You saw my face.  Shadow Stalker thought, Records say you’ve got no team, now.  

Oh.

I guess they’ve been updated since 9.1, then.

Operating alone between the old Boardwalk and the east end of Downtown.

That would be around where Danny’s house is, wouldn’t it? Did she move back in, or just stay in the area?

She leaped to the next rooftop, and the movement carried her a little ahead of her target, helped by the fact that the bug girl was moving a little slower with her burden.  Shadow Stalker paused and reached up beneath her cloak and between her shoulder blades.  She withdrew a cartridge for her crossbow, each bolt loaded in at a slight angle, so the aluminum ‘feathers’ at the tail of each bolt stuck out.

I know you’re out for catharsis and all, but you’d probably be better off following her all the way back to whatever acts as her base these days. Although I suppose if you tranquilize her now, you could just bring her in… if she really doesn’t have a team, then finding the base doesn’t matter as much.

She popped out one bolt to examine it, then turned it around so the barbed, razor sharp arrowhead caught the moonlight.  As Skitter passed beneath her, she turned the bolt’s point so her perspective made it appear to be at the girl’s throat.

…I said “tranquilize”.

Some of the bugs flowed out to pass over the PRT forces and the Chosen.

Wait, what is she doing now? Is she attacking the PRT too, or is this saying that the bugs are going past the battle and to the other side?

The thugs started recoiling and slapping at themselves, but Shadow Stalker couldn’t see much reaction from the PRT forces.

Ah, okay.

They were made of sterner stuff, in a way, and their uniforms covered them thoroughly enough that the bugs wouldn’t do nearly as much damage, if they were even attacking.

Yeah, and that’s a big if there.

Skitter emerged from the center mass of the swarm, carrying a bag of supplies from the truck.  It was green canvas, large, not dissimilar to a gym bag.

Wait, she

is

raiding supplies too? Huh.

I guess the PRT wouldn’t willingly provide those resources to Skitter and/or the Undersiders, and it’s tricky to get them even as civilians…

Pulling the strap over one shoulder, she briskly retreated back into the alley, the bugs trailing after her like the tail of a slow moving comet, or the steady trail of smoke from a candle.

I guess you could consider that one bag of supplies her payment for helping to stop the Chosen from taking everything.

It’s worth noting here that Skitter seemed to be working alone. Does that mean she isn’t working with the Undersiders, or just that they didn’t think she needed backup?

Incidentally, Taylor showing up now makes me believe it’s less likely that we’re getting a Chariot chapter, simply because it makes a lot of sense to pull things back to Taylor at the end of the Arc. Which also is part of why I figured we might get a Chariot chapter in the first place – if he is working for Taylor, that reveal would make for a pretty good transition into finding out what her plan is all about.

A feral smile spread across Shadow Stalker’s face, beneath her mask.

Fuck. Skitter is not only a villain in Sophia’s eyes, she’s a villain whom Sophia has personal beef with (re: identity mishaps) and who, last Sophia heard, was on the same team as Grue.

Shadow Stalker resisted the urge to jump down, watched as the shadow of the bug girl’s swarm moved over the Chosen, almost obscuring them from view.  The bug girl drew her combat stick, whipped it out to full length, and dispatched the Chosen one by one.  

Woo, go Taylor!

So what does Sophia think Skitter’s motivations for going against the Chosen are? That she wants the resources for herself and the Undersiders?

Shadow Stalker couldn’t see the hits, between the darkness and the obscuring mass of the swarm, but she saw the splashes and movements of the Chosen as they fell to the ground, clutching their faces, knees, and hands.

Nice work! 😀

On the other hand, Sophia probably knows that Skitter is aware of her secret identity, which could be a problem for Sophia.

Skitter.

😀

…

D:

shit, as far as Sophia knows, Skitter’s a villain, fuck

What?

Then another figure stepped out of the alleyway closest to them.  A girl, skinny, but not in the attractive way you saw in magazines.  Spindly.  Was that the right word?

Like a spider! 😀

Wait, is that word actually associated with spiders in English too? In Norwegian, one of the words for a spider’s web is spindelvev – essentially “spindle weave”.

Hm, looks like “spindle” is at least associated with threads made from fibers.

The girl was hard to make out in the gloom – there were no lights on the street, and the only light was what filtered from the moon and through the rain clouds.

I wonder if she’s in costume right now. If she isn’t, she’s made a bit of a mistake in not hiding better before using her power.

But yeah, Taylor’s costume is well suited for camouflage in the dark.

The girl glanced left, around the back of the truck, then glanced right, where she might have seen Shadow Stalker if she looked up just a little.

Probably the last person Taylor would like to see right now.

The lenses of her mask caught the moonlight, flashing a pale yellow.

Yep, costume confirmed. It was getting a little hard to defend Sophia not recognizing an uncostumed Taylor, even with the latter being “hard to make out in the gloom”.

Good to see you, Taylor. 🙂

The distraction afforded Miss Militia time to prepare and fire a mortar straight into Hookwolf’s chest.

Excellent.

As he collapsed backward, his chest cavity gaping open, her gun shimmered, split and transformed into a pair of assault rifles.  She unloaded clip after clip into the enemy ranks; rubber bullets, most likely.  

I’m rubber, you’re glue
You say ouch as I’m shot into you

The innate issues of the nonlethal ammunition were almost negligible in Miss Militia’s case.  She could reform the gun in a second if a gun jammed.

Pretty handy!

Shadow Stalker watched a crowd of Hookwolf’s Chosen move to flank, moving along the sidewalk, where the crashed truck blocked the view of the PRT forces.

Sneaky little chosenses.

Shadow Stalker raised her crossbow, hesitated.  She could jump down, take them down in close quarters combat.  It had been her entire reason for going out, after having to deal with the irritation of Vista.  She craved that catharsis.

I guess that confirms that the reason she’s doing this is to take out aggression. Not that that was very difficult to figure out, exactly.

She holstered her crossbow, prepared to dive into their midst, and then paused as she saw the Chosen stagger back, lashing out with their hands.

Hm? Did someone else show up?

This… kind of sounds like how someone might react to being attacked by insects that are too far away for the observer (Sophia) to see. Is Taylor around?

One shouted something, which was odd given how they had been trying to be stealthy only a moment ago.

Hm, yeah, something’s definitely up and I think that something might carry the name Skitter.

Instead, she settled for targeting the clusters of Hookwolf’s troops.  ‘Fenrir’s Chosen’.

Oh right, the mundane foot soldiers. I kinda forgot they were there.

Each of the thugs had white face-paint extending from forehead to cheekbone to chin, in a crude approximation of a wolf’s face.  She began dropping them at a steady rate, aiming for the biggest, the most aggressive and the ones who looked like they were in charge of lesser troops, the captains.

Sounds like good prioritization.

As the troops began falling, Hookwolf’s forces became unsettled, hesitating to advance.

Nice.

Hookwolf reared up on two legs, pointing and howling orders, likely demanding they attack.  His words were incomprehensible from the rooftop where Shadow Stalker crouched, but the tone left no mistake that he was threatening them to drive them back into the fight.

Sounds like something he’d do, yeah.