"We talked about this, they're important to the plan, and Siberian might be useful in taking out Scion."
Hero rolled his eyes.
"Ok... now just roll with me here, how about we, um you know, change the plan? Because right now where I'm sitting, this is just a really shitty plan."
"They're potential assets that we might need."
He leaned forward.
"So we're going to forget the part were they, you know bisected me, right? Because I kind of remember that and as bad experences go, it's on the old top ten list."
I thought it over.
"You got better."
"Right, right doc, and how exactly did that happen? Oh yeah a fucking Endbringer had to save my ass. The same Endbringer who's wife and children were attacked by the fucking Slaughterhouse 9 while he was killing another Endbringer."
He paused.
"Come on Doc, let us end these shits."
I looked over at David.
"I agree with Hero, Ironwood may not be human but he's one of us, the Nine have done nothing but murder, rape and destroy, they deserve to die."
"You're not being rational about it, you're emotionally compromised."
His eyes narrowed and he frowned.
"You know what maybe I am, he saved one of my friends life, he's fought by my side during quite a few Endbringer battles, he's put his ass on the line for us, healed anyone who got injured, he's a friend, and when a friend's family gets threatened by a bunch of psychos, I get angry. I'm with Hero, kill them."
"Alexandria, please talk some-"
"No... No I'm on their side on this one, the Nine are a theorectical asset at best. Ironwood is a proven asset. Ironwood has given us useful intelligence, has made the case 53's into a useful asset, has given us access to needed resources, and is currently the only proven anti-Endbringer weapon we have."
She paused.
"Even with his anti Tthinker capabilities we do have a profile on him that we can plan around. His wife, his children, these are the proven levers of control that we have over him. The Nine threatened our ability to control a crucial asset. They need to die."
"All three of them are perfectly fine."
Alexandra frowned.
"Because they went in blind and their intelligence was bad, that won't happen a second time."
I thought about it.
"Number man."
He looked up.
"If Jack wanted me to defend him then he shouldn't have left me to die."
He went back to work, I looked at my notes.
"So how is PR handling it?"
Alexandra's frown deepened.
"Three members of the Slaughterhouse Nine died, but they took out quite a few agents before they escaped again. The special district has closed ranks around Icy, all of them had kill orders and legally speaking it's self defense. As for the public they're known psychopaths with kill orders on their heads, she's a recognized hero who was defending her children while her husband was off defending Mexico city. It's an open shut case of self defense. That said, back to the original issue which is they need to die."
Their arguments were compelling.
"Contessa."
"'m very busy."
"How important are the Nine to the plan?"
"I don't know but if they're eliminated, it's going to cause us to have more steps, a lot more steps."
I looked up from the phone.
"A compromise, if they ever set foot in Washington state again you have full reign to do as you wish."
They looked upset.
"I'm sorry but no one important died, and we have to make compromises if we want to stop Scion."
There was grumbling, but we were all used to the moral compromises our organization had to do, though I will admit that the more emotional part of me agreed with the concensus of the group.