this is crazy

[from_scratch]

Cam is watching a new recording of Atriama, tail swishing in the gap in his couch, and doesn't stop to pause the show when he feels a summons go by.

Comments

[from_scratch]

"I'm not trying to bribe you in advance," Cam says.

[wormcan]

"Leading to the same risk of you winding up back here, and also me remaining un-bribed.
Don't worry, I'll pretend you hadn't said that part and act accordingly."

[from_scratch]

"I really can't do anything about brains, so I recommend being really squeaky clean by the time I am next in town lest metastasis obviate your options. And if I ever have the urge to operate on inoperable cancer in people who aren't productively steering large international organizations I know where to satisfy that impulse and it won't put me anywhere near you."

[wormcan]

"Yes, yes, you've made your point."

[from_scratch]

"I like it when I make points. Anything else to cover before I fly away again?"

[wormcan]

"Not at all. I look forward to working with you. Productively."

[from_scratch]

"Lovely."

Cam heads out.

[wormcan]

Leaving the Elite to presumably restructure their organization on short notice.

[from_scratch]

One can always hope.

Cam calls his ship down from geostationary orbit.

[wormcan]

There'll be a bit of a wait while it descends.

Just before it reaches him, there's a crash. It's loud, but he can feel it more than he can hear it. The crash itself is more like an impact, like if someone dropped a grand piano that was also the size of the moon. The spaceship rocks in the air, and shattered glass falls down from it.

[from_scratch]

The fuck?

[wormcan]

The good news is, this wasn't targeted at Cam. The bad news is, this wasn't targeted at Cam.

In every direction windows have exploded, sirens are going off, and there are plumes of sand and glass rising into the air.

[from_scratch]

The fuck. Cam lets his shattered spaceship make an emergency landing and takes to the air on non-glass wings.

[wormcan]

This is a bad city to not be invulnerable in. Cam may have been lucky enough to be away from anything that exploded, but a lot of more fragile people weren't. The dust is settling, and even after the explosion the place is still loud.

[from_scratch]

Does anyone seem to know what happened?

[wormcan]

Yes. Almost everyone does, except Cam. If he lands and asks, the first response is going to be "Shatterbird."

[from_scratch]

Shatterbird being...?

[wormcan]

"...she's a cape," says the bystander, grimacing as she improvises a bandage. "This means the Slaughterhouse Nine are here."

[from_scratch]

Bystander gets a blood transfusion and proper bandaging for her trouble.

Does Cam have wifi?

[wormcan]

He does, thanks largely to the efforts of one Campbell Swan in getting this planet up to a civilized standard. His computer is probably the only one in who knows how far that's still in a state to connect to the satellite wifi, but it's there to be connected to.

The Slaughterhouse Nine are a group of parahumans who travel the country seeing the sights and killing people. They are very good at this. Ever since Shatterbird joined their method of announcing their presence has been to make every piece of glass in the city violently explode.

The Nine aren't the only capes ever to have a kill order placed allowing anyone who can manage it to legally kill them and collect a reward. But the longer-term members are among the very few to survive having such an order for any length of time. Reading the list of their powers, the fact that Shatterbird isn't the scariest may have something to do with this.

[from_scratch]

All right. Seems like it might be time to go kill some people.

Cam gets aloft again. Shatterbird can fly. Any chance she's doing it now?

[wormcan]

She probably is, somewhere, but she has a lot of range. No sign of her.

[from_scratch]

Cam overflies San Francisco. He can't do a whole lot about the damage on the scale it was dealt.

[wormcan]

Thousands of people flood the streets, there are screams and alarm bells ringing, and a few flying capes. And yes, there, one of the capes has decorative stained glass wings.

[from_scratch]

The decorative stained glass cape is now unconscious.