At Least I’ll Die… Saving Some Kids 3

Commissioned by Evilreadermaximum

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The two of us wander in the streets, her arms still around me, making me feel a bit of warmth, a bit of comfort, from her as I hold onto her arms, practically leaning into the girl as we walk back. As we near the Undersider’s base, I let out the spiders in my bag and allow them to pour out onto the streets. The swarm heads off towards one of the warehouses adjacent to the Undersider’s base, slipping into the abandoned building. Meanwhile, I gather any other spiders in my range and start moving them as well, adding to the numbers of my spidery hive. At the same time, I trickle in some of my other bugs to feed the spiders, mostly useless things like fruit flies and mosquitoes that are just beginning to hatch at this time of year. Hopefully, with how big the space my spiders are taking over, they should be able to make their webs and keep from killing each other while I sleep.

Lisa stares at the rapidly disappearing swarm of spiders and I feel a shiver go through her.

“Sorry, just imagining those swarming me. Don’t even have to bite, I’d probably just freak out on instinct. You could actually probably beat a lot of non brutes like that, or maybe even brutes if they have arachnophobia,” Lisa suggests as I ponder it. It didn’t work against Lung… but then again, his minions were freaking out about it. Maybe I could use that in some way? Perhaps even use a bug like avatar to add to the freak factor. I used to have the same reaction back then as her, only able to suppress freaking myself out initially due to the fact that I had full control over them.

Of course now I regularly plan to have bugs in my hair while going out as a cape. Exposure therapy and the fact that they are my minions really seems to have dulled the scariness of it.

Then Lisa started to giggle a bit as we enter the loft. “Imagine if Alexandria has entomophobia.”

Despite her being one of my favourite heroes, and one of the Triumvirate, a hero among heroes, it would be funny. I, some bug cape, managed to beat the Alexandria with just bugs. Considering how she is basically invulnerable, it would be quite the juxtaposition. I give a little breathy snort. Nothing big, not even much of a smile to go with it, but it’s still, just over the last twenty four hours I’ve smiled more than I have in a long time.

“Grue, we’re back,” Lisa calls out as we ascend the stairs back to the loft. Just before we do, however, Lisa stops and pulls out a small domino mask.

“I know it isn’t much, but if you want, you can wear this upstairs. Just in case you want to keep your secret identity from us,” she says but I shake my head.

Will it really matter if I might be gone as well? A small part of me asks, to which no, it wouldn’t matter. Besides, if I don’t give up, if Lisa really is genuine, I’ll be living here for a bit. It wouldn’t really be practical with the other two. Plus, I don’t really want them to feel strange in their own home. They don’t deserve that.

Judas scampers past us as we reach the top of the stairs before trotting across the main room towards the bedrooms, heading back to Bitch’s room. Meanwhile I can see Grue sitting at the kitchen table, his mask on and his leather jacket hanging off of the back of the chair while he waits. From the skin of his arms I can tell he has a rather dark complexion, and even without the leather, he’s a big man. From the half eaten pizza and coffee mug sitting in front of him, he’d been eating before we came up. He looks over to us and I assume he smiles, but with the skull mask down, I can’t be sure.

On the couch I can also see someone else, likely Regent going by the mop of hair sticking out. The boy’s playing some kind of game and isn’t even looking over to us. From the look of it, he’s playing some kind of big green orc I think on TV, with medieval surroundings. Among the various peasants on screen, I see an elf walking along. Granted, the elf isn’t completely similar to the ethereal creatures of Tolkein or even the films, but there had been a good attempt at elves in the game that he’s playing.

I look back to Grue who has tilted his head a bit, his gaze following Lisa. “Is she joining the team?”

“I don’t know yet, though I did offer her a chance to stay here if everyone’s alright with that. Her home… doesn’t exactly feel like home if you know what I mean,” she says, thankfully not going into details about what exactly is going on back at home which is nice of her. It’s embarrassing enough as it is, seeking shelter from home for such a minor situation. They no doubt have far better reasons for leaving their homes in search of something better compared to me. I’m just weak and jealous.

“Yeah I get you,” Grue says, nodding along to what Lisa said. “Well it’s fine with me if she stays, what about you Alec?”

The brown haired mop from the couch merely makes an affirming sound as he raises a thumb up before getting back to his game. Not even breaking his stride on screen.

“Well that’s most of us okay with it. Just a sec, hey Bitch!” the big man shouts out, the last part, and I hear a snort from the couch before I hear Bitch’s gruff voice crying out from her room.

“What!?”

“It okay if Bug stays here!?” I look at Lisa after that, to which she just shrugs.

“We don’t know your cape name,” Lisa states matter-of-factly as I frown. I, hadn’t really needed a name. If last night had gone to plan, well, I wouldn’t have been here anyways. I’d. well, I’d be gone, another young cape sacrificed on the altar of heroism. I probably should have thought of something before I went out though, just in case I failed. Of all the things to fail, dying hadn’t been something I thought I’d be able to fuck up, but here I am, crashing on the couch of some villains I’d managed to save. God how pathetic, I can’t even save some kids… not that I regret helping the Undersiders, and definitely not Lisa. Lisa… Lisa’s been kind to me, and while they may not have been the kinds of innocent people I’d been hoping to help, they’d still needed help.

“Whatever!” we hear Bitch shout back.

“I guess that settles it, you can stay with us for a while,” Grue says as he turns his attention back to us while his hands move to his helmet, pulling it off and revealing a rather handsome face. His jaw was like a lantern and his hair was in cornrows. Like I’d expected he has a smile on his face. I don’t know if he’s just being kind because he wants me on the team, or if he pities me. While I hope for the former, it’s likely the latter.

“I’m Brian by the way,” he says.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I say but he just shakes his head.

“It’s better this way. I know your identity, you know mine. Unmasking’s kind of serious business so this’ll keep our relationship equal rather than giving me more power over you and all that, you know?” he asks but Lisa jumps in.

“Actually it was her first day out last night. Hasn’t even picked a name yet,” she says while pulling me closer and rubbing my arm a bit. I smile a bit, and lean into her a bit more.

“Shit, really? With that costume I kind of assumed you were some kind of out-of-towner or something like that when I saw it. Thing looks professional,” he says, his smile spreading wider and getting a few teeth in as well. Meanwhile I can feel Lisa nodding along.

“You could probably do something like Parian does and just sell costumes if you can do stuff like that on your own,” she says, and I smile back at them, but I have my doubts. They’re probably just being nice rather than actually believing what they’re saying. I’ve only got a little experience in costume making; I’m no professional and likely could never make anything even close to as good as what the Protectorate makes for their people. What I’d make would be in the bargain bin at best if I sold cape costumes.

But at least I got the costume done, one small achievement in the face of a mountain of disasters and failures that stands behind, looming over it.

Pathetic.

“Okay, well, uhh, sorry to ask this, but I’ve got to steal Lisa for a bit, team stuff and such, but if you want to join the team I can let you in on it alright… Miss…?” Brian leads on and waits for a moment, and then I realize I haven’t told him my name yet.

“Taylor, sorry, my name’s Taylor,” I sputter, unable to keep my eyes on him as I look away, no doubt a blush already forming on my face from embarrassment. So fucking stupid.

“Taylor. Yeah, like I said, if you want to join I can tell you as well, but until then, it needs to just be between our team, you understand right?” he asks and I nod along, yet I squeeze Lisa a bit tighter, unable to help myself. Like I’m grasping at a lifeline, something to make me feel better and thankfully Lisa squeezes me back.

“Actually, can it wait for a bit? I just want to get Taylor all settled in and then afterward we can talk about it okay?” she asks. Brian’s eyebrows rise a bit but he shrugs it off quickly.

“Yeah sure, I’ll just wait here for a bit then,” he says while Lisa steers us away from him towards the rooms and then towards the empty room, the one without a name above it.

The room itself is rather bare, almost like a motel room. The room has a side table, a dresser, and a bed, but nothing else. There are no windows in the room and just an old light on the ceiling shielded by a glass bowl to keep it too bright. Lisa slips away from me as I look around and then turns back.

“Welcome to your room for the next little while. It’s not much I know, but if you stick around, I’m sure we can make sure it feels nice and cozy for you. Maybe get you a bookshelf and a nice comfy chair to read in when you get bored of us villains,” she says, her smile bright as the light above. I can’t help myself as I smile back at her a bit. The smile’s a bit infectious, though mine’s nowhere near as bright as hers. I…

I can feel a tear or two welling up, but they don’t fall, and I blink them away.

“Thank you, I… this, this means a lot to me,” I say, not sure what else I could do, but Lisa just walks up, and wraps her arms around me.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You can stay here as long as you want, okay? And don’t feel pressured into joining us,” Lisa says, as I hug her back.

“But what about your boss?” I ask but Lisa shakes her head.

“Let me worry about my dick of a boss, okay? You just try and get better,” she says and I bury my head into her shoulder, drying the tears that had threatened to fall before.

“Okay,” I say, quieter than I meant, but from the squeeze, she still heard it.

The moment lasts for a few seconds before we pull away, and I pull my back pack off to pull out the stuff. With Lisa’s help we’re done in only a few minutes. Grabbing the picture of Mom and me, I place it on the night stand, facing towards the bed and pause a moment. Close my eyes as I smile, remembering her.

Remembering when life was simple and I was her happy little owl.

I swallow a lump in my throat, and then feel a single solitary tear drip down my cheek.

“Hey,” Lisa whispers in my ear, her arms wrapping around me again, and I snuffle a bit before making a questioning sound to her.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asks. “If I go out with Brian for a bit?”

“I guess,” I whisper back, but I don’t feel like it. Even as I say that I grab onto her arms, just holding her arms in my own, enjoying the feeling of Lisa pressing up against me. Holding onto me. I… I can’t do this, and stay clinging to her. I shouldn’t hold her back, and yet as much as I want to move my hands away from her, I can’t. It’s like my willpower has drained away, leaving me this weak girl holding onto something I don’t deserve. She’s already been too kind to me. I… I need to let her leave.

Instead of pulling back, Lisa instead squeezes me gently, hugging me tighter for a moment. “Why don’t we just rest on the bed, okay? I’ll stay with you for a while, just until you’re asleep.”

“But what about after? How’ll you leave? I… I can’t let go,” I say, knowing though that I’ll have to, that if I don’t she’ll be stuck, and she needs to talk to her teammate, but I just feel her nuzzling me and rubbing her head against mine.

“Then I’ll just have to be a bit careful when I slip away, don’t worry, it won’t be for too long, and I’ll get back before you wake,” she says, and I nod.

“Okay.” From there we slip into my new bed, I the big spoon, wrapping around Lisa, my arms wrapped around her like she’s a big warm teddy bear that I can hold onto and hug when things get tough. She pulls the covers over us, leaving just her head over the covers as we get comfortable, her presence. It's nice. Just like when she held me on the couch, as we cuddled there, only now our positions are reversed. I like it. I… I don’t know if it’s because of the physical intimacy or the fact that I seem to have a friend who actually cares about me, who wants to help me.

I can’t help but smile at that last part, tears welling up a bit more as some fall onto the pillow beneath us. I squirm around just a bit more, burrowing further into the bed and hugging her tighter to me. I shouldn’t but as we lay still, it becomes harder and harder to pull my arms away. Lisa squeezes me once more, before falling still once more and I listen to her breathe, slow and steady.

I still my working bugs and let them get back to their true nature, my mind slowly drifting off until darkness takes me.

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Despite her promise, Lisa failed, though not for lack of trying. I think it was as she was getting out of the bed that I woke up, becoming aware of my bugs and feeling the bed shift. The warmth is gone as my arms and front feel cold. With a few bugs that are still on her, I can feel her turn her head to look back at me.

“Sorry,” her whisper soft enough the word barely forms, yet I still hear it. Rather than speak, I just pull in, gripping the blankets, trying to capture that lost, pleasant feeling from our cuddling…

But it’s no use...

I can hear Lisa’s soft footsteps on the carpet as she moves out of the room to go talk to Grue, leaving me behind. I never open my eyes but just track her with my bugs, feeling as she makes her way downstairs and outside, where Grue is.

“Lisa-” he starts but she shushes him.

“She’s listening in, I didn’t manage to get out without waking her. We’re going to have to go a few blocks before we can talk about this,” she says as Grue nods. Then the two start to walk away. Listlessly, I keep watching them through my bugs as I let go, getting lost in observing, feeling my bugs in the warehouse. Some of them killed each other while in there, staking out their new territory in the brief moments I was asleep.

Stupid. Just because they have more space doesn’t mean they won’t kill each other. I should have been working on that more, I should have done something to define territory, make it harder for them to access each other like I had before, and maybe build their webs for them so that they didn’t have to fight for space. Now I’m down a few dozen spiders. Better than the first time I’d gathered spiders to make my costume but I already knew that they would fight now.

Partially because I need to, and partially because it requires so little effort on my part, I start to command my spiders in the warehouse, beginning to rebuild the nest that I’d made in the coal chute so long ago. Only this time far bigger. I’ll still keep a production area in the warehouse there, just so I can have a place I can go to make costumes and such things, but the hive, given the chance, will be far larger, perhaps even filling the whole building with spiders and webs if I can. With more spiders it would allow me to make clothes far quicker.

For a time I just lay there, absorbed in my own little world of bugs, building the hive that will house my spiders, webs slowly but surely spreading across the place. All the while I continue to feel around and scout the area, feeling the one boy, Regent, doing something on the couch, Bitch is around as well, but in her room with her dogs, other than them there are a few passers by and homeless people. Even so, on the ones that have lice; I pull them from their heads and send them on a direct path for my hive. A little extra food for them couldn’t hurt.

The day continues on as I lay there, unable to sleep continuing to work. My body starts to feel aches, just from laying there all this time, small twinges that I try to shift in order to get rid of, but they keep coming back. At some point my eyes just want to stay open, but all I do is just staring off into space, not having the motivation to move, to do anything with my body, to get out of bed. The comforter by now has gotten far too hot and I’ve partially uncovered myself from it. It’s almost like the bed and my body was conspiring against me. My body rebelling with support against my mind, wishing for me to act, to deal with the annoyances it is feeling. All I want to do right now is just lay in bed, and not do anything other than what I’m already doing with my bugs.

But Lisa wouldn’t want that, would she? She wouldn’t say it, but she’d know. She’d know this is bad for me, just drifting off like this and letting myself fall apart, staying in bed all this time. Well, maybe she might actually say something, or at least encourage me out of bed.

I need to get up… I can’t just stay here like this. I need…

What do I need? I’ve run away from home because it’s painful to stay there, knowing my Dad would rather pay attention to another over me, his own daughter. Maybe I could get it if it were some older woman. I… I still wouldn’t like it, with him trying to fill the void in her, bringing in another woman who’d try to be Mom but be so inadequate in every single way compared to Mom. This hypothetical woman would try to take her place, and twist Dad in some way or another to her whims, or she’d be a trophy, someone that Dad was using to fill with sex because he had one of the few alright paying jobs in the city.

Maybe that’s all that Glory Girl is, just a sex trophy, something to fill the void. Maybe if that was what she actually was… maybe I could have… could have dealt with it. But the way they talked, the way the concern dripped with every word he spoke, how enchanted he was with her, with a concern for her that he couldn’t even muster for me. It was like losing him all over again.

Unlike with school, there’s no winning, not here. She barely even knows me, not with me avoiding her like I did. She’s never even seen me. I don’t even factor in for her except knowing I exist. I can’t defy her as I defied the trio. Not without hurting Dad, and despite… despite how he’s acted. How he’s given her all of his attention and more.

But maybe it’s for the best. Ever since Mom died, he’s been a wreck. He got better for a bit, but never really recovered until she came along. Maybe… maybe it’s just as well that I’ve left. He won’t feel guilty about forgetting me. It’s probably better that I’m gone. He… he can focus on getting better. I-I mean… they always say fasten your own mask before helping others…

Even as I say it I can’t make myself believe it.

I reach up and push my face further into my pillow, the slowly welling tears smearing across it as I push my head further in. For a moment or two I stay like that, figuring that it would be better to just stay in bed, let myself drift off to sleep properly this time. Maybe Lisa will come back by then.

But I can’t just leave everything to her. She can’t be my rock, and it would be selfish to make her it as well. Lisa may help me and give me some of the care I’ve missed, but I should put some effort in myself right? Even if I don’t want to, if I want to just stay in this bed, and wallow in self pity.

In a split second decision I cast off from the bed, pushing myself just over the point of no return and let myself fall on my hands and knees. Stumbling like a zombie, I get up. I’m still in my regular clothes, wrinkling them and probably wrinkling Lisa’s clothes as well, making her look worse just because she took the effort to make me feel a bit better. I shouldn’t do that to her, make her waste so much time on me. I don’t really deserve the effort she’s putting in. If Dad couldn’t be bothered, why should she? She has her own worries, like her “dick” of a boss, and whatever other super villainy things she has going on.

I should make it up to them somehow.

Maybe I should cook something when they get back?

Shuffling across the room, I open the door and walk out. I look and Regent is still there, playing his game, though his character’s different now, better equipped with fancy armour and some kind of big sword that slashes things apart with a swing or two. As I look, the foppish villain pauses his game and looks over.

“Hey, I’m Alec,” he says, no inflection in his voice.

“Taylor,” I say back as he nods and turns back to his game. Looking around, I remember the pizza, and despite having eaten, I’m kind of tempted to have some. I haven’t had it for a while. Dad’s more often than not just left TV dinners in the freezer for me to have at home when he’s not around, that or I just cook for myself. Shuffling over to the fridge, I spot the pizza box left ajar and reach inside to pull out a slice. Not bothering to heat it up, I take a bite and leave the fridge behind in favour of finding somewhere to sit. Inevitably, my eyes are drawn to the TV where Alec’s game is playing.

Remembering back to the elf I’d seen, and with there being nothing else to do other than work on my nest while Lisa is gone, I go and sit on the couch, nibbling on cold pizza as Alec keeps playing his game.

Alec, certainly isn’t a hero, in real life or in the game. As I watch, I get to see Alec’s character steal, threaten, murder, and even pillage in the strange fantasy game he’s playing. I can even see the dialogue options as well, showing how he could be kind or compassionate, how he could be moral, or even down right heroic. Then, in an almost bi-polar way, he’d go out and help random villagers, choosing the options to take their requests rather than do the evil thing and just blow them off. As Alec finishes off some job for a shop keep to recover his Mother from bandits, I look over to Alec..

“Why are you doing that?”

“Doing what?” Alec asks as he attacks what looks to be a group of merchants. The guards are all dead and now he’s just shooting the merchant in the back, his body falling forward as the arrow pierces his neck.

“That,” I say.

“No witnesses,” he says and I’m obviously not being very clear.

“No, I mean, why are you stealing and being evil,” I ask, but he just shrugs. Frowning a bit at his non answer, I pressed on. “Are you role playing, or what?”

Emma and I would role play all the time when we were playing capes. We’d swap between who was the villain and hero every time, the two of us coming up with weird and hammy villains with equally hammy heroes since that was all we knew, though mine usually had a bit more of a fantasy flare to it. Alec though just shrugs again.

“I’m just doing whatever,” he says, still kind of avoiding the question, but at the same time, could he just be like this? I mean, they are villains. Thieves mostly, but could Alec here really turn into a proper murderer if he was powerful enough? He certainly is here, but then it’s easy to kill and fight when it’s all fake.

I’d killed my fair share of hostages while playing the villain when we got older and our game of capes became more mature. Rather than just us calling out attacks and making “pew pew” noises without mouths while throwing crumpled up paper at each other between hysterical giggling, we’d make up scenarios for if we ever got powers, the main thing being the focus on being the hero of course.

“Do you want to play?” Alec asks, and I’m jarred from my pondering. He’s looking over and his controller is held out towards me. I look and the screen has been changed from a pretty landscape to the main menu.

“You don’t want to play anymore?” I ask, to which Alec shrugged.

“I’ve been playing all day. Besides, it might be interesting to see what you do, that and I need to wake my butt up anyways, but I’ll come back once I get some pizza,” he says as I hesitantly take his controller.

Trying to remember how he held it, I try to slip my fingers into where they’re supposed to go, and go to “new game.” This should at least occupy my time until Lisa gets back, or if not, I could maybe check to see what the Undersiders have here to cook. Almost immediately I’m met with a menu that shows off a singular character, with some choices that need to be made. Curious, I start to select through them, eventually ending up with an elven mage, though as I start to change her face, shifting it here and there, I frown a bit as slowly the mage goes from decent looking to more and more strange. More like a hag than an elf.

“Hey, you want some help with that?” Alec asks, having returned from the fridge with a cold pizza in his hand as he looks to me, and my flailing attempts at making an elf. I… I was trying to make myself. It’s stupid, but I was trying, imagining myself as an elf. Actually pretty and less of the frog I really am, with less of a wide mouth and more normal, but at the same time just better.

“…if you want,” I say as Alec hops the couch and sits down, his hand out for the controller. I pass it to him and he gives my character a once over before turning back.

“Better version of you?” he asks, to which I nod.

“Yes please,” I ask, and he just nods before he gets to work.

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“But why not cut off their ears? They’re dead anyways and they sell for okay money with the wild elves,” Alec asks, not in any kind of heated way, but more curious as I walk through the camp of bandits who’d just tried to rob me.

“Because it’s wrong to mutilate a body,” I say.

“But why?” Alec asks, and I open my mouth to answer, but frown.

“It’s barbaric, and you wouldn’t want your body just butchered like that,” I say but Alec just shrugs.

“I’d be dead, why would I care?” he says, which is true, why would the dead care for their bodies? To be fair, they tried to kill me first. Though I’d never kill someone in cold blood for money or anything of the sort, maybe shaving off these elves’ ears wouldn’t be so bad. Besides, why not profit off of the wild elves? Despite being a bunch of Celtic flavoured elven Nazi “Ubermench,” they pay well and didn’t really care “from whence the ears come from so long as they belong to those whose blood has been muddled with mortality.”

It’s a bit unfortunate that the elves of this world have been made into Nazis, or at least the ones on this island. The wild elves on the mainland, apparently according to Alec, are far closer to those ideal ones from Lord of the Rings that I kind of wanted to see. Though not entirely as they like, these I’ve encountered on the island here are just as obsessed with nature.

“Huh, I didn’t take you as someone who enjoys playing video games,” I hear Lisa say behind me and I shrug.

“I’ve never tried. It's… distracting I guess,” it’s certainly something that can keep me from thinking about things. My bugs do that as well but this at least distracts my body while my bugs are busy.

“Don’t forget fun, numbers go up and all that,” Alec says as he points at the screen towards the little button in the bottom which lets me check my character stats. It was nice when my character leveled up, and with Alec explaining some of the skills, it certainly made it more interesting as I figured out different ways of doing things. Alec said I was apparently building a slightly off meta build whatever that was, but so far it’s been working for me.

The story was even kind of decent. Nothing compared to some of the stuff I’ve read, and it doesn’t hold a candle to Lord of the Rings or other classics that Mom and I would read, but at least it’s gotten me invested enough in my own character and a few people in this game.

As I keep playing I feel with a few bugs that are hanging off of Lisa as she looks between the two of us, and I pause to look back at her. She’s smiling, her brows furrowed a bit.

“What?” I ask.

“I just didn’t think that you two would get along. Alec’s kind of… well, Alec.”

“Fuck off Lisa I can play nice when I feel like it. I just don’t feel like it most of the time,” he says as he stretches out, parts of his back popping from sitting there all day like he had, before he takes a swipe at Lisa. Of course, Lisa has already moved away but suddenly she twitches forward just a smidge as he boops her nose, eliciting a cry from Lisa and a giggle from Alec.

“Gah! Jackass,” Lisa cries out as Alec sits back with a smug grin.

“You know it~!” he says in a sing-song voice to which Lisa just gives a long suffering sigh. Brian by now grabs a lone seat while Lisa moves over to the couch by me and I scoot over for her so she doesn’t have to sit by Alec.

“Alright, I think we had our little victory celebration put off long enough, how about we order some food hmm?” Brian asks as I pause, remembering my plan.

“I could make something, you know, to make it up to you guys for delaying your party,” I said.

“You don’t have to-” Brian starts before Lisa interrupts.

“I think that’s a great idea. It’d be better than the fast food and stuff we get every day,” Lisa says before looking around. “Any objections?”

No one really raises a concern so I pause the game and save it like Alec showed me. Making sure not to delete his save like I nearly did before the first time he tried to show me how to do it. Alec meanwhile sits up as I pass the controller over to him.

“Thanks, it was fun,” I say, while getting up. He just nods along while Lisa gets up as well.

“I’ll come as well so I can tell you what everyone likes, oh, and is Rachel around?” Lisa asks, but I raise my eyebrow at her. “Oh, she’s Bitch, is she around or…?”

“She went out with just one of her dogs, but I don’t know what she was doing,” I say while Lisa frowns before shaking her head.

“One of these days she’ll get herself killed or caught if she keeps going out like this. Hopefully it’s just a kibble run rather than attacking a dog fighting ring,” Lisa comments, which is oddly specific to bring up.

“Does she do that often? Attack dog fighting rings that is,” I ask as Lisa kind of nods.

“A bit. She’s asked the boss about it a few times when she found out that the E88 set up some dog fighting arenas here and there, but most of her focus has been on getting her dog shelters all set up,” Lisa says as I open the fridge and see mostly pizza boxes, though there are a few things like peppers and pickles, a few sauces with some onions. Opening the freezer, I see what looks to be some burgers there as well, a few packs at least. A bit close to the expiry date but they were still good for a bit.

“Sorry we don’t have much. We’re kind of a bunch of teenagers after all,” Lisa says with a bit of an embarrassed chuckle at the end. Reaching back a bit further I see a bag of fries. It’ll be nothing compared to what Mom could make, the equivalent of cereal versus eggs Benedict. No, no this was stupid, I, I should have just offered to pay for some take out. I still have all my change, I’ll just order them some takeout and-

“So what are we making, chef?” Lisa asks, her ever warm smile gracing my unworthy self. I smile back but can’t look her in the eyes.

“I-I was going to order something,” I say, lying to the thinker on the team of all things.

“Hey, you don’t need to do that. I know you had something else on your mind. Don’t worry about it, we’ll eat just about anything, and I’m sure you’ll make something better than what any crappy fast food joint could make for us. You don’t have to, but why not take a chance? I saw you eyeing the burgers in the freezer, and everyone loves burgers,” Lisa says, wrapping an arm around me and hesitantly I do the same. We squeeze each other lightly before I nod.

“Okay, I’m sorry, I just.”

“Hey, no need to apologize, let's just get to cooking, okay? I can’t wait to hear what you’ve got planned.”

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“So I was thinking on your name,” Lisa said as she drained the juice from the hot peppers, drying them so that they wouldn’t soak the buns while I kept watch over the burgers.

“Oh?” I ask, letting the burgers sizzle.

“Now you don’t have to choose anything yet, but what about Weaver? It’s not exactly heroic or villainous, but you put a lot of effort into your costume, so if you wanted to put an emphasis on it, you could go with Weaver,” Lisa said as she placed the damp hot peppers into small bowls that people could pick from to put on their burgers. It could be a good name, really for any of the various ways of being a cape. Probably best for being a rogue like Parian, but it could work for either a hero or a villain.

“It could be a good idea,” I say, as I flip the burgers.

“Say, how many bugs can you control anyways? It must be a lot from how many spiders you brought along,” the blonde asks while grabbing some more little dishes for various toppings people could put on.

“All of them in a few blocks. I have at least a few million of them under my control right now, and that’ll grow once it gets warmer,” I say as Lisa whistles.

“If your powers are that strong, then maybe I should have been looking at the names of ancient gods to name you after,” Lisa lies. Strong? My powers aren’t strong. They couldn’t even take out Lung before he powered up and made them useless against him. There are so many things that could defeat me it isn’t even funny. While it’s nice for her to lie, it isn’t necessary.

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“Damn this stuff’s good,” are the unanimous agreement among the table, first originating from Brian and echoed from the full mouths of Alec and Lisa. Even Bitch, or rather Rachel, who came up not long before the food was done, a huge bag of kibble in her arms, grunted in approval of the burgers.

The burgers weren’t amazing. A combination of them being frozen and a bit of over cooked had only allowed them to be just barely edible on their own, though luckily there were toppings and a side of spiced up fries to spice things up a bit. The sides and toppings were likely the thing that actually made the burgers good. Shredded cheese, banana peppers and jalapenos, even some sautéed onions that could be put on top, or some bacon I fried up last minute. There was also a side of fries as well that I’d been able to spice up with one of Dad’s recipes of using garlic salt and some Cajun spices that Lisa had bought but never used.

I doubt that this would have been even close to a success without Lisa making the toppings, and without Dad’s recipe I could follow. The meal would have been bland without either of those.

“You know, we never did get to go shopping earlier,” Lisa says in an idle tone, though it was obviously directed at me. Shit, right. The shopping trip we had planned. I… I fucked that up didn’t I? Damn it.

“I’m sorry,” I say, but Lisa shakes her head.

“It’s no big deal, besides, we can head to the boardwalk tomorrow and pick up some new clothes you know? Something nice for the both of us, and we’ll have more time to do it,” she says smiling at me. More compelled than anything, I smile back, but it isn’t exactly a great smile, just another grimace pretending to be a smile for others, only discernible from a frown by the slight upturn of my lips corners.

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“Oooh, this would look nice on you.”

“I guess.”

Despite agreeing to the shopping trip, I haven’t exactly felt all that much better. In truth, Lisa was more just pulling me along really. There were some things I liked though. Hoodies are always nice. Usually they’re big and baggy, plus you only really need a nice thick one to be protected from the winter weather in Brockton. Jeans are nice as well when going out unless it’s really cold, but that doesn’t happen much in Brockton.

Lisa, of course, was pushing me to explore my boundaries, looking at various different outfits and clothing ideas for me. Lots of colours as well. It’s almost like Emma. Just looking around, and remembering a few things I learned from Emma when we were out and about back before she betrayed me, I could spot an outfit to go with the yellow shirt that Lisa was looking at while looking over at me. The thing was a striped yellow and black shirt. Very bee-like and I could see her looking me up and down before moving off to the jackets while holding the shirt. I hadn’t thought of the jackets, since here on the boardwalk, they were always much too expensive unless I was shopping with Emma.

I wonder, will Lisa betray me like my once sister did? As a thinker as powerful as she described, it wouldn’t be hard to really go in deep, and destroy me. After all, I’d basically given her everything she needed if she needed me demoralized.

“Alright, here we go, go try this on and tell me what you think of it, okay?” Lisa asked, having fully assembled the outfit for me as I took it from her. She’d grabbed a shorter leather jacket, more meant for style than actually dealing with the weather, but the black went well with the striped shirt and the jeans as well. It wasn’t too out there, so I guess I can try it, and head off to the changing room.

I try not to look at myself as I change, not wanting to see the boney figure before me. I’d mostly lost my gut, but when I sat wrong, or ate too much, it would reappear. I hate it. I hate my body, how it makes me look. At least in hoodies I can only feel it rather than see it.

Slowly, awkwardly, I step out from the changing room for Lisa to see, letting her see the challenge that she faced in trying to clothe me in something that looked even slightly alright. My body is awkward, and not very flattering, making any attempt to look good futile, and pointless. At least hoodies and large jeans hide it somewhat, but not here.

“Well don’t you look snazzy,” she lies as I look up and see a smile on her, before I look away.

“Oh come on, you don’t look bad at all. Heck if you had some shade on you’d even look kinda punk,” at least she’s nice enough to lie. Lisa gives a sigh before smiling again.

“Alright I think that should be enough for now, don’t you think,” she asks and I agree. What we got today was likely enough to last me for a good while. Besides, I think I’d rather just stay back at their club house and read my books, or maybe play that game that Alec showed me. It at least would be new compared to the rabbit eared books I already have.

Though that could come later, I’ve slacked off on my morning runs. I’ll have to go out and figure out a route to run in the mornings, possibly something that avoids where the heroes patrol. Dad will eventually realize I’m gone and the heroes do look for missing people every once and a while when they’re not busy handling the various fights between capes.

When that is though I don’t know, after he started to pull back, and put more and more focus towards Glory Girl, I’ve kind of kept out of the house more and more just to avoid him and her.

“I’ll go change back.”

“Why though? Come on, you really do look good. Please just stay in it? We’ll get the tags off and get it all paid for. You don’t have to wear it again after this but just for now, please?” Lisa asks, bringing her hands together, but not really begging, but it still gives the same effect, and I sigh.

“Okay, fine,” it’d be less of a hassle to just go along with her anyways. Besides, she’s paying for the clothes, and if she really wants me in this, well, she can get a bit of amusement as a way to pay back for the clothes.

Lisa pays for the clothes and we start to head back to the warehouse when I notice something with my bugs.

“What do you want? I already pay this month,” I can hear what sounds like an Asian man asks as I can feel two other men standing at his door, bats in hand. It’s just at the edge of my range. Rather than answer the older Asian man, there is movement and I hear a grunt before the old man falls forwards with a groan.

“Congrats old man, you’re getting drafted, Shinji, get him in the car,” one of the men says before I feel movement again and the older man is being dragged across the ground, but he’s struggling. I nearly step off in the direction of the kidnapping, pausing a moment as I look off in their direction.

“What is it?” Lisa asks.

“There’s an old man who was attacked, just a few blocks down,” I say, as Lisa’s eyes widen. I almost want to motion for her to come, to follow me, or something… but.

I said I’d try, for Lisa… do, do I just want to die, or… I think, stopping. Lisa however doesn’t hesitate.

“You want to help him right?” she asks, and I nod.

“I don’t know if…” I start, but trail off, Lisa just shakes her head however.

“Doesn’t matter, you want to help him right? I won’t stop you, you can scare them off with bugs right?” she asks, and I’m about to do that, but then I pause. They said that he was getting drafted. From the Asian voices, they were almost certainly from the ABB. Though why are they drafting people out of the blue? Did Lung actually get arrested? I would have thought he could have shook off the poison and the mauling he got from the dogs enough to handle a hero.

Or was he dead? Did the poison kill him somehow? Is he planning a major push? Fuck, I need to know more.

“I don’t know,” I say as I nod my head in the direction as we start to move down the new street, moving into a jog at the same time. “He said something about drafting him, so I want to know what is going on. It’s the ABB.”

“Shit, okay, if we can find the car before they run off and maybe get a license plate I can see what I can do, lets go,” Lisa says as we turn towards the confrontation and start sprinting down the road, likely looking strange to the various people on the street we pass as we run. Meanwhile, “Shinji” gets annoyed, and after some more struggling with the man. I can’t tell what’s going on exactly, but from the sound of a thud and a pained groan, the older man had probably been either kicked or whacked or something. I don’t have enough bugs. Using what spiders I have nearby, I send them towards the vehicle, crawling up the tires before making webs underneath the car and arranging the bugs in a triangle to find them later. As we round the corner and are about to reach them, I hear through my bugs the sound of the trunk slamming shut and the older man is inside of the car’s trunk.

“Fuck, he struggled more than the last guy,” “Shinji” comments before walking to the front of the car.

“They’re getting away,” I say as I speed up, increasing the distance between me and Lisa as she starts to flag behind, my longer stride pushing me further as the car starts, and I’m still a building away from the corner, fuck!

“Took you long enough, I was just about to get out and help you,” the other gangster says to Shinji as they start to peel away from the curb. I feel some shifting, before the vehicle turns away, doing a U-turn on the street and driving this way. Lisa’s still a ways back, but at the corner I stop as they drive up and run past the stop sign. Thankfully, I can see their plate.

Wide eyed, I look at the car, memorizing the plate number, and repeating it in my head before I move my bugs in an alleyway into the numbers I want. Meanwhile, Lisa finally catches up.

“Holy shit, you’re fast,” Lisa says, her hands on her knees as she nearly doubles over, panting hard. I guess my running was good for something at least.

“I’ve got their plate number,” I say, but Lisa holds up a hand.

“Hold on a sec…” she says and I hold, before after a moment she stands up straight, her hand going to her phone, but as she speaks she still sounds a bit winded. “Shit, maybe I should actually take Brian up on his offer, or, you run right? Maybe, maybe we could do some of that?”

“Sure, but what about the plate number?” I ask and Lisa holds up her phone.

“I’m, I’m going to call it in, and, uh, see if we can figure out from the police who owns the car and where they live,” she says as I tilt my head.

“Why would the police tell you that?” I ask, before it dawned on me that Lisa or her boss might have connections in the police.

“The boss, he’s got spies in the police, hell, he probably has a few guys in the PRT as well,” Lisa says as I nod along, though I don’t really know what to think about the spies in the PRT. The police, sure, they’ve been playing second fiddle to the PRT for years, but the actual PRT?

“Does he have spies in the other gangs?” but Lisa just shrugs at my question.

“No idea, he’s had me look through for info about the E88 and all kinds of things about them so at least I doubt he’s got many guys there. Hold on, let me check with one of the guys I know,” Lisa says as she turns on her phone and starts to tap a number into it before holding it up to her ear. Meanwhile, I look around as we wait, but no one is nearby

“Oh hey, right, what’s the plate number,” Lisa asks, and I rattle it off. Lisa nods along before smiling and giving me a thumb up.

“Hey, is this Larry,” she asks into the phone while I wait. “It’s me, Tee Tee, I need a plate checked and if you can, a home address, okay…? Gang stuff, guys are ABB I think and I thought I might as well teach them a lesson or two about safe driving… No, not this time, there was something fucky about these guys, kidnapping fucky, and not just some girl off the street either. Friend of mine heard something about drafting…”

We waited around for a bit longer, likely for whoever was on the other end to search up the plate. After a bit, Lisa perks up again and I hear the sound of someone on the other end talking. “Alright, thanks Larry… If you want, but I think that this is going to start involving capes soon enough so that might just slow things down… Neither did I.”

As she says that last part she hangs up on her boss’ operative in the police. “I got the address; we just got to figure out if they’re close to there or not.”

“I actually had my spiders make little nests on their car before they took off, if they took him close to where they live, then I should be able to find it unless the spiders fall off,” I say while Lisa nods.

“The ABB’s territory should be where they are, and if you cover a few blocks, we could easily check it all in an afternoon. Hell, we can check pretty soon if you want, we just have to go back and get our costumes just in case things get hairy,” Lisa says as I nod along. “China Town” isn’t really that big, and while the ABB have expanded around it, Brockton Bay isn’t a metropolis so just driving around should be able to cover most of their territory, and hopefully the bugs don’t move too much.

Alright Taylor, let's do this, let’s be a hero. I think, before adding a bit of an addendum. A smart hero, not just attacking like I did to Lung, I owe Lisa that much for… well for all she’s done.

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“This is the place,” I say as I point out the warehouse for Brian as he nods and drives past before slowing down and parking a few cars away.

“Alright, cool. So this is where the guy’s car is?” he asks and I nod. Brian had decided to join us on this little bit of heroism, mostly just to drive me around, though he did have his Grue helmet already just in case he was needed. Meanwhile Lisa’s acting as mission control at the moment.

“Alright, so we know the place, do you have the camera all set Taylor?” Lisa asks.

“Yeah,” I say while my bugs start to come out of my back pack, the small hordes pulling on cameras mounted on spider webs, attached to about a couple dozen or more flying bugs. Despite how small the cameras are, it still takes quite a few bugs just to get it airborne. Not a large part of my swarm, but more visible for sure.

“Alright, then we can see about getting these puppies in place to figure out what exactly is going on. Do you two see anywhere you can set up shop?” Lisa asks and I point out down an alleyway.

“There’s an abandoned auto shop over that way. We could probably set up there, though it’s boarded up,” I say to which Brian shrugs before he swings off his backpack and pulls from it a small crowbar. Right, despite how nice they are, the Undersiders are still criminals.

“Alright, let's get things ready, and we can figure out what might be going on,” the villain says while we walk down the alleyway, my hoodie up as Brian keeps his biker helmet on.

The door is shut tight with a tall single board as I’d said before, but Brian starts digging into the rotting thing like it’s nothing, making a hole in it rather quickly with his crowbar. Meanwhile I keep watch with my bugs, but no one seems to be around at this time in the afternoon.

“And, here we go!” Brian exclaims as he finally grabs hold of the rotting wood and pulls it away, leaving a door before us. He tries the handle, and surprisingly, it’s unlocked. Opening it, he motions for me.

“Ladies first,” he says while I walk forth.

“Thank you,” I say before bee-lining it to a counter in the shop. It’s covered in dust but I swipe it off with my hoodie sleeve before grabbing my own backpack and pull a small laptop from it. Another of Lisa’s, only this one is a small one, good for in the field work according to Lisa. Turning it on, it automatically connects to the cameras I’ve slowly been moving into the building the vehicle is parked by. The bugs hover into the defunct vents of the once abandoned medical office. The place is small and likely had only been a small clinic, and yet there’s a room without any bugs at all. Just outside of the bugless room, I can hear two of the men talking in the waiting area while playing cards if the smacking of cardstock is anything to go by. I move one of the cameras to the vent by them and watch from above while the other cameras move on.

Thankfully the vent moves into the room without the bugs, I watch as I position the cameras with my bugs, all the while the computer live streams the camera feeds to Lisa back at the Undersider’s base. The video quality and sound isn’t great, but it’s clear enough for our purposes.

“I don’t like this,” Lisa comments as she watches the various feeds. One of the feeds is definitely an operating room, but despite having a camera there, we can’t see anything but the floor. As I’m about to shift the camera looking into the operating theatre, though, there’s a pulse, and in an instant all of my bugs in the vent by the operating room get fried.

“What was that?” I ask aloud, while Brian who came up behind points out to one of the other screens from a camera I’d left outside to watch the street.

“Car just pulled up,” he says while I just nod, moving some bugs around the vehicle to latch onto the gangsters rolling up. Meanwhile, the two guards look up from their game, one of them getting up and knocking on the door.

“’nother one boss,” he calls through the door while we watch. Coming from inside the room, I hear someone call out.

“Bring them in, I’m done with this one,” a woman’s voice calls out. She sounds more American than the asian gangsters.

“Okay boss,” he calls out before him and his buddy head out to the front door. At the same time, with the camera inside, I hear something that’s hard to make out, before I watch as something is wheeled past. My eyes widen a bit as I see the man on the gurney.

“Ooooooh fuuuuuck,” Lisa says while the three of us look at the man with the surgical scars on his chest. With a parahuman gang involved and going by the scars, there could only be one answer.

A Bio-Tinker.

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