Bitch.

…but apparently we don’t get to see that confrontation in this chapter.

So what the hell had I just seen?

Had that been someone who was physically affected by their powers?  I wasn’t even sure if it was human.

A Horcrux, perhaps. Or maybe just an old Chinese person from Ranma ½. Seems about the right size, and then there’s the beak…

I had a growing, uneasy feeling that this wasn’t related to powers and trigger events in the conventional sense.  I pushed it out of my mind.  I had something more pressing to focus on.

…we did recently get an indication that such phenomena exist besides the Endbringers. I suppose that makes this a good time to introduce one such element, whatever the fuck it may be.

I set my foot on the bookcase, then stepped up and through the window to exit the building.  I could see the others dispatching two members of the Protectorate.

Nice work, guys!

Tattletale hurried towards me, said something about the explosion, that she thought I’d be out by now.  I barely registered it.  My attention was on one person as I strode forward.

Bitch, right?

As hypocritical as it sounds after my reaction to Bitch’s outburst on the way in, this would be a good time to walk straight up and deliver a punch to the face.

It’s not the time, but still a good time.

It turned to look at me, then made a low mewling sound.  The metal around it began to glow red-hot, then white-hot.  Burns consumed the thing and the flesh changed to a charred black texture as the metal of the frame began to melt and dissolve.

I… think the mech just sacrificed its life?

And may have been a sort of cyborg??

Despite ostensibly being controlled remotely by Dragon???

Whatever had happened with the Dragonslayers, it seemed Dragon was dedicated to eliminating all traces of her work when her suits were damaged.

Heh, yeah, that makes sense.

But was that Dragon?

No.  She’d seemed to know she was sacrificing her suit, but she’d also said she was going to get in contact with me in the future.  I backed away, then ran for the window.

Yeah, this isn’t the Dragon you’re looking for.

Also, something that just occurred to me: How does Dragon expect to get in touch with Skitter?

I suppose when she’s this good with computers, she has her ways.

Dragon moved back, and her body coiled around the spot where the gun had fallen, segments meeting to loosely interconnect with one another, forming a dome-shaped encasement.  Two shoulder turrets began dispensing foam directly downward, into the dome.

I suppose that works too.

“Count yourself fortunate, Skitter.  I’ve never killed a criminal without explicit permission and all the filed paperwork, and I’m not about to start with you.  I’ll be in contact.”

You off to try chasing down the Undersiders?

“What?”  I had to raise my voice to be heard over the high pitched whine.  I couldn’t figure out what she meant.

“Think about what I said.  Take a close look at those priorities of yours.”

Wait, is Dragon letting her go and trying to sway Skitter into going back to the original plan of betrayal?

Which left me in the gift shop with Dragon.

“I have a sworn responsibility to protect that data,” she said as she turned her attention to me.  She sounded surprisingly normal.  Her voice was clearly digitized, but it was still too human to match the massive metal frame.

Heh.

“Can’t help you there.  One of my teammates has it.”

“Where are they taking it?”

On one hand, of course Taylor isn’t going to volunteer that willingly.

On another, she’s being interrogated by a sysadmin. If she wants to know where her precious data is going…

I stayed silent.

“Your teammates left you behind.  I’ve read the file on what happened after the Endbringer attack.  Hard feelings?”

Correction: “teammate”, singular.

“Something like that.”

“If they aren’t going to be loyal to you, why protect them?”

Dragon does seem to be assuming that this is a thing with the entire team. If not for the clear difference between Bitch and the rest of the team from Taylor’s perspective, this might’ve worked.

Because someone else was depending on it.  But I wasn’t going to say that out loud.

…are you talking about Dinah? I suppose that’s fair.

The whine of the lightning gun increased by an octave.  I saw Dragon’s upper body shift in reaction.

Oh right, that thing is still going. Sheesh, how long until it explodes?

“Move the insects away from my suit, now,” Dragon ordered me.

“Why would I-”

“Now,” she ordered, and there was an urgency in her tone that banished any suspicion on my part that there was a ruse or that somehow it might serve my interest to disobey.  I withdrew my bugs, but I kept them poised to return if needed.

Yeeah, probably best to get out of the way before that gun becomes a zappy firework.

If you’re lucky, she’ll unfoam you to make sure you’re safe from it, too.

Dragon turned her upper body to strike at Bitch.  As she moved, her back leg was close enough that some of the vapor was getting on me, slowly liquefying the foam.  It was too slow to matter.  Dragon had me.

That she does.

Of all the people to get caught by, you got caught by the sysadmin after tampering with her system. You’re fucked.

Her stainless steel jaws snapped for Bentley, but the dog was already slipping out the window.  Bitch had dismounted and was running to one side, heading off in a different direction to exit at the far end of the window.

Bye, I guess. Fuck you.

Or, well, not necessarily a prison break. More like a custody break or something.

I tried to raise myself to see Dragon looming above, but the foam offered only a rubbery resistance.  It had set with the contact, bonded to my costume.  I was pinned face down on the ground.

Let’s hope Dragon’s careless with where she puts her feet?

What I did see, as I raised my head as high as I was able?  Bitch was astride Bentley, who’d grown large enough to ride, and they were standing near the window leading into the street.  I could only see her eyes behind the plastic of her mask, and everything else was communicated through her bearing, her posture, the angle of her head.  I’d seen something similar when I’d first met her.

Contempt?

Is she about to just leave Taylor to be arrested?

It hadn’t been Dragon that knocked me into the foam.

Fucking hell, Bitch.

Worst part is she’s got plausible deniability, too. “What happened to Taylor?” “Dragon got her with the foam. I couldn’t do anything.”

I guess we might be doing a prison break in upcoming chapters??