118 Ah... I see

"Tear. How was your hunt? I see you brought quite the hall." Jack's tone sounds light and casual as he greets me even though I'm certain he's aware of my intentions.

Still, that doesn't mean I won't play along. "Oh, you know, pretty good. Wasn't expecting to find any deer though. Never killed a deer before, so that was cool."

As I speak, I notice his eyes flicker over to the others for a second, clearly taking note of Lucy standing in range of Shatterbird and Burnscar.

In chess terms, you could say that my Knight piece is in position to take two pieces, one which is mostly neutral and one who can go either side, but is probably more likely to side with him.

But with my Knight there, the two pieces are basically negated, and with Crawler and Bear out, that's another two pieces down, leaving only Siberian and Bonesaw as the remaining mobile pieces.

Siberian should side with me, but I don't know if I can trust that, while Bonesaw is almost certainly going to be his piece, which is an issue because Siberian is most definitely Bonesaw's piece.

"I wouldn't think deer would be any fun to hunt after your experience with bears", Jack says in a pondering tone while moving forward, out of the way of the door, allowing me to clearly see Bonesaw and Sibby behind him, following him out.

Bonesaw's disposition tells me that she has no idea what's going on right now, though Shatterbird has definitely noticed the tense atmosphere and is looking between Jack and I in confusion.

"Eh, it wasn't as fun, but it was a new experience at least. Besides, have you 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 the antlers on this baby?", I say, gesturing to the buck besides me and it's large antlers before turning to Bonesaw, "you ever done work on a deer before Chibi? 'Cuz I think I'd look awesome with antlers.~"

Bonesaw visibly brightens at my suggestion, and makes to run up to me, only to be stopped by a single unyielding hand on her shoulder, courtesy of Siberian.

"What is it Sibby? Is something wrong?" Her innocent question goes unanswered as Sibby goes back to pretending she can't speak.

But before I can pick up the conversation and steer it in my direction, Jack beats me to the punch. "I don't think there is a problem, no. Unless you think there is, Tear?"

Damnit, that's exactly what I was going to say, the bastard.

I don't want to have to kill Bonesaw, she's far too useful for that, not to mention she could cause a zombie apocalypse or something and that'd be hilarious.

Now, if I say that there is a problem, she will associate the problem with me, blaming me for ruining the 'family' and thus I'd alienate her, hence why it is exactly what I was going to say.

Still, it's not like it's the end of the world, kids are stupid anyway, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Besides, he wants to use my lines? Then I'll just have to strike below the belt.

"Nah, not really, I was just thinking about romances y'know, wondering if there was ever anyone who really caught my eye, and no Sibby, you don't count. I meant that metaphorically, not literally. What about you, Jack? You ever had a girl catch your eye?"

Sibby gives an amused smirk at the reference to the time she quite literally caught my eye. In her mouth, after ripping it out.

I think she wanted to know if they tasted any different with the odd pigmentation. I don't think there was much of a difference.

But most amusingly for me, is the way Jack's eye briefly flashes in Shatterbird's direction. I don't think anyone else noticed it, but clearly he's caught on to what I'm getting at, and clearly he's been aware of Shatter's little crush.

Now, he has to be careful what he says to avoid turning Shatter over to my side, giving me a powerful Bishop to stack against his mostly empty board.

"Perhaps, but I like to admire great things from afar, so I've never really bothered with the whole romance thing." His tone is completely blasé, but he gives Shatter a meaningful look briefly, before turning his annoying smirk back to me.

...Fuck, ok. That was actually a pretty good move.

Glancing at Shatter myself, I notice the slight, barely noticeable blush and the way she's looking at Jack with renewed passion.

Ok, scratch that then, that was a masterful move.

I thought there was a chance he'd go along with the accusation. Use Shatter's crush to secure her loyalty, but I had a plan for that.

What I didn't expect, was for him to both use her crush for loyalty, whilst also having an excuse for ignoring her feelings all this time, all while appealing to her pride at the same time.

I suppose he does have as much experience in this business as I do being alive, so it should really be expected. I underestimated him.

Honestly, I can't even be mad. One sentence and he's basically locked a Bishop onto his board, denying it from me completely.

It's still locked by my Knight though, so he's still in check.

I hate to admit it, but I'm slightly stumped.

What can I say that will avoid upsetting Bonesaw too much, whilst also allowing me to escalate the situation?

Nothing comes to mind, so I just decide to go with the old reliable, lying.

No one ever said I couldn't just make shit up after all, and really can't think of anything else.

Besides, I just had a funny idea.

"Oh really?", I ask, my tone a careful mix of amused and ever so slightly offended, "you certainly weren't at a distance when you were admiring 𝘮𝘦. In fact, I'd say you were quite the opposite of far away, the distance between us was negative if anything, so was that just not a 'romance thing', or am I just not a 'great thing', hmm?"

Heh, the look of realisation, followed by betrayal on Shatterbird's face almost makes me break character just to laugh at her.

Jack's lip twitches slightly, and I can sense a mix of amusement and annoyance from him at my solution.

It's a classic really, accusing men of sleeping with you even when they didn't.

I mean, what's he going to do? Deny it?

Then I'll just act distraught, betrayed. He knows I will and he knows Shatterbird is too stupid to see through the ploy, which would lead to her thinking even less of him, thinking that he's trying to backtrack.

Or he could go along with it, which would have the effect of putting some of Shatterbird's anger on my own shoulders, but he'd still lose some influence over the piece.

"As I recall it, you jumped me. I never consented to anything, and it's not like I could fight you off. I certainly wasn't expecting to get raped, but I suppose, as I believe you so eloquently put it, I was the only man who wasn't Hatchet Face around."

This motherfucker...

I guess he can also just lie, I didn't think about that.

I feel Shatterbird's stare dig into my side and I mentally wince a little.

Well fuck.

"Bitch please, as if I'd ever resort to rape to get laid", I say, waving away his accusation dismissively, idly noticing that Bonesaw is too distracted to even call me out on swearing.

I think I should move things forward, escalation is necessary, because clearly he will counter anything I throw at him like this, and I might just have to bite the bullet and deal with an upset Bonesaw.

It's not like it'd be the end of the world, just a time investment I don't really want to deal with.

Eh, fuck it.

"Hey Jack, not to blatantly change the conversation or anything, but I read something recently and I wanted to ask you about it. I heard that the Nine used to be lead by some dude called King, who founded the group. What ever happened to that guy?"

Jack goes to respond, but I don't let him, not wanting to give him a chance to move things to his favour.

"I heard that he died. You killed him, right? And took the position as leader of the Nine from him afterwards, right? Is that how leadership changes here? 'Cuz I think we, as a group, should go through some changes. Don't you think it's time you retired?"

In the face of my escalation, Jack seems to choose to just stop with he foreplay altogether.

"Are you saying you're going to kill me?" He asks, already knowing the answer.

"Sure, you've had a good run, but it's time for the newer generations to take the helm, I think."

My words bring about a variety of responses from those around us. Lucy, having known already, turns vigilant, focusing on Shatterbird, who herself looks both confused and somewhat insulted.

Burnscar doesn't give a shit, there isn't enough fire around for her to have much of any clarity.

Siberian seems impassive and Jack is glaring lightly at me.

Bonesaw however, looks positively distraught.

"NO!", she yells out, "Why are you fighting!? Stop it! It's not funny!"

The way she stomps her foot impudently on the ground really drives home how young she is.

"Sorry Chibi, some things are just inevitable."

As I speak, I start approaching Jack, causing his hand to instinctively reach for his belt and the knives attached to it. Shatterbird goes to move at the same time, but a warning look from Lucy stops her, the implicit threat clear as day.

Despite knowing that none of his blades will pierce my skin, Jack still lets loose a swing at my neck, his power extending the reach of his blade to cover the distance, and I feel a soft force brush against my neck, kind of like someone rubbing a ruler on your skin.

I grin at him, but falter slightly when he gives a grin of his own and swings his knife twice more, both of us ignoring Bonesaw's complaints.

Both of the projected blades land, as I didn't see the point in dodging, only for my clothes to all fall to the floor, having been cut up by Jack, leaving me in my birthday suit.

Pausing to look down at myself and my ruined clothes, I roll my eyes at him with a sigh.

How petty...

Just to spite him, I call forth my armour, rather than walking naked, covering my entire body once more, from the feet all the way up to my neck.

I leave the mask out so that he can properly see my face when I kill him.

"Sorry Jack, but every good thing comes to an end and all that, it was fun while it lasted, but you're just kind of boring. Don't worry though, I'll make sure the world is a lot more fun without you in it.~"

Jack doesn't say anything in response. Instead he just puts his knife back and stares at me with a smug look that makes me feel like I'm missing something.

He seems far too pleased after all, but you know what they say, in for a penny, in for a pound.

No backing out now.

Long claws grow on my right hand, and I ready myself to swing it forward, planning to decapitate him in one move.

"Consider this my resignation.~"

I've always wanted to say that.

My arm swings forward, rising straight for his throat, but his smirk remains unchanged as he simply stands there.

My swing continues, uninterrupted, and my claw hits his neck without problem.

Only, instead of his neck being torn in half, it is my claw that rips itself apart on his skin, as if I swung a breadstick at a rock.

...I'm fairly certain invulnerability was not in his skillset yesterday.

A closer look shows that his body has suddenly gained a monochromatic look to it, and it's only incredibly belatedly that I notice the almost completely transparent Siberian standing next to him, holding his hand.

Ah, I see.

She can imbue others with her power, something I learnt a short while ago, which explained why she was holding Bonesaw's shoulder all that time ago when she was making Bear.

I guess this means that Sibby 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 on my side then.

Well, fuck me I guess.

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

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

I've been alternating between who I want to survive out of the nine hourly and I'm still not entirely sure who is going to survive. This has deffo been the hardest few chapters that I've written so far, just purely because I can't make up my fucking mind

(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!

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

Also, join the discord with this invite code! Pj3Dttwses