Worm

by John Mccrae Wildbow

  “Guard duty at the quarantine area in Madison, perhaps, or a town without a cape presence, where you’d be doing little more than making appearances and talking to kids.”

  “I’m… I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I’m better than that.”

  “Mm hmm,” he said. “Let’s hope they think so.”

  He pressed the button and took hold of the controls. “New York. The central headquarters of every Protectorate team in America.”

  ■

  With Defiant beside me, my civilian clothes removed, costume donned, I entered the common room of the local Protectorate team.

  The interior wasn’t dissimilar from the Wards’ headquarters in Brockton Bay. I’d visited that spot when we’d stolen the data from their server. The layout was similar, with what seemed to be interchangeable or connecting pieces defining the interior. The difference was in the quality of the pieces. Gold or faux-gold trim marked pillars and short walls. There wasn’t any brushed steel or ceramic. It was marble. This would be where they held the interviews and wowed the people who invested in the merchandising side of things.

  Inspiring, in a way. Intimidating.

  Equally intimidating, if not more so, was the crowd that waited for me. Eleven people, arranged across the room, most of them capes.

  “In the lead, we have Prism, second in command of the New York team,” Defiant told me.

  Prism’s lips flattened into a tight line as she looked at me. We’d met, at the Mayor’s house. She’d been one of Legend’s people. I supposed that Chevalier would have wanted someone who knew the city and the routines as his second in command.

  “Rime, team leader of Los Angeles,” Defiant said.

  Taking over for Alexandria, I thought. A cape with black hair in a blue skin-tight costume with fur. I recognized her from the Echidna event, the cape who made ice crystals. I remembered how she’d been following Chevalier’s orders. His second in command? It made sense he’d promote someone he knew to the second largest team in America.

  “Revel, team leader of Chicago.”

  Revel was a woman I hadn’t seen before, even in the background of the various Class-S fights. I was pretty sure I would have recognized her. She was clearly Japanese, with a painted mask covering her lower face, and a massive lantern on a stick that rested against one shoulder. She wore a white skin-tight outfit with straps at the shoulders, the legs ending mid-thigh, giving her a degree of modesty that the stylized crimson kimono didn’t. The kimono hung loose around her, held in place more by belts and what must have been wires in the fabric, elbow-length and just barely long enough to be modest. Her shoulders were bare and narrow, her expression… one eyebrow was raised as she studied me.

  “Dispatch, the second in command of Houston.”

  Prism at least had an apparent reason to dislike me, but Dispatch’s expression suggested he’d come to that conclusion all on his own. His costume was white, with steel points rising from his shoulders and either side of his brow. The mask that covered the upper half of his face was sculpted into a perpetual frown. I might not have given it a second thought, but his mouth… the frown left me little doubt he didn’t like me, right off the bat.

  “You may recognize some of the captains of the respective Wards teams. Jouster from New York, Vantage from Los Angeles, Tecton from Chicago and Hoyden from Austin. You know Clockblocker.”

  I nodded. Tecton, in what looked to be a fresh outfit of bulky rust-red power armor, gave me a salute. Jouster was playing up the medieval theme, a spear in hand, while Vantage was a black guy in forest green and silver… his costume looked a touch flamboyant, at a glance. Hoyden looked more like a desperado than a superhero, with a costume that incorporated a kerchief with eyeholes over the upper half of her face, her blond curls tumbling behind, and a jacket and jeans in what looked like black-painted chainmail.

  Clockblocker leaned against a desk, unreadable.

  “Mrs. Yamada, you’ve met, if the records are right.”

  I nodded at the Japanese woman in a casual dress-suit who was standing beside Revel.

  “And I’m Glenn Chambers. PRT head of Image,” a man spoke. He approached me to offer a fat hand for me to shake. He had a firm grip. Glenn didn’t look like someone who was particularly invested in image. He was obese, his clothes not flattering, his hair not quite cut into a mohawk, but gelled into something resembling one. He wore rectangle-framed glasses that made it easier to see how he seemed to perpetually squint – a result of long eyelashes.

  “And I suppose I’m Weaver,” I said. Eleven sets of eyes, all on me, judging me. I hooked my thumbs into my pockets.

  “I’m surprised Chevalier hasn’t shown up,” Defiant commented. He glanced at Prism.

  It wasn’t Prism who answered. Dispatch, the Texan cape, spoke instead. “I asked the same question. He brings us all the way here, but he doesn’t show himself?”

  “He’s handling a small crisis,” Prism said.

  “We’re all handling crises,” Dispatch said. “Half of us have no experience as team leaders, we’re dealing with capes in mourning, with government capes auditing our team rosters for Cauldron capes-”

  “Leave it be, Dispatch,” Rime interrupted him. “We should get down to business. The sooner this is settled, the sooner we can get back.”

  Mrs. Yamada cleared her throat. “What are you thinking, Weaver?”

  Suddenly put on the spot. “Honestly?”

  “Honesty is good,” she said.

  “I’m intimidated,” I said.

  “How do you usually handle something like that?”

  By being more intimidating in exchange, I thought. It wouldn’t do to say that out loud, to explain how I’d fallen back on being scary and ruthless for so long that I wasn’t sure how to approach something like this.

  “I’m not so sure anymore,” I said. It was the truth, and it wasn’t self-incriminating.

  Mrs. Yamada nodded.

  Defiant spoke , “Let’s ensure we’re all familiar with what’s going on. We’ve had capes with criminal backgrounds join the Protectorate and Wards teams, though that has remained largely discreet, and Weaver’s civilian identity is public knowledge. We’ve had experienced capes join, as well, forcing us to adapt to their experience and retrain them where necessary. Weaver is both. She’s currently serving time in Gardener. Under the terms of her sentence, she’ll be continuing her high school studies independently, she’ll be getting therapy as soon as we’ve settled on a schedule, and she’ll be ferried out to various teams for testing and evaluation.”

  “A lot of hassle for a little girl,” Jouster said.

  A little girl? I kept my mouth shut, but it took some effort.

  Clockblocker, however, was chuckling.

  “What?” Jouster asked.

  “She beat Alexandria,” Hoyden said, “He’s laughing because you’re putting down the girl who killed Alexandria.”

  “Not a selling point,” Hoyden’s boss, Dispatch, cut in.

  “She’s an absolute nightmare to fight,” Clockblocker said. “I’ve been on the receiving end enough times to know. So when Miss Militia told me she was in custody, I started asking questions, trying to get a sense of what was happening and when. I don’t even have to be here, and I’m picking up extra patrols later this week to make up for it, but I wanted to come and say this: I don’t like her, not really. But if my word counts for anything, as someone who’s only spent half the time dealing with the shit in Brockton Bay that she has? We want her on our side. Somehow, in some form. Because the alternative sucks.”

  “Thank you,” I said, my voice so quiet I wasn’t sure everyone heard me. He was standing up for me, in a way, at a point in time I wasn’t sure how to voice those sorts of things myself.

  I could see Jouster’s eyes behind his helmet, as he gave me a once-over.

  “She killed Alexandria,” Hoyden said. “And, what, she was there for Leviathan, she was there for the Slaughterhouse Nine, for Echidna…”


  “She went head to head with each of those,” Clockblocker said. He looked at me. “Right? Like, you weren’t just there. You were in the thick of it, exchanging blows?”

  I nodded.

  “Today is numbers,” Prism said. “Power evaluation, interviews.”

  “No, no,” Dispatch said, shaking his head. “Ridiculous. You don’t invite us here, then make us sit through that nonsense.”

  “We need to evaluate her abilities,” Defiant said.

  “Do it on your own time. And skip the interview,” Dispatch said. “Your own notes, Defiant, say she’s a manipulator and a liar.”

  “I’ve retracted those statements,” Defiant said.

  “And who’s to say she hasn’t manipulated you? You and Chevalier were arguing for a cleaner, shinier Protectorate, didn’t you? Let’s not get off on the wrong foot. We vet her thoroughly, and if we don’t get a consensus that she’s an asset to the team, then that’s that.”

  “What would you suggest, in place of testing and an interview?”

  “We do what we’re doing with the Cauldron capes, run her by our thinkers,” Dispatch said. “We can get a more concrete assessment of her now, with a field exercise, than by any amount of talking. If I’m remembering right, a notice went out, didn’t it? A New York group of villains is poaching Wards and Protectorate members?”

  “The Adepts,” Revel said.

  “Two birds with one stone,” Dispatch said. He looked at the collected captains of the Wards. “We want to know how she functions in a team environment, let’s put her in the thick of it. If there’s trouble, or if the mission doesn’t look good, the rest of us can step in.”

  Eyes turned my way.

  “You’re serious,” I said.

  “As cancer,” Dispatch told me.

  “I don’t have any of my stuff, and the costume Dragon gave me isn’t my usual. Besides, you’ll be expecting me to follow different rules.”

  “You’ve read the handbook, haven’t you?”

  I nodded. But I haven’t completely thought of ways around the restrictions. I’d picked the name Weaver based on the idea that I’d be using thread more, but I didn’t have any prepared, not here, not yet.

  “I’m sure Prism will let you have access to the New York teams’ supplies. Largest cape groups in America, they’ll have a little of everything.”

  I frowned. If I said no, it’d be a black mark in my record, and some of these people were obviously not interested in giving me any slack, unless it was to hang myself with.

  “Okay,” I said.

  “The Adepts don’t kill,” he said. “If there’s a problem, it’s on you.”

  There should be a rule against saying things like that, I thought. I didn’t care that he was putting me on the spot, or blaming me for stuff that hadn’t happened yet. He was implying this would be easy, practically ensuring this would be anything but.

  ■

  “Adepts,” Jouster said. “I assume everyone’s up to date?”

  Tecton was walking in front of our group, his tank of a suit giving us enough presence that the crowd parted before us. “Don’t be a jackass. You know Skit- Weaver hasn’t read the files. They’re in your city, you fill us in.”

  “I know the basics,” I said. I’d read the file in Tattletale’s office. “They’re wizards, or they pretend to be, like Myrddin. Led by a time traveller.”

  “They’re led by Epoch,” Jouster said, without looking at me. “Group is very organized. Thing you gotta know about New York is it’s bigger. Everything is. So these guys, there’s a lot of them. They’re organized into tiers, and they compete with one another for placement in the tiers, challenging ones in higher tiers, paying a penalty if they fail the challenge. There’s one tier one, two tier twos, three tier threes… all the way down to the tier fives.”

  “Fifteen in total,” I said.

  He gave me a hard look, then fell silent.

  Am I not allowed to talk?

  “This city sucks to move around in,” Hoyden said. “Crowds, traffic… how do you get anywhere?”

  “We have different sub-teams for different roles,” Jouster said. “Lancer group for fast response, those of us who can fly or move over rooftops. Another group of heavier hitters who’re old enough to ride the bikes and licensed to travel the tracks.”

  “Tracks?” Hoyden asked.

  “Subways. You use a computer to help know which tracks you can stay on and when, so you don’t get hit by a train.”

  “And the ones who aren’t old enough, or aren’t naturally mobile?” Tecton asked.

  “Foot patrol, or sidekick duty with a Protectorate member,” Jouster said.

  “Loads of fun,” Hoyden said.

  “Am I the only one who likes doing the ride-along thing?” Vantage asked.

  “Yes,” Hoyden said. “Definitely.”

  Jouster shook his head. “It’s the job. They grumble, sure, but it’s a few years at most before they get to do the bike thing.”

  “I’m guessing you’re one of the ‘lancers’,” I said.

  Jouster gave me a dirty look, “What of it?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “Just made sense.”

  “Flechette was one too,” he said. “She was going to lead the squad when I moved up to the Protectorate, with Shelter taking over as Wards captain.”

  “I believe it,” I said.

  “Seem to recall that she’d defected, joined your old team.”

  “I don’t know anything about that, honestly,” I said. “Only that she had romantic interests towards one of us Undersiders, and-”

  “The doll girl,” Jouster said.

  Vantage punched him in the shoulder.

  “I didn’t know if she was ‘out’, so I didn’t want to say,” I said, feeling lame.

  “That’s right,” Vantage said. “That’s how you’re supposed to act.”

  The earbud I’d been supplied with buzzed with a woman’s voice. Prism? “They own the building up ahead. Cut the banter and focus on the job.”

  A male voice. “Talk us through everything you’re doing, Weaver.“

  “Focusing on my bugs,” I said.

  “Tap the earbud twice to start the feed,” Tecton said.

  I tapped it twice, and it beeped faintly. “Focusing on my bugs. I’ve been collecting them as we moved from the headquarters to this spot, so I have quite a few.”

  “Lethal and venomous bugs aren’t allowed, you know that.”

  Tying my hands. It was fine. “I didn’t plan on using them anyways. I’m selecting the smallest and most discreet, and sending them out. It’ll take a minute at most, but I’ll be able to track their movements.”

  “The Adepts?”

  “Everyone. I mean, the area’s dense, but once I have tabs on the Adepts, I’ll have an idea of where the civilians are, too. It means we can keep them out of danger, and we’ll know if anyone runs into the line of fire.”

  There was silence on the line in response. Were they talking about me? Discussing the particulars? Hell, was I already breaking rules by violating people’s privacy?

  I spoke, hoping that I was interrupting them if they were saying something along those lines. “I have other bugs on the periphery, drawing out cords of silk.”

  “Show us. We have a camera in Tecton’s suit.“

  Okay, this was getting borderline annoying. Second guessed every step of the way.

  My swarm moved in front of Tecton, swirling.

  “Image, Weaver,” it was a different man who spoke. The fat one… I couldn’t remember his name. “We need to do something about appearances, here.”

  “Appearances?”

  “The black, amorphous swarm. It conveys the wrong ideas. It’s disturbing to any onlookers, and if photos of you using your power on any greater scale made the rounds, it could be fodder for some ugly articles. You already face an uphill battle, with your reputation as an ex-supervillain.“

  “You’re serious,” I said. I tapp
ed my ear to shut off the channel, looking at the others, “Is he serious?”

  “Glenn is always serious,” Clockblocker said. “When I first picked my name, Clockblocker, and announced it in front of a live camera so they couldn’t retract it, they punished me with intensive lessons with Glenn.”

  “They do that any time you screw up on the PR front, like swearing on camera,” Hoyden said. “And in the sessions, he talks to you about your hair, about redesigning your costume…”

  “How to talk so you command attention,” Vantage said, over-enunciating his words.

  “How to hold yourself,” Jouster said, straightening his back, squaring his shoulders and raising his chin a touch.

  “We can hear you, you know,” a woman said through the earbud. Rime?

  “Maybe we need lessons in decorum,” Glenn’s voice buzzed in our ears.

  Hoyden made a pained expression. She glanced at Tecton, then ducked low, avoiding the camera, while she walked around to Tecton’s back. She pushed at his shoulder, urging him to turn around. He rolled his eyes and sighed as he obeyed, and Hoyden prodded him forward until he was standing right in front of a wall.

  “I really don’t know what you expect,” I said. “It’s my power.”

  “By all reports, you’re a clever girl,” Glenn said “Surely there’s a way to present your power in a less threatening way.“

  I opened my mouth, but the sheer number of protests that came to mind all jumbled together. I looked at the Wards, trying to see if I was the butt of a joke.

  “Lucky, lucky you,” Clockblocker whispered to me, covering his ear with his hand, “You get his attention right from the start, and I’m willing to bet he’s not going to leave you alone. It almost makes me feel better about the time you crammed those bugs into my mouth and ears.”

  Vantage made a face at that.

  “So worth the extra shifts I’m pulling this week,” Clockblocker commented to Jouster. “Just to see this.”

  “I’m not sure what you want, Glenn,” I said, after tapping my earbud, “I could send my bugs in one at a time. That’s not threatening, right?”

  “Your sarcasm isn’t appreciated, Weaver,” Defiant informed me.