1.14 Slaughter Part 5

Gears glances over his shoulder at Protector. Both of them are in their armour and are out looking for Sinister Man.

“Thanks for coming Protector,” says Gears as they fly through the air, “It means a lot to have somebody at my back. Especially after this morning incidents.”

“Don’t worry about it,” replies Protector before his deep voices turns solemn, “I know what it is like to have a supervillain break into your home.”

Aquiline broke into Cain’s house the day he manifested.

He had it worse than we did.      

Aye, no powers, his family at home and multiple supervillains.

“You had it worse,” points out Gears.

“Guardian saved us,” replies Protector with a slight shrug, “Plus Aquiline has been staying away from up here.”

Gears thinks about the first supervillain that he and Guardian fought together. Assumed dead, Aquiline revealed himself to be alive once Guardian’s “death” became known to the public.

Since then, Aquiline has formed himself a team of superpowered psychotic serial killers known as the Slaughter Seven. Aquiline ditched his old teammates of Krystal and Techni-Hurt.

Now he has Demonica, an Abnormal with “Dark Magic” alongside several other powers, as his second-in-command.

Murder Wolf, a vicious teleporting wolfman, and Murderiser, an invisible Bellator, are his main combatants while Hackjob and Necromantress form support. Hackjob is a gadgeteer specialising in biology while Necromantress can bring back the dead as different types of “Undead”.

Friend is the last member of the group and is able to convince those around him that he is a friend or ally.

And all of them are A Class with the exception of Aquiline, who is unrated with his exact powers still an unknown.

And let’s not forget all of those lackeys who follow them around. Slaughter ‘Seven’ my arse. There is about twenty to thirty of them.

At least Aquiline has drawn most of the country’s powered pyschos to him.

Now remind me, is that a good or bad thing?

But while the Slaughter Seven have been terrorising the rest of the country, they have left the states around Lake Michigan alone.

“Guardian certainly made a lasting impression on Aquiline,” notes Leo.

Not only has Aquiline waited until Guardian’s death before revealing himself and is still avoiding the area around Guardian’s territory, but Aquiline has completely geared himself to counter Guardian.  The sociopath has completely eschewed electronic devices as well as devices with any sort mechanisms such as guns.

Even the public has picked up on Aquiline’s fear of Guardian. Several news reporters and bloggers have mentioned it. Not it has done anything helpful, but it has increased Guardian’s reputation due to massive kill count that Aquiline and his Slaughter Seven have been racking up.

“So what sort of powers does the Sinister Man have again,” asks Protector.

“Are you still watching the video?” replies Gears.

“Oh yeah,” says Protector, “Now I’m not. I’m starting to remember him better.”

Due to his adaptive ability, Leo figured that Cain would slowly become immune to Sinister Man’s memory forgetting ability, become more resistance each time it happens. And it has proved correct as Protector is able to remember Sinister Man after watching the video of the parahuman a multitude of times.

Cain’s adaptive ability has made him quite powerful as the power alters his body like the Enhanced power does rather than gain new powers. And in the months since he manifested, Cain has been training his ability every day.

In fact, Cain is now a D Class to D+ Class in most physical abilities with his regeneration being somewhere between D+ Class and C- Class.

I wonder how strong Cain will get.

Perhaps there is an upper limit on how strong he can get?

He would be so overpowered if he weren’t.

Yes, he is already half-immune to power nullification due to the nature of his adaptations.

I’m just glad he is one of the good guys with such a versatile power set.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gears spots a blur momentarily, the motion being highlighted by his HUD.

“Do you see that?” asks Protector as they reach one of the nastier parts of town.

“I think so,” replies Gears as he looks down at where something skirted into an alleyway, “Let’s investigate further. Cover me.”

Gears flies downward, landing with a gentle thud as Protector drops to the ground behind him. The sight awaiting them causing Gears to take a step back as he draws two of his four molecular daggers.

The beast is crouched over a pair of human corpses, both mangled and bloody. The creature itself is roughly three metres long and looks like a hairless and earless cat. Its stitched leathery hide looks hard and tough while the four eyes across its face look just plain out of place.

“What on Earth is that thing?!” exclaims Protector as the creature bares its fang filled maw at them.

“This is bad,” says Gears as the two corpses begin to get up.

They look as dead as ever, but they move as if they were alive, one even picking his gun back up.

“What are those things?” demands Protector as the two corpses march towards him and Gears.

Do I seriously have to deal with-

“Zombies,” replies Gears in a dry voice, “And yes, I’m calling them that. What’s next? Vampires? Werewolves?”

That said, they do seem to be more revenants than zombies.

Who cares?

Just a thought.

“So who dances with whom?” inquires Protector as the cat-beast unleashes its massive claws

.

“I’ll take the beast, you take the zombies,” replies Gears as the beast pounces at him.

Firing up his KEPs, Gears meets the beast mid-air as he hears gun shots below. The beast howls in frustration as Gears stabs one of his molecular blades through the elbow of its front legs.

The joint is sliced open, cutting the nerves that let it control its lower leg. With one leg neutralised, Gear quickly takes out the other front leg in the same matter before tossing the creature into the alley below.

As the beast crashes into the ground, Gears ground pounds his boot into its head. He feels the skull break under his boot and the brain go squish. But despite losing its head, the beast’s body is still squirming, trying to fight Gears.

Now that is creepy.

Should we finish it off?

Once the area is secure.

Aye, we should only waste time or resources finishing it off once all other threats are dealt with.

As he turns to see Protector still fighting with the two zombies, Gears hears a slow clap from behind him.