Snuggles the Symbiote

I'd heard of Hatchetface. He was a hulking brute of a man with a severely scarred face. He was a perfect example of what Armsmaster had said about Parahumans having permanent issues from how they got their powers: Originally a somewhat heroic vigilante aiming to protect people from parahumans like the ones that brutalized him, he eventually devolved into psychosis and violently murdering any Parahuman, especially brutes, who reminded him of his attacker. As the story goes, Jack Slash dueled him to a standstill and then convinced him that the Nine were the lesser of two evils and that he could kill more abusive and "abusive" brutes if he traveled the country with their band of psychos.

And look where that had gotten him: A twisted corpse kept alive and dragged along with tinker-tech. His skin tough from preservatives and gross surgical scars all over his body, especially around his head and neck. The Frankensteinian cross-stitching across his forehead, cutting through his old scars, made me think that whatever had been done to reanimate him involved at least one major lobotomy.

Unfortunately, I doubt that this made him less dangerous. An aura that nullified powers and a near-invulnerability to harm didn't exactly require much in the way of brains to make dangerous. And it wasn't just him to worry about, he was carrying Bonesaw piggy-back and the dozen or so spider-boxes surrounding us weren't a good sign, either. Bonesaw had a cylinder of some kind on her back, with wires running from it to what looked like that old glove-gimmick controller that Nintendo made before Kyushu tanked Japan's economy and they went out of business.

And Armsmaster was carrying Sophia, meaning either the most experienced cape here was either out of the fight before it began or he had to set her down and risk her getting hurt.

It wasn't the worst-case scenario. My Spider-Sense was still working, and my enhanced attributes were changes to my physiology. If those powers were still working then Ashley's probably were too, and Ms. Marvel's as well.

"Miss Marvel," Armsmaster began.

"Ms."

"Ms." Armsmaster conceded "Don't be fooled by Bonesaw's youth, she has a body count in the thousands and those are the lucky ones. She has been deemed too dangerous to capture alive and has been sentenced to death by trial in absentia. I don't know you, but I do know you're not familiar with how heroics works in this world so I'm warning you now: If you are not comfortable using lethal force against a child, you can either start smashing robots or you can take Shadow Stalker and try to run for it."

Ashley stepped forward. "Or we could do the right thing instead of the easy thing."

Her mask split at the seem, revealing her sharp fangs, becuase the giant mouth opened too wide and pulled back over her actual head and vanished into the neck of her costume. "Cuddlebug?" I asked.

"Weaver, I saw the warning about our identities getting leaked. It's not a big deal, most of the heroes back home have public identities and most of the ones who don't aren't that concerned with keeping it secret" Ashley shrugged as she sprouted two biomechanical tentacles and lifted herself to be eye-level with Bonesaw. "Riley? Riley Davis?"

"It's Bonesaw," the murderous child corrected.

"I don't think it is, but okay," Ashley continued. "I have a few questions. You're after me, right? Bloodbath said he was trying to steal your kill. Why me?"

"That jerk," Bonesaw dismissed. "As for you, after that live stream you did, the PRT posted a recording of that lecture you did on Mutants. You're adorable in a robe and mortarboard, by the way."

"Thank you."

"And for the last long while, I've been working on figuring out how all of these so-called clones, who don't have coronas or gemmas or even passengers at all it seems, whose powers are locked away in their DNA works." Bonesaw raised her ungloved hand above her head, as though she was trying to swat something away. "And you know how this all works. You're even one of those people yourself. I just want to... pick your brain, you know? And maybe when I'm done... I've always wanted a sister and my first choice for a big one got shot."

"That sucks."

"I know! And even worse, once we got into town I went to the graveyard to steal her body and some jerk already dug Panacea up and ran off with the whole coffin. They can't have done it more than an hour before I got there."

Ashley made a noise akin to what I suspect an incredibly pissed-off tiger would make. "Sorry, go on."

"So, I figure since my choice for big sister isn't an option I could try being the big sister," Bonesaw finished, "and.. you're what? Eight? Nine? Since I'm going after you anyway, two birds, one stone."

"I'm ten," Ashley corrected.

"Still younger than me."

"But... You don't have to do any of this," Ashley said. "If you'd just asked me, I'd have told you what you wanted to know to the best of my ability."

"But this way's more fun," Bonesaw countered.

Ashley cocked her head. "Is it really?"

Bonesaw scoffed. "Of course it is. Just asking you is too easy. I don't get to kill anyone that way."

"What I'm trying to say," Ashley continued, "is... Are you happy?"

My Spider-Sense turned off. Bonesaw smiled nice and wide. Disturbingly wide. A fake smile. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be happy?"

"I mean... Do you like killing becuase you like killing," Ashley continued, "or because Jack Slash told you to like it?"

"Cuddlebug," Armsmaster interrupted, but Ashley turned back and raised a hand and he didn't press the issue.

"I'm not sure I understand the question," Bonesaw said. Hatchetface kneeled down and Bonesaw climbed down off of his shoulders... Holy shit. Was Ashley actually getting through to her?

In response, Ashley lowered herself back down to the street. "Ever since I found out about you, I've been trying to figure out how someone your age ends up doing this. I did my homework on you. Jack Slash?" Ashley continued. "He's uh... really good at getting people to do what he wants, right?"

"...Yeah."

"And you've been with him ever since you were what? Five? Six?"

"Yeah," Bonesaw replied with a 'no duh' expression.

"So... How do you know that any choice you've made since then has been your own decision?" Ashley asked. "How do you know that you're not just doing what Jack wants you to do? That he's not just using you and making you think you want to do what he wants you to do?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Riley scoffed. "Mister Jack loves me." She did the thing again, waving her hand like she was trying to shoo away a bug. And she muttered something, "not now." That was a new behavior. As far I knew, she'd never been seen doing that before.

"Does he, though?" Ashley asked. "Or is he just using you?" Ashley walked a bit closer "Search your feelings. And come on. There are laws to protect people like you. Surrender, tell people you're sorry... They'd probably make you stay in a mental hospital for a bit, but... You're a medical science wizard. You could probably cure cancer if you wanted. Eventually, they'd let you out cause you're too useful not to." Ashley extended a hand. "You can be good. And I can't be your little sister, but I can be your friend."

Bonesaw... Bonesaw walked forward. She took Ashley's hand. Holy shit. And then she smiled. And opened her mouth.

"How stupid do you think I am?"

She flexed her fingers on her other, gloved hand and...

...Why was I fighting? Why was I doing anything? What was the point of it all? Why did everything hurt so much?

"Do you think you're the first person to try something like this?" I could hear Bonesaw say over the sound of Ashley sobbing. "That people haven't tried to mess with my head like that before? Everything you've just said is something I've heard a million times. what makes you think it'd be any different coming from you?"

I was on the ground. I could see Ms. Marvel's feet as she ran past me... What was the point though, and... Master. This was some kind of master effect. Master Stranger protocols... What should I be feeling? Protocols said that I should try to figure out how I should be feeling and act that way...

I heard a smack of flesh on flesh. I pushed myself up and saw that Ashley was on her knees while Bonesaw had her by the wrist. Ms. Marvel had turned her fist into a hammer and had apparently hit Hatchetface, who'd moved between Bonesaw and Ashley and the rest of us.

"As for you being my friend?" Bonesaw continued. "You're not special. There are hundreds of pre-teen capes I could get to be my little sister, I was only considering you becuase you were already in my line of sight, but now I'm mad at you. Do you know what I did to the last person who tried to mind whammy me like that?"

Between sobs, Ashley choked out a "no."

"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. Then I threw it back up and told Siberian that I wasn't interested in trying her diet in any way, shape, or form anymore. Which is honestly for the best," she continued. "I'm crazy enough without throwing a prion disease on top of it... But seriously, that Lecter guy's supposed to be a gourmet chef and an epicurean but what the heck, that was just nasty. Besides, kids my age really shouldn't drink wine. Jack didn't mind me trying it, but still."

Bloody furious. That's how I should be feeling. I stood up completely. In time to hear Ashley choke out "Amarone."

"What?"

"In... In the novel... He said that he ate the liver with... a big Amarone... They changed it in the movie, but... Chianti isn't good with liver. Amarone is."

"I think it's weird that you know that," Bonesaw said. "Like, all of it. I'm a demented freak who's jaded to violence so it makes sense that I'd watch a movie like that, but what's your excuse for reading a book like that at your age? And why do you know what wines pair with what? And why are you correcting me on this when I'm threatening you? You're weird."

The shapeshifting Ms. Marvel had Hatchetface occupied. A quick check back showed Armsmaster fretting over Sophia, who was having some kind of freakout in her sleep, and then I turned back. Bonesaw was occupied with Ashley. If I approached slowly, then maybe, just maybe...

"You don't... have to do this," Ashley managed to say.

"No!" Bonesaw shrieked shrilly. "It doesn't work like that! Life doesn't work like that! Life isn't a cartoon where you can stop the bad guy by being friends with her!" She slapped Ashley. "Life is a cruel joke. We're all born here in a horrible word that doesn't give a darn about any of us just to suffer and die for no reason. Jack taught me that. The only thing anyone can do is do what they can to have fun. The thing I think is fun? It's making my art, just like Jack showed me."

While I snuck around, trying to get behind Bonesaw, Ashley stood up, pulled her hand from the killer's grasp, and whipped tears from her face. "I don't believe that." She didn't have to choke her words out anymore. "I'm sick. I was basically born that way. Without my symbiote, I can't even stand most days and I'm probably gonna die before I turn sixteen. I could give up and moan and complain... But where I'm from, we have people called heroes."

"We have those here too, idiot!"

"Where I'm from, heroes are people who always do the right thing, no matter what, no matter how much it hurts," Ashley corrected. "And they never, ever give up. And I decided that I wanted to be like that and decided that I'd use every day to try and be my best self, even if it was pointless, and to help people if I could. By the way," Ashley finished, "being your best self instead of letting life or other people keeping you down or define you? Trying to do something worthwhile in a world that might be pointless? That's what Nietzche meant. I think Jack read one of his books and misunderstood it."

As I got behind Bonesaw, who was enraptured in her argument with Ashley, Ashley stuck her hand out again. "So tell me, do you want to keep hurting people, killing people because Jack told you too? Or do you want to do something constructive and meaningful?"

Bonesaw shrieked and started flailing her arms at something only she could see. "Shut up! Shut up you stupid box! Stop agreeing with her!" She'd lost it. She'd gone completely insane.

Just as I got behind her with my baton raised, Bonesaw snapped her fingers and each Spider-Box produced a small cylinder, maybe a centimeter across and an inch tall, topped with a red light. The lights flashed on and the boxes let out a loud, high-pitched whine.

I immediately lost balance and fell to my left, landing on my side. Not only was I feeling horrific existential dread and depression because of whatever the power glove was hooked up to, now it felt like I was being stabbed in the ears.

I wasn't the only one who fell. Ashley was screaming and rolling on the ground with her hands over her ears. Mister Snuggles was melting away from her. I tried to pull myself to Bonesaw, to pull her down, to make her stop, but my vision started to blur and it got hard to concentrate. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Bonesaw making Hatchetface pick Ashley up out of Mister Snuggles and start to walk off.