The volume of his screams increased.  As I lifted my foot, he moved his hand, rolling onto his back to clutch at it, dropping the knife in the process.

This guy is turning out to be pretty good for setting an example.

I bent down to pick up the blade, and when I stood up again, Battery was ten feet in front of me, one pace closer to me than any of the rest of the crowd that ringed me and the Merchant.

Oh, right. ‘Course, the heroes don’t like that.

Then again, she might want to take this guy in too. He did threaten the crowd with a weapon and attempt (provokedly) to seriously maim or murder Skitter.

“I can’t let you use that,” she gestured towards the knife.  There was a faint glow from her costume.  I gathered she was charging up her power.

Ah, is she worried about Skitter turning the guy’s knife on him?

“Wasn’t planning on it,” I lied, swarm buzzing in sync with my words.

I was expecting her to say this honestly, but fair enough.

I’d considered stabbing the guy in the hand or somewhere where it wouldn’t be terminal, but hadn’t been certain on the route I would go.  I reversed the knife and gently lobbed it towards her.

Fair. I don’t think it’s necessary at this point – in fact, using a weapon other than your bugs might undermine what you’re doing here, example-wise – but fair.

I extended my arm and let the bugs flow from beneath my costume in one swift movement, like water poured from a cup, covering him.  The crowd backed away as the man began screaming incoherently.

“My turn.”

He threw himself backward into the inch-deep water and rolled around like he was trying to put out a fire.  Maybe he was – the bugs I’d set on him were laced with capsaicin.

Heh, nice.

As his thrashing continued, I waited patiently, watching.  As he used one hand to prop himself up in a crawl, I stepped forward onto his knife hand.

Yeah, might as well disable that for the time being.

My heel settled on his knuckles, and after I’d readjusted my footing, I ground it down, letting most of my body weight rest on that heel.

Ow.

I was interrupted from my thoughts.  A man shouted, and I saw the crowd backing away.

Ah, shit. Heroes, Merchants, desperate person who didn’t get a box?

Either way, this sounds like trouble.

It was one of the men who’d had a weapon.  He’d drawn and swung a crude knife to ward people off and grinned maniacally at the reaction he was getting.

Of course one of these guys ended up causing trouble. No real surprise there.

The scruff of beard on his chin was white, but it seemed rather premature given his apparent age.  He was shirtless, with a long sleeve shirt tied around his waist, and scratches crisscrossing his upper body.  His buddies stood back, smirking and grinning.

Huh, interesting design.

At least it’s not Jack Slash, unless he’s got a pretty good disguise.

It was a bad judgement call to pull this right in front of me, but I supposed people were at a point where they weren’t at their most rational.  That, or he was high on something.  I could see him as a member of the Merchants, either way.

Yeeah. To all of that.

There wasn’t enough in the way of supplies.  I could see the atmosphere shift slightly as people realized it.  

Welp.

Might end up with more trouble to intervene in here.

There were too many people present versus the amount of boxes Coil had provided me, even with one box serving a whole family.

Shame, really.

I knew Coil had more – his underground base had stored ridiculous amounts, so he had access to a supplier, or he was the supplier.

Well, he did supply them to you. Not quite what you mean, though, I know.

I began formulating a plan, figuring out how I’d get boxes to those who were walking away from here empty-handed.

Good luck with that. How do you intend to identify who those were, for one thing?

Seeing the first family leaving with their supplies, others grew brave enough to venture forward.

Exactly. No one wanted to be first.

In moments, there was a crush of bodies.

Woah, woah, calm down please! Try not to trample anyone.

I stepped onto the back of the truck as the boxes disappeared from beneath me, and I watched the crowd for any violence or fighting.  One altercation began as two men both grabbed the same box.

Uh-oh.

Before their violent tugging match got them or someone else hurt, I sent a buzzing flurry of bugs in between them.  They dropped the box and backed off, staring at me.

Yeaah, it’s probably disconcerting to have the bug villain queen of your area (hm, we need a name for it… Skitterville?) break up your fight like that.

When I didn’t move to stop them or do anything further, they each returned to the pile to scrounge up different boxes, leaving the other on its side in the water.

Seems reasonable.

I looked over the crowd.  I could see people getting restless.  At least they weren’t lynching me.

It’s always nice when people don’t lynch you.

“Thank you for listening.  These supplies are yours to take.  One to each family or group, up to two if your family is large enough.”

My monologue finished, I waited.  Nobody ventured forward.  Had I done too effective a job at intimidating them?

I guess it’s part that, and part that none of them want to be the first to accept a gift from a villain, the first to accept that villain’s claim of your area.

I was just starting to wonder what I’d do if nobody moved, when the first man stepped forward, followed immediately by his wife and a pair of kids.

There we go.

The wife had a very red nose and circles under her eyes that made me think she had a bad cold.  The parents didn’t make eye contact with me as they accepted the box that one of Coil’s workers lifted down to hand to them.

Desperation is one of the strongest motivators there is to accepting any help you can get.

The children hid behind their mother.  There was no gratitude, nor any thanks given, as the father turned to carry the box of food and necessities back to wherever he was taking shelter.

They clearly don’t like this, but they know they need the resources whether they like it or not.