Director Piggot had seen the film before.  Several times.  It was the screams that haunted her.

No wonder she turned off the sound.

Even with the sound off, she could have put it all together from the sounds that were engraved in her memory, right down to the cadence, the pitch.  Seeing a teammate die so unexpectedly, so suddenly.

And from a first-person perspective, too!

The noises of panic as some of the strongest capes in the United States realized there was nothing they could do, adjusting their tactics to try to save people, staying one step ahead of Siberian to minimize the damage she did as she waded through any defense they erected, tossing the PRT trucks -modified fire trucks, then- as though they were as light and aerodynamic as throwing knives.

Siberian is seriously not many steps below an Endbringer.

Invincible Alexandria was struck a glancing blow and had one eye socket shattered, the eye coming free in the midst of that bloody ruin.

Damn.

Eidolon had healed her, after, but the scar was still there.  Alexandria now wore a helmet whenever she was out in costume.

In order to keep the appearance of true invincibility, I suppose.

So, with Interludes acting as bridges between the Arcs a lot of the time, does this perhaps mean the Siberian problem will be in the spotlight next Arc?

Alexandria spoke up, “You had better be fucking kidding me, or I swear-”

Yeeah, it’s not ideal. And depending on who the victim is, it might spell big trouble.

Also, does Alexandria regularly swear like a sailor? That would honestly be kinda fun, this idealized bigshot having a real pottymouth when not on camera.

“Stop, Alexandria.  It was the only way to guarantee she’d stay put.  If we moved too soon, she’d run, and it would be a matter of time before she racked up a body count elsewhere.”

Point, though Taylor certainly wouldn’t approve of this sacrifice.

I’ll actually appreciate if Alexandria doesn’t either. We know Taylor had an Alexandria phase (click through for adorable fanart that deserves another look), so I really like the idea of there being parallels between the two of them.

“Then let’s move,” she responded, “The sooner the better.”

She’s not arguing Legend’s point, but she does rush it along in a way that’s not uncharacteristic of Taylor.

“We’re trying an experimental measure.  It’s meant to contain, not kill.  Drive her towards main street.  We have more trucks over there.”

Contain.

I’m feeling a touch more confident in the camera person being Sphere.

Emily turned off the sound as the four charged into action.  She didn’t want to hear it, but she felt compelled to keep watching.  A matter of respect.

It’s pretty clear that what’s about to happen resulted in at least one death, or worse. Quite likely that of the camera person, which would go against them being Sphere.

I said I was more confident in it, not very confident.

So when he’d escaped, he’d done it with the intent of fighting the Nine.  She’d suspected as much.

I suppose that makes sense. If it was in an attempt to stay away from them… well, he’d have been safer staying, guarded by the Protectorate.

She refined the search to remove the simulations from the results and found video footage.

How old? This group changes quickly.

A video of Winter, an ex-member of the Nine, engaging in a protracted siege against no less than twenty members of the Protectorate.

Damn.

Cold powers, I’m guessing?

She’d been killed by one of her teammates.

Are we in for a montage of S9 kills not being the Protectorate’s accomplishments?

A sighting of Crawler, shortly after he had joined the Nine.  He’d been more humanoid, then.  Still large.

I suppose joining the Nine really helps to attract attackers with strong powers.

Another member of the Nine from yesteryear, Chuckles, attacking a police station.  No use to her, beyond serving as a testament to what might happen if she consolidated too many forces in one place.

I can’t help but imagine her in a Harley Quinn outfit.

Maybe her power was causing uncontrollable laughter. That’s more powerful than it sounds.

She found a file listed as ‘Case 01’.  She clicked it.

Case like in Case 53, likely involving mysteries of parahumanity?

If this wasn’t a result of searching for the Slaughterhouse Nine, I’d think this was going to be about Scion.

Is it the first out of all the cases involving the Nine?

“We’ve got her cornered?” the person in the video spoke.  Hearing the voice, noting the camera image of an apartment was mounted on a helmet, Emily Piggot knew who it was.

Colin?

She knew the video well enough.

“Think so,” a man replied.  The camera focused on Legend, then swung over to Alexandria, and finally Eidolon.

Is “her” Siberian, perhaps? We know she’s been up against these three several times. This might be the first.

“We’ve got teams covering the drainage and plumbing below the building, and the entire place is surrounded.”

Hmm. That sounds like a very different power is involved. Unless this place has ridiculous plumbing, Siberian wouldn’t be able to use that to escape. Maybe someone who can turn into water, or shrink, or something along those lines?

“She hasn’t tried to leave?” the face behind the camera asked.  “Why not?”

But yeah, I don’t think this is Colin anymore. He seems to have stayed in Brockton Bay most of his career, though I suppose he might’ve gone to wherever this happened to help out.

More importantly, though, if it were Colin, I think we’d have had that confirmed by now. It’s probably someone we’ve heard of, though, for the same reason.

…oh man, maybe it’s Sphere. He seemed to have been a rogue, but perhaps the Protectorate asked for his help with containing “her”.

Legend couldn’t maintain eye contact.  “She has a victim.”

Ohh. Bonesaw.

Of course. She’s where this all started, after all. Maybe the Protectorate are about to find, for the first time, that she gets protected by her fan club, the proto-Nine?