Chapter 9:

The bombings lasted well into the night...or, morning. It took a lot for us to get any sleep, Couple that fact with Brian's idea to sleep in shifts in case anything came to close to the base, we weren't well rested when Lisa got a call from our boss explaining that the Protectorate wanted to meet with us to discuss the situation.

We all agreed that it was a good idea to meet with them, but we also didn't want to get ourselves killed heading to a meeting. The explosions trailed off around 3 in the morning. We decided to give it an extra hour to make sure it was safer, and then we headed out.

Dinah, to her credit, seemed to handle the little sleep and early awakening well. I still felt bad that she had to go through this, especially on her first day in the group. Though, considering that I had also faced the ABB on my first day out...maybe there was a theme for the recruits to the Undersiders.

When we headed outside, we found a van waiting for us, provided by the boss. We all climbed in and headed off. The Protectorate building was about a half hour drive from the base, under normal circumstances. However, these weren't normal circumstances. The streets were empty, save for a few emergency response vehicles that we saw. It only took us about 15 minutes to make it. We stopped about a black from the PRT HQ.

"Why are we stopping here?" Dinah asked, before letting out a yawn.

"We should make an entrance." Grue said. "Don't wanna roll up in a van when we could do something...grander."

I could practically hear Regent's grin as he spoke. "Fighting Skitter for her dork title?"

Grue reached back and punched Regent in the arm, then opened the door. "Come on. Skitter, mind scanning and telling us if anyone's waiting for us?"

I nodded, and reached out with my bugs as I climbed out of the van. I guided some flying insects to the PRT building, and swept them around it. I could feel two people in front, standing still, obviously standing watch.

"Two people. Guy and a girl from what I can tell." I said. "That's it though."

"Can't be normals." Tattletale said. "Not if there's only two of them. Guy and a girl? Probably Assault and Battery."

"Alright, figured they'd have lookouts." Grue said. "Skitter, you can see in my darkness, right?"

"Yeah, I can use my bugs to feel my way around."

"Alright. Tattletale, Oracle, stick with Skitter." Grue said. "Regent, Bitch. With me. Make sure your dogs keep up, Rache."

With that, Grue began casting out his darkness. I felt Dinah...Oracle grab my hand, and Tattletale put a hand on my shoulder. My bugs could feel Grue, Regent, and Bitch begin to move, so I started using my bugs to feel a safe path.

As we approached, I could feel Assault and Battery react to Grue's darkness, shifting into defensive stances. When we finally reached the street just in front of the heroes, Grue let his darkness fade. Oracle and Tattletale let go of me as Regent and Bitch let go of Grue.

As all of the darkness faded, and the other heroes could see that it was us, they relaxed a bit. I couldn't help but grin at their reactions.

"Jesus...you scared the crap out of us." Assault said. "Couldn't have taken a less creepy approach?"

Grue shook his head. "And leave the ABB to take shots at us if they happen by? I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"Fair enough..." Battery said. "Thank you for coming, despite the danger."

Grue shrugged. "If it's not dealt with, the danger won't go away." he said.

"Please, come inside." Assault said, heading to the door and opening it. The pair of them allowed us all to enter. I turned to look at them as I noticed that only Assault was following us. I turned to him and tilted my head.

"Is she not coming?"

"Neither of us are, actually." Assault said. "We're still waiting on New Wave. I'm bringing you guys to the Wards quarters to wait until they get here."

"We're getting stuck with the sidekick squad?" Regent asked.

"Well, the rest of the Protectorate members are in a meeting right now. We're only out here because someone has to meet and greet our guests. The Wards can at least keep you company, right?"

Regent shrugged, and we all followed Assault to the elevator. He went to a panel next to it, and let it scan his eye, and a moment later the elevator popped open. We all went in, and were on our way. The elevator was very quiet and smooth, making me wonder if it was a Tinker invention.

When the doors opened again, we were led down a hall to another door. Assault scanned his eye again, though this time the door took longer to open. When the door did open, we saw the Wards scattered around the room.

"Alright, I'd love to do introductions, but I should get back down to Battery." he said. "I trust you guys to figure it out."

We went into the room as Assault walked away. The eyes were all on us as we entered. There was an uncomfortable silence as we all sized each other up. After a few moments, a boy in a silver and rust colored costume with a shield emblem on it approached. I recognized him as Aegis, the current leader of the Wards.

"Undersiders, welcome. Nice to finally meet you." he said. Grue approached and extended his hand, and the two shook.

"Heard you guys had a pretty solid success the other day." Aegis said. "Foiling a kidnapping, and taking down Circus? Not too shabby."

Grue nodded. "It went well." he said. "Just lucky we were there. And that our plan worked as well as we had hoped."

"Yeah, we saw the video." Gallant, another of the Wards said. "Impressive display. Really wish we had you guys as backup at the bank heist the Travelers pulled off."

Grue nodded. "Maybe next time..." he said. The little exchange seemed to open up the channels of communication, and Clockblocker and Kid Win also approached Grue to chat. Regent joined, making occasional quips at the Wards expense. Or Grue's, as the situation saw fit.

Tattletale, Oracle and I stayed away from the main group. Tattletale was looking around, looking like she was taking everything in. Oracle yawned again, though she was also glancing around the room. Bitch, for her part, walked away from everyone and sat in a corner, surrounding herself with her dogs.

I turned around as I felt someone splintering from the Wards and approaching. I watched as the young girl in the teal and green costume approached, smiling. "Hello." Vista said.

"Um, hi..." I said. I was feeling more out of my element by the second. I had been in costume less than a week, and now I was standing in the PRT HQ, talking to the Wards. Vista, in particular, one of the most famous of the Wards as a result of her being the youngest ever. Though, I did note, she seemed to be about Oracle's age.

"It's really cool that you guys have so many girls in your group." she said. "I mean, it's really only me and Shadow Stalker here, and...she doesn't really count."

Lisa smirked at that. "She doesn't?"

Vista shook her head. "She doesn't really like hanging out with any of us. She's kinda moody..." she said. "It kinda sucks."

"Speaking of, where is your former vigilante right now?" Tattletale asked.

"She's in the gym training." Vista said. "She'll probably come up soon, so...get ready for that."

I nodded, and cast a quick glance to Bitch. "I'm sure we can handle it." I said.

"...Tattletale, Skitter, Oracle, and Bitch." I heard Grue call. "Though I see Vista already met three of them."

Clockblocker broke off from the group and approached. "Nice to meet you guys. And, Skitter, you dig the name? We helped come up with it, you know."

I shrugged. "Not really what I would have chosen." I said.

The young hero seemed to deflate a bit as I said that. "Oh, but...you're using it, so..."

"Well, it was announced on the news. I checked the PHO boards and it's already being thrown around there. Looks like I'm stuck with it, one way or another." I said.

"Woah, careful. I don't know if Clockblocker can take that kind of a blow to his ego." Kid Win said. "He thinks he's the champion of naming."

I sighed. "Well, to be fair, I wasn't having an easy time coming up with anything. Most names were either taken or sounded to much like a villain's name."

Aegis nodded. "Yeah, I can see how that could be an issue with your power."

"Two new members in a week, though. You better calm down. We might start thinking you're trying to move on our turf if you keep expanding like this." Kid Win said.

"We're not gonna turn away new allies that'll make our job easier." Grue said.

"Well, we've seen what Skitter does. What about you?" Vista asked, looking at Oracle.

"I'm a precog." Oracle said.

Clockblocker whistled. "Impressive." he said. "I'm a little jealous. Wish we had a precog on our team. Would make things run smoother."

Tattletale grinned. "Them's the breaks." she said. "Not that you guys are lacking in power. We can't let you have all the powerful capes."

I turned away from the conversation as I heard the door open, and saw Shadow Stalker walk into the room. She glanced at each of us, and it almost felt like she was judging us. Maybe she was.

"Shadow Stalker, meet the Undersiders." Aegis said.

"I'm familiar with them." she said. Grue grunted as she spoke. I would have to hear the story behind that later. "About time they showed. Maybe we can actually get this show on the road soon."

"We're still waiting on New Wave." Browbeat, the newest Ward said.

Shadow Stalker groaned, and sat at the large table that was situated in the room, apparently content to ignore us.

"Hey, Skitter." Vista said. "You're costume is really interesting. Where'd you go for it?"

I raised an eyebrow, not that they could see it. "What?"

"I was actually going to ask you that, too." Grue said. "Been thinking about making some upgrades, but it slipped my mind."

I started to ask for clarification again, when Tattletale groaned. "Geeze, sometimes my power makes me feel like the only person who can see in the land of the blind. Skitter, they're asking where you bought your costume. The answer, for those of you wondering, is that she made it."

"No shit?" Grue asked at the same time that Vista said "Seriously?"

"Yeah..." I said. "It's spider silk. It's only a little weaker than steal, but way more lightweight. It's a bit less durable than Kevlar, but stretchier. It took me forever to make. I had to rotate the spiders because black widows are really territorial, and I needed to constantly switch them out so that..."

"Woah, wait..." Clockblocker said. "Black widows? You had black widows make that thing for you?"

I nodded. 'Well, yeah. Their silk is some of the strongest in the world. I'd love to get some with stronger silk, but they wouldn't handle this climate well."

Vista shivered a bit. "Black widows? So creepy."

"We should talk about this later." Grue said. "If you'd be willing, I'd pay you to make a new costume for me."

I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I think that's doable. Just gonna have to find a spot to make it."

"I'm sure we can find a place at the base for you to set up." Grue said.

Regent shivered. "Great, thousands of black widows in our base." he said. "That's cool. I didn't like sleeping, anyway."

"Making a costume like that, you may have a tinker rating." Kid Win said. "That's some interesting thinking."

I was blushing a bit behind my mask as I received the praise from the other heroes. "Well, thanks." I said.

"You seen what it can do? Like, you used Kevlar as an example. Can it take a gunshot?" Kid Win asked.

"Well, I haven't been in a rush to go out and get shot..." I said. "It's pretty tough to cut. If I messed up while working on it, I had to basically start that section over. So, it might be knife proof."

"Should be useful against Oni Lee." Aegis said. "Bakuda and Lung, though..."

"Oh, we don't have to worry about Skitter dealing with Lung." Tattletale said, and I could hear chuckles from the rest of the Undersiders, except for Oracle, even as I shook my head.

"What do you mean?" Gallant asked.

"Well, let's see...Skitter's first day out in costume was last Sunday." Tattletale said. "I wonder if anything else happened last Sunday?"

"I saw a look of confusion appear on Aegis' face. "Lung was brought in last Sunday...by Armsmaster."

Tattletale grinned, and Gallant gasped a bit. "He was, but remember. They had to call in Panacea to help him. When he was admitted, it wasn't just normal wear and tear from battle. The doctors noted that he had..."

"Bug bites." Clockblocker finished. "Holy shit...you took on Lung on your first night out?"

I noticed Shadow Stalker stand up and approach us. "Um, yeah. Kinda." I said.

"Woah..." Vista said. "Um, remind me not to do anything to piss you off."

I chuckled, even as I grew more worried. I had let Armsmaster take credit for the capture of Lung. Hopefully this information coming out to the Wards wouldn't make him angry.

We heard the door open, and saw Miss Militia in the doorway. A momentary feeling of being starstruck hit me, but passed as she spoke. "New Wave has arrived." she said. "If you're all ready, we can begin this meeting."

Grue nodded, and waved for us to follow him as Aegis led the Wards out. I took a deep breath as I followed my team out of the room to meet with the biggest heroes in the city.