Oh yeah, I forgot to mention in the main chapter thoughts post:
Taylor’s being more reluctant than ever to acknowledge any of her own accomplishments as something positive. I think that will be something of a throughline in this Arc – hopefully she can come around a bit on that by the end.
This was a fairly good planning chapter. We got implicit confirmation that Coil is still looking out for his subordinates, a mix-and-split tactic that’s going to let us get to know Genesis a bit better, a bit of conflict between Grue and Imp that I think will be interesting going forward, and a look at the growth in Skitter’s ranks!
Meanwhile, Mannequin is sneaking around Taylor’s territory, and he doesn’t have much time to waste. Taylor suspects he’ll resort to a trap, and between the title Snare and biosphere being meant to contain things, I think she’s right. Perhaps we’ll see that take shape within the next two chapters.
Next time, however, the focus may be on getting the new temporary residents of the Hive situated, possibly going on a tour of the territories, and maybe showing more of Genesis’ personality. (We saw some of that this time, though not enough that I really commented on it – she seems fairly upbeat, though, which I like.)
So yeah! See you soon for the next chapter!
He set a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll make it.”
Speaking from the perspective of someone who had gone toe to toe with these guys, I wasn’t so convinced.
At least you won that. It was hard, and it’s definitely not going to be easy to make it through eight rounds, but you proved that it’s possible to beat them.
When we were done, we faced seventy-two hours of the same thing. We’d be that much more tired, that much more likely to make a mistake. Then we’d have to do it again. And again, and again. Eight rounds in total.
Ah, okay, she didn’t forget about that.
All in all, barring Bitch being eliminated or some time serious bonuses or penalties happening, it adds up to 23 days of nonstop terror.
From my altercation with Mannequin, I knew we wouldn’t make it through even the first few encounters without some loss, some injury or casualty. By the time the eighth round of testing rolled around, what kind of condition would we be in? What condition would my territory be in?
Almost certainly not a good one.
You’re probably much better off if you can end this before it gets that far.
I’d initially seen Tattletale’s deal with Jack as a good thing, a miniscule chance at success, with some drawbacks and negative points.
I didn’t, but Jack went for a more fair approach than I ever expected, so I’ve turned around on it somewhat. But maybe I was just seeing some of the problems Taylor didn’t at the time?
The more I dwelled on it, the more daunting it seemed.
“You okay?” Grue asked me.
“A little spooked,” I admitted.
The main benefit of the deal is that this will be less immediately intense and more based on stamina. Without it, the Nine would be testing on top of each other, whereas this adds structure and a bit of time for the candidates
to rest
between each test.
Well, there’s that and the Slaughterhouse Nine allegedly leaving the city if they lose, and leaving excess candidates alive.
The only ambiguous advantage we had over him was that he was working with a time limit. He needed to test Bitch and get revenge on me, in addition to dealing with all of the other candidates, and he had less than forty-eight hours to do it.
Gonna have a busy couple days ahead of him.
I wasn’t so sure that was a good thing. It was beginning to dawn on me what we were in for. Forty eight hours of being on the edge of our seats, unable to sleep deeply, constantly watching for attack from Mannequin or from Hookwolf’s contingent.
No, no, you’ve got that wrong.
552 hours, watching for attacks from each Slaughterhouse member in succession. Maybe more, considering there are time limit bonuses available. Maybe less, if Bitch gets taken out or someone suffers a time limit penalty.
I guess Siberian’s turn might give them a bit of a break in there, but not much.
Also not all the tests involve attacking, but if they’re hiding Bitch, it might happen nonetheless. It’s also worth noting that Bitch may sabotage things from the inside because she actually wants to take the tests.
I frowned.
Mannequin was on guard for a trap, enough that he’d probably noticed the tripwire and decided to retreat.
Yeah, makes sense. He’d know that Skitter would be aware of his imminent arrival this time.
Besides, I doubt he likes spiderwebs after last time.
Mannequin and I had an estimation of one another, now. Neither of us wanted a direct confrontation. Both of us would be wary of traps or trickery.
Traps or trickery.
Did I not predict the involvement of a trap the moment I saw the title Snare?
He was a tinker, he would have prepared something to ward against the tactic I had employed last time.
Hm. Notably, he’s a biosphere tinker. Biospheres keep things contained. That’s perfect for designing a trap if he’s willing to turn his expertise outward again.
Topping it off, amassing people to please Coil had the unfortunate side effect of making me more vulnerable to Mannequin’s attacks. He could hurt me without even getting close to me, the second I let my guard down and gave him an avenue for attack.
I suppose so.
I didn’t expect to find him in the span of a minute. A figure on a nearby rooftop was striding through the webs and avoiding the bugs.
Oh!
Well, that was quick.
I stopped. “Mannequin.”
Everyone else froze. Even the dogs seemed to mime their master’s stillness.
Hah.
But he was already leaving, moving with surprising swiftness as he pushed through another few lines of webbing at the edge of the roof furthest from us.
Leaving? I guess he was just scouting, then?
A second later he was on the ground, moving through an alleyway.
Ah, never mind. Just leaving the rooftop.
“We could go after him,” Grue asked.
“We couldn’t catch him, I don’t think,” I said, “And he may be trying to bait us into a trap. Or maybe he wants to loop around while we give chase and kill my people.
And even if you do go after him, there’s the issue of fighting him. Admittedly you do have much more firepower right now than Skitter did when she fought him solo and won.
Shit, I didn’t think he’d come so quickly.”
“We weren’t exactly inconspicuous.”
That’s fair.
I had enough bugs nearby to start setting up my early warning system. With the assistance of a horde of flying insects, I began guiding spiders through various points of my territory.
Spiders, huh. Is she going to do something similar to Parian’s strings, perhaps?
They drew out lines of silk across alleyways and doors, windows and rooftops. I couldn’t spare the spiders, so I placed ants on each line. They would feel it if there was a vibration, not as well as the spiders, but well enough.
Yep, that’s the same basic concept. I like this.
Ten thousand tripwires for Mannequin to navigate past.
To be fair, if anyone in the Slaughterhouse Nine can do that, it’s probably him, but it’s still quite a large amount to get past. Especially while also dodging the airborne insects.
My expectation was for the lines to maybe give me an early warning of Mannequin’s approach, sometime in the coming hours, maybe in the dead of night.
Let’s hope it works. And doesn’t raise too many false alarms.
“Charlotte?”
“Yes?”
“How set up is the building you guys were working on?”
“Mess is cleaned out, but we haven’t moved much in.”
I like how Skitter is talking as a leader in this section.
“That should be fine.”
“We ready?” Grue asked.
I turned to face him and Bitch. “Just about. Bitch, there’s a space set aside that we can use for your dogs. We’ll patrol through the various territories in an hour or so, stop by your territory and pick up some supplies for them, and you can bring your dogs here.”
Eyy, that’s something she might appreciate. Maybe. If we’re lucky. Probably not.
I had to resist adding an ‘if that’s okay’. Firmness would work best with her, even if it did carry the risk of provoking her.
True. And it’s not like, even with the firm tone you used, you told her to bring her dogs here. Just that she could.
“Fine.”
“Good,” Grue said. “Let’s go rest and eat. We can wait for Genesis and the other gear Coil’s dropping off.”
Hey, I know it’s a fair distance away from here, but I wonder how Fugly Bob’s is doing. Did it survive Leviathan? Was it out of range of the Shattering? Are their burgers as greasy as ever? This is me asking the important questions.
Genesis whistled, looking around. There were some looks of confusion as she strode forward into the crowd. I suppose it was unusual for a teenage girl to be in the company of three known supervillains and a mass of monstrous dogs.
I mean, considering some of the supervillains aren’t any older, it’s more a matter of being seemingly out of costume among them.
“Sierra,” I said. “Status?”
“We’re nearly done with the second building. There isn’t a lot of elbow room, so we’ve been cleaning up the road.”
Sounds good!
“Good. No trouble?”
“Not that I know of.”
I pulled the bag from over my shoulder and handed it to her. “Distribute these to the people in charge of the various groups. Work it out so you can pass on messages quickly, and get any necessary information to me asap.”
What’s this? The satellite phones Coil talked about?
“Okay.” She grunted as she took the bag.
“Genesis,” I spoke. “You said you were doing some rebuilding?”
She slapped her stomach, “Made some mortar, just a matter of sticking stuff back where it’s supposed to be, if it’s obvious enough.”
I…
I guess that’s a thing she can do.
So is her power basically that she can create things and optionally take control of them?
“Want to see what you can do, before your body gets here?”
She nodded and headed off. My minions rapidly backed away from her as she began dissolving.
Or is it that she made a form that naturally produces mortar??
Like I said, her power still confuses me.
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