Skitter watched passively as Squealer and Black Tar pulled up in their massive yacht sized cruiser ship and immediately started to pick a fight with Faultline. Understandable, her crew was seen at the crashed party, and they couldn't really take their anger out on Queen of the Castle.
Bugs told her the inner workings of the ship, laying out all the weapons and corridors inside of it. It wasn't any better on the inside than it was the outside, slanted, thrown together, looking like it might fall apart. The information had the on guns let her start dismantling and jamming the weapons discreetly as the conversation went on around them.
Skitter's second mind was focused on thinking about the two people Tsundere had brought back with her yesterday. PillowMan and his sister, Anna. Both of them were capes, but each of them kind of useless. PillowMan obviously summoned pillows that were almost indestructible didn't get dirty or wet. And, as Taylor found out last night, every side of the pillow is the cool side of the pillow.
His sister Anna, on the other hand, could tell if were about to die, but usually only a few hours before it happens. Like Dinah, she could see the chances but instead of percentages she saw it as fractions. Skitter would have dismissed their powers as completely useless until Tenant pointed out that the pillows might be able to stop Siberian. But even then it was unlikely that would become a viable option.
She turned her second mind to the conversation at hand and her general surroundings as her primary mind worked with Tenant to pick apart and understand Squealer's ship. Every now and then she picked up a little bit more technology information and stored it away, very much aware that Tenant was not only making her a Thinker but also a Tinker.
Brute was smoking a cigar while he stood next to Skitter, waiting for instruction or otherwise. He was probably the most valuable person she had working for her, even though she still didn't quite understand his mentality that made him offer himself to people. He not only dealt with almost all threats very easily, he was managing all the hired muscle as well while she dealt with the reconstruction side of things.
But in terms of this meeting he might as well be another Siberian. He is strong, fast, and now that he stole a bit of Glory Girl's invincibility, incredibly difficult to injure. No one has seen him lose a fight or get hurt since the first few times he had appeared on the cape scene. She knew that now was because he hadn't beaten a lot of heroes at that time, but the others didn't know that. It made him a tool in the political sense as well.
Tsundere was pulling on a pair of dark purple gloves that went up to her elbow and matched her kimono. She had more reputation than she realized, simply by helping everyone of The Undersiders and even Sundancer at one point secure their territory. Her power gave her incredible offensive and defensive strength, and allowed her to use lethal force without actually killing them. Skitter had been silently observing all the applications Tsundere had discovered thus far. She has learned something new each fight, and appears to be able to change her face and hair colour easily as well. Today she had black hair with large teal eyes that reflected the moonlight.
Skitter's first mind was working on what task when Miss Militia stepped onto the building top they were meeting at. It was barely sticking up out of the water and provided them neutral ground to talk with each other.
Skitter observed everyone. Miss Militia to represent the Protectorate. Coil, by himself. Purity with Crusader, Fog, and Night. Black Tar, the new leader of the Merchants with Squealer and the ship full of Merchants and disabled guns behind him. All of the Travelers, with Genesis in some sort of turtle snake form. Faultline's Crew, standing passively off to the side. Which, besides The Undersiders, left Hookwolf and his Chosen.
Hookwolf had been casting glances in Skitter's direction, combined with a smug look and the confident way he held himself it wasn't hard to tell what he was up to.
'He knows.' Skitter thought.
"Yes," Tenant agreed. "And he is probably going to try and turn this entire meeting against you if you let him."
'Suggestions?'
"Turn it against him. You're not stupid, and he is a smug idiot white supremacist douchebag. It shouldn't be that hard." Skitter suddenly noticed Tattletale staring at her.
"It seems we have a problem," Miss Militia said as she approached the teams.
"We do," Hookwolf answered, "Four problems actually." The rest of them nodded.
"Four?" Purity asked. "I only counted three."
"It those." Hookwolf point over at The Undersiders, and then the Travelers. "They think their smart, clever even. But I think it's better that we get it out in the open, you too Coil, Miss Militia."
"Perhaps you'd better explain," Coil said.
"They have been taken territory all over the city. Upper downtown, The Boardwalk, College Neighbourhoods, Trainyard, The Docks." Hookwolf turned to address the Travelers. "They ain't much better. Got Sundancer in the shopping district, Genesis in the downtown coast, Trickster driving looters out of the heart of downtown. See the pattern? They're all moving to take pieces of the city for themselves."
"We already knew they were talking territory," Miss Militia responded, "This isn't a priority. The Nine-"
"They haven't taken territory," Hookwolf snapped back, "They're taking the city. Split it up all nice and proper between them, and now they're taking advantage of the distraction the Nine are giving them to secure their positions before we fucking catch on."
Grue and Trickster looked at each other for a moment, sharing in some unspoken agreement.
"We didn't know about the Nine before we started this."
"So Hookwolf is right," Purity said bluntly, a bit of her surprise appearing on her face. Grue nodded silently.
"This isn't a concern for us," Miss Militia said sternly, "We are here for the other three problems. Dealing with the Slaughterhouse Nine, moving against Queen of the Castle, and resisting Troll until he gets bored and leaves." More notifications announcing more of Troll's deaths have popped up in the last twenty-four hours. From getting run over to getting electrocuted by Squealer.
The issue with Troll wasn't that he was dangerous by himself. He didn't have any more ability than any other person. The difficulty with Troll was that there was no way to stop him despite that. Every time he dies he 'respawns' a block or so away and just comes back over and over again until he gets what he wants. And when what he wants is to screw with people, things tended to end badly with him around.
"That might help for the next week or two, but from a month from now you'll be regretting it." Hookwolf told her. "What we need is to stop them from using the Nine as a distraction to gain more control."
"That is not our intent." Trickster said quickly.
"Then agree to the truce and stay away from your territories or in a hotel on the Protectorates tab until this is all sorted. You won't hold territory until the Nine are dealt with."
"You're attempting to turn this meeting against us." Skitter suddenly said, drawing looks from the other in her group. "You want to set things up so would have to agree to terms we would never agree to or be forced out of this alliance." Hookwolf frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but Skitter cut him off. "Whether you want us out of this truce out of spite or because it would give you the advantage in the future it doesn't matter, you want us on this truce." Hookwolf's eye narrowed at them.
"You're all full of yourselfs. There is no way we can fight the Nine if we have to worry about you trying to extend your influence." It was Tsundere that spoke next.
"Brute?" Brute took the cigar out of his mouth and looked at Tsundere.
"How many punches to kill Jack Slash?" Brute paused for a moment, the answered with,
"One punch."
"And what about Bonesaw?"
"One punch."
"Shatterbird?"
"One punch."
"Mannequin?"
"One punch."
"Crawler?"
"Eh, at least two, yaes."
"And what about Hookwolf here." Hookwolf tensed as Brute cast a fleeting glance in his direction.
"Please, I could sneeze in his direction and he would fall into pile of metal toothpicks." Grue looked over and realized what happening and took our lead by saying,
"We have power you can't ignore, nor go without if you want to fight the Nine. And if you insist on excommunicating us, then we will have to extend our own truce to The Protectorate and others willing to participate."
"I'm inclined to agree." Coil said with a nod. "And perhaps now is the opportune time to share this information; I have sources that inform my that should Jack Slash survive his trip to Brockton Bay it bodes ill for everyone."
The conversation turned away from them for a moment as Coil shared the fact that the world might end in two years. Skitter took the moment to pull her bugs out of Squealer's contraption and to observe everyone's reaction. Coil was on board and Miss Militia seemed willing to come to a deal with them. Hookwolf looked profusely agitated, while the others look angry. They didn't like getting played as fools, but they knew what the Undersiders and Travelers brought to the table between Brute, Tsundere, and their general collective power. If they could get Miss Militia to value their strength over Hookwolf's Chosen then more might follow her because of the Protectorate's resources.
"-for this to happen," Hookwolf cut in, turning Skitter's attention back to the Travelers and the Undersiders must agree to our terms." A few of the nodded, Faultline, Coil, and Miss Militia excepted. Coil was about to say something where they heard a massive horn, something like one might hear from a large cargo ship.
They turned just as the ship appeared in their line of sight. It was a full-scale battleship, large enough to make Squealer's cruiser look like a toy next to it. Obvious Tinker guns were mounted all along the sides, on the decks, and the control tower. The barrels for the weapons were large enough that any one of them could have crawled inside of it and fit comfortably. Some of them looked like energy weapons, pointing into the sky.
The moment the horn finished going off everything fell into an eerie silence as it slowly drifted the last few dozen feet without making another sound. Purity grew bright as she activated her power and others prepared for a fight but Hookwolf and Grue waved them down.
"If you provoke that thing we're all dead," Hookwolf growled. The others heard and didn't attack, but none of them backed down. The ship jerked to a dead stop just inches away from the building. It became very apparent that whoever was driving the ship could have run them all over without a second thought and there probably wouldn't have been a thing they could have done about it.
A figure appeared above them, leaping off the front of the ship and falling towards them before wings on her suit opened up and Queen of the Castle landed gently in the centre of everyone.
"Why is everyone here?" She asked, her head tilting slightly. "Is it a party? I like parties."
"Queen of the Castle," Miss Militia said cautiously, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh!" Queen said, her eyes lighting up and pointing a Tsundere. "She invited me! Saying it would be fun!" All eyes fell on Tsundere. Her mouth fell open a bit and a large cartoonish teardrop appeared on her head for a second before disappearing. The effects were immediate, Skitter knew in an instant that everyone except maybe Hookwolf was going to be completly okay with their inclusion. Queen of the Castle is one person you do not want to have against you.
"Hey, Queen." Tsundere said slowly. "We were just discussing how to take down the Slaughterhouse Nine and-"
"Oh wow! Those are like really bad people." Tsundere smiled at her.
"Yeah, so bad in fact, that everyone in the city, heros, villains, us, are going to not fight each other at all while we fight them." Queen's grin widened.
"So I could use whatever to kill them and no one is going to chase me for it?" Tsundere looked to Miss Militia, who hesitated before nodding.
"So long as you stick with us, then sure."
"Yay!" Queen pumped a fist into the air, the jets on her flight suit lifting her a few feet higher into the air as she did. Skitter turned to look at Hookwolf.
"Would you like to join our truce?" She asked.