“Regent?  Your territory is near Grue’s, close to the water.”

Regent nodded.

Nice.

“Bitch is absent?”

“Interpersonal stuff,” Grue replied.  “She’ll be back.”

Ah, yeah… gonna need a little time to herself to recover, but she will.

“A shame.  Your other headquarters, where I moved your collective belongings, that will be her station.  Barker and Biter here showed up for the Endbringer fight, and I got in contact with them.  They, alongside these three young individuals,” he gestured to the two parahumans, and three college-aged kids who looked rather intimidated, “Will work under her.  Barker and Biter profess to be fearless, and should have little difficulty managing the dogs, even when Bitch’s abilities are at work.

Huh, neat. Bitch herself has more bite than bark, but it could be nice to have a bit of both under her.

Meanwhile, the three college kids are just desperate for a paying job, aren’t they? Hoo boy, they didn’t know who they’d be working under, probably.

The men and the young lady I’ve provided have some degree of training in veterinary medicine or handling dogs.  Let her know this.  She is free to accept them or refuse them as she sees fit.”

Oh, nice.

Coil turned to look at us.  “So you’re likely to encounter them.  When that happens, you run.  Cede any territory, abandon any job.  I would rather you were alive than successful in a job.”

“Got it,” Grue spoke.

“Failure is always an option.”
– Adam Savage

“In the meantime, we move on to the next phase of my plan,” Coil spoke.  “You may be wondering about this location, how it is similar to the new headquarters I provided you.  I have outfitted these areas to be your stations, points from which you will operate, work to seize and keep territory.  I have several more.

Oh, nice. I think he mentioned something like this back in 6.8, didn’t he? Though back then we of course didn’t know the Loft would be compromised.

If you’re amenable, I would have each of you take one of these stations for yourself.  Grue, this would be your station, shared with Imp, which I assume is alright?”

Ahh, I see. Right, this I’m pretty sure he did mention back then, though it slipped my mind for a while – each of the Undersiders getting control over their own areas, that kind of thing.

Grue looked around, “Big place and a lot of beds for two people.”

“More on that later.  Rest assured, I can provide staff, help.  I expect you’ll wish to find and recruit people of your own.

In the meantime, I suppose it’s helpful should the others want to stay over.

Contact me about funds – I will ensure that anyone you hire is paid well.”

Grue nodded.

Not necessarily just in money, knowing Coil.

“Please, pet, this is important.  To one decimal point.”

“Twenty two point six percent.  Thirty point nine percent chance some of them die.”

Terrible odds, those.

Undersiders?

“And the Undersiders?”

“Eleven point nine percent chance they succeed.  Fifty five point four percent chance they die if they fight those people.”

Sounds about right. I told you the Travelers had better chances. When you’re up against these kinds of people, you need the heavy hitters.

Also, Dinah didn’t say “some of them” for the Undersiders. It sounds like she means a 55.4% chance that all of them die.

Coil sighed, then straightened.  He looked at the middle-aged man, handed him the computer, “I strongly recommend you get what information you can on the group.  Any detail in the PRT records could be invaluable.  Lose sleep if you have to.”

Yeah, holy hell, this just became so much more important.

Tattletale spoke up, “He’s the catalyst for something else, then.”

Catalyst, yeah, that’s a better word.

“Is it always successful, pet?  This something that kills everyone on Earth?”

She shook her head, “Not always, not all the way.  Sometimes more people live.  Sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands, sometimes billions.  But millions or billions always die when it happens.”

Even on a good day.

So this means it is possible to stop it from bringing total destruction. That seems like a good end goal for the story.

Endbringers move over, the threat scale of Worm has just increased drastically once again.

“If I were to send the Travellers?  How likely would they be to kill him?”

“My head hurts.”

No wonder.

“You said if he’s alive.  What if we killed him?  Now?  To one decimal point.  If I use my power.”

“Thirty one point two percent chance someone kills him before he leaves the city, if you use your power.

Huh. If that number would change without Coil’s power, it means it’s gotta be someone Coil sent, such as the Undersiders or the Travelers. (The Travelers seem better suited for this job.)

It doesn’t happen until fifteen years from now, if you do.”

…I see. So whatever Jack has to do with this, it’s only a hastening factor, and the end of the human species on Earth will just be delayed by his death.

“So it still happens?” Coil asked.

“Yes.  Always happens.”

Well, shit.

Hm. I have a feeling Jack’s not going to get killed after all. This seems like a story-climactic thing being planned out – although yes, I’m still aware that this story is written by the seat of Wildbow’s pants – and I doubt we’ll be going until fifteen years from now (in-universe).

“Unless he somehow cuts the planet in half,” Tattletale mused.

…I swear, I came up with that idea separately.

But yeah, I really don’t think that would actually do anything of note, besides making a massive slice through the ground that goes around the planet.

That was disquieting.

“No,” Dinah spoke.  “He doesn’t.”

Thank you.

“I think we need more numbers if we’re to understand this, pet.  What is the likelihood that he succeeds in this?  To one decimal point.”

That assumes that this is something he’s actually trying to do. We can’t make that assumption yet, no matter how insane and murderous the guy is.

“Eighty three point four percent.”

Doesn’t look like Dinah has trouble with that assumption, though.

“Shh, pet.  I think we understand what you’re saying.  Quiet now, unless you think of something important.  We need to consider this.”

Yeah, we definitely do.

Well, with a prediction like that, it seems we really need to take out Jack Slash. Holy shit.

Silence reigned for a few long seconds.  You could have heard a pin drop.

No shit. This was quite the heavy thing to get dumped on us all of a sudden.

I’m shaken. A little stirred, too. I’d be a subpar vodka martini now.

“His power isn’t all that, I don’t think,” Grue spoke, slowly, as if considering the words as he spoke.  “Space warping effect, so any blades he’s holding have an edge that extends a horrendously long distance, all with the optimal force behind the swing.

Interesting. Shaker, then, right?

Swings his knife, cuts through an entire crowd.  Doesn’t make sense that he’d be able to murder everyone on Earth.”

The most ridiculous scenario I can think of: Getting hold of a ridiculously sharp blade and cutting through the entire Earth. And even that probably wouldn’t do much to end life on Earth, since the Earth isn’t held together by a force you can just cut through.

They thought nothing of descending on an elementary school, just because they could.  When the heroes came for them, they came with lethal force.

Basically, the worst kind of sickos, all bunched together in one team.

Great, when’s the meet ‘n’ greet?

“Mmm,” Dinah said.

“What is it, pet?” Coil murmured.

“It’s him.”

What?

“Who?”

She pointed at the screen, at Jack Slash.  “Him.”

I actually guessed that it would be that specific “him”, but that doesn’t get me any closer to answering the more pressing “what about him”.

“You’re going to have to explain it to us, pet.  What about him?”

“He’s the one who makes everyone die.”

I shivered.  What?

…shit, is that a prediction?

I mean sure, it’s an accurate enough statement coming from anybody, but this is coming from a girl who sees potential futures. Is she seeing a whole bunch of futures where Jack Slash causes loads of death and suffering in Brockton Bay?