116 Precipice of Change

Northern Wyoming, July 4th, 23:32

Despite the speed at which we are moving as we run through the midnight forest, neither Sibby nor I make a sound, dashing through the trees and untamed wilds with the grace of a true predator, our eyes unbothered by the darkness of the night as we hunt some game.

The others are all back with the RV, except for Crawler, who's probably gone to stretch his legs, waiting for us to come back with some meat to cook.

Not that we don't have any food available, but apparently it's not as good as fresh meat, and Crawler has quite the appetite anyway.

Though, even with all that, actually feeding the others is only really half the reason we're out here, the other half simply being that it's fun and we enjoy the hunt.

We've even made a little game out of it, whoever catches the most prey wins, and the loser owes one favour to the winner.

Now, normally that would just be an excuse for me to sexually assault her, but this time there's actually a more important reason.

See, a couple of days ago, something absolutely 𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 happened. James somehow managed to convince String Theory to turn Clown, which I am all for, since she's been threatening to blow shit up completely at random since 2006, from gas stations in Indonesia to nuclear power plants, and that is already hilarious.

But a couple of days ago, she somehow managed to top even that by threatening to 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯.

How fucking wild is that?! It's like some James Bond villain shit, and I am unashamed to admit that I spent a solid half hour laughing my ass off when I heard about it.

However, impulsive I may be, I'm not stupid, and clearly Theory hasn't thought this through, because obviously this isn't exactly a threat that can just be ignored, and even if they mostly act like a neutered guard dog, the PRT 𝘪𝘴 actually capable of being incredibly competent when they want to.

Which is why I have spent the last two days preparing things for my betrayal of Jack.

Originally my plan was to just catch him alone and murder him, taking control rather forcefully, but we've been travelling through Wyoming of all states recently, so there hasn't been an opportunity.

Then again, Jack's probably caught on to that plan and was purposefully avoiding isolating himself, and he's probably also caught on to the fact that I'm speeding up my preparations.

It's not like he doesn't know I'm going to betray him after all, but so far, every time I've considered ending things, something interesting has happened to keep me distracted.

And while I can clearly tell that he's manipulating me, and enjoying himself doing so, I haven't really been bothered by it. After all, I 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 been having fun, but a Clown is going to either be arrested or killed, and I need to be prepared to act on that, either in retaliation or rescue.

This is an important moment for my Clowns, since whatever happens now will set a precedent, and reputation is incredibly important in the Cape game, so I need to ensure that we get a proper reputation from the get go.

Then again, maybe String Theory simply won't be caught and I'm underestimating her. She's clearly not too incompetent if she's so confident in her claim of knocking the moon out of orbit, but it's better to be prepared.

Which is why I've spent the last couple of days doing some professional socialising.

It's honestly been a blast, this little game between Jack and I. Treating the others like chess pieces, balancing their loyalties, measuring whose side they'd take, what their responses would be and how to best get them to side with us.

It's fun.

Crawler is already on my side, he's probably my most solid piece, my Queen so to speak, and I'm sure Jack has given up on taking back control of him, focusing instead on the others.

Shatterbird is a tough one, constantly in a state of flux since on one hand, she seems to have something of an unrequited crush on Jack, something I have no doubt he knows of and is ready to use to his advantage, but I'm also basically her best friend, so I don't know if I'll have to kill her or if she'll join me.

Bonesaw is much the same, but I have a feeling she'll more likely stick to Jack. She's his Queen, and he's had years to sink his fangs into her psyche, so I'm not sure if being her 'big sister' would be enough to betray 'uncle Jack,' actually, scrap that. She'd side with him.

But that brings me to Sibby, she's the wildcard, since I can't really read her properly and I'm unsure how much control over her Jack has. All we know for certain is that she is incredibly affectionate of Bonesaw, which puts Jack at an advantage when it comes to recruiting her.

Hence the current bet. My favour will either be to side with me, or to at least hear me out so that I can have a chance to convince her that Bonesaw is better off with me than Jack.

The others are kind of inconsequential to be honest.

Hatchet is already dead, replaced by Burnscar, who is basically a non factor. If she's not around any fire then she'll just be little more than a doll, dead behind the eyes, and if she's around fire then she'll just go crazy anyway, rather than reliably joining one of us.

Bear is unimportant, since she's too weak to make a difference of any kind, but she'd probably side with me on account of Jack taking her voice away, and me being more fun, actually having taken the time to talk with her, instead of treating her like a pet, like I do with Crawler.

Crusher will side with me though, if only so she can stab me in the back later. She's an interesting one.

On one hand, she wants to hate me, but on the other hand I think she looks up to me to some degree, at the very least, she subconsciously views me as some kind of authority figure, so she'll do what I say.

Honestly, I'm not too worried. With just Crawler and Crusher I'm confident we could take the others if need be, but I'd rather not waste so many powerful Parahumans.

Each of them could do so many interesting things in the future after all, it'd be a shame to cut that potential short.

But, again, this is all dependant on String Theory needing the help, since I'm not going to do anything until then, purely because I know Jack won't let me take a week off or something, and I don't trust him near any of my toys, he'll just break them.

As these thoughts are going through my head, I don't stop hunting, using my enhanced senses to find any wildlife I can, finding a lone buck to go with all of the rabbits I've got dangling behind me, held aloft by my tentacles.

Right as I'm about to drop down on the unsuspecting deer, I am startled by a sudden ringing sound and nearly lose my footing.

The buck flinches violently before crouching down, about to run away from the unexpected sound above it, but I move faster than it can, my arm blurring forward as I throw a small, crystalised spike of pure Ichor at it.

It's head snaps to the side from the force of the strike and I jump down from my branch to land by it's side as I pull out my Clown phone, looking down to see the caller ID: 'GayGayVaginaLoser.'

Well, that is incredibly unhelpful.

I should really start giving my contacts list proper names, because honestly this could be anyone.

As I ponder that mystery, I reach down and pull out my Ichor dagger, pausing to look at it for a moment to contemplate if Ichor is really a good name for whatever it is that my power is made out of.

There's a bunch of it stored in each of the four sacs in my back, so I feel like it should have a proper name, but I think I can do better than Ichor, for now it's just a placeholder, because indirectly calling myself a goddess is funny.

Still, better not leave 'GayGayVaginaLoser' to go to voicemail.

"Hello! You've reached Throb and Spurt's Sexy Emporium, we make them, you fuck them. How can I help you today?" I say immediately after answering, not given them a chance to start the conversation.

I am greeted by silence for a moment, and I can only imagine the person on the other end moving their phone to in front of their eyes, looking confusedly at it to see if they got the wrong number.

"...Tear?" A cautious voice asks, and I quickly identify the voice to be Harlequin's.

I let out a little snicker at her tone before I answer, using my ribbons to pick up the deer as I do so.

"Got it in one!~ What's up? We haven't spoken in a bit, you having fun?~"

She lets out a small huff of amusement before she answers, her voice mirthful.

"Yea actually, I've been having a blast. I never realised how much I missed playing spy games, and the fact that it's all at my own discretion instead of just following orders is a nice change of pace, but that's not why I called. String Theory got nabbed earlier today by Alexandria, and I hear that she's getting birdcaged. They're going to do a sham trial for her, just so they can say that she 𝘩𝘢𝘥 a trial, but I'd give it less than 48 hours before she's locked away forever, and I'm not really in a position to do anything about it."

Despite the seriousness of the conversation, she sounds completely casual about it all, but even then, the first thought that comes to mind is how she didn't even comment on how I answered the phone.

Still, this is what I was wating for. No more delays I suppose, Jack dies tonight.

"Good to know, don't worry about busting her out, I'll handle that myself. I figured this would probably happen anyway, she did threaten to blow up the 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯 after all," I hear a snort from the other end as she laughs at the ridiculousness of that statement, but I ignore it to keep talking, "so I'll deal with it, I just need you to keep an ear out, I'll call you back in a bit and I want to know everything about where she is, where she's going to be and who's going to be her escort."

"Sure thing, I can do that. I've made some new friends and I've already got Fool doing a little investigating to see if he can come up with anything else." Her response makes me smile a little, happy that she's actively trying to help her fellow Clown.

Though, I get the feeling that she's testing me as well, looking to see just how dedicated I actually am to helping out other Clowns. I guess she wants to know if I'll really back her up if it comes down to it.

Silly woman, as if I'd ever turn down an opportunity to push back the ever encroaching threat of boredom.

Besides, I love new experiences, breaking someone out of a prison transport should be fun, especially if she's well defended, which I feel it's safe to assume she will be.

So after giving a temporary goodbye, I return my phone to my pocket and start making my way over to the meeting point Sibby and I decided on.

I don't really need to bother hunting anything more, the bet was rigged from the start since she's limited in what she can carry, while I have a bunch of extra limbs I can use to assist me, plus I actually have clothes, so, pockets.

As I walk into the clearing however, I can't help but wonder, what the fuck am I going to say to Sibby?

=================

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Alrighty! I thought the whole Nine thing would have more shit happening, but eh, I'm bored of *Goes to place, kills people, goes to other place, repeat* and I can't really see Lusia not getting bored after a couple months of it.

Also, fuck me. I just have to give myself the hard shit. I may enjoy psychology as a hobby, but I'm not a professional and Bonesaw has so many fucking mental problems, WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO WRITEEE!!!

You have to understand that I will have to write not one, but 2 incredibly manipulative people, both with unnatural insight as they both try and manipulate the same, incredibly traumatised and broken ten year old at the same time. I'm gonna cry, there's so many extreme psychological profiles interacting with each other, I can see why jack would find keeping them all in line so fun, but damn if it isn't a challenge

(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!

pat/reon.com/user?u=41732867 (get rid of the first slash or check the description)

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