Nina was beginning to realize something about fanfiction; the authors didn't really have to cater to the details of Canon when they wrote a story, because whoever started this trend of Danny Hebert being a skinny nerd was a fucking liar.
The man was built like Popeye but on a more human scale.
His forearms were massive, with an anchor tattoo on the right one, and a broad chest.
He wore glasses, but that didn't make him look like a nerd, it made him look like Clark Kent was ten seconds away from ripping his shirt to reveal the S-logo beneath. He alternated between giving her stony glances and listening to Miss Militia explain the situation at hand.
Mr. Laborn wasn't much better. She knew the man was a boxer, so she knew he was muscular, but she didn't expect a man who was built like a brick shithouse. He was just as tall as she was and almost as wide, and all of it was muscle.
Even with her own muscular build, she felt positively tiny next to the two men, despite the fact that she towered over Danny.
Nina was getting a good idea on why Grue and Taylor had never told their parents about their alter-egos; they were scary.
Oh, and the teenage parahumans were in the room with them, the two of them still using their masks as an excuse not to look their fathers in their eyes.
Nina kinda felt bad for this, but if they really wanted to get their powers back, they had to work for it.
"So, let me get this straight," Mr. Laborn said, his voice nearly as deep as Kratos. "My dumbass of a son started a gang, worked for that bastard Coil, robbed a bank in broad daylight, and roped his sister into this foolishness."
"I didn't-!"
"Brian, you better shut the hell up, boy."
"Yes, sir."
Miss Militia decided to try and defuse the situation. "To be fair, Mr. Laborn, it seems that Brian was approached by Coil first to lead the Undersiders. He's only a teenager; the lure of easy money and the support of his sister must've been a temptation he couldn't resist. The rest of the Underisders, sans Tattletale, were all recruited in this way. Coil knew how to manipulate people three times his age. They stood no chance."
"You say that Coil approached all of them," Danny said, finally speaking. "But according to these reports, my daughter was recruited by the team as a whole. Why this change?"
"...they wanted to repay me and offer me a solid place on the team," said Taylor in a small voice. "And I thought I could infiltrate the group and give up the identity of their leader, then bring it to the Protectorate. That way, I could join the Wards without looking desperate."
Brian turned to her in shock.
"You were going to sell us out?"
"Brian, I won't ask you to keep quiet a second time."
"Armsmaster said you came to him with this idea, but he denied supporting this plan in any way. Is that correct?"
"Well, yes, but if he had just listened to me-"
"Then he would've been responsible for your death," Nina cut in. "Look, I get where you're coming from. You wanted to go into the hero business in a position of power, one where you could show that you had something to offer the Protectorate. However, you missed a couple of things; number one, Tattletale had you sussed out from the beginning. She was manipulating you to their side from day one. Two, you are not trained in espionage, you are not a member of the Protectorate, and you had zero experience in infiltration. So, Armsmaster was kinda right to reject this plan. You were basically asking for absolute immunity on the slim chance that you could find out who their boss was. Add in the fact that you had no handler, there were no regular check-ins, the fact that two of the Underisders are murderers, and one is a suspected rapist and Master…I would've rejected that plan too. Because if they'd ever found out that you were planning to sell them out…it wouldn't have ended well for you, and that's before Coil would've gotten involved."
Danny turned several shades paler as he put his face in his hands.
"Plus, you already had all the bargaining material you needed."
Taylor cocked her head in a look of questioning.
"What are you talking about?"
"You took down Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu, on your first night. If you'd taken the credit and joined the Wards, you would've been able to ask for a lot of things."
"Dragon of Kyushu?" asked Mr. Laborn. "Lofty name for a gang leader."
"You don't know?" Nina asked in surprise. When Mr. Laborn shook his head, she then turned to the other occupants of the room. "Doanyof you know why Lung has that name?"
" I don't suppose it's because he was a Kyushu resident, is it?" Miss Militia asked. "Or the fact that he defeated the Brockton Bay Protectorate team on his first day here, as well as fending off Coil and the E88?"
'Huh. I thought everyone knew. Or was that part fanon?' she thought to herself. She'd read countless fics where everyone knew what Lung had done, but here, nobody seemed to know.
Was that why the Undersiders had even bothered going after him? Or why the other gangs treated him like he was a low-level player? Because no one knew what he could do?
"Lung soloed Leviathan when he came to Kyushu. The island didn't sink just because of Leviathan; it sunk because he and Lung were slugging it out with enough power to shatter the damn place. K-Takedown says that Lung ramped up until he was bigger than Leviathan was."
There was a sense of extreme disbelief, horror, and fear in the air in the silence that followed that statement.
"So," Danny croaked out. "What you're telling me is that my daughter, on her first night as a cape…fought someone who could go toe-to-toe with an Endbringer?"
"Is that why you and Takedown decided to fight Leviathan on your own?" asked Miss Militia, a strange mix of admiration and disbelief. "Becuase you knew it'd be done before?"
"Well, to say Lung beat him would be a stretch. Leviathan whooped his ass, as he rightly should have, but Lung was able to push him around and wrestle him to the ground for about…two to six hours long? Lung's, like the Prince of Brutes, right behind Alexandria. If it comes down to brute force, he wins, easy, but it takes time for him to get to that point. That's actually why you beat him in the first place, Skitter," Nina theorized out loud. "Lung ramps up due to the strength of his opponents. You, on the other hand, are just a squishy little girl, and your bugs aren't the biggest threat either. Lung's power didn't detect a huge threat, so it only gave him a baby boost, and you were able to capitalize on that."
"I thought he was just some B-class villain," Taylor said faintly, sounding sick. "That's why I gave the credit to Armsmaster."
"Well,wedidn't know!" said Militia indignantly. "I sure as hell wouldn't have engaged him without asking for hazard pay each time! I always thought that the Brute 9 rating of his was theoretical! No one thought to inform us of this?"
"Alexandria knew. She was there. She decided to keep quiet about it."
Sorry to throw you under the bus, boss, but I'm not getting grounded at the age of twenty-one.
"But yeah, you could've joined straight after that. Joining the Undersiders just made yourself vulnerable."
"I-I just wanted to help," Taylor said quietly, almost folding in on herself. "I wanted to prove that I was worth something."
Miss Militia, who had calmed herself down from thinking about Lung, said, "I understand Skitter, but there have to be consequences for this. The state of law enforcement in America is dangerously fragile right now; we're outnumbered four to one by the villains on each side, but we have more powerhouses on our side, like Glyph, Takedown, and the Triumvirate. Brockton's just gotten through a horrendous ordeal, even if it ended well for us. Right now, we in the PRT have to be seen as harsh on villainy, because right now, we are one of the few American cities with no villains present. Everyone's watching us right now to see if we can keep it this way, or if this is going to end up as another Boston Games. What you did today could be the spark that returns Brockton Bay to the gang-infested scene we were only a couple of weeks ago."
"So you're just using her as an example?" fired off Danny. "A warning to other villains?"
"Partially, yes. After today, the Undersiders can never be seen in action again. We have to present a harsh front to villains from now on. Normally, this would mean a public unmasking and a public trial, where your son and daughter would be paraded with their team, where the world could lambast them for their misdeeds whilst making the PRT look good."
The two teens stiffened whilst their fathers clenched their fists.
"However, thanks to Glyph, you now have three options."
Alright, time to pitch this.
"Due to recent vents, such as me owning Leviathan like he was a noob," she said proudly. "I am now the owner of a lot of political capital, and as such, you now have three more options. Option number one; the Undersiders retire forever. You guys have a little cash left, according to Regent; we ignore that, we take your masks, say you've been sent to some max security prison, and whilst you stay powerless, you also stay free. A normal, civilian life. Option number two; you join the Wards. However, the administration is saying that BB has too many capes for a 'calm city,' and as such, are requesting that we send them some of our guys. Your newly rebranded team would be the peace offering sent in so that we can keep the old guard here. Your powers would be returned, but they'd be limited in some way. You'd each be separated and sent to different cities, and you'd be on probation for a year, but you'd get a trust fund, good schools, all those juicy Ward incentives."
"Option number three?" Grue asked, glancing at his father.
"The deal we talked about at Fugly Bob's; you work directly under me. I train you directly, I sponsor you, and I become responsible for you. Don't get me wrong, working for me has perks, like lifelong health insurance for you and your kids, a starting six-figure salary, lots of Tinkertech, and gear that 99% of the population will never see. But there are also downsides. I'll be sending you to fight things I can't devote my attention to at the moment since the destruction of the Endbringers is my number one obligation right now. You're gonna be fighting against the big boys and girls in the cape world: the Fallen, the Dragonslayers, Accord, the Elite. Basically anyone and anything that isn't an S-class and doesn't have a kill order. You will be risking your lives, your limbs, and your very minds. I will train you until your bones crack and you sweat blood. There will be days where you cannot move anymore, and I will heal you, and do that shit all over again. And in return, not only do you get your powers back, I use some of my Trump abilities to give you evenstrongerabilities so you can fight evenly with the capes you'll be fighting. You'll be the dagger I send to cut down threats below my notice. My watchdogs. My personal black ops squad."
"...what would she have to do get the civilian life?" Danny Hebert asked quietly.
"Dad!"
"Taylor, I just learned that not only have you been lying to me for weeks now, there's a possibility that you could die again. They're giving you an out! Are your powers so important to you that you're willing to fight the monsters of this world?"
"Yes!" she yelled back. "You wouldn't understand because you don't have any powers, but it feels like there's a hole in me, like someone's cut out my eyes and pushed me into a dark room. I can'tsleepanymore, and everything feels dull and grey! If I don't get my powers back…I don't know what I'll do. I'll take the training; I don't care what I have to go through, but I'll do it all. Better to actually lose a limb than to be crippled like this for the rest of my life."
The Dockworker merely rubbed his eyes. "Can-can we please have some time to think about this?"
"Of course Mr. Hebert," said Miss Militia. "And you, Mr. Laborn?"
"The boy thought he was grown enough to make decisions before. Now it's his choice. But for my daughter…she'll join the Wards. I can sell my gym, set it up somewhere else. I can't condone letting her into a group where she'll be actively hunting threats. At least in the Wards, she'll only be summoned in emergencies."
"I'll go through the training," Grue said quickly. "I'll join your group."
Nina gave a small smile. "Well, that's most of the Undersiders now. Tattletale, Hellhound, and Regent all decided to join as well. We'll give Skitter and her father a week to decide before we start on your training. Is that alright with you, Mr. Hebert?"
"Yes, that would be preferable. But, before we leave, may I ask you a question?"
"Shoot."
"Why the interest in my daughter's group? I was able to read a file on them before I was brought to this room. Bug Control, Dog Control, Darkness Generation, Nerve Control, and Advanced Intuition…I'm sure they're very powerful, but they don't sound like super squad material. So, why the focus on them?"
That surprised her. She hadn't actually thought that anyone would question why she wanted to give their kids a second chance.
"Let's just say that I can see potential in them. Your daughter…had she stayed a villain, she could've been someone to be feared. She's vicious, she's got a good grasp on her superpower, but most dangerous of all, she'ssmart. And before you say being smart isn't equivalent to a superpower, just look at the difference between me and Takedown. Everyone knows that I'm more powerful than almost anyone in the world, but Leviathan didn't run because of me. He ran from Takedown, and it was his plan that allowed us to save Boston. I'm a brawler; point me at a target, and I'll take them down, no problem. But we need leaders, people who can make the hard calls."
"And you think I can make those?" Taylor asked. "You think that I can make those kinds of calls when I haven't been a cape for more than a month?"
"Taylor…I know you can."
The last couple of weeks had been…interesting, for Theo. First, the city had been taken hostage, and every cape that he had learned to fear was one-shotted by Glyph, a student of the Triumvirate. Then, Kaiser and Kayden had been arrested, both of them depowered.
Originally, Kayden was supposed to go to jail along with his father, but apparently, someone had spoken up and pointed out that Purity hadn't been seen with the E88 for two years, and that alone had given her a chance.
So now, she was on house arrest; still depowered, with a compact, waterproof Tinkertech tracker on her ankle that didn't let her out of the building. So Theo had done a lot of the shopping so far.
And then Leviathan had been killed. Theo didn't really think of the Endbringers, aside from when they came up in the news. He likened them to natural disasters that no one could stop.
But now, he could breathe a bit easier, knowing that there was one less thing in this world that could hurt Aster. He thought the Hope Bringers were pretty cool, and he was really glad to hear that they would be sticking around the Bay for a while.
He figured he'd see them around the city at one point or another, and maybe he could ask for a couple of autographs, one for him, and one for Aster when she was older plus, cape autograph's sold really well.
So, naturally, he was surprised as hell to see Takedown in his living room, dressed in thearmorhe wore to the Leviathan fight, Kayden looking extremely stressed in the corner whilst Aster babbled baby words at the hero from her crib, her face showing curiosity at the new thing in her house.
"Um, hello?'" he said hesitantly, walking through the door. He tried to catch Kayden's eye, but it seemed that she was studiously ignoring his gaze.
"Theo Anders, right?" The hero said as he got up from the couch, stretching out his hand. Theo clumsily shook his hand, trying his best to put dome force in it like Kaiser had shown him to. The man may have been a horrible father, but he was a decent teacher when it came to social settings.
"Yes, sir, uh, Takedown. It's an honor to meet you, we can't thank you enough for saving Boston and stopping Leviathan."
The HopeBringer waved off his thanks. "Hey, I live here too, you know? Just did what I had to."
"So…why are you here?" he asked. "If you're here to check on Kayden, couldn't they have sent someone local, or even a PRT officer?"
"Well, they would, if I came here for Kayden. But, you see Theo,"
Suddenly, the hero leaned forward a bit, and Theo could see his reflection in the red visor of the armor.
"..I came here for you."
Theo…blue screened, for a lack of a better word. Takedown came here forhim.For Theo. Weak, fat, untalented, Theo who couldn't even be a proper racist despite being raised by several of them(to be honest, he couldn't be sure if that was a win or a loss).
He didn't have any powers. He wasn't particularly skilled at anything. Hookwolf always told him that he was a shitty fighter, and he didn't really want to get better at it.
He didn't even have much to offer in the way of information, because he hadn't wanted to be involved in the E88, and his father thought he was too weak-willed to handle knowing what they did. So, why was Takedown here for him?
"Um, may I ask why, sir?"
"Oh, that's because I want to interview you for a job."
"...you want me…to work for you?"
"Well, yes. Naturally, since you're a minor, I had to come to seek permission from your primary caretaker first, and we have to do it in her presence to make sure I don't take any advantage of you."
"...you know what? Okay, let's do it."
And the weird part was, it was almost exactly like a regular job interview. Takedown asked if he'd had any prior experience in the work industry which he didn't, if he had any experience in leadership positions which he did not, his hobbies and interests reading, writing, taking care of Aster, and what he saw himself doing in five years at least hopefully alive? And probably still looking after Aster.
But every now and then, he snuck in a weird question. Like, if he was given the appropriate tools, would he be fine with lifting several tons at a time during the workday?sure…?
what would he do if a villain was holding a civilian and his family member hostage, what would he do?
he'd try and negotiate first, offer himself up as a hostage in return for their safety, subdue the villain as quickly as possible, or use himself as a shield before tackling the villain, and if he found himself in an Endbringer fight, would he choose to be on Search and Rescue, Direct Combat, or Intel. Search and Rescue. He wasn't durable enough to go head to head with an Endbringer.
"Well, we should be wrapping up our interview soon," he said after thirty minutes. Kayden, at some point, had quietly taken Aster from her crib and taken her to her room. Theo could hear the joyful noises she made from where they sat. "Just one more question for you."
"Okay," Theo said, somewhat relieved that they were almost done. "What's the question?"
Takedown answered by summoning three objects. There had been no flash of light, no sound to signify that something spectacular was about to happen. There was just a flash of light, and four objects appeared in his hands.
One was a glowing blue cube the size of a baseball. Another was a black and gold lantern, with wisps of red energy emanating from it, as well as a golden eye-shaped amulet that had a green glow in what would be the pupil, and an intricate silver and black orb the same size as the cube.
"The Infinity Stone Casings. Four objects of incredible power," Takedown said softly. Theo didn't doubt him; the amount of energy they were giving off. "TheTesseract; able to teleport anyone and anything on the planet with ease.
The Power stone; gives the user the ability to overpower the Enbringers in brute strength, and release blasts stronger than anything Legend could ever dream of.
The Ether Lantern: able to create incredibly powerful illusions, and able to change the fabric of reality to the user's desires.
And finally, the Eye of Agomotto; gives the user absolute control over the concept of time."
The red visor of Takedown's helmet flashed as the hero considered him.
"Which will you choose, Theo Anders?"
"What?"
"Choose one. Any one of them. You know I came here for a reason, and it wasn't because I want any undoubtedly outdated information on the Empire. I came here for you, Theo. To see what kind of choices you would make. Are you seriously telling me you don't want power? You don't want something that can protect you and your sister?"
…for him, he wouldn't really care. But for Aster? He would die for the little two-year-old that liked to puke up all of her food as soon as he wrangled her into a new outfit. Because she was the only one who cared about him. But before he could choose…"
"Why me? Why give this kind of power to me? You know my father. You probably know how I was raised. There are probably dozens of people in this very building who're more worthy of this than me."
"Becuase…you're a good man, Theo Anders."
A good man? He hadn't done anything good. He hadn't truly helped anyone, nor had he hurt people.
He was just…Theo. But now, he had to choose between one of the apparently planetary-powered artifacts for some kind of test he wasn't sure of.
The only reason why he was even going ahead with this was because this could apparently protect Aster.
The Power stone…he didn't like to fight, and it seemed more like a Brute Power.
Theo could barely trust himself to take care of himself, let alone handle reality, to the Ether Lantern was out.
The Tesseract…that was very tempting. He could run away from anyone that could ever hurt him, show Aster the most beautiful places in the world, keep her away from any harm.
But the Eye of Agamotto: Time Control seemed like a very versatile power. He'd heard about the Grey Boy Bubbles from his father; it had come up in a conversation about Alabaster. Maybe he could help those people. And if he learned more about it, the more useful it could become.
"I choose the Eye."
Takedown gave a soft chuckle. "Huh. Really thought you'd pick the Tesseract. Seemed more suited to you."
"I want to help people, but I don't want to fight, or at least, not up close. And I think all I'd end up doing with the Tesseract is running away. I'm not very brave."
"I wouldn't say that, Theo. I'd say that choosing to help people rather than take your family and hide is a very brave thing to do."
Theo ignored the burning sensation in his cheeks from the praise and decided to ask the question that he'd wanted an answer to ever since the Hero had strolled into his apartment.
"Why are you here? And I mean, the actual reason."
Takedown straightened up, banishing all items besides the Eye of Agamotto, which he gave to Theo.
"Do you know what a Legacy Hero is, Theo?"
The boy shook his head.
"A Legacy Hero is someone that takes over their predecessor's heroic duties, or sometimes even their name. They keep the name of that hero alive, doing what they did in honor of that person. Usually, they start off as sidekicks. You'll sort of be in a grey area. You'll be going through intense Ward Training, but you'll be listed as my Apprentice. I'm assembling a team of people who can help in emergencies. A sort of League, if you will. And you're going to be one of the core members."
"Whoa, whoa, wait for a second, please, sir." Theo's head was spinning. Apprentice? Wards Training? Core Member? League? "I really don't think that
I'm one of the best people to be involved in something like this."
"Yet," finished Takedown cheerfully, "Look, kid, don't worry too much. I'm not gonna throw you to the sharks without a speargun. I'll train you as best as I can, and you'll be working with some of the most experienced people on the planet."
That…actually helped a lot. Knowing that he'd be getting actual training made him feel that he wasn't going to be in over his head too much.
"So, you're training me to take over for you? But why? You guys just beat Leviathan, you're probably one of the strongest people on the planet."
"Yeah, but in six months, we fight the Simurgh, and I don't think she's the type to wait her turn," he pointed out patiently. "She'll try and attack us before then, and even if we make it to the battle itself, the chances of her having a nasty surprise waiting for us. There's a very good chance that I don't make it past that fight. You and a few others will be my backup plan if the worst happens."
"That's…really morbid."
The armored man only shrugged. "Prepare for the worst, and be pleasantly surprised when it all works out.
Theo, I'm not just picking off random people off the streets. I came here because I knew that you're one of the very few people who don't want power for power's sake.
You've grown up seeing it, so not only do respect it, you fear it. If you never believe a word a say, please, at least believe this;I trust you to do what's right.
"I…I…okay! I'll do it!"
"Awesome! So, since I believe in having contingency plans, I should tell you that the Eye of Agamotto, can be stolen or broken, and since I don't want you defenseless in case that ever happens-"
A small vial with a dark, purple liquid inside and a stylized C.
"Please drink this nebulous liquid in the hopes that you gain superpowers."
"In the hopes?"
"I'm fairly certain that you'll get powers from this. Or mutate into jelly."
That did not reassure Theo.
"I'm leaning sixty percent to the side of the powers."
That did not reassure Theo at all.
When Keagan and Nina met again, it was just as the sun was rising, and they were sitting on top of Hannah's apartment building, where Nina spent most of her time now.
The silence between them was fragile and fraught with tension. Neither of them liked how they had parted ways the previous night, But neither of them thought that they were wrong either.
Of course, one of them decided that as the mature ones, they needed to step up and speak first.
"I'm sorry," Keagan said reluctantly. "I shouldn't have blown up at you like that yesterday, or made that Aster comment. I-I just don't trust them, you know? We've just gotten your reputation back on track; I don't want them to fuck it up for you. You…you care so much more about this place than I ever will. I don't want to see you get hurt because you believed the best in someone."
"...I'm sorry too," Nina replied, surprising him. "I should've taken your feelings into account. I just think that they can be useful. We know Taylor can defeat the Enemy with a powerup, keeping her close just seems smart. Plus, she munchkin's her power to the max, and I think that giving her more tools could only help more. I mean, Khepri-"
"Usually ends up getting double-tapped by Contessa. Khepri is a very cruel thing to do to her, Nina. I don't think anything can fix her once she gets to that point."
"I know, I know, but…we can't really take any chances, can we?"
Keagan gave a sigh of resignment. "No, we can't."
After a moment's hesitation, Nina rested her head on Kegan's shoulder, the two of them watching the sunrise over Brockton Bay.
"I'm making a Justice League, " Keagan said after a while. "I'm giving away the Infinity Stones to a few people. Theo Anders, Dragon, Kevin Norton, and Chevalier. I'll also hand out a few weapons to a few people to fight the Endbringers. With all the money we got from acing Leviathan, I can pay them really well for their help too."
"Hey, you picked up all the morally good people. Not fair," Nina teased.
"I didn't pick all of them. There's Dauntless, Miss Militia, Armsmaster-"
"Armsmaster tried to kill Skitter."
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
"Oh my god."
"You can't tell me that reading the story from Aegis' point of view wouldn't have been interesting. Oh, that's another morally good guy; Aegis. Gallant counts, I guess. Vis-"
"Dibs on Vista!"
"Hey, no fair! You know how OP she would be with the Space Stone?"
"I have no desire to live in an Escher painting, thank you. She'll just have to settle for the Flying Thunder God Technique."
"You bitch."
"I know."
They couldn't help it; the two of them burst into laughter, fully banishing the awkwardness of the previous day. It was funny, in a way; how, in another life, the two of them would've never even have crossed paths, let alone be friends. And yet, here, in this broken world that they were trying to heal, they were each other's lifeline, a link to a shared past.
"...hey Keagan?"
"Yeah, Nina?"
"I have something to tell you."
"Is it important?"
Had Keagan been paying more attention to his teammate rather than the beautiful morning sunrise, he would've seen the extremely conflicted expression on Nina's face. Her emotions and mind warred against each other, each wanting to do something that the other opposed. In seconds, however, the conflict passed, and her face smoothed out.
"...yeah, it's important, but…we can talk about it later."
"Whatever you say, Nina. Just don't forget it if it's important, okay?"
"I won't. I promise."
Jack Slash fought for breath as he tried to wheeze through what was left of his right lung.
Not much of his torso had survived the girl's final attack, and now, it was only due to Bonesaw's enhancements that he was still alive, even in this mangled state. Bonesaw would be able to fix him up…if she herself wasn't dead. Idly, Jack wondered where he'd gone wrong.
He thought that he had Anubis all figured out: a creature striking out against its originator, wanting revenge for bringing her into a world where she was nothing but a cheap copy.
He had twisted many capes, both hero and villain, to join his cause, but this time, things had been different.
He hadn't known what to say.
There was always a little script in his head, something that helped him to needle, twist, and break any parahuman before him. Now, in his death throes, he saw that it must've been a power, but he'd thought that it was all him, his wicked silver tongue able to seduce any pawn that he wanted.
Except for Anubis.
She had easily destroyed him and his group. Hatchetface had died first, his head destroyed by a simple backhand.
She'd struck down Shatterbird, broken her back, and twisted her neck, before leaving her there on the ground, a twisted parody of a chick thrown too early from the nest.
Burnscar had been enraged at the death of her friend, but the black fire had eaten her flames and devoured her as well, her screams switching from anger to fear, before being extinguished entirely.
He and the rest of the Nine had been hunted in a twisted parody of their usual games, hearing their fellows die in pain as they knew they were next. And all the while, Jack had floundered, not knowing what to say or do besides run. In the end, it had just been him, Crawler, and the Siberian, and Crawler was horribly wounded and not healing well at all.
Then there had been a flash of yellow light, then a blue orb bigger than any Blaster attack that he'd ever seen…and now here he lay, the great Jack Slash, choking on his own blood, half of his body gone. He felt his eyes burn as tears fought to the surface. This wasn't fair! He was Jack Slash, leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine! His death was supposed to be after a weeklong battle, the blood of uncountable heroes matted into his hair, his death heralding the End of civilization as they knew it! Not dying in a ditch like some kind of normie.
He had to ask. He had to know.
"Why?" he choked out. "Why? We could've…been something…beautiful."
For the first time since she'd arrived, Anubis' face turned from anger…to pity.
"And you could've been a Knight, Jacob," she said, sorrow in her voice. "You could've been the light. You could've been the greatest of us all. You could've ended wars with your words, Jacob. But you brought suffering instead."
Her fingertips began to glow, pulsing with esoteric energy, and Jack knew that this was when he died.
"It'll be okay Jack," she whispered. 'This time…just stay in the bunker as your father told you to."
Those were the last words that Jacob ever heard.
Anubis sighed in sadness as she turned Jack's head to dust.
Killing the Nine hadn't been the glorious battle she'd read about. It had been nasty and gross and horrible, and she'd be hearing their screams for the rest of her life. But she couldn't have let them live.
They had killed too much, taken too many.
The scales had to be balanced. She'd killed the Slaughterhouse Nine. Now the only members that needed to be taken care of were Crawler and the Siberian.
Crawler couldn't seem to adapt to her attacks very well, and it was costing him regeneration time, so she could leave him for now. What she needed to do was find Manton.
When she'd entered the town, she'd sent out a dozen clones to find Manton's van and killed him.
An hour later, with most of the Nine dead, all of her clones had popped, coming to the same conclusion; William Manton's van was nowhere to be found.
He wasn't squatting in abuilding, hiding in another car, or underground.
She'd even checked Mannequin's body and Bonesaw's experiments to make sure that they weren't hiding an extra brain unaccounted for.
Maybe his range was longer in this universe.
Maybe he could pilot the Siberian around from a city away.
Ugh, that'd be so annoying if it was true.
That meant he could be fucking anywhere! Well, she might as well have another crack at cracking the Projection. Five hundredth's time the charm, right?
It was easy to find the Siberian.
She was in the same place she'd been for the last hour: cradling the charred body of Bonesaw, still engulfed with Amaterasu flames.
Anubis grimaced as she saw it again. She hadn't really wanted to kill Bonesaw; she knew she was useful in the future, and she could've been changed for the better.
But the girl had given her an ultimatum; let Jack live, or she sent every virus, pathogen, and plague in her body running loose across the Eastern Seaboard.
She couldn't do that.
One mad little girl versus the lives of millions of innocents? The choice was almost sickeningly easy.
She'd set her ablaze with Fiendfyre first, then switched over to Amaterasu when she was sure that most of the implants were gone. It was a testament to Bonesaw's skill that most of her spine and skull was still intact, even after being exposed to two different kinds of ethereal fire.
Sighing at the sight, she quickly located William Manton's van thay was parked just outside the city.
With a flick of her hand, she sent a ki blast at him amd watched as the image of the Siberian flickered a bit until it finally disappeared.
Anubis stared at her handy work for a bit before turning and started running towards the outskirts of the town they were in
Several hundred miles away, Dragon stared at the live feed with Narwhal stitting in a conference room with a few members of the Guild present.
Everyone in the room looked at the screen while blinking in disbelief. They were however, broken out of their shock by the voice of Masamune.
"Well, shit."
