“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.

The way the Travelers and Coil had positioned themselves, we’d formed a haphazard ring.

Just the Undersiders, Travelers and Coil, or everyone?

“No cooperation here, no sirree.”

From the top of the roof, going clockwise, the arranged groups were Hookwolf’s Chosen, Faultline’s crew, us, the Pure, Coil, the Travelers and the Merchants.

Ah, okay, everyone it is. That makes more sense anyway.

“It seems everyone is here,” Coil spoke, taking in the collected villains.  Forty-ish of us in all.

Damn, these numbers go up pretty quickly.

“Not quite everyone,” Hookwolf replied.  “Victor, Othala.”

Hm? Are you asking them to fetch someone?

Othala touched Victor, and Victor raised one hand.  A fireball appeared in it, then disappeared as he clenched his hand.  He repeated the process two more times.

Or, uh, summon a demon or something.

“Who are you signalling?” Purity’s asked.  Her hand flared with light, ready to fire.

Ahh, I see.

Better not be signalling Shatterbird, Hookwolf.

“It would be a grave and stupid mistake if you invited the Nine,” Coil told Hookwolf.

It would, wouldn’t it? This battlefield has their enemies gathered in a tight spot, but it’s otherwise not particularly suited to the Nine’s strengths. Then again, Burnscar alone could do some serious damage, and these are a whole bunch of high-priority targets.

Coil was the last of us to arrive, maybe because he’d wanted to be fashionably late.

Oh, hi! I was kinda figuring he’d decided to sit it out and let his subordinates do the talking, but I suppose that doesn’t make much sense.

The two soldiers who’d driven his boat stayed behind.  Purity set down by where the boats had landed, followed by Fog and Crusader, who I hadn’t seen in the dark.

Oh, hi there.

Night stepped out of the lake, between our parked boats and onto the roof, water streaming from her cloak.  Had she been the just-in-case measure if an incoming boat hadn’t known the signal?

…huh. I don’t know what the physical characteristics of her monster form are, but if it’s good at swimming, then underwater in the dark is pretty much ideal for her.

She would be invisible in the pitch black gloom beneath the water’s surface, which would mean she wasn’t in her human form.

Exactly.

Another series of flashes served to alert us, indirectly, of incoming arrivals.  The Travelers appeared soon after.  Trickster, Sundancer, Ballistic each stood on the back of some kind of turtle serpent.

Heh, nice one, Genesis.

I couldn’t make out Genesis’s form in the gloom.

Mentioned separately to highlight that Genesis is relevant to how they’re arriving.

What little light was available came from the moon and Purity’s radiance from where she floated above us.  I could have used my bugs to get a feel for the shape Genesis had taken, but my habit was generally to place my bugs on clothing where they wouldn’t be noticed, and Genesis was effectively naked.

Oh yeah, that’s both awkward and easily noticed.

I didn’t know anything about them, but they were our allies.  I didn’t want to irritate her and upset anything between our two groups.

Yeah, probably best to keep relations good.

She shook her head.  It was more the kind of head shake that accompanied an eye roll.

Hehe. An appropriate response.

Skidmark went on, “You’re mercenaries.  Don’t tell me you don’t have the cash.  I’ll only ask for five mil.  One for each vial you took.”

…you know, I can actually believe that that is a good deal for those vials. But Faultline and co. have approximately no reason to make a deal in the first place.

Fautline didn’t answer him.  Instead she looked at Hookwolf and asked him, “Did we really need to invite him?  Does he contribute anything to this discussion?”

Oof.

…but it’s true, he’s not among those with ties to people targeted by the Nine. I’m sure his people would get caught in crossfire if Shatterbird went big, but how much would he himself care?

The only real reason he’s here is that he’s made himself a bigshot in Brockton Bay.

“Hey, Faultline,” Skidmark’s smirk dropped off his face as he realized who else was present.  “What the motherfuck were you doing, fucking with my party!?”

Oh yeah, that’s right, he wouldn’t know why they attacked. From his perspective, it came out of nowhere.

“You had something we needed.”  Faultline’s response was as measured and calm as Skidmark’s question wasn’t. 

At least one of them seems to respect the truce and the idea that they’re not here to argue about past grievances.

Okay, maybe I’m being a little hard on Skidmark. It’s not like he just attacked Faultline over it, and it’s honestly no wonder he’s pissed.

“Who hired you, bitch?  Tell me and my Merchants won’t come after you in revenge.  All you’ll have to do is return that shit you stole or pay me back for it.  Maybe you can spit-polish my knob for a little goodwill.”

Oh yeah, of course. It kinda slipped my mind that Faultline’s crew primarily act outwardly as mercenaries and as such the others would assume someone paid them to attack.

Faultline could lie here and subject someone else to the Merchants’ revenge, but I don’t think that’s her style.

“Not going to happen.”

Especially the last part, I would assume.

“Then forget sucking my cock.  Pay me back and tell me who hired you and we’ll call it even.”

Apart from that particular unreasonable demand, he’s actually being fairly civil about this.

I mean, for Skidmark.

“Hey!” Hookwolf growled, “What part of keep a low profile don’t you fucking understand?”

And within moments of Skidmark arriving we already have the first verbal conflict of the meeting.

Skidmark smirked, raising his chin to give it an arrogant tilt, “We did.  My Squealer built a box that cancels out light and noise at a certain distance.  Nice and in your face up close, almost invisible and silent when far away.  Isn’t that right, baby?”

…okay, I’ll give you that one, that’s kinda neat.

Squealer just smiled.  It probably wasn’t as sexy or cute as she thought it was.  Aisha, when left to her own devices, was a pretty girl who dressed trashy.  Squealer, I felt, was more of a trashy woman who dressed trashy.

One thing you do with trash is burn it. Taylor’s thoughts are already making good progress on that front.