“Tattletale?” I asked, the second she picked up.

“She’s still down there.”  Tattletale replied.

“Why?  Hurt?”

I doubt that.

“Don’t know.  Planning her next move?  Don’t get the impression she’s tunneling.”

I like how we’re getting a “second opinion” on these things.

“My bugs don’t either.  Hey, I’m wondering if Siberian can affect her real self?  Why doesn’t she just grab him and run?”

“Good question.  But that’s not our real concern.”

Then what is?

“What is?”

“Them.”

…fuck, did we just run right into the battle with the other Nine? Or did the Protectorate show up?

It took three or four seconds before I saw them arrive, stepping through the mist to stop a distance from the hole.  Identical costumes, all-concealing, with gas mask filters on the front and tinted panes for the upper faces.

Fuck, they did. This is very bad, because it means it’s only a matter of time before Bakuda’s bombs come into play.

Each was color coded.  Four flew, one using a jetpack.  One was on the ground, a style of super-speed I recognized as Battery’s.  Rounding out their group was the ghostly image of a bear.  Ursa something, from Legend’s squad.

Ghostly bear, sounds about right.

Also how did they expect the Nine not to recognize that one by the power??

She had three forms, or she duplicated herself into three states, or something.  I wasn’t sure about the naming convention.

…interesting. So it’s kind of a hivemind between three different ghostly bodies, then? Or is the word “duplicated” a bit misleading here?

One for the big bear, one for the small, and one for the woman.

An Ursa Major and an Ursa Minor. Nice.

This wasn’t a victory.  It was a stall.  We couldn’t stop Siberian so long as she was able to grant invulnerability to her other self, but we could keep her from reaching her teammates in any meaningful amount of time.

And you can force her to continue granting invulnerability to her other self in order to limit how much she can do to help Bonesaw the other Nine.

It was interesting, I had to note, that she was affecting the truck and not her maker.

I mean, so far that’s been logical enough, since they needed the truck… but I suppose they could’ve just picked up their real body earlier on the trip, ditching the truck. So maybe they can’t grant invulnerability to themself?

A limitation?  A drawback?  Could she not use her power on her real body?

Clouds of white steam intermingled with the black tendrils of Grue’s darkness.  We stopped running, but we didn’t approach.  I focused my power on the bugs in the ground.  Ants, earthworms.  Was she tunneling?  No.  As far as I could tell, the ground was intact.  She wasn’t moving.

Maybe they’ve realized they can’t get out without exposing their real body to the Undertravelers?

“What did you do?”  Amy whispered from behind me.

I didn’t have the breath to explain.

The Travelers have some really destructive powers.

“Drop the darkness?”  I asked.

Grue nodded.  The darkness cleared, but the steam didn’t make it any easier to see.  I saw the shadowy silhouette of Tattletale, a distance away.  I practically had to peel Amy off of me to get to my cell phone.

Poor Amy. 😛

“Let me know-”  She grunted as Bentley stumbled over a pothole.  “Let-”

“Got it!”  I replied.

I tracked the people in nearby buildings, and kept my arm extended to point at Siberian.

Timing is everything here.

Though I’m not sure this is going to work?

“Got to use my power again!”  Grue shouted.

“Signal us!”  Tattletale called out.

We pulled right, plunging into the darkness.  It was thinning out, and faint shafts of light were piercing through.We crossed the road behind Siberian, and Grue blasted them with darkness, replenishing the effect.  We continued across the street, moving behind cover.

Nice work.

Only a few people in the upcoming area.  We had to be close to Regent’s group.  Time was short.

This chase would be really cool in motion.

I drew images with my bugs to point her in the right direction, and then formed the word with my bugs as the other group continued forward.  ‘NOW’.

Go, Sunny!

We passed out of the darkness just in time for me to catch sight of the orb.  It was larger now.  Large enough that when it fell, it had to be touching both of the sidewalks on the four lane road.

Damn.

Even with a building between us and the impact zone, I could feel the wave of heated air, and I saw the billowing steam.  Grue took the reins and guided Sirius away before it could reach us.

Probably a good idea, yes.

Sundancer hadn’t hit Siberian.  She’d dropped the orb straight into the road a hundred feet ahead of them, and she’d plunged it down, hard.

Well. Are they going to drive right into it?

My bugs died as Siberian approached the impact site, burned up by the heated air.  I could imagine what had happened.  The miniature sun would have burned a hole into the ground, melted or even vaporized pavement.

Ohh, right, of course – the car is invulnerable, but it’s still a car. It shouldn’t be able to get out of a deep crater easily, let alone safely.

Affected by Siberian’s power or not, they were still affected by gravity.

I couldn’t say what would have happened in the long run.  Had they hit the wall or floor of the pit and used Siberian’s power to make it as invulnerable as they were?  Or had they plunged through it, burying themselves some distance underground.

Either way, they’re stuck.

Or rather, the truck is. The Monochrome could still pick up Siberian and carry them to their destination, but leaving the real body behind to go help the other Nine would be even less of an option under those circumstances.

A nearby building was burning.  I saw Sundancer forming another orb near the site, I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but the flames on the building were shrinking and dying out.

Fighting fire with fire, I suppose.

“Do it!”  I shouted as we began to pull alongside them.  Siberian would be out of range of Grue’s darkness in moments if Grue wasn’t behind her, replenishing and extending his power.

“Where is she!?”  Tattletale shouted.  Sundancer was leaning back, her hand out to one side.  The orb she was creating was small.

I don’t think it’ll stay small very long.

I pointed.

The orb was getting larger.  The size of a baseball, a beachball, an armchair.  As it grew, it drifted farther away, higher.

Like I was saying.

By the time it was directly overhead, it was large enough to swallow up my bedroom whole.

“Gotta stop them!”  Tattletale called out, “We blindside them!”

As in throwing the sun at them from where they can’t see it coming?

“Civilians!?”  Sundancer cried out.

“Some!”

That is a bit of a problem, yeah.

I could see Siberian tense, as if intending to jump, but another explosion from Trickster kept her in place.  She was protecting the truck, surrounding it with her forcefield.

Ohh. Right, that would explain why she’s staying there. She’s protecting her real body from both Skitter and Trickster.

I wasn’t sure how it was able to interact with the road, but a grenade going off under the front of the truck failed to achieve anything.

…hm.

There would be nothing to stop her from staying there until the truck reached
the other Nine.  It would out Siberian’s real nature to any of the Nine who didn’t know, and that wasn’t a total loss, but it also meant our teammates would be blindsided by her arrival.

But hey, Siberian would still need to protect the truck…

I felt something bump my hands.  Grue was holding the chains that led to Sirius’s muzzle.  He bumped my hands agan, and I took hold of them.

…are you planning on doing something awesome, Grue?

With his own hands free, leaning hard against me for support, he reached out and buried Siberian and the truck in a carpet of darkness.

Oh man, I really hope this is going where I think it’s going. Monochrome Brian’s anti-invulnerability strength versus Monochrome Siberian’s protection, who would win? Though it is worth noting he’d only have a fraction of their power.

…that is, if he can get the darkness to cover Siberian’s real body, at least. It might not work on the Monochrome.

Also worth noting: Driving in the darkness might be a bad idea, even if your car is invulnerable.

Following, we soon plunged into the wake.

The second we were out of sight, I shifted our position so we were running in the left hand lane, rather than the center of the road.  Didn’t want Siberian guessing our position and pouncing on us.

Makes sense.

I could sense the surroundings with my bugs, but my power was diminished.  I was aware of Grue, Amy and Bentley, of Tattletale, Trickster and Sundancer a short distance away, keeping pace.  I could see Siberian and the truck.

You can see them? Like, literally, not via the bugs?

I couldn’t detect any sign that Grue was projecting anything with Siberian’s power.  Whatever she was doing to the truck, it was protecting her from him.

Again, though, if they actually want to do anything to help the other Nine when they get there, they’ll have to either get the other Nine on board the truck, or leave it, in the latter case lifting the protection of their real body.

The upside was that the driver was blind.

I could tell because he drifted.  It was gradual at best, but he veered slightly to the left.  With no point of reference, he didn’t know he needed to correct.

Excellent.

A moment later, he smashed into the face of a tall building.  Siberian’s power meant the truck took no damage, and the driver corrected course, but soon enough, he began to veer again.

Actually, maybe this isn’t so much of an upside after all? Unless the impacts wind up knocking the Monochrome down, which would give Taylor a precious moment to get through the truck before Siberian resummoned the Monochrome on the truck and made sure she was steady this time.

This wasn’t getting us anywhere, and we were running the risk that he’d hit someone, crash into or through an inhabited area.

See “maybe this isn’t so much of an upside after all”.

He noticed us shortly after we noticed him.  Siberian flickered into existence on top of the vehicle, standing, her legs shifting to adjust her balance as it hit a crack in the pavement and rocked slightly to one side.

Signs point to yes.

Though we’ll have to see how well they drive under these conditions.

I heard Amy shriek as she saw Siberian.

Amy, internally: “TATTLETAAAAALE”

Tattletale veered left, hard, and Grue turned us right.  We each cut into side streets, running parallel with the truck.  Bentley was lagging slightly behind, but I caught a glimpse of the other group as we made our way past a major intersection.

So they’re pretty in sync for what they’re doing.

Two blocks away, slightly behind us.

I heard an explosion, and Amy clutched me tighter in reaction.

Woah, what just happened?

Did someone fuck up Siberian’s truck? But I think Taylor would sense that through the bugs first.

Glancing down, I could see her arms around my ribcage, the hand with the maimed fingers held slightly off and away so it wouldn’t get bumped or jostled.

Trickster was handling the opening salvo.  The objects he was swapping for grenades weren’t even close in size -signs and traffic cones- so the timing was horribly off.

Ohh, right.

Also, I’m sure a lot of the Taylor/Amy shippers like this scene.

Siberian didn’t move from her perch.

What’s wrong, Siberian? Not able to control both the Monochrome and the car at the same time, only pulling out the Monochrome in order to intimidate?

Grue steered Sirius into a sharp left, and the dog’s claws skidded for a grip on the flooded street before we turned.  We got one block and then turned right, putting us directly behind them.

So what’s the plan from here?

He swerved sharply to try to throw the bugs off, but there wasn’t enough in the way of momentum or wind.  My other flying insects began to ferry larger black carpenter ants onto the windscreen, to use their sharp bites to penetrate the plastic sheeting.

Niice.

We were making holes, but the attempts of my swarm to worm their way through the holes and open them enough for the more dangerous bugs to get inside were stymied by the wind and the flapping of the plastic.

Not enough wind to throw them off, but enough to make things difficult.

Every movement, however small, threw off my ability to track where the existing holes were.

We had a bead on him, and the dogs were better suited for rough terrain than the moving vehicle.  It was only a minute before we caught up.

So. Can he control the Monochrome and the car at the same time?

As I’d guessed, a white moving van with a giant icon of a hand on the back with the words ‘Haul It!’

Hah, nice.

I might have found it amusing if the circumstances were slightly different.

Fortunately, for me the circumstances are quite different, so I’m free to be amused. 😛

I had them in place for less than ten seconds before I found a moving vehicle.

Alright, so it looks like she does have two-way access to the relayed bugs. Sweet.

It was a truck with plastic sheeting over the windows, four-wheeled, with a compact rear.  A small moving truck?  It was moving faster than was safe, veering wildly as it to get through the water and over the damaged streets, and it was heading straight for central downtown.  Straight for the others.

Siberian is super motivated, clearly.

“Found him!”  I hollered, at the top of my lungs.  Tattletale looked over at me, and I signaled, extending my arm to the ten o’clock position.

Maybe we’ll actually be able to catch up before Siberian makes too much of a mess over there!

I felt strangely calm as I shifted my focus to the attack.

Let’s do this thing. Fuck ‘em up, Taylor.

If it came down to it, I’d have to kill the man.

What do you mean if it came down to it? Isn’t that your main objective?

My bugs clustered on the ‘windshield’ of flapping plastic, gathering in heavy numbers.  The faster moving dragonflies and hornets began to pelt the plastic, attempting to drive themselves through it.  Most died in the process.

Subtle.

Letting go of Grue with one hand, I patted Amy’s hand and then reached back to give her a thumbs up.  I set more dragonflies and other various bugs down on the backs of her hand.

I appreciate that Taylor is visibly validating Amy for her help here. Amy needs that.

In another minute, I had four more relay bugs.  I paired them up and sent them forward, so one relay could transmit to the next.

Relay works as a term for them too, sure.

(I called them repeaters because of radio repeaters. My dad has ham radio as a hobby, so that’s what came to mind when I realized what the echo was.)

Two extra city blocks of range.  I started gathering a swarm with the bugs in question.

Also, it seems they can indeed be daisy chained! That ought to come in handy.

Amy had balked at the idea of outfitting me with altered bugs.  Had she maybe settled on these, because she thought they wouldn’t give me as much offensive potential?

Perhaps. On top of that, they do still give you one of the things you requested, though in a way that a) doesn’t require her to mess with brains, b) isn’t quite as powerful, and c) isn’t permanent unless you make sure the relay bugs she made stick around or you keep Amy around to make them.