The Debut
Emma Barnes was at the top of the world.
Well, not really, but she was damn close. She was strong, beautiful, smart, and friends with one of the only true heroes in this godforsaken city. It was too bad about Taylor. She had hoped that the girl who had been her friend for the longest time would prove that she could be strong, but the pathetic bitch had even stopped coming to school.
However, tonight wasn't for thinking about the pitiable twerp that she had ditched! It was a party! More important than that was the fact that there were heroes in attendance!
None of them were in costume, except for Armsmaster and Miss Millitia, but it was the worst kept secret of the year that the Wards were here in their day clothes.
"Come on, Sophia," she almost whined, "Give me a little hint! Please?"
The black girl looked at her friend and accomplice, then back out over the crowd. All of the other Wards were mingling with the guests, and a couple of them were talking to the older heroes, also out of costume. She tracked the path of Emma's eyes and smirked.
"Fine, I'll tell you one thing for certain," she said in a serious tone, "That guy, there." She pointed at a rather muscular young man with short cut blonde hair and a very nice suit.
"Yeah?" Emma breathed.
God, Sophia could hear how thirsty she was, "He's not a hero."
"Wha?" the redhead blinked for a moment, then turned an almost harsh glare on her friend, "You bitch!" Even as she said it, though, a grin was coming over her own face. It really didn't matter, she was already hanging out with Sophia, bona fide hero. Who cares if that hunky guy wasn't one?
"Oh, my god! Emma, is that you?"
The teen model turned at the voice and stopped short. She recognized the girl that spoke, but only barely.
"Taylor?"
"How the fuck did you get into this party, Hebert?" Sophia immediately lashed out at the weakling, "Only important people got invites."
"Oh, I wasn't invited," she said, adjusting her black bowler hat and straightening the front of her suit jacket.
"Then how-?"
Emma was interrupted by a member of the security placing a heavy hand on Taylor's shoulder.
"Ma'am, you'll need to come with us," he said sternly.
"You see, I wasn't invited," she said again as she laid a hand over the one on her shoulder, "I'm here to crash this little shindig." She did an odd little twist of the man's wrist that had him flipping over in front of her. She still had his hand, but stood behind him now as he tried to figure out what just happened.
More people might have noticed this little display, had the lights not gone dim and a spotlight focused on the microphone on the stage.
"Oh, this is my bit," Taylor said happily, then handed the security guard off to Sophia, "Hold this for me, yeah?" when the girl numbly took the guard from her, blinking, Taylor pat her on the head, saying, "Good girl." A moment later, she dissolved into a swarm of insects.
Another swarm of bugs appeared on stage, swirling and humming. They all came together in a clump then lifted into the rafters. Left in their wake was the girl in the pinstripe suit.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Taylor said loudly, a large fanged grin on her face, "My name is Taylor Hebert and I am tonight's entertainment!"
There were some murmurs in the crowd as they looked at this oddly dressed young girl. Armsmaster moved forward to apprehend her. She was not part of the venue, he knew very well.
"Ah, ah! No questions during the performance!" a beetle the size of a mack truck burst through the wall, getting screams from the civilians. While they started running for exits that were gratefully opened by human sized ants and spiders, the beetle rushed at Armsmaster, brushing him aside. There were only a few exceptions to those running away. Each of those individuals moved towards secret exits that held gear.
"Freeze!" Miss Militia commanded, her ever constant weapon in the shape of an assault rifle of some variety.
"I'd rather not. Pippy!" a wasp crawled out from under her hat. It buzzed at her for a moment, then leapt into the air, growing in seconds from a normally sized insect to a monster with a two foot stinger and a thirty foot wingspan. It roared, shaking the windows and started firing stingers at the woman with the American flag around her face. She dodged frantically, barely avoiding multiple lethal blows.
"Skitter!" a young voice called out.
Standing and flying in front of the teen girl now were several other costumed individuals.
Gallant, Kid Win, Clockblocker, Vista, Shadow Stalker, Battery, Assault, Aegis, and a few others she couldn't name at the moment were ready to do combat.
"Stand down!" Aegis ordered her, "You can't beat us all!"
Taylor twirled her cane for a second, immersing herself in the sounds of battle that were happening behind her. She considered his words for a moment.
"Skitter? Is that the designation I've been given?" a grin split her face, showing off her newly acquired fangs, "I like it! Skitter I am!" she stopped twirling her cane, and tapped it on the ground. The walls and floors and tables all came alive with insectoid life.
"Fire!" Those that could, fired weapons at the massive swarm that was forming in the ballroom. Those that couldn't tried to make their way towards the villainess.
"Good god!" Clockblocker cried, "I thought the bugs were bad enough before!" He froze another dog sized ant, only for a cat sized spider to drop onto his face mask. He screamed like a little girl, forgot he had the power to freeze it as well, and ran into a wall, knocking himself silly. Aegis would be damned if the spider didn't laugh before crawling off to ensnare Battery's legs in webbing to stop her from being so mobile.
"Aw, they grow up so fast," Aegis felt a hand on his arm with the voice. The grip turned… experimental, feeling his muscles as he turned to see Skitter standing there. "My word. You are rather thick bodied, aren't you?" He swung a fist at her face and she melted into another swarm.
"Gah!" he jumped forward to escape the sudden grasp of his buttocks, "What the hell?!"
"Tell me," Taylor said, while licking her lips and eyeing him up and down, "Are you single, by chance?"
She was suddenly hit from the side by the extended end of Armsmaster's weapon of choice. It changed from halberd to shock collar seconds before it hit her and blasted her with thousands of volts of electricity.
The girl screamed and slumped to the ground. The insects went dormant almost immediately.
"Christ on a cracker!" Clockblocker exclaimed, "The fuck happened to Skitter? She wasn't like this at the bank. Tell me I'm wrong," he looked at Vista.
For once the girl completely agreed with him, "Yeah, seriously, what the hell?" she looked around at the insects that were just lazily buzzing now. Even the ants that had been spitting gouts of flame were just munching on sweet cakes.
As Armsmaster approached, Dauntless and Miss Militia to each side, he reeled in the shock collar. He was careful to make sure he didn't hurt her too badly. Regardless of her crimes and the assault this evening, it would do his image absolutely no good to be seen unnecessarily choking out a teen girl. He lifted her up by the shoulder as he approached.
"Mmmm," the girl groaned, then mumbled something.
The hero frowned and leaned closer to her, "What?"
Her eyes snapped open and she flipped over him, bringing him to the ground with her straddling his chest. She ripped the halberd from his hand and leaned in real close to his face plate.
"I said, 'Mmm, harder, Daddy!'" she flipped the switch on the halberd, electrifying her again. This time the screams took on a more sensual reverberation and her back arched in what was clearly not pain.
She smashed Armsmaster in the face after a moment, and the swarm started attacking again. Skitter casually ripped the collar off her neck then broke the haft of the halberd and tossed it aside.
"You said I couldn't fight you all," Taylor said loudly, wading through the battle and landing monstrously strong blows to the heroes that were putting them out of commission, "I think you might be mistaken on that. But don't worry," she pulled a spider off Clock Blocker and gave him a saucy wink before cracking him in the face with her elbow, "I'm not here to kill any of you. Just getting my name out there.
"You see," she continued, ducking under a shot from Miss Millitia like it was nothing, "I've come to the conclusion that Brockton Bay," she threw the spider into the air and it expanded into a monster big enough to pin the woman to the ground, which it promptly did, "deserves a better quality of Villain. Lung runs a gang, Kaiser leads racists, and Skidmark sells drugs. So what?" she twirled around a shot from Shadow Stalker, then lifted one leg into the air and brought it down on the shadowy hero, "That's not a villain, it's a criminal with powers. I think people have forgotten the difference. So, here I am, a real villain, causing destruction and chaos for the sake of it, waiting for a real hero to show up," she caught Battery by the throat and tossed her at Assault, "Not cops in masks."
Skitter caught Dauntless by the back of his costume as he tried to hit her with a strafing run and slammed him into the ground hard enough to crater it, "I want you all to remember this moment," she met Armsmaster's new halberd with her cane, "I want you to remember that, even working together, none of you can touch me." The cane, that was actually a centipede, wrapped around the halberd and diced it into many smaller pieces then wrapped around the man's neck and started to strangle him.
Taylor spun into Aegis' guard again, grabbed him under the arms and kissed his cheek, "Except for you," she licked the place she kissed and added, "You can touch me." She then suplexed him. His head hit the marble flooring so hard that the entire building shook.
Finally, she stood up, looking around the room, surveying her work. The so called heroes were down, and mostly out. The whole party was in shambles. She'd even gotten to plant a spider on her former friend turned former bully that would sneak into her the dark places of her house. It would harass her in her sleep, move her things around, leave webs it would never inhabit, and leave it's waste in her jewelry box.
Yeah, tonight was a total win.
"What the fuck happened!?" Emily Piggot, Director of the Parahuman Response Team and Protectorate East North East Division, slammed one fist on her desk hard enough to cause her computer to hop an inch into the air.
Armsmaster opened his mouth, but the rotund woman went on.
"One girl, one fucking girl, thrashed you all! She beat you all senseless!" She met the eye of every Ward and Hero in the room, showing her rage, "And in case you forgot, the whole damn thing was broadcast, live!"
"What?" Clockblocker said, "I thought everyone evacuated when it started getting serious."
"You were wrong," the woman growled, "The only saving grace here is that we know who she is. But only because she told us," Emily glared Assault into silence, "Now, what do we have on this Taylor Hebert?"
The screen of the meeting room came alive with information and pictures. Most of them were pictures of a sullen teenage girl. Two were of Skitter as they'd known her at the bank heist. The next dozen or so were of the girl at the party the night before.
"Ahem," Armsmaster said, stepping up, "Taylor Anne Hebert. Daughter of Daniel Roger Hebert and Annette-Rose Hebert. Daniel is the hiring manager at the Dock Workers Association. Her mother was an English professor at the college, but is now deceased. I first met her roughly one month ago during the capture of Lung. She said she was going to be a hero, but soon after had apparently been recruited by the Undersiders. The robbery was the first time she'd been seen since the night of Lung's capture."
"Okay," Clockblocker said, "Now does anyone have any idea how she did…" he gestured at the clips and pictures from the ballroom, "all that?"
"... No. Skitter's power set during the capture of Lung did not appear to give her a Brute rating of any kind. She also displayed no ability to enlarge her insects. Footage from the battle shows her using the insects and arachnids native to the area. The footage from the Charity Ball show insects of all kinds literally coming out of the walls. Some of the species here don't actually exist," the screen flashed several times, showing some of the larger and more lethal versions of the bugs that were normally found around Brockton Bay, and some that had never seen the light of day before Skitter's debut, "More than that, she now appears able to enlarge her insects while maintaining her perfect control. It's like someone jail broke her power."
"And how do you plan on dealing with her?" Director Piggot finally spoke again.
"Various strategies are being considered at this point in time, but I believe the best method would be a strategic strike from a remote position."
Assault leaned over to Clockblocker and said, "That's Geek-Speak for, 'I dunno, shoot her from a rooftop.'"
"Cool," the teen nodded.
Battery groaned. It was a horrible idea to let the two of them be in the same room together.
"So, anyone up for an official reclassification of abilities on Skitter?" Vista asked.
"Best guess, Master six, Brute four, Shaker three, Mover four, Thinker two, Breaker four," Armsmaster said.
"Have we questioned her father?" Miss Militia asked now.
"No, we will be approaching him early tomorrow morning," the second premier Tinker in the world said, "However, his house is under watch. If Skitter returns home, we'll know in seconds. I've already added a detailed facial scan of her to the recognition software. We also have plenty of voice scans to use, given her verbose nature…" he paused for a moment, turning away from his fellow heroes, "What priority are we giving this target?"
Piggot sat back in her chair, breathing deeply through her nose, considering. Was this girl really the most important target? Lung was in captivity, so was his Tinker, Bakuda, whom they found floating half conscious in the bay. Kaiser and the Empire were being quiet, Skidmark and the Merchants were still struggling to maintain their ground against the mostly unpowered ABB. This girl had embarrassed the Protectorate on live TV, but she wasn't, apparently, trying to kill anyone. Just another Circus, maybe? She did say something about getting her name out there. Mercenary villain for hire? Was that her goal?
And why unmask like that?
Emily shook her head. There were too many unknowns.
"Minimum priority. Unless she shows her face again, don't go looking for her. With Lung out of the picture, the other gangs are going to make a move. Be sure to patrol the edges of ABB territory for the next few months.
"But if you do see Skitter," she cracked a pencil in her grip, "You put her down hard and fast. You show the world that what she did at that party was just a fluke."
_
A few days after the Charity Ball, Taylor was sitting in the front room of the building formerly owned by the Undersiders. She was sitting straight and proper. Her spine was rigid, her hands were in her lap, and her eyes were focusing on the TV with no small amount of intensity.
"...With Heroes? Contact us at the Black Hat Organization!" For the last thirty minutes, the TV had been playing ad after ad about this Black Hat Organization. It had rather swiftly gained her attention, considering the TV wasn't even plugged in. Being no simpleton, the girl had immediately assumed that the Black Hat Organization was the reason for her transformation.
As the commercial concluded, Black Hat himself appeared on the screen, tapping the glass with one gloved finger.
Taylor's eyes went wide and she stood up, backing away.
A good thing, too. The creature pulled itself out of the screen. He adjusted his hat as he looked around the room, then narrowed his one visible eye at the girl.
His face was split in a sharp toothed grin.
Taylor smiled back and took a deep bow, "Good evening. Black Hat, I presume?"
"Indeed," he said, "How are you enjoying the Basic Package?"
The girl turned villain thought about that for a moment, then said, "I've never felt better in my entire life. How can I repay you?"
"Money," he said, "Or souls. Either or," Black Hat did not shrug.
Skitter tapped her chin with a finger for a moment, then tapped her centipede cane on the ground. The wall opened to her left, and four people could be seen hanging from the ceiling. These were her former teammates.
"These are the Undersiders," she introduced them, walking into the room. She lifted up Grue's chin. The teen whimpered and tried to pull away from her touch, "I was thinking about turning them into my minions, but they lack spirit," she turned back to the creature of absolute evil, "They're not worth much, I'm sure, but would you accept them as a downpayment?"
"Flug!" the monster said. The skinny scientist with the bag over his head stepped out of the shadows as well. He had an odd device in hand, a scanner of some sort.
"Yes, Sir!" he answered, moving over to the prisoners. He scanned Grue, Regent, Bitch and Tattletale. Each one had a yellow marker pop up. "Their vitality is low, and they each appear to have an extradimensional parasyte sucking on their bio-energy, but they are certainly alive enough for more than a few dozen experiments."
"Good," he cut his gaze to Taylor, "Downpayment, accepted."
"The remaining bill is thirty eight billion dollars, or forty more parahuman souls," Doctor Flug said, looking at another screen he'd pulled from his lab coat, "Normally, you have roughly a century to provide the required payment, but we are working on a strict timeline here. You have exactly ten years to pay off this debt." He turned his back on her, "Sir, may I be dismissed?" he pleaded, "Demencia is still waiting to be fed this morning."
"Go."
The scientist opened up a portal as easy as one might breathe, and stepped through.
"Ah, good minions are such a treasure," his grin returned as he looked at Taylor, "You should find yourself some." He sank into the floor, then disappeared. When she looked back into the room with the Undersiders, they were also gone. The only thing remaining from Black Hat's visit was a card for the Black Hat Organization.
"Hmm," she examined the number on the card, "A minion…" she stowed the card in her pocket and went back to sitting down as she considered this.
"Ah-ha-ha!" Skitter laughed as she rode on the back of Hookwolf. The man had been trying to buck her off for at least three minutes.
The racist parahuman had been minding his own business when the bitch came out of nowhere with her bugs and attitude.
"Heard about you," he grunted, "You looking to join?" blades began to form from under his skin, "Or you looking for a fight?"
"Considering I'm an equal opportunity villain?" she smiled at him, her eyes glowing in their mismatched colors, "I'm actually here on a recruitment drive." She tapped her cane on the ground, her three main insects appearing, "Let's see how you fare."
Hookwolf charged at the girl and was met with the giant beetle. It started pushing him back, so he used more blades to dig into the cement of the sidewalk they had cornered him on. He roared as he started pushing back against the insect.
That was when the girl dropped onto his back. He had tried skewering her with more blades, but the metal either bent or, in two cases, she broke them off and stabbed them into his shoulders as hand holds.
"Hi-ho, Racist!" She said, giving a hard tug on the blades and forcing him to rear back.
The bladed man roared in anger and pain. More so when the fire ant started spewing flames at him. He tried to turn his back to it, so the damn thing would roast the girl, but she punched him in the head hard enough to stagger him. He was barely able to keep to his feet.
Luckily, Hookwolf was not alone.
The Empire Eighty Eight had many empowered gang members. Such as Cricket, Storm Tiger and Rune.
Cricket jumped in, using her enhanced agility she was able to bypass the giant wasp and beetle. A predatory grin crossed her face as she darted along the ground. At the last ten feet she jumped into the air, her tonfas pulled back for a devastating attack.
"You picked the wrong fi-"
Cricket's shout was rather literally choked off when a rope thick loop of spider web caught her around the throat. A car sized spider slammed her into the ground.
Storm Tiger was having his own troubles. His aerokinesis was being pushed to its limits by the wasp. Pippy even seemed to have mastered the art of using air blades itself and was firing them back at the neo nazi.
Rune was being double teamed by the ant and the beetle. The ant would spray fire at her. While she was busy with that, the beetle would charge in from her blind spot. It crashed through the telekinetic storm as though it were merely a light breeze.
"Woohoo!" Skitter hooted from her place on Hookwolf's back, "Now this is a party!"
Pift!
"Ow! Is that a tranq dart?" Taylor asked, looking at the dart in her right arm. Looking up, she saw Armsmaster, Dauntless, Assault and Battery. Another grin crossed her lips as she pulled the dart out of her limb.
"It's going to take way more than a single dart to bring me down!" She yelled at them.
Pift! Pift! Pift-pift-pift-pifity-pift!… Pift!
The first dart was replaced by eight more, all in her back.
"Huh, yeah," she said, looking over her shoulder, "That should do it." She fell off Hookwolf, limp as a wet noodle. All of the enlarged insects went back to normal size and dispersed.
Miss Militia spoke into her radio, "Target appears to be neutralized. Approach with caution."
The neo nazi would normally try and gain revenge for this humiliation. Right that moment he just wanted to go home and sleep it off.
"Hey, we were just defending ourselves," he called over to Armsmaster, "Seriously, I was just going home and this crazy bitch attacked me. So, can I just go?"
Dauntless, Assault, Battery, and even the other Empire capes all looked to Armsmaster. The man gripped the haft of his halberd tighter. So tight in fact that they could hear the material of his gloves creaking.
"Fine," he growled, switching his weapon to capture mode, "But she comes with us."
"Whatever, just keep that crazy bitch away from me," Hookwolf said as he started walking away from the scene.
The leader of the Protectorate for Brockton Bay approached the girl, and then sprayed everything but her head with a liberal amount of containment foam. It hardly seemed necessary, seeing as she was so out of it that she was drooling and her tongue hung out of her mouth.
"Told ya," Assault said to Battery, "Shoot her from a rooftop. She never saw it coming." The woman smacked him on the shoulder.
No one noticed the fly that left Miss Militia's back.