I just realized that the newbie and Hatchet Face being around at the same time might explain why there were implied to be nine corpses even though there are currently only eight official Fellowship members.

There was a sound from Dragon.  In a tone that was afflicted with agonizing disappointment, like a mother who had just found out her son had been arrested for a felony, she said, “Oh, Colin.”

Relatable.

I mean, I’m not a mother, but Colin does sometimes bring out that feeling.

Colin didn’t speak.  He waited for elaboration.

“The PRT got a tip from one of the villain teams.  The Slaughterhouse Nine is in town.”

Uh.

Yeah?

One of them is literally right in front of Colin, I think he’d have figured that out by now, unless it’s news to him that Mannequin joined them.

Has Dragon figured out that Mannequin is here to recruit?

Also, I guess the Wards’ speculation wasn’t enough. That’s fair, I suppose, they did base it only on the number and brutality of the murders they found.

I mean, he does seem able to sense his surroundings, and to react to things like Armmaster charging at him, not to mention to find people who fit his target-picking MO. He’s probably not deaf if he ain’t blind.

“What do you want, monster?”  Colin growled, “Little point in coming after me.  I don’t have much of a life to look forward to.  I’ve already lost everything!”

Could’ve gone worse for you. By your own words before you got busted, you should be in the Birdcage.

Mannequin didn’t move.

Gonna be interesting to see how Mannequin ends up presenting his message if he doesn’t speak.

Maybe he’ll have the means to break out of here, carrying Armmaster against his will?

“You’d be doing me a fucking favor!” Colin shouted, “Come on!  Come get me, you freak!”

Oh jeez, Colin’s taking his house arrest harder than I thought, unless he’s just saying this to manipulate Mannequin.

There wasn’t a movement or sound from the killer.

Is he even listening? Zoning out seems appropriate for someone whose madness involves them cutting off ties to the world.

Can he listen?

Mannequin swayed slightly on the spot.  Like a doll with a broken neck joint, his head flopped onto one side, until it was perpendicular to the floor.

Pfft. Hello, sir Alanolas de Mimsy-Grammeington.

There was a click as he slowly righted it.

Ah, I’ve got it. His personality isn’t “choppy and disjointed”.

He’s unhinged.

Her voice was even quieter than before as she said, “He has a body count, Colin.  You know…”

Of course.

But why? If his deal is cutting himself off because his family was killed and his work ruined, what led him to becoming brutal enough for the Slaughterhouse? I mean, even madness tends to have some internal logic, does it not?

She trailed off, unwilling to finish.

Hm. Personal? Or just worried about Colin?`

“I know,” he finished for her.  Like other serial killers, Mannequin favored certain types of people as victims.

Ahh. Does Colin happen to fit the description?

His prey of choice included rogues, those individuals seeking to make a profit from their abilities, especially those looking to better the world… and tinkers.

People like his old self, huh.

“His wife and children were killed in the attack, years of work ruined.  Everything fell apart.  He went mad.

Oh, I see, a bit more indirect than I was thinking.

I’m still not ruling out that the Simurgh has a passive power that makes madness like this more likely after her visit, if not necessarily one that actively, directly makes people mad.

He cut himself off from the rest of the world.  Literally sealed himself away.”

Wow.

That would explain the lack of facial features.

Colin looked at the cases that surrounded each individual body part.  Each body part a self-contained system.  Everything nonessential stripped away and replaced.

Cut away from the world, cut away from his humanity, cut away from each part of himself as best he can manage…

“He became newsworthy when he took on a project to build self sustaining biospheres on the moon.

Oooh, I want to hear more about post-cape society’s space exploration developments compared to our world’s. Tinkers in particular are very important for that, not least of all people like Sphere.

I suppose the name makes sense if it was typical for him to build his projects in that shape.

But what happened?

He had ideas on solving world hunger, and building aquatic cities near cities plagued by overcrowding.  And he was putting it all into effect.  Until-”

Seriously, this guy sounds like he was going to be a huge boon to the world. What the hell took that away and turned him into this?

“The Simurgh,” Colin finished.

Oh. Ohhh.

We did learn that the Simurgh tends to cause a lot of trouble after her visits, more so than the other two (and Leviathan’s visit certainly hasn’t been without aftereffects). Is this the form that takes? Changing people’s personalities, inspiring brutality, that sort of thing?

Her voice was quiet behind him.

Looks like it doesn’t.

As much as anything, it helped keep him calm.  “Mannequin.  Original name Alan Gramme.  Tinker, originally went by the name Sphere.  Specialty is in biomes, terraforming and ecosystems… or it was.”

That’s very interesting. Besides the internal ecosystems of bacteria and such, this specialty has nothing to do with what he’s actually doing these days. And what do you mean “or it was”??

Also, Sphere is an odd cape name, especially for a terraforming tinker. It seems more fitting for someone like Brandish.

Colin nodded slowly.  He knew this, but it was reassuring to get a recap.

Oh! That was Dragon. I completely misread that first sentence. Whoops.

He meant quiet as in low volume, not completely gone. I was reading the rest as if Dragon being cut off somehow kept Colin calm and confident enough to start recapping this info at Mannequin himself. The actual course of events makes a whole lot more sense.

Colin watched every movement of the bouncing blades, waiting for the moment it would fly free, or the second Mannequin charged.  There would be no dodging that unscathed.

Yeah, probably not.

But Mannequin didn’t move.  The spinning slowed, and the whirling blades settled into a rhythmic bounce against Mannequin’s leg, until it had stopped entirely, the arm swinging gently.  The blades retracted.

So what was the point of starting it up? Was Colin onto something when he thought Mannequin was demonstrating his abilities?

Also, Mannequin is almost certainly here to talk, but can he talk, per se? He doesn’t have a mouth in the traditional sense.

Mannequin didn’t speak, he made no sound.

Long moments passed.

Well, this is awkward.

I guess Mannequin isn’t concerned about Armmaster getting reinforcements. He hasn’t visibly done anything to the cameras, and is taking his time.

“Talk to me, Dragon,” he murmured.  His voice shook just a touch.  Any second now, Mannequin would cut to the chase and attack, and he could die at this monster’s hands.

Does Colin just want to hear his Canadian crush’s equally real voice one last time before what he believes to be nearly certain death?

Or does he want to ensure that the connection is still working after what happened to the computer?