Sorry for the delay everyone, I haven't been feeling well this past week. Tried to get the chapter up and ready for yesterday, but I couldn't muster the motivation. So appologies for that. Anyways, better late than never right? Here you go, enjoy the chapter!


With just the snap of his finger, Butcher was down.

I just stared at the ridiculous scene before me, ignoring how Grue fuzzed around me, to just stare at the unconscious Butcher. What the fuck? How could such a powerful cape be reduced to a snoring heap? Butcher's reputation and the things she has done throughout the years built such a powerful reputation. One where not even death would put a stop to it. Yet there she was. I pursed my lips and let out a shuddering breath. Why is it upsetting me so much?

Looking at the world around us and the two thieves, it all came rushing back. It was their powers. I was beginning to suspect that it would always come to that, the metaverse powers were something that I would never feel comfortable with. It was too strong, too versatile and worse of all, it could destroy our own powers, the one aspect that defined a cape. I wouldn't admit it, I couldn't, but it scared me.

If they set their sights against me, they would take Skitter away from me. Crow had already done so, but he went after me in the real world, what if Joker nor Mona could control him and he did go into my head? Or Tattletale? Or Rachel? Or the others? The feeling of a headache throb in my head and made me feel nauseated, I push the thoughts away, focusing on the now.

I looked at my arms and stood up. Biting my lips, I couldn't help but marvel at how fluid my body felt, how easy it was to move. Any injury or detrimental affliction in my muscles had evaporated. There wasn't even a single sign of the battle Parian, Clockblocker and I had struggled with on our bodies with the exceptions of our damaged costumes.

"You okay, huh…" Morgana started, eyes narrowing as he looked at me,then at the heroes. "Shouldn't you put your mask on?"

I flinched, but calmed down when Grue stepped beside me. "Here, Skitter."

"Thanks." I took the mask and put it on. "How did you get here?"

"Your prisoner…" Grue looked at Joker as he walked towards Butcher, hands in pockets. "When I got your text, he seemed to recognize the cat's way of talking because he took my phone. Almost decked him, but he did help in keeping Imp, Tattletale, and Bitch safe when those cars started bombing the place, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt."

I just stared at Joker and hummed. Morgana put his hands on his hips and looked proud.

"That's Joker for you, always knows how to make allies and get them to work to our advantage. With my experience and Joker's quick thinking, we made a plan to regroup using the Metaverse and beat all our enemies in one fell swoop," Morgana boasted, then deflated. "Too bad you can't hear what I'm saying when you're imitating the wrath of god, Skitter."

I looked at the cat, then my surroundings. "Joker used Crow's phone. Did you tell him where I put it, Grue?"

"He was pretty convincing," Regent remarked as he walked towards us, hair a mess and smoothing out his clothing. "Also, never flying with the classy demon thing. I didn't consent to him grabbing me by my waist. I thought Japanese were supposed to be polite."

I grunted, and Grue put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, but the threat of the Butcher actually fighting you was too much. I couldn't let you, Parian, or Foil get killed."

"Speaking of which, where's the actual polite Asian?" Regent hummed as he looked around. I was about to respond but stopped as Miss Militia approached.

"What is this place…?" the older cape asked, looking around, then focused on Morgana and Joker. Her eyes darted towards me. "Skitter, what is going on?"

Damn it, I hadn't expected this. This was an event I never even considered, I couldn't even form any reasonable response that didn't just turn into a big, flat 'no'. Handling this could go into so many ways that could blow up in the Undersiders' face down the line. But this place, the Metaverse, was just too dangerous to be sharing all this information with them.

Looking at Miss Militia, I saw a woman who was loyal to a fault to the organization she worked with. She was a hero worthy of admiration and respect. So much so, that if she was put in charge of the Protectorate, I wouldn't mind it at all. In fact, I was willing to assist her, to make sure her leadership would have the positive effect the rest of the organization would need.

Not people so callous as to sacrifice lives for the sake of the bigger threat, not a villain who circumvented the system and insidiously took over. Not a cape looking for glory. Not a secret organization manipulating events and the cause for what appeared to be far too many tragedies. The thought gave me pause.

"I'm waiting for an answer, Skitter." Miss Militia crossed her arms, eyes flicking towards the sleeping Butcher.

"And you won't get one. Not now at least," I answered, crossing my arms.

"Skitter…" the older hero started, but I cut her off.

Gesturing towards Joker, I said, "It's just his power, no more details further than that."

"I can't go with an answer like that. Skitter, the state the city is in just won't allow for more surprises. We have the Teeth and Fallen capes here, and despite you defeating the Teeth, there's more bound to come." Miss Militia grunted. "And despite all you Undersiders being villains, I can't deny the fact that I would rather have your group be the only criminals in Brockton Bay. Despite how many laws you have broken, and the fact that you have implemented yourselves as warlords...you have helped this city against the Slaughterhouse Nine and Echidna. But there has to be a line. We can't keep giving you power like this."

"You'll have to make do." Regent shrugged, feet parting slightly. He was ready for a fight. Grue's body was producing darkness slowly, not being overt, but enough for his body to appear to be darkening. Parian just sat there, looking at the heroes and then at us. She tried to separate herself from the mounting tension as Clockblocker and Miss Militia looked ready to move.

Morgana had a concerned expression, appearing as if he wanted to say or do something. His eyes flicked towards Joker and he stood down, wobbling backwards and creating distance. Joker was just staring at me. I didn't turn to look at him, but through the swarm I could feel his face was set in neutral expression. Just looking.

Then his head tilted up and I followed his gaze. It was our power's strands, looming above us. They were restless, spiking and spearing at each other rapidly. Regent's, Grue's and mine were pulsing against the ones from Clockblocker and Miss Militia, as if a single crack would tempt them to entangle themselves and battle.

My breath hitched, and I recognized a foreign feeling in my head egging me on. I spread myself through the swarm, becoming detached from my body and the temptation to fight my way out of this situation alleviated ever so slightly. But not completely. Staring at my strand, seeing its violent expansions and contractions, I understood that this wasn't something part of me.

Passengers. Remembering Dinah's passenger, the rogue passenger and the insanity of Mementos. The realization made me calm and look down at Miss Militia, whose own gaze had gone up to the strands. Her hands were glowing, the strand of weapons reacting to the surge of powers and vibrating with energy.

"What is this…?" she asked, eyes squinted, as if the sight of the strands reminded her of something.

"You won't get an answer Miss Militia. And no, it isn't just to circumvent the PRT. But they are probably still filled with Cauldron agents. And I'm not willing to share these sorts of secrets with people like them. Because you will report to your superiors," I said, then motioned towards Joker. "Just think of it as his powers and that's that."

Miss Militia looked at me, then averted her gaze with a huff. "So the intel was right, you have new recruits."

"And the cat was a total lie, huh?" Clockblocker hummed. "A Case 53 that can turn into a cat, yet another thing that makes the Undersiders annoyingly good at taking information."

"Isn't it gathering information…" Regent pointed out but went ignored as the cat jumped.

"I'm not a cat!" Morgana was indignant, turning his nose up at the Ward. "And a good thief is good at taking whatever they please, even information, from unsuspecting targets."

"Mona," Joker admonished softly, which got the cat to back down. He looked at me, fiddling with his hair. "So, what now?"

I sighed. "Now we go back out, and question the other Teeth members as to where the medical supplies are."

"What about Animos?" Parian looked back at the creature, twitching strand behind us. Miss Militia stepped forward.

"I can neutralize him if he's still on his feet."

"I doubt it will get to that point," I said. "My swarm poured enough venom in him to put him out."

There was a tense silence at that, the swarm around us buzzed in agitation at the potential of Animos being dead because of me. He wasn't Lung, or at least I don't know if he had any healing powers in his bestial state. The most likely answer was no. I felt my chest tightened. Grue grabbed my hand, squeezing it.

I squeezed back.

"But it's better to be careful." Clockblocker said.

Joker nodded, hands in his pockets. He was fiddling with his phone, keeping out of sight of the heroes. I sighed in approval internally; he was smart enough to catch on. The world shifted around us and I could feel thousands of bugs fall into my influence. There was a flash of blue — Joker and Mona both returning to their mundane forms. Out of courtesy I wrapped the swarm around Joker, making him disappear from view so that the heroes wouldn't see his blazer and jean clad self.

Animos was down on the floor, body shrinking back into his human self. Shallow breath escaped him as he shook, and I wrapped him in silk just to be sure. Despite the potential that those shallow breaths might be the cape's last. Frowning, I realized that almost all the Teeth were knocked unconscious. Just one, up on the rooftops, was trying to free himself from the silk he was surrounded by. I formed a clone in front of the conscious Teeth cape.

"Medical supplies, where are they?"

"W-What..!?" The cape, Reaver probably, if my memory of the current line up of the Teeth was correct. "You!"

"Where are the supplies you stole?" I asked again.

Reaver sneered. "Fuck you."

The swarm roared, buzzing and clicking going off in a dissonant frequency meant to intimidate. Reaver stiffened, eyes roaming around the the vortex of bugs angrily making noise and crawling over him.

"I just beat Butcher."

"Bullshit!" he growled, but his eyes were wandering around. I ignored his insolence and punched through it.

"Cut off her fingers and poured as much of my swarm into the open wounds as I could." The clone wobbled its voice grew in intensity. "I took her down; she collapsed in front of me. She's unconscious and under my thumb. I don't need to kill her, all I need is that her body is functional for whatever purposes the Undersiders have."

"W-What's that supposed to mean…?" Reaver was sweating, looking around. Was he expecting to get saved?

"She isn't coming to save you, none of your teammates are. In fact, maybe Animos died…he became too problematic, a beast screaming and trying to nullify my power. He had to be put down." I was bluffing of course, but Reaver paled. "As for my earlier words...they mean exactly what I had said, all I need is the body of Butcher. And all the information my people can squeeze out of her. Talk now and I'll let you go. You may be part of the Teeth, but you didn't fight me, so I can forgive this. Just once. Otherwise, you'll meet the same fate as Animos. I can just ask the others."

Reaver nodded. "Fine! Just let me go and I'll tell you everything!" I released him from his bonds, but the swarm still crawled around him, passing over his nostrils. He cringed and let out shuddering breaths at the clear display that he was still in my hands. "Warehouse thirteen-twenty! Fuck, fuck! Just get off me! Shit! It's near the trainyard! Fuck!"

"Thank you." My swarm bit him and he screeched.

"You promised! You said you would let me go!" Reaver was trying to get the swarm off him, screaming as he fell on the floor. His limbs began to paralyse and a horrified expression froze in his features.

"I kept my promise, I let you go from being bound to my silk." I looked at Grue, nodding. "I know where the medical supplies are."

"Good, then we'll need to head over there now," Grue grunted.

"I'll ask again, Miss Militia." I turned to regard the hero. "Do we have a deal?"

"I'll let you go without much trouble." The older hero nodded, eyes narrowed in confusion. "Though I'm not as to why you would let us take the credit for the defeat of the Teeth. Taking the credit would be another notch to your belt and increasing reputation for the Undersiders."

"Yeah, Skitter, why would we let them take the credit." Regent huffed behind me.

"Take it as a token of my appreciation in actually trying to help me recover my lost supplies and as trade for me not sharing them. I need them all in its entirety, especially since the possibility of the Teeth damaging them might be high." I sighed. "There's also the bombing cars issue, right now I need the PRT to not look too fragile since the Undersiders are busy with other developments."

"That world you didn't want to talk about?" Clockblocker crossed his arms as he directed the question.

"Brockton Bay has suffered enough," I ploughed through the Ward's words. "While we're villains, the two of you know that we have done our part in protecting the city. So this is just me doing my part and giving you that notch to put in your belts. We can fight all you want, at another date."

"You want me to try and pull the PRT's attention from you as a favor then?" I nodded at the older hero's words. She sighed. "Fine, I don't see any reason to complicate things. But, just so you know, there are people who want to take you down despite whatever strings I can pull, Skitter. It's out of my hands."

"I can already guess." I shrugged. Clockblocker shook his head.

"Yeah, but they are coming from the top so-!"

"Clockblocker!" Miss Militia admonished and the Ward sighed.

"A little bit of information so they keep out of trouble, we owe them that much." Clockblocker looked at Miss Militia. "If it means more detention or whatever, I don't care. They helped keep you alive, MM, doesn't feel right to let them get blindsided."

"I appreciate that," I admitted to the young hero. I turned towards Joker, still hidden behind my swarm. "About Foil…"

"I'll wait for Foil, just pay attention to your phone when I send you the text to get into Mementos." He said simply.

I bit my lip, considering this. I was leaving Foil, a new cape under the Undersider, in the hands of this guy. I still don't trust him… I shivered as I the swarm crawled around the time locked Butcher. No, I do, trust him, somewhat. I couldn't help but feel trepidation at the fact that I was leaving the dangerous and powerful guy here alone. With that phone of his.

I'm terrified of him.

He had to much power, I just couldn't let it go. He could take us all out if he went after our heads. What was it that it just took to do so? A few measly words? I could knock him out, wrap him in silk and just tell Grue to get us a car to drive all the way back into my territory. Maybe wait for Foil and cause as much chaos and mayhem to get away from the heroes. Ruin all the negotiations I made with Miss Militia just to feed my fear for the thief.

But he protected my territory, protected my girls.

The thought alone was the only reason I didn't commit to the course of action I was so tempted to take. He had said he was trustworthy, he wanted to build bridges to fight against an enemy far too dangerous that it made my skin crawl. He had let himself be cage despite proving he could get out. He's help with the Metaverse had proven valuable, despite not going as I had planned it. I still didn't like him, but I could trust him enough to not consider him an immediate danger towards my comrades.

"I know." I turned my back to Joker.

Parian turned towards the thief. "Please make sure Foil gets here without much trouble."

"I will."

After making some distance, Morgana turned to look up at me. "Ready?"

I nodded and hit the button.