He could manipulate the outcome of this little contest, see that one of the two lasted to the end.  It would be hard, requiring the best he could employ in subtlety and head games.

I like it.

The wind blew flame-heated air at his back, thick with the smell of smoke and the sweet tang of blood.

Delicious.

He smiled.  These challenges, after all, served as his own carrot.

Jack Slash would play strategy games on the hardest difficulty.

Watch out, Coil, there’s a new chessmaster in town.

The interesting thing about this whole setup with Bitch and Hookwolf as the clearest potential members of the Nine is that it’s not at all clear which one it will be, if either.

Hookwolf acts both as an out if Wildbow doesn’t want to have Bitch join the Nine, and as a distraction if he does. If Hookwolf were replaced with another unlikely option such as the remaining four, Bitch being the one to succeed would be too obvious, but with Hookwolf there’s a legitimate chance that he’ll end up on the team as Bitch is somehow pulled out of it.

This also compounds the issue of how far in the Bitch plotline will go. She’ll probably be confronted about hiding her nomination soon (in fact, Grue might already have done that offscreen, once he took a moment to stop worrying about Tattletale), but how long will it take before it all comes to a head? Will Bitch be stopped from pursuing the nomination, or will she end up failing, or will she end up among the Nine and be confronted then? Hell, even then, she might be knocked down from the position and then have Hookwolf take her spot.

One thing that’s worth noting is that if the Nine fail to whittle it down to one candidate, they’re not going to pit them against each other like they usually would, but instead take the first volunteer. Bitch is the only candidate who is actually okay with her nomination. It’s very possible that the candidates win Tattletale’s game but Bitch still ends up among the Nine, as the volunteer.

Armsmaster and Regent were abrasive enough that they would likely prick Shatterbird’s pride.

…oh hell yes, I would actually love to see Regent and Shatterbird interacting.

Bitch would be a risk at first, but he trusted his ability to manage her and stop any fights from erupting.

Is Jack aware of Bitch’s doglike mind? At least he has experience from managing Siberian.

Siberian would become jealous of any growing relationship between Panacea and Bonesaw.

That’s an interesting notion. Also somewhat scary. We don’t want a green-eyed tiger.

The buried girl was only a candidate because Crawler hoped she was strong enough to fight him.  Either she would fail to hurt him and he would grow tired of her, or she would succeed and he would have no reason to stay in the group.

So far it seems like none of the candidates are particularly good for the group’s stability. The only one left is Hookwolf – I suspect he’ll be an exception. Notably, Bitch, the other candidate I think has any chance of actually ending up on the team, is the one that Jack seems to think will be the least trouble out of the ones he’s already mentioned.

That left him two candidates who might work.  He doubted either Hookwolf or Bitch had what it took to stay in the group long-term.

That may be the case, but these two have been my main suspects all along. Hell, even before Hookwolf’s Interlude confirmed he was a nominee.

They would soon be replaced, killed by an enemy or a member of the group, but they would not upset his carefully staged balance while they remained members.

Yeah, fair.

And Cherish, who would not survive their stay in Brockton Bay… after a fashion.

What do you and Bonesaw have in mind? Making her part of another chimera?

Hope was her carrot, but she had only sticks waiting for her.  He met her eyes and knew she knew what he was thinking.

Well, sort of.

She was all too aware an ugly fate awaited her, but didn’t know what it was.  The fear helped curb her.  Still, he would have to watch his back.

I mean, yeah. You’ve basically taken away all reason for her to stay loyal to you and the team.

Carrots and sticks.  A game of constant balance.  A thousand factors.  Even now, he was taking notes on their candidates, deciding what would work and what wouldn’t.

Probably a good idea, getting an early start on that in case one of them becomes the new member.

Burnscar was more sensitive, in many respects.  She had to be managed, provoked or set up to use her power so she remained in a more dangerous mindset.

We haven’t really heard much about Burnscar since Interlude 11c, but I still like the setup we’ve got with her power being addictive and her being stuck among the Nine. It’s quite tragic, for better or worse.

Too much one way, and she became depressed and scared, vulnerable.  Too much the other way, and she became reckless, potentially attacking him or one of the others and sparking disaster.

A careful balance, especially since she actually has a motivation to attack the others on the team.

Mannequin had his mission.  Few things bothered him as much as seeing someone try to help others and succeed where he had catastrophically failed.

Ahh, right. That would be why he was so interested in stopping the relief efforts.

To keep Mannequin in line, Jack could remind Mannequin of who he had once been.  A simple casual utterance of the name ‘Alan’ served as effectively as a slap in the face to someone else.

Yup, that’s about what I thought.

He rarely needed such considerations; Mannequin was predictable, manageable.

Would you say he’s easily manipulated, perhaps, like an action figure?

Crawler wanted to be stronger, and remained with the group because it put him in constant danger.  His other motivation was more subtle.

Oh?

He was patiently awaiting the day Siberian might honestly and brutally attempt to take him apart.

Huh. I suppose that means he’d be interested in subtly antagonizing her, which might be a problem for group control.

The only stick Jack could wield was the possibility that the group might dissolve before that happened.  On the other side of the coin, the day Crawler decided there was no longer any threat that could evolve him further would be…

Bad?

troubling.  It was why Jack had ordered Siberian to let the boy with the glowing hair go.

Ahh, I see.

Finding the lad again would give Crawler something to do, and it would give Crawler a taste for what Siberian had to offer.

That makes sense.

…hey, maybe that’s why Shatterbird looks kind of like a peacock, with her colorful garb and all. After all, what does a peacock use his colorful feathers for?

Looking tough.