All the Time to Lose (Wormverse)

Ch 25: Recklessness at its Finest

This is so stupid. The Slaughterhouse Nine excel at fighting large groups of capes. Regardless, here we are, fighting the fucking Slaughterhouse Nine and digging our way through their poor decoys to find them. I thought we were leaving. Why did we stay for this?

I spot Siberian across the way. I focus on her, trying to shut her down. I see the familiar ghostly hand sweep across the field at her. It enters her, but I see no crystal. Strange. The only other time that's happened is with Endbringers.

This means that...she's not human. She probably never was. That does bring up the other problem that, like with Endbringers, I can't shut her down. I teleport to Faultline. "I can't shut down Siberian. She's like an Endbringer. There's nothing there."

She nods and I know she'll pass along the message. I tell every ally I can. Part of our plan had hinged on her being a person. Someone I could shut down. No one could have predicted this though.

Instead, I switch tactics. I spot Burnscar stepping out of some fire near Newter. I teleport so I'm between Newter and Burnscar, spraying the nearby fires with a portable fire extinguisher. The whole plan with me fighting Burnscar was for me and some others to limit her mobility.

I'm fast, but we can't afford her teleporting behind someone. So, I focus my attention on her. It takes me a few tries to get a good line of sight on her long enough to 'tag' her, shutting her down. Before I can take her down though, Crawler gets between us, granting her powers back.

I curse under my breath and change tactics. Cherish is nowhere to be found, which is good news for me. Instead, I focus on finding Jack Slash. He's good and it takes a few tries before I can find him and get a line of sight on him.

When I eventually shut down his powers, I teleport to him and land a swift kick to his head. Apparently, Jack only sorta knows how to fight. Thus, he doesn't stand a chance against the years of military and combat training and experience that I possess.

I manage to almost knock him out before I am forced backwards by Siberian crashing through a nearby wall. I teleport to the other side of the field where I shut down the amalgamation of Hatchet Face and Oni Lee.

With his powers shut down, Sundancer of the Travelers is free to kill him with her miniature sun. It takes her a few tries though which tells me that she's not used to life or death combat. Or at least, she's not comfortable with killing someone.

So, when I see that Hack Job is still alive, though just barely, I shoot him several times in the head and chest. After that, I drop the body into one of Burnscar's pillars of fire to destroy the body.

I teleport to Sundancer. "Thanks for the help. You didn't kill him, I did. Now both Hatchet Face and Oni Lee are dead for good. Bonesaw won't be able to bring them back from that." I leave her alone after that. I doubt she wanted to hear even that much to be honest.

I spend the rest of our fight avoiding the Siberian and shutting off Crawler's regeneration so our combatants can at least slow him down or injure him for now. Who knows? Maybe we'd get super lucky and kill him. Highly unlikely...but a guy can dream right?

Well, it was a nice sentiment I guess. Crawler and Siberian are gone and so are Jack Slash, and Bonesaw. Shatterbird isn't leaving though. I look around and spot Bitch and Regent climbing onto their dogs.

Shatterbird follows but doesn't attack. That's right. Regent, given the time, can completely take control over a person. But then, why not attack the Nine with Shatterbird? I want to follow them, but then I spot the remaining Undersiders limping out of the warehouse.

They look shell-shocked but uninjured. Strange. I teleport to them and Tattletale hangs back a few paces. We haven't spoken since the Merchant party, but I've seen her on my walks with Buck.

I fold my arms and stare at her. She hesitates but eventually tells me what's happened. She explains their attack the other day, how they caught Cherish and Shatterbird. She also explains how Grue got captured in the process and how this was their rescue attempt.

She also explains how Bonesaw had taken them down and how Grue had triggered again. We all felt it when someone triggered nearby. I can't help but relate to him. After all, I'm one of the few here who has had multiple trigger events.

I nod and make sure she's looking me in the eyes, going so far as to bend down/squat so she doesn't have to crane her neck. "If you ever need any help, or if he needs someone to talk to, I'm here." I give her a card with my cell number on it.

"I know it's hard. He's gonna be angry, frustrated. He's probably gonna lash out a bit. Hell. If he wants someone to spar with I'm game. He's gonna have some steam to blow off. I won't charge you guys a cent for it."

She nods "Thank you, Anubis. If it'll help, I'll let you know." I nod and teleport to the nearby roof before her team can spot me. She catches up to them and they climb onto the dogs, rushing off before they run into any more trouble.

I rejoin my team and tell Faultline the short version of what happened. Basically, what happened to Shatterbird and Cherish, as well as the fact that Grue was captured and this was their rescue. She knows not to pry further.

It's far more information than any of the other allied groups have. She knows how I got it. She doesn't care. She knows that it's beneficial in the long run and chooses to ignore where I got the information.

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"We've got a lead to follow on the other side of the country." I look at Faultline "My Tinker contact can fix all of our electronics, so long as you don't mind stopping in Kansas." I offer. Faultline looks at me and nods.

We make it out of the city and two cities over. Only then, do we board a plane and breath a sigh of relief. Now, we're safe from the Slaughterhouse Nine. For now. On the plane, Faultline comes to my seat. "Jason." I look at her. "Yes?"

She hesitates but presses on. "I'm afraid that, like with the Merchants, this trip..this lead, is for Gregor and Newter. I-." I wave it off with a hand. "It's alright. I want them to get their answers too." She shakes her head.

"I may not have a lead for you, but I do know a guy who could give us an idea of what she might look like now." I stare at her in silence for a moment. "I just need a picture of her." A picture of her. That's all? I've got plenty of those.

I pull out my wallet and pull out the clearest picture I have of 2-year-old Rochelle, handing it to Faultline. She looks at it and, for a moment, I think I see her smile just a little before she returns to her seat.

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