“You’re so hurt you can barely walk.  If they find you, you won’t be able to run.”

“Sick of running.”

I suppose she has been doing a lot of that in this story, both in and out of deadly situations.

Literally and metaphorically.

He stood and followed me.  He got ahead of me despite the fact that he was probably hurt worse than I was.  I ducked around him, and he pushed me against a wall.  “Don’t do this.  If you want to get revenge on those guys, if you want to help your people, you need to stop, rest, recover and plan.”

Stop. Rest. Recover. That’s really what she’s been needing to do for so long.

I struggled briefly, but the pain in my ribs and the burn on my back made that far more trouble than it was worth, and it was already pretty futile.

Yeah, no, I don’t think you’re going to overpower Grue physically.

Hated this.  Hated feeling weak, even if it was Grue I was comparing myself to.

My bugs alerted me to movement from Genesis.  I didn’t say anything to Grue, and simply waited as she grabbed her wheelchair, unfolded it and transitioned into it, before wheeling out into the hallway.

…alrighty then. Good morning, sleepyhead.

“What do you think you’re going to do?”

“I’m going out there.  They’re just bullies.  They’re powerful, they’ve got every advantage, but that’s all the more reason we can’t let them get away with this.

Bullies. It always comes back to bullies.

She’s right, though, that’s what they are.

I’ll bait them out, or find where they’re hiding.  I can take Burnscar down if I can get the right bugs to bite her, or sting her enough times.  I just have to do something.

Imp may have a couple things to tell you.

I can’t just stay here and let them get away with this.”

Hey, at least you have a really nicely-ranged power. Not as great as Shatterbird’s, but still. You’re one of the few here who could actually do something without putting yourself directly in harm’s way.

“We can’t endure this.  We won’t last.”

Are you talking about the entire nomination game?

“We got unlucky and took the brunt of it.  We’ll get a breather.”

“Will we?  These guys are experts in preying on weakness!  They’re going to target us and come after us until we can’t defend ourselves, they’ll kill us, then they’ll go after Panacea, or Armsmaster, or Hookwolf, or Noelle, and they’ll do the same thing!”

The nomination game kind of works as a countermeasure to this. Since they’re doing it turn by turn, they have to split their attention between the candidates, and can’t all gang up on one group at the same time (though that’s close to what happened here thanks to Burnscar getting tagged in).

However, they’re probably still going to go as close to this tactic as the rules will allow.

“Taylor.”

I pushed myself to a standing position.  “They’re going to do the same thing they’re doing to us, and they’re not just going to win.  They’re going to ruin everything while they do it!”

They’ve made good progress on that already.

So this feeling Taylor had… hopelessness, and perhaps the desire to leave the city entirely?

“Stop!”

I hobbled past him, and he grabbed my wrist.  Between anger and the fact that my sleeve was wet with the water of the shower, I managed to rip my hand from his grip.  “Don’t.  Don’t do that.”

Grue just wants her to calm down and look rationally at it, but this isn’t rational Taylor at the forefront. This is the Taylor who sees this situation as the nearly unwinnable bullshit it is and is reacting to it emotionally.

I’m not so sure she’s wrong to do so, but right now they need to focus on making it through the current situation.

Nearly half a year ago, I’d gotten my powers when I was trapped in a locker, wanting to be anywhere but where I was then.  I’d reached out, my mind extending out for something, anything to distract me and draw my focus away.

…hey, look, isn’t that basically how I originally interpreted it? Although I think I focused more on the search for someone to communicate with.

So what’s this mini-recap leading into? I could see this going two main ways: a) Taylor really doesn’t want to be here, in this situation, and gets a power boost, or b) speculation on Burnscar’s power and trigger event.

There’s a good chance Burnscar’s trigger event involved her getting stuck in a burning building and wanting to be somewhere else. So the Dandelions made her capable of going somewhere else, via the fire.

I wasn’t trapped in a locker, but I felt very close to how I had then.  Except it wasn’t the feeling that I was trapped.  My power’s range hadn’t increased.

I guess I was half right?

It felt like that in a different way.

In that she’s looking for something to distract her?

Or perhaps that there’s somewhere specific she would rather be?

“We can’t do this,” I said.

“Hmm?”  Grue had torn open his pants leg and was suturing one of the cuts.

Hmm indeed.

The kids began to get sorted and follow Charlotte’s instructions as she herded them out of the room, staying by the door to ensure nobody was left behind.  There were no complaints and there was nothing like chatter or crying from the kids.

That’s…

I don’t know which adjective to use to describe that, but it doesn’t feel right.

It’s like the kids have fully accepted and internalized that this is happening to them and they need to do what the big girl says to stay alive.

How many of them had watched their parents die for them?  They were so stoic, or shocked.

Poor kids.

Grue looked at me, “What are you thinking?”

“They take cover, we stay.  I’m going to try to use my swarm to get a sense of where Genesis is and how the fight’s going.

Seems reasonable.

The second things go south or this area gets too dangerous, we get her out of here.”

“You’ll need this,” Charlotte said.

Hm? Something Genesis gave her?

I hadn’t noticed it with all the people in the room.  At the foot of the bunk, in the corner of the room, there was a folded up wheelchair.

Oh, alright!

Might not be easy wheeling her out in a hurry, but if they’re careful I think they can do it.

Can’t ever be easy.

Hehe, of course not!

I didn’t want to think about it.

Completely understandable.

“Charlotte, did you come in through the front door or the other entrance?”  I asked.

There’s another entrance?

…I suppose that would be the entrance via the storm drain. This place was probably built with an actual regular door somewhere.

“Front door.  I was thinking about taking these kids and running for it, but I didn’t know if you’d want-”

I think there’s a good chance she’d want that, at least now that the place is on fire.

“Secrecy is not that important right now.  Take them down to the storm drain and stay there.  It’s more or less fireproof, it’s not going to collapse on their heads, and it’s a better hiding spot than this.”

Oh yeah, good call.

It seemed like getting orders invigorated her.  “Okay.  Come on, guys.  Get ready, shoes on, this way.”

Relatable. Now that she knows what the boss wants her to do, she can do it without worrying that she’s messing up.

Genesis slept on one of the bunks I’d set aside for my employees.  Her face was contorted in an expression of concern.  Average looks, if a little round-faced, she had long eyelashes, and her auburn hair was a mop.

That last part makes me imagine a daughter of Bitch and Regent.

She had to sleep to use her power.  Could we afford to disturb her?  If we tried to move her and she woke up, would it mean taking her out of the middle of a fight where she could do something to Burnscar or Mannequin?

This limitation could be quite interesting if combined with someone who had trouble sleeping.

Anyway, this seems to link Genesis’ power to the dreams. In her sleep, she can be whoever, whatever, she wants to be. In her dream, she’s the star. It’s she who makes that catch.

All the more metanarrative reason for her to be disabled in some way outside the use of her power. And conversely, that may be why she has this power in the first place.

“Where are the rest of my people?” I asked.

“Sierra divided us into teams and sent each of us in a different direction, telling us to get people to evacuate.  I almost ran right into Mannequin.  I hid and saw him attack.”

Sounds like Sierra knew what she was doing.

I felt out with my power, sticking exclusively to the building interiors, to avoid inadvertently barbecuing my bugs and frittering away my resources.  I used the bugs in the area to try to get a headcount.  The geography and the spread of people in this area was becoming familiar to me.

She’s been constantly sensing it for weeks, after all. It’s like she’s been sitting there, staring at a map.

Very few were still alive and in this area.  Too many had died.  How many bodies were there?  Thirty?  Forty?

And all because of the Nine who aren’t even that many. Only a few of them, for that matter.

“Don’t be mad,” she said, in a small voice.

I really can’t see Skitter being mad about this.

“Mad?”

She spoke quietly, as if the kids wouldn’t hear, “I didn’t know where else to take them.  Sierra said we had to hide, that Mannequin was coming.

Ah, right, that order was a thing that was recent enough to still be in effect.

I saw him killing people without even moving.  He went after families, but he was focused on the parents, not the kids.  He killed them and let the kids run-”

Interesting. A bit of a soft spot for the little ones?

“Stop.”  My voice was harder than I meant it to be.  “I don’t want to hear it.”

I get that. Skitter is already feeling shitty enough about not being able to save everyone.

This is my failure.

Case in point.

“I didn’t know where else to take them.”

“You did good,” I said.  I sounded like Burnscar did.  No emotion behind the words.

Burnscar and Skitter may be more alike than either of them would like to admit.

“Someone else should have come here.  A girl or a woman, probably with an escort.”

Huh, yeah, I suppose they wouldn’t know Genesis’ true age.

Charlotte didn’t answer, but moved aside.

Genesis.

Oh, hi there.

I wonder if she’s conscious.

He nodded, and we ran.

Grue was letting his darkness dissipate, for the most part, as we were under cover and out of the way.  We made our way to the storm drain, using the wall for support.

The storm drain that goes into the lair?

We headed through the secured doors and into my cellar, then up the stairs to the main floor.

Yeah. How are things looking here?

> Skitter: Examine room.

My lair wasn’t burning down, but I could see the faint flicker of flame on nearby buildings through the slits on the shutters.  A quick investigation with my power showed that it wasn’t anything serious.  I set bugs in place as an early warning system.

Good call. Even if it’s nothing serious now, it doesn’t mean it won’t get worse.

We headed straight for the bedrooms.  I wasn’t expecting to see what I did.

…

Hmmm.

Burnscar showing up there would be quite the twist.

More likely, though, it’s something to do with Genesis’ real body.

There must have been fifteen of them.  Kids, none of them older than ten, some as young as four.

Oh damn, nice. Is this Sierra’s work, perhaps?

Or maybe Genesis’ power is glitching.

There were three to a bunk, sitting up or lying down.  Charlotte was with them, the eldest.

Ah, Charlotte, not Sierra. Same basic idea, just not the right individual.