“Coil wants everyone present. Tattletale thinks Hookwolf is on the up and up, but he’s only one of the potential problems that could come up.”
I’d trust Coil on this one. The fact that this is what’s happening suggests it’s going to go alright. At least better than staying home.
I thought of the others who would be at the meeting. “Like the fact that Skidmark is one of the local powers. Or he is if he’s managed to recuperate rep-wise from the ass kicking that Faultline gave him. He’s not exactly the type to keep to the truce at the meeting. An unpredictable element.”
I dunno. Last time, he kept it about as civil as you can expect from a guy like him. Even when he was met with racism and condescension at the main table, he didn’t stir up too much trouble. And while he’s gotten a bit more of a taste of power these days, right now, right after that defeat, would be a bad time to do something stupid at the meeting.
“Yeah.”
“But if Tattletale is right, and Hookwolf isn’t on the side of the Slaughterhouse Nine, if we can trust Skidmark to have the basic common sense to back the rest of us up if they attack-”
Now that part I’m less sold on.
Brian turned toward me, and I could imagine him giving me an ‘are you serious?’ look behind his visor.
Pfft.
“-Or at least not get in our way,” I corrected myself.
Ahaha, yeah, that sounds more like it!
“We could fight back, if it wound up being most of the villain groups against the Nine. Our group’s powersets lend themselves to slipping away if that went sour, and Tattletale might be able to sense trouble before it hit us.”
This approach, the villains of Brockton Bay teaming up against the Slaughterhouse Nine, makes a ton of sense compared to the Undersiders taking them on by themselves, and I’m ashamed I didn’t think of it.
Hell, just like the Endbringers, the name of the Slaughterhouse Nine was literally introduced as an example of enemies prompting this reaction. It was in the cards all along, especially as we reached the Arc 11 Interludes and started putting capes beyond the Undersiders up against them. This, if it works for the characters, is an excellent way of dealing with a) most nominees being almost defenseless against the Slaughterhouse’s powers on their own and b) telling the story of the testing of the non-Undersider nominees without resorting to more Interludes.
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