“Sierra,” I called out.

She wheeled on me.  I watched her expression change as she stared at me and realized who I was.

“Told ya there was a human under the costume.”

“You got hurt,” she said, looking almost stunned by that realization.

Ohh, nice. That’s what pulls her out of this, seeing with her own eyes the fact that Skitter genuinely put herself, not just her lackeys (as she believes Lisa to be), in harm’s way to retrieve Bryce.

How bad did I look, that my injuries distracted her from her brother?  Or was it the realization that a supervillain could get hurt?

In this particular case I think it’s more the realization that a supervillain would get hurt.

“Things got ugly,” I said.  Then I added, with emphasis, “Lisa wasn’t lying.”

She wasn’t lying about either thing.

She shook her head, “It doesn’t make any sense.  He wouldn’t do that.  It doesn’t fit with the guy I grew up with, ate dinner with.”

I’m sorry, Sierra. Turns out the guy you grew up with is a privileged douche.

Lisa shrugged, unable to find the words to convince her.

This means a lot coming from Lisa.

Sierra sounded angry now.  She stood, confronting Lisa, “No!  Where’s Skitter?  Where’s your boss?”

Aand there goes the next stage.

What do you do, Taylor? Step in as a target of wrath while also giving up your civilian face to another person? Or let Lisa take it?

I hesitated.  My secret identity, such as it was, was already falling apart.  It wasn’t that I was that committed to it, since I wasn’t ‘Taylor’ that much of the time these days, but there was always that worry in the back of my mind that I was burning my bridges as far as being able to go back home, or that I was possibly giving out clues that someone could use to trace back to my dad and hurt him.

Honestly? I’m surprised she didn’t mention the possibility of the information making its way to Danny. But the points she does bring up are honestly better.

On the other hand, I could see how Sierra was on the verge of losing it.  I couldn’t tell if she was going to cry, hit Lisa or say something she shouldn’t, but I couldn’t let her do anything that would get her in trouble with the soldiers.

Oh yeah, let’s try to avoid that.

I stood from the bed.

Good woman.

“Things got violent,” Lisa said, stepping towards her.  “We didn’t start it, but they got ugly.”

Yeah, and it’s Bryce’s own fault he got injured, really. That’s how much he didn’t want to go back home, Sierra.

Sierra nodded mutely, then turned to Bryce.  She knelt at the side of the bed and held his intact hand.

“I’m sorry,” Lisa said.

It’s interesting that it’s Lisa talking to Sierra rather than Taylor, for the time being.

I wonder if Sierra has recognized Taylor, actually.

Sierra shook her head, her dreadlocks swinging, “No.  I understand.  The hand isn’t your fault.  He’s here and he’s alive because of you.”

That he is. 🙂

“No.  I’m sorry because I have something to tell you that’s going to be hard to hear.  But you need to know this.”

Ah, yes. Thank you, Lisa, for not making Taylor have to tell her.

When Dr. Q had done everything he could for Bryce, he turned his attentions to me.  I got more stitches, in my arm this time, which was fun.

Heh.

I also got to see every single one of my cuts and scrapes fizz with foam as he disinfected my injuries, which stung like hell.

I love the sort of semi-sarcastic enjoyment this paragraph is written in.

He was nearly done when a knock came at the door.  Jaw was on the other side, and he was escorting Sierra, as I’d requested.

Oh hey, that’s convenient. Now we don’t need to have a change of locations before Taylor can talk to Sierra. This way we can also have Taylor’s conversation with Sierra between her conversations with Charlotte.

She went immediately to Bryce’s bedside.

“His hand,” she said.

She knows her priorities.

I almost regretted leaving for this, for Bryce, even though I knew I’d do it again.

#responsibility

If anything calmed me down, it was seeing Lisa with the two squad leaders.  She laughed a little, and put her hand on the arm of the other squad captain, Fish.

😀

Hey, nice nickname. Maybe he’s good at swimming?

When she caught me looking her way, she smiled and gave me a wink.

Not going to lie, this sounds awfully suggestive, but I don’t really want to think about that given the sort of ages these people would be.

So I’m going to focus on Lisa smiling at Taylor instead.

Man, I bet the Skittletale shippers loved this moment, though. “Aww, looking at Lisa calms Taylor down from her anxieties…” Not gonna lie, it’s dangerously close to putting me on board the ship myself.

So if we’re about to leave Charlotte to think, is the next step checking on Bryce?

Well, I hadn’t solved the Charlotte problem just yet, but I’d at least addressed it.  If I was honest with myself, part of the reason I told her to wait on her answer was to buy myself a reprieve, give myself time to think.

Ah, and giving Taylor some time to think too.

Maybe that was a bad idea, because being left to ponder let the anxiety build up.  I was worried.  Not just about Charlotte, but about my territory.  Had the Merchants attacked it in the meantime?  Lisa had said they would mostly be at the party, but I couldn’t be absolutely sure.

Hm, yeah, that would be a problem. It really wouldn’t look good to promise protection and then fail to protect the area from Merchants within 12 hours.

Grue would have been watching it for me, but he’d be tired, and he didn’t have the same awareness over the area that I did.

Yeah, he’d have to rely on different tactics of some sort.

Charlotte looked at her hands.  Her knuckles and fingertips were torn up, and she had a shallow cut on the side of her neck.  “This isn’t anything worth worrying about.”

Fair, though John Cleese might disagree.

“The way this city is right now?  You’ll get an infection if you don’t get that taken care of.  Relax.

Oh yeah, good point.

Believe it or not, you’re safer right here, right now, than you’ve been for the past few weeks.  Breathe, think about what you want to do.”

I guess Taylor’s including the whole broken city situation, not just the unknown amount of time Charlotte spent with the Merchants.

She glanced around, and I could tell she didn’t believe me.  Still, she met my eyes and offered me a nod.

Well, that’s something.

Funny, how everything always seemed to tie back to the beginning.  I was put in mind of the conversation I’d had with the Undersiders on our second meeting.  The same conversation that had led to me joining them.

Huh… I guess this is kind of reminiscent of that.

“I’m afraid the full details only come with membership,” I echoed Lisa’s words to me from back then. 

Hah! I love it.

I wonder if Lisa can hear this conversation and is wearing a subtle smirk right now.

“I don’t really have much of a choice, do I?”

I mean, the other option is apparently out, so I guess not.

…the out is out.

“You do.  More than you think.  Don’t give me a response just yet.  Think about it for a bit.  You’re staying at least until you get those scrapes and scratches looked at.”

Yeah, Cleese ain’t gonna let you leave before that.