Worm

by John Mccrae Wildbow

  Aisha plastered a fake smile on her face.

  “I didn’t know you cared,” Brian told Aisha, with a touch of sarcasm. ”I’m dropping this only because Taylor’s sticking up for you.”

  Aisha rolled her eyes and began serving herself.

  It was nine-thirty. Assuming it would take us half an hour to forty-five minutes to get to Coil’s place, that left us only about an hour to get ready. We ate in awkward silence. Aisha took the first turn in the shower, leaving Brian and me alone once again.

  I didn’t know what to do with myself. We had taken a step forward, but I didn’t exactly have any experience on this front. What was I supposed to do? What did I say? I wanted to hug him, to hold his hand or raise the idea of spending time together later, but I didn’t know what was allowed, or what would be pushing boundaries or taking things too far.

  He sat down on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table, and I grabbed a glass of orange juice before sitting down next to him. Would he put his arm around me, or-

  “This thing with Coil. Do you have a plan?”

  Opportunity missed.

  I shook my head. ”More like I have a bunch of smaller plans. Can’t commit to anything, in case things unfold in an unexpected way.”

  “Okay. Let’s talk about them. Plan A?”

  “I whip my territory into shape, Coil decides that it’s more valuable to keep me in his service. The idea is that he values my ability to keep an area stable more than he values having Dinah. He lets her go.”

  “Not likely.”

  I frowned. ”I almost gave up on it after Burnscar torched everything. It isn’t that impossible.”

  “Think about what it would mean in terms of security leaks. If he let Dinah go home to her family, she wouldn’t be able to return to her normal life. If Coil was dumb enough to let her go with no safeguards and without people to watch her, then the heroes would swoop in on her and use her to get him.”

  I nodded, glum.

  “And really, can you honestly say that your services are worth the cost of everything you’re taking from Coil in the way of resources, plus the cost of the agents he’d need watching Dinah at all hours?”

  “So you think he’ll say no.”

  “Tattletale thinks that Coil may be considering dropping you from the team once he has what he needs.”

  I turned to look at Brian. His forehead was creased in a frown.

  “You think I’m expendable.”

  “To Coil? Possibly.”

  I nodded.

  “It’s something to keep in mind,” he said.

  “Thing is, I don’t know how that really changes anything. Should I stop helping the people in my territory? I’m not going to. It wouldn’t be fair to them, and it would tip Coil off.”

  “I think it was a bad idea to tip him off by making the deal in the first place. Now he knows you’ve got pretty strong morals. On a level, anyways.”

  I nodded. On a level.

  He went on, “I imagine it’s troublesome to have someone with those sorts of moral concerns that could throw his long-term plan off course. He might be looking to replace you.”

  “And with his power, that might make for a bit of a pinch.”

  “His power?”

  I paused. ”Tattletale clued me in. He creates parallel realities. Makes two different decisions, and he gets to see the outcome of each as they unfold. Decides which he wants in the end.”

  Brian frowned. ”And he’s been doing that with us?”

  “Since before I joined the team. Send us on a job in one reality, keep us back in another. If we succeed, great. If we fail… well, nothing lost. He deletes the reality where he sent us out.”

  He rubbed his chin. I noticed he had stubble. ”So he gets two tries at everything. Including dealing with any of us who cause him any trouble.”

  I nodded. ”Which is why we need to play along for as long as possible.”

  “Fair. What’s your plan B?”

  “Plan B… well, it’s not so much a plan as a fallback. If I get found out before we make any headway, it means fighting Coil and his underlings.”

  “The Travelers and Circus included.”

  “Tattletale and I have talked about how we might approach that. The problem is that Coil would be backing them up. Normally I’d suggest we go on the offensive, so they don’t have time to go after our weaknesses, but with Coil at work, we have to assume that it’s all the more likely that the Travelers would get that one lucky hit off, or that they’d pick the plan of attack that would work out for them.”

  “And they’re powerful enough that they’d really only need to get lucky once,” Brian said. I saw his expression darken. He was staring off into space.

  “Sorry,” I said. Impulsively, I leaned closer, so my arm and shoulder pressed against his arm.

  “Hm?”

  “If you want to talk about something else-”

  “I want to make sure we come out of this alive.”

  “But it’s stressing you out.”

  “I’ll manage,” he answered, putting one arm around my shoulders and hugging me close.

  But he didn’t raise the subject again. Aisha got out of the shower, he took the next turn, ostensibly to clean up after her. I took the brief period of quiet to get my stuff in order. I’d worn my costume under my clothes, the top and dress portion bound around my waist, beneath the sweatshirt.

  Once I was free to use the shower, I pulled off the costume and hung it up. The steam would help with any wrinkles for the parts that weren’t skintight.

  I had to admit to being a little disappointed with the way the morning was unfolding. Part of that was with myself, not knowing how to act, but part of it was with the lack of romance. Rationally, I knew that the movies, TV, books and all that, they didn’t paint a realistic picture. I knew that we wouldn’t instantaneously click, that everything would be fixed.

  But at the core of it all, I wasn’t a hundred percent rational.

  Had to take what I could get. Last night, cuddling? It had been nice. Really nice.

  All in all, we were ready to move out well ahead of time.

  I wracked my brain, trying to think of things to say. Everything social or romantic seemed forced or awkward, especially with Imp there. Everything related to our costumed selves seemed too delicate, fraught with reminders for Brian.

  Each time I entered Coil’s headquarters, it seemed like it had transformed. On our first visit it had been a bare bones setup with piles upon piles of crates, and soldiers congregating wherever there was room. Our last visit had seen some organization. Now it had finally taken form.

  The interior was divided into two levels. The lower level sported a cafeteria, a bar, a small computer lab and bunk beds for the soldiers on standby. Doorways leading to what I suspected were washrooms. I knew that Coil had squads positioned across the city by now, in quarters not unlike the lairs he had assigned us, if a little more austere. Anyone who stayed here had the bare necessities.

  There was an area with more of a focus on the actual ‘war’ part of soldiering, with men at the ready to hand out the guns and ammunition that were tidily arranged on racks and shelves, a massive laundry room that appeared to be devoted to washing and preparing the uniforms and two more stations for heavier gear and more esoteric stuff like walkie-talkies and explosives.

  The upper level was pretty plain, with a metal walkway bridging the gaps to the doorways that were recessed in the concrete walls. Still, things had been added, including whiteboards with shift schedules and maps very similar to the one I’d seen in Tattletale’s base of operations.

  I glanced at one map; our territory had expanded somewhat. Or maybe it was better to say that the pockets of enemy forces that had lurked at the edges of our territory were collapsing.

  Cranston, the blond woman who served as one of Coil’s liasons to us, who was my contact when I needed something, was standing outside the door to the conference room.

&nb
sp; “Skitter. How are you?”

  “I’m fine, Ms. Cranston.”

  “You’re a bit early. Can I offer you anything while you wait for Coil to arrive?”

  I shook my head.

  “Grue? Imp?”

  They refused as well.

  “It’ll only be a few minutes.”

  Grue and Imp stepped away to talk to the fat, short man who I took to be their liason. I stepped over to the railing and watched the scene below.

  A group far to my left caught my eye. I ventured closer.

  Trickster, Sundancer, Genesis and Ballistic were gathered around Tattletale, joined by Coil and a blond boy with striking good looks. I couldn’t really get a good look at it from my vantage point, but the wall jutted out beneath the walkway, and there was a heavy vault door set into the concrete, similar to the ones I’d seen at the shelters.

  Noelle.

  Tattletale was shaking her head as she talked. She gestured toward the door.

  I could see the Travelers respond to that. Trickster folding his arms, Sundancer turning away slightly. Genesis, in her wheelchair, hung her head just a bit, her mop of hair blocking the view.

  They weren’t hearing what they wanted to hear.

  Tattletale touched the wall, some panel or button system, said something, and then turned away, walking towards the staircase. The Travelers and Coil followed behind.

  “Everything okay?” I asked Tattletale, as she joined me.

  “Oh, not really,” she gave me a tight smile.

  “Fill me in later?”

  “Can’t. Sworn to secrecy.”

  “Uh huh. You know, for someone who calls herself Tattletale, you’re way too fond of keeping secrets.”

  “Believe me, some secrets aren’t so fun to keep.”

  I frowned. What was going on there?

  I could only trust that she’d inform us when we weren’t in earshot of Coil and the Travelers.

  Bitch and Regent were waiting outside the conference room as we approached. I gave Bitch a small nod of acknowledgement, and she returned it. All together, we got seated; Travelers on one side of the table, Undersiders on the other, Coil at the head.

  “I understand that things have been hectic since the Nine departed the city. Communications are difficult to establish, there’s still lasting damage from the Endbringer attack, and everyone has their individual concerns. Before our focus fell on the Nine and eliminating Jack Slash, I told you to establish your territories and do what you could to effect some sort of control. As Tattletale may not have all of the necessary information to draw the right conclusions, I’d like each of you to inform us on your progress.”

  He gestured to Trickster.

  “Putting me on the spot, huh?” Trickster asked. ”Dunno. Nobody’s doing business in my neighborhood, and there aren’t any crooks there that the public knows about, but Purity and her people are still hanging around, and I’m waiting on my teammates to wrap up their stuff so they can lend me a hand.”

  “Infrastructure, recruitment?” Coil prompted.

  “I’ve made a few small steps forward for each of those things. I offered some of the low-level thugs the option of moving out of the city or serving under me. Got a half-and-half split of each, more or less. Enough people to deal product, if you want, or to scare some people.”

  “Good. Sundancer?”

  Sundancer had the posture of someone who’d desperately hoped to avoid being called on in class. ”I don’t know. I’ve been working with the maps Tattletale provided me, but I’m not good at this. I burn them out of whatever place they’re holed up in, they run, then half the time it’s like they settle somewhere else that’s nearby.”

  “You have to scare them more,” Trickster said.

  “I burn their houses down. I don’t know why that’s not scary enough.”

  “You’re too soft about it, being too careful to let them know what you’re doing and when, because you don’t want to hurt them and they can tell.”

  Coil cleared his throat. ”How far along?”

  Sundancer didn’t look happy. ”I dunno. I’ve maybe cleared out one in four of the local groups?”

  “Genesis?” Coil asked.

  “Mostly clear,” Genesis replied, leaning forward and putting her elbows on the table, “Not sure how to get anything going in the way of operations. It’s not exactly heavily populated territory.”

  “You’re keeping Noelle company tonight, yes?”

  Genesis nodded.

  “Then we’ll discuss it then.”

  “Okay.”

  “And Ballistic?”

  “Further along than him,” Ballistic jerked a thumb toward Trickster. ”Nobody doing business in my area, only two capes hanging around. Got that girl from Dolltown who’s pretty insistent on holding onto her neighborhood, even if pretty much everyone that lived there is dead, now. It’s the only spot that I haven’t taken over.”

  “I see. And the second cape?”

  “There’s a kid from the old Merchants group. Has powers. Going to try to scare off the Doll girl and recruit the Merchant kid.”

  “You might start with remembering their names,” Genesis pointed out.

  “I’m not a cape geek like you.”

  “You’re a cape.”

  “Parian and Scrub?” I spoke up, hoping to keep them from going off on a tangent.

  “Sure. Sounds right,” Ballistic conceded.

  “If you’re dealing with Parian, can I come along?”

  “Actually,” Coil said, “I had a request to make of you, Skitter.”

  I turned my attention to him.

  “After,” he told me. ”Let me get to the main topic of this meeting before I address it. For now, I’d like to hear how the Undersiders are coming along.”

  “Been busy helping everyone else out,” Tattletale admitted. ”Like Trickster, I guess, I’m waiting for others to finish what they’re doing. I’m pretty solid for business, though. Bringing in more cash than I’m spending.”

  “What’s the business?” Trickster asked.

  “The big one is reclaiming items and homes. I offer goodies to any people from the shelter willing to band together and scare them off, anything too difficult, I use the mercenaries you provided. Coil’s hooked me up with some banking services so we can actually make the transactions. People don’t have a lot of use for money with the way things are right now, and they do have stuff that they value. Figure a few hundred to a thousand dollars per job, three or four jobs a day, and they’re sort of doing my work for us, dealing with the gang members.”

  “With the idea that your teammates will claim the areas at a later date,” Coil said, his voice firm.

  “Right.”

  “Grue and Imp?”

  I saw Grue hesitate.

  “Seventy-five percent clear,” Imp said. ”The Chosen and leftover Merchants mainly moved into our territory and Regent’s. Maybe we’re not a hundred percent done, but when we scare people off, they stay gone.”

  “Good. Can you drive out the remaining threats in the next two days?”

  “Got this far in three, don’t see why not.”

  “Excellent. Regent?”

  “About the same. Nobody wants to cross Shatterbird, but lots of people keep popping up, moving in because they’re oblivious that she’s there. With no radio or TV, they’re clueless.”

  “Make it more obvious, then.”

  Regent nodded.

  “Bitch?”

  “Nobody left in my territory.”

  “No threats?”

  “Nobody.”

  Coil sighed, “I did tell you that you could run your territory as you wished. Still, that’s not ideal. Would you object to a rearrangement of territory? I would grant you more overall area to control, but it would be limited to the outskirts of the city.”

  “So long as it’s mine.”

  “Good. And Skitter?”

  I shrugged. ”No threats, nobody’s daring to pop their heads
in.”

  “Then consider working on rooting out the individuals too afraid to show themselves, before they cause a problem.”

  “They’re dealt with,” I said.

  “Explain?”

  “I’m doing two sweeps through my territory every day. Only one yesterday, but we were busy dealing with the Chosen. I’m checking every building for trouble. If I find contraband, drugs or weapons, I confront the individuals in question. Past two days, I haven’t had to confront anyone.”

  “The only people with weapons are your people, then?”

  I nodded. ”I’ve got sixty people working under me, and maybe a hundred more who are working for me in an indirect way, joining the community that’s started on the cleanup projects. Filling, moving and placing sandbags to control and reroute the flooding, clearing the area Burnscar burned down, and setting up accommodations.”

  “Impressive,” Coil said.

  I nodded. ”I feel like I’m cheating, though. My power’s suited to this.”

  “It remains impressive. Let me explain just why I find this of interest, Undersiders, Travelers. The mayoral elections are in one week. Before this occurs, I would like to have this city firmly in my control. It will shift the tone and the aim of the election, which would be to my advantage. Our advantage.”

  “So you’re saying we have less than a week to wrap stuff up in our territory,” Trickster said.

  “Yes. I also have some other issues I would like you to address. Skitter, Genesis, I trust you’re able to step away from your territories to give me a hand?”

  Tattletale leaned forward over the table, looking at me. I glanced at her, then turned to Coil, “Yes.”

  “Sure,” Genesis said.

  “And Trickster, if you’re idle while you wait for your teammates to come assist with Purity’s group, I’m sure you can lend your assistance for one night?”

  Trickster nodded.

  “The mayor and several members of the city council will be traveling to Washington to discuss the state of Brockton Bay and the possibility of condemning the city. Skitter, Imp, Genesis, I would like you to visit him and ensure he argues towards our ends. Brockton Bay will stand, and it will recover.”

  I nodded slowly. ”Sure. I think I can do that and still help Ballistic with Parian.”

  “I haven’t asked for your help,” Ballistic said.