Worm

by John McCrae

  The shooter wasn’t in my reach. Bambina was horrifically mobile, bouncing off of walls and the street, creating explosions with most of the impacts. Her teammates were along for the ride, apparently unscathed by her power. Going on the offensive would be hard, even if I was using my full complement of bugs.

  I was having a really hard time justifying Glenn’s rule on pretty bugs only.

  Prefab’s wall appeared around the craft. “Priority one is the wounded!”

  We made our way out of the craft. Odd as it was, I felt a mixture of relief and… an emotion I couldn’t place, at the realization that I didn’t have to fight to convince my teammates that we had to help other people.

  Three cars had been caught beneath the wings of Dragon’s craft, another smashed by a chunk of ice. The passengers of one car had fled, another two cars had people trapped inside, and the people in the fourth were unconscious.

  I helped Arbiter with the unconscious ones.

  “I alerted Dragon,” Prefab said. “The Vegas teams know too. This is a waiting game. We help Rime, and we keep the prisoner contained. If he gets loose, or if Bambina destroys the containment vessel, this gets a lot more complicated.”

  The prisoner, I noted the word choice, not Pretender.

  “If I can get closer to the shooter, I can disable him,” I said.

  “Too dangerous.”

  An explosion against the exterior of the wall Prefab had pulled together marked another attack from Bambina.

  “I can do dangerous. Let me take the kid-gloves off, and-”

  “No,” Rime’s voice came through my earbud. “No. Stay.“

  I grit my teeth. “You’re underestimating me.”

  “We’re well aware of what you’re capable of. I’m doing you a favor,” she said, and her voice was strained. “Stay, follow Prefab’s orders.“

  I considered running, then stopped. “Okay. I’m giving you some backup, Rime. Best I can do.”

  With that, I sent butterflies her way, clustering them into human-shaped groups. When one group reached her, they surrounded her. Decoys.

  “Hard to see,” she said. I didn’t even need the earbud to understand, with the butterflies near her.

  I kept the bugs away from her face. I wasn’t sure that was ideal, but it was her call.

  Arbiter and Prefab had enough medical training to check the civilians over before we moved them or moved them further. With my power, I tracked Bambina as she ricocheted through the area, causing innumerable explosions across the landscape. Rime struggled to evade both Bambina and the detonation, while maintaining some degree of cover against the gunman.

  “Last one,” Prefab said. “Weaver, help.”

  I helped him get the older woman to her feet, and keep her standing as we led her into the back of Dragon’s ship.

  I stopped abruptly, as Bambina’s trajectory swiftly changed.

  “Trouble!” I called out.

  Bambina landed atop the wall. Her teammates landed beside her, each holding one hand. They looked a little worse for wear. Starlet was firing darts of light at Rime, the darts exploding mid-way through the air to block Rime’s path when she tried to advance. Between Starlet and the sniper, she wasn’t able to advance.

  ”You were there for the Leviathan fight,” I spoke to Bambina.

  “Can’t really bounce on water, it turns out,” she said. “Wasn’t worth the trouble. Ducked out.”

  Prefab let go of the older woman, leaving me with the burden as he faced Bambina square-on. “Lots of attention on Pretender all of a sudden.”

  “Paying pretty well,” Bambina said, “And he promised a favor, too. He set some rules, but considering how we’re going above and beyond the call of duty, I’m hoping he’ll bend them. You know how fucking awesome it is to have a favor from a body snatcher? He zaps himself into some hunky celeb that’d never touch me otherwise, then…”

  Bambina launched into a lewd explanation of what she’d have him do to her, and vice versa. I averted my eyes and did my best to turn off my ears. I’d started out spending months suppressing my powers to varying degrees, and I’d learned to ignore some sensations from my bugs. I wasn’t so lucky when it came to my hearing.

  “…with my feet,” Bambina finished.

  Starlet, still firing on Rime, glanced over her shoulder to look at us, cackling at Bambina’s audacity, while August Prince didn’t seem to react.

  I’d backed away, helping the older woman hobble forward on her bad ankle, and we were close enough to the ramp for her to make her own way up. I stepped forward, my eyes still on Bambina.

  “Worst thing ever,” Vantage murmured from behind me. “Fighting kids? You win, you get zero credit, no matter how good their powers are. They’re children, after all. But if you lose, well, they’re kids, your reputation is fucked.”

  “Focus,” Prefab said. “We know who these three are. We’ve got a Mover-shaker six, a blaster-shaker four, and a master-stranger three.”

  “Hey, Weaver,” Bambina called out. “You’re that supervillain-turned hero, right? Offed Alexandria?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  Odd, how I felt more at home in this situation than I had fifteen minutes ago. Or even helping the civilians. I’d liked helping civilians, but this was where I felt most able to reach into myself and be strangely calm.

  “You fucked up my rankings for a straight week, worst fucking time, too. I’d planned an escapade, was supposed to rise to number thirty, but your news took the front page instead, and I dropped to forty-five instead. I haven’t been that low in a year!”

  “Rankings?” I asked.

  “Rankings! Don’t you even pay attention? It was embarrassing. My mom’s still giving me a hard time over it, and it’s like, that’s less money from our sponsors. So I’m going to make you deepthroat my fist, okay? Break your arms and legs and make you suckle it.”

  She stamped, and fire rippled around her. Both August and Starlet flinched.

  Worse, it destroyed the silk I’d been tying around her leg.

  She leaped down, holding August Prince’s hand, and Arbiter took action. The heroine directed a sonic blast at Bambina with one hand, but Bambina kicked the wall, changing the direction she was moving. Arbiter blocked her with a forcefield, then raised a hand to shoot again-

  And stopped, standing still instead. A look of consternation appeared across her forehead, above her mask.

  Bambina ricocheted off of Dragon’s craft, hitting it hard enough that it shifted, then flew at Prefab. One hit, and he was out of action. The explosion hadn’t even been that large.

  Prefab, who had his cannon raised and hadn’t even pulled the trigger once.

  Bambina whipped around, rotating crazily before touching ground, her feet skidding on the ground. She set the Prince down. Starlet, up on the wall, laughed.

  “Can’t touch the Prince, can you?” Bambina asked. “Go, August.”

  The little boy advanced. He held a scepter, different from Regent’s. More of a mace.

  Arbiter was backing up rapidly as he advanced, and I-

  I thought briefly about what the heroes had said about Alexandria, about how she’d wanted them to act like the person they wanted to be.

  I’d done that, in a way. It reminded me of how I’d formed my identity as Skitter. I’d acted fearsome, acted as if I expected people to be afraid, expected them to listen, and they had. Even Dragon had, at one point.

  But maybe I didn’t need to be feared here. I could do something as Weaver. Confidence. I didn’t back down as the August Prince approached. I sent butterflies his way. No problem.

  Tried to move them so he would be blinded… and found they didn’t listen.

  Tried to bite and sting with the nastier insects I’d hidden inside the butterfly swarm, and again, no response.

  He closed the distance to me, swinging at my knee with the mace. I ducked back out of the way.

  His fighting style was graceless, without any particular fluidity. He
held the mace with two hands and swung it, and then took seconds to recover. An opening to strike, and my body refused to follow up on it.

  That would be his power then. Something in the same department as Imp’s ability.

  My bugs continued past him, and I sent them straight for Bambina.

  She only laughed as the butterflies landed on her, stomped hard to kill most of them. “No way. You offed Alexandria. I’m not- Ow!”

  Bees, wasps and hornets stung simultaneously, targeting her eyes, mouth and earholes.

  She stomped, and soared up to the top of the wall. “My face, fuck you! This is going to swell! This fucking…”

  I didn’t hear the rest. I was more focused on the little kid who was striving to cave in something vital.

  The Prince swung at me, and I caught the mace.

  It was a mistake. He let go and tackled me, gripping my leg, hauling on it to put me off-balance.

  I couldn’t fight to pull him off, couldn’t use my bugs.

  This was annoying.

  Then I saw Bambina point, saw Starlet stop taking potshots at Rime and turn my way, reaching.

  If the Prince was the master-stranger hybrid, and Bambina the mover-shaker, then that left the blaster power to Starlet.

  “Arbiter!”

  Arbiter threw a forcefield between us. It didn’t matter. The dart of light she fired exploded against the forcefield, and the ensuing implosion pulled me off the ground. August Prince held on as I tumbled, then climbed up me before reaching around my throat.

  I tucked my chin against my collarbone, preventing him from getting a decent hold, and he started clawing at me, struggling to get fingers, a hand, between my chin and my neck.

  If this goes any further, Clockblocker’s never going to let me live this down.

  The second thought was a little more grave.

  If this little bastard kills me, the Undersiders will never forgive me.

  The others were helpless to assist me, due to the peculiarities of the Prince’s power, but they could direct their focus to Bambina and Starlet. Leister thrust out his trident, and it distorted, stretching the distance between himself and the two kid villains on the wall. He struck Starlet in the face with the shaft of the trident.

  Bambina kicked him, and he went flying to a point on the other side of the wall. His spear distorted and brought him to the ground, but the kick- it hit too hard. He didn’t rise.

  Seeing one of her Wards get taken out of action, Rime made a break for us, my decoys moving parallel to her.

  The sniper fired, and she went down. One guess, and it was accurate.

  Tumbling through the air, she used her power in one singular burst, and was encased in a two-story high tower of ice.

  Vantage leaped onto the top of the craft, then onto the top of the wall. Starlet’s blast nearly moved him. Bambina leapt, bouncing off a nearby building, then flying towards Vantage. He teleported out of her way, then threw a bola, catching her. She fell from the wall, landing hard.

  One down. Two to go.

  I’m better than this.

  The rules about interacting with the Prince were strictly defined. I could hold him, but I couldn’t hurt him. Which category did silk fall under? I had some on my person. Twenty feet in all. Twenty feet disappeared fast when it was wound around something.

  I chose his neck. Not hurting him, not directly. His power allowed it.

  One of Starlet’s implosions sent Prince and I tumbling. Too far from anything I could hold. He found the opportunity to seize me by the neck.

  “Someone!” I said, “Come closer!”

  Usher approached, and Starlet blasted the ground behind him, pulling him off his feet. He was mere handspans from where I needed him.

  “Rime’s out of commission!” I said, my voice strangled as Prince did his best to choke me. “Your power isn’t affecting her. Give it to me!”

  Usher focused his power on me. I felt it ripple through me, felt something, but it didn’t break the spell. I still couldn’t turn the slightest amount of aggression towards the kid.

  “No,” I said.

  Usher focused his power on Vantage instead, and Vantage flared with light.

  Starlet’s power hit him, and it didn’t do a thing. He punched her in the gut, then caught her as she went limp.

  And Prince… was harder to deal with. Usher approached, and I tied thread around his leg.

  I tried to tell Usher to run, knowing what would happen with the thread around Prince’s neck. My voice wouldn’t come out, and it wasn’t due to the feeble but persistent attempt at strangulation.

  So many heroes around me, and they couldn’t touch this little bastard.

  Move, I thought. Move, move, move.

  “Your power immunity isn’t making me immune to the kid,” Vantage said, helplessly.

  Don’t talk, move.

  In the midst of the Kulshedra, I could sense moving air currents. A woman emerged from thin air, from a place cooler than the interior of the ship. The civilians we’d rescued shrieked and backed away from her. She didn’t respond, barely reacted. Someone with long, dark hair and a suit. She fixed her cuffs, then moved with purpose.

  But I found myself less fixated on her than on her surroundings. Oddly enough, I could feel a different structure behind the woman, a hallway.

  I tried to speak, but couldn’t find the air. Damn this little bastard. Damn Usher for not doing something.

  “What a mess,” Satyr called out.

  Heads turned.

  The Vegas Wards had arrived, perched on top of the nearest wall. They didn’t move to help, didn’t leap to intervene. Satyr glanced at Bambina, who was struggling to free herself from the bola. There was something in his eyes.

  Were they in on it?

  “Help us!” Vantage called out. “Rime’s out, and we can’t save Weaver!”

  Satyr didn’t speak. He glanced at the ship. He couldn’t see from the angle he’d approached, but the woman inside had pulled the lever, and the door at the back was slowly closing.

  I drew out words on the side.

  Pretender in danger

  The heroes turned, eyes going wide. Satyr, Blowout and Leonid rushed forward, joined by Vantage.

  Then Usher stepped forward to help, and the August Prince choked, giving me a little slack. I sucked in a gasp for air.

  Arbiter heard, whipping around, and threw a forcefield between us. I pulled away.

  She managed to sandwich the little bastard between her forcefield and the ground. I rolled away, sitting up.

  The ramp was nearly closed by the time they arrived. Vantage slammed one hand against the door, but it was too heavily armored to give.

  “Kul-,” I gasped out.

  The woman turned and walked up to the ruined nose of the craft, and began threading wires together. She didn’t even flinch as sparks flared between them. She was measured, even patient, as she worked at fixing the panel. When she was done, she tapped something out on the broken, unlit touch panel.

  “Kulshedra, shut down,” I managed.

  “Restate request.”

  The pillar rose from the top of the box, freeing the upper part of the box’s door.

  “Kulshedra, contact Dragon,” I tried.

  “Dragon is currently unable to reply.“

  “Contact Chevalier.”

  “Calling.“

  The woman tapped out another code, and the clamps on the bottom came open, freeing the bottom.

  Yet another code typed out, and the system spoke, “Type two safety override accepted.“

  The woman in the ship struck a single button. The A.I. spoke, “Call ended.“

  “Kulshedra, call Chevalier,” I repeated.

  Nothing.

  The woman inside typed out a final code, and the door of the box opened, releasing Pretender.

  And then she spoke, and I could hear through the bugs that surrounded her. “The Doctor will see you now.”

  “Right-o,” Pretender sa
id. “Gotta be better than the Birdcage.”

  They stepped through the gateway that led to the cool, air-conditioned hallway, and then they were gone, the butterflies in the hallway no longer in my reach.

  I felt my blood pumping, roaring in my ears. “They got him. They collected Pretender.”

  “Who?”

  “Her. The shooter’s partner. Cauldron.” I clenched my fist. “Rime’s down. We have to help her.”

  “The shooter-” Vantage started.

  “He’s gone,” Arbiter said. “Not sensing a threat. You guys go. I’ll look after Prefab and Leister, and make sure Weaver’s okay.”

  Usher nodded.

  Satyrical gestured, and most of his team joined the L.A. team members. I was left kneeling, still catching my breath. Satyr and Nix hung back, arms folded, exchanging surreptitious glances.

  Arbiter didn’t look at them as she spoke, “You hired them. Bambina’s crew. You wanted to break him out.”

  Satyr didn’t respond.

  “You were going to leave the Protectorate? You had to have been.”

  “Yeah.” It was Nix who spoke, not Satyr.

  “Just like that?”

  Nix shook her head. “It’s gone. Doomed. We lost Alexandria, we lost Legend and Eidolon. The new team doesn’t hit half as hard. Look at Rime. Taken out of action like that. Protectorate’s a shadow of what it was.”

  “She was beaten by monsters the Protectorate refuses to even classify,” I said. I coughed a little.

  “Alexandria would have managed.”

  “Alexandria worked for them,” I said.

  Nix shrugged.

  Arbiter looked up at Satyr and Nix, “If you leave, the Endbringers-”

  Nix interrupted, “We’ll still fight Endbringers. But the Protectorate was going to take Pretender from us because of how he got his powers. It’s ridiculous.”

  “He was still going to be on the team,” Arbiter said. “Just… we can’t let him be leader if he’s beholden to a group like that.”

  “It shouldn’t matter.”

  “Cauldron’s evil,” Arbiter said. “They experimented on people to get the powers Pretender has.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Satyr said. His voice was rough. “Pretender’s gone, and so are we. We’ll get our teammates and we’ll go.”