“Okay, unless I am horribly misreading Jacob’s intentions, you are going to learn a lot of uncomfortable things in this room. About me, about them and a bunch of other stuff. All I ask is that you hear us out and keep an open mind.”
Taylor turned to her mentor where they had stopped outside one of the unmarked doors. She didn’t think this room belonged to anyone, as it wasn’t listed on any of the maps Harry sent her. She had never heard Melissa so worried before, not even when she had caught Taylor planning to remove her own brain.
There was a weight to whatever was behind the door, like it was something that couldn’t be taken back, no matter how much she wished for it. Secrets. Toybox had plenty, and Taylor made it a point to not delve into those hidden depths, out of respect as well as a touch of fear about what she might uncover.
The pictures in Melissa’s room came to mind, specifically the one that had her mother sitting on Lustrum’s lap with arms wrapped around her. It was more than a little suggestive of the sort of relationship the pair had. That Melissa had the picture was concerning, but the woman had been nothing but caring and even protective of Taylor…
She didn’t want that image to be shattered.
“How bad is it?” she asked softly.
“Bad,” Melissa said, pulling her into a side hug. “I won’t lie, we have terrible secrets. I’m going to have someone sit with the Major for this, just to avoid any residual bleed over that might damage the equipment.”
“Not reassuring me with this,” Taylor muttered.
“I wasn’t trying to,” Melissa said. “I’ll leave it to you to open that door, because once you do, there won’t be any going back.”
Taylor regarded the plain white door as though it were an obelisk about to impart terrible wisdom. Her mind raced with possibilities, each more terrible than the last, yet she forced those thoughts down and took a deep breath. Lisa’s mind was still asleep, there was no comfort to be found behind her eyes. Worse, Sophia had come in to see the Major, and Taylor didn’t want to dwell on why she could feel happiness and comfort from her other self. There was no point delaying things further, it was time to learn the truth.
She reached out, taking the door handle in her sweaty palm and turned, pushing the door open as she did. Four people were inside, Jacob sat in the center of the room in a large recliner, Riley was tucked into his side almost protectively. Kurt stood beside them, phone vanishing into a pocket. The true surprise was Vivian who was draped across a love seat, tossing what looked like a tennis ball up and down.
That wasn’t what had her frozen in place, no, that was the fact that everyone was dressed differently. Jacob had a perfectly shaven goatee, a loose fitting dress shirt that showed his chest just a bit. Riley was in a blue dress with a white apron, her normally straight hair was done up in curls. Kurt was wearing a wife beater with ripped jeans and had on a wig that could only be described as a mullet.
None of them looked imposing to the naked eye, and yet, she recognized each of them. A primal sort of fear bubbled up from deep within her, telling her she needed to run despite knowing each of them for months. Taylor had just stepped into a room with three known members of the Slaughterhouse Nine.
“Taylor,” Jacob, no, Jack Slash said with a soft smile. “I’m sorry if we scared you, but in my experience, it’s better to rip the band-aid off than to try to break this sort of thing gently.”
Riley at that moment dug a bit deeper into his side, as if she was hiding away and Taylor felt her heart break just a little. She was Bonesaw, the most feared member of the Nine, and there she was, terrified that she would be rejected by someone she had come to see as family.
Taylor swallowed her hesitation, stepping forward as she did, Melissa shut the door behind them. She came to a stop at the couch, trying her best to keep her attention solely on Riley despite all eyes being on her. It didn’t escape her notice that Melissa was likely one of them, but she had something more important in front of her.
Taylor knelt down in front of the scared girl, a forced smile on her face. “Riley?”
Deep brown eyes peeked out of the nest she had dug into her father’s side, shimmering with barely restrained worry. Taylor could remember footage on the news of this very same girl, covered in blood and gore, cackling as some creation of hers carved into a group of people. She also remembered the girl cuddled up beside her on the couch as they watched movies, throwing popcorn at the screen but most of it ending up in Amy’s hair as the grouchy girl cursed, blaming Lisa for doing it on purpose all while Melissa and Vivian laughed and Jacob watched the group fondly, his husband at his side.
Toybox itself was a front for the Nine, and yet, they were family.
Taylor held her arms open. “Come here, munchkin.”
Shimmering eyes shed their tears and Riley jumped into Taylor’s embrace as she held her little sister in all but blood. Her hand traced soothing circles along Riley’s back, reassuring the girl that everything would be alright, that she wasn’t going to push her away. Taylor could see Jacob out of the corner of her eye, watching them with that same smile he had during movie night as he held Kurt’s hand.
Then Taylor felt Melissa’s hand settle on her back and a few more things came together in her mind. She moved carefully, her body still weakened from her recent healing as she turned, propping Riley up beside her and got as comfortable as she could before turning her attention to her mentor.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Okay, so I can tell who Jacob, Riley and Kurt are, but what about you and Vivian?”
Vivian snorted. “I’m supposed to debut next time we do a run, which is apparently soon. I’ll be keeping the name Bakuda for that.”
Melissa sighed. “As for me, I am indeed Damascian, but you would know me better as Butcher XI.”
Taylor sucked in a sharp breath through suddenly clenched teeth. Her mentor was the most feared cape among capes, the one person every Parahuman tended to have nightmares about fighting, for if you killed them, you gained all their powers and the madness that came with it, and yet…
Taylor couldn’t help but smirk a bit as another layer unfolded. “The rumors of the Butcher being mad are greatly exaggerated, aren’t they?”
“A bit,” she answered with a weak smile of her own. “Trust me, waking up with ten other people yelling in your head while their entire collective memories are dumped into your brain is more than a bit unnerving. Just be aware, that’s how we learned that if the Butcher is killed by Tinkertech being wielded by a normie, it counts as the Tinker’s kill.”
Taylor shivered at the thought, because that could easily be her some day with how many prosthetics she was selling through Toybox these days. Jacob shared a wince at that statement, which drew Taylor’s attention.
“It was my knife,” he admitted. “Someone I missed pulled it off my belt and stuck Pyro with it. I didn’t even realize it happened until she fell, having her torso ripped open by the impossibly sharp blade.”
“I wasn’t with the Nine yet,” Riley said from her position on Taylor’s side. “They didn’t have anyone that could heal.”
“I remember exactly what that felt like,” Melissa added, tracing a line across herself. “I woke up with the ghost of that sensation filling my chest and the clamor of the Collective for blood.”
“That sounds horrific,” Taylor said softly. “Okay, so you’re the Slaughterhouse Nine… How does that even work? Riley’s a Ward, Jacob is a therapist. None of this makes any sense.”
“Remember how I said Toybox was Hero’s baby?” Jacob asked. When Taylor nodded, he continued. “Well, the Nine falls under Legend’s purview.”
“It was agreed that he was the best among the Protectorate,” Kurt said. “When Jacob and I killed King, there was some debate over what the Nine should become. Jacob argued that someone would just fill the gap if they disbanded, and I argued that the Nine couldn’t continue as they were.”
“We compromised,” Jacob said. “The Nine would continue, but with a purpose. We became a black ops group for the Protectorate when someone was too dangerous to remove through normal means, or a cape wished to defect but needed the appropriate cover.”
“Lustrum originally contacted Winter, asking for help,” Melissa said. “The Nine weren’t in a position to visit at the time, and Marauder got her first. Bastard was sneaky about it too, pulped her skull while she slept. Oh, quit your bitching, you know I’m right.”
At Taylor’s inquisitive look, Melissa tapped the side of her head. Right, the voices of the prior Butchers were in there… Wait.
“Did you say Lustrum?” Taylor exclaimed. “But, isn’t she in the Birdcage?”
“Her sister is,” Melissa said. “Eowen took her place in the movement after Arwen killed Skadi for daring to kill Fester. You have no idea how much she wanted to storm the Birdcage in an attempt to rescue her and Marquis after that shit went down. Fucking Empire.”
“They won’t survive the coming storm,” Jacob said. “The Nine are coming to Brockton with dual purpose. To remove the Empire, and to kill Armsmaster and Director Thomas Calvert, who you know as Coil.”
Taylor snapped upright, Riley almost falling over in the process. Absently she wanted to apologize, but her anger burned too sharply for that. She had a name at last, the right person to aim her fury upon. She wasn’t surprised that Jacob was telling her about the Nine now, she understood. If the Nine came to town, she would have fought to drive them off, possibly even killed someone she had come to love.
Now, a different question came bubbling up, and she already knew the answer. “You want me to join the Nine.”
“We want the Major to join the Nine,” Jacob corrected, absently she saw Melissa pinch her nose and sigh. “That’s an issue on its own, but as for one Taylor Hebert, she will be revealed to be alive with the help of Panacea. Your life will remain as normal as it can. Legend will do what he can to help keep your life intact as well, though you may have to take a role in the Wards like Riley has.”
“It’s mostly for show,” Riley said. “I don’t do patrols or anything, just help with healing on occasion and patch up those that get hurt fighting us that we didn’t want to hurt.”
“She really is a sweet kid at heart,” Kurt said fondly. “Her power likes it when she plays with corpses. It’s the best cover she could hope for, really.”
Taylor sat back down, a silent apology whispered to Riley as the girl, now much more relaxed, curled back up with her. It wasn’t an offer made lightly, for her to join the Nine like that. Something else occurred to her, and she had to ask.
“I could still release that information, likely force Coil to give up on these events, couldn’t I?”
“Probably,” Jacob answered. “Once again, that choice is yours alone, since you are the one that will be most affected by the outcome regardless.”
“Can I tell Lisa?” she asked. “I feel like I shouldn’t make this sort of decision without her.”
“She already figured us out,” Riley said, cutting off Jacob’s likely more tactful revelation. “Just before she went under for her cyber brain install, actually.”
Taylor couldn’t help but chuckle, because of course she did. Lisa couldn’t resist poking at a secret like that and no doubt seeing Riley in her element alongside Jacob had set off more than a few clues as to who they were when moonlighting. Despite that, Lisa hadn’t pushed Riley away when she plopped herself across their laps, or at any other time they were hanging out.
She had accepted that part of them, and now Taylor had too. There wasn’t anything left to debate, Taylor had made up her mind.
“This city is corrupt to its core,” she said firmly. “It’s long past due for a proper culling of the rot that has taken hold.”
Jacob offered his hand. “Welcome then, Taylor, to Section Nine.”
Taylor hesitated for a moment, then accepted it, and all the damnation that would follow.