Chapter Four:

I was gathering as many bugs as I could. I needed all the bugs I could get for this job. When I was done, I put them into people's homes. Or what were their current homes with what was going on…

I caused the bugs to buzz loudly around people and nip them, waking them up.

When that was done, I made an arrow in bugs with the words supplied under them. Accounting for the illiterate, I put the bugs down in shapes of basic food - a drumstick, a cut of cheese, a can.

Wasn't my best work. I could only hope they understood what it meant

I placed large arrows on the side of buildings to guide people to where we were. We stopped at a part of the road that was torn up and had made it difficult for traffic. We barely had enough time to set up before people started coming in. I had Coil's guys that were with me placing the supplies on the ground. I was worried about the supplies getting wet, I knew they were at least partially waterproof, but a part of me wished I had the foresight to ask Coil for some padding to put them on.

The first people to come were kids, who looked no older than 10, the other two groups were families with kids, and there were some men walking in with swagger. I couldn't tell whether they were merchants or just men that were confident. Luckily, if they were merchants, it wouldn't be because I planned for this.

One of the men went for the supplies but I manages to scare him off with my bugs.

I was taking a shot in the dark here. Gambling. It was like betting a million dollars you could hit a bullseye when you barely played darts. You just really needed that million dollars.

Basically, I really needed to get underway with Coil's agenda, and I needed to do it fast.

More people started to come. I was worried we wouldn't have enough supplies for everyone, or they would get confident and try to mob us.

No, my gut told me now was the time to act. I gathered some of my bugs into a humanoid shape and moved from the crowd. I heard a few gasps, a few murmurs, a woman shrieking, and I felt the crowd part. When everyone could see, I scattered its shape and had it shoot towards the truck, landing on top of the crates.

The moments I knew people wouldn't be able to see, I walked into the swarm; I scattered every bug into every direction, the people on the truck backed up.

To the crowd, it looked like I had transported myself to the truck. A cheap, chessy trick, yes and not one that it would take long to figure out. But I'm hoping the lighting and the whole dramatic lead up made it believable.

I kept the bugs around me, swirling. Like grue did with his power. Using my bugs to make me look bigger. Like a dog raising its shackles, or a cat arching its back.

"Some of you know of me!" I called out, and the noises of the swarm stressed the words, giving an eerie, strangely loud echo to my voice. "My name is Skitter!"

I looked over at the crowd. So many kids, so many unwashed and wrinkled, but my eye fell on someone who wasn't either of those things. Her white and gray costume had on it in light blue not too different from a circuit board.

'Battery' I thought. I knew this thing could attract heroes. Still, it was intimidating. A reminder of how fragile this whole thing was.

"I am laying claim to this area! From this moment, I rule this territory!"

I could have been booed or jeered. Instead, all I heard were murmurs. Battery hadn't budged. She just put her finger to her ear, and her lips were moving. She didn't move her head from me, and I could imagine her staring at me.

"I am not the ABB! I am not the Merchants, the Empire, or the Chosen!" I am acting in your interest!"

"I demand no money from you. I do not intend to interfere in your lives unless you interfere in mine! I do not want to take or destroy what you have!"

I pointed at crates that were below my feet. I lowered my voice. "These Supplies are yours, a gift from me to you. And there will be more, delivered regularly for as long as I am here. My abilities mean there will be no buzzing or biting flies harassing you, no cockroaches crawling over you as you sleep. I am offering you protection, security, and reprieve, for as long as you are my subjects! All I require is that you obey my rules, so hear me!"

"No gangs will operate here. Merchants? Chosen? I know some of you are in this crowd. Consider this my declaration of war. I will not permit you to sell drugs, to hurt my people or steal from them, or seek shelter in my territory!"

I raised my right hand and let my bugs gather around it in a large spherical shape.

"My bugs can devour a cow to the bone in one and a half minutes." i have no idea if that was true or not, it sounded good. "I have a million eyes to watch you with. Go elsewhere."

"To everyone else! If you assist any of these groups, give them food, shelter, or business? If you sell drugs, steal, or prey on the people in this area, you lose my goodwill. You will receive no more supplies and you will earn my attention, with eyes on you every waking hour. That's strike one. If I catch you doing it again, I'll treat you as one of the enemies."

I let my words hang in the air for effect, I looked at Battery. she wasn't going to stop me...interesting.

"Each box contains enough basic food rations for four people. They also have first aid supplies and water filters. These supplies will keep you going until we start fixing things and making more basic conveniences available."

"If you want more? Work for me. This work does not have to be criminal, for I need people to pass on messages, to act as spokesperson, and to clean up or rebuild. For anyone who does assist me, they and their families will have access to some of those food you miss, to showers and electricity, and generous payments. You and your loved one will be dry, clean, and will have fresh clothes. The heroes won't be able to do anything for MONTHS. And for the supplies, at least one more month. The only way to get them is through me."

I looked over the crowd, they were getting restless. At least they weren't lynching me.

"Thank you for listening, these supplies are yours to take. One to each family or group, up to two if your family is large enough."

My monologue finished, I waited. Nobody ventured forward. Did I do too good a job at intimidating them?

Eventually, a family came forward. And took a box without so much as a thank you. Although it eventually paved the way for more people to come forward to get boxes.

But there weren't enough boxes for everyone even with one box for one family.

I knew Coil had more, his underground base had stored a ridiculous amount. I began thinking of a plan of getting Coil to give me more supplies.

But my thoughts were interrupted by a man yelling in the crowd.

It was one of the men with swagger. A lizard man turning his arm into a sword and swinging it. Grinning at the reaction he was getting. His buddies behind him were grinning as well.

"Big man," I called out, "you feel proud with that knife of yours?"

He turned towards me,"Fuck you! I'm not scared of bugs!"

I stepped down from the truck, people backed away, but the man held his ground. His eyes went wider the closer I got. He chewed his lip like it was trying to get away from him.

"You a member of the Merchants?" i asked

"Fuck you!" he snarled.

I wasn't going to be able to have a conversation with this guy.

"Fine. Don't care. You're threatening my people? You'd better be ready to take me on"

"Not scared of you!

I shrugged. "Prove it, use that rusty thing on me. Stab me."

He looked at the crowd, hesitated.

"What?" I asked him. "I thought you weren't scared?"

"I'm not!"

"Then stab me!" I raised my voice.

"THAT WON'T BE NECESSARY!"

Suddenly, a voice came from the air. I turned my head to see a muscular figure standing on one of the buildings. It was hard to tell who it was from a distance. He jumped straight up and then shot forward. Did he have a flying power?

"WHY? BECAUSE I AM HERE!"

Wait, is that?...No way…

The man landed right on the lizard man, crushing him. The other gang member ran away from the behemoth of a man that stood before me. A man with a build rivaling Arnold Schwarzenegger, wearing what looked like an American Flag as a costume. Hair that stood up like a bunny, blue eyes with black irises, and a big grin.

'All Might' iI thought 'it's fucking All Might"

for a second I grew giddy, All Might is here, Fucking All Might. The man that had fought Endbringer several times and lives, the man that, unlike The Triumvirate, also helps with regular crimes wherever he goes, the man that inspires basically everyone. One of the top heroes in the world, he's even bigger in person. As damaging for my reputation as it might have been, I couldn't conceal my excitement.

Then I stopped myself and thought about it. How do I know All Might isn't like the other heroes? How do I know he's not someone like Armmaster? A self-serving glory hound who was only concerned for himself? He did a lot of attention and enjoyed it. So it was a possibility.

No one was cheering for him now. He was getting a few claps, but for the most part people were silent and it's easy to see why. All Might wasn't there in the Endbringer fight. He left the people of Brockton Bay to die. Maybe he just couldn't get there in time, but that's never happened before, And I doubt the people of Brockton Bay would forgive him so quickly

"HAVE NO ALARM CITIZENS! THE CRIMINAL IS TAKEN CARE OF!" He announced. "I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT BEING DURING THE ENDBRINGER FIGHT! I HAD NO IDEA HE WOULD SHOW UP SO EARLY! BUT I AM HERE NOW TO MAKE UP FOR MY MISTAKE!"

Everyone cheered for that.

Or maybe they would.

NOW GO ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS WHILE I TALK WITH THE SUPERVILLAIN"

Wait…He wanted to talk to me?

Everyone that had a crate went away. Well, everyone that didn't have one waited. I felt a tinge of guilt for not having enough crates for everyone. All Might stood over me.

"Do you need me to recap what I said?" I asked.

"NO NEED!" he shouted hammily. "BATTERY ALREADY TOLD ME! THROUGH VOICE COMMS!"

I looked over to Battery, who simply waved at me. I awkwardly waved back.

"So!" he lowered his voice a bit. "you're the girl pretending to be a villain. Or the girl pretending to be a hero, pretending to be a villain!"

I looked down. "Yeah, pretty much."

"So, which is it?"

"What?"

"Which one are you, a hero, or a villain?

I thought about it for a moment. "It's not that simple."

"I can see how you think that," he looked down, "but we live in a superhero society! And when you don that cape, and I know most heroes don't wear capes but you get what I mean, you're either a hero or a villain!" he got on one knee and put his one arm on it to look me in the eye "That's how it is!"

That mindset was so stupid and wonderfully black and white, that I'm surprised the number one hero had it.

"I'm...not sure I believe that"

"Oh, and what do you believe?"

I thought about it for a little while. What did I believe? I became a supervillain to help Dinah, because superheroes weren't as innocent or as glamorous as I thought, but I didn't really think about my philosophy because I didn't have time.

After some consideration, taking everything into account. Planning what I'd say carefully, I gave him my answer.

"I don't think the heroes are that different from the villains."

His look didn't change. Interesting. "Really?"

"No, heroes...they like to think they're in for what's good and what's right. But at the end of the game. They're only in for the money, the glory, the power. They're not better than us villains. We do what they do. Except we're more high risk, more high reward."

"I can see why you think that. But I think you mean 'end of the day.'"

"No, I don't. After all, this is all just a game, right?"

After a long pause, All Might responded. "What do you mean by that?"

"This is all just a game. Heroes are basically your local sports team and villains are the competition. That's why there's merchandising, interviews, and why heroes are treated like celebrities."

All Might responded. "I can tell you're not very passionate, young Skitter!"

"I'm not young, but what do you mean by passionate?"

"First off, I can tell you're young by your body type and voice, but mainly your voice."

Really? Was it that easy to figure out? He mentioned it was mainly because of my voice. I guess I do sound kinda young. I would have to work towards masking my voice with the swarm to cover that more often.

"I could just sound young for my age."

"That could be the case! But the fact that you propose it as a possibility and not as the actual case nearly confirms it! Unless you're just trying to throw me off!"

"I'm not telling."

"Well, there is other evidence that supports my theory. So I'm not ready to throw it out just yet."

I'm so fucking stupid. Why did I phrase it as a possibility? He was THIS close to figuring me out. And according to him, he still takes it as fact. I became an owner of my territory and a full time villain but I still couldn't lie for shit. Maybe Lisa could teach me...

"But!" All Might continued "you don't seem passionate about your game analogy! If you really believed them, then you would seem passionate. Your heart would bleed for your philosophy!"

Great, he figured that out too. As much as I didn't want to admit it, he had a point. I wasn't sure how much I believed that. I knew heroes were selfish but I wasn't sure I was on board with Lisa's whole 'cops and robbers' theory. It would explain a lot of things about hero society. But I wasn't sure I believed in it as much as she did.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"When you fight as many villains as I have, you learn a lot of things. And from the way you talk, I can tell you believe heroes are selfish, but not that they're any different from villains."

All Might continued. "If I had to guess, I would say that you had that idea planted in your head by a comrade! Someone you worked with when you were trying to get information about the boss. Someone who probably has been manipulating you, someone you might even consider a friend"

"You're getting-I-I mean...making a lot of assumptions based on little information."

"It makes sense, you were bullied at school, correct?"

My eyes went wide "What? How do you…"

"I already shared the theory with the Protectorate, They told me you refused to go with the Wards when you decided to become the hero, the only reason you wouldn't want to do that is if you don't trust the system, meaning something had to happen to justify you not trusting the system. I assume you tried to get help from the school for your bullying, but they didn't. Correct?"

He shared this information with the Protectorate? Great. All I need is for them to see me as nothing but a scared bullied teenage girl who's way in over her head

As for the reason I didn't join the wards, he was close, admittingly I didn't want to escape the pressure of high school into High School 2.0. It would've been cooler maybe, but all the regulations I heard about in the magazines, and bullshit that would be in any group of teenagers just scared me away from it. But I didn't want to admit to that. I looked for a possible explanation but I couldn't find one.

"And I assume Shadow Stalker is one of the people that bullied you. Considering you said you rather go to the birdcage than go with the Wards after learning of her identity. That's quite dramatic! The only reasonable explanation is that you have history with her."

"That's...a large assumption," I answered, not showing my utter disbelief that he figured it out that fast.

"AND" he ignored me "I assume that whatever Armmaster did that no one will tell me about, shattered your belief in heroes, and that your teammates defending you caused you to see them as your real friends. AND I imagine you compartmentalize people into bullies and friends. Heroes being bullies and your villain team being friends."

Jesus. Christ. He could figure out so much about me, so quickly, like it was nothing. I guess being a big brute didn't mean he wasn't intelligent, but there is one thing he got wrong.

"I don't compartmentalize people into bullies and friends. I think I compartmentalize allies and enemies. Like everyone else does."

"I wouldn't say everyone does that." All Might retorted. "But there's something interesting about your response. The fact you didn't deny anything else means there is at least some truth in it, correct?

"It's...more...complicated than that..." I lamely said

"I don't think it is. I know it's hard to trust people after they hurt you, but you can't take it out on other people. And you can't let a bad childhood paint your perspective of everything."

"It wasn't a bad childhood, I'm not a child."

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to patronize you! I'm only trying to say heroes aren't as bad as you claim. A few bad eggs shouldn't paint your perspective of everything. I know at your core you're a good person that wants to do good. That's why you're becoming a warlord in the first place, to help people. That fact that you gave these people a gift instead of restricting resources to people who work for you says a lot about your personality and goals."

His voice was soft and warm. He was so understanding and respectful, I couldn't even believe this was happening. I felt tears in my eyes. I didn't know what to say.

"So you're going to not stop me?"

All Might's smile faltered a little. "No but I think you could do more good as a Ward. And with Shadow Stalker off the team, you have nothing to worry about. I know I'm asking you to leave your friends. But your friends are bad people. Murderers."

I twitched at that. I didn't want to be reminded of Alec and bitch being killers. And I DEFINITELY didn't want to leave them.

But it was more than that.

I couldn't just leave Dinah

I volunteered the only answer I could give. "I'll think about it."

"OK, AS LONG AS YOU THINK ABOUT IT!" He raised his voice to a shout. "WELL THAT'S ALL FOR ME GUESS I'LL GET GOING. BUT I'LL SEE YOU AGAIN SOON! HOPEFULLY! GOODBYE!"

And with that he jumped away, using shock waves to propel himself forward. Looking back, I can't believe I thought All Might might be a hero like Armmaster. Clearly he was a good man.

But I had more important things to worry about.

I went back to worrying about my territory.

Author Notes: Well, here it is! My MHA/Worm fusion fic! there are going to be lots of twists and turns in this one. It's going to be funny, action-packed, not to mention, my favorite, interesting character arcs and reactions. Hope you enjoy! This is Super Ultimate Number One, Sighing out. Peace!