“That’s a good instinct,” I replied without looking at him. “Trust it.”
“You’re telling me to leave?”
“I can’t make you do anything,” I said.
“But you think I should leave?”
“If you feel like you should, yeah.”
“And does that extend to me and Rifle?” Cozen asked, her tone cold.
“I don’t know. Yeah, if your instincts tell you to go, then get going now,” I said. I pointed at the ground around a hose. There was a puddle that had spread beneath the hose’s opening. My bugs had died on contact with it. “Acid, not water. Don’t walk in it. Rachel, watch your dogs.”
Rachel grunted acknowledgement.
“Don’t change the subject. You want us gone,” Cozen said.
“No. All the help we can get is appreciated,” I said. I glanced at her. “At the same time, if push comes to shove and you can’t hold it together, it’s going to hurt us all.”
“You don’t think we can hold it together?” Cozen asked.
“You’re an unknown quantity. Anyone else that’s here, I can trust them to hold their own because I know how they operate. I don’t know you. I don’t know how you react in a crisis, how you’ll respond if you’re pushed to the edge, one way or another. Grue and the others are vouching for you, so I’m shelving those concerns and trusting they have a good sense of your abilities. I’ll maintain that trust until you give me an indication I shouldn’t. Getaway saying he’s spooked is an indication.”
“I’m spooked,” Imp said. “Can I go home and sit on the couch in my underwear, eating cake? I’ll cross my fingers for you guys, if you want.”
“You’re talking like you’re in charge,” Cozen said. “Grue leads the Undersiders.”
“I’m not an Undersider,” I said. “It doesn’t matter. I’m in charge anyways.”
And Grue can speak for himself, I thought, but I didn’t say it aloud.
I could see her reacting to that, even without the extra quip. I watched expressions cross her face: irritation, anger, indignation, and a trace of fear.
“Grue is a good leader,” I said, “But this is my project. Something I’ve been working towards and thinking about for the last two years. Leaving the Undersiders, making contacts, helping hold things together, maintaining the peace and eliminating possible issues. Everything I did, it’s been to prepare for this in some fashion.”
“A little unilateral, don’t you think?”
“It’s her project,” Grue said. “My orders are to follow her orders.”
I could see how little she liked that.
But she maintained a professional demeanor. “Accepted. You realize we don’t have to follow your orders?”
Grue nodded, silent.
Cozen seemed to come to a decision. “We will anyways. As Weaver pointed out, this is unfamiliar ground for us. We’ll defer to your experience.”
“Thank you,” Grue and I said, almost in sync.
I turned away to hide my smile, in case it could be made out beneath the fabric of my mask.
Progress was slow. The traps seemed to accrue in number as we drew closer to the center, as did the corpses. More than once, we were forced to take the long way around, as traps or pools of acid barred our paths.
We passed an area with rows of identical looking cabins, then ran into the Protectorate. Chevalier, Exalt, and others, examining the area, a block and a half away.
I got their attention, then pointed in the direction we were headed. It wasn’t much more effort to mark out traps around them as well. I made sure to mark each with a cluster of bugs, and bug-letters spelling out the nature of the danger. Less trouble to move in parallel directions than reunite.
The center of the spiral wasn’t the center of the town in a geographic sense, but in a sense of where the town’s heart and focus were. We closed in on the front steps of what looked to be a town hall. Empty ski racks stood to our right, two draped with corpses that had been flung and broken over them.
By the time we were halfway through the plaza, navigating a maze where we tried to find a path that didn’t force us to tread on potential traps or corpses, Tecton and the others had caught up, reaching the edge of the area.
“Thoughts?” Revel asked. “Before you reach the center of the display?“
“He wanted to present this for effect,” I said. “It’s why he set up Pyrotechnical’s stuff to blow any aircraft out of the sky. The traps are to force us to take our time, force us to savor it.”
“Savor?” Grue asked.
“Everything Jack does is for effect. The same way a dog sort of raises its hackles to look bigger, tougher, or the way we used our reputation to seem more unstoppable than we were, Jack keys his actions for psychological effect. All of this is to scare, to drive us to hesitate when it comes to confronting him, push us to think of ways to avoid dealing with him instead of ways to catch up to him and beat his face in. Or, conversely, some personality types might get pushed to be reckless, to deal with him so he couldn’t bother them anymore.”
I glanced at Rachel as I said that last bit. She’d instructed her dogs to stay, so they wouldn’t trip any of the traps in our way.
I made my way over a hump of bodies. The members of the Nine who’d spilled acid all over the place had melted nine police officers and left them in a heap. Crawler? Only one that fit.
Our destination was the kind of spot, like a courthouse’s steps, where someone could give a speech. There were two objects covered in tarps, a man who was in a reclining position at the far end of the stairs, and ten dead bodies arrayed in a star shape, limbs bent to mark the direction of the spiral.
I checked under the tarps, then bit my lip.
I turned around and gave Golem instructions as he made his way past the traps. He created platforms to step over to serve as a shortcut. Grace, Tecton, Wanton and Cuff hung back, looking grim. They were joined by Chevalier and the others.
Golem joined me at the top of the stairs.
“How’s your headspace?” I asked.
“Terrified.”
“In a way that’s going to impact our job here?”
“No. No. You told me what to expect. Kind of. I didn’t imagine this.”
I shook my head. “No.”
There was a voice from beneath the other tarp. A strangled scream.
“What was that?”
“A recording,” I lied. Then I elaborated. “It’s a trap. Two tarps, have to guess the right one. Guess the wrong one and you blow up. This one. Move the tarp.”
He hesitated.
“Trust me,” I said. Even as I lie for everyone’s benefit.
Rachel and Golem worked together to move the tarp aside.
A television.
“The tape’s already in the machine, you can hit play to start it,” the man sitting at the edge of the stairs said.
“Wait, Weaver, stop. Who was that?“ Revel asked.
“Who?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
“Look to your right.”
I did. The other tarp, more corpses, the man who was now standing at the edge of the stairs, the little crenelation at the top of the stair’s railing, then beyond that, cabins, restaurants, hotels and motels, the rest of the town, and mountains in the background.
“Not sure I get what you’re saying,” I said.
“What’s wrong?” Grue asked.
“I don’t know. I’m getting communications from Revel, and she’s acting funny.”
“Here,” the man said. “Let me get that for you.”
The others stepped out of the way as he approached me, Golem, and the television set. He reached for the play button.
I caught his wrist.
“He’s dangerous,” Revel said.
“I beg your pardon?” the man asked.
“Attack.“
Attack?
I shook my head a little, releasing the man’s wrist. “I appreciate the offer, sir, but let’s be s
afe and make sure this isn’t a trap.”
“Can’t argue with that,” he said, smiling.
“This is what hell is like,” Revel said. “Listen to me.“
“Tattletale, are you there?” I asked.
“I am.“
“Tattletale?“ Revel asked. “Damn all of you. It doesn’t matter. Listen, Taylor, Master and Stranger protocols are in effect. Your perceptions are altered, understand?“
I felt my heart quicken a little at that. “I understand.”
“There is a person to your right. Not a teammate, former or current. I need you to kill that person, don’t ask why, don’t think too much about it. Draw your knife.“
I drew my knife.
“Look. I’ll tell you who to attack.“
I glanced to my right, my eyes falling on Rachel. It was a bit presumptuous to say she wasn’t a teammate. Not a team player, but she’d done her share.
“No, to her right.“
I looked past the man and set my eyes on Golem.
“I’m more inclined to think you’re a voice in my head that’s fucking with me, than to suspect Golem’s up to something, but-”
“Oh hell,” Revel said.
“I got this. Taylor, do me a favor, give the order to ‘go dark’.“
“Go dark,” I said.
To my left, Grue surrounded himself in thick darkness.
Nothing happened.
“It didn’t work.”
“Wait.”
A spray of blood leaped from the man’s throat. We each stepped away, and I hurried forward to stop Rachel from backing into the other tarp. We watched in stunned silence as blood poured from the wound.
“Hey,” a female voice said, “Do me a favor, let me know if there are any traps at the bottom of the stairs?”
“Who-” Golem started.
“Just tell me.”
“Acid,” I said, raising my knife so I could defend myself if I had to.
Imp appeared as she booted the bleeding man in the small of the back. He rolled down the stairs, leaving spatters and sprays of blood as he made his way down, and then collapsed in a pile of bodies. He started screaming, a gurgling sound.
I could see Chevalier and the others staring in shock, adopting fighting stances, unsure of how to proceed. It looked like Chevalier was talking to someone, gesturing with his free hand. Was it Revel, on the comms?
“My schtick,” Imp spat the words at the dying man.
I could mark the moment he died, because the blanks in my perception began to fill in.
Nice Guy, I thought. I’d badly underestimated the severity of his power. I’d known he would be in their roster, had kept it in mind throughout, even told myself to be ready for him, and then the moment we ran into him, well, he was another face in the crowd. The connection wasn’t possible.
I watched as the acid ate away at him, burns creeping upward and spreading across his flesh, bubbling as it reached the cartilage of his nose and ears.
“Thank you, Tattletale,” Revel said.
“All good.“
“I… think I can tolerate your presence on this channel for the moment. Provided you don’t cause any trouble that makes me regret it.“
“I’d do that anyways. So. One more trap down. Keep in mind there are eight more of him.“
“What was he going to do?” Golem asked.
“Probably ask you all to stand there and stay still while he murdered each of you in turn,” Tattletale said.
“Oh.”
“Tattletale,” I said. “Call my phone, and I’ll put you on speaker.”
“Okay. Let’s see.”
“Six-three-zero-five-five-” Revel started.
My phone rang. I picked up and put Tattletale on speaker, as Revel sighed audibly in my ear.
“Is the video player safe?” I asked. I turned my head towards the television.
“Yeah. All the rest of this, it’s to scare. It’s also meant to delay. Jack probably expected the heroes to take a little while to find this, to get by the traps. The spiral you mentioned, it would have been maybe a day or two before they put the pieces together, then another three to six hours before they navigated it to the center.“
“Yay us,” Imp said.
She got more powerful, I thought. She’d been able to speak while using her power. Nuances.
“Press play.”
I hit the button.
It was Jack, here, in the center of the plaza. The camera wobbled as someone followed him, recording. I could see shadows of the other Slaughterhouse Nine in the background. Hookwolf. Skinslip. Night Hag.
“This message is intended for Theodore Anders. Kaiser’s son. Stop the video here and go find him. Time is of the essence, I should say. How much essence and time you have available depends on how incompetent you heroes are. Hurry now, I’ll wait.”
“No need to wait,” Tattletale commented. “He’s standing right here.“
There were a few looks of surprise at that. Eyes fell on Golem.
There was a pause, then Jack started speaking. “You missed the deadline, Theodore. Simple game of hide and seek, and you had two years to do it, to find and kill me. You failed.”
Golem’s gloves made a small creaking sound as he clenched his fists.
“You remember the deal, right? Two years to find me. Two years, you fight past my minions, you look me in the eye, and then you kill me. And if you fail? A thousand people die. Your sister joins them, and you’re the last on the list.”
“Golem,” Revel said. She started to say something else, but Jack cut her off.
“That pain you feel, that self loathing? The fear and dawning realization of what you’ve done? Capture that, Theodore Anders. Hold on to that feeling and use it, because I’m pulling your leg.”
Golem startled as if he’d been slapped. His eyes had lowered, and now they returned to the screen.
“Circumstances beyond my control delayed me. So I’m going to do you the favor of extending the deadline, and you’re going to do me the favor of forgiving my lateness. Agreed? Agreed.”
“Can we not agree?” Imp asked, uselessly.
Jack continued. “This is a prelude. See, all of these guys just woke up, and they needed a chance to stretch, flex their abilities and make sure everything works right. Turn the camera around, Bonesaw dear.”
The camera panned around. There were other members of the Slaughterhouse Nine present, standing in a loose half-circle. Hundreds of them. Nine of each. Thirty groups. I recognized most, could guess as to the others, who didn’t have their powers or full transformations going.
In the middle of that semicircle, lying on the ground, civilians had their hands folded on the backs of their heads. In many cases they’d been stacked like cordwood. Many bound, others too terrified to move.
“Oh god,” Golem said.
Jack spoke, his voice calm, clearly relishing this. The camera returned to him, focusing on his face. “I promised a thousand bodies. A thousand kills, if you failed to meet the challenge we set in our bargain. Except there’s a bit of a problem. See, things have changed. The Endbringers have apparently doubled down. Terror is a fact of life. As commodities go, this one has depreciated quite a bit in the time I’ve been gone. We’ve really got to step up my game if I’m going to pass muster and get on the front page of the paper, don’t you agree?”
“No,” Golem said.
Silent, I took his hand, holding it. My eyes didn’t leave the screen as I studied it for details, matching members of the Slaughterhouse Nine to the files I’d studied in recent months.
“Now, I’m still a man of my word,” Jack said. “The original deal stands, of course. That’s why each member of my army here is going to walk away with three or four of the locals here. We’ve whittled down the number to an even nine hundred and ninety-nine. Let’s say you have… hmm. Until the twenty-fourth. Five days.”
We watched in silence.
What’s the rub, the trick?
“If you fail to kill me, I disband the Nine.”
“What?” Imp asked. “What?”
I frowned. Not what I expected.
“That’s not an enticement to leave me alive,” Jack purred the words, sounding pleased with himself. “See, Bonesaw did a very good job of putting my army together. Each is in the prime of their life, fit, in fighting shape.”
“Aw shucks,” a girl’s voice said, offscreen.
“Their psychologies are close to what they should be, all things considered. Except for tweaks, here and there. I’m good when it comes to wrangling the wicked, but Bonesaw apparently felt two hundred and eighty would be too many, even for me. She’s made them loyal. They’ll listen better. The most unpredictable and dangerous have been touched up, the edges rounded off. While interacting with me, anyways. I won’t sully your experience on that front.
“No. They’re obedient and servile only when I require them to be. If you fail in your task, then I’ll give them one last task, to kill the one thousand people we agreed to in the terms of our wager, and then I’ll disband the group. They’ll be free to run rampant, to do as they see fit. Wreak chaos. I’ll take a vacation, sit back with a Mai Tai and watch the show.”
“Fuck me,” Tattletale said.
“Fuck,” I echoed her, agreeing.
Golem, for his part, had gone stone-still.
“I’ll be leaving members of the Slaughterhouse Nine behind at regular intervals as I beat a not-so-hasty retreat. Your choice if you deal with them or leave them be. But if I get one report from them that you’re getting help, one report that you’re using others as a crutch, then that’s it. Order goes out, hostages die, Nine go off leash, and you get to watch the body count rise.”
“Five days, Theodore. Noon on the twenty-fourth. I look forward to meeting you.”
The video cut out.
“Tattletale?” I asked.
“Already on it. Word’s going out to all the major players.”
I noted Chevalier’s approach. He had used Golem’s platform to reach the base of the stairs, stepping around Nice Guy.
“Major players?” Grue asked.
“Everyone Tattletale’s been meeting with,” I said.
“I heard through the feed,” Chevalier said. “The restrictions stand.”
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