Monster 3.8

You considered for the moment, as a brief flash of concern for the wards burdened your mind. Your property yet unclaimed might be damaged... an uncommon jealousy surged as you caught yourself by surprise. You weren’t accustomed to feeling so strongly about anything which wasn’t your sister. But still, it was but a flash, your assets, Clock-Blocker and Vista, would be safe enough. It would be the adult capes whom Lung would be interested in challenging. And it would not likely be either of those two whom he’d be looking to kill.

Only the incidental inclusion of his right hand man gave you further pause.

You didn’t quite know what the bastard would do, and while you did feel a surge of irritation in memory of almost getting killed by the psycho ninja, you tried also to quickly put it out of mind. And yet you could not. Not completely. The pulse of your blood pounded in your ears, adrenaline already pumping out across your body as you imagined the rematch, the confrontation between you and the true backbone of the ABB.

You could go in, steal away their thunder and maybe make off with a few capes... the prospect was literally breath-taking.

You resisted.

“No. I think… I think we’re going to take a different route.” You bit your lip. Powerful as he was, you couldn’t help but feel that the protectorate would have situation in hand. They’d prioritize staying alive, retreating and keeping people out of harm’s way.

If they couldn’t put Lung down, they’d clear out and try something different, call in reinforcements and devise a different plan of attack. In a way, a risky strategy, as someone like Lung could then use his win to consolidate power, drawing the attention and loyalties of other capes. Even with his organization in shambles, he’d have the clout needed to draw a real crowd to his cause, alliances and other factors that he would have originally disdained.

A win, while not certain, would throw him back into the game in a way that nothing else might, without having to leave Brockton Bay and start all over again.

On the other hand it’d make him a marked man, someone who’d warrant more attention from the generally stretched thin organization, something his otherwise quiet pretentions at being a gang-lord kept him from. As long as he was content to the status quo be, he could be tolerated.

The dynamic of the bay would change irrevocably by the end of the night.

“Lung’s play here will have all eyes on him... that gives me room to clean up.” You spoke, licking your lips lightly as you imagined the scenario unfold. “Empire, Fault-Line’s crew… even the Merchants are open season tonight. No chance of Protectorate capes showing up while their world’s burning down around their ears. Alright give me a quick rundown of where all the parahumans are across the city that you can find.”

A display forms across a single mobile branch, ripple-skin stretched taunt across it as it resolved itself into a map of the bay. All across it lit singular spots, areas where para-humans could be found. Scattered across the city like they were the most major collections of capes were immediately obvious, and decently far away from the stragglers.

You sucked at your tongue with a clicking sound. You’d hoped a few of those independents were closer in, easier targets to strike, but it did make sense that most lone operators, hero, villain, and rogue stayed out of the way of the major powers that be within the heart of the city and mostly operated on its edges and outskirts.

None the less you weren’t surprised to find that the Empire capes had been pulled together into a tight formation, tension raised high even as Kaiser seemed to obsess over his missing troops.

According to Rune’s report on the situation, the usually calm and rational Kaiser was practically unraveling. Between the losses of everything which he’d been building outside of his ‘secret’ empire, his name down the toilet, his company assets ceased by law enforcement... and even his son almost taken from his still estranged ex-wife; and his loss of a significant portion of his fighting force... without so much as a whisper as to how it had happened. Kaiser was dangling at his wits end.

They’d taken shelter in a prepared safehouse... near enough to Hookwolf’s dogfights.

The insect transmitter receiver which was embedded in Rune’s nervous system allowed your right hand to see though her eyes, and even guide her hands as she saw fit, and in turn allowed you to communicate directly with your parahuman plant. You couldn’t help the smile which crept across your lips, the plan forming as you informed her to prepare.

You intended to take all of the Empire tonight.

All you needed was to have your roots in place, an exercise of less than an hour all things considered, as the roots in the area dug and reinforced a straight way tunnel to the place you needed to be. Even as Victor’s power worked diligently at draining the muscular coordination of all those within the area of the power’s use.


[07:23] <@Xale> Sleeping Agent:  Kaiser (Dc:40), Menja (Dc:40), Purity (DC:45), Cricket (DC:60), Windtiger (DC:75), Hookwolf (DC:80), Fog (DC:60)
[07:30] <@Chibi-Reaper> roll 1d100+15x7
[07:30] <+qqbot> Chibi-Reaper rolled 1d100+15: 51 = [66], 32 = [47], 65 = [80], 84 = [99], 36 = [51], 25 = [40], 38 = [53]


The first step was getting Rune in position.

She was to be the delivery system, making her appearances in among each of her compatriots as a worrying teen on the edge of her seat for what would be coming next in the struggle. It wasn’t hard for her to move about the base, setting down Bugs filled with your ‘sleeping sickness’ where they could easily inject the concentrated form of it or dust it into the air as a less effective soporific vapour.

The power of a deeply infiltrated inside job.

You were lucky really, while master checks were common enough there hadn’t been any real master based paranoia of late within the confines of the bay. No one to make people alert to the signs in a way that would show the small variations in behavior up. No one was alert enough to notice what little in the way of telltale signals that had been a part of your thrall for what was now weeks.

You smiled even as you suited up, letting Othela between your legs in on every aspect of ruin which you were visiting upon her family, friends, co-workers, and fellow believers. Her wriggling you chose to interpret as an excited struggle even as your vaginal wall closed tightly around her.

Constant, almost absentminded, conditioning had brought her to this point. Her emotions swelling into a frenzy of religious joy for what you were about to receive.

You patted your womb gently with a smile.

It was time to act.


[-][-][-][-][-][-][-]



You prowled, senses enhanced by the parahuman between your legs as you worked your way into the lair of your prey. Already their defenses were softened as your agent planted the seeds of their downfall. One by one the titans fell, slumber afflicting their human bodies, their parahuman power rendered meaningless before the agents placed in their midst thanks to the psychologically broken young woman whom you’d entrusted with the task. Quietly you allowed your suit to take over the duty of traveling to your target location and rested your mind. Even with the temporary imbuement of super speed to everyone whom you’d be bringing along, it was still at least a twenty minute run.

“Alright. Status report.” You commanded, already slightly bored.

“Things seem to be going smoothly mistress. The gang members are slowing down in general, getting sluggish and clumsier. They’re settling in, sitting down ect. And most of the parahumans have already fallen asleep where they were. The sleeping sickness has been very effective thus far...” Taylor stalled on the report for a moment, her voice coming back clearly to your earpiece. “…it seems there’s a complication arising.”

“What kind?” You barked, irritated and yet somewhat excited at the prospect of not everything having gone perfectly smoothly.

“Hookwolf and Fog aren’t being affected by the airborne spores... and Windtiger hasn’t either. Infact he’s looking suspicious.” The next sound out of her sounded like something of an audible grimace. “He just discovered the injector bug that was meant for him. Nailed it with a vacuum blade.”

That made three.

Fucking Breakers… and a bloody shaker.

“Rune is attempting to ambush Fog, to keep him from fleeing once we get on the scene. We can keep the other two busy, but it seems like Windtiger’s managed to keep a set of his men from falling asleep, and they’ll be looking to try to awaken the others if they can.” Taylor reported.

Not that they could wake them… for now you’d made sure that anyone caught in your ‘Sleeping-sickness’ would go into hibernating coma, alive but unresponsive to any conventional means. You’d have to wake them yourself. So at least there was that. But his clearing the air of your spores meant that he was now alert that they were under assault, a fact he would not hesitate to share.

“We’re here.” Grue spoke even as the super speed you’d gifted him with faded away, as it had to all the others you’d imbued.

You were there…

And despite the composition of your forces, you still arguably had an actual fight on your hands.

“Stormtiger is headed to Hookwolf, they likely to join up and try to make it over to Kaiser’s office, if only to take him and run. Purity and her son are asleep in a separate room, she’d been breast feeding. Rune is fighting Fog even as we speak. Some of the ghosts are intercepting to delay, but against Hookwolf they’re not much in the way of a match, and we lost the element of surprise against Stormtiger as well... he’s wiping them out too quickly despite attacking though the floors walls and roof.”

You grunted in acknowledgement, you’d have to make a choice in how to split your forces, and possibly who to empower or with what. Time was of the essence even if the ghosts which were rising up from the roots nearby would help, they could only do so much.

Decisions needed to be made.