Villain Chapter 5 - ARACHNE POV
"So…this is Somer's Rock," Arachne said, staring at the nondescript hole-in-the-wall that was the agreed-upon neutral zone of the city. It certainly didn't look like much with iron bars on the windows, drawn curtains, and peeling paint on the walls. It really added to the whole 'abandoned' vibe the place had going for it.
"Yep," Tattletale replied, popping the 'p' as she gestured with her purple-clad hand. "This is it. A real dump, right?"
"It really is," Arachne agreed, seeing the rust and general building code violations that were all over the place. "I can understand the Merchants not caring, and possibly not the ABB…but why doesn't Kaiser? Wouldn't coming to a place like this go against his sensibilities as a self-proclaimed emperor?"
"It does, but that's by design. This place, and the neighbourhood around it, are meant not to be attractive to anyone. If no one wants it, no one will try to take over the area, which lets the neutral zone exist in the long term. Makes it the perfect place to set up a meeting with the Bay's villains," Tattletale explained, stepping in front of the rest of the Undersiders and blocking the entryway.
"Hey," Regent complained in protest, earning a glare from Tattletale before he settled down, his reaction influenced by the calm behaviour of the rest of the gang.
"Before we go in, we have to settle on one thing. What happens in their…make no mistake. It's going to be a bunch of posturing and arguing, a sort of dog-and-pony show that will hopefully resolve itself favourably for us. But the negotiation table…only one person per gang can sit at it. Normally, this is the leader, so Kaiser, Coil, Faultline, etc."
"But we don't have a leader," Arachne summarised, earning a nod from Tattletale, her white domino mask doing nothing to hide the smug grin she held.
"No, we do not. To the greater public, it was most recently Grue, as he had the most presence out of us and naturally stepped into the role."
Grue grunted but otherwise remained silent as he crossed his arms, the black visor of his bicycle helmet hiding his expression.
"Most recently?" Arachne chose to focus on, leaning forward in interest. "That means something must have changed recently. Shaken things up, as they say."
"Oh stop acting dense," Tattletale huffed, hitting Arachne on the shoulder playfully. "We all know that once we go in there, it will be to you that the other gangs look at. Yes, you're the most recent addition to our gang, but you also have the largest reputation among us with how you exploded onto the scene. The bank heist was a good start, but your fight with Mouse Protector cinched it."
Yeah, Arachne could see how that might have happened. The dozens of cameras pointed her way should have been a clue, but their fight had gone viral within hours on PHO. A fight between two larger-than-life capes that resulted in no injuries and little physical damage? The public couldn't get enough of it, as literal pages of commentary appeared in the video's thread.
"So, you just want me to act like our leader? Give the others a reason to hold back from attacking us?"
"That about sums it up," Grue replied in a steady tone, his presence solid as he spoke for the first time since they arrived. "Try to stop from stepping on too many toes, but if it comes to blows, either verbal or physical, make sure to do what you need to let us get out of there. Even if it results in a loss of reputation, I'd much rather keep myself intact."
"As would we all," Tattletale nodded, earning a grunt of approval from Bitch as she leant down to scratch Brutus' ear.
"Alright, act like a boss ass bitch, don't let anyone look down on us, move to escape if necessary." Arachne nodded, tilting her head in question."Anything else I need to keep in mind, or can we go in?"
"Nope, that just about covers everything," Tattletale shook her head, stepping aside as she bent forward, sweeping her arm across her chest toward the door. "Take us in, oh illustrious leader."
"With great pleasure," Arachne purred, slipping into her performance mode in an instant as she swept her emotions aside, letting her voice emerge through the bugs she had located around them as she moved forward, her long stride quickly eating up the distance as she burst through the door non-too gently, fully expecting to find some villains waiting within.
Only, as she swept her gaze across the room, across the dimly lit, dark green curtains and tablecloths and the dark grey wooden flooring and bar, no villains were to be found. Instead, there were simply three people.
A twenty-something-year-old woman who didn't look happy to be there, and a pair of twins behind the bar, each of them cleaning glasses as they ignored what was going on.
"…did we get the wrong time?" Arachne asked, looking around for the faint glimmer of metal that would indicate Kaiser.
"Nope, we have the right time, but we're only a couple of minutes late," Tattletale said brightly.
"And villains always arrive fashionably late, which is typically 10-15 minutes." Regent continued, twirling his cane as he sauntered in, moving toward one of the booths on the other side of the room. He couldn't move in a direct path, however, for one special reason.
In the middle of the room were a couple of joined-together tables, which combined to make a single large table that would seat eight comfortably without needing to be within easy-reaching distance. Arachne was sure she would appreciate that when the time came.
Each of the Undersides followed Regent's example as they moved over to the booth, shuffling in on the worn seats while pushing Bitch's dogs underneath the table.
"Well…if we have to wait, maybe a drink?" Arachne ventured, drumming her fingers along the woodgrain from her place beside Tattletale opposite Grue.
As if she was waiting for this very prompt, the serving girl walked over with a worn notepad in her hand, a dour look in her eyes as she set it on the table. Acting like the head villain that she was, Arachne leant back in her seat, crossing her arms as her hair floated around a little bit.
The serving girl's eyes widened slightly, but she otherwise didn't react as Tattletale wrote down her order on the notepad, passing it around the rest of the table before placing it in front of Arachne.
Looking down, Arachne could see the other orders.
'Tea, black'
'Coffee. 1 milk 2 sugar'
'Water'
She had to write her order down, she guessed. Shrugging, Arachne did so, spying the bar thoughtfully for a second before writing down something she had never tried but had always wanted to.
'Whiskey, on the rocks.'
Yeah, she was underage, but who gave a shit. Sipping whiskey with ice was hardly the worst thing she could do as a villain, but just casually breaking the law like that? And being accepted for it considering the girl took the notepad back with no complaints? Well, that was just part of what made being a villain fun.
"Really?" Tattletale asked, staring at Arachne with exasperation and amusement.
"The boss wants what the boss wants," Arachne shrugged, leaning back in her seat as she took in the environment. The walls on the inside were just as bad of a condition as the outside, visibly grimy and possessing a number of areas that could use a touch-up of either paint or new plaster.
That was enough taking in the environment, Arachne decided as she sat up straight again. Luckily, this is when miss sourpuss came back, handing out each of their orders and placing a wide, low whiskey glass in front of her, with her requested ice and a decent measure of amber liquid around it.
Plus a straw.
How thoughtful.
Unlatching the small hole she had made in the mouth portion of her mask, Arachne stuck the straw through, sipping cautiously at the whiskey as she swirled it around her mouth, feeling a slight burn as she did.
Not a bad burn though. More of a soothing one that relaxed her. Satisfied, Arachne swallowed and was immediately beset by a coughing sensation as it went down into her stomach.
"Jesus," Arachne swore, looking at her drink differently than before as the innocently coloured amber liquid swished around the glass.
"Heh, that's not even full strength," Tattletale chuckled in amusement, clearly enjoying Arachne suffering as she continued to cough. "They watered it down until it's about 20% alcohol by volume, as opposed to the normal 40%."
"Seriously?!" Arachne spluttered, pushing her glass away from her only to have it eagerly taken by Regent, the boy having no qualms about the drink as he sipped away.
"Yep, it's watered down," he nodded confidently, taking another sip. "I can understand why though, this is good whiskey. I recognise it, a normal bottle costs about $100."
That much? Arachne made an executive decision right then and there. Unless she had money to quite literally burn, she was going to stay away from alcohol. Not only was it unpleasant on the throat, but it cost more than she spent in a year on tea for a single bottle.
Seriously, why hadn't she ordered some like Tattletale had? She would have enjoyed it far more. Before she could get too caught up in her own thought process, however, the other stars of the show arrived, all within a few seconds of each other.
Spying a glance at the clock on the wall, Arachne could see that it was 10 minutes past the meeting time. Guess villains did stick to the fashionably late rule.
First through the door was Kaiser, a pair of blonde twins hanging off his arms with literal Playboy-like figures. Kaiser himself made for a sight dressed up in full armour from head to toe as he was, dark grey in colour with intricate details displayed all over it and topped with a crown of blades atop his head. Menja and Fenja were no different even if they were playing the role of arm candy for the moment, as they were decked out in Valkyrie-style armour, featuring countless little wings of steel that could have only been made by someone's power.
Well, that or a master smith. Either way, it was impressive. All three of them were, as much as Arachne didn't want to admit it. They were kind of the scum of the Bay considering they perpetrated massive amounts of race crime, but she wouldn't deny they were stylish.
Game recognises game.
The players that came after were noticeably less impressive but still worth looking at.
There was Purity, who was dressed in a skin-tight full-body leotard that glowed lightly. But as much as she lit up the room with her presence, it was actually too bright, as the more Arachne looked at her, the more she started getting spots in her eyes. And this was through tinted lenses.
Following her were the other members of Empire Eighty-Eight. Krieg, Nigh, Fog, and Hookwolf.
"Shit," Tattletale swore softly at the sight, clearly latching onto the same fact Arachne did. While most of the members of the E88 were the standard ones, bar Rune, Purity, Fog and Night were exceptions.
Purity was meant to be a sole cape, one that had struck it out on her own after some dispute with Kaiser, while Night and Fog has set up in Boston not that long ago. Less than successfully, she guessed, if they were here now, which was just another reason Mouse Protector's solo career was so impressive.
On the style front however, the only clear exception was Hookwolf, as unlike the more professional outfits of the rest of them, he was noticeably more…wild than the others. His mask was just a piece of sheet metal that had been cut and shaped to vaguely resemble a wolf's features, and the only other piece of clothing he was wearing was a pair of jeans supported by a chain with a swastika belt buckle.
By god the man was hairy. Even the hooks of metal poking out of his shoulders, elbows and knees couldn't do anything to take away from his greasy blond hair. It made Arachne curious as to how the rest of the empire could even stand next to him, as it looked like a long time since he had bathed.
Her opinion or not, however, it didn't stop Kaiser from dislodging his companions from his arms as he walked over to the central table, sitting on one end of it as Purity took up a guard position behind him, making no move to order any food or drinks like the rest of the E88 had.
Coil was the next to enter after the E88, contrasting heavily against them due to arriving alone. He was quite tall, Arachne noted. Even taller than Grue, and almost skeletally thin. Seriously, even though his black costume covered him head to toe, Arachne could count the number of ribs he had. Give the man a sandwich.
"Coil's the one with the mercenaries, right?" Arachne asked, turning her head slightly to put Tattletale's face in her peripherals even as she watched him take a seat on the opposite end of the table to Kaiser.
"Yeah, that's him," Tattletale replied, a hint of a grimace on her face. Curious. Why would she grimace at Coil, an objectively better man than Kaiser, but not at the king Nazi himself? That would bear further investigation. "He controls more than half of downtown with them, with most of them being ex-military. Can't say what his powers are though."
"Maybe his powers are that his rich," Arachne commented, earning a chuckle from her friend even if she shook her head at the idea.
Others streamed into the room right after Coil, lead by the only figure she could recognise. Faultline. Dressed in a blend of riot gear and a martial-art uniform, the 20-something-year-old woman struck a figure as she lead her group in, a pair of guys and girls for four total.
The guys were extremely eye-catching, with one being a bright orange colour with a tail, while the other was morbidly obese, and possessed no hair on his body. This wouldn't have been so strange to see, as the onset of fast food had made the sight far too common, but the man's skin was translucent.
His beating hearts proved it, moving in sync on either side of his torso.
"Newter and Gregor," Tattletale commented, confirming what Arachne had already suspected. The two girls that came after were far less eye-catching, being the standard capes in costume. Labyrinth and Spitfire, Tattletale comment. Something that was surprising though is that, as the rest of her crew found a booth, Faultline didn't instantly walk over to the big table.
No, she walked in a route that took her past the Undersiders booth, giving Tattletale a sneer that spoke of past history before she took a seat on Kaiser's right.
"Unresolved sexual tension?" Arachne guessed once Faultline was out of earshot, making Tattletale splutter as Regent laughed, one hand still wrapped around his drink.
"I wish!" He said as he collapsed in on himself at the joke.
"Just…just go," Tattletale sighed, reaching up to rub the sides of her temples, not looking anyone else in the eye. "And don't fuck this up for us."
"I'll go, I'll go. I know when I'm not wanted," Arachne said, hands held up in joking surrender before she pushed herself up from the booth, taking a moment to reset herself.
It was game time now. Every one of her actions was going to be observed. Judged. Weighed. She couldn't afford to make a single misstep, or at least make one that she didn't intend to. Even those would have to be carefully calculated because there were no less than 18 capes in the room at the moment, and all of them villains. So, no pressure. Luckily, she didn't have to feel the nervousness that would normally proceed in such a situation, as it just got swept away by her bugs. That left her free to enjoy the role and worry about the consequences later.
Squaring her shoulders, Arachne strode forward, drawing attention to herself as the soft clack of her shoes echoed on the wood, a mere four steps being all it took for Arachne to reach the table, making her body language cool and distant as she stared at the table, tilting her head to the side almost robotically.
Considering her options, she chose to not rock the boat for any signs of allegiance and sat as far from everyone as she could. This ended up being on the opposite side of the table to Faultline, halfway between Kaiser and Coil.
She didn't just sit rigidly, however. She was here as Arachne, the cape without fear. So, intentionally performing an act of disrespect, Arachne put her feet up on the surface of the table, crossing them loosely as she leaned back in the uncomfortable wooden chair.
The action didn't seem to sit well with Kaiser, as one of his hands twitched, but both Coil and Faultline had no reaction aside from the man folding his hands in front of him. The silence was enough that she could hear the comment Newter made.
"With a pair of legs like that, she could step on me any time she likes," he joked, making Arachne's mind blank for a second before a mischievous idea came to mind.
"If you really want me to, Newter, stick around after the meeting. I'm sure we can come to a satisfactory agreement," Arachne purred, not even turning her head from where Faultline was sitting.
It gave her a wonderful view of Faultline's face as it fell into a scowl at the hopeful "really?" that came out of the lizard man's mouth, causing her to turn toward the booth.
"Newter, quiet."
The command chastised the man, silencing him, but the damage had already been done. Faultline had needed to discipline one of her subordinates mid-meeting with barely any provocation. The chuckles that came from Kaiser proved it.
Faultline glared at Arachne for this, but the thumbs-up that Tattletale gave made it all worth it. Huh, had she just strengthened the Undersider's position while weakening that of someone opposed to them? She hadn't even thought of that, although if asked later she'd say that she had.
They'd believe her too as long as Tattletale kept her mouth shut.
Another group arrived, and an almost visible wave of disgust fell over the room as three more capes entered the room, bringing the total to 21. Arachne wouldn't consider these capes a threat, however, as they were part of the group considered the second most pathetic of the bay.
Skidmark, Squealer, and Mush. The Merchants. Proof that powers didn't instantly make someone powerful, attractive, or worth fearing, which was mostly done by Skidmark, as his shitty mask barely covered the signs of drug usage that had turned his teeth a deep yellow.
Squealer was cute though, in her own trailer-trash girl-next-door sort of vibe. A bit dirty though, considering she was covered in oil marks and grease stains. Mush was nothing special, however. No discernible characteristics, just a guy that looked like he'd blend into the background.
Both Squealer and Mush took a seat at the bar while Skidmark moved towards the table, reaching out to grab the seat between Arachne and Kaiser, but before he could, Kaiser kicked his leg out, extending his reach with a burst of metal as the chair was sent toppling on its side, scraping across the floor.
"The fuck?" Skidmark snarled, glaring at the man in metal while Arachne felt a burst of gratitude. Just based on the initial smell coming off the man, she didn't want to have to sit beside the foul-mouthed man for an entire meeting, and Kaiser's action had actually pushed her opinion of him up a couple of notches.
He may have been responsible for a vast amount of race crime, but at least he had standards.
"You can sit in a booth," Kaiser said, his voice calm despite the aggravated nature of his conversation partner. It was kind of weird being on this side of it.
"This is because I'm black, hunh? That's what you're all about, yeah?"
"You can sit in a booth because you and your team are pathetic, deranged losers that aren't worth talking to. The people at the table? I don't like them, but I'll at least listen to them. That isn't the case with you." Kaiser replied almost icily, only the faint movement of his head letting on that he was annoyed.
"Fuck you. What about the Chica?" Skidmark pointed at Arachne, which she didn't like but accepted. "I don't even know her name, and she's sitting at the table."
A faint rustling of laughter ran around the room, making Skidmark look around in confusion and agitation, likely assuming they were laughing at him. Which they were.
"What? The fuck am I missing?"
"Much, it would seem," Coil drawled as he drew the room's attention, his hands still crossed in front of him. "It seems that, in your drug-fuelled haze, you have missed what has been happening in the bay these past few weeks. Her team hit the Brockton Bay Central Bank a week ago, in broad daylight. The Undersiders have gone up against Lung's forces several times, and never come out less than even, and most recently, Arachne fought Mouse Protector by herself to a standstill, giving her the feard designation…of Master 10."
"That is why she sits at the table, Skidmark," Kaiser drawled, speaking the man's name with a distinct disdain that was hard to put into the words as he tilted his head mockingly at the black man. "The question, really, is what have you done that is worth sitting at the table?"
"Seriously? This bitch?" Skidmark asked in surprise, his nasal voice aggravating Arachne's ears. She didn't particularly like being called a bitch either. Only three people in her life deserved to hold that title, and she was not one of them.
"Yes," Arachne agreed icily, her voice echoing strangely in the enclosed room as a couple of the other capes shifted uneasily. She made no motion to move her legs, however. "This bitch. You're dodging the question. Just why should we allow your presence to foul up the table?"
"You should show a little respect, Chica," Skidmark spat, spittle flying out of his mouth as he aggressively leaned forward. "We hold territory-"
"That no one else wants," Arachne interjected, cutting his point down to its knees, "and selling drugs to only the most desperate or stupid. Like children who don't know any better. That is who you are, Skidmark," she glowered, floating all of her bugs around her body in perfect unison as an outline of her body formed, increasing her size. "A literal shit stain who preys on the dregs of society, barely able to function day-to-day due to too much partaking of subpar narcotics. So, unless you want to try taking my seat from me. SIT. DOWN."
Skidmark wavered briefly under the weight of her words, unused to the level of fire Arachne was spitting as he took his time digesting them before outrage replaced it, causing him to reach behind him and grab onto something in his belt.
This was as far as he got before a wave of spears emerged from Kaiser's armour, brushing right up against Skidmark's clothing but not actually touching him as the drug-addled man gulped at the feeling of a blade at his neck.
"You heard her. Go to a booth with what little dignity you have left." Kaiser ordered, making Skidmark flush even as he obeyed, stomping over to his teammates who were looking on with concern. "Assholes, the lot of you," He complained seeing no one refute the command.
Meanwhile, Kaiser turned his attention to Arachne, drawing his blades back in on themselves.
"As for you…you should be a bit more careful how you direct your words. The status of the neutral zone only holds as much weight as we give it," he said in a gravelly tone before he relaxed in his chair, a chuckle emerging from his helmet. "In this case, however, I'll let it slide. I couldn't have said it better myself."
Yeah, Arachne probably could have been a bit less harsh. But in fairness…she really didn't like the Merchants. They were the ones that bothered her Dad the most at work and had the greatest chance of killing him out of anyone at the bay.
But at the same time, she had been warned about not stepping on too many toes, something she had already failed in. Oh look, Gure's helmet was in his hands, while Tattletale was gripping her cup too tight. Yeah, they probably weren't going to let her take the lead again. Oh well, guess she'll have to enjoy it while it lasts.
"I'll be taking a chair, I think," someone spoke from the door, missed in the chaos of Skidmark's outburst. He wore a black costume with a red mask and a top hat. He wasn't alone, however, as he was followed by three companions each in black and red uniforms. One which seemed to be another monster cape, judging by how he/she…they looked like a four-armed hairless gorilla. Arachne had no idea who they were, but it did bring up the room's total to 25. Hopefully, that would be it, as Arachne wasn't sure how many more the room could fit.
"The Travelers, yes?" Coil spoke from his place at the table, clearly recognising them. "You're not local." It was less of a question and more of a statement.
"You could call us nomadic. What was happening here was too interesting to pass up, so I decided we'd stop by for a visit," The top hat guy said, pulling off a frankly impressive formal bow. Arachne didn't think people did that in real life. "I go by Trickster."
"Are you aware of the rules you must follow?" Coil asked, his voice even.
"We've been in similar places," Trickster shrugged. "No fighting, no powers, no trying to bait others into causing trouble, or everyone else in the room puts aside all other grievances to put you down."
"That will be sufficient," Coil nodded, allowing Trickster to take the single free seat next to him as he somewhat copied Arachne, placing his feet up on the table as he gave her a nod. She returned it, seeing as this guy seemed to know what he was doing.
Of course, not everyone was happy the Trickster so easily got a seat, but it was only the Merchants who were upset. So, no harm done.
Coil waited for each of Trickster's teammates to settle in at the remaining free table before he steepled his fingers. When he spoke, his voice was smooth, like butter. "That should be everyone. It seems like the ABB won't be joining us today, though I doubt anyone is surprised."
Arachne snorted, earning a nod from the man in agreement. She really wasn't surprised considering this meeting, despite being labelled with the intention to discuss the problem, was a meeting about the destruction of the ABB. That was like attending the planning meeting of your assassin.
"Yes," Coil stated dryly. "The issue is this. Thirty-two individuals confirmed dead. Over a hundred hospitalized in the past week. Armed presence on the streets. Ongoing exchanges of gunfire between ABB members and the combined forces of the police and military. The businesses and places where they think we might be operating bombed. They have seized our territories, and there's no indication they intend to stop anytime soon," Coil clarified the situation for all present, slowly turning his head to look each of the leaders in the eye.
"It is inconvenient," Kaiser spoke, his hand flexing slightly.
"They're being reckless," Faultline continued, making it sound like it was a crime on par with hitting babies.
Coil nodded. "That is the real concern. This outburst of violence, all these attacks? It's unsustainable. Eventually, something will give, and they will self-destruct sooner or later, ceasing to be an issue. Had things played out differently, this could be considered a good thing."
"But it didn't," Arachne said, thinking over all the signs of battle and violence she had seen the past few days. It sometimes made her wish she could turn her range off control down, as she couldn't help but find the bodies laid out on the streets.
"No, it didn't" Coil agreed. "Our problem is that the actions of the ABB are drawing attention to our fair city. Homeland security and military forces are establishing a temporary presence to assist in maintaining marshal order. Heroes are flocking to the city to support the Protectorate to regain control of matters. All of this makes business difficult."
Coil paused here, waiting for someone else to fill the silence.
"But it's not all of ABB that makes them dangerous. If that was the case, Lung would have long since done something of this level, but he hasn't. Bakuda is the problem here, the one at the centre of it all. Lung may be the more visible threat, but she is the lynchpin of the operation. ABB recruiting has skyrocketed since she arrived, and all because she breaks into people's homes, and implants bombs in their skulls."
Boy had Tattletale been horrified when she found out about that.
"Using their fears against them, Bakuda takes advantage of her new minions to kidnap more victims, perpetuating a cycle that has resulted in no less than 300 new soldiers for the ABB in the past week. All of them know what will happen if they don't obey, and it has left them willing to put their lives on the line. Taking her down is the ultimate goal, but there is a couple of issues with that."
Arcache paused to give the others time to digest her words, each of them doing so in their own way. Kaiser was stoic, likely uncaring of the lost Asian lives. Purity behind him however was different, as while Arachne could only make out the barest glimmers of her facial expressions, she could easily see the grimace that had appeared.
Faultline was similar, the military woman frowning in distaste, but it was Trickster that was most…disturbing. Despite hearing of the hundreds of forcefully made suicide soldiers, his face remained blank. Bored. Like he couldn't care less about the crimes against humanity Bakuda was committing. No, he was just fiddling with the brim of his had, killing time.
It made him someone Arachne would have to look out for in the future.
"She's rigged all of her bombs to go off the second her heart stops, so it's a little more complicated than assassinating her. Which is a shame, because Coil's snipers would have been perfect for it."
Coil didn't overtly react to the statement, but a few of the room's capes glanced at him speculatively with caution. It's because, up until just now, no one had known about the snipers, which he had carefully kept to his snake-clad chest, their presence disguised behind the squads of mercenaries with more standard-range guns. But when your control hundreds of thousands of bugs in a multi-block range, and don't really understand the concept of privacy, it was a little easier to find out about these things.
"That leaves the easy approach unassailable, which means we're going to have to subdue her. This is a problem, because she's hooked up Oni Lee with some of her more exotic numbers, and he doesn't leave her side whenever she's outside her workshop. Which means we're going to either have to face the pair together or attack a bomb tinker in her base of operations."
Murmurs filled the room at her statement, expressing discontent with the statement but not actually calling her out on it.
"How do you know this?" Faultline interjected, leaning forward and placing her elbows on the table. "How can we trust its verifiability?" She didn't say it, but it didn't stop the elder cape from looking over to where Tattletale was sitting.
It was a fair question, however, despite what she was insinuating, and many of the room looked towards her, curious of the answer.
"I know this because she assaulted the Undersiders a week ago when we were retrieving our spoils from the Bank Heist. We got personal, up-close experience with the woman, and because of it, I can say with certainty this: the woman is a walking basket case. When we first encountered her, she didn't immediately start fighting. No, she started monologuing, talking about her greatness."
Faultline scoffed at the word 'monologuing', which was fair. It didn't stop Arachne from doing it when she could get away from it, but that was mostly because she did it when she wasn't in view and using a false body.
"The first few explosives she used were pretty standard. Incendiary, Flashbangs, the usual. She was actually quite bad at fighting, likely because she hasn't been a cape for long, so we managed to get a lucky hit to knock her down. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough, so she brought out a few of her more…unique options. I was personally hit with a bomb infused with the concept of pain. It was like I had been stuck by lighting as every single one of my pain sensors flared in agony from the bottom of my foot to the tip of my head. Not a single part of me didn't flash with an agony that I can barely begin to describe but imagine only other tinker tech creations can reach."
Skidmark scoffed in the back, but her statement received a few impressed looks and a few concerned ones. Not for her of course, Arachne somehow doubted she had earned the respect of Trickster's crew and Faultline's just after they met. No, it was a concern for themselves.
"The only other unique grenade she used was one that pinned down the rest of the Undersiders with a sort of glue-like substance, but there was one on her that she attempted to use. One that I had to stop, as it was the upgraded version of the pain grenade I had just experienced. Instead of a single burst of excruciating pain, this one would send continuous pulses, each of them as strong as the first version for more than 20 minutes."
Arachne began to float a few of her bugs around her, flying them in formation around herself.
"I didn't give her the chance. While there was nothing we could do physically," 'We' being the Undersiders, "that didn't prevent me from attacking her mind, her fears and her insecurities. By reminding her of them, using my particular brand intimidation, I was able to send her running. As for how I know of the danger of a teleporter with bombs, do I really need to say it? Oni Lee has pulled off the same tactic successfully for years to great effect, and that was with only standard ammunition. With how he can duplicate Bakuda's special ammunitions, he will be a greater threat than even Lung."
Silence dawned on the room under the weight of her words, no one particularly interested in speaking up afterwards after hearing the danger their shared enemy posses. This lasted for a couple of moments before it was broken.
"Well," Trickster spoke, fiddling with his belt with a hint of unease as he stared at Arachne. "I guess that's that. Take out Oni Lee. Take out Bakuda. Without either of them, Lung will be quick to fall."
"Accurately summarised," Coil nodded, turning to look at the rest of the room after pausing on Arachne for a moment. Why did everyone keep doing that? She was in her normal costume, right? Regent hadn't messed with it while she wasn't looking?
"Then we are all in agreement? The ABB cannot be allowed to continue?"
Numerous affirmative murmurs and nods came from around the table and booths, each of them signing off on the ABB's death warrant.
"Then I suggest we establish a truce. Not just between everyone here, but also between ourselves and the law. I would contact authorities and let them know that until this matter is cleared up, our groups will restrict our illegal activity to only what is absolutely essential to our business, and we will enforce the same for those doing business in our territories. That would let police forces and the military focus entirely on the ABB. There would be no violence, infighting between our groups, grabs for territory, thefts or insults. We band together with those we can tolerate for guaranteed victory, and we ignore those we cannot cooperate with."
"Yeah, small problem with that," Faultline said. "My group won't be getting directly involved without a reason. We won't be risking our necks going after the ABB unless they get in my way or someone pays my rates. Before you complain, it's the only workable policy when you're a cape for higher, and just to be clear, if it's the ABB shelling out, my team's going to be on the other side of things."
"Spoken like a true lady of the night," Arachne joked, unable to help herself as she hung her arm over the side of the chair, letting it dangle. Come on, she was just asking for it. A costume that looked like a nerd's wet dream of a blend of martial artist and a commando, and a statement that she'd obey whoever paid her?
It was rocket fuel for the metaphorical fire.
It seems like many in the crowd agreed with her, as a number of the capes in the room started laughing in various forms, from the giant guffawing from Hookwolf to the quiet snickers from Newter to the amused grin from Trickster.
Someone who was not amused was Faultline, whose hand reached towards the folds of her dress before she stopped herself, and Grue who had his helmet in his hand again, only this time it had been his arm that had moved as he softly shook his helmet into it.
Sorry, not sorry.
"Arachne, please try and control yourself. It is not professional to refer to one of your colleagues that way, even if your gangs do have a history with each other," Coil chastised, sounding almost fatherly in his disappointment.
She was tempted to act out again anyway, to embrace her inner teenager, but the more rational part of her mind overruled it, halting the impulse in its tracks. Instead, she nodded. Not deep enough to come off as fearful or regretful, but containing enough movement to show she would take his suggestion seriously.
"Now, as for your condition Faultline, that is unfortunate, but you and I can talk after this meeting is done. I'd prefer to keep matters simple," Coil said, looking over at the silently fuming woman. "You're okay with the other terms, however?"
The prospect of payment was enough to temporarily knock her out of her fuming.
"Keeping on the down-low, not kicking up a fuss with other groups? That's status quo with my group anyways."
"Good. Kaiser?"
"I think that is acceptable," Kaiser nodded, leaning back in his chair as he stared down at Coil, acting like a man on a raised dais despite the fact that Coil was taller.
"The Undersiders will also accept the alliance. It suits our goals and desires perfectly," Arachne said afterwards, not waiting for provocation as she put in her bit.
"Sure," Trickster said, still smirking at Arachne as he fiddled with a pouch on his belt. "Not a problem. We're in."
Seeing as everyone at the table agreed, Coil let out a pleased hum, reaching out to shake hands with Faultline who did so reluctantly before doing so with Trickster. Kaiser denied the handshake, and Arachne would have as well, but she wanted to see how Faultline would react if she tried the same with her.
So, she took hold of his elongated fingers, shaking firmly in a grip that seemed too solid for his state of gauntness. Up close, it was even easier to tell how thin he was. It looked like a stiff breeze could blow him over, not a good thing for a cape in the field.
It was kind of like how Arachne used to be before she got her powers and started putting on muscle.
Spending the couple of seconds that was polite in close proximity, Arachne wasted no time as she shuffled around the table, eagerly reaching out towards Faultline, freezing her in place.
A guarded look appeared on her face, one that Arachne couldn't quite read due to the heavy mask she had in place, but she still put out her hand after a couple of seconds, reluctantly taking hold of Arachne's outstretched claws.
That was as far as her physical politeness held, however, because the second they clasped hands, Faultline started squeezing for all that she was worth, likely seeking to inflict as much discomfort on Arachne as she could.
Jokes on her, Arachne's hands were reinforced with scarab plating. Yes, there was enough flex in them for mobility's sake to hurt a little at the pressure, but that was as far as it went, leaving Arachne free to enjoy Faultline's contempt.
"Some interesting events have happened today, huh Faultline?"
"Yeeeeesssss," Faultline hissed, "interesting. Don't imagine for a second that I'm not going to get you back for that comment, Arachne. I thought foul words were Tattletale's speciality, but it seems like she's found a partner in crime."
"Mm, maybe she has. And I'm sure you'll try to get back at me, but the funny thing is? Words won't do anything to me, and that's all you can do until Bakuda and the ABB have been dealt with. Maybe in the meantime, you should focus on Newter, he was laughing as well."
"Yes," Faultline agreed flatly, glancing over to the grinning man who froze underneath her frosty gaze, squirming slightly in his orange skin, "he was, and I will be sure to reprimand him for it. But he was not the source of my slight of face, you were. Make sure you watch yourself, Madam Spider."
She didn't give Arachne a chance to react as she disengaged from the handshake, walking over to the other side of the table to take the seat that was originally Arachne's. Seeing no harm in it, Arachne took her own, sitting next to Coil as he started the next part of the meeting.
"That's our major piece of business concluded tonight. Is there anything else before we go our separate ways? Offers, announcements, grievances?"
"Yeah," a gravelly voice over to the right of Arachne's shoulder spoke, "I got a complaint." Heads turned towards the source of the voice, which came from Kaiser's group. Hookwolf.
He still looked as unseemly as when Arachne had first seen him. A lacklustre costume and poor level of hygiene that was barely made up for by the hooks of metal coming out of his body. If it wasn't for his extremely high body count, Arachne imagined that he would have been made fun of for it.
He turned to look at the booth the rest of the Undersiders were manning, reaching out with a single, hairy finger as his hooks pulsed, extruding out a little before being pulled back in as he glowered at one person in particular, his pale blue eyes visibly fixed on Bitch through the slits of his iron mask.
"My complaint's with her."
Being visibly agitated as he was, Hookwolf's displeasure with Bitch wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world. If he made a move, regardless of the consequences it would have for future events, not much would be able to stop the living blender as he tore through her teammates. It would have made Arachne nervous if not for her inability to feel that emotion currently, but it did make her wary, causing her to pull in the copious amounts of bags from the run-down neighbourhood to circle the building out of sight of the windows, ready to pour through the gaps as the first metallic spark.
"What is your complaint?" Arachne asked, the buzzing of her voice flatter than normal. Flat enough to give it a dangerous edge.
"It's the crazy one, Hellhound, she-"
"Bitch," Bitch interrupted him. "Only the pansy-ass heroes call me Hellhound. It's Bitch."
"Don't fucking care," Hookwolf growled at the interruption. "You attacked my business. Set your fucking dogs on my customers. Lucky I wasn't there, whore."
Now that was a little uncalled for. Just because you couldn't get any didn't mean you had to take it out on others. Still, it would have been nice to know of this little issue before coming into a meeting that was certain to contain the E88.
She'd have to speak to Bitch about the importance of communication later, but for now, she had to put this puppy in his place.
"I'm sorry, but ask me about the part where I care? This is Brockton Bay, cape central of the United States. Any kind of business is a risk in this city. Capes can and will get in the way, no matter what side of the law they fall down on."
Hookwolf glared at Arachne, clenching his teeth as his hooks became a little more pointed. "It's a matter of respect. You want to fuck with my business, and we're not at war? You let me know if you've got an issue first. Let me decide if I want to move shop."
"You mean give you a warning I'm coming," Bitch spat out, reaching down to grab onto the collar of the growing Brutus, the lovable Rottweiler already picking up size.
Time to change the focus of the room, Arachne decided. If anyone was going to cause a breaking of the neutrality, it was going to be her.
"That's the dumbest fucking thing I ever heard. Just so you know, moving to a different neighbourhood won't be good enough. You open up another dogfighting ring, I'll be visiting that one too."
And if she wanted to be that one, she was going to have to get a move on. Still, it made sense now. Nothing else rustled Bitch's jimmies quite as much as dog brutality.
"Bitch, that's enough," Arachne's voice broke through the noise, her voice low and dangerous as Bitch reared back. "As for you," she continued, looking over at Hookwolf while sending a thumbs up to where only Bitch was looking, an easy task considering she was looking down in her lap. "This raid of hers, when did it happen?"
"It happened last night," Kaiser spoke for some reason from where he had been sitting with disinterest. "Am I to take this as a declaration of war, Undersiders? We just agreed on a truce, if you recall." He was utterly calm, a stark contrast to Hookwolf who was brimming with barely suppressed rage.
"Let me answer your question with a question," Arachne replied, not phased in the least at the accusation. "When did the Undersiders gain the ability of clairvoyance? Because if we have, no one told me."
"Me either!" Regent yelled from the booth with his third glass of whiskey in hand, a faint red visible on his cheeks before Grue slammed his head into the table with a rattle of tableware. It wasn't enough to knock him out like Arachne suspected he wanted, but it was enough to prevent Regent from talking again any time soon.
As well as maybe giving him some brain damage.
"Don't be preposterous," Kaiser grunted with a hint of annoyance and…was that fear Arachne heard? "Clairvoyance is the most sort after power in the world. Some two-bit crew with barely a name to it wouldn't have the capabilities of such a thing."
"Glad you agree," Arachne said cheerfully, moving past the insult to make her point. "So how is this meant to be a declaration of war if it happened before the truce was made? In case you forgot, we only agreed to it a couple of minutes ago. Long after the raid Bitch performed at Hookwolf's ring. So no, in case you haven't figured it out, the Undersiders haven't declared war on you. We don't want to break the truce after all." She teased.
"No, we don't," Kaiser agreed as he tilted his head, changing tact. "But it seems like just your opinion isn't enough on the matter if your subordinates are going off behind your back like this."
There was two response Arachne could make here. One that would defuse the situation through logic, pointing out that people do what they believe in, whether that's rescuing dogs or hurting gays. The other was not so responsible, but it was more satisfying.
No one will be surprised by the option Arachne took.
"Perhaps," Arachne nodded as she brought her bugs up and around her, floating them in the shape of a 16-petaled flower. "Kind of like how you can't control yours, huh Kaiser?"
Kaiser growled at the provocation, his gauntlets screeching as they deformed into each other. He bit his tongue as he pulled back, nodding stiffly as he fell silent, giving Arachne the victory.
Unlike earlier, there was no laughter at the insult. Instead, there was only silence around the room, the seated capes looking between each other and wondering whether they should leave or not. At least, there were before one of them couldn't take it anymore, physically leaping out of his seat as he stalked closer to Arachne's position with her feet up on the table, having retaken the position once the talking had started.
"BTchEs LiKe yOu shOULd leaRN there PLacE!" Hookwolf yelled, his voice distorted by the shell of metal wrapped around him. Not enough to completely hide him from view, but enough to obscure most of his body in deadly, gun-metal grey steel.
It was honestly an improvement over the original.
He didn't get very far though, as in-between his path and Arachne was Purity. A Cape renowned for being a blaster on par with Legend. So when her hands started glowing brighter than the rest of her, an aurora of light centred around her knuckles, Hookwolf slowed right down, listening to the part of his brain that helped him not die.
"Hookwolf! Stop! You will not violate the neutrality," Purity yelled, using the glow of her hands like a metaphysical wall to hold him back.
He growled of course, but he did listen as he flexed his hands, making his hooks scrape against each other in a high-pitched noise before they went back into his skin, disappearing entirely. This meant that Arachne could pull back on the swarm she was gathering inside the pub, the walls now blanketed in their scurrying little forms.
"Fine!" Hookwolf spat, glaring viciously at Arachne, the promise of future violence in his eyes. "I won't do nothing for now, but she should still show some respect to the empire. We run this town."
"Respect is given, not earned, Hookwolf. It is not something that can be forced, and as a matter of fact, I do respect the Empire. But respect comes in many different forms. I respect your power and the sheer amount of force you can bring to the table. I do not respect the various views the E88 holds for our society, and when I am provoked so clearly like Kaiser just did?"
Arachne looked the man of metal in the eye, enjoying the aggravation he was feeling because of her.
"I respond to it in kind. It is the same for Bitch. She doesn't respect your views on dogs, Hookwolf. She hates it, and she can do whatever she wants about it so long as she is willing to face the consequences. That's how cape society works. That's how the worlds work. Actions, and consequences. Actions...and consequences. So get off your high horse, and actually think for once rather than trying to intimidate your way through the problem."
"I believe that is enough," Coil called out sharply, cutting through her argument once more as he looked between them. "Any conflicts that you may have are from before the truce, and as such should be put aside until it is over. Can you agree to those terms for the sake of dealing with the ABB?"
Kaiser and Hookwolf both were murderous, even if Kaiser hid it better behind the weight of his metal. The tenseness in their body language, the way Hookwolf was practically frothing at the mouth? Arachne had made no friends this day, but she couldn't care less.
Grue was black, and Arachne was pretty certain she was bisexual. Those facts alone would be too much of a roadblock even before Bitch's stunt against Hookwolf. In future, the Undersiders would have to look out for an Empire assault, but for now?
"I cAn aGRee TO thAT," Arachne boomed through the bugs in the room, vibrating the glasses inside from the volume but clearly getting her point across.
"As can I," Kaiser stated emotionlessly, giving a single, distinct, nod.
"That's settled then. Anything else?" Coil asked. "Issues, negotiations, requests?"
No one replied, as no one was quite stupid enough to voice any complaints after the shitshow the first complaint had created. Thus, it was silent. The only sound that could be heard was the soft thump of Grue's helmet as he banged it against the table, the poor man being rubbed on the back by Tattletale.
"Then let us conclude the meeting. Thank you for attending. Faultline, could I have a word before you leave?"
The sound of chairs scraping across the floor filled the room as the attendees of the table stood up, Coil and Faultline excepted. People began to shuffle out of the room, with Skidmark's group heading out first. Kaiser and Purity walked to the table where their underlings sat, while the Travellers loitered around their table, not quite settling in, but not quite leaving.
Arachne didn't hesitate as she stood, walking towards the booth while flicking her head at the door.
"Let's go."
Nobody argued as they filtered out of the booth, with Regent needing to be supported by Bitch before he gained his balance and moved to Arachne's right, the last to take up position around her. With her teammates gathered, Arachne led them out the door, pushing out into the sunlight with her bugs covering their retreat, obscuring them from sight.
Skidmark, Squealer and Mush were taking their time leaving down the end of the street, clearly spoiling for a fight judging by how they were looking back and dragging their feet, but they were unfortunately in the direction the Undersiders had parked their van.
So Arachne did the logical thing and lead them in that direction, uncaring of what the Merchants would do in retaliation.
"Ah, Arachne? You do know what's going to happen if we keep going, right?" Tattletale voiced with a hint of concern, glancing between her and their soon-to-be foes.
"Yep."
"You don't think that might be…unwise, in the current circumstances? The talks got pretty heated in there, and I don't need to tell you that we almost came to blows. A battle so soon afterwards might be the spark needed to light the fire."
"Oh, they won't be attacking us, even if I doubt anyone else would care considering the fact that they're Merchants. But I'm a little frustrated by Kaiser and Hookwolf and would like to work off a little steam." Arachne replied.
Tattletale would have continued the conversation, but it was a little too late now. They were getting too close, and the time they had left wouldn't be enough to convince Arachne otherwise. So, she remained silent, her gaze focused forward.
Taking this as a tacit sign of approval, Arachne spread out the concentration of her bugs, positioning them marginally out of sight as she readied them to make her move.
"Bitch, start bulking up your dogs. Grue, some shadows please."
Grue didn't seem to want to help, but after a moment of deliberation nodded as smoke poured out of his body, beginning to fill the area. Bitch didn't even need that long as she wasted no time in obeying the command as Brutus, Judas, and Angelica accelerated through three rounds of steroids.
Skidmark replied in kind as glowing blue fields of energy radiated out from his feet, covering the terrain around him, while Mush began to gather the available dirt in the environment and adding it to what little he already had on him, which amounted to a bulky set of plate armour.
Plate armour that was made of dirt. Dirt that could be burrowed through quite easily by her bugs. Bugs that included the ones already trapped inside of his armour, thus bypassing the requirement to get through it anyway.
Squealer didn't really have anything she could do aside from hefting her wrench up to her shoulder from where it was stored in her belt. She was no threat, but Arachne did like looking at her. If you ignored the track marks going down her arms and the grease in her hair, she was quite attractive.
Like, in both face and body. Seriously, how she doesn't have horrible back pain is a mystery considering all she'd used to hold up those melons of hers is a stretched-out grimy singlet.
"I'm going to say this once. Are you sure you want to do this? Really sure?" Arachne asked Skidmark, spreading her inner swarm out around the built-up darkness of Grue's that she then thickened with her outer swarm, pulling them together into the shapes of various monsters in the shade that joined the towering forms of Brutus, Judas and Angelica. "Because I would advise against it."
"You're just saying that Chica," Skidmark called out with a grin, his yellowed teeth on full display as he pulled out a pistol from the waistband of his pants. "We're the Merchants! We do what we want when we want, and no one can stop us! Some jumped-up girl and her gang of possers aren't going to do much against us."
Arachne signalled for the others to get behind the dogs, shielding themselves behind their armour. Arachne did no such thing, however, as she was confident in the spatial awareness granted by her powers to dodge the shots, and if worst came to worse, make sure they hit something non-essential. Besides, judging by the size of the bullets she could feel chambered by the mites she had moved there, as long as they hit her anywhere outside of her head or neck, she would be bruised, yet fine.
"But I'm not just some jumped-up girl," Arachne said, tilting her head menacingly as she folded her arms behind her back, taking a step forward to evade Tattletale's grasping arm. "I'm the girl that can ruin you."
"Yeah, right." Skidmark scoffed, not looking worried. "You got some funny ideas, Chica. Someone fuck up your head?"
Yes, but that was irrelevant.
"Not so funny, I can assure you. In case you forgot," Arachne threw her arms out to her sides, letting tendrils of bugs fly around her as she crowded the sky around the Merchants, forcing them to bunch up together. "I am a living swarm. Anywhere you exist in this town, I can find. No matter where you stash your drugs, I can eat them. No matter how secure you think you're money is, I can assure you, it's not. The only reason I haven't yet is that it's not worth the time it would take to do so. Do you want to make it worth my time?"
Skidmark froze as he considered the question, his drug-addled mind slowly pouring through the logistics of her threat.
"I get that you mean your bugs would eat the drugs, but that would cause them to get high, wouldn't it? At least for some of the drugs they peddle," Tattletale said curiously, having moved on from her worry. "Seeing as you're mentally linked to them, could you get a secondary high from that?"
You know, that was a legitimate question. Pausing for a second to think about it, Arachne came up with the conclusion that she had no idea if she'd get high or not. She already altered her brain chemistry by pushing her negative emotions away, as even when she stopped doing that she didn't feel as sad as she used to.
But would her connection with her bugs be enough of an attack vector for the drugs to piggyback on and affect her own brain chemistry? That she didn't know. Nor would anyone else, really, seeing as it was power related and the only effective method of power testing was actually, you know, testing them.
Which could give her some very interesting side effects, if she was interested in doing so. So, in answer to Tattletale's question…she shrugged. She was willing to find out though, at least once, as even if it did get her high, she wasn't actually introducing those chemicals into her body.
She wouldn't get any physical cravings from doing so, and as for mental cravings, she could just push those away into her bugs as well, couldn't she? Like she did for her craving for comfort food when she was trying to build up her body with lean meat and vegetables.
"Fuck backing down, Mama didn't raise no coward," Skidmark muttered from across the street, starting to raise his gun before Squealer latched onto it, her assets shifting from the motion.
"Skids! Listen to reason, she can devastate our whole entire operation. Ruin the seals to let moisture in, contaminate the batches with bugs, even destroy our money. Besides that, if we fight now, the others will know that we broke the truce, and they'll just use 'tas an excuse to invade our territory. I love the Merchants, ah really do, but we can't take that kind ah heat. Just back down honey, we can get back at 'em some other time."
Skidmark paused at her words, frowning as he mulled it over.
"Yes, do listen to your other half, Skidmark," Arachne called out, making the pair of them jump at being overheard, likely not expecting it due to how Squealer had been speaking softly. "It might just save you in the end. And to prove that I'm not bluffing about striking from anywhere…"
Arachne took command of the insects she had stored on Squealer's body, just some of the ones that had crawled down her arm and onto the underside of the table. Considering just how many people had been in the room, she'd only managed to sneak about 10 bugs onto each of them, but for her purposes, that would be enough.
She moved them up Squealer's body, up to the straps of her shirt, and had the soldier ants chew at the strained fibres, breaking a single fibre with each snap of their jaws. If the shirt had a normal level of integrity, it would have taken more than a couple of seconds, but the Merchants never had anything that was good.
So less than five seconds after her threat, Squealer's shirt gave up the ghost with a tearing sound as the last of the strands ripped apart, the weight of her chest too great as the top half of her singlet fell down, exposing the entirety of her shapely, pale chest to the world.
"…here is just a taste of what I can do."
No one was more surprised than Squealer as she proved true to her epitaph, squealing and dropping her wrench as she covered herself as best as she could, failing to do more than cover the same amount a skimpy bikini would.
Skidmark laughed at the embarrassment she was feeling, genuinely amused as was Regent based on the loud chuckles he was giving off, but the glint in Skidmark's eye proved there was more going on inside his head.
He glanced down at Squealer's exposed flesh, clearly enjoying the sight before looking back at the Undersiders with a sigh, nodding as he lowered his pistol. At the same time, the velocity fields that had been building up around him dissipated in a flash of blue light, leaving the field empty once more.
"Fine, you've made your point, you'll get no trouble from us Chica," Skidmark grunted, not sounding pleased, but still resigned.
"Thank you," Arachne nodded, bringing her swarm back around her and dispersing most of it, leaving her with just the very core as she walked along the street passing Skidmark, Mush, and a glaring Squealer with the other Undersiders walking behind her.
While getting close like this could be considered dangerous, Bitche's dogs were still enlarged and were just as close with enormous jaws full of teeth. Mutual destruction assured, they passed with no trouble, making it about a block in silence.
"Well that was fun," Regent chuckled, throwing his arm around Arachne's shoulder as best as he could despite the height difference. This was uncomfortable, so she shrugged him off, throwing her own arm around his shoulder before he could be offended.
"Yes, yes it was. So, any thoughts about my time as the leader?"
"Many," Gure grunted as he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "First of which is, I'll never let you be the leader again. You singlehandedly worsened our relationship with three separate gangs today, one of which possesses half the capes in the city, and almost caused the peace to break. So no, I don't think I'll make that mistake again."
Arachne was amused at the regret in his voice.
"Unfortunately, we might not have a choice," Tattletale grimaced as she thumbed the pistol at her side, glancing around the area nervously. "This was our first official outing as a group, and the flashiest of us acted as our leader for it. Somehow, I don't think she's going to stop draining attention to herself,"
"You'd be right about that,"
"and even if we try to say that you're the leader, they won't really believe us." Tattletale sighed, reaching up to rub her temples to stave off the encroaching headache. "I'll give you some coaching for the next time, but please, please try not to piss off anyone else. I don't know how much more I can take."
"I'll do what I can," Arachne agreed, knowing that she should listen if she was going to be a good teammate. "Speaking off pissing people off though, Bitch…do you know what you did wrong?"
Bitch grunted, not saying a word as she looked down, rubbing Angelica's head when she wined for attention.
"I'm waiting, Bitch," Arachne pressed, crossing her arms and tapping her fingers along her side, walking backwards as she looked at Bitch. The girl continued trying to avoid Arachne's eye, and the team walked another 100 metres before she said anything.
"Messed up by not telling anybody." Bitch said, a hint of regret in her voice as she finally stared up at Arachne, a hint of vulnerability in her eyes.
"Exactly," Arachne replied with a smile in her voice, uncrossing her arms as she walked around the fire hydrant her bugs had sensed. She reached up to put her hand on Bitch's shoulder, causing the girl to lean into it. "I am the last one to lecture you on not doing what you want. My fight with Mouse Protector is a good example. But what did I do after that fight that was different?"
"You came to the team. Told them what happened, how it might affect them." Bitch summarised sullenly.
"Yes, I did," Arachne nodded. "We are a team. A pack. While we don't really have a leader,"
Arachne ignored the spluttering Tattletale gave at the remark.
"We do have a responsibility to each other. To keep them informed. To keep them safe. To be loyal to each other. Just...make sure to remember that next time, okay?"
"Okay," Bitch murmured, looking down. Despite how surly the girl normally was, Arachne couldn't help but find the cute as she patted the girl on the shoulder, turning back around as she continued to lead them toward the van.
The gang walked in now companionable silence, each of them wrapped up in the thoughts of their own heads as they made it to the van, Grue unlocking it and getting into the driver's seat while the rest pilled in the back.
Arachne took this as a chance to unlatch the back of her costume, pulling it down off her top half to let her cool down a bit as she took advantage of the privacy. Pretty soon, she was caught up in her own thoughts as well.
Today had gone pretty well in her opinion. Plenty of posturing, plenty of almost violence, but no one had been hurt (aside from maybe a couple of villains' feelings), and nothing had been damaged, just like she wanted.
This is the kind of Villain she wanted to be. This is who she wanted Arachne to be. Skidmark had the right idea in that at least. Being able to do what you want, when you want, was the dream. It was everything she wanted, as long as it didn't come with a cost to innocent people.
Arachne wasn't sure if it was her own powers or her own psyche causing this, but she also wanted to get into more fights like the one she had with Mouse Protector. An innocent, playful fight that may have cost the city money, but hadn't done anything else. She wanted to do more of that, against better and better people until she was eventually taken down. To see the heights she could reach. The limits she could break.
Arachne was under no delusion. Eventually, something would happen that would take her down. Maybe a lucky shot from a villain, maybe a daring rush from a hero. Hell, it might even be one of the bloody Endbringers for all she knew. Which one it would be, Arachne had no idea. She did know one thing, though.
Until she was taken down, she would continue to walk the path she had set. To see how far she could go without going over the line as Mouse Protector had warned her against.
If Arachne, if Taylor, was being honest with herself, however?
Walking that edge was what made it so exciting.
AN: And we're done! Faster than I thought too, and following along with the cannon events a little too closely, but that's how it turned out as I wrote it. To be honest, there wasn't really all that much I could change considering the actual meeting involves a lot of character introduces, and only about 4 and a half thousand words to do it.
So, here and there I added my own personal little changes, and I'm pretty happy with them. Happy with the story in general, really, as when I posted the first chapter I didn't expect it to be so well received, or for there to be so much interest in a continuation. That second chapter turned into 3, which turned into 5, but 50,000 words later, I'm hanging up the cape on this one.
I would write more, but realistically the world of Worm is one that doing a more lighthearted, less grimdark story is hard, and while some have done it to great success (*Cough* Taylor Varga *Cough*), I don't think I would be able to at my current skill level.
Alas, that's enough about me, so for now, thanks for reading, and see you next time.
Ervin.