Taylor
It was hours before I heard from the PRT later that evening. Troopers and a couple heroes in Dovetail and Aerobat eventually came alongside emergency services, though they never directly approached the school. Though they definitely kept eyes on it. It wouldn't be until later after they left that the line I gave the PRT for communication rang as my stomach filled with dread.
Better to get it over with, like ripping off a bandaid.
I accepted the call, and waited to see which PRT agent got saddled with speaking with me.
"Novax." A familiar voice came over the line. "We need to talk."
"Good evening to you too, Armstrong."
Silence hung in the air, just for a moment. Then I heard him sigh, and I could practically imagine him rubbing his temple as he did it despite not being able to see him.
"What happened?" He asked.
"I think we both know what happened."
"I want to hear it from you."
I let his words linger for a moment. "I was sleeping and got woken up by an alert. When I got to my console the Teeth were crawling all over my soup kitchen. While donning my armor the Butcher killed a child, I snapped."
"So you did… Sleeping? In the middle of the day?"
"My sleep schedule is fucked, been for a while."
"Jesus…" He mumbled. Silence once more filling the line. "Are you alright?"
"Look, I'll be honest I've had a very long day, can we cut to the part where you tell me if you are going to try and arrest me or not?" I suddenly ask.
I hear him sigh. "Dammit Novax…" a moment passes. My breath hitching in anticipation. "No, we aren't."
"What?"
"Novax, I need you to understand something." Armstrong began. "Regardless of what I may want, there are times when I'm forced to take certain actions. Like I told you when we first spoke, I want you as a Ward or in the Protectorate when you are of age. I and several others truly think you could make a tremendous impact in the world based on what we've seen you capable of so far. And you've been making strides in making a difference yourself already on your own. Which is in part why we rescinded the villain status originally given to you by Brockton. I'm not giving up on you, though I will admit I have concerns after today about your mental state. Killing someone, even a monster, has an impact on a person's psyche. Let alone twenty-seven. That fact that you sound so composed… concerns me."
Not like I asked my powers to fuck with my head.
"The circumstances of today, we can work with. The Teeth are notoriously violent, wherever they go bodies follow. Their numbers are a revolving door, and at the highest we've ever seen them. The Butcher and her Teeth rolling into Boston and immediately striking at a cape run soup kitchen, kidnapping civilians in attendance and killing a child in the process? That same cape responding with lethal violence in defense of the civilians? Both our PR department and myself can spin that to the public and to those above me in a way that we can justify it and not have to bring you in, but only because it was the Teeth. If this had been anyone else, I would have no choice but label you a villain again."
"I see…"
"But let me make something clear. This is your one and only warning. Tone it down, don't go lethal again, and stay in the school and stay away from the Teeth until the Butcher is driven back out of Boston."
"What!? They took people from my kitchen, I'm going after them." I yelled back.
"No, you are not." Armstrong said, in a way that somewhat reminded me of my father when he got angry. "I understand you don't have to do what I say Novax, and I understand you want to save those that were kidnapped, so do we. But while I can justify what happened today right now I'm going to have a much more difficult time doing that if you then follow it up by starting to hunt them down on your own with impunity, mainly if you go lethal again, which is sometimes hard to avoid when facing someone like the Butcher and the Teeth on your own. Not to mention this has clearly become personal for you. The public, and if not them my superiors, will see my department letting a violent vigilante run wild acting as judge, jury and executioner. I can't have that happening. I'm already having my own troubles justifying today to my superiors as is." I heard him sigh before he continued. "The business across the road from your kitchen, it had a camera outside with an angle on the fight. It only caught the fight in the kitchen itself, it missed whatever you did to drive off the Butcher herself." He let a moment of silence linger. "But it did catch two of the Teeth trying to surrender."
I winced.
"Thankfully we pulled the footage first and we've clamped down on it. If that had gone public, we might be having a very different talk. There have been calls to bring you in from above just off that alone and make you a probationary Ward by force. I've talked them down for now… but next time I might not have a choice. And don't get me wrong, there will be repercussions over this, but not now. Driving out the Butcher takes priority."
Like hell I'd let them force me to do anything. "So you expect me to just sit back, let whatever they are going to do to the people they took happen?"
"No, I expect you to not run off on your own. Whenever the Teeth settle down anywhere they never all stay in one spot, and neither will the hostages. As we find where they are held we will be going for them. When we do then you may gladly help, nonlethally, under Protectorate supervision. But not on your own, and when the Teeth are driven out of Boston, we are having a serious talk about you seeing a therapist."
"I don't want to talk to a therapist…"
"An argument for later." He said bluntly, cutting me off before I could say anymore. "I'll applaud you while I'm here for not firing that cannon on top of your APC, or the missiles in an environment packed full of innocents. Though a discussion of what is acceptable in terms of weaponry to deploy and drive around the city are still in the cards. But you've been through enough today I think so it can wait. The only other thing I have to say is if the Butcher comes at you again, please, call us. Let us help, and just in case I'm having an agent send you a copy of everything we know about the Butcher's current powers, so you can be best prepared if they attack again. Do you have a way we can send it to you digitally?"
I sighed. "Yeah, I'll forward the details. I am also pretty sure someone set this up, wanted this to happen."
"What do you mean?" Armstrong asked, confused.
"Something the Butcher said. I think someone pointed the Butcher in my direction. She said someone lied to her, that I had more bite than she was told."
"Hmmm…" Armstrong muttered. "Any idea who might do that?"
"No."
"We'll look into it. For now, Novax, get some sleep, and stay away from the Teeth. I or Bastion will personally contact you before we go after the hostages so you may join under supervision if you wish. As well as to set up a later date for you to come in and give a full statement on what happened, and have a more indepth talk about this in person. The civilians that were left didn't give us much. But for now… get some rest."
I sat there, trying to think of the best way to respond. But in the end, I was too tired to try and argue about it. "Fine..."
"Good. Goodnight Novax."
Then with a click the call ended.
I sat there, motionlessly, before I slammed by hand down on my console in front of me.
"Fuck!"
I grabbed my head. I was so angry. Both normally and as a result of whatever this presence, passenger, in my head. I wanted to go after the Teeth, I had to save the people they had gotten taken. I don't know if I could live with myself if I didn't at least try. Yet, now the PRT was warning me off going out on my own. Saying that I needed to wait for them, do it under their supervision, because they didn't want me going off hunting down and shooting people in the street. It made me angry, because I didn't want them telling me what to do, yet I could also understand why they didn't want that, why they told me to wait.
And I was angry because even if I did my best to resist, the passenger was still pushing, screaming for me to hunt down the Teeth. To eliminate a threat to my flock. It wasn't as loud, as unbearable as it had been in the heat of the moment, the sensation dying down since the end of the fight. But now it was still present, and I was sure the moment I came across them again it would grow in strength once more. If it came to it, even if I waited and went against the Teeth with Protectorate supervision, I wasn't sure if I could hold out against the passenger when the fighting came.
I hated it. Whatever was happening to me. I'd never heard of powers doing something like this, in any of my research, either since I got my powers or back when I was a cape obsessed kid. All of the changes my powers had brought before were passive, in the background, regardless of them I still had my sense of agency. The ability to make my own decisions, just with the added knowledge that I was a slightly different person than before. Now though…
I shook, this time not from any stims, the dosage I had taken finally wore off, no, it was fear. Was this going to get worse? Was I slowly going to lose control of my own actions? Would I reach a point where every decision I made would be the result of the passenger in my head rather than myself?
I didn't know, and that lack of knowledge was just as terrifying.
Perhaps that would come, or maybe it would only show its face in certain situations. The only theory I had as to why it had done this now and not in my previous fights was the people at my kitchen. I naturally felt protective of them, why wouldn't I? That was where I first began to feel the passenger push, gently, almost encouragingly, nothing like it had been today. It wanted me to take care of them, to prop them up. Why? Then when the Teeth attacked, the anger wasn't due to me being under attack, but them. Perhaps it wanted me to gather a group of people to protect? Ruthlessly eliminate any dangers to their well being? But once again came the question.
Why?
Questions I didn't have the answers to.
Regardless, I had no intention of letting myself breakdown, stopping my progression. I would stick to my current course, and pay closer attention to this passenger. Which meant, unfortunately, I needed to plan for the future that I very well may be labeled a villain again. The passenger might not give me much of a choice in the matter, because even if I avoid the Teeth there's no promise they will avoid me… and I still refused to simply leave those people behind, hell, the passenger didn't want it either.
I glanced at my construction queue, ensuring the new base defenses, additional reactor and reinforcements were making good progress, before giving an order to my Phantom. Putting it in a holding pattern above Fort Bluff. It would scan for abnormal movement, and should the Teeth return while I sleep I should get additional warning rather than the moment they are on my doorstep.
For now, dear God, I needed sleep.
Lesher
God her boss was such a fucking creep. Mary, Lesher when she was in costume, like now, thought. It had been three years now since she had been indebted to Dark Society, since she'd been forced to take up the life she lived now.
She hated every second of it. But it was this or becoming an only child, and she loved her sisters too much. Even if she'd probably never see them again.
Compulsion had come back from the emergency summit in an even more annoyingly chipper mood than normal, the meeting called both due to an attack on the soup kitchen operated by Novax, labeled neutral territory last Moot. But also because once more, the Teeth and with them the Butcher had returned to Boston.
"The summit go well Compulsion?" She asked, looking at the spindly pale man, his face coverings removed at the moment. His dirty blonde hair falling down to cover his eyes.
"Oh Lesher! It went fantastically!" He responded, his sing song voice full of cheer, a massive smile on his face. "We talked about the Butcher's return, Accord got furious at the attack, ranting that he would rain hellfire down on the Teeth, and how he would be calling another meeting with Novax involved. Then Midr brought up his concerns about Novax at the end. Accord wanted to hear none of it. He got pissed, Midr got pissed. Oh good heavens he's in, committed in truth this time. Both Mourning Glory and Digger and his bikers are preparing, waiting for me to give the signal, then it begins!" He said, as he devolved into giggling.
"When?"
"Soon."
"Soon? What about the Butcher?"
"Oh the hit was a risk in many ways but the Butcher did her job wonderfully. I was a little worried she might kill Novax too soon or get killed herself, Midr likely would back out if his number one concern got solved by the Butcher and I have no idea what we would have done if Novax became the next Butcher. But we got the best case scenario. Novax and the Butcher bled one another, now we simply wait to see if the Butcher moves again soon and strike against Accord when she does. Midr and Digger took some convincing to still go through with it with them in town, but after a little convincing they see my perspective on the matter. Especially since there is a good chance now for Novax and Butcher to be taking up most of each other's attention."
"Okay, look, I know you've been tight lipped about the exact details of how you're pulling the strings, but we intentionally undersold Novax to the Butcher, and now by the sounds of it a lot of Teeth are dead, and one cape in Hemorrhagia. The Butcher is going to be pissed."
"Of course she will be. But angry or not, luring a mad dog into your home comes with the risk of getting bit. But the risk the chaos will bring will be worth giving the PRT something else to worry about."
"Yeah, except this mad dog is going to be angry as fuck at the people who paid her for a hit on Novax, especially in the manner they did it, and want to fuck them up in turn for giving bad info. Those people are us." She said, gesturing to herself. "You want to attack Accord while the Butcher is coming at us?"
Compulsion only smiled, letting silence linger before he leaned forward, his voice lowered as he responded. "Do you remember who in our chapter I sent to the Teeth?"
Lesher blinked. "None of us. You got the chapter in Philadelphia to send some twins instead. Some sort of stranger pair. I don't see how that has anything to do wi-" Lesher suddenly stopped.
"Oh?" Compulsion giggled. "Are those cogs turning in there finally?"
"They don't know who paid them, do they?" Lesher asked, realization painted across her face.
Compulsion began to cackle, almost falling over, before finally composing himself. "No, no they don't." He leaned forward again, a vicious grin filling his face. "But they think they do."
To my luck, no one made any attempts to move on the school while I slept, and I woke up the next day well rested
Good, because I had a lot on my plate now.
I took the morning slowly, trying to feel some semblance of normalcy after the day I had just had. Not to mention I couldn't remember the last time in recent memory I had woken up at a normal time in the morning.
I sat in the dining area of my living quarters munching on some eggs, while I went over the detailed report the PRT had sent me on the Butcher's powers on a tablet. Trying to see if there was anything that I could do to take her down without killing the bitch.
There was, I thought, an idea quickly springing to mind as I got further and further into the file. The plan would need refining, and I'd need to take the time to build what would be necessary, I didn't have everything on hand. But I genuinely thought I was onto something on how to stop her.
I just needed time to set everything in motion, and a little bit of guile.
More importantly, I had a problem, a big one, my own fucking powers.
Yesterday… I had no idea what would have gone down without my powers meddling. But more importantly I needed to find a solution to it. I refused to let my powers control my actions like it had, even if I might have made the same decisions without it.
I just didn't understand why the presence was so much stronger during the attack, compared to when it was gently nudging me to be more protective. The gentle nudge I could manage, completely block it out with ease with focus, why was the other so much stronger?
I finished my breakfast and eventually moved on to my control room. Sitting down at the console I checked the construction queue. Five Enforcers finished, bringing me back up to twenty overnight. The additional reactor would be finished sometime the next day. Four fixed plasma turrets finished and positioned on the roof of Fort Bluff, with more to follow. And more importantly, my first bubble shield generator was queued, it wouldn't cover as much as the big ones, but it would cover the school in its entirety. I had enough power to run it, though until the fourth reactor was online I might be pushing it if enough construction projects were running at the same time. I'd be building more than one to compensate but I needed to dedicate some material to defenses and reinforcing instead. I also needed more transports, a single APC could only carry so much. The Enforcer numbers would hopefully reach its intended target of thirty the next evening, I could start on one then, along with a second Phantom.
Then I needed more variety, Enforcers were meant to be grunts, I needed something heavier that could support the MKII better when dealing with capes like the Butcher. I also needed to make improvements to the MKII… perhaps it was time to look at making the MKIII.
Plus I needed to expand my air options. Something like a miniature gunship could have helped a ton during the Teeth attack.
Not to mention other pieces I needed to move around if I wanted to pull off the plan I was starting to cook up in my head for the Butcher.
But none of that mattered if I couldn't get my powers under control.
In frustration I started to focus on the feeling the presence I assumed to be my powers was feeding me regarding the Teeth. It had died down now that the fighting had stopped, but it was still leagues stronger than the protective one. I strained as I did my best to force it out as I went through the metaphorical library of predesigned technology in my head as I tried to find a solution.
I didn't think cybernetic implants would work on their own, not that I really had much desire to do surgery on my own brain. The Loyalty program might… but that be the equivalent of giving myself a fucking lobotomy.
Some sort of stimulant that completely suppressed emotional stimulation? That came with its own problems right there…
It was so infuriating, nothing I could think of gave me a smoking gun. And the more I focused on the pressure the more I failed to shut it out.
Out of frustration, I changed focus, instead focusing on the presence I felt behind the emotions being pushed onto me rather than the emotions themselves. Trying to single it out, shut it out entirely.
I sat, meditating as I focused harder and harder. Until something gave way. I don't fully know how to describe it, but it felt almost like… recognition, followed by alarm. If I didn't know any better it felt almost as if my powers noticed that I had noticed it, and that me noticing at all was a mistake.
The emotions shifted, sharply, not just the anger but the protectiveness as well. Both shooting up and down, like both were on the dial of a speaker and my power was trying to find the right volume, like it had noticed an imbalance it was trying to correct. I grasped my head as it suddenly began pounding in pain. Before suddenly both pushes leveled out, at the level the protective feeling was at before. Followed by something that felt like… acceptance from my powers. Like it wasn't happy with the outcome but had accepted this was the best it could do, as its presence too in the back of my mind mellowed out. Now I could only notice it if I focused, it was hiding or trying to at least. More importantly as I turned my attention back to the anger, I could shut it out completely like the protective feeling unlike before.
"What the literal fuck was that?"
Were my powers damaged? Broken? Could powers even be damaged? Had to be, that would be just my luck wouldn't it. All the shit I had dealt with over the years only to get powers and have a part of them be broken.
Even if they were, if that could even be a thing with powers, it still didn't answer any of the whys. And who knew, maybe… maybe it was a good thing. If my powers were meant to influence my decisions, if whatever part of them that handled that was broken and damaged…
It might be worse if it wasn't, even worse than what I had experienced yesterday. Perhaps if that was the case I should be glad. Still, my powers seemingly didn't want its influence to be noticeable after the sudden course correction. More so, why did it not realize I had noticed it until I had focused that hard on its presence itself? Why the course correction at all?
I didn't understand any of it.
I needed to do more research into powers, in the theories of where they come from. Maybe there I'd find answers, because something was off, I could feel it.
On the bright side, my fears for my own loss of agency were abating, on the bad side now I sat here and thought about what happened with the Teeth uninfluenced for the first time as I shunted my powers meddling hands out.
Sure, I didn't feel bad for killing them. The lack of reaction of violence was nothing new. It was the fact that as I sat here running the events of yesterday over in my now cleared head as I shut out my power's influence, I wasn't sure if I would have done it any differently. No one willing to do that to a child or willing to follow such a person deserved to live.
I did nothing wrong.
If the Butcher wasn't the Butcher I would have ripped her apart down to the very atom.
Not to mention, now I needed to figure out how I was going to approach the PRT and the Teeth going forward. I refused to sit back and not go after the people they took, and my stance on the Butcher still stood, I wasn't done with her.
I had to really consider the PRT and the question of if I could truly avoid conflict with the law so to speak. Armstrong seemed to be looking out for me, but I couldn't help but pick up the underlying notion that they were still softballing me. Making exceptions they normally wouldn't give to get me to join. Just how far would they take it before they got more demanding?
Not to mention, did I really think telling them I had good intentions would be enough once I had the ACU? Hell even the MACU?
My relationship with the PRT might be doomed from the outset. I had joked to myself once about bringing the world to post scarcity even if it was at the end of a gun barrel… but that didn't mean I actually wanted to do that.
I could probably talk things down eventually, when things came to a head which I was beginning to believe might be less of an if and more of a when.
I shook the thoughts away I had shit to do, including searching for the hostages.
I spent the next few hours flying my only Phantom over Malden, where the Teeth's permanent cell and their caravan were congregating. I quickly learned, much like Armstrong had told me, that when the Teeth settled anywhere they never all stayed together. Sporadically around Malden I'd find groups of their custom vehicles parked around various buildings that had been clearly taken over. Others I found driving around, causing chaos. Malden had essentially changed overnight, completely taken over by the Teeth.
I felt my powers push once more, before shutting it out again.
Fuck off powers.
More importantly, out of all the locations parts of the Teeth were staying I was pretty confident I had determined at least one location hostages were being held. I only wished the reason I had discovered was less depressing. A body tossed into a dumpster behind a building some Teeth had taken over, zooming in from above I was able to cross reference it with the footage from the day before and confirm he was one of the ones that were taken.
Poor bastard, staring at his body made me angry, of my own volition.
There was a good chance he wasn't the only one that had been kept there. There might be more hostages inside.
Or more corpses, a dark pessimistic part of my brain said.
I shook away those thoughts. I needed to focus on getting there. My APC could carry ten Enforcers plus the MKII. More than enough for a strike team.
I could go now… except Armstrong had told me to wait.
Fuck. Was it worth it? Holding back for them when my relationship with them might be naturally doomed to a rough patch regardless how much I bend for them?
My mind went back to the man's corpse, and the little girl, Anna.
No. Fuck that. I was going tonight, I didn't answer to them. I wasn't a Ward.
I'd wait until the evening, hopefully hit them as they slept, or more specifically the Butcher slept. I wasn't ready to take down the Butcher yet. And I wasn't sure if the Butcher wouldn't just start cutting hostages down in front of me for sport to piss me off since she knew she couldn't find me to kill me right now.
An alert suddenly pulled me from my thoughts. Someone was approaching the school, a blacked out car.
I took control of the base's new external defenses. Two of the turrets locked on and tracked the car as it pulled closer to the front door. Before a familiar man in black and white stepped out. One of Accord's Ambassadors. I ordered the turrets to stand down and quickly dispatched the MKII to the front.
My suit stepping outside the cape gave a short bow. "Good afternoon Novax, I bring a message."
"Go on."
"Accord requests a meeting. Preferably tonight at the earliest, tomorrow at the latest. Are you willing to attend?"
This had to be over the kitchen being attacked. I couldn't think of any other reason.
"Good, I need to speak with him. Unfortunately I will be preoccupied tonight. I can meet with him tomorrow."
The Ambassador only nodded, before handing the MKII an envelope. "The location details are within, including the time. I'll inform Accord of the date you are able to attend." Then just as quickly as he had arrived, he turned to get back in his car and leave.
Great, another thing to worry about. But maybe Accord would have an idea on who sent the Butcher my way. I'd have to find out tomorrow.
For now, there was stuff to do while I waited for night to fall.
Like planning my strike against the Teeth.
I was working on the MACU when an alert caught my attention. Night had fallen, and I was waiting until deeper into the night before I moved when my Phantom sent an alert for suspicious movement.
The Teeth were moving.
I looked from overhead as I saw a group of vehicles moving in unison through the city as they left Malden. Where were they going? What were they doing? My heart seized in my chest for a moment when I saw the Butcher teleporting alongside them.
It was a war party.
I checked their trajectory, were they coming back for round two?
No, they were heading south.
Where? Why?
Then the thought hit me. Did it really matter? If the Butcher was moving then so were the majority of their capes, and by the looks of it a fair number of their unpowered grunts were too. Which meant Malden was weak.
This was my chance to hit them and save some of the hostages without the Butcher interfering.
I rushed as I brought units online and began loading the APC. Ten Enforcers and the MKII. Before I sent it out of the garage racing towards Malden.
I'd need the Phantom overhead just in case, but I had time before they would get there. In the meantime I wanted to see where the Teeth were going.
As I watched, I sent a text to the PRT's tip line. They probably didn't need it, I was sure they'd be getting plenty of calls with the Teeth charging through town as is. Hell, that info would probably spread like wildfire with the way they were moving through the city. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone important in Boston's cape scene wasn't aware or about to be.
I thought about calling them, letting them know what I was doing. Then I remembered my talk with Armstrong. They would just want me to hold back, wait for 'supervision'. I didn't need supervision, I was fine. Besides, I had no way to know I'd get an opportunity like this again.
I sat and waited, twenty-two minutes was how long it would take me to drive all the way there. Fuck I need air transports next. This was making me antsy, as I continued to track the Teeth's march south.
My mind went back to before, the Butcher's comments at the end of our fight. Was she going after whoever pointed her my way? Whoever lied about what I could do?
That made me even more interested in where she was going. Their current path put them heading straight for Cambridge, that was the Unmasked's territory. Unless they were going beyond it.
Did the Unmasked put a hit on my kitchen? If they even did, why? I haven't even interacted with them, beyond seeing them at the Moot. I was missing something here, had to be.
I redirected the Phantom, I needed it to do a sweep above my target before I got there, it could return to monitoring the war party after.
As it returned and flew overhead I got a good look at the building I was targeting once again. An abandoned store with two entrances, one at the front and one at the rear.
My plan was going to be simple when I got there, hard and fast, five Enforcers and the MKII through the front and the other five through the back. There would definitely be some resistance. A Teeth vehicle still remained, though whereas there were two earlier today now there was only one.
Ten minutes now, then it was game time.
I glanced across the various screens when one suddenly caught my attention. An uptick of police calls on the police scanner, that I had recently upgraded to include calls into the PRT, all coming from Cambridge. I quickly looked through the transcripts my bots had generated from the calls searching for keywords. Teeth, cape fight, gunshots were all prevalent. Cambridge was their target, and by the looks of the calls coming in to emergency services all hell was breaking loose as the Unmasked and the Teeth were apparently turning the streets of Cambridge into a war zone.
The Butcher was going after the Unmasked after all... I'd contemplate that later.
I continued waiting until nine minutes later my APC was almost on top of the building.
I took a deep breath as I settled in to prepare to breach. My anger rising, I was going to ruin these fuckers da-
I suddenly realized my powers meddling once more and shut it out, fuck. It was more manageable now sure, but I was beginning to realize this came with new problems. I could shut it out easily now, but if I got too distracted it was harder to notice its influence without consciously focusing on it. It was more subtle, sneakier.
Fuck you powers.
I'd need to train myself to not accidentally let it slip. I refused to give it the level of control over me it had the day before ever again.
I started to get things ready. Making sure my Enforcers were set to the right combat settings. No guns blazing this time, clearing a building like this with hostages would need me to be a little less gung ho.
I counted down the last minute, sixty, fourty five, thirty, twenty, ten, five, four, three, two, one.
Knock, knock.
My APC can to a squealing halt in the alley in between the store and another building. The back doors slamming open as the MKII and the Enforcers stormed out, heading for the entrances each group was meant to breach.
The MKII led the front breach, kicking in the door as it arrived. Sending it flying backwards into the room as it came off its hinges.
"Holy fuck!" I heard from inside, a Teeth member in the main room whose face looked as if I had just walked in on him taking a shower.
He bolted, rushing further back into the store screaming alarm for the rest of his filth.
A burst of gunfire came from the back of the store, as the other Enforcers shot the lock and burst into an empty room in the back.
I pushed through, as I heard yelling and screaming coming from the Teeth as they realized the attack. My bots cleared room after room until finally the MKII and three Enforcers burst through into the bathroom, to find all three Teeth that were present. Backs against the wall, and a hostage each in their grasp, two women and a man. Each looking like their day in captivity had been weeks. I could only imagine what horrors they had gone through in the last twenty four hours.
More importantly each were in the grasp of a Teeth grunt. Two with guns to their heads, and the last with a knife to their throat.
"Stay the fuck back!"
"We'll kill the fuckers I fucking swear!"
"If I'm dying I'll take one with me you fuck! Stay back"
The three screamed as the hostages panicked. My Enforcers screaming back at them in turn.
"SURRENDER NOW!"
It was chaos. It was also the last thing I wanted right now.
I thought about reclaiming their weapons, but the arm with the nano-constructor was hanging at the side of the suit, unlike the one with its gun. A sudden movement like that might be enough for one of them to freak and pull the trigger or slide their knife across the hostage's throat. Even then I could only reclaim one at a time, and that might leave enough time for at least one to kill their respective hostage.
I could shoot them with rubber bullets, or pepper balls, but that still didn't solve the problem. Too much risk.
There was one solution.
Anger rose up, my powers, I let them slip for a moment before clamping down on them again.
No, if I'm going to kill again it's going to be my choice, not yours .
My mind raced. Was I really going to do this? If I did this would be different from before. Alabaster couldn't die, Cricket was a snap reaction, the Teeth had the involvement of my powers heavy handed influence.
But that influence was quieter now, I could block it out and I was now. If I did this, this would be me, my decision fully.
The hostages, I felt like I could see their lives sitting on a scale, them on one side with the Teeth on the other. A choice, all I had to do was take my finger and choose a direction to push. With the knowledge whatever I chose would be my choice, not a reaction, not external influence, my choice.
I looked at the hostages, the fear in their eyes, and my mind jumped to images of the little girl, of the man I saw in the dumpster that led me here.
A flash of anger, this one fully my own.
I chose, and my Enforcers did as they were told.
Hollywood gets it wrong, the way a body reacts after it's been shot. In the movies the body flings back, twists and turns. In reality? It is more like cutting the strings to a puppet.
Three Enforcers, three shots, three strings cut.
The Teeth fell, their weapons falling, clattering to the ground, as the hostages stumbled forward away from them, screaming in panic. All three hit the ground in front of me as they looked back at their captors corpses.
Thirty one lives I had taken now, but these three in a way felt like the first. I felt nothing from their deaths. Yet a part of me mourned for myself, the old me from before my powers, in a way she now felt truly gone, truly dead.
I packed those thoughts away into its box with the rest of my worries, now wasn't the time.
In all the entire ordeal since breaching had lasted no more than fifteen seconds, but it felt like I had just lived through hours.
"Oh my God." One spoke.
I knelt the MKII down. "You're safe now, no one's going to hurt you."
Both the women looked back at the dead Teeth, as if to confirm my own words and what they had just gone through once more, before they began to sob. The man meanwhile tried to compose himself in the corner.
"Let's get you out of here, I'll take you all to a hospital, but in the meantime let's get out to my vehicle and get checked by my bots until then okay?"
A flurry of confirmations came my way as Enforcers escorted them out to the back of the APC and began to look them over. They were all covered in bruises and cuts. They couldn't do much other than check for injuries and apply bandages but it would be better than nothing. Plus it would keep them occupied while I reclaimed the vehicle the Teeth had here.
God their vehicles were horrific looking, yet no matter how it looked it was still useful mass to take for my own.
With the vehicle reclaimed I returned to the APC, giving three spots for Enforcers over to the hostages and sending the Enforcers to begin running all the way back home. I could pick them up on the way later. Before starting the drive towards the nearest hospital for them to be looked over. Thankfully Boston had a few options, the nearest being in between Arlington and Malden.
An eleven minute drive. One I spent mostly in silence, the hostages weren't in a speaking mood, still in shock over everything that had just happened. Not that I could blame them. The Phantom still overheard making sure we weren't being followed.
Arriving, I got the hostages out and took them just inside to the emergency room before I parted ways. Heading back out to my APC, turning around to pick up the Enforcers I had left before heading back to base.
I had saved three of them, it felt good. Only problem was I didn't have a lead on any more of them. But thinking about how to find them had given me an idea, the small scouting drone from the MKI, I could redesign and repurpose them. Use them to scout Malden closer to the ground, without the conspicuousness the Phantom would bring from flying that low.
That could work.
Two-thirds of the way back to Fort Bluff I considered it safe to send the Phantom back out to observe what was going on in Cambridge, pulling up the police scanner once more-
"Holy fuck."
Boston's emergency services and PRT call lines were on fire. All of them coming from the inner parts of the city where the city's parahuman gangs claimed territory. Cambridge, Charlestown, South End, constant calls were coming in. I ran the bot to scrape up transcripts once more and searched for keywords. Gunfire, capes, fighting, it was as if all of Boston was turning into a warzone.
What the fuck was happening?
I sent the Phantom out, as it soared towards the areas the majority of the calls were being made I could see all over the city police lights and those of the PRT flashed around the landscape.
In the distance towards Charlestown I saw smoke rising in the distance, part of it on fire, demolished, with something large glowing in the distance… moving. That was Accord's territory if I remember correctly. As I got closer, from the Phantoms gimbal I began hearing gunshots ringing out from different parts of the city as I neared Charlestown. Finally getting overhead, the scene was chaos.
A towering beast crawling on its hands and knees, easily somewhere around twenty to twenty-five feet tall if it was standing upright. Covered in rocky crags, the color of a person's skin if they were sunburnt, its entire body glowing with heat.
I knew what this was, Fury, a cape in Morning Glory I found in my research only because of a well documented incident back in the Boston Games where they were present. She was Morning Glory's trump card, and she was rampaging in part of Charlestown, several buildings collapsed or burning from the heat she emitted. Surrounding her the signs of battle littered the area along with bodies.
Why was Fury here? From what I knew she was the trump card for Morning Glory and hadn't been brought out since the games, and normally you'd only bring out a trump card like her if things got bad… or if you hoped to kill someone in a preemptive strike before they could retaliate I thought.
This was Accord's territory, I remembered once more.
But Accord and Morning Glory were supposed to be allies? Why?
I scanned the ground for any signs of Accord or his ambassadors, bodies were littered around, some civilians, a few possibly capes, but none I recognized as Accord or any of the Ambassadors I had interacted with. In fact I didn't see them anywhere on the field now, instead a mixture of capes I recognized from Dark Society and Morning Glory fought trying to cover Fury slowly trying to leave as the PRT and Protectorate pressed forward. It seemed I had flown over at the tail end of the action.
Challenger facing down a giant bluish-purple praying mantis.
Aerobat and Dovetail flying through the air trying to lock down villains with grenades filled with confoam while dodging a blaster from Morning Glory firing a weird blood-like substance at them.
Chubster, and several Wards were also in the mix along with numerous Troopers with various weapons.
Then there was Bastion, pushing forward with a contingent of Troopers as he flung out his hands and force fields began appearing in the air, creating what looked like a funnel around Fury, an opening up above the towering villain.
Then an alarm blared across the city from the PRT HQ downtown, and suddenly I remembered from what I read happened the last time Fury appeared and how she was dealt with by the PRT.
I turned the gimbal camera toward the PRT HQ, and zoomed in as I saw doors sliding open on the roof of the building as something slowly emerged from inside.
Holy shit this is happening.
I had gone on a tour of the PRT building back in Brockton once as a young kid, I could remember hearing on the tour that every major city kept some just in case for the most extreme of brutes. But actually seeing them be used was something else entirely.
Intercity Missiles.
I watched as the launcher raised itself onto the roof and turned in the direction of Charlestown and stopped. The alarm blaring intensified, then…
One, two, three, three intercity missiles fired across Boston. I watched as they soared, curving down straight into the funnel of force fields created by Bastion where they impacted into Fury's side. A roar sounded out as she was struck, massive chunks flying in different directions as pieces of her monstrous form broke apart. As the smoke settled after impact, the portion of her that remained suddenly glowed brighter before the last of her body erupted into magma, spilling out in various directions as a woman finally fell down in the center where the beast once stood. She quickly stood and began stumbling towards friendly faces, as I watched the tail end of the conflict as eventually both sides disengaged.
I sat, contemplating what I had just watched, looking back over the endless list of calls that had gone out over the city. The Butcher and Unmasked in Cambridge, Accord's Ambassadors, Morning Glory and Dark Society in Charlestown, then there was still South End. That was Mystic Mass territory, what the hell was happening there. And of course intermixed in all of it, the PRT and its heroes trying to put out the flames.
While I had been taking advantage of the Butcher's movement's to save three hostages the entire city had descended in chaos.
At the time, I didn't fully know the full breadth of what just happened, let alone what it would mean in the coming weeks, but on that night while I hit a store with three Teeth grunts inside, in the rest of the city…
The Second Boston Games had begun.
The city had gone to hell overnight.
Time would only tell if this was the apex of the chaos or if it was only the beginning. Knowing my luck, it was probably just the beginning.
The building Accord had requested we meet had been in the center of Charlestown, where the fury that was Fury had struck. The building now no more than a pile of rubble. As far as I knew, Accord wasn't dead, but I also didn't know where he, nor any of his Ambassadors were. Regardless, our meeting wasn't happening anytime soon it seemed.
In the grand scheme I had bigger problems, the Teeth and the hostages they had taken were my number one priority. I had a number now, thanks to the efforts of Markus, ten hostages, of which one was dead and three were saved. That left six to find and rescue, assuming they weren't already dead.
My strike the night before hadn't gone completely according to plan. In all honesty, I hadn't gone in with the intention of killing anyone again. If I had the first Teeth I had spotted in the main room never would have had the chance to run to the bathroom. But regardless, that was how it had ended. I had let my powers slip through, and while I had clamped back down I couldn't say for certain it's poisoning of the well didn't have at least some impact on my decision making. Yet, once more I was alarmed at just how… easy it was to pull the trigger. The entire event from kicking in the door to the bodies hitting the floor had taken fifteen seconds. When I had breached the bathroom the instant I had determined my less-lethal options were too risky I had snapped straight to a kill shot to the head rather than trying to find an avenue that didn't end in three bodies.
Looking back, this wasn't the first time that had happened. Cricket, I hadn't thought about her in a while. Not that I felt bad that I had killed a Nazi, even without my lack of apathy for those I killed. But when I was fighting in the dog fighting ring my choice to aim for her head had been a snap reaction, the first place my brain had jumped to the moment it had determined lethal action was necessary. I could have just shot her wrist, but I didn't. The same thing had happened here, would it have worked? Maybe, who knows, it was too late for that now.
I'd just have to be better. Next time I needed a better plan, something more than just kicking in the door and rushing in. I can't let them have a chance to react, to create a situation like this again.
I need to get my emotions under control. The last thing I needed to do was slip and kill an unacceptable target.
I'm not even sure if the PRT would accept my use of force last night, because of the situation and the Teeth? Maybe? Regardless, a contingent of Teeth had returned to the building after they had left Cambridge, any chance for the PRT to look at the scene untouched was gone, and after last night they probably had bigger problems anyways.
Unless the hostages said anything they wouldn't know, or at least couldn't prove anything. Regardless, they hadn't contacted me yet, either they had no idea or more likely were too busy to question me.
I didn't sleep the rest of that night. I was too glued to my screens as I monitored Boston. The action died down after Charlestown, but I knew that wouldn't be the case for long, it was only a matter of time before Accord and the rest that came under attack would retaliate. In the meantime though I continued my work. My second APC completed, along with the fourth reactor. My Enforcer numbers hadn't grown, but that was only because I had temporarily diverted the resources elsewhere, namely into improving my economy.
On top of the rest, Fort Bluff's first stage of fortifications finished, a blue bubble shield now covered the school, and I began excavating space for a MKII Reactor that would dwarf my original ones in production in Bunker Hill, as well as began queuing the final upgrade available for my current mass extractor design on a few of my current mass points. I'd need a new bigger one after.
More so, it was time to really look at expanding to the closest mass points in the city. The only problem would be the locations, one was right near Blasto's territory, and the other closer to the action in the center of the city. I'd need to be able to defend my expansions, Blasto from what I knew wouldn't be against sending his creations out against anyone who gave him the opportunity to test their abilities. Most of the local Ward's battles were typically with his creations from what I knew, in a mostly low stakes monthly 'monster of the week' style rotation. I couldn't put it past him to hit the outpost just for the hell of it.
And the other… I was certain someone had set the Butcher on me initially, sure it was personal now both ways, but it didn't start that way. Someone was responsible, maybe an outpost closer to downtown would draw them out…
Regardless, I had officially begun laying the groundwork for dealing with the Butcher, sending and dropping off a modified Engineer south in an APC. It had work queued, once it found a suitable location.
My Phantom was now constantly in the air, patrolling above Malden looking for anything it could find on the hostages or Teeth movements.
Intermixed between all of this I had been working on designs for the Teeth. Things I'd need for the Butcher, but also the new scouting drones based off the one from the MKI Power Armor. I was working on making its thrusters as quiet as I possibly could, as well as possible stealth options. If they were spotted or heard while searching closer to the ground for the hostages it could mean the Teeth moving or getting rid of them before I could move on their location. Once they were done I'd finish a design for an air transport and the final pieces of the MACU. It was close, and while deploying it in the city might be ill advised unless shit really hit the fan I needed the unit cap it would give me. I could only stretch my current capabilities so far.
Speaking of the Teeth, they were learning. They definitely knew about my Phantom, on several occasions I could see them pointing up at it through the gimbal as it flew past overhead. I had kept it at a higher altitude to avoid detection, but not too high to cause problems with normal air traffic, during the day it wasn't impossible for someone to see something flying above them over and over again. And it wasn't like the Phantoms were a secret either. People had seen them take off from Fort Bluff before, it really was a matter of time before they knew of them. All the more reason for the new drones.
They had begun trying to limit what they did that was observable from above, hiding their vehicles, or at least trying to, whenever possible.
Eventually, the need had come for me to finally sleep again. I updated my alerts, double checked my Phantom, and did my best to get some shut eye.
I should have known something would have woken me up. An alert for abnormal movement for the Teeth in the night.
I rushed into my control room and took up my place at my console. They were headed west. Towards Arlington, towards me.
Could these fuckers not take one day off?
I looked from above with one of the Phantoms, a smaller party, nothing like the caravan I saw at the kitchen or the war party that went to Cambridge. Only a couple of vehicles, but a flash of fire caught my attention appearing alongside them repeatedly.
The Butcher.
Anger seeped in, but I kept my powers locked out.
This fucking bitch, what was she up to? She knew I wasn't here, and the kitchen still hadn't reopened. I'd been handing supplies out on a by request basis through Markus. What the hell was she coming this way for?
To take out Fort Bluff? See which way my units come and go once it's gone maybe? But why come so light to assault my base, especially after I'd beefed up its defenses in the forty-eight hours prior?
Unless it was just her and her remaining capes. I honestly didn't think anyone but her had the power to do anything noteworthy against me, and she might figure she could tear through my defenses on her own knowing I wouldn't escalate to trying to kill her. Which she was right about annoyingly.
Time would tell. I brought my small army to life and had them take defensive positions around the school within the shield coverage. I had made a few adjustments to better run her off until my plan for her was ready.
My eyes crossed over to a screen with my communication suite pulled up, the number for the PRT staring back at me.
Armstrong had asked me to call them if they came for me again. I glanced over at the police scanner, PRT and BPD lines were on fire again. Seems night brought a second wave of heightened violence. Accord hitting back? Probably. Regardless, the PRT was busy, even if I did call they wouldn't get here in time, the alarm went off once they left Malden and they were already in Medford approaching the edge of Arlington.
I frowned. I still didn't know if they were aware of my strike the night before. I couldn't say I was really fond of finding out right now, right on the eve of a possible attack.
I fought over the idea, before I begrudgingly sent an automated message to the PRT hotline. If the Butcher really did hit my base they'd notice, better to tell them and let them know I can handle it. No reason to risk them diverting resources from whatever was going on in the main part of the city for something they won't even arrive in time for.
Not like I'm in any actual danger when she gets he-
I froze, I wasn't in any danger… the Butcher had to be coming to get back at me right? If not for the losses at the kitchen then from my strike last night. She made it clear she wanted me dead, and she knew I wasn't in the school, nor in my suit. If she wanted to do that she'd have to either find me… or draw me out.
I tried to think from the perspective of an insane homicidal maniac. If I was the Butcher and I had a tinker I wanted to kill but couldn't without drawing them out or finding them and I had settled on the former… how would I do that?
Hostages. That was one option she already had, but that wouldn't guarantee to bring me out. Even if she said she'd kill them if I didn't come she couldn't guarantee I wouldn't strike with just my drones the moment she left wherever they were being held if I found them. No, if she wanted me her best bet would be to make me want to fight her myself, to finish what we started two days ago. Ultimately she could just leave whenever she didn't see me there, after all she did just that at the kitchen. She'd have to get me to want to take her down so bad that I'd come out just to stop her from leaving the moment her Teeth were out of harm's way. The easiest way to do that…
Was to piss me off. And the easiest way to do that was to strike me where it hurts, not my base or by destroying my drones. No, by going for something not so easily replaced. My people.
Ever since I had started my outreach the homeless population had grown in the area surrounding me as more of them from the rest of the city migrated my way in order to be closer. Homeless camps had formed in clearings along the Mystic River
Holy fuck that's what she was doing.
"No you fucking don't!"
I rapidly ordered all twenty Enforcers and the MKII to load into the two APCs.
I had to move fast, there were a few out on the very edge of Arlington, the Butcher was already closer, if they were the ones she hit I wouldn't get there in time to intercept, only pick up the pieces, maybe fight her off.
I needed to warn Markus, he might be at one of them, and more importantly he could warn them if he was. I called the communicator I gave him, and shortly after his voice came over the line.
"Novax? What's up kid? I thought you were asl-"
"Butcher is moving, I think she's targeting the camps. Where are you?!"
"Oh. Shit. I'm at the one near Veteren's Memorial Park."
I checked the Butcher's current trajectory. Shit.
"She's headed your way, maybe thirty seconds out. Get as many people out as you can! I'm on the way!"
"Oh fuck, got it."
I could only hope he had time to get some out, or at least himself.
Both APCs raced towards the camp, as I was forced to watch from above in horror as the Butcher and the two vehicles that had accompanied her eventually arrived. I could still see Markus leading people away through the field away from the tents, but I could see a few lagging behind, or still in the camp. The Butcher appeared across the opposite side of the field, a minigun held in her hands. She raised it, and held down the trigger. Bullets ripping through the tents of the camp, people who hadn't managed to start running yet being cut down as the hailstorm of bullets tore through them. She wasn't even using her power to not miss, the bitch, she was spraying for the fun of it.
All the while the two cars that had followed her drove into the park and around, to cut off those that were already running.
I gripped the side of my chair in anger, I was seething. Yet, I hadn't lost my grip over pushing out my powers just yet. But that didn't change how furious I was. I looked at my own units, they were getting closer by the second. A minute and thirty seconds, that's all I needed for them to hold on for.
I looked back at the chaos only for my heart to drop. The Butcher had moved, and Markus was held by the throat in her grasp. One of the cars stopped next to her, Teeth pulling out a burlap sack stained with blood, dropping it near Markus.
I stared, agonizingly, only to let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as she dropped him alive. Only for my relief to disappear in a wave of anger as she teleported, and I realized, they were already leaving. Fifteen seconds out from me arriving both cars were already peeling out driving back towards Malden.
"You don't get to fucking leave after that assholes."
The APC with the MKII kept going, giving chase with the Phantom keeping eyes on the cars as they fled. The second screeching to a stop as it entered the park and Enforcers sallied out. Spreading out checking for survivors, ready to give first aid. Taking control of one Enforcer personally, I ran to Markus, who was still on the ground. Coughing and grasping at his throat that now sported a dark bruise.
"Oh thank fuck you're alive." I said, genuine relief in my voice for the person who was the closest thing to a friend I had.
He coughed more, before finally responding in a raspy voice. "N-novax?"
"In the other APC, I'm chasing them, remote controlling this bot to check on you. Are you okay?"
He nodded, painfully.
"She left you alive on purpose didn't she." I asked, dread in my voice.
"She told me… she told me to tell you she could have sent them one at a time, but she didn't want you to feel forced to come. She wants you to choose of your own free will when you come to die… whatever that means." He looked back at the red stained sack. "And she left…"
No… please no…
I moved the Enforcer over to the burlap sack, and opened it gingerly, peering inside. Only to stare at six faces I had memorized earlier in the day. Six faces, six heads, six hostages dead.
I felt my body shake, anger filling me, coming to boil like water in a tea kettle as it finally boiled over and I screamed. Jumping to my feet grabbing the first thing within reach. An old mug filled with coffee from earlier in the day I had never finished. I chucked it across the room, the mug smashing against the wall and the coffee pouring down the wall.
I fell to my knees, clenching parts of my hair in my fists. Was this my fault, should I have waited until I knew where all of them were before I struck? Or would she have done this regardless of last night. Would I be staring at nine heads instead of six if I hadn't saved the three I had? If I hadn't killed those three Teeth would it have made a difference here? Probably not, but I had no way of knowing for sure. I slammed a fist on the floor and stood, taking back my seat. Putting my headset back on my head after it fell off my head.
"-are you alright? Kid!?" Markus's raspy voice filled with panic greeted me as my headset returned to my head. The Enforcer hadn't moved once since opening the sack.
"No." I said. "I have business with the Butcher and her Teeth. The Enforcers are reporting a few people still alive, they are being administered first aid once they are stabilized the best I can do the Enforcers will load them up to be taken to the hospital. I don't know how long it would take EMS to get here but every second counts. Go with them and get checked out. If you're good after then hit every camp and spot you know of where people are staying and tell them to pick up their stuff and move. Get to the park that surrounds the school, where they can be covered by the turrets. I can't promise their safety otherwise. They may do this again."
"Kid you don't sound so goo-"
"Don't worry about me. I'm putting this one back on automatic, now go." I said, before cutting the connection.
I looked back at the other APC, still chasing. The Teeth had a head start and weren't sticking to any straights. The only reason it could even still follow them was thanks to the eyes from above the Phantom gave me.
Fucking Butcher, fucking Teeth. This would not go unanswered. The kitchen was a hit, but this? This was personal, this was a declaration, this was... if this is what the Butcher wanted I'd gladly give it to her and her Teeth.
If the Butcher wanted war, I'd give her a fucking war.