The barking and snarling ceased as the fight drew to a close.  Each of the dogs returned, and Bitch noted a few injuries.

Noo 😦

At least those heal when they turn back, right? Or did I get that backwards?

A shattered plate of bone here, a gouge where Brandish’s blades had made contact there.  Surface damage.  It was only the damage that penetrated deep, past the layers her power applied, which risked hurting the dogs or doing permanent damage.

Ahh.

Basically, don’t put Bitch up against Flechette.

Nothing so serious.  Bitch breathed a sigh of relief.

Good 🙂

Glory Girl looked over her shoulder to see the dogs, looked back to the injured man and the woman, and then flew straight up, disappearing into the gloom of the night sky.  She’d left him behind.

It seems odd for Glory Girl to have this reaction to just a civilian checking on the victim. Even under the impression that the civilian would get the victim medical help – which is stupid, since Rachel might just attack the civilian too – Glory Girl would have reason to want Panacea to help him, with her power being far superior to mundane medicine.

The only mitigating factor to this oddness would be that Glory Girl might no longer believe she can help him without the dogs taking her down.

In short, this reaction reinforces the impression that this isn’t just anyone. She might not be a Slaughterhouse Nine member, but she’s almost certainly a parahuman.

And if she were recognizably on Glory Girl’s side, she might’ve tried to make contact and team up against Bitch, not… flee.

What if this is one of the Slaughterhouse Nine? That would be quite the twist to this chapter.

If it is, I guess it’d be Burnscar, since the dry hair seems potentially indicative of heat-based powers.

She used the momentary reprieve this granted her to fly straight for the man who’d shot at Angelica, who lay in a heap on the ground.

I do sort of root for the New Wavers, as far as getting the wounded to Panacea goes. There’s something about reading from a character’s perspective that naturally skews which one you’re going to side with most of the time, though. Besides, Bitch has been arguably a protagonist for a long time.

So it’s hard to really pick a side here, even though one of the sides is almost indisputably morally in the right.

She stopped mid-flight.

Uh… why? Dogs guarding the target?

A woman stood over the man’s mangled body, her long hair blowing slightly in the wind.

Oh, hello.

This isn’t Panacea, right? Bitch would recognize her, probably. Though not as easily as Taylor would, I guess. She also probably wouldn’t describe Panacea as a “woman”.

Which seemed wrong.  With the light rain, her hair should have been wetter.

This woman’s trigger event was having to go outside in a storm immediately after a visit to the hair stylist, and the Dandelions helpfully gave her the POWER TO HAVE DRY HAIR!!

“Run!” Brandish called out her response.  She was facing much the same situation, unable to attack with the relentless pressure the dogs were putting on her.

Huh. I was ready to comment on Glory Girl having backup, but it actually seems like Bitch has already won.

Question is whether she’ll leave it at that.

Instead, she changed herself into that ball form where she couldn’t be touched or hurt, flying away with every hit she took, or controlling the direction so she could make her way for an escape route.

This is a fairly impractical type of invulnerability. Sure, she can’t be hurt like this, but there’s not a lot she can do either, is there?

Apparently she has some control, at least.

She managed to find enough pause to lash out at one dog and shout, “Get the wounded!”

Oh yeah, that’s still their main priority here, getting the wounded back to Panacea. Which I think Bitch doesn’t want them to do, because she sees the wounds as rightful punishment.

As the three dogs barreled toward her, she used her power.  She felt it extend outward like a vibration from deep inside her.  She felt that power shudder and reverberate, as if to let her know it was making contact with them.  She could see the effect.

Nice.

Could see them grow larger, see bone and muscle swell and shift.

Unlike powers like Taylor’s, Lisa’s, Alec’s or Coil’s, this power doesn’t really have that much of an active psychological feedback on use, but it’s still neat to see how it feels to use it.

“Attack!”

In moments, Glory Girl was contending with four dogs.

Forcefield or no, this is going to be troublesome.

Angelica advanced implacably, Bitch following at a walking pace.  The other three were attacking from every direction, cutting off escape routes, leaping onto the side of the building, leaping down, running behind her, or flanking her from the sides.

This is badass. You can tell she’s in control.

“Mom!” Glory Girl shouted, a note of panic in her voice.

And Glory Girl isn’t.

The heroine went for Bitch, who had only Angelica at her side.  Angelica positioned herself between enemy and master, and Glory Girl hit the dog broadside.

Seriously, no one listens.

Angelica barely reacted, turning instead to snap at Glory Girl.  Her teeth rebounded off the heroine’s outstretched arm, and Glory Girl darted backward, to hover in the air.

Incredible jaw force versus forcefield. Looks like the forcefield wins, at least for now.

Catching her breath?  Watching the situation?

Giving her forcefield time to regenerate? It sounded like that happens fairly quickly in Agitation, though.

That wasn’t how you were supposed to fight.  Bitch whistled hard, then shouted, “Magic, Lucy, Roxy!  Come!”

I mean, not throwing everything you’ve got at the opponent at every moment can be a valid strategy.