“So they have Shatterbird’s firepower and Cherish’s ability to track people, now,” Legend spoke.

Well, one of those things.

They also have a versatile power you don’t know about yet, in Grue. Oh, and Imp, which you’ve probably forg– actually, no, the PRT would know about Imp because Dragon was immune to her power. They might not know exactly what her power does, though, for the same reason, though video footage combined with the Wards’ memories of the battle ought to help them figure it out.

Piggot nodded.  “Skitter contacted us for assistance, as some of you will remember, and when we refused, the Undersiders took the fight to the Nine a second time.  Burnscar is dead, Bonesaw injured.  She’s invited us to attack them in the meantime.”

Gonna take that invitation? RSVP.

“Why would we do that now when we turned down her offer to cooperate?”  Weld asked.  “What’s changed between now and then?”

Well, for one thing, Burnscar and Bonesaw.

For another, this seems to be a bit less tight of a cooperation.

“Communications will be up shortly,” Piggot replied, “We now have the consoles and trained employees ready to man them, and so long as we’re going into this as a unit, we don’t need to worry about other groups stabbing us in the back at any point during the battle while we engage the Nine.”

Oh yeah, that too.

“Would they?”  Legend asked.  “I have a hard time assessing their motives and morality.”

The Undersiders wouldn’t, no. The Travelers probably not. Out of all the groups in town, these are probably the least likely to backstab you, followed by Faultline’s Crew (even though they can be bought into backstabbing you).

“I don’t know.  Could they?  Yes.  And that possibility is too dangerous, especially given what Regent can do.

That’s fair.

The Undersiders do not pull their punches.  The Travelers, oddly enough, are more moderate, but they do have sixteen kills under their belt, due in large part to the sheer power at their disposal.”

…fuck, it sounds backwards, but she’s right. The Travelers are more powerful and more capable of lethal force, accidentally or otherwise, but they hold back against the good guys (as seen in Sentinel). The Undersiders, on the other hand, have limited power, but have used what they do have to the fullest ever since Arc 3.

It did mean she had Flechette, Clockblocker and Vista.  The ones she needed.

You don’t need Weld?

Do you have a plan that specifically needs these three’s powers?

“Thank you.  Rest assured, Chariot, Kid Win, that I harbor no ill will.”

I appreciate that there’s no attempting to convince these two. Piggy explicitly stating that she doesn’t blame them also helps.

“My mom wouldn’t forgive me if I went,” Kid Win said.

Apparently she still allowed Kid Win to make the choice for himself, given that she allowed this to be brought up. Good parenting.

“I understand.  Now, the Nine are only one threat.  Let’s talk about the others.”  She clicked the remote again.  “Tattletale’s Undersiders have the advantage of information.

Interesting. It could just be because Tattletale is important to the point about information (do they know that yet?), but it seems like they’ve interpreted Tattletale as the leader of the group.

Early on, I considered Grue and Tattle as having a sort of joint leadership, which eventually turned into an official leadership by Grue after Skitter’s advice in Buzz. But right now I actually think Skitter’s second in command, the one who would take over as leader if Grue were incapacitated.

We still don’t know her powers, but we can speculate that it’s a peculiar sort of clairvoyance.  She was able to provide us detailed, verifiable information on Leviathan after fighting him, even though she was only participating for several minutes before being knocked out.”

Yeah, you’re not entirely wrong.

There’s also the information they stole from the Protectorate, which the PRT doesn’t know was shared with Coil and the Travelers.

She paused. “I believe this is why, in a matter of twenty-four hours, they were able to fight the Nine twice and win both times.  On the first occasion, they captured Cherish and Shatterbird, presumably enslaving the pair.”

While Tattletale was probably great help in the planning, she didn’t actually do much during the execution.

There were nods around the table.

“In short, our worst case scenario is the Nine feeling spiteful or cornered, and deploying this weapon.  When we attack, we need to make it an absolute victory, without allowing them an opportunity.

On one hand, there are some of them who aren’t as into the game as Jack, but Bonesaw – the one in charge of the weapon – would probably play by the rules even if Jack was taken out.

Wards, I know you’re not obligated to help in this kind of high-risk situation.  This is strictly voluntary, and I’ve had to discuss the matter with your parents to get permission to even raise the subject, but I would value and appreciate your help on this front.”

Alright, so I know I just said it makes sense to keep them out of this, but this seems like a good compromise.

The Wards exchanged glances.

“If you could raise your hand if you’re willing to participate?”  She ventured.

I’m guessing Weld will be, and Vista. Probably Clockblocker and Flechette. Kid Win and Chariot are a little less certain.

Every hand except two was raised.  Chariot and Kid Win.

BOOM, bingo!

She picked up the remote that sat in front of her and clicked the button.  The screen showed a map of the city with the spread of territories.

Please make things a little clearer for me. Territories keep showing up where I didn’t think they were, so I think I need a refresher.

“The Nine have the advantage of power.  Not necessarily in terms of the abilities at their disposal, but in terms of their ability to affect change and shape everything that occurs.

Their powers certainly aren’t bad either, though.

They are our number one priority, obviously.  With them gone, if nothing else, I can hope that more capes will be willing to venture into the city to help out.”

Against the Undertravelers… Yeah, they might be in for a pretty big onslaught once they’re done with the Nine.

“But we’re operating with a deadline, and the Undersiders and Travelers have just moved it up dramatically.  The Nine posed their challenge, and they’re losing.  There’s now four ’rounds’ of Jack’s little game remaining.  Twelve days, depending on their successes and failures in the future.

Twelve days to kill Jack Slash.

I’ve talked it over with Legend, and we’re both working under the impression that the Nine will enact whatever ‘penalty’ they mentioned in the terms for their game.  Our working assumption is a biological weapon.”

I suppose it makes sense to assume they’ll win, given their history. Of course, the best option would be to take them out before they can. That’s even better than making sure they don’t.

“We have three priorities,” she began.  “We take down the Nine, we regain control of the city, and we don’t die.”

Looks like she has them in order.

Of course, one of those is bound to put them in conflict with the Undertravelers after the Nine are dealt with.

She stressed the final two words, waiting to see their reactions.  Were any of her people thinking of performing a heroic sacrifice?

Well, Armsmaster isn’t in this crowd anymore.

“There’s no point in winning now if any of you die or get converted to the enemy side by Regent or Bonesaw.

Yep, definitely going up against the Undertravelers. That might be an issue.

Even if we were to defeat the Nine outright, through some stroke of fortune, I harbor concerns that we’d lose the city without the manpower to defend it.  It’s a dangerous situation.” 

That may very well be true. They’re already low on people.

The Wards, at least, were in better shape.  Tired, to be sure, but they hadn’t been directly in the fray.  The patrol shifts were unending and they always had something to do.

I suppose they have the sense not to send kids against these bastards.

*glances over at the other kids they refused to help against these bastards* Ahem.

Weld, Flechette, Clockblocker, Vista, Kid Win and Chariot.

Hi, Chariot, you getting situated nicely?

She deliberately avoided looking at Chariot.  The mole in their midst.  Did Coil suspect she knew about the mole he’d planted?

I don’t think he does, because I don’t think he’s Coil’s mole.

I could be wrong, though, with Chariot acting as confirmation that Skitter’s message has been received and the PRT is acting on it.

Could she afford to assume he didn’t?

Still, it would all be for nothing if she gave the game away.  Back to the matter at hand.

Yeah, let’s leave the I Know You Know for later.

She looked at each of the capes in turn.  Legend, Prism, Ursa Aurora and Cache were the outsiders, heroes on loan.

Oh hey, the three Taylor didn’t recognize.

Prism and Ursa Aurora both sound like they have light-based powers, unless Wildbow (or Ursa) looked at “aurora borealis” meaning “northern lights” and thought “aurora” was the part that meant “northern”. Which seems uncharacteristic of Wildbow and would more likely result in “Aurora Ursa”.

More likely, Ursa Aurora is capable of summoning bears made of shimmering green light. Perhaps also other beings.

Prisms have to do with light bending and colors, so it’s likely they have a power involving colors and/or multiple (seven?) different states they can put someone in with beams of light. That actually reminds me a lot of Legend. Also, if not for it having been established that Arthur is not a parahuman (”out of the loop”), I would’ve suspected Prism to be Arthur just because of how well both interpretations – light bending and colors – go with Legend’s power.

Cache sounds similar to Battery in that they save something up and then unleash it, but that can be interpreted in many ways. Their power could be anything from speed (unlikely because Battery already has a speed power that works that way) to strength to gadgets to hammerspace.

Miss Militia’s group was more worn out.  Where their costumes had been damaged, stained or torn, pieces had been replaced from the generic costumes the PRT kept in stock.

Clearly they have been doing something to deal with the situation. Probably helping victims and fighting the Nine when absolutely necessary.

The outsiders are less worn out because they can’t help as much against the active tester.

Miss Militia had doffed the jacket but left the scarf with the flag motif in place.  She wore a black tank top and camouflage pants with a number of empty holsters and sheaths for her weapons.

Look, I can’t be the only one who imagines Miss Militia looking like a sexy badass, right?

Battery was wearing a plain black costume and goggles, while Assault had replaced the top half of his costume with similar odds and ends.  Triumph still wore his helmet and shoulder pads with the roaring lion style, but his gloves had been replaced with the same utilitarian, generic ones the PRT officers wore in the field.

Oh man, Triumph, been a while since we saw him around!

Emily wasn’t so sure.  “It’s… a change.”

It does mean another opportunity for the Nine to pick up a new member and shake up their tactics, unless they take out the rest first.

“Not a good one?”

“The closing line reads, ‘Thanks for the help.’  I can’t help but read it in a sarcastic tone.”

You’re reading it right, then. Maybe that’ll tell Legend who sent this.

“The bug girl?  Skitter?”

Bingo.

Emily nodded.  “Exactly.  As good as it is to have one more member of the Nine dealt with, this shifts the balance of power towards another group of villains.  It also serves to move up our deadline.”

You mean because there’ll be fewer tester rounds now before they say they’re done?

I don’t know that that’s a bad thing for Brockton Bay specifically.

It might be a bad thing for the world because it’d increase the chance of Jack leaving the city when the tester rounds are over, assuming they keep going with the game, but for Brockton Bay in particular, them leaving would be a good thing. Not so much for the next town they go to to recruit (the game only allows them to recruit one member if they lose), though.

“What do you want to do?”

“Call a meeting.  Protectorate and Wards.”

Time to attack?

“Alright.”

■

I guess we’re skipping to the meeting.