#13.2p1

Called it! ...kinda.

“Are you a candidate?”

She fidgeted again.  “Bonesaw nominated me.”

“Do you know why?”

Bitterly, she said, “Why do you think?  She thought I’d be a good fit.  And because my powers complement hers.”

I wonder if someone in-universe is going to put the pieces together re: each Slaughterhouse member picking someone who had something notably in common with themselves.

A good fit?  “Just based on my interactions with you, I wouldn’t have thought.”

I mean, she does have a spiteful streak, or used to at least. But not so much that it makes her fit into the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Maybe this is how Taylor learns about Amy’s relation to Marquis, which is the main thing that could cause Amy to wonder whether she would fit in.

“No?” she asked, sarcasm in her tone, “Why wouldn’t you have thought?  You heard what Tattletale said.  I’m the daughter of a villain.

Oh yeah, I suppose she did hear that much before.

I haven’t been nice, I haven’t been merciful, or forgiving, or considerate.  Instead of giving you a second chance, I was spiteful, I toyed with your feelings, and things spiraled out of control.  You know how much trouble that caused for my family?

Wait, “toyed with your feelings”? Is she talking about the hospital encounter, or... is she not actually talking to Taylor anymore?

The director of the PRT and Legend and Miss Militia were all at my house, lecturing all of us about how serious these events were and how sensitive relations between the various factions were.”

For someone who claims to not be good at picking the right thing to say, she’s absolutely on a streak of picking the right thing to say.

I think she’s gotten better at it, honestly.

I could see her tense.  Would she storm off?  Lash out at me like Bitch would?

Hmm, I don’t think so. I think she might actually appreciate that Taylor acknowledges this. Especially since one of her long-standing problems has been that few others did.

Not gonna lie, I’m beginning to see this as a potential ship on the redrom (love) side rather than just blackrom (romantic hatred) like before.

She just fell silent, avoiding eye contact with me.

“I don’t think you’re a monster,” I said.

Damn, Taylor. I’m this close to just straight up revoking your right to say you’re not good at picking the right thing to say.

Probably true, yeah. I like how Taylor is handling this so far.

“They’ve set themselves a time limit to test and eliminate the six candidates.  Their goal is to test the candidates and kill the ones who fail, until there’s only one.  Our goal is to save them.  So when Tattletale figures out you’re here instead of with your family, and when we know that the sixth candidate is apparently a hero, it gets our attention.”

Honest and to the point. That’s good.

I give it a 78% chance that Panacea is about to deny being a hero.

“Who- who are the other candidates?”

“Regent, Bitch, Hookwolf, Armsmaster-”

Alright, not immediately at least.

Also I guess she’s about as surprised to hear Armmaster listed as Sierra? Although she was there for him being confronted about his actions in Extermination, so who knows.

Alternatively, Taylor might be stopping because she’s unsure how to mention Noelle.

“Armsmaster?”

“Yeah.  Though it might be like Cherish is doing to Regent, more to screw with him than for legit reasons.”

Nah, this one’s legit. It’s nice to see Taylor seemingly giving Colin some benefit of doubt now, though.

“Ok.”

“I can see it, though.  I’ve interacted with him.  He really did cross the line during the Endbringer attack.”

“And the fifth?”

The team should not play to the whims of Bitch for fear of her outbursts. They should consider the points she’s making - which are actually not that bad this time, though self-centered - fairly, absolutely, but just giving her the right of way because she’ll get angry otherwise is a bad habit to get into.

As odd as it might be, I gravitated toward the latter option.  Bitch responded better to firmness.

That too.

“She’s supposedly in Ballistic’s territory, which is close.  Five minutes there, up to five minutes to talk, five minutes to get back,” I said.

Oh yeah, that’s not too bad.

“Fifteen minutes out of our way,” Grue said.  “And anything we find out about the Nine or their candidates can potentially help you, Rachel.”

“All of New Wave live southwest of the Towers, the nice part of downtown.  Neither of their houses were hit by the worst of the waves, and none of the Chosen or Merchants are stupid enough to attack them, and they wouldn’t succeed if they were.  You following me, now?”

Tattletale: “They weren’t forcibly evicted by Leviathan or the villains, so why...”

Power, maybe: “Nominee.”

“Sort of.  You’re wondering why she’s there.  She could just be there giving medical help to the injured.”

I wouldn’t be too surprised if she’s doing that too, although I could see her not wanting to use her power for some time after what happened with Glory Girl.

“My scouts say she’s keeping to herself, trying to avoid attracting attention.”

And if she’s a) avoiding being asked to use her power and/or b) avoiding the Nine, this would make sense. Especially since her identity is public and anyone might recognize her out of costume.

“Curious.”

“Exactly.  Want to go pay a visit?”

Or perhaps Sierra or Charlotte.

It started vibrating again.

“Yes?” I answered.

“You guys busy?” Lisa asked.

Hiya!

Kind of, how so? Slaughterhouse sighting to take care of?

“Just patrolling our territories to make sure that the Chosen aren’t up to anything,” I said.  A droplet of water fell on the lens of my mask.  I looked up at the overcast sky.  Rain?

Rain rarely means anything good in this story.

“Listen, you know that I’ve got some people working for me, passing on info, right?”

Yes?

“Sure.  Bryce is one of them, right?”

“Right.  Well, I’ve got all of them keeping an eye out for capes and known faces.”

How about unknown faces?

That’d probably be a bit impractical. :p

“Known faces?  Like the members of Empire Eighty-Eight who were outed?”

“Like them.  Or Jack, or Bonesaw.  But that’s not what this is about.  Senegal just dropped by Coil’s base, and he’s passing on information from one of my scouts.  They saw Panacea at one of the shelters in Ballistic’s territory.”

That’s fair. I don’t get angry easily, but when I do, my first instinct is usually to get away from it and cool down.

It’s certainly somewhat healthier than some of Bitch’s previous anger responses, at least.

I glanced over my shoulder at Grue.  How the hell were we supposed to handle this situation?

Maybe you should’ve given that a little more thought before you started it.

Unless by “this situation” you mean the broader “Bitch is bottling up something, keeps quiet and gets mad if you ask her what’s up”.

My phone vibrated at my back, and in my effort to avoid falling off Lucy, I wasn’t able to get at it.  I fought to make her obey me and stop by pulling on the chains and wrenching her right, then left.

I was a little confused until I remembered the satellite phones.

Don’t talk and ride hellhounds!

...

I was joking, but that really does seem like something Taylor would be concerned about, what with her mom. Though I doubt the accident that took Annette Rose Hebert’s life involved her riding a hellhound.

She finally halted, and I took the opportunity to grab my phone.  I’d missed my window.

Well, at least approaching her won’t be too hard, if she’s willing to just stand and wait. She doesn’t seem happy about her company, but she does seem to accept that they’re arriving without trying to run away or anything like that.

She looked exhausted, worn out.  She had that same devastated look in her eyes that I had seen in her cousin and aunt on the day of the Endbringer attack.

Makes sense. She’s practically lost her family, like they had that day. Even if in her case, it was a choice, she’s not going to be happy about it.

“I see you’ve got the two other horsemen of the apocalypse with you.  Where’s number four?”

Heh. Still got a bit of dry wit, good to hear.

I shook my head.  “Horsemen of the apocalypse?”

“Nevermind.”

Is Taylor not familiar with them, or did she just not expect to be likened to one?

Hm...

Pestilence = Skitter

War = Bitch

Famine = ???