Chapter 42: Reforestation

Barbaric Bob - I love that. I really do.

Chaotic Pheonix - Firstly, as someone actually named Phoenix, it hurts me to keep that as it is. Secondly, neat.

The moment my seeds hit the earth, I commanded them to grow. In moments, a veritable sea of vines burst through the earth, all aiming for Crawler. To my Annoyance, he bulldozed through them, ignoring the cuts that began to litter his skin as he jumped onto my 'Legs', his acidic blood melting my roots. Growling a bit, I ordered the vines and roots that littered my form to extend and capture the fucker.

Complying, the vines in my arms, shoulders, and back, as well as the roots that made up my legs and chest, all shot out faster then they had any right too. The first few were torn apart or melted by his blood, but the next dozen stopped Crawler in his tracks. The next hundred though all curled around his body, the thorns sinking into the soft flesh of his eyes, "YEEEss! MORE!" Seeing nothing wrong in giving him what he wanted, I made the vines and roots constrict, putting on the pressure as bones cracked, scales shattered, and eyes popped... Which was Repulsive, I could deal with acid and blood, but eyeball fluid? Fuck no.

Slamming Crawler into the ground below me, I accidentally hit a car causing an explosion, I shed some more seeds, making them grow into vampiric vines that speared into his underbelly and eyes. As Sylvanus, I could do a little modification to what my seeds grew into, so making some carnivorous vines wasn't that hard. Sure, I had to make sure they were somewhat resistant to acid, I couldn't completely nullify that without spending a minute or two focusing on that particular mutation to make it possible, but they did their job.

I watched as Crawler thrashed and sprayed his acidic blood against my vines and roots, melting them and allowing himself the chance to bite and claw through, even going so far to tear his body apart to charge at me, his twisted cackle ringing out all the whole. "Annoyance." Raising a hand, and using more roots and vines to slow him down, which was easy considering he'd torn off his hind legs by blindly pushing forwards, I positioned it my arm above him, opening the valves containing my methane.

A cloud of brown gas met the air, filling the street as it wafted to and fro, and with a mental flip of a switch, I detached dozens of explosive pods. The cerulean orbs raining from my hand hit the ground in moments, igniting into a roaring wall of azure fire as Crawler, and most of the street, went up in flames.

When the fire died down, I looked towards Crawler... Well, what was left of Crawler, and felt my branches twitch. Somehow, only in this godforsaken world was this possible, the fucker was still alive. His entire lower half was gone, he was skewered by hundreds of roots and being squeezed like a rat in the grasp of a boa constrictor as his acidic blood was being siphoned from him, and was a charred mess leaking blood onto the ground... And yet he was STILL alive, weekly wiggling under my hold. (This is ridiculous.) Making some of my roots recede, I raised them to the base of his skull, then made them push forwards.

I felt it when they skewered his brain, and watched them come out of the other side of his skull. Crawler seized in my grasp, and only when he stopped did I retract all of the vines and roots piercing his body. Watching his body for a bit, I waited to see if the fucker would pull a Zenkai Boost out of his ass, and nodded when he didn't. (Though, just to be sure.) Rearing a fist back, I lined it up with my target, then slammed it down onto Crawler's corpse, feeling the scales, bone, and organs burst as the ground shook beneath my fist.

Bringing it back up, I saw Crawler was now a chunky smear on the ground, and nodded. Sure, there was some of him on me, which was melting a bit of my fist, but that was whatever. |Really?|

I rolled my eyes at the Exasperated question. [Can never be too careful when it comes to people like this. There'll be no plot armor for these fucks. They die, they stay dead.] Agreement flowed from her, Vindictive Happiness just a tad bit underneath the former emotion. I didn't mention it, knowing why she felt that way, pretty much everyone in the world Hated the Slaughterhouse 9, for good reason too, so knowing one of em was permanently down was a massive success already.

With him dealt with, I reached towards the dial, which I knew rested on top of my skull, and tapped it, turning back into myself. Going from a 20ft tall titan, to a nearly 6ft Human, took a moment for me to re-orientate myself, but I managed it.

Shaking it off, I gave a last look to Crawler, and after making sure he wasn't pulling himself together, I turned away, calling Behemoth to me a moment later. The street, and surrounding building, were a mess from the short 'Fight' between Crawler and I, so going that route wasn't exactly optimal. Mounting my ride, "Let's rev it up." And activating the flight configuration, I revved his engine, taking off and going over the roots and vines growing through the earth. [What's going on?]

I was sent images of the women dismounting the jet, which had stopped around some kind of shelter, and processed as Panacea entered the shelter, Narwhal taking off towards her target, and Khepri swinging up to a rooftop. At the moment, she was making her way through the city, her bugs searching for Manton as she did. While they were doing that, Dragon had flown her suit towards my main target, and Medusa was off after Mannequin.

Knowing all that, I nodded, taking off towards Dragon. I was pretty sure everyone else could handle their missions, so I was going to handle mine. |Be careful.| I sent her my Agreement, even limited to two forms, I would be fine against everyone including The Siberian, but Fear, especially when there were examples that bad shit happened when it came to the Slaughterhouse 9, wouldn't be subservient to logic. |Love you.|

That was always great to hear. [Love you too.] And with that, I upped the speed, blurring towards where Dragon was. Taylor could handle Manton, when she found him, while I knew Narwhal would be fine, she was a grown woman with my sniper, she'd handle Shatterbird easily.

The issue was Dragon. Sure, she was piloting a mechanized dragon, but she was up against Jack Slash and his bullshit, Hatchet Face, The Siberian, and whatever the fuck Bonesaw had. Going to her was just common sense really.

Annoyingly, I was sure it would take me a few minutes to get to them, but I'd get there in the end.

[Taylor's POV a few minutes earlier]

"I have nothing witty to say!" That said, my goof took a dive off the ramp, free falling from over 5,000ft in the air.

Letting out a sigh, I spoke my mind. |God, you're an idiot.| His response was a pulse of Humor, and to audibly laugh louder. While I said that, and really thought it, I couldn't help but smile. The sheer amount of Glee and Excitement coming from him was having an effect on me, and I accepted it. My Other Half generally existed in a constant state of Amusement, and Disinterest... Well, whenever I, our the rest of our family, wasn't involved. Feeling these emotions from him was a good thing really, so even though we were going into a Slaughterhouse scenario, there was a small smile on my face.

"SWAMPFIRE!" Hearing the call, and feeling the potential Hybrid Form, I knew what was about to happen. Bracing myself, and keeping the lock on transforming up, I was ready for the ocean's worth of power surged through me, and kept myself from reacting too much. I still twitched though, the amount of power this Ultimate held was crazy, but that was it.

Looking outside, the ramp hadn't been closed yet, I saw the living ecosystem take form, slamming into the earth with the force of a meteor. Thanks to being right next to her, I could see the way Amy's jaw dropped, and was highly Amused by it. Her jaw kept dropping though when my Other Half pushed himself off the ground, standing at his full height. "SYLVANUS!"

All in all, a very intimidating form. "... Yeah... Okay. Guess he's suddenly an Endbringer now." I blinked, tilting my head at Panacea, who saw the action and gaped at me. "Oh come on, look at him!" Doing just that, I watched as Crawler slammed into my Other Half, who only skidded back a small bit, and shook. Through the eyes of my bugs, I saw the seeds fall onto the ground, then hundreds of thorned vines burst through the earth, launching towards the Brute. As Crawler bulldozed his way through them, the nearby trees and grass explosively grew, turning the section of the city he was in into a forest, smothering the nearby flames...

Seeing all of that, I had to admit that yes, he looked like an Endbringer. "He's my Endbringer though." Panacea faked a gag, and I rolled my eyes. "In his words 'You have nothing and no one to gag on', so hush."

She gave me the stink eye for that, I was a little Sad she didn't choke, while Narwhal snorted. "Alright ladies, time to cut the chit chat. We're landing soon." Panacea and I nodded...

Right in time for an explosion to go off. I knew what happened, I was keeping a pair of feeds open to watch the fight, and felt just a tad bit bad for Crawler. It wasn't because he was getting the shit kicked out of him by a massive Ent, but because he wasn't dead yet. (You'd think getting as fucked up as he is that he'd be dead, but apparently not.) Really, if it was anyone else, I'd commend them. That was a top tier Power, it couldn't be anything else considering he was still alive after being skewered by Sylvanus and grand slammed into the earth, but the owner was a piece of shit so I wasn't going to say anything positive about him.

Anyway, Panacea and I stared at it for a bit, "Annoyance." Then paused as we saw him raise an arm. After a few moments, where we were closer to landing, the air began turning brown...

And my eyes widened when my bugs saw a few pods falling from his arm. (That block is gone.) And a moment later, like I expected, the street was engulfed in cerulean flames. "... Holy shit."

Looking over to Panacea, who was staring at the destruction my Other Half caused, I could practically guess what she was thinking. "It's easy to forget, isn't it?" She turned an eye towards the sound system, I put my phone back into my inventory so there was no mini Tess or Melody at the moment. "You'd do well to remember, Panacea, it is not the Power that defines the person, but what they do with that Power that determines who they are."(Yes.)

Narwhal and I nodded at that. I knew why she said that, Phoenix had told all of us, he told Melody who told Tess and her sisters, about how close Amy was to snapping. So hearing someone like Dragon tell her that, and Narwhal and I's nonchalance about her real Power, was bound to set a seed in her. I saw the introspective look in her eyes for a second, before it was gone. "Got it."

That said and done, we got up, the jet touching down in a moderately sized parking lot. As soon as we left the jet, I called for a pair of moths, getting them to land on my shoulders, and turned to Narwhal and Panacea. "I'll be keeping two feeds devoted to watching through these two, so if you need me, just call for me." The both of them nodded, so I ordered the moths to fly around Narwhal, and the other to perch itself on Panacea's shoulder.

I didn't need to give one to Dragon or Medusa, they were all patched into our suits' system, so they could just ping me if I was needed. (Sucks that we didn't have enough time to grab a comm.) While Dragon or Medusa, hell, even Anubis, could've made a pair for Narwhal and Panacea, we didn't bring the materials to do so, so we'd have to deal with my bugs.

With all that done though, we broke off to search for our targets. Stheno had marked a general location for me, and it would take me a few minutes to get to it, but I had a location, and that was all I needed. (Shouldn't take long really, just have to gather my Swarm, and have them disperse.) Shooting my grapple towards the nearest building, I pulled myself along, swinging my body forward as I released and shot another one. (Gather, follow, search, FIND HIM.)

Every insect in a 2 1/2 mile radius followed my command... And I did my best to ignore the thousands of insects that were currently feasting or were in the process of heading towards 'Warm meat nest/feast.' I was becoming an expert in compartmentalizing things like dead bodies being all around me, and I wasn't sure how to feel about it.

Putting aside the mildly traumatizing thoughts, it said something that corpses, and them being feasted on by insects, was only 'Mildly traumatizing' to me. I focused on one of the feeds on my Other Half. Seeing the amount of overkill he was committing, I had to ask. |Really?|

Amused Annoyance pulsed from him. [Can never be too careful when it comes to people like this. There'll be no plot armor for these fucks. They die, they stay dead.] I couldn't help but Agree at that, getting rid of any member of the Slaughterhouse 9, especially the big shots like Crawler, would always be a good thing. Though, the Vindictive grin I felt on my face was probably there for more darker reasons.

That aside, I felt the well of power wash away, knowing, and seeing through my bugs, that my Other Half turned back into himself. [What's going on?] Knowing it would be faster, I projected what I was doing, where Panacea and Narwhal were going, and showed what Dragon and Medusa were up too. It was easy since nearly everyone was still in my range, and Dragon and Medusa had kept a feed from their suits for me to watch through.

When he was finished processing everything, he nodded, calling for Behemoth. I watched as he took off, and after taking a second to figure out where he was going, I frowned. |Be careful.| He sent over a sense of Agreement, making my frown lessen just a small bit. |Love you.|

[Love you too.] And with that, he was off.

Putting my Worry aside, I focused on swinging through the city, gathering my bugs and flipping through feeds to find Manton. My Other Half didn't have much information on the man himself, I'd ended up looking through Guild connections to find out all I could, but he knew the Master went around in some kind of van. Now, searching around for a van in a city, even one as fucked up as Michigan currently was, would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Which it was, not to give the illusion that the process was easy or anything, but there were a few factors that narrowed down my search. Firstly, the van would most likely be intact. Manton followed the 9 wherever they went, and I doubted he'd let himself go with them if his vehicle got destroyed every time Shatterbird sang. Another was that it had to be conspicuous. No one had ever noticed a van following the Slaughterhouse 9, which could be attributed to the fact there were usually thousands left dead in the wake of one of their visits, kindofliken...- Shooing that off, now wasn't the time for me to freak out, that could come later and with a healthy amount of cuddling from my boyfriend, I kept on swinging and searching.

It was a minute or so later that an explosion went off in one of my feeds, and I looked at it. Seeing which feed it was, I blinked. (He has explosives?) I wasn't sure why I was Surprised, Mannequin was a Tinker and all Tinker's were bullshit, but I had no idea where the hell he was keeping them... A section of his back opened up, exposing a rack of what looked like small ba...- The balls ejected from his back, shooting out and homing onto the Dragon Suit he was going up against. Medusa saw them coming, shimmering in hexagonal shielding that looked like our shields, but better, and protected her from another round of explosions.

Rushing through the smoke, the frames of her wings opened up and revealed miniature turrets thrumming with Pulse Energy. Seeing that, Mannequin lashed out with his left arm, the limb breaking apart and turning into a veritable net of mono-molecular wire aimed at the Dragon Suit. Not caring about it, Medusa opened fire on the wires as she charged forwards, her hind legs pushing her forward as boosters flared even stronger then before. The Pulse Rounds ri...- I snapped towards a street a few blocks away, a feed showing me who I was looking for.

Putting the fight between Medusa and Mannequin aside for now, I swung up towards the closest apartment complex, I was going to need a high rise considering where the bastard was, and latched onto the side of the closest one. Feeling my fingers and feet firmly pressed against the building, I started crawling upwards, leaping when it was optimal, and reached the rooftop.

Wall crawling was another thing I'd taken like a fish to water too, it would be hard not too considering I practiced by relying on spiders to teach me how to mimic their movements and learn how exactly to do this. (Nothing to do with the fact Spider-Man is awesome.) I would fight anyone that said otherwise, and promptly kick their teeth in for good measure.

Threatening my nonexistent audience, I vaulted over the ledge, rolling forwards until I stopped and got up. Taking a moment to pause, and bring up the feed from the bug I'd left with Panacea since she called for me, I brought out my Sentinel. The feed from Panacea showed she was in what looked like some amateur hospital room, people gathering around her as she did her thing, occasionally looking out of a window as she did. "You can hear me, right, Khepri?" With a simple command, the moth flapped its wings a bit. Seeing that, Panacea nodded, turning away. "So, Burnscar is coming, and I really want to shoot her in her stupid fucking face... What do I do?"

Blinking,and using a bunch of bugs to look around and see that yes, Burnscar was on the way, I turned to look at my... Friend, she came along with us to a Slaughterhouse 9 zone without so much as a second thought, she deserved it. So, looking at Panacea, I mentally nodded. (Gather.) Without skipping a beat, insects rushed towards a corner of her room, the random people she was treating shouting in surprise and fear, while she just watched. In moments, enough had gathered for me to use. "I can handle her if I get an opening." And I could. All it would take was a little thing like a fly going into her ear, getting into her brain, and digging in, to kill her.

The comforting weight of my favorite weapon helped with the nerves that thought provoked, few as they were considering I Shunted them away as soon as they appeared, and the thrum of the Pulse Reactor grounded me. Panacea grunted, her head turning to the nearest reflective surface as she looked at herself, and the borrowed sniper by proxy. "I don't actually know how to use this thing though."

That was a good point. "Depending on distance, it'll be simple. If she's anywhere in the minimum range, which again is 50 meters, and you've got her dead to rights, then she'll be hit." Amy nodded, bringing out the Sentinel and walking to the window. She was set up in a PRT secured shelter, which was in what looked like a school. "Stun or kill?"

Panacea paused, her lips turning down into a frown as she looked at the gun. Her face went through several different motions, and I let her be. By the time she responded, I reached the opposite end of the roof. "I'm not sure if I'm ready to cross that line... So as dumb as it is, I'll stick to the stun option." I accepted that, I knew just how much of a ordeal crossing the line was, and as I did, I prepared myself for what I was about to do.

"Then make the shot count. Give me an audible countdown before you fire, so I'll know when to act." Taking a knee, and noting that she nodded, I dispersed the Swarm Clone and perched my Sentinel onto the ledge, an eye closing as the other peered through the scope. Thanks to my bugs, I knew where to look, so I didn't waste time searching for the van, and just locked onto it. It was a normal van, tinted windows might've been slightly suspicious before, all that would've been missing was the ice cream truck jingle or a logo of candy, but now that I had eyes in the vehicle, I knew it what was, and who was at the helm. Looking at said glass, I frowned, tapping the side of my Sentinel's scope as I did. (Not sure how thick the glass is, so it might survive an initial shot.)

Another tap to the scope, and I decided to aim lower. (I could probably blow up the engine with a direct shot...) I hummed at that thought, running the scenario through my m...- Excited Anticipation pulsed from the Bond, and I spared a look to my Other Half... (What the fuck?) I gaped at the sheer audacity he had, because no one else aside from him would think about doing that, then closed my other eye and let out a breath. I couldn't be distracted at the surreal shit my partner was doing. I had a target, a man who controlled the most dangerous Projection in the world, and I had to take him down. There would be no incapacitation, The Siberian was too dangerous to risk a non lethal take down, so I had to focus and put aside the fact I was adding another body to my count.

Opening my eye, I peered through the scope, slowly turning it to look elsewhere.

While the engine was a good idea, it wasn't the only one. From where I was, I had a somewhat workable angle at the fuel tank. While Pulse Energy wasn't lightning/electricity, it shared enough properties with it to ignite the gasoline if I hit the shot. (The angle could be better though.) Thinking about it, I turned to look at the nearest buildings, searching for a better perch.

It didn't take long to find it, so getting up and holstering my Sentinel, I dashed towards the next building. In flight I shot a tether that dug into the building, swinging with enough momentum to flip up to the ledge of the building. As I swung, I heard the familiar sound of a Diamond Round being fired, making my eyes drift to another feed, this one of Narwhal. The leader of The Guild was kneeling on a rooftop, the Longbow she wielded being put to rest against her shoulder as Shatterbird's corpse crashed into a building. Releasing my tether as I dove for a bit, I thought about how good that was, then shot out another tether when it was needed. After another few moments of swinging, I landed on my destination, and began setting back up. "I'm ready..."

That made me frown. It wasn't the content of what she said, but how she said it. The small waver in her voice was enough for me to know that while she said she was really, reality was that she wasn't. Still, that would be something for later.

So, bringing back the Swarm Clone, the bare minimum of one at least, I set up. When that was done, I aimed at the fuel tank, taking a breath as I steadied myself, and decided to help her with this. "Take a deep breath Panacea, it'll help." I kept an eye on her, watched as she took said breath, calming as she did. "Good. Now with me. 3. 2. 1... Fire." We squeezed the trigger, the sound of a pair of Pulse Rounds tearing through the air echoed through my ears, blitzing towards their targets. I saw the moment they both connected, and watched as the van shuddered before the tank and gas within ignited, the vehicle going up in flames as it exploded.

With the van down, I switched my focus to Burnscar, who had fallen to the ground screaming, the fires in her vicinity going wild and flaring towards the sky. (Swarm.) And without missing a beat, thousands of insects crawled and flew out of the wood works and Swarmed the downed pyromaniac. The majority of them were random and normal bugs, but there were enough insects with paralytic venom thrown in there to take out a person.

In moments, Burnscar's shaking began to turn into a erratic jerk, before he body eventually seized and came to a stop. "... Is... Is she..?"

Looking at Panacea through the eyes of my moth, I easily made out the small shakes wracking through her. Letting out a breath, I answered. "She'll live." And she would, I knew how much would be too much and moderated how many insects with paralytics bit into her. She'd be out for the count for atleast 10 minutes, which would be long enough.

Panacea let out a sigh of relief at that, and seemed ready to move, when the sound of people panicking reached our ears. Clicking her tongue, Panacea re holstered the Sentinel, rushing out of the room as someone guided her away. I still followed her with the moth I'd given her, and watched as she was led to an auditorium. Seeing everyone just made me frown, a frown that only grew as I took in how many were injured and how extensive their wounds were. As Panacea got back to work, I turned away from the feed, and back to the van.

I kept my eye on it for a bit, the image of a burning van searing itself into my mind. (... That makes 3.) Logically, I knew it wasn't entirely the same, but emotionally I counted Cinder as the first real life I'd taken. The Goblin King had been the 2nd, and while it was for a good cause, I was still a little uneasy about the whole thing. Manton, the Master of The Siberian, being the 3rd life I'd taken made me feel... I blinked.

I wasn't entirely sure what I felt... And I didn't know how to feel about th...- "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

My eyes snapped to the feeds from Dragon and Anubis' suits, and they widened when I took in the form of Bonesaw, whose eyes rolled back into her head, her body slumping as the Dragon Suit slumped down with her. "The fu...- Oh hell no." The fibers of his left arm moved, and the dial popped. Without looking at the image, my partner slammed his free hand onto the dial, causing the flash and a surge of familiar power to course through me. "SWAMPFIRE!"

Before anything else could happen, Bonesaw's body rippled, her flesh turning an angry pink as the uppermost layer of her skin seemingly peeled away for her musculature to show itself, making my eyes nearly pop out of my skull at what I was seeing. (I need to get there.) Putting away my Sentinel, I vaulted over the ledge, (Start Your Engine.) Johanna appeared beneath me, immediately activating with a hurried prompt, her frame shifting as she turned into her Flight Configuration. Revving the engine, I shot forwards, heading towards the direction o...-

Another flash went off alongside an ocean's surge of power, and the city was once again graced with "SYLVAN...- Alright ya little bitch." He didn't get to finish his introduction before a giant mass of pink flesh and steel slammed into him, the blob growing as it assimilated the nearby cars, corpses, lampposts, and even the Dragon Suit. The blob kept growing, absorbing anything and everything that was compatible, quickly reaching half of my Other Half's size, limbs and features slowly becoming distinct.

Seeing that, I pushed Johanna even harder, mentally preparing myself to release the lock I had on my Hybrid and Full Alien forms. While my Dryad form wouldn't be as helpful as I'd want it to be, becoming a Methanosian would help supply my Other Half with his loss of fire power, while also providing me with enough methane to contribute to the fight.

Hopefully, it would be enough.

That's all for now. Back to waiting ye go.

And yes, Bonesaw Second Triggered. The scenario that caused it will be shown when the next round of chapters come out, but considering her original Trigger Event, it can probably be guessed.

Whenever it comes out, the next chapter should be Amy, Dragon, and Melody's POVS, and end with the Bonesaw thing.