So is this box taking us back to the present, or to a second scene in-between?

Now

Ah, well, that’s helpful.

There were so many ways this could go wrong.

Tattletale held a pair of binoculars and scanned the building in front of us.  “There’s movement.  We’re good to go.”

Hmm. Is “now” not quite the “now” of the previous chapter? Did we jump forward to the next part of whatever plan they’ve laid?

“Go,” Grue ordered.

Hitting the target wasn’t so hard.  My bugs flowed in through windows and Bitch took the entrances.  Angelica had free rein, slow as she was, while the other dogs stayed on leash.  Grue hung back with Tattletale, Regent and me, while Imp moved forward, not charging in, but staying close.

Alright. So what is this building?

The tricky part would be balancing this.  Too far one way or the other, and this got really ugly, really fast.

Our targets were looters, and they were well armed, though bullets were getting to be in shorter and shorter supply.

Ah, I see… so they’ve taken it upon themselves to stop looters and such now, or?

Coil had sources, and the Chosen did as well, but these guys were from the Merchants.

Ahhh. Coil mission, I guess, now that the situation within the Undersiders has been resolved one way or another. So is Coil calling shots against both E44s and the Merchants now?

They were vagrants, addicts and people who subsisted by mooching off the system.  When the system had failed, they’d latched on to the only group that would take them.  

The group that subsists by mooching off the addicts.

More had joined because it was safer and easier to be among the thugs, looters, scavengers and thieves than it was to be among the victims.  Safety in numbers.

People Sophia would call predators.

“Okay,” I replied.  But he was already walking away, leaving me standing alone at the entrance.

I had told myself I would rise above the likes of Sophia and Armsmaster.  I was all too aware of their flaws, and first and foremost among them was arrogance, pride.

So you’re embracing the opposite, humility, then?

So I’d swallowed mine.

■

Sounds good. 🙂

Bitch threw the piece of chipboard she was carrying into the wall, hard.  One of the dogs started barking in response or in alarm.  She spat in my general direction and then stalked over to the far end of the room, her dogs trailing after her.  The metal stairs clanged with the impacts of her boots as she ascended to the next floor.

Besides the more Taylor specific reasons for this outburst… I think Rachel is sick to death of being outvoted on things that matter to her.

Lisa hesitated, then followed after.  Alec glanced at us, then put a hand on Aisha’s shoulder and led her away, leaving Brian and me alone.

…

…

…

Just doin’ my part as awkward silence.

“Thank you,” I said, quietly, to Brian.

Brian shook his head, “Don’t thank me.  Alec’s right when he says that we’ll probably get over this.  Maybe we’ll even become friends again and get to the point where we can talk about it.  But that isn’t going to happen today, and definitely not right here and now.”

Yeah, that’s fair. 🙂

“It costs us a lot,” Brian said, his voice low, “If mistrust and tension fucks up our team chemistry, especially if we start fucking up in the field, because of it.”

He also has a point.

“So you’re voting no?” Lisa pressed him.

“Do I get a vote?” Aisha cut in, before he could respond.

Ah, might be time for them to break it to Taylor that Aisha’s on the team now?

“No,” Brian and Lisa refused her in unison.  Aisha made a face, but didn’t seem too bothered.

Fair enough. Even if she is on the team now, which hasn’t been confirmed, she doesn’t quite have the

necessary perspective, not having been around when Taylor was on the team.

“I don’t want her on the team,” Bitch spoke.

Brian shook his head, “I don’t know what to tell you, Rachel.  Alec’s right, for once.  We need her.  We need the firepower, out there, at the very least.  Looking at this objectively, I think I’d have to say we should keep her.”

Nice!

“Which is three votes for, one against,” Regent noted.

Y’know, this is also kind of familiar… “Rachel always votes against recruiting new members.”

“Because I’ve been to the shelters, I’ve walked the streets and seen what the Merchants and Chosen are doing out there.  I want to resolve this thing with Dinah.  Whether I like it or not, I know that the fastest way to get to that point where everything’s okay again is working with Coil.”

Alright so she did repeat it in dialogue, but at least she gave the abridged version.

Lisa spoke, “I want her back on the team, obviously.  If we’re voting, that’s where my vote is going.”

“Mine too,” Alec said, “You’re wound up, Brian, maybe it’s Taylor being gone, maybe it’s Aisha and your dad getting attacked, maybe it’s the general situation with the city, but it’s getting miserable to be around you.  

This sounds… familiar.

There seems to be some paralleling going on here.

• Brian here is Clockblocker – wound up, situation involving his dad, hostile to the “newcomer” (a returning newcomer in Taylor’s case, but still).
• Taylor is Weld. Coming into the team with good intentions, to a hostile-to-lukewarm reception.
• Alec is Kid Win. The seemingly laid-back one who probably feels like the fifth wheel of the team.
• Lisa is Vista. The understanding one who tries to help mend relations with Taylor/Weld.
• Aisha, if she’s Imp, is Flechette. The other newcomer, who is somewhat more welcomed to the team.
• Rachel is Shadow Stalker. The hostile, aggressive one.

Taylor was always the one who was on the same page as you, she’d be someone you can work with and talk to, at least.  You’ll be happier in the long run if she’s around.  And we’ll be happier if you’re not so fucking crabby.  ‘Sides, if she’s giving up her pay, then it doesn’t even cost us anything.”

He has a point there. I mean, she does still require some food and such, but yeah.

Lisa had convinced me.  I would only solve this by getting in Coil’s good graces, talking to him as someone he could respect and listen to.

Hm. Succeeding at that seems a little far-fetched knowing his current attitude towards other people, but I suppose that makes sense.

I couldn’t do that without convincing these guys to let me back on the team.

Ah, right, yeah, let’s get back to that.

“No,” I answered Brian, “You’re right.  It’s not that easy.  But if you’ll have me, I’m willing to work my ass off to make it up to you.  I’m pretty good as a member of this team, you know it.  If you want to monitor my every move, fine.  Any restrictions you want to put on me, fine.  I’ll even give up my pay from Coil and any jobs we do.  Whatever you want.”

Sounds good, although giving up the money might only cause him to wonder more about your motivations. Granted, you just told us about your intentions re: Coil and Dinah via narration, so I doubt Brian’s about to make you repeat it in dialogue.

He shook his head, then asked me, “Why?  Why come back?”

In which case… what are you going to say here? That they’re your friends? That you had fun? That you have nowhere else to turn?

That you have a plan to make things better?

Nobody answered that statement.  I felt dumb for saying it, however true it may or may not have been.

Alec added to his earlier comment, “I don’t ever pay attention to that team drama shit, and I picked up on the fact that she liked you.  It was so obvious it was irritating.”

Hah, nice.

And hell, even Rachel knew about it. Practically suggested Taylor should go up to Brian and say “hey wanna fuck?” too.

It was strange, Alec was standing up for me.  He was insulting me while he did it, but he was still backing me up.

“That could have been an act,” Brian stressed.  “And even if it wasn’t, it doesn’t mean anything in the end.”

Brian is being stubbornly skeptic, and while he has the right to be, it’s getting thin. It’s down to Taylor being either genuine or an utterly amazing actor. Either you should consider whether you’ll let her back on the team, or you should point her towards Hollywood or Broadway.

“You don’t really believe that,” Lisa replied, “You’re pissed at us.  I don’t blame you.  I’d be pissed at us, too.  But you’re only calling her a liar because it’s a hell of a lot easier to be angry at her if you think the person you befriended was a fake.”

I like that Lisa’s including herself here. She’s very much aware that Brian has beef with her too, even if he doesn’t know that, and she’s also implicitly allying herself with Taylor.

And yeah, this sounds about right. That’s what I meant by “stubbornly skeptic” – Lisa’s (Wildbow’s) just better at actually explaining things than like that than I am. What I meant was essentially that he’s being reluctant to believe her because he doesn’t want to believe her.

“Bullshit,” Alec retorted.

“What?” Brian turned toward Alec.

“I said bullshit,” Alec repeated himself.  “Taylor said it herself, she sucks ass when it comes to lying and being smooth.”

And yeah, if she was as fantastic an actor as Brian would have it, and was lying now, she would’ve had a better lie earlier, or she would be pretending to be a bad liar by telling a lie that did a worse job at convincing them than what she could really come up with… which sounds quite convoluted.

“She lied well enough when she was keeping her undercover act a secret.”

“I didn’t lie, exactly,” I said, quiet, “I just didn’t tell you.”

Yeah, surprisingly enough there were pretty few situations that caused her to have to actually lie.

The Undersiders kinda dropped the ball on trusting her that much in the first place, although it’s unclear how much Lisa manipulated the others into doing so. It’s worth noting that it was Brian’s idea to show up in civilian clothing on the rooftop in 2.6, as a “token show of trust”.