Vindication
Chapter Eight
Vin flew through the night air, coinjumping from rooftop to rooftop. She had been here for two weeks now, and she still hadn't gotten used to the clear, mistless nights, and this world's naked stars.
She felt Taylor's bronzepulse in the distance, almost at the limit of what she could sense. Taylor couldn't turn off her powers, but it seemed like most people couldn't. Hookwolf thrummed, even when he wasn't encased in metal. Taylor had read that he kept metal plates under his skin as body armor, though she had never tested that. She did know that Stormtiger had a powerful sense of smell, and Cricket had enhanced hearing.
Two tineyes at least, Vin thought, mistcloak fluttering behind her. But having incredible senses didn't matter if they weren't paying attention. Would either be on watch?
The one she was most worried about was a man named Victor. He could steal the skills of people he came in contact with, and Taylor couldn't tell her more than that. How much skill? What kind of contact? Taylor didn't know, and Vin didn't want to find out.
And that meant getting out of here as soon as possible. "Are you sure that's Hookwolf?" she whispered into her phone.
"I'm not sure of anything," Talor admitted. Vin had sensed a bronzepulse coming from inside a building, and Taylor's bugs had gone in for a closer look. "But he's the right size and he's wearing the right sort of mask. More than that, the others defer to him."
That last bit seemed to matter the most to her. Deference. Respect. Or maybe Vin was reading too much into it. Either way, waiting around here much longer wasn't doing her any good. "Alright. Stay alert."
With that, Vin dropped down between two sentries standing at the door. They reached for their guns, but she Pushed them out of their hands.
"Cape!" one of them shouted.
"I'm not here to fight," she said, Soothing them before the situation could escalate further. "I'm here to talk. Tell your boss I have information to trade."
The men blinked. "What?"
She heard movement inside the building. She would have a fight on her hands if she didn't hurry. "Just tell him. I won't wait here long."
She shot herself into the night, and looked back from the safety of a rooftop. More people came out of the building. They talked. They went back inside.
Would Hookwolf take the bait? It depended on how paranoid he was after Stormtiger had gotten shot. If they wanted to assassinate him, they would probably go about it the same way. But if he was too afraid to go outside, then he would have given up on holding territory already.
Sure enough, Hookwolf came outside a few minutes later. Bare chested, tattooed, with his greasy hair slicked back, he would have stood out even without his steel mask. It was like Taylor had said, people deferred to him, and he carried himself as though he expected them too.
Well, Vin had scammed nobles before, and titles or no titles, that was what she was dealing with. She began Soothing him and his henchmen before dropping down onto the street a good twenty feet away from them.
No one seemed surprised. They weren't impressed either, but she would take that over a nervous guard shooting her on reflex. They didn't even point their guns at her, which in her opinion was downright polite.
"So," Hookwolf said. "Do you have something for me? Because if you waste my time, it won't end well for you."
"I have information to sell," she said. "About Coil."
She Rioted his anger, and his expression hardened even through his mask. "What's your name?"
"Wraith."
"Alright, Wraith. You have my attention."
"I've been surveying his forces, and I have information on his numbers and resources." She held his gaze for a moment. "Even his headquarters."
"You've found his hideout?" Vin Soothed harder on his suspicion. He grinned, and she was sure his teeth were coated in steel. Abruptly, he stopped. "What will it cost me?"
"One-hundred thousand. Cash." She projected confidence she didn't feel. Every scam balanced on the price. Was a hundred thousand too good to be true? Or more than Hookwolf's gang could afford?
"A hundred grand. Is that it?"
She had gone too low, by his tone. "We're trying to build up our reputation as reliable informants. You'd never pay us what our information is worth, not when you don't know us." Which ... wasn't something Vin wanted to emphasize. "More than that, a level playing field is good for business."
Hookwolf sneered. "And how does removing Coil from the board level the playing field?"
Perfect. "You don't know how dangerous he is. What do you think he is? Some man hiding underground with his hired help? He's more than that. The Undersiders are his. The Travelers are his. He owns half a dozen other so-called 'independent' capes, all pretending to be playing their own game so you never think to cut off the head of the snake."
She kept a steady flow of brass burning, but she expected him to become incredulous all the same, maybe even angry. Instead, a wide smile spread across the visible part of his face. "Well. That's one hell of a free sample, kid."
She didn't say anything. Was he making fun of her? Or was he just insane?
"I knew the Undersiders and the Travelers had something going together," he continued, "but Coil too. That's interesting." He paced across the street, shooting her a sidelong glance. "So. A hundred thousand? But if you really want to level the playing field, I have a better offer. Bring me Panacea, and I'll double it."
What's Panacea? No, who. Not one of the Chosen, nor the Pure. Not one of the Capes working for Coil that Taylor had told her about, but she had heard Panacea's name mentioned before at least once.
"We traffic information, not people."
"You're freelancers. You traffic in whatever you're paid for." He pointed a finger at her. "Besides, you can fly. It will take you five minutes to swoop down, throw the bitch over your shoulder, and get out. Do that, and we'll be in business."
She cursed inwardly. What could she do? Say yes? Not without knowing what she was getting into, and she couldn't say no without revealing that she knew far less than an informant should.
"I'll talk it over with my crew and get back to you," she said, and she disappeared into the night.
WWW
"God freaking dammit!" Taylor said. "Why?"
Vin frowned. "Is she that dangerous?"
Taylor shook her head and sat down on the old mattress that she used as a bed. It was a step up from the series of couch cushions she had used before, but still a step down from her time with the Undersiders. "No. She can turn you inside out if she touches you, but you can counter her powers with a pair of gloves." Still, why couldn't Hookwolf have just taken the deal?
Vin frowned. "So what does he want with her?"
Taylor stared at her, then remembered that Vin didn't even know Panacea by reputation. "She can heal people. Best in the world, supposedly." She tried to keep the bitterness out of her tone, but she had yet to have a decent encounter with the hero. "He probably wants her to heal Stormtiger after I shot his leg off."
Vin sat down on one of the office chairs that counted as furniture in their hideout—or rather perched on top of it. There was something catlike about the way she rested on the armrest instead of the seat. "What's the problem? Is she hard to find?"
She shook her head. They could just stake out a hospital and find her in a day. Then Taylor could cause a distraction for whatever protection detail she might have, and Vin could grab her and get out. But afterwards ... "Her team would come after us. I told you about New Wave, right? Heroes. Lots of fliers, Brutes, and Blasters. I don't want to piss them off more than I have to."
But they were already pissed off, weren't they? The heroes thought they were trucebreakers. Kidnapping a hero was just a drop in the bucket compared to breaking the Endbringer Truce.
"So, what's the alternative?" Vin asked. "Go to another gang?"
Taylor ran down her mental list. Skidmark's gang had numbers, but they weren't the type to attack someone who could fight back. Purity's gang ... maybe. She didn't know. Purity would happily level entire city blocks if provoked, but provoking her would be dangerous. That left the heroes, and the heroes were, well, heroes. As supposed trucebreakers, Taylor and Vin might be a higher priority for them than Coil, and even if they weren't ... what? Would they sit on the information and deliberate it until it was no longer viable? Would they even believe her at all?
Not with Armsmaster in charge, that was for sure. If there was one thing she could count on, it was that she couldn't count on the heroes.
What really happened that day?
It seemed like at every major point in her life as a villain, Panacea was always there. The bank, the charity dinner, and most recently at the hospital. According to Lisa, Armsmaster had set her up so he could knock her down, pushing her into the Wards before she had time to think straight, and Panacea had played a part in all that.
She remembered lying in that bed she had been bound to, her body a mix of distant numbness and twisting pain, and looking down at her, with that knowing smile on her lips, was Panacea. How much did you really know? "What if," she said slowly. "What if we just borrowed her?" It could work. "We kidnap her, make her heal Stormtiger, and send her home. Hookwolf will get what he wants, so he'll be happy. He'll be ready to attack Coil's base, so we'll be happy, and New Wave ... they'll take it as a threat, but they listen to threats."
And before they were done with her, the two of them would have a little talk.
WWW
Amy walked out of the hospital, flanked by two PRT troopers. She didn't normally need bodyguards, but the heroes were stretched thin and the city had gone to crap.
"Are you sure you don't want us to give you a ride?" one of them asked. She probably should have asked his name at some point, but she wouldn't have remembered it anyway. "The roads aren't that bad."
Not between the hospital and her house, no, and it would save her sister the trip when she was doing more important things, but ... she had already called her. And flying was kind of fun, so screw it.
"No, I'm ..." Her voice trailed off as she spotted movement in the night sky, but it wasn't Victoria. A bird? "No, I'm fine. She'll be here in just a—"
Something landed behind her, so silent she noticed it more by the rush of air than by any sound, and a cloth sack dropped over her head down to her feet. She heard a scream—two screams—and felt the ground disappear beneath her, making her fall face first into the sidewalk.
Then, in an awkward, twisted position inside a bag, she felt herself lurch into the air and begin to fly.
WWW
Vin landed on the same street light in the Chosen's territory as she had the night before. As the sun set in the west, a gray twilight filled the streets. Not darkness. She would have felt moderately safer in the dark, but according to Taylor holding Panacea an extra hour was more dangerous than all the Chosen put together.
"Hey, you," she called down to a nearby woman. Her head was half shaved, and there were tattoos all around her neck. Vin held up the bag. "Go tell Hookwolf I have what he wants." In Luthadel, tattoos marked people as Obligators. Here ... maybe it was similar?
Panacea began to thrash and squirm in her sack, and Vin resisted the urge to drop her. She didn't Soothe her either. The girl's sister could Riot people, so she might recognize Vin's emotional Allomancy. All that was left was to hold the sack at arm's length and hope Panacea didn't create any deadly airborne diseases in her panic.
Hookwolf arrived, much more quickly than he had before, flanked by two men. "Wraith," he said. "You work fast."
What could she say to that? "It was an easy job." She dropped to the ground and set down the bag. Panacea crawled out of it, looked around, and immediately backed up against a wall.
Hookwolf nodded to his men. "Take her and set her to work."
They stepped forward and grabbed the girl—bare handed—and ignored her protests. No skin contact. That had been Taylor's top concern, even more than avoiding any of Panacea's teammates. Did these men have protection she didn't know about? Or were they just careless?
"As for you," Hookwolf said, turning to her, "come with me."
Vin had her phone on in her pocket with Taylor listening on the other end, and she knew that her swarm would be following her every step. That didn't comfort her much as Vin followed him into a building, and less as he led her into a basement.
A small, enclosed space where I can't maneuver, and him being able to turn into a giant, bladed monster. It was a trap waiting to happen, and Vin couldn't do anything besides walk right into it.
Or maybe it was just an intimidation tactic. He wanted to convince her he was the stronger party so she would do what he wanted, and she wanted to convince him that he was the stronger party so he would think she would do what he wanted. She took a deep breath. She had done this a hundred times before on different cons.
It never got easier.
There was a girl in the basement staring at her phone, her posture relaxed to the point of boredom. She was wearing a mask, a hood, and a cloak. A costume, even if Vin didn't remember which one.
"Give us the room, Rune," Hookwolf growled, and the girl got up and left without a word. Rune. What was her power again? Something to do with ... Hookwolf turned to her. "Did you bring the intel?"
Don't make it too easy. If it was too easy, it was a trap. Fight him for it. Make him think that you need this more than anything, then lose. "Did you bring the money?" She listened as the girl closed the door behind her, and she didn't hear it lock. "I brought you the healer. That should be enough to prove I'm worth your time."
"You did," he admitted. "Did anyone see you take her?" He seemed to smile behind his mask. "Is New Wave going to come knocking your door down to get back their cure-all?"
She had zinc and brass in her stomach, but she didn't burn them yet. She needed to know what sort of emotions he might be feeling before she knew which ones to Push and Pull on. "That's my problem, not yours. Yours is the money."
Something shifted under his skin. Metal plates, she thought, but it looked too fluid to be metal. He laughed behind his mask. "I hear you snatched up a couple of neighborhoods south of Rhyme Street, you and that bug girl. Ambitious, for a couple of truce breakers, and everywhere you go, you keep on pissing people off."
So. He knew Taylor was with her. That meant he'd be prepared, but Taylor was listening, so she might be able to prepare around his preparations. More importantly, she thought she had a handle on his emotions. "Again, that's not your problem." She Rioted his confidence and his pride. Brass was better for trust and compliance, but for rash action, she went with zinc.
"The Protectorate, New Wave, and apparently Coil if you're so eager to sell him out." He took a step forward. "How many more people can you afford to piss off?"
She pulled out a small notebook from a pocket of her cloak. They had spent days trailing Coil's men, estimating his numbers, grilling Dinah for what inside information she could give them, and it was filled from cover to cover with Taylors cramped, precise script.
This is a really bad idea.
Kelsier would approve.
"At least one more," she said, and she tore out the first page.
Hookwolf let out a wordless snarl and swung at her, a curved blade shooting out of his forearm like a sickle. Too fast. She was lucky he went for the notebook instead of her throat, tearing it out of her hand. She Pushed herself backward, not wanting to get within five feet of the man if she could help it, then Pulled on the metal spiraling holding the book together. The coil sprang free, bouncing off the wall behind her.
Hookwolf chuckled, more spikes bursting out of his arms and shoulders. "Know your place, bitch. But if you think you can play with the big dogs ..." His voice came out in a rasp, and as metal encased his body, a painful grinding sound filled the air. "Then let's play!"
He barreled toward her, a four legged mass of spikes and steel, and Vin shot herself out of the way. The notes were inside of him, protected by his metal shell. Or destroyed entirely. Lord Ruler, she hoped it was the first one. Either way, she had a bladed monster to deal with. She wasn't strong enough to face him directly, even with pewter. She couldn't Push or Pull on him either, though she hadn't expected to.
Taylor, I could really use some backup now. But no backup came. No swarm of bugs came down on Hookwolf, crawling through the gaps in his armor's eye holes. Where are you?
But Hookwolf came back around, steel scraping on concrete with each step. She couldn't fight him, but she was an expert in not fighting people. She burned steel for a fraction of a second, and every light in the room shattered. Shards of glass sprayed down and darkness fell.
She could see well enough with tin, but Hookwolf? He groped around blindly, a hulking mass of aimless rage. How long would it take for his eyes to adjust? Long enough for her to escape, if she was lucky. There were no windows in this basement level, and the only door was the one she came in through. And on the other side of the door was ... what? Men with guns? Rune? What could she do again? Turn into a giant? She prepared herself to deal with anything, and she slammed against the door.
It pushed back.
What?
It wasn't locked or blocked, but someone was on the other side pushing against her. She considered burning steel and using the building's support beams as an anchor, but then she came up with a better idea. "Let me out!" she shouted, banging on the door. "Let me out!"
Hookwolf turned to her, hearing her screams in the darkness. Two tons of steel came at her, building up speed with every step. She cried out in desperation—and jumped out of the way at the last second.
It was always nice to see a man open up a door for a lady. Hookwolf opened up the entire wall.
She leapt through the gap in the wall while he was still blinded by the light. There were no gunmen waiting for her, just that girl Rune at the top of the stairs. What were her powers again? Behind her, the door floated into the air and hurled itself right at her.
Right. That's what her powers are.
She hopped over the door, then ducked as it flew back. There was probably some trick to Rune's powers, but she didn't have the time to figure out what it was. Or the need. She Ironpulled the girl's phone as she jumped over her, then shot it back at her with steel. Something that bulky wouldn't go through her like a coin, but it was enough to make her double over in pain. Vin ran through the hallways until she found an exit, and when she was free of the building she shot into the sky.
Freedom. Safety.
Well, relatively, at least. She pulled out her phone once she landed on a rooftop. Call Disconnected. What the hell did that mean? Had she pressed a wrong button while it was in her pocket? She called Taylor, and she answered on the first ring.
"Wraith." She sounded terse, but not panicked. "What's the situation?"
"He took the bait." Some of the pages might have been damaged during the fight, but what mattered was that Hookwolf had them and thought they were legitimate. They were legitimate, but ... "What happened? I could have used some backup!" Even if Taylor couldn't hear what had happened, she still should have sensed that a fight was going on. She could hear shouting from the streets below. She couldn't stay here much longer.
"It's Panacea. She found one of my bugs and traded in my powers for a massive headache. I'm going to be worthless until she stops or I get out of range. I'm guessing she's not with you? The last thing I heard before I got cut off was her being sent off somewhere and you meeting with Hookwolf."
"She's not." Dammit. Maybe if she had ... what? As soon as she had made a deal with Hookwolf, one of them was going to betray the other. It was just a question of who did it first. "What do we do?"
"I don't know," Taylor said on her end of the phone. "Honestly, I'm a little tempted to just leave her here."
"Skitter."
"Sorry. Not to come off as melodramatic, but my head is killing me and I want to die. God, this is the bank all over again." A pause. "But we really could just leave her there. New Wave might come after us, but they're not as dangerous as the Chosen, and I'd be able to help. If you go after her now, you'll be entirely on your own."
She took a deep breath. "Didn't you have something you wanted to ask her?"
"Nothing worth getting you killed over!"
Vin considered that. How hard would it be to rescue her? Follow her bronzepulse, grab her, and get out. And not get shot along the way. She couldn't plan for that. She'd have to hope for luck. "What's she like?"
Taylor fell silent for a long moment, a long moment Vin couldn't afford. "Vindictive," she said at last. "She's the sort of person who hides behind her friends, then she runs out to kick you while you're down. And ... she healed me. She did it in the most assholish way possible, but she healed me. I'd be in a wheelchair right now if it weren't for her."
Not a glowing recommendation, but what was Vin supposed to do? Abandon her just because it was convenient?
Anyone will abandon you. That's just how the world works.
But ... that wasn't what Kelsier would do. And if she was the only one here, then it was all up to her.
She's not going to pay you back for helping her. She'll only pay you back for kidnapping her in the first place.
But it wasn't about the payback. It was about ... what, exactly?
Lord Ruler, this is insane.
"I'll get back to you as soon as I can," she said through the phone. "Wish me luck."
She heard Taylor let out a sigh. "Thank you."
For what? "Where did you last see her?"
"In the building you dropped her off in. You went downstairs, she went upstairs. Maybe she's still there."
She leapt off the rooftop, coinjumping back to where she had come from, burning bronze. Pulses came into her head, like half a dozen gently beating hearts, some from above, some from below.
She picked out the highest one, shooting a handful of coins through a window and flying through the shattered glass. Panacea? No. Two capes she didn't recognize in red and black. The woman screamed and threw herself to the floor. The man pulled out a pair of pistols so fast he looked like he had been expecting her.
Not waiting for him to fire, Vin Steelpushed against those guns and shot herself back out the window for another circle. Gunfire rang out, not from that room but from the streets below. A crowd was forming of the Chosen to drive her off or bring her down. Coinjumping was fast and made her movements unpredictable, so nothing short of a lucky shot could hit her. Still, as a second shot cracked like thunder, she worried that her luck was running out.
She jumped through a second window, hoping that ... yes! There was Panacea, in red and white robes, sitting beside a bed. Now Vin just needed to rescue her without touching her, maybe by making a sack out of a bed sheet and ...
The man in the bed sat up, and another Allomatic pulse began to sound. Vin felt the air whoosh by her, and Panacea let out a squeak as she was slammed against the far wall of the room. The man stood gingerly, testing the weight on his feet, then a smile spread across his broad face.
"You work fast, girl," Stormtiger said, not taking his eyes off of Vin. He wasn't wearing a costume, a mask, or even a shirt, but she recognized him. "Excuse me as I stretch my legs."
Vin felt the air pick up, and she jumped back out the window before he could do whatever he planned to do. A blast of wind followed her, carrying debris and broken glass out into the city as she yanked herself backward and snagged onto a rain gutter.
Aerokinesis. That was how Taylor had described his powers. Maybe he was a bit stronger than that tornado girl she had fought earlier, but it was the same idea, right? Of course, she wanted to avoid hurting him too much so he could fight Coil, but other than that he shouldn't be too hard to deal with.
Then he burst out of the window, flying. The air rushed around him like he was riding a tornado, and in his hand the wind howled. She let go of the rain pipe as he lunged toward her, and that section of the pipe exploded into scrap metal. Lord Ruler, the man even left gouges in the brick wall where she had been.
So. Aerokinesis. Bloody hell.
And that mob of gang members was running toward her as she neared the street. Stormtiger above her, gunmen below her, and to the side she saw—oh, bloody wonderful, that Rune girl from earlier, riding a flying door.
A friendly swarm of insects would be really helpful right now. They could disperse the mob and distract the rest, leaving Vin free to focus on the major threats one at a time.
But Taylor wasn't here. Vin was on her own and in over her head. Fortunately, she was used to that.
She flared iron, lurching herself toward Rune's door and kicked her off of it. She planned to catch her—she needed Rune to fight Coil's forces as much as she needed Stormtiger—but the door spun in midair, nearly flinging Vin off of it until Rune was once more on top. Rune drew a knife while Vin was still clinging to the side, and Vin burned steel.
The knife should have gone flying out of her hand. And it did, but only for about a foot, then it stopped, and Vin ended up getting flung backward. She hit a nearby building hard enough to bounce, and regained her senses just before she hit the ground.
She still hit the ground.
Hard.
The pewter in her stomach broke her fall as much as her hands and knees did, and the crowd of armed gangsters was close enough to finish her off. But they didn't. They hesitated, looking toward the sky.
"Mine!" came a voice from above.
Vin, not being cursed with an abundance of curiosity, Pushed against the metal in the crowd. She shot out of the way, bouncing and skidding across the road. Stormtiger hit the ground where she had been, leaving a crater in the asphalt. Vin rolled to her feet, her palms scraped bloody and her legs barely able to hold herself up.
"Did you just call dibs?" a newcomer said, floating in the air. It was the man from before who had been sitting on the couch. Vin didn't have time to think through the list of capes to place his name, but the Chosen had a lot of fliers for a team Taylor had targeted for their lack of mobility. He shook his head in mock disgust. "Just out of bed and already trying to hog all the action."
Stormtiger's face split into a grin, wide and feral. "I'm making up for lost time, Victor."
Victor? Skill thief. Avoid contact. Before she could think, Stormtiger launched himself into the air with a gust of wind and landed nearly on top of her, forcing her to coinjump out of the way.
"If this were a cage match, you'd be winning," Victor said. What was holding him up? There wasn't any wind like with Stormtiger or a levitating object to stand on. He was just floating. What part of skill thief explained that? "Unfortunately, my fine, feline friend, real life has no out of bounds. She'll bolt as soon as she realizes she's losing, unless I ..."
He drew a gun, and Vin shot into the sky before he could pull the trigger. She had outstayed her welcome. Or maybe she had been going too easy on them, trying too hard not to hurt them. Either way, she—
She heard the shot. She even smelled it. But most of all, she felt the bullet tear through her thigh like a hot knife. She tumbled through the air, barely able to keep from crashing into something by accident, and she crashed through a window on purpose.
The broken glass didn't bother her. Those cuts were too shallow to do more than irritate her. What bothered her was Victor's shot. Had that been luck? It had to be, with her going as fast as she was. But ... he had only fired once.
As she stopped to catch her breath, Stormtiger came climbing in through the window after her. "You can run, little girl," he said, a strong breeze filling the room, "but you can't—"
"Oh, shut up." Vin threw her coiled chain at him, Pushing it even as she Pulled on the metal supports of the building itself. Maybe Stormtiger tried to make a shield of air to protect himself. Maybe he didn't. Either way, the chain crashed into him like a boulder, knocking him out of the air.
Vin launched herself after him, staying off her bad leg as much as she could, and grabbed onto him as he fell. The wind gathered beneath him, slowing them both, but as they reached the street she flared steel, slamming him into the asphalt. He didn't get up.
She turned to Victor and tried to Push the gun out of his hand. His grip wobbled and he had to hold it in two hands, but he didn't let go. Then she Pulled on his breastplate for an anchor and flared her metals. She felt the strain in her body, but she had pewter holding herself together. He didn't, and after spinning in midair, he let go of his gun and watched it go flying.
Then she Pulled on the belt and the gun. She shot toward him and caught the gun as it came at her. They grappled together in midair, but whatever Victor's powers were, he didn't have her enhanced strength. She smashed the gun across his face, then pulled the trigger again and again until the bullets ran out. Not at him, but right next to his ear. Maybe that was a little spiteful of her, but her leg hurt, and the man didn't need both of his eardrums. Then she pistol-whipped him a second time for good measure and let him hit the ground.
"Get off of him!"
Vin saw a glint of metal out of the corner of her eye, Rune's knife zipping through the air. Vin shot herself upward as the knife flew beneath her, then threw the empty gun at her. It barely clipped the girl, but that was enough to throw her off balance, and she nearly fell off the door. The knife flew into her hand to steady her, but for the moment she was helpless.
Vin Pulled on the door and the knife and flew toward Rune, feet first. The girl hit the ground hard, and didn't get up.
She panted for breath, then shot into the air, and recaptured Panacea.
WWW
Panacea fell out of a sack, and she wanted to throw up, and not only because she was airsick. She had been flying for most of her life, first being carried by Aunt Sarah when she was little, then by Victoria ever since her sister had triggered. Sure, Victoria flew in smooth, straight lines instead of bouncing around the city like a ping pong ball, but flying was flying.
It wasn't because her sack was a sheet from Stormtiger's sickbed, either. Unidentified slime was gross, but no microbe was unidentified when it touched her skin, and honestly she had handled worse.
No. It was because she knew what was coming. When she looked around, she saw the familiar black bodysuit, chitinous body armor, and insectoid mask that she never wanted to see again.
"Hello, Panacea," Skitter said, looking down at her. "We need to talk."
WWW
A/n And that's the end of the chapter. If you're curious why Victor could fly, the answer is Othala. I've taken a few creative liberties with Stormtiger because, as far as I know, we've seen him fight once? Twice at most. I have no idea if I've written his abilities in line with canon, but as long as it's a good fight, that's all that matters.
I'd like to thank my editors, Eschwartz and HanChenYou for editing, and my Patrons Exiled, Prime 2.0, Sphinxes, Hubris Prime, Janember, Yotam Bonneh, Lord of Edges, LordXamon, Victoria Carey, Kurkistan, Christopher Harris, Luminant, Jan, Jamie Hayes, Ian, and Ryan Cosly for ... patroning. Patronizing? Oh well. And last of all, I'd like to thank you, the readers, for reading. Oh, and my characters for putting up with all this nonsense. I'll have to bake them cookies or something.