Glory And Gore
An omnipresent hum seemed to rattle the tiny bones in his skull to an incessant degree. He blindly reached out and touched bare mattress then discovered cold concrete below that, as Ray refused to open his eyes and witness fresh new nightmares. He rather focused on the stale, dry air that filled his nostrils and the overpowered stink of his own fetid breath. His throat still raw from his empty stomach he tried coughing and clearing his throat.
"Jesus", he spoke to himself as he sat up naked on the mattress. He rubbed his hands on his feet and ankles as he tucked his legs in the lotus position. He looked around and the sole source of light was a battery powered lantern set far from his mattress across the dank cellar.
A towel smacked the back of his head and without thought he called on his speed to spin and face the direction it came from. Instead he diffused and simply remained held in place, a rolling sensation of pressure was what he could sense pressed against his breaker form. He felt about as useless as a convenience store hotdog on hot metal rollers well past it's expiration. The hum of the room was deafening in his breaker state as he felt every molecule of this form locked in place save for their vibrations that allowed them to pull his physical form apart.
Ray materialized back into his naked body now sitting on the towel tossed his way.
"Well, I didn't believe em, damn electromagnets are mostly out of my wheelhouse but it worked - so long as you follow instructions."
Ray craned his head back and caught sight of a slim figure in workman's coveralls, an array of revolvers tucked into a bandolier of holsters across their torso.
"That there is a big wide world of difference between engineering and tinkering", the voice was rough, pitched low purposely adding a masculine quality.
"Where am I?"
"Mind speaking up these babies are still singing from your constant breaker state fits all the while you were passed out."
The hum of whatever construct she set pulsed a moment, as if in example. With a flick of flick of her finger a small vial landed on top of the mattress next to the captive. He picked it up and observed two caplets, one emanated a glow of amber light, the other capsule had the word 'Tylenol' printed down the side.
"Tylenol?", he asked.
"I don't know if all that puke was sick related or withdrawal related but you messed me up good with a second batch of stomach butter when I was getting you down here. And we definitely aren't doing that again. So take those two and don't call me in the morning. I'm not a doctor." She drew a revolver from her bandolier and gestured for Ray to take the pills.
Ray cleared his throat a few times while he picked up and examined the pills again.
A canned energy drink landed on the other side of the mattress next to him, "Subtle, we don't got no drinkable water up in this place so have one of Nega's drinks. They're shit but it is what it is."
The silver can spouted off the health benefits of hemp seed, Avocado oil, and elderberries but the nutrition label revealed water wasn't even in the top five ingredients listed. Ray knocked the cap off the vial and dumped the pills in his palm, and the sound of a hammer pulling back on a revolver accompanied.
"Seriously, no screwing around. Take em", the woman stalked a wide perimeter around the basement and Ray finally caught a better look. Short cropped dark hair, even in the dark her skin had a redness across it, and both her arms were mechanical in nature, one of which did tricks spinning and catching the heavy revolver.
Ray tossed both into his dry mouth, the amber glowing pill felt warmer the longer it sat on his tongue. He cracked open the room temperature energy drink and the thick, syrup coated his mouth and barely helped him down the pills.
"Ack, mierda."
"It's some bad, no good, awful health crap - Right?"
Ray nodded as he gently placed the partially drunk can off to the side of the mattress.
"So we're going to give it a few minutes then we'll shut off these CHCs and we're going to meet the gang."
Ray stood on the mattress and pulled the towel around his waist for modesty's sake, the chanced a question on his mind, "ah, weird question but uh did you build the arms before you removed your actual ones or did you lose your arms then build these after?"
"I lost my real arms then went and built my first set with my mouth and feet."
~~x
"Now Dust Devil, feel free to take a seat. It has been quite the experience, I imagine, so sit - stay - be our guest, sup with us and we'll expand on our business", the tall blonde gestalt of human body parts spoke with a petite woman's head melded to a broad shouldered torso of an elderly man the rest of the parts masked by a long, black silk robe.
Gorehound sat at the head of the long dining table, each member of the collective sat in front of the white card that bore their name. Their leader motioned to the two empty seats, Ray's card sat to the left of Gorehound, and Farewell's sat towards the furthest end on the opposing side. He was careful to keep his towel wrapped about his waist for modesty's sake as he took his seat.
Across from Ray sat Sauin but her appearance was drastically different. Instead of an eerily emaciated woman a carefully colored in orange faced Jack O'Lantern was painted on a more youthful countenance. Her hair was combed and layered with the back half still black and the front half bright green. A tight orange crop top with holes cut out mimicking another jack o' lantern pattern but sporting a frown, the cut outs and bare midriff revealed her flesh was now black as obsidian which highlighted her now white irisless eyes.
Next to Sauin was Negalodon, the brackish skinned beast of a man hunched over his place setting. The hunched position he took revealed the taut muscles and a myriad of scars and healed bullet wounds that left craters of missing flesh on his tall, broad form. A snarl crossed his face, revealing two rows of sharp teeth as his soulless eyes roved over the table's occupants.
Farewell occupied the final place setting on the right side of the table. Her newly shorn, short cropped hair and simple overalls contrasted her slight frame against the tall brute next to her. She pulled a series of tools from the loops and pockets of her work uniform and began disassembly of a break action pistol much like a double barrel flare gun. The wire brush pushed through each barrel caused Negalodon to fight the urge to sneeze.
Beside Ray sat Silicate, their body much less monstrous in nature. The shards of green and red glass that usually composed their form each time Ray met them were mostly gone, their body was predominantly tiny slivers of mirrored glass. The tea lights running down the middle of the table and the flickers of the candles of the chandelier hung above them all gave the androgynous figure a hypnotic brilliance.
Finally, beside Silicate was Ms. Adore. A sheaf of long ginger hair was combed over the shaved other half of her head. An ornate 'C' was tattooed just under her bottom lip, which drew eyes away from her heterochromatic green and amber colored eyes. A matte red pashmina poncho with a white fur trimmed collar complimented the white leather boots she had kicked up on the table as she leaned back in her seat.
Gorehound raised a hand up and beckoned with their hand, at the same moment Ms. Adore made a face of painful concentration when the door nearest the banquet table they shared swung open. In came a small parade of people carrying covered silver platters of food, the people familiar to Ray as they were patients he'd shared film and activity time with. The looks on their faces were vacant while their movements were unsteady but were capable enough to put the platters in front of each dinner guest before shuffling out the door they came.
"Thank you, Eva, dear. Try to keep a couple alive in case Sauin or Negalodon are still hungry later", Gorehound spoke.
Ms. Adore's face relaxed once the order was given, then nodded silently.
"Now don't be shy, feel free to eat, I'll be talking business with our dear Devil here."
Ray cringed, he'd seen this movie before - a family of cannibals bringing a victim to their grisly feast to torture and taunt. Strangely, he still lacked the will to escape. His thoughts strayed to Sophia, news of her capture given to him by Dr. Wagner, his counselor, who was Gorehound in disguise was just enough deception to bring him hope it was a lie, that The Undersiders took her and used her to attack their home at the PRT HQ downtown.
"Where - what happened to Shadow Stalker?" he asked.
"As I said before, she was captured, it's assumed she was controlled by one of the Undersiders, and assaulted the rest of the Wards during their raid on the PRT base."
Ray had never encountered the Undersiders. Sophia had initially fought Grue, he was basically a thief who's darkness power interfered with Sophia's. She has a lot to say about that. The rest she wasn't overly concerned with: Tattletale talked like sheep bleated, Hellhound was a master and acted in concert with her dog monsters, and the bug girl had made a point to violate the truce of Endbringer fights and took advantage of Sophia while she was vulnerable in the hospital. It maddened Dulcinea enough that the Protectorate had knocked the girl around a bit only to let her get healed and release her. He couldn't remember if there were other members, he was sure if they were any more of note she would have bothered to mention them.
Between the catch and release of Sophia's enemies to ensure villain help in future S class fights, and the mess Ray now found himself in, there was no reason left to trust the government teams. When it came down to it the government would choose effectiveness over loyalty. Again they were just tools - essentially child soldiers to be utilized and discarded at their superior's whims. His eyes scanned the table as the grotesque troupe removed their platter covers and revealed - barbecued meats that smelled of chicken and beef, some portions were redder and juicier as Negalodon and Sauin devoured their piles. Farewell was more focused on cleaning her pistols than to open her own platter.
"So, Dust Devil, in full disclosure we work for an organization of rogue's here on the west coast. Our purpose for our sponsor is to mimic the carnage and chaos sown by the Slaughterhouse Nine. Our Sponsor promises safety from the Nine's wrath in trade for loyalty to their cause or better circumstances for trade. Unfortunately the Nine has made its way East in the past few weeks. They may have even already nested in the decaying carcass of the Endbringer's leavings. This causes issue once it comes to light they are no longer on this side of the country."
Ray lifted the cover of his platter, beneath it was a smartphone. With the depressing of the power button the screen came to life, no digital lock present, instead a notification was present at the top of the display near the time. He pulled the drop down menu which revealed the notification was a series of photos. Sophia handcuffed to a bed in the PRT hospital, Sophia in a similar slate gray holding room of the asylum, Sophia in a courtroom eyes narrowed looking down below the judge's desk a man in a suit sat next to her and behind them an older woman with similar features as Sophia but a weariness cast across them. The final photo was Sophia in a prisoner's jumpsuit, the word Parahuman printed down the side as she was being loaded into the back of a secure van.
He flipped the phone down on it lts face back on the platter, "What do you need?"
His host grinned, pleased with Ray's inquiry, "You and Silicate would be working together to do some moderate damage to a series of condominiums and high rise apartments that have been recently opened in Northern California. The location is far too close to forest lands concealing biochemical and botanical tinkers producing supplies for our sponsor. Hopefully you two can convincingly deliver enough damage they'll relinquish their interest in expanding any further."
"So we're wiping out a community?", If Ray had eyebrows he'd have cocked one incredulously.
"No no, you aren't there for the killing - you're there to sell the rapid destruction of windows and electronics in a sweeping wave of chaos, hmm. I pose a question to you... are you familiar with Shatterbird?"
~~x