Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Taylor's POV - September 13
"All set, Skitter?" Armsmistress asked as I came out of the room fully in my hero costume and joined her. I looked at her in surprise.
"Oh... I'll be patrolling with you today?" I asked, almost bursting with excitement. Armsmistress nodded.
"Yes, you'll be with me and Flechette." Armsmistress said easily as she looked to the side, Flechette walking towards her.
"Hello, Taylor... or do you prefer Skitter?" she greeted as she adjusted her crossbow behind her back along with large quantities of needles at her side; I could also see small darts on her hip.
"Either one is fine," I said immediately. "You're... Lily, right?" I asked. She nodded without hesitation. "Can I ask, what's your quirk? I don't think I saw you use it during our training," I asked curiously.
"My quirk allows me to temporarily imbue inanimate matter with the power to ignore the laws of physics," Flechette said with a snort. I blinked, confused. I mean... didn't all quirks do that?
"Flechette's power is capable of passing through any defense and materializing within a target, merging with it at a molecular level. This means it can ignore various forms of conventional durability. It can also make an object ignore gravity, air resistance, reduce or eliminate friction, or even make several other laws of physics disappear," Armsmistress explained from the side. My eyes widened slightly.
"Oh... that... that sounds incredible and ridiculously deadly." I said in surprise. Flechette laughed slightly.
"Thanks, I know. There's a reason I don't use my power much during training, at least not to attack and ignore defense. It's really all or nothing in that aspect. I'm confident in my aim, part of my quirk helps me with angles and trajectories, but it's still dangerous to use in training." Flechette said simply, and I nodded.
"I see," I said easily. "Is it also capable of piercing Haki?" I asked curiously. Flechette snorted heavily.
"You just had to ask about one of the few things that block my power, didn't you?" Flechette mocked, though she didn't sound annoyed, just sighed almost in defeat. "Haki is stupid, isn't it? Whatever 'willpower' is, it simply resists my power. I need a lot more energy to pierce a person's Haki." Flechette said with a sigh, and I nodded.
It wasn't unusual; Haki interacted in unusual ways with many quirks. Haki was able to hit and damage someone with intangibility quirks, or even with some kind of damage mitigation, so yes, Haki was unusual.
"Alright, enough talk, it's time to go," Armsmistress said, finally interrupting us.
"Yes, Armsmistress." We said at the same time, she nodded and started walking, we both followed her immediately.
"By the way, I had a question. Yesterday's patrol was... quiet, and today before coming here, I was checking the news from Brockton Bay to see if the ABB had caused any trouble, but they've been silent. I almost expected them to start making a scene by trying to free Lung or something," I commented as we walked. Armsmistress nodded.
"And you're right, we were also preparing for retaliation from the ABB, but they've been unusually quiet. Even their junior members and mere gang members have been keeping silent," Armsmistress said gravely. "Lung's transfer is scheduled for two days from now, on Friday. You'll be an escort, Skitter. Your skill with insects, your ability to detect everything around you, will be invaluable in preventing ambushes," Armsmistress said. My eyes widened.
"So long? I thought they had already moved her." I said, surprised. Armsmistress shook her head.
"Both Director Piggot and I are pushing to make it faster, but Friday is the fastest we can do. Lung is extremely dangerous and difficult to contain, let alone transport."
"Lung will have to pass through several cities, each of which will be responsible for her transport, containment, and escort. They weren't prepared to contain someone of Lung's caliber, therefore, they needed days of preparation," Armsmistress said easily. I grimaced.
"Yes... I see." I said easily, Armsmistress nodded.
"Even so, don't let your guard down during the patrol. The ABB members are quite vengeful. You were on the news; they'll know you were one of those responsible for capturing Lung. It's very possible they'll target you more than the others. Stay alert during the patrol and don't let your guard down," Armsmistress said. I nodded firmly while making a face inside my mask. I almost shuddered.
I'd seen the news, social media, forums—everyone was talking about Miss Militia, Vista, and me. There were videos showing us fighting Lung. How on earth did people get a video of the fight with Lung at that time of night and with such good angles?
They were even taking the comments to extremes, comparing me to Ryuma, or even praising me for defeating Lung when Ryuma hadn't. Ridiculous, but it was the internet; it wasn't something I could control, much to my dismay.
"I won't." I promised; after all, it was easy enough to do with my bugs. We walked to the headquarters garage where we took the motorcycles once again. Armsmistress approached one that was completely different from the standard ones that were around.
Hers seemed like her own creation, different enough to notice that the quality and technology used in both were decades apart, which I suppose made sense if she had built that motorcycle from scratch.
"Do you drive?" I asked Flechette, she shrugged.
"If you don't mind, I'd prefer a ride." Flechette said without any embarrassment. I just shrugged, hopped straight onto the motorbike—my haori was wrecked, and the Support Department still hadn't created a replacement for me. I started it up, and Flechette jumped on behind me without missing a beat.
The patrol with Armsmistress was the same as the previous day. Yesterday I had been with Battery and Weld. They were both quite pleasant, so it was a fairly easy patrol.
Not to mention that we hadn't encountered any truly significant villains. Well, not villains who were part of any notable gang; we just came across minor crimes, which was a relief after fighting Lung two days ago.
The patrols were done on foot, despite riding motorcycles to leave the headquarters, in reality we only used them to move between areas and in case we needed a quick reaction in another place, besides that, we simply left them parked at certain points, and then proceeded to do the patrols on foot.
That didn't change at all with Armsmistress and Flechette. It was really pleasant chatting with Armsmistress; we talked about I-Island, about Lung, and she also explained things about the patrol, the PRT, and the Protectorate. I paid attention to everything she said; after all, it was part of my internship to learn about the PRT system and the Protectorate.
Once we finished patrolling the area, we returned to the motorcycles to go to the next point.
"We're being followed." I said without hesitation as we moved. I could feel Flechette tense up behind me.
"Information." Armsmistress said immediately.
"Two blocks away at five, four people, riding on... on top of what look like giant lizard dogs?" I said, confused.
"The Undersaiders," Armsmistress said without hesitation, gesturing with her hand before stopping in the middle of the street. I did the same. The three of us dismounted from our vehicles. Almost immediately, we could hear heavy footsteps approaching. I gripped Shusui, bracing for the attack. I saw Armsmistress grab her halberd and Flechette load one of her crossbow bolts.
Finally, the Undersiders appeared before us. Three enormous lizard dogs that looked like they had come from hell approached us. We all went on guard.
"Truce!" shouted one of the villains, a blonde dressed in a tight purple suit, as she raised her hands in the air. The three of us tensed up; I frowned, but I still didn't let my guard down.
"Tattletale," Armsmistress said, taking a step forward. "What do you want?" Armsmistress asked easily. Tattletale simply climbed down from the giant dog along with the rest of the villains and approached us, though still keeping a reasonable distance.
"We don't want to fight, we just want to thank the insect girl for getting Lung out of our butts two days ago," Tattletale said with an almost arrogant smile.
"It's a nice way of saying we helped you get away with your villainous acts," I said dryly. Tattletale laughed amusedly.
"Please, we stole from Lung, it was a community service," Tattletale said playfully. I snorted.
"Community service? Is that what you call it now? Was the bank robbery a month ago also community service?" Armsmistress asked dryly. Tattletale shrugged.
"A thief who steals is a thief and all that, there's no bigger thief than the banks, like I said, community service." Tattletale laughed, and I snorted loudly. Tattletale's eyes flashed with amusement. "Ah! Our dear savior finds it amusing," Tattletale said cheerfully.
"I didn't say anything," I said curtly. Tattletale looked at me with a knowing smile.
"No need to say anything, I can read minds," Tattletale said, almost arrogantly. I raised an eyebrow from inside my mask. "And by the way, can you get the insects off us? I don't like them following me around when we already said we wouldn't do anything," Tattletale said easily.
I frowned slightly, as if—
"How did I know?" Tattletale asked, interrupting my thoughts. "I already told you, I can read minds!" Tattletale said arrogantly again.
"Enough. Speak. Why are you here?" Armsmistress asked firmly.
"I already told you, Armsy, to thank our new heroine," Tattletale said with a smile. "We may be villains, but we're not ungrateful," Tattletale added playfully. "Besides... color me in, curious one. I really wanted to meet the person who defeated Lung," she said, staring intently at me.
Her eyes were shining in a way that bothered me.
The Undersiders, I had researched the heroic and villainous scene of Brockton Bay; I really didn't want to be caught off guard. I had found a lot of information, mainly about the ABB and E88 gangs, the Japanese and Nazi gangs respectively.
But there were also several small or discreet groups; I understood there was a group of mercenaries called the Faultline Crew, an insignificant gang of drug dealers called Archer's Bridge Merchants, several other minor groups, such as Uber and Leet, who were two video game-themed villains, and some regular villains, although most didn't last long as they were quickly arrested.
Among the smaller groups were The Undersiders, a gang of thieves whose modus operandi was to 'get in and get out quickly' when committing robberies, and they only fought to escape. There wasn't much information about them; they kept a relatively low profile.
Except for the bank robbery the previous month, which disrupted its normal operations.
From what I understood, Grue was the leader, her quirk generated darkness that caused sensory deprivation, Regent, the only man in the group, was able to interfere with the nervous system of the others, Hellhound controlled her dogs and was able to transform them, apparently, into those giant lizard dogs.
Finally there was Tattletale, no one was sure what her power was, but she was definitely a thinker, her quirk allowed her to know things that, somehow, would be impossible, but how did no one know.
It made me shudder. I doubted it was mind reading, but I could almost feel her eyes looking right through me. Finally, a thread of thought emerged from the back of my head.
I let my murderous intent gush out from within me and aimed it at Tattletale, I got into position and-
"STOP!!" Tattletale shouted desperately, raising her hand. "What the hell!? Were you about to decapitate me?! Why?!" Tattletale asked incredulously.
"Tattletale?" asked the person I recognized as Grue, a heavyset woman wearing a motorcycle helmet and a leather jacket. I frowned before repeating the same action, getting ready and—
"WAIT!!" Tattletale stepped in, almost panicking. "Can you stop trying to kill us?!" Tattletale yelled.
"Skitter?" Armsmistress asked; I could hear the tension in her voice.
"Oh... sorry, I didn't mean to attack anyone." I said without hesitation.
"Yeah, right, and the attempted murders are a… lie," Tattletale said through gritted teeth before becoming completely still. "You're not kidding... what the hell?" Tattletale asked incredulously, looking at me, apparently concluding with her power that I was telling the truth. I just shrugged.
"My husband told me never to let a thinker talk; they're good at manipulating the situation, and the easiest way to silence them is simply to try to kill them—emphasis on trying—pushing the murderous intent onto the thinker and then telegraphing movements of an attack would do the trick; the thinker's quirk would set the scene for itself."
"The immediate danger would overwhelm anything the thinkers were concentrating on, even if it's false." I said easily. Tattletale froze, almost as if she were trying to deeply analyze what I had said. After a few seconds, she looked at me incredulously before cursing under her breath.
"Is that what it takes to fool my quirk?!" she asked, completely indignant. I shrugged, smiling beneath my mask before repeating the process. "STOP DOING THAT!! Don't you know anything other than cutting off heads?! How many times are you going to pretend to decapitate me?!" Tattletale yelled furiously, glaring at me. I chuckled slightly.
"Wow, this is more fun than I expected," I said honestly. Tattletale gasped indignantly before growling in my direction. I could hear the laughter of one of the members behind Tattletale—the one with the theatrical mask and elegant clothes, the only man behind them.
"She really screwed you over, Tattletale!" laughed the one who should be Regent.
"Shut up, Regent!" Tattletale snapped at her partner, Regent just shrugged amusedly.
"Danger?" Hellhound asked hoarsely. Tattletale snorted.
"No, Bitch, there's no danger. In fact, they don't want to hurt us despite their very bloody method to break my power," Tattletale said, glaring at me. I smiled at her, almost petulantly. "Wipe that smile off your mask. You didn't figure this out yourself; you just listened to your husband. You're so whipped that you'll always do what he says, won't you?" Tattletale growled, mocking me. My smile didn't fade.
"Of course he does, he knows best," I said without any embarrassment before stopping. "Most of the time," I corrected myself before frowning. "On the important things." I corrected myself again.
"Are you trying to praise or insult your husband?" Flechette and Regent snorted simultaneously. I shrugged.
"Both?" I smiled happily. Izumi really did get a lot of fun from putting us in situations he found "funny," and he didn't mind a little white lie to achieve that. But when it really mattered? He was always serious.
In fact, this was a very cheap and underhanded version of what Ryuma had used against me when we first met. That pure, undiluted murderous intent capable of generating visions of my death. The old man had been able to do it with just his murderous intent, without breaking a sweat.
This method involved using the thinker's quirk against them. Normally, telegraphing obvious movements, feints, and similar tactics didn't work against thinkers; it was too obvious, too easy to see. But the killer intent was what kept the thinker on their toes and forced them to reach false conclusions.
My murderous intent wasn't strong enough for the first option, but it was strong enough for the second.
"Enough. If that's all you had to say, withdraw," Armsmistress said, interrupting the conversation. Tattletale snorted, signaled to her companions, who followed orders without complaint. They mounted the dogs and waited.
"Calm your panties, Armsy. Like I said, we just wanted to meet and thank Bug Girl, as rude as she turned out to be." Tattletale glared at me, then turned around, grabbed the chains of one of the three dogs, and easily climbed onto its back. "And to give you a little heads-up, Armsy, for the Protectorate, as a thank you to M&M, Vista, and Bug Girl." Tattletale stared at Armsmistress.
"Speak," Armsmistress said directly.
"The ABB is preparing; someone convinced them not to attack directly in retaliation. They're preparing their attack for Friday, during Lung's transfer," Tattletale said. I felt my eyes widen slightly.
"As-"
"And that would be all, Ta-ta." Tattletale said goodbye, interrupting Armsmistress. She bowed dramatically. At the same time, Hellhound hissed loudly, and the dogs growled before starting to run away from us.
"Should we chase them?" I asked immediately as I watched them leave.
"No," Armsmistress said without looking away.
"They know about the transfer," Flechette said tensely. "I thought it would be kept secret by the Protectorate and the PRT," he added.
"It was supposed to be," Armsmistress said with the same tension.
"Is there a mole?" I asked, almost incredulously. Armsmistress pursed her lips into a long line.
"There's a third person involved," Armsmistress said immediately. I turned to look at her. "Tattletale said, 'Someone convinced them.' She wouldn't have been so vague if Oni Lee or Bakuda were responsible. Someone is pulling the strings. Tattletale doesn't know who it is, or doesn't want to say," Armsmistress said, deathly serious. I heard Flechette swear.
"Just what we needed," Flechette said, frowning. "Reinforcements? New recruits? An alliance?" she asked quickly.
"That's what we'll find out," Armsmistress said before turning away.
"Will Lung's transfer be rescheduled?" I asked immediately, Armsmistress shook her head.
"Impossible. Changing it means recoordinating with all the other cities, which isn't something we can do without preparation, especially when moving it forward is impossible and delaying it will only help the ABB prepare even more," Armsmistress said seriously. "We'll cancel our patrol, return to headquarters, and inform the Protectorate and the PRT. I need to check if their private networks have been compromised," Armsmistress said.
"Are you sure? You can go back and we can continue. We only have one more patrol, and Skitter and I can do it alone. The ABB is hiding, the E88 is keeping its head down throughout all of this, so all we'll have are regular villains," Flechette said without hesitation. Armsmistress stopped, considering it.
"Skitter?" she asked, looking at me. I just nodded.
"I have no problem continuing. We'll call for reinforcements if the situation gets complicated." I said immediately, and Armsmistress nodded.
"Very well, Flechette, you're in charge. Carry out the last patrol by yourselves, maintain continuous contact with the console, I'll return to headquarters." Armsmistress agreed, Flechette and I sighed with relief, but straightened up.
"Yes, Armsmistress," we said immediately. Armsmistress nodded, turned around, took long strides to her hand, didn't even hesitate when she started it and began to accelerate towards headquarters.
Flechette and I deflated slightly.
"Come on, let's get this over with." She said easily, and I nodded. Well. Looks like my Friday just got complicated.