“It could mean the end of the world.”

Or something pretty damn close to it.

“Right,” I said.

“Hookwolf has proposed an all-out attack,” Coil spoke for the first time since my arrival.  “He wants to gather the more powerful members of his alliance together into an army and attempt to overwhelm the Nine and kill Jack Slash in the chaos.”

Sounds like a plan. A brute force plan that’s not going to work in this story (there’s too much focus on clever solutions over raw strength for that kind of plan to be a satisfying solution, not to mention it seems to completely avoid the main protagonists having an impact on it), but a plan.

So if the Slaughterhouse Nine were to lose this all-vs-all battle, would they all each have a day deducted?

“That won’t work.”  Brian shook his head.  “These guys specialize in dealing with crowds, and they’re experienced when it comes to that sort of thing.”

Good point.

“Hookwolf believes our local capes are collectively strong enough to do what other groups couldn’t.”

Honestly, I think he just wants to lead an army.

“Me, Bitch, Armsmaster, Noelle, probably Hookwolf and someone in Faultline’s crew?”  Alec said.

Close.

Wait, was it mentioned to them that there are just six?

“No.  Jack said they picked two heroes.  Hookwolf, yes.  But their last pick is a hero, not one of Faultline’s,” Lisa said.

Oh, good catch.

Is your power taking it further to tell you which hero?

“And we can’t say for sure who this person is or what actions they plan to take,” I said.  “Too much hinges on everyone else’s willingness to cooperate and play by the rules, and the stuff that happened at the last meeting of the city’s villains makes me skeptical.”

Yeah, I can’t blame her for that.

Brian nodded.  “It’s important that we find this person, make sure they play along, so we don’t wind up losing before this game of theirs even starts.”

I agree. Panacea is currently the most likely to leave the city, and that’s before considering that the Nine may not have managed to tell her about the rules.

“There’s other problems here,” I said, “We can’t forget what Dinah said about Jack.  If he leaves town, it could mean disaster.  If we win, we could all lose in the long run, because it’d mean he left town and Dinah’s prophecy would come true.

That’s a very good point. Gotta open that extra slot – and possibly break the Nine apart entirely, thanks to Jack’s central position, potentially causing each of them to wreak havoc on the city separately, not caring about the game anymore.

And it might still be for nought if I’m right about Theo.

Hell, a lot hinges on whether the Protectorate is on the same page as us.  If they arrest him and take him out of town…”

Yeah, whoops.

At least they know about the prophecy. Now it’s just a matter of whether they believe it.

“It’s not all advantageous,” I said, thinking aloud.  “Yes, we’re now in a position where we could win, with some planning or luck, and the plan we were hashing out at our last meeting might be easier, now.  But we’re also facing pretty heavy consequences if we fail… heavier consequences.

Like I predicted back when Tattletale made the suggestion. It’s pretty obvious that if you make it a game, the opponent will want an incentive, a consequence in case they win.

And there’s a lot of places where this could go wrong.  We don’t even know who all the candidates are.”

Hmm. I think you do, actually? You just don’t know that Burnscar passed on picking one and Jack’s candidate was turned into a backpack.

Also I guess you might not know that Noelle is one.

Oh, wait, she doesn’t know about Panacea either. I think Hookwolf made it clear that he was one, though. So that means she knows about four out of six and believes there are two more than there are.

She caught me looking and gave me a wink.  She took another gulp of water and cleared her throat before speaking again.  “They took one day from Mannequin because they thought he lost.”

Heh, nice, she caught onto that.

“If the enemy thinks they lost,” Brian said, “That’s a good enough reason to think you’ve won.”

Well, in this case at least. It’s not always true. It’s possible for both sides to lose.

I just don’t think that’s what happened with the Skitterquin fight.

I privately disagreed, but I didn’t say anything.  I pulled up a chair and sat at the corner of the table furthest from Coil, wincing at the pain in my ribs as I bent down.

Really can’t blame her for wanting to be as far away from Coil as is available.

“So,” Brian said, “You intend for something like this to happen when you made your suggestion, Tattletale?”

Yeah, how well-planned was this?

Lisa shrugged, “Sorta.  Thought he’d take the bait, didn’t know how far.”

Fair enough.

I highly doubt Amy would be willing to help. She hates Tattletale even more than she does Taylor.

“Honestly, I didn’t kick his ass.  He got some of my people, he thrashed me, I got a piece of him.”

He bruised you, while you reduced him to a shambling headless mess.

Well, more shambling than usual.

“No,” Lisa said, her voice quiet.  She couldn’t really move one corner of her mouth when talking, so her words came out slightly slurred.

The one who mainly uses her power to verbally manipulate people and who would’ve won Witch Weekly’s Most Charming Smile Award many times by now if she’d been a witch, gets the injury that slurs her speech and

mars her smile.

I think Jack did that on purpose.

I saw her work her tongue in her mouth and then take a sip of water, wincing.  Brian had updated me: the cut had probably damaged one or more of her salivary glands, and she’d have dry mouth until it healed.

That sounds very uncomfortable.

Maybe forever.  The really scary part was that she might have suffered some nerve damage as well.  How much of that half-frown was because of the direction of the cut and the way the stitches pulled, and how much was because her nerves were damaged enough that her face was drooping?

In that case she might never be able to properly smile again, even if the scar itself heals.

I got my first good look at Lisa since I’d left her bleeding in Ballistic’s headquarters.  The scar ran from the corner of her mouth to the corner of her jaw, and dark stitches ran down the length of it.  The slang term for this kind of injury was a Glasgow smile or a Chelsea smile, but the term seemed ill-fitting.

I think I prefer her real wide smile.

Where Lisa often had a grin on her face, the cut pulled the corner of her mouth down into a perpetual lopsided-frown rather than a smile.

Hrm.

I don’t like it. But hey, it’s the sort of thing that happens when you’re dealing with fuckers like Jack.

Bitch gave me a dark look as I entered, but many of the others were smiling.

Is she extra pissed at Taylor for something? Running off instead of helping with Tattletale, maybe?

“The people in my territory are singing your praises, Skitter,” Ballistic said.

Oh yeah, I suppose the first part of her run would’ve been through his territory.

It’s time for Skitter to hear about how much good she did on that run. That’s something she needs to hear, so I appreciate Ballistic bringing it up.

“My territory too,” Alec added.

“I didn’t do anything that special.  My power did the work.”

Wow, Skitter, you sure know how to avoid looking positively on your accomplishments effectively.

“And you kicked Mannequin’s ass,” Trickster said.  He leaned back in his chair, balancing on two of the legs, his feet on the table.  “You had a busy night.”

Yeah, that’s for sure.

Although I’m not sure Mannequin has an ass, technically. I don’t think so. Much like Leviathan, actually, until Skitter happened.

Mannequin is the first to carry out his round of testing.  He has two days remaining.

We will be in touch.

See ya soon!

“Where is everyone?” I asked, handing the paper back to him.

He pointed down the hall.

I take it “everyone” covers the Undertravelers? Or did this somehow result in Hookwolf’s schism ploy breaking apart?

“Christ,” Brian said, shaking his head as he walked, rereading the terms.  He opened the door for me.

Coil was inside, at the end of a long table.  The Undersiders sat at one side of the table, with Circus sitting at the farthest edge, beside Coil.  The Travellers, minus Noelle, sat along the other side.  I took note of the blond teenager who wasn’t even wearing part of a costume.  Oliver.

Oh nice, Circus too. How about Trainwreck, is he around now that the team he was undercover in has been pretty much obliterated?

And hiya, Oliver-who-is-not-Ballistic!

Coil was the opposite, as fully covered as ever.  Everyone else was costumed but they had their masks and helmets off.

Well, guess we’re adding Circus to the group of people who’ve seen Taylor unmasked.

I hope Circus has a significant speaking role here. She seems like a fun character.

Brian was waiting for me as I passed through the door and into Coil’s underground base.

Oh, hello.

He held a paper out to me.

Sirs and Madams,

The terms of engagement are as follows:
1.  Three days to each member of the Slaughterhouse Nine so we can conduct our tests.

Ah, they’ve received a formal reply! Nice.

Tests will be performed one after the other, with eight rounds in total.
2.  A successful test or the removal of a candidate who has failed a test will earn the tester bonus time.  3-12 hours for a successful test depending on the number of candidates remaining and 24 hours for an execution.

Seems like a decent way to handle the issue of “fewer candidates makes it easier for the later ones”.

3.  Should a tester suffer a sound defeat at the hands of any individual during their allotted time, they will be penalized one day of allotted time.

As already happened with Mannequin. And hey, this gives a (minor, relative to the risk) incentive for others to fight Slaughterhouse members.

4.  Each tester operates independently, with no hands-on assistance from other members of the Slaughterhouse Nine.  Assistance may be bought, bartered or otherwise rendered in a hands-off manner, possibly including medical assistance, information, provided equipment and suggestions.

Seems reasonable.

5.  Candidates may receive assistance, hands-on or otherwise, from Brockton Bay residents only.

Ooh, underline, don’t think we’ve seen that in this story before.

And yeah, I suppose it would be a bit cheaty if they called in the Triumvirate to help or something.

We are fully aware that Legend and his teammates are in Brockton Bay.  Should they interfere with a tester, all candidates will lose the protection of any rules, all terms offered here will cease and the threat implied in point eight will be carried out.

I was not aware of that. I suppose it makes sense that they would come when it became clear the Slaughterhouse Nine were there, though, especially given Armmaster’s status as a candidate.

This only applies to confrontations with the active tester.

In other words, the Triumvirate can absolutely fight the Slaughterhouse members as long as they’re not having their turn. That’s a nice clause to include.

6.  The Slaughterhouse Nine will handle the punishment of any members of their own team, in the event of failures, the inability of the tester to perform at least a partial round of testing or killing a candidate without notification.

I’m sure Bonesaw has some ideas.

7.  Should the defending parties have two or more candidates remaining when the eighth round of testing concludes, the Slaughterhouse Nine will depart Brockton Bay without incident and refrain from returning for three years at a minimum.

Jack really is taking this seriously and making the terms relatively fair, not just between Slaughterhouse members but between the Slaughterhouse and the candidates’ side. There are so many loopholes he’s patched up here that would’ve been beneficial to the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Let’s see that implied threat mentioned in point 5.

8.  If and when the Slaughterhouse Nine do eliminate five of the six candidates, or if any candidates leave the city, the Slaughterhouse Nine are prepared to penalize the city for their failure.

Yep. Vague but effective. Actually, effective because it’s vague.

I can’t say I’m surprised at this.

And honestly, the fact that I think Wildbow would be totally down for writing about the penalty is the main reason it’s somewhat up in the air who will win. Hell, even more so now that “if any candidates leave the city” is involved as a condition that doesn’t require either Bitch or Regent to be eliminated.

I wonder if Panacea has gotten the memo.