Worm

by John Mccrae Wildbow

  I glanced around at the others. ”That’s good to know, kind of.”

  “What’s important is it won’t be in the next little while. If they intend to send someone like Eidolon or Alexandria here, even, it won’t be anytime soon. So I can give you the official announcement. We won. Job complete. The Pure have hauled ass out of town, Faultline’s apparently decided it’s safer to be out of the city, and you’ve humiliated the heroes enough that they can’t honestly contest your claim. There’s nobody left.”

  “The city is ours?” Grue asked.

  “The city is ours. And here’s the thing. Order from the one in charge,” Lisa paused, and her meaning was clear. An order from Coil. ”You’re done. Good job. Your final order for the time being is to take a few days off. No costumed tomfoolery. Go back to your territories, make sure things are okay, but no getting into fights. If I see you out in costume, you’re fired. Hell, I’ll shoot you.”

  It sounded like a joke, the way Tattletale put it, but the deeper meaning was clear. Coil was telling us to stand down. No matter what.

  “Just like that?” Grue asked.

  “Yeah,” Tattletale said.

  “I was going to go out,” I said, “Uncostumed, don’t worry, but um-”

  Didn’t want to say where I was going on a line the heroes might be listening in on.

  “I get it,” Tattletale said. ”I know where. One sec.”

  A pause. No doubt while she checked with Coil.

  “Okay. Cool,” she said.

  “I can go? It won’t cause issues?”

  “No issues. So long as you-”

  “I know,” I cut her off. So long as I left the costume at home.

  “We’ll talk later,” she said. ”Gonna go see if I can get more details on what happened. Betting someone blew their top when they realized you guys demolished two of those suits.”

  “Three,” Bitch said.

  “Sure, three,” Tattletale clarified. ”Ta ta.”

  She hung up.

  Our group paused, each of us looking to the others, as if we couldn’t believe it, or we were measuring each other’s reactions.

  We’d won. We’d cost the PRT too much in resources, pride and money, and they’d apparently decided it wasn’t worth their time to uproot us. I hated the bureaucracy, the fucked up mindset of the institutions, but it was clearly working in our favor here, at least.

  Coil had his city. There was nothing more I could do. The only thing stopping Coil from following through on his end of the deal and releasing Dinah was, well, Coil.

  I exhaled slowly, letting out a deep breath that I felt like I’d been holding in for a month.

  16.06

  “We should throw a party,” Imp said. ”Celebrate. Rub it in a little.”

  “Rub it in?” Grue asked.

  “Yeah. Party in the streets, maybe some fireworks. Show the heroes that we know we won and we’re doing fine.”

  There were a few chuckles from the others. Regent and the Travelers, primarily.

  “In what way is that even close to being a sensible idea?” Grue asked.

  “I didn’t say it was sensible. But it’s fun, and that’s why we got into this, right?”

  “No. No it isn’t. It was maybe a side-bonus when I joined the group, if anything, but things have changed since then. I warned you this would be hard work, that it wouldn’t be fun and games. And throwing a party to celebrate a win is a monumentally bad idea when we don’t even want the heroes to know we consider this victory anything out of the ordinary.”

  “It is out of the ordinary. We’re not giving anything away if we’re celebrating scaring off Dragon.”

  “I kind of have to agree,” Regent chimed in. Grue turned his way, and I could imagine the death glare that was behind his mask. Probably scarier than the mask itself.

  “Maybe you’re right,” Grue said, “Maybe, I won’t say you’re absolutely right there-”

  “Of course not,” Imp said, sighing.

  “-But we definitely don’t need to rub it in the heroes’ noses. Not if it means they have both an excuse and motivation to try this again, sooner.”

  “If you’re afraid of that, we’ll never be able to celebrate a win.”

  “I’m okay with that,” Grue said.

  “Do we get to chime in?” Trickster asked. ”Because I’m siding with the Imp, here. Morale could become pretty important if we’re going to be building up individual gangs and collections of henchmen.”

  Grue sighed. ”Feeling outnumbered here. Skitter?”

  “What?” I blinked. ”Sorry, not keeping track of the conversation.”

  “She’s out of it. Tattletale broke Skitter when she said we won,” Regent said.

  “I’m… I’m alright. Lost in thought”

  Grue settled a hand on my shoulder. I couldn’t read his expression with his mask in the way.

  I sighed and confessed, “I’m… I guess I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Isn’t that what happens? The second things start to go right, the next disaster strikes? Empire Eighty-Eight, Leviathan, The Nine, Dragon…”

  “That’s a pretty defeatist way of thinking,” Trickster commented. ”Didn’t Tattletale basically say that there’s nobody left to cause us any problems?”

  “There’s always something,” I said. ”I’d rather anticipate it and be ready.”

  “Look at it this way,” Genesis spoke. She was in a human-ish form, not unlike her real self, though she was wheelchair-free. ”If it’s more dangerous than Leviathan, the Nine or the Dragon suits, there’s no way we can make some plan to deal with them until they make the first move. If they’re less dangerous, we can deal. Relax. We’re in good shape.”

  I shrugged.

  “Sooo,” Imp drew out the word, ”Party?”

  “No,” Grue and I spoke at the same time. Imp groaned.

  “Coil told us to check on our territories. We should do that,” I said. ”Take your costumes off, take it easy. I’m going to see if the food and drink I’d arranged to go to people in my territory is still okay, and make sure that they get fed and don’t have cause to lynch me. Then I’m probably going to sleep for twelve straight hours.”

  “Wait, didn’t you just say no party?” Imp asked.

  “It’s not a party. It’s something I was doing before the Dragon suits came.”

  “Do the heroes know that?”

  “Dragon could confirm it,” I said. ”She disrupted the preparations.”

  “Dunno, that sounds pretty flimsy,” Imp said, sounding way too pleased with herself, “Maybe you better cancel, just to be safe.”

  “Imp,” Grue growled the word.

  Imp laughed, “I’ll go patrol our territory. I’ll be using my power, so no worries about being seen in costume.”

  “Coil said we shouldn’t go out in costume at all,” I said. ”I thought that part of the message was pretty clear.”

  “Fine,” Imp said. ”Whatever. If I’m not supposed to do anything, I’m going back to our place, gonna to kick back and catch up on some shitty reality shows.”

  “No TV,” Grue said.

  “Nuh uh. No way. If you two want to play hardass mom and dad and be controlling assholes, okay. But you can’t tell me I can’t watch T.V.”

  “I mean you won’t get any channels. There’s no cable, no digital connection and no satellite. Only static.”

  Imp groaned, an agonized sound one might expect from someone who had just been speared through the gut.

  What did it say about me that my metaphors were tending towards that kind of violent imagery?

  “Why don’t you come by?” Regent asked her, “Play video games? I’ve got shows on DVD. No shitty reality shows, but stuff.”

  I looked Grue’s way to gauge his reaction to Imp and Regent hanging out, only for our eyes to meet, so to speak. We were thinking the same thing.

  “I don’t think-” Grue started to speak.

  Imp wheeled on him, jabbing a finger in his di
rection, “Enough! You don’t dictate how I live my life!”

  “No fighting, please,” Sundancer said, from the sidelines, “We’ve been through too much already.”

  Grue stepped forward, raising one hand, but Imp didn’t give him a chance to touch her, backing away, swinging one hand through the air, as if to swat his hand away if he tried. ”You’ve said enough! You don’t want me to celebrate my first legit win where I was actually fucking useful? Fine! Don’t want me to go on patrol? Fine! I’ll accept that shit because I’ll take orders from the guy who actually pays me. But if you’re going to whine because I want to play video games with a teammate, I’m not going to stand here and listen to it! Deal!”

  “If you’d just-” Grue started. He stopped and sighed.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I was going to say something,” he said, turning around. ”But I can’t remember what.”

  We experienced a moment where the conversation died, where nobody was sure what to say next, and nobody was able to tie things back to the prior conversation to resume an earlier topic.

  “We did what we were supposed to do,” Trickster said, finally. ”Good work. Skitter’s right. Let’s go retreat, tend to any wounds, and we’ll take a breather.”

  There were nods and murmurs of assent from everyone present, myself included.

  More to his team than the rest of us, Trickster said, “I’m located closest to Coil, so I’m stopping by, going to check on Noelle, see if Tattletale needs help setting our captive Director free, and then I’ll talk to Coil about his progress with our issues.”

  “Don’t get on his case,” Genesis said. ”Whatever his plan is, he’s under a lot of pressure right now. I’d rather wait another few days and then talk about it with him than push it now and risk upsetting him.”

  “The difference between us,” Trickster said, terse, “is I’m not willing to wait.”

  With that said, he tipped his hat at me and walked away. He wasn’t three paces out the door before he found something to swap with, leaving a mailbox at the mall’s edge. The rest of the Travelers began to file off.

  “I’ll be off too,” Regent said. He offered me a sloppy mock-salute, “Good work, chief.”

  I winced at that. I hadn’t wanted to raise the subject of me taking over as leader for the previous confrontation. I glanced at Grue and found him looking at me.

  “Can we talk?” he asked. Thanks, Regent.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “We did make plans.”

  “You’re dating?” Bitch asked.

  “I didn’t say that,” Grue said.

  “But you’re dating.”

  “Yeah,” he admitted. Bitch looked at me to double check and I nodded.

  “Hm.” She somehow conveyed smugness with the monosyllablic response.

  “You want to come?” I asked her. ”Hang out?”

  “Nah.”

  “You sure?” I asked. ”You’re welcome to spend some time with us, kick back, watch something, eat some good food?”

  “Being around people’s too tiring. Warm night like this, nice weather, figure I’ll go play with my dogs. Make sure they aren’t too hurt, throw a few balls for ‘em in the moonlight, eat when I want to eat, sleep when I feel like sleeping, not having to worry about getting in anyone’s way.”

  “You wouldn’t be getting in the way,” I assured her.

  “It’s all good. I’m happiest doing this.”

  “Well, stay in touch. If you feel like some company, come by again?”

  She shrugged and turned to leave, Bentley to her right and Bastard to her left. With every step Bentley was taking, he was getting larger. When she was nearly out of sight, Bentley was big enough for her to climb on top of.

  Leaving Grue and me standing in the mall.

  “I’d almost think you didn’t want to spend time alone with me,” he commented.

  He was looking at me. I felt scrutinized, like every movement and every part of me was suddenly under the spotlight, anything I did potentially being read as meaning something.

  “No,” I said, very carefully. Not exactly. I just didn’t want to hurt him by taking away his role on the team, and I knew it would come up. I tucked my hair behind the spot where the armor of my mask covered my ear. ”No. Being alone together is good.”

  “Your place?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  ■

  My people were active in my territory, but they were busier cleaning up the mess than they were actually getting stuff done. It was irritating on a lot of levels. We’d been accomplishing something, and Dragon had interrupted. We’re in the world on the other side of the looking glass, I thought, where it’s the heroes who get in the way of progress and recovery.

  I could understand why Dragon did it. I wasn’t saying it was her fault, exactly. Especially if it wasn’t actually her directing the suits. But it was still irritating.

  The silence between us was a tense one. I wished Bitch had decided to come along. Not because it would have generated conversation, but because it would have put off the subject of discussing team leadership, and the third wheel would have made for a reason for the quiet. Was it bad of me to think about using her like that? Or was it just accepting that she made an uncomfortable silence comfortable by her very nature?

  I used my power to scout for any groups of people as we made our way to the beach. We weren’t supposed to be out in costume, but we didn’t have any great options at this point. I figured Coil would forgive us this much. We entered the storm drain and made our way up to my lair.

  Charlotte and Sierra looked surprised to see us as I opened the door. Charlotte had three kids sitting on the couch with her, while Sierra reclined. She rose to a sitting position.

  “What happened?” Sierra asked. She glanced nervously at Grue.

  I saw Charlotte and the kids had plates on their laps. The pork we’d been cooking earlier in the day. I headed for the fridge and found a hunk of it wrapped in cling film. ”The PRT didn’t like the fact that we’d claimed control over Brockton Bay, so they sent in seven Dragon suits to root us out.”

  “What do you want us to do?” She asked.

  “Nothing. It’s fine. Stick to business as usual. I’m glad you managed to get back to the food in time to make sure it finished cooking alright. Any other problems?”

  “We didn’t get a lot of work done,” Charlotte said.

  “We weren’t going to anyways,” I said, “That’s fine. I’m going to grab some food. Grue, you want any?”

  “Yeah. Please.”

  “Seven Dragon suits?” Sierra said. ”If they come back-”

  “They’re dealt with,” Grue said. Was the surprise on Sierra and Charlotte’s faces because of what Grue had said, or was it the way he’d said it with such confidence in his strange, echoey voice?

  I set two servings worth of the pork onto one plate and put it in the microwave. ”They may come back, but that’ll be a little while coming. What I’m worried about is my territory. Were people upset?”

  “Yeah,” Sierra said. ”A few people got shocked by those floating flying saucer things.”

  “The drones,” I said. My heart sank a little. My promise to protect my people had been broken yet again.

  “Yeah. Drones. People were pissed. They were trying to get the drones, catch them in trash cans, but the wings got in the way, so they started using tarps. They even got hold of a few before the drones started fighting back.”

  Grue gave me a look that I couldn’t read. Stupid masks.

  “Anyone seriously hurt?”

  Sierra shook her head.

  “Ok, good. Listen, I’m going to be working from the background these next few days. I won’t be appearing anywhere in costume or overtly using my powers. Are you okay with keeping things running smoothly? I’ll be available by phone if you run into any problems.”

  “I, um, I don’t know.”

  I opened the microwave and withdrew the plate
of smoking, herb-rubbed pork. ”What’s the problem?”

  “I’m worried people are going to recognize me, and it’ll get around to the people I know.”

  “I’m not asking you to do anything criminal. I’m just looking for someone I can trust enough to put in a management role. Make sure things are cleaned up and that nobody’s slacking off. It’s nothing you wouldn’t be doing working for a cleanup crew somewhere else in the city.”

  “Except I’m doing it for you. I’m working for a criminal. Even doing what I’m doing right now, it doesn’t sit right. No offense.”

  “Okay,” I said, pausing. I was apparently taking too long to prepare the food, because Grue was edging in to take over the preparation, cutting the meat into two portions and arranging the plates. How was I supposed to manage this? ”Listen, I’ll take five thousand dollars out of the safe upstairs, sometime late tonight or early tomorrow.”

  “It’s not about the money, or the lack of money, or any of that-” she protested.

  “I know. I’m not trying to bribe you. Not exactly. I guess, um…” I trailed off. I was tired, thinking at high intensity for too much of the day. ”Um, I’m trying to say I trust you, and I value the work you put in. So take that money, then if you know of someone who could do what I’m asking, someone like Charlotte or someone else you think we could trust, give them as much as you think is appropriate. If there’s any left over, maybe you and Charlotte split it. Or split an amount between the people who fought the drones, and be sure to tell them that as much as I appreciate them standing up to Dragon, I don’t want them to do anything like that again.”

  “You don’t?”

  “The last thing I want is people who live in my territory to get hurt for my sake. And I don’t want you to be inconvenienced either. Think about what you’ll do with the money tonight. But don’t overthink it. It’s a gift, a thank you.”

  “I can’t take your money,” Sierra said.

  “Then don’t,” I told her, trying to look like I was more focused on the food than anything else. It wouldn’t do for her to see how much this was gutting me, and I didn’t want her to get guilted into anything. I grabbed a coke from the fridge. I gestured with it to Grue, and he nodded. I grabbed another for him. I had to swallow and clear my throat before I said, “I hope you’ll stay. I really do. But if you’re not comfortable doing what you’re doing, that’s okay too. You can take a secondary role, or you can leave. I’ll be disappointed, but I won’t be angry.”