The final two members of our group arrived a moment later.  Shatterbird landed, stumbling, and Genesis began to materialize in a massive form.

Ahh, so Regent didn’t bring himself along in the car, he was flying along.

Which he’s clearly not used to being able to do. 😛

We were close to the site of our last fight.  The Nine had been on their way to Dolltown, and we’d ambushed them, divided them, and then provoked them into extending out of position.  Having done that, we’d kidnapped Shatterbird as she lagged behind and then looped around to capture the wounded Cherish.

Yes, I remember. My memory’s shitty sometimes, but that was just two chapters ago. 😛

Now the Nine were inside Dolltown.

Well, that’s probably not good. I hope Parian’s still alive.

I could only hope the noise and fighting of our last encounter would have given most of the residents the time and the motivation to run.

Let’s hope they didn’t go “eh, Parian will protect us if they do show up here”. I mean, sure, trust in your protector and don’t panic, but there’s a limit to what she can do.

“We should stop here,” Tattletale said.

Yes, good, please distract Taylor.

That was apparently order enough, because the driver pulled over.  The long seconds of stillness after the truck had stopped said volumes.  We didn’t want to get out of the car, we didn’t want to face the Nine, deal with their traps as we tried to catch them in our own.

Snare.

Two or three seconds passed with tension thrumming in the air, every one of our nerves on edge, ready to act, react, even now.

It’s go time.

The sound of a slamming door from one of the other trucks was the little push we needed to move.  We climbed out of the truck and joined the others.  Bitch had been the first one out.  She had Sirius, Bastard and Bentley with her.

Ah, yeah, she would be the first one out. No dawdling for this gal.

We ventured over to a fallen section of wall, peering over it to get a better glimpse of what would be the battlefield.

This so far feels a lot less structured than the previous ambush.

So, what, did they invite the Nine to a brawl or something? …probably not.

I thought over my arsenal and the options I had with my power.  I’d developed enough techniques that I was starting to have trouble keeping track of them all.  Should I name them?  It seemed like something out of a kid’s show, shouting out the names of the abilities as I used them.  ‘Firebug attack, go!’  ‘Silkwrap Strike!’

Ahahaha!

“Go, Skitter, use Rodrotter!”

I shook my head a little.  I was tired.  My mind was wandering.

It’s wandering into fun places, though! You should be tired more often.

Well, probably not, that’d get you killed, but still.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had more than five hours of sleep, and I’d barely slept at all last night.  Fear and adrenaline usually clarified things, so it probably said something that I was feeling a little dazed despite what we were going into.

Is it still the same day as the first ambush?

Some of that was the constant aggression.  Since the Nine had made their presence known, I’d barely been able to relax and let my guard down.  After Mannequin had started killing people in my territory, taking even a moment to myself made me feel like I was insulting their memories, that I was failing the next batch of people who would become victims of my enemies.

Ouch.

That’s the thing, though. They’re not just your enemies, they’re enemies of the whole city. Whole country, even.

Yes, I will admit, you being there was probably the main reason Mannequin came to your territory, but you are not responsible for his actions. Hell, if he didn’t kill people there, he would’ve killed people somewhere else, somewhere you weren’t around to stop him at all.

The last time we’d all been in a car with Trickster, he’d noted that there were two major problems that Coil was helping them with.

Oh right, he did, didn’t he. Well, one of them is clearly Noelle, but the other one… Well, I’ve already theorized about them being on the run from Cauldron (or some other threat), and this nugget that I’d forgotten about strikes me as further evidence for that.

Noelle was obviously one.  A part of me could buy that there was something serious going on with her, something that necessitated the help of someone like Coil.  Another nagging part of me was thinking that there were still too many unanswered questions.

You’re telling me? 😛

This really feels like the setup for a chapter where we’ll be getting some answers.

That or a huge troll, and unlike certain other authors I’m familiar with, Wildbow doesn’t seem like the trolly type.

What was holding them together as a group?  How fragile was that tie?

Apparently there’s some kind of promise they made to each other? That’s pretty much all I solidly know. I do have my theory that it’s a common threat they’re running from, but I don’t know if that’s accurate or how the promise would fit into that.

Was this really what I needed to be dwelling on?

I mean, it could be relevant if their bond happens to be strained in this particular fight, which may be how we end up learning about it, but in-universe there’s not much reason to think that’s likely to happen. For Taylor, at least.

Maybe fatigue factored in, but the more I thought on our allies, the less secure I felt.

Trickster: Knows what he’s doing in a fight, can change up the battlefield a lot and leave the enemy confused, came up with the plan, might get killed or worse by the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Sundancer: Can deal massive damage, could probably take out most of the enemies singlehandedly, might get killed or worse by the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Tattletale: Excellent source of information, might get killed or worse by the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Everyone: Might get killed or worse by the Slaughterhouse Nine.

The information Cherish had volunteered about Coil, true or not, had left me with lingering doubts.

Did what she said seriously not occur to you before?

I mean, besides the idea that he’s close to his goal.

I was also acutely aware of the distinct lack of chemistry and camaraderie among the Travelers.  They were keeping secrets, with no promises of divulging the information in question.

This is another bit that makes me feel like we’ll be learning what those secrets are soon. Even if Taylor doesn’t (i.e. even if it ends up being in an Interlude).

Whatever the reason may be, they’re not working together because of friendship, at least not anymore.

And me?  I retreated into my headspace, I supposed.

That does indeed sound very much like your thing.

Although I wouldn’t trust your headspace to destress you.

I was maybe similar to Tattletale in that I took note of each of the others, but my thoughts were less about simply observing than about cataloguing and mentally preparing.  What options did we have?  What tools, weapons and techniques did we have at our disposal?

I suppose if not planning stresses her, then preparing as an anti-stress coping mechanic makes sense.

Who was going to be backing me up during this operation, and how reliable were those people?

The Travelers may have their internal problems, but I haven’t seen anything to suggest they’re not reliable in a pinch.

It was constructive, maybe, but exhausting.  There were so many angles to consider, and the stakes were high.  Brian’s life, Brian’s quality of life.

Ah, yeah, here’s the part where it changes from destressing to distressing. Amazing how much a simple vowel can change the meaning, isn’t it?

The rest of us weren’t in the Nine’s clutches, but it would take only one mistake before any one of us could be in the same boat, wondering just how horrible things were going to get for us.

Yeah, there’s a lot that can go wrong when going up against these lunatics.

“Sorry,” I said, “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.  I know Grue isn’t your teammate.  You didn’t have to come to help.”

Hey, there’s a reason I’ve been calling you “Undertravelers” for a while. For the time being, you’re practically one team.

But yeah, that’s fair.

“We’re all in this together, right?” Trickster said.  “You mind if I smoke?”

I do, but go ahead. At least I don’t have to share a car with you.

I shrugged and Tattletale shook her head.  He rolled down the window and lit a cigarette, placing it through the mouth-hole of his hard mask.

What about Sundancer?

…I suppose he already knows her answer.

That would be his way of dealing with stress.  We were all tense, and we all had our ways of coping.

Fair enough, I suppose.

Trickster smoked and stared off into the distance.  Sundancer fidgeted.  She frequently realized what she was doing and forced herself to stop, only to pick up something else.  Her leg would bounce in place, then she would stop doing that and start drumming her fingers on her kneepad in some complicated pattern.  It made me think of a pianist or a guitarist fingering the strings.

This is both relatable and adorable. :>

Tattletale watched people, her eyes roving over the rest of us.  Her cheek bulged slightly where she touched the tip of her tongue against the backside of the wound Jack had left her.

I wonder how much she’s learning on the way, about various people.

The truck passed over a pothole.  Our teams were out in force, our members divided across three trucks.

Ah, alright, so their duo excursion is over. There goes that prediction deadline. Though that does just mean it falls back to the end of the Arc.

I take it they’re on their way to execute or set up the pieces for Trickster’s approach.

I rode with Trickster, Sundancer and Tattletale.  Regent and Ballistic were in the second vehicle.  Bitch and her dogs rode in the third.

Sounds like a good arrangement!

Hey, when you say “Regent and Ballistic”, does that mean “Regent, Shatterbird-who-is-also-Regent and Ballistic”? I mean, otherwise the balance here is 4-2-(1+dogs).

This was Tattletale’s first time venturing out of Coil’s base in a little while.  Her power was limited when she could only get information by what we communicated to her, and this was the kind of situation where we needed her at full strength.

Makes sense. She’s superpowered Sherlock, she needs to be able to spot clues.

If nothing else, it felt better to have another teammate on the field with us, with Grue’s absence.

Doesn’t feel as empty, huh?

“I was a lot more comfortable with the risky plan when it was something I thought of,” I said.

Hah!

I suppose that’s a reasonable bias. She can more directly keep track of the thought processes involved in her own plans.

“You said calculated recklessness, right?”  Trickster asked.

Coddamn it, how did it not occur to me before that “calculated recklessness” is pretty much Trickster’s whole style?

“Part of that ‘calculated’ bit is control.  Keeping the chaos to a minimum, so we can anticipate and plan.”

So whatever this plan is, it’s something Taylor views as risky and chaotic.

This sounds like fun!

Trickster leaned against the door of the vehicle.  “That may be a bit of a problem.”

“You think?”

Here’s what I mean about this being Trickster’s style: He sows chaos on the battleground, but it’s controlled chaos, controlled by him. We saw him do this to great effect against the Wards in Sentinel. He also seems to go with the flow more than Skitter, making rapid decisions in the moment rather than planning things out.