Slime 12: Slaughterhouse Slime

Kurt was in the office when he saw Danny take the call.

"The Slaughterhouse Nine?!"

Yup, there were three words that you put together and equals shelter-in-place and arm yourself.

"No, she's not here. Last I heard she was going to meet Amy at the hospital and discuss coverage arrangements."

Lacey cleared her throat. "I'm going to make sure the Power Loaders are fully charged, the power armor is ready to go, and the rotary cannon is where we can get to it."

Kurt nodded to her. "I'll put the word out."

Danny quickly dialed a number. Looked like the tour of Brockton Bay to that nice woman in the fedora would have to wait.

* Brockton Bay General *

"Barricade the entries except the East - we'll evacuate everyone we can from there. Load em up, move em out!"

Amy moved past the unit's charge nurse as one of the many voices barking orders and trying to rein in the chaos that came from trying to evacuate a hospital. There were some patients who just plain could not be moved, but with the visitors they were about to get - if the S9 got past the defenders a merciful death was all any of them could hope for.

[We could modify a few orderlies. Give them increased strength and stamina.]

"No," said Amy as she held her phone up to her face to fake taking a call before ducking into a supply room.

[It would improve Host's survival chances to have minions.]

"Look, we've discussed this, and if it weren't for Nilbog and Blasto I would definitely consider doing more and openly. Maybe."

[Damn Nilbog.]

"Agreed," said Amy, finding at least some common ground with her power. "And Bonesaw, who is one of those coming, isn't helping."

[High chance that Host is being sought specifically by Host: Bonesaw.]

"You say many worrying things, and that is one of the most worrying things you've ever said."

[Survival not being a concern of Host is itself concerning.]

"Bounceback's here, maybe the Nine are after her."

[Unlikely: Presence of Anomaly is not widely known.]

"Oh crap." Amy looked at her phone and brought up the speed dial, then stopped before she could press it.

[Likelihood of familial units coming under attack to be used as leverage: 98%. Common tactic by unit known as Jack Slash.]

"Never tell me the odds," grumbled Amy.

At which point her phone vibrated and shattered into many little pieces of plastic and glass.

* Outside *

They were here. Attacking. Boogeymen whose reputation was one of fear and pain. None of the networks or mass media would show the aftermath of the Nine attacking. Too gory, too horrific, too real. Even YouView and similar sites would yank footage rather than be subject to lawsuits from someone who ignored various warnings and actually looked at the carnage left behind. Because obviously warning something was graphic and disturbing wasn't enough to tip some people off.

Some of it lasted long enough, some of it was spoken of enough, some of it was shown heavily edited and remained, some were just still images shared from one individual to another that made the rounds.

The result was something the Nine didn't expect, which was getting to the hospital and finding that instead of hiding - there was a hail of gunfire waiting for them. Thrown bottles of chemicals which hit their vehicles and began eating away at the metal or putting out clouds of vapor that left one feeling numb.

They were the Nine however. Normal people with normal measures weren't going to take them down so easily.

Shatterbird rose on wings of glass into the air alongside Burnscar. Shatterbird flexed her power with a scream and everything with a silicate base became shrapnel to injure those nearby. Swirling jagged-edge whirlwinds of broken glass.

Burnscar advanced towards the hospital only to find someone in her way, flying up to meet her. She enveloped them in flame just as a way to get rid of an annoyance.

"OH NO! I AM UNDONE! MY OLD NEMESIS FIRE! AGHHHH! Just kidding," said the target as she made a gesture and all the fire just siphoned off into one of her hands.

Burnscar moved closer, throwing more and hotter flames at the cape. She grinned as she was finally cutting loose. Was this bat-winged girl in blue someone new? Would her skin turn black and crispy before that plastic-looking costume melted in place?

Then the siphoning moved over Burnscar and she abruptly wasn't there any longer.

Shatterbird began dodging, throwing every bit of silicate in her range at the girl in blue flying there. Unlike Burnscar, she immediately recognized the hero. Kind of a benefit of having a slightly higher attention span. "What the hell?! Since when can you fly?!"

[Firewalls and anti-tamper measures bypassed. Infection of Shard:Pyromaniac begun. Pyrokinesis obtained.]

The girl in blue just moved her hands and the spiraling black-and-blue siphons just acted like a vaccuum cleaner to gather all the pieces and suck them into oblivion. "This morning. Isn't this neat? Oh, and by the way-"

Flame. Fire went out not in a stream or dart but a roaring wall that melted glass.

One arm stretched out and Shatterbird vanished from the air in a spiral of blue and black.

"Nom nom nom!" said the girl in blue as the remainder of the Nine got out of their vehicles.

[Firewalls and anti-tamper measures bypassed. Infection of Shard: Silica Kinesis. Silicate Control obtained.]

At which point something black and white and naked leapt up into the air to reach her while the remainder charged towards the hospital.

Bounceback pointed a hand and all the vanished pieces of glass were released at speed towards the Siberian, which did no damage but did arrest her forward momentum.

Then the Siberian vanished as quickly as Burnscar had.

[Error: Siberian not obtained. Siberian is a physical manifestation controlled at a distance. Tracking subspatial traces. Located.]

Bounceback glanced at the Nine then the van which had stopped at the edge of the hospital parking lot. "Damn. If only I could be in two places at once."

[High probability of obtaining ability when processing projection manifester.]

"Bounceback!" said the arriving Glory Girl.

"That'll work. Protect Amy, I'm going after the Siberian."

Glory Girl watched as a van was swallowed in a wave of blue, and disgorged a moment later. Hatchetface charged forward, axe held high. Hatchetface got swatted and bounced twice before crashing into a pickup truck.

"Glory! They're almost there!"

Glory Girl grabbed a car and threw it at the capes heading towards the hospital, not wanting to get near where Hatchetface was slowly picking himself up. Crawler, for whatever reason, just stopped halfway there.

Bounceback shot past her as the car went through a second story window. "AIM BETTER! Siberian's dealt with. Projection of that guy." She bounced on top of Hatchetface and suddenly the power nullifier was gone.

Mannequin extended hooked chains and prepared to deal with the oncoming blue blob.

Meanwhile, William Manton discovered he couldn't form the Siberian and all of the doors had been welded shut.

* Dragon *

Unfortunately, she hadn't had a suit anywhere nearby.

There was a new villain, a Tinker named Lance-a-Loot whose gimmick was drone-knights that he deployed to attack crowds and stealing from banks. That this villain was hitting the Niagara Falls area had gotten the Guild's attention.

As the name implied, this villain was not terribly bright despite the sophistication of the drones.

Then the Dragonslayers had forced a reboot halfway through her apprehending the idiot. That had been yesterday.

She could only watch helplessly from various cameras and relay information to the PRT ENE while she sent a suit at best speed towards the conflict. She observed with considerable qualm the delaying action of the various security guards to give the evacuating patients and staff precious extra seconds.

That those forces had extra minutes to begin the evacuation and prepare a welcome for the Nine was one of the few victories in this situation she would allow herself.

She caught the comment from Bounceback by listening in on an audio pickup from a fallen security officer. Siberian down. Burnscar and Shatterbird captured or dead - she was uncertain of their condition at this point.

The Nine had been upgraded, most likely by Bonesaw, otherwise the shot from one security guard would have forever ended the threat of Jack Slash. The .45 rifle headshot would have made that security guard a hero for the brief moment before the spider-bots crossed the parking lot.

Dragon idly noted that a pseudopod from Bounceback engulfed one smashed spider-bot even while she dodged and weaved around Mannequin's attacks. A moment later Bounceback in her blue blob form had a dozen pseudopods all armed with nadziak-style weapons, or a 17th century Polish horseman's pick. That they were made of materials which scored Mannequin's casing was noted by both Mannequin and herself. She might have to see about acquiring one of those herself for study.

Then a pseudopod wrapped around Mannequin's main shell and the rest of Bounceback flowed onto the Tinker. A yellowish fluid seeped out of the blue flesh onto the red-spattered white shell which quickly began deteriorating under the assault.

Acid. Bounceback could produce acid. Acid that was eroding the shell of a Mannequin who had just switched from the role of 'confident destroyer' to 'frantic prey' from the way he was flailing around.

A moment later Mannequin had been dismembered and the parts swallowed then regurgitated. Along with two bound forms that could only be a cuffed and helmed Burnscar and Shatterbird.

Part of her attention went to the inside where the much more difficult battle was to occur. Oh, and Crawler was giving a 'come at me' gesture.

"This is Dragon to all PRT forces en route. Bounceback and Glory Girl are on site. Siberian apparently neutralized by Bounceback, projection of individual trapped in a white 2003 Chevy panel truck at West entry to Brockton Bay. Burnscar and Shatterbird restrained in West parking lot D. Mannequin deceased. Also West parking lot D. Jack Slash and Bonesaw have entered the hospital with Glory Girl and Bounceback pursuing. Bounceback is engaging Crawler."

Assault's voice answered her. "En route. Over." That his trademark witticisms weren't present was an indication of how serious he was taking this. Surprising but welcome.

Armsmaster's voice followed. "Confirm. Four of the Nine are down?"

Dragon spoke up as a wall of the hospital burst open. "Correction. Mannequin, Burnscar, Hatchetface, Siberian, Shatterbird are accounted for. Eyes on Crawler who is fighting Bounceback now. Bounceback is grappling Crawler in her amorphous configuration."

"Acknowledged," came Armsmaster's reply.

"Eyes on Glory Girl, who is flying Panacea out of the building. Unknown why Panacea was not evacuated immediately." Dragon observed Glory Girl's flight until a detail made itself clear. "Panacea appears to be incapacitated and injured."

* Bounceback *

She switched to a serpentine configuration while remaining a slime, twisting and grappling her prey who kept trying to throw her off - just not very hard. She wondered if just perhaps Crawler was a masochist.

Acid seeped out, briefly sizzling the outer layers of her target.

"Yes! More! More!"

Well, that was one disturbing thought confirmed.

[Subject's skin is producing highly base compounds to counteract acid.]

"Well, let's try this then," muttered Bounceback. "Water Blade! Poison Spray! Energy Drain!"

"That won't work," boasted Crawler from several of his mouths. "Whatever you do, I will adapt! I will eat you, little girl. I will pluck out your eyes with... you don't have eyes? What the hell ARE you?"

"I'm a slime," said Bounceback. "You adapt quickly, but if you want to eat me - I'll have to eat you first!"

"Hah!" Crawler still felt confident. "Hit me with your best shot and I'll still be here!"

[Power Nullification analyzed. Deploy?]

"Yes. GLUTTONY!"

A long minute passed before the blue blob spat up a young-looking man who was manacled.

[Overcome protective measures. Infected Shard. Obtaining Adaptation.]

* Jack *

It was somewhat disappointing to find the hospital mostly empty. It was also disappointing to see Panacea being air-lifted out to settle on a roof a good quarter-mile off. "Poppet, I think you're going to have to chastise people for trying not to play our little game."

"What evah you say, Mistah Jay," said Bonesaw.

"WHY are you still doing that awful Brooklyn accent?" asked Jack as they walked the empty corridors.

"I heard it on TV and liked it," answered Bonesaw.

Movement and something blue came around a corner.

"Ah, the girl... no monster of the hour," said Jack with a golf clap. Body language was difficult to read on something that was sort of 'partly deflated soccer ball' in shape, but he thought 'wary' was a likely interpretation. Well, she should be wary. "Now now, little blob blue, you should be aware that every member of Slaughterhouse Nine comes with a packet of horrible diseases we can release if we are defeated. So, if you don't want the eastern seaboard to resemble a zombie apocalypse film... why did everything abruptly turn blue?"

Jack was quiet for a moment as he considered the possibilities. "Did... you just eat me?! What an appetite!"

No answer. Just a blue-tinted blackness that surrounded him.

"I was having a villainous monologue. It's really rude of you to go interrupting me, you know."

Silence.

Between one eyeblink and the next, Jack found himself back in the real world with his arms and legs tied up in something that felt like wire. Also he was gagged and apparently in the back of a PRT transport if he was reading the labels on the equipment correctly.

Confidently, he reached for his power. He kept one fingernail long and sharpened just for emergencies like this.

Nothing happened.

Jack tried again and again before he tried flexing the muscle that should have released the plague that Bonesaw had been so delighted in creating.

Nothing happened.

He was tazed repeatedly after he began thrashing around.

* Original scene before the canon-activists convinced me to change it: *

Of course he had activated his power to talk to her power and get all the juicy little secrets out of it. There was an odd pause, which confused him because it was normally instant.

A pause. Then an image of a frog with a top hat? What? Now it was getting up on its hind legs...

[Hello my baby, hello my honey! Hello my ragtime gal! Send me a kiss by wire! Baby my heart's on fire! If you refuse me, honey you lose me! Then you'll be left alone, oh baby, telephone and tell me I'm your own!]

"WHAT THE HELL?!" asked Jack Slash as his power did NOT work like that.

"Mistah Jay! Language!"

"Not now, Poppet," said Jack, concentrating and bringing all his focus to the problematic blue creature.

There was another pause instead of the instant response he was used to.

An anthropomorphic rabbit appeared in his head and made a gesture with a carrot in one hand. "Okay, remember Doc. You asked for this."

Jack just had a moment to realize something was terribly wrong about the blue girl before it hit.

[Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you.]

Jack stared as it seemed like his vision and ears were being bombarded with dozens of video clips running all at the same time.

[I'm Yosemite Sam. The rootingest tootingest gunslinger...][One pill makes you taller and one pill makes you small.][I see a red door and I want to paint it black.][We didn't start the fire! It was always burning, since the world's been turning.][Signs, signs, everywhere a sign. Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind.][I am stuck on Band-aid, cause Band-aid's stuck on me.][I'm going to get hit with a hundred ping-pong balls now, aren't I?][This is what we call the Muppet Shoooooow!][She is the one called Sailor Moon!][Meanwhile, at the Batcave...][Come and knock on my door, take a step that is new...][Keep moving moving moving. Though they're disapproving. Keep them doggies moving.][Hey Macarena!]

Jack Slash took a step back, his eyes darting from one screen to another. There were dozens of TV programs, movies, cartoons, some weird purple singing dinosaur, a documentary on dinosaurs, and some cooking show all running. This was not how his power worked. It told his victims powers to talk to him and then he had all their secrets. It didn't do this. It didn't do this at all!

[Hen to hen to no atsumete.][My name is Wile E Coyote, Super Genius.][And while my esteemed opponent is in fact esteemed, that doesn't mean he's not an idiot.][I wanted to be... a lumberjack!][Ay-Ayron. Is there an Ay-Aron here?][So I took my wife deer hunting...][Rip and Tear!][Will you do the fandango? Thunderbolt of lightning.]

Jack tried to ignore all the messages and just slashed away with his other power extending the small knife's range to where he thought the blue girl was standing.

Hundreds of screens became thousands and the volume turned up. In six languages. With Yakko Warner singing in three of them.

* Bounceback *

Bonesaw looked down at where Jack was holding his ears and partly curled up with his eyes closed. "Well. That hasn't happened before."

Jack had slashed open a wall, cut into the nurse's station, and done absolutely no damage to the hero facing him.

Bounceback repeated to herself that slime powers rocked. All she'd had to do was let it slice through her and remerge the section as the blade projection passed through.

[Siberian powerset 75% decrypted. Can now use Body Double.]

Bounceback looked at Bonesaw as several spider-bots jumped onto her from behind and attempted to pump poisons into her. Of course, with Echolocation and Area Sense now active - she'd known they were there and could simply swallow them up.

"That was interesting," said Bonesaw. "I can't wait to get you on a table. I'll bet there's just so much I can learn from you!"

"Are you sure that's how it'll go?" asked Bounceback.

"Unca Jack doesn't lose," said Bonesaw. "Also, I've got viruses I'll release if you try and fight me."

"What if I just eat you?" asked Bounceback.

"If you do that, you won't be able to neutra-" (glomp)

A few moments later a bound and sleeping Bonesaw was put next to an equally bound and unconscious Jack Slash.

[Copied and neutralized both brain structures, added to research queues.]

"Good."

[Whenever Jack Slash tries to use (Broadcast) ability, he will be viewing episodes of Barney.]

"Better."

[Signs of mental manipulation on Bonesaw. Need more knowledge of psychological techniques to counter.]

"More data, right?"

[Affirmative.]

"Well, between Area Sense and Echolocation, let's look around for any more surprises they might have left us."