AN: Thanks again to my beta Grey Raven 09 for his assistance!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Worm. If I did, I would be FAR more productive.

Please enjoy and let me know what you think in a review if you feel like it!

Desecration 02

Another bolt thunked into the table that I had overturned to hide behind and I snarled. "Goddammit QA! This is your fault!"

"Murphy's Law is not a fundamental law!" my shard's avatar yelled back before dissolving again and reforming on the lawn outside. "Fuck, Stinger! If you want to fight, then stop holding on to the fucking host and fight!"

"But this is so. Much. Fun." The whispered words came floating down to me in that horrible echoing voice of the Siberian's. I growled.

"Taylor, any luck?" Lisa drawled with a forced calm from behind her own end table, also riddled with bolts.

"Fucking bitch has Siberian's immortality," I spat. "None of my bugs are working and Monarch can't make anything that would work against that. Where the fuck's Clockblocker?"

"Five minutes out," Madison cut in over my earbud. She was at least staying in the basement like I told her to. "He and Vista ran into Burnscar and they're having to detour. She's at least not making a mess of the area so…well there's that."

"Good." I refused to move the clusters of bullet ants and wasps I had on Sophia despite the bitch shrugging off their movements. She wasn't even going into her Breaker state, she didn't need to. She was just shooting more and more crossbow bolts at me and grinning like a loon the entire time. The bugs were mostly just to block line of sight and act as a deterrent. As long as Siberian needed to stay holding Sophia, the psychotic monochrome bitch wouldn't come into our home directly. As much as I hated Sophia and would've loved to have the bullet ants or black widows bite her…it was better this way.

That didn't stop me from searching with all of my roving clusters for the supposed Master. Just because I couldn't kill 'Manton' didn't mean I couldn't knock him (or her) out when I found them.

The air cracked and I sucked in a breath as Karen popped into existence next to me. A bolt thunked into the table and she twisted her head glaring at the sound before snorting and looking back to me. "MM and Armsy are on their way along with Assault and Battery."

"Any idea why this bitch isn't actually attacking?" I spat as another bolt slammed into the table.

"I'm trying to actively forget any memories I have of being around the murder hobos thank you," Karen responded with a scowl. "And nobody knows why Siberian does anything. Only Jack can even get half a grip on her. She seemed to have a soft spot for Bonesaw to some degree. Why she isn't just killing Amy and then toying with you instead of this bullshit with SS? Hell if I know! Playing with her food, maybe? Maybe she's taking my joking about being a cat to the extreme. I was a half-brain-dead corpse, I'm not a wealth of information on that front!"

"Okay, I'm sorry I asked!"

"Queen! Is this one of those talky bugs? Hello? Can you hear me? Queen!" Clockblocker's voice shouted in my ear and I hissed, reaching up to adjust the volume on my earpiece as I shifted some of my attention towards him. He was clutching a large beetle towards his head as he ran down a back alley just a few blocks away.

"It's not a talking bug, Clock, use your damn Bluetooth. I'm searching for the Master so I don't have enough bugs to talk to you without the radio. What do you want? And where is Vista?"

"She's back with Velocity and Prism," he huffed out as he vaulted a fence and took a shortcut towards the house. He was close now. "Fuck I forgot how much faster it was to travel with her. Listen, Queen, something was weird with Burnscar!"

Another arrow thunked into the table. "Aren't you tired of cowering behind the wimps and losers yet, Taylor? Don't you want to come out? We can go at this like a real fight! I can even promise to not use my powers! It's not like I need them to kill you, since you're just a pathetic weakling. All you have is bugs. You can't throw a punch, you can't block, you can't run. You don't deserve anything that's happened since you locked me up! I'm going to enjoy this so much!"

"Little busy Clock!"

"I know! That's why I'm dying here trying to get to you!" he wheezed. "Picked up a stray too. Flechette said she could help and Velocity was too busy with Burnscar to protest."

I buzzed the beetle out of his hand and shifted its vision to the side enough to see the white uniform running along beside him. Letting the bug settle back down on his shoulder, I continued. "I seriously doubt she can do anything against Siberian, but sure, why not, might as well have more people to this fucked up party."

"Listen, Burnscar, this is important!" He dodged around a garbage can and cursed as a cat jumped out. Instinctively freezing the thing in mid-air and wincing immediately after, he continued running. "Sorry buddy. Burnscar, she wasn't destroying the street when she saw us. She just looked at us, used just enough fire to hem us towards her, said she needed to talk to you, then complained it was getting hard to think and begged us to either knock her out or get rid of the fire! Velocity and Prism showed up as we were extinguishing the flames. I left Vista to try and talk them out of just outright killing her until we could figure out what was going on."

I frowned as Sophia continued to taunt me from outside, but my attention wasn't really focused on her anymore. "Why didn't you stay there if things were that odd?"

"Siberian, Queen! I'm basically the only one we know of who can even sort of counter her! Vista can take care of herself when she's not up against fucking Bonesaw! Nothing and no one can stop the fucking Siberian except something that's also holding a middle finger up to physics! You need me here!"

I couldn't fault his logic and I agreed with it entirely, we did need him here if Siberian decided she was done playing with us. "Okay. Make a left at the next lawn and duck through the side window. A Soldier will take down the plywood for you and Flechette."

"Got it!"

"Taylor, I've got eyes on Vista. She's standing in the street between Burnscar and Velocity. What do I tell her to do?" Madison asked.

"Use her best judgement. She's been doing this for a few years and I trust her. Karen, can you - "

"Got it. Mouse away!" The air cracked again and she disappeared.

I half-heartedly glared at the empty space where our guest had just been. "God I wish I had a mover power…or even just a cool catch phrase."

Before I could do anything else a hum filled the air from the speakers in the home theater setup. Funnily enough, the bugs I had outside the house, heard a different humming from the exterior sound system. I felt a warmth in my chest and my spirits lifted while simultaneously the thunk of arrows slowed to almost nothing. Frowning, I opened my mouth to speak, but before I got anything out, Lisa shook her head snorting. "That cheater. She recorded different suggestion tracks onto CDs to work along with her power when she sings…smart girl…And here I am thinking that I'm the Thinker of the group…"

Paige. Mockingbird. She must be down with Madison. Oh I loved that woman.

Smirking I reached out to Monarch to see if it had come up with anything that might stand up to Siberian. It shrugged its metaphorical shoulders and just pumped out another set of Enhanced bugs, leaving them on standby in the other room. The Enhanced were awesome, but they'd probably freak people out once everyone realized that Monarch could biotinker in addition to bioedit now…Not that they looked all that much different from the warriors - or the eres-eris-erik-whatever Amy called them. A Soldier bug was a Soldier bug. Just like the Princess bug was a Princess bug. Only a crazy person would give them more complicated names - names that regular people couldn't even pronounce…

There was a muffled thud and my smile widened as Clockblocker and Flechette both skidded into the room and dropped behind the table next to me. Clock was breathing heavily, but Flechette was only slightly panting. "Made…it," he wheezed. "Plan?"

"If the bitch comes in freeze the table. Then the couch, then anything else that can get in her way." I looked at Flechette. "Can you hit her with that crossbow? I'd love to show either of these assholes their own medicine."

"It's an arbalest technically, but yeah. I'm good with aiming and timing. Part of my power. I know Siberian has a kill order, but I don't know anything about the other girl. How big of a threat am I supposed to go?" The Ward asked peeking over the top of the table for an instant.

"She's working with the Nine and trying to kill me, and isn't afraid to hurt or kill anyone else here if they get in her way," I yelled at her.

Clock grimaced. "I've worked with Sophia. She's psychotic. I read her file when they made me team leader and before they officially transferred her. She's killed several civilians before. Some criminals, some they're not entirely sure of. She's also let civilians die. If you can take her down…don't worry about whether it's lethal or non-lethal. She probably deserves it."

"Good to know I'm not the only victim," I muttered.

The exterior speakers squawked and died. Frowning I shifted my focus, my eyes narrowing as I cast another glance at Siberian. She was shaking a finger as she looked at me, thin steel rods dropping from her hand around her. She must have thrown them into the speakers. Why she had let it go on for almost a minute was probably the better question, rather than how she had been able to target our fancy hidden sound system.

Before Sophia could resume her spray of projectiles, Flechette stood and passed her hand over the rod loaded into her arbalest before quickly firing off a shot towards the two. I watched the bolt rocket towards the Siberian, fully expecting the bitch to just smirk and bat it to the side. Instead, to my amazement, the monochrome monster's eyes widened ever so slightly, she cocked her head to the side and grabbed Sophia's crossbow, wrenching it out of the teen's hands and jerking it to the side. Flechette's rod was punching into the crossbow, as the Siberian continued pulling it to the side, the end of the rod stopping just to the side of the Siberian's cocked head.

She smirked down at me before shifting her focus to QA's avatar as Flechette racked another round in her weapon. "Well, well, someone has gotten smart. Well done, Administrator. I hadn't thought you would move to use such weapons so soon. And all for me. Impressive! Let's see what your commitment is shall we? Catch us if you can!"

Flechette fired a second shot, but it fell far short of its target as Siberian had grabbed Sophia and jumped. They landed on the roof of the house next to us, Sophia stumbling and groaning. Siberian grinned and jumped again, moving further away.

"Fuck that! With me! We're following them!" I snarled jumping up and charging out the back door.

"We're what?!" Clockblocker shouted.

Lisa was right behind him as she surged to her feet. "Taylor, think about this! It's a trap!"

"I don't care! Flechette can hurt Siberian so maybe she can punch through her gifted invulnerability too. We're following and we're killing the bitch! Flechette, move your ass before I lose track of them!"

She was already standing and running to my side. "Ready."

"Good. Let's go!"

"Wait, Taylor! Taylor, stop! Fuck, Paige cut the interior music!" Lisa yelled, her voice frantic. I ignored it. I could deal with placating her later. I had a bully to kill and a runaway shard avatar to neuter.

Flechette, Clockblocker, and I were already halfway down the block by the time that Lisa skidded to stop in front of us with the car, a heavy scowl on her face and Amy in the backseat with a Princess bug clinging to the top of the car. "You stupid, idiotic, one-track arg!" She bared her teeth at us and her hands tightened on the wheel as we jumped into the vehicle. I held up my hand pointing the way. I was just barely able to track the bugs on Sophia still.

"Hurry. They're getting too far away."

"We shouldn't do this!" she hissed as the tires squealed and we shot down the street.

"Might not get a better chance."

"This is a trap!"

"So call my father and have him send in Sundancer, Genesis, and the Undersiders. Redirect the Protectorate people coming to the house and ask for more backup," I replied. The Siberian and Sophia passed out of my range and I scowled. "They're gone. They were heading towards the docks."

"I know," Lisa growled. "I already called Coil. Do you want to know what the odds are that we walk away from this Taylor? 50% according to Dinah. 50 fucking percent! Choose a different time to get suicidally overconfident!"

I frowned and paused. Glancing into the back seat, my friends' expressions were grim, but set in stone. Clock looked pale and Flechette was clutching her arbalest to her chest with her eyes closed, though she didn't react otherwise. Amy just looked angry. Twisting back to front I shook my head. "Those are good odds against the Nine and great against Siberian."

"This is a bad idea."

"Do you really think that or are you just worried I'm going to get hurt again?" I asked quietly as we took a turn fast enough to push me against the door.

Lisa was quiet for almost a full block. Her eventual reply was barely audible. "Why can't it be both? Taylor, Siberian is a fucking rogue shard, she's going to kill you when she's done playing her game. You can't fight her on her own ground. You have to surprise her. Choose your own battlefield. That's the only chance you have."

I reached over and squeezed her leg. She was so thin. If Siberian went after her the bitch wouldn't even need powers to break her. "This is surprising, Lisa. We're not stupid, she doesn't honestly expect us to follow her even if she is baiting us to do it. We'll set her off her game by going after her now, and we'll have backup. We have a chance."

Amy leaned forward nodding. "Besides, something is weird. When does Dinah ever give such direct numbers? Exactly 50/50? I don't buy it. Something's going on and it's interfering with her even if she doesn't realize it."

"Agreed," Lisa murmured. "But even so, she's still going to be more accurate than not. Taylor, can you at least get Monarch to send more Eresimuses or Enhanced?"

"They're already en route," I replied. "Why do you guys have to keep calling the Soldiers that? I can't even pronounce it. At least call them Spring Bugs or something…"

"Spring Bugs?" Flechette said frowning. "Do you mean the pouncing things with wings and blades that killed Bonesaw?"

"Yes, she does," Amy said sighing. "And their name is Eresimus. It's scientific and it's accurate."

"So is Soldier and Spring…" I muttered. As we passed Palm Boulevard, my eyes narrowed to slits. "Turn right. They're at the docks. My bugs are off of Sophia, but they are still near them."

"How many are there, Queen?" Lisa - no Insight now - asked as she sat up straighter, her voice hardening and her entire demeanor seemingly shifting between one moment and the next.

"Siberian, Mannequin, Jack Slash, Shatterbird, Cherish, Sophia, and Crawler." I did my best not to wince at the gasps from the group behind me.

"Fuck me," Flechette muttered.

"We should abort."

I slowly shook my head. Before I could respond my phone rang. I pressed the answer button before it got to a second buzzer. "Queen, this is Dragon. If you or any of your team are near the docks, the Protectorate could greatly use your assistance. The address is - "

"We already know and we're nearly there," I responded, my voice devoid of emotion. "Do you know who is there?"

Dragon was quiet for a moment before she replied. "Yes. Burnscar is the only member that is currently not present. We have everyone responding that is able. Kaiser has already said he will send several of his remaining capes and Lung is making his way there as well. I have been in contact with Spitfire and Artillery as well. They are rendezvousing with several of the Wards and assisting in transport."

"This is outside the Nine's normal method of operation," I said.

"We believe it is in retaliation for the death of Bonesaw."

Lisa shook her head. "They've never been that pissed when they lost members before. It happens fairly regularly."

"Yes, but none of the people they've lost has ever been quite so useful to them before." Dragon sighed. "Our thinkers are also of the opinion that Jack Slash is looking to cause a major incident here in order to whittle our numbers down and instill fear back into the populace and their defenders. This is as much a PR campaign for them as it is for us. We have to win this fight, even if it only looks like we win."

"So we have to kill at least one more before they run away, no matter how many casualties we take," I murmured. Nodding I looked down at the phone. "Dragon, tell everyone coming that if they can avoid taking immediately lethal hits, Darwin will be on the scene and we are considering this an emergency situation, so no charge for healing."

"Well thanks for volunteering me," Amy piped up from the back. I raised my eyebrows at her and she just rolled her eyes in return. "Yes, yes, I would've volunteered myself a few moments later if you hadn't. I'm still probably going to be focusing on building something if I can find enough raw material. Probably something that flies to try and deal with Shatterbird. Right now, the only real flier we have in the city is Artillery and she only tangentially counts."

"Crusader," Clockblocker chimed in. "His ghost things can fly."

"Crusader has declined to participate," Dragon said. "He and Krieg have officially parted ways from the Empire and are not assisting."

"Understood." I took a breath and let it out slowly. "We're about a block away. Do you want us to hold?"

"Wait one minute then proceed in. That should get you there at about the same time as nearly everyone else," Dragon said.

"Got it. Thanks for the call, Dragon."

"Good luck, Queen," she said softly. "My suit is on the way, but I don't know if it will make it in time."

"We'll hold the line, Dragon." I replied, nodding. "We'll hold the line."

Fanfic Rec: 'Wounds Not Quite So Deep' by RedWeezard. This is on A03. It's a Taylor/Lisa/Rachel fic, set in a world without powers and without Brian really factoring in except in the backstory. Taylor has a minor run in with Rachel who saves her from a mugger and brings her home. Lisa patches her up and the two help heal her emotional issues with minor entertaining comments every so often from Alec. Her split with her dad grows as well when he determines that the runaways can't possibly support themselves without being criminals. It's quite adorable really and definitely hits in the feels department. In Progress.