"You're new here, right?"
Taylor couldn't help but eye the student who had come over to speak with her, with her lunch, with suspicion.
She didn't look much like what she'd seen of her fellow Wards, but then again Roulette had made a point of how distinctive her Wards look was and how she didn't look similar in civilian life.
"Yes," she replied shortly.
"I thought I hadn't seen you around before. So, why'd you transfer?"
"It seems unlikely for her to leave if your answer was not enough."
"Not to mention the way she started eating."
"Yeah, you'd better answer. Say something about us."
"A bad case of bullying," Taylor decided to answer, before taking a bite of her own lunch. While chewing she came up with an idea for something else she could add. "Rumour was the main bully was a Ward."
It technically wasn't a rumour, but it would be now.
Bonus points for being one hundred percent true.
The other girls eyes widened.
"What, were you in a gang or something?"
"I was just about the only member of the student body who wasn't," Taylor answered dismissively. "And they weren't even subtle about it."
"Wow. I can see why you'd want to move after something like that. Do you have any idea why they went after you?"
"No clue. All I know is I went to camp and when I came back my former best friend was turning everyone against me."
She quite enjoyed the look of shock on the other girls face, even as she continued eating her lunch.
"That sounds like one of the horror stories about Masters," the girl finally responded.
"I somehow doubt that nobody else would have noticed," was Taylors dry response.
"Yeah, often a Masters influence can be felt like a voice in your head, and there's no way for someone else not to notice something like that," a Butcher agreed.
"And after something like that I can't imagine you'd be looking for new friends," the girl pondered out loud.
Taylor gave a pointed look around her, taking in the way her table was in a corner, her back to the wall and nobody else nearby.
The girl noticed, causing her to blush.
"My parents keep telling me I need to make friends, but I really can't handle groups of people," she confessed. "So seeing you alone here…"
Taylor sighed quietly. It was quite clear she wasn't about to get rid of this girl.
"It would be easy. Just a quick pain blast and-"
"She'd give herself away!"
"And have to join the Teeth! It's perfect! No flaws at all!"
"Except the way there are so many Wards and potential Triggers around," a saner voice pointed out.
"And it would ruin any chance she has with the girl," a less sane voice pointed out, causing Taylor to choke on her food even as her cheeks went red. "Which would be a real shame given how cute she is."
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Taylor managed, once she'd used her drink to wash the mouthful down.
"That's good… er, sorry we haven't introduced ourselves yet have we? I'm Ana Flynn."
"Taylor," she replied, awkwardly shaking Ana's proffered hand.
"So, Taylor, what do you do in your free time?"
Taylor hesitated. "I'm currently looking for a part time job. I kinda need the money."
Ana laughed. "Saying something like that sounds like you're in trouble with a gang, or looking to join one."
"There's an idea, go after a gang to get the money."
"That she needs for her new costume, moron," a different Butcher pointed out.
"It's not like that, I just have something in mind but currently don't have the money," Taylor assured her.
"You mean like a game or something? A computer game or one of those tabletop ones were you build your army?"
"Those can be fun," a Butcher agreed wistfully. "Shame my successor destroyed my forces."
"They were skeletons and I remember Marquis! What did you expect, Shaper?"
There was a pause.
"Wait, Shaper actually said two full sentences?"
The Butcher in question didn't respond.
"Uh, Taylor? Are you okay?"
"Sorry, just a bit distracted. I haven't been sleeping," she told Ana. "But no, that wasn't what I was thinking off. I have heard they can be fun though, so maybe…"
"There is an outlet around somewhere, and they always seem to be looking for part-timers," Ana commented helpfully. "Of course they do prefer people experienced with the game…"
"I was thinking something that didn't involve customer interactions," Taylor admitted, thinking about the response she could get from the PRT if they found her taking on a part-time job like that.
Of course, if she was seen with a potentially expensive hobby like that, they would be unlikely to realise why she was really doing this…
Ana shrugged. "Can't think of anything else off-hand."
"Wasn't that mostly from my own comments?"
{}
To Taylors lack of surprise, barely minutes after she started searching for a part-time job on the PRT supplied laptop in her room, Bastion showed up to talk.
"The PRT has a watch in place for signs of employees having money troubles," he started without preamble.
"It's more for something to do in my spare time," Taylor responded. "It wouldn't feel right to spend PRT money on a hobby."
"You have free access to the gym and training facilities."
"You may not have noticed, but I am not the most athletically inclined of people," Taylor pointed out. "And something that won't leave me too worn out to stand sounds a lot more relaxing. Besides, it's not as if I'm even going to be announced until the Butcher situation is cleared up, am I?"
"Which is why it's so concerning that you're looking for something outside the PRT building," was Bastions response.
"You expect the new Butcher to just randomly attack me in the street in case I turn out to be a Cape?"
"What sort of reputation did we end up with? And why?"
"You may not know the darkness that lurks in the heart of man, but I do! No matter how they may appear I see and bring judgement to them! And so let it be with Bastion!"
"I retract my second question."
"Rather than that," Bastion was finally responding, "it is more likely for you to be caught up in the new Butchers attacks by coincidence."
"You mean like the encounter with Spree and Blasto a few days ago," Taylor commented.
"Beat me by seconds," a Butcher complained.
"Do we even have a name for this Butcher?"
"PR's going with 'Aztec'," Bastion answered.
Taylor frowned. "That seems… a bit random."
"They removed Quarrels heart."
"I'm pretty sure that was Mayans, or was it Inca? One of them anyway, who cut out hearts…"
"The public associate it more with Aztecs," Bastion stated firmly. "In any case, given the risks of Butcher attacks on any possible place of work it is my duty to forbid you from finding part-time employment. We simply do not know if there will be a repeat of the 'tournament crashing' incident from Shapers time as Butcher."
"Tournament crashing?"
"He had the ticket to compete and was still resisting the others," Dodger helpfully commented. "Might have gotten away with it if he hadn't teleported in. And if he'd changed his clothes. The counterfeit models didn't exactly help either…"
"Made entirely from officially supplied parts," Shaper disagreed.
"It is still unknown exactly why Butcher VIII went to the gaming tournament," Bastion stated, completely unaware that Taylor was receiving the story from the horses mouth, "what is known is that his arrival caused a number of injuries to contestants followed by injuries to security when they tried to detain him. Reports were that one contestant went missing after the attack, but that is unconfirmed."
They thought Shaper kidnapped himself, was Taylors disbelieving reaction.
"Sounds about right for the PRT," a Butcher commented.
"Sounds like a bad time to get into tabletop gaming," Taylor responded out loud.
"What makes you say tabletop gaming?"
"I haven't heard of any minor videogame tournaments and there would be a lot more publicity for the Butcher attacking a major event," Taylor stated in defence of her knowledge.
Bastion hesitated for a moment.
"Sorry. For the first week after we get a new Butcher we have to keep an eye out for them, in case we can imprison them before they get used to their powers or get driven mad. It can make us paranoid, seeing connections were they don't exist."
"Or sometimes when they do," the peanut gallery pointed out.
"I can understand that," Taylor allowed. "But you know the basis of my power. How am I supposed to tear someones heart out?"
"Powers often contain components that the Cape is unaware of. The original Butcher is an example in fact. Until Butcher IV we didn't have any idea that they could pass from Cape to Cape."
Taylor nodded slowly.
His point did make sense, even if it did come rather closer to her situation than she'd have liked.
"Since Butcher IV we haven't had this long between Butcher appearances," Bastion continued, "which is hardly reassuring."
Taylor stifled a wince.
It seemed she'd need to go out as Butcher after all.
"It is a good opportunity to collect the funds for your other costume," Dodger allowed. "As long as you can find a gang with money to collect."
"Try Blasto," Butcher suggested
"I'll… bear that in mind," Taylor said out loud.
{}
"Right, so tonights plan is to track down criminal money for a costume."
"We know that!"
"I just want it clearly stated. There are different approaches to finding crime depending on if you want their money or simply to stop them."
"Crime is crime! See a criminal and-"
"It is important to consider the consequences of your actions," Dodger interrupted VII.
"Why do you have experience going after criminals for money?"
"Sometimes I ran low on rent money. Anyway, another approach to bear in mind is going after bounties, but that will work better when you aren't identifying yourself as Butcher and there is a bounty in town. Now, something to bear in mind is how much money you need for your goal."
"Could shape a costume yourself."
There was a pause from Shapers comment.
" #&!, we could have used your power to make our costumes? Why didn't you say anything?"
"Destroyed my army."
Taylor hesitated. To her that didn't sound that bad, but if Shaper was particularly attached to them…
"So it's all Berserkers fault."
"I couldn't control my anger and they reminded me of Marquis! None of you know what it was like back then."
"I think I'll still need good materials for the costume," Taylor decided. "After all, the whole point is that I need something to keep my Brute abilities secret."
"Now I'm pretty sure you want to remain 'heroic' if possible, so we need to track down a good source of cash from a valid target for both Butcher and heroes. Someone like Blasto could work."
"If we knew where he was. Oh, but we don't, as proved by the fact he's still around!"
"Do I have to go after a valid target for the Butcher?"
"If you want to stop the PRT worrying so much about the Butcher not being active."
"Wouldn't they find it strange that I'm going after a target like that straight away?"
"We all had our successors voices in our heads from the start, even if we kept our own goals. It tended to start the same, changing targets slightly to keep in the voices good books, then as they grew stronger and the constant talking and lack of sleep took their toll shifting objective more and more until we were leading the Teeth or stuck in someone elses head."
"So nothing suspicious about it?"
"Except how many days you were in hiding for," Amazon answered. "They aren't used to cowardly Butchers."
"Which is, of course, why we're up to XV."
Taylor sighed and made sure her 'Butcher costume' was fitted properly.
"So where do you recommend?"
{}
Drug dealers were hardly unknown in the cities, especially after the appearances of each Endbringer.
They were often used as a source of funds for parahuman run gangs, to the degree that, even if the public weren't exactly aware, just about no such gang avoided such a source of income.
The Dealer, the only name he used for his Cape identity, had no other way to make money.
An unfortunate Trigger had left him with a Tinker specialty for drugs.
On the plus side he could manage the addictiveness and side effects of his products, maximising his earnings.
On the other, he was unable to afford to leave Boston, with its PRT presence, the Teeth, Blasto, Accord and how many other Cape groups, nor was he able to find any middlemen to sell to actual customers.
As such he was stuck either maintaining his 'lab' or tracking down clients for his product.
And all the while keeping an eye out for Capes, either heroes looking to get him off the streets (and to hell with his client base) or fellow suppliers not wishing to share the market, seeing as he wasn't exactly able to fight anyone, not with the powers he had been dealt. And without any intention to be part of that side of Cape culture he had never bothered with any kind of mask or costume beyond his 'work clothes'.
He had finally tracked down a likely candidate, most people hanging around alleyways at this time of night being there for his business one way or another, and was approaching the teen, playing catch with a bottle of his product to make it apparent this wasn't the prelude to a mugging.
"Hello there," he called in a friendly manner, the first step to securing a sale as his former job (before that jealous git gor him canned) had taught him, "you look like you could do with a pick-me-up."
The teen raised their head, giving him a look beneath their hoodie.
They were wearing a skull mask.
The Dealer froze, bottle ready to throw.
He had heard from some of his customers that there was already a teenage parahuman gang selling drugs in the area, one of those groups that appeared and disappeared all the time.
And he'd just run into one of them.
"Shit," he managed, seeing the teen bringing up a glowing hand.
"Fine, you were right about there being something going on around here," a voice said from behind him.
He turned his head, the only part of him still able to move, to see a black clad figure, clearly of the Cape variety given the mask, approaching alone..
Alone but talking with someone, seemed to indicate support more in line with a hero (or Accord but they weren't in a suit so it seemed unlikely), which was less likely to result in his death at least.
Then he remembered the rumours of the most recent Butchers death…
{}
This, Taylor considered, wasn't how she'd expected a Cape fight to go.
The apparent mugging victim, who VII insisted was a drug dealer and should have his body left for the police, was frozen on the ground while the other was backing away, firing greenish balls of light or energy or something in her general direction.
Between Dodger and Detonators contributions to her powerset, this wasn't exactly too threatening.
Her own power would have been an option too, but so far there had been so few shots 'on-target' that she had only needed to teleport once, bringing her to a point a few steps ahead of the Cape, leaving enough distance that, VII assured her, he wouldn't need any kind of Brute powers to remain unharmed.
In hindsight, this should have been her first clue.
The shockwave from her appearance picked the unknown off the floor and throwing him in the same direction as his shots.
He… wasn't moving much after landing.
"Not cool VII," Amazon stated firmly. "You're finally getting a hero as a host, why are you so intent on pissing her off?"
"After how you fiends have turned her against me I know better than to expect her to continue my good works without some 'deliberate misinformation'."
"Well I'm not going along with it now," Taylor responded, forgetting to keep it non-verbal.
"Wait, is his blood still circulating?"
The question took Taylor by surprise, taking her a moment to realise what he meant, and another ti realise she still didn't know how to make use of Spotters powers.
Fortunately it didn't take long for them to figure out the problem and instruct her, letting her observe the blood flowing through the Capes veins and arteries.
There was a trend of movement towards his back, which was concerning until she realised it was down to bruising (or maybe scabbing, but she didn't want to think about that).
"Definitely asleep. And the other as well," Amazon stated firmly. "Now, loot the bodies and tie them up for the police."
"I'm surprised you aren't trying to get them killed," Dodger commented. "Pleasantly of course, but surprised nonetheless."
"Nah, too soon to get her to kill outside life or death struggles. I'll wait until she can be persuaded to try."
Taylor groaned. "I'm not planning to kill anyone! Stop making it sound like a foregone conclusion."
"It probably is, the way some people are about the Butcher," Fester said in a consoling manner. "Now, have you considered how to call this in?"
"There's a phone box in the road that way," Taylor answered with a shrug. "Shouldn't be too hard to move them over there and call it in."
"Good to see we don't need to do all the planning for you," Hunter commented. "Just remember, pillage then burn. And onxe you've called them in, consider them burned."
Taylor just nodded, already going through the pairs pockets for loose change.
Hopefully there would be enough for her to sort out her new costume soon…
Omake
"Lead the Teeth... Lead the Teeth..."
Shaper grit his teeth. The voice hadn't paused in its repetitive demands since he had killed the seventh Butcher in self defence when the lunatic attacked him for his creation of 'illegitimate' wargame models.
Turned out pavement was a valid target for his power and could be quite damaging in the right conditions.
In any case, each of his models was made entirely from parts supplied in the kits, so they weren't illegitimate models.
"Fine," he said out loud, "let me attend the tournament I paid to enter, and I'll lead your damned Teeth!"
He took the voices silence as agreement.
Checking the time, he saw it was nearly time for contestants to sign in and followed his instincts to arrive on time.
Unfortunately he was still wearing his basic costume for when he had no choice but to work as a Cape and these instincts came from Detonator.
As such, rather than showing up and getting to take part, he caused a certain level of injuries to his would-be competitors...
"Oops..."
AN: I think I'll give out the stories of the former Butchers in Omakes like this. I've got them figured out up to X, so that's just four to assemble.