We split, and Mannequin broke off, chasing Grue.

…huh. I guess maybe he wants to get rid of the interlopers first so he can really focus on Skitter when the time comes.

I headed the opposite way.

Think, Taylor, think!  Mannequin was a smart guy.  Everything he did would be calculated to achieve some specific goal.

Sounds about right. Right now, the overall goal is revenge, but his more specific way of going about that seems to go deeper than just plain killing Taylor. I think he wants to get her on her own so he can make her suffer first.

Why was he here?  He wanted to hurt me.  He wanted to hit me where it hurt, and he’d done it.  He’d killed no less than ten of my followers.  Charlotte and Sierra could easily be among them.

I certainly hope not. They both have great potential and I’d like to see their characters expanded on further in the future.

He had let us find him because he wanted to bait us into a trap.  It had worked against Bitch, for the most part.  She wasn’t dead, I hoped, but she was out of action.

Yeah, I don’t think Bitch is going to get taken out permanently just like that. She’s at risk due to her involvement in the nomination plot, but that involvement also seems to give her plot armor. If it kills her, it’s too early.

Besides, it would be an anticlimactic way to go for such an important character, though that didn’t protect Kaiser.

What about the small stuff?  The little things?  After he’d caught Bitch, he hadn’t shot her, and he hadn’t shot Bastard when the puppy was making its rescue attempt.

I think this makes sense, since I think it would be a faux pas to deliberately kill her before she failed his test.

He growled again, vicious.

I was taken aback for half a second.  Then anger set in.  I barked, “Enough!” and I snatched up the chain.

Well, I suppose there is that whole firmness thing.

He growled again, and I hauled on it.  The way it was rigged, it looped around his snout so it would tighten around the end of his nose when the chain was pulled.

…huh. I guess that’s one way to make up for the fact that the doggos can easily overpower Bitch.

It was like a choke collar, but focused more on the sensitive snout than on the throat.  He recoiled and tried to pull away, and I tugged again.

I’m not gonna lie, though, it doesn’t sound particularly nice.

This time, he went still, resisting less.

“You’re with me, puppy,” I said, pulling on the chain as I backed away from Mannequin.  “Grue, take Bitch and get to cover.  I can’t see inside your darkness so long as that gas is wiping out my bugs, and he isn’t bothered by it, so remove it as fast as you apply it, but try to push the gas away or displace it or whatever.”

And on that day, darkness quite literally swept across the neighborhood. Repeatedly.

“We need a plan to win this,” he said.

Right now, she’s at least doing what she can to help you all survive this.