No, a better plan of action would be to keep out of sight.

Stealth mode: Activate!

I sent my bugs forward, tracing the lines of the curtains and wall.  Once I was sure that the curtains in the next few patient enclosures were closed, I moved the curtain to my right and headed that way.

Nice.

Some cape I didn’t know was unconscious, blood smeared around his nose and mouth, almost caking the upper half of his mask to his face.

Ouch.

Where’s Greenfire when we need him?

Another enclosure, an empty cot, with red stains on the sheets from whatever patient had been there earlier.

Schrödinger’s stains: Whoever was here earlier is up and about, dead, and/or invisible.

…

Invisible zombies, huh…

In a matter of seconds, I had the keys in hand.  Good.

Sweet.

The cockroach that had brought me the thread helped me figure out the keys that would work, traveling over them to eliminate the ones that were too large, acting as an added digit to help sort through them and putting the right keys between my fingers.  It guided the end of the keys into the lock.  The first key didn’t fit, too large.

Worm; or: 72 Interesting Uses for Cockroaches

The second unlocked the cuff.

I guess the help of the cockroach allows Taylor to avoid the rule of three.

I hurried to unlock the cuff on my left hand, flexed my hand and arm, rubbed at my wrists.

I pulled the covers off, swung my legs over the side of the bed, and gingerly tested them against the ground.  They supported my weight.

😀

The relief was palpable.  Almost something I could feel, making me want to hug my arms around my body in quiet joy.

Careful, you’ll prickle yourself on your cactus arm.

But my priority was getting out of here.  Not so easy, with the amount of capes and PRT personnel around.  No windows around me, but if I stepped outside the curtain and into the main area, I risked running into someone like Legend or Armsmaster.

It’d be kind of funny if all three were right in front of the curtain entrance as she came out.

Hm. New crack theory: What if they wanted to make this happen, for the remaining Undersiders to prove their skills as masters of the escape, and that’s why it “works better if all of you are kept in the dark as long as possible”? Seems quite unlikely, but it’s a fun idea.

I was assuming from what Panacea had said that they had been treated for the injuries that had taken them out of the fight and were up and about.

Yeah, sounds about right.

Hopefully people were too busy to notice the falling keys or the small number of bugs.  I suspected it was crowded and busy out there, from what I had glimpsed when I was brought in.  If people did notice, well, I was still getting arrested anyways, right?

Nothing to lose, I suppose, unless whatever the Protectorate higherups have in mind counts.

Getting the keys up onto the bed would be harder.  I had the roaches put the keys beneath the bed, set them on the blanket, to start unraveling it.  Ten sets of mandibles -eleven now, as another cockroach came from the air vent- each working at individual threads.

…are they making a rope to tie to the keychain?

I was torn between rushing this and doing it right.  I had to convince myself that I wouldn’t be dragged off to jail in the next five or ten minutes.  Probably. 

It probably took that long to get a long enough piece of thread.  One group of bugs set to looping the thread around the keychain, tying it into a firm knot, while the others brought it up the side of the bed, up my body, my arm, and to my hand.

I mean, if wires can make knots without even having a brain, why not roaches?

Once I had the thread in my fingers, I started winding it up around my fingers with a circular motion of my hands, reeling in the keys.

Skitter the fisherwoman.

Getting the keys out of the pouch was harder.  I had to be smooth, and the keychain was heavy enough that the roaches couldn’t pick it up with their mouths.  Instead, I tried lifting it up with the middle of a roach’s body, supported by the rest.  No luck, it slipped free off of the convex exterior of the cockroach’s shell.

Whoops.

I turned it upside down, instead, used the more textured underside to catch the loop of metal.

Not bad.

The rest of the roaches latched on, hauled the roach up and out of the pouch, squeezed it through the flap-covered opening, breaking it nearly in two against the metal of the ring as they drove it through the too-narrow gap.  One roach dead, but the keys were falling free of the pouch.

This sounds like an oddly cute scene right up until the lifting roach dies.

Instinct took over, and I unconsciously bid roaches to move into place beneath the keys as they fell to the floor, muting  the noise of metal against the ground.  They skittered my way, the weight of the keychain managed between them.

Nice work!

I pulled on the chains, angrily.  I almost, almost sent the cockroaches on the bed after her.  I stopped when I saw the PRT uniform hold the curtain back for her in courtesy.

Hah, sure, that would help a lot. :p

When Armsmaster and Legend arrived, it would be too late.

Hm?

I sent the roaches after him, the PRT uniform.  They landed on him, individually squeezed into the pouches on his belt and bandoleer.

Found the keys on his belt.

Welp, we’ve got an escape attempt.

Oddly enough, this only makes me more sure that Legend, Armmaster and Miss Militia are going to be amicable. Well, as amicable as one can expect given the social circumstances and personalities involved.

I’m thinking they’ll intercept Taylor soon enough.

I couldn’t help but picture it.  My dad finding out I was a villain, what I’d done.  Forevermore having doubts about me.

You’re talking to the person who just prevented you from having to explain how you lost the use of your legs.

“I’m sorry,” I spoke, my voice low.

“Maybe you are.  I doubt it.  I’m sorry to leave you wondering what happened to your teammate, what the big name capes are going to say to you, but I have others to help.”

Fair enough. See ya around, I suppose.

She didn’t sound sorry at all.

Yeah, no, on some level she clearly enjoys it.

“Hey!”  I raised my voice again, “Come back here!”

She turned her head to give me a dark look as she walked away, “Good luck with Armsmaster.”

Maybe she needs it. Maybe not. I’m honestly leaning towards not.

Either way, Panacea is still oozing with insincerity.

She leaned close, so her mouth was by my ear, “Not so fun, is it?  Let me tell you, this isn’t a hundredth of the mind-fuckery that your teammate was pulling on me, back then.”

Ohh, yeah. Nasty tactics from Tattletale back then. Effective, but nasty.

“That wasn’t-” I stopped.

“What?  Wasn’t you?  You stood by and watched it happen, played along, took advantage of it.  Or maybe you were going to say it wasn’t that bad?  You really don’t know.  

Yeeah, Taylor doesn’t really have the perspective to understand the full extent of how nasty that was. And given that we were looking at it from Taylor’s perspective, neither do most of us, for that matter.

Well, at least at the time of first reading.

You don’t know me, you don’t know Glory Girl, you don’t know what Tattletale was saying, how she was threatening to ruin my life.

I guess she’s talking about the deeper meaning of what Tattle was saying… although there might’ve been something that was presented as Tattle whispering to Panacea, or Taylor not hearing it. I don’t remember.

Imagine the person you care about most, finding our your darkest secrets.  Secrets that, even if they eventually came to accept it, you know they would taint and color every single conversation you have with them afterward.”

The true horror of the name “Tattletale”.

She could’ve gone for a name that indicated her knowing people’s secrets. Instead she went for one that indicated that she would spread them.

“Hey!” I raised my voice again, “Give me an answer!  Stop fucking with me!”

She lifted her finger from my throat, and many of my smaller bruises and scrapes began making themselves felt once more.

Huh. I guess her power subdues the pain while in use. Makes sense – a lot of the procedures her power can stand in for would be rather painful without some sort of measures against the pain, even if they’re supposed to fix things.

I could breathe without a problem.  I wiggled my toes experimentally, felt them move against the soles of my costume.  I moved my left arm, felt no pain.  Tugged on the chain with it and felt everything working as it should, no pain.

Excellent. Shame your right arm turned into a cactus, though.

“All of us?”  It wasn’t just me.

“A slip of the tongue.” She smiled slightly, as if enjoying stringing me along.

Oh, she does. She absolutely does.

…

Headcanon that Amy arranges surprise parties for her family.

“Do these others include Tattletale?” I asked, “Did you heal her?”

She quirked an eyebrow.  “No.  I can tell you I didn’t.”

Ouch. Yeah, no… Sorry, Taylor.

“You didn’t.  Because she didn’t need your help, or because she was already dead?  Ow!”

My leg jerked again, a muscle in my thigh clenching hard, not unlike a charlie horse.  It subsided.

“I think we’re done here.”

Yeah, that’s definitely not her concentration breaking.

“According to the woman from the PRT that I talked to, it will work best if all of you are kept in the dark for as long as possible.”

Ominous… we might be dealing with…

*thundercrack*

…a surprise birthday party!!! *dun dun dunnn*

(The Protectorate doesn’t know Skitter’s birthdate, so they just guessed that it was today. It wasn’t.)

Also of note: “all of you”. Whatever this is, it’s not exclusive to Taylor.

…man, what if we’re getting both routes? What if all the remaining Undersiders (or maybe Brian and Alec, leaving Rachel out to dry – though I have a hard time seeing Brian accepting such a deal if he knows it’ll break up the group even further) get picked out as well as potential Wards?