A scene up ahead caught my attention.  Two pieces of machinery lay in a heap just below the lip of the boardwalk above.  A bulldozer and an eighteen wheeler with a crane-mounted claw attached had both been driven or pushed over the edge of the boardwalk and onto the beach.

Huh. What happened here? Villains afoot? Slaughterhouse, perhaps?

Or maybe this just happened and Dragon did it by accident with a high-speed mech after recognizing Taylor on the surviving surveillance cams (also known as survivance cams)?

The cab of the truck with the claw had been partially crushed by the bulldozer.

Sounds like a scene out of a demolition derby, or the Blues Brothers. Same thing, really.

Though it was barely past six in the morning, a group of laborers were already there, some on the ledge above, others down on the beach, all gathered around the trucks.

o hai

Spray paint had been used to draw the same crude symbol on both the side of the eighteen wheeler and the concrete wall separating the beach from the Boardwalk above.  A capital ‘M’, with two taller lines drawn vertically through it much the same as you’d do with a dollar sign.  The Merchants.

Ahh. Those villains afoot.

What do they want here? Just generally mess with the restoration efforts, or is there some sort of blackmail going on?

I started running the moment I reached the beach, glad for the chance to resume my routine.

So here’s the question for the grand prize: Will this be when Dragon finds her target? And if she does, will she try to get in touch immediately?

It was a strange environment, eerie.  The wooden pathway, the literal boardwalk that had run in front of the stores, was now a skeletal ruin that loomed above the piles of trash that the bulldozers had all pushed to one side, twice as tall as I was.

RIP.

The beach had been cleared, which was a feat unto itself.   The work of the bulldozers and the crews with rakes had revealed the packed, dirt-like layer from beneath the loose sand.

Huh.

I guess they needed to clear that away a bit to start rebuilding.

Opposite the trash piles, by the water, there were mounds of irregularly shaped pieces of concrete, set to break up the waves and prevent the highest tides from dragging the trash, debris and machinery into the ocean.

That would be an unpleasant déjà vu.

Opposite the trash piles, by the water, there were mounds of irregularly shaped pieces of concrete, set to break up the waves and prevent the highest tides from dragging the trash, debris and machinery into the ocean.

This place could definitely not recognize itself in the mirror these days.

I made my way to the building’s cellar, opened a hatch and entered the adjacent storm drain.  The same builders that had put the building together had blocked off the drain so the water flow wouldn’t make it impassable, and I was left with a clear route down to the section of beach where the storm drains emptied.

Niice.

Also, seems reminiscent of the old shortcut to the Loft.

I wasn’t sure if Coil had plans to keep the city’s workers from trying to unblock the drain, but I supposed that was the sort of thing we could rely on him to handle.  In the meantime, a third of the storm drains were too clogged with rubble and detritus to drain, and another third didn’t connect to anything anymore.

Considering Leviathan’s antics, it’s no surprise the storm drains in particular are out of order.

Add the fact that most of the storm drains were a little out of the way of regular foot traffic, and it wasn’t too conspicuous.

Yeah, sounds good.

If there was anything about myself that I didn’t like, it was primarily psychological.  Guilt was a big one.  The idea that my dad might dislike me if he got to know me, now?  That was another.  That my mom, were she alive and showing up at the door, might be disappointed in me?  Sobering.

Oof, ow, ouch…

Who let Wildbow coat his words in bone hurting juice?

As he’d done with his own underground base, Coil had set my lair up with a discreet entrance and exit.

Makes sense. Never know when enemies might be blocking off the front door.

Leaving through the front door would be conspicuous, if I started working with anyone beyond my teammates.

That too. As I mentioned, surveilling the building for a while would quickly reveal that Taylor worked for Coil if she’d kept using the same door as the more obvious of Coil’s folk.

Skinny teenage girl with black curly hair entering and leaving the same building that the skinny teenage villain with black curly hair was operating out of?  No.

That too.

This was not recognizing myself in a very different way.  There were still things I didn’t like, like my wide mouth, my small chest and the lack of curves or any real femininity.

At least bugs can help with a couple of those, at least to outside observers.

My scars stood out with my slight tan, a teardrop shaped mark on my forearm where Bitch’s dog had bitten me, a wavy mark on my cheek where Sophia had dug her fingernails in,and a line by my earlobe where she’d tried to tear my ear off.

Ow, yeah. Man, imagine returning to Danny and trying to explain away all those things.

“Leviathan got into the shelter I was in and tried to tear my ear off. It didn’t work, so he left me alone.”

But my physical flaws no longer consumed my attention when I looked at myself. I felt comfortable with my body, like I’d somehow earned it, the way it was, and it was mine now.

😀

At least as long as Regent keeps his hands off.

I wasn’t sure if that made any sense, even to myself.

That’s fine, as long as you’re happy with it.

I stood in front of the full length mirror in my bedroom to check how visible the weapon was.

It wasn’t exactly hidden, but it wasn’t conspicuous either.

Ah, fair enough.

I adjusted it slightly, then called a small collection of bugs to me.  It was a little creepy, having them crawl on my skin, beneath my clothes into my hair, but that stopped when they reached their destinations – above my socks, in my hair and between my bra and my top.

A somewhat unusual way of making one’s boobs look bigger and a bit more… animated-at-will.

I was cool with it so long as they weren’t directly on my skin.

Yeah, sounds more comfortable this way.

He hung up.

It was a lot of time to kill.  Free time sucked when you didn’t want to be alone with your thoughts.

An hour is too long for lunch. (It’s a bit early, too.)

I wanted to run, but it was awkward.  The fenced off areas, construction zones and flooded streets of the Boardwalk didn’t really make a sprint around the neighborhood that doable.  Besides, it was dangerous enough I might stand out.

Ah, yeah, that’s fair.

Hm. An hour may be too long for lunch, but maybe you should at least take some of this time to eat breakfast.

In the end, I went against my better judgement and decided to go for a run.

Oh, alright. Guess we’re doing this now!

I dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top, donned my running shoes and ensured I had both my pepper spray and my knife.

Still sticking with the safety precautions, as taught to by Danny. Though I’m not sure he’d approve of the knife.

But yeah, that’s especially important when there’s a legitimate risk that someone might figure out that you’re Skitter, or at least, that you’re a reasonably high-ranking Coil officer (that much could be deduced by surveilling the building for a while).

I unstrapped the knife’s sheath from the back of my costume, then threaded a belt through it so I could strap it around my waist.  I put the sheath itself under my waistband and the handle of the knife under my top.

Nice. Concealed, but not that hard to pull out if needed.

It bothered me, calling him, relying on him.  It made me feel complicit.  Inconveniencing him, even a little, felt good.

Hah, nice.

Maybe you should team up with Imp and play some pranks on him.

“Yes?”  His question was curt.

“It’s Skitter.”

“What is it, Skitter?”

“I need a loan of some guys.”

What do you have in mind? Furniture-moving muscle? Company?

“How many?”

I looked around the living room, “Eight?  A truck would be a good idea, if you can get one here.”

“I can.  These men you require, are you needing gunmen or-”

“Just regular guys, anyone up for some exercise.”

Sounds like the former.

Or maybe she just wants an entourage on her morning run? ;P

“I assume there’s no rush?”  He was being more curt than usual.  Maybe I’d woken him up.  I didn’t really care.

Sounds like it, yeah.

I wonder, since Taylor making this call isn’t dependent on Coil’s actions (unless he did something involving Taylor in the other reality), is he currently having this conversation with two Skitters at once?

He could deal, if I was working on something that helped him.

“No rush.”

“Then I’ll have them there in an hour.”

“An hour, then.”

Sounds alright.