He’s big, he’s strong, he’s ridiculously tough, but he’s no Leviathan.

Leviathan had a crapton of offensive power on top of his near-impenetrable flesh. Crawler has a decent bit of that too, but he’s definitely specialized in defense.

My spiders began weaving their threads into braids, the flying bugs directing them in and through loops of silk as the threads spooled out.  Where bugs couldn’t hover, they directed their flight into tight corkscrews to slow themselves.

So does that mean they’re making ropes, in the hopes of tying Crawler up?

Spider silk or no, I’m not sure that’s going to work.

I wondered if this was the most bugs I’d ever controlled.  The buzz of my power thrummed through me to the point that I was barely aware of myself and where I was standing.

Careful! Don’t lose yourself to the swarm!

It wasn’t just the number of  bugs, but the number of instructions.  Spiders were spooling thread, organizing by the amounts they had remaining.

I guess even Skitter’s multitasking has limits.

Vista, Clockblocker, Weld, Flechette, Triumph, Miss Militia, Assault… Glory Girl, Battery, Cache and the ghostly bear were joining them.  That left two more I couldn’t place.  They moved in formation.

Hm. The two she can’t place might both be Prism. Multicolored duplicates would be an appropriate power for that name.

Might as well do what I could to help.  I drew out arrows and words on the ground, with names by each arrow to point them to Jack, Bonesaw and Crawler.  With the arrow length, I tried to indicate how far the distance was to each of the enemies in question.

Nice, I think that’s gonna help out a lot. Not least by letting them cut off Bonesaw’s shenanigans.

They spent about ten seconds discussing it, then broke into a run, going for Jack and Bonesaw.  Good.

We reached the scene of the ongoing fight with Crawler.  Sundancer was off the dog and on the ground the second we could see him, creating her orb and increasing its size.  She was fireproof, but she didn’t have the ability to grant that benefit to others.

Probably a good idea to move the sun away before increasing the size too much then.

Once she was standing, the orb was free to grow.

There wasn’t much my bugs could do.  They settled on Crawler and found his flesh impenetrable.

It’d be pretty ridiculous if Taylor found that Crawler, for all his immunities and tough skin, was still vulnerable to bugs. :p

If he has any vulnerability to them, it’s that you might be able to make him chase a swarm of them like a laser pointer. :3

I began preparing web nets, drawing lines of silk between my airborne bugs.  Amy’s relay bugs had afforded me the chance to pick up far more bugs than I otherwise might have.  My attention flickered over my swarm.

Are you trying to catch Mannequin?

Nearly a million spiders.  They were only a relatively small percentage of the swarm itself.

Coddamn.

I had more ants, termites, flies, aphids, gnats and beetles to form the bulk of my army.

I sent the more useless ones toward Amy.  Not so many that I overwhelmed her, but enough that she always had more at hand.

Excellent. So what is she doing with the ones you’ve already sent?

Having gathered as many bugs as I could, I drew my relay bugs back and spaced them around the perimeter of my own range, effectively extending it by a block in every direction.

Sweet.

“Have to stall Crawler long enough to make a run for it!”  I shouted.

“Have to do it in the next eight minutes!”  Tattletale called out.

Ah, I see you found out the time. Honestly, eight minutes is more than I thought it’d be.

Grue was getting Sirius to keep pace with Bentley, who was brawnier and slower.

“Bomb hits then?”

“Sometime after then.  Could be eight minutes and ten seconds, could be fifteen minutes!”

Ah, fair enough. At least knowing the minimum time you’ve got is way more useful than knowing the maximum time.

I swore under my breath.  Eight minutes made for a deceptively small amount of time.

The heroes were gathered.  I couldn’t set them apart.  With few exceptions, they each wore an identical costume with full body coverage.

I forgot they’d be here too, in addition to any other villains falling into the trap.

There were subtle differences in height  and body shape, which let me identify the people at the extreme ends of the physical spectrum: Vista, who was the smallest, and Triumph, the most musclebound.  Weld wasn’t in the concealing costume, presumably to retain more of his shapeshifting capability.

Seems reasonable. It also wouldn’t be difficult to tell who the guy with the really heavy footsteps was anyway.

“Here,” I directed a ladybug into my palm and extended it towards her.  “Crush it, and I’ll come.  Or transmit some signal with my power.  You have my backup, understand?”

Tried and true tactics. This is a thing I like about Worm. When Taylor comes up with a technique, she’s not afraid to reuse and perfect it as needed. Very few tricks get left behind as one-offs, if any.

Would Amy hurt a fly ladybug?

“Okay.”  She took it, but she didn’t look reassured.  The first bugs were flowing into her cupped hands.  I could feel nervous systems intermingling, two bugs becoming one, and that strange hollowness that told me I didn’t have a complete grasp on how they functioned, that there was a part of them that was beyond the reach of my power.

…fusions?

Can she make a steed out of bugs after all? A bug horse (not the shapeshifting kind) or something, made from a ton of bugs merged together and just barely under Taylor’s control?

That would be amazing.

Jack, Bonesaw, Mannequin… I found the former two in a parking lot.  My bugs sensed what I judged were Bonesaw’s mechanical spiders, tearing cars apart and converting the components into more spiders.

I suppose that’s her way of “reloading”.

There was a group of people with her, shuffling behind them.

Oh jeez, what has she cooked up this time?

Mannequin was MIA.  That was bothersome.  He was able to detect and avoid my bugs, which meant he was a factor I had to keep in the back of my mind.

Damn. And if he’s taking care to avoid the bugs, he’s probably figured out that Skitter is here now.

Although with the other half of her team here, that’s probably a worthwhile thing for him to assume anyway.

“Found them, except for Mannequin.  Amy?  Be careful.  I don’t know if Jack’s team is going to break the rules they set, but Mannequin could come after you.”

Ah, yeah, he would definitely have a vendetta against Amy because of the whole “helping the sick” thing Amy’s been doing ever since she got her power.

I was so used to dealing with my teammates, people who were experienced in this sort of thing, that I hadn’t expected much more than confirmation.  She looked legitimately scared at the prospect.

Right. This would take a while to get used to for Amy.

“Skitter,”  Tattletale called out, “We should be close enough.  Want to pass them a message?”

Oh yeah! Good idea!

I nodded.  I had six of the relay bugs, and it took only a minute to set them up so they formed a chain, extending my reach for an additional six city blocks in one direction.  Eight and a half in total.

These are really, really good for this kind of thing. Told ya they’d come in handy!

(Not that that’s an amazing prediction. That’s just basic storytelling.)

I swept them outward, and the one at the furthest point lagged behind.  Still, it gave me the opportunity to cover a wide area.  Bugs mobilized throughout, and I began funneling the less offensive ones back toward Amy.  No-see-ums, earthworms, caterpillars and roughly half of the houseflies in the area began filtering back.

Awesome.

I maintained some of the dragonflies and other mobile bugs for the sake of getting a feel for the area.

I could sense Regent’s group, running to cover.  Ballistic was bombarding Crawler, relying on the impacts to drive the brute back.  Crawler was fast -and he was agile, with preternatural reflexes- but Ballistic was unloading on him with projectiles that moved faster than sound.

Niice. That’s gonna pack a punch even if the punch doesn’t deal damage.

Crawler dodged only two in three, and Ballistic followed up on any successful hits with a series of shots to pound Crawler into the nearest available surface and pin him there.  Genesis had formed a body that was winged.  It resembled a pterodactyl with arms, a griffon or something in that vein.

…alright. I don’t think a “pterodactyl with arms” and a griffon would look much alike except having a similar arrangement of limbs, but sure.

Doesn’t sound like a form that’s particularly rideable.

She was making an effort to drop large chunks of rubble onto Crawler.  He was strong enough that it barely slowed him down, but time he spent hauling a section of wall off of himself was time for Ballistic to get his hands on material for another shot.

Teamwork!

Shatterbird offered support with a constant hail of glass to harry Crawler and keep him from finding traction on the pavement.

It seems like there’s a lot of firepower focused on Crawler right now. What’s the status of the other members of the Nine?

“Not thinking straight,” Amy said, “Not enough to go into a situation like this.  Don’t want to get bombed.  Um.”

I get it. They should probably have asked if you wanted to get off before they started moving.

“It’s fine,” I said.  “Still willing to help?”

She nodded.

Remote help – the kind of “send the bugs my way” arrangement Taylor was talking about before?

Or maybe Amy’s going to be their spy and communicate to Taylor by manipulating bugs when the bombing seems to draw near?

“I’m going to send you the bugs I can’t use.  If you want to make more bugs that can relay my signal, that’d be great.  If you can think of something else… I need firepower.”

Right, let’s see if she’s actually willing to do that.

“And we’re going to be short on mobility if we need to make a run for it,” Grue said.  “Too many of us for two dogs that can carry people, unless we’re lucky and Genesis picked a form that works.”

Hmm.

I doubt Amy can make steeds out of bugs given the established limitations, but maybe she could send something else useful their way.

We’d sent Regent’s group out with Shatterbird, Imp and Ballistic, with the idea that Genesis would meet them there.  They’d taken one of Coil’s trucks, since Bastard wasn’t old enough, big enough or trained enough to carry a rider.

“What am I supposed to make?”

Ah, yeah, Bastard’s not gonna be able to carry them. But at least that truck might come in handy, if the Nine haven’t destroyed it.

“Figure it out, Amy.  If you can’t think of anything, the relay bugs are excellent.  Really.”

“Okay.”  She let me help her down.

Again, I appreciate that Taylor is validating her efforts.

In the brief period of silence that followed, while we got ourselves ready, a voice broke through, “Victoria-”

Oh boy, this could be interesting. Is Amy going to side with the Undertravelers regarding this being super fucked up, while Victoria sides with Piggot?

“Don’t,” Glory Girl snapped.  “I didn’t tell anyone what you did, but that’s the last nice thing I’m going to do for you, understand?

Oh, alright. I’m sure the rest of the family knows something’s up between them, though, even worse than it already was.

We’re not teammates.  We’re not sisters.  We’re not friends.”

Ow.

“I’m sorry, Amy,” Tattletale said, “But we’ve got to go.”

“I’ll go with you”? Perhaps more stuttery?

We were moving a minute later, leaving the squad of heroes behind.  Looking over my shoulder, I could see them getting in formation, clustering around Cache, who was regaining consciousness.

Aw, guess not. Fair enough. She’s had enough danger for a day without running straight into a zone that’s about to be bombed to hell and back in order to save some villains she has no reason to care for.

Only Glory Girl stood apart, her arms folded.

Wasn’t quite sure about the story there, but I was getting a sense of it.

Amy did something to Glory Girl and things went to shit between them.

That’s like a quarter of the story at most.

I could feel Amy tapping my arm.

!!

She did go with them!

Hell yes.

“What?” I had to raise my voice to be heard.

“Drop me off,” she spoke into my ear.

Dang it. I knew that might be coming.

I’m getting jerked around here, though…

But yeah, I can’t blame her.

It took a few seconds to get the message to Grue and come to a complete stop.  Tattletale stopped Bentley a hundred feet ahead.  Trickster and Sundancer looked back with mild curiosity.  Their costumes didn’t reveal much about their expressions.

I mean, she’s not quite an Undertraveler. She agreed to help you against Siberian, but this is something entirely different.

I do think the range relays are going to come in handy, though, somehow.

“How sad, that you see monsters where none exist.”

Right back at ya.

“Right.”

“It was nice to finally talk with you, Tattletale.  You should go help your teammates, if you’re going to.”

“Fuck you, Piggot.”

Yeaaah, Jemily has taken a turn for the far less sympathetic since Interlude 13, damn.

On the other hand, she’s also taken a turn for the more interesting, with her… perpendicular motivations and willingness to go really far for her goals.

There was no response, and Battery deemed the conversation over, putting away the phone.

See ya, ya warthog.

…sorry, that’s mean to warthogs.