Chapter 16 - 1 worm × dc

Taylor Hebert/Bug

"She's a black widow spider. A single bite has been known to kill a full grown human, or put them into a coma. You move, talk, try to find or kill the spiders I just put on your bodies, in your clothes, in your hair? I'll know in a split second, and I'll tell them to bite you several times."

I stop to let that sink in. I look over the room. Forty or so people. I see a full grown man with a tear rolling down his cheek. A teenager with freckles and brown curls is glaring at me with raw loathing in her eyes. At one of the counters, a matronly bank employee is shaking like a leaf.

My taking hostages like this? It had been my idea, so help me. As horrible as it is, it's necessary. The worst case scenario is some regular schmuck in the bank pulling some stunt and getting themselves or others hurt or killed. I can't let that happen, if I'm in a position to help it. If it means keeping them quiet and out of the way, I'm willing to terrorize them.

As I see the effect I have on these people, that justification feels really thin.

I'm going to hell for this.

"Wow," a deep voice mutters on the far end of the room. My eyes turn to look and I see two men sitting on a bench near to the door, one big one small, both wearing heavy trenchcoats and hats that nearly obscure their faces. "Can't believe they're actually here."

None of the Undersiders reply, the hostages seem to get tenser, their muscles frozen and tight as the other man, thinner than the first, snickers.

"Yeah," he says, voice nasally and reedy. "Least that means we don't have to go looking."

He stands up and the second he does, I feel the black widows on his person suddenly die. The other stands too and again, my sense of the spiders vanish, all dead in an instant.

"Who the fuck are you supposed to be?" It's Grue that steps forward, smoke coming off his shoulders and falling to the floor like fog. He's an intimidating sight and while the smaller man might've flinched, his partner only chuffs a laugh.

"Who are we?" he asks and his voice is the very definition of braggadocio, like a pro wrestler, loud and booming. He reaches for his trenchcoat's lapel and waits just a moment for his partner to do the same. "We!" He shifts his stance, legs apart like a V "Are!"

"Oh goddamnit," Tattletale mutters and I hear the distinct sound of a gun getting unholstered/.

The trenchcoats fly up in the air, buttons snapping and revealing the duo that's decided to crash our robbery.

The bigger man wears a suit that looks like it could have belonged to Armsmaster only instead of cobalt blue, it's a deep gray and on his chest, bright and proud and connecting to his shoulders, is the letter 'U.'

"Uber!" he shouts and then bends his knees, hands pointed to his partner like he's showing off a product.

It takes the other man a longer second to get his pose in order and despite how ill fitting it is, he's wearing an odd looking uniform, like a police officer from the future got blended into Mad Max.

It's a blue body suit, with ridiculous shoulder pads, heavy gauntlets, metal rainboots, and the most silly looking helmet I've ever seen, deep red and too big for his head, the letter 'L' haphazardly welded above the black visor.

"And L33t!" the other one completes and somehow I can hear the numbers in his name as he reaches behind himself to pull out an oddly shaped pistol. It seems to have a drum magazine right in the front, a revolver's hammer in the back, and a barrel three times wider than any I've ever seen.

It takes the bank a moment to realize what's happened and as their little introduction echoes, I hear Regent snort.

"Oh this is rich," he says and I can feel my eyes sharpen as I look at him. Of course he thinks this is funny, a room full of hostages and two dangerous unknowns and he thinks it's hilarious. People could die here, especially if he antagonizes the Tinker best known for blowing himself up. "You're here for us?"

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me." Uber states and when there isn't an immediate snicker at what has to be a reference, he looks around the room, head jolting forward an inch. "Really? Robocop, 1987? It's an Aleph classic."

"We're not on Aleph," Bitch states next to me and in the gruff of her tone, the three dogs around her begin to shift. They're already bigger than they should be, the size of small horses, but I know if she pushed it they could be twice as big as bulls. And about a hundred times deadlier.

"No shit," L33t mutters and again, his name feels odd in my brain. "If we were, I wouldn't be sitting in a game drought right now."

His partner looks at him and L33t coughs into his other hand.

"Anyway!" he clears his throat, his gun pointed right at Brian's chest.

Grue doesn't react to the brandished weapon, he just stands there, knuckles clenched and head tilted down the slightest bit, looming as Uber reaches to his side.

Something opens on the Thinker's right thigh and he twirls his own oddly shaped gun when he pulls it out of the strange compartment.

"We've got a warrant for your arrest!" L33t continues, his voice pitched comically low but nowhere near as casually as his partner."I am the law! You can either come along quietly or…"

He gestures with his gun and I take a step back, my thoughts whirling as I move bugs through the walls around the new capes..

Since when did Uber and L33t do bounty hunting? Why are they after us of all people, how can I get more widows on them, how did they kill the ones I'd already put on, when—

"Oh!" It's Lisa that speaks next and her tone slips down into a condescension that feels all too familiar. "The ABB works that quick, huh?"

I turn my head the slightest bit to look at her and she's got a smirk sharp enough to cut people with.

Uber doesn't react, at least, not through his face or posture but L33t doesn't have the same poker face.

He stiffens, his gun raising the slightest bit, his thin lips drawn in before he forces a nervous grin.

"The ABB?" he asks and Uber isn't quite able to keep from cringing, his smile tighter as he takes a step forward, trying to take the reins from the Tinker. To my surprise, L33t shuts up, stepping back as his cohost takes control.

"At this time, the joint task force of Mega-City One and Omni Consumer Products is not accepting bounties, the Undersiders are wanted on nearly three dozen counts of grand larceny and we are pursuing—"

"Oh give it a rest," Lisa shakes her head, interrupting the showman and making Uber's lips thin, his amicable smile thinning even more. I've seen that same expression on Winslow's class clowns when the spotlight is ripped from them. He's angry and it's taking his power a second to smother the reaction. "You're here because the ABB has it out for us, because they can't let what we did to Lung sit."

There's an inhale on my right, that same freckly teenager stares up at me with thin hazel eyes and I can feel a headache starting to brew as she squints.

"But they needed someone to collect us," Lisa continues and then huffs a giggle, again, practiced and perfect, so eerily like the ones I hear every day that the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "So they sent you two idiots."

There's a second where it looks like Uber might try to keep feigning ignorance, his smile brightening before he shakes his head, laughing like a good-natured rascal caught taking from the cookie jar.

"Okay," he puts his hands up, still laughing. "You got us, I don't know how you pissed them off and I don't really care seeing as how the new lady is paying us a lot to bring you guys in so…"

Before I can even guess at who the new lady might be, Uber brings the gun back down.

I don't even see the shot.

Grue grunts in pain as he's thrown backwards and to the floor, his helmet slamming into the linoleum with enough force to crack it. For a moment I think he's dead, a gun like that certainly looks like it could kill people, but then the Undersider's leader is groaning, a hand rising shakily to his chest.

There's no blood but his jacket is scorched where the shot landed, the concussive force having burnt through the material on impact. He grabs his chest, urging himself to breath before he scrambles back on to his feet.

The second I see he's okay, I turn back to Uber and realize he's got the gun aimed right at my face.

The barrel glows and time seems to slow down.

I can't dodge it.

If it knocked Grue down when it hit his chest, it'll knock me out and cold and then what? Maybe the Undersiders will get away, maybe they'll take me with them, maybe they won't. I don't think they'll save me and if the ABB gets me—

I order my bugs to crawl out from the walls, making them swarm just as Uber's arm jerks violently to the side, so violently that I can see the pain in his expression.

The bullet ricochets off the ground and hits a hostage, either knocking them unconscious or dead and as Uber moves to correct his aim, two things happen.

One, L33t steps around his partner, his own gun whirring as the drum magazine revolves and two, a hand grabs the back of my neck and yanks me to the floor.

I fall hard and realize it's Rachel pulling me back, her amber eyes wide and feral beneath her dog mask.

"Judas! Brutus!" she shouts and points to the gunmen by the entrance, "Hurt!"

The former pitbull and labrador turned monster dogs don't need much more than that, they bound forward, leaping over us to get at the two morons.

L33t screams and his gun goes off maybe two dozen times a second. Uber is a bit more controlled but I don't catch much before Rachel pulls me back even further, both of us taking cover behind what has to be Angelica, the enormous hound panting a breath that smells like metal.

A moment later, Brian and Lisa join us, all huddled behind the bulk of the quickly growing canine.

"Tats," Brian groans, still grabbing at his chest. "You fucking said—"

"This is not my fault," Lisa cuts him off, leaning up over our cover and taking three wild shots at the duo. Rachel's dogs are taking care of them so far but I'm sure L33t must have something for them if he had something for me. "How was I supposed to know they'd be here?"

"Because knowing shit is your job!?" Alec whines, yelling from somewhere but I can't see him. The air has turned thick with my swarm and as my headache starts to pound, I just barely get the sense of him. He isn't far, just a half dozen feet away, behind one of the bank's agent's desks.

"Oh shut up!" Lisa shouts back and when she drops back to the ground, she looks at me. There's something in her green eyes, something knowing and I think I realize the same thing she does.

Uber and L33t shouldn't know we'd be here, none of the Undersiders would have spilt anything to anyone so a leak couldn't have come from them.

It could only have come from me. I told Armsmaster and he must've told someone and they told someone and…

Fuck.

"What's the play?" Lisa asks and I nearly breath a sigh of relief as she turns back to Brian, either she doesn't know or she's come to the wrong conclusion.

"Why don't we just cover the place in dark and get the fuck out?" Rachel asks on my other side and as she tries to stand, a shot nearly singes her hair. Her dogs are still fighting but she didn't give them as much juice as she's still giving Angelica.

"We've still got hostages," Brian answers, voice terse and equal parts angry and annoyed. "If a shot goes wide and puts someone down, I'm just as likely to catch a murder charge as them."

"We don't have many hostages left," Lisa mutters and I squint, what is she saying, we've got—

My headache pounds and I have to squint to focus.

She's right, most of the hostages are trying their luck, pouring out the back as the fight goes on. How didn't I notice that? I should have—

I groan and Lisa turns to look at me.

"Bug?" she asks and her voice actually sounds concerned. It makes my chest twinge.

"'M fine," I slur, gesturing for her to keep talking "we need to get out of here, can you—"

There's the sound of a boom and a shouted curse, metal falling to the ground as one of Rachel's dogs lets out a monstrous bark. Hearing that, Lisa smiles and looks back at Brian.

"Okay," she starts, nodding to herself, trying to psych us up. "I'm gonna piss him off—-"

"Real fucking original," Alec slides in next to us, his puffy shirt has a scorch in the midsection and I squint as I see what was hidden underneath, a thin layer of something black and hexagoned. "Also, I got shot at."

"Shut up," Brian orders, head turned to Alec before looking back at Lisa.

"I'm gonna piss him off," she says again, "L33t'll get sloppy and when Uber tries to calm him down, we're gonna bug out."

"Bug?" I ask and the pain in my head somehow gets worse, the edges of my vision are getting blurry. I try to push it away.

"It's an expression," Lisa doesn't look at me, she looks down at the gun in her hands and I can hear her gloves squeezing against it "Soon as they slip up, Grue will smoke us out and we'll take our chances running, alright?"

"But—" Brian starts, voice still annoyed despite the obvious pain in his words.

"There's no one here!" Lisa cuts him off, her own tone annoyed "Besides, the Tinker will be blamed before you, they love charging Tinker's for shit, alright?!"

Hearing no objections, Lisa clears her throat.

"Rachel, get your dogs back here, we're about to enter a standoff."

Rachel doesn't waste a second, whistling for her dogs to join us.

Brutus and Judas shake the floor as they come back, both of them moving around the now larger Angelica and settling on Rachel's sides.

The two dogs are enormous, muscle having split the fur and huge teeth covered in slobber, glistening and too big to shut their jaws.

Their skin is rough and patchy, gray where it is overtaken by muscle or bone but even with how alien they look, I can still see where L33t and Uber managed to hurt them. Bullet holes and impact craters litter their bodies and as they lean into their master, Lisa speaks up.

"So L33t," she says, tone almost conversational as she sits against Angelica's hide, head tilted to project her voice. "How's your gun doing? Is it good enough for an emergency repair or is it busted like everything else in your life?"

The taunt feels too bare bones, too obvious, I can't imagine anyone getting upset at such lowhanging fruit but L33t shouts back, voice shrill.

"Shut the fuck up!" He orders and Alec snickers just loud enough to be heard over the droning.

"Oh, broken then, huh?" Lisa laughs and through the headache I glare at her. I know she's doing what she needs to do to get us out but it still makes my chest feel funny. "Shame, how many guns can you even make now?"

L33t doesn't reply but I can hear someone moving and through the pain, I think I can feel thousands of bugs die, instantly killed by some invisible current.

"Freeze rays are done," Lisa continues and even though he can't see her, she starts counting down on her fingers "So are heat rays, sound guns, radiation, pretty much everything a Tinker would call Tinkertech, is that why Uber's basically just using a cosplay weapon with rubber bullets?"

I turn to look past Lisa and to Brian on her other side. A cosplay pistol did that? Or is Lisa just exaggerating how pathetic the weapon is?

"Don't need my tech to handle little shits like you!" L33t yells back and I can feel one of his hands move down to his waist, whatever tech he's got is still killing most of the bugs that get near him but the gnats must be too small for whatever he's built.

And then… there's someone else. Someone… moving?

I blink.

All the hostages are gone, aren't they? Then what's that—

"Oh is that what you tell yourself?" Alec laughs and Lisa picks up the taunt from there, "Does it make it easier to sleep at night if you say you don't need your power?"

"Shut up," L33t orders again, voice harsh but shaking, he grabs something on his belt, I can feel it in the way his knuckles tense. I blink. The other person's… getting closer I think. But where? Why do the bugs feel dizzy?

"Or what?" Lisa taps Grue's shoulder, it looks like she's pretty sure L33t will blow any second now. "Your gun's dead, Uber's gun's basically dead, you've got your bug zapper but that's bound to overload here in a second! What do you actually have that won't blow up in your face?"

L33t lets out a growl, tight and shrill and screamed through clenched teeth. Lisa's eyes widen a bit and I think even she didn't realize how easy it would be to get the Tinker to go nuclear.

"Dude, don't fucking—" Uber's voice is different now, not as controlled, his technique abandoned as he picked up something else. What is he trying to—

"You want something that'll blow up?!" L33t screeches and as he pulls the device free of his waist, his other hand grabs it, pulling something from the body. There's a whir of an activation and something soars through the air, heavy enough to not be thrown off by the swarm. "How's this?!"

The device, something I'm just now realizing must be a grenade, flies over Angelica and lands right between my legs.

I stare at it, feeling my blood turn to ice.

It's small, gray, shaped almost like a flashbang saved for the glowing circles around its top and bottom. It looks nothing like L33t's tech, it's too clean, too perfect, too engineered, it—

It starts to shake and just as we all move, scrambling to get up, something heavy drops right in front of us.

A fire extinguisher rolls almost to the grenade and I look up to see that same freckly girl having moved through the swarm. Her brown eyes are wide in terror and just as I move to throw myself over her, the device lets out a dull shriek.

"OH SHI—"Lisa screams and as I try to leap over it, the device explodes and the world turns wrong.

Reality bends and shifts and for a moment or an eternity I feel everything.

The cold, the heat, the light, the dark, the noise, the silence, every single sense is bombarded with the furthest extreme my perception can understand and when it finally dies down, I'm blind, deaf, mute, and utterly cut off from the world.

It either takes minutes or hours for my senses to come back to me and the first thing I notice is the bugs.

They're… different.

The city has roaches, beetles, ants, little things that survive mostly off trash and residue but they're gone.

In their place, I sense crickets, grasshoppers, butterflies, and below the earth I find worms and cicadas. The swarm moves at my command and through their senses I can perceive grass, the sun, cool air.

Are we outside? I can sense grubs digging into old trees. Are we in a forest?

The next sense that comes to me is touch and past the thin layer of my bodysuit, I can confirm the feeling of grass underneath me. It's soft, faintly wet, and unlike anything I've felt in Brockton. Next comes the warmth and I almost curl into it.

We're definitely outside.

After touch comes smell and taste and that too is different.

I don't smell the gas of traffic but I can smell something rotten, like meat left out in the sun. I inhale but the scent of oil never hits me, like the boat graveyard isn't still in the bay. I can smell salt though, even taste it. We're still near the ocean at least.

If we're still a we.

My headache starts to fade and as my swarm crawls towards me, I confirm that there are three dogs and five bodies all around me. The dogs are smaller now, their excess weight reduced to rotten gristle. It takes a second to confirm it but they're alive, all of them. Dogs and people both.

Finally, my last two senses come to me.

I can hear the wind first, the sound of it moving through the brush and disturbing the insects I've attracted. There's birds chirping in the distance and as I blink, I have to squint at the suddenly harsh sun.

Wasn't it overcast outside?

Every muscle in my body protests but I force myself to sit up, smacking my lips and swallowing past the dry mouth as I take in my surroundings.

We're in a clearing, me, The Undersiders, and that freckly girl.

We all groan as we stand and as I force myself to ignore my shaky legs, I speak up.

"Where…" I look around, but there's no familiar landmarks to guide me. Just trees and grass and to the north, a mountain that very much shouldn't be there. "Where are we?"

No one answers and then, just as I think Lisa's about to talk, the only one of us not in costume tries to turn around and run.

She barely gets two steps before Rachel rushes her, tackling her to the ground and staining both their clothes green with grass.

"Get the—" the girl grunts, anger hot in her voice as she thrashes, "Get the fuck off of me right now I'll give you every kind of cancer there is!"

"Cancer?" Lisa and I ask at the same time and the Thinker's eyes suddenly go wide before she starts laughing. "Of fucking course!"

"Tats," Brian doesn't quite growl but it's a near thing as Alec moves past me, heading for the hill on the other side. I trail bugs ahead and behind him, careful to keep him in my range. I can sense a road ahead of him, the asphalt warm under the sun but not quite burning. "Mind clueing us in?"

"She's Panacea!" Lisa's voice has edged into something manic, her laugh giddy and deranged as she puts her hands to her head, her gun slapping against her temple."She's fucking Panacea and L33t just sent her and us to the middle of fucking—"

"Hey guys?!" Alec shouts down from the hill and when we all turn to look at him, he gestures to something further down the road. My bugs swarm and I feel a sign. "Where the fuck is 'Happy Harbor?'"

Author's Note: Hello again!

Just a plot bunny I couldn't keep from hopping along in my head.

Hope it was well received, I actually do have the next two chapters done and polished so I can guarantee their update next Saturday. Award ReplyReport616SleepyBird4/10/2025Add bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks 1.2 Transmigration View contentSleepyBirdShe/Her/They/Them10/10/2025Add bookmark#21Taylor Hebert

???

"No idea," It's Brian that answers Alec, already walking to the road as he points a finger up at the mountain, his heavy boots leaving matted steps in the grass. "And that's nowhere near Brockton."

"No it isn't," Lisa agrees and then puts her free hand over her mask as she looks up at the sky, her eyes squinted and grease paint shining. "But I can smell the ocean," she points to her left, east of the great mountain before looking back down at the forest around us, her head tilted "And these trees are about the same as what's outside the city, we're still in New England I think."

"You think or you know?" Alec asks, walking back to us and meeting Grue halfway up the hill, the Undersider's leader taking a step on to the road itself and looking right then left, towards the sign my bugs are still touching.

"I know," Lisa answers, voice a touch terse as she clears her throat, "Sun's in the same position as it should be but it was about to rain an hour ago and…" she pulls on the collar of her jacket before pulling the zipper down the slightest bit "It's a bit too hot for mid April, this feels like…" she pulls the jacket forward a few times, getting more air to circulate "Power's saying early July at least."

"You're saying Leet sent us forward in time?" I ask, disbelieving as Rachel gets to her feet, pulling our hostage up with her.

"Could've been backwards," Rachel suggests, somehow looking as nonplussed as someone can when they're holding on to a thrashing girl.

The nonchalance at our situation juxtaposed with the healer's desperation makes me blink before I shake my head.

"No, there's a road over there," I point to the hill, turning to find Alec's already standing next to me and Brian heading back. "That has to mean we're still in the same time, right? Tattletale's been wrong before."

Before the blonde can defend herself, Panacea stops thrashing, instead just grumbling under her breath as she slacks in Rachel's grip.

"Had to happen today," Panacea grouches, either not listening or not caring about our conversation as she looks up at us. She gives Rachel's grip one last pull and I'm thankful the redhead wore gloves for the heist, if Panacea can really give cancer with skin contact, it's good the Undersiders were worried about fingerprints. "So what's the plan now? You gonna ransom me back to New Wave? Get yourselves kill orders?"

My mouth dries at the idea but before I can ask if that's really in the cards, Lisa rolls her eyes as she walks up to the bound healer.

"They're not gonna sign kill orders for crooks like us," Lisa refutes, shaking her head and laughing like Panacea just told a joke. "You're a great healer, probably the best in the world but there's plenty that do the job halfway as good as you and the Protectorate doesn't need their parents permission. Besides—," she gestures to us all, "—we're teenagers, that gives us some leeway."

"There've been three kill orders for teenagers since 2000," Panacea replies, voice solid and unflinching and I'm wondering where she learned a fact like that when Lisa leans down to Panacea's hunched height, both hands on her knees as she looks into the healer's eyes.

"And they were all slaughterhouse psychos but us?" Lisa laughs again, louder this time, "We're plucky."

Lisa leans up and looks back at Alec and I, I can hear Brian approaching from behind and idly I put a gnat on everyone here. Tattletale looks past me to Brian and nods at him.

"Now c'mon," she says, holstering her pistol, "no sense in waiting here."

Her order catches me off guard and as Rachel clicks her teeth for her dogs to get in step with her, I speak up.

"Why?" I ask, getting Lisa's attention midstep. She gestures for me to explain and I do "If Leet's tech sent us somewhere, shouldn't we wait? What if—"

"It's not a plane crash dork," Alec cuts me off and when I look at him, he's already turning back to the road. "Besides, if someone like Armsmaster decides to follow us through, I'm not sticking around to get arrested."

"Agreed," Brian speaks for the group and instantly I realize I'm outvoted. Regardless, I turn to him, about to state my case when I feel that same woozy headache come back, not as bad as before but already building. What is— "Bug?"

Brian moves for some reason and it's only when he catches me that I realize my legs gave out, I'm suddenly overcome with the worst vertigo I've ever experienced. I shift in his arms and feel my face flush even as bile threatens to rise up my throat. The sun is suddenly too harsh and the wind feels like a hundred hundred ants climbing up my body.

What am I doing? It doesn't hurt as bad as before but it—

"Oh knock it off," Lisa orders and for a second I think she's talking to me before the gnat on her heads to Panacea, carried by her steps. The healer makes a noise of contempt before I feel something yanked free from the brown frizz of her hair. Instantly the headache lessens and judging by the feel of what Lisa's got in her hands, I think it's one of my spiders.

It feels… wrong; paralyzed, all of its legs curled up and mandibles fused to useless nubs, what kind of—

It vanishes from my swarm and I take a gasping inhale.

The world suddenly makes sense again, the vertigo disappears, the light isn't blinding anymore, and without the wind hurting my skin, I become intimately aware of who's still holding me.

I pull away from Brian quickly and turn back around to face the others.

"Cute trick," Lisa says, wiping her finger and thumb on Panacea's sweater, the gesture full of condescension and only topped when Lisa pats the Striker's cheek. "But no more of that, you try to hurt Bug again and…" she pats her holster, the gun jostling "You can't heal yourself and I'm very good at hiding bodies when I need to."

There's something in the way Lisa said that, the casualness mixing in with the gravitas, if she hadn't told me about what crimes the Undersiders have committed I might have believed she's killed people before.

Panacea doesn't seem all that threatened though, she just continues to stare with a defiant hatred as Tattletale gestures to the road again, turning around. She gives Brian a nod and he clears his throat.

"Bitch," he says, getting Rachel's attention, "We can't exactly move low profile right now, keep the dogs at least a little ready if we need them."

Rachel bristles under the order but she gives her leader a nod as they move to the hill, heading for the road.

I move with them and as that mountain in the distance looks down at us, I try to consider what we're gonna do.

I want to stay here at least for a little while, just in case, but I settle for marking the trees with a few x's, the bark sheared by my ants as we walk.

None of us have an extra change of clothes, we were supposed to pick that up at our stops during the getaway but even if we did, none of us want Panacea seeing our faces.

So we approach the road in costume and as we walk up to the asphalt, I look to the sign I'd sensed earlier.

Bright blue but faded, large and obvious, a sign reads 'Welcome to Happy Harbor, population 22,000.'

Another enigma, a town just a little too big to be somewhere I've never heard of, especially if we're still in New England like Tattletale assumes.

Like Brian said, we can't really keep a low profile when we're all in costume but we try our best, we don't walk along the road itself, instead sticking to the ditch near it.

At least, until the road suddenly forks.

Ahead of us, it becomes steep and winding and to our right, it heads down into the town itself.

Happy Harbor sits there, small and unassuming, not a single building seems to be taller than four stories and mostly it just looks like a tourist pitstop or maybe somewhere to settle down in your retirement.

The ocean glares at us from below, sunlight reflecting, and before we can decide which way to continue, a truck comes up from the road leading into town.

As it slowly climbs up towards us, Lisa turns to address our captive..

"Say anything and I put a bullet in you," she threatens " and I'll do it somewhere slow, maybe your stomach."

Panacea doesn't nod but Lisa must get some kind of confirmation as the truck suddenly slows down.

The trucker inside looks normalish if a little grizzled, his goatee more salt than pepper as he slowly moves past us, giving us a long look before he picks up speed, heading up through the steep road.

The front of the semi barely passes us before Lisa picks up speed, moving up the ditch before getting on to the road itself.

"We need to go," she orders, running down the road as quickly as she can, leading our little group.

"What?!" Brian asks but he's already moving to follow her, darkness wafting over his form but not fogging out around him, his voice turning into a low echo "Why?!"

"That guy saw our costumes and he's pretty sure we're villains, he's gonna call it in and I'd like—" Lisa huffs as she points a finger down to the town "—and I'd like to be down there if the white hats show up, there's got to be some place we can rob for clothes."

Alec, Rachel, and I all move to follow though at a noticeably slower pace. Rachel's still got Panacea held in her grip and with her arms behind her back, it makes for an awkward shuffle more than a run.

"That's your plan?!" Panacea shouts and I'm wondering if I can use silk as duct tape as she grunts in derision, the little exhale somehow carrying all of her hate. "The second the Protectorate get here, they're not gonna stop until they arrest all of you and for this? You might not get a kill order but the Bird—"

She grunts in pain and when I turn to look at her, I see Regent's poked her side with his scepter, the taser not quite primed but sparking as he pulls it away.

"Thank you Regent," Lisa pants as we all continue down the road, Lisa and Brian both slowing down to wait for the rest of us. "Bitch, the second we get down there—"

She points to where the road meets the town proper, a propane dealership on one corner and a surf shop on the other. "Get your dogs ready, Grue will cover us and we'll ride to the first place we can get out of these clothes."

Rachel doesn't say anything but I can already hear her power at work, the dogs around shaking, their pants turned low and guttural as the smell of rotting meat starts to fill my nose.

I move with the swarm as best I can, scattering the bugs in every direction, trying to keep track of everything I can. The town is so small that by the time we reach the little intersection I can already feel the sea lice and crabs at the beach, their sense sharper than the bugs but not by much.

I can also sense…we're on the east coast I think but there's gauges in the road on the south side, near a place that kind of feels like a historical district, the buildings old and wooden.. The deep cuts into the ground… it almost feels like a tornado hit just that one neighborhood.

As my bugs scatter over the many, many lines in the dirt and concrete, I amend that.

Several tornados.

I don't have time to consider what that means and as we make it to the intersection, five in costume, one hostage, and three monster dogs, we do not go unnoticed.

Dozens of people turn to look at us, each of them screaming in surprise and terror, running at the first sight of us. Some of the dumber ones pull out their phones and I blink at the make and models of them, black rectangles, all bearing either an L or a W on the back. What does that mean?

I'm tempted to take one, see if I can make one of them drop theirs with a bee sting but as the dogs grow to their full size, Lisa orders us to stop.

"Okay," she says, turning to Rachel first and then more completely to her captive. "Panacea, you're just too valuable a hostage to give up so—" she pulls out a pair of handcuffs, steel and tiny, small enough that they'd probably hurt Panacea's wrists.

The healer rolls her eyes, somehow she's balancing being pissed with being afraid.

"Yeah, yeah," she says as Rachel holds her steady with one hand while Lisa gets the cuffs around her, the Thinker moving over her right side. "As if I haven't been kidnapped before."

"You have?" Alec asks, his monotone completely devoid of curiosity.

"Regent," Brian and I both admonish but the pseudo-Blaster doesn't even shrug.

"What," he replies, "We have a second and I wanna know, in terms of kidnapping, where do we rank, near the bottom?"

"No way," Lisa chuffs a laugh as the cuffs click "Amy here once got pulled out of the city by the Elite, that had to have been worse than this, right?"

"Shut up" Amy grumbles as the cuffs hold her hands tight behind her back, so tight that when I chance a look behind her back, I can see the skin's already turning red and irritated.

"Yeah, yeah," Lisa brushes her off. "It's either this, or I have Bug here wrap you up in nice, dead, silk." Lisa threatens and I feel my lips thin. I don't like having my power reduced to a prop for her but when Amy looks at me, I can tell the idea's gotten to her.

"Yeah," Lisa laughs, "I know your power doesn't work on dead things, if it did, you'd probably be playing with the wool of your sweater."

If looks could kill, Lisa would be reduced to a pink mist by the Striker's glare. As it stands though, she just chuckles "You'll love Bitch's dogs, these babies are basically just living dogs wrapped around a deadened exoskeleton, nothing for you to toy with"

Amy cringes as she's pushed up and on to the dog, Rachel just behind her and if it wasn't for the sweater, I'd be worried Panacea could kill her with a touch of her elbow.

"Okay," Lisa forces her into position, one leg on either side of the dog and Rachel reaching around to hold on to the spurs "Now that that's settled, we can—"

Whatever plan she was about to hit us with is cut off by the shrieking of the wind, whistling sharply and rising in pitch. I can tell it's getting close to us but as I try to bring up a swarm to tell where it's coming from, a whole line of bugs are instantly squashed, reduced to a smear as someone stops at the end of the street.

We all turn to look at the new arrival and the air warbles off him, exploding faintly not unlike a sonic boom, the disturbance makes all the bugs flying around him either die or fall to the ground.

He's clearly a cape but he doesn't look like one.

He's wearing a yellowish white undershirt, a maroon vest, blue jeans, and bright red running shoes, the only thing that marks him as a cape is his powers and the dark red goggles he's got obscuring the upper part of his face, the design not unlike Kid Win's.

It's hard to tell at this distance but he's between 5'10 and 6'0, his limbs long and almost lanky but just defined enough that I wouldn't call him awkward looking. His red hair seems longer than most guys but that might be because of just how windswept it looks. His face is long but thin, coming down into a hard point of a chin and as he stops, I can see the slightest upturn to his nose.

He stares at us for a moment and slowly puts his hands up, palms out in a gesture of peace.

"Okay," he says and his voice is light, a little squeaky at the edges. "So, I don't like judging books by their cover but are you guys…"

He takes a step towards us and one of his hands blurs, pointing at each of us but lingering on Grue and myself.

"Villains?"

Okay, we must really not be in Brockton, the Undersiders aren't exactly well known in the city but Grue's been a small time player long enough to get a wiki and—

"No!" Lisa speaks up for us, the smile on her face bright and cheerful, her tone artificially sweet. "We're… new in town."

She leans forward coyly and behind her back, she signs something to the rest of the team. I don't know what it means but Brian must see it given the tilt of his head, staring at the fingers over the small of her back.

Brian moves a half step closer to Lisa and the way he turns hides one of his fists, preparing for some kind of assault I'm sure.

The speedster doesn't notice the exchange, he just nods, a relieved chuff leaving his lips as he walks closer, a pep in his step.

"I figured," the new cape chuckles, smiling a toothy grin as he puts a hand on his chin. I can't see his eyes but I can tell they're raking over Lisa. "I'd definitely remember a girl like you."

I almost jolt.

Is he… is he flirting?

Lisa doesn't share my surprise, she just rolls with it, giving a high giggle that's very much unlike her, one hand swatting at the air.

"Oh stop," she giggles and it's so alien that I almost don't notice when the redhead turns to look at me.

He's about to stare at Lisa again but for some reason his neck jolts as he refuses to look away from my form, giving a double take that even I notice.

"Sorry," he apologizes and he sounds breathless, a nervous laugh rising in the back of his throat "The same goes for you, obviously, I mean—" he gestures to the whole of me and when Alec snickers I turn one eye to him, trying to glare. "—you're well, you uh—"

He coughs and then jolts again, putting a hand to his ear, fingers pressed into the shell.

"Yeah," he says aloud and I'm sure the others realize at the same time I do that he's talking into a communicator, he actually looks away from us as he continues with whoever's on the other end "No— yes I'm sure! Rob, I know Batbrain makes you think everyone's out to get you but they're not— "

The speedster looks us over again and as he brings up a finger in a 'one moment' gesture, the digit slacks, his smile fading.

I follow his gaze to Amy and I already know the conclusion he's made and just how right he is.

Handcuffed and held against Judas, the healer could not look any more like a hostage.

The speedster swallows.

"Okay, so they might be—" he starts and that's when Lisa pulls out her gun.

She yanks the heavy black pistol out of her holster but before she can move to aim it, before she can even really bring it up, the speedster's in motion.

And having lived in the same city as Velocity, I can tell he's fast.

Really fast.

The air whistles as he ducks low, skidding under Lisa's arm, one hand rising up to grab the underside of her gun and the other pushing into her stomach.

Lisa fires but she's already lost her shot, the bullet passing harmlessly over his shoulder as she's shoved away, the gun yanked from her grip as she stumbles.

The speedster zips back to his spot, the pistol held loosely in his right hand as he takes a steadying breath, more annoyed than threatened..

"Okay," he says, bringing his left hand to the gun and shaking both palms over the firearm. We all watch as it breaks apart, the components aren't designed to handle strain like that and in less than a second, it all clatters to the ground in two dozen pieces. "That wasn't cool, but I'm willing to just take you to jail if—"

He yelps as his right leg spasms, his foothold taken out from under him. He tries to catch himself on his hands but both elbows jolt to the side, forcing him back down to the ground and as he tries to scramble away, Brian moves.

His darkness covers all of us like a protective blanket, spreading out over my skin like an otherworldly chill and although I can't see it, I know he's already blacked out the whole block.

I try to navigate the new dark with my swarm, keeping bugs on everyone except Panacea but as I try to cover where the speedster's fallen, I don't find him. My swarm moves through the streets and I feel where he's been by the heat in the air, the friction he causes.

The bugs on Brian move to me and I'm sure I yelp when he grabs me around the waist, pulling me up and on to a dog, his bulk following in just behind me.

He holds me down against the gristle and bone, keeping me secure as we start riding through the smog, heading for wherever he's decided to lead us to.

I move my swarm to crawl over everything, trying to form a wireframe model of the town. I think I can sense a clothing store not too far from us but before I can point that way, the wind starts to howl.

At first I can't hear it, Brian's dark having smothered the sound but then the shadow starts to pull away, little tears forming in it as the whirlwind spins faster and faster, punching the shadow full of light and noise.

Brian tries to keep up the dark but as it fades enough to see the world around us, he's pulling us into an alley, all of us squeezed between some restaurant and a hipster boutique.

"Why are we—" Alec starts but the wind almost drowns out his words, so loud that it cuts him off.

"I can't cover us!" Brian shouts at Alec before turning the painted skull of his helmet to Lisa, both of them riding the same dog. "I can't make dark faster than he can push it away, what's his deal!?"

"He's a speedster!" Lisa shouts back, her hair whipping around her as the alley forms a miniature wind tunnel. "He isn't like Velocity though, he can just keep running, I don't—"

She's cut off by the sound of something heavy landing on the road, its impact distorted by the fledgling dark but still booming.

"Crap," Lisa looks down the alleyway and moving towards us, having somehow fallen out of the sky is one of the angriest looking teens I've ever seen.

His skin is faintly tan, his features blunt and squarish, with a strong jaw, defined nose, and heavy brow. His blue eyes are fixed into a glower and the scowl over his face screams nothing but anger.

Like the speedster, he isn't really wearing a costume, just black jeans, black boots, and a black shirt, the only splash of color being a red S wrapped in an equally red jeweler's diamond.

He brings a hand up to his ear, fingers pressed to the shell.

"Found them," he growls and before any of us can do more than look at him, he's kicking off the ground with enough force to shatter the road, screaming as he charges.

Author's Note: Hello again!

So, the chapter came one day early, hooray! That's not because I had it done earlier or nothing, I just have to hitch a plane ride tomorrow and connection might get a little spotty.

Anyways, hey, first meeting with the Team and… got to be honest gang, I don't see how in the hell the Undersiders can get away or win. Hostages are really the only option I think.

Anyways, please let me know if you have thoughts, I think each arc will be only about six chapters followed by an interlude.

I am willing to answer any questions y'all might have, I'm kinda excited for this fic.

Also! Lemme know if Wally read right, this is the first time I've written him and I really wanted to capture season 1 vibes!

Next time on Peristalsis: A brawl with a half kryptonian can only go well! Will the Undersiders manage to slip away, what's the plan to get home, where the hell are they?! Tune in next Saturday to find out.Last edited: 10/10/2025 Award ReplyReport605SleepyBird10/10/2025Add bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks 1.3 Transmigration New View contentSleepyBirdShe/Her/They/Them9/11/2025NewAdd bookmark#269The Brute, and he can only be a Brute given the lack of fear in his eyes, is on us in less than a second, his scream echoing in the alley. His right fist slams into Rachel's hound with more strength than I think any of us expected, the air actually cracking with the bone.

Angelica takes the impact as well as she can but she still slides into the rest of us, forcing Brutus and Judas back as their sister slams into their sides. I hear Brian grunt as his leg is trapped between the two hounds but he forces it down as he shouts.

"Bitch!" He orders as Rachel's own mount shakes her head, swaying woozily to her feet. "We're taking this out of the alley!"

For a moment I actually think he intends to fight the hero in front of us, that maybe the Undersiders have some experience I don't know about but then he's snapping his fingers to the open end of the alley, the sound echoing as the dark begins to rise from his hands.

"I don't think so!" The Brute howls as he tries to leap again, the concrete below snapping under the force of his heel before his leg suddenly gives out, falling to one knee and sending his punch uselessly against the ground.

We're already out of the alley by the time he gets to his feet and with the wind still kicking up a storm, Grue's still able to shout at us.

"Tats!" He yells, "What's this guy's deal?"

"Brute!" Lisa shouts back and I'm pretty sure I hear Alec shout something like 'no shit' before the Thinker continues. "He's strong, durable, maybe a little bit of Mover thrown in for fun, but he's simple! That's all he's got!"

"Not an Alexandria package?" Brian asks and as if to answer the blonde, there's a sudden boom behind us, the sound not unlike thunder.

I look over Brian's shoulder, craning my neck and futilely trying to squint past the dark when the figure rises even higher.

He might not be able to fly but he can definitely jump.

"Incoming!" I shout as the Brute lands, rolling to a stop in front of us, the asphalt breaking around him as he pushes himself up, trying to block the road as best he can. He's strong, decently fast, and while I doubt my bugs can hurt him, they can definitely slow him down.

Our hounds move around him, Brian and I moving on his left, the rest on his right and as he moves to grapple our dog, I let loose the tide of vermin under his feet.

He shouts in surprise as the hundreds of roaches hidden in the sewers start to rise up as one, their skittering legs moving under his jeans, into the insides of his boots, and then higher.

"I'm so sorry," I murmur, hopefully quiet enough Brian can't hear me as I give my swarm a new order.

The Brute's shout of surprise turns into a gag as I force the bugs to surge up his body, climbing into places their instincts wouldn't dare to take them naturally.

His mouth, his nose, even his eyes and ears are all fair game for my power.

His arms jerk as he brings his hands back, trying to smack the bugs away, trying clear his nose of the ones already digging inside. He snorts, the wind somehow stronger than I would've expected, blowing away the one on his mouth and neck but that leaves him with another problem.

He needs to inhale.

And he makes the mistake of opening his mouth.

Brian pulls the dogs further down the road and the Brute chasing us is left in the dark as a mass of insects forces its way into him. He gags, choking on the tide of chitin, but as he coughs, trying not to breath them in, I force more of them to places he can't stop.

His ears must be sensitive, the moment the smaller beetles climb inside he shakes his head like a dog and while I can't get any of my swarm into his eyes, he can't open them either.

He's blind, breathless, and deaf.

He isn't a problem anymore.

"He's down!" I shout over the roar of the wind. I don't think the others hear me but Brian brings a hand up to my shoulder, patting me in acknowledgement as we make another turn.

"The speedster's an idiot!" Lisa shouts, "This wind! He isn't even doing it on purpose, just keep flooding it and he won't be able to— look out!"

None of us have time to digest Lisa's warning, none of us even have time to know what she's warning us about before a loud boom scorches the air in front of us.

I jolt back into Brian as the dogs suddenly rear to a stop, the road in front of us covered in a thick gray smoke, the air reeking of ash and dust.

"What the hell—" Regent coughs as he and Lisa's dog shakes its head, one paw scratching at its boney nose. "Tear gas?"

"Yeah," Lisa coughs back, jerking her dog to move again, leading us down another alley, this one wider than the last. "Bug, can you feel anyone? Is the Brute—"

"He's still where I left him," I confirm, feeling the feedback from my swarm as he slaps and slaps but never gets any closer to killing them all. "I can't feel the Mover, he's out of my range, but there's plenty of people around us."

The civilians are laying low, hiding in their shops and restaurants, ducked under tables and hidden behind locked doors. They're familiar with cape fights but they aren't familiar with me. There's still plenty of widows just waiting to hear my command.

"The rooftops," Lisa orders as we breech out of the alley's other side, the ocean bright and blue just a few hundred feet from us. "Power's pinging Stranger but there's something else about him, maybe something like Circus."

I do as she tells me, my swarm rising up, the bugs inside the buildings flying out and searching for our third opponent.

"How many of these guys are there?" Bitch growls, forcing her mount to move even quicker, pushing past Tattletale and Regent.

"Dunno," Lisa replies, "But they haven't been on a team together long, the Brute doesn't work well with any of them, we need to—"

And just like before, the Brute decides to make himself known, jumping high into the air, the remnants of Grue's dark rising up like a spire as the cape soars towards the ocean.

I realize just as I've made out his trajectory what he intends to do.

"Okay!" Lisa turns, "Change of plans, Grue, just flood everything, bug, you're leading, we need to get out of here now!"

And just like that Grue floods the whole street and beyond in his darkness, the kaleidoscope of my bug's senses reduced to just their sense of touch and smell. A few crustaceans by the beach scuttle deep into the sand, the dark confusing them almost as much as the shockwave the Brute creates when he hits the water.

Almost immediately he vanishes from my perception, the bugs that were covering him either squashed by the impact or lost in the waves.

Brian moves our dog to the front and while I still have no idea what this place is or where we are, I can sense a tourist trap just a street over, selling sundresses, tye-dye shirts, and whatever else people could wear to the beach.

It isn't exactly inconspicuous but it's the best we've got.

I tap Brian's hands to tell him where we need to go, his own hands yanking the dogs to follow my directions.

For maybe five seconds I'm blind, deaf, and lead only by my own power but then, just as we're about to near the next street, Rachel starts to break formation, her dog turning off course and nearly crumpling a mail box as her mount slows, barely running.

Immediately I tell Brian to stop but he's already noticed, the darkness thinning again, the smoke just barely transparent enough for us to hear each other.

"Bitch!" He shouts, "What's the hold-up?! What's—"

"Fucking Panacea!" Rachel shouts back, "She did something, Angelica's not listening right! What did you—"

"I didn't do anything!" The healer screams, "I can't do anything, remember? You're dog is—"

"It's another one!" Lisa yells through the noise, "Some kind of— some—"

"What?!" I shout back, the dogs aren't moving even half as quickly without their master trotting beside them and if we don't get out of the open soon, that speedster's going to come back and we're all going to get arrested.

"I don't know!" Lisa yells back at me, frustration staining her voice. "My power's saying it's some kind of Master effect but it's deeper than that, something like—"

Just like I predicted, we've spent too long talking and suddenly I'm aware of several things entering my range.

The first thing I feel is the Brute, he's already running up the shore, the sealice under his boots instantly smashed as he pounds the sand down into stone. Behind him something else follows, something bringing a trail of water in its wake, the beach beneath turned into mud as it glides to keep up with him.

And on our other side is the speedster, moving so quickly the bugs I've got blanketing the roads are either squished under his heel or dead from his sudden friction.

"We've got company," I warn, feeling two more things scrape against my awareness.

On the rooftops, there's someone looking down at us, a heavy toolbelt around his waist and a cape hanging from his shoulders. He's got a pair of compact binoculars pressed to his eyes but given how quickly he puts them away I don't think he can see through Grue's power.

And lastly, there's the most concerning thing.

Right above us, just at the edge of where my bugs can fly, is something nearly as big as a city bus.

"Oh fuck," Regent groans.

"Okay," I move my swarm as quietly as I can. The speedster's ran up the rooftop to join the one with the cape but I don't think either of them notice how some of the swarm sticks to them. "We're not going to out run them but we can catch them off guard."

"And how are we gonna do that?" Grue asks, turning his head to follow mine. The Brute's slowed down too and so has the water trailing along with him. I move some of the swarm over to them, tracing their bodies, their arms, their legs. The water's got a man on top of it, one arm pointing at the platform he's made and the other brought up to his ear,

"All we've been doing is running, that's all they think we can do. They won't expect it when we switch gears. We fight them face to face."

Author's Note: Hello again! Sorry for the late update, I've got my excuses of course but just chalk it up to two things:

One: the story needed some restructuring, I'm not in the business of stomping Worm characters to just powerjerk DC characters, things needed to change and they needed to change a lot.

Two: College is stressful, Master's classes are stressful.

Anyways, I doubt this was worth the wait but hopefully it sets the scene for later chapters.

Also, thank you all for your critique and criticism, I appreciated it as many you pointed out some things I didn't. Yes, in early S1 of YJ, the Team are... well, they're not very experienced. Sure, they're able to hold their own against the Injustice League later but now a low tier nobody like Mister Twister was able to keep them busy for nearly a whole day!

The Undersiders would absolutely have at least a chance of getting away!

But will that actually happen?

Tune in next time on Peristalsis: The two teen teams tussle, let's see who wins and what this new place has in store for our transdimensionally displaced team of thieves.

Note: as always let me know of grammar/spelling mistakes and shoot me dead if there's any continuity errors. Award ReplyReport548SleepyBird9/11/2025NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks 1.4 Transmigration New View contentSleepyBirdShe/Her/They/Them15/11/2025NewAdd bookmark#540Taylor Hebert/Bug

???

"And away she goes," Regent calls, gesturing with his scepter as the healer books it into the darkness, Grue's power barely disturbed as Panacea rushes through the fog. "Still think we coulda used her."

"Not a chance," I push, shaking my head. "Having her as a hostage is what got us into this situation in the first place. They would've kept chasing us if we kept her and the longer we held on the more likely they'd call in back-up."

"Still don't like it," Tattletale picks up the conversation through her teeth, shaking her head before she looks back at me. "But she's right, we have a better chance of getting away without the New Wave baggage."

I nod, thankful for the full face mask as I dismount the dog, my boots clicking against the asphalt. If Lisa could see my face I'm sure she'd know the real reason I wanted them to let Panacea go.

I already knew I'd be going to hell for all the hostages I tried to keep back at the bank but someone like Panacea? A girl who's probably saved more lives than people I've met?

No, they'd probably find some place worse to stick me.

"Okay," Grue grunts as he keeps his dog steady, his leather gloves squeaking around the dented horns of the canine. "We all know the plan?"

Lisa and I nod, Rachel gives a yeah, and Regent doesn't say anything.

"Alright," the Undersider's leader nods at the Thinker behind me, Lisa moving to take my place in front of Brian. "Everyone find your places, Bug, you'll give us the signal."

I nearly gulp as I nod, I hadn't actually expected that suggestion to be seriously considered let alone implemented, but here we are.

The Undersiders vanish in the swath of Grue's power, only visible to me through my swarm as I take a deep breath, already sprinting to the nearest alleyway, my bugs sensing the sun's warmth.

Grue's shadow is cool, almost like AC and stepping out of it reminds me of what Lisa said. Somehow it's July and with the summer sun comes its heat.

I can still feel them, the bugs covering their dogs and their costumes, gnats and flies on their joints, they're splitting up exactly like I suggested.

Grue with Tattletale, Regent by himself, and Bitch alone, just barely 'perpendicular' with the Shaker and Thinker.

Divide and conquer I had said. My bugs would move in, corral the Brutes to Grue and Tattletale and with Regent on overwatch, Bitch could move in and three dogs could push to overwhelm. That plan would only work if they seemed vulnerable though, if they weren't together.

That had been a hard sell, getting them to split up in an unfamiliar environment, but I can only assume Tattletale had got my reasoning wrong, the same way she didn't know Leet was willing to send us wherever we are now.

She'd backed me up, got Bitch to calm down, she even got her to move further than I'd initially planned.

Further away from Grue, from her team.

They're villains.

I know that.

One of them's even killed. Two, according to Armsmaster.

My mouth shouldn't taste like dust but it does.

This is the only way we make it out of here, this is the only way I get to keep them.

I take a deep breath and force the swarm in front of the heroes to move.

I can feel the two on the rooftops flinch as the mass of chiting in front of them shifts, forming something you could generously call humanoid shapes.

I can't talk through them, not really, it's just clicking and hissing but I try to form words anyway.

"Sttttttt—-" the swarm shakes, the bugs shivering as I force them to hover or zip in short arcs. "—oopppp."

The sound almost doesn't get the message across, the speedster moving to slap as many bugs as he can before the one with the cape barks an order at him, his voice scrambled through my bug's senses.

I can almost make him out, I can tell the sounds he's making are meant to be words but it just— it doesn't stick in my brain the way it should.

Eventually he must realize that he's not getting the message across and when he stops speaking, I move the bugs at his feet, the roaches skittering until they resemble letters.

A-L-L-E-Y and then an arrow pointing in my general direction.

I hear him say something again and the figures on the beach stiffen, the Brute nodding while the water next to him suddenly dries up, sucked away as someone stands next to him.

He feels different than the Brute, they're both durable, my bugs can feel that in the lack of give against their skin but while the one in the black shirt is hard like stone, his teammate is smooth like glass, almost slimy as the water clings to him.

Is he a Shaker? Some kind of hydrokinetic?

I don't have time to wonder before there's a change in the wind, a gust of air rushing over me as I turn around.

"Okay," the speedster says, his shoes smoking ever so slightly as he stops in front of me, smiling even as he crosses his arms. "Are you gonna try another sucker punch or…"

He trails off and I swallow as I answer him.

"No," I shake my head, only realizing now that I didn't have anything rehearsed "Tattletale didn't— she—" I cough, clearing my throat as I wipe my hand through the air, "—I'm not with them."

The redhead's smile thins, turning strained as he gives me a half nod.

"Listen," he starts, putting a hand up "I'd really like to believe that but the girl in purple already tried lying to me so…"

He reaches behind himself and I can hear the metal clinking even before he pulls out the pair of cuffs.

"If you're trying to surrender, I'm game for that but one wrong move and I will use force. Okay?"

He says it with a kind of subtle sympathy, like he doesn't want to force an alternative but knows it's possible, he knows it's something he might have to do.

Suddenly I'm reminded of what Lisa said, how he's like Velocity only without the drawback.

How much would it hurt if he slammed me into the wall at superspeed?

"I can help!" I shout as he takes a step forward, "Please! I already got them to let go of the hostage, okay?"

At my words, he stops, one hand rising to his ear as he lets the other fall.

"You get that?," he asks, pressing into the shell and clicking some button. "She telling the truth?"

He pauses, careful to keep his face turned to me, his goggles never straying.

"She alright?" He asks and I let myself slump in relief, if he's asking that then that means they have to have her. Right?

I push with my swarm, the bugs searching the streets as a fog but I can't find her, there's no way she could have ran so far so quickly but—

"Okay…" the speedster nods and clears his throat. "You're telling the truth about that, but if you're not with them, why were you riding those monsters?"

"I—" I stop myself. I could tell him about their secret boss, the one pulling their strings, but I have no idea where we are. Armsmaster didn't explicitly say he'd honor my favor but what if we're outside his jurisdiction? What if I get arrested and he can't keep me out of jail?

No, it's too risky but—

Damnit.

Damn. It.

I couldn't just let them hold Panacea hostage indefinitely, I couldn't just let them hurt her if the heroes got too close, I couldn't—

"You're a stupid girl" Armsmaster had said and somehow the words sting even more now.

"I was trying to learn more about them," I answer. "They're a villain group in Brockton and I hoped I could—"

"Brockton?" A new voice calls from above, light, reedy, with just the smallest bit of vocal fry in the back.

I look up and see yet another cape, this one at least wearing a costume.

He's sitting on the lip of the building, crouched like a gargoyle as he tilts his head at me, his black domino mask fitted with some kind of white fabric over his eyes.

My first thought is that he's small, maybe five foot two, five foot three, but packing enough muscle that it almost seems inhumane.

He leaps from the edge of the building, his boots skidding on the brick wall across from him as he turns in mid air, flipping twice as he descends, catching himself on his hands and knees as he bounces from wall to wall.

It's a feat of acrobatics that could only come from some kind of subtle Brute or Mover power, maybe Thinker if he's something like Uber.

He lands in front of me, standing slowly and I examine his costume.

His black hair is styled in a subtle side part, nearly as dark as the outside of his cape and sleeves. He's wearing a shirt just on the bright side of red, the material of it seems halfway between cloth and armor, with three yellow clasps over its middle.

He's wearing a heavy belt around his waist, the pouches of a similar gold as the buckles and all of them leaden, each probably weighing a few pounds. The inside of his cape is the same yellow and while his pants are mostly black, the red from his top slips over the outside of his thighs.

Right above his heart is his insignia, a yellow 'R' wrapped in a black circle.

He looks young, his muscles are thin and wiry, his chin comes down in more of a block than the Mover behind him, but his ears are a lot bigger, almost too big for his head.

Just as my eyes move back down to his face, I catch his chin tilting up, he was examining me too.

"You ever heard of—" he turns, looking over his shoulder for just a moment. "Brockton?"

"Yes?" I reply, looking past him and seeing the same confusion on the redhead's face. "Brockton Bay, New Hampshire."

"We're in Rhode Island," the speedster says, leaning on one foot as he looks at me. "Brockton Bay some kind of town?"

"It's a city!" I reply, my eyes flicking between the two of them. Are they messing with me? Sure, it isn't New York or Boston but it's still the biggest city in between! It's where the Butcher comes from for Heaven's sake! "Brockton Bay! You have to have— it's the ENE, Armsmaster's team— we—"

The two of them just stare blankly at me, neither of them lighting up with recognition. Sure, Armsmaster's no Hero, no Tinker could really compare to him, but he's one of the best in the world, maybe the best in North America besides Dragon!

"Okay," the shorter one puts his hands up as he takes a step towards me, slow like he's afraid I'll spook like a horse. "This is a shot in the dark but… do you know who Batman is?"

The name doesn't ring a bell and why should it? Batman? Who could've possibly came up with something like that?

"Who?" I ask and while the acrobat in front of me squints, the speedster behind him lets out a guffaw.

"Sorry Rob," he laughs, "Guess ol' Batman just isn't that well-known."

"Shut up," his teammate replies, one arm jerking back to elbow the redhead. "Doubt Flash will ring any bells either."

"Flash?" I ask and this time the speedster's the one surprised.

"The Flash," he repeats, "Fastest man alive, works in Central, has a bright red suit, partnered with yours truly for the past three years."

At my silence he suddenly slumps.

"Okay…" he reaches to his ear, "These guys aren't from around here, what's the girl saying?"

The girl?

Panacea?

If they're talking to her then wouldn't that mean—

The Mover's posture suddenly bends, the handcuffs in his off hand clinking as the acrobat takes a step back. A step away from me.

"Call off the bugs," the short one orders, his voice deceptively hard for his stature. "And we'll consider taking you at your word."

"I—"

Damn it.

It isn't the signal but if the Undersiders suddenly see my swarm stop buzzing they'll know something's up. I don't feel anyone around Regent, there's a couple hiding in the apartments around Bitch, but with someone like Tattletale they'll be able to find another hostage.

"I can't," I reply, "The Undersiders are expecting a signal, if I don't give it or something goes wrong, Tattletale will know and she'll tell the rest of the team. I… I can't call it off but I can help you."

"How?" The noirette asks, domino mask pinched, somehow glaring at me.

"I'll sting them, none of them can kill them en masse, they can't—"

"Are they smart enough to just surrender?" he cuts me off, "They can't beat us, they can't hide forever, and they aren't faster than Kid Flash or Miss Martian."

Again, neither of the names ring a bell and something heavy starts to settle in my stomach.

"I…" I swallow. "Maybe."

Tattletale's smart enough to run away when her team's outmatched, maybe she'll be smart enough to pull them back before they do something stupid.

"Where are they?" the short one looks around me, towards the rolling fog of darkness just on the other end of the alley. "How can they see through that?"

"Grue can see through it, Bitch's dogs have a good enough sense of smell to follow him." I answer and the swarm around my soon to be ex-teammates calls to me. "I can try to pass along a message?"

"One wrong move and I'll take you to Belle Reve myself," the speedster, probably Kid Flash, threatens.

A dull simmer courses through me, an anger that leaks into the swarm as I nod. Does he think I'm stupid? I wouldn't have told him where I was if I actually wanted to fight him.

With no more words said between the three of us, I move the bugs in front of the Undersiders the same way I did before, the beetles, wasps, and other bugs forming words in the air, the walls, and on the ground.

S-u-r-r-e-n-d-e-r.

I swallow as I feel the Undersiders shift.

I hope they'll listen.

I don't want to make this worse than it already is.

Author's Note: Hello again!

So yeah, not a big bad cape fight? My reasoning?

Try as a I might, there was just no fucking way The Undersiders could eek out a win, they might've gotten a few good hits in (my first draft had Regent getting SB to punch himself) but mostly that went nowhere.

Besides, that doesn't mean there won't possibly be a fight next chapter… it'll probably just be shorter.

As for my second reason, I just don't see Taylor sticking with them here. Sure, in canon she stood by them but she felt like shit the whole time and she could 'greater good' herself into thinking it was okay but here?

She has no idea where she is, no idea when she is, and I figure she still has enough 'hero' in her to make this decision. She isn't the Queen of Escalation just yet.

Anyways, I hope this came off well but I completely understand if it isn't well received.

Who knows, if it isn't well received enough it might even get a rewrite.

But yeah.

Anyways! Next time on Peristalsis, the Undersiders surrender? Maybe? It's either that and a conversation with some big names or one hell of a tough fight!Last edited: 16/11/2025 Award ReplyReport463SleepyBird15/11/2025NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks 1.5 Transmigration New View contentSleepyBirdShe/Her/They/Them27/11/2025NewAdd bookmark#682Taylor Hebert/Bug

???

Immediately I can tell they're going to make this difficult.

Regent barks out something that might be a laugh, his scepter twirling in one hand, the trigger pulled sporadically and zapping a few dozen bugs around him.

Bitch doesn't seem to notice my swarm at first, her head turns to the ones I've got on the walls but she doesn't react. I don't know if she's just trying to stay calm or she just actually can't read. At least she doesn't think this is the signal.

Grue turns his helmet to Tattletale, the gnats I have all over his body shivering as he shouts at the Thinker.

For her part Tattletale seems… it's hard to judge her off body language alone but I think she's annoyed. For a second, I think she's annoyed with herself, annoyed that I got past her power, that maybe she's pissed for letting me take the reins.

But then she's pointing right back at Grue, telling him… it's hard to make out, the bugs don't hear things like a person would, it's just a wall of vibration to them but I think I can kinda make out the tone.

She's annoyed, obviously, I can hear that in the sharpness of her words, but then it dulls into something almost like a whine.

No, a plea.

I try to move the bugs as subtly as I can, trying to find more data points, moving them all along the joints of her body.

It's a messy wireframe I've got made but it gives me enough.

"How's it going over there?" the speedster asks, voice terse as I feel him take another step closer to me. At this distance, he could probably grab me and take me halfway down the street before I could blink.

"It's…" My mouth is dry but I swallow it down. "They're thinking it over."

"Thinking it over?" Kid Flash has the tiniest bit of amusement lacing his incredulity, like I've said a joke a little too absurd to land right. "What's there to think? Your buddies had a hostage, they shot first, they—"

"Not helping Kay Eff," the acrobat cuts him off, his voice just as annoyed as I feel. He shifts, arms crossed before he turns to me. "Is this something you need to focus or can it be a background deal?"

"I can talk," I answer the implied question as Grue suddenly shouts, his voice loud and echoing, stained with his power. I nearly gulp at his tone, he's pissed and while Brian didn't seem like the kind of guy that would fly off the handle, I can't really say or not if he's willing to do something stupid.

Lisa shouts something back and Regent… I can feel him doing something with his scepter, the edge of it scrapping against the rooftop. Is he…

I can feel him disturbing my bugs and in the gaps he's made between the carpet of chitin, I can read out a word.

'Why?'

"Okay," the shorter hero speaks up, "That's great because I have a lot of questions. Mostly, where you're from because the only city worth talking about in New Hampshire is Manchester and that hasn't seen action since the JSA."

"The JSA?" I ask as I move the bugs to reply, the roaches and beetles spelling out an answer not only for Regent but for the others too.

'Out-manned, Out-gunned' I reply and I think Regent lets out a snort as he starts writing.

"Justice Society of America?" the hero replies and I turn my head back to look at him. Another name that doesn't ring a bell and when I don't reply his tone becomes even more shocked. "Founded in 1940, had the first Green Lantern, Sandman, Doctor Fate—"

"—first Flash too—" the speedster jumps in as I squint.

"—became the All-Star Squadron in '41 when Captain Nazi took the spear, that's when—"

"Stop talking," I interrupt, filing away names like JSA, All Star Squadron, and freaking 'Captain Nazi' as I try to keep my attention on Regent. I don't understand it, I can control all of my bugs independently, take in all their sensations all at once, but trying to maintain two conversations is impossible. "Regent's asking me something."

"Regent the one with the crown?" Kid Flash asks and then grunts when his teammate slaps his shoulder. At least one of them listens.

'Been there before,' Regent's written and I feel a migraine coming on.

This isn't like before, they aren't running from the Empire or ABB or even the Protectorate. This is… how can I tell them how different this is?

The answer hits me just as I'm getting the swarm to move.

'There's no Brockton,' I write back, and I feel all of them respond, even Bitch seems to stiffen, the one hand petting her hound suddenly stilling.

Regent stares at the bugs like they're lying to him and I can feel Grue's tone suddenly curl. There's still anger there, still frustration, but there's something else there too. Something shivering.

Tattletale slumps as she reads my message and I watch as the rolling fog of black starts to fade away, little slices of light cutting through the void.

It's only when I feel the sun against my face that I let myself breath again.

They're listening. They have to be.

"We're good now?" Kid Flash asks and I hear Grue shout something before I can turn to answer him.

Bitch's hounds hear the call and immediately they move to answer, taking Regent and Bitch back to the others as I resist the urge to run to them. There's still so much I need to say, things I can't say with the swarm, I need to make sure they understand what's happening, what's happened to us, why we can't outrun this.

There's nowhere to go.

"Yeah," I reply, "Just let me talk to them, please, they'll listen to me, they'll—"

"Not a chance," Kid Flash cuts me off and I whirl on him, the speedster's expression stern. "Not about to be tricked twice, you can go to jail first then the rest of your putrid pals right after."

"Putried pals?" the other one questions, a smirk on his face and getting the taller hero to flush before he shakes his head, looking back at me. "Look, we're not doing his plan okay? I'm the leader and—"

"The what?!" the speedster glares down at his teammate, "Since when? I could run circles around—"

"I have the most experience, four years to your three now—" he raises a hand, looking to shake mine. "I'm Robin, you are…"

He trails off and I'm already shaking his hand before I realize what his question is.

"I haven't thought of anything good yet." I tell him and while the speedster behind him fumes, I continue. "So you'll let me talk to them?"

"Not by yourself," Robin answers as he lets go of my hand, "Superboy and Aqualad will take you, they'll fill in any gaps."

I nearly gulp at the mention of 'Superboy.'

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know he means the Brute with the 'S' on his chest, the same Brute I forced roaches down his throat.

"Okay," I nod and turn back to the street, already seeing one half of the duo as he lands in the alley across from us.

Superboy glares at me as he stands up, the oily remnants of the roaches still clinging to his face even as he drips with saltwater.

Following just behind him, gliding in on some platform of water is… an odd looking hero.

He's…

He's different from the others.

Maybe at a distance I might say he's human but as he moves closer I can tell that he isn't.

Though his skin looks mostly normal, the complexion just a few shades lighter than Brian's, there's a shine to it in spots that reminds me of scales. His hands and feet are webbed and each digit ends in something almost like a claw.

Actually, looking at them, I'm sure they'd be claws if he didn't file them down.

And on his neck, prominent and shivering in the air, are very clearly a pair of gills.

His costume is a little on the simple side, a red tanktop with sharp slits running in two lines over his sides, one pair at the top of his abdomen and one lower. His pants are blue and form-fitting with a black belt and what looks like a sharpened horseshoe on the front, maybe it could be an 'A' if I squint.

But maybe it could be something else, don't the monster capes have marks like that symbol? An Omega?

His tanktop is bordered with a deep black material that blends into the winding tattoos on his arms, both of them trailing down to the back of his hands.

My eyes trail back to his face as he dismounts, the water below him falling to the ground and splashing as he examines me.

He's… I'll be honest, he's almost as handsome as Brian. His jaw's a little thinner but still firmly what I would consider masculine, something you'd expect to see on a superhero. His cheekbones are high, sharp, and his eyes match their intensity, the nearly clear blue of them staring right through me.

His hair is short, cropped almost to his scalp, just thick enough to overtake the shade of his skin, a blonde fuzz wicking with moisture.

He blinks and I would swear I catch a second, clearer lid shadowing underneath the first.

"I am Aqualad," his voice is deep, rumbling, and smooth and when he raises his hand to shake mine too, I realize something I should have noticed before.

He isn't wearing a mask.

Neither is the Brute behind him.

Do they not—

"So," the Brute speaks up, earning a look from the boy in front of me. "You're gonna talk to them?"

His voice isn't smooth but it's not less deep. It's hard, angry, just barely held back from screaming.

He glares at me and something in the gaze reminds me of Bitch.

"Yeah," I reply, sure to keep my own voice level, without anything for him to second guess or latch on to. "You're taking me?"

He nods and as he turns to let me pass, I check back in with the Undersiders.

Bitch is arguing now, shouting at the others and while Regent chimes in every sentence or so, letting Tattletale take the lead, their leader isn't saying anything.

Instead Grue just stands there, at the lip of the alleyway, arms crossed as he looks down the road, preparing for us.

The two capes let me lead them down the road, with Robin grappling back up to the rooftops and Kid Flash zipping out of my range in less than three seconds.

His speed is… it's something I'm not sure how I'd deal with. I haven't been in many cape fights, just Lung a few days ago and then Uber and Leet just an hour ago and none of them were like him.

How do you fight a Mover? Someone that can just… leave like he does? Someone that can just exit a battle and come back a few minutes later? How do you keep up with that?

I'm sure we would have come up with something, I'm sure that if we had to fight we'd manage to get away, no matter what Robin said.

But that option isn't on the table now.

"I imagine this goes without saying," Aqualad says as we turn the corner, catching sight of the Undersiders just on the edge of the block. "But attempting to continue our fight would be… unwise."

I nod and make note of his accent, it's refined, smooth, but I don't know enough accents to say where he's from. Taking a look at his gills, I doubt it's from someplace I'd know.

As the three of us get closer to the others, I see them shift as they notice us.

As they notice me.

Regent shoots me a salute, his scepter holstered at his side as he walks to the nearest wall, leaning against it. Above him I can feel Robin moving on the rooftops, his hands moving down to his belt, pulling something out of a pouch.

Bitch looks downright furious, her mask is still on but it's askew and I can see just based off her breathing how pissed she is with me.

Compared to that, Tattletale looks calm. Her smile is relaxed, more relaxed than I've ever seen actually and when my eyes meet hers she laughs. Is she… relieved? Did she actually know what I was planning? Was she just backing me up the others—

"So," Grue starts, a sigh echoing out of his helmet as he looks at the two on either side of me. "We aren't on Earth Bet anymore are we?"

Author's Note: Hello again!

Sorry this took so long to get out, finals have been… rough, taking 21 credits was fucking rough, and I've still got four fucking group projects to slum through, word of advice, if the Professor says Noam Chomsky and Universal Grammar is easy work, he's fucking lying through his teeth.

Anyways, I got all of this done today because today was mostly freeish.

I would have kept going but this felt like a natural break for the final chapter of arc 1, the next chapter I mean. 1.6 will be the final.

Also also hope you guys liked the DC otherisms, like the JSA and All-Star Squadron being named dropped. I might put a lore dump in informational if people want that (because it is a little different here) but yeah.

Also I made a joke about 'Putrid Pals' that's a real thing Kid Flash said in the ColdHearted episode and I kinda headcanon that as a leftover from when Jay would impart his wisdom, old school golden age kind of banter.

So yeah, I got this out and I made a point to describe Aqualad's physical description a lot more to make it more Taylor but y'all have got to get consistent with that! In my RWBY fic Dust, I was told by other commenters to stop giving over the top descriptions!

Anyways, we might get the final chapter… soon. Maybe tomorrow actually.

If y'all want to support me (and make chapters come out way quicker) sub to m patreon, every little bit helps.

Next time on Peristalsis: A genuine stand off, will the Undersiders listen to reason, will all of them or just some? Is there gonna be a fight or a gentle turnover? Find out next time in 1.6

As always if there's any grammar or spelling mistakes let me know and if there's any continuity errors, gut me like a pig.

(By the way if you think this ain't it, let me know and maybe it gets a rewrite idk)Last edited: 28/11/2025 Award ReplyReport435SleepyBird27/11/2025NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks 1.6 Transmigration New View contentSleepyBirdShe/Her/They/Them28/11/2025NewAdd bookmark#723T