All the Time to Lose (Wormverse)

Ch 24: Nice Try

I meet up with the group at the edge of the lake, the permanent reminder of what the Endbringer had done. Castle greeted me with fake cheer "Have a good chat with the psychopaths? Didn't we make a rule about you wandering Brockton Bay alone?"

Oops. In all honesty, I forgot all about that. "Sorry." I offer, though with how emotionless my voice usually is, it might have been better to not apologize at all. "It went as I expected. Jack was pleased with what I did and they left."

Castle creates a path into the air and we climb up onto the floating sidewalk he's created. We head back home to begin our preparations for the Nine. I decide to focus on the possible events of the night. It will probably give me a headache but that will go away with some rest.

I see Skitter finding her dad dead. I see Tattletale unable to speak properly ever again. I see Skitter saving her dad. I see Panacea lying in a pool of her own blood, her throat slashed by a piece of glass. I also see Skitter dying at Mannequin's hands.

There's also one where Skitter beats Mannequin, driving him back for the night. I explore the possibilities for that fight. Without Dinah, I can only guess at the numbers, but I'd say Skitter has about a 37% chance of beating Mannequin.

Granted, in none of those does she escape unscathed, with no losses, a clear victory, nor by killing Mannequin. But, the other 63% end in much worse and gruesome ways. I hope she wins. She's certainly smart enough to.

I focus on the other members of the Nine. It takes me a bit but it seems that, in most scenarios, they crash tonight's Merchant party, killing all but a few of the people gathered. There is no scenario where they test anyone or bother any of the candidates tonight.

Thank goodness for that. By the time we arrive home, I have a clear idea of what might happen tonight and in the morning. We arrive back at the house and it would seem that Shatterbird sang while we were on our way back.

It is a good thing the Drydens made the proper preparations for Shatterbird's song before we left and while we were out. Mr. and Mrs. Dryden are both unharmed and there is no glass in the house. We get inside and I smile a bit as I pull off the mask.

"They won't be testing tonight. They'll be too busy planning out the rules of the game." I never carried my cell phone while in costume so I'd had Fulgur remove the silicon and glass yesterday.

Castle sighs in relief and crashes on the nearby couch, not even bothering to change. Before he falls asleep, I call out "You and I have patrol in the morning right Castle?" He kinda hums/groans out a 'yeah sure'.

Good. I'll need him. I could always switch shifts with Vigilant, but that runs the risk of running into Crawler in a few scenarios. I'll just have to suck it up and accept that I'll be meeting Mannequin tomorrow.

I take this chance to sleep off my budding headache. I can't risk having a migraine tomorrow or any of the upcoming days. I also make sure to stock my suit with a bottle of migraine medicine, just to be sure.

The next morning, we all eat breakfast together and Castle and I head out on our morning patrol. We reach our neighborhood and get about a block in before we are forced to stop. Maybe a block or 2 in front of us stands Mannequin.

He seems to have upgraded himself. According to my 'dream', he lost an arm and a head to Skitter last night. He's probably outfitted himself to deal with her today. He stares at us with his blank face. I know he doesn't talk, but it is rather inconvenient when he has to issue a test.

A part of me wants to point out the changes in his body...but I also know that he is liable to attack if I do. Although, he is more or less incapable of hurting Castle with the parts he currently has. "Good morning Mannequin. Here to administer your test?"

The ragdoll-like man just continues to stare at us. I can hear a voice in the back of my mind telling me to tread lightly. This man goes after people who use their powers to help others. After spending the last 8 years warning people of Endbringer attacks, I might be on that list.

I decide to venture a guess "If I recall from my visions, you challenge candidates to change themselves in a way that costs them. Like Cherish's tattoo. Is that correct?" He very slowly dips his head so his chin almost hits his chest before rising back to its original position.

I nod. "Am I correct to assume that any of the Nine can confirm that I have completed the challenge? Or do you need to witness it?" Oh darn. I asked an either or question. Mannequin is best suited to answering yes or no questions. Oops.

A part of me can't help but wonder what will happen if I don't complete his challenge. What is his punishment? Do I dare ask? My power isn't showing me when I see him again. Does that mean that I will never see Mannequin again?

My power has always been finicky when it comes to myself. Even my chronokinesis. It works better on others than it does on me. In fact, I cannot pause myself and rewinding myself is difficult at best.

Castle interjects, not looking away from Mannequin "He has two days left to test, right? He has now issued the challenge, and we can take our time to prepare for it. He can check our progress tomorrow." I look at the Tinker. "Is that permissible?"

Mannequin stares at us for a good long while before nodding as slowly as he had before. He turns to leave, his gait is awkward due to his gangly structure. I feel a surge of pride and mischief. Cherish probably, but I am curious to see what happens.

"Good luck with Skitter." I say. My voice is its normal emotionless state...except for just a tinge of smugness in the background. A tinge of smugness that Mannequin heard. He whirls around launching his arm at me.

Seeing it coming even before I spoke, I easily dodge the attack, turning sideways so it flies past me. I see the chain of his arm reeling in. I step back so I'm next to Castle. "There's no biomass in the chain." I don't need to see my teammate's face to know he's grinning.

"Excellent." he says as he creates a forcefield from within the chain, easily cutting it. The extended arm falls to the ground. I step behind Castle as I see Mannequin raise his other arm. The sound of the gun firing rings through the empty streets.

I can't help but smile a little at the thought of what we're doing. We don't need to fight him, but fighting him now buys time for the Undersiders and the Travelers to prepare for him. Also, his gun didn't pierce Castle's overshield. It pushed Castle back a step, but it didn't hurt him.

From my position behind Castle, I hold up my hand, palm forward, fingers to the sky. I focus my power on Mannequin, pushing against his movements until he stops. Castle stands up straighter, flinging his arms out to either side.  "IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO!?"

No. No it is not. "He's liable to have a gas attack. I can fast-forward him to when he's leaving, but I need to release him to do that. Think you can hold him?" "Of course." I can't quite see what he does, but he soon says "He's held."

I focus my power on the path Mannequin takes to leave. I then release Mannequin while I grab that timeline, forcing Mannequin's existence into that portion of that timeline so he leaves. Apparently, Castle surrounded Mannequin in forcefields. He can't move without cutting himself.

I hadn't thought about this but, as soon as I release his body to complete the timeline, he walks into some of them, cutting gashes into the sides of his torso and legs before running off into the distance. He could easily retrace his steps to us...but he won't.

Once he's out of sight, I wait a bit, pushing him even further away before releasing him. I turn to Castle "He's smart enough not to come back." "Well, then we can finish our patrol, go home, and figure out how to handle whatever bullshit comes next."

That sounds about right. I nod and we resume our patrol. One might say it's a bit too quiet...if not for what's going on. It's supposed to be quiet. We met Mannequin, got the challenge, and he's gone off to prepare for the next candidates.

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