#14.11p2

[krixwell-liveblogs]

I saw drag marks in the sand, leading to the water.  Who had that been?

...did one of them decide to drown themself to get out of this? Or attempt to swim out while partially paralyzed?

The knife was the last thing I spotted.  It had been slammed into the metal hull of the boat.  I stepped over the chain and collar that had probably been attached to Cherish.

Ah, so it was the right place, then?

I pulled the knife free of the wall and used my bugs to catch the note before it fluttered to the floor.

Ooh, this sounds interesting.

We concede our loss to you, Brockton Bay.  As per my agreement with Miss Amelia, we’ll be leaving your fascinating city.  It was fun.

VICTORY!

Except, y’know, the end of the world.

But VICTORY!

Don’t worry about Cherish.  She’s sleeping somewhere at the bottom of the bay.

Oh.

...literally or figuratively? Bonesaw could make the former happen.

Bonesaw was kind enough to crank up her receptive range toward negative emotions and remove her filters.  The girl will personally experience every awful feeling Brockton Bay’s inhabitants do- and with the benefit of Alan’s tech, she’ll get to do it for a very, very, very long time.

What a wonderful life she’s going to have from here on out.

Alan’s tech... did they have bits of it, or did Mannequin actually survive?

At this point, though, it’s looking like it won’t matter too much whether or not he did (unless Taylor gets into a fight with the Nine while trying to stop Jack from leaving the city), which leans the odds towards him being dead.

A departure marked not with a bang, but a whimper.  I’m sure you understand.

I mean, the miasma was a bit of a bang, but I suppose you didn’t see that as marking the departure.

Yours truly,

Jack.

Goodbye. It’s been fun.

[krixwell-liveblogs]

End of Prey 14.11

Not a bang but a whimper.

This chapter... didn’t add much, except an opportunity to find this note, a fate for Cherish, and the kissing scene. (The kiss-punch moment with Rachel was wonderful.)

Okay, so it added a bit. Still, though, I’m not sure the whole tracking down the Nine was entirely necessary? I don’t know, it feels a little weird, like this is a dénouement but not really?

But to be fair, it’d be strange for Taylor to give up on it that easily, and leaving the note wouldn’t work as well with the more dramatic escape we had last time.

Also, I’m not even entirely sure this is the end of the Arc. For all I know, we might have another chapter, of the Undersiders trying to figure out how to take this, especially with their knowledge of the prophecy in play. I guess I could check the link later in this post.

If there is a 14.12, it’ll probably be characterized by bittersweetness. They won, didn’t they? So why isn’t Taylor happy about it?

That’s if it’s not Taylor trying to stop Jack from leaving. Though I feel like we’re not going to see the Nine again before they leave - it’d mess with the finality of this letter.

If it’s an Interlude... fuck, Interludes are so difficult to speculate on. Maybe we’d have a look at what someone else has been up to under the miasma’s effect? Ooh, maybe we could get Legend’s perspective on the miasma and his head clearing? Though I do feel like if Wildbow had had a Legend Interlude planned around the time of Interlude 13, he might’ve saved the details on Legend’s family life for Legend’s own Interlude.

Another option is that we might follow one of the Nine - Bonesaw, Siberian or Mannequin if he’s alive - and seeing how they feel about the retreat. That feels wrong, though, due to the finality issue.

Alright, let’s take a look at the link.

Interlude 14.

Good. I think adding another dénouement chapter to this Arc would drag out a bit, and this letter deserves to be the end of an Arc.

So yeah! See you in the Interlude!

[krixwell-liveblogs]

Another point towards at least some of the people in there being fake: Jack didn’t seem to be aware of Mannequin’s supposed death, which would be why there’d be a fake of him in there even if he did die.

[krixwell-liveblogs]

I heard sobbing.

One of the people Bonesaw used to fake the Nine breaking down?

Or maybe it’s Cherish, trying to paint herself as the victim.

I stepped through the doorway and took in the room’s interior.

The floor sloped one way.  Half of the room was metal flooring covered in sand, the lowest half was submerged.

This city in a nutshell: Even in places specifically meant to keep water out, nowhere’s dry.

And if anyone says they found a dry spot, they’re lying. Just hallucinations caused by the miasma, surely.

Three men, three women and a girl.  The man with knives in his belt stood, then began the ritual pacing once again.  His feet were raw where the rusted metal deck had cut at them.  The others sat and stood in various points around the hull.

By “stepped through the doorway”, it sounds like Taylor should be in plain sight here. Which only reinforces the idea that that ain’t Jack, along with the fact that Jack wouldn’t walk his feet to bloody pulps if he didn’t have to. Whoever or whatever this “Jack” is seems to be pacing like he’s been programmed to do so.

[krixwell-liveblogs]

Atlas and I crossed the gap to the ship.  I waited for the hit of Cherish’s power, but it didn’t come.

But is that because she’s unaware, because she wants you to come, or because she’s not there?

My bugs sensed more of Bonesaw’s traps – areas heavy with fog, or where vials had been thrown, placed or dropped.  I was glad there wasn’t any of the extermination smoke.

I suppose she probably spent her supply on that shell game in their escape.

I set foot on the tilted deck and began slowly making my way into the ship.  My soft soled costumed feet were quiet, barely audible to myself.

Nice.

I drew my gun, readying myself to fire the second I was in range.  If Cherish was setting up the Nine for me, I was pretty sure I could hit one and get away before trouble arose.

Yeah, but how much would it accomplish? Probably not enough to be worth the risk just for that.

It was a feeble thought – even Jack, one of their most vulnerable members, hadn’t fallen to gunfire.  Still, it was reassuring.

Fair enough.

More traps forced me to make slower progress through the labyrinthine ship’s interior.  It was a while before I could stop at the outside of the door at the lowest point of the ship.

Skitter: *knocks twice* Jack: “Who’s there?”  Skitter: “Skitter.”  Jack: “Skitter who?” Skitter: “Skitter Rose Hebert.” Jack: “Oh, that Skitter! Please, come in.”

[krixwell-liveblogs]

“You’ll have to explain how all that happened at a later date.  Jack’s good at fucking with people’s heads.  It could still be a trap.”

Alright, looks like she’s sticking to her side.

“It could.”

“But?”

“I’ve got this feeling in my gut, like I had when I was around Jack and Bonesaw, and I wish I’d trusted it then.  I don’t want to doubt it now.”

Ahh. Just don’t go the other way and get overconfident in it.

Hmm. Maybe the amount of people in there, real and/or fake, is meant to dissuade attacks?

“A gut feeling?”

I nodded, once.

Admittedly, Taylor’s gut has been right before.

She sighed.  “What can I do?”

“Get out of here.  I don’t want to hurt you if I fall under Cherish’s control, which is supposed to be pretty short-lived.  In case she plans to make it more long-term, maybe call the PRT director and arrange a firebomb if I don’t report back?”

Yikes. Taylor is asking Lisa to arrange for her to very likely get killed if she’s compromised.

Tattletale made a face.  “This is dumb.”

“I’ve done dumb things.  I somehow don’t feel like this is one of them.”

The possibility that Cherish is closer than they think and messing with Taylor’s head is still on the table, but it’s increasingly unclear whether she’d be pushing Taylor towards attacking or away from it.

[krixwell-liveblogs]

“She’s resting.”

“You think.”

Resting, or sleeping? There’s a big difference here.

“Not sure which person she is, but her breathing is really regular, has been for a while.”

Yeah, but is that because it’s restful, or because it’s fake?

“And she could be faking it, a hundred percent aware that you’re thinking what you’re thinking.”

“Yeah,” I admitted.

Another good point.

“Why are you so fixated on this?  On going in?”

“I want to end this.”

That’s really all Taylor has wanted for a while.

[krixwell-liveblogs]

“They’re napping or something,” I said.

“Could be baiting you.”

The exact species of the worm is unclear, but it’s clearly attached to a hook of some variety.

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“And Bentley’s getting too small to help me make an exit.”

Things are really leaning towards “don’t poke the hornet’s nest” here.

“Atlas can manage with just me,” I told her.

“Going alone?  No.  Grue would kill me.  It’s senseless.

Heh, he would.

I can call Coil, so we can get a squad of soldiers in place to try and take someone out.  Or maybe we get the Director to bomb the area.”

I’m not sure they have any bombs left. And that’s a very... collateral damagey plan. Though I suppose not a lot of civilians live up here.

As for the soldiers, they’d probably take too long and not be able to do much against most of the people in there, as badass as they might be.

“Because that’s worked so well this far.”

Tattletale smiled a little.  “What would you rather do?  Going in is suicide.  You’d be opening yourself up to Cherish’s power.”

Not to mention all the other killers who are supposedly in there.