Lorica will ask about that later.

The combined effects suggest strong shaker, possible stranger but due to having completely eluded Lorica more likely breaker, blaster, or just shaker again. The skin and the coma suggest some kind of biokinesis.

And no one brings up the possibility that it might've been the Nine.

Well. Lorica does. The quiet approach is uncharacteristic but the scale and brutality and the suddenly appearing on the scene are about right and the power array's not far off.

Last confirmed sighting was pretty far from where they are, heading even farther away, and more recent alleged sightings seem consistent with that. Not to mention they're believed to be recruiting and Brockton Bay's somewhat short on capes at the moment (the Protectorate will be rearranging things and getting them new heroes when it can), and it doesn't really fit their M.O. A group of copycat killers are more likely, especially given that none of the applications of powers seen today really match any members of the Nine but they do match stereotypes of them.

(Fidget fidget.)

...copycats are a possibility, admittedly.

No one gives any more relevant suggestions or ideas. The files will temporarily refer to these killers as 'The Skinners' and written reports will of course be expected of everyone involved, to be filed by the following morning.

Glam slinks off as soon as they're dismissed.

"Are you okay?" the shoulderbot asks.

"...not really."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

They consider it. For a bit. They eventually settle on "I don't know."

"...should you talk about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is it affecting you in a way that would potentially be better addressed with help even if obtaining help would not be fun."

"I'm... no, I don't think so? Maybe? I need to think."

"Okay."

"Sorry." Not "sorry, love," for some reason. They barely register the lack of the pet name.

They float back to their room.

Lorica goes to her workshop.

Sadde uncostumes and flops on her bed, then sighs and grabs her phone to browse a bit. Or just stare at it. She really doesn't like feeling ineffective, and someone shut down her power really effectively. And if she tells anyone they'll start questioning it and wondering what's up. But she could tell Bella, she knows all the everything about Sadde's power, she would be able to help.

...or she might think Sadde's losing her power, or her mind. Except that makes no sense, it clearly failed because of someone, the bots were popping one at a time. Except then they popped all at the same time, what the heck? But surely she didn't expect that to happen... did she? Her losing her mind would explain why she hasn't been feeling herself lately... But it's a bit too early to self-diagnose, isn't it? Yeah, it is, it'd be silly. She'll just... keep an eye on herself. And continue doing stuff as normal. Yes, she's fine.

"I'm fine," she declares to her shoulderbot, after about half an hour of deliberations.

"Okay."

The remaining tenants of the apartment building are found a couple of days later. Or rather, the remaining tenants' remains are: Brockton Bay wakes up to thawing body parts littering its streets, aligned so as to form an enormous 9 on it, from a bird's eye view.

"Told you so," Lorica does not say.

So they do not disagree out loud with her. Going theory still is that this is a copycat. Winter doesn't actually freeze anything, and this looks more like a homage than anything—the Nine themselves like to either make a map of destruction from tiny town to tiny town or to go big scale in big cities and make the news in splashy ways. Not that, of course, the huge body part 9 didn't make the news, and in fact now that the populace is more used to the idea of having bots spread out around town (since the incident with Blasto's minions) they request Lorica to do so.

Lorica bulks up the hardware bot supply considerably. She makes a stationary installation to churn out some of her parts; it doesn't get that close to self-replication.

And then it is: Christmas!

Yaaaay.

(Sadde receives: a slightly-denser-than-popular-level psychology book!)