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*ahem*

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another chapter of Worm!

So – last chapter, the Undersiders and Travelers discussed strategy and board games, but their temporary conclusion that they should attempt to capture and control one of the Nine through indirect confrontation seems to have been rendered irrelevant for now by the fact that half the enemy team appeared at the figurative doorstep of the meeting. Whoops!

I believe the Slaughterhouse Nine are done simply talking. It’s time for testing to begin, and the Undersiders have two of the nominees in their ranks (though they only know about one of them for now). Tellingly, the two members who picked those nominees are among the four who showed up.

The Undersiders – specifically Tattletale – almost found out about Bitch’s betrayal at the end of the last chapter. Tattletale might actually have, but immediately gotten distracted by what came after that: “Bitch’s new dog is a wolf > she got the wolf from Siberian > Siberian is here > so are three other Slaughterhouse members > shit oh fuck”. But regardless of whether she did, there’s a decent chance something the Slaughterhouse members say or do in this chapter will tip the Undertravelers off on this front, leading to internal conflict after this immediate situation has been dealt with (if it goes well enough).

Some of the foes in this situation are quite powerful, especially Siberian. Unless the Undertravelers are quite lucky and the Slaughterhouse members do just want to talk, they’re in quite a bit of trouble, but at least they’re together. Well, except for Trickster, who is downstairs and doesn’t know what’s happening yet, and Genesis, who is recovering at Coil’s base. They’ve got numbers on their side, if nothing else.

But there’s also a middle ground: I suspect there’s more to testing than just plain fighting, at least with some of the testers. What sort of trials might Jack, Siberian, Bonesaw and Cherish have come up with for Regent and Bitch? I don’t really know (Cherish might have something about letting go of your emotional attachments to people outside the team?), but I’m interested to find out.

So without further dawdling:

Shit. Oh fuck. Let’s go.