Trial 2.02

We were heading through the city, again going the long way to try to avoid being noticed. It was weird; I'd spent months making sure that nobody knew where I'd been hiding out, but now I was leading four people and three dogs that I'd just met right too it. They didn't seem like they'd betray me, but those dogs probably have my scent by now I suppose I could kill them if things go bad, but-No! That's not a line I'm willing to cross. Besides, it didn't feel like they were planning anything. They were all concerned about something or fearful of something, or at least that's what it feels like.

"So, You're the Undersiders."

One of the boys, the young man in the bike leathers judging from tone, spoke up. "Yeah, that's us. And I guess that makes you Lilith?"

"Don't call me that!"

I hated that name. The name the PRT gave me… and really, I'd looked it up. The first wife of Adam, who left him after an argument over who would be on top during sex, and who fucked a bunch of demons and gave birth to more demons… That wasn't me. Well, maybe in a mother of monsters sense if some of my projects took off, but it still didn't feel right.

The young man didn't respond, but the girl with the Dogs did. "Hate the name they gave me, too."

"Yeah," I said, "speaking of names, who are all of you?"

"Bitch," said the dog girl.

"Regent." Said the boy.

"I'm, Grue," said the young man, leaving...

"And I'm Tattletale." ...just the blonde. "So, what do we call you?"

I wasn't really sure about that. I'd thought about it a little, but... "No clue. Look, there's no point in me having a secret identity with my face in the news, so just call me Taylor for now." The blonde, Tattletale, it felt like her feelings changed. I'll try to figure that out later.

"So, why did you save us?" Tattletale asked. I sort of got the feeling that she already knew.

"A couple of reasons," I answered. "I was curious about what was going on to get some many ABB Grunts in one place, and then I saw Lung and the way he was going about things pissed me off-" okay, it was a bit flattering at first, but I couldn't ignore it any longer. "-and Regent stop staring at my ass or so help me!"

I heard someone stumble and felt a bit of surprise.

"Well, it's kind of just there and-"

"No excuses."

I turned back to face him and focused on him and… Okay, there's something wrong with him. His emotions were all...off. He had been thrown off-guard when I caught him, but he didn't actually seem embarrassed, and… No, nope! Not dealing with that.

"Just, just don't do it again," I settled on.

"Alright, fine." He gave a one-shoulder shrug. "How'd you know?"

"I'm psychic," I grinned. Though of all the reactions I expected, I didn't expect Tattletale and Regent to start laughing. Even Grue didn't suppress a snort of amusement.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Claiming that you're psychic to cover up your thinker power?" Tattletale grinned. "That's kind of my thing. If I had to guess, you've got some kind of danger sense combined with enhanced empathy and..." Her grin faltered, and her eyes widened behind her mask. "Holy shit. You're serious."

I turned to face her and gave a ridiculously wide grin. "Yep. I'm also telekinetic."

I could feel the shock radiating from her, followed by fear, excitement, and determination. "...So, have you considered our offer?"

"Still thinking it over. Besides, I'll need to hear details first."

I heard the sound of palm slapping face as I turned back around. We were near an open street, so I had to double check and look around to make sure the coast was clear. When I saw that there were no cars coming and no eyes on the street, I walked out to the middle of the road, stopped at a manhole, and motioned for them to follow me. Once they were with me, I reached down to lift the cover from the hole. Regent apparently didn't like this.

"A sewer? Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

"I'm not walking through shit to-"

"Relax. It's a storm sewer. Now, it's faster and safer to go the rest of the way through here than it is to go around the long way. Bitch, you think you're dogs can get down there?"

The girl in the dog mask looked down the hole, then whistled and made a gesture and her dogs all climbed down, making splashes at the bottom. Without a word, Bitch climbed down after them. I looked at the others and made an 'after you' gesture, and they climbed down. I went last, closing the cover behind me.

"So," I said, "if you'll just follow me it's not too far from here."

We walked in silence for a bit, before Regent spoke again. "So, I've been wondering for a while. Does human flesh really taste like pork?"

I thought about for a moment. "Hmm, no not really. Have you ever had veal? It kinda tastes like veal, though the flavor's a bit off. That might be because I ate it raw though. Human blood is a bit sweet once you get over the taste of metal, and it was a bit rough going down… Though that might have been because of Lung's scales."

"Cool."

He didn't react much, good or bad, to having his curiosity sated. His emotions still felt weird and-wait. Was it weird that I didn't care that I'd eaten part of a human being? I mean, it's not like I was planning to go out and kill people for their meat, but… Ah, I'll think about this later. We kept going for a bit, before turning into an older part of the storm sewers.

"This section doesn't get as much maintenance as the rest of the system. In a bit we're going to come to a disused maintenance tunnel that gets cut off, like they redid the system and ran another tunnel right through this one."

As we came across the across the door to the tunnel, Grue touched something on the side of the tunnel and seemed to be startled. "Taylor. Do you know what this weird, purple goo is?"

"Oh! That's just something I cooked up. It's called creep."

Kerrigan had told me about the Creep in a dream the night after I first made some. It's apparently something the Zerg cooked up. A sheet of expanding greyish purple slime that transferred nutrients and resources between various zerg buildings and organisms, helped some zerg move, and that certain powerful zerg organisms could extend their senses through.

Tattletale spoke up: "Is this a power of yours, or… Tinker?"

Was I? I mean,I got ideas for creatures I could create all the time, but I always thought of Tinkers as being a bit obsessed with creating stuff and I wasn't that obsessed."I guess you could say I'm a tinker."

"Specialty in chemical-No. Micro-organism colony of some kind. You're a Brute, with honest to god psychic powers, and you're a Bio-Tinker."

"Sounds about right."

"...So, our boss offers us about $2000 a month and a cut of every job. Just, just so you know."

"Duly noted."

I got the feeling that she really wanted me to join the team. The others were kind of staring at me as I opened the door into to the abandoned tunnel.

"Down here is a hole in the wall into an adjacent sub-basement, and that's where I'm set up."

I started to lead the Undersiders into the tunnel to the hole in the wall leading to my lair, but they weren't following. I turned back to them.

"You coming or not?"

They were all looking at the floor, which was covered in creep.

Lisa asked "Is it safe?"

"Of course it's safe! Come on, it's not going to eat you… actually it feels pretty good on bare feet. I think I'll be going shoeless more often." On a whim, I looked down at my feet, where I could see claws beginning to grow from where my toenails had been this morning. Looks like 'll be going barefoot for a while regardless.

Regent spoke this time. "What does this stuff even do, anyway?"

"Well, it's good for all kinds of things. It's more of a foundation for future projects than a project in and of itself. Now come on."

The bunch of them reluctantly walked over the creep, though I noted that Bitch had to command her dogs a few times before they finally moved, into the tunnel and through the tunnel to the whole in the wall and into my lair. I closed the access door and followed them in.

My lair was a pretty sizable sub-basement, half of which had walls and floors covered in yet more creep. I could see the Undersiders gravitating away from it, towards the more normal half of the subbasement. The building above it has been abandoned for longer than I've been here. I didn't go up to it or the proper basement in between it and my lair, but there was a staircase heading up. Over the last few months I've managed to get a bed, a few chairs, a table, a few coolers, some chemistry equipment, a mirror, and a mini fridge down here. The best part is that it still had power, for whatever reason. I flipped a switch and the chamber was lit up. I walked to the mirror on the wall to inspect the "damage" from earlier.

I'd been covered in scales from the neck down for a while now, but now the scales were thicker, more plentiful, and packed more densely. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was wearing some type of skin tight body suit. I was an inch or two taller, I think, and… I wasn't rail thin anymore. I don't know how, but I had a lot more muscle mass now that I did this morning. I'm not ripped, like a bodybuilder, but I had a much more toned and… Let's say defined figure. I noticed that something was growing over the scales on my forearms. It was a paler color than my scales, more of a silvery blue than the light blue, though I could see the scales underneath. Kerrigan had had carapace in the form she'd shown me, I guess I was growing some of my own. Looking down I could see some growing over my legs, from ankle to knee, and some forming at my collar and over my lower ribs.

Turning around and looking over my shoulder, I noticed more carapace forming all down my spine and from my shoulders down to the bottom of my back ribs. There were these two little spikes coming out from just below my shoulder blades and halfway between them and my spine. Turning back around again, I started doing some simple stretches, and it felt like I was moving easier. I think I was starting to like this body. And then I realized that the Undersiders were staring at me, and I felt heat and blood rush to my face.

"Hey, Taylor" said Lisa, "you didn't forget we were here, did you?"

I turned back to the Undersiders, and I laughed sheepishly, hoping all the while that they couldn't see me blush. "So, um, this is my lair."

Tattletale and Grue had taken my chairs and Regent was sitting on my bed. Bitch was on a bare spot of the floor with her dogs.

"So, let's talk about that job offer. First thing's first: Unmask."

They all looked at each other, and then didn't do it.

"You do know that what you're asking is kind of a big deal." That was Grue. "We all wear masks for a reason."

"I'm serious. You've all seen my real face, know my real name, and have been to my hideout. I don't know if I can trust you or not yet, and if you want me on your team, I need to be able to trust you. Think of it as insurance until I get to know you better. Besides. If we're going to be teammates, I'll find out who you all are then, anyway."

They all hesitated a bit, but they unmasked. Grue was a handsome young black man, Regent was a pretty boy with dark curly Hair, bitch a redhead with gruff expression, and well, Tattletale had only been wearing a domino mask, so… yeah, blonde.

"Names?"

"I'm Brian." Grue.

"I'm Lisa." Tattletale

"Alec." Regent.

"Rachel." Bitch.

"Okay, now that that's through, why do you want me to join?"

"Well," said Brian, "It's really more that Lisa wants you to join. Normally we'd have discussed it as a group before offering the invitation, but..."

"But considering the circumstances, there's not exactly time for that?"

He didn't feel like he agreed with my assessment. That was interesting.

"Well, there's time to talk now. What do you think about me joining"

"I'm not against it."

"Kay, Alec?"

"Eh. Could be cool."

I honestly can't tell if he cared one way or the other, and I didn't want to try to. There's something wrong with him, but that's a question for another time.

"Okay. Rachel?"

"You're strong."

...I'm not sure what she meant by that. Her emotions were confusing."

"And that leaves Lisa. You want me to join you guys and you want it bad. Why?"

Lisa stood up and took a moment. I think she was trying to compose herself.

"There are… A few reasons. You're not a bad person."

That's the last thing I expected.

"So, you want a not bad person to join a group of Supervillains."

"Look, it might not make sense, but we're not bad people. None of us are villains because we want to be. We're villains because the system failed us, or because it's the only way to escape a bad situation, or because we don't have a choice. There are so many inconsistencies in the story the PRT has been spinning about you. Some that I don't think even they themselves have realized. Now, having met you, I can tell that they're completely wrong about you. You've been screwed by the system. You're like us. I'd rather be your friend than your enemy. Besides, compared to some of the other groups in the city, we're practically saints."

I could tell that she meant that, but…

"And?"

"...And you're very powerful, and a lot of groups might try to recruit you if and when they found out how strong you are. Some of them might be more forceful or less concerned with your well being than we are."

"And?"

"...And you're one of the strongest capes in the city and I'd like you on our team for that reason, but that… that doesn't mean the other reasons aren't true."

She seemed sincere about all of that, and she was honest… eventually. You know, someone to watch my back would be nice, but…

"What kind of jobs do you even do?"

"Well, our boss mostly uses us for jobs against other villains-Lung attacked us because we robbed his casino- and sometimes small crimes. We're not a gang. We don't run or sell drugs, we don't murder people, we don't force people into prostitution. Just theft."

I thought on it some more. They weren't the worst option if I wanted a support group, and they didn't seem to be doing anything much worse than what I was doing already…

"Nobody get's hurt?"

"We try, but sometimes heroes show up or other villains catch us…"

"Hmm… Any job that goes against my morals, I can sit out of."

I wasn't asking. Lisa looked to Brian, then to Rachel and Alec. I can't tell what she saw or they did, but she turned back to me.

"You don't get a cut of anything from jobs you sit out on."

"Deal."

I extended a hand to shake, and she came over to return the gesture. I made a note to ask about their boss later.

Brian spoke up. "We'll have to find a new lair before we do any jobs."

I pointed to the staircase leading up.

"There's an old abandoned apartment building above us. I don't go up there much, but it seems like it's in good condition, the power's still on for some reason, and nobody's using it."

Alec chimed in with a declaration: "That's convenient."

"Yeah," said Lisa. "I can call the boss and see about buying the building in the morning and-Taylor, what's that?"

I looked where she was pointing, to a structure in a corner of the creep covered half of the room and the table full of chemistry equipment next to it.

"Oh, well, the thing in the corner creep tumor. It's not full sized but it's big enough to generate what I need. Next to it is where I've been working on a few things and-Actually, that reminds me."

I walked to it, over the creep covered floor, and checked on a beaker. I'd found some maggots, and I've been feeding them on a mixture of creep, a few drops of my own blood, and some spiders, wasps, and a roach I'd crushed up. If I was right, once the maggots metamorphosed and-speak of the devils, it looked like they were going to finish up at any moment.

The creatures coming out of the beakers were small, like flies, but that's where the resemblance ended. Each of them had an extra set of legs, a stinger and a body plan like a wasp's in a nice purple shade. As they began flying from the beaker of creep, I placed one hand to my temple and the other pointed gently at them. Kerrigan had explained how this worked, and if I was right they should be sensitive enough for me to do this. I focused and tried to feel out towards the mutant flies and, yes! I had them, now just a little expression of will and-Each of the flies briefly flashed a blue color, and I could feel their presence in the back of my mind. It'd take some getting used to, but the experiment had been a success and now I had a way to keep an eye on my lair when I was out.

I turned back to the Undersiders, my new teammates, and Lisa and Brian were shocked and just a bit fearful. Rachel and Alec didn't react as much and their emotions were hard to read, but they seemed a little off put.

"What?"

"Oh," said Lisa, radiating a tiny bit of fear. "You're that kind of Bio-Tinker."