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He dove straight for the shelter.

Looks like he’s going in. This might not be great, but at least he’s got a better shot at killing the Nine than Taylor does. Or would if this wasn’t a story about her.

Siberian gave chase, and without slowing in the slightest, he raked a laser across the street to render her footing less stable.  It couldn’t have bought him more than a fraction of a second, if it even made a difference at all;  I could see her placing one foot on a shattered piece of road that wouldn’t have held a squirrel without collapsing.

She used it to kick herself forward, soaring after Legend, hands curled into claws.  He was ahead of her by only ten or fifteen feet.

She’s not playing with her food anymore.

The scattered bugs I had at the fringes of the extermination smoke gave me only a half-completed picture.  Legend inside, blasting a laser in the direction of the cloud where Jack, Bonesaw and Siberian’s creator were.  He grabbed one of the civilians that were standing dumbly in the shelter, only to get mobbed.

Shit, he just activated Bonesaw’s trap card.

She latched onto him, and the others did the same, trying to drag him down.  My bugs felt a flash of heat as he used his laser to blast at them and free himself.  Another laser speared out of the top of the Library, followed soon after by Legend, spearing up toward the sky.

“I’m getting the fuck outta here!”

I take it “she” is the civilian he grabbed.

He directed another laser straight down at the library, continuing to fly straight up.

That was reason for me to do the same.  I rose with one hand on Atlas’ horn, and I drew my phone with the other.

Yeah, you don’t wanna be in the way of those blasts.

I speed dialed Tattletale.  Trusting to her penchant for picking up the phone on the first ring, I started shouting before I heard any response, “Something’s up!  Take cover and get back!”

Things are getting really intense now, even if it’s not entirely clear why yet.

I turned away from the area.  I’d told the others I would play safe.  I’d tried what I could, I’d maybe even done a little damage to them, now I’d back off.  I’d earned Siberian’s attention by attacking her creator, but she was preoccupied with Legend, so that was one threat I didn’t have to worry about.

For now.

Seriously, this just makes me more worried about Legend going down and Siberian attacking Taylor.

The rest of the Nine were still inside.

Legend, for his part, was keeping up the measured, carefully paced assault.  I saw him raise one hand to his ear.

Ooh, message over the comm device?

…just as long as it’s not Piggot telling Legend to try to mess Skitter up too. But even from purely a tactical standpoint, that would be downright stupid and I can’t imagine Legend would go along with that, rank or no rank.

A communication from his team?  Had something happened with the rest of the Protectorate?  Or the other members of the Nine?

Maybe it’s time for the Bakuda blast against Mannequin and Crawler?

Though maybe if Piggot’s paying attention to Legend’s battle, she might’ve realized it’d be more effective to strike the shelter, taking out three of the Nine instead of taking out one and maybe making another one stronger (though I do think a time stop bomb would beat Crawler, so two is possible but narratively unlikely).

Also, Taylor, you could probably ask Lisa what was said over the comm device if you think it’s worth that much focus and time.

The trail of burning tissues made their way inside the shelter.

Alright, so this train of flames does go into the shelter. Was the first one burning up a mishap?

I ignited the last few tissues and sent them to Bonesaw.  I could feel the bugs die as they hit the smoke.

Let’s see how this goes.

Nothing.  I swore.

Was she trying to blow up the bug spray? Did I actually get it right?

It had been too much to hope for, that the smoke was flammable.

Huh, I did! Right down to it not working.

Even if the smoke had exploded in the mildest possible way, it would have at least given me a countermeasure.

Yeah, fair enough. It was worth a shot.

Okay.  Not the end of the world.  The bugs were still devouring the three, and I still had a plan in mind.  An idle hope.

What’cha got?

This is basically the point where I’ve almost given up on speculating because Taylor is much more creative than I am with her power and I’m kinda just along for the ride, waiting to see what awesome thing she does next.

I withdrew the tissues I’d wadded in the changepurse to keep the contents from jingling or rattling around.

…alright. How are these useful? Even if you coated them in capsaicin, you’d still need the bugs to bring them there, and they’re probably not as effective as the bugs that way.

My bugs took hold of them and carried them into the air, two or three dozen in all.

I tested the lighter, then held it out to ignite the first tissue.

Ohhh.

Right, of course, the silk wouldn’t work as the fuel for the fire. Spider silk doesn’t burn well, it shrivels. I looked that up way back in Arc 1.

It was a slow burn, taking fifteen or twenty seconds to consume the paper.  The flies that carried it died as the flame reached them, consuming them.

Um.

Did she just.

Not move the tissues into the vault as they burned, and then allow them to burn up completely without dropping them on the Nine?

What?

By the time the first was burned, my bugs were positioning the second, allowing it to ignite.  In this manner, I chained them one after the other.  A slow-moving relay of flame.

I guess this could be used as a beacon, but for whom? Besides, she can make those out of bugs as long as it’s not too dark out.

Bonesaw had her smoke going, despite my efforts to rebind her fingers, and I could feel it murdering my bugs en-masse.  I pulled them away and out of the shelter, leaving only a few to track the movements of the Nine.

Probably a good idea. Let’s deal with the smoke first.

Is she trying to ignite the smoke, trying to make the idiom “where there’s smoke there’s fire” blow up in the Nine’s faces?

Except I’m not sure the gas is going to be super flammable like Mannequin’s poison. This is bug spray. You wouldn’t want bug spray to be explosive outside the bottle, in case it got used by a campfire.

I’m just… confused by what Taylor’s doing. But I’m sure there’s a good explanation, one that’s probably way too obvious for my brain to handle right now.

Bonesaw’s hands were smooth as glass as she reached for her belt.  She was cool and collected, even as the bugs slowly flayed her.

“Eh, I can fix this later.”

Reaching for the bug spray?

I’m guessing Taylor has planned for that. Maybe that’s what she intends to use the silk for – grabbing the spray out of Bonesaw’s hands?

She was stopped short as the silk strands tangled her ceramic fingers.

Close enough!

My bugs could hear her speak.  Though I could barely make out the words, I thought maybe the first one was ‘Jack’.  She held out her hands.

Ah, she wants him to cut the strings. Better make sure you cut just the strings, Jack, and don’t cut through the girl behind the strings.

I tried to bind him, but tying his arm to his side was harder than using silk cords to lash fingers together.  At least partially blinded by the capsaicin, he swiped his knife a few times in Bonesaw’s direction.  He cut her several times, and my bugs could feel her flesh part around her collarbone and face.

You failed.

Some of the cuts were on target, however, and the threads around her fingers were severed.  An instant later, she was free to put together her anti-bug smoke, working her hands to break the threads as I tried to tangle her fingers again.

Get the thing out of her reach if you can!

Jack reacted, as did the man, but Bonesaw was unfazed.  I saw Siberian flicker.  Legend noticed as well.  He snapped his eyes to me, and then the shelter.

Looks like it’s starting to dawn on him that “holy shit she might actually take out Siberian”.

The creator needs to concentrate?

Apparently not so much that he can’t drive a truck, but maybe enough that he can’t drive a truck well.

My heart was pounding so hard I felt like it would dislodge me from Altas.

Pfft.

Bugs settled on the three members of the Nine and then they attacked.  It wasn’t the sort of attack I’d ever done before.  I’d had bugs bite, I’d had them sting, I’d even used them to deliver payloads of their various venoms.

So… what are you doing now? Burrowing? Bludgeoning?

I’d always held back to some degree.

Ahh, so it’s not the sort of attack she’s done before because she’s amping it up?

The only ones I hadn’t held back against had been untouchable.  These three weren’t so lucky.

Mandibles bit into flesh, seeking not to pinch and inflict pain.  Ants scissored flesh away, beetles tore and rent into the flesh, flies spat their digestive enzymes onto the exposed flesh.

Damn.

That last one would be quite appropriate if any of them had been responsible for what happened to Victoria.

I buried them in every kind of insect I had that could eat, cut or pierce meat.  The bugs didn’t eat their fill: they simply bit, chewed, let the food fall from their mouths, then bit again.

She’s tearing them to pieces.

Fuckin’ hell this girl is scary when she wants to be.

He was too distracted by Siberian to see it.  She wasn’t as fast as Battery or Velocity, but she had the physical power to move quickly, and she was leaping between buildings to throw herself at him with the speed and aim of an arrow shot from a bow.

Yeah, and now that she’s actually going for the kill rather than just leading him on a wild goose chase after an empty truck, it’s even more important than before to keep his eyes on her.

I tried leaving another message for Legend, stating the same thing.  Glancing over my shoulder, I saw him looking at me.  Our eyes met.  He nodded, and I turned my attention to the shelter.

Alright, good.

I didn’t want to do this half-assed.  No mistakes this time around.  I gathered a swarm of generous size, but I held it at bay.  There were more preparations to carry out.  I drew the capsaicin bugs from beneath my armor and added them to the swarm.

Gotta be prepared!

I wonder if the capsaicin is going to do anything through Bonesaw’s protections.

I drew out silk threads and held them suspended in the air, ready for use.  For a final measure, I withdrew a lighter and the changepurse from the utility compartment at my back.

…what? What are those gonna be used for?

I mean, presumably the lighter is for lighting something (silk draped over the Nine?) on fire, but what the hell does she need loose change for right now? Or is she carrying something else in the purse?

Primary swarm in first.  As one singular mass, they flowed inside.  The capsaicin-laced bugs joined them, going straight for the eyes.

You know what, I’m not even upset that she’s going for the eyes. Fuck ‘em up good, Taylor.

I could count a number of people, young and old.  The mosquitoes in my swarm could scent blood.

Probably from Bonesaw operation on them, I’m guessing.

Incidentally, that’s the second time this chapter Wildbow/Taylor has used the verb “scent”, in place of “smell”. I mention that because it throws me off each time. It’s a legitimate use of the word, but it just sounds weird to me.

Twenty or so people were inside the shelter, standing there.  There was metal on their bodies, like backpacks or prosthetic body parts, but they didn’t seem to be hurt.

Oh jeez, what did she do this time?

If Mannequin wasn’t back in the blast zone, I’d suspect him of having helped… actually, I suppose she wouldn’t have done this right now anyway, so yeah. He probably helped with this.

Whatever “this” is. Some sort of cyborg-like thing, by the sound of it, but I’m guessing Bonesaw’s and probably Mannequin’s art is more creative than just that.

There were three more inside, but I wasn’t feeling so generous as to call them ‘people’.

Heh. 🔥

They stood apart: two men and a preadolescent girl.

I would’ve liked to see the scene of Siberian’s real body arriving at the shelter and revealing himself to Jack.

It was them.  The Nine.

It’s kind of hilarious to me how we’ve never seen the name “the Nine” actually be the right number. The closest we’ve gotten is Hatchet Face being around as part of Hack Job after Cherish took his spot, and since then it’s only gone downhill.

Right here, we have three out of five Nine.