Shard of Magic [Worm crossover]

by blake0831

Interlude 11

The first clue Jack Slash have that something was about to happen was a sensation of 'white noise' at the back of his head.

He and his compatriots were sheltering in a one-story suburban commercial warehouse in one of the more out of way towns that dotted the MidWest. Dear Bonesaw was entertaining herself with some 'materials' acquired from the local homeless population, the child figured bio-tinker gleefully immersed in a new 'project'. The Siberian was nearby, the zebra striped nude woman protectively hunched over her chosen charge like a mother looking at her child at work. Shatterbird was lounging of the sofa in the office, the shapely woman playing with her characteristic cloak of glass shards by making moving artistic 'sculptures' in the air. Crawler and Hatchet Face were lumbering among the warehouse goods on the main floor area, the car-sized monstrosity and the brawny power nullifier axe-wielder toying with the remains of the warehouse guards and workers. Burnscar was fooling around by torching some of the goods, the scarred face girl staring rapturously at the flames; while Mannequin tinkered with some computers part scavenged from the office, the mad Tinker in a full prosthetic body busy with adding some new equipment to himself.

Jack Slash was sprawled on a office chair, the charismatic knife wielder idly flicking a butterfly knife open and close as he perused on a purloined smartphone a rather interesting job request from someone named 'Ravager'. He had his hands full corralling this band of murderous and sadistic psychopaths and convincing them into quietly coming to this out of the way town and staying low, so he relished the opportunity for some down time.

Nevertheless, some of the Slaughterhouse Nine were already getting antsy. Mannequin have caught word of Armsmaster and Dragon's efforts lately and wanted to pay them a visit. Going all the way to Canada to assault Dragon at the Guild's stronghold was not feasible, but Armsmaster in deary Brockton Bay may be reachable. Crawler was inching for a fight with the Tinker that brought low Lung, and the two members had nearly come to blows before Jack had stepped in. The brute Hatchet Face wanted to test his mettle against the new Ward there who was a Trump, and Burnscar wanted to meet with an old friend there from the sanitarium. Bonesaw wanted to meet Panacea to get a new sister.

Jack Slash was currently weighing the pros and cons of going to Brockton Bay. True, nearly half of their little group was in favor, but the local PRT and Protectorate forces had made massive in-roads against the local villain groups, so they were be a bit too strong for his taste. Perhaps he could persuade them with a quest to acquire a new member to fill up the ranks? They were supposed to be Nine, after all...

The odd sensation came as he was mulling the prospects. A trio of constant, clashing 'tones' that he was somehow hearing but not with his ears. As he stood up and looked around in alert, a sudden crashing sound and a cry of pain and shock drew his attention. A wide eyed Shatterbird was looking at the cuts on her body and feeling the ones on her face. Littered around her were piles of glass shards. But her power prevents the shards from cutting her, so how...?

A massive crash sounded throughout the warehouse, causing him to whirl around in surprise. In the middle of an empty spot of the warehouse floor, standing in a crater of twisted metal of the roof trusses and floor concrete, was a large dark-coloured bipedal robot, with an ape-like build, sturdy legs and large arms. The reptilian-styled head swiveled about, the folded wings on its back twitching before it found what it was looking for. It quickly raised an arm at a frozen-in-surprise Crawler, the claws and metal plates of the forearm opening and unfolding to reveal a massive cannon that fired a ball of white light at the monstrous Nine member.

The ball merely splashed over the hide of the regenerator, prompting Crawler to charge at the draconic robot. As the robot kept firing at the charging monster cape, walls on two spots blew in with loud bangs. PRT Troopers poured in through the openings, escorted by a pair of lumbering hulking robots, similar to the earlier one, but with no wings, better armor and large glowing crystals in the forearms. The robots proceeded to stomp into the warehouse, raising their arms and creating a large translucent energy shield. The PRT Troopers took cover behind the shield and robots and opened fire.

Jack dove for cover while lashing out with his knife. He scowled as he saw his extended slash merely skidded over the shields with hardly any effect. He saw Mannequin burst into motion, jumping around and extending his limbs on chains to dodge the incoming fire. Shatterbird tried to use her power and gestured, but the glass shards were unresponsive and she got peppered with high velocity bullets.

As Jack scrambled for cover, he saw Crawler had grappled with the first robot, but his movements seemed sluggish as he struggled to topple the robot that held its ground and continued to shoot him with that cannon. Burnscar only had a chance to look at her empty hands in puzzlement before the PRT Troopers gunned her down. Hatchet Face had dove into the maze of warehouse goods, while Bonesaw took cover behind a pillar.

As Crawler inexplicably slumped to the ground, the Siberian charged into the first robot. The robot only had time to reform its claws and have them glow red hot before the Siberian slammed into the robot and tore it into pieces in a berserk charge. Jack ran for some cover when his torso exploded in agonizing pain and he lost control of his legs.

Lying there on the floor, Jack moved his head up with some effort and looked at his stomach. There, impaled through his body, was a severed clawed arm of the robot. 'Huh.' he hazily thought. The impact between the Siberian and the robot was enough to send pieces all over the warehouse, including right at him. The only reason he wasn't immediately bleeding out right now was because the still red hot claws had cauterized the wounds as it stabbed through him.

Footsteps drew Jack's fading attention to the front of him, where he saw a squad of PRT Troopers. The Troopers stopped there and raised their rifles at him and pulled the triggers-

Status of Targets
Jack Slash: Deceased
Shatterbird: Deceased
Burnscar: Deceased
Crawler: Captured
Bonesaw: At large
Siberian: At large
Mannequin: At large
Hatchet Face: At large

Addendum: Presence of Ninth member unconfirmed.

Operation aborted prematurely due to imminent Endbringer Attack. Critical resources reallocated.