Theo didn’t know how to respond, so he kept his mouth shut.

Probably a good call.

He rocked Aster in his arms, using one hand to shield her eyes from the scene.  Not that he thought she could make it out or understand what she was looking at, but it made him feel better.

“At least I can spare someone from having to deal with this shit.”

“I had a little conversation with Oni Lee.  Found him living above a grocer’s, with the help of one of my teammates.  Someone shot out his kneecap, it seems, and he’s been restless ever since.

Did that happen in Hive? I don’t remember, but I could see that being a thing one of the Coildiers did.

A few kills here and there, but perhaps a little harder when you can’t walk.

Yeah, that’s fair.

Need the right time, the right place.  I kind of respected that, and the fact that he was another fan of knives was a point in my book.”

Ah, yeah. I thought of that parallel, but forgot to mention it between a couple other things.

The bathwater was crimson, and the man lay in a sea of things that had been taken from the freezer and dropped within.

I think it’d take a lot of blood to make the water crimson. I’ve heard that when blood dilutes in water, it actually turns yellow.

Then again, I don’t remember my source for that. Could be wrong.

He was Japanese, Theo noted, his hair cut short, his body bearing the lean muscle of someone who’d honed their body into a weapon, and he was unconscious, though breathing.

One can hone their body into a weapon all they like, but it’s gonna be hard to top Hookwolf, who’s honed his body into a whole pile of weapons.

Japanese, huh… I wonder if Purity’s hatred of the former ABB has anything to do with this.

“Oni Lee,” Jack spoke from outside the bathroom.

Oh!

Hiya. I guess you found a battle you couldn’t run from, Oni.

“Our habit is to nominate a certain individual.  Then the others test them in their own ways.  If that individual passes the test, they are recruited to the Slaughterhouse Nine.”

Hm, sounds like the test is individual, rather than a brawl like I was imagining. So what happens if more than one of them pass?

Also, it seems like Jack had put his hopes on Oni Lee, but he failed the test and wound up in this state.

Things are beginning to make sense.

So is Purity his second choice? Does he get a second choice?

“Aster, sir?”

“And you say you’re nothing like your father.  You’re sharp, little boy.”  Theo couldn’t see Jack move, but again, the man’s shadow fell over him.

Probably not as sharp as Jack’s knife, but that’d probably be a tall order.

He felt himself shrink down, as if the shadow weighed on him.

Literally overshadowing someone can be quite intimidating.

“Thank you, sir,” he managed.

“Yes.  See, my compatriots are all busy with a task, tonight, you understand.  I bet on the wrong horse.  Come.”

…so wait.

He came for Purity. And just decided Theo was a better choice?

Does Theo even have powers?

Jack’s hand fell on Theo’s shoulder, and he flinched.  Still, he scooped Aster up and followed as Jack led him to the front of the apartment.  There was a trail of blood leading from the front door to the nearby bathroom.

…what did you do.

Jack gave Theo a push on the shoulder, but remained outside the bathroom, where he could watch the front door.  Theo entered.

Did.

Did Jack kill Kayden before any of this, deeming her unworthy because he could? But then why would he stick around?

There was a man in the bathtub.  He’d seen Jack drag the man inside, had heard the taps running.

Ahh. Opposition on the way in, I guess.

What he hadn’t expected was for the man to be alive.

Oh wow.

The Slaughterhouse Nine must have been new, then.  People today would know better.  Hopefully.

Hm, yeah, perhaps.

Jack chuckled lightly, “I digress.  I do remember your father.  He was older than you are now when I saw him.  He talked in a way that made me think he was an athlete.”

…jock Kaiser. Sure, I could see that being a thing. Though maybe Jack is talking more about the sense of superiority?

“He was, sir,” Theo confirmed.  And he was disappointed I never followed in his footsteps.

Ah.

Heh. Now I’m just imagining Kaiser running a marathon. Maybe even in costume.

I do suppose he’d have to be strong to wear his costume proficiently.

“There were more teams in this city, then, more villains.  Not many heroes.  Lots of scary motherfuckers around, and yet I could probably count on one hand the people who made eye contact with me.  Even then, when my reputation was a fraction of what it is today.  Your father was one of those people.  Ballsy fucker.”

Huh, interesting, so there’s been an overall decline. I guess that makes sense, as more heroes start popping up the villain numbers decrease until they reach an equilibrium.

And yeah, that does sound like the Kaiser we knew.

“Maybe he thought you’d respect him for it, sir?  He was always good at reading people.”  And making them do what he wanted.  Even me.

That is true.

“Is that so?  I’d like to think I’m much the same.  A people reader.  But my interest is in the design of people. What makes them tick?  What holds them together?  All too often, it’s one little thing.  In architecture they call it a keystone.

Coil looks for what people want, what he can give them to gain their favor. Jack looks for what’s already there, what he can take away to break them.

The one stone that keeps the entire arch from collapsing.  The weak point.  And I’m very, very good at finding those weak points.  Can you guess what I’m talking about here?  Why I’m in this apartment?”

Aaaah. Yes.

Aster is very much Purity’s keystone, as we’ve already seen thoroughly examined in Buzz.

Incidentally, I’ve also been assuming that the stories of Purity’s rampage are how Jack found out about and got interested in Purity in the first place. Assuming that’s the case, he’d definitely know how much Aster means to her.

“Do you have some of your father in you?”

We’ve got Jack “the fucking Ripper” Slash over here acting as an audience surrogate. It’s pretty neat.

Did he?  “I’d like to think not, sir.”

Good to know.

“I’m remembering now.  Kaiser.  His name in costume was Kaiser.  I met him once, don’t you know?”

Oh? Now that’s a meeting I’d be interested in hearing about.

“I didn’t know.”

“Years ago.  Allfather still ruled Empire Eighty-Eight then.  They held a big meeting between all of the factions.  We stopped by.  Great fun.  I don’t think they accomplished a thing that day.  We provoked a bidding war instead.  Group called the Teeth wound up hiring us to kill some members of the Protectorate team.

I take it “we” refers to the Slaughterhouse Nine. I guess Jack has been part of it for quite a while, then. Longer than one might expect given its turnover.

We did it, and then we wiped out the Teeth before leaving the city.”

Ever since, the city of Brockton Bay has been forced to wear dentures.

“Yes, sir.”  But I don’t like her.

That’s an interesting twist on the usual “like but don’t love”. How does this even work? The closest I can think of is kismesissitude, but I really don’t think “hatred with a touch of respect and sexual lust” is what’s going on here.

“Good, good.  Does she love you?”

Also a very good question. I touched on earlier the idea of Aster getting all of Kayden’s attention, and I do think that might be a touchy subject for Theo.

“No sir.  But she likes me.”

Yeah, that’s more commonplace.

“Ohhhh?” Jack drew out the sound, and it was vaguely mocking.  “Do tell.”

“I- I take care of Aster for her.  I do my chores, I don’t talk back.  I don’t make life harder for her,” Theo began.  He swallowed, “But my dad treated her badly, and I think she sees him when she looks at me, and she’ll never let herself love me because of that.”

Ouch.

She has to look past the doughy face to see Dad in me, past the baby fat I never seemed to lose, but I have his genes, I look like him, beneath it all.

And Kayden has had enough pain from loving one Max to let herself love someone like him again, even if it’s just by looks.

Jack walked up to Theo, until he was just behind the boy, his shadow cast long by the setting sun, stretching over Theo and the changing table.

Hello.

Theo could feel the tension ratcheting up.  “I’m going to get upset if you lie to me.”

Yeeeah, the diversion didn’t work.

Theo didn’t take his eyes off the baby, forced his fingers to keep working on the diaper.  “Kayden is Aster’s mother, sir, my dad’s ex-wife.  She’s been taking care of me since my father died.”

I wonder what happened to his mother.

“Of course, of course, now I understand.  I believe you,” Jack said, before chuckling.

…did it work after all? Or is he being sarcastic, like “of course, sure, that was totally what I meant”?

I don’t even know.

He turned and walked away, leaving Theo breathing out a shuddering sigh of relief.  When Jack spoke again, there was no humor in his tone.  “Do you love her?  The mother of that baby?”

Good question.

“How long until your mother gets back?”

That was something else.  That was the third time Jack had asked the question.

“Are we there yet?”

Was his captor’s patience running out?

Quite possibly.

Theo describes Jack as his captor. I wonder how accurate that is. It’s entirely possible that Theo is overestimating Jack’s hostility and Jack would be fine with Theo leaving if he could be sure it wasn’t to get help.

“She’s not my mother,” Theo changed the topic.  He dropped Aster’s dirty diaper into the bin.

Right. I thought not, but it’s good to have that clarified/repeated. It’s been a long time since we first met Theo, and I wouldn’t blame anyone who forgot all about him by the time they got to this chapter, even if they weren’t following serially or liveblogging.

I’m kinda surprised I remembered him so quickly, for that matter.

Theo’s hands shook as he adjusted his grip on Aster, hauling her up until her head was at his shoulder, even though that meant she was screaming in his ear.  He carried her to the changing table and set her down.

Or… is the changing table in the same room? There’s no mention here of leaving it, so it sounds like he didn’t.

Kayden had reclaimed her old apartment after the catastrophe, found many of her possessions still there.

Ah, yeah, I kind of figured it was the same place, although that not being the case was very plausible.

The man never let the front door out of his sight as he walked around the living room, and was soon behind Theo.  With the open window, Theo could hope the man was upwind of the aromatic diaper.

Seems it is indeed in the same room. I guess Jack just genuinely wanted Theo to change the diaper.

How long before the squealing of the baby, an offensive smell or something else set the psychopath off?

Who knows.

“My father told me I should address my betters as sir, sir.”

Well, at least Theo’s trying to keep the guy who could kill both him and Aster with a single swipe of his knife pleased.

Jack laughed with the slightest touch of derision.  “Well, your daddy taught you well, didn’t he?”

I like Jack so far. He seems like he could be quite entertaining.

True enough.  Theo wondered if this measure of respect played any part in why Jack had let him live this long.

Maybe, maybe not. He might be aware that Kayden wouldn’t be very susceptible to his offer if he were to kill Theo or, cod forbid, Aster.

“Yes, sir.  I’m going to go change the baby.”

“Yes.  Do.”

“Yes, I’m going to leave the room.”