Welcome to Worm, a parahuman radio serial. This series is a fan project paying tribute to Wild Bow's web serial, Worm, and contains graphic violence, strong language, and adult subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. In 1982, a man with extraordinary powers appeared over the Atlantic Ocean, ushering in a new era of heroes and abominations.
Across the globe, people began to develop powers of their own, turning them upon the world in violent and destructive ways. So began the age of parahumans. This is the story of Brockton Bay 30 years later, an American city dominated by the villains of this age. Just because I was miserable wasn't any reason I should inflict that on my followers.
A hole in the bottom let us feed the fire, and the pots we placed inside contained pork shoulders and massive beer, carrots, onions, and garlic cloves. The smell had drawn people here from across my territory. Koi knew what we were up to, and he'd shut down Tattletail. Dinah fell out of reach, and my hopes of regaining some connection with my dad had ended less than perfectly.
Not badly, but not as well as I'd hoped. This, right here, was the one thing I could feel good about. He'd specified three days. We'd take a month to deal with the Chosen.
I'd use the next to talk things over with Perry and to visit the mayor. We were officially done tonight or early tomorrow. My swarm informed me of a visitor. Gru was wearing his new costume.
Any problems? Just checking in. I expected a call after your job. I had to get an update on how you were doing from Tattletail.
Sorry. I also heard about what the boss was planning. Gonna give me a hard time for going? No, I don't like it, but I understand you didn't have a choice.
Or you did have a choice, but you weren't about to take an option B. Yeah, which turned out to be the right choice. He was playing us, trying to send us a message without rocking the boat. You've got a lot at stake in this.
You holding up? I'm dealing. And dealing involves the barbecue? Building loyalty.
You don't think you're gonna... going over the top, being too nice? They're working hard. That's all?
No, not all. I figured I'd go all out, as much for me as for them. This is the only thing that I've got going on that I can really feel good about right now. The only thing?
No, not the only thing. You're right. Though I'm not sure exactly what we're doing or what we are. Not like we're in a position to go out to dinner and a movie.
I've wondered about that myself. It's okay, though? Us? Yeah, definitely okay.
I know we can't exactly go out, but if you're okay with it, you maybe wanna come by tonight? We'll let my people celebrate a week of hard work and head into my lair to eat, watch a movie on the couch? Okay. Not sure if I can get away before dark.
If I'm doing a serious check of my territory. Imp's doing more than her fair share. Oh, it's fine. I'm not sure how to put it, so I'll be upfront about this.
I don't expect to be priority number one. We have a job here. I'm not sure what the boss is planning or if we're still going to be doing this in a few months from now or even a week from now, but I totally get it if the territory comes first or if Imp comes first or if we have a job that interferes with our schedules. We'll fit each other into the breaks.
You can say that, but I'm not sure it'll be true when it happens for the third time or the tenth. It's not set in stone. If it doesn't work, we'll talk about it. Maybe it's best we say whatever's on our minds, given who we are.
We're not the best at this social thing, you know? I know. In the spirit of saying what's on my mind, I'm kind of wondering how your people would react if I kissed you right now. Um, no.
Don't. It's not that I don't want you to, but it would mess up their image of me. I know. That's the reason I didn't do it.
That and the masks would be hard to manage. I can't really be spontaneous when fumbling to find a way to lift the mask up. Something to fix for a future version. You wanna grab something for lunch?
I should be getting back. There's some stragglers to deal with and Imp's been going full tilt long enough. I think I should relieve her. She's really been taking it seriously, huh?
Yeah, I'd be happy about it if it wasn't so dangerous. With luck, the danger will pass soon. Yeah. See you later?
Hold on. My phone was beeping. A vibration through the area. I heard it on the phone.
I was wondering if one of the buildings had been replaced by my name. It was Skitter. My first thought was Squidder, but she was supposedly dead. The other alternative...
Shit! Listen up! Threat incoming! Stop what you're doing and clear out of here that way!
Now! Pretty sure it's Dragon. Timing couldn't be worse for this. Coil wanted us to be done today.
Now the heroes are making moves. Retaliation for the Mayor. We pushed things. Now they're bringing in the big guns.
Maybe literally. Plan? No clue. Hello?
Lisa? Dragon's here. Don't fight. Why?
She's here. How is she there? Hitting multiple territories at once. Fight, and heroes come back to back her up.
Run. Hide. Meet. Skitter, I'm cutting off communications.
I look forward to talking to you once you've been brought into custody. Oh, hell. Let's go. Dragon made a move.
Metal objects the size of a beach ball were filling out the sides of her suit. They floated in the air, spreading out in formations, killing any bugs within electric pulse, much like Armsmaster's halberd. She's trying to beat me at my own game. Minions.
Hate Tinkers. Hate Tinkers so fucking much. And I really hate Tinkers who share their work. I got a better look at the drones as they approached.
Each was an identical black sphere with two wings like the blades of a battle axe. A camera with a red lens was found on a plate that rode across the sphere's outer surface with another plate glowing in the same way Kid Win's anti-gravity skateboard hat always pointing towards the ground. They quickly overtook us. Attention citizen, for your own safety, drop to the ground and place your hands on your head.
You have ten seconds to comply. Fuck. Here, let me boost you. Five seconds.
I ran towards him, setting my feet into the cup of his hands while drawing my knife. He straightened, keeping me up. My timing was off and I didn't manage to jump in time with the push, but I did manage to stay balanced. The drone simply dodged me.
Failure to comply. I felt the hairs all over my body stand to attention a second before the electrical charge hit us. We were both thrown to the ground with the drone moving to pin us. On your feet, hurry!
We're not unconscious? The spider's especially insulated against electrical charges. Attention citizen, for your own safety, drop to the ground and place your hands on your head. You have ten seconds to comply.
Dammit! More of them! The darkness won't work. She's not blind on conventional senses.
Saw Imp. The drones were pulling. Gru's darkness spread through the area and the drones were descending slowly in the air to touch ground. They weren't discharging their electrical loads either.
Whatever signal Dragon was using to command them, Gru's darkness was cutting it off. The drones are down. We could double back, hit her main body. Incoming!
Dragon swept over us. The attack spear down the length of the street like a tightly focused gust of wind. It scattered Gru's darkness and allowed the drones to rise again. She's prepared for me.
Made a plan to come after you when she was done here or it's part of a more complicated setup. This way. There's a path through the building and out to the other side. The blast of hot wind proofed past us, blowing through the cover we tried to hide behind as well as the darkness.
The building obstructed the worst of it, but it was less focused than the former. Again, it stripped away much of Gru's darkness. He covered them at a fresh layer and we continued running. Dragon didn't give chase.
You made it. Who are we missing? Ballistic, Genesis, and Bitch. This is not ideal.
No shit. Seven of those things. They hit Sundancer, Genesis, Ballistic, me, Bitch, and Skitter. Tried to hit Trickster, but he was recuperating here.
My guess is Dragon's controlling these things with an AI, smart AI, but they didn't seem quite as sharp as she was in our last run in with her. Or her attention is divided too many ways. Can't say. Her objective seems to be disrupting our control over the city rather than stopping us outright.
I think the pair of us only slipped away because she wasn't expecting me to be there. Did she use the drone deployer against you guys? No. She was piloting an updated version on the thing she used against Leviathan.
You contain it in foam everywhere. My guys hammered it with rocket launchers and bought me time to run. Maybe lost half my squad depending on how things went. Only Minor and Brooks have returned so far.
Came after me with a bloated floating ship, kept drawing force fields around me. My power couldn't even knock them down. I burned myself in escape route through the ground. Nearly got Discuss that on our way to the room where the database is stored.
Undeciders, Travelers, I wish you luck. Let's go. We're not going to be able to take on Dragon without a plan, a damn good one. Your talking point on this?
I don't have a plan, but I'll take lead if we need it, although, actually... Split the fountain. Actually, what? Can I?
Can I take point here? You have a plan? Maybe. No.
Plan is the wrong word. Call it a strategy, but it's becoming a plan as I think about it, and I think Imp plays a key role here. Fuck yeah! Imp?
Dragon can see her, can't she? She's the most useless person here. I mean, I know I'm not in any shape to fight, but at least my power does something. Fuck you!
No, we can definitely use her. Let's hear the plan. The first priority will be making sure Bitch, Genesis, and Ballistic are okay. I'm thinking the easiest way to do that would be to pay the heroes a visit at the PRT headquarters.
That's dangerous. And it's something Dragon will anticipate, I think. It's a safe bet to say she's smart, even if the actual machines aren't giving her full attention or if they're dumber because their artificial intelligences don't function at the same level as an actual human brain. She's still organizing the suits, and she's going to be able to anticipate that we might go for the most vulnerable elements of their operations, which is the local heroes.
You're thinking we go after them? We have to. The individual suits are going to be tough to take down, if not outright impossible. We can take down the local heroes and get leverage, information, or at least stop them from interfering when we go up against one or more of Dragon's suits.
Makes sense, unless we were putting ourselves in the worst-case scenario where we're dealing with multiple suits plus the local heroes. It's possible. Even here, I'm willing to bet my left hand that there's going to be a Dragon suit parked on the roof of that building or somewhere nearby. And you're thinking we use Imp?
We can leave there here as her Vanessa saboteur, maybe. Or just have her in place to get information and then methodically take threats out of action. But it won't be that simple. They'll have security cameras throughout the building, which means we need to take them out if she's going to walk around without a problem.
Regent and Chatterbird can kill all the cameras and lights in the building without killing anyone? Nothing explosive. A gentle break? I'd have to be close.
Closer if I don't know where it is. And by I, you mean Chatterbird? Yeah, I can't get too far from her, though. I can probably find the location to target with my bugs, but getting Chatterbird in close means we need a distraction.
So this is a two-pronged plan. The problem with that is that this is also a plan with a lot of steps, each dependent on success of the step before it, as well as the success of the second prong. If we fuck up or run into a snag somewhere along the line, it falls apart. Yeah, and we're going to be outnumbered and outgunned, even if we don't count the squads of PRT uniforms that are going to be stationed in there.
But I think we can use that to our advantage. Disguises? No, not disguises. Let's hurry.
We're working with a hard time limit. We have to travel on foot, and we're going to be forced to stay out of the open as we travel. Let's see. PRT uniforms on the rooftop.
Trucks ring the area. Police and bulletproof vests and more PRT. One of Dragon's suits is on the roof nearby, something like a giant metal flying squirrel with a huge electrically charged wheel on its back. Anyone recognize what Skir's describing?
It's my territory. Maybe she picked it to come after me. How do you counter a teleporter? With that thing, apparently.
So we're dividing the group? Yeah. I'm tracking you guys with my bugs. Take your time getting into position.
Better to take a bit longer than to alert them too early. Groups with me. Trickster, Imp, and Sundancer stay here. Keep out of sight at all costs.
Regent and Chatterbird, you stay here in the darkness for cover until we make a move. Then head out and circle around. When we're all in place, I'll let you know. The chair number flies and maggots in the damn building worked to my advantage.
The three local members of the Protectorate were in the company of the wards, a pair of PRT uniforms, and the woman I took to be the director. Triumph seemed to be okay. I could sense the general shape of Miss Militia as well as Assault. I didn't spot Prism, Kasher, or Set Aurora.
All of the wards were present, too. Weld, Clockworker, Fletcher, Kidwin, Vista, and Chariot. We could nuke them, have Sundancer and Chatterbird go all out. But what was the point if we went that far?
I was in this to save Dinah. It didn't do any good if I ruined the lives of a hundred Dinas in the process, the families who did nothing to get caught up in this war. This spot good? It's good.
One minute, I'll have to fill them in. Feel confident? Wish I had time to practice this before trying it in the field. I used my bugs to spell out the various information they needed, the layout and soldier placement.
Creating the sun, I sent it towards the building. The heroes clustered at the window to watch, giving me the perfect opportunity to start the invasion. I found myself in the midst of the local heroes. Bugs exploded out from within my costume, covering them.
Capturing my spuds found at every uncovered eye, mouth, and nose. My bugs could sense Triumph bending his knees to lunge for me. And I shifted a few feet to the right. I was already reaching for my baton.
Trickster swapped me again before I could smack Miss Militia with my combat stick. And I instinctively clubbed Vista across the face. Another swap, I caught Miss Militia in the midsection with my baton. Assault kicked me before I could recover and strike my next target.
The hit didn't feel that hard, but it sent me sliding across the floor into a trio of chairs with plastic seats. The window! Block Trickster! I waited too long to signal for an exit.
My opponents were suffering, though. Clockwork was gone. Teleported out as I teleported in. Most of the others were down, but I had backed up to the windows, blocking Trickster's view.
The director glared at me. Neither Weld nor Assault were advancing, choosing to block my access to the exits. This was a mistake. If it wasn't a little reckless, Dragon would probably have anticipated it.
You've trapped yourself in here. Two other Dragon models are already on the way. Good. Is this Tattletail's plan?
Mine. I see. And... I didn't hear the rest.
Assault moved to kick one of the desks. It went flying into the air at the same instant I threw myself to the ground. I scrambled for cover. Russians.
Interesting. We assigned you a figure one classification, but perhaps we fell short. I really don't care. You can see through their eyes, hear what they hear.
Can you see the suits that was outside? Yeah. The tail pit's Sundancer. More will come.
Not just the seven suits that are currently in Brockton Bay. So long as you hold this city, Dragon will bring in more suits on a weekly basis. Dragon will shore up weaknesses, augment strengths. If you're lucky here, you might win.
I'll credit you that. But you won't get two or three days of rest before you have to fight again. How many times can you abandon your territory before your followers abandon you? How many times can you afford to let the crooks clean up your messes before the public realizes your protectorate is little more than a good PR, fancy talking, wasted tax dollars?
We're doing more than you think. Unless that people need. I don't want to avoid you people left behind. If you weren't doing a satisfactory job, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing.
Don't act stupider than you are, Skitter. The city can't step in to help the people in your territory because we can't trust you. Your bitch is already mauling anyone that sets foot in her territory. Any electrician, carpenter, or doctor that we send into your territory might come back to us dying from anaphylactic shock.
Chatterbird's power cut loose, and they tried to flee, but wound up tripping on the glass. Assault charged my way, one arm still covering his mouth. More bugs covered the lens of his mask, but they slid off of him as if he were oiled. His power at work.
I pulled a quick, crude decoy together, distracting him for a moment before he chucked his table at me, forcing me to the ground again. What are you hoping to accomplish? Assault lunged for me as I let myself fall through the third-story window. In a moment, I was inside again, surrounded by one free hero.
I turned and slashed the screen behind me, throwing myself on the window a second time. Again, Trickster swapped me with one of the heroes. Get away from the window! I signaled him as he teleported in again.
I found myself back in the alleyway I'd been in with Gru. Clockwork was there, frozen by his own borrowed power. I wasted no time in tying him up. The mechanical suit that had been perched on the rooftop nearby was on the ground now, riding Sundancer, Chatterbird, Other pieces ourselves, clearing our territories of mobile local threats, while leaving the civilians more or less alone—except for Bitch.
We adjusted Bitch's territory so she wouldn't have as much cost to harass the locals not so long ago. I suppose that's a consolation to the people she injured. I'm not saying we're perfect. We aren't.
But we're doing something, so are we. You're not doing enough. And when you subtract the blood you've spilled and the pain you've caused, have you really done that much more, Skitter? That's oversimplifying, obviously.
Right and wrong aren't a matter of adding the good deeds and subtracting the bad. I'm bad with math anyways. I presume you've been paying for the supplies and materials you've been importing to your territory with your own money? You've been paying your people, I know.
How much damage was done in the course of earning that money? I see the repercussions, you don't. Things pass my desk. Hospital bills, property damage, psychiatrist notes.
People lose their jobs, lose precious belongings. Parents are woken in the middle of the night because their children are seriously injured. I see the details from detectives and narcotics who track the drug trade. I know you don't sell drugs, Skitter, but you're interacting with people who do.
If you buy a favor from someone who does, the merchants, Coil, the Chosen, then you're indirectly supporting that trade. Just like you're supporting any number of evils every time you help a fellow villain. I've talked to homicide detectives who've dealt with the bodies in the wake of your shenanigans. We don't kill.
People die when you start feuds. Bakuda was injured by you in one altercation, and she attacked the city over the course of several days. Do you know how many people were harmed then because you set her off? I could show you photos.
People with flesh melted off, broken, frozen, burned, turned to glass. When I don't see these things in person, I see them on my desk in high-definition glossy photos. I could arrange for you to see the photos if you don't believe me, or if you want to see the damage you've done for yourself. No, I don't need to see them.
Why is that, Skitter? Are you afraid facing that reality would shatter this nice little delusion you're living under? I'm not to blame for whatever crimes Bakuda committed. You played a role.
Anything she did is on her head, just like anything the Nine did is on them. Where do you draw the line? When do you start taking responsibility? Or will you explain away every evil you've done and count only the actions you want?
Hey, this is going nowhere. Let's wait until Tattletale can come in and talk to her. Right. Let's be careful.
Anything from the Protectorate or included may be bugged. No talking about anything sensitive on our way back, and we'll ditch ASAP. That includes the truck you stole to get here, Emma. We unload at Piggo and the truck behind the liquor store in Tattletale's territory.
When she looks at Tattletale, the smallest smile touches her lips. What's this, Piggo? Looking forward to a duel of wits? Staying mum?
Lips sealed so you can't betray vital information? I trust you'll get it anyways. First things first. Are we bugged?
The truck is, but we'll have my guy drive it away and then leave it somewhere. They'll know the truck stopped here. I know. We're going to go for a walk.
Up for that? I don't think I have a choice, do I? Nope. Now, you have our teammates in custody?
That's a no. Which means they're either injured or dead and you aren't aware, or they're holed up and can't leave their territory because of the suits that are sitting there. Perhaps. Is Dragon in town?
Last I saw. She's gone. Another task. Wouldn't be an end-bringer.
Not yet. The Nine. Want to give up the information now or spare me the hassle of 20 questions? My delaying you means the other models have a chance to find and arrest your teammates.
You'll have to ask. We have other tools at our disposal. Oh, and I know Regent takes anywhere from 15 minutes to two and a half hours to take control. After which point you wouldn't be able to work in this town again.
Hmm. Taking the same approach you did with Shadowstalker? Hold on, what? Yeah, like Shadowstalker.
We have records from when Regent worked for Heartbreaker under his previous name, Hijack. Interviews with people Regent controlled. Good for you. I know his power gets weaker as you spread it thin.
Control slips. You can't afford to lose the near hold on Shadowbird, so no, I don't think you'll try to take control of me. And you believe that enough that you're confident. You aren't worried here, even when you've been taken hostage.
Which leaves you the options of playing 20 questions to get all the information you need, or you can try something more dire. Torture. That's the second time she's brought that up. Because she's trying to get a sense of us.
She wants to see our reactions and body language as the subject comes up. Yes, based on that much, I'm almost certain you wouldn't torture me, and you aren't the type to kill unless absolutely backed against the wall. Which means I can be home before midnight. Eh, a little optimistic.
I don't think so. See, I know you might try to kill me if these others weren't around, but the others won't let you. There's Regent, too. Little to no compunctions, as we saw with Shadowstalker.
Do they know the full story? No. Tell us what. Do you trust me?
Pretty much. A little bit less right now than I did a minute ago. She's trying to derail our interrogation. She knows we won't get violent with her to get the details we need, but I'll be able to get the answers out of her with a bit of time to ask and apply my power.
Knowing this, she's trying to fuck with us. Set us against each other and delay us. If you trust me, can you agree to drop the subject? I'll explain before too long.
Knowing is half the battle. Only half. Being aware of what I'm doing doesn't stop me. I've learned a lot since you took me hostage, and I already knew some things from research, observation, paperwork, and background checks.
I have a read on your personalities and how you operate, and I know some background details. How is your brother, Tattletail? Sarah? Low blow, lady.
I've been looking forward to having a conversation with you for some time, playing it out in my head. I paid out of my own pocket for information so I can beat you at your own game. You would have done well to erase the trail leading back home, Sarah. But then, that would have required thinking about it.
Maybe even going back. You're glad we took you hostage. Quite. Ball's still in our court.
But you have a time limit. Like I said, I expect to be home and in my bed before the night's out. You have a card up your sleeve. Leverage.
In a way. I'm dying. You need constant medical care. I have a setup at home.
Hemodialysis. I hook myself up to it every night, flush my blood of excess water and pollutants over the course of eight hours while I'm sleeping. If I don't get the dialysis, I expect I'll go downhill very quickly. My body's already in rough shape, and I've overworked myself these past few weeks.
I wouldn't die that quickly, but you wouldn't get any use out of me either. So, we get to enjoy each other's company for about five or six hours. Then you decide whether you let me go home or whether you let me die. And in the meantime, you intend to stall.
To the best of my ability. What suit did they send against Bitch? Hellhound? Did you know your parents are still looking for you?
They never stopped. The model Dragon's used before. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I told them you were alive and well. Yes, I visited them in person.
I could turn the tables on you, pick you apart. Please, do. Waste time. You won't accomplish much.
Look at me. You know as well as I do that I wear my shame and disappointment on the outside for the world to see. I have the muscles in my legs torn apart years ago on the job, lost the ability to keep up exercise coupled with hours behind a desk, hours of the dialysis and recovery from surgeries. No time to take care of myself with work.
I know I'm ugly. I know I'm fat. There's nothing you could say to me that I haven't said to myself a hundred times over. You sound almost proud.
I have no powers, Trickster. I'm lowly. A mere mortal compared to you. I admit it.
I admit I'm weaker, slower. My options are pretty limited in a fight. But I'm tenacious. I'm shameless if I have to be.
Because I refuse to lose to you. And I find it pretty fucking poetic that I have the upper hand because of the very things that you caved look down on us for. I'm fat, frail, scarred, and I have old wounds that I'll never recover from. But because of that, because I could die in a matter of hours if you don't let me seek treatments, you're either going to have to compromise with your personal code or you're going to have to let me walk away and find another way to beat Dragon.
Trickster, watch her. Sundance, are you in the medic? Watch Trickster and the director. Rest of you with me.
We'll talk over there. Lisa, what are you thinking? This isn't working, obviously. We can take her to her That's as far as I know, and it wasn't easy to navigate to begin with.
If we use the car to get there, we run that risk that it'll break down, run out of gas, or get wrecked somewhere, stranding us and forcing us to hike across half the city to get to Ballistic's territory. Let's minimize the opportunities for stuff to go wrong. Beggars can't be choosers. We're capes, not beggars.
I was thinking about Sundancer and something like a hot air balloon, but I'm not sure how much forward acceleration you could pick up that way. But something like that. A lot of powers operate off virtually limitless power sources. I've used my power all day, every day, and I haven't been any worse for the wear.
Can we use that for some extra mobility while we don't have Bitch on the team? Ooh, you could try a James and the Giant Peach thing with us, only it'd be backwards. Bugs on strings and the bird along for the ride. My bugs would get tired.
That leaves Shatterbird. I can only fly with one person, maybe two. What if you aren't flying? This may not have been my brightest idea.
Shatterbird had crashed in a metal glass into the wood of the door. We'd taken off the hinges and Regent Imp and I were standing on the surface while Shatterbird flew above us, using her power to pull in the glass. We had to be pushing 40 or 50 miles an hour. Regent!
Fence! We continued forward without slowing. Half a block away, 70 feet away. Fence!
30 feet away. Shatterbird hit the fence with a wave of glass, knocking it down to a 45-degree angle. I'll make sure the glass hit the makeshift ramp, remaining airborne for only a second or two before hitting the ground and continuing forward. You dick!
The two dogs were fighting and there were signs of the fighting that had been going on for a while. There were six enhanced dogs in the area, but only Bastard and Bentley were still fighting. Bitch, Barker, and Biter had stepped to the fight. Looking at the situation, I couldn't figure out why they'd been having trouble with their opponents.
A dragon suit wasn't that large, didn't seem to have that much in the ways of weapon or gear. She stood maybe 8 feet tall, 8 feet wide, with detronforming roughly a third of its mass, ending in a disproportionately large squat claw. Just die already! The suit hauled the dogs off it, and Biter stepped forward to punch it across the train yard with a car-sized fist.
The suit went flying and then stood up on top of a train, crumpling metal in its massive claws. Its torso expanded slightly as it made room for the new material. Armor plate reshaped by internal mechanisms and shifted into place to patch up the worst of the damage. It won't fucking die!
It's drawing scrap metal into itself, self-repairing. I know! So stop it from getting the scrap metal! You want to fucking try?
I will try together. Regent, we need Shatterbird in here. Imp, you're backing us up. Drag the injured to safety.
Did you ever take that first aid class? Um, Greg told me to, but I haven't gotten around to it. Not totally my fault, things have been kind of a mess since I joined the team. Not like they're classes or anything.
Not easy, like, to find classes. Just take care of anybody that gets hurt. I don't know how much you can do here. I think one of Bitch's henchmen is over there.
I'm telling you, can't fight it, it doesn't die. Well, try it! There's gotta be a way. Barker, bite your U2, okay?
Prove it sore, keep knocking it down, it gets back up. One or two more tries. We hit it with everything we've got. Which dogs would we start?
Bunsley and Bastard. Had a few more I would send in again, but they're hard enough to order around when something isn't hurting them. We'll need their help then. Bastard's not trained enough.
The suit raised one hand, and a train fired out. A grapple hook on the end. We threw ourselves out of the way before it could catch any of us. Keeps doing that.
Keeps trying to tire us out, wear us down. Let's avoid giving it another chance. Longer range powers first, everyone else close in. Shatterbird already was hurling the glass-cloaked door into the suit.
She followed up with a veritable tide of glass shards. The suit staggered back, putting it closer to the train she had just harvested the scrap metal from. Keep away from anything metal! Easier said than done.
Railroad tracks, rusted train cars, trash, signposts. Bentley charged again, but the suit swung and grabbed two rails simultaneously to catch the dog in midair and hurl him to one side. Bentley was on his feet in a second, getting his paws under him and lunging for the suit before it could turn to face him, salvaging the suit's metal exterior with claws and teeth. My bugs began to encircle the suit.
The silk had enough areas to catch on, and my bugs were finding openings to crawl within, but I couldn't find much in the ways of stuff to interfere with our attack. The suit's interior was hot to the point that my bugs died if they got too far inside. Everything was solidly made. There was nothing for my bugs to get into.
I'd have to play this smarter. I'd use hordes of silk to seal valves shut or bind them in an open position where I could, and focus the rest of my efforts on more strategic deployments, forming cords as big around my arm. The suit's arms and legs would be free to move, but my goal was more along the lines of restricting its movements. Biter bit the suit's arm off with an enlarged jaw, then backed off as Bentley hurled himself into the fray, catching hold of the suit's other arm and hauling it up on it with all the strength afforded by his muscular forearm, wings, neck, jaw, and shoulders.
The suit struggled to its feet, using its arms to shield itself from two more shots from Biter, Barker, and a barrage from Shatterbird, then stopped short of the cord of silk I'd bound around its neck pulled taut. The other end was wound around one of the coupling rods stretched between wheels of one rusted train. I could feel the coupling rod become loose, but the elasticity of the silk combined with the durability and sheer thickness of it meant it didn't snap. The suit was pulled off balance, giving Biter and Bentley a chance to close in, hammer it into the ground and thrash it.
Hops team hissed out from the gaps in the suit. A second cord turned itself inside out. The suit joined the ship in a position as it channeled into the quadruped's stance. Anytime the suit took enough damage, it reforged itself into a different shape with the reserved components deep inside its body, or it shed its outer layer, ensuring that it was always in pristine fighting condition.
Give it an opportunity and it harvested metal from all materials, and would keep going until its battery ran out. It reforged itself. You could explain! I did!
I said it won't fucking go down! You could explain why! I don't understand why! The reforging process had killed every bug I had on the thing, and it had burned through the silk cord it big shit with.
New plan. We hit it hard enough to slow it down and then we scram. You want to run? We don't have a choice!
We do. We gotta kill this thing sometime anyways, so you come up with a plan like you usually do, we'll make it happen, and I don't have to give up territory to this armor asshole. Look at it this way. We just defeated it.
Heck, every time you force this to change like that, that's been a win for you. How many times was that? Four. Four times you've kicked its ass.
If you walk away, that's five wins total and one loss. If you can even call that a loss. But we can't afford to stay much longer, or one of your dogs is bound to get hurt. We run?
We have to stop it from following first. One more time, guys. Regiment, stand ready. We need as much glass as you can spare.
The suit turned away. Three masters, standing on the back lines while we sent our bugs, dogs, and lunatic supervillains all into the fray. It began to glow, steaming, and Biter virtually yelped to see through himself off its back. Bentley was slow to react, but he fell back, shaking his head violently as flesh dissolved around his muscle.
We backed up a few paces as it advanced not one step. It lifted up until it almost pointed at the sky and opened its mouth. Blue flame streamed over our heads to pull behind us, cutting off our retreat. We had to scramble for cover before any droplets or sparks landed on us.
I wasn't sure if it was flames at a temperature I wasn't used to seeing, if it was liquid accelerated that had just happened to be on fire, or if it was plasma, but I didn't want it to touch it and find out the particulars. All of us dogs, Barker and Biter included, headed inside the building to seek further cover. The structure rumbled as the suit climbed to the side and settled on the roof. The AI's liked high places, it seemed.
You need to hit it hard. One good hit. We don't have one good hitter. Maybe Shatterbird, but everyone else is about a lot of little or hits.
We did one good hit from someone who isn't Shatterbird. Can't limit how big he I'll go with true. There, that was easy. Of course she had a plan for that.
I had bugs, but they wouldn't be able to do anything. No, I needed to find and exploit weaknesses. If my costume career had taught me two things, it was that things could always get worse and there was always a solution. The suit had used a heat gun.
Was the nanotech vulnerable to heat, to fire? I had a box of matches. I just had to get it out. What other tools did I have?
Dragon was smart, smart enough to write an AI that wouldn't crumble to a simple issue with paradox. But the AI wasn't necessarily brilliant. It had helped keep my defense right and said I was in danger. Either it wasn't smart enough to discern truth from lie or it wasn't allowed to when a life was potentially in danger.
Regent and Imp were still cleaning the area, almost on Shadowbird's sleds. I tried to message on Regent's back. Hide. You're Azazel, correct?
Correct. What's the other ship called? The Glagren Zero is an old model designed to deploy drones with varying loadouts. Thank you for the information.
You're welcome. Doesn't suppose you tell me how to defeat you. No. Or your self-destruct code?
Nope. What if I told you that you were putting a human life in grave danger? I have no reasonable cause to believe that. Imp had a second trigger event.
She should be invisible to your sensors. I have no reasonable cause to believe that. Doesn't matter. Imp may be in this room.
If you move a foot, she could be stepping on her. Imp could not be in this room. As of two minutes ago, she was recorded at a distance of 0.4 miles away from this location. She could not return here in that span of time, unobserved.
She could if Trickster leaked fogged her here. I used my power to signal Imp and Trickster and asked them to help. They're nearby and it's very possible Imp is here. She could be crawling on top of you for all you know.
If you open your mouth, move your head, or move a wing, you might be causing her to fall. With your head being where it is, it's not impossible she could fall and roll into this nanotech head tube bay, right? Maybe I should be more specific. I told them to help in general.
They might not be helping me, so it's very possible that any other suit might be in immediate proximity to Imp. Be careful you don't accidentally crush her. Now, I'm going to light a match and try to burn this thing away. I began organizing my bugs, placing them onto the ceiling, drawing out lines of steel cord.
It took a minute before I was satisfied. I was aware of the drone that hovered some distance over my head. I adopted a general wanderer's pose, then lit the match. With my bugs, I was able to sense the safe distance I could raise my hand, but my match held high.
Attention citizen. I immediately tied a net in place from the strings. Two were far enough away to catch only a little, but the burden was heavy, growing more awkward for my bugs as the extending foam captured some and rendered them unable to fly. I still managed to drag the foam nets into place, hovering one drone's islands and the others' gravity panel.
This spiraled out of control, one striking a column, the other plummeting to the ground. The other net was faced just in front of Azazel's mouth. Strands already wound and run the scales of its face. It tore free on one side, but the foam extended, covering its mouth.
Azazel's chest opened, and a grappling hook speared out, seizing me. The hook was frozen in midair, still clutching the armor at my chest and shoulder. I couldn't free myself and I couldn't fight back, so I waited, eventually breaking free when the power expired. With my swarm, I signaled the region to Imp.
Good job. Come back fast. Okay, let her up. Is that what you were able?
Yep. Loved it up so thick it can't use any of the other weapons. It's not moving. Because I told them that it might crush Imp if it did.
Ah. How'd it go? We took down the hybrid model. Giant gun was setting in the stratosphere, shooting down Genesis every time she sends a body out into the open.
Our group took down two. Where are the others? Shouldn't more reinforcements be arriving? If they come, I'll know and we can react.
We've gotten this far. I feel bad about this. Why the fuck would you feel bad? They must have put millions into manufacturing this.
That was supposed to stop the nine, and it was powerful enough that it might have, if it had had Dragon's Spring backing it up. They can build more. Scary thought? We got lucky.