I frowned and suppressed that instinct.  As it stood, it was dangerous.  If he was flying and I got knocked out, he might keep flying.

…that’s exactly what I pointed out!

The same might apply if I was turning, or adjusting to compensate for my weight and got distracted partway through.

Suddenly you’re going in circles.

Also, if you get knocked out while calling for Bailey to come to you, but the others get you out and to a doctor, John Cleese might not be happy.

Even less so if you ask Bailey to stay close and defend you.

No, after testing it I didn’t like how slippery it made the navigation feel.  I’d only use it on a case-by-case basis.

Hey, at least you can toggle it, so if it does come in handy sometime, it’s available.

Besides, it was something I could do with my power anyways, with greater effect and nuance.  I’d been knocked out once, and my power had continued directing insects by my last given order.

Hm. Might that still happen with Bailey even with this instinct suppressed, or even before Amy added this feature?

Irritating.

If it’s Amy you’re irritated at now, please cut her some slack. She was trying.

Now, where were we…

Ah, right, Taylor was flying off to help Weld, Clocky, Cache, and everyone Cache has in store, on a Bailey with a little more autopilot than before.

And probably getting herself trapped by a rain of Bakuda bombs. Though I suppose the PRT might be saving those until all the good guys are out of the blast zone. Which would be a good tactic considering that Bakuda’s bombs might be among incredibly few things that could bypass Clocky’s power, and even if they don’t, some of the effects can linger until the freezing wears off. Or cause it to never wear off. 

Let’s try not to get anyone blown up or crushed by cars, okay? Unless they’re members of the Nine, of course.

“So you focus on helping my sister.”

“I’ll help anyone that needs it,” I said.  With one false start, I managed to take off.

Taylor is good like that.

I stayed low to the ground for as long as I could, to try to judge what Amy had done to the beetle.

There was some underlying logic, but it wasn’t the same sort of instinctual behavior I was used to.  As far as I could tell, she had set him up to continue whatever I’d last instructed him to do, so I didn’t need to maintain focus to keep him going.

Ah, so a game of Snake. Sure, that works. Just try not to ask him to travel in a direction real fast and then fall off.

“Right now, Mannequin and Crawler are attacking the Wards.  Your sister is with them.”

Let’s see if Amy’s confidence is partially related to her having spent some of her off-screen time thinking over what Victoria said and deciding that “fuck it, maybe I don’t want her to be my sister either”.

I could see her expression change at hearing that.

“She’s tough, she’ll be okay.”

Okay, good, looks like she didn’t have that big piece of development off-screen.

“Not in this case.  She was stored away in some other dimension by Cache’s power.  If he dies before he gets her out-”

She paled.

Yeeeeeah.

“Idiot,” I muttered.  “Can’t waste any more time on you.”

Taylor, you’ve been making so much progress with Amy. Don’t throw it away like this.

Before she could reply, I turned to my teammates, “I need bombs.  Grenades, something I can drop from above and do some damage.”

Okay, yeah, that ought to work better than simply “something heavy”. Though I do stand by what I said about Mannequin reinforcing himself against explosions.

“Here,” Ballistic said.  He undid one of his belts and handed it to me.  Six grenades were placed around it.  It was too wide for my waist, so I hung it around my neck instead.

A badass necklace like few others.

Amy stepped forward and put her hands on my bug.  I went out of my way to ignore her.

*spritzes Taylor’s mask with bug spray* No. Bad Taylor. Be nice.

“What?” I hurried to get off him.  “Is he okay?”

“It’s a he?”  Tattletale asked.

Taylor seems to have decided so. But whether she did it arbitrarily or based on bug genitalia or other sexual characteristics of some kind, I can’t tell you.

Amy stepped forward a little, “Its legs work through something like hydraulics.  When it’s flying, it diverts those fluids to the flight system.  Do you know how hard it was to make that thing able to fly?  It’s not like I’ve practiced this sort of thing.”

Ahh. So it’s walk or fly with this one. That probably contributed to the takeoff troubles, too.

Also, thank you, Amy. You did a fantastic job. 🙂

“It’s fantastic,” I said.  “Really.  Thank you.  Do you think you could work on making him a little bigger while I get prepared?  I can supply the bugs.”

Hmm. That sounds difficult, but hey, making the whole thing in the first place was probably way more difficult.

“No.”

That’s fair.

I was midway to turning towards Tattletale when Amy refused me.  “No?  If it’s the physical limitations of something that big, then maybe the nervous system, or if you could copy over some flight instincts so I don’t need to devote so much focus-”

I was unsure about whether it was the physical limitations or Amy limiting how much she wants to help these villains, but judging by this paragraph, I take it it’s the latter.

“No, Skitter.  It’s not that I can’t.  I won’t.”

Yeah.

Also, she sounds way more confident right now than we’ve heard her ever since Interlude 11h. That seems like a good sign.

I turned back to Amy.

She shook her head, “This isn’t a luxury.  It’s not a present from me to you.  You said you needed some help escaping, you needed some mobility?  Fine.  This is it.”

That is very fair. Don’t look a gift beetle in the mandibles, Taylor.

I turned around and headed for my companions.  I withdrew my cell phone.

“Need gear,” I told Tattletale.  “Mannequin’s attacking the heroes and Crawler’s approaching.”

Gear?

“Got it.”

Sundancer’s orb appeared in the sky, flickered, and disappeared.  A flare.  I headed in that direction.

That’s a pretty nice use of the power.

As Tattletale had said, Sundancer was using her orb to try to clear the way.  Grue was also using his darkness, oddly enough.

Hmm. Looking out for the Nine, maybe, or other capes whose powers may come in handy?

The others stood by, watching, arranged so they were watching all potential avenues of attack.

I appreciate that they haven’t let their guard down just yet.

I landed, and I couldn’t get the beetle’s legs under him to brace our landing.  He hit his stomach, his legs squashing against his underside.

You’ll get the hang of it.