Rachel watched as Jack directed Labyrinth to use her powers in precise ways. Using prepared names to quickly tell her what structure to build.As for where, Jack simply pointed with the tip of his knife at a spot on the paper map of the city that was strewn below. Labyrinth was prone on top of it, reaching with her hand to where she wanted to make use of her power.On her wrist was a complicated device that Bonesaw had created. The same device that was on Rachel's and William's wrists. Something that 'extended their range'. Rachel didn't know how, and didn't care.All around the room stood small holes in reality, no larger than pinpricks. From them, Rachel could feel 'hooks' to which her power could latch onto. And she simply did. Weirdly not feeling drained even as she did so."Panacea got away." William informed the rest of the room. His voice was calm."No!" Bonesaw screamed from a corner, looking up from the computer she was looking at. "Come ooon! We had her!""Blackwall prioritized her over the rest of the civilians.""Did she?" Jack smiled, "Well then. Ellie, would you mind putting the meat tower here?" He pointed with the knife at a specific place on the map. Rachel didn't recognize it, but she wasn't being updated on the ongoing changes.Labyrinth merely grunted in acknowledgment and closed her eyes to focus."Something is taking over my swarm…" Bonesaw grumbled."Skitter. They're openly using Cauldron's portals." William quickly answered."Then the fun is over. Bonesaw, shut them down." Jack instructed Bonesaw, who frowned and then pressed a button on her keyboard.Skitter. Rachel frowned. The name felt… strange. She shook her head to try and push away the sensation. Luckily, Jack did not notice this moment of weakness. Rachel knew better than to show Jack even the smallest hint of hesitation…William, though, noticed. He merely smiled towards Rachel, in a gesture that Rachel couldn't understand. For a second she almost took it as a challenge, before remembering that she was looking at a person, and not one of her dogs.Beast seemed to also notice her discomfort, as it put its head against Rachel's palm, trying to get her attention. But it had the opposite effect.Fucking abomination… She felt disgust at being touched by the unnatural canine, slapping Beast away.That, Jack did notice. But he only chuckled, seemingly taking glee in the hatred Rachel had for her strongest dog."You don't need me anymore. I'm going outside." She began walking out, to no one's protest. She was right: with Bonesaw's bugs neutralized, Rachel wouldn't be needed to pump her power into the new monsters that were being created. And they wouldn't lose the power juice as long as Bonesaw's venom was within their system.Rachel's footsteps were heavy as she left the main room of the wooden castle, walking outside to the greenery where just about half of her actual packs remained. The rest had been used by Jack to attack the city."Sit!" She ordered her dogs, who rushed towards her and sat in a large circle. They stood still with their tongues out, following her instructions without protest.She walked among the lines of dogs, checking for wounds and injuries. A habit, more than a necessity, as after Bonesaw had worked on the dogs, they'd begun to heal extremely fast."What you've managed is truly remarkable," someone said from behind her. Rachel's head snapped towards the source, teeth locked in a snarl.It was William. The older man who often looked out of place among the group."It looks remarkable to you." She spoke through gritted teeth, "But this should be the… the norm. They're happier here.""I can see that. And I can see that you really do not like what Jack is making you do with the rest of them."Rachel narrowed her eyes. She knew better than to discuss her displeasure here where the leader Slaughterhouse Nine could hear. Crawler had learned the lesson the hard way."You can speak freely. It's not like he's not aware of the dislike you have for him.""He promised to let us go when this is all over. That's the only reason why I'm not trying to kill him.""That's not really it, is it?" William sighed. He walked forward and began petting one of the dogs. Angelica. "You don't really believe it. That this will ever be over, that is."She didn't like where this conversation was going. But at the same time, she knew that William had a sort of connection to the Siberian, and there was no way any of her dogs were winning against the striped monster. So she simply stayed quiet."You don't need to answer me. I just want to talk.""Talk. And then get lost."He chuckled, "How odd. Blackwall used a similar turn of phrase."Blackwall. Another name that itched in Rachel's mind. Not as much as Skitter, but still."If you don't want to answer, just listen. Blackwall told me something very interesting. About Jack." William continued to speak, not only to Rachel but also to the dogs that surrounded the two of them. As though he was speaking to them too. "She told me that his power is abnormal, in the way that it acts behind the scenes. Works with what Bonesaw calls passengers. And that no matter how hard a parahuman tries, they'll never be able to kill Jack directly. No, the only way for that to happen would be through a non-parahuman."Rachel quietly listened."It isn't a coincidence, then, that he only surrounds himself with parahumans. Though another thing Blackwall mentioned is that Jack does not know about this facet of his power.""What the fuck are you trying to say?"William chuckled. "Nothing. Or maybe something. I'm not against following Jack until the end of time. But I'm also not in favour of it, of course. The only thing I want is to expose the fragility of civilization and order. To show everyone that we're all animals, beasts, deep inside. And then I want to be the one to hunt them down, to show that I'm the predator and they're the prey."Do you understand, Bitch? Or do you prefer the name Wolf Queen?""Shut up." Rachel almost ordered her dogs to tear him to pieces, but he stood up and began to walk away. Without saying anything more.Leaving Rachel and her dogs to mull over his words.
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The scared group of heroes and officers appeared in the middle of the green clearing, already surrounded by Rachel's own pack. Transformed into enormous monsters of muscle and bone.Jack smiled gleefully as he stepped beyond the line of dogs to discuss with the imprisoned victims. They knew their fate was already sealed.Rachel did not pay attention to the conversation. She didn't care.One of the heroes gathered enough courage to step forward and shout something, but before the rest of his group could react, the Siberian appeared. She crushed his neck with a simple swing of her claw. His head began hanging very loosely, from the neck, as he fell to his knees and quickly died.Fear was a weird thing. The heroes should have realised, logically, that death was actually the best outcome for this situation. Before Bonesaw got her hands on them. But Jack was knowingly playing on their collective panic, not giving them time to think or reason among themselves.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.Truly, they could have proved a challenge to keep contained had they grouped together to strike against Rachel's dogs.But as it was, they continued to waste time. Time that they didn't have.William was back with Rachel, sitting by Labyrinth's side. He whispered something in her ear, and the landscape began to change. The heroes suddenly were split apart by warping walls that rose from the ground. Rooms formed around the various groups, dividing them as William instructed.And with that, all their chances of escape were crushed.
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"With the shoulder bone connected to the… hip bone… and the hip bone connected to the… back bone!""Aaaahrghfleeetdss"Bonesaw sang as she worked on the open skull of one of her victims. The hero was kneeling at the center of the room, making strained sounds with her mouth as Bonesaw worked on her brain, in ways and for reasons Rachel did not understand.William had asked Rachel to sit nearby, to watch the operation. Some part of her felt sick at the sight of Bonesaw doing open surgery on one of the idiotic heroes."Oh! Here it is!" She cheerfully motioned for William, who walked closer to look at what Bonesaw wanted to show him. The Siberian walked with him."Her Gemma.""Yep! Maybe now with you I can find out more about the passengers! Or agents, whatever your 'Cauldron' called them.""I like passenger." William answered. Bonesaw beamed with a smile as she heard his words. "But you're getting distracted. That's for later.""Hm? Oh! Right. Sorry… Let me just… Here is the 'lying' part of the brain. Let me just… Turn that off. Okay!""Aaafl…""You need to put back her ability to speak, Bonesaw.""Sorry. It's just that it's been a while since I've had so many toys to play with! I'm getting excited. Here, see if that works."William nodded, then walked to the other side of the victim. He kneeled down, just enough to get to eye level."Now, you're not Rebecca, are you?""N-No…" She spoke with extreme effort. Trying to resist whatever Bonesaw had done to her? Or was speaking just difficult for her at that moment?"But you're still with Cauldron? You know Doctor Mother?""Y-Yes…""Good. Have you made any progress with the vials? I know Blackwall has started to work on them.""Blackwall… has… has… convinced Panacea… to help…"The mention of the healer seemed to perk up Bonesaw, who mumbled something along the lines of 'as expected of my sister…', but William ignored her."Go on, tell me what you know. I promise that I'll kill you painlessly if you do."The victim continued to talk.
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The PRT officers were stripped of their gear and forced to fight naked in an arena Jack had made Labyrinth build. He watched with a smile on his face as they bit and clawed at each other, trying to survive.Anytime one of the fighters hesitated, or decided not to fight, Jack simply reached out with his power and cut out their tendons, allowing one of Bonesaw's spider bots to come down and bring them away.The threat of becoming one of Bonesaw's victims was enough to get them to fight against each other."That's nothing we didn't already know. How wasteful." Jack sighed as William explained what he had found out.Rachel was still with William, brought along against her choice. Angelica was by her side. The dog seemed to be aware of Rachel's emotions, as she stood close to her legs and nudged them."We could try and find their hidden vial processing plants. Now that we can go to other dimensions."Jack continued to play with his knife as he hummed, "Hmm… We could. But that's boring, isn't it? And if that hero you captured doesn't know, it's likely that only the ones high up know about the real locations. And I don't like my chances against Blackwall, for now…"His eyes fell upon Rachel."No. We can't do that. We need more firepower. We need another Bonesaw. Now now, Wolf Queen my dear, would you mind helping us?"Rachel felt a cold chill run down her spine."How so?" She asked."This method-" he pointed at the arena below "-isn't working. I was thinking of taking a page out of the Siberian's book. Organizing some hunts."Jack stood up and walked over to Rachel, stopping in front of her. He crouched and smiled as his hand went to pet Angelica.Without thinking, Rachel's own hand shot out and caught his wrist, holding it tightly.Jack immediately answered by using her power to slash at her hand. Her right index and thumb were cut off violently as blood spurted all around."Fuck!" Rachel swore, taking a step backwards. She glanced at William, hoping for his help. But he stood there. Smiling. Immobile.Angelica began to growl at Jack, but she was too well trained to attack without Rachel's own orders."My dear Rachel, you know that you shouldn't do that." Jack chuckled as he took out a handkerchief to clean the blood off his wrist. He took a step forward, smiling. "Let me take a look."Rachel clutched her wounded hand tightly, glaring at Jack, who simply repeated himself."I said: let me see." Jack reached over and forcefully grabbed Rachel's wrist. His hold was tight against Rachel's arm, and he merely chuckled as Rachel openly growled towards him.At that moment, something that neither of them expected happened:Angelica shot forward, jaw shutting around Jack's wrist. Her teeth did not sink into his flesh, enhanced by Bonesaw's many modifications. Still, he frowned, and grabbed another knife out of his toolbelt.One that was laced with an anti-regeneration venom."NO!" Rachel screamed and reached forward. But not in time.A long cut appeared below Angelica's neck, digging into the fur and slicing into vital veins. Her jaw went slack as she let go of Jack's wrist, falling to the ground. Her blood pooled beneath.Rachel tried to free herself from Jack to help Angelica, but he kept his grip around her arm tight. So she tried to reach the dog with her power, only to feel a lancing pain around her left cheek.A cut appeared on Rachel's face, going from the side of her mouth all the way to her ear."The dog misbehaved. You know the rules."Rachel did.Some part of her was still subject to the Agnosia plague. Made malleable by it. She struggled against her desire to protect Angelica, but Bonesaw's plague had rooted itself deep into her mind.The distressed barking, muffled by the pool cover. The sound of desperate swimming. Her own throat hurt from the screams as she banged her fists against the glass door.A name came to mind. One that escaped Bonesaw's Agnosia plague by technicality. One that was embedded too deeply in her mind to ever forget. The event that changed her life. For the worse. For the better.Rollo.Rachel unsheathed her combat knife and lodged it deep into Jack's throat.