Another point towards at least some of the people in there being fake: Jack didn’t seem to be aware of Mannequin’s supposed death, which would be why there’d be a fake of him in there even if he did die.
“They’re napping or something,” I said.
“Could be baiting you.”
The exact species of the worm is unclear, but it’s clearly attached to a hook of some variety.
“That’s what I was thinking.”
“And Bentley’s getting too small to help me make an exit.”
Things are really leaning towards “don’t poke the hornet’s nest” here.
“Atlas can manage with just me,” I told her.
“Going alone? No. Grue would kill me. It’s senseless.
Heh, he would.
I can call Coil, so we can get a squad of soldiers in place to try and take someone out. Or maybe we get the Director to bomb the area.”
I’m not sure they have any bombs left. And that’s a very… collateral damagey plan. Though I suppose not a lot of civilians live up here.
As for the soldiers, they’d probably take too long and not be able to do much against most of the people in there, as badass as they might be.
“Because that’s worked so well this far.”
Tattletale smiled a little. “What would you rather do? Going in is suicide. You’d be opening yourself up to Cherish’s power.”
Not to mention all the other killers who are supposedly in there.
“Maybe Cherish took control?” Tattletale ventured.
Hm, I suppose she might have. But it still doesn’t feel quite right. If she could do that to them so effectively, why didn’t she do it before?
It was a scary thought. The Nine were strong, and one of the only reasons they weren’t a bigger problem was that they were their own worst enemies. Most of our victories to date had been because we exploited their character weaknesses. Under a leader…
I mean, that’s exactly what Jack brings to the team. Just in a more mundane way.
“No. Bonesaw took measures.”
Yeah, sounds about right.
“Maybe Cherish found a way around it?”
I didn’t have a response for that. Minutes passed, and the Nine lapsed into silence. Some were resting. Or pretending to rest.
Something is definitely fucky, at least. That much is sure.
It unsettled me that Jack wasn’t taking more of a lead in the conversation. Maybe Cherish was just dishing out the dirt?
Maybe.
This just makes it look even more suspicious.
So what’s on your mind, Jack?
“The dynamic seems wrong,” I said. “Something’s off. Not sure if Siberian’s present or not, Bonesaw’s quiet and Jack is mute.”
…what if Jack isn’t there? What if that’s a separate form for the Monochrome, outfitted with knives to fool Taylor?
And then there’s Mannequin. Is he really alive, or is this a fake?
Are they all fake?
Three women, none of whom were Siberian if I accounted for the presence of clothing and the texture of their skin.
Alright, if the Monochrome isn’t out, we seem to have an excess woman here.
…
I need to count over this again.
Three men: Mannequin, Jack, Siberian
Three women and a girl: Bonesaw, Cherish… apparently not Siberian…
We need two more women.
Well, they’re clearly not among the nominees. The female nominees were Rachel, Amy, Noelle and maybe an unspecified pony. I don’t think any of them qualify as “women” rather than “girls” as far as Taylor’s bug sense is concerned, and Rachel and Amy definitely aren’t in there.
Maybe they’re Protectorate members? Or hostages and/or Bonesaw victims?
Rounding out the group was a little girl with long hair. One of the women was doing most of the talking.
Cherish, I suppose.
Actually, I suppose if she’s a woman as far as Taylor’s concerned, these other three might be too. It is possible Noelle is among them, then. Though they’d have to break into Coil’s place in order to do that, which they definitely didn’t do before tricking Taylor and meeting with Amy (Coil would be way less composed – also, no time) and certainly had no time to do after.
…it’s a really good thing the miasma would have a hard time getting to Noelle.
Would that be Shatterbird or Cherish? Who was the third? Had the Nine gotten their hands on Noelle?
And yeah, I forgot to mention it, but it did occur to me a little bit back that Shatterbird might’ve gotten away from Alec and rejoined the team (likely being protected from the miasma the same way Bonesaw and Jack were).
It was also the easiest thing to provide.
Yeah, I already said that.
“You have eyes on them?”
“Minimal. My interpretation via the swarm’s eyes and ears is still garbage, as always. And I didn’t want to have so many around them that they get suspicious.”
That’s fair.
“Can’t make out what they’re saying?”
I shook my head. Still, I could tell that they were talking.
Seven of them. One of the men was garbed in smooth body armor that covered everything. Mannequin.
Ah, fuck. Lisa was right.
There was another man who could have been Siberian’s real self or Hookwolf. Long haired, shirtless.
…hmm.
Hm.
Mh?
Oh. “could have been”. I managed to read that as “couldn’t have been”, so I was trying to figure out who else it’d be.
My bugs traced the edges of knives at one man’s belt: He was the quietest, and was pacing without cease, sitting down, then pacing again. Jack.
He sounds frustrated. What is he pondering?
Or maybe he’s just bored and restless here? Even though it can’t have been long since he arrived.
“That line of thinking leads to madness.”
“Call me crazy, but I’d rather not gamble.”
She’s n[o]t a gambling lady.
But if she were, I w[o]uldn’t bet against her.
(Most of the time.)
“So? What’s the plan?”
“We wait? At least a little while.”
“Sure.” She gave the bulldog a pat on the head. “Give Bentley a chance to rest. You can feed Atlas.”
Fair enough. Time to roll some hit dice and all that jazz!
“Pretty narrow window of time,” I added. “Bitch’s effects on the dogs don’t last that long. Figure twenty minutes, and we took at least fifteen to get here…”
Bentley’s currently not going to shrink without Rachel actively doing so, remember?
Unless that wore off at some point?
“But she gave them more juice than usual. I’d say roughly ten minutes before he’s too small to carry me,” Tattletale said.
Looks like either it did, or Lisa forgot too.
“Ten minutes.”
We settled into a position behind cover, and I began drawing bugs to me to feed Atlas. I wasn’t positive about his diet, and Grue had said that he’d given Atlas a more human digestive system, which left me uncertain.
Um.
Mushroom sandwich?
That said, Atlas was made of bugs, I figured he required the nutrients they provided on a sheer logical level, like how humans would generally get most of the nutrients they needed by eating other humans, if they had to.
That makes way too much sense.
That, and I’d pointed out to the rest of the group how bugs were something we could eat as humans, so his digestive tract could probably manage them.
…this keeps making way too much sense.
But hey, if there’s anything Taylor can get plenty of without issue, it’s bugs.
Between Bentley and Atlas, we can keep at a distance.”
I shook my head. “Bentley’s tired, and I don’t know how long Atlas is going to be able to keep flying.”
Right, that’s an issue.
“They’ll manage.”
I have a bad feeling about this, if they do in fact try to push their mounts’ limits.
“You sure?”
“Pretty sure.”
A very bad feeling.
Pretty sure. So she wasn’t positive.
“There’s another possibility,” she ventured.
What’cha got?
“Do tell.”
“Cherish might not be saying anything because she wants us to attack the others.”
It’s a tactic she’s employed before, though it backfired on her.
“Or,” I pointed out, “The Nine are giving us that impression because they want us to think that so they can turn the tables.”
…also possible. Fuck.
“Yeah.”
“I’ve found them, I think. I think Siberian’s there. There’s a lot of people, anyways. Seven.”
Jack, Cherish, Siberian, Bonesaw, Hookwolf and, optionally, another Siberian account for six.
Who else did they get? Armsmaster?
“How much damage do you think you can do?”
“Not enough.”
Damn. And you forgot to tell Rachel where to head after she’d cured the Undertravelers. Sundancer would make this a lot easier, if they didn’t mind killing Hookwolf and whoever the seventh person – who I just realized must be female, so not Armsmaster – is.
We paused.
“Cherish should be alerting them,” Tattletale spoke. “I’m surprised they aren’t mounting a counterattack.”
…interesting. Are they not giving her the treatment she wanted?
Is she still plotting some form of revenge?
“Maybe they can’t? If they split up, Siberian won’t be able to protect everyone,” I said.
Good point.
I was going to bring up that the Nine can’t be sure Sundancer isn’t with them, but they totally can.
“Well, getting closer is a pretty bad idea.”
True.
“Do we have a choice?”
“We hang back, we follow them, we strike if we spot an opportunity.
You do have a choice. Getting closer is very likely gonna lead to death with nothing accomplished, so that’s not the better option here.
My swarm sense alerted me to life in the hold of a ship.
Well, either that’s them, or there are more people exploring the various ships of Brockton Bay to their heart’s content.
So odds are even on whether Taylor just found the Slaughterhouse Nine or the Parahumans fandom.
The space was half-filled with sand, and water had leaked in through a hole in the side of the ship. If supplies were delivered by way of remote control, that was a likely route.
Makes sense.
Seven people. Three male, four females, one of whom was young.
Oh, looks like it’s the fandom after all. Which ship are you guys on?
Jokes aside, either the Nine managed to bring in a couple more nominees and/or hostages, or this is an unrelated family who have decided the hold of a ship is a pretty decent hideout from the Nine.
A child, long-haired. That would be Bonesaw.
Yeah, most likely.
“There?” I pointed at the location. It was barely visible from where we stood; two ships had been slammed against one another, nose to nose, and they formed a precarious arch over the ship in question.
That’s a pretty cool look.
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