Brooks stooped down to help Bryce, who had gotten off lightly compared to the others.  He was missing a large portion of his right hand, and he’d had the presence of mind to try to loop his belt around the injury to control the blood loss, pulling it tight.

Huh, not bad, Bryce.

He seemed like he’d lose consciousness any second.  Brooks retrieved some medical supplies from his backpack and began tending to the boy.

Oh right, we have a medic! Time to work your magic, Brooks.

He’s probably not going to be happy about it considering the kid did willingly enter the fray to escape them, but he’ll do it right.

I watched Thomas struggle towards the door.

Seriously, where are you even trying to go? I’m not sure that door’s gonna help you.

Minor arrived fifteen or twenty seconds after Brooks had started to work on the boy, standing guard while our medic took care of Bryce’s hand.

Nice, looks like Taylor’s maze directions worked decently well.

My power let me get a general map of the people who were still unconscious or prone, and the bugs wouldn’t stand out too much as they checked the bodies.

Makes sense, given bug behavior around corpses.

I went by body types, trying to find people of Bryce’s height and build.  The path Trainwreck had opened gave us avenues to two people who could have fit the mark, with a third over the next wall.

Excellent. If it’s any of them, I’m guessing he’s the third.

Good news?  The first of the prone bodies I went to was Bryce.

Oh nice.

Bad news, he’s dead or badly injured?

Bad news?  He was injured.

Yep.

Not a huge surprise given what he tossed himself into.

I asked him in a low voice, “Trainwreck.  Are you still working for Coil, or did you leave?”

I guess she is, huh. Fair enough. It doesn’t actually tell him much about her given that Coil has plenty of employees in civilian guise.

He tensed, and his eyes turned my way, though he couldn’t turn his head with the hardware around it.

Also if he can’t get a good look at her, that helps.

The tensing doesn’t tell me anything, really. He’d have reason to tense up either way.

I stepped back as he used one arm to prop himself up and get a better look at me.

Oh right, arms are a thing.

“No idea what you’re saying,” he said.  He gave me a level stare, and I was almost convinced.  But I’d seen him in the parking garage when I first found out Coil was the Undersider’s employer.

Good poker face. Handy for moles.

“Right, total nonsense, sorry,” I said.  I tried not to show fear as he tried to get to a standing position with his ruined mechanical legs, looming over me.  “But if you were working for the man, maybe you could find some excuse to knock over that wall over there…”

Hehe. So that’s your angle.

I pointed at the nearest section of wall.

“You’re fucking nuts,” he told me.  He raised his arm, and my legs tensed, ready to leap towards him if he took a swing at us.  As big as he was, without him being able to use his legs, being in close would be safer than trying to leap back out of his reach.

So is he saying she’s nuts for suggesting it before going ahead and knocking down the wall for her anyway, or…

He brought his hand down on the wall I’d pointed at to heave himself to an upright position.

That works as a nice excuse.

The wall fell as he rested his weight on it.  Using his other hand to help balance himself, he gripped the wall in his heavy gauntlet and flung the section of wall at Faultline and the red-haired girl.

Nice.

So I guess he is working for Coil, then. Either that or Taylor just happened to give him that idea.

The girl turned and stepped out of the way as the wall rotated in the air, bounced between her and Faultline with mere inches gap between them, and slid back down the stairs.

Nice dodge.

He didn’t pay any further attention to us as we ran for the gap he’d opened.

See ya!

Which reminded me of the fact that I needed to get through this maze.  Labyrinth’s power was drawing many of the crawling bugs down into the ground as it refurbished the floors and consumed the piles of trash or rubble.

That’s kind of inconvenient.

I still had the bugs on the ceiling, but I didn’t want to give our presence away.  Of the relatively few bugs I was willing to use, a share were being used to direct Minor and placing them in strategic locations to get a sense of the layout.

Which leaves not many for other uses should the need arise.

As the maze took shape in my head, I showed Minor the way.

Nice.

I stepped into the clearing and, double checking nobody was in earshot, I approached Trainwreck.

What, are you going to ask him whether he works for Coil or not?

Brooks followed just behind me, watching my back.

Trainwreck didn’t look like much, just going by the face.  He had a round face, small eyes, greasy hair tied back in a ponytail and scarred cheeks.  He looked like a homeless guy who hadn’t had a shower in a long time.

I guess Coil didn’t provide him one. More evidence he’s not currently working for Coil.

The only thing setting him apart from the Merchants were the gunshot wound near the corner of his jaw and the steam-powered armor that rendered him strong enough to pound the crap out of Armsmaster.

Oh yeah! Good times.

The ground rumbled as sections of the black marble floor rose to form into broad, shallow stairs, leading from the two young women to Skidmark’s stage.

Quite handy!

Interestingly, this implies that Labyrinth is aware of their position and status. Can she or Spitfire see them, or does Labyrinth’s power come with an awareness of everything in the affected area?

The capes in Skidmark’s group were struggling to find ground to stand on, as they were crowded back to the edges of the platform by the statue that was still emerging from the wall.

Niice.

I take it none of them can fly.

A head and two forearms with reaching hands, all in dark stone.

Beautiful.

The cut on the back of my arm burned as I found a grip, then hurt twice as much as I hauled myself onto the top of the wall, my toes scrabbling on the untextured surface for traction.  I reached down for Brooks, but he shook his head and waved me aside.  He wanted to come up on his own.

Of course.

Fine, whatever.

Can’t just do something silly like accept help, right?

I hopped down into the next corridor.  The far left had an archway leading into one of the more open areas, a circular area that was serving as a clearing for Trainwreck and the red-haired girl to fight.

Might want to avoid that area, but at least this gives us an opportunity to actually watch for a moment, see what the red-haired girl is doing.

I crouched down as I reached the doorway, peeking out and trusting my bugs to give me the fuller story of what was going on.  Brooks appeared behind me and crouched, gun raised, his back to the wall.

This is oddly badass.

His breathing was quiet and controlled even after his recent climb and jog.

Huh, nice.

“Help me over,” I ordered Minor.  There was a crash not too far away as Trainwreck tore through one of Labyrinth’s walls.

I wonder if the walls are thick enough to run around on top of.

“Can give you and Brooks a boost, but not sure if I can follow,” Minor told me, “Maybe if I find a place with something to stand on-”

Hm. Maybe Taylor is about to say she should go alone, for some reason, but I mean, if they could both get up, that might be useful.

“That’s fine.  Look,”  I drew an arrow on the wall with my bugs, “I can give you directions.”

Ah! Giving up on keeping your power away from the bodyguards, are you?

There was little surprise on his face at the demonstration of my power.

“Well, there had to be a reason she was here.”

And hey, how many girls of Taylor’s build is the villain Tattletale known to hang around?

He gave me a curt nod, dropped to one knee, and wove his fingers together to give me a stirrup for my foot.

Make sure to lead with the correct foot.

At least when mounting a horse. Maybe not so much when climbing onto a wall. 😛

I sheathed my good knife, stuffed the spare between the sheath and the strap that attached it to my midsection and stepped inside the bridge of Minor’s hands.  He heaved me up, almost throwing me.

Nice work.