Capítulo 89: 89 Interlude: Jack Slash
"No no, you're supposed to draw three at a time, it's too easy otherwise." I hear Bonesaw hum out an acceptance at our newest member's words as she reshuffles a deck of cards.
After she sets up another game of solitaire for the little girl she returns to her conversation with Shatterbird to her side about that alchemist.
While they talk I only pay minimal attention to the road as my thoughts wonder to our latest recruit.
Tear. She's dangerous.
But so are all of the others so it's nothing new really. Half the fun is the challenge of keeping them together.
Still, Tear is a new kind of dangerous. She's powerful for sure, but it's her mind that's the challenge.
The others are mostly easy. Hatchet Face just wants to kill capes, Brutes especially, Crawler just wants the danger that comes with being a member of the Nine so he can keep getting hurt and growing stronger for it. Alan, formally Sphere and now known as Mannequin just wants to kill any Tinkers that are helping the world in all the ways he himself failed to.
Then there's Shatterbird. She just wants, no, 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 to feel powerful and to have others acknowledge her as such, so she's probably the easiest to keep in line with just the threat of embarrassment being enough to pacify her.
Bonesaw however, is my greatest creation, she will do anything I say so long as she remains a 'good girl' while Siberian will simply follow Bonesaw around. It's like a two for one special.
But Tear is a new challenge, one I welcome with open arms.
She was already broken before we ever showed up, which is annoying admittedly, but at least she's well adjusted so it's not like I have to deal with some insecure, annoying girl.
The main danger with her is that she's smart and her leash is tenuous at best.
Unlike all the others, her only motivation seems to be her own entertainment, which doesn't bode well for loyalty, and she is clearly good with people if the way she's already befriended Shatterbird and gotten close with Bonesaw is anything to go by, as well as whatever her relationship with Siberian is.
I will at least admit that it was interesting to see someone acting so fearlessly in front of her. Even other members of the Nine are rarely so comfortable around her.
I know that Shatterbird is terrified of her at least, even if she'll never show it, because the simple fact is that if Siberian wanted her dead there would be nothing she could do about it.
But back to the subject of Tear, after she got out of the box yesterday I was hoping for more of a reaction from her but all the month long isolation did was cause her to bottle up a whole lot of words as she came out talking so much that it took Hatchet Face coming over, to almost everybody's displeasure as his power nullification aura never turns off, and doing his namesake proud by ramming his hatchet into her face.
By then she got the message to shut up but still insisted that she was starving and desperate for some food, as well as some sex but that urge seemed to evaporate once Hatchet Face made himself known again by offering her 'a good time'.
But it's no secret that he's got a face even a mother couldn't love, so she was understandably disgusted by the idea.
My attention is snapped from my thoughts and not a moment later I hear a sudden high pitched shout from behind me.
"WOOO!! Bingo!!" Bonesaw's recognisable voice calls out and I turn to see her sitting with her arms in the air with four stacks of cards in front of her.
Shatterbird and Tear both sigh at the same time before Tear speaks up with an amused smile.
"That's a different game. You call out bingo when you're playing, well, bingo. It's not very creative to be honest." As she talks I notice a nice little town coming up where we could spend the night, stock up on some resources.
"Oh, then Solitaire!!" Bonesaw's yell garners a chuckle from Tear as she picks up the cards and starts shuffling them like a magician.
"No, solitaire is a solo game so you don't have to call out anything specific- actually never mind I was thinking about a different game, when you win in solitaire you're supposed to call out 'bukkake' at the top of your voice."
Right when I was thinking she was actually going to keep being mature.
I choose to ignore Bonesaw's response as we get closer to the no name town, with a population probably somewhere around the six thousand mark. I've gotten pretty good at estimating these things over the years.
"Alright everyone!" I call out to the others, bringing all their attention to me, "we're going to be making a pit stop now, you know the deal, grab what you want, we leave tomorrow."
The explanation was purely for Tear's benefit as everyone else obviously already knows how this goes.
I pull into town and wait to stop the RV only when we are in the middle of the settlement.
As soon as the handbrake is on, Crawler is the first to get out, as usual. At the same time, Mannequin has already turned on his signal jammer to stop any calls from getting out.
By the time I leave the RV, everyone around us is already running away and screaming, as it should be, while most of the others have already started killing people, the only exceptions being Bonesaw and Tear.
"Here I was thinking you'd be like Siberian. Not hungry?" I ask her.
However when she turns to me she has that same smile that I see in the mirror everyday.
"Nah, just taking a moment to enjoy the view.~ Now that you mention it though, I am 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨.~" Her amused smile suddenly turns predatory and a pair of butterfly-like wings of blood burst out of her back.
The next moment, four blurs shoot out of her wings and at the fleeing crowd. A pair of crescent moon shaped blades of bone cut through swathes of people like the reaper's scythe.
Two were at vaguely neck height, either decapitating people or cutting their head in half if they were too short while the other pair were lower down, removing the legs of everyone they passed as well as cutting a child or two in half at the same time.
However then she sees Crawler running in that same direction, his every step crushing a corpse beneath him and causing bodies to pop like cherries, painting the street with blood and viscera.
"HEY!!" Tear shouts as she starts chasing after Crawler, "THAT'S MY FOOD YOUR STEPPING ON ASSHOLE!! GO FUCK OFF ELSEWHERE!!"
As I watch the carnage unfold, with Bonesaw at my side shouting about language and six parahumans of monstrous proportions each moving as I direct them too, I can't help but bask in the sensation.
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴. This is what I live for.
The death, the destruction and most of all, the 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺.
I am the leader of the Slaughterhouse-𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨-Nine. I can do whatever I want and no one can stop me. No one can even try.
Still, the issue with a slaughter is that it rarely lasts very long.
Within a few minutes it's only myself, Shatterbird and Bonesaw left by the RV, the others all out doing their own thing.
"What do you think of her?" I turn to Shatterbird as my words snap her out of her focus on her powers.
"Tear?" She asks, to which I only nod, "we haven't exactly talked enough to have much of an opinion on her. She's strong and less ignorant than the others. It's nice to have another decent conversationalist around. Definitely an improvement over Chuckles at least."
I just hum along with her words, acknowledging her but not responding. Another subtle way of keeping her in line, reminding her who's in charge.
So I was right about the two of them likely becoming fast friends, but I can still feel her loyalty to me exceeding anything she feels for Tear, something that is unlikely to change.
By the time morning comes around, everyone is gathered back at the RV with the exception of Tear, Siberian and Crawler, which is actually mildly concerning as they are my three biggest hitters right now.
Alas, there was no need to worry as they soon make themselves known.
The three of them walk down a street together, Crawler and Tear pushing at each other as if they are just a group of friends coming back from the mall, the only difference is that one of them is splattered with blood while another is absolutely drenched in it.
Siberian is as clean as always and I do notice the change in skin as well as a couple of features I don't recognise in Crawler's body underneath the light smatterings of blood, telling me that he's been evolving again.
Tear is the real eye catcher though, as her entire body from head to toe is shaded a dark red as if she took a dive in a pool of blood. The literal only part of her body that isn't a shade of red is her pitch black sclera.
I suppose it was her first time, so it would make sense if she went a bit overboard, not that such a thing exists with us but still.
As they get closer to us they break apart, Crawler going back to the trailer, presumably to take a nap while Siberian makes a B-line for Bonesaw and Tear walks up to Shatterbird and I.
But she doesn't spare me so much as a glance before excitedly spewing words at Shatterbird.
"We found one of those 'welcome to' signs with the population thing on it, you know the kind where you have to flip each number individually. Do you think you could like, make a massive sign that says "Welcome to Attalla, population 0"? Because it would be really funny.~"
I agree that it is funny, but unfortunately there was a member who did something similar a while ago, so I'm unable to share the same enthusiasm as the two woman beside me.
But after that is all done and we are getting ready to get back on the road, I notice something odd with Tear, like she's upset about something.
"Feeling bad?" I ask her once we are the only ones left to get back inside.
She snorts but still takes a second to think of a proper answer.
"No, it's not that. It's just, as much fun as this is, and will likely continue to be for at least a little while, it's going to get boring eventually because no offence but y'all are kinda tacky, just going around killing everyone. You don't really spice things up y'know? I dunno, just worried about when this'll get boring."
Her words bring a bout of irrational anger to my gut. Calling 𝘮𝘦 tacky? Boring? 𝘕𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 calls me those things because they are. Not. True.
I am a harbinger of chaos and death. I alone am the reason the Nine exist as they do today. I alone am the reason that everyone fears us.
There is nothing more pure, no sensation as great as having the power over the life and death of thousands of people.
But overreacting is above me, so I just give her a smile as I respond.
"Oh really? Well it just so happens that I was thinking it's about time we hit another actual city, rather than these little towns. So how about we follow your lead then, so you teach us all how to have fun, hm?"
The joyful and malicious smile that rapidly grows on her face tells me enough of what she thinks of the idea and I get the feeling I might need to replace her.
As she answers she starts turning to get back into the RV, clearly excited enough to get started with her planning immediately and as her words wash over me I wonder if I made the right choice?
"Oh you won't be dissapointed, trust me, I have plenty of ideas. This'll be fun!~"
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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Ok well this chap didn't come out how I was hoping it to, might as well have just done one of the others. I blame how hot I am rn... I miss winter, cold is way better than hot.
Edit: I just got back from spain lol. Left at half 7, flight delayed, made it back home at half 2 in the morning after 8 hours of travel, go to sleep hungry, wake up to find that the standing charge for our heating has run us dry and that we have no heating and I have to shower in water so cold it makes you do that shock breathing thing that kills kids in reservoirs.
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