2.7
The stairs were at the back of the bank lobby, to the side of the service counter. Literally as far from the windows as anything could be and still be on the same floor. Defending both sides was going to be hell.
The few remaining hostages scrambled towards us. The sounds of movement came progressively closer, and Kid Win's cannon started to whine as it built up a charge.
It took me a moment to realise what was wrong. The monster was still on the third floor, barely having moved from the window. In fact, one of the bugs I planted earlier was coming closer, fast. I relaxed my finger away from the trigger and was about to signal the others when Glory Girl burst out of the stairwell.
thump
...
...
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Glory Girl screamed as she extracted herself from the pile of debris that had been the tellers' counter and two small consulting offices. Kid Win had the good grace to look apologetic, smoke curling lazily from the muzzle of his weapon.
At least no harm was done, Glory Girl was uninjured if a little disheveled. Her costume was covered in dust and her normally perfect hair was in disarray. In fact, her hair seemed frozen upright, like she had stuck a fork in the wall socket.
To my side Shadow Stalker snorted. Then Clockblocker sniggered. Then Gallant burst out laughing and it was like a dam broke and all the built up tension was released. It seemed so inappropriate considering the situation but even I couldn't help smiling. The only people who didn't join in were Bitch and Tattletale, the former just looked confused while the later was staring intently at the young hero from New Wave.
Well, Glory Girl didn't laugh either. She stomped over to the Wards and started berating them, which only caused Clockblocker and Kid Win to collapse further into hysterical laughter.
There was a cough from the stairs. Aegis was standing there, arms crossed. He cocked an eyebrow. "Glad I didn't beat you back here," he said to Glory Girl.
The mood became serious again when they heard the bank was compromised. It was like a shutter had fallen over their faces, all the warmth just disappeared in a moment.
"What are they doing?" Aegis asked me. No need to clarify who they was.
"The one upstairs is just wandering around, searching maybe? The outside ones are moving now, kinda to the sides of the building. I think they are staying out of sight."
Tattletale grimaced. "The one inside is waiting for them to climb up and get in through that window. We won't be able to stop them. They will attack together."
Aegis grunted an acknowledgment and turned to Glory Girl. "So I assume the lack of extra heroes on hand means New Wave weren't at home?"
Glory Girl scowled. "Nope, and mum wasn't at work. And all the phones were out. Amy is trying to find them."
He nodded. "I got five blocks away before I gave up on getting the radios to work. I had to leave the civilians with messages to pass on to the PRT, couldn't afford to waste any more time. I'm really not happy that the PRT might be walking into this blind."
"They can handle themselves," Gallant said. "The Protocol for a widescale comms blackout is a full tactical response."
"Unless they think the comms blackout is caused by something else," Tattletale muttered. "It still doesn't feel right."
"Either way, we have our own problems now," Aegis returned. "If the roof exit is cut off, then we're trapped. Holding out for backup is our only option."
"So we just block the stairs, right?" Gallant asked. Tattletale shook her head. "Too far between barriers for Clockblocker to maintain them all, and I seriously doubt the internal walls here are going to stop those things anyway. We need something else."
"Kill em," Bitch grunted. She must have been applying her power because her dogs were starting to swell again. Bony spikes burst through flesh like a stop-motion horror movie. To be honest, it was so bizarre to watch that it wasn't even that gross.
"We do have a lot of heavy hitters here," Gallant mused. "Those mutant dogs are monsters, and Aegis and Glory Girl are back..."
"Really bad idea," Tattletale said, cutting him off. "We were having trouble with just the smaller ones before, these things are an order of magnitude worse. Remember that one of these things took down Lung, and so far none of us have managed to hurt them. We don't even know for sure that we can take them down."
Glory Girl rolled her eyes. "I don't get why we are listening to a villain. Lung was tough, but if his fire didn't mess with my breathing I could have taken him myself. My force field is invulnerable."
Tattletale smirked at her. "Except for the brief periods when it isn't, right Victoria?" Her face hardened. "These things are fast. You do not want to be overconfident here."
The golden girl's eyes widened briefly before her face twisted in anger. She took a threatening step forward. "I don't know what you think you know ... but you better shut the hell up, right now."
Fuck. We couldn't afford to fight now. I stepped in between them. "This isn't helping," I said, more to Tattletale than Glory Girl. The villain seemed to live to push buttons, even in a crisis. Apparently getting involved was a mistake though.
Glory Girl rounded on me, eyes blazing. "And who the fuck do you think you are?" she spat at me. "It's your fault we are all in this mess."
Fear washed over me. Part of that was probably the aura the Glory Girl put out (and hell yes, it was terrifying), but mostly it was her words. That sick feeling that had been hiding in my stomach, that everything that was happening was because of me. That just by being here I had caused it all. If I had never tried to be a hero in the first place ...
"Shut up," Vista yelled. I turned in surprise, it was the first thing I had heard her say since we made it inside the bank.
Since most of us made it inside the bank.
Vista was glaring up at Glory Girl, hands balled into fists. With the aura still distorting things it felt like watching an ant stare down an elephant.
"Don't you dare blame her," she shouted. "Skitter didn't know anything, and she saved Kid and Stalker out there. She was ready to protect them in here too, after you left. The only one who is making things worse is you."
My thought process ground to a halt. Even Glory Girl looked a bit shocked at Vista's outburst.
"I'd have to agree, Skitter isn't to blame here" stated Aegis. "Now end this, we can't afford any distractions right now."
Glory Girl glowered at me and Tattletale but mumbled some sort of agreement, and the villain did the same. I could only nod mutely. Vista was defending me? I thought ...
"Skitter, we need an update," Aegis said.
Right. Focus. I reached out. "They are moving outside ... shit. They've started climbing. They are gonna be inside in a few seconds. Five of them I think, with another of the big ones. At least a few more are still waiting outside with the other monster."
"Making sure we don't escape out the front door. So that will be six upstairs?" Aegis asked, pausing until I nodded in confirmation. "Well, I doubt I can do much against that many, and we have already seen how they deal with Hellhound's dogs. Glory Girl ... I'm not going to ask anything about your power, but I need to know. Can you do anything against those numbers?"
She gritted her teeth, eyeing Tattletale. Muscles worked rhythmically in her jaw. "I probably can't stop them and keep everyone here safe at the same time," she admitted finally.
Aegis just nodded. "OK, so we need a new plan. Tattletale, you're the thinker here, any plans?"
Glory Girl growled, but Tattletale ignored her, looking around the lobby.
"How long until we get reinforcements?" she asked Aegis.
"No way to know, but protocol is for a response team to mobilise if radio contact is lost for more than five minutes on a mission like this. Probably ten minutes minimum to get here."
"Capes or PRT?"
"Protocol calls for PRT but since there were known villains involved ..." he trailed off, looking awkwardly at the Undersiders. "Well, with villains they would probably send in the heavy hitters. Depends how far away they are though, we were sent here today because the Protectorate was on a mission somewhere else."
Tattletale clucked her tongue. "So ten minutes minimum, and can't be sure the back-up will be useful? Well, we can't hold the lobby then. We need to find somewhere more defensible."
"What about the vault?" Grue suggested, walking over from the rest of the Undersiders. "It has countermeasures against parahumans."
Aegis chuckled. "I am going to pretend you know that for a legitimate reason. Tattletale?"
She nodded slowly. "Yeah, maybe. The schematics said it was rated up to Brute 3, so it could stop them. Clockblocker might be able to freeze most of the front too. And the walls in the basement are cut into the limestone, so it won't be easy to get around behind us. Can't think of anything better."
"Fine then, the vault it is," Aegis agreed. "Civilians down first, Skitter and Tattletale stay close to me for co-ordination. The rest of you do what you can to defend the rear."
We had just started moving when an ear-splitting scream rattled through the bank. Everyone turned to me.
"They're coming."
Everyone ran for the stairs to the basement, which unfortunately opened into the same stairwell as those from the upper floors. We were running towards the enemy, and they had a head start.
"They're too fast," I hissed at Tattletale. "They are gonna get here before we hit the stairs."
She cursed under her breath, then shot me a meaningful look. "Last resort then."
Fuck. "Are you sure?" I asked. "What if..."
"Out of options," she said.
I drew on everything I had in the bank. Most of the bugs had stayed roughly where I had left them after I stopped actively controlling them, and it seemed my power had been passively drawing more and more from the surrounding area. There were a lot of them. They flooded from the walls and dark corners, cutting off the Cultists halfway across level three.
"It ... it's working. They're slowing down ..." I said as the bugs swamped them. Sensory data spilled into my mind, claws and tails and a sense of wrongness that seemed to vary amongst the enemies. The two big ones were the worst by a large margin.
A chorus of screams echoed down the stairwell. One of the hostages stumbled at the inhuman noise.
"Shit, they're moving again," I said.
Tattletale nodded as she ran. "Communicating verbally with the link down. New redundancies. Do whatever you can to stop em."
I sent out the signal, and the bugs that could get a grip on the fast moving enemies started biting and stinging any open flesh. Two of the smaller Cultists dropped to the ground screaming, which gave me the opening to bury them under a tide of flying and crawling chaos.
I had never intentionally hurt anyone before, especially not with my power. Armsmaster didn't count, I had been trying to save him. But here, I knew exactly what each attack would do. Some of these bugs were nasty.
I directed them to the eyes, nose, mouth. To the groin. I felt flesh give under the assault and the bugs losing traction as their footholds became slick. I couldn't help but shudder.
The other things were still moving but slowed in the face of the attack. There wasn't much open flesh on the bigger ones, but at the very least I could force them to shut their mouths which stopped the screams.
"Two down," I whispered. Aegis looked surprised but nodded in acknowledgement.
The first of the civilians made it to the stairs and started descending. "Vault is at the bottom, three flights," Tattletale shouted. She turned to me. "ETA?"
"They rest are moving slower, I think the bugs are bothering them. We have a bit of time." I paused. Where were
...
Damn it.
"One of them just tore through the floor. They're out of my swarm."
"Smart. Learning," she said, slightly breathless from the sprint. She shouted to the rest of the team ahead of us. "Stay away from the walls everyone. They're in the vents."
The lights flickered and went out. Of course. There was still enough light filtering down from the lobby to see at the top, but the lower end of the stairwell trailed into darkness.
Muffled moans and sobs from the civilians echoes strangely up the narrow stairs. Vista and Gallant were trying to comfort them, I think. They were at the other end of the crowd but the bugs I left on them were still there. Now that I didn't have to hold back I surreptitiously added a few more insects to each member of the team, restoring my overall view of the retreat.
The dark was surprisingly easy for me to deal with, with my insects mapping out every surface. Yet another use of my power that seemed more versatile by the day.
It was the other darkness that was the problem. The blank spots were descending in parallel with us through the crawlspaces and wall voids, and moving far faster than should have been possible. Intervening air conditioning tubing, electrical wiring, even strutwork was demolished like it wasn't there. They must have damaged enough of the wires for the lights to short out.
"Keep going," Aegis yelled out. He glanced at me. "How we doing Skitter?"
I shook my head. "Too fast, coming on both sides."
He nodded, lips thin. "Just make sure we get some warning."
The first of the capes and all the civilians reached the lowest floor, Grue leading the way towards the vault with the rest trailing behind. At least I thought it was the vault, I couldn't imagine any other part of the bank needing such heavy doors. My bugs could feel the hum of electricity through the metal, clearly the vault itself had an off the grid power supply for ... something.
Tattletale, Aegis and myself made up the rearguard, Glory Girl just ahead.
The middle of the pack was bookended by Bitch's/Hellhound's dogs, which were now about the size of ponies. They could get a lot bigger, I knew, but they had to fit down the stairs and presumably into the vault. The rest of the Undersiders and Wards were interspersed among the canines.
Halfway across the basement Gallant went down. I couldn't make out what had happened, but at least there were no enemies nearby. Vista and Kid Win were already helping him up.
We were just turning the down the last flight of stairs when they caught us.
"Aegis, there's a big one coming through there," I cried out, pointing to his right. He flinched to the side just as the wall shattered and scything talons passed through the space his head had been occupying. He grabbed Tattletale and leapt the remaining stairs to the basement floor.
Which left me by myself on the stairwell.
I followed Aegis' example and vaulted the banister, dropping the remaining 10 or so feet to the ground. Glory Girl was next to me at the foot of the stairs, staring glassily up at the thing that was advancing towards us.
She glanced back into the basement, in the gloom I could just make out the last of the Wards as they tried to lift up their immobile teammate. It didn't take a genius to realise that there was no way they would all make it into the vault before they got over-run, not at the speed these things moved.
I could probably make it though, I realised. I only needed to outpace the slowest of them.
An image flashed across my mind, Vista screaming at one of the strongest heroes in Brockton Bay in my defense. I shook my head. It was the same as that first night with Lung, I couldn't back down.
I heard Glory Girl mutter something beside me and then she disappeared. One second she was thereand the next instant the space beside me crashed in the wake of her passage, blurring my vision and setting my ears ringing.
I hadn't expected that, to be honest. She hadn't been on the best terms with the rest of us upstairs, but she still threw herself into the fight without a second thought. I couldn't let her face them alone.
I shook my head to clear the aftershocks of the sonic boom. Finally my eyes found her, crouched low in the mangled wreck of the stairway. The creature was beneath her, and behind her, and above her. It had literally been torn in half.
The arms on each forequarter flopped to the ground. There was only one arm on each side.
If I'd known she was going to charge in like that I would have warned her.
They were clever, to use the lesser one as bait.
She looked back over her shoulder at me with a smirk and seemed about to say something when the big one erupted from the hole in the wall. I saw her eyes widen in shock as it slammed into her, and then they both crashed through the handrail into the dark hollow under the stairs.
And then she screamed.
AN: Sorry for the cliffhanger. The chapter was going to finish the arc, but it got too long, I think it is already the longest yet and they are obviously still in a lot of trouble.
Thanks for the reviews. Something is definitely going on with Skitter, but what? :)