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]

Ugh. Cam doesn't know if Jack Slash is theatrical enough to come have a look at his own corpse were one to appear, and he doesn't want to sow confusion... Maybe he should just actually call the authorities, claim Shatterbird, ask if they can find anyone else for him. He gets the local Protectorate number, calls them up.

[wormcan]

The person on the other end starts out with no preamble, "Are you in immediate danger?"

[from_scratch]

"Transfer me to whoever's coordinating the capes."

[wormcan]

"The Director is in the middle of trying to handle the emergency. Do you have information?"

[from_scratch]

"I just killed Shatterbird and I can't find the others."

[wormcan]

"Transferring you now." The phone makes phone noises for a few seconds before being picked up again.

"Deputy Director Owens. Who is this?"

[from_scratch]

"Cam. The Kyushu guy. I'm in town for unrelated reasons, just killed Shatterbird, can't find the rest."

[wormcan]

"Neither can we. Shatterbird's the only one to have been seen; we know where the blast came from and what direction she was flying when she started, but that's all right now. We're trying to beat the odds on narrowing down their location before they attack again."

[from_scratch]

"Anything useful to do with me in the meanwhile? Key glass objects I can replace for you?"

[wormcan]

"We could use our computers back, but you should try the hospitals. They've got a lot of patients and they lost a lot of equipment."

[from_scratch]

"Call me back when you find any S9?"

[wormcan]

"Definitely. We've got reinforcements coming in, but we'll need all the help we can get."

[from_scratch]

"Okay."

Phone, away. Map of San Francisco: get. Hospital: go. Equipment and blood for transfusions: put.

[wormcan]

Enormous quantities of human blood appearing ex nihilo is the best thing that has happened all day. (Today isn't a very good day.)

[from_scratch]

Cam can be pretty useful in a hospital but this isn't the best kind of hospital for his form of help, because it not from 2157, has no angels, and can't summon demons on a routine basis; diminishing returns hit pretty quickly. He moves on to the next one, checking his phone every few moments for local news and Internet alerts indicating anything.

[wormcan]

Information is coming in more slowly than usual, under the circumstances. He'll be able to find out what locations were hit hardest, but nobody is spotting the Nine and tweeting it.

[from_scratch]

Of course they're not. It's almost elegant.

A facial recognition drone swarm sweeping the city might not go amiss... what have they got on recognizable faces for drones?

[wormcan]

The group includes Mannequin and Crawler; it's not always the faces that would be recognizable. But Jack Slash has been smiling for the cameras for years, there are pictures of Bonesaw available, Cam has pretty good odds.

[from_scratch]

All right. Go, swarm of drones, go. They will all self-destruct into harmless unTinkerable slag if anybody grabs one.

[wormcan]

It's probably to be expected that the first one spotted is Crawler. Being huge can do that. He's lurking —not hiding—in a relatively isolated abandoned house. Well, recently abandoned. Inherited, one might say.

The drones don't see whether there are any of the other Nine with him.

[from_scratch]

Well, then Cam can go get into a fight with Crawler.

Given how Crawler works, is there, like, a list anywhere he can look at on his way there of things Crawler is known already immune to?

[wormcan]

Acid, burns, cutting... What it comes down to is "everything." He's been actively trying to become immune to things, and he's been running around with the Slaughterhouse Nine. They're collectively interested in novel ways to hurt people.

[from_scratch]

Grand. And Cam can't exactly release terrifying futuristic superplagues in San Francisco.

Cam flies to where Crawler is not-hiding and encases him whole in concrete.

[wormcan]

The block of concrete doesn't object. It's perfectly content to exist and restrain the unkillable monstrosity.

And then Crawler bursts through. His head comes out first. It's an oil-black chitinous mass pouring out a sizzling liquid, and is also the size of a small car. The acid eats at the concrete and his excess number of limbs start making openings in the weakened concrete. A mouthful of the same venom can be spared for launching at Cam.

[from_scratch]

It would be sort of awkward to have this fight without pants and worse to pause mid-combat to replace all and only the parts of his pants that need replacing and worse still to wind up in several layers of pant. So the acid is interrupted by liquid nitrogen. Okay, if cement won't do, does Cam have to launch him into space? How much does Crawler even weigh? This neighborhood might be a little too inhabited for a rocket and if Cam tries to put him in some other sort of chassis he'll just break out -

Maybe Crawler can be tangled up in carbon nanotubes?