Silence is Not Consent

[justanothercat]

Oh shit–

I didn't have time to finish the thought before Skitter was pressing me into the wall, her arm tight across my neck. My forcefield was keeping the pressure off my trachea, but I could also feel the tip of the knife in her left hand resting just over my stomach.

"Charlotte!" Skitter yelled.

I stared at her, trying to get my bearings again. She'd moved so fast I hadn't realized what was happening until it was over. I kept my breaths soft and shallow, keeping my panic off my face. I couldn't risk my aura going off again by accident. My aura going off on purpose, on the other hand... my memory of that first fight with the Protectorate was blurry, but I was pretty sure Skitter had stayed by my side for a long time before she'd said something. Too long. There was a good chance it had paralyzed her, at least briefly. I could use that, if I had to.

That, and the fact that she probably didn't know my field would protect me from that knife better than she thought. Ever since… Amy… it had been shaped weirdly. More… flowy. I hadn't really had the time or place to explore it properly. But I knew enough to be confident the knife would skitter (some part in the back of my head laughed hysterically) off to the side if she pressed the point.

Footsteps pounding up the stairs broke me out of my thoughts. Charlotte, hurried but not worried. Yet.

"Yeah, what–" She froze when she saw us. Her eyes flicked from Skitter to me to the knife, and narrowed.

"Charlotte. Start packing up, evacuate the kids first. Leave the food, we can come back for it if we need." Skitter said, her voice tight.

"I– sure, okay. But why? What happened? Was it her?" Charlotte asked. I could almost see her hackles bristling as what little ground I'd made with her crumbled.

Skitter's head jerked at the table where she'd left the phone, even as her eyes never left mine. We were both silent as Charlotte picked it up and read the text. She put it down, and I would never forget the look she gave me next.

"I almost trusted you, you know?" she spat. "I was this close." She scoffed. "Just shows what an idiot I was."

"No time," Skitter cut her off. "Get to packing. This is salvageable, but we need to move fast."

"Right. And what are we going to do with her, exactly?" Charlotte asked.

"That's none of your concern," Skitter said, looking back at me. The yellow lenses almost glowed in the dim light, impenetrable and inhuman. Her swarm flowed around us like a blanket, eerily quiet, wrapping us both in ten thousand crawling bodies. "She broke her word. She knows what that means here."

I swallowed. Shut out the thousands and thousands of legs pin-pricking their way across my clothes, my forcefield, my skin. I tried not to hyperventilate, and mostly succeeded.

I didn't have time for that right now. I needed to intervene here. This… didn't look good. But I had to hold onto hope that this wasn't what it looked like. That I might be able to talk myself out of this… somehow. Or at least, failing that, get enough distance that I could get away without breaking Skitter in the process. I knew it was weak, but I didn't want to do that. Not to the person who'd pulled me out of that bathtub weeks ago.

I slowly brought my hands up to start signing, only for Skitter to immediately increase the pressure on me. "Did I say you could move?" I glared at her. Fuck it, fine.

"Wait," I rasped, the word burning through my throat.

Skitter turned back to me, cocking her head. "You have ten seconds."

I licked my lips. "M-misc-communic-cation. N-notebook. P-p-please."

It couldn't have been more than a few seconds that Skitter spent staring at me, but it felt like hours. I resisted the urge to fidget, to move, to show any signs of struggle. Any twitch could kill one of the bugs that had us wrapped in a nightmare's embrace, and in this state I wasn't sure Skitter wouldn't take that as the opening move of a fight. I kept my body language as open as I could make it. I breathed in time with her. She was close enough that I could feel every rise and fall of her chest.

"If you try something–"

I shook my head; a single jerk from side to side. My lips were going numb from how hard they were pressed together. I wished my skin was going numb to match it.

Slowly, Skitter drew back. Her bugs had enclosed the three of us in a swirling mass of chitin and anger, and she all but disappeared into them; only her yellow-eyed glare standing out from the boiling dark. I slowly walked to the table with the notebook, picking up my pen under the watchful, hostile eyes of two humans and too many insects to count.

"I didn't sell you out," I wrote. I forced myself to approach this dispassionately, including only the relevant information. "I didn't tell Brandish anything. If she did something, it has nothing to do with me. There are kids here. I wouldn't do that. Not after Fleur"

"Then how do you explain this?" the swarm demanded, pulsing around the phone like a heart contracting.

I swallowed. "I can't. But I know who can"

There was a moment of silence as the two caught onto what I was saying. "Boss, you can't possibly be thinking of letting her–!" Charlotte yelled, stepping closer. The swarm drew her into itself, wrapping tendrils of ants and spiders around her shoulders, combing spindly fingers of wasps and flies through her hair. If she noticed, or minded, she gave no sign. "She could call the Heroes right to us! We need to go now!"

Skitter didn't say anything. She just stared at me, the meager light highlighting her eyes amidst the swarm taking up half the room. "I don't know anything about Dragon. But Brandish does. I can tell you what to text, you can put it in yourself. But it's the only way to know for sure"

"And how do we know that you aren't gonna secretly signal her somehow, huh?" Charlotte snarled. "We never should've trusted you to begin with."

"Charlotte," the swarm ordered in its terrible chittering voice. "Go down to the lower levels. Tell the kids it's fine. But if you don't hear from us in two minutes, tell them to start packing. Standard protocol. Use the secondary location. Call Tattletale, she'll know what to do."

"But boss–"

"Go, Charlotte." Those angled yellow eyes staring out of the heart of the teeming darkness never shifted from where they held me pinned. "I'll be fine."

As Charlotte left I fought the urge to clench my fists, to let loose, to take off through the window in a shower of splinters and–

... and what? I could get away from this conversation in a heartbeat, if I wanted to. Skitter couldn't stop me. She might not even try. But where would I go?

Fuck. I hated this. This tension. This… everything. It felt like we were back at the first day again, or worse. Like Carol was reaching out from my disaster of a conversation earlier to drag me down even further.

"She's right, you know," Skitter said at length. The girl, speaking out of the swarm with only a faint reverb. The bugs parted to reveal her mask, inscrutable at the heart of its buzzing aura. "I'd have no idea if you were giving Brandish some sort of hidden code."

"No," I wrote. "You wouldn't"

"So why should I trust you?" The swarm this time, as it closed in again to leave only her eyes visible, speaking from all around me. "Give me a reason."

I forced my hands not to tremble as I signed, "Because I came back."

A pause. A long pause.

The swarm receded, ebbing away like the tide, flowing back to wherever she kept it; under the floorboards and out the window and behind the walls.

Skitter wasn't there.

I stared at the spot she'd been standing, then jerked my head around, panic briefly spiking, only to find her... not where she'd been. Off to the side. How– no, I realized as soon as I asked the question, it was obvious. I'd only seen the mask. Of course she had more than one. It couldn't be that heavy. Easy to hold up with bugs at head height. Easy to use the background drone of the swarm to disguise exactly where her voice had been coming from.

I hadn't heard her move. I hadn't noticed her swap out with a floating mask. If I'd been the threat she'd been treating me as - if I'd taken a swing at her rather than talking my way out or going for the window...

I eyed her, and didn't find any sign of a weapon. But she'd have had ample time to put one away before dismissing the swarm.

Something to remember, if this ever happened again.

"...fine," Skitter said, all business again with the menace mostly packed away. "We'll work with that, for now. What are you going to say to her?"

I forced my brain to switch gears. What did we know? "Dragon was coming," and "get out now". But while that was a huge heads up… it didn't actually tell us much. If I was evacuating on my own, sure. But Carol easily could've been saying that preemptively to me so I wasn't caught in the crossfire or associated with a PRT affiliated attack. It told us nothing about when Dragon was coming.

The other question was why now. What had changed between the Nine leaving, and me ending up where I was, that led the PRT to think this was the right move? Those were the main questions I needed answered. How long we had, and why this was happening.

There was one more problem, too. I needed to quickly identify that this was me typing. Carol sending that text meant she probably knew exactly who I was staying with. She wouldn't give any information if she thought it was Skitter she was talking to. She'd be averse to giving it even if she thought Skitter would find out second-hand. But if she knew it was me, the odds were better.

Frankly, there weren't a lot of good options. Most of the stuff we had memorized was too conversational and situational to use on such short notice here. But I knew Skitter didn't know morse. I had tried it ages ago, tapping on the table while eating breakfast, and she hadn't twitched. I had to hope she wasn't bluffing, or just hadn't noticed.

"-.-. .- .-.. .-.. .- -. -.. How long? Why is Dragon being deployed? Lethal or nonlethal?"

Skitter, to her credit, didn't hesitate. She immediately punched in the digits into the phone, almost as fast as I wrote them. Then she hit send. Anxious tension unwound in my chest, replaced by jittery anticipation. Okay. Okay, that was good. Hopefully she'd get back to us soon. I doubted that Skitter's "June" trick would work again, so it was texting or nothing.

I tried not to look at Skitter too obviously as we were waiting. What must be going through her head right now? It didn't look good for me, I could admit that. It felt like just my luck lately. Everything going wrong at the worst possible–

I jumped as the phone buzzed. Skitter picked it up without so much as a twitch, but I'd heard the walls thrum for a second as I'd flinched.

".-. . ... .--. --- -. ... . Don't know, just got out of Protectorate meeting. Maybe a week, less. Tried to argue against it, didn't work. Come home, or go somewhere else. We can work it out. Piggot isn't taking no for an answer after the mansion."

Skitter immediately took out her own phone, presumably to tell Charlotte the packing was aborted, at least for tonight. I took a moment to force my shoulders to relax, then got back to work.

We had some time to work with. A week was… well frankly, no amount of time would really be enough to prepare for Dragon, but it was better than hours. Of course, this all depended on what Skitter wanted to do. I wasn't here for a fighting retreat; I'd rather run early than get forced into that position. But… my mind kept catching on that conversation from earlier. About why Skitter was doing all this. I couldn't let myself be another one of the Heroes who abandoned her when it got inconvenient. I had to at least try.

I tapped her arm when she hung up, and showed her my pad. "What now?"

"Now?" Skitter said. "We prepare. Brandish gave us time, even if I have no intention of thanking her for it. I'm going to brainstorm with Tattletale to see if we can come up with a strategy to divide and conquer the Dragonflight suits."

Wait.

What?

Skitter didn't seem to notice my confusion. "Bitch's dogs have enough of a Brute rating that three on one might be a fair fight. My spiders might be able to gum up the works with silk enough to slow her down–"

Skitter paused, as she saw me writing. I refused to listen to any more of this. I held up the pad, my gaze hard. "No. You can't fight her"

"What do you mean?" Skitter said, her voice challenging. "I know we might not look like much, but we've taken down people above our weight class before. This is no different."

I gaped at her for a second, then scribbled furiously, holding up a finger when she tried to continue. My penmanship suffered from the speed I was trying to get the words out, but it was legible, which was all that mattered.

"No, it's not about that Skitter. For one thing, Dragon is a juggernaut. She has the resources of a small country in hardware alone, nevermind the software and data she controls. She cannot and will not stop. It would be like trying to fight the US military"

"We've faced harder before," Skitter's voice was even, but I could hear the desperation an inch behind it. Anyone else might still have been fooled, but my forcefield was more sensitive than any fingertip. Beneath my feet, beneath the floor, the swarm was trembling.

"You still aren't listening" I wrote hastily. "Even if you win, even if you beat her, you lose. You will never be able to stop running. That conversation we had earlier, about being able to go to a Hero for help? Gone. If you destroy millions of dollars of government property you are a fugitive from now until the day you die. No one will help you save Dinah"

The bugs were creeping back in again, the crawling shadows in the corners of the room growled as Skitter read my words, but I refused to blink first. I was right, and I knew it. Even if Skitter could somehow beat Dragon, it would be a pyrrhic victory. This wasn't about the fight, and trying to see it that way would mean losing before she even started to plan.

Dragon wasn't someone who could be fought, and that wasn't just because of her equipment. She effectively was a direct form of outreach and action on behalf of the government. If she was intervening, it meant that she had full authority to arrest and detain whoever the target was, regardless of politics or cost.

It was one of the things Carol had always gotten so heated about when she'd talked about the founding principles of New Wave, back when they'd first unmasked. That the Brockton Bay Brigade had acted as judge, jury, and executioner, that there'd been nothing to limit how far they went against their enemies. I'd never been sure how much I bought into it, but the effects here were just the same.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Skitter asked, bringing a hand up to comb through her hair in a rare show of frustration. "There are kids here, Victoria. Families. And there's still Dinah to consider. I can't just let Dragon win."

My mind spun as I tried to consider the possibilities. As much as I hated to admit it… Skitter had a point. The other thing about Dragon I'd learned from some informal chats with Armsmaster is that the restrictions imposed on her from the Guild were quite strict. She had huge leeway to act… but only within the bounds of the law.

Carol said that Piggot was the one who'd authorized or requested this, and her attempts to talk the Director out of it hadn't worked. But why would Piggot do that? Could it be revenge for the obvious public nose snubbing that the Undersiders had been doing for quite some time now? The assault on the PRT HQ?

I shook myself. No, this wasn't helping. Timeframes, maybe? The Nine had left. The Truce was essentially over, and certainly would be by the time Dragon arrived. Why would Piggot wait this long? She must think that the Undersiders were preventing her from performing her primary duty; taking care of her constituents. And in fairness, they were, if only by partially doing it for her. But if what Skitter had said earlier was true, the Undersiders couldn't just pull back from their holdings–and not just because of who would immediately replace them.

So what I really needed to do was work these variables to make that possible.

As it came together in my head, I looked at Skitter. She was still staring at the phone, one hand tangled in her hair, no doubt mulling over the same basic problem I was.

Could I trust her? That's what the plan – all of this, it felt like – came down to. I… was afraid to find out. But as much as I felt insane for thinking it after she had just pinned me to the wall, I thought I could. She let me explain. She believed me. After talking to Carol… that meant a lot. It meant that I was willing to believe she'd back me when it came down to it.

I snapped my fingers to get her attention. She turned her gaze to me. "Yes?"

"We need to talk to your team."


A/N:
This chapter is brought to you by four and a half hours of sleep. Find it at a severely underfunded local college near you. That and my cowriter Aleph, who now officially can no longer deny her role. Now my power is unstoppable. Tremble at my might.

So… remember how I said that "this conversation isn't over"? Well. Surprise? I'm sure that went somehow better and much worse than everyone expected. Really, what's a little threatening at knifepoint between friends? This is how you write friendship right? If not, I might seriously have to re-evaluate my middle school memories…

We're officially in arc 3! Y'all have no idea how excited I am. I've got plans for these two girls. Now I just gotta make sure they make it out the other end in one piece. No problem. I think. Does it count as one piece if I need to glue them back together?

The rec for today is Silent Howling by Selenelawfulgood. Do you want Wolfspider? Do you want an extremely autistic Taylor? Do you want some adorable interactions between a wolf changer and Bitch? Do you want ptsd, anxiety, and headpats? Yes? Then you want this fic.

 

[Ziel]

That moment when Victoria is reminded that Skitter is a complete lunatic who boldfacededly says things like "yeah I'm gonna fight Dragon" and means it.

But Victoria is still with her. And now she gets to meet Skitter's family siblings coworkers.

 

[Zedman7054]

And the funniest thing is that in canon the Undersiders did win against Dragon. Maybe not in the long-term considering everything, but they did manage to fight off the Dragonflight and the next major confrontation with her involves attacking a school to get at Taylor, which she literally just gets up and walks away from.

I'm wondering exactly what Victoria's plan is here. She doesn't want... oh... She doesn't want Skitter and the Undersiders to fight Dragon, but what if they use Dragon to fight Coil. What if they use the fact they know Dragon is coming to solicit help from Coil, drawing attention on to him, or they even plan a running fight which involves leading Dragon into contact with Coil's forces or base, tying both down and allowing Dinah to be rescued? Something like that would be quite the upset.

 

[Impel]

Before we finish here, I did want to note something that was pointed out to me by a reader. I wrote Charlotte, a Jew, as cooking bacon in one of the early chapters in arc 1. And I wanted to apologize for that formally here. I was so focused on fleshing out her character in regards to her conflict with Victoria that I forgot about her defining trait from canon. That's especially insensitive given how Brockton Bay has a history with blatant white supremacy, and Charlotte would have specific experience there.

That's on me, and once again I want to say sorry. There are explanations I could give, like "she's not a practicing Jew" or "it was turkey bacon", but it feels more appropriate and honest to leave the mistake as is rather than try and cover it up for my benefit. If anyone feels otherwise, please let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'm (obviously) going to write with that trait in mind going forward. We all make mistakes, and I knew I would with this story the moment I started writing. But hopefully my honesty here is sufficient.

Click to shrink...

I'm with you on the leave it in front, and understand wanting to be more mindful and conscious of things in the future, but if you did want to dip back, you could maybe hang a little lampshade on it. Not retconning it into something it wasn't, but maybe "At least they eat it so fast I don't have time to be tempted," or "None of the little ones have joined me on Shabbat... so even if it's not kosher for me, they should be fine eating it," or "I'll say a little prayer for them, and maybe one to see if the boss can wrangle some turkey bacon in the next shipment."

I've had your fic on my entirely too many open 'to read later' tabs for awhile now after seeing someone else rec it ages ago, and I'm so glad I made the time to binge it, even if I'm left waiting for the updates like everyone else now. I don't think you have anything to worry about in terms of worry when it comes to leaving the stations of canon, you're already starting at a point in canon well after most Worm-fics are abandoned, so the ground isn't trod to death yet. You're focusing on an important issue, one of the most exciting times in the story, and hitting it out of the park in terms of characterization. I also appreciate the recs you're giving out, even if it means I have more stories I really want to read in my queue than when I started. 'Good problems,' right? Anyway, thank you (and Aleph, too) for this awesome story!

 

[justanothercat]

I've had your fic on my entirely too many open 'to read later' tabs for awhile now after seeing someone else rec it ages ago, and I'm so glad I made the time to binge it, even if I'm left waiting for the updates like everyone else now. I don't think you have anything to worry about in terms of worry when it comes to leaving the stations of canon, you're already starting at a point in canon well after most Worm-fics are abandoned, so the ground isn't trod to death yet. You're focusing on an important issue, one of the most exciting times in the story, and hitting it out of the park in terms of characterization. I also appreciate the recs you're giving out, even if it means I have more stories I really want to read in my queue than when I started. 'Good problems,' right? Anyway, thank you (and Aleph, too) for this awesome story!

Click to shrink...

Thank you so much for this! It's nerve wracking as hell trying to do something like this for my first major project (and solo to boot, at least as the concept was first established and drafted). I'm still not totally sure that I can finish it, or deliver on the quality and path that people want. But I'm so glad that it seems to be reaching a spot that as you noted has not really been touched in the fandom. That alone makes it worth it.

 

[Impel]

Well, just take things one story, one arc, one chapter, one sentence, one thought at a time. You're doing great so far, so just do your best to enjoy the process and the journey, and it'll work out!

I think you've got the characters down, but if you're looking for recs for some Good Charlotte not that kind, some good Charlotte characterization, Pita's Nimrod (complete), and ccstat's Augment (ongoing) are both Char focused and just generally good stories in and of themselves. If you wanted to flesh out her faith some more, but are feeling uncertain how to go about it, you could maybe reach out to them, and crib some of their headcanon/notes? She's also got a not insignificant role in 3ndless' Trailblazer (complete), but that work's a doorstopper, so finding her in it is a bit more of a hunt.

I snapped my fingers to get her attention. She turned her gaze to me. "Yes?"

"We need to talk to your team."

Click to shrink...

"Victoria, you can't just say we need to talk and then sign nonsense, no one's cutting away."

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkloS3bnsfk

 

[justanothercat]

Skitter's back was straight; a stiff line of tension ran from her neck all the way to the base of her spine. Other people might have missed it, but I could see her clavicle standing out sharply from the silk covering it in the gaps between armor plates. It was a tell she shared with Mo– with Carol.

Was she really that nervous over this? Or was it leftover aggression from our almost-fight earlier? I couldn't tell.

"Meet with my team?" Skitter asked. "You do know what you're asking for, right? The last time you met with any of them, it nearly ended in a fistfight. Twice."

I swallowed, but nodded. It was the only way. I didn't like it. Even now I could feel the cold sweat of anxiety dripping down through my sternum to curdle in the pit of my stomach. But it was the only way through. Skitter was willing to translate for me with Carol, and that was already more than I would ever have believed she'd give, before all this. But what I was thinking of asking for… it wasn't the type of thing that could be done through an intermediary. It would only be genuine, make sense, if I was the one pitching it. If this was the best chance of keeping Skitter out of an inevitable prison sentence, I owed it to her to try.

"Why?"

My fingers ached, but I brought them up anyway. "I have a plan. But I need to talk to your teammates. To see if it'll work. Needs to be me."

Skitter just looked at me, her expressionless mask tilted slightly to one side. A wasp hummed near the border of my forcefield by my left elbow. I tried to hear if anything was going on downstairs as the pause stretched, but couldn't make out anything over the buzzing of the insects around us.

"Why are you invested?" Skitter said at length, still looking at me. "I don't get it. You're a hero. I saved you, yeah, but you don't owe me anything. Frankly, I don't entirely understand why you're still here. I figured you'd be out days ago."

That was the question, wasn't it? Why, why, why? Maybe that was the way she saw it. And maybe she was right. Strictly speaking, the Truce that I came here under only said not to use secret identities or other underhanded tactics to fight each other. There was nothing in there about providing me a phone. Or a book. Or food. But here we were, almost two weeks later. That counted for something. It had to.

"Want to help. My choice." I signed.

"Help how?" Skitter asked. "I doubt you want to fight Dragon yourself. And failing that, we don't have any other options."

"There is one," I signed, meeting her eyes. "All of you leave the Bay."

This time, I was expecting it when the insects around us swirled into a hissing, spitting frenzy. I didn't flinch or look away as I continued signing, slow and careful. "Not permanently. Just until the PRT can deal with Coil"

"Not an option," Skitter snapped. "And even if I said yes, no one else would agree to it. They all have things tying them here, myself included. We can't just pick up and abandon the people relying on us. And I can't leave Dinah."

This girl… she still thought Dinah was hers to save. That it had to be her. I could respect dedication, but this seemed like it was bordering on fixation. It couldn't be– no. I cut myself off from that thought; pursuing that approach wouldn't get me anywhere. Now wasn't the time to get into a pointless fight; I had to back up and focus on the terms she actually wanted. She needed Dinah safe in order to feel like her morality wasn't compromised. I felt similarly, if I was being honest. So I needed to find the right line of argument to show that.

"If you fight Dragon yourselves, you'll end up in prison. You won't help her there."

Skitter shook her head. "You're not listening." But the stubborn opposition had left her voice. She just sounded fed up now, done with the argument. "Fine," she said, glancing away, back to the map of Brockton spread out across the table. "You can meet with them. It'll be a disaster, but maybe hearing it from them will clear things up for you."

I tried not to twitch at the patronizing tone and the blatant dismissal. If that was what it took to get my foot in the door, I'd take it. I could always leave. Though, that did remind me of my last reservation. I snapped my fingers, and she turned to look at me despite not really needing to.

"I have one problem"

Skitter stared at me for another moment, one hand still resting on the map where she'd been moving a pin, before nodding. "Alright. What problem?"

I swallowed, and spelled it out letter by letter. "Hijack"

The yellow-eyed, mandible-jawed mask was as expressionless as ever, and nothing about her posture changed, but I felt suddenly sure that if I could see the girl beneath she'd be setting her jaw in muleish resignation. The sigh she let out was certainly proof she knew exactly what I was talking about.

"I'd prefer you use his current name–Regent," she said. "His old one has some… unfortunate connotations."

My gaze grew flinty. "You mean when he hijacked people?"

"Look it isn't–" Skitter paused to take a breath. The noise around us increased, black patches on the walls growing denser. But the bugs weren't hemming me in this time. They were massing on the far wall, the sinuous movements of the swarm flexing against the walls and ceiling like they were looking for a way out. "It isn't that simple. Yes, that's a part of it; I won't deny it. But we aren't… we don't like to do that. Unless there's no other option."

My fists clenched. "No other option? To do to someone else what you saved me from, you mean?"

"It's not like that!" Skitter snapped. "What Amy did… there's a reason why I didn't leave you there. No one deserves that, no matter what side they're on."

"I'm not exactly about to defend Shatterbird," I signed angrily, "but you weren't subtle about waving around your control of her like some sort of trophy. Taking on the Nine is one thing, but why keep her now? Even if you don't want to kill her, why not turn her over?"

"That's not the same thing!," she said, the bugs around us humming warningly. "That's not fair and you know it. Everything happened too fast, and it's not like anyone would trust us to give her over now."

I couldn't believe this. "So what, you're just going to hang onto her forever as your own private enforcer until she inevitably gets loose? Like some sort of demented pet–"

There was a bang, sharp and loud. It took me a moment after I jumped to realize that it had been Skitter's hand on the table. "That. Wasn't. My. Call."

There was a long pause.

At last she spoke. Slowly, as if trying to find the right words. "I'm not defending taking people like that. I'm not. But there's a difference between taking control of someone who is literally about to kill you, and doing it because you can. I don't like either, but they're different."

"How though?" I pressed. "How is it any different for the person–"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Skitter yelled.

The room was silent. The bugs had stopped moving. I stared at Skitter. For once, she wasn't meeting my eyes. Her shoulders hunched inward for a moment, hands fisting, before she corrected them back to her usual neutral stance.

"I don't know," she said again, softly. "And I get that's an issue for you. I can't say anything to reassure you there, right now. All I can say is the reason why I asked you to use that name doesn't have anything to do with me agreeing with that. It's because that name is associated with something in his past he doesn't want to bring back up, like Glory Girl. So I hope that you, of all people, can understand."

That… I knew that Villains always had deeper reasons for what they were doing. We all did. No one willingly did the "wrong thing" unless they were either convinced they had no other option or were forced into it. I stared at Skitter, trying to tell if she was serious. If this was an appeal for me to loosen my morality because of a shared connection, it was a low blow. I wasn't sure I could hold myself back from… doing something I'd regret, if that was true. But she knew that, too. Skitter couldn't afford for me to find out later that this was fake.

She hadn't outright lied to me yet. I could take her at her word until she gave me reason not to. And I didn't think she would. Frankly, Skitter just wasn't the type for subterfuge like this. I didn't agree with all of her decisions (far from it), but she was always straightforward about what she said she was going to do. When she said anything at all, anyway. To the extent she ever lied, it was more by stubbornly holding back information than by telling falsehoods. She was sharing something now about her team, of her own accord, just to help me feel better.

I nodded. "I can do that. But that's not my worry."

Skitter cocked her head, and I continued. "I need to know that he won't control me. That you won't let him."

This time, Skitter wasted no time meeting my gaze dead-on. "That will not happen, Victoria," she promised. "I know they're my teammates and you aren't, but this is beyond that. I may not believe you about all this Dragon stuff, but if you're willing to weigh in at all then we can use all the help we can get. And… frankly speaking, we couldn't afford to puppet you. We have enough to deal with as it is."

That was… harsh. Pragmatic, if I was being charitable (which I wasn't). But I couldn't deny her logic. It really wouldn't make sense.

Skitter sensed my reaction, if the spider running across my arm was any indication. "And beyond that," she added softly, "the situations where Regent used his power were different. I know we said you weren't an Undersider. And I'm assuming that's still true here…"

I nodded quickly. That was one bridge I wouldn't allow myself to cross. Not here, not like this. The feeling of her arm inches away from my throat was still too fresh, even if I wanted to.

"...but since this is a loaded issue for you, I can make some exceptions." She took a deep breath, "I'm assuming we're under Truce confidentiality here, yes?"

She waited for my nod to continue, "Regent's powers allow him to control someone within a radius of himself, powers included. But to do that, he needs time. Hours if he's trying actively, days to weeks if he's not. It is very noticeable, and manifests as uncontrollable muscle spasms. I'm going to tell him under no uncertain terms not to use his power on you, but I'm telling you this so you can recognize it yourself. Does that satisfy your worries?"

I… I wanted to say no. And in some ways, it still didn't. I had no idea why Regent didn't want to use his old name, and it still felt self serving. Skitter clearly didn't approve of him using his power to control people… but also wasn't stopping him.

But at the same time, it would've been a lot easier for her not to tell me all of this. To say that he wasn't Hijack, or to just say she wouldn't let him turn me into a puppet and ask me to trust her. Instead she laid out the objective reasons why he wouldn't, committed herself to backing that up and gave me the warning signs so I could watch for them myself.

I could… just barely accept that. It was right on the line. I'd be keeping my aura on a hair trigger the whole time; if that was what it took to get me out of there then so be it. But it wasn't the deal-breaker I'd thought it might be.

"Fine," I signed stiffly. "Anyone else like that?"

Skitter hummed, tilting her head to show she was thinking. "No, those should be most of the people you have issues with in terms of powers. You still haven't entirely explained why you want to meet everyone, though. Especially when you aren't a member."

"It's still coming together in my head," I signed. It was true, but it was also frustrating that I didn't think I quite had the vocabulary in ASL to explain it even once I figured out the details of my half-formed idea.

"Alright," Skitter said dubiously. "I'm going to have to pitch this to the team. We normally meet without masks; that's obviously not an option here. I'll let you know when we're ready to–"

"Not here," I signed.

I flushed bright red as Skitter cut herself off mid-sentence. I wasn't sure where that had come from, but a tension I hadn't even noticed lifted off me as I processed what I'd said.

"Not here?" Skitter echoed.

I nodded. "Not here. The meeting. Other place, please."

Skitter tilted her head. She looked at me for a long moment, and I suppressed the urge to squirm. It felt like she could see right through me - not physically, but to parts of me maybe even I wasn't aware of. It wasn't entirely a comfortable feeling. But at the same time... it wasn't revulsion or fear I felt at being so seen. Just antsy nervousness at what she might find.

"...alright," she said at length, and nodded. "Somewhere else, then I'll see to it."

And with that she turned to walk up the flight of stairs to her room, presumably to make the calls to her team in private. I didn't fully relax until the door closed behind her, slumping against the wall behind me. I caught a couple of spiders scuttling out of the way out of the corner of my eye, so she was still probably aware of me, but I didn't care. I needed a moment.

What had I just done? Why had I agreed to meet up with these Villains – one of them a human Master, to boot? It was like I wanted to be controlled again–

Fuck. I squeezed my eyes shut and cycled my breathing. In for five seconds, hold for four, out for seven. Again and again, until my heart rate slowly calmed. That… that wasn't what this was. I refused to believe that; refused to even think it. I was doing the right thing here. Sometimes the right thing was hard. But Skitter had saved me. More than once. More than that; she wasn't the unrepentant Villain she was painted as. There was good in her; her means were twisted up and brutal but her goals were well-intentioned. I owed it to her to help. If that was what would break this debt between us and let me walk away afterwards with a clear conscience – if that give her a chance to walk away afterwards as something other than the warlord all her bad choices had made her – it would be worth the discomfort of sharing a room with Hi– with Regent.

---

The idea didn't get any less anxiety-inducing over the next day as it solidified in my head. Skitter stayed up in her room for hours on the phone, hashing out the details of the meeting. I didn't ask her about it. Part of me didn't want to know. The rest was worried that she wouldn't tell me anything anyways. But my resolve was still there, winning out over the butterflies in my stomach. I was committed to at least saying my piece, trying to talk them out of turning this city into a warzone for the third time this month.

It was just a lot harder to believe that when I was steeped in the humid evening air of late summer, walking side by side with Skitter down yet another abandoned street.

As seemed to be standard, no one bothered us. The swarm around us was thick, alternating between enclosing us in a thick tight bubble and expanding outwards in probing waves. Or at least, that's what I guessed from the bug presence at the outer edges. It was hard to tell without an aerial view, and I wasn't about to draw any further attention to us without due cause.

I looked at Skitter beside me. If she was bothered by this meeting, she didn't show it. I knew it had to be treading ever closer to the boundaries she had set up between me and the rest of her team. I tried to go over them in my head as we walked.

Tattletale and Bitch were known quantities, more or less. The former was… antagonistic was a light word. Primarily a Thinker, without a known sub power. But that primary expression was formidable. While it was easy to take her out in a straight fight, the bank had shown just how difficult that could be in practice. That, and she hated me. The feeling was mutual.

Bitch on the other hand was a bit more of a mystery. I'd tried to spend some time earlier today remembering the finer details of that disastrous outing when we met for the second time, and some things had come back to me. Her power in particular was clearly striker based, and took some time to activate. It also might tire her out. I remembered Skitter being able to pin her to the wall after she'd tried to set her dog on me. Unless Skitter was a lot stronger than she looked, I suspected that was because Bitch had been exhausted by power use. Whether that was from power over-use before we'd met her or the boost she'd given them in the moment, I couldn't say.

Then there was… Regent. Skitter had explained his power earlier, and that was at least fifty percent of why I felt comfortable with this. Yes, he had reasons not to control me, but that was cold comfort when I thought the same of my sister not that long ago. Ultimately, my security came with my aura, and flight. If I sensed anything that I thought was Regent trying to get the upper hand, I had promised myself, I was bolting on the spot. Truce or no.

The last one was an unknown. Grue. The leader, according to Skitter. By process of elimination, the darkness generator from the bank job. I remembered it being almost stifling, blocking sound as well as light. Best to assume he could see through it; that way I wouldn't be unpleasantly surprised. But it also obscured sightlines for everyone else. I could use that, if it came down to it.

"We're here," Skitter said, breaking me out of my thoughts. I looked up. At some point while I'd been deep in thought we'd walked up to a nondescript door of one of the warehouses on the eastern side of the Docks. It looked almost exactly like every other entrance, save for the number 37B stenciled on it. That was probably the point. This might not even be an Undersiders base, just a location of convenience.

Skitter looked at me, face unreadable behind her insectoid mask and signature yellow lenses. "You ready?"

I swallowed, and gave a hesitant nod, my notebook clenched in my hands.

"Look," Skitter said, and if I didn't know better I'd have thought it was awkwardness I heard in her tone. "I'm gonna have to say some things in there. What we've talked about before this still holds, alright?"

Well… that wasn't ominous at all. I nodded slowly, pointlessly second-guessing all the choices that had brought me here.

Too late to back out, though. She turned back to the entrance, and opened the door.

Immediately facing us inside was a small fold-out table, with a number of chairs arranged around it. And in them set the Undersiders, all assembled and waiting on us. I dragged my eyes over them one by one. Grue, with his black motorcycle helmet and matching leathers. Bitch, with her fur collared jacket and cheap dog mask, already growling at me. Beside her… Regent, complete with a loosely fitted white shirt, venetian mask, and matching crown. It would've looked absurd, but the way he was leaning back with an arm sprawled over the back of his chair made it barely work.

Finally, my eyes met Tattletale. Wearing her signature purple and black spandex, with the domino mask to go with it. Already with that goddamn grin on her face.

"Hey, Glory Girl," she smirked, and my fists clenched at her tone before my brain even registered the words. "Miss me?"


A/N:
Conflict? In my fic? It's more likely than you'd think. I love you Alec, it's not you, it's me. Wait babe where are you going–

In all seriousness this conversation was pretty difficult to write at the time. A lot of this fic consists of "Victoria or Skitter walking right up to their respective lines, and daring one another to put a toe over". This is definitely one of those times. I'd like to think that I did a good job at believably walking back the tension here. Listen, they're both disasters alright? And almost yelling at your sort of not quite friend is definitely the equivalent of therapy. Yes.

Today's rec is Giving Up the Game by SilviaNorton, a fic that I'm going to read immediately after I finish posting this chapter I swear. I'm obligated by law to rec good punchbuggy fics at this point, so don't mind me as I slowly go down the list of the currently updating stuff in the fandom. This one is explicit, thus my not linking it directly. But it's romance and fluff, featuring an unpowered Taylor and social awkwardness in Arcadia? Count me in.

 

[Impel]

I tried not to twitch at the patronizing tone and the blatant dismissal.

Click to shrink...

And I'm sure Skitter doesn't feel put out at you repeatedly dismissing her idea of fighting Dragon. She's got a decent track record against dragons at this point.

I had no idea why Regent didn't want to use his old name, and it still felt self serving. Skitter clearly didn't approve of him using his power to control people… but also wasn't stopping him.

Click to shrink...

I mean... didja hear he got nominated for the S9 by one of his own siblings? Another human master... c'mon, use that big ol' brain, he's got his own family drama he doesn't want to deal with/is trying to stay out of. As for the power, it's not like he's got, say, a forcefield, or super strength. If all you have is a taser scepter and a body-jacked silica-kinetic, then that's what you're going to use, right? Especially if said silica-kinetic gunked up the workings of your taser before you got your metaphorical mental mitts on her.

The rest was worried that she wouldn't tell me anything anyways. But my resolve was still there, winning out over the butterflies in my stomach. I was committed to at least saying my piece, trying to talk them out of turning this city into a warzone for the third time this month.

Click to shrink...

Vic, what's your concern? Skitter already said that she made sure the Mayor wouldn't condemn the city. And Taylor, don't get her so worked up, you should stop making the butterflies flutter in her stomach. They should be within your range.

The last one was an unknown. Grue. The leader, according to Skitter. By process of elimination, the darkness generator from the bank job.

Click to shrink...

And, like, that's all of them. All five Undersiders, yep. I'm sure there won't be any new additions to the group that will totally take Vic by surprise. And I'll just wait for the next update and start taking a biiiiiig drink from my glass of water when I begin reading it.

Great update, even if this was a pre-meeting meeting sorta chapter. Gosh, who knew villainy involved so much scheduling and coordination? They really are evil! It's good that neither of them are taking it personally, still managing to communicate, and work together. Even if they're still not giving each other all that they need for true understanding.

 

[Zedman7054]

But my resolve was still there, winning out over the butterflies in my stomach.

Click to shrink...

There's just something about bug metaphors that take on a different meaning around Skitter. Don't you think?

And oh my God, Lisa is not going to make this easy. If there's anything Taylor and Lisa can agree on, it's that the other's pride is their greatest weakness.

 

[Jannika]

So i guess it wasn't clear enough that Regent can personally relate to what Victoria went through.
I kind of hope Alec has a serious moment if it gets brought up in the meeting.

 

[Gnarker]

I could… just barely accept that. It was right on the line. I'd be keeping my aura on a hair trigger the whole time; if that was what it took to get me out of there then so be it. But it wasn't the deal-breaker I'd thought it might be.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Regent especially is going to be very impressed by Vicky's aura.
(Inbefore she has a panic attack, and Alec is the only one with enough composure to talk her down?)

 

[justanothercat]

I clenched my fists and tried not to react as Tattletale's smirk widened. Lashing out or showing how deep that barb had sunk would just be giving her what she wanted. I refused to give her the satisfaction.

"Tattletale–" Skitter warned as I moved to sit down, dark promise in her tone. Her bugs hummed once to punctuate her words; not quite a threat yet but on the edge of one.

"Oh hush, you've kept her in private long enough," Tattletale said, waving the warning off and getting up from her chair to look at me. "Let me have a little bit of fun. Decided to keep the hair dye in huh, Glory?"

I fingered a lock of hair and tried not to fidget as I stepped deliberately out of her reach and took a seat on the other side of Skitter from her, folding my hands down into my lap to hide their trembling. Her comment about the hair dye I just ignored. At this point it was more that I hadn't decided one way or another. The Heroes knew that I was with Skitter, true, but that didn't mean the average person on the street did. Being obviously Glory Girl while walking next to Skitter was a lot different than looking like someone her general shape and size. My roots were showing at this point, and it had faded to more of a dark gray, but it was still good enough to deflect casual attention.

"I'm surprised it lasted this long, given that you've got access to showers again," Tattletale continued, jerking her head at Skitter next to me. I tried to keep my reaction from showing. I knew by this point that the water was working – though how I had no idea. I… hadn't really thought about it. Taking a shower. It would mean taking off my clothes and foggy mirrors and water and touching and–

"Be nice, Tattletale," Skitter ordered, giving her what must have been an impressive glare from behind those lenses.

"You never let me do anything fun anymore, I swear!" Tattletale shot back with a pout, completely unintimidated. "What happened to best criminal buddies, huh?"

"Enough," Grue said, startling me. I'd been so focused on Tattletale at the other end of the table that I'd almost forgotten him, seated to my left with his arms folded. "She's right."

The air in the room changed at once, solemnity as smothering as his darkness descending. It almost felt statically charged, and I struggled not to lean on the mental trigger for my aura. Tattletale finally shut up and sat back down, letting me turn my attention to Grue, hyper-aware of my position between him and Skitter. If he looked like he was going to turn things violent, I'd be able to get us both out before he could reach us, even in the dark.

"Skitter," he said, low and intense, "Where have you been?"

If she really was nervous, she was doing a fantastic job of hiding it. "I told you all in the last meeting that I'd be busy handling this," she replied, sounding more annoyed at being questioned than anxious. She drummed her fingers on the back of her chair almost absentmindedly. "Tattletale and I found her in a position of vulnerability. We agreed she might make a good asset, so I let her stay."

Wait, an asset? We'd agreed I wasn't a member of the Undersiders! Was this all some kind of fucked up scheme to recruit me?

Beneath the table, a small centipede crawled over my palm, hidden to the rest of the Undersiders. Skitter. What did it mean? Was she just trying to reassure me before I left and ruined her plan? How much of this was true? I remembered her words from a few minutes ago, that she would have to say things here. I wished I believed her now.

"An asset is one thing," Grue said. His folded arms tightened, and his biceps bulged under the black leather. "But only if it doesn't bring down more heat on us. You've already dragged Bitch into one fight with the heroes over her. We can't afford another confrontation like that right now."

I swallowed, and tried not to look at the stocky girl in the cheap dog mask across the table from me. Her low growl made it difficult.

"And then," Grue continued, "you weren't there when we had to take on the Empire. We had to sub in one of the Travelers, and Ballistic almost hit one of Bitch's dogs when we were getting out."

"I still wanna kill that fucker," Bitch said darkly. She looked like she was going to say something more, but a sharp look from Grue stopped her. Grunting, she shoved her chair back and turned her back on the table, whistling sharply for a dog I hadn't noticed lounging in the corner and starting to pace..

"You know that I was busy that day," Skitter said, pulling my attention back to her. Wait, she'd been busy? Busy doing what? When had this even come up? Did he mean the whole mess with Parian and Flechette? I tried to review what I'd seen her doing, but Skitter spent so much time out or up on the third floor that it was impossible to guess how much of it was vital stuff she might have skipped a fight for.

"I called ahead. You said it was fine, that I could tend to things in my territory if I needed to while you tagged in Ballistic for backup. If you had a problem with it, you should've told me," Skitter said. She hadn't moved from the position she'd taken after coming in, standing with shoulders squared behind the one empty chair left at the table.

"Goddammit Skitter, that's not the point!" Grue said, smacking a fist on the table and standing, his chair skidding back and almost falling over as he matched her. I felt like I was watching a tennis match, looking back and forth between them as they spoke, except this one was being played with grenades. "I didn't know I needed you until you weren't there! That's the whole problem! Yeah, you needed to take care of Glory Girl, fine. But how long until you're satisfied and move onto some new pet project?"

Skitter's shoulders went rigid. If she'd been stiff before, now she was as tense as I'd ever seen her, like Grue's accusation had shoved an iron bar up her spine. I shuddered at the mental image. Bonesaw was too fresh in memory for that to be an innocent metaphor.

"She needed help, Grue," Skitter said through gritted teeth. "She was in my territory. I refuse to feel guilty for that, not when I'm still doing my job here."

"Yeah, and how long is that going to last, exactly?"

This time the silence slammed down like a coffin lid. Even the bugs froze. Grue was smart enough to realize he'd overstepped.

"Skitter, I didn't mean it like–"

"No," Skitter cut him off. "No, I think you did."

"Sheesh," Tattletale said, drawing out her chair and standing up. A part of me hated how she made the motion look almost leisurely, like she was just stretching. "You all don't have to be so dramatic about it. Just because Glory Girl's sister got a little focused on her crush when I pointed it out at the bank and did something awful doesn't mean Victoria is broken forever. She's here, isn't she?"

The world ground to a halt. Nothing disturbed the cold, ringing silence as memory crystallized with sadistic clarity. The bank had always been… a moment of contention for me, especially lately. But up to now that had mostly been my perception of Skitter. It made sense; she was the one I'd had the most contact with, and while I hated Tattletale for what she did… the exact nature of what she'd said to Amy hadn't clicked until now.

The secret. The thing she was mocking, right in front of my face. I thought maybe it was her parent being Marquis. And maybe part of it was. But with what she just said… I couldn't deny it. She knew. She knew from day one, and still let me go home with her, didn't do anything, didn't tell me–

Regent's fist interrupted us both as he slammed it into Tattletale's stomach, doubling her over with a convulsive sound that was part wheeze, part grunt and part squawk.

I blinked. I blinked again, squeezing my eyes shut and then reopening them, double-checking that I'd actually seen that right. It had to have been a mistake, right? But no, Skitter's teammate had definitely just sucker punched Tattletale.

He seemed to belatedly notice us staring, as he slowly drew his fist back. He was breathing hard through his nose, jaw so tight I could see the muscles in his neck standing out, his head eerily still as he stared down at the bent-over, wheezing girl he'd just knocked the wind out of.

Then he straightened, and the tension slid off him like water. His body language fell back to casual carelessness so completely that it couldn't be natural. But it didn't seem forced, either. A shiver of discomfort rippled up my spine. I'd half thought he was defending me for a brief, absurd moment, but this... this shift from fury to apathy just creeped me out more.

"What?" he asked, looking around at our expressions. "We were all getting our dramatic soap opera moments; I wanted mine. Seemed fun."

And with that he sat right back down, twirling his scepter.

Tattletale let out a dry hacking noise that might have been laughter, bracing herself on the table for a moment before straightening again with a hand held gingerly to her midsection. It took her a couple more slow breaths before she managed to sit back down, and even then she winced as she did so.

"Yeah yeah," she wheezed, "everyone's a critic."

"Enough," Skitter said, trying to regain control of the conversation, "this isn't what we were even here to talk about. We have a problem."

Grue's helmet dipped slightly as he tucked his chin closer to his chest. He planted his hands on the table and leant forward. "Explain."

I swallowed, and leaned forward, laying my pad in front of him rather than Tattletale or Regent. Skitter had explained that Grue was the leader of the gang, which meant it was on me to explain this to him. I didn't know how much he already knew, so I had prewritten as much as I could.

"Dragon is coming to Brockton Bay to apprehend the Undersiders. I was warned by my Mother. She told me to get out, that she can't guarantee my safety when it happens. You have a week at most, maybe less. Can't fight her, you need to run"

Bitch growled as she stopped her pacing. "What's she saying?"

Fuck. Was my handwriting that bad? Skitter stepped forward, ready to explain, but Grue cut her off. "She's saying Dragon is coming. One week. She says we should run."

"Oh great," Regent laughed. "The giant Dragon lady is coming? I'll just pack my bags then will I?"

"Don't tell me you're scared, Glory," said Tattletale.

"Fuck that," Bitch snarled.

Great. This was going even better than I'd expected.

"Why do we need to leave?" Grue asked, staring down at the pad and then at me, straightening a little as though his height and the skull and black smoke could intimidate me. I didn't like that he was looking down at me, or that he thought this kind of display could scare me after everything she'd done, but I wasn't going to escalate this further by challenging him over something that petty. "We've faced bad odds before."

I gave Skitter a desperate look, which she seemed to interpret correctly. "She can't speak. She can sign, and I'll translate."

Grue grunted. The helmet made it hard to tell if he was watching me or Skitter as I explained. "Deploying Dragon means the government is sanctioning the effort. She's a force of nature. Even if you take her down, it won't stop. It means none of you have a way out. You'll be running forever, until you're too slow to get away." My fingers hurt from the unfamiliar signs and the way I was having to finger-spell some words, but I kept going. I had forced myself to practice these earlier today, over and over again. If there was anything I could do to give myself an edge in communicating, I'd do it.

"As opposed to what, exactly?" Grue said. He gestured at the rest of the Undersiders. "In case you haven't noticed, we've been past the point of no return for a while here."

I looked at Skitter. I knew that she and Tattletale were onboard with this; hopefully the rest of the team was. I kept my aura on a hair trigger as I signed, just in case. "I know that Skitter and Tattletale want to overthrow Coil."

The bugs on the walls hissed, but Skitter still translated the message. Bitch growled lowly, somewhere between a warning and a promise. Grue pushed up off the table he'd been leaning on and rose back to his full height, fists clenching at his sides and rising instinctively towards a guard stance. The smoke leaking from his costume thickened and darkened, slowly rolling down his shoulders like a cape and flowing down his arms and chest like tar. "Tattletale?"

She sighed, absentmindedly rubbing her stomach just below her diaphragm. "Yeah boss, we do."

"Why?"

She gave him a grim smile. "Because I know he's already put one hit out on Skitter by this point. Maybe more. Having a plan ready to take him out seemed like good insurance."

Fuck. Their own boss had— no, focus. This wasn't directly actionable, but it did support my point. It gave him a reason to listen.

"Regardless of the fact that my own teammates didn't tell me they were planning on overthrowing our boss," Grue growled, his smoke pooling on the floor in a thick, clinging layer, creeping out from his feet by inches, "I don't see what that has to do with Dragon."

I swallowed. This was the trickiest part. I knew what Skitter's angle was, and while I didn't know Tattletale's I could guess. Coil already had one pet Thinker in his basement; I doubted he'd say no to another. And I couldn't have been the first to think as much. I didn't know where Grue was coming from on this. But what Tattletale had just shared was a key datapoint. And judging from the look on her face, she knew it. I could use that.

"Normally, you're right. You've done too much for the PRT to take you at your word. But he's kidnapped a child to use as his Thinker. He put out a hit on your own teammate. You can't trust him anymore. This is much bigger than anything you all have done. If you move attention onto Coil instead of you, the PRT might leave you alone."

"Might?" Grue asked. His darkness was speeding up, growing exponentially into a shroud that left him a leering white skull in the smoke that coiled inky tendrils around the table legs and swallowed the chair behind him. I got ready to launch myself into flight at a moment's notice if I needed to. "That's a hell of a risk to run on a hypothetical," he went on, the smoke billowing with a swing of his arm. "Yeah, Coil's not exactly the person I'd trust to have at my back. You know who is?"

He gestured at the capes arrayed beside him. "My team. Not a hero who never stuck out her neck for us before."

"Grue," Skitter said sharply.

"What?" he snapped, turning to her.

"She has. Stuck up for me. Flechette attacked us; she wanted to arrest me and drag us both back to the Wards. She," she jerked a thumb at me, "stopped her, and flew me back. We're not Heroes, but we're also not hypocrites."

I didn't dare look at her. I didn't know what she'd see on my face. I didn't know what I wanted her to see there. I didn't even know whether I wanted there to be anything to see.

"So then we should follow princess over here and just turn ourselves in to the heroes?" Regent asked, absentmindedly tracing a pattern on the table. He'd been so quiet, apart from sucker-punching Tattletale, that I'd half-forgotten he was there. "I don't know about you, but I don't think there's much pizza in prison."

"The fuck we're going to prison," Bitch growled, her hand on the dog by her side. I tried not to tense. This was going to shit; I needed to de-escalate.

"That's not what I'm saying. Just tell the PRT that there's a bigger target. Then get out of the Bay while they clean house."

"Except you have no idea how long that will take," Tattletale countered, looking at me pointedly. She tapped the table for effect. "Coil has infiltrated this branch himself. How do you know any raid isn't dead on arrival? How long are we supposed to just abandon everything holding us here? Do you have any idea how long it's taken for us to build up what structure we have?"

Fuck it, I had to appeal to her ego. If there was one lever I knew she had, even from what little time I'd interacted with her, it was her obsession with proving she was the smartest person in any room she walked into.

"As if you couldn't find that out before you even called them. Unless you're less of a Thinker than you like to pretend."

Tattletale wagged a chiding finger at me. "Uh uh, naughty naughty. I know what you're trying to do, and it won't work. Just because I might know all of the PRT's dirty little secrets doesn't mean I can manipulate them that finely."

She leaned her cheek against her hand. "Besides, didn't you just say they had no reason to take us at our word? Even assuming we get lucky and talk to a person he hasn't bought off or bugged, why would they act on any of this at all? It's information coming from villains, Glory. You barely believe Skitter and you've been living with her for two weeks. The PRT? No chance in hell."

Fuck. She had a point there, and she knew it had landed. If the information came from me, Piggot might at least consider it. But I'd been staying with Skitter for days. And missing for longer than that. Anything that came out of my mouth was suspect at best, and a Master-Stranger incident at worst. I would've had the same doubts if I hadn't lived through it.

"We're wasting time," Grue said, drawing his smoke back into himself and laying his palms flat on the table. "We need to focus on Dragon. Maybe we can find a way to disable her suits."

"No, you don't understand," I signed, frustrated. "If you resist her or put up a public fight of any kind, that's the same thing as declaring war against the US government. The only reason why you got away with your fiefdoms here is because of the chaos in the city when it happened."

"Then give us solutions, not problems," Skitter said, responding to me directly rather than translating. I turned to her to reply and–

"I think you should just tell Dragon," said a voice an inch behind my left ear.


A/N:
Surprise! Y'all get the chapter today since I'm traveling tomorrow. Monday's update is coming on the usual date, though I'll likely be a bit less active in the thread since I'll still be out of town when that happens. And/or still be dead from the 4(? I can't do math) hour time difference, we'll see.

The Undersiders are a lot of fun to write when they're all in the same room. Challenging as hell, but fun. They're all such shitlords (aside from Brian, thank u for being the voice of reason) that they almost seem to compete with one another to say the most out of pocket thing in any given situation. The mark of a true healthy relationship. Also hats off to Aleph once again for helping this feel way less like talking heads. She's great.

Today's rec is going to be Missy Wants Her Girlfriend Back by Peggysussy, in which Coil kidnaps Dinah and Missy expresses her displeasure. Violently. Is it in character? Nope. Is it canon compliant? Good lord no? Is it fun? Absolutely.

 

[NemoMarx]

I liked Alec popping up to be dramatic and then sorta quieting down again, that really seems like his style.

 

[OctarineShrike]

Dun Dun Dun! Wondering who that voice is. Seriously.

 

[NemoMarx]

Oh, it's gotta be Aisha, right? Coming out of stranger mode to surprise someone is her thing, and who else would be right next to an ear like that?

 

[nimistsr]

brian might not be a shitolrd but he is a grade a dumbass. guy gets a magic power protecting his sister and instead of going to the government and getting a sweetheart deal he goes to work for a bond villain.

 

[Impel]

"Let me have a little bit of fun. Decided to keep the hair dye in, huh, Glory?"

Click to shrink...

Should you have another comma before the 'huh?'

Tattletale finally shut up and sat back down, letting me turn my attention to Grue, hyper-aware of my position between him and Skitter. If he looked like he was going to turn things violent, I'd be able to get us both out before he could reach us, even in the dark.

Click to shrink...

Yes, because I'm sure Skitter would be helpless and a super strong brute grabbing onto her without communication would be exactly what she needs.

I felt like I was watching a tennis match, looking back and forth between them as they spoke, except this one was being played with grenades.

Click to shrink...

Ah yes, the most dangerous game.

But where would they get bears and a regulation court at this hour?

But no, Skitter's teammate had definitely just sucked punched Tattletale

Click to shrink...

Watch out, he's got vacuum powers! Swap sucked for sucker?

Can't fight her, you need to run."

Click to shrink...

Would GG have written a period on the end of her last sentence, here?

I didn't like that he was looking down at me, or that he thought this kind of display could scare me after everything she'd done, but I wasn't going to escalate this further by challenging him over something that petty.

Click to shrink...

And also because she's never used her flight to loom over someone. A hero wouldn't do that.

"If you resist her or put up a public fight of any kind, that's the same thing as declaring war against the US government.

Click to shrink...

But... She's from Canada, don'tcha know? I seriously feel like any resistance offered to Dragon when she's out and about doing hero things doesn't have people interpreting it that way. Then again... these kids tryin' to be warlords up in here.

I think you should just tell Dragon," said a voice an inch behind my left ear.

Click to shrink...

Who could it be?! Regent, you were making a good impression, why did you have Shatterbird float up behind Vic to scare her? I mean, good prank and all, but she's still mostly traumatized. Also.

And/or still be dead tired from the 4(? I can't do math) hour time difference, we'll see.

Click to shrink...

FTFY, because we'll still get more updates, right? They are like sugar to us.

 

[pailRomantic]

We got a peak at this early on in the story, but I really love how you write the Undersiders from an outside perspective. It really feels like they're living up to their teenage warlord status and its so fresh compared to how the fandom usually portrays them. Tattletale especially feels on point, and cruel to those outside her circle.

 

[Machdisk]

Well that's interesting, what was up with Alec? A flash of fury at leaving someone to be master and abused with a tickle of GGs aura to knock him out of his apathy briefly? I could see that being possible though I could also just believe him wanted to interrupt in as dramatic a fashion as possible so …

 

[underscore]

Hello Aisha, a surprisingly good and level headed decision coming from you, but that is probably uncharitable of me to say. She does sorta kinda have personal experience w Dragon

 

[Geas]

Goddamn it Aisha. I swear, that girl's gonna get her head literally taken off one day.

*steeples fingers, looks thoughtful*

... I do suddenly wonder though, some things about Alec. Are there lines that even he doesn't tolerate being crossed, for all that he's a psuedo-sociopath due to his abusive upbringing (which isn't unheard of)? Did Tattletale poking at Victoria cause him to remember something truly horrific, maybe even aspects of his own trigger event? Or did Tattletale suddenly sound far too much like a Vasil relative in that moment?

It could be either of the three, some combination of the above, or something that I haven't considered.

In any case, Aisha's little interjection at the end there is surprisingly insightful, perhaps because she hadn't been involved in nearly as much of the Undersiders... umm... let's call it "post-Leviathan youthful exuberance," until now. She might not be the sharpest tack in the box and her level of education is... well... Hmmm. Let's call it very "Hmmm." But the youngest Laborn isn't a Dummy McDumbFace. Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the most easily overlooked ones.

 

[Aminadab_Brulle]

brian might not be a shitolrd but he is a grade a dumbass. guy gets a magic power protecting his sister and instead of going to the government and getting a sweetheart deal he goes to work for a bond villain.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, a black teenager living in the city infested by literal nazis longer than he is alive is so stupid for not trusting the governmental organisation that is incapable of not only dealing with them, but even of transporting one of them to prison.

But... She's from Canada, don'tcha know?

Click to shrink...

I have a feeling that's the whole point. If American government is already so weak that it has to bring an outside force deep into its own soil to deal with a bunch of kids on dogs, then making this fact widely known by making the fight public is going to invoke eternal fury. Makes sense on paper. The fact that this is not going to happen? Victoria doesn't know that.

 

[ic3shard13]

The fact that this is not going to happen?

Click to shrink...

I mean, with Tagg and later Alexandria, it certainly looked like it was going to happen if Skitter didn't join with the PRT. If Taylor hadn't managed to kill them, the Undersiders would have been toast.

 

[Pale Wolf]

Well that's interesting, what was up with Alec? A flash of fury at leaving someone to be master and abused with a tickle of GGs aura to knock him out of his apathy briefly? I could see that being possible though I could also just believe him wanted to interrupt in as dramatic a fashion as possible so …

Click to shrink...

... I do suddenly wonder though, some things about Alec. Are there lines that even he doesn't tolerate being crossed, for all that he's a psuedo-sociopath due to his abusive upbringing (which isn't unheard of)? Did Tattletale poking at Victoria cause him to remember something truly horrific, maybe even aspects of his own trigger event? Or did Tattletale suddenly sound far too much like a Vasil relative in that moment?

It could be either of the three, some combination of the above, or something that I haven't considered.

Click to shrink...

All of the above, tbh.

Like, for all that Alec looks apathetic, he's not. He's always feeling something. He's just not in touch with it. His conscious mind can't find it, because he's repressing layers upon layers of trauma and his brain just kind of skips off most emotion, it doesn't want to feel so it ignores it as best as possible. He never knows what he's feeling, and he generally logics things out to think what he should be feeling and is usually close enough. But it affects his behaviour. It's this undertow below the surface that nobody's aware of from outside, but it's still pulling him places.

He felt something. He got legit angry, then he's like 'wait why did I do that?', and played it off as a joke while he returned to baseline. (His other alternative is following the logical path of figuring out what got that reaction out of him, but when you do that, you're dwelling on it and you feel it more. He might explore the thought later, in a more appropriate context. Or just avoid it entirely because some emotions fucking suck)

I don't think he really has values as such. Not much anyway. The only values he had a chance to pick up are basic human instincts and what little the more socially-responsible of his father's concubines managed to instill in and around their enforced monofocus on Nikos (and directly clashing with a lot of the rest of his upbringing). But there is a little. He decided, on a pretty fundamental level, that a Vasil was not what he wanted to be. He didn't like the people he was around. He didn't like the things he was doing, that were happening around him. He walked out, at great risk to himself. He doesn't have a conscious sense of his values, but there are lines that're going to trigger reactions from him that are very much not self-interested.

Not to mention trauma reactions. He has a great deal of trauma delivered to him express from his family (like Amy just did to Victoria). And while he himself has not been Mastered and raped while under that control? The majority of the people in his life have (we can assume there are more concubines than children), and some of them he'd have been close to, had some degree of love for.

For all that Victoria is freaking about Alec, what happened to her hits almost every trauma trigger and button he has. He's as sympathetic as he is capable of being and he's her natural ally here. (I very much look forward to the development of their friend?ship)

And Lisa went a-tap-dancing on those buttons so Falcon Punch. (It was suggested in the SB thread that Lisa did that completely intentionally, to open the route towards Victoria getting along with Alec)

 

[justanothercat]

My aura exploded out of me, washing over the people and walls surrounding me like a tidal wave. It wasn't a conscious decision, but I couldn't bring myself to care. There was someone right behind me and I'd had no idea she was there; she could've touched me and I would've never known. I spun fast enough that my hair whipped out behind me, one fist coming around to–

"Victoria!" Skitter yelled.

I blinked, lowering my arm from the roundhouse I'd been throwing at... something? What had just happened? I looked over at the Undersiders. Grue was on his feet, gripping the table hard enough to make the leather of his gloves creak. Bitch was snarling, hunched over, shoulders up and ready to swing; Tattletale was wide-eyed and had a hand on her pistol. Even Regent had jumped to his feet and pulled out his scepter. They were scared - terrified. Because... because of my aura, I realized. It was on full blast. Wait, had I slipped? Grue was intimidating but… why did I turn my aura on again?

I groped for the mental switch to my newly hair-trigger aura, forcing it back under my skin. Skitter visibly relaxed, the bugs teeming on the walls slipping back into a low drone. The others all slumped, less used to the feeling. Bitch looked like she was seriously considering hurdling the table and trying to punch me again.

"What the hell was that?" Grue said, looking at me.

I struggled to come up with an explanation. I'd promised to only bring up my aura if it was absolutely necessary while I was here. Only if I thought we were compromised. So why...

There was something niggling in the back of my head, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"We're not safe," I signed, trying to get Skitter's attention, "Don't know what, but we're compromised."

Skitter stilled. I could feel her eyes narrowing behind the mask, even if I couldn't see them. "How?" she asked, short and efficient, pulling out her baton and snapping it out to its full length with a click.

"Don't know, but I can't see them."

"Well, I wouldn't want you to see my party trick, princess."

I wheeled again at the voice, launching myself away and bringing my fists back up. It was her! She'd snuck up right behind me while we were talking; that was why my aura had flared! And then I'd... forgotten?

Skitter had turned on the new cape as fast as I had, and I backed up to stand beside her as I got my first clear look at them. A gray body suit similar to Skitter's, though I couldn't tell if it was the same material. A belt with a silver buckle holding a holster for the combat knife she was flipping between her fingers. A long gray silk scarf cascading over both of her shoulders. Meant to exaggerate or confuse her silhouette maybe? I couldn't tell. And a white porcelain mask with red detailing in the shape of an east asian demon.

It was that last point that set off alarm bells. Oni Lee had been quiet since the early days of the Nine coming to the Bay, and it was safe to assume at this point that he was dead. But I still remembered him. It was hard not to. He'd been deadly – a teleporter with a particular fondness for knives and explosions. One who favored the mask of his cultural namesake. The same one worn by the mystery cape brandishing a knife of her own at me.

My hand involuntarily went into my pocket, hitting the panic button on my phone. Skitter jerked at the answering buzz. She took out her phone only to realize who it was, and looked quickly to me.

"C-compromised. O-oni L-Lee," I stuttered out, my hands too stiff at my sides to sign properly. Fuck. I couldn't make my mouth work for more than that; hopefully Skitter would get the connection I was trying to make. The ABB cape had been horrifically dangerous, especially in close quarters, and if this girl was modeling herself after him? We all had to be careful. I was keeping my forcefield as tight to my skin as I could but it felt unwieldy and large, like I was swimming in it. Anxiety maybe? I didn't have time to analyze the feeling.

"Imp!" Grue interrupted before I could try anything else. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Wait. What?

I looked over at him, not letting the unknown out of my peripheral vision. He knew this cape? The Undersiders only had five members! At least... they only have five that anyone knew about. Was this a secret sixth, or just another Stranger effect, making him think that she belonged here? I didn't let myself relax, wary of any sudden move she might make.

"Sheesh, there's no reason to be so loud," Imp grumbled, shooting me a disgruntled look. "Princess over there was just jumpy is all."

"That's Glory Girl, and if it wasn't for your power she would've taken your head off," Skitter observed with dangerous calm.

I froze. It… I wanted to say that would never happen. That I'd never let myself lash out like that. But I'd had no real conscious part in my reaction. I'd just… moved. Base instinct. Could I guarantee that Imp would've survived if I'd hit her in that moment? She… probably wouldn't have. All of the classes I'd taken on excessive use of force suddenly came back to me, and I struggled not to wilt. Sure this was for a different reason, but it felt like I'd been thrown back in time. All that growth and control gone in an instant.

"I'm sorry about Imp," Grue said, drawing my attention back out of my self-recriminations. "She's a Stranger, as you can tell. Her power isn't entirely under her control. We all forget about her unless she keeps it off."

That was… my mind reeled as I tried to put that into context. Said bluntly like that, it was a stupidly strong power. The only historical example I could think of was Nice Guy, a member of the original Slaughterhouse Nine. Maybe Imp's power wasn't as all-encompassing as his; the usual tricks of unseen third party observation or recordings might be able to catch her presence, but those relied on you knowing she was coming. If individuals on the ground couldn't be told (or be counted on to remember) to watch for her? She could get away with a frightening amount before any consequences caught up to her. Hell, they'd managed to keep her place on the team a complete secret since... I had no idea how long.

I couldn't afford to let that first impression be what she took from me, accident or not.

I brought up my hands and shakily signed to Skitter. "Sorry. Startled me. Please don't do that again."

"Fineeee," Imp said with a drawn out groan after Skitter translated. She rubbed her arm absentmindedly. "You guys don't let me have any fun. It's always Imp do this, Imp don't do that, Imp don't set that man on fire just because he's a Nazi even though he really deserves it–mmph!"

Grue's hand let out a small amount of smoke, just enough to cover Imp's mouth to silence her. By the resigned slump in her shoulders, this didn't seem to be a new occurrence.

"Imp," Skitter said. "What did you suggest earlier?"

Smoke wreathing the bottom of her face, Imp gave Grue an exaggerated look until he reluctantly pulled it back. "I'll be good, I promise," she said, her tone shamelessly implying the exact opposite. "I was saying we should talk to Dragon. Just talk to the head honcho herself, you know? Maybe if we ask nicely she'll go away."

Silence fell for about three seconds as everyone processed that. Then they all started talking over each other at once.

"Like fuck I'll–"

"–reckless idea, we're not risking–"

"–great idea for a laugh, I say we–"

"–not going to take this seriously, then–"

"–serious, if you'd just shut up and listen for a–"

"Quiet!"

The walls screamed. The insects coating them chittered and moved in a fist-clenching pulse that shrank the room inward and then retreated to slam into the wooden boards with a sound like a percussion kit being dropped down a well, rushing over each other in a bristling wave of chitin and thoraxes. If this was Skitter feeling the shot of ice that had just run down my spine and not just trying to restore order, I couldn't blame her.

Would it even work? I almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the idea. A teenage gang of Villains, casually calling up the private number of the most famous Tinker in the world, asking for help in bailing them out. But then, this entire situation bordered on the absurd. What was one more stretch of disbelief?

Skitter evidently thought the same, turning to Tattletale. "Would it work?"

Tattletale hummed, putting a hand to her chin and closing her eyes to give it some actual thought. "My first instinct was no, but... it's hard to say, really. Dragon's well known for her pacifistic streak–part of the reason why I was so surprised she was being deployed here at all. She's usually not one to do the PRT's dirty work, maybe Armsmaster…"

She shook her head and visibly refocused. "Right. Dragon. She's a third party, which helps our PRT infiltration issue. If there's anyone who could get around that, it would be her. But we're still at the same problem; why would she listen at all? She's literally got orders to bring us in."

This… I had a solution, but they wouldn't like it. I snapped to get Skitter's attention. "Tell Dragon everything you know about Coil. Powers, base, Dinah, everything. Give her reason to care. Then tell her to check details against PRT Thinkers. Ask her to prove you wrong."

Skitter tilted her head, then translated. "That's a hell of a risky move, Victoria," she added. "You're asking us to give away our intel advantage on Dragon. We might be able to pull something together in the time we have right now. That becomes difficult to impossible if we do this."

"And I don't get where you get off telling us what to do," Grue cut in, staring at me. "You're not an Undersider. Skitter said she offered and you said no. As far as I'm concerned, you should leave right now. We'd be square."

I swallowed. He was right. I could leave right now, and leave this to them. I didn't really have anything tying me to the Undersiders besides my lack of other options. But… I also didn't want to leave Skitter like this. To a plan that was probably going to get her killed or imprisoned, when there was another option I knew I could find.

I held in a low growl of frustration, and got out my notepad. "It's not about what I owe, it's about what's right. Yes, it's risky. But it's less risky than fighting Dragon. You can't beat her. And even if you did, you'd still lose. I know I'm a Hero, and you're Villains. I get that you have no reason to trust me. But Skitter saved me, when she had no reason to. Can't you trust me to do the same?"

"Victoria–" Skitter started, before Grue cut her off.

"And what if it doesn't work?" He asked. "What if you're asking us to go out on a limb for you, and it kicks us in the ass? Will you just drop us and fly away to the Heroes, another job well done?"

Fuck. I was in too deep. I knew that before, but now it really dawned on me just how much this had spiraled out of control. I had to give him an answer, but not bend my morals to do it. God, I wished Dean were here. He'd know what to say.

"I wouldn't leave," I wrote helplessly. "One way or the other, I'd make sure it didn't end that way."

That was the most I could commit to. I wouldn't fight the Heroes–or anyone else–for them. Frankly, I wasn't sure if I wanted to fight anyone ever again. But standing up for what was right, even if it was for the underdog... that I could do.

"Huh," Tattletale said thoughtfully, slipping past Skitter to lean into my space and read what I'd written over my shoulder. "You actually mean that, don't you?" She gave me an assessing look, that fucking smirk playing across her face. "Something's knocked that black-and-white morality right out of you. Not the obvious, either. Something more recent. I'd say it was Skitter working on you, but–"

"Tattletale," Skitter interrupted, shutting her up before I… did something I'd regret. Tattletale backed off and Skitter turned to look at the other Undersiders; Grue, still glaring at me; Bitch, who'd gone back to ignoring us in favor of her dogs once I'd pulled my pad out; Regent, sat back down with his feet up on the table and his chair pushed back onto two legs.

"Victoria's gone out on a limb for me before," she said. "She won't just cut and run if things go south."

"Man, and I was all excited to fight a bunch of robot suits," Regent drawled. "Well, whatever. I'll survive." His sarcasm wasn't subtle. I wasn't surprised. His power wouldn't work on Dragon's suits, at least not directly. Though he still had Shatterbird, plus any hostages in his territory. "I say go for it," he finished with a lazy shrug, almost overbalancing on his chair. "Skitter and Tattletale can come up with one of their speeches."

There was something sardonic and mocking in his tone, but I ignored it, looking over at Bitch. She glanced at the table and scowled. "I don't care," she said. "If she comes, I'll fight. If not, I have better shit to do."

Grue looked around. Like Skitter, his mask and costume muffled his body language, but I thought I could see brief frustration in his muscles before he straightened up. "Fine," he said. "That just leaves how the hell we're going to contact Dragon."

"Anyone got her on speed dial?" Regent asked from his seat on the table. "I'd share my copy but I lost it when Shatterbird killed my last phone."

"Funny you should ask, I came across a cape hotline for her when I was doing some sleuthing prior to this," Tattletale said, brandishing her phone. "Skitter called me earlier so I could start getting some background. I didn't get much, but I did spy a number that said 'dial for international cape emergencies, prank calls subject to fines and imprisonment'. Figured that wasn't meant for my eyes."

"I'll make the call," Grue put in immediately. "You've mouthed off to too many people for something like this."

"People I wanted angry or off their game; I can hold back when I need to–"

I shut my eyes, trying to collect myself as the bickering and talking over each other started up again. I knew that number. It was the same one that Mom–that Carol had been given out in the wake of Leviathan. It was provided to high ranking Protectorate or Guild affiliated teams, as a way of feeding Dragon information or requesting for Tinker collaboration. It wasn't a direct line, more of a smart voicemail, but supposedly it was monitored with key words and phrases that raised the priority depending on the subject matter. Knowing Tattletale, she knew exactly what to say to get us to the top of the list.

So this was really happening. I had to admit that now. It felt… I didn't even know what to think. A week ago I would've thought any of this was insane. That I'd be anywhere near comfortable around the Undersiders. That I'd be (technically) colluding with them against the Protectorate. But a week ago I hadn't seen a Ward put a bolt through Skitter's shoulder, hadn't been betrayed by Carol, hadn't almost been flattened by a grenade from Miss Militia.

Skitter brushed a moth against my elbow and I looked up, startled. "You okay?" she asked softly while the rest of the Undersiders argued about who was going to call. "You let your aura out earlier."

"Reflex," I signed. "Worried we had been infiltrated. Coil."

She nodded. "Good instinct. Imp is a known quantity, when we remember her at all, and she's still difficult to work around. You did well."

I tried not to react to that. Almost punching a girl through a brick wall on accident was doing well? I… maybe according to Skitter, sure. I had to remind myself, she was coming from a totally different place, with a very different set of survival instincts. It was entirely possible that she had hesitated before, and that had ended badly. Still, I couldn't let that statement go unchallenged.

"No. Did badly. Could've hurt her."

Skitter snorted lightly. "Grue wouldn't have liked that."
So there was some kind of a relationship between the two of them. Speculating on a cape's identity or relations outside work was an easy way to make enemies, but I wasn't blind. He favored her. It didn't seem romantic, though. Too much annoyance of the wrong kind. Family, maybe? School friends? It was hard to say.

"Alright, alright!" Tattletale said, breaking the argument. "Since clearly none of you trust me to do a simple phone call for some reason, I'll just put it on speaker so everyone can shout over each other. Happy?"

They weren't, but it seemed like that was the best we were going to get.

Tattletale put the phone down on the table, and called the automated system, starting to navigate through the options. This part was standard. Dragon was too important to actually answer these calls herself, so she used an automated responder that sorted the calls by category and left specific sections open for you to record your issue. We were banking that Tattletale could figure out how to get our message flagged up on Dragon's personal screen as fast as possible.

"Protectorate Villain Conflict," Tattletale said clearly into the phone, and waited for the next prompt. There was silence, and then a sound none of us expected.

"Well," said Dragon, "you got my attention."


A/N:
Happy Easter to those who celebrated it!

I admit I'm still not entirely satisfied with my portrayal here. There's a really delicate balance to be shared between the Undersiders when they're all in the same room at this point. Grue's need to fill his old role, despite his inability to do so. Regent's desire to take nothing seriously, but lash out at things that make him uncomfortable anyways. Imp's need for attention. Tattletale's snarkiness. Bitch's… everything. And of course, Taylor's need for control. And that's before you add Victoria into the mix!

I did my best to get all those things across here, but ultimately these character moments aren't really about them, so much as Victoria's perception of them. If that perspective is warped or inaccurate, at this point it's to be expected. And that's totally the excuse I'll use in court if any of you accuse me of mischaracterization. Fight me.

A lot of you highlighted in the last update that Victoria was kind of going into this half cocked, with no real plan but the desire to help anyways. And that's absolutely true! Imp really saved the plot here, even if she was kinda shitposting at the time. But I think it isn't just that. There's this sense (especially in Worm) that every world saving plan has to come from the main character. I think it's important to show that even when that MC is someone as savvy and intelligent as Victoria, that still isn't true! Working together and building off each strengths is why capes make teams in the first place. This is no exception.

Today's rec is A Walk In The Park, by Eis Ascreia. It's short and complete fic, which alone drew my attention. Those things are rarities in my fandom. But to top it off, it's a character focused work from Labyrinth's point of view. I was sold on the spot. Give it some love!