It’s not lost on me that Brutus and Judas (or BROOTUS and JOODUS, as Rachel apparently spelled it – I suppose with her background it makes sense that she might not be the best at spelling) seem to have been among the dogs Leviathan killed. I guess that leaves Angelica to tug at the leash alone. 😥

How long had it taken her?  She would have had to come late at night, well after the crowd had left, sat there with a chisel, hammer and flashlight, painstakingly chipped the letters into the marble.  If she even had a chisel.

Taylor clearly figured it out a little bit quicker than I did.

And yeah, poor Rachel must’ve been really intent on putting those names there. As they should be.

The doggos should be remembered too.

She might have done it with a screwdriver or something else she had at hand.

I bent down and ran my fingers over the letters.

“Sickening.” I glanced over my shoulder to see the father holding the toddler.  He shook his head, added, “Vandalizing this?  So soon?”

I mean, it’s a fair assumption. And, well, technically what Rachel did. But he doesn’t have the full story.

Neither do the Protectorate, for that matter, though I doubt they’d put the dogs on there to begin with even if they did.

Sham /
Shielder / Eric Pelham

Oh, never mind. It’s just too long for one side.

Smackdown / Jennie Ryan
Snowflake / Charlotte Tom
Strider / Craig McNish
Uglymug /
Velocity / Robin Swoyer
Vitiator /
WCM /
Zigzag / Bennie Debold and Geoff Schearn

But they did catch themselves.

Also, interesting that Zigzag is given as two people. Were they a duo and the people in charge of this decided that since both of them died, they might as well just put the duo’s name rather than their individual ones? Or did they maybe not have individual cape names in the first place?

It was shorter than the other lists, the last list of names, so there was space at the bottom.  Someone had used the empty space to etch words into the marble.

This could go different ways, primarily along the axis of respectfulness.

Also, I only now looked back and noted Taylor walking around the monument with each portion of the list. The division makes more sense now.

It was crude work, with scuff marks around each notch where the tool had been off target.  The letters were all in capital letters, all straight lines – the ‘o’s were squares, the ‘B’s two triangles joined at one corner.

Yeah, either Wildbow’s pulling a bait-and-switch or it’s pretty clear where this falls on the respectfulness axis.

KOOROW   BULLIT

Bait-and-switch it is, whether intentional or not. 😛

MILK                   STUMPY
BROOTUS  JOODUS
AXIL         GINGIR

Curious names, these. Civilians with nicknames, I guess— wait shit

RACHEL

oh no poor sad doggo 😥

No use.  One by one, the dogs fell.  Four left, then three.  Two dogs left.  They backed away, wary, each in a different direction.

Bitch clutched me, her arms so tight around my shoulders it hurt.  When I looked up at her, I saw tears in the corners of her eyes as she stared unblinking at the scene.

Rachel Lindt needs a hug.

Maybe not a human hug, but she needs a hug.

Scion dropped from the sky.

Hi there! About time!

Golden skinned, golden beard trimmed close, or perhaps it never grew beyond that length.

Imagine Scion not taking the time to stop and talk to anyone or buy a phone for people to call during Endbringer emergencies, but stopping every so often to shave.

His hair was longer than mine.

A haircut, though, takes too long.

His bodysuit and cape were a plain white, stained with faded marks of old, dirt and blood, a strange juxtaposition to how perfect and unblemished he looked, otherwise.

Honestly, gotta thank whoever it was that managed to get him to wear an outfit, even if it does seem he’s never changed or washed it.

There was no impact as he landed, no great splash or rumble of the earth.  Leviathan didn’t even seem to notice the hero’s arrival.

A gentle lander, huh. Nice.

By the way, this would be a great time to have a functional armband, so you could report Scion’s arrival.

Leviathan wheeled around, grabbed another dog by one shoulder, dug a claw into the dog’s ribcage and cracked  it open, the ribs splaying apart like the wings of some macabre bird, heart and lungs exposed.  The animal dropped dead to the water’s surface at Leviathan’s feet.

Squished like a rotten apple.

Bitch looked from me to the dog, as if momentarily lost.  In an instant, that look disappeared, replaced by that etching of rage and fury.  She screeched the words, “Kill him!  Kill!”

Good doggos!

It wasn’t enough.  The dogs were strong, there were six of them left, even, but Leviathan was more of a monster than all of them put together.

😦

They’re good doggos nonetheless.

He heaved one dog off the ground, slammed it into another like a club, then hurled it against a wall, where it dropped, limp and broken.

With that same claw, he slashed, tore the upper half of a dog’s head off.

“Kill!” Bitch shrieked.

Consider: Bitch as a cheerleader. Now that would be something.

How many dogs?

Leviathan pulled away, only for a dog to snag his arm, drag him off balance.  Another latched on to his elbow, while a third and fourth pounced onto his back, tearing into his spine.  More crouched and circled around him, looking for opportunities and places to bite.

This seems to be working out rather well so far, honestly.

He clubbed one away with a crude movement of his tail, used his free claw to grab it by the throat, tear a chunk of flesh away.  The dog perished in a matter of seconds.

Except it does mean this is going to happen.

Don’t hurt the doggos?