Magnetic Attraction 20 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

-VB-

Magnetic Attraction
Chapter 20

-VB-

The news of Emily Piggot becoming the Fifteenth Butcher really shocked everyone.

With what little time she had with her sanity, she quickly turned herself over to the strongest containment cell PRT ENE had on hand, and got restrained to the highest level, according to Bagrat on PHO. It was an information leak that had PRT ENE scrambling to find the perpetrator for.

As for what this meant for me, it meant one thing really.

With the Butcher unavailable to pose as not only a very powerful cape with numerous abilities but also a double-suicide final option, I intended to rid the city of the Teeth, and I didn’t intend to do it half-heartedly.

“I intend to exterminate the members of the Teeth that dared to set foot in Brockton Bay,” I said calmly with a straight face before my assembled harem (and it was a harem).

Kayden to my left, Claire to my right, and the Biermann sisters in front of me sat in a rough circle in the living room of my house. I’d drawn up the curtains already, checked for bugs, and broke the news to them.

To my surprise, it was Kayden who seemed the most understanding out of the four of them.

“Well, they are your enemies even before you got powers,” she said with a sigh. “I expected this.”

“You’re alright with him going out to fight the Teeth?” Claire asked. She was the one most opposed to my campaign. “It’s the Teeth and not some Merchants. We all know what they do.”

Loot, rape, pillage, burn, kill, salt, and hide. This was the bare basic modus operandi of the Teeth, which worked well for them in this Cauldron-induced era of enforced parahuman superiority. On top of that, the Butcher dissuaded any serious work to remove the Teeth because one accident meant that either the Butcher killed someone or someone killed the Butcher and the monster got more powers.

“With the Butcher killed by none other than Emily Piggot, a non-parahuman, and in restraints, the Teeth no longer have the safety net of the Butcher to back them up,” I explained. “Besides, I’m not weak, am I?”

Claire looked frustrated. “But there’s always a chance.”

“There’s always a chance, yes,” I conceded one point. “But Should the Butcher escape and lead all of the Teeth again, then we would have to deal with the Butcher roaming with a pack of marauders instead of the Butcher by itself. Even for someone like the Triumvirate or me, defeating a Butcher by itself to contain it is easier if we don’t have stray bullets peppering us or the Butcher.”

“And why should you do it?”

“Because this city is my home, and if I don’t protect my home, then who would? It’s certainly not the government.”

Actually, that came out more as a habit of degrading the government than an actual fact. In this case, the government had done something because Emily Piggot, an employee of the government, had done something. Drats, I couldn’t even say shit about the government right now, not after they neutralized one threat to my family.

“It’s not like I’ll be sending my girls to kill the Teeth,” I added before caressing Kayden and Claire’s pregnant bellies. “Right?”

Claire grumbled. “Then what? You’re just going to go out without backup?”

If there was one thing that the Empire had drilled into its minions and capes, then it was the idea that going out alone was stupid and liable to get you kiled.

In this case, such an idea was absolutely correct. Just because I was powerful, I would not remain safe. Such a line of thought was the domain of the arrogant, and I was not arrogant.

“No, I’ll bring backup.”

“Who?”

I smiled.

-VB-

At the front of my house, I greeted my help.

“Jessica!” I greeted my secretary-possessing-sister. “Thank you for sending me your help.”

I gave her a kiss on the lips, and she returned with a giggle of her own.

“Always,” she cooed before looking over my shoulder. “So those are your girls?”

“Yes,” I said as I walked over and slung my arms around the shoulders of Nessa and Jessica. “From your left to right, these are my girls: Claire, Nessa, Jessica, and Kayden.”

My sister-Jessica gave a nod to them all. “Nice to meet you. I’m also Jessica.” Then she turned halfway and gestured with a slow swipe of her hand at the team behind her. “And this is Brian, Lisa, and Alec.”

I hummed before pausing. “What happened to Hellhound?”

“She was uncooperative-”

“Wait, that’s the Undersiders?” Nessa asked incredulously.

“Yup,” I replied. “Hellhound?”

“I sent her off to take care of her dogs with company money.”

“Alright. So those three will be your backup?” Kayden asked skeptically.

“Well, Lisa over there will be the one to give me information. Grue and Alec will be the backup.”

Kayden didn’t look satisfied. “If you didn’t put a baby in me, then I would have gone with you.”

“I know,” I said with a sigh. “But alas, that’s the cost of making a family.”

“What about your sister here?”

Jessica and I stared at each other before shrugging at the same time. “Not much I can do out in the field,” she confessed. “I’m not like your Jessica; I’m a Tinker.”

That caught my girls’ attention.

“Bio-tinker,” she added with a sadistic grin.

I felt the tension skyrocket at her admittance. “Jess, don’t tease them like that,” I chided.

She giggled. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Well, I leave them in your hands, Arthur. I expect them to be return whole and healthy.”

I gave her a wave as she got in her car and went off to work.

Although cape life had taken over both of us, it hadn’t exactly stopped my own company from continuing its operations, and as secretary, she had a lot of jobs she needed to do.

I turned to the Undersiders with a grin of my own.

“Oh yeah, you two are brothers and sisters from another mother alright,” Lisa grumbled with erroneous yet somewhat correct information. “That grin.”

“That grin,” Brian grunted.

“That grin~,” Alec sighed happily.

I blinked at Alec’s state, and only had a question pop up in my mind. Alec was supposedly a sociopath in canon because his fear center had been burned through overwork by his dad. Alec right now did not sound sociopathic.

‘Jess, what the hell did you do to him?’