Skitter's Cell, an Hour after her surrender

Being locked in a cell…was very boring.

Seriously, I was reduced to counting tiles on the ceiling. I was wearing a prison jumpsuit and a 'token' domino mask, which was confusing considering those dickwads at the top of Brockton Bay's PRT had made the decision to break the Unwritten Rules and make my identity public.

So now everyone and their granny knew that Skitter, the oh-so-fearful warlord of Brockton Bay, was little Taylor Hebert, former bullied girl and daughter of one of the heads of the Dockworkers Union.

Fuck you, Director Tagg. And the horse you rode in on.

And so, with my options closing around me, I had surrendered to the PRT in the hopes of actually managing to turn this clusterfuck of a situation around. This probably pissed off the rest of the Undersiders.

Brian…Lisa…

No, no. I made my decision and now I have to live with the consequences. Even if it means my friends hate me.

I looked up at a PRT guard walking in front of my cell door. He looked…average. Average height, average looks, average weight. Just about the only extraordinary thing about him was the pathetic attempt at facial hair he had on his upper lip.

"Ahh…miss Hebert…" he purred, "Allow me to introduce myself…I am Coiled…an employee of the original Coil. Kept strictly off the books, you understand."

"What do you want?" I demand, "Coil is dead."

"That little fact I am very much aware of." Coiled replied smoothly, "As it is my raison d'être, so to speak, to remain hidden until that eventuality comes to pass…and avenge him."

Shit. Shit and fuck. I reached out to my swarm, sinking my consciousness into them and then summoning every single one I could reach within my range, which wasn't much inside the building itself. Damn people with Raid and bug spray.

"If you're going to come in here to try and kill me, try it!" I snarl, leaping to my feet and glaring at him through the clear Tinkertech glass that makes up the front of my cell.

Coiled laughed lightly. "Oh, I freely admit that in an even confrontation, you would likely beat me into the ground, even with your bugs, costume and weaponry removed. No, I think I'll stay right here and let my more elegant solution take care of you."

"And what might that be? Boring me to death with not-so-witty repartee?" I snark at him.

"No." Coiled replied smugly and pulled a remote from his pocket, "This."

He pushed a button and the vents, drains and air holes in the cell sealed shut before vents open and water starts to flood in. I look around in a panic.

"The controls for this cell has been separated from the network, so Dragon cannot hack it open." Coiled informed me, "You are no Brute, so you cannot break through this glass. You have betrayed your allies and thus you will not be rescued from this predicament by them and the PRT isn't likely to move fast to save one of the Warlords. It will take…fifteen minutes to fill the cell you are in with water. Make what peace you can, Skitter the Warlord. In slightly more than a quarter of an hour, your life will be at an end. Farewell."

With a little wave following his words, Coiled sauntered away, leaving me alone in a room filling with water.

Lovely.

Great. If the water somehow miraculously stops pouring in, I'll suffocate instead of drowning thanks to the sealed air intakes and airtight door. Two of my least favourite ways of dying that I didn't want to go through.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

Director Tagg's office

Tagg frowned at Miss Militia, who was sitting across from him. She was complaining about the tactics he had used to get Skitter into custody. Pah. The Unwritten Rules! In the case of serious threats, they were thrown out! Skitter, the main driving force of the Undersiders, was just such a threat.

"I feel that all villains will be less eager to agree to the Endbringer Truce because of this." The former child soldier argued.

"Based on Dinah Allicot's precognition, it was the best way to get Skitter to surrender." Tagg replied gruffly, "Granted, we took a PR hit that we're still dealing with, but Skitter is too dangerous to apply standard rules to her."

"Dangerous? She controls bugs!" Miss Militia said in confusion.

Tagg sighed. 'Do I have to spell everything out for her?' he wondered.

"Her powers are part of it, but by no means all of the reasoning here." He replied with another sigh, "Her abilities, which we have upped from Master 6 to Master 8, are impressive, but the fact remains that she motivated a group known as the Masters of Escape and turned them into warlords who all but control Brockton Bay's poorest districts. She is driven, charismatic, inspiring and reminds me too damn much of Moord Nag. No, far too dangerous to let her run amok."

"And one Parahuman justifies-" Miss Militia started when a screen flickered and a brown-haired woman in her mid-twenties appeared on screen looking frantic.

"Director Tagg! Miss Militia!" Dragon cried, "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Dragon?" the new head of the Protectorate said in surprise, "What are you talking about?"

"This!" the world's foremost Tinker exclaimed, and the screen split, the other screen showing the live security camera image of a cell…Skitter's cell…which was filling up with water, the Parahuman girl inside beating on the door and screaming to be let out.

Miss Militia swore and rounded on Tagg. "Is this what you meant by 'too dangerous to run amok?!'"

"N…No!" Tagg exclaimed, "Dragon, shut the water off!"

"If I could have done that before now, don't you think it would be off by now?!" the Tinker snarled, "The cell and the controls for the pipes that were redirected to fill Skitter's cell are outside of my control and I need YOUR authorisation to shut down the building's water supply even temporarily. Please give me permission to do so!"

"Right." Tagg leaned forward and entered his code into his computer, allowing Dragon full access into the PRT building again. He hadn't liked that she had had unlimited access under Piggot and Armsmaster, so he had made her install something that limited her access to non-critical areas of the building, a firewall that even she couldn't get past without asking permission. This incident would doubtlessly make her ask for it to be removed…with good reason, dammit.

"I'm in." Dragon concentrated and the sound of rapid typing was heard over the pickup before a scowl fell across her face. "Your code, as well as every PRT and Municipal code, has been locked out of the system hierarchy for the water systems…barring one. That code is for former Director Thomas Calvert."

"Shit!" Tagg cursed, "Miss Militia, grab the Wards, get down to the cells and break Skitter out of that cell!"

"On it." The bandana-masked woman replied as she strode out of the room.

With Skitter

The water was up to my waist now and my voice was hoarse from shouting, my hands aching from hitting the glass. What kind of incompetent security did the PRT have that was circumvented so easily?!

Then again, Coil was nothing if not meticulous. If I had been in his place, this is exactly the kind of thing I'd set up, just in case the person who was directly responsible for my death was ever caught by the PRT.

I actually giggled somewhat hysterically. Here I was, getting ready to drown or suffocate, and I was complimenting the planning skills of my murderer! It was nuts!

I was trapped…just as trapped as I had been in the damn locker. Trapped and goddamn helpless! I started to hyperventilate as the water level started reaching the bottom of my ribcage. Flashbacks to the locker started and I screamed in denial. I was Skitter, damn it! Leader of the Undersiders and one of the Warlords of Brockton Bay!

I. Want. OUT!

With Miss Militia and the Wards

"So someone's trying to kill Skitter?" Weld asked, the Case 53 jogging along behind the incensed Protectorate Leader.

Vista, following behind him, looked upset. "Why? She surrendered!"

"No idea, but she is in danger of drowning." Miss Militia replied, her power forming into a Tinkertech weapon based on Shatterbird's power. "I need you all to secure Skitter once I break the door down. THEN we find out what the hell-"

Destination.

Agreement.

Trajectory.

Agreement.

Enhancement.

Agreement. Expansion?

Agreement. Growth?

Agreement.

Administration!

Blinking blearily, Miss Militia picked herself off the ground with a groan, followed swiftly by the Wards. Kid Win helped Vista up and Weld looked at Miss Militia in confusion.

"What…was that?" he asked.

"When a Parahuman Triggers, any other Parahuman around them for at least a few meters collapses unconscious for a minute or so." The Protectorate member replied, "From what we know, Skitter Triggered when trapped in a small, confined space thanks to Shadow Stalker. Very similar to the situation she's in now, so…"

"Aw fuck." Kid Win moaned, "She's had a Second Trigger Event!"

"Let's move!" Miss Militia ordered, "If Skitter has Triggered again, then there's no telling how powerful she's gotten!"

Just then, the sound of glass breaking could be heard from behind the door into the Standard Parahuman Containment Cell Wing before it was slammed open by a deluge of water that flooded the corridor.

"Aw hell." Weld cursed mildly as Skitter, soaked to the bone but very much alive, strode out of the cell block. She looked pissed.

"So is this how the PRT handles Parahumans who surrender to them?" she asked, glaring through her domino mask at the Wards, "Drowning them? I can just see the PR scandal…"

"Stand down, Skitter." Miss Militia ordered, "The PRT had nothing to do with what happened to your cell."

"Bzzt! Wrong!" Skitter replied, "A man who worked for both the PRT and Coil did this, calls himself 'Coiled.' He walked right up outside my cell, told me why he was killing me and then waltzed on out without a care in the world. Jeez. Even AFTER Coil's removed from the picture, you people can't keep your place clean of moles and spies. I have decided that it is too hazardous to my health to remain in your custody, so I will be leaving."

"That...isn't an option." Miss Militia stated slowly, her weapon reforming into a basic pistol, "I will promise you that whoever it was that did this will be found and tried for attempted murder, but I must ask that you submit to lawful custody."

"Tried that…didn't seem to do much for my long term plan of 'not dying,' so now I'm on my way outta here."

"You do realise that you are completely isolated here." Vista pointed out, "And up against all of us. You can't win."

"Tell me, how did you guys do against Mannequin? I kicked his ass." Skitter shot back as she assumed a combat stance, "Granted, I had my swarm with me, but as soon as Coiled showed up, I put out the call."

From the air ducts in the corridor, cockroaches, flies, beetles and other nasty bugs swarmed, crawling and hovering on and around the bug controller. It was a pitiful amount when compared to normal, and Kid Win couldn't help but point this out.

"Ah, but I've picked up a few new…tricks…just recently. Just in case you guys hadn't noticed." Skitter gestured once and a single cockroach advanced on them. Then, it started to grow to monstrous proportions, soon becoming large enough to take up most of the corridor.

"Now then," Skitter said, a smirk growing on her face, "Let's dance, shall we?"

This is something I've wanted to write for a while; Skitter Second Triggering. And taking after Bitch in a way.

Master: 10 (Able to control any insect or other creature above and below a certain size and brain size. Range Post-Second Trigger is double that of her Initial Trigger, so six square blocks. Is also able to enlarge and empower her minions to stupidly enormous sizes. Example being empowering a cockroach from the average size of 4cm to the size of an average minivan. Has a limit to how many insects can be enlarged in this fashion, but that number is at least fifty. If used on Atlas, it can grow a digestive system for him.)

Thinker: 5 (Able to use the minds of her insect minions to increase her processing speed. Also able to sink her mind into the swarm to dampen or muffle her emotions. Also able to instantly know the special characteristics of any insect at a glance.)

Brute: 3 (Empowered with strength enough to shatter hardened shatterproof glass in a single hit. Is also able to tank hits that would kill an ordinary human. When clad in her costume, her Brute rating is upped by one point to include its defensive capabilities.)