He seemed to be deep in thought, and there was good cause for that, so I didn’t bother him as we walked to the bus stop.

“Am I being paranoid?” he asked me, as we arrived.

I don’t think so. The Empire coming after the Undersiders is a realistic threat at this point.

“I’m not the person to ask.  As far as I’m concerned, when you’re talking about capes, you can’t take too many precautions.  Especially with a group as influential as Empire Eighty Eight.”

I’m fairly sure Taylor would say that about pretty much anything, really. And

she

still wonders why people say she’s cautious?

“I’ll rephrase the question then.  Do you think the others will think I’m being paranoid?”

“Honestly?  Probably.”

Quite possibly Alec, at least. Lisa… is a bit harder to tell, and Rachel…?? I actually kinda feel like Rachel would agree the threat is there, even if she didn’t agree with the measures taken against it.

“Ready?” I asked Brian.

He nodded.  He’d pulled off the leather jacket and had it in a gym bag with his helmet.  He was wearing a guy’s tank top, beige, leaving his arms and shoulders exposed.  His skin glittered with the tiniest droplets of sweat, from wearing a jacket in the warm weather.

Maybe it’s not the weather that’s hot after all, eh, Taylor? 😉

I pulled my eyes away before my attention could draw notice.  I told Lisa, “We’ll see you guys later.”

“No, no, I need to stop looking before I start looking and people start looking at me.”

“Have fun,” she grinned.

Oh, Lisa sure knows what’s up here. ;3

Brian led the way outside, and again, I paused at the door’s threshold to collect some more bugs under my clothing and in my bag while I could still be discreet about it.  It wasn’t a lot, but it was something.

Probably a good idea to make this a habit. Taylor has found herself with too few bugs a little too often recently.

I hurried out of the bathroom, grabbed enough tops, underwear and socks to last me a few days.  I rolled them up to make them compact, and stashed them in my backpack around the armor for my costume, my weapons, the rest of my utility compartment stuff, two books and six hundred bucks in cash.  I slung the bag over one shoulder.  Heavy, but manageable. 

The moment she gets back into the living room, Alec stops a timer.

I left my room to rejoin Brian, tying my damp hair into a loose ponytail with an elastic while I walked.  I paused for just a second to extend one leg, toe down to touch the ground, so a collection of beetles, roaches and spiders could crawl up my leg.  They settled between my costume and my clothes.

Heh. Welcome aboard!

I could deal with bugs being on me, so long as they weren’t directly on my skin.

Yeah, that’s very understandable.

I joke about this as someone who spends at least 15 minutes in the shower.

“Hey,” I spoke up, hesitant, “Can I take five minutes to grab a shower and change while you guys hash out the rest of the details?”

Brian made a pained face, but he nodded, “Go.”

I don’t think Brian particularly likes the idea of Taylor missing out on some of the details, but at least he’ll be able to tell her personally later.

(Also, showering and changing in five minutes? Taylor confirmed for having timebending powers.)

Grateful, I hurried to the bathroom, stopping by my room to grab my costume, a fresh outfit, and my towel.

The shower was being more uncooperative than usual, and I didn’t have the time to wait for it to decide to give me warm water, so I jumped in and endured the chilled water just long enough to rinse myself off, scrub the priority areas and get my hair wet.

Hm, fair enough. I wouldn’t quite call that “a shower”, but alright. Maybe she won’t need timebending after all.

Maybe.

The shelter group – Lisa, Alec and Rachel – is the most vulnerable. Rachel doesn’t have a secret identity, so she’ll have a hard time hiding, and her dog shelters are fairly noticable too. The E88 are likely to find them much easier than they do Brian and Taylor, at least if Rachel goes out.

Before Brian could get on Alec’s case again, I cut in to ask, “Shouldn’t we all maybe stay together?”

“No,” Lisa answered me, “Brian has the right idea.  Together, as a group of five, we might draw attention from anyone keeping an eye out for our team.  Especially if there’s dogs around.  Having two teams means we can mount a rescue or provide a distraction if one group gets in a bad spot.”

Hm, yeah, that’s true. Might get in the way of communication and cause some delay between an attack and the team getting to full power, but that’s pretty much it as far as drawbacks I can think of go.

“Keep your phones on and answer them if anyone calls.  We take turns checking in on each other, every half hour, using the same passwords as before.” Brian instructed.

“Got it,” Lisa replied.

“A.” “C, grass.”

This sounds like a good plan.

“If you really can’t find a place to stay, and the dogs are safely put away somewhere, you can stay at my place.  You’d be crashing on the couch and the floor, though.”

Lisa nodded.

Yeah, the apartment is only really suited for two people.

Alec’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t reply.

Brian’s voice was low, his tone controlled.  “I’m angry enough that you should count it as a good thing that you’re not staying at my place and having to put up with me.  That’s why you’re not coming with me.

Ahaha

I also need a level head with you and Rachel, and that means Lisa goes with you two.  I’d leave Taylor instead, but I’d rather spread out the firepower between our two teams.”

“Whatever,” Alec looked back to the TV.  “Forget I mentioned anything.”

I’m not sure to what extent I believe that this is the entirety of why Brian picked out Taylor to stay with him, but if it is (consciously or not) a ploy to spend more alone time with Taylor, at least he’s got his excuses in order.

People are very skilled at rationalizing their behavior in this story, after all.