12:52 pm

Finally. It was time to get the hell out of here.

I stepped forward to join Bitch on Brutus, but Grue put out a hand and stopped me, giving my arm a gentle squeeze. "Skitter, you're with me on Judas. Tattletale, you go with Bitch. Take the lead, direct her. A sensory power with each dog."

Tattletale gave him an odd look, then stepped forward to climb Brutus' flank. Grue mounted Judas, and helped me climb up behind him.

I heard a swell of raised voices behind us. Coil's soldiers. My bugs sensed erratic movements, agitation. The soldiers were regarding each other warily, some of them with weapons drawn.

Damn. I had hoped for a peaceful resolution, but it was impossible. We only had four spots on our dogs for the nine soldiers. Five of them would have to stay behind to face an Endbringer attack in the quarantine zone. A fate worse than death. They were mercenaries, they wouldn't volunteer to sacrifice themselves for their comrades in the best of times, and now they had spent half an hour with the Simurgh singing in their heads...

I readied the bugs I had planted behind the wall behind the soldiers, started condensing them into solid masses to engulf human-sized targets. I leaned forward and rested my head on Grue's shoulder. "Got bugs on them." I said, softly so my voice wouldn't carry to the soldiers.

Grue nodded. He faced the soldiers and raised his voice, a tone of command enhanced by his darkness. "Wrap this up. We have to move. Now, or you'll be left behind."

"Right." said Captain Heroux. "You heard the man. Throw down your weapons and we'll draw straws."

He gestured to a haphazard pile of guns on the ground. Only half of his men had put their guns in the pile. The others looked ready to shoot at any moment.

One of the gun-wielding soldiers, a dark-haired man with a scruffy, unshaven chin, glared at Grue and snapped. "We all worked to get out of there. Why do the capes get priority? We should all get an equal chance."

"They have the dogs. It's not negotiable." said Heroux

The soldiers didn't look convinced. I readied my bugs, started condensing them behind the wall into solid masses to engulf human-sized targets.

"So why should we let you go, Heroux? Draw straws with the rest of us." said a woman. She was standing next to the first soldier, practically shoulder to shoulder. Close, familiar. Were they related? Lovers?

"Because I'm the captain-"

"Doesn't count for shit now." said the dark-haired man.

"-because we have thirty seconds to decide, and because Coil gave me the account numbers for the very generous severance funds he arranged for us in the event of his death. You want to get paid, you do what I say."

The dark-haired man raised his rifle halfway. Not pointing at the captain, but threatening. "Fuck that! Pay doesn't matter if we're quarran-"

So fast I could barely react, Heroux drew his sidearm and shot the man in the face. The woman screamed, raised her gun but was shot before she could make use of it.

Heroux kept his gun trained on the two bodies. Not aimed at the other soldiers, but the threat was clear. "Twenty seconds now. Anyone else want to argue?"

Two dead. Right in front of me. They weren't like the clone, they were people. They had worked to save my life. They had been afraid, scared of being left behind. And now, in a very real sense, they were dead because of me. Because I had a reserved spot on the dogs and they didn't. Because I was higher in the pecking order, because I was a cape with powerful friends.

For all that they were criminals, it didn't sit right with me. I was trying to be a hero and this wasn't something a hero would do. Escaping a sinking ship by using my power to push criminals out of the lifeboat. But...

It had taken some begging before Mom and Dad finally gave in and took me on a tour of the Brockton Bay Protectorate Headquarters. I couldn't understand why they weren't as eager as I was. It was a floating super base, for goodness sake!

Even better, I had the amazing luck that the leader of the heroes was giving the tour! That was super rare. When one of the other kids asked him why he was giving the tour today, he muttered something about one of his inventions misfiring and disciplinary proceedings and other stuff I didn't understand.

But I didn't care about that now. It was my turn to talk to the hero!

"Hi Armsmaster! I'm a big fan! I have your, um, well I have some clothes with your 'V' on them." I said.

The cape grimaced. Weird. Didn't he like having his own line of kids clothes? "Let's talk about something else." he said. "What superhero do you want to be like when you grow up, little girl?"

"My name is Taylor not little girl and oooh, I know that one! I want to be like Alexandria when I grow up!"

The cape nodded approvingly. "A good choice. Alexandria is an exceptional hero. Very meticulous."

"Alexandria is metty-cules?"

"That means she's thorough, dear." said Mom.

"Oh." I said. "I like her because she flies like zoom and when the villains go 'Rarr!' she goes 'Wham!' and makes them go 'Argh!'"

"She does that too." said the cape with a smile. "I'm no slouch at that myself."

"Oh! And I saw on the news, Alexandria saved the Callyforny Senator's daughter from being kidnapped!"

"That's California, dear." said Mom.

"Yeah, Callyfornia. If I get superpowers I'll save people just like her. I'll save everyone!"

The cape patted me on the head. "You have good motivation, little girl. It's not enough to beat the villains, we have to protect civilians as well. You'll save innocents, then?"

I nodded seriously. "My name is Taylor not little girl and yes! I'll fly like zoom and bring the Senator's daughter home and throw her a party with cake and soda and candy canes!" I gestured. "See? Like this!"

The cape looked behind me to the girl I'd brought to him. "Ah, there she is."

Twelve years old or so, she was escorted by a burly soldier. She had dark circles under her eyes, and straight, dark brown hair that was in need of a trim. She wore a white long sleeved shirt, white pajama bottoms and white slippers. She didn't make eye contact with anyone, staring at the ground. Her right hand gripped her left elbow, and the fingers of her left hand drummed an inconsistent beat against her thigh.

The cape bent down and pushed the hair away from the girl's face. She looked at him, then looked away.

"I want the Undersiders to hear what you say. Give me a number. How would they do, without my help?"

"Forty-six point six two three five four percent chance they all come back. Thirty three point seven seven nine zero one percent only some come back. That's one question."

The cape paused to let that sink in, then looked up at us, "She calculates possibilities, we think she does it by seeing all the potential outcomes of an event in a fraction of a second. Her power categorizes these outcomes and helps her to figure out the chance that a given event will come to pass. It isn't easy for her, and I try not to tax her abilities, but you can surely see why this is so valuable."

I hugged my arms close to my body. When I glanced at the girl, I caught her looking at me. I looked away.

"Candy, now?" She started to bite at her thumbnail. Looking at her other hand, I saw her nails were bitten to the quick.

He moved her hand away from her mouth, "Four more questions, pet, then candy-"

...but these were the criminals who kidnapped Dinah. Who perverted my career as an undercover hero, who used me as a tool to turn an innocent child into a villain's pet slave. As much as I tried to make myself feel sympathy for the fallen soldiers...I couldn't feel a thing.

I shook my head. Maybe...maybe it was better this way. I couldn't save everyone during an Endbringer attack. Instead of shedding tears for the criminals I would focus on the innocents I could save. I tried to tell myself that it was what a real hero would do.

The holdout soldiers took one look at the fallen and tossed their weapons into the pile. No hesitation. Hell, they were probably happy the others had been killed. With two of them down it improved the chances for the rest of them.

"Good." said Heroux. "We have three spots on the dogs. Split into two groups of three. Hurry! Good. Wedge, your group is evens. Pritt, your group is odds."

He tilted his head toward us, not taking his eyes off the soldiers. "Grue you have a watch? What's the minutes digit?"

"It's twelve fifty three!" called Tattletale from behind us.

The soldiers in the evens group swore. One of them, the man he'd called Wedge, darted for the pile of guns. Heroux fired instantly and the man dropped to the ground, screaming. A second shot and he was silent.

"Pritt, Brooks, Jaw. Get your gear. Take the rest of the tinkertech and give it to the capes. Saunders, Sheldon, step away. Good." He paused. "I'm sorry. You were right, Saunders. Should never have gotten you into this racket."

"Fuck you and your greedy paws, Heroux." said the soldier. "I should have stayed at home. I liked being an electrician."

"You can keep the guns we leave behind, but we can't have you shooting us in the back. So you two are going to run a good ways that way, off site." When the two soldiers didn't move, he raised his voice. "Now! Run!"

They ran.

The remaining soldiers got their equipment together in record time. Pritt and Jaw mounted Brutus while Heroux and Brooks mounted Judas behind me, delayed for seconds while Judas sniffed them and licked at Brook's face. It was a tight enough fit to be uncomfortable, and I had to hold on to Grue in front of me to keep my balance.

Heroux passed forward a pair of the tinkertech rifles, the ones with the laser attachments. One for Grue and one for me. Grue accepted his without a word and strapped it to his back. I held mine experimentally in my hands, tried aiming at a building in the distance.

"You know how to use a gun?" said Heroux.

"Point and shoot?" I said.

Heroux gave me a stern look. "I'll take that as a no. Don't use it or you'll get someone hurt. No time to teach you."

He moved to grab my gun, but Grue turned halfway to face us and stopped him. "No. Skitter, keep the gun. If you have to shoot, this is the safety." He tapped a metal slider on the rifle's stock. "Slide it back and you can fire. Watch out for recoil. The red button on the side is for the laser. Thirty seconds of charge, don't waste it."

I nodded. "Thanks."

Bitch and Tattletale's group had gotten themselves sorted out, Bitch rejecting a gun and cradling Angelica on her lap. Bitch put her fingers in her mouth and gave a high-pitched whistle, then pointed to the south. "Brutus, go! Judas, follow!"

Judas leaped into motion, carrying us over the fence of the construction site and into the streets. I clung to Grue to keep myself from falling as Judas accelerated to top speed. It was a bumpy ride. Judas followed Brutus, spending most of his time on flat ground near the sidewalk and the edges of the streets, but every block he had to clamber over a collapsed wall or an abandoned crashed car to make headway. He didn't seem to mind the obstacles. He was panting eagerly with his tail lashing behind him.

I envied him. For all he knew, this was a walk in the park and the collapsed buildings were a fun and interesting obstacle course.

Despite the bumpy ride, I felt a squeeze as Grue used one of his hands to grasp the arm I had wrapped around his waist. "Skitter. Watch out ahead of us, tell Bitch if there's anything in our way."

I nodded. Right. I had done that for us before, but it was easier today. I had noticed it in the morning. My power was stronger today. My range was bigger, nearly twice as large as usual, and my bugs were more responsive.

"Bitch!" I called. "Three blocks ahead, street's blocked by a fallen building! Go around to the left!"

Bitch didn't respond, but Tattetale half turned to us and gave a wave. It looked like she was struggling with a black box one of the soldiers had brought, a device with a tall antenna. A radio?

After another minute of travel we passed the last of the skyscrapers of Downtown that had been obstructing our view. To the Northwest, the battle came into view in the distance.

The Simurgh was traveling at high speed, ducking and weaving between a torrent of projectile attacks from the air and the ground. Laser beams, cars thrown into the air at the speed of bullets, metal spears erupting from the sides of buildings.

The Simurgh dodged a thicket of beams and landed in front of an office building. She ripped the building apart with her telekinesis, breaking it into three chunks that orbited above her, shielding her from aerial attacks. Two of the chunks shot forward and hit the ground with a crash, breaking apart as they hit the streets and sending a flood of rubble skidding for blocks, bowling over capes on the ground.

The third chunk of the building, directly above the Simurgh, shifted in place...but before it could become a projectile, it vanished and was replaced by a massive monster of flesh.

Noelle. My first sight of her whole body. She was bigger than an elephant. Bigger than the Simurgh's body, not counting the wings. Her body was a mesh of giant paws, tentacles, and what looked like an enormous humanoid hand. On her flanks were five giant mouths that were spitting out streams of vomit and cloned bodies. Most of the clones were falling to the ground but some lifted into the air under their own power. Cloned capes joining the fight.

Noelle landed on the Simurgh, her sudden weight hammering the Endbringer to the ground. She used her massive paws to grapple with the Simurgh's largest wing, wrenching it at an angle that would have torn it off if it had been flesh and blood.

The Simurgh used her telekinesis to rise once again, lifting Noelle's weight while using her wings to lever Noelle off of her body. But Noelle's body was rippling, distorting, shifting its shape to grip onto the Endbringer more tightly by impaling itself on the Endbringer's wings. Before the Simurgh could rise, she was impeded by attacks from the other capes. A massive battery of multicolored lasers from the sky, pressing her down to the ground. Walls of crystalline forcefields that appeared at her sides, one wall in violet and the other in deep red. The forcefields were layered like scales, with razor edges pointed toward the Endbringer's body.

I could hardly believe it. The capes were stopping the Simurgh. Locking her down in place. Noelle's strength and size were almost on par with the Endbringer's, and with the other capes cooperating...

Ahead of us I heard Tattletale swear. Judas drew closer to Brutus and I could make out her words.

"...capes don't know the clones are crazy! Think they're on our side. That's...New Wave, two or three copies...Narwhal's forcefields...Simurgh letting them...fucking bullshit!"

In the distance, the Simurgh withstood the pressures being placed on her and slowly forced herself to her feet. The scaled forcefields pierced her body, flensing away a layer of her flesh and making her 'bleed' a shower of feathers like falling snow.

Then the earth shook.

A circular pillar of earth abruptly rose up beneath the Simurgh, fifty feet in diameter and a hundred feet tall, carrying her and her attackers high into the air. A massive cylinder of city street, underground sewers, and bedrock.

The top of the cylinder split into chunks that flew through the air one by one. Guided projectiles controlled by her telekinesis, aimed at capes on the ground and veering unerringly to strike flyers out of the sky.

The biggest chunk accelerated toward the source of the largest laser, a cape who was a glowing blue spark in the sky. The cape vanished an instant before he was hit, teleported to safety. He reappeared in between the flailing bodies of the Simurgh and Noelle and rapidly retreated, his blue spark flying to the back of the crowd of capes in the span of a second.

As if she had been anticipating the opportunity, the Simurgh used the momentary reprieve to execute a complicated aerial maneuver, rolling upside down and flexing her wings to dislodge Noelle and dump her into the hundred foot deep pit she had opened under the city streets. The bottom half of her earthen cylinder hammered down, trapping Noelle under fifty feet of bedrock.

Relieved of her burden, the Simurgh hovered and stretched her wings, as if testing that her appendages were still intact. Then she dove into the midst of the flyers, swatting the capes out of the sky with her wings while dodging a hail of projectiles from the ground.

Seconds later, a massive purple laser burst from the ground where Noelle had been buried, sending a geyser of superheated and flaming earth into the air. With a roar Noelle emerged from the hole, half crawling under her own power and half propelled by the erupting geyser of earth. Noelle was followed by a bright purple spark of light that took to the air and fired a massive laser that scorched the Endbringer's flanks.

Tattletale's curses were even louder than before. "Absolutely fucking bullshit!" She turned to us and shouted. "She cloned Legend. It's Trickster, he's defending the capes by teleporting them into her! Grue, screen us off!"

"On it!" shouted Grue. He stuck out his right arm to his side and sent out a flood of darkness that blotted the battle from view.

She cloned Legend. I heard the words but I couldn't quite process them. Legend was the leader of the Protectorate. One of the top ten capes in the world, power-wise, and probably the most powerful in political pull. Handsome, charismatic, everything you thought of when you thought of a true hero. When I was a kid Mom had gotten me a Legend themed toothbrush whose package claimed that my smile would shine as bright as his lasers if I brushed every day.

Now there was a clone of him flying in the skies. Crazed and homicidal, attacking the Simurgh first because she was the biggest target. The real Legend had survived more than fifty Endbringer attacks. If the clone survived this attack, if she made more of them...this could get ugly didn't quite cover it.

I shook my head. That was way over my head, a matter for the Protectorate to handle. They had powers to pummel Endbringers and all I could do was control bugs. I couldn't do anything to help them. I had to focus on my mission, on the people I could help.

"Skitter, watch out for clones." said Grue. He raised his voice. "Soldiers! Watch our backs, shoot any clones you see!"

"Handled." said Heroux. He and Brooks unslung their rifles and half-turned in their seats, Heroux covering our left and Brooks covering our right.

For the next minutes we rode on in silence, broken only by my occasional shouts to warn Bitch of obstacles ahead of us. I wrapped Grue in a tight hug to keep my balance. We were moving much faster than I had expected, eating up ground at a rapid pace. Bitch was using her power at full blast, stronger than I had ever seen. Her dogs were almost a quarter bigger than their usual maximum size, yet at the same time they were swifter, more agile. Now that they had hit their stride they were moving like trained parkour atheletes, negotiating the abandoned cars and rubble as if they weren't even there.

Grue's power seemed stronger than usual, too. His darkness was thicker and moved faster, easily matching our rapid pace and keeping the city blocks behind us and the air above us filled with an impenetrable wall of darkness. The sounds of the battle were muffled and distant. Only Simurgh's scream in the back of my mind kept its intensity, and even that was rapidly fading as we gained distance from the battle.

It reminded me of how my own power was acting today, my greater range and control. My bugs, Bitch's dogs, Grue's darkness...they were all stronger. Was there a common thread there, something I could use? I'd almost think it was an effect of the Simurgh or a Protectorate cape, something that enhanced the powers of nearby parahumans, but I had the range boost in the morning before she showed up.

Tattletale gave another shout, and it took me a second to realize that she wasn't talking to us. She was holding the black box with the antenna, a radio she had gotten from the soldiers. She must have found a frequency the Protectorate was monitoring and was filling them in on the threats.

"Yes I'm sure. I'm a fucking Thinker, look in my file. Tattletale, Thinker seven, and I'm telling you the clones aren't on our side. They're crazy, homicidal, they're fighting the Simurgh for now but Noelle can't keep them under con-...What? Noelle! The big ass monster spitting out clones, the one that's trying to sit on the Simurgh, that Noelle! ...Shut up and listen! Call a retreat, get your capes the hell away from the teleporter. He's Trickster, line of sight teleportation, he-"

I left her to her work and concentrated on guiding our path. We were passing the edge of the area the Simurgh had destroyed, entering the streets at the south end of the city that were mostly intact. The Simurgh's scream was fading, growing quieter with each passing moment. At this rate we'd be in the clear in a matter of minutes.

As we got further from the devastation we began to pass groups of fleeing civilians. Refugees, now, traveling on foot because streets the were jammed with abandoned and crashed cars. Families burdened with heavy backpacks filled with all the posessions they could carry. Mothers holding infants to their chests. A group of elementary school children being herded by a high school student and two gray-haired teachers.

My bugs gave me a sense of their motives and destinations. Most of the civilians moved with purpose, moving as fast as they could to go South or West to get out of the city. Others simply tried to stay together as a group, families that moved at a crawl to accommodate young children or elders with walking sticks. Still other people moved as if in a daze, disoriented by the devastation around them and simply following the current of the crowd. When they saw our dogs coming they screamed and scattered, clearing a path for us to advance.

The street intersection ahead of us was occupied by a large crowd of youths in neat high school uniforms - kids from Immaculata? They weren't moving forward. They were bustling around a group at the center of the crowd, a knot of boys in a fracas. Yelling and pushing at each other, fighting over a battered backpack on the ground.

"Bitch! Crowd's blocking us ahead!" I called.

"I see them!" she called back. She pointed and whistled. Her dog Brutus accelerated and I felt Judas follow suit, his muscles bunching beneath me as he powered forward.

What? Was she going to...oh no.

"No!" I shouted. "Go right, there's a side street! Go around! It'll take us thirty seconds!"

Bitch glanced back at me, then turned away. She looked forward at the crowd her dog was about to ram at high speed and gave her whistle command again.

Fuck you, Bitch.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Coming through! Out of the way now!" I called on my bugs and attacked the crowd, nipped at the back of their heads to get them to turn around. A few kids caught sight of us and scattered, but the rest of them-

Brutus reached the edge of the crowd and leaped, clearing half of the crowd in a single bound. He landed with a crunch and barreled forward like a tank, tossing the people in his path aside and leaving a trail of screams and writhing bodies in his wake.

No. It hit me like a punch in the gut. This was wrong. Sacrificing innocents to save ourselves a few seconds of evacuation time. I didn't want to be a part of this. But there was no time to change course.

I felt Judas' muscles bunching beneath me, following suit with a jump of his own. I clung to Grue and then we were airborne. We landed at the far edge of the crowd, Judas' paws crashing down on the prone bodies of two of the boys who had been fighting. I felt as much as heard the thick, wet snap of the impact. Agonized screams filled the air behind us.

I squeezed my eyes shut. This must be my punishment. What I deserved for joining a team of villains. It meant that psychos like Bitch were in charge of our evacuation, that we were forced to follow her selfish priorities. I was trying to be a hero now. I had to stop her.

"Grue." I said, my voice tight. "This is wrong. I, we can't-"

That was when I realized the truth.

I had been clinging to Grue for dear life, my body squeezed against his, my arms wrapped around his chest. I had been feeling his tension in his body, his breathing, his attitude. From the first moment we got on the dogs to the moment we had rammed the crowd of kids.

And that entire time...he hadn't even flinched. I felt a moan grow in my throat, a silent scream grow in the back of my mind. Grue had watched the boys and girls be thrown aside like garbage, he had felt their bodies crush under Judas' paws, all without a word of complaint, without a catch in his breathing, without a single sign of shock or remorse, his body rigid, firm, uncompromising-

Brian was startling in appearance. Taller than me by at least a foot, Brian had dark chocolate skin, shoulder length cornrows and that masculine lantern jaw you typically associated with guy superheroes. He wore jeans, boots and a plain green t-shirt, which struck me as a bit cold for the spring. I did note that he had considerable muscle definition in his arms. This was a guy who worked out. He wasn't big in the sense of a bodybuilder or someone who exercised just to pack on muscle like you saw with some of the people just out of prison. It was a little more streamlined than that. You could see the raised line of a vein running down his bicep, and the definition of his chest showed through his shirt. He had a nice voice, too. It was an adult voice, even if his appearance gave me the sense of a guy in his late teens.

If a guy like him had asked me out in some alternate universe where Emma had never stopped being my friend and I'd never been bullied? Just going by his looks, I might have said yes. I didn't want to get attached to the villain but I couldn't deny that it was affecting me. He was the sort of person I could see myself wanting as a friend, or wanting as something more. That was something I could use...

...

Brian pointed to the body parts in question as he explained, "Eyes, nose, temple, chin and throat are the areas above the shoulder. Teeth or ears if you can hit hard enough. I can, you can't."

"Sure," I said. I wasn't offended by his bluntness. He was stronger than me, so he had more options. Tip toeing around it didn't do either of us any favors.

"Below the shoulders, diaphragm, kidney, groin, knee, bridge of the foot, toes. Elbow is a good one if you can do anything with it," he took my wrist in his left hand and my shoulder in his right, extending my arm straight as he brought his knee up to gently tap the outside of my elbow. I could see how he would have screwed up or broken my arm if he'd done it full strength. He went on, "But in my experience, it doesn't come up often enough to worry about."

It was disquieting to hear Brian methodically describing how to break a human being. But I didn't want him to catch on that I wasn't on board with his career as a villain. I ignored the feeling in my gut and gave him a broad smile.

Brian smiled back at me. I mean, really smiled. It made me think of a boy rather than a nearly-grown man. He replied, "Most don't get that, you know? I'll try to share what I know, so you aren't caught off guard, but don't be afraid to ask if there's anything you're not sure about, alright?"

I nodded. "I'm glad you know this stuff. Can we spar next? I liked what I saw in your spar with Alec, and I could use some attention too." I paused. "My fighting skills, I mean."

His smile widened. He said, through a good natured chuckle, "Can't tell you how much of a relief it is that you take this stuff seriously."

...

"Shut up," I cut him off. "Just shut up. I- I can't argue with you on this. Please. I hate that I have to explain this, when I don't even want to think about it. She's the missing kid. Remember our bank robbery? How we were weren't even front page news because an amber alert took priority? That was her. Dinah Alcott."

Grue had his arms folded, and was standing very still. Bitch just had her usual angry look. Tattletale looked pale, even for the single lightbulb's worth of light we had in the stairwell. She wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Get it, Grue?" I asked him, "The bank robbery was a distraction for the local capes, so Coil could be sure to get away with taking the kid. We played a part in that. We made that happen. We can't just walk away and leave her like that."

"Some of us are kind of relying on Coil for some major stuff," Grue spoke. "Some of us have people we can't leave behind."

I looked at him, surprised. "I don't want to say your sister isn't important, but are you really willing to let Dinah stay in captivity, just for Aisha?"

"If it comes down to it? Yeah."

I stared at him.

"I'm being practical, Taylor," Grue lapsed into using my real name, "People are suffering all around the world. We ignore what's happening elsewhere every second of every day, focusing only on our country, our city, our neighborhood, or on the people we see daily. We only really care about the pain and unhappiness of our loved ones, our friends and families, because we couldn't stay sane if we tried to support and save everyone. I'm applying that concept to a smaller scale. My family and my team, they take priority, and they take priority in that order. If I have to choose one way or the other, I'm going to take the option that includes Aisha and you guys."

"You've seen Dinah in person, you've looked her in the eye." I said. "You're already involved, you've played a role in her situation."

"I'm not saying I like it, but I'm saying it's something that we should discuss and come to a consensus on."

I looked down at the ground, clenched and unclenched my fists. That he even thought it was negotiable was fucked up. What I needed was a way to convince him. A bargaining chip I could use to win the negotiation.

I stood in silence for a few seconds, taking deep breaths, centering myself. When I was sure I wouldn't make a mistake and say something I couldn't take back, I moved forward to stand next to Brian.

I reached up and put a hand on his shoulder, used it to rise high enough to murmur in his ear, "Do me a megahuge favor? I'll explain after."

"Of course." He turned his head just enough to look me in the eye, and my heart skipped a beat.

"Just play along." I put two fingers on the side of his chin, turning his head, and touched my lips to his.

I expected electricity, fireworks, all that stuff you hear about. I thought my heartbeat might race, or that my thoughts might dissolve into that chaotic mess that I'd experienced a few times in the recent pass.

What I didn't expect was the calm. The tension melted out of me, and all the worries, anxieties and conflicting thoughts faded into the background. It was like the sense of peace I got from waking up at the loft, times ten. All I thought about was the contact, how nice it was, the feeling of his lips on mine.

I broke the kiss and looked him in the eyes. He smiled at me, and I smiled at him in return. I felt his arm settle around my shoulders. He said it himself. His family and his team, they take priority, and they take priority in that order-

My head was ringing. The flood of visions dissipated and I found myself shaking. Grue put one of his hands on mine, the hand over his chest, and gave it a gentle squeeze. "We're almost there, Tay-, Skitter." he said. "You're stronger than you think. You can keep it together. Hold on for a few minutes more and the nightmare's over. I promise."

I felt my heart sink. Grue had felt me shaking and he was...comforting me? God, he thought I was shaking with fear. He didn't realize I was shaking with outrage at what he and his team had just done to those innocent kids.

I shuddered. Grue was so far gone that it didn't occur to him to be disturbed by running over kids, or that I was disturbed by his indifference. He was sick. Thinking tender thoughts about me, about his young girl teammate who was clinging to his body, while at the very same moment watching impassively as his other teammates murdered innocents right front of his eyes.

Had Grue always been like this? Was this the sort of man I'd found attractive, who I'd considered a friend, who I'd thought was noble and kind? Was this the man I'd found myself clinging to like a lifeline? What the hell had I been thinking? That I could redeem an unrepentant career criminal with the power of love?

I kept myself under control, somehow. I couldn't let him see my disgust. I had blown it before, when I found out about Dinah and pitched a hissy fit instead of keeping my cover and negotiating with him, finding a way to bring him around to my point of view.

I had to keep up a front. A villain like Grue only cared for his selfish personal interests. Himself, his family, and his team. I needed to stay in those categories, to make him keep thinking of me as his beloved teammate, so I could get him and the Undersiders to help me save Dinah. Just a little bit longer.

I was going to do the undercover thing right for once. Whatever it took.

I forced a smile on my face behind my mask. I tried to pick the words, the attitude, that would keep me in his good books. "Thanks Grue. Brian. You're right. I'm...I'm scared. Kind of freaking out here. It means a lot to me, you being here for me."

The lies sounded fake to my own ears, corny, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, Taylor. I'm here for you." he said. "I was afraid you'd quit the team, that we'd lost you forever. Then you came back and saved us. I apologize for doubting you. For doubting that you cared." Grue squeezed my hand tighter. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. We'll make it through this together."

I shivered, hugged him tighter to cover it up. I was glad he couldn't see my expression behind my mask. "Yeah. We'll make it. Just...don't let go, Brian. Please."

Grue nodded and held my hand in his. We rode on for minutes in silence. The sounds of the battle behind us grew faint, and even the Simurgh's scream was rapidly fading away. After another minute it was almost gone, barely a faint tickle at the back of my mind.

"Almost there!" called Tattletale. "Scream's almost nil at this range. Keep your heads on your shoulders and we're in the clear. We can take ten plus minutes of this before we hit the legal limit. More for Skitter, twenty minutes and change."

I let out a deep sigh. All there was left was to pick up Dinah and pass the barricades. But I couldn't let my guard down. There were too many too many threats in play. Threats from without and threats from within.

As if in reply to my fears, my bugs sensed a riot of movement in a sewer tunnel at the edge of my range to the West. A vast constellation of insects being carried in the same direction. Lice, fleas, gut parasites. A tide of rats.

I opened my mouth to warn the Undersiders, then closed it. No. I couldn't afford to scare them off. The Undersiders didn't care about saving innocents like Dinah. They would never agree to make the side trip to save her if they knew they might get pulled into a fight with the clones.

Our dogs were carrying us toward another cluster of civilians who were blocking the street, a large group of elderly men and women who looked like they had come from a retirement home. I sent my bugs ahead to scatter them and save them from being trampled. My swarm of bees and wasps sent them screaming and scrambling to safety on the side of the road.

One elderly couple wasn't fast enough to get away and stood frozen with fear in our path. Brutus and Judas evaded them, darting to either side of the couple, but Judas was careless. His long, bone-armored tail flicked behind him and slapped the man to the ground, slamming his head against the pavement with an audible crack. The man's wife wailed and ran to his side, a red splash of blood on her hands.

Grue didn't look at the victims, didn't even flinch. His hand was warm on mine, our fingers interlaced. I shuddered and hugged him tighter.

I closed my eyes and mouthed a silent prayer. I'm doing this for you, Dinah. Please be safe. Please don't let my sins be for nothing.

...

(Author's note: the visions are a mix of new writing and canon Worm)