Moving my new left hand, I quickly got used to it. The metal wasn't the same hue of black as my right hand, which I found surprisingly annoying, but it was close enough.Furthermore, I had decided to go with a more modular design, inspired by some of Kid Win's suggestions. Rather than have a single structure, the arm was divided into two parts: an affixed one that I installed right where the stump was, and the forearm part which was slotted in.This way I could more easily substitute it in the future, and I had a more direct access to my nerves port if needed. I also used the occasion to refine some of the implants, including the internal ones. Just glancing at Mannequin's grotesque work had given me some ideas, and now I had more redundancies. Nothing compared to the Mad Tinker, but enough to survive another encounter with the Siberian nonetheless.Lastly, I prepared some prototypes for new equipment that I could later develop into full tools. An optical camo plating and… The first parts of an organic-plating mechanism that should be much stronger than any alloy. Living organisms could adapt, and heal, so a mesh of genetically modified shell-like material would prove much better in the long run.There was a limit to what one could do with metal alone, after all.By the time I was done the sun had gotten over its halfway point. Kid Win had long since left, and Flechette taking his place. Miss Militia was still there.The cameras never looked away from me. Dragon keeping an eye on me. Or someone else in the PRT."This is it." I said, gathering my tools and equipment, at least what I could comfortably move with."Just that?" Miss Militia asked. She'd warmed up to me in the few hours after explaining her dreams. Mostly because I did not take them as hallucinations. No, in fact what she described reminded me of the crystalline dimension where my true self was in hiding."Yes. I'm done. What is the time and location for tonight's meeting?""Midnight, center of the new lake. But you'll need a code if you won't be coming with us."'Us'.Maybe it was because I had taken her dreams and visions very seriously, but she had begun to see me more as a hero than a villain. She didn't fully trust me yet, though."I will try to be there. I'll contact Dragon if something changes. If need be, I can contact the Undersiders."She raised an eyebrow at that."Among the groups here in Brockton Bay, I'd say they're the least bad, after the heroes that is. And maybe Faultline's crew. I won't be joining them of course, but they can be trusted to at least show humanity.""I'm not sure about that." She sighed. "They've shown that they can be ruthless. They- You attacked the Wards' HQ.""I did say 'least' bad." I answered, shrugging. The white coat I had worn the previous night was now dirtied and ragged, but it would make do."See you tonight, Miss Militia."
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The Siberian was an obstacle I could not overcome. No matter what I thought of, I was sure it wouldn't have any effect on her. I had read up on some weird interactions between her and some odd powers, but nothing that had ever wounded her.Not that I had anything like that at my disposal.I couldn't help but think of how her behaviour closely resembled the worst of the cyberpsychosis cases from my world. Those that not only lost themselves, but found meaning and joy in the slaughter. Those that would have done terrible deeds even without the addictive power implants gave them.Maybe because of that I felt an odd type of comfort when it came to dealing with her. She was, deep down, human. One that was horrible and had long since left behind any redemption, but human nonetheless. A constant that I was not sure would remain for the enemies I would face after the Nine.The Endbringers weren't human. Scion wasn't human. I wasn't sure about the Three Blasphemies and other S-Class threats.All of this meandering was just a small break to get my thoughts in order and sharpen my plans. Scout locations, find traces and such.Starting off from the nasty things Bonesaw had begun to put in the water. I couldn't do anything about that, the virus was extremely well hidden, beyond my means to detect. Only my encounter with one of her spider bots had tipped me off. I sent a message to Dragon hoping she would get Panacea to help and then moved on to other threats.Shatterbird could, at any moment, attack and cause untold casualties to the city. She didn't need to reach a strategic position to begin her attack.…but she would need one to keep her safe from an eventual counterattack. Otherwise she would be long dead, killed in a retaliatory strike. Her power was a resonating soundwave, rather easy to triangulate the source once she stopped holding back. If she wasn't in a safe location, then a coordinated assault from a strike team could put an end to her.Which meant she wasn't somewhere exposed, but had found a location that was decently safe… That is, one where her allies could be present and help her.This left me with two realistic options.One, she either was going to stay with Jack, and therefore the Siberian, and interfere in some way with the meeting that was going to happen tonight.Two, she wasn't going to be close to the meeting tonight, which meant no Siberian. Therefore leaving an opening for me to put an end to her.Otherwise…Was there a world where Jack Slash didn't try and fuck with the villains and heroes meeting tonight?No. There was not.So it was one of these two options. The first would be the worst, because I'd be forced to confront the Siberian head on once again. With Shatterbird around, I didn't like my chances at surviving for the second time.But I was being distracted. The Nine had more members that simply Shatterbird and the Siberian. In fact, there were two members who were much easier to track down…
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Midnight was minutes away when I finally found the lead I was looking for.Crawler and Burnscar weren't stealthy. If anything, the opposite: devastation and burnt corpses followed them anywhere they went. Again, I couldn't really parse how the two managed to remain hidden for so long. Something about Jack Slash kept bothering me, but I did not know what.Thankfully he wasn't with them at that moment.The two, plus Shatterbird, were hiding out in a flooded Endbringer shelter. The one Leviathan had broken in. Echolocation revealed Shatterbird laying down over a couch that looked very out of place, reading from a book. Burnscar was crouched over a pool of water, looking at her reflection, thinking. Crawler was 'laying down' as well, as much as his mutated body could do such a thing.There was a thin layer of sand spread across the various entrances and hallways. Vibrating ever so slightly. Shatterbird power at work, creating a perimeter where she could perceive any presence. The sand was too spread out to be avoided, some grains literally floating in the air. I only noticed them because my echolocation was particularly sensitive to vibrating material.She would immediately feel me if I even brushed against a single grain she was controlling.The shelter was quite large. Even pushing my implants to the limit, it would take at least 7 seconds between me triggering her sensors and reaching her. Enough time for her to trigger a city-wide attack.Not an option.But I had another. One that would only work due to the enemies I was up against.So I walked up to the entrance and brought out a small bundle of paper.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.At the same time I stepped on the sand, I brushed against the paper with the thermal blade embedded in my right arm, making it catch fire.Shatterbird and Burnscar both immediately took notice of my presence, heads raising in interest and alarm, respectively. The latter was wary, but Shatterbird was relaxed. The sand underneath me moved and formed into words:'Come on in'I followed the suggestion.
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Immediately, as I walked in the wider room, Crawler whipped his tail towards me, sending a wave of dirty water splashing all around and cracking the concrete underneath. Trying to intimidate me, I suppose.Shatterbird was still sitting on the couch, with Burnscar by her side now."Well well, what do we have here! If it's not the one Jack warned us about!" Shatterbird confidently said.Crawler growled from my side. Or grinned. Couldn't really tell from his grotesque appearance. I knew he should be able to talk."Shatterbird," I nodded, "I wasn't expecting to find only you three," I lied."Is that so? Well sorry miss, Jack is out on an errand, so us is what you get." She was enjoying this. Being able to take up Jack's role.I also struck at her pride. Good, it would keep her talking. I had questions."That is a shame, but I'll make do with you-" Her eyebrow twitched at that comment. "Tell me Shatterbird: do you feel it?"Burnscar became immediately interested as I said that."It?" Shatterbird asked."I believe some refer to it as 'the passenger'.""Oh. The one Bonesaw always talks about."It was my turn to be surprised. Maybe Bonesaw was somehow even more dangerous than I imagined: I didn't dare imagine what she would do if she figured out how to reverse engineer powers. In some ways she was already able to do so, but only by using parahuman corpses.Shatterbird continued:"Mmmh, not really? Bonesaw says that mine is probably a bit broken, because of 'how I got it'. Whatever."Mh?"That's what makes you special. How you got your power. I see"That really irked her, as she frowned openly and began to control the glass strewn all around the room. She didn't need to use her voice to control material in her vicinity."No. That's beside the point. Or maybe not. After all, I did swipe it from an arrogant idiot that wanted to use me as a test subject."'It'? My heartbeat was getting faster. Part of it was the danger I was in - Crawler had begun licking his lips, ready to charge towards me and tear me apart - but most of it was the new information I was obtaining. I hadn't expected this."The people that gave 'It' to him should have chosen better. Maybe they should've given it to you in the first place." I tried to provoke her some more."They only gave the vial to him because of money, the same money he had used to buy me from my parents." Shatterbird sneered, almost chuckling at the absurdity of my words.Vial.A vial.Power in a bottle.I see."I bet they went mad when they saw the wonders I created with the-" Shatterbird didn't finish her sentence.The world became still. Color drained from all around as I turned off any system that wasn't feeding the speedware, including the color receptors in my eyes. I didn't need endurance, not like when I was running away from the Siberian.One short burst would do.I drew my blade from its sheath. The pitch black metal became a pulsing red, leaving a streak in the air: like a brush painting upon a canvas. Except that the ink was superheated air. I ran forward.To my senses, it took one second. Shatterbird barely reacted, sending a torrent of glass in my direction.In real time, a sonic boom followed my movement, reducing all the shards of glass around me to dust by merely grazing them. I raised the blade and slashed towards Shatterbird: the edge of the sword met her neck and kept going. Her head was separated from the rest of the body.Time began to speed up again."-ir vial." Shatterbird's decapitated head finished her last sentence. I grabbed it by the hair and kept on running. Without the head, Bonesaw wouldn't be able to revive her, or even create a monster with her powers… And I had plans for it as well. Better to keep it intact as much as I could.Burnscar shrieked in horror and became surrounded by flames, turning it against me. Crawler spat something in my direction. Acid.The implants in my leg turned on and I jumped away from Crawler's spit. Burnscar threw a fireball, barely missing and creating a large crater in the wall behind me. It wasn't enough to knock the wall down, as these shelters were quite durable. But it was enough to start a small fire.Burnscar teleported to that flame, closing the distance in an instant. I didn't hesitate: my blade slashed across her face, bisecting where the Corona Pollentia should be located. My heart ached as I put an end to the life of a human so strongly puppeted by a parasite. When her power wasn't causing her madness, reports indicated that she was a normal person.Crawler spat at me again, and began charging in my direction. It was of no use though, even as he showed surprising alacrity.I avoided all attacks and began escaping from his attacks. He attempted to follow me, moving through the hallways at a speed comparable to the Siberian, but the shelter was too tight to allow him free movement. The walls were too durable to be knocked down without slowing Crawler down. He couldn't just defy all laws of physics by just existing, unlike the striped parahuman. I kept running away, using my speedware in short bursts to put more and more distance between us, making sure to avoid overclocking the augments again. Already I could hear small alarms being sent through my body as some processors melted because of the strain of my first attack. But the job was done.By the time Crawler managed to reach the outside, I was long gone.
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It surprised me to see that Crawler hadn't decided to simply rampage once I had made my escape. Apparently I had overestimated his attachment to the rest of the Nine. Or underestimate the hold Jack Slash had on him.With this, three of them had fallen. Mannequin, Shatterbird and Burnscar. I likely couldn't do anything against Crawler and the Siberian, and I would need appropriate preparation to make sure Bonesaw didn't murder every living organism in the city after her death.What worried me most, though, was still Jack Slash. There was… Something odd about him. Even as I modeled his behaviour, I couldn't find the slightest sign of him being a good or even decent tactician. He took useless risks and often lost members of the Nine in situations that could have been easily avoided.He believed his own insanity. He wasn't playing it up for an audience, no. Jack's apparent brilliance in avoiding heroes and villains alike made no sense.'Are you certain?' Dragon answered my message, trying to verify if I had really taken down another two members of the Nine. I sent back a photo of Shatterbird's head.Dragon decided not to ask any more questions.I had unfortunately missed the beginning of the meeting by the lake, but I was still trying to approach the location. Hoping to catch Jack Slash before he could cause any more damage.Instead, the worst happened. Within a second, every single river and pool of water within Brockton Bay changed, all at once.The water, all around, turned red. A mist of the same color was rising from every single flooded street. Bonesaw did have some way to tell if Shatterbird and Burnscar were dead. Unlike Mannequin, the two had received augmentations from Bonesaw after all.And it seemed that Jack wasn't pleased with my actions.He had decided to stop playing around.And this was his counterattack.