I flinched. And that was all it took.
Taylor's bugs poured into the room like the tide. They streamed in through the gaps in the plywood boards covering the windows, streamed under doors in rivulets of inky black, spilled out of the air conditioner vents like the tendrils of a nightmare. It was easy to forget just how
many bugs Taylor had at her disposal, and how easily she could conceal them.
"Lisa," Taylor said. Her voice was calm and even, with barely a tremor beneath its neutrality. The reasonable tone was undercut slightly by the mounting pressure and ear-splitting hum of the swarm.
The teenage supervillain winced. "Do you
have to bring out the biblical plague every time you get upset, Taylor? At least let me get to my point."
Taylor didn't move, but if anything the swarm of bugs drew in even closer. They surrounded us like a curtain, blocking out my vision of the outside world. I was so used to it at this point that the shroud was weirdly comforting.
"I know you," Taylor continued, as if nothing had happened. "The only reason why you would ask this of her now is–"
The sound of my fingers snapping cut her off. I didn't have to look to my side to see Taylor was startled, just like I knew the damn smirk on Lisa's face right now meant she had planned all of this.
It wasn't like she was that hard to figure out. I had made my stance on violence quite clear by this point. Lisa had just said w–the Undersiders–weren't planning on rocking the boat further. Which left only one possibility: she was counting on my heroic reputation to grease some wheels.
In other words, Lisa wanted to use me.
There were a lot of emotions I wanted to feel about that. Righteous rage. Cynical scorn. Bitter betrayal. But the only one that really landed was exhaustion. The tension in my body bled out, leaving a gaping emptiness behind.
"
Why?"
I already knew the answer. She knew I knew. But it was what I was supposed to ask, and I was too tired to beat around the bush by refusing to play my part. I just wanted her to get it over with so I could go home.
Lisa hummed and leaned back, her lips pursed. I watched the deliberate way she crossed her arms in a forced attempt at casualness. The line of tension up her leg and the way her right hand hovered near her gun belied the illusion.
Then again, we were both pretending here.
"I assume you mean 'why wait until the rest of the team left', yeah?" Lisa said, cocking her head in a manner startlingly reminiscent of Skitter. "It's not like I said anything untrue back there. We need more intel, and you know it."
I slowly blinked at her. "
Not the question."
She sighed and leaned a bit further back in her chair. A mosquito buzzed near her ear, and while her eyes flicked towards it, she didn't move to swat it away. "Look, none of the others were going to be rational about this. Grue's in no state to think clearly, and the rest would let their emotions compromise their judgment. Because the fact is that the only way of confirming what we need to know is contacting Dragon again."
Flies and beetles started to form a protective cocoon around us, and I had to stroke Meepy softly in my left hand to get Taylor to stop before she obscured my sightline. This had been a surprise to her, then, not something they'd plotted out ahead of time. Good to know, I supposed, but I didn't really have the energy to care. My eyes stayed locked on Lisa's.
After a moment longer, she groaned and dropped her arms by her sides. "Fine," she grumbled, "Cards on the table; I'll say the part you actually need to hear."
The cape who'd set off the chain of events that had ruined my life leaned forward, sharp eyes piercing right through me the same way they had in the bank. But this time there was something approaching sincerity on her face. Perhaps even sympathy.
"I know you and Taylor are having issues," she said. A jolt of something I couldn't place left me tense and still, but I didn't give her the reaction she wanted. Even so, her lips twitched into a smirk; smaller than her usual aggravating grin, more satisfied than smug.
"Yeah," she said. "Thought so. I don't know exactly what the problem is, but it doesn't matter. You two need help. We need to know if Dragon is still planning on busting our front doors down. You won't be able to resolve your thing while an uncertain threat is hanging over our heads, and the only way to put it to rest is to poke the sleeping giant again."
My lips thinned. "
And I'm involved, why?"
Lisa sighed. "C'mon Victoria, don't make me do this. You're involved because it's the only play I can make. Whatever shadow agreement you and Dragon hashed out before, it worked. We held to our terms. Now we have to call her on it. And if I'm gonna do that, I want insurance. Someone she'll actually listen to. You want me to show some humility? I need you.
We need you. You might be our only hope of navigating the rest of the way out of this clusterfuck, and there's nothing I can do to force you to help."
I exhaled slowly, feeling the sucking pressure of empty lungs grow stronger for as long as I could before taking a breath in. That was what it came down to, then. Utility. Compromise. Necessity. That was why she'd unmasked to me tonight. Why she'd been something approaching cordial. Because, for all her bullshit about not being able to make me do anything, she'd been building up to this. Putting me against the Heroes yet again, in a position I couldn't back down from. Stacking her case as much as she could to influence my decision.
"Victoria…" Taylor started, but it was over before it began. I knew what I'd choose, even if I decided to dig my heels in out of sheer spite. Part of it was Lisa covertly threatening me with the safety of the one person in this room I gave a damn about. Partly it was my desire to see the ending of the resolution I'd staked so much on. I'd admit the satisfaction that she
had humbled herself enough to beg for help played a part too, even if she'd covered it enough to minimize the blow to her ego. Still, on any other day, those three things wouldn't have been enough.
But we both knew the real reason I was going along with this.
I was too tired to complain.
"
Fine."
Taylor cut herself off mid-sentence, staring at me. The bugs drew back far enough that I could see the green in her eyes again. "Victoria, are you… really?"
I snorted, despite myself. "
If she's suggesting we poke Dragon again, she means it when she says we've got no other choice. And she's right. It's not like this clusterfuck can get much worse."
Taylor looked at me for a long moment. The churning black swarm formed a curtain between us and Lisa, and this time I let it. Meepy fluttered against my palm. "
That doesn't mean it's her choice."
I stared back. "
Trust me."
She looked at me for a few seconds longer, before the tension drained out of her like water down a sink. The bugs parted around us, slipping back into the strands of her hair and the crevices of the room. Within seconds, they were gone. The walls and ratty carpet of the dingy once-hotel gradually swam back into focus. If you hadn't known Skitter was right next to me, you wouldn't have suspected she was within ten miles of the place.
"There, see?" Lisa said, drawing my attention back to her. "No need to get heated. We're just friends having a chat." But by the way her eyes were darting to her periphery, I had to wonder if she ever really relaxed and let the mask drop. She pinched her brow for a moment, and I took the opportunity to stroke a finger down Meepy's wing, studying her delicate little body intently. It really was quite a fragile thing, I had to focus not to scrape off the impossibly thin layer of scales that let her fly. The soft friction was a good distraction from how… exposed I was.
"Look," Lisa said as I glanced up, "I know we got off on the wrong foot." My feelings about
that way of putting it must have shown on my face, because she snorted disparagingly. "Okay, fair; big understatement. But still true. I can't change what I did back then. I wouldn't have done it if I'd known where it would lead. And I get why you're probably never going to like me much, but you should at least know this."
Her eyes were hard and sharp when they met mine, like flinty shards of glass. "You helped us out when it was hard. You were there when the chips were down, when all of your friends would've left as soon as things started getting hot."
She paused, mouth twisting uncomfortably, highlighting the scar on her cheek, but after a moment she relented and plowed on. "So you're one of us. Not officially; not in anything that demands you do more. But you're one of Taylor's people, and that means I have your back. I might not like it, you might not like it, but like
hell I'm gonna let that get in the way of what needs to happen. The heroes can get fucked. If you and Taylor need help, then you're gonna get what you need. And if that means playing nice with Dragon, then that's what we'll do."
Silence settled in the room in the wake of that, as we sized each other up. "With that said," Lisa eventually continued after it became clear neither of us were going to speak, "I need to get the conference room ready. I hadn't exactly planned on you saying yes right away."
Maybe I should resent the hint of manipulation behind those words, but I didn't have the energy. Maybe she was being genuine. Maybe she was still trying to provoke a reaction. Maybe this was all a ploy, waiting for me to trust her just so she could pull the rug out from under my feet.
... maybe Taylor's story had hit a little too close to home, if that's what I half-expected now.
"At any rate," Lisa said, "I'll give you guys a few minutes. The room is just off the lobby, towards the back of reception. I'll give you a shout when it's…" she trailed off as the buzzing hum of Taylor's swarm ratched up another notch. "Or Taylor will just know. Like she always does. Cool."
Her profile and footsteps were quickly lost among the thrum of insects and arachnids swirling in the air, until it was just us again. Taylor sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose where her glasses would've usually rested.
Looking at her felt awkward, so instead I turned my attention to one of the nearby gnats, holding up a finger for it to land on. It's funny how you don't really notice what bugs look like until you're given a reason to care. There were a bunch of different species in this swarm. Some looked like common houseflies scaled down, while a good half dozen others all looked vaguely like mosquitoes but probably weren't. I knew from experience that I'd never need to worry about the latter while Taylor was around, but old instincts died hard. Still, I couldn't help but be curious. Were any of them each other's natural predators? Would they all turn on one another without her control? Was it
difficult to keep them all–
"Tori."
I jumped and looked up. Taylor was closer now, looming over me despite her best efforts. The relative difference in height was hard to overcome, especially seated as I was. She was maybe three feet in front of me, in a not quite crouch to bring us to the same eye level. It looked awkward.
"Tori, are you with me? You still remember everything?"
I nodded out of habit, then checked myself and ran over what had happened. The forest, three days ago. Dissociative amnesia ever since. I was probably getting better, since my lucid phases were coming more frequently. Coming back to myself outside. The meeting. The Undersiders unmasking to me. Lisa's request to help contact Dragon.
"
I don't think I'm missing any time," I signed, feeling a little internal worry settle. I'd have to keep checking myself regularly, taking stock of where I was and how I'd got there. Hopefully that'd stop me lapsing back again. And maybe provide some defense against Strangers, too.
"Good," Taylor said, taking the opportunity to take a half step forward and rest her hands on the arm rests of my chair. "Are you okay?"
I blinked. Okay? What did she mean? Taylor must have interpreted the question in my gaze correctly. "With what Tatt–Lisa asked of you, I mean."
I cocked my head. She was… worried about me, wasn't she? That's what this was.
"I know you just agreed, but Lisa can be difficult sometimes, and I know you haven't had the best history."
This time I was the one to snort. No, that was putting it lightly. Our 'history' had been fucked from the beginning and it had only gotten worse since. But it didn't matter. This wasn't a personal choice; it was the best solution to get us out of the trap that my actions on top of Taylor's had left us in. I just had to suck it up and take it.
"I know she said we need your help, but you don't have to give it. We can find another way."
A drop of sweat beaded at Taylor's temple. I followed it absently as it gathered momentum and traveled downwards before catching on one of the creases by her eye. What looked like a fly quickly landed and sucked the drop into its mouth before it made her blink.
"We have stuff on the PRT, we can push them into some sort of a deal without your backing, we just need to…"
Her words faded out along with the rest of the world. Everything was blurry at the edges except for Taylor's face, her wide green eyes on mine. There were bags beneath them; had those always been there? It was hard to know for sure. I'd never seen her face until recently, so I couldn't compare, but they stood out starkly now that I had a chance to take a proper look. Taylor was one of the paler people I'd seen, and that darkness stood out against her cheeks. Her lips were thin and almost bloodless. Her brows were sharp and pursed, with what looked like early stress lines forming in her forehead.
It sounded like a lot, all put together like that. It didn't look quite as bad, even combined. No one would've said anything about her appearance on the street or from a casual once over. But it didn't escape me. A thousand tiny hints gave away that this was a girl in crisis, and one who'd been in that crisis for a very long time. When was the last time that Skitter–that
Taylor–had been able to relax? To breathe? Was the rest of her life just stress piled on top of stress, even before I'd come into the picture? Even before she got her powers, with all the bullying... when was the last time she'd felt a real sense of peace? How long had it been since she'd let herself fully relax? Had she
ever?
"...Piggot still owes us from that mess of a call with Crawler, it was a miracle we got you–us–out of there. I can call that in…"
Months. The answer was months, at least. You could see it in her face. It was written in lines of tension and anxiety across her shoulders; it trailed down her arms and rested curled fingers on my chair. She wasn't doing this because it was easy. Or because she wanted a fight.
She was doing it for me.
Well, that wasn't necessarily true. Taylor had a lot of reasons for what she did on a daily basis, and I wasn't self centered enough to think I was at the core of all of them. But
this, right now, was for me. She thought it was the right thing to do. I'd already agreed to give Lisa what she wanted, something that would help Skitter, and Taylor was willing to argue against it anyway. Because she thought this might hurt me. Because even now, part of her would rather fight the Heroes than take the risk of talking to them. It was what she knew best.
"...Tori?"
I blinked, and my eyes refocused on Taylor again. There was something in her eyes. A kind of hesitant determination that I was recognizing more and more lately. Skitter had a fearsome reputation, but it was easy to forget just how little was holding the girl together behind that mask.
I swallowed, and the room gradually swam back into my awareness. The walls, clean of bugs and insects, painted a dull off-white that was splotched with dirt and grime from the past few weeks. The empty couches and seats in front of us from the meeting earlier.
And the girl in front of me.
I… still didn't know what to think about Taylor. I barely knew what to think about
myself, in light of everything I'd gone through in the past few days. Just thinking about trying to process it all, my feelings included, gave me a headache. But I did know one thing.
She needed me. That was enough. I could deal with the rest later.
"
It's okay." For once I was glad I was signing. I could feel the lump in my throat. "
I want to do this."
Taylor stared at me another moment. "Are you sure?"
What resembled a smile stole over my face for the first time in days. "
It couldn't go as badly as the last time we called, right?"
A bark of laughter escaped Taylor before she reacted, giving me a rueful smile. "Sure, Tori. Let's go poke the Dragon then."
The bags under her eyes weren't gone, but the hand that grabbed mine to pull me up was soft and warm. That had to count for something.
"So, you two sorted yourselves out back there?" Lisa said as Taylor and I entered the room. I let my… friend respond as I took in our surroundings. Lisa had clearly converted what was once a meeting or side conference room for guests into a kind of command center. Lisa didn't have to say as much, it was written in the decor.
There was a map of Brockton on the wall, complete with annotations and pins strewn across it. I had to wonder if Taylor had borrowed that particular bit of interior decoration from Lisa. On the other side was a desk with what looked like papers and honest to god
requisition forms piled atop it. Even in supervillainy, you couldn't escape bureaucracy. All together, it looked like a logistical war room. Where the lobby and concierge desk were public-facing; a meeting place for visitors and patsies to do business and take notes with the supervillain who pulled their strings, this room was the center of her web of schemes. Pure function over form.
"Lisa…" Taylor warned, but I put a hand on her arm before the bugs could start acting up. I wasn't up for a confrontation, I just wanted to get this over with.
The girl in question shot me a subtle, grateful look before refocusing on Taylor. "Relax, I was just about to call you guys anyways." She gestured at the central table in front of us, three chairs already pulled up. "Shatterbird was hell on my infrastructure before Alec got to her, we only just managed to get this stuff installed again. It would've been easier if
someone," she rolled her eyes, "hadn't been holding back contractors for the past week but that's neither here nor there.
"This room should be good for two way conferencing," she continued as we all took our seats, "unless we have another tech failure. Given this shithole of a city, I wouldn't count that out. Anything you want to go over?"
I shrugged. At this point I knew the score. I couldn't say for certain that my unspoken deal with Dragon had any weight, but the results spoke for themselves. If she'd truly wanted to take the Undersiders down along with Coil, we would all be in cells by now–mine less literal than theirs, but no less an imprisonment. But as Lisa obviously knew, that Dragon hadn't taken us in didn't mean Skitter and the rest were completely in the clear. We needed to find out one way or the other, and Dragon was a more sympathetic audience than anyone from the local Protectorate. Normally I'd give them more credit but after–
Nails in my palms, metal on my tongue. No. Not thinking about that. The call with Dragon, that I could focus on.
Lisa gave me an all-too-knowing nod–that same look of cloying-sincere-near-sympathy–and turned to fiddle with the open laptop by her side. I didn't want to look at Taylor, but I let myself absently stroke Meepy.
Her wings fluttered back. Morse code. "
R U OKAY?" I didn't have time to wonder where she'd picked it up. Before I could respond, the speaker let out a short pop of static, and the screen at the far end of the room blinked on. It quickly resolved into a familiar face with kind almond eyes, pursed lips and a crinkled nose, framed by dark hair. Dragon.
"Tattletale," she said, "Or Miss Wilbourne, I suppose? This is an unexpected surprise."
I noticed for the first time that I wasn't the only one maskless. Taylor and Lisa had never put their costumes back on, and from the looks of the little red light this was a two way video call. I must be more out of it than I thought if I'd missed that detail. I glanced over at Taylor, but by the set of her shoulders this was something she'd talked over with Lisa at some point prior. There was no way she'd be this relaxed (relatively speaking) if it had been a mistake.
"Yeah yeah, you know my name, subtle threat noted; Lisa will do. And after that little performance we figured we'd cut the bullshit, yeah?" There was something dark in Lisa's tone. "Once you've shown up on a girl's doorstep and camped out there for days on end, there's no point in pretending you don't know her home phone number and full credit history. If you're willing to abandon the rules so blatantly, they're no longer worth giving a nod to."
There was a pregnant pause as Dragon stared at us. "I'm not sure what you want me to say, Lisa."
"Say you'll be honest with us, right now." Lisa crossed her arms. "You know why we're calling."
Dragon hummed. Stalling for time maybe? She glanced around what she could see of the room before eventually focusing back on the two of us. "I have my suspicions," she allowed, "but I'd much rather hear from the affected parties directly."
Taylor blinked, but I could tell from the tell-tale humming coming from the air vents that she was more anxious than she looked. "You offered us a deal. We held up our end of the bargain."
Fuck. That wasn't the right way of saying it, and Dragon's response proved the point. "I explicitly said I couldn't make any agreement with you by PRT policy," she said reproachfully, "Your team were known enemies of the state, and my directive was to capture you outright."
Taylor growled and leaned forward. Bugs began to crawl out of the vents along the walls. Shit. I had to intervene. I just had to hope the camera resolution on this end was good enough to capture sign, and that Dragon knew how to read ASL. I brushed Meepy affectionately one last time before I stood up.
"
We're not saying you promised anyone anything," I signed, careful not to look at Taylor or Lisa, "
but I think we both know what went unsaid. The Undersiders, the people in this room, told you about a Villain in the local PRT branch. They helped you save a little girl."
Dragon's expression was unreadable. "I recognize the value of the intel your group gave," she said carefully, "and I'm not discounting that. But public policy and my own directives prohibit me from commenting on active investigations or operations without clearance. You know this as well as I do."
I bit my lip. I knew these words alright; I'd heard them myself in at least ten Wards briefings. But I didn't expect them to cut quite this much.
"So the investigation is still ongoing then?" Lisa asked, drawing attention away from me while I took a breath. "I thought you took down Coil in a big ball of fireworks and sparkles. At least, that's what it seemed like from here. What gives? Having endurance issues?"
Dragon made a pained expression. "You know the answer to that question as well as I do, Lisa, and you know I can't say anything more."
"Oh I know well enough," Taylor said from the other side. Her tone was low and soft, but anger ran under it like a river straining to burst its banks. "I know that we put everything on the line for this. Gave up our reputations, our safety, months of planning and security, to help the heroes rescue a girl who never should've been involved. And what do you do? You accuse us of mind control when we do the same, and then platform her
rapist." Taylor–Skitter–let out a harsh laugh. "Yeah, I'd say we understand each other perfectly."
I sat back in my chair with a thud as the world swam around me. Dragon was… I didn't want to see the look on her face. It was one thing to admit what had happened to me in the silence of my head. It was another to use that word, and look in the eyes of someone I'd idolized since I was a child. A literal paragon of justice.
I knew I wouldn't find judgment in her gaze. But pity would hurt worse.
"Taylor…" Dragon sounded like she didn't have the words to continue. I could sympathize. Mine were stuck somewhere between my diaphragm and my windpipe, as useless as they'd been for weeks. My lips were tight, a white line around clenched teeth. My nails dug into my palms.
"You refuse to acknowledge our help, fine," Skitter said, cutting straight across her. "It's not like I expected anything else of you, not since that first night. But you owe us. Admit that much."
The pause stretched out like a prisoner on the rack. I risked a glimpse, but if any crack had revealed Dragon's feelings about... what Amy had done to me, it was gone now. Her face was deliberately, carefully blank; as opaque and unmoving as stone.
"You did the right thing," she said at last, and while her face was horribly neutral, it sounded like there was pain behind every word. "I know it might not feel that way. But you did. And that matters. I can't say anything specific, much as I might want to. But know that your contributions have not gone unnoticed. That I won't
let them be unnoticed. If it were up to me…"
She paused for a moment and it seemed like she almost might say something more, before her eyes slid wearily closed. "Suffice to say that it's not," she sighed. "But when the PRT is deciding on what happens going forward, I'll speak on your behalf."
Meepy was running in frantic fluttering circles on the back of my palm. Maybe Dragon caught onto the rising anxiety in the girl next to me, or maybe she just guessed, but either way she addressed her directly. "I know that might not count for all that much, Taylor," she said softly, "so I'll offer you this instead. You have my number. You felt… I won't say safe, perhaps, but
willing to talk face to face. If there's a problem with the PRT, call me. I can't guarantee that I'll fix it, but I will be there."
The wood table creaked as Taylor got to her feet and glared at Dragon directly for the first time in this conversation. "
Why?" Her voice was quiet and tight as it drifted through the air.
Dragon smiled. It was small, sad, and achingly sincere.
"Because someone should."
I took a step to my right and brushed Taylor's hand. It was tense, and awkward given our positioning, but it felt right. I took a deep breath, and then slowly let it out. The fog in my mind felt like it was clearing, bit by bit. Maybe things were screwed up. Maybe the Heroes weren't who they should be. But Dragon was.
"T-Thank you," I said.
Dragon's attention snapped back to me. "Victoria," she said, her voice soft around the edges. "I'm so sorry I didn't greet you properly. And that I haven't been able to do more to help."
I kept a watery smile off my lips. This wasn't the time for hysterics. Later, maybe.
"There is one thing you can do," Taylor said. I turned to glance at her. There was a complicated expression on her face, as if she hadn't quite meant to say that but now, with her customary bullheadedness, was in too deep to back down. "Lisa, do you have anything else to add first?"
Lisa glanced between the three of us, before nodding and fiddling with the laptop. "No, I got what I needed," she muttered before looking back up at Taylor. "I need to talk to my men about plans going forward anyways. If you want to talk more about something specific, go ahead. You've got about eight minutes left on the call before the encryption guarantee runs out; don't do anything I wouldn't."
With that she got up, blew a kiss at Dragon, and walked out the door. If there was a certain confident sway in her hips, no one remarked on it.
"Taylor?" Dragon said, drawing the conversation back to us. "Was there something you needed?"
"It's not something I need, so much as something… she does." She glanced at me carefully. I didn't know why; I had no idea what she was talking about. But whatever was on my face seemed to convince her to continue.
"The PRT and Protectorate have met Victoria a number of times since she decided to stay with us," Taylor said as she got up and stepped closer to the camera. Her shoulders had tensed back up, I noticed, and her fists were balled. Skitter loomed menacingly over the screen. "Every single time they've insinuated that we were controlling her. That she couldn't possibly have made a choice on her own.
"And I'm
sick of it."
There was a ugly snarl in her voice as she kept talking, forceful and furious enough that I'd probably be shaken if it were pointed at me. As it was, I just felt... warm. "We told you what went wrong," she spat. "We told you how to fix it, and you did
nothing." Dragon opened her mouth but Skitter didn't let her get a word out. "I know there's an investigation, excuses, whatever, but you didn't tell
her that. You didn't tell her, or any of us, anything! So fine! Fine. I'm calling your bluff."
Bugs surrounded her in an intimidating–and entirely deliberate–cloak. Haloed in her power, she stood tall and
glared at Dragon. If I thought she had an ounce of self-awareness about how terrifying she was, I'd say she was posing, but no. She was just pissed. "Call in a field Master screening," she demanded. "Or whatever the equivalent is. If you say she needs to prove that she's under her own control, then I'll shove it in the heroes' faces when she does. Then maybe they'll shut up and get on with helping the survivors of the mess they've let fester."
The pause this time was loaded. I couldn't look away. This was… to think that she'd been thinking about this all this time. That she'd be that emotional, that angry, that
invested in how people talked about me, and I hadn't even noticed. I hadn't realized she would be willing to expend goodwill like this – in a truce she'd just barely salvaged! – just for me. The warmth in my chest and the lump in my throat grew bigger.
"Okay," Dragon said at last, "that's fair. I can't make that happen immediately, obviously, but I'll pass the request up. If Victoria is willing to go through an interview–"
"
No."
Dragon paused mid-word. "...I'm sorry?"
I swallowed, and forced the words out. "
Not without her."
Meepy stilled against my palm. Taylor turned back to look at me involuntarily, her eyes wide. "Victoria," Dragon said gently, "You know how these screenings work. The subject needs to be isolated from... possible contaminating factors, otherwise we can't establish a baseline."
I bit my lip. I knew she was right. Of course I knew. I'd been through these protocols myself countless times; I knew them front to back. But as much as I knew what they'd be asking of me and how… part of me still didn't trust them. Didn't trust that they wouldn't spirit me off to Amy at the slightest opportunity, that this wasn't some kind of long con to–
"I'll go with her."
... what?
"Sorry?" Dragon asked. That was twice we'd managed to take her off-guard in twenty seconds. We'd probably broken some kind of record.
"I said I'll go with her," Taylor said, taking a step back towards me. "If it's really a matter of establishing a baseline, then I'll go through the interview myself. You can check for any
contaminating factors," she spat the words, "or undue influence, or whatever euphemisms you want to use for accusing me of controlling her. Once you rule those out, there shouldn't be an issue. Right?"
Dragon's expression said that she had no idea what to do with this, and I couldn't help but sympathize. Taylor was willing to be that vulnerable, go through a psychological screening with the PRT of all things, for me? Just because I'd asked? Well, and maybe a healthy dose of spiteful anger. But mostly for me. I couldn't read anything in her face, but her arm brushed mine, and Meepy settled in my hair like an ornament, one wing tickling the top of my ear. I suppose that said enough, really.
"Alright," Dragon said slowly. "That can be arranged. I'll be in contact. In the meantime…" she glanced one last time between the two of us. "Take care of each other. I worry."
I glanced at Taylor as the call cut out, and smiled.
Take care of each other, huh.
I could do that.
A/N:
Here's where I get to pull the ultimate fanfic author cliche, and apologize for delaying my biweekly update by one day to pass my social work examination. But with that done, we're back on schedule.
As far as this chapter goes… this one just. Would. Not. End. I swear I'm genuinely not trying to let these things last this long, but exceptions prove the rule as always. I ended up liking Lisa and Taylor a lot here. They don't have a ton of time to interact on screen in this fic, so having them in a more contained setting with Tori was a treat. Remember, the last time it was only these three in a room together was chapter
two. We've come a long way since then.
As far as the rec today… it's a bit of a contentious one. It's on
How Spacebattles Shaped Wormfic. If you're an Archive reader, this one might confuse you a bit. Sorry, but it's a bit of a metacommentary on fandom stuff. For the rest of you, I'm not trying to point to this essay as a point of shame, or even criticism. I'm more agreeing with some of the observations of the cyclical nature of trends and shifts within this fandom in the limited time I've been a part of it. As someone who (quite accidentally) wrote a piece that has broken many of these norms, it makes for interesting reading if nothing else.
