My reaction wasn’t much different than if someone had stabbed me in the stomach with an icicle.

You know how I like to be certain about things… but I’m willing to take this as confirmation.

I’d thought of that mental image in particular because of the cold, horrible feeling in my midsection; fear, guilt.

Guilt is a really strong theme of this chapter.

My thoughts immediately went back to my nightmare from earlier.  I turned to look.

“It’s you,” my dad spoke, “Wow.”

Hi, Danny. It’s been a while.

Good to see you, man. 🙂

I could call on the others, if such a situation arose, and I expected them to call on me if the same thing happened.  But people would take time to get here, and the Merchants, the Chosen or whoever else was making trouble could keep making trouble until the reinforcements arrived.

True. I guess that’s why you’ll need employees.

It was tricky, and I didn’t know for sure how I’d handle things if-

“Taylor.”

Oh shit.

Danny? Please tell me this is Danny. We’ve had a fair bit of buildup surrounding him in this chapter, and it sounds like him and… I just really want it to be him.

The second option to come into my mind is Dragon, of course, but I think she’d still refer to Taylor as “Skitter”, or at least “miss Hebert”.

Of course, it could still be one of the other Undersiders (Grue’s the one most likely to talk to her like this), but I really doubt it.

Anyways, this?  This whole situation?  They liked it.

Of course.

They wanted to keep things this way, and that meant they were going to stop anyone else from fixing it.

Ahh, I see. That explains the airport, too.

They would intercept supplies, attack rescue workers and they would push construction vehicles into a heap on the beach.

Makes sense.

I’d have to deal with these guys.  It wasn’t just intercepting any groups that made their way into my territory.  That was easy, all things considered.  No, I also had to deal with the small army that would come marching through here wanting retaliation over my having kicked the asses of any groups that had made their way into my territory.

Oh yeah, that’s right, this is part of Taylor’s job description now.

Also, it looks like we’ve found our Infestation.

A scene up ahead caught my attention.  Two pieces of machinery lay in a heap just below the lip of the boardwalk above.  A bulldozer and an eighteen wheeler with a crane-mounted claw attached had both been driven or pushed over the edge of the boardwalk and onto the beach.

Huh. What happened here? Villains afoot? Slaughterhouse, perhaps?

Or maybe this just happened and Dragon did it by accident with a high-speed mech after recognizing Taylor on the surviving surveillance cams (also known as survivance cams)?

The cab of the truck with the claw had been partially crushed by the bulldozer.

Sounds like a scene out of a demolition derby, or the Blues Brothers. Same thing, really.

Though it was barely past six in the morning, a group of laborers were already there, some on the ledge above, others down on the beach, all gathered around the trucks.

o hai

Spray paint had been used to draw the same crude symbol on both the side of the eighteen wheeler and the concrete wall separating the beach from the Boardwalk above.  A capital ‘M’, with two taller lines drawn vertically through it much the same as you’d do with a dollar sign.  The Merchants.

Ahh. Those villains afoot.

What do they want here? Just generally mess with the restoration efforts, or is there some sort of blackmail going on?

I started running the moment I reached the beach, glad for the chance to resume my routine.

So here’s the question for the grand prize: Will this be when Dragon finds her target? And if she does, will she try to get in touch immediately?

It was a strange environment, eerie.  The wooden pathway, the literal boardwalk that had run in front of the stores, was now a skeletal ruin that loomed above the piles of trash that the bulldozers had all pushed to one side, twice as tall as I was.

RIP.

The beach had been cleared, which was a feat unto itself.   The work of the bulldozers and the crews with rakes had revealed the packed, dirt-like layer from beneath the loose sand.

Huh.

I guess they needed to clear that away a bit to start rebuilding.

Opposite the trash piles, by the water, there were mounds of irregularly shaped pieces of concrete, set to break up the waves and prevent the highest tides from dragging the trash, debris and machinery into the ocean.

That would be an unpleasant déjà vu.

Opposite the trash piles, by the water, there were mounds of irregularly shaped pieces of concrete, set to break up the waves and prevent the highest tides from dragging the trash, debris and machinery into the ocean.

This place could definitely not recognize itself in the mirror these days.

I made my way to the building’s cellar, opened a hatch and entered the adjacent storm drain.  The same builders that had put the building together had blocked off the drain so the water flow wouldn’t make it impassable, and I was left with a clear route down to the section of beach where the storm drains emptied.

Niice.

Also, seems reminiscent of the old shortcut to the Loft.

I wasn’t sure if Coil had plans to keep the city’s workers from trying to unblock the drain, but I supposed that was the sort of thing we could rely on him to handle.  In the meantime, a third of the storm drains were too clogged with rubble and detritus to drain, and another third didn’t connect to anything anymore.

Considering Leviathan’s antics, it’s no surprise the storm drains in particular are out of order.

Add the fact that most of the storm drains were a little out of the way of regular foot traffic, and it wasn’t too conspicuous.

Yeah, sounds good.

If there was anything about myself that I didn’t like, it was primarily psychological.  Guilt was a big one.  The idea that my dad might dislike me if he got to know me, now?  That was another.  That my mom, were she alive and showing up at the door, might be disappointed in me?  Sobering.

Oof, ow, ouch…

Who let Wildbow coat his words in bone hurting juice?

As he’d done with his own underground base, Coil had set my lair up with a discreet entrance and exit.

Makes sense. Never know when enemies might be blocking off the front door.

Leaving through the front door would be conspicuous, if I started working with anyone beyond my teammates.

That too. As I mentioned, surveilling the building for a while would quickly reveal that Taylor worked for Coil if she’d kept using the same door as the more obvious of Coil’s folk.

Skinny teenage girl with black curly hair entering and leaving the same building that the skinny teenage villain with black curly hair was operating out of?  No.

That too.

This was not recognizing myself in a very different way.  There were still things I didn’t like, like my wide mouth, my small chest and the lack of curves or any real femininity.

At least bugs can help with a couple of those, at least to outside observers.

My scars stood out with my slight tan, a teardrop shaped mark on my forearm where Bitch’s dog had bitten me, a wavy mark on my cheek where Sophia had dug her fingernails in,and a line by my earlobe where she’d tried to tear my ear off.

Ow, yeah. Man, imagine returning to Danny and trying to explain away all those things.

“Leviathan got into the shelter I was in and tried to tear my ear off. It didn’t work, so he left me alone.”

But my physical flaws no longer consumed my attention when I looked at myself. I felt comfortable with my body, like I’d somehow earned it, the way it was, and it was mine now.

😀

At least as long as Regent keeps his hands off.

I wasn’t sure if that made any sense, even to myself.

That’s fine, as long as you’re happy with it.