- Pronouns
- They/Them
It is true that Taylor's team is a bit of a... well, what's the right word for it?
Wolf Spider (Worm) (Complete)
- Thread starter The Laurent
- Start date
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It's a bit Sapphic? 
Vindictus
XENO
- Location
- Texas
- Location
- United States
Honestly, with the canon effect of there being more female capes than male capes I'm surprised there aren't more all-female teams.
We just need to start shipping Amp and Pelter, have Foil/Flechette join up and we'll... unlock an achievement?
We just need to start shipping Amp and Pelter, have Foil/Flechette join up and we'll... unlock an achievement?
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You know, you can ship with Civilians. Who says that Char doesn't have a crush on Greg or something?
- Location
- United States
That's cool too. But, if Pelter and Amp get together (inexplicably) then there are three sets of lady capes with other lady capes. That could be the team's theme.You know, you can ship with Civilians. Who says that Char doesn't have a crush on Greg or something?
Also, I'm super in for Greg finding a good end with a special lady as this story progresses.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Predictions? Other thoughts?
- Location
- United States
Not a prediction but I hope Greg gets a vial.
Either he sneaks a vial secretly and has to deal with the repercussions or he takes one when the team is in a rough spot to try and help.
I could also see him not getting one. It could go well both ways I feel.
I'm interested in what will happen with the vials. It feels as if the team isn't freaking out about them enough? Though they still think they're just part of another parahuman's power and not something else.
I kinda expect some more confrontation with the PRT over how team Wolf Spider is operating? Yeah they've all been busy but I feel like it's building. Would like to have some of the issues there hashed out.
I hope this doesn't just read as a list of demands, just things I can see happening or think would be neat.
Either he sneaks a vial secretly and has to deal with the repercussions or he takes one when the team is in a rough spot to try and help.
I could also see him not getting one. It could go well both ways I feel.
I'm interested in what will happen with the vials. It feels as if the team isn't freaking out about them enough? Though they still think they're just part of another parahuman's power and not something else.
I kinda expect some more confrontation with the PRT over how team Wolf Spider is operating? Yeah they've all been busy but I feel like it's building. Would like to have some of the issues there hashed out.
I hope this doesn't just read as a list of demands, just things I can see happening or think would be neat.
- Location
- United States
Yeah, the same vial could present very differently depending on when he takes it. If he's sneaking around and stealing it it might slant towards stranger-ish effects. If he takes it in a hurry to save his friends it might lean blaster or brute. If he's given it freely and takes it in a calm situation would it be more stable than gobbled up in a panic? Or, because the powers thrive on need, would being in a panic fit better for power stability?
Would be very interesting to see how a vial could go different ways for the same person. Might be a one-shot idea there.
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- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
What would be a good way to sum up Greg's worldview?
He's interestingly kind of an idealist? Like, not quite, but he has aspirations and a bit of hero worship in him?
- Location
- United States
He does seem to be a 'look on the bright side' kind of person. Kind of a motor-mouth and a little bad at picking up cues maybe? I think he feels like if he got a vial he'd be okay no matter what powers he got.
I feel like getting confirmation about his mom one way or another would help give us more insight. I also feel that that may be what prompts him into either pushing for a vial or backing off.
Feral 5.6
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Feral 5.6
It went well at first. We decided to make our trip into the territory that Lisa had pointed out to me just after breakfast. Pelter could ride on the back of one dog, and Rachel would bring two others with her. That way we could both ride and command one dog to attack.
It was a warm day, and somewhat muggy, the sun beating down on us as the dogs panted. They didn't smell all that great, I thought, hugging Judas closer as Pelter shifted in her uncomfortable seat. Even with the saddles, it wasn't exactly a joy to ride a dog.
Meanwhile, out ahead of us were our bugs. Amp was in walkie-talkie contact with us, and each of us was loaded to bear with a decent amount of toughness and regeneration. Enough that we wouldn't die from a few bullets and could heal from it after we survived the hit.
"I think I almost have another frequency… I'm not sure yet, though," Amp admitted to me, just after I'd finished my eggs and bacon. Rachel had eaten ravenously, which seemed to me like it'd be a bad idea, but she knew what she was doing. I trusted her.
But for the moment, what she could give us was more than enough. She'd radio us if Butcher attacked and she had to withdraw her powers from us. If Butcher did attack, though, then we'd be in a bad situation, yes, but also pretty sure to take them out.
Not all of them were in the apartment building six blocks away when I finally got my bugs in.
Just like with the Merchants, the Teeth had little discipline. The apartment was a mess, with dozens of men and women lying or walking about. Even though it was eight, most of them were still abed.
I'd been worried that I wouldn't be able to tell the capes apart, even with photos of them in costume to work on.
But no, the capes were each isolated from the rest. Whereas some people slept two or three to a room, the capes each slept alone, and looking around the room with my bugs gave me the impression that they had a lot more stuff.
Everyone was unpacked here and there, in a clumsy fashion, but you could make out who was in charge by the amount of stuff they had to unpack.
At least, you could for Spree, who slept on the bottom floor in an apartment with an entire table devoted to empty beer cans. He was a thin man who nonetheless had a little bit of a beer gut. He was white, and currently completely naked on the bed as I began to sneak a spider into his room. As far as I knew, the original Spree was always the real one, which meant that if I bit him with a black widow or three, he'd have to deal with that.
And then one floor up was Vex. She had messy blonde hair, at least at the roots, but it'd been dyed with a half-dozen other different colors, and her costume itself looked like she was cosplaying as someone after the world had ended. She alone was up, and only then to open the window and stare out at the back lot while she smoked.
She seemed to be about twenty or so, and didn't seem to be paying attention to her room at all. I made sure to gather some wasps and spiders in that room as well, because she'd take more to take down, and I knew that the weird force fields were a problem. I didn't know if Rachel's dogs would be able to force their way through, and if she layered them right it'd at least make it harder to swarm her to death with bugs.
Finally, Reaver was still asleep on the second floor of the apartment as well. His room was a trashed mess, and at first I overlooked him, glancing around at Stefanie and Rachel, worried that I couldn't help them.
But in the corner of the room I saw his sword, a ridiculous sword that could have been on the cover of a fantasy novel. If so, then he was a barbarian, because it was a clumsy, crude, black thing, as if someone had hammered it out drunk. He himself was heavily muscled, with dark brown skin. He was also snoring, as far as I could tell. I looked to see if there were any capes I'd missed, since this was just who everyone knew was there, but as far as I could tell? Nope.
All three enemy capes were there and vulnerable.
"Alright, then," I said, turning to Pelter. "Pelter. Make sure to hit anyone getting too close. Rachel, we can do this."
"Course," Rachel said.
We still had six blocks left to travel, but the moment anyone spotted us, and there were people placed here and there, I was going to start the attack. bugs down the throat, black widows biting with everything they have, wasps stinging, especially in the eyes… I wanted them to suffer and fall apart as fast as possible.
The point wasn't to make it a long, drawn out fight. If we could capture one or two of them, that was a good thing, though I knew that the Butcher wouldn't like that.
But barring that, we wanted them broken and hurt badly enough that they wouldn't be able to go after us for weeks, if not longer.
I bared my teeth at the world from beneath the mask as we headed ever closer along ruined streets that nobody had bothered to even begin fixing up because it was the site of a bunch of gang wars.
The place stank, and the there was broken glass all over the streets. Everything that could have been looted had long since been torn to pieces. There wasn't a store or store-owner in sight, just looters and squatters.
I tried to focus on what I was going to do. Black widows rarely killed people, but they could certainly hurt them, and spiders were actually shy, gentle creatures. They didn't attack in swarms like the ones I was going to send after Reaver and Spree. Even one bite hurt a lot, and could lead to muscle cramps or spasms. Twenty? That's where you started getting into situations where it got sketchy.
I had only so many black widow spiders, and I had to breed them carefully--which was less weird than it sounds, since bugs don't really… it isn't like with people--to get even enough for this sort of attack. If I really wanted to go full out with them, I'd need to find a way to order more, or something like that.
Which was just as absurd as it sounded.
About a block and a half from the building, someone perked up. I saw them open their mouth to let out a shout. They were in an old payday loan building, keeping watch the whole time, no doubt expecting Merchants to make their counter-attack, sooner or later.
That was close enough, and so I sent my bugs to work. Reaver didn't even wake as a dozen spiders crawled to the right places and bit, once, and then twice, then scattered as he started yelling.
That's when the wasps went for his ears, and mouth. His eyes felt like it'd be a little much, blinding him, but I held a few in reserve. I wouldn't hesitate. What was he going to do? Sue me for assault?
The same spread of bugs went after Spree, who woke up a moment earlier, screaming and thrashing as his eyes began to roll. Then the clones began to explode outwards, a dozen in seconds, each of them yelling and screaming in agony as they stumbled forward, choking off the bugs ability to…
I really lost any clue of what was going on there, even as Reaver lurched towards his sword only for his leg to go out from under him in a cramp.
And in the third place, a black widow bit Vex on the ankle, and a wasp stung her on the neck, but that was all that happened as my swarm converged on her before she got her power up, which began to shred a few of the flying wasps, though the black widows walked along on the ground.
Her scream was surprisingly high-pitched as she ran over to the bed and pulled out… bug spray? And then, as the picture grew increasingly rough, we charged forward on the dogs.
I couldn't really see much of Vex, and my view of Spree was confused as he tried to stumble out the door of his apartment, tripping over his own bodies, which made it hard for me to get to him.
They collapsed where they stood, naked and frothing at the mouth, within seconds. He didn't have clothes, but he was still headed towards the front entryway, where the mailboxes were.
Rachel hurried her dog on, and smashed right through the glass doors without a care.
Spree leapt to try to stop her, bodies exploding outwards, but she just seemed to shred through them in an ocean of gore. Each of the bodies was filled with real blood and guts, and so within moments she was soaked in it.
Reaver was down, shaking and screaming, having failed to reach his sword, and now clearly in too much pain to do much. He'd fallen on some of my spiders, distressingly, but since he was being a good boy and not moving, I think I'd allow him to keep his eyes. For now.
Rachel was still wading through the bodies as Spree ran back, desperately blocking the way. The other Teeth were all waking up to find that wasps and bees were working on them. A few stumbled out, and a few of those few had weapons that they fired at random.
But within a handful of seconds, Spree was backed up against a wall, endlessly throwing out naked clones to try to keep away. Pelter, on the back of our dog, threw a handful of pebbles at the swarm of bodies.
They went straight through, as the figures collapsed in another shower of gore.
"It works!" I said, in awe. It hadn't even been my idea, though I would have thought of it eventually. But if she can throw one object, she can also throw many at once. The aim was terrible, but it made a pretty effective shotgun.
But up above, Vex was setting up barriers with her power, and while I couldn't get a great bead on her, I was able to feel… vibrations.
Oh, I thought, gritting my teeth. "Rachel!" I yelled. "We need to get up there and take Vex out and then get out of here!"
"Okay," Rachel yelled back, as Brutus began to trample Spree. Angelica was standing, cramped in the hall, and Rachel yelled, "Angelica! Stairs!"
The dog raced towards the stairs, heading upwards, another order coming in handy as I pulled myself off of Judas and glanced over at Pelter.
In a matter of moments the front area was soaked in blood and downed Sprees, as well as a handful of other gangbangers. It was very easy, but my heart was racing, and I was aware of just how long I had left. Once Butcher started to show up, we'd need to begin to make our way out of here.
If we were able to cripple three of the Teeth, that'd be a real blow. Something she couldn't recover from easily, and then we could take a defensive stance. Hold out long enough, and see what happened. Still, there was a nervous feeling in my gut as Rachel followed Angelica upstairs to deal with Vex.
She'd be fine, and I had bugs to watch her just in case. "This… seems to be going well," I said to Pelter.
"Yes. I… god, all this blood. It's gross."
"It is," I admitted. I was a lot more used to sweat and mud than blood. Let alone the oceans of goop and blood that I was having to wade through. We had two dogs down here, and that should be enough to at least hold off any attack from the streets.
But even though we'd barely been attacking for a minute, it felt as if we were starting to run out of time. I followed Rachel's movements upstairs, as Angelica, at her orders, forced her way through the razor-sharp forcefields. Rachel followed close behind her, and while Angelica was cut up a little, it wasn't enough to actually stop her.
Vex kept on backing up, but now that I had a way through with my bugs, I could hear her talking. "Arachne. Bitch up here with me… no, I don't know… fuck."
Oh. Oh shit. So the vibrations were her talking to Butcher.
Which meant--
I tried to bite at Rachel with flies, but she was in tunnel-vision, as Angelica tackled Vex. And then she began to work the other woman over.
"Pelter. Stay with the dogs. You can't command them, but I have to get Rachel to go. We have to get out of here." I didn't feel any of the confidence I'd felt before. Instead, I was sweating as I ran up the stairs, wishing that Amp could give super-speed. Thinking of that did give me another thought, and I reached down to the blood-soaked walkie talkie and activated it. "Amp?" I asked, panting as I came up on the second floor.
"Yes?"
"Anyone attacking the camp?"
"No, Arachne," Amp said.
"Can you give Pelter and I a little more toughness? And Rachel. Just use up all of the juice and resonance you have on the three of us."
"Got it," she said. "Touch your nose."
I did that, stepping out into a long, dreary hallway, at the end of which was Rachel. "And contact the Protectorate and tell them to show up here. I doubt they'll make it in time, but…"
"Understood, Arachne. Good luck," Charlotte said. I could hear the worry and concern in her voice.
"I'll try."
Rachel grabbed onto Vex's arm and lifted it up so that Angelica's paw could come down on it with a sickening crack which meant that she'd need to get that treated.
"Rachel! Butcher's coming, we gotta go," I yelled.
"Right," Rachel said, nodding at me. The few Teeth left active in this building were all hiding and cowering, if I hadn't bitten them enough to disable them, and now I was just trying to get as many of my bugs out alive as I could, to fight another day.
"Oh, and turn on the walkie talkie so that Amp can give you some power," I said, as I pulled myself up onto Angelica's hard, heavily muscled back.
"Fine," Rachel said, sounding a little more reluctant. She looked truly grotesque with all of the blood that was on her, and it'd take some real work to wash it clean. It'd take real work to make all of this better, really. But if we could just escape in time, we could--
I saw a creature, about six feet tall, skitter forward on all fours. Just six blocks away. It was yellow-eyed, a snarling beast that had to be Animos. I briefly got the impression of a second person, and heard the small whuff of a minor explosion, before he screamed. It was so loud that I… couldn't hear it.
My control of the bugs in a somewhat broad radius just stopped, leaving a hole in my grid as he kept on racing forward, eating up the ground.
This was their strategy. I could follow them by the control slowly slipping away from me, control I was so used to that I couldn't imagine being without it. But I couldn't see details, couldn't figure out specifics. It was oddly terrifying, in a way, having that knowledge stripped away from me. Slowly I was being trapped, and as Rachel clapped her hands at Amp's command, I felt my own range paradoxically increase. In the areas that weren't blackout spots, I could feel as far as ten blocks, roughly, away.
I was almost so distracted that I didn't notice Angelica skidding on the blood, claws digging into the floor as we raced down the stairs, Rachel yelling orders.
Downstairs, Pelter was holding onto the two dogs, uncertainly. I clung to Rachel's waist, blood or no blood, but I'd need to be on the dog that led Pelter, because she hadn't yet been trusted enough to be taught commands for the dogs.
Maybe that'd come with time, but not if we didn't get out of here before it was too late.
"Alright, we need to get out of here. She's… shit, she's close," I said, climbing off onto Brutus and then gesturing for Pelter to get in behind me. "She's… no, she's here." I was suddenly unable to see just a half a block away, and now I could hear it with my human ears. The scream was loud, but from the way the bugs around me didn't lose control, it was clearly not that wide of a range. Even hearing it wasn't enough, if it was distant and echoed. "We should just rush it. Get out of here."
I could imagine Rachel gritting her teeth, angry at the idea of backing off, but she actually just nodded. I hoped she trusted me, because I didn't really trust myself that much. This was going to be rough, getting away from someone who could teleport.
We burst outside through the destroyed entrance, and there Butcher was, standing just across the street.
She looked… weird. Weird was one word for it, at least. Ridiculous was another word. She herself was pretty impressive, with a long-neck and an air of athletic grace about her that was certainly helped by the pony-tail. She was an attractive woman, her eyes dark, her hair dark, looking at me from a crowded face.
She was wearing… there, that's the problem. What wasn't she wearing? The base of it was armor that looked like someone's Hollywood stereotype of Japanese armor, though some elements just didn't seem right about it, like they'd also taken… later, I'd be able to actually think about what was wrong with it, besides everything, but the studs and randomly thrown blades didn't make it look any better.
Then there were random bleached skulls at the shoulder, and other little details in the skirting--yes, the skirting--that all combined to make me want to either burst out laughing or run away.
On the other hand, the huge bow that she was carrying, which looked like it had a draw weight greater than one of Rachel's dogs, made up for it. You couldn't really mock someone that dangerous even if they were dressed like they didn't know what costumes were but wanted to try it.
Her face was hard, her eyes, though, dark as they were, seemed oddly distracted as she looked around for a moment.
And next to her was Animos. Animos was a large, strange black thing. His red eyes were staring right at me as Pelter tensed behind me.
Our dogs turned, in that moment, to start running away.
She spoke just one word. "No."
It all happened very fast after that. Pelter threw some rocks in her direction and Animos'. She disappeared in a small explosion that left a little smoke as well, but Animos was winged by it, though he didn't seem to mind that much, as he lurched forward towards Judas.
Drawing her bow in one moment, she appeared right next to Rachel, ready to fire, only for Angelica to claw at her.
She disappeared in another explosion before the dog could hit her, and Angelica danced back in pain and surprise. The explosions weren't large, but they were loud and sudden. She appeared nearby, and the arrow slammed into Brutus' leg.
I was riding Brutus, and so as he thrashed suddenly--and that had to be the point--I was thrown off onto the ground. I hit it with a crash, trying to focus as flies managed to land on the Butcher. Even wasps as well. I was scrambling on the one hand to run away, while also wondering how long until Animos screamed again.
Pelter threw a stone at the Butcher, who teleported out of the way once more.
Pelter and I were both scrambling, trying to figure out where to run.
Where to hide, for that matter. It was chaos, and we hadn't yet even hurt the Butcher. My bugs went with her when she teleported to… right behind us.
A second arrow went into Brutus' stomach as he screamed and thrashed.
Blood poured out on the ground. He wasn't dying yet, but I wasn't sure how many he could survive, and she was already notching a third. She had perfect aim, so I didn't know why she hadn't finished him off in a single blow. It had to be some sort of game. Some sort of trick. We were hurrying towards Judas as the dog engaged with Animos.
Successfully, actually, because despite Animos' screams, it seemed an even match.
Rachel growled, angrily turning her dog around to confront the Butcher as she shot yet another arrow into the downed dog. "Surrender," she demanded, her voice booming as she appeared again, a little further back. I no longer had bugs on her as I retreated, aware that I was still well within her range. I wasn't sure if I'd survive an arrow from her.
Rachel hurried forward, ready to fight hand to hand if need be, even though it was just going to end badly.
Butcher drew back the bow, aiming right at Rachel's stomach.
"Rachel," I yelled, "Don't do it!"
"What's she doing?" Amp asked.
At the same moment, I called out, "Judas, come!"
We needed to get out of here. My hands were shaking, and I was aware that one of our dogs was hurting, that there was no way that she'd turn around.
"Rachel, get out of there!" Amp yelled, sounding more desperate than anything else.
At the last moment, Rachel turned. It didn't stop the arrow from tearing through the air, but instead of hitting her head on, it went straight into her leg, and then bounced out, not penetrating deep enough to stick.
Rachel was bleeding, and I tried to climb onto Judas, the world reduced down to chaos and confusion. Brutus was standing up, slowly, not healed but too tough in this giant form to be put down immediately. I figured it out then.
He had veins, but he didn't have a heart. He was a dog surrounded by a meatsuit. There was a body that could be attacked, but she could no more hit him through his heart than she could puncture a lung. No, it didn't make sense. But that's how it worked. Legs worked because they felt pain and needed legs to move.
But I knew that Brutus wouldn't get away, not if she wanted it.
******
It was a helpless feeling. We were still trying to escape, but Rachel was still retreating, the bloody arrow on the ground… if it hadn't been for Amp, Rachel would be dead.
That fucking bitch. I was scared and angry and helpless. Because there was no way we could beat her, and I wasn't sure if we could even escape from her. I was sweating so hard as I tried to figure out what to do. We could make her pay for it, I realized.
This short fight could end when I turned the dogs on Animos and mauled him to death, and did everything I could with the bugs I had left in the apartment to murder them as well.
She'd take revenge, and there'd be another desperate exodus after she killed all three of us.
Nothing would change for the better, because if that wouldn't stop the Butcher, what would?
I was trapped, trapped by the fact that she was so powerful and hard to damage that we hadn't even landed a single blow on her yet. I didn't know if we would. The fact that a single arrow wouldn't be enough to kill us was good news. Sort of.
But I'd have to…
Have to what? I realized. With a sick feeling in my stomach I realized what I had to do. I realized what I was actually fighting for, and what the actual point of all of this was. It wasn't to beat the Butcher. I felt pathetic and stupid for not realizing it. "Butcher! Butcher, your men are in that apartment building. Out of Animos' range."
"Oh?" the Butcher asked, pausing for a moment. She turned to look at me, and I realized that this could be a trap, to distract me before the attack came. But Rachel stopped running, and we all seemed to be waiting for what I'd say.
I hadn't even been sure she was going to play along with this. But now that I had her attention, I had to use it. "I could kill them. Now." It was true, I still had the wasps to do it, and all three were still down. "Put out their eyes while I am at it. Reaver, Spree, Vex. Obviously, you could kill the dog, fight us… but we'll make you pay for it."
"You attacked me," Butcher said, but her face was doing odd things. It was twitching, first into a snarl, then a frown, and then a threatening grin. It was like she was having a debate all on her own… maybe it was.
"Yes. And we learned not to do it," I said. A lie, but true. "Right now, they're hurt, but they'll get better, and we're hurt, but we'll get better." I was lying about that too: we'd improve on our situation far faster than the Teeth would.
"I should kill you all," Butcher said.
"And get the Protectorate to come down on you? They would." They knew where she was, in fact.
For each thing I said, there was something I didn't say. I felt pathetic, talking it out with someone who could kill me, but what other choice did I have. "Let us go, and this all ends. You leave, they recover soon enough…"
I could see her face twist into a smirk. Actually, it was surprising how open and obvious the fact was when I heard her say, "Sure."
She was going to betray it. It was that simple. She didn't even try to hide the emotions on her face, the way they just crossed her without any barriers. But if she was faking it, she'd have to give us one extra moment to run to try to fool us.
I hoped.
"Brutus! Home!" I yelled. And the dog took off, nose up towards the air, at the same time as I gripped Judas' neck and yelled, "Judas! Forward!"
Rachel turned Angelica around, and we began to hurry off as Animos howled and screamed, no doubt trying to make it impossible for me to see the double-cross coming.
Pelter grabbed two rocks and prepared to throw them.
From bugs afar I could almost get a picture of Butcher's hesitation, and then her explosion as she appeared to my right, ready to fire--
And then disappeared in another explosion as Pelter threw one of the rocks. Pelter was grinning for some reason, and I didn't even know why. I didn't even know what there was about this that was… she was chasing us, but if she followed, she'd run into our Camp, and then it'd be a fight that we could hopefully stall long enough for.
But it was a slim hope.
So I was surprised when she showed up in front of us again and was scattered by the toss of another rock, and then she just… stopped coming after us. She was behind the three of us racing away, slowly drawing her bow. I could see the camp, safe and sound. I could see her, at least until Animos screamed again, and she wasn't moving. She was standing and watching us flee.
Smug, confident. Victorious. As if the attack was just to remind us to keep running.
I'd keep my word. I would not kill them. I would not blind them. It was the least I could do.
The bugs swarmed Spree and the others, and went towards their left eyes, each of the three of them. Tearing and ripping them apart.
That wasn't blinding. I was in no mood for anything less.
********
A few hours later, I was still curled up in the sleeping bag, shivering. We were back at camp, and for some bizarre reason Pelter wasn't terrified. Instead she seemed confident, sure of herself, and despite the close call, nobody else seemed to realize just how bad the situation was, just how much we were completely unprepared if the Butcher actually came here, right now.
I was watching for her, Rachel in the room. "Taylor. We won."
"Was that victory?" I asked, remembering the feeling of the bugs committing suicide in the enemy's eyes. At the time, I didn't really have time to panic and worry about Rachel, but now I could picture that moment where she might have died in great detail, and each time I did, it hurt a little bit more. "If she comes, we can't stop her."
"You did well," Rachel said, firmly. She pressed closer to me, hugging me close. "Kicked ass. Used words and shit to get her to back up. I couldn't have done that." Rachel shook her head, not used to having to talk to me, I guess. Or. I didn't know what. She stroked my hair. "Just relax."
"I can't," I said, still shivering out of control. "And there's nothing we can do. If you hadn't listened to Amp, then you might have died anyways. And if it wasn't for Amp, you'd be dead. And I'd have lost you. You'd have charged at Butcher and we all would have died."
"Something's weird about Amp," Rachel grumbled.
I ignored it, because I wasn't really in the mood for her to grumble just because it was true that Amp was the reason we'd survived. Part of it, at least. "Maybe, and even with her help and everything we have here, I don't know… what am I supposed to do?"
Rachel was speechless, frowning down at me. "I dunno. Fight harder? Use more words?" Rachel shrugged a little and said, "We can do it."
"Maybe," I said, a little distractedly. "Yes." I bit my lip and looked up at her. "I love you."
Rachel looked like she hadn't expected it at all, her eyes wide, her expression blank. "Love you too."
"Thanks. Sorry. I just maybe need…" I shrugged. "You should check up on the shelter. Cassie's there."
"Kay. Tell Greg I'm ready for another one," Rachel said. "If you see him."
"Oh, right," I said, trying to perk up a little bit. It was cute, the way she was trying to make small talk. "See you soon."
She left, and I kept on lying around, feeling sad for myself. I might have kept on doing that for a lot longer, but five minutes later, Charlotte began to approach. She opened the tent's door and then zipped it back up as she knelt by me. "Taylor, are you okay?"
"Fine," I said, still laying on my side.
"Sit up and talk to me, please."
I shrugged. Might as well. I got up, distractedly, and asked, "So why are you smiling?"
"I'm… not," Charlotte said. "But nobody died. And Pelter says that she figured it out. She reacts to threats too fast. If you throw something that might hurt her her way, she'll teleport away, and that means that she'll be running around if you can keep on attacking her… maybe until she just stands up and takes the hit."
"That's not going to be enough to beat her."
"Then what will be enough? Tell me," Charlotte said, her voice soft but firm.
I sighed. "First, I need to hurt her. I need to hurt her and keep on hurting her. Bugs with diseases, bugs that can get through her tough skin. Something. Then, we need more capes. A lot more capes, because the more power interactions we have, the better. You need to find more resonances, because if we have something with strength or lasers or… there's possibilities here. Flechette could help too, if we could only force her to stand still." I frowned, thinking about capes with powers involving freezing someone else.
If she didn't move, we could just hurt her badly. But we couldn't kill her, I realized, trying to think through it all. "There's only one way…" I trailed off. "You just joined a week ago. Parian just joined a few days ago. What will Rachel say if I add another cape?"
Because I did have a way to gain at least one more parahuman. Three, even, but one would be enough to start with.
"You could leave it to a vote? Among the members of the team?" Charlotte suggested.
Which sounded like a good idea. It'd build consensus and all, but Rachel wouldn't like it. At the same time, if the Butcher really did destroy this camp, she'd probably follow it up with all of the dogs.
I hesitated… "Alright."
"I'm sorry if I'm pressuring you," Charlotte admitted. "But I just don't like seeing you down on yourself. And everyone believes in you, and I know you'll be able to do this. I've only been here a week, and it's so, so obvious." Charlotte shook her head. "You're doing something good here."
"I hope so," I admitted.
******
"No," Rachel said, crossing her arms.
"And you, Amp?" I asked. We were sitting around a fire, my bugs screening us on all sides.
"Yes."
"I'm voting… maybe myself," I said. "Until I see what everyone else says."
"Who are we giving this to?" Stefanie asked.
"Greg's the only person who has offered," I said. I'd called a meeting only of the Parahumans, because I wasn't sure if I wanted Cassie to know about this.
"Oh. Right. I…" Stefanie looked over at Rachel. "Rachel, you really don't want this to happen, right?"
"No." Rachel glared around a little harder, and I wanted to go over to her and tell her it was okay, or that it was for her own good. But really, it so obviously was. It so obviously would only help things. "Did Charlotte put this idea in your head?" Rachel growled. "She meets with you, then." She shrugged.
"All she did was try to cheer me up," I said.
"What are we even talking about?" Parian asked. "You have a… vial that gives superpowers? And we're giving it to your friend, Greg? Who I haven't met yet?"
"Yes. Basically," I said.
"Then, I suppose so. If it's what it takes to help protect us, then I agree."
That was two to one, with myself and Stefanie still undecided.
I bit my lip. Was Greg really the right choice? But asking Cassie to get involved like that could be a big mistake, and I wasn't sure if she'd agree. Did she want to be a parahuman the same way Greg would?
"Is it anyone that's the problem, or just Greg?" Stefanie asked. "We could ask Cassie, or… try to figure out what they do before we hand them out."
"Nah, Greg's fine. Just don't want him to join," Rachel said, bluntly.
"Sierra wouldn't agree," Charlotte said. "Not after what happened to Bryce. Cassie… might not if she knows how dangerous it is."
"And Greg would?" Parian asked.
"He's always been a fan of capes," I said, in his defense. "I'm sure he can handle it. And if he does get a swelled head, we can just help guide him."
"I… am giving a provisional no, because Rachel…"
Pelter's eyes said it all. Rachel's your girlfriend, they said.
But that shouldn't matter. I was a member of the team. We had a camp to protect. "I vote in favor. That's three to two. It passes, then."
Rachel stood up and stalked out, giving a baffled look to me, and then a furious, bared-teeth look to Charlotte.
"I'm… sure that she'll come around eventually," Charlotte said, weakly.
******
Rachel glared at all of us as Greg wrapped his arms around me. "Really?! Really really?! Thank you thank you thank you! Which vial?"
"There's Hephaestus," Stefanie said, holding out the vial. "You need to drink all of it, and then we'll see what your power is." She glanced at me, and I wondered, if we got a power that wasn't that useful, whether we'd go and ask Cassie. We had three tries. In theory. But if Rachel was glaring like this already, I didn't want to try again.
"I can do that," Greg said, stepping away from me with a blush on his face. He gripped the vial and opened it up, looking at it for a moment. He muttered something about a drinking animation, and then, clearly nervous, he smoothed back his hair as if we were going to take a picture of him drinking.
Then he tipped the whole thing down in one go.
Flashes of memories and strange visions passed through my head for a matter of moments, and then there Greg was, standing there.
"Well?" Stefanie asked, glancing over at Charlotte and Parian, at Rachel… "Is it a dud?"
"No," Greg said. "I… I have visions in my head."
"Of what?" I asked.
There was awe in his voice as he said two words as if they meant everything. "Power. Armor."
"What?" Rachel asked.
"You see it's like…" Greg began, then wilted in the face of Rachel's glare. "Well, it's really cool, and I bet I could totally help you guys."
"So, you're a Tinker?" Parian asked, looking him over.
"Yes, yes I am," Greg said, proudly.
"Power armor?" I asked, still not sure what the specific details were about what he was able to imagine, but sure that it could work out. "That… should help."
******
A/N: And thus ends the arc. Thank you to NemoMarx. So, have another thing that I've been foreshadowing/planning since very early on.
Violence, reference to mutilation.
It went well at first. We decided to make our trip into the territory that Lisa had pointed out to me just after breakfast. Pelter could ride on the back of one dog, and Rachel would bring two others with her. That way we could both ride and command one dog to attack.
It was a warm day, and somewhat muggy, the sun beating down on us as the dogs panted. They didn't smell all that great, I thought, hugging Judas closer as Pelter shifted in her uncomfortable seat. Even with the saddles, it wasn't exactly a joy to ride a dog.
Meanwhile, out ahead of us were our bugs. Amp was in walkie-talkie contact with us, and each of us was loaded to bear with a decent amount of toughness and regeneration. Enough that we wouldn't die from a few bullets and could heal from it after we survived the hit.
"I think I almost have another frequency… I'm not sure yet, though," Amp admitted to me, just after I'd finished my eggs and bacon. Rachel had eaten ravenously, which seemed to me like it'd be a bad idea, but she knew what she was doing. I trusted her.
But for the moment, what she could give us was more than enough. She'd radio us if Butcher attacked and she had to withdraw her powers from us. If Butcher did attack, though, then we'd be in a bad situation, yes, but also pretty sure to take them out.
Not all of them were in the apartment building six blocks away when I finally got my bugs in.
Just like with the Merchants, the Teeth had little discipline. The apartment was a mess, with dozens of men and women lying or walking about. Even though it was eight, most of them were still abed.
I'd been worried that I wouldn't be able to tell the capes apart, even with photos of them in costume to work on.
But no, the capes were each isolated from the rest. Whereas some people slept two or three to a room, the capes each slept alone, and looking around the room with my bugs gave me the impression that they had a lot more stuff.
Everyone was unpacked here and there, in a clumsy fashion, but you could make out who was in charge by the amount of stuff they had to unpack.
At least, you could for Spree, who slept on the bottom floor in an apartment with an entire table devoted to empty beer cans. He was a thin man who nonetheless had a little bit of a beer gut. He was white, and currently completely naked on the bed as I began to sneak a spider into his room. As far as I knew, the original Spree was always the real one, which meant that if I bit him with a black widow or three, he'd have to deal with that.
And then one floor up was Vex. She had messy blonde hair, at least at the roots, but it'd been dyed with a half-dozen other different colors, and her costume itself looked like she was cosplaying as someone after the world had ended. She alone was up, and only then to open the window and stare out at the back lot while she smoked.
She seemed to be about twenty or so, and didn't seem to be paying attention to her room at all. I made sure to gather some wasps and spiders in that room as well, because she'd take more to take down, and I knew that the weird force fields were a problem. I didn't know if Rachel's dogs would be able to force their way through, and if she layered them right it'd at least make it harder to swarm her to death with bugs.
Finally, Reaver was still asleep on the second floor of the apartment as well. His room was a trashed mess, and at first I overlooked him, glancing around at Stefanie and Rachel, worried that I couldn't help them.
But in the corner of the room I saw his sword, a ridiculous sword that could have been on the cover of a fantasy novel. If so, then he was a barbarian, because it was a clumsy, crude, black thing, as if someone had hammered it out drunk. He himself was heavily muscled, with dark brown skin. He was also snoring, as far as I could tell. I looked to see if there were any capes I'd missed, since this was just who everyone knew was there, but as far as I could tell? Nope.
All three enemy capes were there and vulnerable.
"Alright, then," I said, turning to Pelter. "Pelter. Make sure to hit anyone getting too close. Rachel, we can do this."
"Course," Rachel said.
We still had six blocks left to travel, but the moment anyone spotted us, and there were people placed here and there, I was going to start the attack. bugs down the throat, black widows biting with everything they have, wasps stinging, especially in the eyes… I wanted them to suffer and fall apart as fast as possible.
The point wasn't to make it a long, drawn out fight. If we could capture one or two of them, that was a good thing, though I knew that the Butcher wouldn't like that.
But barring that, we wanted them broken and hurt badly enough that they wouldn't be able to go after us for weeks, if not longer.
I bared my teeth at the world from beneath the mask as we headed ever closer along ruined streets that nobody had bothered to even begin fixing up because it was the site of a bunch of gang wars.
The place stank, and the there was broken glass all over the streets. Everything that could have been looted had long since been torn to pieces. There wasn't a store or store-owner in sight, just looters and squatters.
I tried to focus on what I was going to do. Black widows rarely killed people, but they could certainly hurt them, and spiders were actually shy, gentle creatures. They didn't attack in swarms like the ones I was going to send after Reaver and Spree. Even one bite hurt a lot, and could lead to muscle cramps or spasms. Twenty? That's where you started getting into situations where it got sketchy.
I had only so many black widow spiders, and I had to breed them carefully--which was less weird than it sounds, since bugs don't really… it isn't like with people--to get even enough for this sort of attack. If I really wanted to go full out with them, I'd need to find a way to order more, or something like that.
Which was just as absurd as it sounded.
About a block and a half from the building, someone perked up. I saw them open their mouth to let out a shout. They were in an old payday loan building, keeping watch the whole time, no doubt expecting Merchants to make their counter-attack, sooner or later.
That was close enough, and so I sent my bugs to work. Reaver didn't even wake as a dozen spiders crawled to the right places and bit, once, and then twice, then scattered as he started yelling.
That's when the wasps went for his ears, and mouth. His eyes felt like it'd be a little much, blinding him, but I held a few in reserve. I wouldn't hesitate. What was he going to do? Sue me for assault?
The same spread of bugs went after Spree, who woke up a moment earlier, screaming and thrashing as his eyes began to roll. Then the clones began to explode outwards, a dozen in seconds, each of them yelling and screaming in agony as they stumbled forward, choking off the bugs ability to…
I really lost any clue of what was going on there, even as Reaver lurched towards his sword only for his leg to go out from under him in a cramp.
And in the third place, a black widow bit Vex on the ankle, and a wasp stung her on the neck, but that was all that happened as my swarm converged on her before she got her power up, which began to shred a few of the flying wasps, though the black widows walked along on the ground.
Her scream was surprisingly high-pitched as she ran over to the bed and pulled out… bug spray? And then, as the picture grew increasingly rough, we charged forward on the dogs.
I couldn't really see much of Vex, and my view of Spree was confused as he tried to stumble out the door of his apartment, tripping over his own bodies, which made it hard for me to get to him.
They collapsed where they stood, naked and frothing at the mouth, within seconds. He didn't have clothes, but he was still headed towards the front entryway, where the mailboxes were.
Rachel hurried her dog on, and smashed right through the glass doors without a care.
Spree leapt to try to stop her, bodies exploding outwards, but she just seemed to shred through them in an ocean of gore. Each of the bodies was filled with real blood and guts, and so within moments she was soaked in it.
Reaver was down, shaking and screaming, having failed to reach his sword, and now clearly in too much pain to do much. He'd fallen on some of my spiders, distressingly, but since he was being a good boy and not moving, I think I'd allow him to keep his eyes. For now.
Rachel was still wading through the bodies as Spree ran back, desperately blocking the way. The other Teeth were all waking up to find that wasps and bees were working on them. A few stumbled out, and a few of those few had weapons that they fired at random.
But within a handful of seconds, Spree was backed up against a wall, endlessly throwing out naked clones to try to keep away. Pelter, on the back of our dog, threw a handful of pebbles at the swarm of bodies.
They went straight through, as the figures collapsed in another shower of gore.
"It works!" I said, in awe. It hadn't even been my idea, though I would have thought of it eventually. But if she can throw one object, she can also throw many at once. The aim was terrible, but it made a pretty effective shotgun.
But up above, Vex was setting up barriers with her power, and while I couldn't get a great bead on her, I was able to feel… vibrations.
Oh, I thought, gritting my teeth. "Rachel!" I yelled. "We need to get up there and take Vex out and then get out of here!"
"Okay," Rachel yelled back, as Brutus began to trample Spree. Angelica was standing, cramped in the hall, and Rachel yelled, "Angelica! Stairs!"
The dog raced towards the stairs, heading upwards, another order coming in handy as I pulled myself off of Judas and glanced over at Pelter.
In a matter of moments the front area was soaked in blood and downed Sprees, as well as a handful of other gangbangers. It was very easy, but my heart was racing, and I was aware of just how long I had left. Once Butcher started to show up, we'd need to begin to make our way out of here.
If we were able to cripple three of the Teeth, that'd be a real blow. Something she couldn't recover from easily, and then we could take a defensive stance. Hold out long enough, and see what happened. Still, there was a nervous feeling in my gut as Rachel followed Angelica upstairs to deal with Vex.
She'd be fine, and I had bugs to watch her just in case. "This… seems to be going well," I said to Pelter.
"Yes. I… god, all this blood. It's gross."
"It is," I admitted. I was a lot more used to sweat and mud than blood. Let alone the oceans of goop and blood that I was having to wade through. We had two dogs down here, and that should be enough to at least hold off any attack from the streets.
But even though we'd barely been attacking for a minute, it felt as if we were starting to run out of time. I followed Rachel's movements upstairs, as Angelica, at her orders, forced her way through the razor-sharp forcefields. Rachel followed close behind her, and while Angelica was cut up a little, it wasn't enough to actually stop her.
Vex kept on backing up, but now that I had a way through with my bugs, I could hear her talking. "Arachne. Bitch up here with me… no, I don't know… fuck."
Oh. Oh shit. So the vibrations were her talking to Butcher.
Which meant--
I tried to bite at Rachel with flies, but she was in tunnel-vision, as Angelica tackled Vex. And then she began to work the other woman over.
"Pelter. Stay with the dogs. You can't command them, but I have to get Rachel to go. We have to get out of here." I didn't feel any of the confidence I'd felt before. Instead, I was sweating as I ran up the stairs, wishing that Amp could give super-speed. Thinking of that did give me another thought, and I reached down to the blood-soaked walkie talkie and activated it. "Amp?" I asked, panting as I came up on the second floor.
"Yes?"
"Anyone attacking the camp?"
"No, Arachne," Amp said.
"Can you give Pelter and I a little more toughness? And Rachel. Just use up all of the juice and resonance you have on the three of us."
"Got it," she said. "Touch your nose."
I did that, stepping out into a long, dreary hallway, at the end of which was Rachel. "And contact the Protectorate and tell them to show up here. I doubt they'll make it in time, but…"
"Understood, Arachne. Good luck," Charlotte said. I could hear the worry and concern in her voice.
"I'll try."
Rachel grabbed onto Vex's arm and lifted it up so that Angelica's paw could come down on it with a sickening crack which meant that she'd need to get that treated.
"Rachel! Butcher's coming, we gotta go," I yelled.
"Right," Rachel said, nodding at me. The few Teeth left active in this building were all hiding and cowering, if I hadn't bitten them enough to disable them, and now I was just trying to get as many of my bugs out alive as I could, to fight another day.
"Oh, and turn on the walkie talkie so that Amp can give you some power," I said, as I pulled myself up onto Angelica's hard, heavily muscled back.
"Fine," Rachel said, sounding a little more reluctant. She looked truly grotesque with all of the blood that was on her, and it'd take some real work to wash it clean. It'd take real work to make all of this better, really. But if we could just escape in time, we could--
I saw a creature, about six feet tall, skitter forward on all fours. Just six blocks away. It was yellow-eyed, a snarling beast that had to be Animos. I briefly got the impression of a second person, and heard the small whuff of a minor explosion, before he screamed. It was so loud that I… couldn't hear it.
My control of the bugs in a somewhat broad radius just stopped, leaving a hole in my grid as he kept on racing forward, eating up the ground.
This was their strategy. I could follow them by the control slowly slipping away from me, control I was so used to that I couldn't imagine being without it. But I couldn't see details, couldn't figure out specifics. It was oddly terrifying, in a way, having that knowledge stripped away from me. Slowly I was being trapped, and as Rachel clapped her hands at Amp's command, I felt my own range paradoxically increase. In the areas that weren't blackout spots, I could feel as far as ten blocks, roughly, away.
I was almost so distracted that I didn't notice Angelica skidding on the blood, claws digging into the floor as we raced down the stairs, Rachel yelling orders.
Downstairs, Pelter was holding onto the two dogs, uncertainly. I clung to Rachel's waist, blood or no blood, but I'd need to be on the dog that led Pelter, because she hadn't yet been trusted enough to be taught commands for the dogs.
Maybe that'd come with time, but not if we didn't get out of here before it was too late.
"Alright, we need to get out of here. She's… shit, she's close," I said, climbing off onto Brutus and then gesturing for Pelter to get in behind me. "She's… no, she's here." I was suddenly unable to see just a half a block away, and now I could hear it with my human ears. The scream was loud, but from the way the bugs around me didn't lose control, it was clearly not that wide of a range. Even hearing it wasn't enough, if it was distant and echoed. "We should just rush it. Get out of here."
I could imagine Rachel gritting her teeth, angry at the idea of backing off, but she actually just nodded. I hoped she trusted me, because I didn't really trust myself that much. This was going to be rough, getting away from someone who could teleport.
We burst outside through the destroyed entrance, and there Butcher was, standing just across the street.
She looked… weird. Weird was one word for it, at least. Ridiculous was another word. She herself was pretty impressive, with a long-neck and an air of athletic grace about her that was certainly helped by the pony-tail. She was an attractive woman, her eyes dark, her hair dark, looking at me from a crowded face.
She was wearing… there, that's the problem. What wasn't she wearing? The base of it was armor that looked like someone's Hollywood stereotype of Japanese armor, though some elements just didn't seem right about it, like they'd also taken… later, I'd be able to actually think about what was wrong with it, besides everything, but the studs and randomly thrown blades didn't make it look any better.
Then there were random bleached skulls at the shoulder, and other little details in the skirting--yes, the skirting--that all combined to make me want to either burst out laughing or run away.
On the other hand, the huge bow that she was carrying, which looked like it had a draw weight greater than one of Rachel's dogs, made up for it. You couldn't really mock someone that dangerous even if they were dressed like they didn't know what costumes were but wanted to try it.
Her face was hard, her eyes, though, dark as they were, seemed oddly distracted as she looked around for a moment.
And next to her was Animos. Animos was a large, strange black thing. His red eyes were staring right at me as Pelter tensed behind me.
Our dogs turned, in that moment, to start running away.
She spoke just one word. "No."
It all happened very fast after that. Pelter threw some rocks in her direction and Animos'. She disappeared in a small explosion that left a little smoke as well, but Animos was winged by it, though he didn't seem to mind that much, as he lurched forward towards Judas.
Drawing her bow in one moment, she appeared right next to Rachel, ready to fire, only for Angelica to claw at her.
She disappeared in another explosion before the dog could hit her, and Angelica danced back in pain and surprise. The explosions weren't large, but they were loud and sudden. She appeared nearby, and the arrow slammed into Brutus' leg.
I was riding Brutus, and so as he thrashed suddenly--and that had to be the point--I was thrown off onto the ground. I hit it with a crash, trying to focus as flies managed to land on the Butcher. Even wasps as well. I was scrambling on the one hand to run away, while also wondering how long until Animos screamed again.
Pelter threw a stone at the Butcher, who teleported out of the way once more.
Pelter and I were both scrambling, trying to figure out where to run.
Where to hide, for that matter. It was chaos, and we hadn't yet even hurt the Butcher. My bugs went with her when she teleported to… right behind us.
A second arrow went into Brutus' stomach as he screamed and thrashed.
Blood poured out on the ground. He wasn't dying yet, but I wasn't sure how many he could survive, and she was already notching a third. She had perfect aim, so I didn't know why she hadn't finished him off in a single blow. It had to be some sort of game. Some sort of trick. We were hurrying towards Judas as the dog engaged with Animos.
Successfully, actually, because despite Animos' screams, it seemed an even match.
Rachel growled, angrily turning her dog around to confront the Butcher as she shot yet another arrow into the downed dog. "Surrender," she demanded, her voice booming as she appeared again, a little further back. I no longer had bugs on her as I retreated, aware that I was still well within her range. I wasn't sure if I'd survive an arrow from her.
Rachel hurried forward, ready to fight hand to hand if need be, even though it was just going to end badly.
Butcher drew back the bow, aiming right at Rachel's stomach.
"Rachel," I yelled, "Don't do it!"
"What's she doing?" Amp asked.
At the same moment, I called out, "Judas, come!"
We needed to get out of here. My hands were shaking, and I was aware that one of our dogs was hurting, that there was no way that she'd turn around.
"Rachel, get out of there!" Amp yelled, sounding more desperate than anything else.
At the last moment, Rachel turned. It didn't stop the arrow from tearing through the air, but instead of hitting her head on, it went straight into her leg, and then bounced out, not penetrating deep enough to stick.
Rachel was bleeding, and I tried to climb onto Judas, the world reduced down to chaos and confusion. Brutus was standing up, slowly, not healed but too tough in this giant form to be put down immediately. I figured it out then.
He had veins, but he didn't have a heart. He was a dog surrounded by a meatsuit. There was a body that could be attacked, but she could no more hit him through his heart than she could puncture a lung. No, it didn't make sense. But that's how it worked. Legs worked because they felt pain and needed legs to move.
But I knew that Brutus wouldn't get away, not if she wanted it.
******
It was a helpless feeling. We were still trying to escape, but Rachel was still retreating, the bloody arrow on the ground… if it hadn't been for Amp, Rachel would be dead.
That fucking bitch. I was scared and angry and helpless. Because there was no way we could beat her, and I wasn't sure if we could even escape from her. I was sweating so hard as I tried to figure out what to do. We could make her pay for it, I realized.
This short fight could end when I turned the dogs on Animos and mauled him to death, and did everything I could with the bugs I had left in the apartment to murder them as well.
She'd take revenge, and there'd be another desperate exodus after she killed all three of us.
Nothing would change for the better, because if that wouldn't stop the Butcher, what would?
I was trapped, trapped by the fact that she was so powerful and hard to damage that we hadn't even landed a single blow on her yet. I didn't know if we would. The fact that a single arrow wouldn't be enough to kill us was good news. Sort of.
But I'd have to…
Have to what? I realized. With a sick feeling in my stomach I realized what I had to do. I realized what I was actually fighting for, and what the actual point of all of this was. It wasn't to beat the Butcher. I felt pathetic and stupid for not realizing it. "Butcher! Butcher, your men are in that apartment building. Out of Animos' range."
"Oh?" the Butcher asked, pausing for a moment. She turned to look at me, and I realized that this could be a trap, to distract me before the attack came. But Rachel stopped running, and we all seemed to be waiting for what I'd say.
I hadn't even been sure she was going to play along with this. But now that I had her attention, I had to use it. "I could kill them. Now." It was true, I still had the wasps to do it, and all three were still down. "Put out their eyes while I am at it. Reaver, Spree, Vex. Obviously, you could kill the dog, fight us… but we'll make you pay for it."
"You attacked me," Butcher said, but her face was doing odd things. It was twitching, first into a snarl, then a frown, and then a threatening grin. It was like she was having a debate all on her own… maybe it was.
"Yes. And we learned not to do it," I said. A lie, but true. "Right now, they're hurt, but they'll get better, and we're hurt, but we'll get better." I was lying about that too: we'd improve on our situation far faster than the Teeth would.
"I should kill you all," Butcher said.
"And get the Protectorate to come down on you? They would." They knew where she was, in fact.
For each thing I said, there was something I didn't say. I felt pathetic, talking it out with someone who could kill me, but what other choice did I have. "Let us go, and this all ends. You leave, they recover soon enough…"
I could see her face twist into a smirk. Actually, it was surprising how open and obvious the fact was when I heard her say, "Sure."
She was going to betray it. It was that simple. She didn't even try to hide the emotions on her face, the way they just crossed her without any barriers. But if she was faking it, she'd have to give us one extra moment to run to try to fool us.
I hoped.
"Brutus! Home!" I yelled. And the dog took off, nose up towards the air, at the same time as I gripped Judas' neck and yelled, "Judas! Forward!"
Rachel turned Angelica around, and we began to hurry off as Animos howled and screamed, no doubt trying to make it impossible for me to see the double-cross coming.
Pelter grabbed two rocks and prepared to throw them.
From bugs afar I could almost get a picture of Butcher's hesitation, and then her explosion as she appeared to my right, ready to fire--
And then disappeared in another explosion as Pelter threw one of the rocks. Pelter was grinning for some reason, and I didn't even know why. I didn't even know what there was about this that was… she was chasing us, but if she followed, she'd run into our Camp, and then it'd be a fight that we could hopefully stall long enough for.
But it was a slim hope.
So I was surprised when she showed up in front of us again and was scattered by the toss of another rock, and then she just… stopped coming after us. She was behind the three of us racing away, slowly drawing her bow. I could see the camp, safe and sound. I could see her, at least until Animos screamed again, and she wasn't moving. She was standing and watching us flee.
Smug, confident. Victorious. As if the attack was just to remind us to keep running.
I'd keep my word. I would not kill them. I would not blind them. It was the least I could do.
The bugs swarmed Spree and the others, and went towards their left eyes, each of the three of them. Tearing and ripping them apart.
That wasn't blinding. I was in no mood for anything less.
********
A few hours later, I was still curled up in the sleeping bag, shivering. We were back at camp, and for some bizarre reason Pelter wasn't terrified. Instead she seemed confident, sure of herself, and despite the close call, nobody else seemed to realize just how bad the situation was, just how much we were completely unprepared if the Butcher actually came here, right now.
I was watching for her, Rachel in the room. "Taylor. We won."
"Was that victory?" I asked, remembering the feeling of the bugs committing suicide in the enemy's eyes. At the time, I didn't really have time to panic and worry about Rachel, but now I could picture that moment where she might have died in great detail, and each time I did, it hurt a little bit more. "If she comes, we can't stop her."
"You did well," Rachel said, firmly. She pressed closer to me, hugging me close. "Kicked ass. Used words and shit to get her to back up. I couldn't have done that." Rachel shook her head, not used to having to talk to me, I guess. Or. I didn't know what. She stroked my hair. "Just relax."
"I can't," I said, still shivering out of control. "And there's nothing we can do. If you hadn't listened to Amp, then you might have died anyways. And if it wasn't for Amp, you'd be dead. And I'd have lost you. You'd have charged at Butcher and we all would have died."
"Something's weird about Amp," Rachel grumbled.
I ignored it, because I wasn't really in the mood for her to grumble just because it was true that Amp was the reason we'd survived. Part of it, at least. "Maybe, and even with her help and everything we have here, I don't know… what am I supposed to do?"
Rachel was speechless, frowning down at me. "I dunno. Fight harder? Use more words?" Rachel shrugged a little and said, "We can do it."
"Maybe," I said, a little distractedly. "Yes." I bit my lip and looked up at her. "I love you."
Rachel looked like she hadn't expected it at all, her eyes wide, her expression blank. "Love you too."
"Thanks. Sorry. I just maybe need…" I shrugged. "You should check up on the shelter. Cassie's there."
"Kay. Tell Greg I'm ready for another one," Rachel said. "If you see him."
"Oh, right," I said, trying to perk up a little bit. It was cute, the way she was trying to make small talk. "See you soon."
She left, and I kept on lying around, feeling sad for myself. I might have kept on doing that for a lot longer, but five minutes later, Charlotte began to approach. She opened the tent's door and then zipped it back up as she knelt by me. "Taylor, are you okay?"
"Fine," I said, still laying on my side.
"Sit up and talk to me, please."
I shrugged. Might as well. I got up, distractedly, and asked, "So why are you smiling?"
"I'm… not," Charlotte said. "But nobody died. And Pelter says that she figured it out. She reacts to threats too fast. If you throw something that might hurt her her way, she'll teleport away, and that means that she'll be running around if you can keep on attacking her… maybe until she just stands up and takes the hit."
"That's not going to be enough to beat her."
"Then what will be enough? Tell me," Charlotte said, her voice soft but firm.
I sighed. "First, I need to hurt her. I need to hurt her and keep on hurting her. Bugs with diseases, bugs that can get through her tough skin. Something. Then, we need more capes. A lot more capes, because the more power interactions we have, the better. You need to find more resonances, because if we have something with strength or lasers or… there's possibilities here. Flechette could help too, if we could only force her to stand still." I frowned, thinking about capes with powers involving freezing someone else.
If she didn't move, we could just hurt her badly. But we couldn't kill her, I realized, trying to think through it all. "There's only one way…" I trailed off. "You just joined a week ago. Parian just joined a few days ago. What will Rachel say if I add another cape?"
Because I did have a way to gain at least one more parahuman. Three, even, but one would be enough to start with.
"You could leave it to a vote? Among the members of the team?" Charlotte suggested.
Which sounded like a good idea. It'd build consensus and all, but Rachel wouldn't like it. At the same time, if the Butcher really did destroy this camp, she'd probably follow it up with all of the dogs.
I hesitated… "Alright."
"I'm sorry if I'm pressuring you," Charlotte admitted. "But I just don't like seeing you down on yourself. And everyone believes in you, and I know you'll be able to do this. I've only been here a week, and it's so, so obvious." Charlotte shook her head. "You're doing something good here."
"I hope so," I admitted.
******
"No," Rachel said, crossing her arms.
"And you, Amp?" I asked. We were sitting around a fire, my bugs screening us on all sides.
"Yes."
"I'm voting… maybe myself," I said. "Until I see what everyone else says."
"Who are we giving this to?" Stefanie asked.
"Greg's the only person who has offered," I said. I'd called a meeting only of the Parahumans, because I wasn't sure if I wanted Cassie to know about this.
"Oh. Right. I…" Stefanie looked over at Rachel. "Rachel, you really don't want this to happen, right?"
"No." Rachel glared around a little harder, and I wanted to go over to her and tell her it was okay, or that it was for her own good. But really, it so obviously was. It so obviously would only help things. "Did Charlotte put this idea in your head?" Rachel growled. "She meets with you, then." She shrugged.
"All she did was try to cheer me up," I said.
"What are we even talking about?" Parian asked. "You have a… vial that gives superpowers? And we're giving it to your friend, Greg? Who I haven't met yet?"
"Yes. Basically," I said.
"Then, I suppose so. If it's what it takes to help protect us, then I agree."
That was two to one, with myself and Stefanie still undecided.
I bit my lip. Was Greg really the right choice? But asking Cassie to get involved like that could be a big mistake, and I wasn't sure if she'd agree. Did she want to be a parahuman the same way Greg would?
"Is it anyone that's the problem, or just Greg?" Stefanie asked. "We could ask Cassie, or… try to figure out what they do before we hand them out."
"Nah, Greg's fine. Just don't want him to join," Rachel said, bluntly.
"Sierra wouldn't agree," Charlotte said. "Not after what happened to Bryce. Cassie… might not if she knows how dangerous it is."
"And Greg would?" Parian asked.
"He's always been a fan of capes," I said, in his defense. "I'm sure he can handle it. And if he does get a swelled head, we can just help guide him."
"I… am giving a provisional no, because Rachel…"
Pelter's eyes said it all. Rachel's your girlfriend, they said.
But that shouldn't matter. I was a member of the team. We had a camp to protect. "I vote in favor. That's three to two. It passes, then."
Rachel stood up and stalked out, giving a baffled look to me, and then a furious, bared-teeth look to Charlotte.
"I'm… sure that she'll come around eventually," Charlotte said, weakly.
******
Rachel glared at all of us as Greg wrapped his arms around me. "Really?! Really really?! Thank you thank you thank you! Which vial?"
"There's Hephaestus," Stefanie said, holding out the vial. "You need to drink all of it, and then we'll see what your power is." She glanced at me, and I wondered, if we got a power that wasn't that useful, whether we'd go and ask Cassie. We had three tries. In theory. But if Rachel was glaring like this already, I didn't want to try again.
"I can do that," Greg said, stepping away from me with a blush on his face. He gripped the vial and opened it up, looking at it for a moment. He muttered something about a drinking animation, and then, clearly nervous, he smoothed back his hair as if we were going to take a picture of him drinking.
Then he tipped the whole thing down in one go.
Flashes of memories and strange visions passed through my head for a matter of moments, and then there Greg was, standing there.
"Well?" Stefanie asked, glancing over at Charlotte and Parian, at Rachel… "Is it a dud?"
"No," Greg said. "I… I have visions in my head."
"Of what?" I asked.
There was awe in his voice as he said two words as if they meant everything. "Power. Armor."
"What?" Rachel asked.
"You see it's like…" Greg began, then wilted in the face of Rachel's glare. "Well, it's really cool, and I bet I could totally help you guys."
"So, you're a Tinker?" Parian asked, looking him over.
"Yes, yes I am," Greg said, proudly.
"Power armor?" I asked, still not sure what the specific details were about what he was able to imagine, but sure that it could work out. "That… should help."
******
A/N: And thus ends the arc. Thank you to NemoMarx. So, have another thing that I've been foreshadowing/planning since very early on.
- Location
- North Carolina
Great chapter, as always. For once, I actually don't mind Greg being a parahuman.
But really, everything just seems too positive. This can't last forever.
Obligatory Random Speculation: Pelter is going to become the Butcher.
But really, everything just seems too positive. This can't last forever.
Obligatory Random Speculation: Pelter is going to become the Butcher.
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
That fight was much more successful than the one I had been imagining.
Then again, in the one I'd been imagining they didn't manage quite that level of ambush on Vex and the rest.
The Butcher, as ever, remains mad, ill dressed, and kinda terrifying.
And Greg is a power armour tinker. I won't lie, something more immediately useful might have been nice, but that's got to be his life's dream.
Then again, in the one I'd been imagining they didn't manage quite that level of ambush on Vex and the rest.
The Butcher, as ever, remains mad, ill dressed, and kinda terrifying.
And Greg is a power armour tinker. I won't lie, something more immediately useful might have been nice, but that's got to be his life's dream.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Yeah, all in all, things are totally going great! No dark clouds on the horizon at all!
- Pronouns
- she/her
Good old "eyes are a privilege" Taylor. Hephaestus screams tinker, though, and that may not have been the best option when you're in a refugee camp with a box of scraps, but I'm sure he'll make it work.
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I have thought about each person in the Pack becoming the Butcher, and I'm torn between Rachel and Charlotte being the worst possible options.
They're both big force multipliers for the teeth.
- Location
- In Bed
Pelterbutcher would be very terrifying, because, if I remember correctly, the Butcher has a form of telekinesis that makes her projectiles extremely accurate. Look at what pelter did to sprees clones, now imagine that but make it so that it's extremely difficult for the projectiles to miss.
She wouldn't be a force multiplier, but she'd make the Butcher even more of a nightmare, with non-brutes being fodder(unless they have a power that can block e.g forcefields)
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Butcher already has super strength and her kitted out bow though. It'd make her more versatile, but she can largely already shoot arrows that are Brute killers? Just with Pelter, she could do that with random rocks or ball bearings.
Edit: If her strength and pelters stacks this is a different story, where she moves from mowing down any non brutes and some weak brutes to like, being able to just wipe the floor with anyone from range.
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