Keep Calm and Respawn

A Worm Fanfiction

By: Konsaki

19 Apr - Morning

I woke up shivering in a comforter cocoon.

I pitiful keen escaped me as I cracked my eyes open to find a completely dark room. Glancing at the alarm clock to try and figure out what time it was, I saw it completely blank.

Great, the power's out.

That means the heater's dead too.

"F-fuck." I finally got tired of shivering in my Taylor burrito and braved the elements. The sweat shirt and pants I pulled on just sapped the little warmth from my body as I prepared to brave the world.

Letting out a yawn as I checked my cell, I found out it was at least around five in the morning. Not the worst time to wake up but seven would have been better.

Moving into Dad's room, I found him softly snoring away in his own bundle of blankets. He woke with a snort after I gently shook his shoulder. "Dad, the power's out."

He blinked in the darkness, running a hand over his face. "Shit… Ung… Give me a minute and I'll be downstairs."

"I'll start pulling the heaters out." I told him as I left to head downstairs myself.

Living in the northeast meant having small kerosene heaters was a must for survival. You never knew when a blizzard was going to roll through town and cut your power for days on end.

Spreading out the newspaper onto the table, I lifted the heaters and kerosene can up. Actually, one of the heaters felt full enough, so I moved it onto the coffee table before the couch. I had just finished priming it and getting it lit when Dad trundled down the stairs.

"Good." He nodded towards my efforts as he lit a kerosene lamp on the kitchen counter. "I'll start filling the rest."

I smiled at him but stayed beside the lit heater, warming my hands. A moment later, I pulled out my phone and pulled up PHO. A quick scan through and I put it away in disgust. "Looks like we have Bakuda and the ABB to thank for this."

"Fucking Capes."

Even though he muttered it under his breath, I still clearly heard his words and the emotion underneath. Logically, I knew he wasn't talking about me specifically, but I also knew I fell into the category of 'Cape' now. I felt a little conflicted, since I agreed with him but also wanted to say 'not all Capes' at the same time.

Dad finished up and left a lit heater on the table, moving to fill a kettle and light the stove. I guess now that there was nothing to do but wait for the house and kettle to heat up, he couldn't help but think about the day's plans.

"I wish you'd just stay home." He said with a sigh, massaging his tired eyes. "Why can't you just leave this to the PRT?"

"You know why, Dad." I responded, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. "We already went through this last night."

The late night 'discussion' of me going after Othala was not an easy one. Especially with how I had to tiptoe around the fact that I was working with villains.

"I know. It's just… you're my baby girl." He tried to explain, emotions working over his face. "I can't help but worry when you're basically running into a warzone with superpowered maniacs."

I just sat there, enjoying the heat for a few moments, before I sighed. "Dad… I just can't sit back and do nothing." I looked over towards him. "I can't help but think about all the people who were hurt or killed by this. By both Bakuda's bombs and those Neo-Nazi asshats. They need to be stopped and I can help."

After seeing Dad just standing there in silent contemplation, I stood up and moved before him. "Look, I'm not trying to take on Kaiser or Lung by myself." Glossing over the fact that my fight with the latter had helped cause this mess. "I'm working with a team of Capes now. Heck, none of us are going after those two, we're trying to arrest the other Capes in the gangs to cut back on the firepower they have."

"I know, I know." He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair before scratching his head in thought. "It sounds good, in theory I guess, but things can go wrong and I worry."

"Dad, the leader of the team I'm on already said we're just getting in, capturing Othala and get out. We're not running in like Rambo."

He chuckled at the comparison, reaching over to rub my hair, to which I swatted at. "Rambo was a guerrilla fighter, Taylor."

I could feel my cheeks heat a little. "You know what I mean, Dad!"

"Yeah, I do and it does help a little knowing you're trying to avoid a brawl with the E88 but I'm your father, I'm allowed to worry." He stated again for the upteenth time since I came back yesterday as he wrapped me in yet another hug.

I could only let out a sigh of exasperation. Before I had my powers, Dad was still fatherly but it seemed standoffish. Now, he was constantly asking how things were, like a mother hen or something.

I was a little split on how much I liked it or not.

oO0Oo

19 Apr - Late Afternoon

I stepped into the warehouse door to find a giant dog growling in my face and froze.

And when I say 'giant' I mean the size of a big rig.

After the initial shock wore off, I cocked my head at the monstrous beast. "I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be." A deeper female's voice warned, the speaker moving around the still growling beast to cross her arms over her chest. The ugly, snarling dog mask easily identified her as 'Bitch' or 'Hellhound', depending on who you were talking to. She was a Master type Cape, who empowered dogs like this guy here.

"Why?" I questioned, gesturing towards the monstrified dog. "All he can do is kill me."

"Bitch! Back down, now!" Grue commanded, walking up from deeper in the warehouse. "We've got a job to do and she's part of it."

Bitch looked from me to her team leader and back. With a snort, she wandered off, her beast following along before shrinking down to a normal sized doberman.

"Come on, let's get this over with." The black leather costumed villain directed, moving back where he came. Really, Grue looked like more like a biker than a villain, if you ignored the helmet shaped like Sauron's skull helm with shadows writhing off it like flames.

As I followed, I wondered if I was going to get an apology before remembering this was a Villain team and I was technically their enemy by being a Hero. It was a little sobering to be reminded that these people weren't my friends, even with what we were planning on doing later today.

Grue took a spot at a table with the city map spread on it, sticky notes and marker lines all over it. The blonde Tattletale was leaning over it, circling a new spot while glancing towards her phone. In another seat, a young man in a white coiffed shirt and a white mask and golden crown sat, idly twirling a scepter in his hands.

Once Regent caught sight of me, he stopped messing with his 'weapon' and grinned at me. "Oh, look. Our very own Hero to save us in our hour of darkness."

The sarcasm was so thick I could have cut it with my knife, but before I could say anything Tattletale's head shot up. I blinked as she smiled at me, an actual smile. "Hey, girlfriend! Glad you could make it!"

Okay, what was up with the 'girlfriend' thing?

"Ah… yeah. Sorry I'm late."

The blonde teen just waved it off, straightening up and placing a hand to her hip. "Don't worry about it. We wouldn't start until nightfall anyways. Kinda hard to sneak in with Bitch's dogs all beast mode, you know?"

"I guess?" I still didn't know where I stood with this girl. Was she still trying to recruit me onto her team? Was she trying to manipulate me like the Bitch Trio did sometimes? Was she actually trying to be friends?

It was confusing, to say the least.

"Anyways, we've got most of the plan down already." The villainess indicated to the map she was working on, with most of the marks and notes centered around the E88 territory of Brockton Bay. "What I'm still working on is narrowing down the locations we need to check."

I finally spent some time to examine the map, ignoring the fact that everything was upside down from my orientation. It looked like there were around a dozen circled buildings, with even more that were circled but crossed off.

"So, we've got to check all these places?" I asked, tapping the circle closest to me.

Regent just laughed at me while Tattletale shook her head. "No, that's what I've been working on narrowing down. Really, I think these are the most likely places but we're not going to move without more accurate information."

"This is different from our normal heists." Grue commented, leaning forward to put his hands on the table. "We're looking for a person who the E88 are moving around both to keep her safe and also to make it easier to use her powers."

"But once we find her, snagging her will be a piece of cake!" Regent stated, slapping the head of his scepter into a hand. "It's not like she can use her powers on herself!"

"I doubt she's going to be alone." I said, reviewing what I knew of Othala in my head. The E88 Cape basically could give minor powers to other people, though only to one person at a time. With the gang war going on, I'd assume she was mainly giving the E88 goons her healing powers to get them back on their feet quicker.

"And that's why I'm doing my research." Tattletale commented, crossing out another spot but putting a question mark at another one.

"So, what's the plan? We all sneak around until we find her? You guys sneak around while I'm a distraction? You guys playing distraction?"

Tattletale set down the phone and marker before glancing towards the silent Grue. After a moment, she shook her head. "Well, as of right now, the plan is once we move out it'll be in two groups… Us and You."

Basically, they wanted me to do my own thing while they did theirs. On one hand it kind of defeated the point of teaming up, treating it more like two teams working in tandem. On the other, it made some sense, what with me being able to survive Lung while they needed to fight as a team.

At the very least, the Undersiders needed Bitch for fast movement, her monster dogs being even faster than me using charges to power jump.

"Okay, then, but what about actually capturing Othala? It's not like I can escape with her easily if I find her." I pointed out, already accepting the two team aspect of the plan.

"If either of us find her, we contact the other." Tattletale stated, reaching into a small backpack on the table to place an earpiece and a handgun with holster on the table. "This is so you can contact us during the run."

"And the gun?" I quirked an eyebrow, looking from the revolver to the villainess. It had a matte black finish and black rubber grip, along with a decent sized barrel. That's about all I could tell about it, considering all my gun knowledge was from television and movies. If I had to compare it, it was smaller than Dirty Harry's gun but bigger than those stubby revolvers that barely had any barrel.

"Just an idea I had, thinking about what I've seen of your powers." Tattletale stated, gesturing towards me. "When Lung tore you to shreds, you popped back up like nothing had happened. Not even a scorch mark or smudge on your coat to show for it."

"Yeah… and?" Wondering where she was going with this.

She pushed the holstered revolver towards me. "Just put this on and then… shoot yourself."

Okay, I was curious where this was going, so strapped the holster to my side and checked how secure it was. Deciding it was good enough, I drew the revolver and placed the barrel against my head.

One pull of the trigger and I had a charge ready to use.

"Can I see it now?" Tattletale asked, holding a hand out. When I looked confused she rolled her eyes. "I meant the gun."

With a shrug, handed it over to the purple catsuit wearing villainess. "You going to tell me why I did that?"

Instead of answering, the blonde girl slid out the chamber and ejected the six bullets onto the table, the brass clinking against the wood. Grabbing each one, she ordered them in a line before her. I really didn't get the point, since it was just a bullets to me.

It must have meant something though, what with how Grue and Regent leaned forward to get a better look. Regent laughed a moment later, shaking his head. "Of course… like a fucking video game."

"Yeah, it is." Tattletale shook her head in disbelief.

"What is?" That got the blonde to look back at me before tossing a bullet to me. I almost fumbled it but held it in my hands, the shiny brass contrasting against my glove. "So? It's a bullet."

"That's the one you just fired." Tattletale told me, making me look at the brass in my hand again.

"Wait… so I just… reset it or something?" I held the round up to my face, similar to how Tattletale had earlier.

"That's what it looks like." The blonde replied with a shrug. "It's just an idea I wanted to test but it's got me wondering what else your powers might do."

"We can worry about that later." Grue cut in, reaching forward to tap the map. "Let's worry about capturing Othala."

"Right." Tattletale agreed, accepting the mild chastisement with a nod. She handed the bullets and revolver back to me, I guess expecting me to reload it myself. "Anyways, back to the plan. The Undersiders aren't a knock down brawlfest team. We're a 'get in, steal shit and get out' team."

"So, what? I make some noise and play decoy for you guys to capture her?"

"It's not a bad idea, ya'know." Regent commented, slowly spinning the scepter in his hands. "It's not like any of us want to tangle with Hookwolf and friends."

"It's an option but even if she's taking the heat, it'll set everyone else on edge, making it harder for us to get Othala." Grue countered, crossing his arms.

"That's my thoughts as well." The purple clad villainess agreed with a nod. "We need to find her first and that's hard to do with everyone shooting at shadows."

"So, what are we doing then?"

"We wait for Tattletale to find out Othala's general location, then we head over to capture her. Once we know exactly where she's is, we'll decide how we're going to handle things." Grue answered me, reaching forward to tap the map.

I looked at the map again, seeing the many circled points not crossed off. "How long until we find out where she is?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Tattletale replied with a shrug.

"What."

She huffed at me. "Look, I'm trying to find a single woman, Cape or no Cape, who could be anywhere in this area. Add in the fact that she's moving around and you basically have to reset the board every so often." She ran her finger around the E88 territory.

Okay, that made sense and made me feel a little foolish. "Okay, can I help somehow?"

"Not really. I'm kind of relying on my powers to figure this all out, along with a few connections keeping their eyes and ears open." She held up her phone, the PHO forum showing on the screen. "Besides, you'll be surprised how many people in this city report Cape sightings just because. Othala moving around actually helps us somewhat."

"So you're hoping that someone will see Othala and then post it immediately." I sounded a little sceptical.

Instead of answering me, she tapped a bit on the phone before handing it over to me. I looked at the screen and then had to blink. "'Just saw Respawn heading up 23rd street.' What?"

"Based off when you got here, that had a two to three minute lag time from when you were seen."

"That's crazy!" I gestured to the phone before handing it back.

"Why do you think we work at night?" The blond pretty-boy asked with a laugh. "It's not just cause we're thieves."

"He's not wrong but back to Othala. This was really just to let you know what we've got and answer any questions. Other than that… basically, I'll call you once I have something."

"Well… that's a letdown." I let out a sigh. "I was ready to head out and capture her."

Grue snorted beneath his skull paint biker helmet, crossing his arms. "At least you're eager."

Feeling my cheeks heat up I reached down to start unstrapping the revolver only to stop at Tattletale's objection. "Keep it. It's clean and a useful tool."

Something about the tone of her voice had me feel like I could trust her. "Okay, fine." I still planned on taking it to the PRT to have it checked out and make sure it was legal.

oO0Oo

22 Apr - Early Evening

"Come on, Yoshi! We've got this!" I cried out, jerking the controller to the side as the green dino jumped up to a higher platform platform.

"No one can escape the justice of the 'Falcon Punch'!" Clockblocker declared across the couch as the part-time FZero racer, part-time hero chased after me.

Both of us paused as the sound of a pokeball opening played before continuing on without a care. "What?! Magicarp?! Come on!" Vista cried out in dismay before having her yellow rat pick up a laser blaster and shooting across the map at us.

"You all are getting way too into this." Glory Girl just shook her head as she sat between Vista and me.

"Get better, noob!" Clock declared as he finally caught up with me. "No!"

"Yes!" I cheered, the Ward falling into my trap, his character now trapped in a giant green egg. Before I could capitalise on the move, a bomb flew in and exploded, flinging both our characters out of the screen. "No!"

"Yes! I win!" The young girl cheered, jumping off the couch to actually do a victory dance. "Who's the Queen of Smash?! This girl!"

Clock and I just looked at the screen in shock while Vicky burst out laughing, holding out a high five for the younger heroine who happily returned it. It was once Vista continued her little victory dance that Clock and I looked to each other.

"Truce to dethrone the 'Queen'?"

"Truce." I agreed to Clock's proposal with a handshake.

"What?!" Vista spun out of her dance to gape at us. "No fair teaming up against me!"

"You mean like teaming up with GG to take me down earlier?" Clock inquired, the wide grin audible in his voice.

"No! That was completely different!" The green clad girl declared, jabbing a finger towards the older boy. "It was a coincidence!"

"Oh, so you both just so happened to conveniently chase only me and ignore Respawn until I died?" Clock obviously didn't believe the girl.

"Yeah! You tell him, Glory Girl!" Vista looked to the older blonde for support.

Glory Girl tried to contain her giggles, waving a hand before her. "Totally innocent."

Before it could go any farther, 'Barbie Girl' started belting out of my pants.

"Really?" Glory Girl quirked an eyebrow, giving me an unsure look as I pulled out my phone.

Verifying the main screen, even as 'Barbie' continued talking about herself, I grinned. "It's Tattletale." I pressed a couple of buttons, silencing the 90's song, while I waved for the other three to be quiet. "Hey! Please tell me you've got something!"

"We've got a lead!" Tattletale confirmed over the speaker. "You ready to go, girlfriend?"

When GG mouthed 'girlfriend' with a confused look on her face, I gestured that I'd explain it later.

"Been ready." I grinned beneath my mask as I stood up from the couch, patting my pockets. That reminded me, I needed to get my weapons back from the security desk.

"Great! Where are you right now?"

"At the PRT tower hanging with the Wards. Where do I need to meet up with you guys?"

There was silence for a few moments before she finally replied. "I'll send you a text with the address. Get there as soon as you can."

"Got it." I killed the call and started towards the exit to the Ward Room.

"What was that 'girlfriend' thing?" The blonde 'Alexandria' heroine asked, slowly flying beside me.

All I could do was shrug. "No idea. Not really the important thing right now. I'll see you guys later!" I waved goodbye to the two Wards as GG and I headed out.

"Have fun storming the castle!" Clock yelled back along with Vista's call of good luck.

As I pressed the down button for the elevator, Glory Girl floated looking at me with her arms crossed. "You ready for this?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready." I gave my friend a nod, pounding a fist into my palm.

"No, I mean are you really ready for this?" She touched down to stand with her hands on my shoulders. "You're about to piss off the E88, like really piss them off."

"I kind of expected that, I mean, I'm about to arrest Othala. I'd be shocked if that 'didn't' piss them off."

"They could go after your dad."

A chill shot up my spine with those words, forcing me to lock onto her crystal blue eyes. The elevator dinged and opened but it was ignored, thoughts of the E88 attacking my house or the offices Dad worked in for the Dockers Union. It was a chilling thought but one I'd thought about before.

"It won't happen. They won't go after my dad." I declared with a shake of my head, turning to press the elevator button again. "It'd go against the 'unwritten rules'."

Noticing that the doors didn't immediately open, Glory Girl took the chance to speak again. "Tay-Respawn, the 'rules' didn't stop my uncle and his fiancee getting murdered when I was a kid!" A hand grabbed my shoulder to turn me back to face her. "Look, I'm not telling you to not do this, okay? I'm just saying be careful, with the E88 'and' with the Undersiders."

"I don't think the Undersiders are going to do anything. I saved them from Lung." I pointed out to my friend… my best friend.

"Yeah but what about that Coil guy who's paying them or whatever?" The blonde countered before wrapping me up in a hug. "Look, I just want you to be careful, okay?" Stepping back, she lightly slapped my shoulder. "If you need help, call me. Making sure a friend is okay is worth being yelled at by Mom."

I couldn't help but feel choked up. If only I had a friend like her after Mom died… After Emma… Victoria was different, though. She really meant it. If I needed help, she'd come flying to help, no matter the reason.

Wiping my eyes, I steeled myself as the elevator doors opened once more. "I'll give you a call later, whether I need help or not."

"I'll be waiting, so go kick some Nazi ass!" The blonde pushed me into the elevator with a wide smile, throwing a hand up for a high five.

"Damn right I will!" I declared, slapping her hand before the doors closed and the big box of steel and wire descended.

oO0Oo

22 Apr - Early Night

"I reached the meetup point, where are you guys?" I asked into the communicator as a reached the indicated rooftop. It was a dark night, clouds filling the sky with rumbles of thunder echoing off from the bay.

As always, the weatherman had predicted only a ten percent chance of rain but mother nature wanted to prove him wrong.

"Slight change in plans." Tattletale's voice came through the earpiece, voice apologetic but harried. "Someone saw Othala being escorted by some goons north of there. Based off that, there's two places she could be."

"So I'm checking one and you're getting the other." I reasoned.

"Got it in one." She confirmed before my phone buzzed in my pocket. "I just sent you the address for yours. It's around ten blocks north-northwest from where you are."

"So, what do I do if I find her?" I asked as I pulled up the map app on my phone, the GPS was turned off so I had to manually find where I was.

"Contact us and we'll meet up with you." Tattletale stated as I planned my route in the app. "If she's where we're at, we'll let you know."

"Got it." I nodded out of habit, even though she couldn't see me, closing the app and stowing my phone.

"Just keep things quiet for now. Once we go loud, we can't go back." She cautioned, grunting slightly as if Bitch's dog was a rough ride.

"Hey, I know how to keep things quiet. I'm not out there fighting Lung every night." I defended myself. Not every patrol I did ended in gunfire and screaming.

"Yeah, we'd like to avoid a repeat of that, thank you very much." Tattletale flatly stated before returning to her cheery tone. "Well, good luck, girlfriend!"

"You too. I'm headed in." I replied, ending the call with a press of a button.

Of course, that's when the rain started up.

It wasn't heavy rain but just one of those soft showers that threatened to grow into a heavy storm that happened around this time of year. Luckily, my coat was amazing and all I had to do was close it to stay warm and dry.

Then I made my first leap to the next roof and found out my legs were exposed to the rain.

Whatever… My boots are still dry and if I get there fast enough, it won't be too bad.

With that in mind, I continued running across the gravel roof before leaping across the street. I slid a little on the metal on the other side, the water making it slick, but found my footing quickly and continued on.

Things were starting out pretty smoothly, only having to work around a E88 goon playing sentry in a jury rigged watchpost. A quick hop down to the street level and a run through the alleys got me around that, before jumping back to the rooftops. A couple more roof jumps and I was only one building away from my destination.

Then the sky really opened up, lightning cracking the sky as a wall of falling water rolled into the city.

I made the final leap, jumping into the rainwall with my arms blocking my face. Yeah, my hood was great but I didn't want to be blinded by the water kicked up by my landing. Dropping my arms, I looked around the inconspicuous warehouse roof.

The rooftop was softly illuminated by the glow coming through the tent style skylight, letting me see that I was alone up here.

That was fine by me.

Reaching up, I pressed the button on the communicator in my ear. "Hey, I made it. I'm starting to check it out."

"Understood." Grue's voice responded.

Tattletale cut in next. "We're going the long way around. Too many lookouts."

"Be careful." I transmitted, not really sure what else to say.

"You too." The young villainess replied before closing the connection.

Looking around once more, I located a roof access hatch but didn't move towards it. Instead, I carefully moved closer to the skylight. I figured it'd be better to look inside to see what or who was actually in there.

Getting closer, I could see lights on inside but with the rain hitting the glass and causing waves to run down it, I couldn't make anything out.

Even wiping my hand over the skylight failed to clear much up, only giving me glimpses of a table and people around it down below.

"This is stupid." I complained, wiping my hand over the glass once more to little effect. I glanced back towards the hatch but didn't feel comfortable with using it yet. With that, I stepped forward to lean against the glass, using my arms as dams and my body as a wall to block the rain. It wasn't it perfect but as the seconds passed, the view cleared up, showing the table set up for a dinner or something.

As the figures seated below started clearing up, I edged my face closer to the glass, letting my hood block more rain from getting through.

Then there was an ominous click.

Before I could react, the pane of glass swung inward, leaving me trying to lean against open air. Needless to say, it didn't work out too well and I fell in to slam down onto the table, sending food and drink everywhere.

Screaming may or may not have been involved.

Resetting, I found myself crouched on the table looking down the long length at a person I really didn't want to see.

Sitting on a throne-like chair, wearing a polished suit of full-plate armor and helmet with a crown of spikes, was Kaiser, calmly looking back at me.

Alabaster and Hookwolf sat to his left and right, the albino man looking nonplussed while the savage man across from him snarled. Surrounding us all were armed goons, like a Nazi honor guard or something.

Everyone seemed fit to just stay still for the moment that stretched to eternity.

Then the panel of glass broke free and shattered into the table. Hookwolf shot out of his chair, throwing it back to the floor even as I stood and drew my revolver.

It all stopped when I held the gun to my head. "Nobody move or the Jew gets it!"

The pause held for a long moment but I'm pretty sure it was because Alabaster burst out laughing, not my threat.

Then Kaiser waved a hand and a metal spike rammed up my spine.

Respawning behind the spike, I looked around it. "That's just rude!"

"Kill her and make sure she stays dead!" The imperious voice called out, leading to a symphony of weapons being readied all around us.

Well… so much for stealth.

Pointing the revolver at the leader of the E88, I pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed into a steel wall that shot out from the floor a foot from the armored man.

That started a hail of gunfire to slam through my body, shunting me a few feet to the right in a fresh respawn.

Instead of duking it out with the entire E88, I coiled my legs and leaped back through the skylight I just fell through, obliterating the table below me and smashing through a another pane of glass. I had a moment of weightlessness to realise I overshot and fell over the edge into the alley below.

Pain flashed with broken legs before my boots started pounding through the puddles that filled the alley.

Somewhere behind me, Hookwolf burst through a wall, a cacophony of scraping metal and stone filling the air.

Leaping back up to the rooftops, I found out the E88 had more people on top of the buildings this time.

"There she is! Get her!"

Gunfire ripped through the air as the goons started firing pistols and rifles in my general direction. Most of it missed by a wide margin but I still had to reset twice as bullets tore through my flesh.

"What happened?!" Grue's unamused voice barked out in my ear.

I would of tripped, had I not been mid jump at the time. Instead, I just landed in a run, reaching up to activate my earpiece. "I kind of fell into Kaiser's lap."

I was kind of surprised that shocked silence could actually be transmitted over the line.

"Please tell me you're joking." Tattletale pleaded, even as I heard echoes of the goons shooting at me coming over the earpiece.

"Only a little." I said, taking a moment to kick closed the roof door that was opening ahead of me. Considering the gunfire I heard inside, I'd just pissed off some more goons. "Anyways, I'm a little busy now!"

"Fine… Keep them busy and keep them away from us." Grue finally said before he went silent.

Tattletale took up the conversation a moment later, the sound of Grue yelling to 'Go loud' and telling Bitch to make an entrance coming through in the background. "Did you see Othala?"

"No but I didn't have much time. Kaiser, Hookwolf and Alabaster, yeah." I replied, ducking behind an air conditioner to catch my breath. The fact that the nook was an effective hiding spot was a nice bonus. "Really, I'm trying to lose some heat right now."

"Don't!"

"What?!" I didn't think I heard that right.

"You kicked up a hornet's nest. If you lose their attention, they'll start searching and that means they might find us." Tattletale explained over gunfire and more screams on her side. There was a pause as in the background, I could hear Grue demanding where Othala was, probably to some poor unlucky goon they snagged. "Actually, now you need to keep their attention so we can get out with Othala."

"You found her?" I was kind of surprised actually, mainly at how the situation had changed so quickly.

"She's here, trust me." Tattletale confirmed, not a shred of doubt in her voice. "Just keep their attention until we get her out of here, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Keep the entire E88 busy. No problem." I muttered as lightning flashed into the night sky. How hard could that be?

oO0Oo

God, I was tired…

That's all I could think as the Undersiders lept away on their monster dogs, leaving me on a rooftop far away from E88 and ABB territory with a very pissed but restrained Othala.

I was glad one of the teenaged villains had gagged her because I was pretty sure the red robed Nazi was trying to insult my lineage or something. She hadn't shut up since they dropped her off.

Whatever. I'd let her squirm and try to wiggle around but there was no way she was breaking the handcuffs and zipties the Undersiders had restrained her with.

Hell, it's not like she could use her powers or anything. She could only empower other people, so what was she going to do, make me stronger so I'd break her free or some shit?

Instead, I pulled out my phone and hit autodial for a contact.

"Hey! Are you okay?!"

I smiled as Vicky's voice came through full of concern. "I'm fine, just exhausted. I could use some help though."

"Sure! Where are you and what do you need?"

"I'm on a building just north of the NewCastle Bank and I need help getting Othala back to the PRT. Figured you could just fly her there and, you know, drop her if she gives you any trouble."

I said the last bit looking directly at the indicated villain. I watched those brown eyes of her's widen as her struggles to break her bonds stilled and she went silent.

"You just said that to make her piss herself, didn't you." Vicky accused in a flat voice before letting out a snicker.

"That would be telling." I tiredly snarked back before fighting back a yawn. "Think you can help me or should I just call the PRT?"

"I'm still suited up, so give me five and I'll be there."

"Sounds good. Thanks."

"No problem! See you soon!" The blonde girl cut the call and I put my phone away.

Thankfully, the heavy rain had passed, leaving a light drizzle in its wake. Since we were closer to downtown, the streetlights and neon signs colored the night air as the mists took on the rainbow hues.

All in all, I felt good. Tired, but good. Accomplished, even.

If only I'd known that this would kick off some of the bloodiest days Brockton Bay had seen in decades, not since the gang war caused by the gap Marquis had left behind.

If only I'd known… I wouldn't have felt so damn proud of myself.

oO0Oo

End of Chapter - 7

oO0Oo

A/N -

Damn, it's almost been a year since Chapter 6. A lot of life occurred and then I lost my muse.

You may or may not have noticed that I actually have a new story I've been working on, having nothing to do with Worm. Basically, I was using it to get the writing engine primed and running before working on KCaR again.

Now that I've got the rust knocked off my brain for creative writing, I'm planning on continuing KCaR but I don't have a timetable for Chapter 8. Could be a couple weeks, a couple days or a month. I'll do my damned best to make sure it's not another year.