What is Happiness? 5.8 (Patreon)

What is Happiness?
Arc 5 Chapter 8: Nine’s Act 2

-VB-

“This is a good way to go about getting some payback for ruining the game, don’t you think so, Sibby?”

For once, the woman had become truly angry. In fact, he would describe her current state was “wrathful,” because unlike the self-righteous heroes, she truly lost something dear and not just the status quo of the world that the heroes had grown used to.

He flicked his wrist, and watched as a thin cut appeared all across the windows and walls, shattering the former and scarring the latter. He gave a few more flicks at some of the braver idiots who tried to make a run for it. Their backs splattered open as bones and organs came apart as they collapsed.

To his right, what was once a rich café burned as Burnscar relished in her poison. To his left, Crawler milled about, waiting for the local capes to show up. Cherish rode on top of Crawler, pulling her emotional strings that left her victims euphorically high and standing in the middle of the streets before someone else in the team killed them off. In front of him, Siberian tore apart anything that came in her way.

Jack whistled as she tore into the support beams of the office building and soon, it keeled over away from them. It slammed into a building and broke itself and it's unfortunate victim. Masonry, glass, and wood flew in all directions as the two buildings collapsed on top of each other. Sibby walked out of there with a still grieving grimace on her face.

'She isn't satisfied and probably needs more victims,' he thought. Normally, they would have already begun their game at this point, each of the members choosing a candidate and letting them play, but with the loss of Shatterbird and, more importantly, Bonesaw, the Nine were weaker than he liked to admit. Bonesaw, in particular, had created Murder Rat in one of their previous jaunts, but the now mentally and physically degraded psuedo-member of the Slaughterhouse Nine was unresponsive.

Jack left it to die on its own somewhere over… somewhere.

Technically speaking, this meant that the Nine had actually lost two members and a minion. To compensate for this loss, Jack let his crew loose in the most vital area of the city so as to tie up heroes.

He blinked as he sensed them coming.

"Alright, let's get a move on!" he whistled. "Heroes are going to be here soon, and we don't want to get caught out here, do we?"

Sibby still looked enraged but disgruntledly followed as did the rest.

As they made their way to their hidden bus in a nearby alley, Siberian popped and disappeared.

Jack stared at the spot she just disappeared from even as his danger sense told him that the heroes were closing in on them.

"Where did she go?" Crawler grunted as he looked around, scraping the ground as the veteran of the Nine pulled his claws out on all of thirteen of his feet.

Jack stood there in shock as he felt that feeling, the one that Siberian always gave off, vanished just like how other parahumans vanished from his senses when they died  but Siberian couldn't be dead.

She was invincible. She was unstoppable. She -.

They were in actual danger. The cape that killed Shatterbird and Bonesaw had to be behind Siberian's disappearance. The unholy timing that ruffian had was -!

"We need to move. Now!"

Mannequin had gone off to take out the local Protectorate Tinkers. He would have to catch up with the group later.

As they started piling into the bus, something came slamming down onto the top of the bus far faster than his power could warn him.

Crouching on top of the now dented roof of the bus, the new cape silently stared down at them all.

Burnscar reacted first. She laughed hysterically. "You want some of this-?!"

And then her head and neck slid off from her shoulders as she stepped forward. Jack saw the surprise on her face before her eyes dulled and the fires went out from around her.

There was a sharp hiss as -.

Jack ducked.

Cherish jumped.

Crawler stood there and then something bounced off of his bulky body.

"You're the-!" Jack laughed as he flicked his hand. But he aborted halfway through and rolled out of the way when the cape who just sliced apart Burnscar after flying down on them flame blasted where he'd been standing. "Scatter!" he shouted instead to two of his three remaining members. His power told him he needed to get out of her!

Cherish and Crawler did not.

Cherish tried something. It backfired on her, and she screamed as her body spammed while she fell off from Crawler's back.

This only confirmed it. This cape was the Butcher! No one else gave off that kind of messy attachment!

Crawler laughed as he jumped up and then down on the Butcher with his considerable bulk.

And stopped.

He stayed floating in the air before briefly coming closer and -.

Jack barely got to the corner before he saw Crawler become "marbled" like what happened to Bonesaw and Shatterbird, and an implosion rocked the alley. He ran- and stopped.

He stared down the barrels of nine PRT troopers. Why were they here right now?!

Those barrels also didn't look like foam launchers.

"Die."

He couldn't move fast enough to slice them apart. He got one before bullets slammed into his body and tore him apart.

He keeled over, dead before he even hit the ground.

---

Piggot didn't think the plan would actually work.

It was simple. If Jack Slash truly conversed with and sensed powers, then he would not see uncovered but still lethally armed PRT agents coming if they held back the capes and advanced them slowly.

But why was Jack Slash out here alone?

Her question was answered when she saw the Butcher walk out of the alley.

"... well damn. You lot actually listened to what I said."

He held in his hands a huge eyeball and a head. She had a good guess as to who the head and eyeball belonged to.

"I got Siberian's master somewhere else. Where do I cash them in?"

"... come to the PRT headquarters later under Teuce."

"Sweet. Did you find Mannequin?"

"No."

"He's the last one left."

Good. She got curious, though. "How did you defeat them?"

The Butcher shrugged. "I didn't talk at all and blasted and sliced as quickly as I could. Crawler almost still got away."

---

Mannequin, with access to the busses camera, watched it all happen and realized that this was the perfect time to jump ship.

He abandoned his infiltration plan and scurried out of the city as quickly as he could.