“Sometimes,” Jack started, pausing as if he was constructing the thought as he spoke it, “I like to imagine the impact I’ve made on the world.  What possible realities am I pruning, what events am I setting in motion, each time I take a life?

I feel like Dinah would have a couple things to say about that.

Maybe Jack being alive doesn’t cause the future calamity to move ahead so much as allow him to kill someone who would’ve been crucial to postponing it? Then again, that seems less reliable, and there should be plenty of timelines where he wouldn’t end up doing that.

If the flap of a butterfly’s wing can alter the course of a hurricane, what am I doing when I take a human life?  The life of a person who interacts with dozens of people every day, who would have a career, romance, children?”

Some people murder because they don’t care about or realize the value of a human life and the impact a single person other than themself can have.

Jack seems to murder because he does.

Tears ran down Theo’s face.  He clutched Aster tight.

“Can you tell me who you are, Kaiser’s boy?  What am I doing to reality when I open you up from cock to chin and let your entrails spill onto the floor?”

Entrails. I think I predicted Jack having a thing for removing internal organs, based on Jack the Ripper’s M.O.

How do you answer something like this, though?

“I-I don’t know,” Theo said, his voice quiet.

Besides that, of course.

“Don’t shut down on me, now.  Here, I’ll make you a deal.  If you give me a good answer, I’ll make it quick.  Thrust my knife right through the center of your brain.  It’ll be like flicking a light switch.  You just stop, and there’ll be no pain.  It’ll be as dignified as death can be.”

I guess… wouldn’t you need to make it quick anyway, though, before Purity could step in to stop you?

Although I guess trying to kill Aster and Theo while fighting Purity would add to the unpredictability.

“I’ll get to savor the expression on her face as she watches her keystone crumble.  I’ll get to see how she responds as that element in her life that supports everything else bleeds out on this nice white carpet.  Maybe say something to just twist the knife.”

Jack mimed a lunging stab and then slow turn of his blade.

It seems like this universe’s Ripper doesn’t just enjoy bodily pain and mutilation.

Straightening, Jack looked Theo over, “A pity she doesn’t love you, but if she likes you, at least, then it’ll have to do.”

I mean… fair. She’ll probably be far more upset over Aster, but I guess Theo is a neat little bonus from Jack’s perspective.

Why did I tell him that?

Maybe you felt the need to tell yourself that.

“She’ll kill you, sir.”  Theo said.  Then he added a hurried, “No offense.”

Considering what happened last time someone took Aster away, the chances are good of her trying to do that, yes.

Then again, there’s a crucial difference here: Last time it was actually possible to get Aster back. There was a twisted sense of hope in Purity’s despair and rage, hope that if she threw a big enough tantrum (and boy howdy she did), she could get her daughter back.

Seeing Aster die right in front of her might take that hope and slice it in half like Aster herself.

“I see.”  And Jack was in one piece, while Oni Lee was bleeding out into the bathtub.

Well, yeah. Learning that Oni and Jack actually fought just makes me surprised he’s alive all over again.

“So.  Come on out of the bathroom, now.” Jack ushered Theo out of the bathroom with the dying man. “There we go.  Back to  the subject of Purity and the baby…  Aster?”

Ah, he didn’t know her name?

Fair enough, I guess.

“Yes, Aster, sir.”

“We’re going to play a little game.  See, the moment Purity steps in that front door, I give her just a moment to take in the scene… and then snicker-snack, you and the baby die.”

Well. If you’re trying to break her, that seems like a good tactic. But why are you trying to break her? And why did you bother to bring Oni here?

Theo felt his blood run cold.  Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes.  I’m going to die.

Yeah, sorry about that… at least as long as Jack gets his way and isn’t bluffing, it seems this is the end of the road for you. Considering that Theo is the POV character, though, I’m guessing that’s not going to happen, since the chapter would most likely have to end with it and we wouldn’t get to see Purity’s reaction, unless Wildbow pulled and Interlude 6 and switched POVs towards the end.

So what could happen to change the outcome here? I think the main thing is that this becomes Theo’s trigger event and he gains the power to fight back, if not the control required to do it effectively. I don’t think it’s going to kill Jack (I’ve previously stated that I think he’ll survive any attempt to kill him before Dinah’s prophecy comes true), but getting caught off guard by Theo’s power right before the planned moment of Theo and Aster’s deaths would allow Purity to help fight him off.

Whether Aster will survive such a fight scene is a whole other question that I don’t have an answer for.

“Yes, sir.”

“But we didn’t even make it to the test.  I told him we had tinkers that could fix him up.  He was interested.  Then I told him he’d have to prove himself, he asked me how.  Now, it isn’t always done, that a member of the Nine tests their own candidates, but I decided to anyways.

I see… I guess that’s how Jack would have the opportunity to take a second nominee, if that’s what he’s planning with Purity. Oni failed a test, but it wasn’t the test, and as far as the other seven are concerned, Jack hasn’t brought back his first nominee yet.

Something off about him, wanted to make sure he didn’t embarass me.

Maybe it was his willingness to run away from fights he doesn’t think he can win.

Told him to come up with something, and he couldn’t.  Do you know what tabula rasa is, boy?”

I know it means “blank slate”, but I’m not entirely sure how it’s used. Maybe in a sense similar to a blank check, as in that because Oni didn’t come up with something, Jack had full freedom to come up with something to fill the blank?

“No, sir.”

“Blank slate.  A piece of paper with nothing on it.  A formatted computer.  A tombstone without the name on it.  Seems that fellow can copy his body just fine when he teleports, but something in his mind gets left behind.

…oh jeez.

Every time Oni teleports, he gets closer to ending up like, well… Bakuda? A mindless husk?

No wonder he doesn’t want to fight more than he has to.

Once I realized it, picked up on the fact that he was little more than a robot wanting his orders, I informed him I had decided we had no need for his services, we fought, and… here we are.”

That’s.

Kind of unnerving.

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.