#chapter 14.i1

Is this just regular hesitation, or did she just go “wait, no, fuck this”?

A figure stood behind Yan.  Her costume was barely recognizable

Oh hell yes.

Hello.

You’ve got a little situation to deal with here. Some of your lower-level drones have been naughty.

– She wore a short cape of tattered black cloth over her body armor, a skintight black suit beneath that, and there were folds of black cloth draped around her legs like a dress or a robe.  The entire fabric seemed to ripple and move.  It took Sierra a second to realize it was crawling with a carpet of insects.

She looks fucking awesome.

It reminds me of Brian’s use of the darkness in his costume. I like the creativity involved in using the powers for the costumes, and it makes for some truly unique ones.

...

What’s going to happen to Battery if Cauldron determines that being controlled by Regent while the rest of the Nine leave means Shatterbird hasn’t escaped the city like Cauldron asked. Maybe they don’t count that as a failure until Shatterbird’s actually dead, though, expecting Battery to make an effort to free Shatterbird from Regent?

“Attacking my people?  That was dumb.  Attacking a little kid?  Dumber.  Consider my territory to be a very bad place to be from now on.

She’s making it incredibly clear how unwanted they are here now.

I mean, if the spider bites weren’t enough of an indication.

My bugs can see you, they can hear you, and I’ll know if you slow down even a little as you leave, give you a few more bites.”

“RUN.”

The beetle climbed off Yan, using its forelimbs to pick up the gun by driving the points through the trigger-guard.  It moved to Skitter’s side.

Y’know, I never thought I’d be reading about a beetle with a gun, but now that I am, it does not disappoint.

Yan, Sugita and Jay all took that as their leave to climb to their feet and head toward the door.  None of them even looked at Skitter, but they stopped when she pushed the door closed.

Not go-time yet?

Oh! Is she gonna use the gun as a starting signal for them to race out the door?

“There’s no safe haven for you in Brockton Bay.  My allies have control of every district, every territory.  No shelter will host you, and our individual forces will be searching every other place you might want to sleep.  Before you get far enough to find a doctor and get those bites treated, my contacts will have spread the word. 

“Get the fuck out of our city.”

The doctors may have to treat you, but we can have our people sitting in the waiting rooms, or working as assistants to the doctors.  If you show your face, you’ll get attacked.  Maybe it’ll be a direct attack, maybe it won’t.  Trust me when I say you won’t be in any shape to defend yourselves.”

Damn.

She seems to be exaggerating slightly, but Coil could genuinely have his Coildiers in such roles, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility for her. Just outside of the amount of effort she’d want to go to to deal with just these three thugs.

The suggestion is enough. The fear it’ll put in them.

It really doesn’t.

“Hand or knee?” Skitter asked.

Ohhh.

Going for karmic retribution.

I like it!

“Fuck you!”  Yan shouted.

Then she convulsed.  She thrashed, dragging her hands against the pointed forelimbs with such violence that she opened ragged cuts in her palms.

Oh wow. What just bit her?

She stopped as quickly as she’d started, her eyes going wide.

She’d been bitten, more than once.

Was it the brown recluses?

Also, did Taylor go for “both” when Yan refused to choose?

“Shaggy-hair, hand or knee?”

Looks like that’s what happened, yeah.

Your turn, Jay.

Jay’s eyes went wide, but he very calmly stated, “Hand.”

Not bad, managing to stay calm after seeing what just happened to Yan. Does he think Skitter is bluffing, that the convulsions were just for show?

His eyes went wide as a spider crawled down the length of his arm to the back of his hand.  He jumped like he’d been electrocuted.

Yeah, looks like he didn’t expect that to actually happen.

Y’know, I kinda hope Taylor takes the time at some point to mention that she did this to Lung’s dick, but even if she doesn’t, I like the parallels. The progression from that revelation horrifying her, to her doing this casually to three people who didn’t get anywhere near Lung’s supposed level of shittiness.

You arrived right in time. A moment later and they wouldn’t all be entirely okay, physically.

Mentally, I don’t think Charlotte’s in a great state.

“Where were you?” Sierra returned the question with one of her own.

She was doing her best to save literally everyone downtown.

“Dealing with the Nine.  They’re not a concern anymore, at least for now.”

I like how matter-of-factly she says that.

It was surreal, hearing the girl talk about dealing with the Slaughterhouse Nine.  They weren’t in the same category as your average villain.

That wasn’t even the part I was talking about, but yeah, the matter-of-factness of that part is great too. Skitter just earned herself some major badass points with Sierra, I think.

They were like monsters from horror films, the killer who always got up at the end of the film, the monster who never died.

Fuck.

That’s been the theme of the group all along! Of course it has! How the hell did I not catch onto that, only applying the connection to that genre to Crawler? I’ve had plenty of time!

Literally every one of them fits into some sort of horror trope!

“Just occupying the territory, I think.  Maybe making trouble for minorities nearby, but nothing so serious that I’ve hard about it.”

(I assume that’s supposed to be “heard”. Maybe Sierra developed an interesting accent just for that one word...)

“Then I’ll deal with them after an afternoon’s rest.  Maybe open a discussion before I try anything more serious.”

So that’s two things she intends to “deal with” tonight.

Jeez, she needs and deserves at least a couple days of rest.

Skitter’s voice buzzed as she spoke.  She pulled off the mask that covered the lower half of her face.

“Your voice.  You’re still doing the thing where your bugs talk with you.”

Oh yeah, I suppose she forgot to stop.

“Sorry,” Skitter said, the swarm suddenly quiet.  “I don’t even think about it anymore.”

Taylor automates bug maneuvers like this remarkably quickly.

“Your gang’s a lot smaller.  A lot of people died.”

These are things Taylor probably doesn’t need to hear about right now, maybe.

Skitter put her elbows on her knees, removed her glasses and buried her face in her hands.

Crying?

“They’re dealt with.  Burnscar’s dead.  Crawler’s dead.  Mannequin’s probably dead.  Cherish and Shatterbird wish they were dead.

Heh.

Found Siberian’s weak point, and it’ll be international news soon, if it isn’t already.  She, Jack and Bonesaw ran.  Tried to pursue, couldn’t track them.  It’ll be a while before they bounce back.”

Good fucking work.

“You took on the Nine and won?”

Skitter ventured toward Yan, then used one foot to hold the girl’s arm down against the ground.

And she just leaves that question hanging, like it’s no big deal. For now, anyway.

Man, she sounds so exhausted.

The beetle pinned it there, pressing the point of one forelimb into her palm with enough pressure that a bead of blood appeared.  Skitter stepped around the girl so the beetle could do the same.

...what are you doing now?

When Yan clenched her fist, Skitter stepped on her fist, crushing it underfoot.

Is this just about restraining them?

She took her time responding.  When she did speak, all she said was, “I didn’t say we won.”

...right. Victory for Skitter would mean wiping the Nine out completely. At the very least Jack, not letting him escape.

Taylor has a history of blaming herself for the actions of antagonists if she fails to stop them. If she does that here, she’s going to be blaming herself for the end of the world coming in two years rather than 15+ (even if I’m right that she never had the opportunity to change that).