Amy

I looked over the new armor, it wasn't as tough as the old bug based armor or as strong, but it was better then what most soldiers got. The four of us looked over our armor, Vicky was in that went without saying, Crystal and Eric were also in. Four against five if the information was still good. We put on our armor and Vicky frowned.

"It feels weird, even weirder then our normal armor."

I shrugged.

"You want her shutting you down again? Also we need a way to keep her from choking us out again."

We put on the helmets and took off into the air. Good, good, this should give us the edge we need, I would have to be carried for this but it would be worth the humiliation just to take Skitter down. I imagined a nice place in juvie for her. We landed and hit the stealth buttons on our suits. The suits communication network would allow us to speak to each other while keeping us from being heard. I brought out some binoculars and stared at the worn down warehouse.

"That's their home, I can't say if they will be there or not but we're going to hit them from the roof, sneak in and try to take 'em off guard."

I put my hand in the middle, and everyone else put their hand on mine, with that done we made our way to the rooftop of the Undersiders' base. We were careful with our landing, determined to creep in silently, there was a good chance that Skitter already knew but if we could just capture one of them that could be parlayed into catching more of them. At the very least it would make them weaker.

I smiled as we carefully jimmied open the door and snuck inside, and then I heard gunfire and explosions. Swarms of bugs headed into the building from all directions. I peered over the edge and kept down a scream of frustration, it was the fucking Butcher. The immortal psychopath that had plagued our city for generations.

"Bitch."

The Butcher, the fucking Butcher of course she was going to fuck everything up. Ok, let's try to think about it, this is the 7th Butcher, they were able to bind the bitch to her current body in Boston. So her powers, well she can cause excruciating pain, sense danger, teleport short distances, can regenerate, super strength, a mid level Tinker, and can see through walls. In other words fighting her wasn't remotely fair.

"This is going to suck."

But we were still going to do it, being a hero means sometimes you get stuck doing really stupid things. I concentrated and created a small eyeball, I threw it down and studied what was going on. Spree, Vex, Animos, the Teeth started out the year with 13 capes, now they were down to 4. A few got killed by Lung, a few by the Empire, a few got captured by heros and a few were killed by Zeus. The Butcher had a habit of burning through her capes, then going on a vacation and coming back to town with a full roster.

I listened as her gatling gun shot up more of the area.

"Should we?"

I let my teeth grind.

"The Butcher takes priority, I hate the Undersiders but she needs to go down."

I hated saying that, but I had to think about the city first, we kept going down the stairs, the Butcher was letting out her ammo, I heard a groan on the floor and saw Skitter. It would be so easy, so goddamned easy to let her die... but fucking hell.

"Stop now."

Her creepy mask looked up at me.

"Pan-"

"I don't like you, and you don't like me, but as much as I hate you I hate the Butcher more."

She nodded and I healed her, her costume kept her from getting sliced apart from bullets but there were broken ribs, brusing and other damage.

"The plan?"

I grimaced, the Butcher was basically immortal, and I would have to sit on her ass to make damned sure she stayed out until we got her to Pluto.

"If I can touch her I can bring her down."

I got up, I hated this, hated her but I knew what the greater threat was.

"Oh oh, this is rich, the great-"

I punched Tattletale in the face, bugs swarmed around me and I crossed my arms. Tattletale looked mad and I glared at her.

"I can make you mute you know."

"Tats, this isn't the time."

The blond girl deflated and glared at me.

The bugs started humming and I felt bullets slam against my armor, it stung a little. I clenched my hands and ignored the pain, and my anger.

"He HA HA HA."

She was doing that laughing thing.

"Grue's in danger."

The bugs spoke with her in an unholy unison, it reminded me how fucking creepy Skitter was, but that could wait, we had a teleporting gatling tooting maniac to deal with. The world exploded, and the machinegun fire ripped through the room. The Undersiders leaped to cover and my cousins created force fields. The bugs disoriented her, kept her off her game. I went with stealth, blending into the environment. Eventually the Butcher ran out of ammo, she stowed her guns and brought out some swords. I noticed that the bugs created a field were it was obvious where I was, I felt the blade hit my side, I changed my armor to trap the blade and touched her hand, and paralyzed her and brought her to the ground. The fighting continued on but I had to keep touching her, keep her asleep and paralyzed as her powers fought against me every step of the way.

I grimaced as the noise of the fight continued on, and eventually it stopped. I looked up at Vicky.

"The Undersiders?"

"Got away, so did most of the Teeth."

I felt cheated, I stared at the Butcher.

"Call the Protectorate, call in Armsmaster, we're sending her ass to Pluto."

The lights of the warehouse blinked and I heard a voice, Tattletale's voice.

"Thanks for the save New Wave, couldn't have done it without you, of course you can't follow us can you? Nope, you have to keep the Butcher down, then you're going to have to get her all the way to Seattle, then you're going to have to get her to Pluto and dump her in the Birdcage. So that's what? At least a week? And you still failed to catch us, you still failed to get anything, you know why?"

She was gloating, I frowned and then looked at a nearby bookshelf.

"Because we're smarter then you, because-"

I magnified the lenses of my armor, classic literature there was no way they read that stuff, it was dusty and...

"Vicky move the bookshelf."

She moved it and I saw the wall.

"Smash the wall."

Tattletale droned on.

"All that work, all that planning and-"

The hidden room opened up and I smiled, the intercom was still on.

"Find a hole?"

"Looking yep... huh it smells bad."

"Sewer entrance."

I looked up at the blank intercom, it was one way, enough to leave her a chance to gloat but not enough to know what was going on.

"Wow there is a lot of money here a lot, and wow."

I smiled.

"Is there a safe?"

"Yep?"

"Want to smash it Vicky?"

"HELL YES!"

I looked at Eric who was still on the phone.

"What's inside?"

"Paperwork and...ooh bank stuff."

I smiled, I was sure Tattletale had back ups, but...

"Crystal do the honors."

The intercom was promptly destroyed, Armsmaster arrived and helped me keep the Butcher sedated, we were going to have to take turns and get outside help but she was going to go to the Birdcage, the Undersiders lost one of their bases, some money and we compromised some of their accounts. You learn to take what victories you can in this business.