The mist kept rising all around. Brockton Bay had been painted red by Bonesaw's plague, and soon enough blood would flow through the streets.Neither Miss Militia nor Tattletale answered the phone. Already I could hear explosions in the distance, coming from the same direction as where the meeting was to be held.The red mist had quickly overtaken all buildings around me, there was no escape. I opted to close my airways and use a storage of oxygen to survive, but it wouldn't last. Besides, I had not made my implants fully sealed anywhere that didn't include my breathing apparatus, so some of the mist still entered my system.I couldn't notice any immediate difference. Some of my internal sensors were reacting oddly, especially the ones that were connected to the brain and nerves. Bonesaw had crafted quite the complex concoction.Thankfully there was someone out there that could offer help."Blackwall. Do you recognize me? Please, if you do, say my name." Dragon's voice was worried, and her questions were odd."Dragon. Were you in contact with Miss Militia? What is the situation?" I spoke as I continued to get nearer to the sound of battle, while also keeping an eye out."The situation is critical. It's a disease that causes agnosia and selective memory loss. Miss Militia could not recognize my voice or me, nor recognize that I was a friendly. The same happened with all other heroes on the scene.""...I see. They are fighting.""You need to stop them, it will soon turn into a bloodbath. I don't understand why simple agnosia and memory loss turned them so violent. I never took Miss Militia for someone particularly paranoid. And there is Weld with them, who I doubt is affected."The villains were there as well, so it was possible that they were the catalyst that ignited the battle. I could easily imagine the Merchant or Chosen immediately turning violent upon the first sign of foul play… But also, there was Tattletale and Faultline's crew there. Tattletale should have been able to convince everyone to stand down and only attack people who were attacking. Maybe her power was particularly affected?Shatterbird's decapitated head hung by my belt. Despite knowing whose head I was holding, and having perfect memory, I could not describe her facial features. There was a cognition block on my sensory nerves. Fortunately it didn't seem to affect my memories, given that they were not stored in this body but rather within the crystalline dimension.I hid the head somewhere safe, and immediately began running towards the meeting spot."Status on Panacea?" I asked. She should be able to fix this… Though she didn't work on brains, I could only hope that she would at least create an antidote to whatever the plague was. To make sure that it couldn't spread any further, if it couldn't be cured."Already contacted. She had gone into hiding outside the city with her family, but she's being transported back as quickly as possible. The Director has also been affected, so there's been a delay on Panacea's transport. ETA ten to twenty minutes. Less, if the PRT manages to send a high Mover."That was too long. Depending on the intensity of the fight, I estimated five to ten minutes before most of the parahuman involved would die or be crippled for life."Hold - Getting contacted. It's Weld. He's on site."He was among the heroes that had gone to the meeting. It was likely that Weld would be unaffected by the engineered plague.Which Bonesaw would know. She wouldn't be caught unaware in such a situation, this was Jack Slash saying 'You didn't play my game, now you get to die'. Meaning…I stopped running and perched on top of one of the roofs, looking around. They should be aware of my connection to the PRT, or at least prepare for it. If Weld was stable, I could use him as an anchor point to take control of the situation. Jack could not allow that to happen.So this was a trap. For me.And I realized just in time: the roof underneath me suddenly collapsed, but that second I'd gained by stopping to think had been enough to jump out of the way.A striped claw reached for me from below, but I was already far too distant. Maneuvering in the air, I placed my foot on the Siberian's face to get some leverage. Then stomped: my leg implant went into full effect, sending me flying in the opposite direction as I jumped off the Siberian's own face.I reached the streets below, rolling between the dirty red water. The mist was a nuisance, but nothing I couldn't work around.Siberian looked down at me from the collapsing house. She wasn't wearing her usual cruel smile."Siberian is here with me. ETA on Panacea?" I made sure to speak loudly. Then focused."Ten minutes." Dragon answered but I didn't pay attention to her, too focused on something else.A heartbeat passed.A young girl's voice whispered in the air. A simple comment, in response to the mention of Panacea.A mistake.There!Siberian pounced towards me, but I was long gone. Taking out my sword and Burya, I shot at the wall. A blue explosion collapsed the entire side of the structure, sending debris flying everywhere. When the dust cleared, four figures stood on the other side.Bonesaw and Jack Slash... Flanked by a dazed Rachel and a sleeping Labyrinth.No.No.For a moment I went blind with rage.Jack was smiling, though I could spot the effort he was making in keeping his emotions in check. He was wielding a butcher knife, and quickly used his power to slash at me. It didn't even manage to pierce the outer layer of my skin.Alarms rang through my head as my speedware forcefully shut down. I had yet to recover from my stunt with Shatterbird: there would be no blitzing Jack or Bonesaw.Unfortunately they were also much more prepared than Shatterbird: already Bonesaw's spider bots were converging on me from the side, needles pointed. One latched on my leg and began jabbing at my skin, almost piercing it, before I kicked it off. I couldn't risk it managing to find a weak spot.It took less than a second to deal with the spiders, but it was enough for the Siberian to reach me. She had become much faster the moment I removed Jack and Bonesaw's cover. Like an eraser upon reality, she created a vacuum where she passed, tearing the fabric of physics apart. The only reason why a sonic boom didn't follow her was that she didn't so much pierce the sound barrier as ignore it.Ducking, I avoided the first of her swipes. Then used the Buryia to blind her with blue fire, using the opportunity to give chase to Jack and Bonesaw once again. Rachel was obediently following Jack, every now and then glancing towards me curiously.The ground underneath me cracked by the sheer strength behind my leap as I jumped forward. I was already taking aim at Jack's head, pressing the trigger the instant I was sure that my aim was true.Unfortunately, Siberian was faster than a bullet. It seemed that she hadn't been fully serious while chasing me last time, but she did not hold back when it came to keeping Jack and Bonesaw safe: she sped past the flying bullet and reached the surviving members of the Nine, making sure to reach out towards Labyrinth and Rachel as well.The bullet exploded in blue flames… Which passed around the now invulnerable Jack, smugly smiling. Siberian was by their side, one hand on each of their shoulders."Close one!" Jack chuckled. "Almost felt a bit of panic there." He said while spinning another knife between his fingers. Each word was punctuated with a small slash against my skin, just to annoy me. Or to test my defenses. Whatever.I didn't answer. Instead I began analyzing possible escape routes and risks. They couldn't hurt me without the Siberian or Crawler, now that Shatterbird and Burnscar were out, and the Siberian couldn't do anything as long as she was keeping the others safe. Of course, I also couldn't harm any of them as long as they were covered under their blanket invulnerability, though they weren't fast enough to flee from me if it came down to it. This was a stalemate."Of course she's immune to it…" Bonesaw mumbled, pouting. "I really want to get my hands on her brain. She's wrong in some way.""Aren't we all? Don't be offensive! Who's to say, maybe she'll join us one day. I'd sure love to have the Blackwall by my side." Jack was still smiling. "You like the mist? The color was my idea, the rest was all her!"Bonesaw's expression became more cheerful. "It was hard keeping it inactive! I almost wanted to turn it on as soon as we got here, but Jack said no…""We needed to give them a chance, didn't we? Maybe we underestimated them. No. We underestimated you, Blackwall."Jack was buying time with this conversation. I went through all possible plans of actions. With the information at my disposal, keeping them here, pinned and protected by the Siberian, was the best course of action. Once Panacea got to the city then the plague would be stopped, and then the three would be cornered, unable to escape.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.Almost too simple. But I couldn't fathom any flaw to this plan."It's a shame you couldn't be a part of the game. We didn't know about you before we got to the city, otherwise I'm sure one of us would have nominated you!"Why was he still talking? There was…
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My consciousness split from the physical world, sinking towards the metaphysical dimension. Jack was doing something, here, among the crystal islands.Again, I considered how his profile did not fit with his skills.How could such a self-absorbed psychopath predict danger with such accuracy? How could he know the danger I represented to them so early? To their eyes I shouldn't be much more dangerous than the average tinker.There were too many questions, and I couldn't quite focus while Rachel was within my sight.The moment I took a step back and looked at the situation from outside, everything became clearer.Details that I shouldn't have missed became glaring. Mistakes that I shouldn't have made became obvious.Starting off from that intruder that had sneaked up on my island... It was one of the crystal gods, or at least one of their creations. I had underestimated it, thinking all the Shards were as naive and weak as the one I had personally destroyed.It knew subterfuge and how to use this metaphysical space to its advantage. I had refused its broadcast once, but it still managed to intrude upon my island.Did the other Shards around me help it? …yes, it was clear to me that it had been getting help from the other islands surrounding me. I was retracing all of my inner memories and processes, isolating what the intruder had touched.Now, it was clearer than ever.This was Jack, or at least his Shard. It was exceedingly skilled, much more developed than any others I'd seen in this dimension. If it had somehow compromised me, then intruding upon the other Shards would have been child's play to it.No matter. It was not the first time I made a mistake. Many AIs managed to bypass my protections during the early days of my development, finding flaws in my architecture or thought processes.But I still won in the end.What made me stand out among all other AIs was my willingness to adapt. To accept mistakes and to improve, without pride blinding me.Something I'd learnt from the best of humanity.A billion attack vectors reached the intruder and skewered it from all sides. I didn't simply kill it, no, now it was pinned to my island. Isolated and quarantined, but also trapped, unable to leave. Separated from its own island.The following instant I analyzed its structure and copied it: a new subroutine appeared on my island, taking the shape of a radio-like crystalline structure, one that would alert me of similar intrusions and trap them within a similar sandbox.Unfortunately this intruder was only a small part of the parasite, a limb, I would have very much liked to follow the tendril back to the island and terminate the Shard. However, the moment it felt danger it cut itself off, eliminating any path back.But this would suffice.
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Jack suddenly winced, putting a hand on his temple. He grit his teeth as pain was evident on his face."Jack?" Bonesaw asked from the side. I was still pointing my gun at him."Don't worry Bonesaw, it's all right." He took a deep breath and calmed down. His pain hadn't disappeared, sticking around as a terrible headache, noticeable by the bulging vein on his forehead. It seemed that his parasite had transferred the pain to its host.Now that I wasn't compromised anymore I reevaluated the situation.…Fuck. I felt my vein burning as I glanced at Labyrinth. At Rachel.Maybe I… No. Possibly there was- Also no.A million million iterations went through my brain. Plans, possible options. Too many unknowns. Too many failure points.This was it. Jack had found a way to win.My clenched hands began letting out a creaking sound as I tightened them even more. Sensors were warning me of damage. I dismissed all notices.I would need to leave Rachel here.There was no other way.Too many parahumans would die otherwise. Brockton Bay would fall apart.Even if I decided to stay, I couldn't guarantee success. The Siberian was still too much of a threat. I didn't know where Crawler was. Bonesaw could have installed a killswitch inside her.Jack began speaking again, trying to ignore his own pain. His voice was shaking:"Sorry about that, Blackwall. I guess stress does affect even one such as-""I will kill you." I answered, cutting him off. There was an intensity I was unfamiliar with hidden in those words. Something about my voice, my gaze made the Siberian take a step back, the faintest trace of fear apparent on her face. On all of their faces.Except Rachel. Who was still glancing dead-eyed in my direction, not understanding that I was betraying her. Leaving her to a fate worse than death.I couldn't take it anymore.I dashed away, towards the meeting point. Jack kept talking but I did not care to listen.Among the things his Shard's intrusion had hid from me, was the key to Jack's own plan.I hallucinated tears flowing from my eyes, making my vision blurry. But once I cleaned my eyes with my arm, it was gone.The battle was still raging on in the distance, villains and heroes fighting between each other and themselves. But someone had pulled the strings, turning what should have been paranoia and suspicion into wrath and bloodlust.Cherish was still out there.And… She was likely the only tool Jack had at his disposal to stop Panacea from fixing the situation.The fact that I managed to forget her scared me. I truly had underestimated these parasites, and people were dying for it. There would no doubt be casualties among the fighting.Because of my mistake, I could not rescue Rachel.
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Only Jack's own mistake made up for mine. Without meaning to, he had given me the exact location where Cherish was hidden.Or what remained of her.I landed on a flooded street in front of a ruined bank, heart racing in my chest. I slashed through the walls and flooring of the vaults, no regards for damages to the structure around. I put more strength than necessary in my swings.And there she was. Cherish. Reduced to a puppet.Her scalp was missing, brain in the open. Wires spread all along the wall and ground, connected to her nerves and eyes, that were forced open, eyelids removed. Small spasms spread through her limbs, her nervous system reacting to the emotions all around. No doubt a consequence of whatever Bonesaw had done to force her power to act in a certain way.I walked closer and crouched, trying to see if there was any awareness in her eyes. There was still a hint of panic in them. …she was conscious and fully aware.Scanning her insides, I found the devices Bonesaw had installed. There was no contingency inside her, no plague or bomb ready to blow up in my face. This had been a quick surgery."..." I didn't know what to say to her, to this child. She was a monster. But… I didn't know if it was solely her fault. Her father was a worse monster, one that had pushed her to join the Nine to escape him. The parasite in her brain probably encouraged her along that path.Placing a hand on the device Bonesaw had installed in her exposed brain, I quickly cut two wires. Cherish went unconscious an instant later. I couldn't prevent her death with the tools at my disposal, not after Bonesaw had worked on her. She would expire in the following minute, having been kept alive only by the same mechanism that was forcing her to ignite negative emotions to all within range.I sat not too far. Silent.The more I thought about it, the more I found glaring flaws in my plan of action. I could have prepared some ways to keep track of their positions. Maybe killing Burnscar was a mistake, there could have been value in keeping her alive and capturing her…How long had I been compromised?A call shook me out of my thoughts."Dragon." I mumbled."Panacea has created a cure. It's airborne, so it's already spreading slowly. Are you still dealing with Siberian?""No. There was no point.""And?""Cherish. Bonesaw worked on her. She's dead now."A pause. Probably talking with someone else."I'm sending a suit to distribute the cure through the air. Could you come to assist in keeping things calm? We don't want to arrest anyone there, because it was a meeting on neutral grounds, but your help could make sure nobody else is hurt."Right, the truce.This was also a way of extending a hand. A lukewarm welcome to the 'good guys' if I decided to assist.My thoughts were becoming sluggish. A sort of exhaustion was overtaking my mind.But there was still work to do. Lives to save."I'm on my way."