"I've met them. I don't know what to make of them, but it's clear, my sister's touch has reached her. Maybe it changed her, even, but I cannot be sure…"

Taylor loved her costume.

It was comfortable, allowing her to move around while being protected all the time, and it didn't feel bad as a pajama either.

It better be after all the time she spent making it. It wasn't really hard getting all the spiders together this time because she didn't have to be as subtle. And granted the second one was a lot easier to make, taking barely a fraction of the time it took her to make the first costume… the second, considering her failure of creating the first due to it not fitting right.

That didn't mean she could wear it the whole time though. She relaxed in some normal robes, sitting on a bed and reading a small book she found inside the home. The writing took some time getting used to, and the story it told didn't really go anywhere, but it was a great way to waste some time and distract herself.

It had been three days since Imp's kidnapping, and despite all that, Taylor had been feeling a lot better lately. There were no more nightmares and she was able to rest well, wake up in the morning instead of three times in the middle of the night.

They had arrived in Khalil yesterday and managed to settle in for the night, looking for a trip back to the capital before trying to cross the mountains.

It wasn't a surprise that she had a bad feeling in her gut, as if someone had punched her repeatedly. The entire situation was confusing, irritating. Grue's distance hadn't been good for her either. She didn't want him to push her away, but she couldn't approach without his approval. She shook her head. There was more at stake, a lot more. Brockton Bay was without them for the past two months.

The door to the room she had been sleeping in opened slightly. "My lady?"

Taylor sighed. "Come in."

Amal entered, the girl's short brown hair had grown a bit further than her shoulders since the first time Taylor met her, no longer looking quite like Madison. The more she looked, the more she noticed all the small differences. The girl was tanned from all the time spent outside, and she had lost a bit of weight from all the exercise that was walking and riding horses, looking noticeably thinner in the face.

Noticing her stare, Amal's face started to look a bit red. The priestess shook her head, clearing whatever thoughts she had before sitting down next to Taylor.

"What is it?" Taylor asked. Amal looked as if she was struggling to find the right words, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she swallowed hard. Her eyes narrowed slightly, something Taylor might not have noticed if the girl hadn't been sitting this close.

"Spirit Grue," she began. It was Taylor's turn to be confused, her eyebrows raised. "You care about him, don't you?"

Taylor nodded. "Yes, I do."

"And… and you've been with him, correct?"

Taylor's eyebrows twitched. "And if I have?"

Amal looked nervous, fidgeting around, her knees rubbing together and her hands gripping into her robes. "I care about you!"

Amal's voice cracked slightly towards the end of that sentence, no more than a squeak. Taylor wasn't dumb, she wasn't unaware of just how far Amal's emotions went, and how this all stemmed from the idol worship she had. Like every day since landing here, Taylor wished she could stop people from praying to her.

"I like you," Taylor said, quickly continuing before Amal could draw any conclusions. "Not like that. Definitely not like that."

"It's, just," Amal stuttered, her shoulders dropping. "I care about you, a lot, and I see you care about him but... but he doesn't!"

Taylor clicked her tongue. Words didn't hurt as much as they used to, actions did, but hearing something like that from someone she kept identifying with one of her bullies made it a bit hard.

Grue has grown distant from the group as a whole, even while Regent and Clockblocker continued bonding and Weld was better friends with Tattletale than anyone expected. Miss Militia even apologized for pointing the gun at the thinker.

"The gods taught us that bonds were forever!" Amal continued, grasping for her religion's teachings instead of any actual reasoning. "And that all that is bonded will never break apart, so that souls of lovers shall reunite in afterlife and-"

"Amal, please," Taylor interrupted. "Get to the point or leave me alone."

"You care but he doesn't," Amal looked ready to cry as she repeated herself. "If he doesn't care, then did he ever? I… I'd never betray you, I'd never leave…"

Taylor had to admit that these words stung. A lot, actually. And once more, Taylor saw Madison in Amal, telling her she would never have a relationship because she was just plain ugly. She had changed, she wasn't someone who actually cares about words like these anymore. She was more Skitter than Taylor. But…

But hearing this from someone who she actually liked? Worse, yet, something she couldn't deny immediately? He has been ignoring her the past three days, and any effort on her part was wasted. Despite herself, Taylor choked back a giggle.

Her chest hurt as her shoulders started to shake, keeling over as if she just heard the funniest joke ever. Amal looked confused, stopping the fidgeting from before. Taylor held her stomach, still silently laughing. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"What… what's so funny, milady?"

"It's-" the dam was broken, Taylor opened her mouth and the laughter escaped. Taylor felt sick. "It's you, you're just... "

"I'm?"

"You're not wrong," Taylor said, shaking her head as the giggles became weaker. "Fuck. I know you're not wrong… and the fact that you would go this far to tell me all this, tell me that the person I care about doesn't care about me, it's.."

Her shoulders shook again. Sick and hurt.

"This isn't going to work out," Taylor said. "Ever. I'm… I'm not the kind of person who's going to have a working relationship, hm? Madison wasn't wrong, haha."

Taylor shook her head. It wasn't actually that funny, and she didn't know what came over her.

Amal stared, her eyes slightly widened, looking as sad as she looked confused.

Taylor didn't realize how the time around here had changed her.

Right now, she wasn't the same as she was in Brockton Bay. She wasn't really Skitter anymore. Here, the name is nothing more than that, a name.

The name of a goddess, for them, admittedly, but not the name of a criminal. Not the name of someone who fought the Slaughterhouse 9 and the Leviathan.

So she had to stop thinking like Skitter right now. For her, Skitter was unbending, the persona where she could be everything she wasn't as a civilian. But as Taylor, she should make an effort, and stop treating everything like this was a war zone, like she had everything to lose if she showed a moment of weakness.

And Taylor had changed as well. She wasn't the person who used to be Emma's friend or the person who was bullied in school to the point where she triggered. She was someone with new experiences, someone who didn't have to behave after the same old patterns.

Taylor nodded, deciding: She would apologize to Tattletale, eventually, and she would talk to Grue whether he wanted to or not. And who knew, maybe she would take up Regent's offer up to go drinking one time.

Taylor sat down next to Regent. Strangely enough, Clockblocker hadn't been sitting with him, instead talking with Miss Militia.

"Hey boss, still busy being angry?" he asked, a set of knives sitting in front of him, neatly arranged at the desk.

"Not really, no," Taylor said, shaking her head. The weapons were arranged by the size of their blades, and one was almost a short sword. "You planning a murder?"

"Nope."

He didn't seem very inclined to talk with her, instead picking up one of the knives, it had a thin line of dried blood on it.

"Say, Skitter," he said, sounding dubious. His brow was furrowed, his eyes not leaving the table. 'Serious' wasn't an expression she was used to at all. "Did your power change? Like Clockblocker's did?"

"Kind of," Taylor admitted. He glanced at her, putting the knife down. "I'm healing quicker," she said. "And well, I don't need my glasses anymore, but…"

"That's a big thing, though," he said. "Maybe you second triggered and didn't notice?"

"No, that's not it," Taylor said, shaking her head. "It doesn't really feel the same as my power."

"The healing doesn't have to do with your power, you think?" he asked. "I'm experimenting, I want to know if I have some new powers too, and I definitely don't heal faster."

He showed his hand, a large cut from his upper arm down to the middle finger visible, fresh, as if the bleeding just stopped. Taylor blinked, glancing back at the knife.

"Regent!" she shouted, appalled. The cut looked disgustingly crooked, probably from when he flinched while he cut himself. She knew Regent wasn't the most logical person, but she didn't actually expect him to hurt himself. "What the fuck were you thinking?"

"Clockblocker could probably heal it?" he asked. She glared at him, but he just shrugged. "And that I might be able to heal quicker, or use my power on inanimate objects, maybe even on plants, no deal."

Taylor rummaged through one of her small bags, grabbing some bandages she constantly carried with her and pointed at his arm. "Give me your hand."

"If you really wanted to hold hands, you just had to ask poli-" She didn't let him continue, grabbing his hand and pulling on it, making him wince in pain as she began bandaging his arm, probably putting a bit too much pressure.

"No more cutting yourself, we need you alive," Taylor ordered. He chuckled and shrugged.

"Yes, mom," he said. Her eyebrows twitched, Regent was being Regent. "You think we're gonna find her?"

"Yes." Taylor had no doubt that Imp was still alive. If they had wanted to, the attackers could have probably killed them. Maybe sunk the ship and left them to fend off for themselves, or even picked them off one by one while they still had the moment of surprise. Who knows what that sword would have done to her costume. "Don't you?"

"I'm not sure," Regent said, picking up the knife with the dried blood again. He put it down immediately when he saw Taylor's eyes narrow. "She's really good at provoking people if she wants to."

"Like you aren't," Taylor said. "But I think they need her for something."

Zidane, the bald man with the far too feminine face, the woman with the impenetrable skin and the red-haired youth who had knocked out Grue. Wherever they came from, it might have been a way home, and because of the surprise attack they didn't even manage to hold one of them to find out more about the portal. Imp knew them. She must've known about the portal, then why hadn't she warned them?

Or maybe it's not them she knew. Tattletale said that it's possible she knew people like them, that these three weren't the same that dragged Grue and Imp here.

"Ohhh, sacrifice her to some old god?" he asked. "Maybe make her the priestess like your groupie."

"I'd love to say she's not that bad," Taylor said, thinking about her moment of weakness just an hour ago. "She's not a bad source of information, though."

"Don't let Tats hear you say that, she's just gonna get pissy when we don't say she's the smartest one around here," Regent said. Taylor could see his eyes drooping. He was a lot more tired than he indicated, the pain from the knife must've kept him awake.

"You okay?" Taylor asked, he rubbed his eye.

"Not sure," he admitted. "My eyes really hurt for some reason, maybe I got some allergy to the local plants, not really something you find in Brockton Bay."

"That's true," Taylor said, thinking back to the beautiful landscapes she found while traveling. From the big forests to the large cities, everything was like out of a painting. "Not a bad place though."

"You think we can find a way to make this our vacation place? Getting prayed to is awesome, would be nice to keep a portal open to return whenever."

"I don't think that'd be smart," Taylor said. "Other capes could come here, make matters worse. Who knows how their powers might change."

Taylor felt someone approach. Newter. The Case 53 with the hallucinogenic fluids was with Weld. She could hear them talk, Weld's voice sounding tense.

"I don't expect it to work," Weld said. "But those portals… if one dragged us here and switched us back for just one second, maybe the cure to what cauldron did to us can be found here."

"That's not the same," Newter explained. He actually sounded irritated, slouching over as they were walking forward. "We would still not know who we were before all this. Our names, our families."

"Does it matter?" Weld asked. "I think it's more important to be the person you are now. You're the person you want to be, after all. The person you became after you lost your memories."

They entered the room, and Taylor could see Weld staring at Newter with some kind of expression she couldn't place. Newter raised his hands.

"You're right."

Weld shrugged at his words, smiling. "Aren't I always? I mean, it'll be just a while longer before we all find out this is a Cauldron plot. I'll make Tattletale confirm it."

He wasn't really the joking kind of person before all this, but it seems that spending time with Tattletale must have made him loosen up a bit.

Newter laughed it off, and the two approached Regent's table. Weld stopped when he saw her, his head tilting to the left slightly, then opened his mouth to speak. Taylor knew what they were talking about, and she had wondered the same thing a while ago - just what had that portal done with their powers?

"Skitter, may I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure," Taylor said, standing up. The moment she took a step forward, she shook her head, pausing. "Just one moment," she told Weld. "Newter, do me a favor and make sure he doesn't cut himself, alright?"

"Uh… okay?" Newter tried, his eyes moving towards the assortment of knives at the request. Regent gave him a smile, holding three knives in between his fingers. Taylor ignored it this time, walking with Weld out of the room again.

The wooden walls had a few framed paintings and plants hanging off them. A strangely normal sight in Khalil's port-city compared to the statues of all kinds of deities in Pavilion.

"What do you need?" Taylor asked the metallic cape. The windows that were there allowed sunlight in, making looking directly at Weld an annoyance. She hadn't talked to him a while either, but that's mostly because he was with Tattletale of Miss Militia.

"You still blame her, don't you?" Weld asked.

"No," Taylor said, leaving no doubt in her voice, though her shoulders sagged at the question.

"Why do I doubt that?" Weld asked. Taylor felt a pang of irritation, the young hero next to her wasn't stupid, but he wasn't afraid of pushing the wrong buttons on anyone. Two could play that game.

"Obviously," Taylor began, dragging the word out a bit. "Because you care about her and don't want to see her feel worse than she already does."

Weld stopped for a second before resuming his walk, shaking his head. "So you know she's not feeling well?"

Taylor knew Tattletale felt bad. It wasn't hard seeing that, and while she felt bad, it wasn't just a topic she could pick up in a conversation, especially with the situation as tense as it was now.

"Yes," Taylor nodded. It would be strange if she didn't. If she didn't, Tattletale wouldn't spend this much time alone trying to find a solution to the problem. "And I really feel sorry for how I treated her, and I can't excuse that, but she knows, and that's what matters."

"What does she know?" Weld asked.

"You guys aren't deaf, you must've heard me waking up every night. I know for sure that Miss Militia was always nearby at first, thinking I might be getting attacked in my sleep early on."

"Nightmares, I recall. Screaming and thrashing around." He nodded. He didn't need much sleep either, so he would know, Taylor assumed. Or maybe Tattletale told him. She couldn't be sure how he was privy to the information, but she honestly doubted that there was a person who didn't know among their group.

"I haven't slept well for over two months," Taylor admitted. "I was irritated, very much so, and I'm as much responsible as she is, I could've ordered her to stop. Lately I've slept a lot better and it's allowed me to have a new… perspective on the matter."

"You mean you're less of a bitch now that you could finally sleep?" Weld asked. Taylor felt the corners of her mouth move up despite herself.

"Maybe that wasn't all there was to it," Taylor said. "I'm worried. About Brockton Bay, my family, about Cauldron."

This caught his attention. "Cauldron?"

"They seem to have their fingers everywhere," Taylor said. "And who knows what they are capable of... What else they're responsible for?"

Weld sighed, his hands coming up behind his head as they walked out of the building. "I suppose I can't fault you for that, the stress and all."

"You're very understanding."

"Am I?"

"You're the first to treat us as something other than villains, I suppose," Taylor said, nodding. "Clockblocker too, maybe, but Miss Militia still doesn't trust us. Right now she's berating him about being a bit too casual with Regent."

"She worries a lot," Weld said, "but so do you."

Taylor watched the people of the city, mostly sailors, crossing the streets, moving fish and cargo around. It was a beautiful city, as beautiful as all the others she had found, and its many wooden homes were as comfortable as they looked like if they were the same as the house they received for their stay.

"I suppose someone has to," Taylor said, listening to Clockblocker defending Regent. Her opinion of the Wards in general has risen to a considerable degree.

The young man nodded.

Taylor was strolling through the streets, looking for something to do while everyone else was busy. Her bugs kept track of everyone, even Grue who was still… sulking in his room. It wasn't easy to find another word for it, and no matter who tried to approach him, he blew them off. They'd move on tomorrow, which meant she could at least force him to talk with her on the road.

A man bumped into into her.

"Oh my goddess," he said, his voice raspy, and his head hidden under a hood. "I apologize, milady, I have not seen where I walked! Oh, my old bones shall break for this, spirit Skitter!"

"It's alright," Taylor said, waving him off. The man bowed deeply, making pained noises. "I said it's alright!"

Taylor bent down, trying to help the man right himself up again and prevent him from hurting himself more.

"Truly… the goddess is most generous," the man said, chuckling. Something about the way he laughed felt off to her. Taylor narrowed her eyes. The hood moved, and Taylor caught a glimpse of all too familiar eyes under them.

The man grabbed something from under his cloak, and Taylor realized a bit too late that the man who looked like some old cripple from afar was actually armed, the amount of bugs she had gathered during the time on land not actually enough to tag every resident of the city.

The bugs took a while to gather around him, but by that time, his weapon had already been drawn and for Taylor, it was like the time stopped. It was a sword not unlike the one that Zidane had used. More ornate than practical, a thing of beauty instead of war, even the handle looked unwieldy and large, giving it the appearance of an overgrown knife.

But this one was slightly different, its blade more narrow and much shorter. Taylor stepped backwards, trying to grab a knife from her hip. She couldn't. As if a cold hand had grabbed her shoulder, she lost all feeling in her left arm.

Not hesitating, she used her right arm instead, grabbing a knife and overwhelming the man with her bugs, silk bound around his arms and legs, her own knife pressed against his throat. Something landed nearby with a thud, she didn't pay attention to it.

"You dodged," the man said, surprise audible in his voice. The young man. The man she knew and was warned about.

"Aaron," Taylor hissed, red-hot fury building up in her, a sizzling crescendo of anger spilling out her voice. "You seriously tried to kill me?"

A crowd had gathered around, staring at the scene in fear. Some were running towards the others, calling for them. Weld and Tattletale were already on their way.

"You dodged," Aaron repeated, a lot angrier. "I had you! I had your powers in my grasp! Divinity in my hands!"

"You piece of shit-" Taylor felt a lot of her anger leave as it made place for tiredness. Her head turned, staring towards her left. Her arm was gone.

The limb flew off in an arc as the sword ripped through her bone like it was nothing, and the wound was bleeding. Not as badly as it should, considering the wound, but that could probably be blamed on the strange healing factor she obtained.

And a lot of blood had already spilled onto the ground and Aaron. She'd bleed out before Clockblocker would be here. Taylor's eyes narrowed. If she killed him now, the others wouldn't know where he got that sword. The edges of her vision were beginning to darken. Aaron struggled, trying to get free, but the silk and the amount of bugs she had put onto him were too much to struggle against.

"I thought you were crazy but I didn't know you were stupid," Taylor said through grit teeth, trying to keep herself awake. She pushed bugs over the wound, forcing the non-poisonous ones onto the bleeding in an attempt to stop it. It wasn't as effective as she had hoped, but good enough.

"I couldn't fail! I had the sword! A sword of the gods-" Taylor punched him in the face, and he groaned in pain. "You're no god, you're a monst-"

She punched him again. And again. Every hit was weaker than the next, but every time he tried to open his mouth, her fist smashed against his cheek. At this moment, she really wanted to use the knife.

She fell off him, unable to keep her balance. That was a lot of blood. A lot more blood than she should have in her body. Whatever the fuck was keeping her alive was doing a good job.

Weld and Tattletale arrived, the thinker rushing to her side while the former Ward took care of keeping the restraints on Aaron.

"Skitter," Tattletale slapped her cheek. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just peachy," Taylor hissed through grit teeth, her voice cracking up. Despite the pain, she was able to concentrate well enough by loading most of the annoyance off to her bugs. She did so by loading off all her thoughts towards the bugs, a very useful trick, if it wasn't for the fact that holding a conversation was annoying doing it like that. "Now how about you stop asking questions and get someone who can fix this?"

Clockblocker was on his way already, everyone was, even Grue. It took minutes until they finally arrived, and Taylor's bleeding had miraculously stopped.

"Heal her, now!" Tattletale greeted Clockblocker.

"I can't!" Clockblocker said. Taylor's bugs buzzed loudly.

"What do you mean you can't?" she asked through the bugs.

"Too much time passed! I can reverse that far-"

"What about just gluing it back on?" Regent asked.

"This isn't a time for jokes," Miss Militia said.

"He's right," Tattletale blinked. "You… you haven't bled out and this must be at least twice the amount of blood that you should have in your body. If your body can heal, maybe the limb will attach itself."

Taylor nodded, not finding any reason to disagree. Newter was about to pick up the arm before Grue did it, glaring at him. She brought it towards her shoulder, wiping away the crushed bugs, sending pain throughout her body.

There was a strange noise, the arm stuck.

Taylor screamed, unable to distract herself any longer as the arm began sizzling, releasing red steam.

Taylor wished she had died instead. Minutes later, when she finally stopped screaming, she still felt off.

Taylor stared at her arm in shock, moving it around. There was no feeling in it. She couldn't feel the warm air around her, she couldn't feel anything she touched.

She swallowed. It felt like something she should bring up, but... the others were whooping and celebrating.

"It worked!" Tattletale said. "Good job, Regent!"

Tattletale would know, maybe she could talk in private…

That worked out well the last time, didn't it? Taylor coughed, getting herself up, her throat hurting from the screams of pain.

"I can't feel my arm," Taylor admitted.

"It… might just be that the nerves didn't reconnect correctly yet," Tattletale said. "Or… I don't know."

Sadly, the celebration and attempt at finding out what was wrong with her arm was cut short when Aaron began struggling again. Taylor stood up, walking over to the sword he used against her and picking it up.

"Aaron," she said, walking over to him. The others were gathered around him as well and stepped out of her way as she approached. She stomped onto his stomach. "Where did you get this?"

"Should I truly tell you, goddess? Do you really wish to know?" he asked. She really wished he would hold some villainous monologue just so she could kick him again and again. "Very well then! Your brethren betrayed you, outcast of the spirits! This sword was given to me to hunt you down and take your place!"

The crowd around gasped, as if the fact that it was an all too familiar face, the face of their prince Aaron telling them that, was enough to convince them.

"And I have told you, all of you," Taylor said, glancing towards the crowd. Amal was with them, holding distance from the capes. "Repeatedly. I'm not a spirit, I'm not a god, and I'm not interested in your fucking shenanigans. Who gave you that knife, Aaron? Zidane?"

"You shall never know, wench, monster-"

She kicked him, her breath short and ragged.

"Drag him away," she said while grabbing the sheath on Aaron, attaching it to her side and sheathing the absurd blade. "Or I might kill him. Stow him somewhere until we can ask his brother what to do with him."

"Are you sure?" Miss Militia asked. "Can't we look for local authorities to take-"

"He's Prince Aaron," Taylor explained. "He is a local authority. The only person we can go to with this is his brother, Prince Moses."

"Tsk," Miss Militia clicked her tongue. The hero was as much a fan of corrupt officials as she was, it seems.

Taylor and the others were already on their way out of the city, and instead of the constant bows and prayers, people couldn't be more obvious in their attempt to avoid them. The fact that they had a prince bound and gagged was probably not something in their favor. Only Amal remained loyal.

Taylor wished she didn't. Lately, the priestess has been causing a lot more grief to her.

The road towards Elamia was done on the wolves, they had to hurry, but even with the fastest available transportation, they were barely over the halfway point by the time everything went dark.

Miss Militia would watch Aaron for the night, but Taylor could still not sleep calmly.

No, the nightmares returned, in a much greater intensity than before even. Her shoulder, her arm, they hurt inside the dream, but the feeling was gone again the moment she woke up. Instead of waking up the others with screams, she decided to stay awake instead. She got enough sleep, and the sun was slowly climbing up the dark horizon.

Over the ashes of the fire they had lighted, something that Tattletale had done with great glee and Weld had assisted her with for some reason, she approached Miss Militia and Weld, who were sitting in front of the prince.

"He's not gonna talk," Miss Militia said.

"I know," Taylor said. "That's not why I'm here, anyway. His brother might have some answers."

Aaron, despite his position, was resting, his eyes shut and giving no indication that he was awake. He looked beaten up, of course he did, black and blue spots all over his face and his clothes ripped at some spots. Taylor wished she had punched harder.

"Nightmares?" Weld asked. "You looked uncomfortable."

"Might have to do with the arm, it feels off," Taylor rolled the shoulder in question, her left arm moving as she wanted it. "Maybe a cape can fix it."

"Your power has changed considerably if it suddenly has regeneration like that," Miss Militia said. "Maybe you just need some time to get used to it. I know of capes that couldn't turn off their powers at first."

"And then there are those who just can't turn them off at all," Weld said. "Not much to change there."

Taylor was about to say something when they were suddenly blanketed in darkness.

The sun vanished, and Taylor looked up to see why, Weld and Miss Militia mirroring the action and staring as the hole appeared. A hole not unlike the portal. Miss Militia didn't hesitate before creating an assault rifle with her power and shooting at the portal, waking the rest of the capes up.

The portal kept widening, however.

By the time that something tried to come out, Taylor had thousands of bugs in front of the portal. She couldn't risk pushing them in and losing the connection again, so she sent them onto the large foot. Then another foot joined.

And once again, like the girl that was with Zidane, the large person was seemingly unbothered, slowly descending, revealing muscled bronze colored legs.

"What the fuck-" Tattletale began, and then it fell.

The entire body joined the legs and a large man, a body that was just over three meters towering over them. He had struck a strange pose as he put his arms above his head to fall through the portal and bent his knees to lessen the impact of the fall.

The portal vanished immediately, and the man looked towards them, a bald head reflecting the morning sun not unlike Weld's skin and a strangely colored beard in blue-ish colors with braids dangling down his wide chin.

The green eyes of the giant man who was dressed in barely more than a tunic were fixed on Weld, and he sat down, a sheath on his hip jiggling in the motion. Miss Militia aimed her gun at him, but stopped shooting. It would be nothing more than an exercise in futility.

"Greetings," the man said. His voice had a strange tune to it, as if echoing in a cave, but was still clear

"Who are you?" Tattletale asked shocked. "The one who sent this guy?"

She pointed at the bound and gagged Aaron, who had also woken up and scrambled towards the group and away from the man as the crash echoed through the clearing. Taylor was still paying attention to the sword on the man's hip, however. It was the same kind as Aaron's and Zidane's, she assumed.

"I have many names, though I do not know how familiar you are with them," he said. "In these parts of the world, it would be 'Besi'."

Amal gasped, bowing down in front of the man immediately. Taylor glanced towards the woman.

"Explain," Taylor demanded.

"The god of the forges, Besi, husband to Shaitan!" Amal said. "He is one of the old gods!"

"Ah," Tattletale said. "So you call yourself a deity?"

"Not divine as such," Besi said. "But I suppose it is what they have decided to call us. I admit, it has been over four hundred years since I have walked this plane."

A big boast. Four-hundred years? That was a considerable time, and yet, it fit with all those crazy musings of Amal about the spirits vanishing around that time.

"You didn't answer her question," Miss Militia said, her gun still trained on him. "Did you send him?"

"I did not," Besi said. "Whatever would give you that idea?"

"He used this," Taylor said, pulling out the sword of the sheath. Grue looked ready to explode. If a glare could kill, Taylor had no doubt that the leather-clad villain would've killed Besi twice over. The bronze man looked at the blade.

"That is indeed a knife I have forged," he said. "One that was stolen like many others, not long ago. Though how one found itself in the hands of a human, I do not know."

"Can we ask the more important question first?" Clockblocker asked. Tattletale glanced at him, and he shrugged. "That portal you made, can it get us home?"

"I suppose that depends on where your home is…"

"Can it take us to where Imp is?" Taylor asked instead.

"Young Imp?" the man asked, blinking. "I'm sorry, I did not recognize you earlier," he continued, bowing down, his large face much closer to them now. "I have bad eyes, I'm afraid, and I only approached this place in search of my knife. Tell me, are you the group that was dragged here? If Young Imp was with you, you must be, are you not?"

"How about you start at the beginning," Taylor suggested. "Who dragged us here, and what do you know about Imp?"

She stared at Grue, ready to say something should it become necessary.

"My mother knows more," Besi said. "You were dragged here by my sister, for a purpose that is still unknown to us all, and to counter whatever manipulation, she brought Young Imp and the one you held most dear in your heart as well."

"I was brought here because she cared about me?" Grue asked, his glare softening slightly. "For what?"

"Bad news," Taylor said, sounding bitter while Regent broke out in soft laughter. "Me and him, it's not going to happen anymore, in large part because people who used a portal like yours kidnapped his sister, and now this fucker with your 'knife'," she waved the sword around. "Cut off my arm yesterday."

Taylor ignored Grue's stare.

"Ah…" Besi said, now sitting cross-legged before bowing down, his head pressed into the ground. "I apologize, wayward children, I am responsible for my creations and those who use them. I shall pay you reparations."

"How about you get us Imp and then give us a portal to our world?" Tattletale asked. "That would be enough."

"I cannot do that," Besi said simply.

"What do you mean you can't?" Grue asked, his voice tight.

"I cannot tell you where your sister is. We are not omniscient… hmmm…" His eyes went back to Weld. "You, child, you are known as the welded one, are you not? I have heard them call you my child, and I must say, the resemblance is uncanny, hahahah."

His laugh was soft, kind, sounding strange with that echo in his voice. Weld glared at him.

"What about the portal home, then?" Weld asked. "To Brockton Bay."

"That might be possible," Besi said. One of his large hands was put under his chin, and he tilted his head as if in thought. The way he made it look was actually rather funny, more like a child than a god. "But I do not have such a power, I'm afraid. My mother and father, mighty as they are, might be able to help you."

"Great!" Tattletale muttered. "So what? Follow you through that portal to who knows where and end up trapped? We can't really trust you."

"I did not expect you to," he said. "Trust is hard earned."

"But- but spirit Tattletale!" Amal said. "He's a god! He would never betray you!"

"And I have told you that I'm not a spirit," Taylor said. "I'm not, am I?"

The question was aimed at Besi. If anyone could confirm the theory that spirits were just the equivalent of parahumans here, it would be him.

"Fascinating," he said, staring right at Weld, ignoring her question. "You are human, are you not? Truly fascinating!"

"Besi!" Taylor thundered. She could put an end to this once and for all, maybe have some peace about the topic from a source that Amal obviously trusted. The man's stare went to her. "Am I what the people around here call a spirit?"

"I can't say," he said. "You feel a lot more like one than the rest of these children do. Tell me, are you young Skitter?"

"Yes," Taylor said.

"Ah, it seems that you are indeed the one my sister has broken the laws for," Besi said. "Tell me, young Skitter-"

A portal opened again, right under Besi.

"It seems I have overstayed my welcome," Besi said. "I apologize, I could not answer any more questions."

"NO! WAIT!" Taylor rushed towards him, trying to grab the man out of the portal, the others following. "Stay here you asshole, we need answers!"

It was futile, and the portal closed, not letting Taylor's hand through.

"Fuck, fuck FUCK!" Taylor cursed, kicking the ground where the portal was. "Our way out-"

"Not the way to my sister," Grue said. Taylor frowned. He was right.

"He said he was looking for this knife, right?" Tattletale asked. "So if you hold onto it, maybe he'll appear again?"

"Maybe," Taylor said, grinding her teeth together. "I really don't like how this ended. This guy, was he a cape?"

Tattletale shook her head. "Whatever he was, he was probably something different."

"Don't tell me you believe this bullshit about him being a deity," Grue said. "He's just…"

"A huge guy with a portal that can apparently carry him great distances."

"A parlor trick that hundreds of capes in our world can do and you are ready to keel over?"

"No." Taylor shook her head. "But he answered our questions, and he didn't attack us."

"And he didn't lie, as far as I could tell," Tattletale said. "We can't really be sure he was telling the truth either. Especially about that stuff with the spirits."

"You've heard it from one of the greatest gods!" Amal said feverently. "She's a spirit, more so than any of you!"

"Shut up," Taylor said, kicking the dust where the portal vanished. "I don't need this right now. Just… just shut up."

Amal looked torn, but Taylor ignored her. They were so close, just… just one minute longer, and they would've had the answers they needed to find a way back home.