1.02 Hemolymph
The next three hours in the hospital weren't so bad. The nurse just asked a lot of questions, trying to get an idea of what I could and couldn't remember. I had a bit of trouble with that, mostly because she was asking about the past week of events, which were kind of hazy. Not because I actually had memory problems, but because last week happened two years ago. My dad was worried at that, but because I could still process memories and make new ones, they were optimistic. The final prognosis was that the hemorrhaging likely blurred or erased some memories, which I was unlikely to get back. Probably not the right diagnosis, but they were operating under the false assumption that I hadn't just time traveled. I could see how they could make that mistake. For now, though, I was told to rest and work on memory games to keep my mind sharp, I was given a week off of school to recuperate, and told to check back in with them should I have any memory problems. I could certainly make use of that time to further things here in the city.
I had my eyes set on Lung and Coil. Lung was the more immediate threat, but Coil would be the deadlier of the two. They each had their weakness, though, with a time when they were most vulnerable. I had to wait for the right time to strike, play a role for a time by acting as a villain to get close to Coil again.
It might be better to go the hero route this time, but I would need the freedom to do what I needed done. On top of that, I would need to kill several capes and pull a lot of other highly illegal stunts. If my plans worked out I would be risking a kill order or three.
Well it would have to do. To save the world, I might have to be the bad guy. That shouldn't be much of a problem for me, after all, I had done so for less.
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I felt rather cheery as I perused the aisles of the retail store. I knew I needed supplies, so after dad had dropped me off at home, I had checked my bank account online and had a bit of a shock. At the height of my criminal enterprising, I had nearly 14 million in liquid assets. My current funds were in the realm of $235.89. So here I was, spending what little I had. There is a saying, you have to spend money to make money. Well I was going to have to spend money to take money today.
No, I wasn't going to rob the retail store, nor would I be hitting up any banks today either. I had actually come to the store for ziploc bags and art supplies, among other things. We had the small ones at the house for sandwiches, but I needed the heavy duty ones for the job I had planned. I still had a few kinks to plan around, but I had the gist of it down, and the plastic bags would help a bit.
The bigger issues would be transportation. I could walk there and back without issue, and given my abilities, I wouldn't even need to be that near to the scene to get what I needed done. The issue would be moving the money once I got it, as I had no way of knowing how much I'd come away with. Last time, we had a pile of bags that we split between the lot of us. I didn't see the actual denominations in the bags, but I had assumed it was a bit. I would also be going in a little unprepared, without a costume or my mask, but that was part of the plan too. Were I to dress like a cape, then it would be obvious I'd be the one robbing them. I also didn't want to make too big a show of my powers, namely I didn't want anyone knowing what I could actually do. When I had turned myself in, the late Director Tagg had given me a level two in every classification. He was right that I was versatile, as you wouldn't think that 'controls bugs' would be all that great of a power, but those level two bumps across the board, from a PRT official who still underestimated me, does say something about my abilities.
My versatility would be a great asset in the early stages of this game, when I was solo and still lacked the range I had become used to. I still remembered how to set drag lines and tie capes to objects or one another. I had used that tactic a lot as Weaver and intended to keep using it till I found something better, or someone found a counter to it. I could also post my bugs at the joints of arms and legs to get a full view of an opponent without having to even look at them. I had spent a lot of time training with the Chicago Wards like that, enough that I could be just as lethal at close combat as I could from range. With that last one alone, I could play as a whole new cape, should the need arise. I wasn't planning on doing that exactly, but it's good to have a backup plan.
I grabbed my ziplock bags and headed to the school supplies section. I had also planned on making a few alterations to my costumes. I wanted to do simple things that could be used to disguise my body type or gender. Again I had plans, backup plans, and backup plans for the backup plans formulating. Nothing concrete, but ideas that I was developing. Googly eyes wouldn't work for any of those, but Glitter maybe. Sequins could, if applied correctly, but paints would be the best all around fix. Feathers? Ha! That would throw off any ideas of being a bug girl, but pink wouldn't be all that great for instilling fear or respect. Maybe if I tried out as a hero, I could try out the pink, but no, I think not. Paints and glitter would have to do for now.
I also grabbed a few party masks for a quick cover. While I didn't plan on going out in costume, a simple mask with my hair in my face and my hood up would help to keep a casual glance from identifying me.
"Can I help you with anything?"
I looked up at the older gentleman in a red shirt and khakis. His name tag labeled him as Alex.
"Hoodies?" I asked.
"Clothing is down this aisle and to the right. Head down a ways past the baby clothes and the women's casual wear should be right there." He replied with a genial smile.
"Thank you" I said, returning the smile. I walked over to the backpacks.
He watched me with an enigmatic smile this time.
"Sorry, I had just remembered I would need a new hoodie, but I wasn't done here yet."
"That's fine I'll be around if you need anything," he replied, before he turned and walked at a leisurely pace to a woman and her young son.
I looked through the bags on the rack. Mine was still new because I had to get a new one from the last time Emma had gotten bored. I didn't want to spend too much on another bag right after I had just gotten one, but I didn't want to be tracked down by anyone should they find a backpack with stolen money and school books with my name and return address on it. That would just be too dumb. I made a mental note not to do anything too stupid today, then quickly realized I was making plans to do exactly that. Well, ok, so maybe I would amend that to not make any stupid mistakes like keeping the receipt.
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I had taken the bus to a stop as close as I could to my destination, hopped off, and started walking. Once in an alley, between a rundown old drugstore and what must have been a pet store, I started sorting my purchases. All the art supplies, I put in a ziplock, the basic party masks in another. I covered my face with my hair and then put my hood up.
I stuffed the supplies into an air duct for the pet store and had roaches ferry it further out of sight and reach. They were a little sluggish, having trouble with getting a good grip on the plastic. I had a few spiders from the eaves descend and wrap the bags a few times with the treads trailing for the roaches. That provided a better handle for them, and within minutes the art supplies were safely stashed.
That wouldn't be so hard to do with the money once I had it. After all it's not like I could just deposit it all in my bank account. I would seem a little odd for a fifteen year old girl to suddenly have a couple hundred thousand. There were contingencies set in place to identify capes like that, one of them was the Numbers Man, and he wasn't someone I could trust just yet.
I grabbed the backpack with ziplocks and started out again, gathering my bugs. After the practice with the art supplies, I added several spiders to my swarm, which was mostly made up of very tiny bugs. An army of mosquitoes, gnats, and a few flies were spread loosely so as not to draw attention.
After walking a bit I realized I wasn't showing any of my face, and probably looked like the girl from The Ring. I knew I wasn't going to be identified, but covering up like that was just as much a giveaway as wearing a mask. I found a shattered window and checked my reflection. My hair was covering my face and I set about fixing that. My mouth was made visible with my eyes just barely screened. I wouldn't need to see with them, nor would there be anything to see if everything went to plan. Part of that plan was keeping a building or two between me and my target.
These weren't any pushovers and I didn't want to get caught in a fight with them. Sure, I would win, but not without outing myself as Skitter? No. Weaver? No Weaver was essentially dead. Weaver had fought and lost against Scion. Khepri was what Phir Se had called me. I had looked it up when I was waiting for my dad to leave again. Google noted that the scarabs moved dung balls around. The notion of the sun came from the way their dung balls were pushed between their antennas. Drawing them out it would look like a disk, which was a symbol of royalty, or holiness, or maybe I would need to google it again. I knew though that I didn't want to be the dung beetle, even if it was a god. I'd rather be a queen anyway. What was it the Faerie Queen had called me? The queen administrator? Well that's a mouthful. Queen Bee? No. Spider Queen. No. I'd have to take a bit more time tonight coming up with a name. I didn't want to have some other cape label me again.
I would have to think about that more later. Eight blocks of abandoned buildings to my destination. I wasn't two in and I was already being followed. A guy had passed by an alley and had started pacing me. He was a big guy, but I had taken down bigger. Lung among them. I realized, though how vulnerable I actually was. I hadn't hit the army surplus store yet. I had in mind to do that with a wad of cash and just go crazy with it. All I had available was my pepper spray. I wanted to hold off on using bugs anywhere near here. It had worked on Lung and wouldn't point to a cape being involved.
Instead, gave him the slip. I passed through an intersection, letting him see me moving. I stopped, once through, and went back, crossing behind him when he wasn't paying attention. I took the street on his opposite side, and started pacing him instead. Two intersections later, he realized he had lost me, but didn't seem to be bothered by it. He kept on his way which seemed to still be in the direction I was heading.
I didn't recognize him as any cape in the area. My musings ended when he entered what might have been an abandoned textile warehouse. I searched the facility before he was far in. Nothing of interest really. There were three kids in a room upstairs with a woman I took to be the mother. I checked the guy who did have a knife on him, but wasn't doing anything with it. He found a bathroom on the first floor and I put him out of my mind. Soon enough, he was out of my range too.
A block was all I had right now. I had been pushing out ever since I had first found my limit. I'd treat it like a muscle and work it out every second I was awake. I had gotten it maybe another twenty feet. Not much, but it was an improvement, and twenty feet over five hours or so wasn't so bad. At that rate I could get it up to 500 feet a week. If I remembered my powers, though I had growth spurts when I was in danger. My biggest one against Leviathan where I doubled my range from two to four. I would be working on finding a way to get self replicating relay bugs, but until then I would just have to exercise more.
I kept pushing and while doing so, was bringing in some sturdier bugs. Sadly, it's mostly roaches that are readily available in abandoned areas. The spiders variety is nicer, but there weren't many black widows. Not that I planned on fighting Lung right now, but I had planned on making contingencies and had two dozen of them on me along with a dozen brown recluse and a few millipedes. Those weren't poisonous, but they would creep people out more than the spiders I thought.
Soon enough I had a swarm ready to move in. Looking at the street sign, I was near enough to my destination. Whitmore and Regal. Sunset would be the next street over. Nothing regal about this area, posted up by a dumpster near the intersection. I wanted as many routes of escape as possible. Plan A called for me to casually walk out of the area back the way I had come. The intersection would be required for plans B, C, D, and E.
I searched my immediate area and checked my range. I could feel the far side of the warehouse and then some. Next I shifted focus to my own area. Empty buildings for the most part. Four thugs in an empty building watching TV to the south. Added security I guess. Attacking them was out of the question. Even binding the doors shut with string could lead back to me, no I wanted this to be a clean crime, without a fight.
I kept scanning using my "stealth" bugs. I already knew the lay of the facility from the time we hit it with the rest of the local villains. Sure enough, there was a group of naked workers on the ground floor. Unfortunately I also spotted Lung. Well, like I said I wasn't planning on fighting him today anyway. I moved my bugs up to the second floor. In the side room behind a locked door, I found what I was looking for. A lone woman was sitting counting money. Piles of it.
My roaches started climbing the insides of the walls up to the office. A black widow was already in the building and was moving to join the roaches. I watched the money counter for a time and checked her for weapons. She had a small knife, but from the taste of it, she wasn't using it for defense. I had a few other spiders start threading it closed in its sheath. When my black widow arrived, I had her crawl up to the counter. I placed her on one of the stacks and waited. The woman moved to grab the next stack with my spider on it and I struck.
My black widow jumped off the stack and started crawling towards her. Before she jumped out though I had a mosquito bite her palm. To the woman, she will likely think she has just been bitten by a black widow. Yep, her screaming confirmed it. I got to watch her in a slight panic as she realized what this meant. She grabbed a cloth and tied off her wrist. Smart, I'll give her that. She then stepped out of the office, locking the door behind her. Just what I was hoping for. I would have a small window of opportunity to move all the money before she had a replacement, if there was to be one. A smart villain wouldn't leave the money unattended for long.
In waiting for the black widow to attack, I had several hundred roaches already poised and ready to move. I sent all of them. They swarmed the table. Each set about grabbing what they could. Many grabbed the loose bills and scurried back into the wall dropping off their cargo and returning for more. I could move the money down the wall easy enough, even if she found a replacement counter in the next few minutes.
That wasn't all that likely as Lung had overheard her talking to an average sized man. I set my focus again to my roaches and started grouping them together to push the money, stacks and all, off the table and onto the floor. Several bills scattered and I sent a few roaches to collect them. The rest started lining up to drag the stacks into the wall. They had finished before the argument downstairs was resolved. She must have been important because Lung let her leave. During the conversation I had checked her pockets to find her keys. I had stolen them and dragged them under a table. The door should stay locked until Lung lost his temper and tore it down. Meanwhile, my swarm kept working.
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Only four bags of money?! That was so unfair. How the hell were there only four bags of money this time? Maybe it was an off week? It shouldn't be. Last time they were twice as much and that was with the pressure the other villians of the city were exerting on the ABB. Well I'd just have to come back again. Kinda like I had planned anyway. Steal the money and not the product. I wasn't in a position to stop the drug trade right now anyway. Well, aside from reporting the warehouse and seeing the capes and cops descend to make arrests. But again, I had planned on coming back to raid it a few more times. Besides, it wasn't like I'd actually be selling drugs, I'm just stealing from the sellers after they sell their product. I'm like Robin Hood. I was-
"GET OUT THERE AND FUCKING FIND HER!"
Oh shit; That would be Lung. I looked out from my post by the dumpster. Naked bodies were pouring out of the warehouse all carrying small arms and improvised weapons. A rather comical sight if it weren't for the dragon marching them out and already on fire. Well I had the money. With the ziplock bags, I could stash it like I planned in various holes too small or obscure for a person to find. The problem was I was planning on stashing it farther from their territory than a block away and next to a dumpster. Worse yet this area didn't have any places only my bugs could get to. Well, the dumpster of course, but that's still rather a dicey spot. No telling when it might be emptied and that would be one of those stupid mistakes I told myself I wasn't going to make.
"SPREAD OUT!"
Time for plan B. Run!
And I ran. I had a head start on Lung and should be far enough away from him to be sure he wouldn't hear me, even with superior senses, if he had them now. I didn't even have a line of sight to the building to get spotted by the naked ABBs. What I didn't expect was Oni Lee.
I saw him from the corner of my eye on the roof of a building. He stared me down as I passed by. I had my hood up and face covered. I was doubtful he could ID me, but running would tip him off. Worse I wasn't even in costume to protect against his sneak attacks. I had left it at home thinking if I was stopped by a cop, cape, or villain, all they would find was a scrawny white girl out for a jog with a backpack of art supplies and ziplock bags. Nothing to worry about right.
I hadn't prepped for a fight. No knife. No baton. No killer arachnids or capsaicin laced flies of doom. I had been prepping strings, but with Lung already on fire those would go up in smoke if I tried them on him. Oni Lee would just pop out. He was the reason I hadn't had much warning. He had popped into the room I had just robbed and popped back to Lung in a matter of seconds to report. Me, trying to be discreet hadn't been able to see him in either location till my bugs detected his ash cloud.
Figures in my path stopped me up short. Three ABB's were blocking the alleyway. That must have been why Oni Lee didn't just kill me. These three were young and seemed kinda skittish. They were still clothed, so they hadn't come from the warehouse so…. Oh! I tasted the ash again. That was smart. He was popping groups of thugs out in a perimeter. Looking for me. Wait how would Lung had even known the thief was a she? Oh, he must have thought it was the woman who was counting that stole the money. Ok so they aren't looking for me then maybe they just found a girl and thought to randomly attack her. Really not as bad as it sounds.
They moved to grab me and I didn't resist. Oni Lee might be watching and I needed to ping him before I made a move.
"Feng check her bag," The skinny boy with the pixie cut said. I only realized he was a boy by the voice. Too deep to be a girl. I still had my hood up, my hair covering my face, and the temp mask. Well, that might tip them off, but at least they wouldn't see my face. Also wouldn't give them any real way of IDing me when I was out as a cape.
The girl moved forward around the big and fat one to get my bag. I still had time before she could get it opened. I kept still and looked for Oni Lee. I also started tagging everyone in a block radius and running breakaway lines at the perimeter of my range. Still nothing.
"What the fuck is taking so long xiǎo rìběn?" The skinny one asked again. He was getting edgy and was fingering the knife in his back pocket. The girl was still fumbling with the zipper. She wouldn't be able to get through without taking a knife to it. I had a black widow knit the double zipper shut when I spotted them. She would either have to use his knife to cut the bag open or give it up as a lost cause.
"It's stuck," she said, almost in a panic.
The fat one moved her out of the way and grabbed the bag, me with it, and tore the fabric. The plastic bags full of money poured out onto the ground. Four heavy duty bags and those weren't small bills either I realized belatedly.
"Jackpo- ahhh!"
I didn't let him finish. I stuck hard and fast, hitting the skinny one in the groin and grabbed his knife as he doubled over. I swung around to catch the fat one across his stomach before he could pull his gun I had tied to his belt. The girl grabbed at her knife and rolled back when I swung at her. She was quicker than I was, naturally at least. I could still get a quicker sense from the mosquitoes I had posted on their bodies. The skinny one charged me in a half hobble and a rather weak roar. I spun low and to my right to keep skinny between me and the fat one. As he passed, I came full about and stabbed him in the back of his thigh. He went down with a shrill cry. Fat guy was fumbling with his belt to get his gun free. The girl did the most sensible thing and screamed for help.
In seconds I could feel spider strings breaking as half a dozen thugs started moving towards us. I grabbed the bags of money and the half torn backpack and bolted. I started filling the alleys with flies and mosquitoes. Not in dense swarms, but loosely spaced to get a feel for the areas yet still not noticed. I knew what would be coming and would need to be ready to strike in an instant.
A gunshot went off. The fat guy had gotten the gun out and shot a round in the air. If the girl screaming wouldn't get attention the gun would. A girl screaming means victim. A gun going off meant a fight.
Nothing to do about it now except head for a more public place. The problem with raiding a drug house like this one, was that the nearest public place was still a ways away. I had at least three blocks before I would be passing any buildings that weren't abandoned and another 4 before I was out of ABB territory. The safest route would be to the Bay and the Boardwalk. Not that they wouldn't follow me there, but hitting the boardwalk in any public way would be bad for their business too. I thought about heading towards the Undersiders loft, but they weren't prepared to take on an assault of ABB members. White girl chased by Asians in Kaisers territory would get me help if I threw out a few racial slurs and obscenities on principal alone. That would work till they checked my bag, then I'd be worse off. No, I was going to have to lose them in a 7 block game of cat and mouse. I could normally play this game very well, but with an opponent that could pop in with any number of reinforcements, including Lung, I was at a bit of a disadvantage. Well, if you can't go forwards, try going back.
I ducked down an alley and climbed in through a broken window. I could feel twenty some thugs converging on the three would be attackers. They were speaking a language I didn't. They seemed to be speaking in multiple languages when I paid more attention. Skinny seemed to know Mandarin, but the ones that had met up with him didn't. Was that Japanese or Taiwanese. Moot point as they got frustrated and switched to English.
"That bitch hit me in the dàn and took off that way," he said pointing in the direction I would have been running.
"Hien? You're sure?"
"No it was a white girl. She had a pack with the money in it. She has his blade now too." That would be the fat one. He was still clutching his stomach.
"Shit, Lung wants her dead. Go back and tell Lung it's not Hien. We go find this girl and bring her back. Alive."
Hey that's great they want me alive. That should make things easier.
The rest of the thugs moved off looking for me. I waited a bit longer till the first three started walking back to Lung. I stepped out of the building and kept pace with them. Fat one had to help Skinny walk. He had stuffed his gun in the back of his pants. The girl had her knife out this time and was holding it with a white knuckled grip. I waited till they had rounded the corner and was out of eyesight when I started sprinting. I closed the distance in a matter of seconds. I hit the fat guy in the back of the head with the butt of the knife. As he was going down I grabbed the gun and pressed it to the girls head.
"Drop it" I said with a gravelly voice. I didn't want her to recognize my voice in some chance encounter down the road to get me in trouble. I had been attacked once by Emma and her crew when they recognized my voice. Actually that was tomorrow. Is tomorrow? Will be tomorrow? No I'm going to Boston tomorrow.
Feng was rigid. I cocked the gun and released the safety. At that she dropped the knife. Skinny was pinned under his buddy and couldn't see us.
"Move" I said as I pushed her on a route perpendicular to the path the other group had taken searching for me.
She started walking with small tight steps. When we passed her knife I stooped to pick it up and she tried twisting to grab the gun. I felt her tensing before she moved and was already moving to counter. My gun hand pulled back to my side and out of her reach and my empty hand closed on her knife. She had tried turning to grab the gun and I let her finish her turn before springing up with the knife in hand at her throat.
"That's two, on three you die. Turn around and walk."
She looked pissed. She must have really thought she could have grabbed that gun from me. Might have been what she had planned when she dropped the knife. Unfortunate for her that the game was rigged. It was a good try on her part.
She gave me a death glare. I slid the knife ½" across her throat. She pulled back quickly. I nodded in the direction and she turned around again to walk. I sent my bugs in to check her pockets, and while I was at it, the pockets of the other two as well. Cell phones, wallets and keys were pulled out. I picked up the phones and wallets with spider silk lines. The keys, I had a few bugs drag out of sight. I kept the gun pointed to her and stayed just out of her reach. We marched north a block, then west a block opposite my original exit route. North one. West another. After the third block I stopped her.
"Kneel facing the wall."
She did, but had started shaking.
"This is what gang life is. You mess with the wrong bitch and you die."
She was openly crying. Her shoulders were shaking with ragged sobs. I opened her wallet and took her ID. Feng Zhen. She was 21 from her drivers license and also had a college ID. I took the ID and cash, but left her cards.
"Do you want to die in some ally like this Feng?" She was still sobbing. "Answer me," I said in a perfectly level voice.
"Nnnnn nnnn no," she stutter sobbed out.
"You're a college student, why die like this?"
She let out another sob. "I flunked out. It… school…."
"Out with it," I said, still calm and level.
"It was hard!" she wailed
"Life is hard. Death is easy. I pull this trigger. You die. Easy," I said, cool like ice. She was a wreck.
"I'm going to give you a choice. You can go the easy way. Or you can go the hard way. Do you want to die?"
"NO! No nonononononono!"
"I have your name. I have your address. I'll be checking on you. If I find you aren't back in school on my next visit…."
"I'll do it, I'll go back, I'll study harder I swear! I'll never join another gang! And and I won't tell anyone about you, just please don't kill me!"
She was still making promises when she was out of my range. I had traveled 3 blocks north three blocks west which put me further into their territory, but out of their search grid. With my attack on the trio that first accosted me, they should also still be looking for Hien. I should be good to just walk straight out now.
By now I,d had my spiders seal my backpack back up. I also took off my mask and stuffed it in the bag. I still kept my hood up and my face hidden, but for the next 11 blocks I should be able to walk unmolested back to a bus stop. Actually, now that I thought about it, I was closer to one if I kept heading west, away from the bay. I would come across the line for the train yard in only 6 blocks. I'd have to take that to the bay line to get back to where I started, but I was planning on spending the money at the army surplus store, among others, and that was south, away from the docks and bay.
Before coming up to the bus stop I stayed in the alley and sorted my cash. I took out one of the ziplock bags, and after feeling out the area, found a void in one of the walls obscure enough to hide a bag in. I had my spiders tie off an end and my roaches ferry the bag away.
With that done I opened another bag and counted out $5,000. That should be enough for today's shopping and then some. The rest I would bury where needed. All in all, a job well done. On to the next shopping trip, and maybe get more art supplies. With the cash I had in hand, I wouldn't need to worry about the loss of the first set. It would be easier to just buy more supplies than head back to where I stashed them earlier.