Chapter 27

Renick left to inform the rest of the employees of the recent developments, while we tried to rearrange our patrolling schedule with the new restrictions and to include hospital visits on top of everything else.

"It probably won't happen at every shift," said Glory Girl, who apparently had done this before. "The PRT will inform us of when we need to make a visit, though with the possibility of moles currently underreporting potential triggers, it might be a good thing to start strong with a visit to each hospital, just to make sure no one slips through the cracks."

It brought back memories of what Armsmaster had said, that someone had visited me shortly after the locker incident, but that it went nowhere. How different would my life be if they'd been more thorough? Would I have joined the Wards from the beginning? Then I would have been forced to work with Sophia. Would they have believed me if I told them everything she'd done? Would they have taken action? I had my doubts.

"Sounds great, but not really what we need to be doing right now," said Clockblocker. "Seems to me like the priorities are all wrong."

"They're trying to keep us out of the worst of it," Weld pointed out. "The priority is supporting the Protectorate and PRT as we can, and this is another way."

"Right. Sorry."

"No need to apologize. It's good that you're voicing your thoughts. Speaking of voicing your thoughts, anyone else wants to share?"

"It feels like things are about to get even worse," Kid Win said in a quiet voice.

"We have to take it day by day," Flechette answered. "And we most likely won't be directly involved in the conflict with the Nine."

"Still, more people are going to die," said Vista. "Civilians, and maybe even Protectorate members, and there's not much we can do about it."

"We can do our best," Glory Girl said. "Beyond that, it's out of our hands."

Weld nodded along.

"Apiary," he addressed me, "we haven't heard from you. Anything you'd like to share?"

Not really, but I suspected I wouldn't get away with saying nothing.

"I'm a bit spooked," I admitted. "About the Slaughterhouse Nine, and about what the Undersiders did."

"Understandable," Weld said, his tone inviting me to continue.

"I didn't expect them to have a new member so soon, or to use Regent's full power. I don't know how to feel about that."

Weld appeared satisfied with that, and went back to the subject of our schedule.

"Since we have to stay at the base anyways after curfew," he said, "I was thinking about moving class and training in the evening, so that we can start patrolling earlier in the day to compensate. Any objections?"

A few people shook their heads, and no one spoke up.

"If you're not too exhausted yet," he continued, "and since the rest of our evening just cleared up, we can have our first training session right now, just to show what tricks we have up our sleeves and get familiar with each other's powers. We've all heard about it or read the files, but that's not quite the same as seeing someone in action."

After everyone agreed, we headed to the gym. Glory Girl went to the armory to put on a black bodysuit before joining us.

"Who wants to go first?" Weld asked once we were all gathered.

It was like a teacher asking for volunteers to speak in front of the class. Nobody did, so Weld went first.

He removed his shirt, showing his musculature perfectly etched out in the metal, with silver lines tracing the muscle definition.

"I absorb any metal I come in contact with," he started, "which can be an inconvenient, since it's involuntary. Then I can move it around and reshape my body."

He demonstrated, his forearm elongating to become a baseball bat with spikes around the end, then shifting to a long blade.

"My physiology also means that I'm more durable than most, and can't really be injured in a fight. It also has the advantage to make me somewhat resistant to organic-only or inorganic-only powers. I can also leave a limb behind if needed, though I need to absorb more metal to reform it."

Glory Girl went next, showing off her flight and strength, as well as a few martial arts moves and midair maneuvers.

Then, Vista went, demonstrating impressive feats of space compression and various complicated tricks she had developed and named over the years.

"But living creatures interfere with it, and it takes me time to work it," she specified.

Clockblocker went next, and I learned that he carried a number of items beneath his armor, including string and sheets of paper he could turn into midair steps with a deadly edge.

Kid Win showed us his creations, mostly guns with a variety of settings, then Flechette explained her power as "imbuing inorganic material to ignore certain laws of physics, mainly to allow them to punch through virtually anything." She could also use it to increase or reduce friction, and had an intuitive understanding of angles and an enhanced sense of timing, which she demonstrated by throwing darts at targets over her shoulder.

Then, it was my turn.

"There's not much to show," I said as the gym filled with bees. "I control and get feedback from every bug in my range, which is of about eight hundred to a thousand feet all around me, but sometimes it's bigger depending on circumstances. I can see and hear through some types of bugs, but it's mostly touch and proprioception that are useful. I can tell where every single one of them is in relation to myself, so I use the more discreet types of bugs to tag people and things, to give me a mental map of my surroundings. I also make spidersilk, and use cords of it to tie up criminals from a distance."

I shaped the bees in a humanoid form, then made the form move like it was running around the gym.

"I can make decoys like that, and cover myself or others with bees to blend in with them."

"Please don't cover me with bees," Clockblocker interjected.

"I'm training to make them talk, too," I continued.

The bugs began chirping, buzzing and droning to imitate the pitch and tone of words. "Hello, Wards," they said.

"I'm not allowed to let them bite or sting, though. Glenn's rules. But the bank robbery from Faultline's crew got me thinking about using them as a vehicle for a paralytic agent like Newter's bodily fluids."

"Newter?" Asked Flechette at the same time Vista said "Bodily fluids?" in a disgusted tone.

"They're powerful hallucinogens," I explained. "I once took down Lung by smearing a bug coated with Newter's blood in his eye. If I could get my hands on something like that, I could neutralize just about anyone from a distance, with minimal risks."

"That's a good idea," Weld said. "I'll see with the guys upstairs what we can do. Well, that's it for tonight. See you tomorrow, and don't forget about the new patrolling schedule. First up, Apiary and Vista, while Glory Girl and I will make hospital rounds."

The next morning, a box of contact lenses and a bottle of solution were waiting for me on my desk, courtesy of Lanaro.

I went to the bathroom to put them on, and was immediately reminded of why I much preferred to wear glasses. I hated them so much. They were never comfortable, not when I'd tried them in the past at Emma's insistence, and certainly not now. They kept flipping inside out to cling to my fingertip instead of sticking to my eyes.

After several minutes of struggle, I managed to get them on, and went back to my room to get dressed, selecting the spare copy of my mask that didn't have my prescription integrated in the lenses so that I could see while wearing contacts underneath.

Once I was done, I went to the panic room at the far end of the corridor, where soundproofing panels had been installed on every surface. Armsmaster was there, unloading crates of electronics and tinker projects from a cart and piling them against the back wall.

"Good morning," he greeted me. "I've already removed the regulator from your workshop, so you might want to keep your spiders in their terrariums when you leave the building. I've also brought your braille computer and printer."

I nodded. "Thanks. Think you can find some room for these?" I asked, handing him the protective case with my glasses.

"I think I'll manage," he said.

I left him to his work.

Meanwhile, mosquitoes had found Flechette in the break room like yesterday, only this time, she wasn't alone.

Glory Girl was also there.

They sat on the couches, chatting, and I couldn't go to the cafeteria without them noticing me as I passed the break room.

Should I wait for them to leave?

Flechette could be waiting for me specifically, so that might not work, not to mention that the others would be getting up soon. Vista's first alarm had already gone off, though she was still in bed, but that meant she would get up in ten to fifteen minutes. If I waited, there was a higher chance of encountering her or Kid Win, not to mention that Flechette would probably wave me over in the cafeteria anyways. I decided to go to the break room despite Glory Girl's presence. It felt like the least awkward option.

Flechette greeted me as I arrived, and I did the same. Glory Girl looked back at me, but didn't say anything, face unreadable. She was wearing a plain black bodysuit, like during yesterday's training.

"Should we wait for the others before heading out?" Flechette asked.

"They usually get up after seven, so they won't be ready for a while," I answered.

"We might as well go, then," she said, getting to her feet, and to my surprise, Glory Girl did the same without a word.

I would have thought that she'd rather hang out with the pre-Leviathan Wards than with me, but after yesterday, she appeared to have decided that my presence was tolerable, even in a casual setting. Either that or she wanted to hang out with Flechette more than she minded my presence.

We made our way to the cafeteria in silence, going our separate ways to grab our food, then I joined Flechette just outside of the canteen, and we waited for Glory Girl. When she arrived, we went to a table on the side, Flechette siting across from me, and Glory Girl, beside her. She had a tea, a raspberry muffin, and a banana.

I removed my mask to take a sip of coffee as Flechette and Glory Girl began talking about training regiments, presumably a follow up to the conversation they had before my arrival.

I didn't really participate, aside from revealing that I'd started running every day in preparation for going out in costume, and was content to listen with one ear and nod along.

Meanwhile, I was reading about the Slaughterhouse Nine through my bugs. Last night, after training, I'd turned to the internet for research about the Slaughterhouse Nine since we didn't have access to the files on the S-class threats from the database, then went to my workshop to print my findings in braille to be able to read them later.

I'd told myself that it was better to be armed with information, but the more I read, the more discouraged and spooked I became. These guys were the real deal, racking up a body count of at least four digits in every major city they visited. Shatterbird alone accounted for a large part of that. When she "sang," her power allowed her to make every piece of glass and silica within her range explode violently.

Maureen had answered my message, reassuring me that the lenses of my mask weren't glass, so at least, I wouldn't end up with glass shards exploding in my eyes. I also wore my old spidersilk bodysuit beneath my costume, so I was at least somewhat protected, but the others weren't.

On the workbench, my black widow spiders were working relentlessly, and were nearly done with the suits. I hoped that they would finish them before any encounter with the Nine. I wanted to make more, for Flechette, Weld and possibly even Glory Girl, but I figured it was better to finish the first batch rather than to spread my weavers too thin.

I finished breakfast just as the others arrived to the cafeteria, and I excused myself to my workshop to avoid any awkwardness if Flechette tried to wave them over.

I called a swarm through the trap on the ceiling to feed the spiders, and it also carried fresh leaves for the cicadas and grasshoppers. Meanwhile, I gave the horseshoe crabs pieces of shrimp, and refilled the water dishes in every terrarium. Then, I made a batch of sugar syrup, and left it in the pot to cool so I could refill my bees' feeders later in the day.

A few minutes before eight, I sent the spiders back into their terrariums before going down to headquarters to join Vista for our first patrol together.

I felt irrationally nervous, given that I'd survived my patrol with Glory Girl, who had much more specific reasons to hold a grudge against me. Still, we'd fallen into a routine of mutually ignoring each other, and deviating from it brought me into an uncharted territory I couldn't help but be anxious about.

As I entered the base, Clockblocker was manning the console while Kid Win worked on the soundproof room with Armsmaster, and Flechette was doing paperwork in her room. Vista was waiting by the console, chatting with Weld and Glory Girl, who were heading to a hospital to check on some potential triggers. They stopped talking when the door opened, and I couldn't help but assume that they'd been talking about me.

We took the elevator together, then walked out of the lobby, and went our separate ways in the parking lot, Weld and Victoria heading South, while Vista and I went North.

Unlike Glory Girl, Vista didn't remain silent for very long.

"Clockblocker said that you wanted to be a hero and that you joined the Undersiders to infiltrate them," she said in a neutral voice as we left the parking lot.

Part of me suspected that she'd been waiting for an opportunity to question me alone. Maybe Weld had encouraged her to do so, hoping that it would soothe the tensions between us.

"I did," I answered. "Though I changed my mind eventually."

"Why?"

I hesitated, trying to find the least pathetic way to phrase the fact that I had no friends before because of the bullying.

"I got to know them better, and we became friends. It made it that much harder to betray them," I said.

"So you decided to become a villain for real, despite wanting to be a hero" she stated.

"Yes. For about a week and a half, then I learned about Dinah, and that wasn't something I could turn a blind eye to like the rest of the team."

"And you really quit them over it?" She asked. "Despite them being your friends?"

"I couldn't live with myself if I stayed there and did nothing," I explained. "I didn't really have a plan in mind or anything when I left. I just couldn't stand to keep working for Coil after that, and wanted to find a way to rescue her. Then Leviathan happened, and I asked for the PRT and Protectorate to intervene in exchange for joining the Wards, but they didn't want to do anything because of the Thinker warnings. By the time Piggot was actually willing to make a plan and mobilize resources, he'd moved out of his base, and now we're back to square one."

"I thought you joined the Wards because of what Shadow Stalker did, though Clockblocker said that the big guys more or less twisted your arm," she said, not quite a question, but I answered it as one.

"They did. Armsmaster managed to find my identity and tried to back me into a corner, but mainly, I realized that the best thing I could do against Coil was to reveal his plan and the location of his base to the authorities and ask them to rescue Dinah. At least, that's what I thought at the time."

"Why not join the Wards in the first place, if you wanted to be a hero?" She asked after a pause as we crossed the street.

I hesitated. The subject felt dangerously close to school and the bullying, and I certainly didn't want to give her an opening to talk about those. I settled on a half-truth.

"I wanted to retain some independence and control while I figured things out."

She seemed to be satisfied with that, and we walked in silence for a minute, until I my bugs found something.

"There's a group of ten or so who are cornering a woman and two children in an alley, three blocks down Danford Lane," I told her before relaying it to the console.

She stopped walking, so I did the same, and she began compressing the street in front of us. A few moments later, she was done, and we crossed the section of street she'd used her power on.

The assailants, whom I assumed to be Nazis based on their hairstyles and the fact that the family they'd cornered was black, were screaming and trashing around, covered in bees. A few were down already, hands and feet bound, while my bees were working on the others, tying loops around each limb before drawing them together.

I cleared the bees once they were done.

"Console, we have nine unpowered ready for pickup," I said while squeezing my earpiece.

"Roger that," said Clockblocker. "There's a police station just two streets away, so they should be there soon."

Meanwhile, Vista was talking to the victims, asking whether they needed medical assistance. They were unharmed but shaken, and one of the boys was allergic to bee stings, so my intervention did not comfort them at all.

I sheepishly apologized, and explained that the bees were under my full control, shaping the swarm in different ways to demonstrate. The kids began naming increasingly complicated shapes, and the swarm followed their instructions, hopefully taking their mind off of the matter at hand until the police arrived to take over.

As we returned to our patrol route, Vista spoke again.

"Did you really get powers because of Shadow Stalker?"

"Yes," I said, not elaborating further.

She opened her mouth to say something else, then changed her mind and closed it.

"Were you friends?" I asked after a pause, trying to sound casual.

She scrunched up her face. "I wouldn't say that."

That was pretty much the same thing Clockblocker had said before.

She continued. "She used to make fun of me for pretty much anything. My age, my height, the fact that I can't do solo patrols, other stuff… In a twisted way, part of me is glad that she's not around anymore. I mean, what happened sucks, why she's gone sucks, but I'm just glad I didn't have to deal with her comments these past few weeks."

"So she wasn't better here than at school," I realized.

She shrugged. "It was never… I mean, I saw some of the stuff she did to you, with the leak. It wasn't like that. Maybe because she didn't have anyone else on her side to back her up, maybe because she was worried she would get in trouble if she did anything too overt, but it was always small stuff. Insignificant stuff. It felt like complaining about it would make me look whiny more than anything else."

"But it adds up," I said.

"It does. And then when I'd lose my cool, she would act like I was some brat overreacting just to get her in trouble, like the fact that I was reacting at all proved her point."

"Definitely sounds like her."

"One time, she—"

That's when I felt it, or rather, my bugs did. A whining sound, like someone was running their finger along the rim of a wine glass, too high-pitched for my human ears to hear. It came from the windows of every building in my range.

"Shatterbird is singing," I yelled at Vista.

I pressed my earpiece to relay the message, then I threw it away along with my phone, and she did the same. I was protected, wearing my spidersilk suit under my costume, but she wasn't, and I wasn't sure whether the fabric of her costume could withstand Shatterbird's attack.

Apparently, she wasn't either, instead raising the sidewalk all around us until we were trapped in a dark, egg-shaped box of concrete.

In every building with open windows, I sent bugs in to spell out SHATTERBIRD wherever I found people. In places with no easy way in, I tried gathering the bugs that were already present, but it took more time, and they weren't necessarily numerous enough to be noticed.

"Are you sure about it?" Vista asked after a few moments without anything happening.

"My bugs can hear the sound coming from the windows, and it's getting louder. Anyti—"

Bees weren't the easiest bugs to see through, but their vision was highly sensitive to motion. Through the ones high above the street, I saw what looked like a tidal wave rolling over us, shattering glass as it went.

The sound came a second later, loud. A heavy impact, followed by the sound of trillions of glass shards simultaneously falling like rain across the cityscape.

Our concrete prison shielded us from the glass, but those in nearby buildings had been less lucky. Their screams were punctuated by a dozen car alarms, dampened by the walls around us.

"It's over?" Vista asked.

"Yes," I said.

The concrete around us returned to its rightful place, revealing the devastated street.

To our right, a tall office building that used to have a glass façade overlooking the street was now ripped open, exposing the dead and injured desk workers who'd been sitting at their computers near the windows when the glass shards shot out like bullets.

I averted my eyes.

This wasn't the kind of situations that could be improved with bugs or spatial distortion, and we couldn't even call console to relay a message to emergency services. It would be useless anyways, given that the whole city was in the same situation.

"We should get back to base," I told Vista, and she nodded, eyes still on the bodies.