Sarcina and all the other Loricae move into the skyscraper very happily. Robots fly out the window or let themselves out the front door on a routine basis.

(How the fuck did they kill the Siberian.)

Apparently she's a projection and Foil can pop her temporarily. That plus extensive efforts by Dragon and Velocity to hunt her and Bonesaw down managed it - along with some sort of contribution from Grue though the media doesn't seem to know what. Bonesaw apparently managed to slip away but Dragon is keeping up the pursuit and thinks that Bonesaw is spending too much time on the run to tinker up anything too elaborate.

Why in the world would that prevent Bonesaw from tinkering up anything elaborate. As soon as she has something that can drive that will pass to casual inspection in a hat and sunglasses she can park in the back of a van and tinker while traveling to her heart's content.

So far they've caught and destroyed her transport twice and she still needs materials - particularly parahuman bodies - to do anything elaborate. At least that's what the PRT spokesperson said when a reporter questioned their original statement on the subject.

Well, the Loricae don't like betting on that but don't have a particular angle to go after her with.

Lucien gets some messages suggesting that he could scoot some rivers over - not too far, to places they've been in within the last fifty years, but it'll be more convenient if they're over There, for the railroad.

Lucien is happy to be distracted from his current task of trying to figure out how to redeem the $125k in Chuck E. Cheese tokens that the Undersider's apparently count among their assets. 

Oh yeah, I can definitely manage that. You have convenient transport there?

Yes, I have a chassis that can shuttle passengers now, although it's very lightly armed and you'd need to handle security mostly by yourself.

Can you transport an additional passenger?

It's rated for 700lbs total additional weight in the compartment.

In that case he'll bring Bitch and a couple of her dogs.

The shuttle is in a cheerful red, blue, and silver color scheme and settles down to admit them and takes off for the rivers in question.

Lucien has a brought a laptop to work on spreadsheets, while Bitch discovers that she absolutely hates flying.

"Would you prefer to double back and be dropped off?" Rete asks Bitch.

She glares at the speaker.

"No."

Then they will fly the rest of the way to the inconveniently located rivers.

Lucien sends out a array of shallow furrows first at each sight, getting the lay of the land, before extending his power deeper and farther. He carves several parallel trenches along the direction the rivers should be in instead, each half a mile along and two yards deep. Once that's done he sets to work opening up a path from the river proper to the new location.

All of this is to say that he's having the time of his life while the zombie apocalypse starts in Boston.

It is not a particularly slow zombie apocalypse. By the time the media has news helicopters in the air two neighborhoods have been infested. The zombies - monsters, capes, whatever they are - look like rotting corpses but move as fast as any human sprinter. Hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, moving in chaotic mobs, without any seeming purpose. The news anchor on the helicopter speculates over the sound of rotors that the Butcher and her Teeth might be somehow involved given their suspected presence in this part of Boston. A projectile flies towards the helicopter a moment later, lending weight to his final words. 

To Loricae, assorted,

This is a notification that your help is requested by Director Armstrong in dealing with the ongoing B-class threat suspected to involve the Butcher, due to your Master/Stranger immunity plausibly rendering you immune to the downsides of killing the Butcher.

Brief Situational Summary:
Numerous entities (tentative threat rating Brute 1) presumed to be generated from an unknown Master 10 (possibly Spree with a second trigger). Butcher involvement hampering efforts to locate the Master.

If transportation or further information is required you can respond to this email. Operational HQ can be found at [GPS-coordinates].

"Plausibly, they say."

"Yeah, I don't want to count on that, which of us is easiest to contain in a Rete-suit if we go nuts?"

"Is there a reason Rete can't just do it? Rete, ask Dragon -"

The Loricae are reluctant to entrust their sanity to this plausibility. Is there prior art on what happens if I in my own "person" kill the Butcher?

Our best guess is that if you didn't count as a person it would transfer to your creator (based on Butcher V's death to a proximity triggered explosive and subsequent transfer to the creator and user of the explosive), but it's not known what would happen if you did count as a person. Transfer to artificial life forms hasn't been ruled out.

"I... think it's gotta be me. Can't lose Sarcina again, Zephyr can get out of a suit, need Tribune on the foster carers for the Heartbreaker kids, Galea's power could do all kinds of shit with a bunch of Butcher powers on top of it - I guess Castra could do it."

"You wanna flip a coin?"

"Nah, I psyched myself up over the course of saying that, I'll take point. Also, like, maybe I can just turn the Butcher into a bird and this will make containing them easy? That would be neat."

The Loricae have designated Plumata, in a full-armor suit she will not be able to take off if I don't let her, to take point on the Butcher. Please send more intel while they mobilize.

A strike team of individuals is being formed to locate the source of the minions within a quarantine zone - current roster including Dovetail  [non-lethal mover - full powers in appendix] and a non-lethal remote operated suit I will be deploying, and any further capes who respond to Director Armstrongs request for aid.

Likely Teeth roster:

Approx 15 regular non-cape members, with ~20 part-time or loosely affiliated members. Not particularly organized or well armed but more violent than many other gangs.

Animos (Changer/Trump 4): Temporary tansformation into quadruped form with a power nullifying scream (not believed to be effective on Trump or Master powers). Can't hold transformation for more than two minutes at a time.

Hemorrhagia (Striker 2/Brute 1): TK control over her own blood. Can harden it into weapons or protective scabs.

Spree (Master 4/Possible upgrade to Master 10): Extremely rapid fire clone production, with clones lacking the powers and their intelligence declining to brain death in under one minute. Possible second trigger allowing indefinite clone lifespan with enhanced durability and stamina.

Vex (Shaker 3): Able to fill empty space with swarms of sharp, individually weak but collectively strong, forcefields. 

Butcher XIV (Blaster 6, Brute 6, Master 4, Mover 5, Thinker 2, Trump 5): Most notable for the fact that the killer of the Butcher inherits all of their powers, with each power weakening the first time it is inherited. Each inheritor thus far has become a villain leading the Teeth, either by natural inclination or insanity induced by the voices of the prior Butchers. Extreme caution is to be taken in deploying capes directly against them in order to minimize the chances of future Butcher's acquiring particularly dangerous powers, which includes most most powers sufficient to safely oppose her. Preferentially deploy non-capes, capes that can avoid deploying lethal force even under extreme conditions, or capes that immune to her Master ability. 

Additional Butcher powers:
- Ranged attacks always hit so long as target is close enough. Makes use of a variety of projectile weapons. 
- Short range teleport with small explosions on arrival. Believed to need line of sight.
- Can see hearts, veins, and arteries - even through walls.
- Danger sense that provides warning a fraction of a second ahead of physical attacks.
- Ability to cause intense pain at a distance of approx 70 feet.
- Ability to cause mindless rage at a distance of 10 feet.
- Inflicted wounds fester.
- Extremely strong and durable from multiple powers stacking.
- Slow regeneration.
- Immune to pain.
- Miscellaneous minor powers included in Appendix A.

Additional Note: There is a pre-signed kill order for the Butcher to be used retroactively if it is determined if the Butcher has been effectively neutralized.

Additionally there is a kill order for the source of the minions.

In go the Loricae. The suits - except for the slimfit Zephy's wearing - should be reasonably proof against most physical attacks, but the ranged pain thing might or might not go around their immunity, so that's going to suck if it does. They fill drones with foam and tranqs.

The drones go first, to get up to the minute intel and lay in pockets of reinforcement in possible staging areas.

There's a perimiter quarantining the monsters - barely. The Boston Protectorate, Wards, and several independent capes are coordinating with squads of PRT to keep the still growing swarm from spreading farther or growing to numerous. Inside the quarantine zone the monsters seem... feral, but not coordinated enough to be dangerous. Individuals or small groups ineffectually attempt to force their way into buildings. The area isn't entirely residential - there are several warehouses, a mall, and some sort of indoor sporting arena. There's also a combined operational center and field hospital two blocks from the perimeter.

Is there anybody in the buildings they should be evacuating?

About ten thousand people, though they aren't in immediate danger as the monsters can't open doors. The Protectorate is holding off on sending in capes unless it's an emergency due to the Butcher shooting at a hero who was attempting to search for the source of the monsters. 

...okay, she can't evac ten thousand people, but maybe Rete can supply them if they're having urgent problems that would be solved with a run to a suburban CVS or something.

Dragon can definitely route requests to Rete.

They hit HQ.

Operational HQ is in the cavernous lobby of a nearby bank. Bastion, the local protectorate leader, is there discussing tactics for surveillance fly-overs with several capes while a nearby doctor attempts to re-dress a rather gnarly wound in his abdomen when the Loricae enter. 

Here they are. Do they have up to date information on where Butcher might be?

Yes! Bastion - between coughs that occasionally produce more blood than coughs should - can show the Loricae the current map of Butcher attacks, and the thinkers' best guess as to where she is.

Any last minute tactical advice before Plumata goes and tries to put the Butcher down?

They do in fact have a team assembled to help with this! Dovetail and Dragon are on hand to join up with the Loricae.

Okay. Drones first, though. Because Safety.