Actually, what if it’s too late?

What if that “someone” was Theo?

“That’s vague,” Faultline spoke.

Might want to expand on what you mean by “everyone”, Coil.

“I’ll be more specific.  Should Jack Slash not die before he leaves Brockton Bay, it is very likely the world will end in a matter of years,” Coil spoke.

That’s better, thank you. 🙂

“Bullshit,” Skidmark answered.  The others were showing varying reactions.  I doubt many bought it.

Yeah, not the most believable story without the context of Dinah’s power. Maybe Coil will have to talk about that too, but that would be giving away part of the secret to his success and making himself a target for people interested in taking this “source” for themselves.

“You contacted us to say something very similar a couple of days ago.” Miss Militia said, “But I have the same questions now that I did then.  Do you have sources?  Can you verify this?  Or provide more information?”

Oh, so he has been trying to get this information out there. That’s good.

Behind her, Weld reached into his pocket and withdrew his smartphone.

“More information?  Yes.  I have sought further details and pieced together a general picture of things.

Heh, is Weld looking for something relevant on his phone or is he just kind of bored?

Honestly, I would’ve expected that from Alec long before Weld, so I’m leaning towards the former.

Also, sounds like Coil has been probing, asking Dinah for further details. Before her Interlude, of course.

Jack Slash is the catalyst for this event, not the cause.  At some point in the coming years, Jack Slash kills, talks to, meets or influences someone.

I see. But it’s something that’s pretty much constant as long as he makes it out of Brockton Bay.

This causes a chain of events to occur, leading to the deaths of anywhere from thirty-three to ninety-six percent of the world’s population.”

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m pretty sure Jack would be thrilled to hear this.

All at once, this meeting had become about us versus them.  The Travelers and the Undersiders against everyone else.

Good job, Hookwolf.

But let’s not forget there is still an actual threat that warrants this meeting to deal with too.

Hookwolf said, “Then agree to a truce.  So long as the Nine are here, you’re hands off your territories, no fighting, no business.  We can arrange something, maybe you all stay at a nice hotel on the Protectorate’s tab until this is dealt with.  That’ll mean we can all focus on the real threat.”

You mean the one you haven’t been focusing on?

Yeeah, there’s no way this isn’t a ploy to make their territories defenseless.

Stay in a hotel until the Nine were dead, arrested or driven out of town.  He couldn’t seriously expect us to do that.

And, also, this would put nine powers, some quite useful, out of the battle.

Besides, the Slaughterhouse Nine would very likely attack the hotel, because of Bitch and Regent.

“I’m inclined to agree,” Coil answered, after a moment’s consideration.  “Perhaps now is an opportune time to share this information:  I have sources that inform me that should Jack Slash survive his visit to Brockton Bay, it bodes ill for everyone.”

Yeah, might be good to put that out there. Get everyone on the case of attempting to kill Jack.

I still have no faith that it’ll work, though. I don’t think the climax of this story is going to happen when Taylor is around 30.

Hell, even the short time scale of two years seems far off if we keep going at the pace we’re going and the point I’m at within the story (I’m aware that I’ve passed the quarter mark, though I think I may have forgotten to post the ETA calculations that informed me of that) without any larger-than-usual timeskips.

(Some character traits I’ve made it clear that I like: “cheerful”, “skilled manipulator”, “hard to predict” – is it any wonder Tattletale is my favorite?)

So here’s a thing: I actually like Hookwolf as a character now, ever since his Interlude. He’s being antagonistic here, but he’s also being interesting.

On some level I liked Kaiser as a character too, but as a person, I despised him to the point that it practically became a running gag. He became the sort of character whose main redeeming feature is that they’re fun to hate.

Hookwolf, on the other hand, is a man who with just a slightly different worldview could be a decent, quite likeable person. I could actually see a redemption for this guy being done without completely changing his character, though I doubt that will happen in canon. Steven Universe this ain’t.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that while he does still manipulate others a bit, which is something I actually like in characters most of the time, he does it in a way that is nowhere near as shitty and abusive as Kaiser’s manipulation, from what we’ve seen so far. Though he also seems far less skilled at it.

“This isn’t of any concern to us,” Miss Militia spoke, stern.  “The only reason we’re here is to get information on the Slaughterhouse Nine, their motives, and strategies for responding.”

Interesting. “We don’t care if they’re taking over the entire city.”

At least she’s focused?

“That might help you in the next week or two, but a month from now you’ll be regretting it,” Hookwolf told her.

Perhaps true.

“Quite frankly, I don’t think we have any other choice,” Miss Militia replied.

“We do,” Hookwolf said.  “They want us to lose our territories to them while we busy ourselves dealing with the Nine-”

Does he actually believe this part of it, or is he just saying that to manipulate the rest into turning on the Undersiders and Travelers?

“That’s not our intent,” Trickster cut him off.

“Pigshit,” Skidmark muttered.  He looked angry.

Oh, you stay out of this. The grown-ups are talking.

Even Purity had a hard cast to her face, or what I could see of it through the glare of her eyes and hair.  These were people who thought highly of themselves.  Whether that self-esteem was deserved or not, they didn’t like being played for fools.

Which just leaves the question of who’s playing them, for them to figure out for themselves. Either way, there’s someone to be angry at.

What was that about no in-fighting, Hookwolf?

“They haven’t taken territory,” Hookwolf snapped back, “They’re taking the city.  Split it up all nice and proper between them, and now they’re taking advantage of the distraction the Nine are giving them to secure their positions before we fucking catch on.”

Okay, that last part might be taking your conspiracy theory (that is otherwise right on the money) a little too far.

Grue looked at Trickster, and there was some kind of unspoken agreement between them.  Knowing Grue, I was certain he was deliberately ignoring Coil.

Sounds reasonable. Might want to not give Hookwolf more fuel to his theory that Coil is involved.

No use volunteering more information than necessary.

Exactly.

Trickster spoke, “We didn’t know the Nine were around before we put this into motion.”

I guess the unspoken agreement was “no use keeping up the act”.

There was a flicker of surprise on Purity’s face.  “So Hookwolf is right.  You are taking over.”

Not every conspiracy theory is false. 🙂

“Something like that,” Grue responded. 

What was Hookwolf’s game?  Had he brought everyone here under a different pretext so he could ambush us on this front?

Nah, I think he’s just nabbing the opportunity, going the other way. Still a little bit hypocritical after his reaction to Faultline and Skidmark – this might not be arguing, but revealing this to the PRT and other villains is still a way of putting the Undersiders and Travelers at a disadvantage. Hell, if they step too far now, he might even be able to create a later truce to team up against the Undersiders and Travelers, after the Slaughterhouse Nine have been dealt with. That could be the main conflict in a future Arc.

“We’re not stupid,” Hookwolf said.  Three answering flashes appeared over the water.  I heard the faint noise of a boat motor.  Everyone present on the roof readied for a fight, turning towards either Hookwolf or the incoming boat.  I used my power to call on local crabs, and to draw out the bugs I’d stored in the boat, keeping them close to me.

Eyy! Nine Arcs later, Taylor’s ability to control crabs finally comes back to relevance!

There were three more flashes, close, and Victor responded again.  In moments, the boat arrived.  It wasn’t the Nine.  It was the good guys.

Yay! But which good guys?

I would assume this is not a double-crossing in which Hookwolf has set the other leaders up to be arrested, but rather the good guys being invited to discussions that matter to both sides under the protection of the truce.

Miss Militia was first out of the boat, and Battery activated her power to haul the boat up onto ‘land’ in a flash before stepping up to Miss Militia’s side.  Triumph, Weld and Clockblocker rounded out their group.

This seems like a good crew. We don’t know much about Triumph beyond “he yell”, but the other four are characters I like.

Our circle made room, though half the people present seemed to be tensed and ready to use their powers with the slightest excuse.

Yeah, I think Hookwolf had a good reason for not telling the rest of the groups that he had invited the good guys. It would’ve spooked some of them away from coming, truce or no truce.

Hm. It is a bit unfortunate that we’re not getting any New Wave members among them, but I suppose they’ve had enough of the Slaughterhouse Nine for some time, and they know it’s runaway Amy they’re after. Though that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re safe.