I supposed that would be another benefit of using the smoke.  If you didn’t expect to be able to see, then it didn’t hurt to deny your enemy that same privilege.  Miss Militia had been thinking about this.

I suppose Taylor does have an established pattern of going for the eyes.

If her team wasn’t so sparse on members, she could have done a lot more damage.

Yeah, that’s probably true.

“My bugs are telling me they’re over there, there and there,” I pointed in the direction of our teammates.  “That’s all I can do for you.  I kind of got shot, not sure I’m up to running around.”

Fair. Grue?

His head snapped around to face me, “Shot?”

Yeah, that’s a bit of a high-priority concern.

“I’m okay, it was nonlethal.  I think,” I assured him, “Go!”

He did, glancing over his shoulder to look at me before disappearing back into the midst of the darkness.

My shipping of Brian and Taylor has largely subsided ever since the rejection, but there’s still a part of me that’s shouting about how much Brian seems to care about Taylor in this moment. Even though most people would show a similar level of concern if their (tentative) friend and teammate told them they just got shot.

Tattletale fumbled around and found me in the darkness, clasped her hand around the same hand I held the baton with, and helped me to my feet.  She gave me her support as we limped away.  Nothing seemed to be broken, judging by what I felt.

That’s good.

Well… if nothing else, this means Taylor won’t be in any shape to take on Bitch physically anytime soon. Not sure if that’s a good thing.

The darkness disappeared after we’d traveled across the street.  Grue greeted us.  “Dragon?”

“Oh she turned out to just be a weird fetus and then it self-destructed but she told me she’d be in touch so that wasn’t really her anyway that’s my day how’s yours?”

“Kaput, thanks to Tattletale,” I spoke.

Thanks to– ah, right, because Tattle’s the one who brought the zappy gun and made it go haywire.

He looked back the way we’d come, “Damn that smoke.  Listen, Tattletale, head down this street, wait for us.  Skitter and I are going back in to find and retrieve the others.”

…hm. That includes Bitch. Taylor might restrain herself, but Bitch is a known master of “not the time”, and I’m not sure how Grue’s going to take it if Bitch is visibly surprised and angered to see Skitter again, or if Taylor does come in with some choice words for Bitch.

Either way, probably not gonna like it.

Before she could shoot again, I directed my bugs to her hands and eyes, hoping to incapacitate her.

Yeeah, might wanna avoid a repeat.

I still had a small few of the capsaicin-loaded bugs, and sent them all her way.

Niice. Gonna be a bit trickier to shoot straight with spicy hands and spicy eyes.

As hard as it was to see in the smoke, there was still faint light.  That light disappeared the instant Grue used his power.

Well, at least you won’t reveal your location again with cries of pain.

And I suppose the smoke would dissipate after not too long, so something more controllable is good.

Miss Militia was staggering and reeling as her hands and face lit up with stings and burns.  The gun wasn’t in her hands anymore, which meant we weren’t at risk of getting shot.

Nice.

I sent more bugs across to the other members of the Protectorate, to try to disable them.

That would probably be rather helpful.

I like this capsaicin trick, it seems quite effective.

Much as I might have warned Tattletale and the others, I’d also informed Miss Militia on my location.  I turned to run, but she was already raising her gun to fire with an ear-shattering crack.

Better hope that your suit is bulletproof, even if she is using rubber bullets.

From the way it cut past my bugs, and the wake of disturbed air the pellets left behind them I could only guess she’d just grazed me with a shotgun.  I collapsed sideways to the ground, and the pain came a heartbeat later, radiating over half of my upper body, from my shoulder to my right butt cheek.

Ouch.

I was guessing it was nonlethal ammunition – it could well have been lethal, for the sheer degree of hurt it delivered, if my costume had prevented it from penetrating.

I take that to mean the costume didn’t stop them. Well, that’s one question answered that’s been lingering ever since Gestation 1.2!

If she’d been intending to use the smoke to screw with my insects, she’d underestimated my power.

Ah, fair enough!

I canceled out the instincts and sent the bugs through the smoke, blind, feeling out for her.  I found her running towards us, through the smoke.

“She’s coming!” I shouted.

And since Miss Militia can’t see through the smoke, she’s now at a disadvantage much like the one Grue would impose, except without the suppressed sound and oily characteristics of the darkness.

In retrospect, that was a mistake.

Case in point, Taylor just gave away her position.

Why the smoke?

That really is a good question… is… is Miss Militia trying to hide Taylor from the rest of the Protectorate due to her heroic nature?

No, that seems a bit too treacherous for Miss Militia. Besides, no matter if Dragon thinks she can convince her to change her mind, Skitter has clearly chosen a side at this point, and protecting her from being arrested alongside her team just because she supposedly – according to a man who lost all dignity and credibility (and confirmed by Tattletale, though Miss Militia presumably doesn’t know how Tattle would know) – intended to be a hero when she started out… just doesn’t make much sense.

The bees I had in the smoke were acting funny.  I was surprised to find out why.  I’d known that beekeepers used smoke to pacify the bees before collecting the honey.  

Ahh, yeah, that makes so much more sense.

My assumption had been that it acted as a tranquilizer, putting them to sleep.  In reality, it was forcing them to revert to instinctual behavior.  It made them want to eat and feed and to flee.

Huh. So essentially it’s overriding your power. Good work on Miss Militia’s part! Now I suppose Skitter’s gotta pull in the remaining bugs from elsewhere and try to avoid getting them into the smoke, both parts of which could be an issue.

For those near enclosed spaces or even the corners of walls or the foundations of buildings, it made them adjust their wingbeats to divert the flows of oxygen.

Cool!

“Shit,” she swore, “Hey, listen-”

She didn’t get a chance to finish.  White smoke billowed around us.  My first thought was that our adversaries were using some sort of bug spray.

White smoke? That’s a new one.

Did the Protectorate pick up a new member or two after all?

The way today was going, it would be just my luck.

Heh.

I held my breath and hurried out of the cloud, Tattletale following, and searched for the source.  Assault was taking on Regent and Imp, while Grue and Shadow Stalker were dealing with Battery and Weld.  Bitch and her dogs, on the other hand, were facing down Triumph.  Not the matchup I would have chosen, taking on the guy with the sonic shout using dogs with sensitive hearing.

Ouch, yeah. Poor doggos.

Also, sheesh, Weld just won’t quit, huh.

I almost went after Bitch right then and there, but self-preservation won out over any desire for retribution.  As Tattletale and I made our way around the cloud, I spotted Miss Militia.

Hi! Did you smokebomb Tattle and Skitter?

A black-green energy crackled in her hand, and she lobbed a grenade my way.  I scrambled back, only for it to turn out to be another canister of smoke, billowing out between Miss Militia and me.

Yup. So she did.

Kind of a poor tactic to use against the girl who can sense her surroundings using her bugs. You’d think the PRT would’ve learned by now that Skitter does better than average in blinded combat, especially if the opponent is also blinded.

The residual foam on my glove made my hand sticky as I reached into the compartment at my back and grabbed my baton.

Oh damn, she’s not just going for a punch, she’s getting armed.

It took me two tries to get my thumb onto the button so I could whip it out to its full length.

She’s ready to beat some sense into Bitch.

That said, this is giving the others time to react and possibly step in.

I strode towards Bitch, weapon in hand.  Tattletale hurried to catch up to me, turning to keep an uneasy eye on the ongoing fight with the Protectorate.

And that was when Tattletale knew… something was fucked up.

“Hey, Skitter!” Tattletale grabbed my shoulder.

I wonder to what extent her power has filled her in on what just happened by now.

I whirled to face her, hand clenching my baton.  I could see the change in her expression as some piece fell in place for her.

Ah, there it is.