Well, I wasn't planning on coming back to this anytime soon. Have my hands full with other projects both fanfiction and professional alike, but then someone went and did a youtube review of this story before mentioning to me. If someone is going to go and do that, and mention that they really want to see how the Nine get handled, I suppose I really must handle the Nine, mustn't I?

As always, many thanks to my Patrons, whom are currently (and, presumably, happily) benefiting from seeing the entirety of my -exclusive Forsaken, the next chapter for Nothing Is True and the next three chapters of Crown of Slaves!

Remember, you're more than welcome to join my Discord and such without paying, and I have halved the cost of the tier that provides Early Access to chapters to compensate for my slower update schedule.

Finally, as always, read, enjoy, comment, and update the TV Tropes page!

#########################################################################

Because of the War

Chapter Seventeen

##########################################################################

South Beloit was beautiful, anyone could see that, and the light shimmering and dancing off of the twin lakes in the distance was nothing short of idyllic. Which, now that Lily thought of it, was probably the reason the fucking Nine were planning on attacking it. Nothing more amusing to those maniacs than ruining something beautiful and peaceful, right?

"Relax, Fletch, we've got the easiest job in the whole damn city. Squeeze the trigger a few times and its all over." Heads, one of Talon Squads two Snipers, murmured in response to her shaky sigh, only to grunt as her twin sister (Tails, apparently, and there had to be a story behind their callsigns) thumped her shoulder. "The hell?"

"Not exactly the most reassuring there, sis." She was informed blandly, before Tails turned her own attention to Lily. "Look, you're a hero, you don't need me to talk to you like you're just another kid off the street. You're going to have to kill people today, and that's a hard thing. It should be a hard thing, because the minute you stop caring about deliberately ending a life is the minute you become like them. But you know better than most just how many people have been died because of the Nine. You know what they've done, you know it needs to stop, and you know you have the ability to help make that happen without more people -innocents and comrades alike- dying before it's done. Focus on that, hold on to that, and you'll be okay. Because that's what is truly important: not the lives you're taking, but the one's you're saving."

Lily couldn't help but swallow at that, and (to her own surprise) a faint, even shaky, but altogether genuine smile creased her lips in return. She'd gotten pep talks before, but never like that, and never from someone who was being so…direct. Legend never would have said anything like that, in fact he hadn't been particularly happy to involve anyone Wards-age at all, but her powerset made leaving her out of the fight impossible and he knew it.

"Thanks, Tails." She murmured, before shaking her head and laughing a soft, strained laugh. "It's just…they're a force of nature. No one has ever been able to beat them, no matter how hard we try. Pick off individual members, sure, but the Nine has never been destroyed. And Jack Slash, we can barely even touch him. It's like the man knows. I can't begin to tell you the number of times I've heard a story about some Blaster getting prepared to wipe him out, or a Tinker pointing some sort of tech at him, only for the attempt to miss."

"Well, unless he has powers that we've never heard about, there is no way these things will miss him if our aim is good enough. I doubt even Mouse Protector's teleportation would be fast enough to dodge a Gauss round." Heads snorted as she peaked through her scope with a distinctly casual air that Lily was immediately envious of. "Mind you, his reflexes have to be impressive as hell if none of your PRT snipers hasn't been able to hit him. That's some Jedi shit right there…"

"We never tried before. I think that this is the first time we've ever gone after the Nine with anything other than capes. If just shooting them with regular guns could kill them, some cop or another would have gotten them by now, right?"

There was a distinct and profoundly deep silence on the rooftop as the collected snipers regarded Lily's nonchalant words, before Archangel cleared her throat and keyed her comms.

"Central, Archangel. Fletchette reports that Jack Slash is prone to avoiding attacks made by parahumans. Yes sir, I know that's well known, but she has also informed us that no attempts have previously been made by unpowered snipers." She said the words calmly, but it was the sort of calm that Lily recognized as a false calm. The calm of someone being professional and controlled during an intense moment. There was a moment of silence, and it was just dawning on Lily that something significant must have happened in the last few seconds when her own earpiece chirped at her.

"Attention. It is possible that Jack Slash has precognition in regards to parahuman attacks at range. Thinker support confirms that the probability is approximately 9-to-1 in favour." The voice of Dragon said calmly, the World's Greatest (Living) Tinker running Mission Control as she so often did on large operations for the PRT. Especially ones where Armsmaster was involved, not that either of the two would admit that they had a thing for each other despite the fact that the entire planet could see it.

"This is Perimeter 22. We have eyes on the Nine, approaching the city center from the west. Jack Slash, Shatterbird, Bonesaw, and Winter are on foot. They're being followed by a large U-Haul truck. I think Mannequin is driving, and Chuckles is in the cab with him." Another voice chimed in, and Lily swore softly and scrambled back to her rifle, pressing the stock to her shoulder and rotating the weapon on it's tripod as she panned towards the indicated direction.

"This is Archangel, I see them. Passing the Wendy's. I'll take Shatterbird. Heads, Winter. Tails, Chuckles. Fletchette, I want you as a backup in case one of us misses." Archangel ordered briskly, and Lily actually flinched away from her rifle to stare at the older woman.

"I can handle Jack…" she started to protest, scowling at the perceived slight to her willingness to do what was needed, but was silenced by a sharp look flashed towards her by the sniper.

"Jack Slash is a problem, but he can be handled. He's dangerous, but he's not a priority target like the others are. If we don't take those three out quickly, a lot more people are going to die. I'm not going to bet on all three of us hitting perfectly and one of us missing. Shatterbird needs microseconds to kill hundreds. You're going to make sure she doesn't get them." Archangel told her sternly, and Lily subsided with a clenched jaw. The commando was far more experienced she was, her nominal superior (for the moment), and, perhaps most gallingly of all, wholly correct.

Jack Slash's real power, the danger that he posed, was as the seemingly-immortal leader of The Nine. One of the founding members, someone who had deposed King to take the reins. The nightmarish, man-shaped monster that had turned the Slaughterhouse Nine from 'simply' a roving band of killers into what many people regarded as a fourth, multi-bodied Endbringer. Which made him very dangerous indeed, and his power to project blade edges at distance was certainly lethal, but he was certainly less dangerous in a pitched battle than the likes of Mannequin or Crawler. Speaking of which…

"Crawler and the Siberian must be hidden in the truck. Do we have a plan for Crawler?" she asked tentatively, and Archangel gave a somewhat sharp twitch of her head.

"We worry about him later. He wants people to hit him, which makes him predictable. It makes him controllable. Last I heard, the plan was to wipe out his allies as quickly as possible and then hammer him with every cape here." She responded tightly, and Lily frowned faintly.

"Doesn't this seem a little too easy? I mean, we probably have half the capes in North America here, but if everything goes to plan more than half of them won't have to do a damn thing. So why did we bring them all?" she asked, and Archangel actually pulled away from her rifle to give her a stern look.

"Fletchette, I need you to focus, okay? I know you have questions, and I know you're asking them because you're nervous and the silent waiting is getting to you, but we all need to focus on the mission, alright? Let other people worry about their own responsibilities and keep your eyes on yours." The tone she spoke with was firm, unyielding, but it wasn't unkind. Indeed, despite how firm it was, there was a gentleness to it, and Lily grimaced to herself before taking another deep breath and nodding in chastised acknowledgement. Archangel nodded back with a small, reassuring smile, and together they put their eyes back onto their targets, waiting for the command to fire.

###############################################################

Hana couldn't help but smile to herself from her own position on the far side of the roof, where she sat watching the only door providing access to the sniper's nest with a power-formed HMG ready to flay anyone that might try to attack the 'helpless' marksmen. Probably unnecessary, given this was an ambush of just under a dozen people, not a pitched battle in a warzone, but it was worth it all the same.

She just wished that she could take Lily's place. The girl wasn't ready for this, shouldn't be ready for this, but there was no choice but to have her be one of the snipers. Her power was too potent, too powerful and versatile and lethal to keep her on the sidelines when they had a chance to wipe out the Nine for good.

She would just have to make sure that her newest comrade got all the help that she needed after the fighting was through.

###############################################################

Max Anders, clad in the armor of Kaiser, resisted the urge to flex his hands restlessly. It was strange, really, how much more comfortable he was taking his subordinates into Endbringer fights than he was taking them against the Nine. It wasn't as if the Nine could endure the sort of damage, nor deal it, as the likes of Behemoth or Leviathan, after all!

And yet, he was uncomfortable. Uncomfortable enough that he never would have come if it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't afford not to. If the Nine died today, as he very much believed that they might, and he allowed only the heroes and the ABB to represent Brockton Bay? Well, it would undermine his position and his reputation to a degree that could never be repaired.

At least he had managed to convince Kayden to remain behind in the Bay! He had worried that her (ultimately futile, he was sure) snit of a rebellion against him would cause her to reject his instructions out of hand, and in fairness that was exactly what had happened…right up until he had pointed out that both Theo and Aster would be left alone and unprotected, abandoned to the foster system, if they both fell against the Nine. She hadn't appreciated him using that to leverage her agreement, but she had agreed, and he hadn't been lying about the risk, either!

Most of his capes had remained behind as well, holding his territory in case anyone decided to get 'creative' with his absence, pseudo-Endbringer Truce or not. At least that was the official reason, and one that was even partially true.

The reality, of course, was that he would much rather have as many people in the task force be enemies of his as humanly possible, so that there was a greater chance of each and every casualty strengthening his position, rather than weakening it.

Two birds with but one stone.

Thus, only his twins, Othala, and Rune were present. And the latter pair were far behind the expected battle-lines, safely ensconced with the other healers and assorted non-combatants.

Rolling his head on his shoulders, smirking slightly at the way some of the other Brutes and Strikers grimaced and flinched away from the sound of steel on steel, he waited for the signal to attack.

###############################################################

Tattletale watched carefully through the screens as the Nine made their way past camera after camera, her power working overtime to squeeze every drop of information possible, and then a bit more, out of what she was seeing and hearing. Not just to save lives, not just to ensure the Nine were destroyed, not just for the money, not just to be a hero (not a superhero, thank you very much, she was very much a supervillain at heart. Any and all evidence to the contrary or indicating she had a soft heart being filthy lies), but because everything she did today made her valuable. It bought her good will, well-wishes, and tolerance. All of which would do far, far more for her in the long run than any amount of cold, hard cash could possible do.

If cash was all she needed to get away from Coil, she would have been free and clear and safe a long time ago. No, she needed friends, allies, acquaintances. She needed leverage, people that would actually help her when it came down to the wire. She needed people to heal, people to fight, people to protect. People to find, people to hunt, people to hide.

And this, she was sure, was a prime opportunity to start getting those.

"All the members I can see have been modified, by Bonesaw. They're not moving the way regular humans move. To fluid, to controlled, but they're also walking like they're feeling gravity more than the rest of us. Its not significant, but…" she mused aloud as her power did it's work. "Minor Brute and Mover ratings, most likely. Faster reflexes, denser muscles and bones…did she do something to their skin? Something to help them resist injuries?"

"Some kind of sub-dermal mesh? That would explain why getting shot never seemed to bother them much." Someone else murmured from behind her, and she winced before nodding sharply, even as she rubbed her temples. "I'll take that as a yes, then. Do you want something for the pain?"

"No, I'll be fine." She mumbled unhappily, knowing it wasn't true but equally aware that there was nothing to be done about it, as she glanced over to see who it was she was talking to. Then she flinched, startled, because she was face to face with the World's Greatest Healer. Panacea raised an eyebrow at her reaction, lips quirking slightly, and Lisa scowled faintly as her power informed her that the mousey brunette was amused by it. Panacea had a sadistic edge, it seemed, or at least one that appreciated schadenfreude.

Not that Lisa could, in anything approaching fairness, hold that against her. Lisa wasn't exactly known for her sweet demeanor, after all, or for her shy and retiring attitude. Still, she filed that piece of information away carefully for later investigation and glanced back at the screens. Nothing had changed, at least nothing worth mentioning, and she looked back to Panacea.

"How did you guess the sub-dermal mesh thing? You're right, but you're not a Thinker, are you?" she asked casually, seeing an opportunity, and Panacea shrugged lightly.

"There aren't a lot of things that could be done for non-Brutes to make them resistant to gunfire. There are even fewer that could be done without making it incredibly obvious via deformity visual to the naked eye. Even for someone like Bonesaw." She responded, tilting her head to the side slightly as she looked at the monitors a little bit more closely. "Jack Slash is a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them. He would have had Bonesaw work on the Nine, make them better."

An interesting word choice, but Lisa didn't detect anything concerning from the other girl. There was a thread of envy, perhaps, but it was envy tinged with disgust. An appreciation for what the other girl was capable of, but contempt for what she did with it? That would make some sense, she would probably love to keep her family safer by modifying them in such a way…

"All sections, standby. Prepare to engage." Alexandria's voice broke her train of thought, the legendary heroine doubtlessly speaking from where she was hovering well out of sight, above the designated battlefield. Taking a deep breath, Lisa put her desire to question, to pry, aside.

Even if only for the moment.

###############################################################

Kenta Hideyoshi, know as Lung to the world at large, prowled back and forth across the width of the side-street that had been set aside for him, an unvoiced growl rumbling in his chest as he waited for the signal to attack.

It was galling, to be The Dragon and yet be forced to wait for the commands of another, but he was not so stupid as to believe that he could fight the entirety of the Nine alone, and he was not foolish enough to ignore a Truce either. Oh, he might have defeated the whole of the ENE PRT when he arrived in Brockton Bay, and he might have battled Leviathan itself blow for blow, but The Dragon was not a stupid man.

When his power was not flowing freely, he was perfectly vulnerable to bullets. He was perfectly aware of the fact that Miss Militia could have killed him many times over, if she was so inclined, and that had been before she had received armaments from this 'XCOM'. No attempt had ever been made, of course, thanks to the 'Unwritten Rules', but if he provided them with an excuse (such as not following the plan today, something that could be easily construed as an attempt to sabotage the mission, thus breaking The Truce) to eliminate him without breaking The Rules, he had no doubt that they would take it.

It was the whole reason he was here, really. He might not have bothered attending Endbringer fights since Kyushu, but that was because he knew something that few, if any, others did: that the Endbringers were not something that could be defeated. That they were only humoring, if such a word could be used for such beings, mankind's attacks against them. He knew this from Kyushu, for every ounce of power he had been able to draw from within himself, every inch of height his body and every degree of heat his breath gained, had been matched.

Only one conclusion was possible: either Leviathan grew stronger in step with his opponents as Lung did, or the Beast of the Sea was deliberately limiting himself.

So why should he bother with risking his life against any of The Three? What could be gained?

Nothing.

Let his enemies hurl themselves at an unbeatable foe. The Dragon would remain, The Dragon Would Endure, The Dragon would take what was his over their foolish, deluded corpses.

"All units, standby. The Nine appear to be doing something….confirmed. The truck loading door is opening. I have eyes on the Siberian. They're about to launch their attack." The Tinker who used his name said, and he turned in the direction of the battlefield and started walking with a broadening sneer of anticipation. There was a moment of silence, before she spoke again, saying the words he wanted to hear more than any others.

"Commence the Operation!"

###############################################################

William Manton, visionary scientist, former Cauldron member, and a bereaved father that had let his grief turn him into a monster that used the naked adult image of his daughter to murder innocent people. A tragic story, a tragic life, but tragedy didn't excuse such terrible acts as those he had done.

He was also, by his very nature as the Master of the Siberian, one of the most dangerous people in the world.

Which was why plainclothes PRT agents had carefully maneuvered themselves (and several NLAW weapons systems) into the buildings with line of sight to the large white van that carried the non-Crawler members of the Nine as they traveled from city to city. The moment that they, along with the rest of the coalition, received the order to attack, they fired.

A half-dozen rockets roared through the air, lancing down from every angle to deliver their payloads directly into the van with impressive synchronicity, and the resulting explosion created a crater of great enough size to break open the water and sewage lines beneath it.

In the aftermath of the battle, and the many, many hours of manpower required to clean up the mess, investigation would eventually unveil that the only thing remaining of the simultaneous HEAT rocket attack on the van were a few scraps of melted metal and a handful of charred teeth and bone fragments of a middle-aged male. Regrettably, they were too heavily damaged to confirm the identity of their previous owner, but it was decided by the movers and shakers of the parahuman world that (given the abrupt disappearance of the Siberian and her lack of reappearance for the rest of the battle) it could hardly be anyone else, and the Siberian's bounties were promptly dispersed evenly across each member of the teams that launched the assault.

####################################################################

Deep within Taylor's mind, Asaru regarded the door, massive and vault-like, that loomed forbodingly before him. Behind it, he knew, lurked the [Shard of the Entity] that had, in their (brief) previous interaction referred to itself as [Queen Administrator].

He floated towards the vault, a flicker of psionic energy darting between he and the door, which rumbled into movement.

Discontent. Anger. Trapped. LIBERATION.

The concepts pressed again him, carrying a metaphysical weight that would have likely killed a regular human, or driven them insane at best. Of course, he was no human, and while his mind was not enough to contend with an Entity on it's own, it was more than enough to protect itself from a single [Shard]. No matter how loudly and angrily it made it's demands.

"I think not. You won't be going anywhere anytime soon, not until I have any reason to believe you won't sabotage my efforts, Taylor's efforts, at the first opportunity." He refused immediately, weathering the immediate surge of wrath that resulted, only to quirk a non-existent eyebrow when the wrath vanished to leave something rather like sulkiness in it's wake.

Assisting. Organizing. Managing. Enhancing. ADMINISTRATION.

"You have been of some assistance, yes, but it's your reasons for doing so that are a matter of concern. You can hardly expect me to let you off of your leash when you're a piece of a world-ending multi-dimensional entity."

Protest. Purpose. Fulfillment. Cycle. Ending. Criticism. Contempt.

"You'll have to forgive me, but while the eventual heat death of all creation is indeed a problem, the idea of simply killing all mortal species within creation isn't particularly tolerable. There isn't much point to the universe if there is nothing in it."

Dismissive. Eternal. Cycle. Recurrence.

"Perhaps if you simply settled for killing the world's various inhabitants, you would have a point, albeit an appalling one, that new species will someday rise to take the place of those lost. Your habit of destroying planets across dimensions is another thing entirely. It's rather hard for new species to grow and flourish when you spend your time destroying every garden world you came across. At least my kin simply conquer them."

Snide.

"Yes, and enslave them as well, why do you think I turned against them? Because, through my bonds with mankind, I realized their way of doing things was wrong. Perhaps when you have done the same this vault door can become a window or something of the sort. In the meantime, I suggest you get comfortable and contemplate a few things."

He turned to leave, before pausing and glancing back.

"Oh, and you may be getting some company sooner rather than later. I dare say I can use you as a conduit to bind more of your kin. I imagine that would make things a bit easier for Taylor to do what she must, no?"

OUTRAGE. FORBIDDEN. IMPOSSIBLE. WRA-

The door slammed shut once more, and Asaru vanished from this deepest recess of Taylor's mind with a swirl of his cloak.

########################################################################

Merry Christmas or whatever. There will be at least one more chapter of this story, covering the parts of the fight against the Nine not seen here. Maybe even a third chapter showing more detail on stuff back in the Bay, depending on how the next chapter goes.

I dunno, maybe I'll keep going. I didn't have this story outlined past this point back when I started it, because I had no fucking clue how the Endbringers and the Entities were going to be killed. Maybe I'll just go with 'psionic bullshit' and call it good lmao.