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I focused on one of them, and I got the sensation that this wasn’t a scene I’d seen before.

You’ve seen what they do when there’s a trigger event. But that might not be what’s going on this time.

I could see what it saw.  It was looking forward, but not in distance.  Ten thousand pictures at once.

Forward in time?

If Taylor can see what it sees, maybe this is the Dandelions reaching out to her to bestow a prophecy? Warn humanity about the future threat Dinah predicted?

Seeing situations where it arrived at its final destination.  Earth.  The farther forward it looked, the broader the possibilities.  It was looking for something.

This seems similar to Dinah’s ability, and I’m not surprised. The Dandelions have shown traits similar to powers we knew of before, with them wiping out memory in a way similar to Imp’s power.

I wonder if the Dandelions could do some of the other powers we’ve seen, like teleporting things around or firing bendy lasers or empower doggos. But honestly, I don’t think so. The Dandelions seem to be more about empowering others to fight for themselves.

Earth being their final destination is interesting. I’ve figured they were sort of ethereally over the planet, but I guess that’s too literal. I suppose they’re out in space somewhere, connecting psychically to the humans they appear for, and slowly making their way to Earth. Possibly in order to deal with the upcoming threat.

It’s also possible that Earth is their dying ground, given Karahindiba.

I’m fairly convinced the Dandelions are benevolent, or at worst neutral and looking out for themselves by empowering humans to take out what would be a threat to them, but if Taylor remembers any of this, it’s possible she’ll conclude that the Dandelions are the threat.

“I wanted to!”

“You had your chance, little b.  You got distracted.”

Heh, Little B and Big B.

I could feel the heat of nearby flame as Burnscar manifested a fireball in one hand.

Another problem with this for the protagonists: If Grue does flood the place with darkness, the flame will be much easier to hit the targets with as long as they get Jack and Bonesaw out of the way first. Not because it lights up the darkness, which it wouldn’t, but because it’s an area effect.

Darkness rolled over Burnscar’s feet, a carpet.  There was no direction to it, and very little volume.  It pooled on the ground and spread.

I guess Bonesaw did limit his power.

“Yes!  He’s doing it!  Can I look?  I just want to get the hard drive!”

Hard drive?

“No.”

“But-”

I could feel my heart pounding, pounding, then stop.  The pain was gone.  I was gone too.  I had no body, only perception.

…what?

Is.

Is this a Dandelion thing?

There’s no one here who could be having a regular trigger event, but a) the idea of potential subsequent triggers has been brought up before (if it’s that, I think it would be Grue having it), and b) it’s possible this is a separate kind of Dandelion moment, perhaps tied more to Taylor’s attempts to empower her “passenger” than to anything else here.

Alternatively, maybe this is what the edge of death looks like in this ‘verse? But a genuine out-of-body experience not tied to the Dandelions or a power seems a bit too… paranormal for Worm.

“You don’t want to see your sister die, huh?  That’s sweet,” Bonesaw said.  “Maybe you should have taught her the basics.  Don’t have to see her if she’s going to walk straight into a modified wolf trap.  Did you know?

Oof.

Wait, wolf trap… a Wolfsangel, perhaps? Were you hoping to catch Hookwolf with the trap he’s named after for the irony of it?

She turned off her power just so she could beg for help.  From us.  She’s not very bright.”

…I’ll give you that one. I can understand the desperation but damn that was a bad move.

He made a sound that might have been a growl or a howl of rage, but there was no volume to it, and it was more high-pitched than anything else.

A growl or howl would be quite appropriate given the involvement of a wolf trap.

“Don’t worry!”  Bonesaw said, “I’ll take good care of your friends.”

No you won’t.

I felt a hand pat my cheek.

But I do think she genuinely believes what she’ll do with them constitutes taking good care of them.

“Come now, Bonesaw,” Jack said.

“It’s just so funny, watching him react.  His heart beat faster when I touched her.”

This fueled the remaining Brian x Taylor shippers, didn’t it?

“It did.  But we should go.  Burnscar?  Torch the ones we’re not bringing.”

That’s probably faster than having Bonesaw do it anyway.

Of course, that’s bad news for the protagonists.

“Yes!  Then we’ll go from first to last.  The girl with the horns.”

Imp?

If you’re gonna find a solution here, you’d better do it quickly.

The small circular saw started up with its high-pitched whine.

Then it stopped.  I could hear a strangled noise.

What?

Is the paralysis wearing off on Imp or something?

“Aw.  Look at his heart beating!  So fast!”

Oh! I guess the strangled noise was from Grue?

Burnscar turned, and I could tell they were looking at Brian.

Another strangled noise, trying and failing to form words.  It was so forced and ragged that it made my own throat seize up in sympathy.

Is there anything he can actually do from there? Maybe he could cover the entire room in darkness (Bonesaw hasn’t stopped him from using his power, since that’s what she’s been trying to get him to do) so the Nine can’t find their targets as easily?

That would still leave Skitter, Tattletale and Trickster in their clutches, but it might save the rest.

“Only three?”  Bonesaw pouted.

“Only three.”

“Then, um.  Skitter…”

That one was obvious. Bonesaw is too intrigued by Skitter’s ability to use the bugs while her gemma is disabled to leave her behind.

I felt hands seize my feet and pull me away from my teammates.  Burnscar.  She held me under one arm, my head and arms dangling.  Beads of blood dripped down to the floor.

Huh, she’s pretty strong. Bonesaw’s work, perhaps?

“Um, um.  Tattletale.  I want to see what her brain looks like, too.”

Ah, yeah, that’s fair.

“Tattletale it is.”

“And Trickster!  Because Ball-of-fire girl killed Hack Job.  I want another.”

Oh! RIP Hack Job.

Also, she might be a bit disappointed to find that Trickster’s teleporting doesn’t quite work as well for the purposes of being a meat shield as Hack Job’s did, but it is really good for sowing chaos on the battlefield.

It kind of requires intelligence to use effectively, though.

Hack Job?

Oh right, Taylor doesn’t know about that whole thing yet. She’s just been thinking he was Hatchet Face. Which is half true.

“Trickster it is.  Finish off the rest.”

“Can I leave Brian there?  I have to show my art to people to get known.”

…

Honey, you’re already known for your art. You’re a famous, uh, artist! Sure, doesn’t hurt to have some more exposure, but do you think you’ll get that from a piece hanging in some random former health club’s freezer room?

“Brian, is it?  Hm.  I think that’s a very good idea.”

…why?

I can hear that you have ulterior motives for going along with this. I just don’t know what.

“Yes.  The enemy’s recouping from the first few hits, and they’re stalling Siberian and Crawler.

So wait, are you talking about Genesis or the actual Crawler?

I suppose it’d be the latter.

Only a matter of time before they engage in one good flank and blindside one of us three.  We leave now, and all they remember is how hard we hit them and how little they could do.”

I guess so, though they might also remember driving you into retreat. That’s also a form of victory.

“But I have research!”

“Bring three.  We won’t be able to bring them all along, and you know they get messy if you leave them like that for too long.”

Well, shit, Taylor’s most certainly going to be among those three.

Bonesaw would probably want to bring Grue, due to her ongoing research on where his power comes from, but it might take a while to pack him up, so that might not be an option.

Imp is probably of interest due to the backwards effect of actively focusing on her power, but Bonesaw might not have realized that yet.

She might bring Parian in order to bond over needles and threads.

No.  Any vestige of hope I’d had disappeared.

Not Regent.

I’m going with Jack, then. He’s the kind of guy who would say this, and when I first read the line it was in his voice in my head.

Jack leaned over the counter.  Burnscar stood beside him, looking troubled.

Heya!

And Burnscar too, howdy!

“Jack!  Yes!  I’m having lots of fun!  These people are so interesting,”  Bonesaw smiled.

I love her so much.

“You hurt yourself,” Jack frowned.  “Your mouth.”

I like how he can tell it’s she who hurt herself, not Parian (visibly up and moving) or Skitter (the place is filled with bugs) who hurt her.

“The doll-girl ambushed me.  But I’m okay.  I can fix myself after I’m done here.”

Yeah, no big deal.

“You’ll have to finish fast.  We’re going.”

“No!”

…huh. Saved by the Jack?

I guess the reason they’ve decided to go is the ongoing assault on their location.

Parian reached the sink, cranked on the tap.  There was no water.  She threw herself to one side, feeling along the counter for something, anything to wash out her eyes.

Oh right, of course. Leviathan kinda fucked that whole option up.

“You’re lucky I’m so nice,” Bonesaw said.  She lifted up the tattered bottom of her dress to dab at her lip and tongue.  I could make out test tubes, equipment and pouches, all belted to her thighs and stomach.  “If I was a less forgiving person, I’d make you regret that.”

“Luckily I have a bunch of less forgiving friends who can do it for me!”

Parian sagged to her knees, hands still on the counter, heaving for breath.

She might already be regretting it.

“But instead, I’ll leave you alone to think about what you’ve done,” Bonesaw said.  She plucked some of the needles out of her skin.  “I’ll finish with these guys, and later, I can show you what I can do with a needle and thread.  It’ll be fun.  Common interests!”

Pfft! She’s kind of right, though.

“Making friends, Bonesaw?”

Oh cod, who’s this. Jack? Regent?

Bonesaw spat into Parian’s face.  Her own flesh burned as whatever chemical she had been holding in her mouth spilled down her lip.

I guess she’s reinforced the flesh in her mouth too, in order to be able to hold it.

Parian, for her part, dropped the scalpel, tore her mask off and staggered blindly in the general direction of the sink, her hands over her eyes.

Ah, yeah, I would imagine a chemical that burns flesh would be especially bad to get in the eyes.

No.

Of course, putting her back to Bonesaw was probably a bad idea.

What I wouldn’t give for the chance to change this, to act, to offer even one word of assistance.

I wonder if any capes with time powers had trigger events that caused them to think something like this.

Hm. One… word of assistance? It might be too complicated for her right now, but it could be possible to write something with the bugs, or reproduce speech like she did with the Protectorate.

Bonesaw turned her head and spat again, some residual chemical directed at the threads. When that didn’t achieve the desired result, she repeated the process.  The threads snapped and she dropped to the ground.

Here she comes.

“Burned mah tongue,” Bonesaw said, to nobody in particular.  Or to me?

Pfft, I guess she’s not going for stealth after all.

She stuck it out to demonstrate.  It was scalded, blistered and covered with dead white flesh in much the same way her lip was.  She spat again.

Eesh.

So where did she hide whatever custom gland secretes this chemical, exactly?