“That’s not a very flattering comparison.”  Grue folded his arms.

True.

Seriously, Taylor, where are you going with this?

“No.  But I think it’s on target, and I don’t think it’s a total coincidence that they wound up considering two members of our group for the Nine, Cherish’s motivations aside.  So let’s avoid playing things like Jack wants us to, let’s not do things the way better heroes have tried and failed.  We play this like they play this.

Ahh, that’s where. “Let’s be more similar than they expect.”

Unpredictable, calculated recklessness, we don’t get caught up in a fight, and we think through every part of the plan.”

That is a pretty solid strategy in general, too.

I’ve previously compared Taylor to the leader of an army, the tactitian calling the shots. I was talking mainly about her use of the bugs and clever strategies in fights, but she can absolutely use the same qualities to lead the Undertravelers to victory.

“Skitter wants to attack the Nine, remove a tester before they get their turn.”

Who’s talking? Coil?

Trickster whistled.  “Risky.”

“Look at it this way,” I said.  “Um.  How many police forces and superteams have tried to beat the Nine?  How many divisions of the Protectorate or alliances of cape teams have tried to beat them?”

Taylor, this is a bad opening when trying to convince people that you can beat them.

I mean, I think I see where you’re going with this, in that the police forces and teams have fought them directly and made themselves easy prey to the Nine’s specialty, crowd control. But still, if you’re trying to boost morale for your idea, maybe consider not starting with “how many people have tried and failed to do what I’m suggesting”.

“Lots,” Trickster said.

“Too many to count.  The Nine play things like my team does on good days.  They pick their fights, avoiding confrontations or disappearing when they aren’t certain they can win.  

Oni Lee really would’ve been a good fit.

When they do fight, they hit where it hurts.  We do that.  Look at what Regent did to Shadow Stalker, what I did to Lung on both occasions.  And they terrorize their victims.  We do the same thing, unintentionally or not.  Grue is scary with the darkness, Bitch’s dogs make people shit themselves.  Me?  Everyone’s at least a little creeped out by bugs.

Especially Clockblocker.

I like how she’s calling a bit of attention to the whole “common fears” theme of the Undersiders.

Tattletale and Regent are unnerving in a whole different way.  The Nine are us on steroids.”

I suppose they are!

Hey, Taylor, remember that whole thing we talked about earlier about how similarity doesn’t automatically mean friendship? I know we were talking about individuals, but I still think this counts as an example of my point.

Incidentally, between Taylor talking about how she and Bitch were similar, thinking about the similarities between the Travelers in terms of power level and view of the team, and this, I think we’ve found the red thread of the chapter. Similarities.

Another pair of things that would be similar: The shogi plan and the plan used in Parasite.

The others made their way upstairs, followed by Bitch.  They gathered around my room, all standing.  I moved to stand, myself, but Trickster gestured for me to stay seated.

She’s the host, she gets to be the one who sits and looks like she’s in charge.

“You okay?” Regent asked.

“Alive.  Hurts like hell.”

Through my swarm-sense, I felt a truck park outside.  Grue let himself in through the front door.

Hey.

Before long, all were present.  Grue dialed Tattletale and put the phone on speaker.

Oh, good.

When I said she’d be good to have here, it wasn’t just because I like her. It was also that her power is immensely valuable for planning what Taylor is suggesting.

“Yo,” her voice came through.  “Me and Coil here.”

Coil I’m less thrilled about, but hey, I suppose it only makes sense that he’d be involved too.

So, how about Imp, is she here?

Back when I’d first talked with Sundancer, I could remember asking her about her experience with the Travelers.  What was it she’d said?  Intense, violent, lonely.  Lonely despite the fact that they were constantly in each other’s company.

The Travelers are a group of people who have gone through a lot together for a long time.

But I’m not sure they’re friends.

I couldn’t exactly remember what Sundancer’s explanation for that loneliness had been.  It had been vague, hadn’t it?

Yeah, pretty sure. Vague is kind of the operative word with respect to the Travelers’ backstory and internal dynamics so far.

Seeing Genesis’s expression, I suspected Sundancer wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

Seems so.

How had they come together?  If I ran with the theory that Genesis somehow had her trigger event at four and was more powerful as a result, did that mean the other powerful members of the group had done something similar?  If so, how were they connected?

Yes, that is a good question.

I think Taylor bringing this up is a good sign we’ll be learning more about it in not too long.

Or was I thinking along the wrong lines?

Taylor, this kind of theorizing is my job. I know I’m not that great at it, but still. 😛

I do feel like this line is going to act as a lingering hook that I may have found the answer to before the question was posed. Maybe. Like I said, I’m not that great at this, but I do like my theory. But yeah, I guess what I’m saying is that this line makes me feel slightly more confident that yes, Taylor is thinking along the wrong lines.

My bugs counted the people who’d exited the car and were heading through the storm drain.  A group.

Better hope it’s the right group.

“The others are coming in.  Your team and Regent.”

She smiled a little, but it was almost a sad expression.  Resigned.

Hm… alright? That’s certainly a reaction.

Also, sounds like Tattle’s staying back. That’s a shame, she’d be good to have here.

I felt my face heat up, and quickly turned my attention to the fabric of my old costume.  I used the roaches to arrange a patchwork on the floor, using the tattered scraps.  My spiders crawled from the terrariums to begin connecting the pieces.  It didn’t have to be pretty.

Practicality and function first. Classic Taylor.

“Really.  Ask.”

“Were you disabled because of your power?  A side effect, or something that happened in costume?”

I’m guessing no. I think it’s more likely it had to do with her trigger event, or that the trigger event had to do with a preexisting disability.

She shook her head.  “I’ve been in a chair since I was four.  No, if anything, it’s the other way around.”

Other way around?  My first thought was trigger event.  The second was, maybe that idea about people being stronger if they get their powers at a younger age is true after all.

Signs point to yes. Vista is quite powerful, Dinah is quite powerful, Bonesaw can seemingly bring the dead back to life (sort of), and now this?

There’s also another possibility: Cauldron. Perhaps Cauldron contacted a parent who was seeing her disability and seeking a way to help her, for example.

As I mentally categorized my musings, I felt them connect with a bunch of other thoughts.  Of the six Travelers, three were among the more powerful capes in Brockton Bay that I’d met.  In terms of sheer destructive effect, Sundancer and Ballistic were top-notch.  Genesis was top of the line in sheer utility and versatility, a combatant that could endlessly return to the battlefield with whatever form she wanted, provided that her real body was left unmolested.  Topping it off, Noelle was apparently
so powerful she had to be kept in quarantine.  Trickster was impressive, if not quite in the same class as his teammates, and I had no idea what Oliver was all about, since he didn’t have powers, as far as I knew.

If you’re going on the offensive, you’ve got good company.

I have previously theorized about the Travelers in general having Cauldron powers, and considering the sort of sheer effect and versatility we know they can provide thanks to Shatterbird, the overall power levels of the team being like this actually supports that idea.

Oh, and on top of the Travelers’ abilities being among the most powerful, you also have the highest-rated Master in town on your side. Well, the highest-rated resident Master – Cherish is probably higher-rated, if she’s rated at all, considering how effective her power is. And hey, depending on how thoroughly she intends to betray the Nine, you might have her on your side too.

“Why are you asking?”

“Trying to assess the resources we have at our disposal.”

Yeah, it’s good to know.

I heard a car door slam outside.  That would be either Grue or a collection of the others.

Hi!

Genesis used her hands to shift her position in her seat.  I glanced at her legs.  They were thin.  Atrophy.  She’d been in a wheelchair for a while.  When I looked up, I saw she’d caught me looking.

She’s skipped leg day for a while.

“If you have a question, I’d rather you ask than keep wondering.”

Might as well, if she’s okay with it.

“And special abilities?  You can give them to your forms?”

“I have to visualize the mechanism, the organs or whatever that make it work.  I only have a limited time before I’m knocked out, so time I spend on that is time I’m not working on other stuff.  Like the form I was just using, you didn’t see it, but-”

Ahh, that makes sense.

Maybe she didn’t have time to give the bunny slug (…bug? does that portmanteau mean Taylor could’ve controlled her?) legs?

“I saw it.”

“Right.  The bugs, right.  Well, I visualized the water suction system and the water gun, but because I didn’t focus on the body, it didn’t have arms or legs, and it was slow, and because it didn’t have vital organs, it drained me.”

So when they don’t have vital organs, what does it take to “kill” them?

“Okay.”  I held up my costume with the legs and feet reduced to tatters.  I turned my attention to a box behind my chair, tucked beneath a shelf of terrariums.  A small tide of roaches lifted it and carted it to me.

Wait, wait, wait.

Has she been making a backup costume in the background all along?

Of fucking course she would do that, she’s Taylor. She’d see this eventuality coming a mile away! How did I not see that coming?

If that’s indeed what’s in the box, of course.

Inside were the scraps of fabric and mask left behind after Mannequin’s first retreat.  I hadn’t wanted to spare any material.

Ahh. It’s not a backup costume, but it is stuff she can use to fix her main one.

I just realized there’s probably a connection between how posh Shatterbird acts and talks and the strength and versatility of her power. She’s probably been brought up super rich, so it only makes sense that she could afford such a good power from Cauldron.

“What about materials?  What can you use to put a body together?”

“I… don’t know.  I can control it, sorta, but my power chooses for me.  I visualize it as I use my power, I drift off, and I go into that sort of twilight state when you’re just barely almost asleep, and your mind wanders.

That is such a fitting state to be involved in this power.

Anything I haven’t firmly put together in my head gets filled in with the stray thoughts and imagination.  I never put too much effort into the material, unless I wanted something like armor or stone skin.”

So in other words, the power chooses it simply because she hasn’t particularly bothered to in most cases.

So ridiculously powerful.  If I had her power… damn it.

Yeah, sheesh. She could give Shatterbird a good run for her money in terms of both raw power and especially versatility.