The masks also, I noted, did a good job at hiding the identities of the six men and two women. If it weren’t for that, I’d think Coil was trying to be funny, giving the hazmat crew to the bug girl.
Heh.
Whatever image I conveyed, whether it was in the role of a leader or as a potentially dangerous villain, it had given me elbow room. Coil’s employees had chosen to sit, cramped together, closer to the rear of the truck. I sat atop a crate with my back to the truck’s cab, watching the road behind us.
It’s pretty clear that this whole individual base thing is functionally a promotion for each of the Undersiders. I doubt it’s random that this happened so soon after Extermination, from a metatextual perspective – after Leviathan’s attack as a climax for a supposed part 1 of the story (it’ll be easier to see if that’s an accurate description in retrospect), it makes a whole lot of sense to start shaking up the status quo a bit, by first adding Imp to the group, then revealing the true extent of Regent’s power, and now having Skitter and the rest sort of “graduate” from the Undersiders. I know they’re still a team and will be working together again, but they’re much looser-knit all of a sudden and now can start leading their own groups under the Undersider umbrella and Coil.
In other words, after the end of part 1, it’s time for part 2 of Skitter’s career.
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