In bed, room, sanitized, cold, beeping, hospital,
Soreness, pain, sag,
Creaking, chair, left side, light weight, female,
Lisa opened her eyes, head moving slightly to her left and saw the relieved expression in Taylor's eyes.
"Hey…" Lisa's voice croaked. She frowned.
Throat, dry, disused, days,
Muscles, stiff, excess flesh decomposed, mass loss, stomach pain, hunger
Recuperating, five days
"Are you feeling okay?" Taylor asked, leaning forward. "You've been out for—"
"Five days or something." Lisa added the last part just in case, she was still waking up from a long period of being unconscious. Taylor nodded and Lisa smirked.
"A couple of hours more and it would've been six days."
"Ah, nailed it." Lisa looked at her, noting the pale skin, unkempt hair and dark rings under her eyes. "You look like shit."
"I feel like shit." Taylor leaned against her seat. "Got off a couple of bugs walking all over the excrement of Bastard."
Control, small creatures, insectoids, multiple limbs, crawling, sinking into waste, covered in excr—
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because otherwise I would have to tell you about the ones down in the sewers, crawling down the toilet pipes? Once I fix the mess we're currently in, I'll have to tell my people to get some cleaning done, I can't allow for the amount of filth that is in the bathroom. Especially the women's bathroom, god."
"Fuck you." Lisa stuck her tongue out towards Taylor, then flipped her the bird. "My power feels like it wants to bounce off my head just to analyze all the disgusting shit you told me."
"Well, now I know your powers are working alright. Shouldn't be worrying about Aisha's powers not working properly now." There was a hint of a smirk on Taylor's lips.
Joking, messing around, nervous, trying to distract self,
On edge, tired, needs sleep, refuses, awake, three days, straight
Strong smell, bitter, lips irritated, coffee, drank recently, one hour ago
"Funny, since when did you get a sense of humor?" Lisa asked, Taylor just shrugged as an answer. "But you really do look horrible. Is it that bad?"
"Pretty bad."
"For fuck sakes, don't tell me we've got another Endbringer dropped in our lap in the last few days too? We've been going from one bad situation to a worse one for the past months."
"Brockton Bay got rushed by suicidal bombers. We think it's the Fallen," Skitter said, lips pulling down.
"Not their typical MO. Are you sure it isn't the Teeth?"
"We beat up the Teeth," Skitter admitted with some discomfort. "And Butcher said something about that not being her fault. I don't think someone like Butcher would lie or deny something like that."
Lisa looked at her companion with disbelief. "Wait, what?"
"Went out to retrieve the medical supplies your people lost. Got ambushed by the Teeth, took them out with help from Joker and Morgana," the Warlord explained plainly, sitting perfectly still in her chair. Tattletale frowned at her, recognizing one of those telltale signs of Skitter doing something else with her swarm.
Uncomfortable, doesn't trust them, completely, willing to work with them
Anger, directed at self, berating, chiding, disliked plan
Chiding, guilt, plan, reckless, unprepared, reactionary, superior opponents, desperation
Success, low probability, Joker, Morgana, intervention, only reason: victory
Guilt, chiding recklessness, unsure, lost, anger at self
Unsure, in need, external opinion, mine, specifically powers
Power, only value, rest worthless, informatio—
"We're working with them now?" Tattletale asked, making Skitter turn slightly towards her.
"While you and Imp were out...didn't have much of a choice. Had to get it. One way or another."
"Considering the horrible mess that I must've looked like, and this is me being surprisingly optimistic since I will bet you money that I looked fucked, I'll take a shot and say that we were about to die?"
"Yes." Skitter let out air through her nostrils, pulling hair that was sticking to her forehead. "Teeth had your supplies and I couldn't waste time finding them. Had to put some trust in Joker's desire for an alliance. Like I said, I didn't have much of a choice."
Metaphysical plane, different physics, different rules, different perspective
Emotional instability, shaken confidence, unsure
Upset, introspective, bitter
"You went inside that place, the metaphysical place."
"Yes, I saw more of that place we got dragged in. Mementos they call it. Lisa, it's a mess and it's even more complicated than I would like." She frowned. "And that Rogue Passenger wasn't there. Joker and Morgana believe that it may have gotten out and is here somewhere."
A shiver went down Tattletale's spine as she nodded. It had gotten out? It shouldn't be surprising though, if they could exit that metaphysical plane then why couldn't a Passenger do the same. The issue was that thing was a threat, a big one.
"Have you been searching for it?"
"No. We don't know where to start. I've been focusing on finding the Fallen and preventing another move like those suicide bombers from going off. Then there's the issue of other cape groups sniffing around Brockton Bay. Accord, and a couple of New York groups have been stepping around. But you already knew this, and well your prediction that more groups would come came true. We've got even the Elite taking more of an interest here, plus even more cape groups that I don't know of." Skitter sighed, rubbing her face. "Then there's the PRT, I gave them the credit for defeating the Teeth and I was hoping to use that as a buffer or something to keep them off our backs. But this new director is getting too violent. Yesterday he just had some of my men arrested, despite the fact that they hadn't broken any laws whatsoever."
"We can deal with that later, we need to focus on the Passenger."
"I don't disagree with that, but currently there's no leads. And while we're busy dealing with the fallout of the bombings, I'm not going to let those two access Mementos. They've already shown that with just a few words they can get into our heads and do a lot harm. I trust those two enough to care for the well-being of my teammates, but further than that, no."
Tattletale shook her head, dragging herself into a sitting position and wincing as her stomach growled loudly. "Fuck...I'm going to need a burger or something later. Listen Taylor, we need to forget about all the other stuff. Rival cape groups wanting the city? The PRT? They're not important!"
Skitter was looking at her with a frown, eyes entirely focused on her. "What do you mean?"
"That thing is in the city, it has to be here. This is the hottest spot for anyone with even the slightest bit of greed or ambition to come here. And most of those people will be capes." Tattletale looked at her partner with a serious expression. "It can communicate with Passengers, it had Rachel's trying to suffocate us with a mass of excess meat, connecting me with the assassin asshole and trying to pry into his head with my powers. It even had Aisha's trying to make him blank out on who he was and trying to make him forget about why he was trying to fight."
Skitter's face was paler than usual. "If it has this much control over our powers...shit, maybe he was right. Morgana theorized that it may be trying to set another Passenger off like Dinah."
"Any idea as to how it does it?"
"They don't know. Joker, Morgana and their other friend only arrived after Dinah's Passenger was set on the path of freeing itself and crashing here. Whatever that means or entails."
The blonde sighed. "Nothing good, but it isn't a bad theory, it could be targeting another cape and using that to further its plans."
"Any insight on that?" Skitter asked, her expression couched, but Lisa knew she was pleading for something, anything.
Tattletale looked down at the sheets covering her legs. "Just woke up, so I don't know."
"Damn it, even something small would help me start to feel at ease now. I don't like dealing with unknowns, and even Joker doesn't know fully what the Passenger wants, or its full capabilities."
Tattletale tapped her chin. "Didn't you say there was suicide bombing going around?"
"Found a clue to latch onto?"
"It could be something this Passenger thing did." She looked at Taylor. "It would make more sense than two Fallen capes just trying to...uh, where was it exactly?"
"The whole city…"
"Yeah, not how they operate, not to say that they wouldn't do it, but it's unlikely that they would do something up to that scale. As a whole? They're a threat. Just the two that are in the city? Still a threat, but not to this degree. And especially not if something like this can be traced back to them."
"Okay, if it was the Passenger that made the Fallen bomb the city, why? Just to cause chaos? Trying to get us killed? If that was the case then a trip into Mementos should've done the trick." Skitter sighed, looking frustrated. "You can track almost every cape through there, it's how we found the Teeth, and it's how, I bet, it went after Dinah's precognitive powers."
"You've got your phone with you?" Tattletale asked, and Skitter took it out from one of the pouches in her belt and gave it to her. "Okay, let's see...ah good, got some internet here."
Tattletale opened one tab after the other in the phone's browser, looking for recent news, skimming the information. Almost twenty minutes passed, and she closed her eyes, opening the door to her power more and allowing it to process the information gained.
Bombing, not coordinated, no target, chaotic
Purpose: mayhem, chaos, distraction, attention
Attack spread, news coverage, adding, new event, new attack, new tragedy
Brockton Bay, portal, center of attention, new coverage, multiple states, cities
Portal, coverage, motivation, greed, violence, weak city, no intervention, Undersiders
Attraction, portal, ambition, greed, capes, easy target, undefended
Capes, city skirts, probing, scouting, hunting
Undersiders, weakness, exploit, Brockton Bay, attack, invasion, fight, battle, death
"Okay...shit." Tattletale sighed and looked at Skitter. "Yeah, this thing was putting Brockton Bay on the spot. Well, more than usual."
Skitter clicked her tongue. "Fuck, it's attracting more capes to come here, isn't it."
"Yup. We've got ourselves a real problem. Which is why I said not to worry about the other villain groups. Trust me, if whatever it was doing with Alcott seemed bad, and FYI I still am having trouble wrapping my head around it before I went off in a coma, then imagine what it'd be like with a bunch of greedy capes all converging around here." The blonde frowned then cupped her chin. "Though why not go to the Birdcage? There's a ton of capes there."
Skitter shivered slightly. "It shouldn't be...there's, in Mementos, there's a massive tower. It has thousands of strands, all of them taking an appearance approximating our powers, even acting like them."
"Tower?"
"Massive thing, saw it when I went in to look for the Teeth. It's right where the portal is."
Tattletale hummed. "Makes sense, dimension shenanigans and all that."
"Yes. It's why I don't see a reason for that thing to have gone away. Especially if it brought so much attention back on us, and it's trying to get as many capes in one single area…"
"To make whatever it did with Dinah on a mass scale? Probably. I did hear it lamenting not getting the precog power, which makes sense for why it would want it in its possession. But it didn't seem like a big loss." Tattletale then gestured around at the white hospital room. "Seems like it's learning, or experimenting. So by bringing all those test subjects here for her goals…"
"It'll have enough capes to choose from while causing chaos here in the city." Skitter let out a breath. Outside the hospital there was a sudden roar of buzzing and clicking from the swarm. "Two dimensions, this one and a metaphysical one that has pocket dimensions within it like Dinah's...fuck, I didn't even realize how bad the odds were...fuck me."
Lisa reached out, patting Taylor's head. "We'll handle it, kiddo. Anyways, you pulled out any more information out of our dimension traveling friends?"
Taylor's nose crinkled at the mention of their 'friends'. "A little. Their world got destroyed, apparently it happened when the portal got open."
"They don't blame us I guess, since they want to work with you," Lisa said.
"Yeah, and like I said this is more complicated than what went on with Dinah." Taylor looked at Lisa. "I know I should've let them get their investigations for this thing going, but something in me just feels like it can't trust them."
Unsure, chiding self, self-flagellation, guilt,
Power interaction, other plane, bizarre, metaphysical, information flow, changing
Metaphysical plane, broke apart, limit, active network, retreated—
Lisa frowned, active network? She pursed her lips, looking. "Care to share what happened with Dinah that got you this much on edge?"
"They destroyed her Passenger."
"Well, fuck. That explains a few things with you," Lisa said, getting a reaction from her companion. "You're uneasy with them around, still trust them enough not to keep them under lock and key from far away as possible."
"They're not bad, at least Joker and Morgana. I don't know about the other one, Crow." Taylor frowned. "Definitely don't trust that assassin. Seems like a loose cannon; even Joker seemed distraught by him diverting off the original plan with Dinah."
"Haven't asked for more info on this guy?" Lisa bit the inside of her cheeks, memories of what she had seen when connected to the assassin surfacing.
"Too busy to sit down and talk. Like I said, a lot happened while you were out."
"Well, I will definitely say that you've done good on not trusting that guy." Lisa looked at Taylor. "Have you checked on your dad?"
Taylor froze, stiffly, she stared back at her. "What."
Shocked, emotional response, building
Information, cause reaction, violent, control
Withholding information, consequences, mistrust, anger, betrayal, resentment
'Yeah, sorry assassin asshole, but it's your ass' Lisa thought as she focused on the deathly still Skitter.
"He went to your home, while your dad was there."
"..." The silence was suffocating, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight uncomfortably as the loud roar from her swarm reached an all new crescendo. Screams echoed through the hallways, glass shattering as someone outside drop something in fright and hurried steps went off in a wild hurricane of chaos within the hospital building. Even the room darkened as hundreds of insects came out of hiding and gathered around Skitter.
"Sorry I didn't mention it earlier, still gathering my-"
Skitter didn't respond, getting to her feet fluidly and stalking towards the door, and she opened it to reveal a hallway of black movement. Skitter closed the door gently behind her, leaving Tattletale, alone.
Assassin, easy target, previous interaction, personality assessment: will talk, trigger reaction
Skitter, angry, furious, violent, lash out
Attack, consequence, fighting, Skitter, tired, unfocused
Consequences, hurt, cripple, die
"Well fuck me sideways…" Tattletale ripped the covers from her legs, swung them to get out of the bed and nearly fell. "Shit, shit, shit, need to fucking hurry!"
Once she got some semblance of balance, she noted the IV needle embedded on her arm, ripped it off and hurried off after the furious Skitter.
