I kept the bugs swirling around me, tightly packed together so they would be moving in tendrils and loops.  Like Grue habitually did with his power, I was aiming to use my own abilities to make myself look bigger, more impressive.

It was like a dog raising its hackles or a cat arching its back.

Sweet.

“Some of you know of me!” I called out, and the noises of the swarm accented the words, gave an eerie, strangely loud echo to my voice.  “My name is Skitter!”

Admittedly not the most intimidating name you could’ve ended up with. The swarm echo might help with that, though.

I looked over the crowd.  So many kids.  So many who looked sick, pale with red cheeks.  Some people were dressed too heavily for this warm weather.  Everyone was dirty and damp, their hair greasy and clothes wrinkled.

“damp”

What did I say? Ain’t nothing dry in town anymore.

My eyes fell on a figure in the back of the crowd, who stood out because she wasn’t unwashed or wrinkled.  Her white and gray costume had patterns on it in light blue that weren’t too different from a circuit board.

…heroic intervention? Or is that Purity? I don’t recall the circuit board thing with her, but it’s been a while.

If she’s a hero, the outfit sounds New Wave-y.

She leaned against a power pole, her arms folded, content to watch.  The people nearest her were watching her as much as they watched me.

Looks like whoever this is, she’s intrigued. Wants to see where this is going.

I’d known I’d attract attention from the heroes.  Still, it was intimidating, a reminder of how fragile this whole thing was.

Hang on, I think I know who it is!

*does a blog search for the suspect to confirm*

“Her costume was white and dark gray, with cobalt blue lines tracing it like you might see on a circuit board.”

It’s Battery!

No, my gut told me this had reached the point where I had to act.  From my seat in the truck, I drew my bugs together into a humanoid shape, and had the figure approach from the rear of the crowd, walking towards me.  I waited, my attention focused on my swarm’s senses.

Niiice.

There was a gasp, then a general murmur.  A woman shrieked.  I felt the crowd part, heard the shouts.  They’d noticed the figure I’d created with the swarm.

This is really cool. So is this figure human-sized, or a bit bigger? I’m currently imagining it as maybe 2-3 times human size.

Most eyes would be on it, now.  I scattered its shape and had the swarm leap or shoot towards the rear of the truck in a loose blob, arcing slowly through the air to land at the rear of the truck, on top of the crates.

It really feels like putting on a show.

I guess to an extent, that’s exactly what this is.

The moment I knew the crowd would be unable to see, I stepped out of my hiding spot and into the midst of the swarm.

Ooh, are you creating the illusion that the swarm was (or was containing) you? Neat.

I scattered the bugs explosively, sending every one of the bugs flying or crawling directly away from me, revealing myself.  The people closest to the pile of crates I was standing on backed away. 

What an entrance. I love this so far.

I was taking a risk, here.  Gambling.  It was like betting someone a million dollars that you’d hit a bullseye, when you’d barely played darts before.  It wasn’t that I was confident this would succeed.  It was that I really needed that million dollars.

I see… Good luck.

In short, I needed to get underway with Coil’s agenda, and I needed to do it fast.

In order to prove your value to him and get us up to Dinah’s possible release when/if the plan succeeds faster?

More people were still making their way towards us, joining the crowd.  The bystanders would be getting more confident with numbers at their back, and they would be getting increasingly worried that if the crowd grew too large, maybe they wouldn’t get any supplies for themselves.

Ouch, yeah, better not keep them waiting too long.

If I put it off any longer, they could mob us, and I didn’t want that.

Yeah.

In this manner, weighing enticement against implicit threat, I managed to keep the crowd in place as it grew to dozens, then a hundred people, with more still approaching, pushing the number closer to two hundred.  Barely a fifth of all the people I’d tried to get in touch with.  I was okay with that.  It was enough to spread the word.

It’s still a pretty sizable crowd. Nice work.

Also, getting one in five people to follow the instructions written in bugs on their walls by a known villain is honestly impressive.

It wasn’t two minutes before the first people started to arrive.  The first few were kids, no older than ten, gathered in a loose pack, maintaining a wary distance.  The next two groups were families, parents with their kids in tow.

Huh. I guess the kids want to see what’s going on and run a bit faster than the adults, and the families are more desperate for supplies than most single people.

I noted that the group of men who stepped out of an alley were armed, with knives and clubbing weapons hidden under their clothes and in their jackets.

Hello there. Merchants?

One of them swatted one of the flies I was using to feel him out.  Were they members of the Merchants, or just a band of grown men that had taken to carrying weapons to protect themselves?

Could be either, I’m guessing the former. Either way they could mean trouble.

I’d known this move of mine would attract people of all types.  If they were Merchants, I was okay with that, I’d accounted for it.  Above all, I knew that this offering of supplies would attract the people who were hungry enough to venture out into the outdoors with the oppressive cloud of bugs looming above them.

I guess she’s willing to feed the Merchants too, as long as they don’t try to take the others’ shares, or otherwise start trouble.

Also, yeah, I suppose this is a good way of finding the people who want the resources most.

I would also attract the people who would want to confront me, Merchants included.

Naturally.

I meant what I stuck in that false dialogue. Taylor genuinely could have killed tons of people rather quickly if she’d wanted to. Let’s not underestimate the bug power.

I stayed in the truck as Coil’s men unloaded it.  I sensed some of the people venturing out of their residences, and I was careful to leave them unmolested by the bugs, using only what I had to in order to track them.

Nice. Yeah, this call to meet is unsettling enough as it is, try not to unsettle them more by swarming them with too many bugs.

Watching from windows and entryways, encouraged by those who left, others ventured to follow.

“Might as well… Not like she couldn’t have killed us already if she wanted to.”

The area in which I’d ordered the truck to stop was open.  I hoped would encourage the growing crowd to approach.

Nice.

The truck was parked in the middle of the road, and the boxes were unloaded onto the ground just below the rear of the truck.  I wasn’t sure I liked that they were getting wet, but I knew they were at least partially waterproof.  I should have thought to ask Coil for some kind of platform or pallet to set them down on.

I doubt the civilians mind the supplies being a bit wet at this point.

Besides, what isn’t wet in Brockton Bay these days?