Colin noted that the flat expanse that would join the left side of the chest to the right had a clear pane to it.

As in a central glass pane, like a window to Mannequin’s core?

Organs were inside, cut cleanly down the middle, and they pulsed with activity, throbbing wet against the glass or glass substitute.

Ew. Any particular reason you felt the need to make that visible, Mannequin?

There was technology in there too.  Regulators and filtration systems, and other gear that was designed to fit into the gaps between the most vital systems.  Weapons, tools.

Oh yeah, I suppose he would put weapons in there. Not sure why I didn’t think of that.

By the way, I love how this clearly living… construct, whom Armmaster might recognize as a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine, just shambled into his room in pieces, and Colin’s like “I’m gonna stand here and calmly study this thing’s appearance.”

The hand tipped forward, and then dropped to the floor alongside the attached forearm, a length of chain stretching from the vent to the ‘elbow’.

Yep, definitely Mannequin.

I’m going to count that as a win, prediction-wise, even though I faltered and switched to Crawler for a while there. 😛

So does Mannequin / his tech have the ability to make the chains connecting the parts of his body extend and retract?

Also I suppose he could get through a regular-sized vent by, uh, “crawling”. Collapsing into more of a moving pile of chains with body parts on than a body with chains making up parts of it.

Other body parts followed, each separated from the rest, encased in a white shell.  An upper arm, two halves of a torso, then a head.

Howdy!

Hm, though the torso parts would have a hard time fitting through a regular vent. Medium-sized vent, perhaps, somewhere between realistic and movie?

The rest of the body followed, flowing to the ground like a liquid to pool there.  The right arm and the left leg were separate, detached, with only ball joints at the end.

Oh, huh, he can detach the parts too? I suppose that makes about as much sense as anything else about his physiology.

Maybe his specialty is something that allows him to do that and still maintain control over the pieces. I mean, in addition to allowing him to live with this sort of body in the first place.

He briefly debated going for the helmet with the link back to his old suit’s combat analyzer.  But it wasn’t set up, it would cost him precious seconds – twenty or thirty – before he connected to the main server.

Ah, yeah, that’s no good in this situation. Not immediately, anyway.

Until that happened, the helmet would only render him blind.  A blank display.

Oh, it’s worse than I thought.

Something moved in the gloom behind the vent.  There was a flash of something white or light gray, and the vent rattled, a puff of dust flowing down where the screws held it in place.  Again, there was the sound.  Clink.

Looks like whoever or whatever this is (Crawler, I’m reasonably sure), they’re working on loosening the vent cover.

The vent exploded from the wall with enough force to fly across the room and embed in the opposite wall.

I think they got it loose. Maybe.

Also, screw subtlety now, I guess!

It was hard to make out in the cloud of plaster dust, but Colin saw a hand, all white, each joint segmented, fingers splayed, palm facing the room.

Oh, was it Mannequin after all? I guess it was a movie-sized vent.

Clink.

Guild.Dragon:  Vent, behind and above you.

Okay, yeah, I think this is Crawler. Who better to introduce as they’re seemingly crawling through a vent?

He whirled around, grabbing the model of his nanobranch disintegration weapon from the stand on his desk.

For a second, I thought “he gets to have weapons in here?”, but then I realized it’s just a model. Unless of course this means model as in a prototype.

It was miniaturized, a mere pocket knife that Piggot could use for demonstration.  Still, it would serve better than any chair or tool he might pick up.

Ah, I suppose that makes sense. Not much he can do with a simple pocket knife against these safety measure, but it’s better than nothing against a threat that’s already entered the room.

Incidentally, I doubt Piggot would like the idea of a Slaughterhouse Nine member successfully infiltrating a secure PRT labpartment cell, especially this shortly after the Undersiders’ infiltration of the Wards HQ. Or, more specifically, she wouldn’t like the idea of the public finding out about those things.

A few seconds passed, then it came again.

Guild.Dragon:  I hear it.  Wait.  Changing the settings on your microphones so I can triangulate the source.

PHQ.Armmaster: Oh good, I’m not going crazy.

Guild.Dragon: That’s debatable, Colin.

As casually as he was able, he glanced towards the window.  Tinted glass, bulletproof, and reinforced with a low degree forcefield.

Nice. Can’t have anyone coming in or going out, or anything for that matter.

It would be easier for someone else to go through the wall than the window, but he couldn’t see through walls.

Hehe. That does tend to be a bit of a limitation.

Nothing outdoors.  Just an overcast sky hiding the majority of the moon, and a faint drizzle of rain.  No person or animal, nothing else.

There goes my half-joking pebble theory. 😛

Unless of course someone’s invisible and prankish.

He heard a scraping noise, then the sound once more.  He couldn’t say where it came from.

Hm. Could we be dealing with Crawler?

He opened an instant message window on his computer and sent a message:

To whom? Dragon?

It might be interesting to hear from Dragon again in this Interlude, but I doubt we’d learn anything about her quest to find and talk to Taylor. That’s not something I think she’d tell Colin about at this point, I think.

PHQ.Armsmaster:  You have a sec?

Guild.Dragon:  Reading the most monotonous data on seismic activity and Behemoth’s possible movements.  Ugly code.  Distract me, I beg you.

Heh.

It’s interesting that Dragon appears to be considered a member of the Guild before a member of the Protectorate, at least as far as internal IM handles goes.

PHQ.Armsmaster:  Hearing something.  Can you listen in?

Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea.

Oh, huh, apparently Interlude 11d doesn’t have the “(Anniversary Bonus)” in the header.

I guess for any sharp readers who remembered that, me including it in the intro post might’ve been an early sign that something wasn’t quite right. On top of the date, of course.

krixwell-liveblogs:

It’s that time again! Let’s meet our fourth Slaughterhouse member.

So, who do we have left…

• Bonesaw
• Mannequin
• Shatterbird
• Crawler
• Hatchet Face
• a thus far unnamed female newbie

I feel like going with the newbie this time would be a good way to create some continuity between this and the last chapter, similar to Siberian being brought up by Burnscar and possibly Jack (though now that I remember the existence of Crawler, chances are they’re the implied human-eater). That said, it also feels a little early?

Besides, it’s entirely possible we won’t get a chapter about the newbie at all (and Hatchet Face takes that spotlight slot), and we’ll have to learn about her through the Undersiders when they’re surprised by her existence on the enemy team.

If we’re not meeting the newbie or Hatchet Face this time, maybe… Shatterbird? Just a random guess, really.

Whomever we’re meeting today, though, I’m sure it’ll be good. Let’s just jump right into it!

…for real this time!