“Crawler loves to fit in a box.”
Tag: chapter 14.5
“Leaf L,” I replied. “We’re all okay?”
“All of us. Amy’s here.”
Hell yes! That’s one thing I really don’t mind being wrong about.
“Any idea if that did anything to Jack and Bonesaw? Or Crawler?”
Crawler, probably not.
Jack… maybe it hurt him, but I doubt he’s dead. His death is too plot critical for him to go out like this. If he dies, it’ll be at Undertraveler hands, I think.
Bonesaw – having had her big confrontation with the Undertravelers already – might be dead, in which case the PRT might look forward to a visit from Siberian if they learn of Piggot’s role.
“Crawler’s probably taken worse. I can picture him crawling into an incinerator and sitting in there for long enough that he can take this.”
Pffft. That’s honestly a funny mental image, and given his current size… Well, the image of him crawling into a space that’s way too small for him and just sitting there for a while isn’t doing anything to dissuade me from the impression that he’s way more of a cat than Siberian.
A wash of heated air hit me just moments after the bombs hit. The effect on a flying creature was the same as a wave or a current in water. It took all I had to keep from panicking, to maintain my concentration and control the giant beetle.
The shockwave is the same as a wave in water, just through air, so that makes sense.
Rather than fight the turbulence, I rolled with it, letting it push and accepting the instability. As it passed, I focused on righting myself and regaining my sense of orientation.
Ahh-ee-ah-ee-ayy
While I roll with the wind,
Bringing distance to everything
Ahh-ee-ah-ee-ayy, oh ohh
Ahh-ee-ah-ee-ayy
While I sit by the fire
And glance at the pouring rain
Ahh-ee-ah-ee-ayy
Ahh-ee-ah-ee-ayy
The bomb had hit close to where we’d been, but not so close that we would have been in the impact site. That said, I wasn’t sure the heat -or the shockwave, if there was one- wouldn’t have done us in.
I think that might’ve been bad. Maybe.
My phone rang.
Oh hey. Lisa?
Man, imagine if Danny had this number and a working phone, but no idea that his daughter was hundreds of feet in the sky over an active bomb site on a giant beetle.
“Frog R,” Tattletale’s voice greeted me.
Taylor: “Frog T.”
Lisa: “Uh… not that set?”
Taylor: “L! I mean L! Sorry, I was thinking of ‘ribbit’. Because frogs.”
Alec, in the background: “Dork.”
The plane wasn’t as fast as I’d thought it would be. It appeared from the clouds and crossed the skyline a distance away, at an altitude not much higher than me.
Wow, she’s going really high up now.
Either that or that’s a low-flying plane. I wonder if they’ve gotten the airport back up and running yet?
It left a muted roar in its wake, and the payload of bombs.
Oh. Right.
For some reason I was picturing a more… catapult-like bombing.
Black specks, smaller than I would have guessed, but more numerous. Fifty? A hundred? I couldn’t tell from my vantage point, and I doubted I could have made an accurate estimate.
So these are the incendiary rounds, right?
The bombs were targeted at the parking lot where Jack and Bonesaw had been. They detonated across the surrounding neighborhood, a carpet of explosions and flame that ripped through everything. In a heartbeat, an area that had been drowning in stagnant water was lit up by fires that rose higher than the smallest buildings.
Fire and water together just keeps happening in this part of the story, huh.
Maybe the prevalence in this “book” (Arc 9-?) of fire going on top of the water Leviathan left could be considered foreshadowing that Behemoth is next. I’m fairly sure the Simurgh is next if they are all going to come here, but if it turns out I’m wrong, I’m probably going to count this as foreshadowing.
But I was flying. It was as close to unassisted flight as anything I could hope to experience. I felt what he felt, his every movement was as much an extension of my will as moving my hands, blinking or controlling my breathing.
In a very real way, Taylor is one with the swarm. She has been for a while.
It was almost eerie, the quiet. The buzz of signals and responses from my swarm grew as quiet as it had been since my powers manifested.
Oh yeah, I suppose most bugs don’t fly this high (unprompted, anyway). She has barely had the chance to be away from bugs since that fateful day in the locker.
I had the capsaicin-laced bugs in my armor, a few hundred bugs stored in my utility compartment and shoulderpads, as well as the outside fabric of my costume. I’d brought the relay bugs up into the air around me for safety, and directed everything else to find cover. Compared to my dim awareness of the tens of thousands of bugs that I could feel from anywhere in the city, this was almost silence.
At least she’s got some company.
How long had I been relying on my bugs to provide sensory input? Using my own eyes, I followed my teammates as they raced for cover.
You started doing that in Agitation, and ever since you’ve been using it more and more.
I do like this moment of realization that “oh hey, maybe I should use my other senses for once”.
I felt distracted, as if it was something I wanted to relegate to my bugs while I glanced over my surroundings for potential threats.
She’s been developing some strong habits.
In the time we had remaining, I directed my mount as high as he could manage. My power gave me a sense of how far I was above the ground.
If they aren’t out of the blast zone, it is interesting that
specifically
our POV character and main protagonist gets the ability to dodge the blast zone entirely by flying.
Well, maybe not entirely. When Bakuda’s stuff comes into play, who knows what will happen. Probably not the Protectorate, Tinker labs or no.
Honestly, I think the “POV character” outweighed the “main protagonist” part. The tension may be less direct this way, but we already had lots of tension last time, and Taylor flying offers an interesting perspective on the blast zone for us readers.
My range formed a loose sphere around me, and as I made my way skyward, my power covered less and less ground, on a literal level. It wasn’t long before my power didn’t reach the ground beneath me.
So that puts her at least 300 feet above ground. Nice.
A little daunting, being so high when I was so new to flying.
Yeah… at least you’ve got more control than last time, though.
Though that also comes with no one else being there to take that pressure.
Prey 14.5
A comfortable chair, computer on my lap, music getting pumped into my ears, bombs primed to grievously harm characters I like… It’s time to read some Worm. 😀
So, last chapter, Taylor and co. started a daring escape from the PRT’s blast zone, during which Taylor acquired a really cool steed (whom I’ll be calling Bailey until we get an actual name for him).
Now, they need to make sure they actually are or quickly get out of it as the bombings start. This chapter might continue and amplify the intensity from the previous chapter if they didn’t make it all the way out yet (or Piggot calls for the bombers to target the escaping Undertravelers, though that’d be harder to excuse on the PR and governmental fronts).
Alternatively, we might be getting the Undertravelers reporting to the Protectorate (maybe even directly to Piggot) that we lived, bitches, and/or more development on Amy.
Or all of the above. When liveblogging, you can’t dismiss the possibility that it can be motherfucking BOTH THINGS.
I worry for Amy’s life. She’s currently not equipped to move anywhere near as fast as the Undertravelers, and they’ve passed her, so if they’re still in the blast zone, so is she. I’ve been getting the impression from asks (more vibes than actual outright spoilers) that she does not become a villain or a permanent aid to the Undertravelers. There are plenty of other reasons for that available, but maybe this is why.
Without further ado, let’s dodge some bombs!
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