1.01

I placed the cup of black, bitter, smoldering coffee down on the desk. I was careful to avoid all the papers and the charging cable for the laptop. The handle between my fingers was warm, my cape outfit being the only thing keeping my skin from sweltering. My lips pulled into a frown and I pushed the coffee towards my absentminded guest. The fumes of the scalding drink went up and through the nostrils of Tattletale, making her stiffen and look at me in surprise.

"Coffee's ready." My tone was weary and rough. Tattletale accepted the drink, took a sip, grimaced and then quickly set the cup down. She blew on it as I went back and grabbed my own cup of tea from nightstand of the room. Fortunately, I didn't feel the least bit disgusted nor dissatisfied with my tea.

Tattletale hummed and I looked at her as she kept her eyes focused on the screen of the laptop.

"I don't know where to find them. I'm getting way too many reads here…"

"You should be resting, we already spent the entire day looking for them. We didn't find anything, we'll have to wait and let them get the first move. After that, we'll either chase them off or crush them."

"Just give me a couple of minutes…" Tattletale's words came muffled as she took another sip from her cup, eyes focused on the map of Brockton Bay. She typed a few things on the laptop and I let a breath escape through my nose.

Two Fallen capes were sighted in the city,an unwelcome presence. Capes who worshipped Endbringers and were in abundance, from what Tattletale told me. A cult committing incest for the guarantee of a child getting powers. They were thieves and vandals, nothing major like the monsters they worshiped or the Slaughterhouse Nine. Small miracles there.

For now, the Undersiders would have to focus on making sure that everything in Brockton Bay would be running smoothly. Rooting out nuisances like the Fallen capes was one, making sure that every prying eye looking at the city wouldn't devour the steadily recovering city, wouldn't mess with that fact was another. Working to make sure Brockton Bay didn't collapse was something the Undersiders had put their all into; having it crumble now would be devastating.

So I couldn't fault Tattletale for keeping herself busy still, working, organizing and directing every little detail that was going on. Out of everyone, she was the one who was most occupied. She was constantly pouring over minute details, and that laptop of hers was being filled more and more with information that was priceless and useful. It was a massive boon to have Tattletale in my team and working as much as she did. It kept us one or even five steps ahead from any enemies that would come looking for trouble in the future. What had happened with Echidna couldn't be allowed to happen again. Skitter would want Tattletale to keep going as she was doing.

But Taylor could see her friend Lisa was in dire need of rest. So I stepped close to her, and holding onto my tea cup with one hand, I closed the top of the laptop down. Lisa's hand pulled back so they wouldn't get crushed and then placed them on her lap. She pursed her lips, grabbed her cup and took another swig.

"You should get some rest, you've spent too much time having your face glued to the laptop."

Lisa scratched the bridge of her nose and looked up, her eyes baggy and dirty blonde hair sticking to her forehead. "There's still some things I have to check, I can't exactly leave it alone."

"Taking over a city isn't as easy as they make it out to be heh?"

"Taking over a city? That's easy. Running it is what's so fucking nerve wracking. Shit, killing Coil should've made things gone smoother, not leave us with more messes than ever."

I blinked, taking a sip of my tea, stopping and looking down at the empty cup with a frown. Putting it down I crossed my arms and looked off to the side.

"That's a name I haven't heard in a while…"

An ugly snort came out of Lisa as she leaned back on the chair and closed her eyes. "So much went on, so many things...revelations, confirmed guesses, punching a hole through reality, keeping this city from going under...yeah, Coil seems like forever ago, doesn't he."

It wasn't a question — of course it wasn't. So many things kept happening one after the other, barely a week passed before something else happened that had us scrambling and desperate. It was hard to believe that it had been barely two and a half months since I got started as a cape. I had gotten into so much conflict that all my troubles from before the days I met the Undersiders seemed so long ago.

"Yeah, forever ago…" I stared at the wall with a blank look. The chair pulled back and Lisa stood up, stretching her arms and arching her back with a wince.

"With the PRT still reeling from all the reveals during the Echidna fight, it leaves time to secure all the territories we need. As long as we can keep them steady for a while, things should be good."

"We're getting more and more supplies being sent, so that's good."

"Tomorrow there's going to be another drop near the Boardwalk. PRT officers aren't going to be looking after them, local police are in charge. All you'll need is to convince them a bit and they'll let you go off with most of the supplies."

"More men to work under me?"

"Having the local authorities in your back pocket isn't all that bad."

"Speaking from experience?"

"A lot of them owe me a few favors for keeping my mouth shut. Got a few of them working directly under me now, others were old contacts from Coil. His organization actually managed to surprise me with the amount of planning he had set up. Coil was really looking forward to everything going out how he planned it."

I ground my teeth, feeling a knot in my stomach. "Until he died, all that planning for nothing."

"His loss was our gain." She turned and looked at me with half lidded eyes. She really was tired, her eyes could barely keep themselves from closing. "Though we keep gaining more trouble than what it's worth."

"Another group interested in the city?"

"Portal is making everyone interested. But yeah, another group is interested and poking their noses on us. I've mentioned the Ambassadors before haven't I?"

"I think?"

"Hmmhmm, well the Boston villain group is going to make an appearance here sooner than later. I'll give you the full details later, is that okay?"

"Yeah." I sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder and pushing her lightly towards the door. "Come on, I'll walk you out to the car."

"Fuck, I've kept the mercenaries waiting… they'll start making a hassle."

I frowned at her, feeling the itching of irritation prickle at me. This wasn't the time for simple mercenaries to be questioning us, especially those under our employment. The Undersiders had to be strong, we couldn't show weaknesses, not now.

"Want me to put them in their place?"

Tattletale looked at me, her tired gaze sharpening up a bit. "No, I have it handled."

"Tattletale, we can't have them start a mutiny on us now. We can't deal with infighting along with all the external threats."

"I have it handled Skitter."

I looked at her, then nodded. She moved forward, heading towards the door, leaving my hand to fall limply at my side. All of a sudden the room felt cramped and small. It made my skin crawl. Letting air escape through my nose, I stepped toward where I put my mask and put it on. Gathering the bugs I had stationed around the room to cover me entirely like a gown, I followed after Tattletale.

Stepping out of the door, closing it and heading down the stairs I stopped as I watched Charlotte reading a book on the kitchen counter. Her eyes snapped up to look at the two of us. She gave me a nod, putting the book away.

"Are you heading out again, Skitter?"

"Just taking Tattletale back to her men. I'll be right back in a few minutes. The kids tucked in already?"

Charlotte nodded and I moved, escorting Tattletale through the secret entrance of my lair and out onto the beach. The night air was humid, summer winds already making my suit stick to my skin as I trudged through the white sands. The ocean waves crashed on the shore with a cadence. I saw Tattletale through my bugs, her blonde and untamed hair flowing as the wind passed over us.

I started extending my senses out, feeling bigger and spread out. Feeling my body moving, the feel of stiff and measured my steps. Charlotte was moving, going into the children's room and checking on them, tucking their covers and brushing the hair of a girl. I made some butterflies fly over her and some of the other kids, they landed on their hair or blankets, much to their delight. Three of my soldiers were smoking, telling jokes, drinking and laughing roughly a block away from my lair. The jeep I had taken with Tattletale was parked thirty meters away from our position, lights on, and all her mercenaries down on the floor and unmoving.

Many things started happening at the same time. I gathered bugs, bringing everything I could get my hands on towards me. I formed bug facsimiles of myself to reach out to my men, to Charlotte, to everyone within my range and prepared them in case the trouble spread onto my territory. "Tattletale your men—"

Something black and fast streaked down from above. I barely managed to see it with my bugs — it was blurry and nearly invisible in the night sky. It extended and crashed into the sand right between Tattletale and my body. The bugs around my body were pushed away with the strong force of the impact. My vision was blocked, I couldn't see my body, I couldn't see Tattletale and all I could see was brown as the dust started to roll around my body.

Coordinating with my bugs positioning, and as I heard Tattletale's coughing I moved. Spreading the insects out in front of me, I noticed a sharp whip of air cut some of the flies I sent and I ducked. Ants and cockroaches were meeting resistance as they advanced, I made them crawled up and started to paint the picture of the legs of the assailant.

Moving past the enemy I reached the kneeling Tattletale and grabbed her arms, ignoring her attempts to push me off, and dragged her out of the sand cloud. The bugs crawling on the figure that had attacked were cut down. And they started to become clear.

He was dressed in a black and purple striped costume, with belts strapped around his arms, legs and waist. A jagged cape fluttered behind the figure as he looked down at us through red sharp lenses on a black knight helm that left his mouth exposed . He arched his back, looking almost lazy and arrogant as he pointed a serrated blade at me.

"You...bug girl, give me your name."

"..." I only stared at him in silence, the chirping and clicking from the cloud of bugs answering him in abundance as they all gathered around the beach, swirling and darkening the sands below. The assailant sneered, taking a step forward towards me with and nodded.

"Hard way it is then, I'll rip the answers out your throat!"

And with that he burst forward, leaving a cloud of sand in his wake as he headed straight towards Tattletale and me with a growl more animalistic than human.