Coil looked at Brian.

“I gave you a hard time about your having to take the same risks as the rest of us, back when you first joined, but I think you’ve done your share.  So long as you’re contributing,” Brian said.

Yep, looks like he’s fine with it.

Coil nodded. “I’ll see what we can prepare.”

Lisa smiled a little, using only the one side of her mouth.

I wonder if this change has anything to do with her injury, besides making her think about how frequently she gets injured. Maybe she feels her role as the manipulative “face” and speaker of the team has been hurt by it and she’d rather give that up and be the eyes.

■

I feel like the fact that we just cut off right here with the reminder of her mouth is a good sign that I’m right about that.

“Anything helps.”

“You think you could get your hands on some surveillance hardware?  Skitter’s working on some new costumes, and I was thinking we could have something like small cameras mounted on our masks or helmets.”

Hm. That didn’t go quite the way I was expecting.

Why exactly does she want this? Is she less aware of Imp than I thought, and wants this to be able to determine what’s going on, why her power keeps telling her about someone she doesn’t remember?

“I can inquire with my usual suppliers.  Why?”

“Well, we’ve got one teammate that’s sort of hard for the rest of you to keep track of, and I think it might help.

Alright, fair enough. I’m not sure they should do it while Shatterbird’s in town, but it’s not a bad idea.

And if nobody objects, I’m kind of wanting to take a less hands-on approach from here on out.  I’ve batted a pretty low percentage as far as injuries over the last few months of action… Glory Girl, Bakuda, Leviathan, now this incident with Jack.

Ah, yeah. Might want to become a pitcher instead at this rate.

If I had a means of communication and the gear to give me some eyes on the scene, I think I could be more useful.”

Oh! Now it makes sense.

She’s going back to her original idea of what she should be doing for the team. Grue might be a little more willing to let her do it this time.

For a few seconds, anyways.  Aisha scowled.  “Enough is right.  I’ll see you guys later.”

Aw, leaving to cool off?

I can’t blame her, honestly.

But I also wouldn’t put it past her to go against the group’s wishes and attempt to spy on the Nine anyway. Perhaps not right now, especially since she doesn’t know where they are, but down the line it’s certainly a possibility.

“Hey!”  Brian stood from his seat.

I think I wasn’t the only one to look up at him and wonder why.

Heh, nice one, Imp.

He looked at us, similarly confused, and then sat down just as quickly as he’d stood.

Imp’s power is so good.

“Professional?  You asshole, you’re the one who’s refusing to use my talents because I’m your sister.

Touché.

I’ve been on the team longer than Skitter was when you guys were robbing a bank and fighting the ABB.”

That’s true. Hell, Tattletale framed the bank robbery as Skitter’s… introduction party, sort of. Though now that the truth is out about her involvement in Skitter’s story, she may have had ulterior motives beyond Coil asking them to do it: “If I’m gonna convert her, I need to show her the fun side of villainy right away.”

“You’re younger, and she’s more level-headed-”

True, Skitter is a bit more mature.

“Enough,” Coil said.  It served to shut them both up.

Professionalism, mr. Laborn.

I think the teacher back in 9.3 said something about powers running laterally in the family, too, i.e. between siblings. That may even have been foreshadowing for Imp’s introduction a few chapters later.

“No!  I got a power, and it’s a useful power.  Except you don’t want me to use it, because you think it’s going to stop working all of a sudden, or someone is going to see me-”

Or hear her, in this case.

It’s worth noting that Dragon could see her, but that was likely because Imp’s power doesn’t work on silicon brains.

“Dragon saw you,” Brian said.  “And you’re only alive because she doesn’t kill people.”

Of course, Brian doesn’t know Dragon has a silicon brain.

Looking at Brian and Aisha, I knew this discussion would get worse before it got better.  I cut in before either of them said something regrettable.  “Imp.  It’s a good idea, but they do have a way of sensing you.  Cherish can sense emotions, and if Dragon is any indication, your power primarily works through sight, hearing and touch.

Thank you.

(♣)

Like Grue’s.  She can probably find you and track you down.”

Hm. I don’t think Dragon is a good indication here, but there might be something to the comparison here. They are family, after all, and while there’s no genetic heredity going on, that might still have an impact on their powers.

“It’s far too risky,” Brian said.  “You joined this team so I could stop you from getting yourself killed.”

Ahh, makes sense. She’s under his watch, as opposed to going out solo.

“It would be nice to know what they’re up to,” Trickster cut in.

“They won’t even know I’m there.”

Quite literally.

Unless Cherish can hear her.

“You think they won’t know you’re there,” Brian said.  “There’s a distinction there.  It’s important, and it could either lead to a minor advantage-”

“A huge advantage,” Aisha said.

They both have good points here. I think Aisha will be mostly safe as long as Cherish’s power doesn’t override hers, but that’s a risk.

“-Or it could lead to you being turned into a human test subject for whatever fucked up idea Bonesaw had recently,” Brian finished, ignoring her.

A pretty huge risk.