Verge 3.5

Blood trailed behind the limping dog. He dragged himself forward in the empty street. The only light came from a flickering lamppost at the very far edge.His body was marked by the black residue of a tire. He whimpered in pain, but around him were only abandoned houses. Until a figure stepped out of the darkness and crouched down over it, taking a careful look at his injury. Rachel considered using her power to heal the wounded puppy, but she'd been forbidden from making use of her power while out. Fortunately she had seen enough wounds like this to know that it was safe to pick up the dog, so she did. She began carefully walking away, gently hushing the dog to sleep. At the edge of the street, under the flickering lamp, a smaller silhouette was waiting. She hummed a song that Rachel did not know, and a creepy smile was plastered on her young face."What have you got there sis?" She asked, walking forward. Rachel instinctively took a step back, but didn't run away. If there was anyone that could help the dog, it was her."He was run over. Help him.""Nuhu! That's not how you say it!" Bonesaw grinned."...please, sister.""Alright!" The grin grew wider, "There's the magic word! Give me just a moment…"Bonesaw's hands opened up, flesh retreating to reveal mechanical instruments embedded in her fingers. She continued to hum as she walked closer, but this time Rachel did not step back. The first thing Bonesaw did was to inject something inside the dog, and shortly after he stopped whimpering. An anesthetic, likely."This is not quick work, I'll need to substitute a bunch of internal organs. It's also late, Jack will get worried if we stay out too long!""Okay." Rachel nodded. She made a shrill whistle towards the night sky, and shortly after the ground shook as Beast landed not too far away. The parahuman abomination did not scare Rachel - but it did unsettle her. It was a dog in all the ways that mattered, including when it came to her power, but at the same time… There was something clearly wrong with it.Memories that were supposed to be there were missing. The reason why Beast was wrong was among them.But she couldn't bring herself to care about it. No, at that moment her focus was solely on the wounded puppy in her arms.Bonesaw continued to hum as they walked through the eerily empty streets. Until they approached their destination: an abandoned warehouse. The inside was filled with broken crates and scrap metal. Reaching the far end of the room, Bonesaw made a small gesture with her head towards Rachel.She got the message, and gave a command to Beast: "Dig."It took little effort for Beast to move a large section of the crates. Using its power, it increased the size of its head to simply bite into the wood and move it aside. Behind it stood their target.Like a torn canvas, a large claw mark hovered in the air. A portal to someplace else. The world beyond was equally dark. Bonesaw happily strolled in and Rachel followed.The warehouse was left behind, and was replaced with the interior of a large castle. Everything was made of wood, and the furniture looked like it had 'grown' out of the floor or walls. Rachel knew that this was Labyrinth's power at work, something about warping dimensions and space. She couldn't be bothered to care.As they entered, Rachel noticed the Siberian and Labyrinth in one corner of the room. The latter was laying prone on the ground, head on the lap of the Siberian, who was tying her long hair.On the other side of the room, Rachel could overhear two men talking. Jack, and another man who had introduced himself as 'William'."Hurry up!" Bonesaw grabbed Rachel by the arm and began pulling her along.She cleared a table and gestured for Rachel to put the puppy on top of it, then she walked to a side door and opened it. That was the only door not made of wood within the structure."Hmhmhm~~" Bonesaw continued to hum, even as a wave of cold came out of that room. Inside, a large mass of flesh was hanging from the ceiling from multiple meat hooks that pierced the incredibly resilient skin."Hey Crawler, just taking a bit of stuff," her forearm opened into multiple segments and extended towards the ceiling, where one of her fingers injected something into the body of the parahuman monster. A chunk of flesh suddenly detached itself from Crawler, falling right into Bonesaw's palm.She walked back into the 'operating' room and closed the door behind her. Rachel's gaze lingered on that door a moment more.Crawler had made the grave mistake of annoying Jack, and he had not let it pass unpunished. Now he had been turned into an unthinking mass of flesh, Bonesaw's poison always active to stop anything capable of 'thinking' from forming within his body, and keeping his regeneration limited so she could study it."It'll take thirty minutes or so, and I don't think you want to see it."Rachel turned towards Bonesaw, narrowing her eyes, "Bonesaw, you know that if you…""I know, I know sis! I'm not going to do anything aside from what we agreed. I'm just going to get him in shape, and then I'll do the usual procedure. Just a bit of immunization and a small healing factor. I keep my promises! Now go play with your other puppies, you really don't want to see what I have to do."Rachel nodded, and followed her instructions. She walked away from the room, passing by the Siberian, then went 'outside'.Labyrinth had shaped a whole island to hide from whoever was pursuing them. At the center of it was the castle, built within an enormous wooden tree, and with multiple redundant rooms all across the trunk. Hidden in those rooms were exits, made by the Siberian. A power interaction Rachel did not understand. One of those exits went back home, most likely, but Rachel didn't care about it anymore.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.Instead, she focused on the grass plains that surrounded the tree. All across it her entire pack was either relaxing or playing. As soon as the first dog spotted Rachel, the news quickly spread through the whole pack and she quickly found herself surrounded.There were so many. Many more than what she had in Brockton Bay. She'd spent the last month walking through the portals the Siberian had made and rescuing any and all dogs she found that were being abused or not taken care of. She'd rescued some wolves, as well, who had been harder to train but who still behaved.Rachel gestured for Beast, then mounted over the parahuman abomination. Beast was easily the biggest of the pack, and it could get much bigger, even without her powers."Sit!" She ordered, her voice partially amplified by Beast's barking through its power, and all the dogs immediately listened. Even the wildest ones, those that struggled to understand her commands, still followed the cue of the others. Soon the whole pack of hundreds of dogs were at attention, quiet.Rachel tapped the side of Beast's head, ordering it to move. She carefully made sure that none of the dogs had been injured while she had been absent, and that they'd been taken care of. There were too many dogs for her to personally pay attention to, so most of the time it fell to Bonesaw's spider bots to take care of the dogs.Not that there was much need to, nowadays. Bonesaw had done something to them, using Crawler's flesh, and now none of the dogs ever got sick. And even when they got injured, they'd quickly heal within the day. Rachel had been worried initially, but the Siberian had promised that Bonesaw hadn't installed any weird mechanism within the dogs. Bonesaw always followed what the Siberian and Jack asked of her, no questions asked.But making them healthier hadn't been the only effect of Bonesaw's work.Rachel's fingers tingled as she felt the urge to use her powers. It had become easier as she practiced, and even easier as the dogs got used to their new biology. Her power was particularly effective on the wolves, but the one that changed the most was Beast. Which was why she held back from 'reaching' for it with her powers.Instead she reached for every other canine that was gathering around her. Unlike before, it didn't drain her. The pack quickly changed, transforming. Each dog began to grow in size, tails grew longer with spikes jutting out of the end. Their saliva began to sizzle as it dropped to the ground, becoming acidic. Each became the size of a large car.The wolves changed even more. They grew another set of limbs, and from their back new sensory organs began to grow. If the dogs had grown to the size of large cars, the wolves became the size of small buildings. Furthermore, her power also increased their mental faculties. Rachel could easily see as intelligence grew in their eyes.Rachel tapped her neck, activating an implant that Bonesaw had installed in her voice box. She didn't need to shout as she whispered: "Go. Run!"The command was easily heard by every dog around her, and they immediately broke into a sprint.This exercise was necessary for them to get used to their new forms. Their new strength and speed."A new one joins the pack." A male voice spoke from behind. Rachel could hear the smug smile in those words. She turned around, and glared at the man.Jack walked towards her, flipping a knife between his fingers. A sort of ever present 'threat', though not the main one. Rachel didn't like Jack, but she knew better than to upset him. She'd seen what had happened to Crawler, and she could roughly remember the things Jack had done in the past. Even if her memory was more and more fuzzy lately."I saw you bring another straggler in. Nowadays most of the food Labyrinth creates goes into your pack, rather than us." Jack chuckled. "Have you decided on a name?""No." Rachel didn't want to speak more than necessary."Oh well. Maybe you'll let me choose this time?""No." Rachel repeated, struggling not to growl at the man. Jack raised his arms and opened his arms in a gesture of surrender, but his posture still betrayed the fact that he still saw himself as the 'superior' one in the conversation."I was just asking, Rachel, no need to bite me!" Jack chuckled again, "but I didn't come here for this. Rather, I'm here to bring both good and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"Rachel narrowed her eyes at Jack, not answering."You're really no fun, you know? Then let's go with the good news first! Our isolation is about to end. William and I finally settled on a target. It took a while, I know, but you can't rush art.""...and the bad news?" Rachel asked, even if she knew the answer."We need you to pay your due. You remember your promise, don't you?""I do.""Good! And here I was worried that we'd have to force you to comply. But I'm happy to see that the Siberian didn't make a mistake with you! So, get your stuff ready!"Rachel grit her teeth and, again, did not answer. Jack turned around, but before he could walk away he stopped, remembering something, and turned around."One more thing… The name 'Bitch' is cool, but it doesn't fit your new role, you know? Especially as our preparations will continue. You're such a key part of it, you're no 'bitch'!""I like the name. It's what I chose.""Well," Jack grinned, "it's not up to you, now. After we're done you can do whatever you want for your name, but for now… Hm…" Jack hummed, then glanced at Beast, who Rachel was riding. His grin grew wider."You'll be our very own Wolf Queen."