What is Happiness? 5.7

Commissioned by Kejmur

What is Happiness?
Arc 5 Chapter 7: Nine’s Act 1

-VB-

To my surprise, the PRT was the first to call for a Truce and a meet up between all of the remaining major powers of the city.

I didn’t bother going. Hell, it ruined my plan for ambushing the Nine if they showed up at the neutral grounds, which the PRT definitely was not, and the PRT wasn’t exactly keen on me either. Well, no one was. As far as they were all concerned, I was the Butcher and that demanded a certain level of belligerence against me.

“You should still go,” Lisa hummed as she stared at the message with me.

I looked away from the phone to Lisa and waited for her to elaborate.

“The Nine will now be desperate to gain more members, and what you’ve said about Jack Slash is true, then he will definitely be there where the concentration of parahumans in the city will be the highest,” she told me with a huff and then paused. “But he’s not dumb. With two of his members gone, he might look for other targets first.”

“Like us.”

She nodded slowly as if she was just realizing that. “Yes, they could come after us, too, because we aren’t in a fortified location like the PRT headquarters, but they also don’t know where we are. You didn’t let them track you, right?”

“No, I flew low and took a detour. I made sure to break the line of the sight.”

“Then we’re good,” she replied as she shrugged. “Why even bother asking me something you knew?” She then frowned. “Are you trying to test my power? Don’t bother, I’ve done that plenty of times.”

I wasn’t. I was just being cautious, and having someone with a Thinker power tell me that we were most likely safe made me feel more secure.

She nodded as if she read my mind. “Okay, that’s fair,” she sighed. “Don’t make me use my powers too much. I’m trying to save it for when the actual issue comes.”

“Okay, then why should I go to the PRT HQ? That’s where they will most likely host their Truce meeting.”

“And what do you think I can do there? I am the Butcher, even though Lung and PRT took heed to my words.”

“You can show that you stand with them, and that you will not be joining the Nine.”

“... I thought the Butcher hated the Nine? They fought in the late 90’s when they came around then.”

She blinked. “They did?”

“Yes.”

“Huh. I didn’t know about that.”

We heard Taylor open the door to her room, which was where the computer was and thus where Lisa and I were.

“Lunch is ready.”

Oh, nice timing. I was just getting hungry.

I could -.

I paused and then turned back to he windows.

There was a smoke column rising into the sky from Downtown.

"Honey, I'll be back before the lunch gets cold."

And then I was off.

-VB-

“He’s not here?” Piggot asked.

“No,” Dragon, who had graciously elected to give Brockton Bay in light of the impending crisis, responded. “So far, we have Lung, all of New Wave, Uber and Leet, Fautline’s Crew, and newer vigilantes, villains, and independent heroes that have come out since Leviathan’s attack.

“Considering that he is the one who has been convincing people to get ready to fight the Slaughterhouse Nine, he is the one spitting on us actually trying to prepare,” she snorted. “How many capes in total?”

“Thirty-seven.”

She grunted. Before Leviathan’s attack, Brockton Bay had fifty-three confirmed capes. The Endbringer battle killed many Protectorate heroes, one local, more than how many villains had been killed. It had made the situation in the bay worse, but then the new Butcher came around and killed the entire Empire Eighty-Eight’s cape roster.

That had upended the balance of power in the bay and it had been for the good. With all of E88’s capes gone, suddenly there were more heroes than villains for the first time in the city’s history. Though her capes mourned Triumph’s death at Leviathan’s hands, they had been revitalized by the fact that they and the PRT could finally make significant permanent changes to the city for the better.

And then this shit happened.

She wished that the Empire was still around if only so that she could use them as a meat shield. God knows that the Empire had enough characters to bait the Slaughterhouse Nine on their own.

Thirty-seven capes. Even using Aletto’s Cape Power Curve, a mathematical theorem that calculates expected cape organization’s effective rating by combining the threat ratings of all capes involved, the thirty-seven capes didn’t have the firepower to win against the Nine, even with the alleged deaths of Bonesaw and Shatterbird.

After all, the Triumvirate tried when they were called “the Protectorate” and lost a member.

… Still, this was her job. She would do her job to her fullest.

“Dragon, can you dim the room?”

“Of course.”

As the room dimmed and the light of the projector projection on the wall grew brighter, she addressed the gathered capes.

“Thank you for coming to this Truce meeting. I know that villains and independents normally hold one on their own in face of a crisis like the Slaughter Nine in the Somer’s Rock bar. However, Slaughterhouse Nine presents too much of a threat to each and all of you as well as the city. The current -.”

“Director!” her earbud crackled. “The Nine are attacking Downtown proper!”

She froze before she hurriedly spoke up.

“The Nine are attacking the Downtown,” she repeated, and everyone before her froze stiffly. After all, PRT headquarters was in Downtown. “Armsmaster and Miss Militia, take the heroes. New Wave, will you coordinate with us?”

“Of course,” Mark Dallon, in one of his rare non-depressed conditions, spoke up as he stood up.

“Thank you. Right now, I am requesting everyone here to cooperate with us under Truce conditions. Pick up a radio earpiece as you walk out of the headquarter. Thank you.” She turned around and left the room. Instead of going to her office, she went to the armory and picked up a Beretta 92.

As much as she hated relying on the Butcher for information, she couldn’t discount what he passed onto her through Velocity. If it was true…

Then it was possible that she might have a decent chance at putting a lead in Jack Slash’s head.