“Okay.”

“And measuring cups.”  I smiled behind my mask.

Oh yeah, good call.

Seriously, this whole scene is a fantastic display of Taylor fulfilling her promise to improve things for people in her territory. I love it.

The only question is when it’s going to cross Coil’s line. How long until Coil decides it’s costing more than it’s worth to him?

“We can’t pay you back for this, even if you give us a loan, we won’t be able to.” the mom said.

So they were assuming I was putting myself in some loan shark role.

Well, if not assuming, then at least being prepared for the possibility. It’s a very reasonable reaction, especially since Skitter is supposedly a villain.

Get them indebted to me, leech them for cash.

“It’s on the house,” I waved her off.

“Thank you,” she said, again.  I felt bad for feeling the way I did, but I thought her gratitude was a little muted for what I was giving her.

Hm, yeah. I guess maybe she just doesn’t know how to feel? Again, Skitter is supposedly a villain, but here she is doing things that are not only non-villainous but insanely altruistic for them, for no apparent compensation. Mix not being sure how to feel about that, with not being sure what she’s hearing is true, with it not having fully sunken in what Skitter is actually doing for them and that it’s really happening… Yeah, I could see that leading to some

lack of

enthusiasm.

“So many,” Charlotte gasped, as she saw the three or four hundred rats held high by the swarm.  Judging by the family’s expressions, they hadn’t known how many rats they’d had nesting inside their home.

Yeeah, most of them stayed hidden, didn’t they? Only some of them braved the open.

Turning to the dad, I told him, “Your rat problem is dealt with, and nearly all of the bugs are gone.  Some of my swarm will remain so I can keep an eye out for any future infestations, but you won’t see them.  Now, if you still want to swing at me, I’m okay to go a round or two.  No powers.”

“Man, I’ve been itching for a good unpowered fist fight ever since I stopped sparring with my teammate.”

His mouth twisted in a scowl, but he didn’t move to attack me.

Walking over to Sierra and Charlotte, I quietly asked them, “Would I be right if I guessed he wasn’t the one who asked for help?”

Heh, ya think?

Did any of them ask for help?

“Yeah,” Sierra said, “She did.”

Sierra pointed at the woman who was protectively clutching R.J.’s shoulders.

“Is this satisfactory?” I asked the woman, raising my voice.  “The dead rats will be cleared out of the area in a few minutes.”

Taylor is implicitly asking them if they’ll stay now. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t – they’ve already packed, and this wasn’t a super immediate problem, so they have quite likely arranged a place to go, which might even be better than what they have here.

“They’re really gone?  They won’t come back?”

“They’re gone, and they won’t come back until someone forces me to move out of this territory.”

That’s a nice way to spin it.

“Thank you,” she said.  She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something else, then stopped.

Hm… Something along the lines of “we owe you”, stopped as she remembered what she was talking to?

And yes, I mean “what”.

“Seventy-seven, seventy-eight, seventy-nine…”

I knew I wouldn’t quite have enough time to clear out the entire house of the rat corpses, so I cheated by hauling the rats through the walls, into the unoccupied neighbor’s residence and out the kitchen window at the back of that building.

Hehe. It would probably have worked better if you’d successfully gotten the angry guy to do the counting. Counting backwards is usually just a little slower, after all.

On the other hand, R.J. might be relatively slow too because of his age. I don’t know, nothing’s been said for or against that.

The last of my bugs left the sky around the house.  I timed the arrival of the last few dead rats with the end of R.J.’s countdown.

Of course.

“One, two, three…”

I love this.

Only a small fraction of the rats were left.  The largest mass of them had been herded into a corner by the swarm, and in their panic they had done nearly as much damage to each other as they were doing to the bugs.

I guess it does make sense to herd them into one spot if you’re going to be killing them anyway.

Stragglers remained elsewhere, but as good as they were at navigating the nooks and small spaces of the house, the bugs were just as good, organized by my will, and they vastly outnumbered the rodents.

The addition of Taylor practically turns the swarm into a hivemind that is much smarter than the individual bugs, and that makes the swarm incredibly effective at navigating mazelike environments and keeping track of things.

“Thirty-one, thirty-two…”

Before the last of the rats were dead, I began organizing roaches and other sturdier bugs to have them cart the dead rats away.

Ah, okay, so she is handling that. Good.

So we’ve got roach hearses carrying hundreds of rats to the rat graveyard to be rat buried by a rat undertaker.

I filled the corners of the stairs with massed insect bodies, until it was more like a ramp than a set of steps.  I stepped up to the house to open the door and let the swarm start bringing the dead rats outdoors.

I do think there’s an element of showbugship in Taylor’s motivations here. Showing a way she can dramatically make a difference to some of the people living under her care, dramatically. That’s why she came here, that’s why she’s opening the door instead of having the swarm carry the rats out some other way (I’m sure there are some available for creatures at that size, especially with the rat infestation in mind), that’s why she’s not explaining herself. She’s going to let the visual of roaches and other insects carrying rat corpses out the door in droves do the talking for her.

Irritated, I told him, “Count backwards from a hundred.  If you still want to when you’re done, I’ll give you that fight.”

Hehe. By then, she’ll be done with the rats, right?

He set his jaw stubbornly, refusing me the courtesy of a countdown.

I wonder if he’s counting internally, though.

Ignoring him, I looked at a young boy in the group.  Eight or nine years old, “What’s your name?”

He looked up at his mother, then at me, “R.J.”

Oh hey, it’s my dad… Wait, what?

“R.J.  Can you count to a hundred?”

Ahahahaha! She really wants that countdown, doesn’t she!

“Of course,” he looked offended at the idea that he couldn’t.

“Show me.”

Though in this case it seems like it’ll be a count-up instead.

I covered my approach with a cloud of bugs and slow, quiet footsteps.  Nobody noticed me arrive.

Heh, stealth bug. Maybe she’ll sneak into the cloud of bugs surrounding the house, appearing in front of it as the bugs finish their job and clear out?

“Just a minute or two longer,” I said.  Charlotte and some of the family members jumped.

Hehe, or that. Her startling people is just as good as badassery, and the other thing I was hoping for.

“You,” a man who might have been the patriarch of one of the families pointed at me, “You did this!”

Yes. Yes she did.

You just don’t know what she’s doing, though.

“Yes,” I answered him.

“Is this some sort of game to you!?  We were prepared to leave, and you keep us from getting our things?  Add another infestation to the one that’s already there!?”

Yeeah, might want to tell this guy what you’re actually up to, Skitter.

“She’s just trying to help!” Charlotte said, with a tone like she wasn’t expecting to be listened to.  I got the impression she’d tried convincing him earlier.  I raised one hand to stop her.

Ah, so they did give more explanation than just “stand back, this could get nasty”. That’s good.

It was better if I handled this myself.

The man drew himself up a fraction, “No reply, huh?  I’d punch you right here, right now, if I thought you’d give me a fair, no-powers fight.”

I kinda like this guy, actually. He’s angry, sure, but from his perspective, he has good reason to be, and he doesn’t let it override his survival instincts. Well, too much. He’s still antagonizing a supervillain and well aware of it, but at least he has the sense to keep it non-physical from his side.

I wonder what Dragon thought of the news about Skitter’s allegedly benevolent reign.