The Skittering Chaos (Worm/Hazbin Hotel)

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Chapter 1 (Rewrite)

After some critique was brought forward about my extremely rushed piece The Skittering Chaos (did it in an afternoon) and I gave it some thought, I've decided to revise the piece to be more reflective of post golden morning Taylor, especially since I realised after that Taylor knew that the bullets were coming and all she did was make it more convenient for Contessa to kill her. Thank you megamiaouh for the critique and ToxinTurian for the information about Taylor during and after her time in the Wards and any others that have given me information since I wrote this note. While I am going to be keeping Taylor as a moth demon that doesn't mean that she won't be mistaken for something else. Look up the Metalmark Moth and you'll find something interesting. Taylor won't be a specific species of moth however but more a generalized moth demon. Also I've changed the perspective to first person as to make it more like a continuation of the final scene in Worm.

Inspired by this post: WannaBee (Worm/Hazbin Hotel)

Feedback is highly appreciated and I try to take it all into account.

Edit: Broke up some of the larger paragraphs to increase readability.
Edit 2: I've tried to fix up the tenses so that they are more consistent and to increase readability.

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I looked away.

I looked up. My eyes were wet.

So many stars. The universe so vast.

We're s- so very small, in the end.

The first bullet hit me from behind, where my mask offered no coverage, and I slowly toppled. The second hit me before I could fall, before there could be any pain.

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I wake up. I'm face down on some concrete and the first thing I notice is that I can't feel my bugs. Mentally, I search for them; but, I feel nothing. As I start to get up, I notice a few things, one being that something light is laying over top of me, I suddenly have an extra pair of arms, and finally that I don't have a stitch of clothing on me. I touch the thing on top of me and realise that I can feel through it, and I can feel my own hand grabbing it as if I were grabbing another body part. I feel tugging at my back at two points as I pull on the strange thing on top of me. I flex muscles I didn't realise I have and I feel the blanket, or rather wings, move. At a glance they look like moth wings, specifically female silk moth wings. My new wings are large, fuzzy, and white. Gingerly, as I get up, I wrap them around me like a poncho using a combination of my hands and a flexing of my new muscles. At least I'm now somewhat dressed.

I look up and take in my surroundings.

I've woken up on a sidewalk of some not-so-well-off neighbourhood. The buildings all around me are either made of some dark red concrete or red brick. None of the buildings in this part of town reach higher than six stories but all were at least two. The windows of all the first and second floors in the neighbourhood are either smashed or boarded up. None of the street lamps are functioning and only about half of the neon signs above the shop fronts glow. All of the shop names are some sort of reference to hell or something evil. Names like Demonic Groceries, 666 Laundromat, The Villain's Pub, and Satan's Pawnshop to name a few. Judging by the names, the large amount of red, the massive glowing pentagram in the sky, and the fact that not even five minutes ago I had just been double tapped, I...

...I'm in Hell.

I give a single note chuckle and smile a little bit. It's funny how Hell looks a lot like Brockton Bay. Granted, in Brockton there wasn't nearly as much red or references to Hell and Satan, but when you ignore those, this street could have been any old street in Brockton Bay…

So... now I'm dead. What now? Everything I had done will be my legacy, and everything I had left unfinished, no longer mattered. I curl my legs in and rest my head on my knees. The mission was over, the world is saved. All it had cost me was my chance to be with my friends again, my sanity, and my life. Obviously it didn't make up for what I had done before in the eyes of God. That, or there isn't a God and everyone just ends up here.

It would make an unfortunate amount of sense. Wasn't there supposed to be an apocalypse or something in the Bible? Maybe the apocalypse I had been trying to stop was the prophesied biblical doomsday. I remember there had been a preacher on the corner of one of the intersections in Brockton. He always had a microphone and a speaker, and he was always talking. The preacher would talk about the bible, about God, and how it wasn't too late to save your soul. He had always been annoying to listen to, especially since I was only in middle school when I had first become properly aware of him. The preacher would interrupt the music I would play when Mom would drive me to school on her way to the university. He had said once when revelations or something comes, all who have not accepted God into their hearts will be left behind by God's light.

I guess that means that I've been left behind.

Did that mean that Mom is in Heaven, or is she down here? We had never really attended church, beyond an Easter ceremony and other events like that. Church and religion had never been a central part of our family, especially to me. There was always something else of concern that mattered more than my immortal soul and where it would end up. I know I have sinned, everyone has, but had Mom sinned enough to be sent to Hell? I've done some terrible things in the past. I don't regret them, not really. It's understandable though that from the perspective of some all knowing and all powerful deity, my actions weren't justified, considering that some of them I can't even properly justify myself. Why should I have to slave myself to another being's morality though? I accept my actions, I accept that I deserve Hell, and if given a second chance, I'd probably not change enough to get into Heaven.

Mom though, Mom was a good woman, and a better mother. She had raised me, loved me, and we had been a nice and happy family. While Mom might have associated herself with some radical feminist types, she left the group before it became violent. Mom couldn't have sinned enough to make it into Hell, unless of course, there was no Heaven at all. Perhaps that's all there is, Hell. Though if there's a Hell then it stood to reason that Heaven should exist, otherwise where did Hell come from? What is one without it's diametric opposite? Maybe I can ask around? Find out if God and Heaven do indeed exist.

I sigh heavily. Sitting around isn't helping my situation, I should get up from this curb. I probably looked strange just sitting here. Just another minute though, then I'll go. I pull one of my four arms up, and note that I no longer have my white complexion; rather, it's now a light grey. I feel some of my hair fall forward and luckily it's the same dark colour as before. Despite realising how irrational it is, relief fills me as it's still the same. I go to push my hair out of the way and then realise that I don't have my glasses anymore, yet I can see fine. Apparently ending up in Hell fixes your vision.

My perception of my surroundings has been slowly increasing while I examined myself. I can sense things, through something on my head. Consciously, I move whatever is on my head downward so that I can see them. In front of my face are two massive feathered antennae. They look very much like moth antennae, specifically antennae from the same kind of silkmoths that my wings look like. I move my feathered antennae back up and resume sensing my surroundings. Pedestrians walk down the sidewalks around me and I can sense them through a combination of scent and sound, but it has nothing on my now lost bug senses.

I rise from my seat on the curb and join the flow of foot traffic. I find myself quickly getting lost int he crowd. I use the time to explore my new sensory powers that my antennas provide me with. They're definitely inferior to my bug senses, which is unfortunate, but considering that I was dead now, it was certainly better than just waking up with nothing. When using my bugs, I'd been able to create 3D mental maps of my surroundings just using bugs. That mental map would be a constantly evolving 3D image of the battlefield that I had continuous access to. I could also hear through my bugs and project my voice anywhere within my range.

With my antennae on the other hand, I can hear out of them as well as smell from them. Both of them are much more sensitive than my regular senses and luckily work in conjunction with them. Drawing on my experience with the massive amount of cape powers I had at my disposal at the end of my life, I'm able to make better sense of my new sensory sensations. With my new senses I'm able to almost pinpoint most people within the crowd by using both the sound that they are making as well as their unique scent. There's a sort of fuzziness I can't quite figure out, however. The intensity of the fuzziness increases the closer to a person. It doesn't interfere with my other antennae senses; however, so I can ignore it for now, I can test that particular sense later.

As I practice with my senses, I can perceive something else as well. I sense this sensation more inside me than out, but there's also sort of feeling around me as well. Whatever is around and inside me feels similar to the fuzziness that other people have around them. It isn't dissimilar to some powers I controlled near the end of my life. Some powers came with the sense that there was a well of energy that I could have a cape draw upon to use their power. Not many of them had this going for them however. Most usually found that their power, if it came with a drawback, usually was some kind of cramping of hands, or it would just stop working. I briefly think of tapping into the energy, seeing what would happen, but I shake my head at the thought. There is a time and place for testing out mysterious power sources; a crowded street is not one of those.

So I settle for continuing to walk along with the large, monstrously shaped, crowd. I continue to sense and pick out the various monsters and demons that are walking alongside me. None of them even appear to be human. The size and shapes of all the different monsters and demons varies from as tall as to tower head and shoulders above me, to as tiny as to come up only to my knees. The smells are strange too; some are wholly unpleasant, such as one that smells so strongly of sulphur that I've slowly been navigating away from the source, to the familiar smell of wet dog.

Smelling that I feel my lips tug into a bitter sweet smile. I'm reminded of Bitch and all her dogs. I feel my heart throb as I remember what I had sacrificed so long ago. Rachel, Lisa, Brian, Alec, Aisha. They had all been my teammates and friends, I had loved them, still love them, and I had abandoned them. I didn't even say goodbye to them when I left, too scared that they would try and convince me to stay and that they would have managed to succeed. Were I able to go back now, just to that moment, when I was deciding to give myself up, I'd have never have gone. There were more important things in life than needless sacrifice. What had I gained from sacrificing them, and consequently sacrificing my happiness? I had gotten a few new acquaintances that I barely spared the time getting to know, a few bits of Tinker tech and some Wards training. All of which I could have gotten without throwing everything away.

In the end, it had never been worth it, had it?

I let my mind wander away from my regrets and just follow the crowd. I start to near a three way intersection when I notice the sound of gunshots and the smell of gunpowder coming fast towards the intersection from the street on my left. I stop walking and turn my head towards the oncoming sounds and smells, then move against the now light crowd towards the corner of a nearby building. Some others in the crowd are starting to perk up as well as I shout out.

"Gun fight incoming! Left street!" Some monsters and demons hear me as a car comes, gunning it towards the intersection. Some demons and monsters are already running for cover, others are just standing in the open like idiots, pulling out phones and starting to make videos of the car chase. Fucking civilians were the same in every damn world apparently.

The two vehicle chase has two demons in the lead car, one firing backwards to the pursuing car, meanwhile the pursuer is firing wildly with a submachine gun. Bullets fly from the vehicles hitting all around the street. Windows in dirty parked cars shatter and I see a bystander get hit with a few bullets. I can feel my face twist into an expression of aggravation at the idiot civilians that didn't have the proper sense to actually move out of the way. I run out of my cover and grab the nearest idiot, pulling him hopefully out of harm's way. It's one of the demon looking guys.

"Hey the fuck you doing!" the idiotic demon shouts at me as I pull him into cover behind the building corner. The lead vehicle enters into the intersection and tries to turn onto our street but instead skids and flips over, rolling into a store front. My view of the scene is blocked however as the demon guy gets in my face.

"You bitch! You ruined my shot!" He grabs onto my wing poncho before I use my lower right hand to sucker punch him. While I knock the wind out of him I use my two upper limbs to pull his hands off of my wing poncho then throw him to the ground.

"Would you rather I let you get shot?" I ask the gasping demon. The demon glares but takes a moment to regain his breath. While had knocked the demon guy out of the way the two people in the car being chased have pulled themselves out of the ruin that once was their car and were wildly shooting towards their pursuer, who himself had exited his own car. The monster looks like a jacked deer man armed with an oversized Tommy gun. He hides in cover behind his car's engine block and exchanges shots with the people he had been chasing.

"What... the fuck... does it matter?" The demon gasps out at me. The demon watches my face and must see my bafflement. Realisation spreads across his and annoyance soon follows as he face palms.

"Of course… you're a fucking newbie. You can't die in Hell, bug brain. So who cares? I'll heal, and then I'd have sold the vid to the news and made cash money. But you fucking ruined the shot!"
the demon man seems to have recovered his breath now and was just glaring at me. Slowly as he had been talking I had started to hear more and more gun shots from more than just the original three combatants. I look around the corner and realise that most of the civilians who hadn't run yet had either joined the fray or are trying to film the gunfight in progress while staying behind any cover available to them. Some of the new combatants are shooting at the original combatants, some are shooting at random people across the street.

This… is getting too hectic for me, especially since I don't have my bug powers, and unless the demon is lying, no one will actually die. Discretion would probably be the better choice over valour at the moment, especially since I don't exactly know what the rules are around here. I quickly retreat from the ongoing gunfight and duck into an alleyway. I sense the demon getting up from his prone position and pull something from his jacket, another set of shots begin to fire off closer than the previous ones. It seems the demon man had entered the fray.

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The alleyways are a twisting mess of corridors and small little open areas. Fire escapes are rusted to all hell, gang signs and graffiti litter the walls of the back alleys, and gangs of large animals are prowling the deepest parts of them. I can hear through my antennae the chittering and yowling of a fight going on between a mischief of rats and a clowder of cats a few alleys over. In another alley I can hear someone running frantically from a pack of dogs. The fleeing person quickly ducks into a doorway, opens the door, and slams it shut as the dogs reach the door. The dogs let out a howl that even my normal ears can hear. I stop for a moment in the middle of one of the open areas. The place is fairly empty and would be a good enough place to test out this energy I had access to.

As I walk, I concentrate on the pool of energy that I feel inside myself. Mentally, I command it much like I had my swarm. Pushing at it, pulling at it, and just releasing it. The energy seems to generate wind wherever I direct it. I'm only using a small amount so it does little other than push some dust around. I feel I increase the power to possibly make a stronger gust. So far it hasn't done more than move a can around but just releasing some of the energy inside of me barely seems to drain my pool of energy, if there isn't a limit to it's output, or the speed of which I release energy perhaps I can make a powerful blast of force with it? A sudden strong gust of wind can topple an unprepared person, and if I'm able to sustain it, I could keep someone knocked down as I get closer and dealt with them.

I smell a large amount of different scents coming from down an alleyway, like when I was in the first crowd of pedestrians. I turn down it and see someone at the entrance of the alleyway. The person is some sort of scantily clad butterfly woman who is touching up her makeup in a vanity set up in the alleyway. It looks like something that a high school drama class would have for their acting students to freshen up at, lights surround the mirror while the base is just a set of wooden shelves. The butterfly person looks over briefly before turning back to her make up.

I stop releasing the energy I feel inside of me as I don't want to disrupt her while she was putting on her makeup. I never bothered with it since before High school but that doesn't mean I don't realise that it would probably be hard to put it on while there is wind and dust flying around. As I get closer the butterfly woman seems to finish touching up her makeup, and then I feel the fuzziness around her coalesce into a familiar bit of power. I realise what that fuzzy feeling that others had around them had been. It's very similar to what I feel inside of myself. Unlike when I was just using it to generate wind however, the butterfly person is using it differently.

The butterfly woman's wings move inwards and she sticks her hands out towards it. I can feel what the woman is doing to her wings with her own power, and can kind of follow along with what's happening. I watch as she uses her power to start to transform her wings. They quickly morph into a long pink coat that she adjusts a bit as it settles on her form. She ties a belt around her waist and starts walking towards me. As we near each other, she sneers.

"Yeah yeah yeah, don't get your panties in a twist bitch. My shifts over so don't flare ya fucking magic at me," before walking past. I look back but she doesn't even spare me a glance. Magic? Was that what I was feeling what I'd been feeling this entire time? Magic… it leaves a strange taste in my mouth at first, it's weird to be seriously considering that my powers might be magic. Though my power actually being magic made a fair amount of sense I guess. Demons are supposed to be mythological creatures versed in magic of all kinds. Mephistopheles from Doctor Faust comes to mind as well as the cultural references to deal making devils. I am in Hell after all; it would make sense that I'm now a demon what with my altered appearance. Considering I could follow along with what she was doing with her power and how similar it felt to my own, it could just be magic.

Approaching the mirror I spare a glance at myself. The person that stares back at me isn't a complete stranger. My face is generally the same, the same jaw-line, the same expressive lips. My eyes have changed though. They had grown larger than they had been before. They look curious and inquisitive while they take in all the details of my new face. My skin tone has darkened into a light grey, and I obviously have my feathered antennae.

I flex my wings and unfold them from their poncho like form, and then I focus on my energy… my magic. Remembering what the butterfly person did, I start to manipulate the energy as she had. My moth wings start changing somewhat like the butterfly's had, morphing from a pair of wings into a long coat. Unlike the butterfly's coat however, mine is more like a very plush white fur coat. I wrap the fur around myself and just feel the coat on my body, enjoying the pleasant sensation as I ran my hand through it. So soft… The coat, other than being extremely comfortable and fluffy, is also much longer than my previous improvised poncho. Where my poncho was barely decent, this coat is a fair bit longer. The poncho had stopped mid thigh on me, where as the fur coat stops just above my knees. I turn street ward and make my way out of the alleyway.

The street I enter onto is in somewhat better shape than the street I woken up on. There are more neon lights and they're all over the place; most of them belong to night clubs or other similar things. There's a large crowd of people coming and going as they walk the streets and cars blaze past at speeds that ruffle my coat. I cross my arms over my coat before I once more join the pedestrians.

My thoughts return to my current situation. The afterlife exists and I am in Hell. Not only that but if I'm in Hell that means that everyone who dies goes to the afterlife, be that Heaven, Hell, or whatever else there might be. Everyone has to die some day. None of my friends have led charmed lives, very much the opposite in fact, same as me, and as far as I know they had never really been religious. So there would be little forgiveness from those who decided where they went, if there was someone deciding at all. So my friends will be dying eventually, and I'll get to see them when they find their way down here to Hell. Though I hope they don't end up here too soon. They should have the chance to live full lives up above before they come and join me down here.

I guess that means I should get ready for them somehow. They will need a place to stay as they get themselves back up on their feet. Though how am I going to do that? I don't exactly have many job prospects, especially since I never even finished high school. While I am smart, up on Earth that didn't mean much if you didn't have the paper proving you graduated. Funny how my job prospects only matter after I've already died. I can see about becoming a mercenary, or I can just become a villain once more. I had been very successful as Skitter, and considering that this is Hell, it probably wouldn't be hard to find a person that could do with a shake up or a robbery. If you can't die in Hell then I wouldn't even have to care about keeping them alive. I could just shiv them, take the money and be gone before they healed back up. I had done my fair share of silent take downs before during my times in the Wards, this would hardly be any different.

Though would that be a good idea? Hell so far had the feel of Brockton Bay for sure but was that true? For all I know I had just been in the back ends of it, and the place overall was a lot less lawless than it appeared. Not just that but would it even be right? I'd be hurting someone who was probably just as desperate as me. Then they would be desperate and probably do the same as what I had just done. Besides, even if they some how deserved it, like being a mass murdering psychopath or a serial rapist, that doesn't make it right.

I sense a group of three heading straight for me and I move to the side to let them pass, they don't pass however. They have their full focus on me as three lizard demons slowly surround me. The largest one is to my front and the crowd is quick to scatter as soon as they notice what is going on.

"Heeeeey baby." The leader of the gang announces himself in a sleazy sounding voice. The large lizard is dressed up in a leather jacket that has a heart stitched to each of the sleeves. The other two lizards that are surrounding me are smaller than their leader. They both have jackets like their leader, though the one on my left has some lipstick and a pink bow on their head as well.

"Hows about we step off the street for a while, you and the three of us. We'll make you scream all night long." Do they think that I'm a whore?

"No thank you." I say outright. The lead lizard however, doesn't take my refusal with grace. He reaches forward and while I try to move my arms out of the way, they're in an awkward position for moving away and he manages to grab a wrist with ease.

"I don't think you understand ho. In case you're blind, this patch here," the looming lizard points with his other hand at the heart sewn onto his sleeve. "Means that we're with Valentino, and since we're with Valentino, and you're one of Valentino's girls, that means you can't say no. Kapeesh?" I begin focusing on my magic, ready to release it at a moment's notice. Knowing about gang land territory was essential in Brockton Bay so I already knew what was going to happen now that I had crossed them and their boss. Either I submit like they want, or I'll have to beat them down. Despite being outnumbered, I'm confident enough with my close quarters training in the Wards and my practical experience in the field as both a villain and a hero to get me through this. I just have to hope that the leader isn't too high in this "Valentino" person's organization to incur some kind of wrath upon me.

"I'm not with Valentino." As expected, the lead lizard man's eyes widen for a second. The leader's eyes quickly narrow however, and the lead lizard starts baring his teeth as his smile morphs from a sneer of superiority to a malicious grin. The gang of lizards surrounding me all let out cruel sounding chuckles.

"You must be a newbie if you're trying to work in Valentino's territory without being one of his ho's. You see bitch, you're either with Valentino, or you're going to be very soon. Now we're going to take you to the boss, but first, we're going to teach you a lesson, a nice long lesson on why you don't come to other people's territory and try to muscle in on their business. Mmmkay?" The lizard starts licking his lips in an exaggerated show of his intent. His two companions are giggling in turn; one is even rubbing his hands together in a stereotypical villainous way. I prepare myself to let out my magic power all at once to hopefully blast back the lizard trio, when I notice just behind the lead thug a dirty black van pulls up and a figure gets out.

I can sense something with my antennae as well. Along with the person that got out there is the fuzzy feeling of magical energy at around shoulder height. Round and hollow, almost like a large tube that he is carrying on his shoulder. I hesitate, and stall my attack. I don't know what this new person's carrying, but when he had jumped out of the truck, it had looked a bit like a rocket launcher. I might have to bide my time for a bit if he's their back up.

"Oh I can't wait to get at dat ass!" The one on the right exclaims in a shrill and squeaky voice. I wince a bit at his unfortunate voice.

"With a mouth that size I bet she'd make a great carpet muncher." The lizard with the bow growls out in a deep smoker's voice. These two… have rather unfortunate voices. With the feminine lizard's comment I'm suddenly struck with how similar a situation this is. I've barely thought of Winslow since… How long had it been? It must have been when Mr. Barnes had accused me of putting Emma in a coma or something ridiculous like that.

"Hey fuck sticks!" I hear from the person who had gotten out of the van. He's somewhere down the sidewalk behind the lead lizard. "Get a load a this!" There's a shunk, and then suddenly the lead lizard's head explodes in a shower of gore. Wasting no time, I let out all of my magic at once and the two others fly back from me as if they were at ground zero of an explosion. I hear a grunt from the deep voiced lizard woman as she impacts against the wall, while the other flies out onto the street. As the lead lizard's body falls forward onto me I feel some sort of handle press against me from inside his jacket. I zip down the jacket and pull out from it a large bowie knife. Throwing the headless corpse to the side I stalk towards the lizard woman. She'd impacted against the wall hard and is groaning in pain. I don't know how the lizard man in traffic is doing so I have to end this quickly. Luckily, if that demon hadn't lied, I can just slit her throat rather than have to resort to slicing up her limbs.

I grab onto the lizard woman's head, push it roughly back into the wall, and then slam the knife straight into the woman's throat. There is a squelch and my knife stops as soon as it hits bone. I pull at my new knife and it comes out with a bit of resistance as it unsticks itself from the lizard woman. I'd probably gotten a decent bit into the spine. I turn towards the lizard that had been thrown into the street, planning on taking him out too but the van that had dropped off my mysterious ally slams into the lizard, sending him flying a few yards. With my antennae I can hear his wet gurgles as his rib cage has probably collapsed into his lungs from the vehicular assault. I swap focus from the now incapacitated enemy to instead focus on the man who had helped me.

The man at first glance looks like a massive cockroach. His hair is shaped like a cockroach's shell, and he has two large antennae, slicked back to follow along his hair. He wears a bandanna mask that only covers the top of his face, leaving the rest of it uncovered, displaying a brown skinned and stubble adorned chin. Other than that he simply wears a dirty white muscle shirt and some jeans. The man hefts what looks like some sort of home made rocket launcher on his shoulder, though instead of rockets, it looks like it had some sort of tube filled with baseballs that let gravity drop the balls into the firing chamber. The magic I had felt shrouds the front of the rocket launcher and the handle looks to be more like a lever, probably to push the baseballs into the magical field. The use of magic power, or at least the end result, is fairly familiar looking. The entire front of the lethal baseball launcher glows a soft blue. I file that away as simply a coincidence.

"Wooooo! Holy mother fucking shit, god damn bitch, they bled all over your ho ass. God damn, and that shit with the knife. Fuckin' brutal! Hahaha! Anyways, come on girl, we need to get out of here before more of them Valentino boys get here, ya dig?" The masked bug man shouts with a wide smile on his face, his adrenaline high likely contributing to his excitement. The door to the van is still open and the bug man runs over and hops in the back.

While I'm walking over to the van I notice that on the side of the van there was some graffiti spray painted in the shape of an M with two horizontal lines striking through it. I stare at it while I make my way to the passenger's door of the vehicle. I definitely know that symbol. The Merchants, especially after Leviathan, had become a major powerhouse in Brockton Bay for a short period until the SlaughterHouse Nine had shown up in the city. It's becoming increasingly obvious who had saved me at this point.

As I get into the passenger side of the van, any doubt that I might have had, would have been washed away. The driver is extremely familiar looking, and among the three of us, probably looked the most like how she had before she ended up in Hell. She even dressed the same. Squealer, the buxom white trash vehicle tinker that was one of the only reasons the Merchants were even a player in Brockton Bay before Leviathan. Just like in life, she wears a dirty white tank top and tiny jean booty shorts. The only thing different that I can see is that her mouth stays in an 'O' even now, she also looked a lot healthier, and wasn't wearing her Squealer mask.

"Come on woman! Drive!" The man that is likely Skidmark shouts at Squealer.

"I know Skiddy!" Squealer shouts back before her foot comes down hard on the gas. Squealer's mouth moves from it's 'O' as she speaks before returning back to it's more comfortable 'O' position. There's the squeal of tires as the van tries to get traction and I instinctively grab a hand hold before we shoot off, despite that, I'm nearly thrown from my seat as Squealer drives over the lizard man she had hit before.

"Woooo! Damn that was some good shit. You doing alright moth ho?" I ignore his foul language and derogatory name calling. Instead I focus on why I'm suddenly being saved by the Merchants of all things.

"I'm doing alright all things considered. So why did you help me?" Looking back at him, I see Skidmark's grin get even larger.

"Well you see, when I first saw ya, ya looked like a ho in trouble, but this is Valentino's territory so we were about to drive on by. Rules of the place ya know? But then I saw that you ain't even got shoes on. Who the hell walks around Hell with no god damn shoes on I wondered, then it hit me. You were a newbie! You probably hadn't even woken up a damn hour before you fucked up. So I was like shit."

"She don't want a play by play Skiddy, she wants to know why you saved her." Squealer helpfully informs her boyfriend.

"Hold your god damn horses Sherrel, I was getting there. Anyways, so what I'm saying is I knew you were new so I wanted to help you out. I scratch your back you scratch mine down the line, ya dig? Plus I was paying back an old dept. See some old timer helped me out when I was new too, helped me find my girl again, so I thought I'd do the same. Ya know, in his memory and all that shit." I hear Squealer mutter under her breath;

"Fucking angel fucks" but she doesn't elaborate. She probably meant it more for herself than for me. I'd have to ask her what she means about that later.

"I think I understand. So where are we going?"

"We're heading back to our shop a couple of streets over. We'll let you hang for a bit and you can decide if you wanna stay or go. I'll let Sherrel tell you about the rest, I gotta make sure we ain't being followed." With that Skidmark pulls his head from the front and starts making his way to the back, peering out of a back window of the van.

"Yeah, like Skiddy said we're heading back to the chop shop we got. I get some money from repairing vehicles and Skiddy's got a drug operation in the back." It seems like dying hadn't been the end of the Merchants and their drug running operation.

"Starting up the Merchants again?" I ask. Squealer… Sherrel does a double take towards me. I grip onto the handhold even tighter as Sherrel looks away from the road, but Sherrel doesn't list to the right even a little. Her eyes return to the road before she starts talking.

"Wait, you're from Brockton? Holy shit haha. That was some crazy shit that happened there, right?" Sherrel's face is alight with excitement as she realises where I'm from. I had seen it sometimes when I came across people from Brockton, more specifically those I had positively affected in one way or another during my time there. Those I had hurt during my Warlord days weren't too excited to see me however.

"Yeah, I was kind of in the middle of all that." I say. Sherrel starts looking contemplative as I say that. She looks over at me once more, looks at my hair and antennae before looking back at the road.

"I thought you looked familiar. You're bug girl ain'tcha? What was your cape name… uh, Skitter?"

"That's right."

"I never thought I'd meet another cape from Brockton. Hey Skiddy! This girl was bug girl, you know, from the Undersiders?"

"Wait shit, really!?" Skidmark's voice comes from the back and he pokes his head upfront again.

"Damn girl I heard you took over Brockton and shit." Skidmark is still grinning ear to ear. I note that like Squealer he's looking much better, and his teeth are fixed. "Well shit, welcome to Hell, took ya long enough!"

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Chapter 2

Taylor the Moth Demon has found herself in the presence of the demon Merchants and starts planning on how to use them to improve her and the situation of her friends when they arrive.

I don't very much like this chapter as much. It was hard to hammer out and it didn't cover as much ground as I wanted to. Still, I feel it is necessary as a sort of introduction chapter into what is essentially the rest of the Arc. I'm now planning this story in arcs for now and will see how this goes for it.

As always, any feedback, criticism too, is highly appreciated and will be taken into account.

Edit: Broke up some of the larger paragraphs to improve readability.

Edit 2: Went in and fixed some of the tenses to improve readability.

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Squealer, or rather Sherrel, is just as mad a driver as she was in life, and unfortunately, so is everyone else. Vehicles are zipping past at insane speeds, with my antennae I can hear car crashes happening and the screeching of tires as Sherrel rounds corners and speeds up down free ways. Three times in the last ten minutes we nearly hit some pedestrians and I don't even want to think about how many times we nearly got into car crashes. I hold onto the hand hold I have on the van door and I can feel my eyelids trying to open even wider as we continue through traffic.

"So what you think of Hell bug girl?" Skidmark asks from the back. Somehow he can still stand despite all the twists and turns that the van is making.

"It's… hectic." I say, remembering the chaos that had followed just moments after I had woken up. Hearing with my enhanced senses, I can pick out similar sounds around the city, we would pass an alleyway and there would be gunshot sounds, we drove straight through two active shoot outs just getting away from our little fight, hell I can hear a few explosions going off somewhere in the city. It reminds me of Brockton Bay back when Bakuda was on the loose and the E88 were rampaging because their identities had been leaked.

"Damn right it is. Like this all the time since just a few days ago. Everyone's on a damn hair trigger, especially with all the newbies around making a fuss and shit. Wannabe heroes going around trying to stop shit and then getting themselves shot. Then they go off to crack the skulls of the guys that shot them and they start fucking each other up, then other fuckers get involved in shit." Skidmark looks contemplative for a moment. "Lot of fuckers that showed up were heroes and shit. Got some bullshit ideas on how to handle stuff. Bunch a bull if you ask me. All them heroes are a bunch a fucking raiders."

"If "newbies" are such a problem, then why'd you help me? You said that someone helped you before, but from the sounds of it, these newbies are either different, or are just usually too much of a hassle to help."

"Nah, shit. Lemme try again. You see, most of the newbies these past few days are fine and shit. It's just there's a few of the different newbie fuckers, I think most of them used to be capes and shit, learned how to use magic and shit too quickly and stuff. Kinda like you, only you ain't try to start shit, just sort of happened. Anyways, so the cape newbies start a bunch a shit, stir the pot and stuff, and the little bits of peace that are around in the city, fucking crumble into a massive fucking pile of bullshit as gangs start fucking fighting each other 'cause one thought the other was starting shit or someone accidentally shot a fuck and all this fucking bullshit." Skidmark sighs in frustration, and I think I sort of get it.

"I hope none of those fuckers mess with any of the water or electricity." Sherrel says offhandedly, focusing intently on the road, which I'm glad for.

"I bet you some fucker does, probably try to hold it ransom and or some shit, then Lucy's kids'll come out and fuck 'em."

"How bad would that be?" Knowing who not to piss off would be a good idea, as well as what to expect just in case I manage to.

"Bad as hell, unlike dear ol' pappy Lucy and Lilith, they don't got their own personal power grid and shit. Most of them are like minor royalty and shit so they got a lot, though not all of 'em got the money, power, or brains to actually get their own power grid for their place and their own water. So if someone fucks with it, then they get pissed and try ta kick whoever's stupid enough to do that. And depending on the kid, the entire fucking place gets fucking levelled and then people gotta deal with a pissed off demon prince. Not as bad as pissing off an Overlord though." I'm about to ask who the Overlords were when Sherrel calls out "We're here," and I look over to see what she's talking about.

The van slows down and pulls into a driveway in front of a warehouse. There's a white banner over a pair of large double doors that has MERCHANTS spray painted onto it with the M being stylised into the Merchant's gang symbol. It reminds me of the warehouse that the loft was in back when the Undersiders were still small time crooks rather than city conquering Warlords. I never stayed long in the loft before everything went to crap, but it still felt like a home. Maybe it was because of how welcoming it had been, aside from first meeting Bitch, compared to my house, Dad's house. While I still slept in the house, it had felt like it was haunted, and only eased on the haunting when Dad had started being able to properly function as a person rather than as just an automaton.

Maybe it would have been better if the Undersiders were just small time crooks, and didn't have a backer… though then I'd might have just spilled the beans on the Undersiders early, and I'd have never made any friends. I'd just be an outcast as I joined with the Brockton Bay wards and would find out that Sofia was a hero. Considering what I knew of the PRT and Protectorate, they'd probably have not only kept her on as a hero, but we'd be forced to work together despite any of my complaints about her. Add in the situation in Brockton Bay, Director Piggot would have probably tried to get as many of the Undersiders under her belt as possible.

Having not only one of my bullies but also at least some of the Undersiders on the team, constantly ostracizing me, it would have been hell, and would have probably pushed me to ending my hero career, one way or another. Though if Tattletale was there, I'd probably have just ended up being convinced to become a villain. I sigh heavily as we drive into the warehouse's driveway. My hero career was always doomed wasn't it. Either leading to living a miserable life as one or being pushed to become a villain, my early hero career never stood a chance. By the warehouse doors, two demons were opening one of the double doors. Sherrel notices my sigh however and she looks over.

"Something on your mind, Buggy?" I look over to Sherrel, a bit incredulous at her attempt at giving me a nickname. It was worse than just being called Bug at the start of my villain career, not that I care too much, but still. It sounds cutesy, or condescending.

"What, no? Fine then, how about Skitty?" I continue to look incredulous at her but she's quickly distracted as Skidmark takes this as his opportunity to join us in the front.

"Someone say my name?"

"Nah I was just trying to think up a nickname for Skitter here, so I thought up Skitty."

"Ha nice, I like it. So welcome to our lil' home in Hell, I got to go check on something so I'll let Sherrel show you around." With that Skidmark retreats into the back of the van before hopping out of the slow moving vehicle and starts walking into the garage.

As Sherrel drives into the warehouse I note that the demons, one looking like some sort of feminine mouse while the other is some diminutive looking imp demon, were both in their small clothes and both were covered in white powder.

Despite the obvious signs of drug production being plain to see on both of the demons, the only thing I can see are piles of mechanical and vehicle parts all over the garage, the piles of junk leaves only two spots open for vehicles to park at. Skidmark's calling to his gang members as he makes his way over to a door in the garage that likely leads to the rest of the warehouse, and the imp demon follows him. The mouse demon stays behind however and has lit up some sort of joint while I was paying attention to Skidmark. From the smell of it, it's some sort of weed. It smells stronger than the usual stuff as well as has a bit of a tinge of something else in it. As we get out of the van she waves at Sherrel while her bunt is in the other hand. We both get out of the van and I head over to Sherrel's side of the vehicle.

"Hey boss lady! Who's ah, who's your bloody friend." I look down at myself and realise just how much blood is on me. I had felt it splatter across me when the lizard man's head exploded but I hadn't checked how much had actually landed on me, too busy taking in the sights and sounds of "Pentagram City" and talking with the two Merchants.

"This little lady here is Skitty, or Skitter. Skitty, this is Mimi." Sherrel makes to wrap her arm around me but seems to think better of it about half way through, I'm still covered in blood after all. The mouse demon's eyes went wide as Sherrel mentions my villainous cape name.

"Wait, you mean, Skitter, as in the Warlord of Brockton Bay Skitter, that Skitter?"

"Yup." The mouse is looking me up and down now as she takes me in. Despite my coat I'm still feeling a bit self conscious about my state of dress and try to pull my coat a bit tighter around myself.

"You know, I know you were creepy, but I didn't think that under the mask you were that weird kind of creepy that could be cute." What? "I mean your creepy as shit right now don't get me wrong, but if we cleaned the blood off, you'd be kind of cute." When was the last time someone had called me cute? I… can't even remember. The suggestion that I'm cute catches me off guard, and I don't know what to say.

"I'm not crazy, right boss?" Sherrel takes a good long look at me, probably trying to see past the blood that was covering me, before nodding. Did Sherrel think I was cute now too?

"Yeah, I can see it. She's got that innocent look with those big eyes going for her."

"Maybe if we got her into a cute lil' cocktail dress, she could rock those legs." I… this is getting uncomfortable. I hadn't thought of Emma in years, and now the moment I'm in hell I've been reminded of her twice now. At least this time it was more light hearted teasing instead of the mean spirited bullying it had been in Winslow. I walk back to my side of the van, leaving the two to talk. Opening the door I grab my bowie knife. The knife's still a bit bloody. I walk back and Sherrel and Mimi are still discussing clothing to fit me into.

"Maybe we could fit her into a cute lil' onesie~"

"Ehem." I interrupt them before they could go on. I can already feel some of the blood crusting up and clotting on my coat. I'd rather not let that stuff harden on my coat, or rather wings. Blood stains were hard enough to get out of white furs, I don't need it ruining my coat, though, maybe they would wash off easier if they were my wings?

"Do you have a place I could wash off?" Mimi's eyes are wide and she quiets right down, though I could hear her breathing. It quickened and Mimi takes a step back. Have I done something?

"Oh yeah, sure. There's a shower inside, I'll show ya." Sherrel says before walking towards the warehouse. I make to follow and Mimi calls out as I walk past.

"Nice, ah, nice meeting you Skitty," Despite how the conversation had reminded me of Winslow, it wasn't the worst thing. They hadn't really been trying to bring up memories of Winslow so I wouldn't hold it against either of them.

"You too," I call back and hurry to catch up with Sherrel.

The inside of the warehouse is something of an organised mess. Machinery is pushed up against the walls in favour of chemistry stations and potted weed plants with tubes drip feeding some kind of fluid to them. There's a little packaging area, and a few bricks of packaged powder alongside some baggies of leaves. Off in one corner, a spiral staircase leads to the upper floors and…

"Is that a tank?" I ask, disbelief clear in my voice. It's a tiny little thing but it's still clearly some sort of tank, or armoured vehicle. The turret to it is sitting off to the side, having either not been attached or it had been sheared off.

"Oh yeah that thing. Found it here with the rest of the junk. I was going to see about repairing it but the internals were blown to shit, so I was going to see about adding it to the top of the van after I armoured it and made it more stable." I had seen something like that in videos I had watched of African warlords in active war zones. The ones that had less resources than the others would convert vans, trucks and other things into technicals and use whatever they could salvage from enemies to improve their forces. Considering the appearance of general anarchy on the streets of Pentagram City it makes sense that some of the more enterprising individuals would try to Mad Max their vehicles. Hell, Sherrel when she was alive had already been doing that with her vehicles, coming up with crazy vehicular death machines that the Protectorate, though usually other gangs, had to deal with all the time in cape fights with the Merchants.

"Do you still have your power then?" I ask while Sherrel is admiring the inoperable tank.

"Hmm? Nah, I just remember some of the more basic things, like maintenance on some of my simpler creations, granted I was something of a grease monkey before I got all fucked in the head and shit. I lost all that tinker shit when I died though. You did too right? I didn't see any bugs flying around and when you blew those guys back."

"No, I don't have my bug powers anymore. I just feel this energy inside of me that I can use. I used it to turn my wings into this coat, and I used a lot of it to blast those thugs back."

"Huh, transformation magic? I haven't really heard a lot about it." Sherrel turns towards the stairs and I follow behind her. "All I know is that some older people around here have figured it out. Mostly those who died before all this cape shit started happening. Actually most of us newer people haven't even figured out magic yet. Like I can't do shit with it or even feel it really, Skiddy only knows how to make his glowy areas and stuff because it's, as he says, 'vaguely the same,' but other than that most people who weren't capes or weren't blasters and such need to be shown how to use it and such." So it isn't just some universal thing that people can use, or maybe it's because of my advanced senses from my antennae. They seem to be finely attuned to magic since I could actually understand what the butterfly person was doing back in the alleyway. Maybe if this was all magic, I can copy Skidmark's way of using his powers, or even other's magical techniques?

We climb up the stairs and enter into the loft of the warehouse. For a second I'm seeing the Undersider's loft, but as we keep ascending I see more of the room and the false image of the loft disappears. I… Did I really miss the Undersiders that much? Granted, truth be told, despite it being the apocalypse, I think the last time I really could say that I enjoyed myself was while we were trying to fight Zion. Just during the down time, when I could sit with my old team. I think that over the past two years or so, I hadn't smiled, really smiled and meant it until I got to see my friends again.

Speaking of friends, Alec's probably here. Somewhere in Hell. I could find him. I smile a real smile now. Despite how he was crass, rude, seemingly uncaring, and did his best to be annoying, he had endeared himself to me. Everyone on the initial Undersiders team had. They were my friends, and I would be able to see one now that I thought I would never get to see again. I'd have to find him. Though Hell is a big place, and I didn't know where to look. Not only that, but maybe time between death affected where you showed up in Hell, or even if it didn't, Alec's out there somewhere, probably having established himself, or more likely gotten himself in trouble or even just found a place to crash for a while. If Squealer and Skidmark could find each other, why shouldn't I try to find Alec?

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a baby crying in another room, and Skidmark comes walking through holding onto a small babe. The baby is red skinned and it has two bumps coming out of its forehead right above the eyes.

"Sherrel, his horns are growing again. Would you be able to..." He says as he holds out the baby for Sherrel, who quickly takes him and starts shushing him.

"Shhh shhh shhh, it's alright, it's alright Marky. Mommy's here, mommy's here. Don't worry, it'll be over soon." The baby doesn't stop however and Sherrel starts making her way into another room. She has her free hand on her shirt's strap so I could guess how she was planning on calming him down. It takes me a moment to process what I had just seen however. Skidmark and Squealer had had a baby. The implications. We're in Hell, yet these two had managed to either have or find a baby here. Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of rule that only people who deserved Hell got sent down when they died? Though if only baptised babes got let into Heaven, did that mean that all un-baptised babes went to Hell? Or was Hell the only option.

"He's a lil' hellion ain't he?" Skidmark retorts. "Only 'bout six months old and shit. We never exactly wanted kids, and we always had enough cash to get Sherrel an abortion back up top, but down here? Shit ain't work too well. You need some very expensive equipment and you always run the risk of getting seriously hurt." If you couldn't die in Hell, that implied that the same could be said of baby's conceived here.

"Thing is we never would have had the cash to do anything about it, plus I didn't want to loose Sherrel, not after finding her again. So we had him. Not that I'm complaining. Really kinda put a bit a perspective on life and shit."

"So you got your act together and made something of yourself?" I ask. Truth be told I had heard a story like this once or twice when I was going over reports back when I was in the Wards. A villain would have a baby and sometimes decided to try to end their villainous ways and join up with the Protectorate. Of the few times that they tried to join up, half the time they got shackled and hauled off to jail, their child disappearing into the government system. Usually the child re-emerged as a cape some years down the line, usually as a villain. Or the villainous parent got accepted into the Protectorate open arms because they had managed to gain some sympathy with one or more members of their local Hero scene. Generally the less the PRT was involved the more often these cases were successful at re branding themselves. Granted that was the same with most capes.

Thinking back, I was rather lucky that Dragon and Defiant had been there at the base. Had it not been for them, after I had killed Alexandria and Tagg, I probably would have been on a one way ticket to the Birdcage, or escaped. Though with Miss Militia there I would have just as likely been gunned down during my escape than live another day. I hadn't exactly endeared myself to any of the Heroes there.

"Yeah, something like that. Didn't have any of this shit even a year ago, was still trying to get a hold of enough moolah to get our shit together when we realised she was preggers. Had a god damn panic attack 'n' sheit. Then I hit the ground running. I knew how to do a bit of magic and shit so I worked protection, I ran courier jobs, hell I did dry cleaning and shit. Anything to get me some cash, then one day I came across this old ass place. A fucking abandoned tank chop shop or something. I'm sure you seen that fucking thing down there yeah? Fucking crazy what shit people in Hell get up to."

"What happened to the original owners?"

"Like hell if I know, probably got purged or some shit. Any who, you said you needed to wash off yeah?"

"Yes, I'd rather not let it get too crusty. I've had that happen once. Not fun to scrub off."

"Yeah, crusty shit ain't never fun to scrape off and shit. Shower's just through that door, shitter too if ya need it. Don't take too long though, Lucy's hot water don't come cheap!" With that, he walks off towards where Sherrel had disappeared with baby Mark. Following Skidmark's directions, I head over to the bathroom to wash the blood off myself.

It didn't take too long to wash off all the gunk that had accumulated on me. When I performed the reverse of my wing transformation, most of the blood got displaced and quickly fell down the drain. The rest of the blood I scrub off before going through my regular shower routine. It was an extremely quick one, much quicker than the one I had when I was still living in Brockton Bay. I had developed it while in prison; we were only given a very short amount of time to shower so we had to make the most of it. Add in my own body consciousness, I generally was one of the first ones out of the shower. I continued the routine while in the Wards as well. The female Wards had this habit of getting into conversations while in the showers together after a patrol, and I had better things to do than make inane chit chat.

There was always more training to do, more information to gather, more ways of thinking on how to stay effective as a fighter even with the latest mandate by PR. Perhaps it would have benefited morale if I had stayed and made conversation, but that was what Tecton was for. He was the team leader that kept everyone together, while I was the tactical leader. I took care of the Ward's safety while in the field, and he took care of them outside of it. It had worked. Granted I had pushed them hard, but they needed to be pushed hard, and without my training, many more of them probably would have died. Though… I could have been nicer about it, or tried to use more of a carrot and stick approach to training rather than just the stick. I hear someone open the door briefly with my antennae before they shove something inside of the bathroom and close the door.

I sigh, it wasn't as if I would be seeing them, the Chicago team, again, and I had already apologized to them. I had done my job and they had done theirs, or tried to. I turn off the shower and look at the thing that had been shoved inside. A set of clothes were there; a plain white shirt and panties, some very long mismatched striped socks, and jean booty shorts. I stare unimpressed at what was probably Sherrel's spare attire. Grumbling a bit I start to put on the clothing.

Funny enough the booty shorts and panties fit fine. The long socks reach nearly all the way up to the booty shorts but stop just a few inches below them. The shirt however, I look down at the oversized shirt which reached just above my knees. It was less of a shirt and more of a dress. At least it was both clean and long enough to cover up the rather skimpy other things the two Merchants had left out for me.

As I exit the bathroom, both of the Merchants and their baby are there in the living room, and both of them look towards the bathroom door as I get out.

"Hey Skitty, sorry about the shirt, we don't exactly have any other kinds what with spending it all on either Marky here or on the operation downstairs." Sherrel says while bouncing her little demon baby on her lap as he gurgles happily. I smile a bit at the sight, my annoyance with the skimpy jean shorts abated for the moment, though I would have to get a hold of some different clothing. If there's a clothing store nearby, I can probably pick up some jeans and a hoodie.

"It don't look like a problem to me. Oh by the way, I'm Adam, since your new, you probably gonna be staying with us a bit while you get on your feet. And if your staying with us you might as well know our names and shiiii~ uh… stuff'' I notice Sherrel firing off a death glare at Skidmark as he began swearing, while Skidmark... Adam's eyes had widened. She hadn't minded when he swore in the van, so maybe no swearing around the baby? I'll have to remember that.

In regards to the names, should I give them it? Cape culture always had an aversion to giving out real names and such, even in the Wards. Half the reason people even knew my name is because it was packaged right alongside our cape names in the Wards. I would have probably been fine with just going by Weaver the entire time there. In fact, most of the time, I did.

They had shared their names with me however. Did they just not care anymore? True, no one could die, but what if I ever found some other way to cause them hell? But then, what could I do? Attack their operation? Expose their names to the public in hopes that some vigilante came around and attacked them? Even if I wanted to, they were already proudly displaying that they used to be the Merchant gang from Brockton Bay, and attacking their stuff didn't really require a name, just a place. So really, what did it matter if I had their names, or if they had mine? We were all in Hell together. Not just that but they had come and helped me out when I was in a tricky situation. When was the last time someone had come and helped me out in a tricky situation when it wasn't a part of their job or benefited them in some way? The only people I can think of are the Undersiders.

"Taylor," I finally say before I over-thought things. We had each other's names now, for how little that mattered. It was like when I had discovered Sofia was Shadow Stalker after Leviathan, only without all the heavy baggage and bullshit that came with that discovery.

"Aw man, I could have nicknamed you Taytay." Sherrel pouts as she hugs her baby close.

"Ehh… I like Skitty better, It's like Skiddy, and I think it's a better Merchant name." Adam shifts from his laid back position to leaning forwards and towards me. "Alright, so here's the deal, we'll help you for a few days or so, but if ya wanna stay here and… stuff… you got to pitch in and… yeah, you get it." Pitch in. From the sounds of it I was getting invited to join the Merchants. I almost wanted to say no on principle. Despite my long time away from Brockton Bay, I was still a Brocktonite. While not everyone had heard of the Merchants, many had heard stories of them and what they would do. Some would sell you tainted product, others would sell you stronger stuff than what they said to get you hooked fast, there were even stories of people being held down and forced to be injected with drugs to get them addicted. That last one however was fairly iffy and usually was able to be thoroughly debunked, usually.

Still, working with the Merchants… considering this is Hell, and that they operated with impunity, probably meant that drugs were legal here, or at least, it wasn't very well enforced. Granted I didn't expect drugs to be illegal in Hell, Hell being Hell after all. I still had a few days to think it over though. I didn't have to go in half cocked and unprepared like I had when trying to join the Wards, and admittedly, the Undersiders. I have time to find out what exactly was going on in Hell, some basic information, and even possibly find some alternatives to the Merchants. Maybe even find Alec and see whether it would be better to room with him.

Though if Alec didn't have much, and I wanted to get ready for when the rest of the Undersiders finally arrived, I would need resources so that I can support them as they orientated themselves, kind of like what the Merchants are doing for me now.

"How long do I have to decide?" I ask. Sherrel was contemplative for a moment while Adam rubbs his stubbly chin.

"Hmm, I'd say about two days after today. After that, if you decide to stay, then you'll be a part of the Merchants, otherwise, we'll say our goodbyes and be on our merry ways." So I had two days to decide. That sounded reasonable, especially considering that they were hosting not only a stranger, but also a villain and apparent warlord. Honestly it was extremely generous when you took the last two things into account.

"That sounds more than fair." It'll give me plenty of time to grill Adam, Sherrel, or the others about how the Merchants operate, what they're like, as well as the general gist of what's going on around Hell. I might even find Alec. This time I won't just jump into something without looking first. I've learned since then.

"Well alright then, we can find out what you can do to help out around here tomorrow. See if you wanna to join us and be a Merchant."

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 3

This chapter, atleast at the start, was like pulling teeth since it was mostly just transitional stuff until it got to the second part of the chapter. I had planned more things to go on but Taylor's introspection got away from me and the chapter was getting both long and I reached a point that seemed like a good place to cut it off at. The next chapter however promises action in the future as long as nothing changes.

As always, any and all feedback is highly appreciated and taken into account.

Edit: Broke up some paragraphs to increase readability.

Edit 2: Went through and tried to fix the tenses to increase readability

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I look down to my plate of food that the Merchants had served up. Fresh made bacon and eggs. The bacon had just come hot off the stove, it's juicy and greasy, with the eggs being nice and fluffy. Skidmark has proven to be something of a good breakfast chef with Sherrel apparently handling the other meals. I joined in last night in helping Sherrel with the meal preparation, either by paying attention to little baby Mark when he was getting fussy or just helping Sherrel by passing her ingredients. It was nice.

When was the last time I'd helped out in the kitchen? In fact, when had been the last time that I had freshly made bacon and eggs? The PRT cafeteria didn't exactly have the best food there; most of it was cheaply bought and haphazardly cooked since most of the budget went to tools to help fight parahuman crime, and the PR budget. Everything else got slashed all the time when it was time for some "budget cuts."

No one who had even a little bit of disposable income ever ate at the cafeteria for long or by choice. It was always somewhere else. I think I was the only one that was regularly there except for the night personal. I didn't exactly have access to my own funds during my time on probation in the Wards. My handler had always taken care of it and I was content to let it happen. I wasn't about to waste my time arguing with my handler and eventually their superiors because I wanted full access to my stipend of the month, I had more important things to do. As usual when I was there, I was spending my time doing what I thought had been important back then, trying to stop the apocalypse. Not that it helped.

Sherrel's just to my right, having just finished feeding Mark and had started digging into her own food. Skidmark, or rather Adam, finally sits down after he finishes cooking a second batch of bacon just for himself. I grab a strip of bacon from my plate and pop it into my mouth. As I had hoped, it's tender and juicy, not like the cafeteria bacon, that bacon was small, thin, and best left on a piece of toast with some egg on top. A bite of eggs also proves that they were just as good as they look. Sherrel and I take our time with our food, while Adam inhales his as if he's starving.

"Well I da-d-darn well say that was the best bacon I ever did make," I nod along while Sherrel makes an affirmative sound at Adam's self aggrandisement.

"What exactly will we be doing today?" I ask. If I had a basic idea for what is going on in the day the better questions I can think to ask concerning whichever part of the job I might have concerns about.

"Straight to business huh? You were always the quiet and serious type weren't ya?" I had been, from the Undersiders to the Wards. Whenever I was in costume I had been the one that was creepily standing there not moving, talking big in negotiations, or I was fighting as hard as I could to end a fight quickly.

"Well since we got some more product and such, I was gonna do a lil run over to the usual customers," Adam continues.

"Who are the usual customers?"

"Lemme think, some vending machine company, some trying to get off some of the harder drugs around here, that's what my special weed's for, some desperate sinners trying to find a reason to keep going, oh and one that wants to spite his boss," not as large of a customer base as I would have expected, but then it also sounds much more business like considering that they are selling to a vending machine company of all things. Were drugs just something common enough in Hell that you could just buy them in vending machines?

"They sell drugs in vending machines?"

"Oh yeah," Sherrel answers, "They sell everything in vending machines these days, ever since that Japanese guy showed up in Hell, they started making vending machines that sell everything, not the highest quality, and mostly just small stuff, but they can be pretty good, heck I bought a couple of spare panties a couple of days ago from one, had to wash it but hey, whatever works," My brows scrunch at hearing that. I hope I'm not wearing one of those pairs, granted it probably didn't make much of a difference, but something inside of me is revolted at the idea of wearing someone else's underwear, even if it's washed well enough.

"Yeah, was our first big break, mostly just wanted ta sell our weed 'n' sheeee-ooooot. Though we do sell some "Merchant Nose Powder" to them as well, mostly to send to far off vending machines and such in the outskirts of Pentagram City."

"It must be nice to have drugs legalised here," I comment. Adam makes a so-so gesture before continuing.

"Well less legalised and more people don't really care. Sshhh… stuff's chaotic enough as it is here, what with our demonic overlords fighting over parts of the city and other parts of Hell. Plus, anyone that even cares to try to get rid of it usually has to spend more manpower trying to stamp it out than they can afford. Nowadays, only people who try are just vigilante groups," Adam makes a face at that.

"Bunch of low life raiding scum if you ask me. Especially the ones that don't got territory and still try to uphold Earth laws as if they were still part of the living world. Bas… uh buggers?" Adam looks searchingly at Sherrel who gives a nod. Smiling, Adam continues.

"Got a couple of the buggers in the city, especially after a ton a people started showing up. Bunch of them got annihilated by the local Overlords, or heck, one time the big man himself came and took one group down that was getting real rowdy. Just a big light show and every demon in the area got turned to bones and such. Didn't even break a building. They're strung up outside the city I think," that kind of power… that was scarily reminiscent of Scion's blasts, only instead of just pure and total destruction, it killed everyone in the area and left everything else intact. Either that showed an immense amount of self control on Satan's part, or the power he used just wasn't designed to destroy anything other than demons.

"What did they do?"

"I heard it had something to do with kidnapping one a the newest kiddies of the big man. Charles or something. Wanted to get the big man to help them with cleaning up the city and putting them in power," Sherrel pipes in and starts giggling at the group's stupidity, as Adam joins in with the giggles, even Mark seems happy as he starts clapping his hands and giggling in that babyish gurgling way. Meanwhile I just shake my head. There's making trouble around where the Endbringer sleeps, then there is actively disturbing the sleeping Endbringer.

"Well they got one of those things at least," Sherrel says after she finishes giggling.

"Yup, cleaned up the city a bit. Things been a little calmer since then at least," curious, who could have thought that plan up? I know the PRT weren't exactly the smartest when poking at powerful capes, the decision to kidnap Purity's child had lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage, and likely would have turned to the millions if us Undersiders hadn't have gotten involved and helped her get her baby back.

"Who was leading the group?" maybe I'll recognise some names. I swallow despite nothing being in my mouth, I feel something in my throat but I don't know what. In fact I started feeling whatever was in my throat since a little bit after last night's dinner.

"I don't know, some big shot PRT man that knew his magic and stuff. I know that he had a few "heroes" join up with him as well. I heard that they forced Heartbreaker to work for them, some deals or whatever that went south for the old bas-bugger, and they had a few of the big man's kids join up as well."

"I heard on the news that he nearly became an Overlord or was just as powerful as one. Just needed to stake a claim and take a part of the city, then he would be one of the big shots," Sherrel adds in as she bounces a gurgling Mark on her lap.

"I would have thought that if they had taken this "Charles," Satan would have taken a more delicate approach."

"Pff, they didn't even get close ta Lucy's kid, one of Lilly's broads found out about it and told the boss, big fuc-uh, fricking fire fight or something as she was escaping."

"I heard she was an Owl demon," Sherrel remarks.

"Like it matters," Adam shot back. "I saw a little bit of the crap that was going on on the news, was like an action movie, only people actually reloaded and died when they took cover behind couches and stuff," Sherrel checks the clock on the wall before getting up with Mark in hand, pulls out a phone and hits a button. A ringing sound comes shortly after.

"We ought to get heading soon here Skiddy if we wanna make it to the rep's place in time," Sherrel says as she walks off towards the living room.

"Yeah, alright I'm coming," Adam turns from Sherrel and looks at me. "So you gonna come along 'n' help or you wanna sit around while we head out and make some dough?" while the thought of just taking it easy is somewhat tempting, I need information more than I need time to rest.

"I'll come along and check things out. I can at least ask some more questions about what's going on."

"Alright, sweet. We don't got much for masks and shit if you need it, but I got some bandannas and stuff that we like to wear on our runs and shit," it seems now that Mark is out of the room Adam has the green light to start swearing again. Rather than answer him immediately, I decide I might as well show off a bit. Last night I had been practising with my magic, feeling it out with the help of my antennae. Before, I had only really known how to transform my wings into the fluffy coat that I had been wearing, and how to release a blast of magic energy around me. During the night I had managed to figure out how to make other types of clothing through transformation magic.

With my magic, I transform the fluffy pyjamas I had transformed my wings into, into a near replica of the costume I wore during Golden Morning, modified to take into account my extra set of arms. For some reason though, I had something of a short fluffy mantle that covered my upper body and neck, likely just a quirk of my improvised transformation process. Meanwhile I transform my antennae into the mask I had after leaving the Wards. It wasn't exactly the same, since it was magically transformed antennae rather than the actual mask, but it's decent enough.

"Well damn, don't you look snappy, almost like how you were when you were alive and shit," Adam said as he looks me up and down. "I guess we won't need the bandanna"

"I guess not."

"Anyways, let's get down to the van, need to load it up for the delivery."

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We load up the van and Sherrel once more takes to the wheel. The sights and sounds of Pentagram city pass by the window as I look out of it. Most of the sounds of the city are distant cracks of gunfire, or booms of explosions. The sights mostly consist of ruined and depressing looking ghettos, places under construction or repair, and finally, areas that look much like the boardwalk in Brockton did, filled with shops, clubs and lights that brighten up the city and make it look like less of a shit hole. That's likely where the rich and powerful live.

Sometimes the areas are walled off, sometimes they're not, all however seem to have some sort of private security. The Security in the rich areas generally look like professionals, like the Enforcers back in Brockton Bay, not always however, especially in the less affluent looking wealthy districts, the private security there looked much more like gang members. As before, Sherrel drives like a madwoman. Swerving in and out of traffic, taking turns way too fast and cutting people off as she drives. I swear, when I finally learn how to drive, I will drive better than Sherrel, this is just madness!

We turn down onto one of the wealthy districts. It's actually quite close to where the Merchants had helped me out when I was fighting those lizard people. The security, I notice as we slow down from highway speed, has the same sort of patch on an armband on their suits as the gang members did who had jumped me.

"Will there be any trouble?" I ask, remembering back to how the lizard folk I had fought had mistaken me for one of their common whores.

"Well, you don't look like a ho, so I think you're fine. Plus your with us, and them Valentino boys in suits and shit don't like to start fights like some of the guys further from Valentino's club, disturbs the shows and shit he's got going if people start shooting up the place," that made sense, much like when I used to be in control of a section of the bay, I hadn't wanted people being harassed unless they were intruders of some kind. Considering that we were here to do business, and the Merchants thought it was okay, then the Valentino enforcers likely didn't see us as invaders.

The van pulls up to a curb by one of the apartments by a club and Sherrel shoots off a text with her phone. Adam opens his door and looks back.

"You coming Skitty? Give me some back up? I don't expect nothing, but eh, you never know these days what with all the newbies," I nod and step out of the van. As we make our way to the apartment building, Sherrel calls out to us.

"Anything happens, send me a text!"

"Will do!" As we walk to the door, I feel I have to ask;

"Skidmark, how did you two get phones? As I understand it, the Merchants aren't exactly affluent."

"Afflu-What?"

"Wealthy."

"Oh this shit? Standard phone contract shit, have it back up on Earth. How don't you know?" was it common? I had never really dealt with cell phones, either getting them from Lisa. After I joined the Wards, the PRT and Protectorate had provided a cell phone so I never had to deal with it.

"My family never really liked cell phones, and I never really dealt with them."

"Wait, so you never had a cell phone? How the shit the other of your Undersiders get in contact wit ya?"

"I did get a cell phone, it's just that Tattletale or someone else always provided it rather than me getting one on my own."

"Ah so you never had to deal with the phone contracts and shit. Makes sense makes sense I guess. Well tell you what. You sign up with us, and we can take ya to a phone store or some shit, you can go and pick out a phone and me and Squealy can get ya all set up on it. Heck, we can even help you not get fucked by your contract and shit."

"Oh… thank you."

"Hey no problem Skitty!" Skidmark reaches out and pulls me into an awkward one armed hug as we enter into the building. I'm not really sure how to react. Not really knowing what to do, I awkwardly, after a moment reach out and return the one armed hug. "You gonna join the Merchant family, you got to have a way to keep in touch and shit. Or heck, waste time and shit if nothing's happening. Helps with Mark too," as we enter the apartment building, I notice a group of demons just sitting around in a circle on whatever they can use as seats, smoking and drinking while they talk. One however seems to stare right at me. The demon watching us looks vaguely like some sort of humanoid birdman, with a very small beak and grey feathers. Remembering my lessons from Dad in the Bay, I keep my mask from looking at him directly while I watch him. He's watching us intently, and only shifts a little bit as his head tracks us. Was he an addict? It would make sense if he saw Skidmark everyday coming through with packages like we were.

I feel a knot form in my stomach as we pass. That there was probably another life ruined by drugs. Spending what little he could make on his special brand of narcotics, booze, and cigarettes. I'd have to consider this when I really thought about whether I want to join the Merchants. Despite drugs being highly commercialized, considering the vending machines and such, they are still, in my opinion, a destructive element of society. I had never allowed the peddling of drugs myself in my territory and tried my best to keep them out despite my rather lax enforcement of it, however, I had made it known during my time as a Warlord of Brockton Bay that I would rather drugs not be brought into my territory.

We head up the stairs and arrive at a door, floor six, apartment nine, though the nine has fallen off and only the silhouette of it remains. Not very well cared for then. Another life ruined? Skidmark knocks and we wait a minute before the door swings open. Rather than some sort of bum, I'm met with the rather white and fluffy chest of someone in a white suit. The fluff bulges out in a way that implies breasts of some kind. My eyes travel upwards and I'm left looking at a rather effeminate looking spider demon.

"Skiddy! How the hell ya been!?" the effeminate spider shouts out and gives Skidmark a hug which he quickly returns. "And ya brought a friend! So who's lil' miss dominatrix?" dominatrix?

"I've been doing good, I've been doing good. This here is Skitty, possibly a new Merchant," the spider demon grins.

"Haha! Nice! I always thought you gaggle of chucklefucks needed someone who actually could look scary. So that her demonic nickname or just one of Squealers cutesy lil nicknames?" demonic nickname?

"What do you mean by a demonic nickname?" I ask. The demonic spider looks surprised for a moment before looking back to Skidmark.

"What you guys ain't even told her the basics?"

"Hey man I was pretty fucking busy."

"Oh yeah sure! Busy sucking on those milkers your girl calls tits," were it not for the mask my blush would have been easy to make out. The Merchants hadn't exactly been quiet while they went about their night time fun. It might have been quiet enough to begrudgingly sleep through, except for certain parts, had it not been for my enhanced senses. For the entire time that they had been going at it I could hear every small little detail. It was part of the reason I had just stared at my breakfast most of the morning. Until business had entered the conversation, I hadn't been able to look either of them in the eye that morning, not wanting to think about what had happened last night that caused Sherrel to squeal like she had.

"What are they anyways? F-cup?" the spider demon continues.

"Nah you cracker, since she had Mark she's a fucking G now."

"Ha! With how big those udders are getting you'd think she was a cow demon. Any ways come inside, we don't wanna disturb the neighbours."

"What you finally got that sound proofing in?"

"Just a couple a days ago. Now not even the lady with the good hearing underneath us can hear when I bring a friend over or two."

"Would have been useful last night…" I remark under my breath. Not that I was angry about it. While it had been annoying, it had kept me up long enough that I had started to experiment with my magic before I went to bed. Were it not for them keeping me up I'd have never figured out how to transform my wings and antennae into different forms. It was vaguely similar to changer powers in a way, it didn't exactly correlate with magical transformation, but it gave a good basis for where to start my experimentation, from there, I was able to perceive using my antennae what I was doing, what was going wrong in my experimentation, and correct it with something that worked out better.

By the time I finished experimenting and found out how to transform my wings into something similar to my last costume, the two Merchants had finally finished their "Nightly business," and had dozed off to sleep. From there, it was a simple matter of transforming my wings into a nice and cozy set of fluffy pyjamas and an old timely night cap so I wouldn't hear their snoring all night, and I dozed off for a good few hours. As I look up from my musing, I notice that my remark hadn't exactly gone unnoticed.

"Hahahaha, you beast! You trying for another kid or something," the spider demon exclaims.

"Hey my mama had six kids before she turned out any bad eggs so I think we ought to be able to do the same."

"What were you? The seventh?" the spider demon jokes.

"Eighth actually," the spider demon continues to chuckle at Skidmark's joke. I decide to enter into the conversation however. I came on this trip to gather information to make an informed decision after all.

"Excuse me, Mr~?" Skidmark notices how I trail off and his eyes go wide and his face morphs into something akin to surprise.

"Oh shit, sorry I forgot to introduce the customer here."

"Pfft, some salesman you are."

"This here is Angel Dust. Cracker's been dead longer than the both of us combined."

"You know it nigger," Angel Dust said as he made finger guns and pretends to fire at us.

"Angel Dust, like the drug?" I ask. It sounds almost like a cape name. Was a demonic nickname just some sort of cape name? or something to help reinvent yourself?

"Damn straight, that's shit was my jam when I was alive, and still is. Hey Skiddy, you got my package right?"

"That's right, got it right here, you got my money?"

"You know I'm good for it ya Cockroach. It's the same place as always," Angel Dust says. He put a fair amount of emphasis on the 'cock' in cockroach.

"Yeah yeah, I'll go get it. Here!" Skidmark says as he tosses Angel Dust a small baggie of "Merchant Powder" before walking off towards one of Angel's rooms. Angel on the other hand walks over to a couch and falls into it, lounging and gesturing towards a seat opposite of it.

"Come on take a seat," graciously I accept. Unlike Angel Dust however, I don't immediately start lounging as he had. Angel Dust as he waits for me to sit down opens the baggie a bit before taking a little sniff of powder.

"Oooo yeah, that's the good stuff. Any who, you must be pretty new to not even have a nickname yet right?"

"That's right, I died some time yesterday and woke up in the street," Angel Dust winces at that.

"Oof, sorry… didn't mean to bring up any bad memories. You doin' alright?" Angel looks concerned as he asks me how I'm doing. Funny how despite all the propaganda and lies that get spread around by the PRT about villains, drug addicts and dealers, along with so many other people that we are supposed to look at with fear and disgust, turn out to be fairly decent people half the time. The same could be said of the various heroes I've met during my time both as a villain and a hero. Half the time they are decent people, or they grow to be decent people. Other times, they are just rotten, or don't deserve what they have. I can think of various heroes I've met during the various meet and greets that look down on me for being a former villain and gang leader, yet just as many of them will pat me on the back and congratulate me for joining the forces of good.

I never tell them about my doubts, how at night, when I was laying in bed, sometimes I would wonder if it was worth it, if throwing everything away was actually accomplishing anything. In the end, I would banish those thoughts from my head. There wasn't a point in pondering on them before the fact. If we succeeded would be the ultimate test in whether this was all worth it. If we managed to save the world, having to deal with everything here was worth it, otherwise... and that was were I would leave it, because there was no time for doubts, not when I had to fit in training, studying, and patrolling into my day to day.

"I… think I am, I wasn't exactly in the best place when I died. I'm not exactly sure if it was mercy, but… I didn't exactly try to stop her…" I don't explain further. I still haven't fully thought through my own death.

"Hey no problem, Hows about we switch the subject to something less gloomy. Like ya nickname!" ah yes, the demonic nickname we had been talking about before.

"Do I need a demonic nickname?"

"Eh, not really. Getting a nickname ain't for everyone, but it gives ya an opportunity to reinvent yaself. Plus it's good for keepin' any enemies ya mighta had off ya back. Myself, eh, I just chose what makes me happy."

"Makes you happy?"

"Yeah, made me happy, you know, made things not so bad. Like everything was shit and stuff and nothings going right, and to ease off some stress you take a hit of the powder. You're lying there, and you kinda realise, things just ain't that bad anymore. Like, what happened, all that shit before, it wasn't so bad. Kinda made it easier to deal with life when you were taking the stuff. Then it would end and you needed more. It's shit but it was a way to cope with a shitty situation, ya dig?" I do "dig." Drugs had been a big part of growing up in Brockton, even more when going to school at Winslow. I'd heard how for some of the people there, it made life bearable. It lined up with how Angel described it. I wonder if he was like some of those kids that tried drugs and got hooked. Tried them out, and realised they weren't all that bad as people said, they even made him feel great when he took them. I wonder when he died, or how things were in life for him? Maybe the drugs were the only thing he could look forward to in the day?

I'm glad for a moment of the incident on the bus now, where a drug addict went ballistic on the bus and started freaking out. It did more to scare me straight than any of the various DARE programs and hero guest visitors that went around to schools to talk about the evils of drugs. Drugs had a way of making you feel good in some way. I had always thought it was just like a hit of dopamine, or those tingles that I would get back when Mom would give me head massages. With the incident on the bus with the drug addict my younger self wouldn't have gone and tried anything, not that I had any friends back then that would have tried to pressure me. Perhaps if it hadn't been for that event, then I could see myself falling head first into them.

There had been some days where the only thing I wanted was for the pain of the day to go away. Had an enterprising Merchant kid gone and approached a younger me… I had latched onto Julia when she had pretended to make friends with me. She had become my new best friend, a lighthouse on a stormy night, then she took it away from me. What if it had been a Merchant? Would I have ended up like Angel Dust here, or the addicts downstairs, or even those people that Skidmark had said were just trying to get through the day to day? Probably. I had dived head first into villainy and stayed with it because of the friends I made. Hell, at the end I had been planning on going back anyways. Maybe in some ways, I am an addict.

"You thinkin' of a name or what?" Angel Dust thankfully interrupts my thoughts, pulling me away from my dark musings. Right, a nickname. Angel Dust had said that he chose his nickname because it was something that made him feel good. Maybe I should start there. When had I felt happy, truly happy? It definitely wasn't when I was with the Wards. That had been because I had thought I had to, not because I enjoyed it, and it still ended with Golden Morning and all that shit happening. So taking the name Weaver for my nickname was out. Perhaps I could just be Taylor? I had thought about just being Taylor near the end there. Not wanting to hide behind a mask, not being Skitter the villainous warlord, not being Weaver the brutal hero, just Taylor. Just being me.

Though who was I really? I hadn't really been Taylor for years despite that being my name and people calling me that out of costume. Who was Taylor? Was Taylor the chatterbox youth? No, not any more. That Taylor died a long time ago, murdered by her best friend who plunged a knife into her back. Taylor's best friend and sister left her to die, bleeding out in the halls of Winslow, to be consumed by a new Taylor.

Was I Taylor, the loner, the loser, and the person who naively believed in the cultural propaganda that all villains were evil and all heroes were the epitome of good? That all masters were villains in the making that could do no right without the guiding hand of the Protectorate? Was I the secret master cape who cowered from the thought of being found out? No… she had died as well. Not a violent death like the younger Taylor had, no, she died as her world was shattered into a million pieces. When the heroes were the villains of her story, and the villains, became her greatest friends and allies.

Was I Skitter? The villain and warlord of Brockton Bay, the one who was spurned by the heroes, who sacrificed much on the path to Hell just to save a little girl who betrayed her in the end. The one that conquered territory and used that territory to improve the lives of those who fled into her hive for safety? Was I Skitter? Some might argue that Skitter had died when she tried to give herself up to save the world, but had I truly been Weaver? At the end, Contessa, I think she called me Khepri. They had called me that at the end apparently. Khepri.

Who was I then?

Every identity along this road has been a part of me, even if they died along the way. All were masks, roles I had played. Some had been shattered, others, put away. I had the choice now. Who was I? Who was I really? All of them were Taylor, some more than others, but who was I, or rather, who should I be? What mask would be most useful to try and help my friends… My friends…

My friends had been the ones to mold me. To shape me. Every person is defined by their experiences and their interactions with the people and situations around them. Right now I'm a probationary Merchant, but that might not always be the case, especially as my friends were coming here eventually.

When had I been the happiest in my short life on Earth? I was my happiest when I was a chatterbox, when mom was still alive, when I was innocent. That Taylor as I acknowledged before, however, was dead. So then when was the next time I was my happiest?

It was when I was surrounded by my friends, by my team. When I was with Lisa, Brian, Alec, Rachel, and Aisha. Those days, those days had been the happiest in my life since the day that my younger self had died.

"Skitter" I say in a soft voice. "My name… is Skitter."

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 4

More interactions between Skitter, Skidmark, and Angel Dust, then a surprise visit at the door, by demons, with guns… Wonder how this will turn out…

Any and all feedback is, as always, highly appreciated!

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"Jesus, finally, I thought you had an aneurysm or something," Angel Dust says almost immediately. The more and more Angel Dust talks the more he reminds me of Alec.

"I'm sorry that I wanted to give something that sounded this important some proper consideration," I deadpan and Angel Dust shrugs at that.

"Eh, probably a good idea, at least you're name's better than some schmucks around here that go with something stupid," at least here you couldn't have your nickname assigned to you like your cape name could be. When I had originally gotten the Skitter name I didn't particularly care for it. It wasn't the best but it also wasn't the worst. It had just sounded like I was low and pathetic, something that skittered around and was barely even worth noticing as most skittering things were. Over the years however, I had started to grow more attached to the name, despite going by Weaver at that time. Not that I would have ever admitted it. I had been trying to convince both the PRT, Protectorate, and myself that I was a fully committed hero that didn't need to be watched any harder than I already was.

"So why Skitter?" Angel Dust asks, by this time, Skidmark has come back, counting a wad of cash, most of them appear to be either one dollar or five dollar notes.

"It was my villain name, and the name I was using when I was at my happiest."

"Villain name huh? So you were one of those super powered guys from Earth, what was your power?"

"Bug control, though at the end of my life I had my powers altered and I could control people, at the cost of my sanity."

"Ooof, sounds rough. Yeah I gotta gal pal named Cherri Bomb, girl was a pretty decent villain. She's even got some territory in the city. She came to every one of my shows and after a few fucks, we kinda became friends."

"Ya damn spider cracker, I thought you was gay."

"I am gay nigga, but if it's with the right people its fine, or a three some. Also kinda helped that she was using a strap-on," I tilt my head slightly. What's a strap-on?

"So anyways, you got bugs all over the place then huh? Learned how to use some bug magic or something?" thankfully the subject is back to something I'm familiar with.

"No, I haven't quite figured how to do anything with bugs yet."

"Nah but she knows a bit of magic, first time I saw her she blew away a bunch of mother fuckers with some magic blast shit, and she also magic upped them clothes she's wearing."

"Wait really? Ha! So you're telling me if I do this," Angel Dust grabs a hold of the collar of his suit jacket and slowly pulls it off just enough that the shoulders of the shirt he had underneath was showing. Then he starts leaning against the table before a leg slides onto it. The Jacket continues to fall slightly as he comes up close, reaches a hand out, scratches under my chin, and whispers.

"Hey baby, you wanna know how loud a professional whore can make you scream?" he sits there a moment on the table, his eyes darting down, but seems disappointed about something. Was he trying to… disappear my clothes? How very… Alec of him…

"I don't have to concentrate to keep my clothes transformed. Even if I did, I have clothes on underneath my costume."

"Aww. It'd be funny though," he drops the sultry act immediately and retreats back to his couch. Skidmark finally seems satisfied with the money that he got and takes a chair at the end of the table. Alec and Aisha would have loved Angel Dust. Probably would have even brought him into the Undersiders if he was a cape, or just recruited him into their ranks if he wasn't. Aisha's still alive as far as I know, but Alec, it was a long shot but…

"Angel Dust."

"That's my name, don't wear it out," the spider demon interrupts. Ignoring the interruption, I continue.

"You wouldn't happen to keep track of the capes that end up down here do you?"

"Hmm? Nah, not really, I've always been a more of a look out for yourself kind of guy, ya know?" oh I realise, I had just hoped that this particular part was where he and Alec differed, though maybe I could ask Mimi, she seems to be rather into popular cape culture, or just had a fascination with me enough to know about me, maybe she would know?

"Trying to find your team mates?" Skidmark asks and I merely nod.

"Damn, hope you find them, took me like sixty years to find my brother and sister, and that was with all of us searching, or well, two of us searching, brother's a dick and didn't give a shit," Angel comments.

"Yeah, it was a damn miracle when I found Squealer again. Doing what she always did in the Merchants and was working on cars and shit. She ain't no tinker no more, but damn can she make an engine purr," Skidmark chuckles and a wide grin spreads across his face, "I would love to give her a Mustang or some shit to fix up, she'd grab my by the collar and fuck me till my fucking hips broke, after she fixed it up that is. Course, probably still blow me right there in appreciation."

"Ha, I swear your girl loves cars more than any man I've ever heard of, you'd think she was a tranny."

"Hahaha, you'd fucking think, but nah, she is one hundred and fucking ten percent all woman. And I mean come on; you think she'd have ass and tits like that if she was a bro?"

"I don't know there buster, surgeons down here are pretty good, while I got lucky with these baby's," Angel crossed his arms under the fluff and made them bounce a bit, emphasising his point, "most of the whores around here got at least a bit of a boob job, or do some magic hocus pocus to make them bigger," Angel's eyes got wider as he realised something and then turns to me.

"Hey since you are already altering your body parts, you think you'd be able to give yourself a boob job? While you got the ass and legs, you need the tits to match 'em sister," I'm glad for my mask because all I can do is just stare at Angel incredulously. Granted, when I was younger I had something of breast envy and would likely have tried to do just as Angel Dust said, but I was quite fine with how my breasts were now thank you very much. The puberty fairy had decided that I was going to have small breasts, smaller than my mothers, and I was alright with that. Besides, if I had actually started developing larger breasts, it would have led to back problems and affected my fighting which I very much didn't need, especially then.

"No thank you, I'm quite comfortable with my bust size at the moment."

"Hey your loss tiny tits," I gracefully ignore the dig at the size of my bosom. Hoping to bring this conversion back to a subject I find more interesting, I interject.

"We were talking about magic before, yes?"

"Oh yeah sure, uh, well I ain't the greatest with the stuff, I know a few tricks and such… Say you said you were a bug villain or something before right?"

"That's right."

"So what could you turn your body parts into clothes too?"

"No, I was exclusively a bug controller."

"So where'd ya learn to turn your body parts into clothing? Steal some guy's magic book or something?"

"No, and they have those things around here?" Angel Dust shrugs his shoulders.

"Eh, yeah, kinda, though they're mostly controlled by the nobility and shit. They're mostly kept off the internet by a demon Overlord called Velvet, though you can find some stuff if you look deep enough. It'll get ya banned off social media though if your sharing magic shit, and then the TV stations'll smear ya for anything they can get their hand on."

"Does this Velvet control both the TV stations and most of the internet?"

"Nah Velvet doesn't control the TV, that'd be Vox, a buddy of hers. They're part of something that some people are calling the Demonic Triumvirate. New fucking name, no idea where it comes from," it sounds like some of cape culture has managed to influence things here in Hell enough that people were copying some things from Earth. That will probably increase now with the large amounts of people that have probably ended up here during Scion went on his rampage.

"Yeah I work for the other one in the Triumvirate. Valentino, he controls most of the porn, sex, and anything related to lust here in Pentagram city," I consider telling Angel Dust about my run in with some of Valentino's thugs, but I brush it off quickly. No need to bring up something like that, especially with someone I just met who works for the person who's gang I had to defend myself from.

"You said that there is a sort of nobility in hell. What would it take to get access to their libraries?"

"Oh you know just a couple deals and the possibility of eternal servitude, the usual stuff when it comes to self important assholes around here," Angel Dust makes a dismissive wave of his hands as he says "assholes."

"They got a lot of fucking money and shit, wouldn't mind having a crack at one of their vaults and shit… hey Skitty, you guys did pretty good at that bank in Brockton, you think when you guys all get back together we could plan a heist or some shit?" getting access to that kind of knowledge... I believe Sir Francis Bacon was the one that coined the term; "knowledge is power" back during the renaissance. Not that I had an easy way of checking. In any case, I had always tried to practice that sentiment when I was a cape, researching into the scene as much as I could when I was planning on breaking into it. I had gone over information regarding possible people who would oppose us taking over Brockton with Lisa.

I continued this practice in the Wards by meticulously going over the different profiles of the SlaughterHouse Nine and generally any cape profiles and cape fights I could get a hold of when I was doing my information gathering sessions. I overheard some people talk about how they had updated my threat rating to a Thinker 3 along with my Master 10. I could kind of see it considering the amount of research I did. Though that they added a 2 of everything else? That was just a bit overkill in my opinion. Then again, I did carry a gun with me so Blaster 2 kind of made sense. But still, Tinker 2? What exactly had I Tinkered?

"We would require internal plans of the place first of all. The bank job was something that was planned weeks if not months in advance, and I was only brought onto the team maybe a couple of days before we went off and did the job."

"But you could do it if you really wanted to?" I could practically see the dollar signs in Skidmark's eyes.

"Perhaps if Tattletale managed to keep her power maybe, but considering how everyone has been disconnected from their powers here I'm not so sure we would have access to that."

"You sure? I always kinda saw you as the leader, no offence to that Grue guy, but after a while you kinda stood out, like Grue and Tattle were the faces, and you were the brains behind it all and shit."

"Not exactly, while I'm good at combat, Tattletale was the one who was gathering the information and processed it. We had a backer who was the leader of it all. Do you remember Coil."

"What that small fry? Sure he was polite and shit, but he didn't have all that much power."

"He had much more than he let on. He was the one in charge of the Undersiders, the Travelers, not to mention that he had Uber, Leet, and Circus on his payroll. He also had a secret underground lair where he had a powerful pre-cog under his control. Plus his civilian ID, one Thomas Calvert, became the PRT director for a short period of time, before I killed him."

"Wait, shit, he had all that? Muther fucker, good thing we never went after his ass or we would of been up to our eyeballs in shitheads."

"He also had a couple of spies in your organisation; Trainwreck was one of his, as well as in every other organisation. He was also the one who leaked out the Empire's personal information," Skidmark's mouth morphs into a scowl when I mention that Trainwreck had been a spy.

"Muther fucker! That fuck! If I ever find that Tinker piece of shit I will fucking rip his god damn ass a new one!"

"Mind if I watch?" Angel Dust interjects and Skidmark turns on him.

"Shut up ya Ho, not in that way!" Skidmark continues muttering a stream of "Muther fucker" and other insults aimed at both his traitorous subordinate as well as Coil. I hear something about Purity, then something about a drug house. It seems Purity's rampage might have damaged the Merchants quite a bit with her random acts of destruction.

"Boy you sure got him riled up," Angel remarks with a toothy grin.

"We are recently deceased. It makes sense that some of us still harbour feelings for our life before."

"Hey I ain't sayin' nothing about that. You guys do you," Angel says with a shrug.

"So anyways, you wanna learn magic so much, why don't you think about all the different things about yourself? You got Antennae that can shape shift, you got a bunch of arms," as if to put emphasis on the multiple arms part, Angel suddenly lifts his own up and two more pairs appear underneath them, all doing jazz hands. "And I can make webs and stuff. So, anything new that you've noticed recently," unconsciously, I rub at my neck. That phantom lump in my throat was something new. I tried ignoring it to the best of my ability, but maybe it was something more?

Silkworms were known to make silk from glands near their mouth, and I was rather fluffy like them. I could also see about doing as Angel Dust did and manipulate the number of limbs I had, that could actually be fairly useful, make people think that I only have a certain number of limbs, then come out with more. Using a bit of magic, I unfold my antennae from their mask transformation. Angel Dust looks a bit surprised at that, he really shouldn't, I had already told him that my mask was a magically transformed part of my body.

"Would you be able to do that again? I would like to see if I can replicate that," I start paying attention with my antennae to the magic within and around Angel Dust. Once more Angel shrugs.

"Yeah, sure thing, Doll face," then Angel Dust proceeds to go back to only having a pair of arms rather than three pairs. He does this a few times, changing up the number of pairs he is releasing. I think I can follow what he is doing. It's actually fairly close to how I had been transforming my wings and antennae into clothing. Experimentally, I retract my lower pair of arms, and find myself in possession of only two arms. Since I didn't alter them, but rather retracted them, I can feel them, kind of. It's more of a phantom sensation than anything concrete. It takes almost no magic at all, and it's almost imperceptible unless I'm really focusing on how much magic it actually takes to change them. I do it a few times before settling back to only having two arms, then transform my wings/costume to match only having two arms.

"So what, your antennae can see magic? 'Cause you picked that up crazy quick," Angel asks while watching me as well.

"Something like that. If it weren't for my antennae, I wouldn't be able to walk in here with this costume."

"Oh yeah? What would've ya been wearing then?"

"An oversized shirt and some shorts."

"Well at least you got clothes, I knew a few guys that didn't even have clothes before they got purged."

"I nearly was one of those poor fucks," Skidmark comments having calmed down while we talked.

"Luckily I died a while before the purge so I got time to cosy up to my first pimp," that has to be the third time that this 'purge' was mentioned since I've ended up here in Hell. At first I didn't think anything of it, but it keeps coming up.

"What is this 'purge'?" both of them look at me like I had grown a second head before Angel turns to Skidmark.

"Jesus, you really haven't been telling her much have ya," Angel comments.

"It never came up and I was busy with shit."

"We all know what you were busy with," unfortunately for my attempt at getting a full eight hours of sleep, yes we all did.

"Yeah and it was a damn good time too," rather than let this go on again, I clear my throat before they could continue their banter. This 'Purge' sounds rather important and I didn't want to get side tracked like how our talks about magic kept getting side tracked.

"Oh yeah the purge. Well basically every year some angel fucks from heaven show up and start fucking erasing everyone they can get their hands on. Looks like they'll be busy this year though. So many poor fucks are out on the street that they might not even get a quarter clear before their time is up."

"But I thought people couldn't die in Hell."

"You'd think so sister, but no, see the angels got these weapons that erase a demon from existence. There's even something of a black market for them around Pentagram city," Angel interjects, and then looks thoughtful "I know my boss has got like a vault full of them. Enough that he regularly lends out a few to people to assassinate people he really wants just gone from existence," so even in Hell you can die. That's… disheartening. Why did these Angels do this? Weren't people already in Hell? Why do they need to give them a final death? Especially those who were out on the streets? Could they have gotten people I knew? Had they gotten Alec?

"Why do they do this?" I ask and Angel just shrugs.

"Something to do with overpopulation, I don't know," this is starting to sound like Hell has a problem as bad if not worse than Earth Bet's problem with Endbringers. Only it was with the supposed angels of God rather than some toys of a depressed eldritch Entity under the subconscious control of a mass murdering egomaniac.

"What's a purge like?" instead of Angel answering, Skidmark does.

"It starts out with the toll of a bell. Then the next thing you know, the sky splits open and angels start descending from heaven into hell. They're tall, almost mechanical like things. More like Terminators with wings and fucked up faces and shit than winged humans. They go through the streets fucking up everything that they come across. It's meticulous. First they try to kill everything on the streets. It's a slaughter at first, then slowly the survivors get whittled away until there are none left on the streets. Usually there are enough survivors on the streets that by the time the bell tolls, the angels don't start breaking down doors… but from what I've heard, a few years, when angels start breaking down doors are the worst years. See property here in Hell is kinda a big thing. Since the angels are so systematic in the purge, if you got a house, then you're probably safe if you keep quiet. But if all or most of the survivors out on the street get purged… well then they start knocking and searching for a new target. They go door to door, breaking shit and searching. You get cornered like that? You're fucked," Skidmark shuddered. "Sometimes… you can still hear their screams…"

"Hey weren't you one of the street survivors one of those years?" Angel asks. Skidmark had a far away look on his face as if he was seeing something else. I can see his eyes were getting watery as he keeps blinking faster than before, his fist clench, and a scowl appears on his face.

"Yeah… first year… I had just met back up with Squealer… Me, Squealer, and Harry, that was the old guy I was talking about before there Skitty, the guy who helped me find Squealer. We were celebrating around a drum fire. Saved up some money for some of the good shit, something some nerds called Daedric Lava Whiskey. Was some pretty good shit, when we heard the bell toll. We didn't know what it meant so me and Squeals kept drinking, but Harry. He got this look on his face. Then he threw his shit away and grabbed the guns we had gotten. I was still figuring out magic and shit so I had only just done it to my pistol. Now Harry, he was the most lucky go guy you could ever meet. Nothing got him down and nothing ever scared him. But the moment that bell tolled, and the sky split? He looked terrified. We ran into an alleyway. You ever been in the alleys Skitty?" I remember my short jaunt through them. With the senses granted by my antennae, I had been able to avoid any trouble in the alleyway I had been walking down. Though there had been a lot. Demon dogs, cats, rats, and that was all I could hear. There were smells there too. Some smelt sweet and inviting, but I could also smell the iron like tang of blood there too so I had avoided those paths.

"I've been down them once."

"So you know you only go down them deep, like we did, if you're truly desperate, or stupid."

"Or ya got a lot of firepower," Angel adds in.

"Yeah, either way, we start booking it, it was in one of those intersections that I saw my first angel. We came running into the place and suddenly saw it there just as it cut down some poor fucker. Sliced his throat then as he was gagging on his own blood, she shoved a spear right through him. We watched as the spear came out of his still screaming mouth, blood spilling out as his eyes rolled up and he collapsed to the ground. Something sort of came out of him, like a mist, pouring all over and colouring the ground a weird colour. We hightailed it out of there as fast as we could, and started climbing. Big mistake but we didn't have an option. Another fuck came flying down on us, Harry shouted at us to duck and we did so, but she wasn't going for us. No she was going for Harry, sliced him deep and he just lay there while we got up and ran for a sky light."

"Fuckin' hell, how'd ya escape," Angel asks. Skidmark didn't look at him, but he gave a small nod.

"Sewer system."

"Sewers? There're always angels down there on purge night," Angel interrupts. Good to know if I ever need some place to hide on 'purge night' from the terminator angels I was hearing about. Skidmark however ignores him as he goes on.

"After we fell through the skylight we found that there was a tunnel in the bathroom so we jumped down there. Got lost in the tunnels, after that it was a fucking game of hid and seek all fucking night against two angels, and whatever angel patrols were down there. Eventually we found a dark enough place in the sewers, found a pipe that was full, and drowned ourselves in there," Angel looks at him in disgust while I look incredulous. However after a moment I realise that it wasn't that bad a plan for something on the fly. If you can't die by any other means than an angel's weapon than it might be a good idea to just kill yourself and hid your body until it's all over. Though sewer waters are supposed to be moving usually, at least when a person flushes, at least I think so.

"How did you keep your bodies from being discovered after you drowned yourself? Wouldn't the water have dislodged you eventually?"

"Kinda what we had been hoping on, that it would dislodge us eventually after we drowned. We swam deep into the pipe is how, plus there ain't a lot of water flow on purge night, just the usual flow of the water there. Either way, it worked. Our corpses didn't come out of there for a month though… Drowning fucking sucks…" we sit there for a while. Skidmark looking disgruntled while we watch him. Neither Angel nor I are rude enough to interrupt Skidmark's brood. I never knew Harry, but considering that not only had he reunited Skidmark and Squealer together, he had obviously been a friend. Skidmark looks up towards Angel Dust.

"You see what you fucking did ya spider cracker? We was having a good fucking time then you had to fuck it all up and shit."

"Hey you're the one that ain't telling Doll face here basic fuckin' information."

"Pff, fuck off cracker," Skidmark gets up and heads towards another room, "If I'm gonna have to listen to your bitch ass talk shit you better have some fucking beer or some shit."

"Yeah I got a twelve pack yesterday, got a good deal for it."

"Like a sale and shit, or you just sucked off the manager?"

"Eh, sale, the manager was an uptight broad," not really knowing what to do in this situation I just sit there, Angel meanwhile examines his nails. With nothing else to do I ponder on the angels. Skidmark had said that they were like Terminators. I have never watched the movie myself. Mom and Dad had always said it was too violent for us when we would watch movies. I think I remember there being a movie night with it as the feature film while I was in the Wards. I had blown off the invitation though in favour of examining the latest footage of Defiant and Dragon's fight against the Nine so I could take some notes on their current roster, as well as possible strategies to use against them.

If they were like terminators though, then it might be prudent to watch it, or better yet, to examine some footage of the purge. If the purge nights weren't censored like Endbringer fights had been, then there should be a plethora of videos and such to examine in case I ever found myself in the situation of defending myself against an angel. Even if it was censored however, if it was a Hell wide phenomenon, then it would be somewhere, like the magic tomes that we had talked about being on Hell's version of the internet, I would just have to dig deep to find the information I might need in the future. For now though…

"Do you mind if I try something out?" I ask Angel as I switch back to trying to focus on magic once more.

"Sure baby cakes, but just so you know, I charge double for women," I don't even roll my eyes. First I start feeling and sensing at the phantom lump that had been growing since I had supper last night, and the sensation had only gotten worse since breakfast. I feel around the area in my mouth, and once more find a sort of second set of almost nipple-like things. The first smaller set being there for spit and such things and more on the lower mouth than the others, the others though are bigger, thicker, and more on my lower tongue. If I was correct, and my appearance actually meant something then I might be able to make silk. Not as protective as spider silk but it would at least work better than transforming my various limbs into my costume, especially my new antennae since those senses could come in handy. Kind of like how you can force spit out of their little spit nipples, I flex a bit and-

I rush my hand up to my mouth as a pair of gooey silken projectiles fire out of my mouth and into my hand. There is still some liquid silk in my mouth and I spit it out onto my hand. Both the initial projectiles and the silk still left in my mouth harden into some silken thread.

"I assume that was supposed to happen?" Angel asks and I nod.

"Yeah… It seems that I can make silk."

"Huh, cool I guess," I make to reply to him that yes, it was in fact cool. When I hear something. I turn my head and move my antennae towards the doorway. With my regular hearing I can't hear anything, but with my antennae now out, I can hear the stomping of feet up the stairs, at least six pairs of them. I rest my hand on the knife I had gotten from the lizard man and get up from my seated position.

"Something the matter?" Angel asks as he watches me.

"I don't-" I hear the tell tale racketing of a gun and the cocking back of a few pistol slides. I don't know who they are after, but better to be prepared. I make my way over to the wall beside the door, my knife now out and ready to take the first person that might try to break in.

"Six men I think, they have guns and are coming up the stairs. Anyone they might be after?" I look back at Angel and see that he's already pulled a Tommy gun with some spider decals on it from somewhere.

"Not that I know of. This is Valentino's turf. No one's stupid enough to try shit on an Overlords turf."

"Then you're underestimating human stupidity," I can think of a few idiots that might decide it was a good idea to attack an Overlord's territory, though I didn't hear anything going on outside so they must be here for some sort of mission or something. I have a sneaking suspicion that they are going to come to this door. Skidmark comes walking back in from what I assume was Angel's kitchen and sees us with our guns out.

"We might have company," I simply say as Skidmark finishes a sip, puts down the beer, and pulls out a pistol from behind his back. He must not have been expecting trouble since he left his baseball cannon in the van. With his other hand he pulls out a cell phone and starts tapping. Outside I can hear someone talking.

"She went in here," I hear someone outside say as footsteps get close to the door.

"They're here," I tell Angel and Skidmark softly. Angel has taken cover behind the table while Skidmark has entered another room and is peeking out with his pistol. I hear a run up from outside and the door bursts open. I stab at the breacher's stomach and wrap a hand around his head to try and pull him away so I can deal with him out of Angel and Skidmark's crossfire. The breacher is able to barely stop my knife however we do topple back my way. I hear some gunfire as Skidmark and Angel open up on the invaders, and something metallic hits the ground by me.

The demon looks like some sort of hell hound with black fur with red highlights in it around where his hair is thicker. We struggle on the ground for a moment. He's trying to force me to drop my knife by putting pressure on my wrist. I push out with my extra limbs and decide to oblige him. I drop the knife into my other right hand and deliver a few swift jabs straight into his stomach. Surprise and pain fills his eyes and I push him off. As he is curled on the floor I waste no time stabbing him in the throat, then as he's gurgling on the ground I roughly jerk his head up by the snout and shove roughly through the soft tissue under his jaw straight up. I meet only a bit of resistance as it penetrates past the roof of his mouth. His eyes roll back and he is no longer gagging on blood. I feel something come from him to me but I ignore it in favour of the fight.

I leave my knife in him and spot the thing that fell beside me. Some sort of carbine. The shooting has gone a bit quiet as I grab for the carbine, and suddenly I'm hit with the worst migraine I've ever felt. I grunt in pain. This must be what Lisa felt whenever she used her power too much. It lessens for less than a second before coming back, and then lessens again. I look up and see the grey bird demon who had been staring at me before. He's looking between all three of us and holding his arms to the sides of his head. He's in the doorway luckily or the others he is with might have started pouring in and we would be done for. However, as I try to reach for the carbine again, he looks at me extra long before moving to the others. The others Birdman's with says something but I can't register it well enough with the pain. They were going to come in and this would be over.

Remembering how my silk launched out like a projectile, I wait for him to look at me again and then fire off twin streams of silk at him. He shields himself from my projectile silk and I reach for the gun. Angel seems to have the same idea. I don't bother trying for anything fancy. Just center mass and pull the trigger. The carbine gives a kick with each of my three pulls of the trigger, and I hear Angel's Tommy and a bunch of other guns firing as I watch the bird man get ripped to shreds by lead. Once more, I feel something.

"Suppressing fire now!" I shout hoping that Angel understands what I mean. Whether or not he does however is irrelevant as he keeps firing at the corpse of Birdman and keeping their other compatriots from trying to advance through the room. Considering the kick from the carbine, this thing must at least have the power for what I'm planning on doing. I try to ignore the gunfire and focus more on my antennae's magic sense. My hopes pay off and I see some of the fuzziness of magic through the walls. Sighting the centre mass of the largest concentration of fuzz at the back of their group, I let out three shots, and hear a scream of pain that brings a slight smile to my lips. Quickly I switch targets to the less powerful centres of fuzz. Three shots, switch, three shots, switch, three shots.

I approach the door and peek around the corner, ready to duck back into Angel's apartment if any of them happen to still be in fighting condition. All four however are in no shape to fight as they are bleeding out and curled on the ground. Even so, I line up an execution shot for each, ending any kind of threat they might pose to us, until they heal back up. With each execution, I feel something. The raccoon demon at the back "gives" the same as the dog demon and the bird man, but the weasel, ant and canine demons barely gave enough for me to even notice. I pick up the pistols that they had and retreat back into the apartment. They had come for someone, likely me considering they had said that "she" was in this apartment, and they might have called in back up just in case they failed. Angel still has his Tommy up but he has his other guns on the table being reloaded with his other pairs of hands.

"They're dead?" Angel asks. I nod as I engage the safety and find the button to release the magazine of the carbine. I look over the magazine, and spot on the side it says that the magazine has a 25 round capacity. I shot five guys with three bullets each, then four more with their executions, meaning I had about six bullets left, not ideal, maybe I should have been more conservative with my bullets. I'll have to see if two rifle calibre rounds were enough to take down a demon long enough to execute them.

I load the magazine back into the carbine and start patting down the dog demon. Luckily, He had two spare magazines. I also see a small bag that was tied to his pants belt. I untie that with my other limbs as I look him over for any kinds of symbols, but I don't find anything of the like. Who were these people working for? I find a phone instead of a symbol. Generic background, most people like to personalise their phones, and password protected too. I put that in one of the pockets of my costume. Meanwhile I swap out the nearly empty magazine for a fresh one and put both the nearly empty one and the spare in the bag. I could hold the extra mags in there. Skidmark is already on the rather small bird man. In fact, with how small it looked, it almost looked more like a bird boy than a bird man.

Unfortunate but irrelevant at the moment, he had made his choice. We'd just defended ourselves. I start to make my way to the door to loot the other bodies of their ammo when I start hearing gunfire outside. Using my antennae, I sense the outside while I step beside the apartment window and peek out. I can hear a lot of gunfire and the squealing of tires. Lots of low caliber rounds going off, a not insignificant amount of higher calibers were being fired down there. I peek out the window and see people running for cover, taking videos on their phones, or running towards the firefight cocking pistols or ratcheting larger guns. Most of the ones with the guns looked to be Valentino's enforcers.

Keeping from being spotted, I duck low and crouch walk to the other side of the window. It isn't the smartest idea to be near a window when a gunfight was going on, but I want to see who's fighting, maybe it would come in use later. I peek again, and all I can see is a large force of black clad and masked people advancing down the street, taking cover where they can and opening fire on damn well everyone and everything. I duck away from the window quickly before any stray bullets could accidentally find their way coming through the window. Unfortunately that little risk didn't exactly pay off, but maybe I could find something on their phones?

Skidmark's already gotten to the second one I had executed outside of Angel's apartment, the ant. Angel meanwhile was looting the third, the canine. I take the liberty to waltz up to the one at the back that I had shot, the raccoon. He was the best dressed of them all. I push him over so that his corpse was lying on it's back and start rifling through his pockets hoping to find his phone, and hopefully find it unlocked.

Then I hear a catchy little jingle coming from Skidmark. I turn around and see him pull out a stylish and expensive looking cell phone that wasn't his. He probably got it from one of our assailants. He hits the receive call button and waits a second as a voice from the other side comes through.

"Brainiache, this is Snipes, did you take down that mind controlling bitch?" Brainiache. I know that name. I think he was a Ward in some other PRT/Protectorate department. We had met briefly during one of the cross department meetups. He had the power to induce highly debilitating migraines to any that he saw. He had been pretty new and didn't really take his Wards training seriously, more there to have fun and meet other capes while being a hero. I… it's vague but I think I remember briefly controlling him, before he was killed by an errant blast from Scion though I couldn't really be sure. There was so many capes and powers under my control it was hard to pick out just a single one. While I pondered the name, Skidmark got a grin on his face.

"I'm sorry Snipes, it seems that Birdbrain ain't able to take your call at the moment, I can take a message though," the call after that went very quiet for a moment, before the voice on the other end, Snipes, comes through again, a barely restrained rage clearly audible for us to hear.

"What… did you do… to Brainiache?" I watch the phone intently. I think I remember Snipes as well. Another Ward. I don't remember if they were from the same department but it wouldn't be too far fetched. She had been some sort of minor Tinker/Thinker combo who specialised in long range sniper rifles and killing or incapacitating from afar. In training exercises with her we had to deal with an extremely good sniper who used fast acting tranquilliser darts. I had dealt with her easy enough when I had my bugs back then in the one training match we had been told to participate in. Simply fill her rifle with enough bugs while munching at delicate Tinker parts and the rifle had been rendered inoperable. I didn't expect to have as easy a time if she was on the field and baying for my blood this time however.

"Oh Birdbrain here? Well me and my pals introduced him to the classic American greeting to home invaders, lead, and lots of it," Angel joins in on taunting the ex Ward.

"Looks like his blood got splattered half way up the damn wall on the other side of the damn room, haha," Skidmark added helpfully. Snipes had been hot headed and had raged when I had defeated her and her team in the training exercise. She said it wasn't fair and demanded a rematch. I think I had just brushed her off. I didn't really care to be there. It was more of a meet and greet, and I had more training exercises to do with other teams that were more competent than hers.

"When I find you fucks, I'm going to blow your fucking brains out, burn your corpses and spread the ashes all across Pentagram city," I'm tempted to tell Snipes to stand down. While I had never been a ward team leader, I had commanded enough authority that people listened usually listened to me back then.

However, she was after me. Apparently someone had seen me just long enough to be able to positively identify me as the one mind controlling people at the end of the world. The two had known me, or rather known of me, during my Ward days and had probably spread that Weaver had been the one mind controlling people at the end of the world. I didn't like it, but this costume was at the moment a liability. I'm about to transform it back to my rather comfortable fluffy fur coat when I realise that I had already been spotted in this costume, and people were acting on the appearance of it. They had already seen myself as Weaver come in with Skidmark. If they spotted Skidmark without Weaver, but me instead, it might paint a target on my back as well. Looks like it's back to secret identities, at least at the moment. After this I should look into possibly a different costume, or possibly an old one.

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Taylor really didn't care about people while she was in the Wards beyond her team did she?

Anywho, if you have any questions about this feel free to ask since I will probably try to answer them to the best of my ability without spoiling too much hopefully!

Also yes I will be going back and breaking up those paragraphs at the end.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 5

Combat combat combat, it's all about the combat this chapter. so sit back, relax, and enjoy some mindless fighting.

Also does anyone have a trick to possibly check for past tense? I keep doing it by accident and I have to go over chapters multiple times to fix it.

As always feedback is highly appreciated.

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"End the call and hand me the phone," I tell Skidmark.

"What, but why?" I walk over to him and hold my hand out. He gives me the phone anyways, call still going.

"Weaver, you bitch! I heard what you fucking did! You think you can just fucking-" I hit the end call button on the phone and am greeted by a background with Brainiache's Demon form posing and taking a selfie with a long beaked brown bird holding a sniper rifle and a corpse underneath them. The snipe demon is looking proud and embarrassed at the same time as she is also posing with two fingers out while on top her kill. Her two fingers however are more hesitant and close to her body than Brainiache's. I assume that the snipe demon is Snipes. Must have been why she was so angry when Skidmark and Angel were taunting her about how we blew Brainiache apart.

"Angel, do you know how to find the number on these things?" I ask. Angel however just shrugs and pulls out a flip phone for me to see before putting it away. I look over to Skidmark.

"Yeah I can find it. Should be in the settings," I toss him the phone.

"Good, find it and put your phone into it. If we get separated we can keep in contact," I look over to Angel Dust. "Will you come along with us?"

"Hell yeah doll face, I can't let my dealer bite the dust. Who else is dumb enough to try and muscle in on Valentino's drug racket?"

"Hey! I thought me and Val was good!?" Skidmark remarks and Angel snorts as he lets out a small giggle.

"Pfft, you wouldn't even make it down the street if I wasn't bribing the local lieutenant with my sweet ass every time you came over."

"Less talking, Skidmark, get the number of the phone and then get your number into that phone, we need to get out of here quick before the mob comes," I try to get them back on task while I watch the stairs.

"Yeah yeah, just a sec," Skidmark says while waving vaguely in my direction as he has his head stuck in Brainiache's phone.

"Angel do you have Squealer's number?"

"Sure do, had it ever since Skids here passed out on my couch one time after a bender and ended up here instead of home by accident. Actually how we first met."

"Cute," I comment. While that was a nice story and such, we need to stay focused here. "Skidmark, where's Squealer right now?"

"Probably went to meet with the rep to drop off the sheit. So she'd be a coupla blocks away now at least. Uh, that way I think," Skidmark points off in a direction.

"Angel, any place over there where we can meet Squealer at without getting onto a main street?"

"Yeah sure, I know a place. I've been on a few corners over there. There's a discount shop called "Faust's Discount Deals." We can take the side streets and a few of the shorter alleyways to get there quickly enough."

"Good, call Squealer and tell her to meet us at Faust's. Skidmark, have you put your number in there yet?"

"Yeah I got it in there and shit," I can hear the gunshots getting closer while we talk. From what I saw, Valentino's enforcers were trickling in to try and defend the street, but they hadn't been able to muster in full force. They could maybe hold off the crowd of vigilantes back for a couple of minutes, but they would be pulling back soon to regroup and counter attack. We need to be gone before they are routed.

"Good, pass me the phone. let's get moving then. I don't want to be here when the mob shows up," Skidmark tosses me Brainiache's phone and I slip it into a pocket that was in my dark Weaver costume. The gunfire is getting louder and more numerous as we wait around. Where before it had been a couple of people shooting, it is starting to sound like a war down there.

"Fucking hell, how many are out there?"

"I don't know, looked about maybe a hundred or so out there fighting a couple groups of Valentino's men," I start making my way down the stairs, making sure to check corners, and I use a bit of magic to transform my mask back on. Angel Dust's neighbours hopefully hadn't gotten a good look at my face, the few that had peeked out had ducked back into their apartments when they saw me walk out of the apartment and execute the ones I had shot through the wall. Other neighbours peek their heads out as we pass, looking at us with curious eyes. As we get near the ground floor, the gunfire has gotten closer. I look to Angel.

"Is there a back door?"

"Yeah, just down the stairs."

"Good, you take point. You know these streets better than I," meanwhile Skidmark has been fiddling with his phone, has started calling someone, and finally the ringing gives away to Squealer's voice.

"Hey Skiddy, any trouble?"

"Yeah, mother fucking vigilante shits fucking showed up to fuck up Skitty."

"Wait shit really!?" we descend the last set of stairs and just as we reach the bottom a pair of demons, a monkey demon and a bovine demon, are running in. Myself and Angel open fire on the demons, I fire five shots from my carbine, two into the monkey demon in front, a chest shot and attempted head shot, and three into the bovine demon behind the monkey. The first is filled with small arms fire from Angel while the one behind I manage to slot two of the three shots into his head. I feel a small rush of energy as the two die.

I note my accuracy, decent, but not as good as when I had my bugs. I'm really missing my bugs right now. They had allowed me to cheat with guns, almost allowing me to trace a line to the target and I could guide my body to fire along that line. Now though, I have to rely on the accuracy I had gained during my time in the PRT firing range. While I'm accurate, without my bugs I'm more likely to miss.

"Jesus! I'm coming Skiddy!"

"Babe, we're gonna get the fuck outta here! Meet us at, uh, where the fuck is Faust's?" we follow Angel as he makes his way around the stairs and towards the back of the room, I take the rear and keep my carbine trained on the front door. Someone else tries to get through the door, I see a gun and let loose another three shots. None connect however and the demon about to enter takes cover by the doorway. I send another two to keep him and anyone else pinned. Then I follow Angel Dust and Skidmark through a door to another hallway.

"Back door's this way," Angel says. While I had been shooting, Angel had returned to just using two hands and is only carrying two relatively light looking pistols, likely so he won't get weighed down. I wish I had the opportunity to pay attention to him pulling and putting weapons away. A power like Miss Militia's would be a god send at this moment, not having to worry about ammunition or even having a more destructive weapon to make our pursuers question whether we're really worth it.

"'Kay that's fucking great and shit but I still don't fucking know where Faust's is!"

"It's down Sucker's street, if you see a Chinese restaurant lookin' place, go down that road, that's 180th ave but the sign for that avenue got blown up a month ago and no one has replaced it. Faust's place has an inflated demon mascot in front."

"You get that?" Skidmark asks into his phone. We near the end of the hall and outside of the window a figure appears. Angel however lets loose a barrage of pistol shots. Causing spider web cracks to spread throughout the glass as the figure on the other side splatters the window with red.

"Sucker's street and 180th, gotcha, see you there."

"If she gets the time, tell her to cover up the merchant's symbol!" I call out to Skidmark. I see the door we had just gone through open up behind us as we reach the end of the hall. I fire five shots through it before following the others to the back door that is nearby the window. The back door is hiding in a little alcove that is hard to see from the hallway. I feel another rush of energy. Seems I hit someone.

"-up the Merchant stuff on the side!" Skidmark calls into his phone before hanging up and running through the door. It's some sort of fire escape but as we go through no alarm fires off. Guess that was disabled some time ago.

Angel is behind a dumpster by the door and has swapped over to one of his custom decaled Tommy guns. Was that a quirk of his power or did he just like to make them that way?

I take cover by the door while Skidmark fires his pistol over the dumpster at a few demons that try to head down our alleyway. I spot a few downed demons laying on the concrete, bleeding out, and then I spot a demon poking his head out at the other end of the alley and trying to line up a shot at us. Lining up my own shot, I breathe out as I try to stabilise my aim, and send off a trio of shots. I see the first impact by his face, sending brick and mortar fragments flying out and joining the rest of the debis that is flying up from Angel's blind firing. The next two however seem to hit him, one in his chest, and the other catching his neck. Another rush of energy. If only I knew more than just how to blast everything close to me away.

I hear hoof beats from down the hall we just came from and I aim my pistol in my lower right arm towards the hallway. As someone comes sprinting down the hall, I open fire and nail him point blank with a half a dozen pistol rounds before I turn my carbine on him and deliver a couple rounds into his chest. The deer-like demon falls back and I see someone else behind him take cover by the wall. I turn my carbine on the drywall of where I think the demon is and let loose a couple shots.

"They're flanking us!" I shout and sporadically fire my pistols at the wall to keep them in cover.

"Damn I wish cherry was here right now," Angel comments as he reloads his Tommy gun and begins blind firing again.

"Gimme a sec I'll make sure the fuckers can't get us from there," Skidmark says and I'm about to ask what he means when he rushes over to me. I get out of his way as he goes past, then he does some sort of gesture with his hand, and I see a blue line form in front of the alcove. More blue lines start forming and sometimes they layer over top. Skidmark's power, or some magical equivalent of it. Good for area denial among other things.

I aim down the alleyway, watching for someone to poke their head out before looking behind us. The way is clear so we could move down it while under covering fire from Angel. Or maybe.

I look to Skidmark who's still laying down layers. It's gotten to the point where it is starting to look like some sort of tinker tech force field. Taking the risk, I poke my head in and use a bit of magic to return my mask into its original antennae form and watch as Skidmark lays down some more force fields. I watch as he quickly designates a line on the ground, and uses that to raise a barrier of magic. The barrier comes with a condition, almost... almost like some sort of, if statement from programming or something. it's close, kind of. Maybe that's my brain coming up with something familiar but it kind of fits with what I'm sensing.

He sets down a barrier and sets the condition of what happens when something interacts with the barrier without a second thought, making it a thin one way acceleration field. I... might be able to do something similar, or maybe even... reverse it? Or I could just add other effects to the barrier. Maybe make it so that whoever touches the barrier sets on fire? I would have to figure out how to make fire though and how exactly it fits together.

My musing is cut off as Skidmark breaks from cover and stands in the open opening fire with his pistol down the hallway. I hear a boom-

"Christ!" I shout but hear nothing. All I can hear is the boom of Skidmark's shots as they pass by his barrier, and the vibration shaking the building. It's like standing next to an explosion. My ears are ringing and everything I'm getting from my antennae is scrambled.

I look over and Angel is trying to say something while a second set of hands are holding his ears. I shake my head and morph my antennae back into my mask. Without the capacity to communicate I need to act and hope that the ringing goes away quickly. Following along with what Skidmark did, I start layering barriers down in the alleyway. Almost immediately I notice that the dust is getting worse down the alleyway as the debris kicked up by Angel's gun starts creating bigger divots and throwing up more dust and debris the more of Skidmark's barriers I put down. I don't put down as many as Skidmark however, I would rather not end up permanently deaf.

I move over to Skidmark and give him a shake. He looks over to me and I motion for us to leave with one of my arms. He nods and we both exit the building. Angel is reloading again and I shake his arm as well. He manifests a pistol but looks over first. I motion that we leave and he nods.

I look back and see a trio of demons come out of the dust only for the first to bounce off my barriers and fly back as if given a very powerful shove. I let loose a trio of shots from my carbine at the three stunned demons. More booms as they pass through and I see showers of red mist fly from each of the three demons as my bullets hit centre mass on each of them. Nearly instantaneously I feel a flow of energy as the demons die in the alleyway.

I'm definitely going to see if I can modify my new weapons with these barriers, especially if I can somehow reduce the sound of the bullet's additional acceleration. Maybe if I could figure out other conditions to add to it, I could add a muffling effect?

Angel rounds a corner and I am about to follow when another of the vigilantes approaches the barriers I had put down. He's a big demon covered head to toe with some sort of scrap armour and armed with something that looks almost like a cannon. He's also riding some sort of scrap moped or motorized bike. I raise my carbine and sight him, though when I pull the trigger but nothing comes out. While I have him sighted he raises his cannon and fires off to the side of the barrier, and I watch as the deep blue of the layered barriers decreases visibly. I turn back around and follow down the turn that Angel and Skidmark had taken. As I run to catch up with them I release the magazine, toss it into the bag I had at my side and rummage around for the other magazines. I grab a magazine and slot it in, then release the catch.

I feel a buzz coming from Brainiache's phone, I pull it up as we run and see a text pop up.

Bigman: Went down allwy geton it birdy

Then another buzz as something else comes up. Was it some sort of group chat? These people had gotten organised fairly quickly, that or they had been working together for some time. Would make sense that in a city full of villains that the vigilante's would group up together.

Aerial Ace: k gotcha

"We got more company!" I shout as we enter onto a side street and I can kind of hear it. My shout is still somewhat muffled but at least the ringing from the bullets is going away quickly. People are looking and pointing at us, some have gotten phones out while it looks like a couple of thugs that had Valentino patches start scrambling about, some heading into alleyways towards where the main crowd of vigilante's are, while some are heading towards us. Though when they see Angel, he makes finger guns, pretends to shoot them and they stop looking our way. Seems they are on our side for now.

"Might be some kind of aerial attack," I continue.

"Mother fucker I hate fucking flyers!" Skidmark shouts back. Then just as we are about to pass by an alleyway that a squad of Valentino's thugs are entering, a jet of flame pours out, covering the gang members with flames. They scream out in agony while thrashing around, dropping and rolling but the flames stick to the ground like napalm. I watch the thugs thrash for a second. With the possible range on that flamethrower we might not get far.

"Skidmark! Barriers, now!" I shout and don't wait as I start putting down barriers. Skidmark, I note, starts putting down barriers immediately as the barrier layers we are setting down quickly create a bright blue glow. Angel, while avoiding the fire, steps out and begins opening fire with his Tommy gun. Once more, I'm nearly deafened as what looks like some sort of miniature Balrog gets pushed back by the bullets that Angel is putting down range.

"Come on!" I shout as hard as I can. I don't want to get caught up in a fight against some fliers. Sure I could possibly fly with my wings but I haven't had any practice with it whatsoever.

We break away from firing at the mini Balrog and head across the street away from the fighting. We are nearing another alleyway when I hear some sort of motor vehicle heading our way. I look and there's the scrap demon riding his moped this way with his cannon pointed right at us, while up above I see something. Not even thinking I dive for cover in the alleyway. I hear a blast and the building corner behind me breaks apart as it's hit by whoever is shooting at me. With that moped demon we are probably not going to be able to get away quickly enough. I roll over to the wall that will cover me from his view and sit up with my back against the building.

The scrap demon rounds the corner on his moped and I watch as he stuffs something in his gun. Seeing my chance, I fire a half a dozen shots into his scrap moped and two more at his gun. Scrap demon gets off his moped and is rearing up to clobber me with his spiky fists as I release a blast of magical energy and he smashes back into the wall. Seeing my opportunity, I do a half leap from crouch and straddle him. I jab both my pistols under his scrap helmet and into his unprotected chin. I start pulling the triggers on my guns as fast as they can fire as I mag dump whatever is left in my pistols into his chin. I also round my carbine on him and let loose two shots into where I think I can see eyes.

I feel a rush of energy, greater than both Brainiache and any of the other demons I've killed lately. I can kind of see into the helm and the picture isn't pretty. From the looks of it the skull of the demon had burst open like an egg. It just looks like a bloody mess inside of the helm and I can't even identify anything specific. As I get up from the dispatched demon, I realise that I'm covered in blood again.

"Fucking hell," Skidmark remarks as he comes over to see my handy work. "First Lung and now this, remind me not to fucking piss you off."

"You sure you ain't a spider?" Angel asks as he comes over. "Cause the way you straddled him, then killed him, well lets just say I know a nice black widow that's famous for that," bug jokes… fun. Maybe if we weren't in such a dangerous situation I could have taken a crack at that as well. Show off some of the bug jokes I had accidentally found while researching various bugs.

"Had I died in Brockton Bay, I might have been," I say as I gesture down the alleyway while my lower limbs handle the reloading of my various guns.

"Hey, never enough spiders around these days," Angel is about to turn when he looks up to something behind me. Without hesitation I turn, my carbine following as I aim at whatever Angel is looking at, only to see what seems to be a massive rising cloud of smoke.

"Oh shit… we gotta go," Angel remarks and I nod. I let my mask unfold for a second back into my antennae and I can sense a large amount of magic being used in that cloud of smoke. I reform my mask and Skidmark and I start following Angel again.

"What is that?" I ask as we run down the alley to another street.

"That'd be my boss. Valentino. Guess all the gunfire finally interrupted one of his shows. What you're seeing there? That's his smoke, kinda his thing. See he can make his smoke do all kinds of things."

"Like knock out everyone fighting?" I ask.

"More than just that. Lets say he can also make smoke tentacles and other stuff. Either way, I'd rather not get caught up in all that shit, and not just 'cause I don't wanna wake up naked and locked up in someone basement."

"Why's that?" Skidmark asks the obvious question.

"Other than I would really rather not wake up in some guy's basement naked and chained to the wall? Well let's see. I'd probably end up on Val's shit list for being around you, and you Merchants would end up working for Val as a bunch of whores, and I kind of like you guys, you get me drugs so I don't have to buy them from Val, so I don't really want that to happen to ya."

"Like fuck would I let your boss ho my Squealer!" Skidmark shouts in outrage. "Or, uh, you," he adds lamely to me while we jog down the street. I didn't really expect him to care much about me anyways. I'm actually surprised that he actually cared enough to add that last bit. Granted he is trying to recruit me but still.

"What cow-tits? Nah she's got enough brain not to get caught after shit goes tits up. Nah nigga I'm talkin' 'bout you and Dollface," Skidmark?

"Me?" Skidmark echoes my internal question.

"Yeah you, you know, oh hey cross here, that's 180th ave, we're nearly there, just a straight shot down here to Sucker's street and we should be at Fausts. Anyways, you know that lesbian faun couple that Val's got around him all the time, stared in a couple pornos and such?" I have no idea what he is talking about but Skidmark nods along with what Angel's saying.

"Oh yeah, I seen them a few times when me and Squeals are winding down for the day with a nice movie."

"More like winding each other up to go for it, anyways, what if I told ya one of 'em used to be a buck."

"Wait shit really?"

"Yeah, no shit. Watch their debut, "Bad End for Erin," it's old enough that it's probably in the bargain bin or something like that. It's real nice shit. Like, you can see the moment when Erin goes completely fuck drunk when he…" I pull out the magazine from my carbine and quickly check the bullets I have left in the magazine before slotting it back in. I'm definitely not trying to distract myself from their conversation.

"Anyways, that's what he'll do to you if he ever caught ya, probably display ya like a trophy as another rival he crushed or some shit. Not that you're really a rival at all." Angel ignores Skidmark's outburst after such a remark and we enter into the alley that will lead us to Faust's and Squealer.

"And you?" Angel says looking me up and down once more. "Well with that face and that ass, and the fact that people are trying to kill you for being you, you'd probably be joining me up on those billboards," I stare at him hard but he doesn't elaborate, and I prefer it that way. There are much more pressing things to worry about than my possible forced employment in Valentino's organisation.

We exit the alleyway and I can see down the street an inflated demon doing an exaggerated pose with a bag of money. I can also see the Merchant's van, the Merchant's logo having been either erased or sprayed over with black spray paint. As I see Squealer see us, she starts the engine of the van. At the same time, I hear a phone chime as we start running to the van. I pull out Brainiache's phone and hit the accept call button, then speaker while we approach the van.

"You think you can get away that easily?" the person on the other end, Snipes, asks. Then I hear a shot, and pain lances through my right knee. I tumble to the ground, mere meters away from the van. The others turn towards me while I roll and look in the direction of the shot, using my legs to push me back along with my arms.

There are sounds coming from the phone but I ignore them. Snipes has us in her sight, I can see her, or rather I can see the glint of light reflect off her scope and a flash. I let out a blast of energy, and try to direct it forwards, while also putting down a barrier in front of me, trying to...

I feel something hit my head, and then darkness.

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I wake up, bolt upwards and let out a blast of energy forwards… and accidentally send Skidmark flying back. The van shudders as he hits the back and lets out an oof.

"Haha, holy shit you sent him flying," Angel says beside me. He's kneeling in the back of the van.

"The hell's going on back there?" Squealer shouts from the front. I look to the front and see the cityscape going by in the windows.

"Yup, moment you went down Skids started putting down barriers."

"Guess I put enough down or something, Oooooh, shit girl. Ah! Fuck my back. Agh. Mmmmmmhh."

"Yeah, that, plus your magic blast, I guess kept the bullet from hittin' ya too hard."

"How long was I out?" Angel shrugs while Skidmark pulls himself from the van doors I smashed him into while he presses a hand against his back, a pained expression.

"I don't know, a minute, the bullet didn't exactly get all the way through ya skull, it's actually kinda stuck there, Skids was trying to get it out when ya blasted him."

"Sorry," I apologise lamely to Skidmark. Skidmark just waves it off however with his other hand as slowly he starts looking less and less pained.

"Nah nah, it's fine. Egh. Good thing we left those guns though. Shit. Or ya'd have fuckin' blown my head off like that other poor fucker," Skidmark straightens up a bit and stands up once more.

"Did she try to follow us?" I ask, this time however, Squealer answers.

"Yeah she did. Had some guy with wings or whatever try to follow us, but we lost them in a couple of seconds. Wing guy was like a couple blocks away, and I turned onto the main road. Lots of vans like ours on it."

"Alright good," now that we're safe, I lay back once more, and let out a sigh. I let my costume unfold along with my mask, and just lay there on the van floor in my borrowed clothes. Quickly though, I lean up once more. Since we have some down time… Maybe?

"You know that's not the first time I've done that."

"Hmm, done what?" Angel asks.

"Mutilated someone while straddling them."

"Okay…"

"Right, Lung," Skidmark pipes in. "Didn'tchu cut out his eyes or some shit?"

"Wait really? Damn girl, you're brutal. Remind me to never let you take charge in bed, 'cause I'd rather not end up like some noble's play thing after they're done," Mentally I note to watch out for the nobility here since they seem to be rather excessive with their "playthings." Things die off after that as we ride on…

I had meant to make a joke there…


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Poor Aerial Ace, always out of position to try to get the bad guys.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 6

Things wind back down as the group escape the mob, and Taylor looks into locating where her friend Alec might be.

I had been actually questioning where to take this at this point as while I know the destination, I don't know the proper route to take. While I may like some side attractions, I don't know if I will actually bring them out.

As always, any and all feedback is highly appreciated.

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I check on my leg which they had managed to bandage up somewhat decently with what little they have, which appears to be a tee-shirt. I look over to Skidmark and note that some of his shirt is ripped off. I put some pressure on the wound to try and keep it from bleeding as much, as the shirt bandage is growing increasingly red.

Actually, I could possibly pull back my limb like Angel showed me with my arms. Would that stop the bleeding at least? Or would it cause internal bleeding? Experimentally I attempt the same transformation to my leg as I did when I hid my lower arms. The leg disappears for a moment, then I exert a bit of magic to bring it back.

I frown, the blood is still spreading.

"Can you help me put pressure on this Skidmark?" I ask as I put my hand back.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Angel?" I ask seeing as he's still standing off to the side. He doesn't look too concerned however.

"What me? Sorry sister, these clothes and this fur don't mix with blood doll-face. Besides, with our natural healing you'll be hard pressed to die of something like that."

"Really?"

"Yup," Angel says as he rises and puts a hand to the wall of the van. "Small wound like that? I say healed in a couple of minutes at most if you keep the pressure up. Longer if you just let it bleed and start moving around and such."

"That good to know," I muse as I look over my leg wound. It doesn't feel like it is healing, but then, a person doesn't really feel anything as their body scabs a scrape over. "Anything else that might be good to know about my new demon hood?" I continue. Angel strikes a pose with his hand reaching underneath his chin.

"Well, other than the fact that we can use magic and are harder to kill than the average human, we also don't age, well, the ones of us that were humans don't age. The Hellborn age a bit, but they're like super slow ageing so you could be dealing with your little guy being a lil scamp for a while there," the last part is addressed to Skidmark and Squealer.

"Other than, well the natural stuff that some demons get right off the bat, like me being able to make a web and you with your silk spit, we can also transform into our true demon form."

"True demon form? The fuck you talking about?"

"We have a more demonic form beyond this one?" Angel shrugs at our questions.

"Eh, yeah, kinda. Some people call it a true demon form. I don't know myself. I just know it makes you more powerful and stuff."

"If you know that it makes you more powerful, then why didn't you use it when we were fighting?" I ask both curious and mildly incredulous. Angel once more shrugs at my question.

"'Cause my 'true demon form' doesn't actually change anything when I use it, especially since I'm more of a gunslinger than a magic man, ya dig?" seeing an opportunity, I transform my mask back into antennae.

"How do you summon your guns? Do you make them or do you just pull them from a pocket dimension?"

"It's the second one. I got all my babies here custom made or custom decaled after a while," at the mention of his guns, he proceeds to pull one out of his pocket dimension. He points out to the custom decals that he has all over his Tommy gun. I note how the magic swirls around his hand as he pulls up his decaled gun, how it seems to reach into something and pull something out. "How'd you figure it out?"

"There was a cape in the Bay named Circus, also on Coil's payroll. She was a grab bag cape who had a pocket dimension that she used to hold her tools and likely loot."

"God damn it! I swear to God everyone who wasn't one of the gangs was sucking on that mans dick."

"Not always willingly," I comment, remembering back to Lisa. "He really started pushing to bring on more capes during the time when the Undersider's became Warlords and took over most of the underworld. Even Leet and Über were on his payroll at the end there."

"Sounds like my boss, only with super villains instead of whores," I nod along with Angel's statement.

"Nearly took control of the heroes too. Only we killed him before he was even able to properly make use of them… I learned later that he was the shortest lived PRT director in history."

"Huh, really. He sounds like he was a big shot before ya offed him. You think he's the reason these schmucks came to blast ya?" I shrug as we keep pressure on my leg. Though, the bleeding has gone down, and the pressure doesn't hurt as much.

"No, there was some other reason. I think I got at least one of them killed during my final days on Earth," Angel winces at that.

"Oof, sucks to be them I guess. Killed by ya twice. Ya know if they didn't try to fuck you up on Val's turf ya might have gotten yourself an eternal enemy the moment they regenerated," my expression turns inquisitive while I look at Angel.

"Why would that not be the case?" after all, if a person has eternity ahead of them, excluding angel attacks that is, then wouldn't they inevitably end up in a position to try to kill those that wronged them?

"Well Val ain't exactly the kind of person that just lets things go. If he catches them, they're gonna find out pretty quick what he does to people who fuck with him on his turf," considering that if he caught any of us he would turn us into whores, I can guess what the various dead vigilantes' fates will be.

"Actually I should probably get back there. Val ain't know where I am right now, and he can get pretty possessive. Plus, I can put in a "good" word for your attackers," Angel puts in some quotation marks around good.

"What? Ya can't stay Angie?" Squealer asks from the front.

"Nah, with raiders and shit running around, Val's gonna want to get all of his favourites together so that he can make sure we don't get hurt. Can't make a porno with dead stars am I right?" I watch as he finally puts his Tommy gun away into his pocket dimension. I watch as it disappears and, like before, note how the magic interacts with the gun. It's similar to hiding away limbs.

"Yeah, makes sense. Next time you're over though, make sure to bring Fat Nuggets, Mark loves 'em."

"Yeah sure, I don't see why not," considering that Angel is a close friend of the Merchants, and one of Valentino's favourites, this is a golden opportunity that I can't let slide away.

"Angel," I begin my question. "Would you be able to tell us what is going on with Valentino?"

"What like a snitch?"

"Not exactly how I would put it. While learning his secrets would be nice I was more thinking along the lines of informing us of what he may be thinking of doing on the day to day, or what he may be looking into doing."

"So what you're telling me is that you want me to be a gossip monger on my boss?" Angel gives me a hard stare, before he shrugs, "Eh sure why not? I already tell Cherri all this stuff anyways. I'll just ask her to see if she can make it so we can all be on call at the same time."

"Good," the van begins to slow down, so I ask my final question for Angel. "Do you know how to find someone in Hell?" Angel opens up the back of the van as we come to a stop but he looks back, and his eyes look up in thought.

"Ah, I think I know a guy or two. I'd have to check but I can call you back with his number and such. He's old fashioned however so you'll have to make an appointment with him before he'll even think of getting to work on finding your guy."

"Who ya lookin' for? Your pops?" Sherrel asks, concern in her voice. I don't even want to think about that at the moment. I… I know that Lisa was keeping something from me. Someone had died that she wasn't telling me about. I… I hope it wasn't Dad.

"No, I lost a teammate a while back. Regent."

"He the faggy looking renaissance guy right?" I want to glare at Skidmark but I remember that I had thought the same of Alec when I first saw him, if not in such a crass way. It didn't look like Angel minded the rudeness either. Hell, Alec wouldn't care either now that I think about it. He would probably have some quip prepared and go along with it.

"That's right," is all I say in response.

"Sheit. How'd he die?" Skidmark asks but Angel interrupts.

"Seeing as we are getting to some depressin' shit, I'm out. Hey I'll call you later Skitter when I get the details of that guy I know," I nod as Angel steps out of the van and slams the door behind him. I stare at the van door where Angel left out of for a few moments as the van once more picks up speed.

I ease off the pressure on my leg for a bit and watch to see if the bleeding continues, and sees that it doesn't. I let out a sigh, and scoot back until my back hits the back of the seats. I lean my head back.

"It was just a few months after you two had died…" I start as we continue driving on in the Pentagram city traffic.

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We arrive back at the warehouse unscathed. Turns out Sherrel hadn't had time to even meet the representative before we got jumped. Makes sense really, Even if she had managed to get to the representative, she still wouldn't have unloaded the product for them. I stayed back in the van, while also having morphed my costume back when I felt my leg had healed enough. The wound is a scabby mess. However, the outermost scabs are already getting dry and flaking off, revealing healthy light greyish skin underneath.

I pretty much stayed in the van the whole time that they met with the representative, just gazing out the window at the city and at the pentagram in the sky. Getting out of the van I look up at the large "Merchants" banner, and make a comment.

"We need to get rid of that sign," at which I see Adam turn towards me with a perplexed expression.

"What? Why?"

"We arrived at Angel's place in a Merchant's vehicle. They may realise that I was with you, or at least realise that the 'M' you had on your van is the same 'M' that you have up there."

"Shit. You right."

"Aww," Sherrel whines. "But I spent so long on that banner…"

"We can put it back up when this all calms down," I don't mention that they could just kick me out. While they are drug dealers they have been kind enough to let me stay with them for a while, and I realised after that Angel didn't have my phone number and he would be calling Adam in order to get in contact with me. That and the Merchants had resources that I could make use of. While I'm certain I could do alright just starting from scratch, it was always nice to get a bit of help at the beginning.

"Yeah…" Sherrel says glumly as we make out way inside of the warehouse. Mimi and the demon guy are in there, Mimi is off to the side gazing into a magazine or a comic book, while the imp is watching something on a tiny television in the corner.

"Hey! Just cause we go on a run don't mean you get to slack off!"

"We weren't slacking off," Mimi protests, while the imp quickly rushes to turn off his mini tv.

"Really now?" Sherrel says having made her way over to the workbench that is at the side of the garage of the warehouse. There's what appears to be some sort of large panels made out of scrap metal beside it, and an engine on the workbench itself. The scrap metal slabs look big enough to fit on the van. Sherrel looks over the various scrap panels for a second before she starts talking again.

"I can see that you welded the armour bits together, but did you fix up the engine like I asked?" the mouse and imp demons look at each other for a moment before the imp answers.

"We didn't know what was wrong with it?" Sherrel sighs as she steps away from the workbench.

"Guess I should have expected that."

"Did you dust?" Skidmark asks and Mimi nods.

"Yeah, was done in a flash," Mimi punctuates that with a snap of her fingers. I almost sense her magic flare with that but it stays back. I'd have to test that out later, see what it produces. Could just be a cleaning spell or something. Still, useful. Skidmark looks at her for a long moment, then nods.

"Alright then. Just make sure the plants get their second watering, I don't wanna have even a single plant die cause of some missed watering."

"Sure thing mister boss man," Mimi says, then turns to me.

"Are you going to show up bloody every time you get back here or did you just get unlucky again?" I look down at my state of dress. My fluffy jacket is stained with red again. Not as bad as when the lizards had bled all over me though. Plus, due to the texture of my bodysuit, it's much easier to clean and get blood off of than the fluffy jacket. However my jacket did stain from the blood that was still on it.

"I got unlucky again."

"You know I know a good way to get the blood out of that jacket of yours if you want to know how," Mimi says, and I stop to look at her, curious.

"You do?" if I keep getting bloody like this, it might do to figure out how to get blood out of a jacket like this. It is rather comfy to wear around.

"Yeah… I had a bloody nose when I was a kid and just let it drip onto the carpet. I was in my bed and I didn't do anything while it bled. Eventually it stopped and I went back to sleep. Grandma eventually found it made me figure out how to clean it up. It had kind of crystallised by then as well."

"Perhaps we can swap notes then later?" I say before I move to rejoin Sherrel and Adam as they make their way up the stairs.

"Yeah, sure. Maybe another time then," Mimi calls back and I wave before starting up the stairs. I can socialise later, I need to think right now.

How would I pay for this person Angel said he would tell me about? At least on the surface Hell is at least somewhat capitalistic, considering that there were shops around and they had an agreed upon currency if the money I saw Skidmark counting out back at Angel's apartment is anything to go by.

Obviously I could join the Merchants proper, with the stipulation that they would fund the search for Alec, possibly with my pay. Though I didn't exactly have a place to stay so I would also be forced to live here in the warehouse or find a place that didn't require rent.

Though that brought up the question of if the Merchants even had the resources to sustain a search for Alec, depending on the cost of the search. For all I knew this is some kind of premium service that people charge top dollar for.

"Is this everyone?" I ask out loud as we ascend the stairs.

"In the Merchants? Yeah, you're actually our fifth… you know, if you join," Sherrel remarks as Adam starts making his way up to the office space above,taking two stairs at a time. I'm possibly the fifth member of the Merchants if I join. That's not a large amount of Merchants. How new is this operation? Or were they not so big on trying to expand as they were in life? Do the Merchants even count as a gang here? They have at most a building that they own and control, and a van that they sell out of. If drugs are legal here, then they could just be a business. They even seem to get most of their money from a larger distribution service that paid them for drugs for their vending machines, at least if Adam's remark about it being their 'first big break' is anything to go by.

I'll have to see what exactly their profit margins were. I'd handled my own finances when I was a warlord in the Bay and had done relatively well in balancing my budget enough to keep from having to bother Lisa for help with it, beyond the first couple times. I did quite well with my finances compared to some of the other Undersiders like Alec and Rachel. Though the only time Rachel ever screwed up on her finances and needed assistance with that was when she would create a new shelter for her dogs and she sometimes went overboard stocking it up and getting everything she needed for the dogs. Alec and Aisha were just too lazy to balance their budget and would just spend their earnings on whatever fit their fancy. At least they got better when Lisa finally hired an accountant for them.

Perhaps there is another way I could make money to possibly fund my search for Alec. I know that silk is a fairly sought after material. Parian had made a comment about it once but I didn't really have the time to properly set anything up that I could have taken advantage of except for a few roles of fabric that I would send to Parian.

I could see about leveraging my own silk into something useful. Depending on the properties of my own silk I could possibly see about making an outfit with it. My own silk outfits had been relatively effective things; combined with ballistic plates it made my costume a very effective set of body armour. Perhaps if I managed to become proficient enough in weaving with my own silk I could take commissions for these so called nobles. But then I didn't know how to weave without an army of spiders at my beck and call. That alone had taken months to finally figure out. Figuring out how to properly weave with my silk would take time.

Though I could see about just selling the material to someone in the city and using the revenue brought in to pay for my keep as well as the search. Though I would have to find a buyer, and I would have to see if I could even produce enough silk in order to sell enough of it.

"I'm going to shower off this blood," I say as we get into the loft. Sherrel just shrugs and nods, while Skidmark has sat himself down and has turned on the television. I enter into their bathroom and begin my quick shower routine, now adding in getting the blood off my wings once I transform them from the fluffy coat.

As I shower I continue to think on the merits of my two ideas for gaining revenue. While the silk production route would be the straightest forward, if it works, it would also get me no closer to improving life around here. Considering that the government of Hell is nowhere to be seen in regards to law and order, it seems that everything has devolved into warlordism like the Bay did after Leviathan, only it is actually legitimate to be a warlord in Hell.

As such, if I want to make a positive impact on a section of Hell I would have to claim some territory and improve it. While I could make some revenue from selling silk, I could also work with the Merchants at the same time. Considering that the new Merchants here are only four demons and a baby, I'm in a position of possibly being a founding member of the new Merchants.

I could guide them to being less despicable than they were in the past. No forced recruitment, no pushing drugs on the vulnerable, perhaps even a different primary source of income? At the moment however, drugs seem to be the main source of revenue here.

Manpower, however, will be an issue, unlike during my Skitter days I don't have bug powers to keep a constant vigil over any territory that I take over. Like the rest of the Undersiders back then I will have to have a force of informers as well as enforcers who will assist me in maintaining any taken territory and watching for trouble. Though if the area is small enough I could possibly track things using my antennae, though that would mean that I would have to have them out all the time rather than simply using them as things I can transform into my mask.

Then again, my mask is the reason why we were attacked in the first place, so it might be prudent to create a different identity as to keep off the vigilante's radar, at least until I can eliminate them as a threat.

Thinking more on my identity situation, a change could actually prevent some future problems as well. Many of my enemies have died after all. Some of which won't hesitate to come after me now that I'm down here in Hell. Coil, Bakuda, Purity, a good portion of the S9, and then all the capes at the end, from the monster capes to those that I let die under my control, they might all be gunning for me if they haven't ended up purged.

Or perhaps simply a new look rather than fully changing my identity. I assume many bug demons call themselves some kind of bug related thing so Skitter shouldn't be too uncommon; otherwise I could just separate my identities. Have a cape identity again and have my civilian identity. Angel Dust did say that we have a true demon form. Perhaps I could figure that out and make use of it for when I'm working with the Merchants.

I finish my shower and get dressed. I exit the bathroom and Skidmark is walking around while on the phone.

"Oh she's out, hold on lemme put ya on speaker," Is all he says before pressing a button on the phone. "Okay, you're on speaker."

"Hey Doll-face how's it hangin?'"

"Alright."

"Good good, anywho, so you know that guy who helps find people I was telling you about?"

"I do."

"Yeah well his name's Sam Spade, what a loser am I right?"

"Why's he a loser?" Sherrel asks as she peers over the couch. With my antennae I can hear the sound of Lil' Mark making adorable baby sounds on the other side of the couch and with my regular ears I can also hear him knocking something hard and wooden against another wooden thing.

"Oh hey Sherrel, well he named himself after the main character in the Maltese Falcon," we are silent a moment before Angel pipes up again. "Don't tell me you haven't seen the Maltese Falcon?" we all exchange glances before we mutter our own denials at having ever seen the Maltese Falcon.

"Oh my god it's like the best noir I've ever seen! Tell ya what next time you guys get a break I'm gonna see if I can get one of the theatre managers to have a special showing of it and we can all watch it together."

"That sounds great, but what about Sam Spade?" I say, attempting to be diplomatic.

"Oh yeah, him. Well he's a private detective, go figure, that's got a knack for tracking down people. Anyways, I don't remember his address but I can hook you up with his phone number and he can give you the details on how ta get to his place. Just so you know though, he costs and an arm and a leg, and I don't mean that he's a cannibal."

"That's fine, I can ask when I call," I tell Angel.

"Alright then, his number is," and Angel proceeds to rattle off a small combination of numbers that I quickly memorise. I'd have to write that down on paper at some point.

"That wasn't the only reason I called though," Angel continues. "Val's fuckin' pissed. He was rantin' and ravin' and all that shit, his smoke flying everywhere, smashing shit against walls and stuff. Hell I think he killed a couple of people that didn't duck and cover. I got there when he was starting to calm down. After a while he just pulls up a table, chair, and one of the few bottles not broken at the bar, pours himself a drink. Anyways, just wanted to warn you if you guys feel like pissing Val off, hold off for a bit. I'm gonna call Cherri and see if I can't get her to lay off for a bit... Oh! And before I forget, you know that Bird guy we blasted? I found his corpse and the others still by my apartment. All their shit was gone but I brought 'em to Val so you shouldn't have to worry about those guys coming at you again for some time. Alright I'll talk to you later," Angel says and hangs up.

I frown at that. While I don't appreciate them trying to kill me they likely will suffer greatly under Valentino, though I can't really do anything about him at the moment. Even with my bug powers, judging by the area of effect he was able to manage I likely wouldn't find them very effective against him, especially if he could use his smoke like tentacles. I would have likely needed to go in hard and fast against him before he could react if I had encountered him in life. Unfortunately I don't have my flight pack or the other gadgets I had gotten during my time in the Wards.

No, going up against Valentino as I am now is suicide, and while it is unfortunate, their fate is not my problem at the moment. I can perhaps save them later. I need to focus on the here and now however. I pull out Brainiache's phone and enter Sam Spade's number into what looked like a notepad app.

"I'm going to call this Sam Spade, see if he can help me," I say, heading off to the guest room that Sherrel and Adam let me sleep in on my first night in Hell. I close the door behind me softly and open up the phone app on Brainiache's phone. From there I dial Sam Spade's number. I wait a few rings until someone on the other end picks up.

"Office of Sam Spade, how can we help you?" a sultry feminine voice asks. Not wasting time, I begin asking my questions.

"Hello, I would like to ask about your services and how much they cost?"

"Of course. Is there any specific service that you wish to know about?"

"I would like to know if you can help me find a friend of mine."

"Ah, one of those jobs… Honey, are you new in town?"

"Relatively."

"Oh honey, do you have a job yet?" I don't like the sounds of this.

"Not yet, but I have one lined up."

"… I'm not sure you'll be able to afford him honey," I wait silently for her to continue. "See he charges eight grand for a week of searching, and sometimes these searches can take a couple of years or more depending on where they ended up in Hell," oh. I knew that this would cost an arm and a leg but I hadn't realised how much it would end up costing.

"I see, thank you for your time."

"I'm sorry honey. I know that this is important. I can ask Sam to maybe lower it for you? Or maybe to work out some kind of compensation or deal that would work for you?"

"No thank you, I have other business I need to deal with. Goodbye," she beckons me goodbye before I hit the end call button and stuff the phone in my pocket. Eight thousand dollars a week to find Alec. Somehow I would need to get that kind of disposable income each week to find Alec. Seems I will have to go with plan A then. I don't see myself finding a job that pays eight thousand every week any time soon, and the only way to start making that kind of money is to either start robbing banks every week, or I could work to getting that kind of money by expanding the Merchant's business and getting them to foot the bill in return for my cut of the money and assistance.

Certainly not ideal, but I can make this work.

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The Maltese Falcon is an actual film and it came out a couple of years before Angel died so I thought it would be a good film for him to like.

Also, any idea how much a small drug operation like what the Merchants are running right now would make in a week? Also what would the business expenses be?

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 7

Right let's get into this before I start worrying about the various bits and bobs of gang stuff that is going on.

You know with the kind of research I've been doing I think my government might think that I'm either a gangster or a terrorist, I must be on some kind of watch list or something because of the various amounts of research I did for this.

WARNING! Just in case you for some reason still care about spoilers for Worm, there are spoilers for the end of Worm coming up so if you actually care about that, I suggest going and finishing up Worm.

As always, any and all feedback is highly appreciated and I appreciate each and every comment left here.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

We are all gathered at Adam and Sherrel's kitchen table, Adam, Sherrel, Mimi, and the imp man who I've since learned is named Felix. The meeting isn't professional, but then this had been what the Undersiders had done before we had all gone off to be Warlords and started working directly under Coil.

Humble beginnings

That had probably been when things had been the best between all of us, just when everything had been nice and simple, we were thieves, there wasn't a world to save or territory to defend from everyone, we could just be dumb kids.

Maybe I shouldn't do this? Things got crazy the last time I started getting into big things. Perhaps it might be better to just live a smaller, simpler life, as just some minor member of, so less a gang and more a small business really. The Merchants held territory, though it was just a single building and the sidewalks around it, and they didn't even try to stop people from walking on it. In truth, a business was just the same. I could settle down and just live life easy while going out on weekends to try to find Alec.

"Thank you all for coming." I say, starting the meeting where we could work towards the expansion of the Merchants. All the doubts from before flying from my mind as the meeting around the kitchen table starts. Settling down for an easy life? Not when there is work to be done.

"As myself, Adam, and Sherrel have discussed, it has come to our attention that we are not making as much money as we need to achieve some of our goals," My goals truth be told, but Adam was all for the expansion of the Merchants, Sherrel was as well but she was more just wanting to support her husband than actually caring about expanding territorially, but she was all for expanding financially as it would allow her better tools to work on her "babies" as well as pamper her lil' Mark. I wait for the other two, Felix and Mimi, to ask questions, perhaps like what our goals actually were, but they just look on, waiting for me to continue.

"As such, we need to expand both territorially as well as financially. We've had a few ideas but I wanted to include you two as well since you two are employees here and it might be a good idea to get some second opinions on how we all move forward?"

"Wait, you joined?" Mimi asks and I nod.

"Working with the Merchants is the quickest way to achieve my goals, but to do that we need both money, territory, and since I don't have access to my original bug powers, manpower."

"Well, why do you need anything from us? You took over the Bay, didn't you have ways of making money." The corner of my mouth twitches down a bit. Despite being able to handle the finances I was given, I wasn't the main money maker. The money maker of the Undersiders was Lisa who had handled all of that, we just organised our territory while Lisa gave us the money we needed to keep everything running. I probably should have at least tried to help out with that, but with all the threats around the city as well as managing my own territory's recovery with the money I got, I just left it to Lisa to figure out how to get us our money without depleting our new found riches.

"I did yes but we also wanted to hear from you two as well. Adam, you know some of the formulas of various drugs." Adam grins at that, looking much too pleased with himself.

"Yup, I was sheeeoot at all my other classes, but I knew chemistry, well, the lab stuff that is, it's like baking and I knew how to bake and… stuff since my mamma taught me. She was like, Son, I'z let chu do what you want, but by god I ain't gonna have you eatin' that Mahc-Dah-nahls sheit- gah!" Adam's impression of his mother is cut off as I feel Sherrel's leg woosh by my own legs and kick Adam hard in the shin. He doubles over and is grabbing his shin in pain as the others look with amusement. Mark, who was in Sherrel's arms bouncing happily on Sherrel's lap, giggles and claps as he watches his father's pain. I wait until the giggling of both lil' Mark and Mimi subside before continuing with the meeting.

"As I was saying, Adam will be increasing his drug production so that we can possibly increase the amount we are selling to Vended Generics as well as to those that are willing customers." It rankles my sensibilities to be selling drugs but with the extreme proliferation of them throughout Pentagram city I can't do like I had in my old territory in Brockton Bay and just ban the dealing of them. Not to mention that things like prohibition, something I had learned about during the classes I took while in the Wards, only really increased demand for the substance. In fact it actually made the business more lucrative and thus more enticing to get into. With it legalised however, making drugs is more like running some kind of green house or a back alley drug store. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to let people ruin their lives before they realise they had fucked up. So long as they don't start forcing it on people or taking advantage of their buyers, I'd have to begrudgingly accept the fact that drugs are a part of life here in Hell.

"Sherrel here will look into offering custom body work, mostly pertaining to adding gun turrets and armour to light vehicles." Sherrel had gushed at the idea of the technicals when I had gone into details on them. She was even happier when I told her how lucrative selling technicals in a lawless gangland like Pentagram city could be. I remember drawing out one from memory, where some African warlord had sent out a force of them to fight with another warlord. It had been a simple thing, just a truck with a machine gun mounted on the back, and immediately Sherrel had looked it over before making some modifications. She even started making her own rough technical drawings for various kinds of vehicles, like a van version, and even some kind of battle bus with turrets and other small arms strong points scattered around on it. While you could take the power from the Tinker, you couldn't take the Tinker from the person. I'd left Sherrel to her own devices while I watched over lil' Mark and experimented some more with my silk. If I could get this down I could finally get some clothes that weren't a set of booty shorts and a t-shirt, as well as possibly create an additional source of revenue for ourselves that isn't tied to drugs.

"I myself will be working on improving my abilities with my silk production as well as help handle the expansion of our territory into the surrounding neighbourhoods. For that I however will likely need to learn more magic." I look first at Mimi, and then to Felix before asking. "Do either of you happen to have any sort of magical abilities that you could teach me?" The both of them shake their heads, with my antennae though, I hear Mimi swallow. I look back to her, but Felix speaks up before I can stare at her too long.

"I don't know nothing but my Dad might, he works on the outskirts for some gang. Mostly newbie and immigrant slaving and all that, not super magic heavy, but he might have picked up a thing or two." I frown at that. Slavery. Not exactly surprising. Even in America there was plenty of slavery going on. From the ABB to Accord's organisation, it wasn't uncommon to find slavery and human trafficking rings operating in cities all over America and other countries. Considering that one of the main ways that the ABB made money in Brockton Bay was through human trafficking, both through sneaking illegal immigrants into America to exporting slaves to Asian markets to be enslaved, I'm surprised that a slavery ring hadn't shown up in Brockton Bay where the rich and powerful were engaging in slavery to satisfy their perverse desires. The PRT and local police were certainly corrupt enough to have overlooked such a thing.

"If you could that would be a great help to us. Now, to jump start this expansion, I believe that we should take a page out of the books of our raider and vigilante friends, and see about raiding them, and getting a hold of whatever short term gains we can while we prepare to expand." Striking back at those that had attacked us being a possible bonus if we can find out what groups Snipes had brought together to attack us.

When I had tried to find out through Brainiache's phone I soon found myself kicked from the group chat they had set up, but I had noted a couple of names. Those being Aerial Ace, and Bigman. I'm guessing those were their cape names in life, and they had picked those as their demonic nicknames. There had been one last message by Snipes about how I may have Brainiaches phone, which I do, and then I had been kicked from the group chat.

"Do you know where they are?" Sherrel asks. We had mostly gone over the economic aspects of what she could do, that and I hadn't had the time to go through the various things on the phone, or even properly figure it out. All of my previous phones had been simple burner or flip phones. Dragon had gotten me a Dragon Phone one time and I had tried using it briefly, but it just eventually started collecting dust in my room as I continued to use the phones that the PRT provided since I didn't want to damage it. Dragon never said anything but I noticed she had one of her mechanical suits turn its head slightly when I had been using the PRT provided phone. I'm not sure if she was disappointed or not, though she probably understood why I hadn't been using her phone.

"I don't know where they are specifically, but I do know a few places where they have been, just by the pictures and the uncleared search history." Brainiache had been rather lax with even the most basic of information concealment on his phone. Granted I was as well but that was because if I even attempted to hide anything I searched I would more than likely get my computer access revoked due to my probationary status in the wards.

"So were we need to go?" Adam asks, having finally recovered from the shin kick.

"A small bar named 'The Scrap Hole.' It's on the south side of Pentagram city. Brainiache and Snipes, the one that we killed and his girlfriend who you taunted, took a picture in front of the place." I pull up the picture of the place on Brainiache's phone, showing the two of them, Snipes looking up at the sign while Brainiache posed for a selfie, two feather-like fingers throwing the peace sign. I'd found the information of where it was already searched up in some kind of map app. The bar itself looks like a junk heap with scrap steel bolted haphazardly over the windows and the sign was a mishmash of different neon signs spelling out 'The Scrap Hole.' It looks like the buildings beside it have metal in place of windows rather than the usual wooden coverings. There is also a heavy haze in the air, like the place or somewhere near it was on fire. Considering that it's Hell, there probably is a fire raging somewhere close.

"So we's gonna go an f… uh get them buggers right?" Adam asks but I shake my head.

"Not yet, we're not prepared to go in there yet. I don't even have a gun since I dropped them after Snipes knocked me out." Mimi looks to my head where the bruise used to be. It had cleared up before supper time but it was still visible enough for Mimi to have seen when they had gotten back yesterday. "No we need to gather some information first. They gave away their intentions but they likely don't even know the first thing about us. That gives us time to scout them out and figure out the best way to hurt them."

"So what are you doing at the bar then?" Sherrel asks, her head tilting to the side a bit.

"They only ever saw me with my costume, so they likely don't know what I look like outside of costume. Out of costume I can go in and ask around for information about the vigilantes, maybe get an idea if they frequent the bar. If they do, then it will be easier to get information on where their base of operations is and where to hit them so that it really hurts." I explain my plan to them. None of them objected to the idea and Adam was nodding along. Though, I doubt they would be so willing to accept my idea if they knew my record for infiltration missions, that record consisting of one mission to infiltrate a villain group and ending up being converted into one of them. This doesn't have the risk of me being converted however, considering that they are mostly after my blood.

"So when are we doing this?" Sherrel asks.

"After I test out a few things with my magic. I don't want to go in there with just a pistol, but I also got my senses screwed up when Adam fired his gun, so I want to see if I can't silence it a bit."

"How you gonna do that? I know you can make my barriers and stuff for some reason but that's just what I do. I don't even know how to make them quiet and stuff." Adam remarks, and I resist frowning for a moment. They will have to learn about my final moments at some point, and Adam already knows something was up considering Snipes' ranting about mind control. I sigh before beginning.

"As you can probably guess, the apocalypse fired off up stairs, killing billions, possibly trillions of people across multiple worlds. I along with some people tried to stop it."

"Some?" Mimi asks, her face concerned. "Don't you mean all?"

"No, I don't mean all."

"But wouldn't the end of the world, heck, all worlds, get everyone to work together, even just to save themselves?" I look to her with sympathy.

"You would think, but not everyone thought that way." I think back to all the fighting, all the people who wanted to get their revenge before the end, the people who were trying to take as much as they could before everything fell apart, all the petty squabbles that no one could put aside just this once to fight the good fight.

"But that doesn't make any sense. If everyone is going to die, why wouldn't everyone want to work together? Even the nine would work together to stop the apocalypse, even if just to save their own skin!" I let out a one note chuckle.

"Jack and his band were the ones that started the apocalypse. They wanted it, and they got it. Not that any of them survived long enough to really see it."

"So they're down here?" I can't identify the emotion in Mimi's voice, it could be fear, or apprehension.

"All except Jack and Bonesaw," I pause a second. "Actually I don't know about Bonesaw, she was the only one that actually helped us when everything started going down." Mimi is silent for a long moment.

"Did, did you win?" Mimi asks in a small voice. "Or… or is it still going on up there?"

"We won." I say. I don't elaborate further. We had won, humanity was saved. Some would say that was all that mattered. I know better, but I don't say it. Those words had been for Contessa as I had been slowly dying, or losing myself, nearing oblivion. I do believe them, but there's no reason to antagonise Mimi.

"Oh thank God," Mimi breathes a sigh of relief, then looks up at me with curiosity in her eyes. "How did you win?" I grimace at the memory. That was not something I would like to experience again if I can help it. As I'm about to say how however, Felix interrupts.

"Wait who were you fighting up there?"

"Yeah that's a good question, who was it, and why couldn't Scion fight against whoever it was?" Sherrel asks.

"The reason that Scion wasn't fighting with us was because Jack said or did something, that made Scion go ballistic. He started destroying and killing people for fun, destroying entire cities, annihilating entire worlds for his own amusement." Mimi, Sherrel, and Adam all had shocked looks on their faces, Felix was indifferent however, but he listens raptly as I talk.

"At first there was a large meeting by anyone relevant to try to come together and fight him, but everything broke down and nearly everyone broke off and started fighting their own little battles against each other, to get some final bit of satisfaction before the end. Myself and a few others however stayed together to try to stop Scion and were running around trying to figure something out and keep things together. It wasn't enough however. At the end, I had both Bonesaw and Panacea alter my connection to my power, to make it more powerful. I was able to take control of people at the end there. I, with the help of a cape named Clairvoyant and Doormaker started to mind control every cape we could find and fought against Scion… in the end there, I wasn't there, I wasn't the one in control. It was my power, who was in control of me, but we were both working towards the same goal, we were slowly becoming one in the same there. We did eventually beat Scion, and in the end I was scared of what was happening to me, so in my final moments, I let myself get executed."

"That's, that's not right." Mimi says after I finish my story.

"It's al-"

"No it isn't alright!" She interrupts me, slamming her hands on the table. I wait to let her continue what she is going to say, better to let her say her piece than to try to talk over her. "It's not right. You saved everyone, and they just killed you! They, it, it isn't how the world should be!" I sympathise with her, I really do.

"The world isn't fair," is all I say. There isn't any point arguing about how the world should or shouldn't be. The world just is, and despite our best efforts, life isn't fair, just like how the afterlife isn't fair either. She deflates after I say that. Her hands are in fists and her hair shadows her eyes. With my antennae I can feel a bit of magic stirring in her. I can kind of make out what is going on before she takes a deep breath and lets go of her anger. I wonder what that was? Perhaps her demonic form? Perhaps I can mimic that in some way?

"It isn't how it should be… it should be that the heroes after a hard fight come out on top, they win the day and beat the bad guy… kill him, jail him, whatever, they just are supposed to beat him, and then they get to have their happy ending…" I let a soft smile spread on my lips. I walk around the table and put both my hands on Mimi's shoulders, trying to sooth her by massaging her shoulders. Her naiveté reminds me of how I used to be, back at the start of my cape career. Back when everything was so clear and black and white. The villains were the bad guys, heroes were the good guys, Scion was the world's greatest hero, and the Endbringers were the ultimate evil. Unfortunately the world wasn't like that, there was no white or black, only shades of grey, some darker than others.

"I know it isn't fair. But that's just how things are. They are never fair, and they never will be. We just have to make the best of it and try to make the best decisions we can at the time. Just like we are doing now," I'm not sure why I included that last parts. Maybe I'm trying to convince myself that I did the best I could with what I knew. Sure I could say that I could have made better decisions, maybe some things I did were stupid and idiotic, but that was the problem with hindsight, it's always twenty-twenty. I let go of Mimi's shoulders and walk back to my spot between Sherrel and Adam.

"Anyways, as I was trying to say, because of how I was mind controlling everyone, I got to see how other people used their power and so far I have been doing that to figure out magic. It's how I was able to pick up how to use your barriers, it's relatively similar to the barriers that some other capes would put down. I never had time to practice much with them however so I'm still figuring things out. Once I figure out how to make your barriers silence things as well as accelerate them, I'll teach you how to alter your barriers. Then I should be good to check out what is going on there." I tell Adam.

"Yeah, sure thing, makes sense. Is that all 'cause I gotta make a call to my supplier, he was supposed ta send a shipment to me today and I ain't got sheeeoot."

"That is it, unless either of you have any bright ideas on how to increase our revenue?" I ask Mini and Felix.


"I know how to make pipe guns." I raise an eyebrow at that. Makeshift guns, generally made with pipes or other kinds of cylindrical things, are generally speaking pretty terrible. I had come across a few of them while in Chicago. They weren't so common there but every once in a while we could come across them. Sometimes in Brockton you would hear about how some Merchant had blown his hand off using a homemade gun out of parts he found in the trash. Most of the time they are unrifled and more used to just get a kill up close or used like a shot gun and firing off a spread of random debris. In fact, the demon with the scrap armour kind of looked like he was using one of those kinds of scrap blunderbusses.

"If we can't get many guns we could certainly use them to have our people, when we get them, use them to get a first kill and steal a gun. It would lower our initial hiring cost."

"We could use that sheeeeoooot for initiation. Have a newbie go out and pop off a guy for his gun and stuff." I frown at that. It was a good idea from a purely financial point of view, but that could cause a large amount of problems for us, as well as gain us too many enemies. Plus it would just make Hell worse rather than better.

"Maybe, but I was thinking that they can bring their own gun. They get to care for their own and use the money from jobs and helping out to pay for their gun. If they don't have a gun then we make and give them the pipe gun, but other than that, for now whoever wants to join just brings their own."

"So I guess you're gonna need a pipe gun then?" Adam asks.

"Maybe, it depends on how much you pay me for the protection I provided you yesterday." I answer in return. Hopefully it's enough to get a gun and a few bullets. I might be able to make do without a gun, but without my bug powers, I'll likely need an edge if I'm going to survive long enough to learn enough magic that I won't need one. Or I could make a worse version of Adam's baseball gun.

"Yeah, sure, you did good. Hows about I buy you a gun and a box o' bullets for your first payment. Sound cool?" I nod along with that. That was at least reasonable, and probably at the very least more than minimum wage, but then I don't actually know minimum wage.

"'kay, cool. Tell you what, when the guy eventually tells me to come and get the chems and stuff then we can take you out to get a gun and stuff. 'specially if you is gonna come out on our runs with us more."

"I will, I just won't go out wearing my old costume again. That draws too much heat."

"Shame too, you looked good in it. Better in your old costume but your costumes always looked good," Sherrel remarks.

"Yeah, where did you get it done?" Mimi joins in as well.

"I made them on my own. It took a long time to finally get all of my bugs to play nice and it took even longer for me to figure out how to weave my suit."

"Damn girl, how long did it take for you to make your suit?"

"Since I triggered, it took me four months until I finally went out on my first night."

"Damn. I don't think I could of ever waited that long to use may powers." There were nods around the table, even by Mimi, though Felix didn't nod along.

"Well that is everything I wanted to talk about, if no one has anything more to add, then we can all get back to work then." Felix, Adam, and Mimi get up, Felix and Mimi head back down to the warehouse floor to continue their work, while Adam just walks off with his phone in hand dialling a number.

"Oh hey Skitty? Would you be able to watch over Mark? I need to work on the van a bit but Mark's been fussy, you didn't need to do anything right?" While I was planning on experimenting with some of my magics, mostly Adam's barriers and my own silk, neither was really prevented by me looking after lil' Mark.

"I can, but why me?" I'm sure that if Sherrel knew my past with children, she wouldn't be so eager to let me watch lil' Mark. As I'm looking at Mark, I almost see Aster, in the hands of Grey Boy. I knew it wasn't them but like with the loft, I sometimes remember things and they simply overlay themselves over reality. When Mom died, I was seeing her for a week on other women, and I would have to do a double take and properly see them to confirm that Mom hadn't come back from the dead. The same had happened with Regent, only I knew what was going on, so I wasn't so extreme in my double checking. I would just see them in the corners of my eyes.

"Well I heard how you handled yourself in that gunfight, watching out for my Skiddy so I thought you could help me out while I work on upgrading the van. Plus, if I'm going to be becoming a working woman, I'll need a babysitter."

"What about Mimi?"

"We already pay her to help us make drugs and stuff, and we don't exactly have a lot of employees. Plus, we can consider this you pitching in. At least until we get the gang thing going properly."

"Alright then," I don't comment that whenever she would have an idea about modifying the van or making technicals she would rush off and I would just keep an eye on lil' Mark for her. Usually she came back quick but when I first gave her ideas for the technicals she had spent a good half an hour drawing out rough plans.

"Great!" Sherrel gets up, with lil' Mark in her arms and holds him out to me. As gently as I can, I use my arms to hold him.

"He has some toys in the living room, and if he starts getting hungry you can just call me up… Do you know how to change a diaper?" I remember back to a training course on babysitting that I had attended one year. I had never gotten to use my babysitting license since the only people I really knew were friends of Dad's and the Barnes. With the work shortages in the Docks, most dockworkers had enough time for at least one parent to watch their kid during the day while the other worked whatever odd job Dad had been able to scrounge up for them. Because of that I never really got to do any babysitting, but I still remember some of the things we had to do, one of them being diaper a baby doll, one of those dolls that "really did poop."

"I know how to, yes,"

"Okay great, We have the diapers in the top drawer of the dresser if my little Mark makes a stinky," Sherrel grabs lil' Mark's nose and wiggles it a bit, much to lil' Mark's amusement as he giggles a bit at his mother's antics.

"Alright, I'm going downstairs so just watch over him a bit until I get back." I watch as Sherrel heads downstairs. As Sherrel heads down lil' Mark starts squirming and getting antsy in my arms, One of his arms is reaching out towards Sherrel and he starts letting out a wordless cry of longing as she heads downstairs. I start shushing him as I make my way into the living room.

"Shh shh it's okay Mark, let's get you some blocks to play with."

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With a "shunk," a wooden block flies from my acceleration field into a tower of blocks I had set up for Mark. With a crash the tower falls down and Mark lets out excited giggles and gurgles as he claps at the tower's destruction. Had it not been plastered on my face for the past little while, I would have started smiling. Mark was a little devil and was easily distracted by destruction and cacophonous noises, especially if he could make them himself. I'd set up the field to entertain Mark while I tested some other kinds of fields with small balls of silk I made.

I had managed to make a silencing field that also accelerates, but when I replaced Mark's acceleration field he started to become distressed at how there wasn't a "shunk" to go along with the sound of blocks falling. I hadn't figured out how to do much more than a kind of shield and how to silence objects going through them. When I had a chance I should see about putting some fields down in a gun to see if my silencing-acceleration fields actually works well enough to keep a modified gun from stunning me while I have my enhanced senses up.

Other than that I had also been able to figure out some of my silk. I haven't been able to do anything really with it. While I was good at getting insects to weave my suits, actually weaving them was a completely different matter, especially since I both didn't have any of the tools to weave any of the silk I made, nor had I ever weaved or knit anything in my life without just using insects. Mom had never felt the need to teach me and Grandma, who I heard was also a fairly good knitter, didn't care for Dad or me so I never actually got to meet them.

So I just made balls of silk to use as slight objects to test the fields on, as well as sometimes ammunition for Mark to use in his war against all wooden block towers and structures. They weren't as satisfying for him to launch however, as they didn't make as loud a noise as when he uses wooden blocks to fire them off at the towers.

While Mark giggles and gurgles in his adorable little childish way, I hear something buzzing around inside of the room with my antennae. I look towards the source and see something flying around. It's a bit larger than the regular bug, and is a deep red colour as well. The colour is probably to better blend in with the environment outside. I watch as it starts to come closer. I slowly raise my finger to the bug. Long had my fear of insects been dulled to the point that I didn't even find them even a little unsettling. They just act on instinct. Eat, breed, flee. They come rather predictable in a sense. I can see the needle like nose as it starts to come closer, smelling it's meal perhaps? It lands on my finger, and angles its long beak like nose towards my hand.

I remember many of the master powers that had been under my control back during the end fighting Scion. One that felt most like the magic I wield now was a human controlling power, where the cape pushed energy into a person and focused on the person. Using the same principles, I focus on the bug, and push my energy into it, willing myself to take control over it, to control it like I used to control my insects back when I was alive.

The beak like head of the insect dives for my hand, and it stops. I can see, in its beady little eyes, a small mote of light, as if deep in its eyes, was a small candle light. By my will it moves its head back, and it faces towards me.

I grin.

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You know I kind of wanted to wait before giving Taylor her bug powers back but considering how smart a cookie she is and the fact that she knows that she could with enough practice replicate powers that she has used before it makes sense that she would try to get something resembling her power back. Thus, boom, Skitter's back and better than ever.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Interlude: Various

Felt that a multi interlude would be better for this than just Skidmark, especially for the shopping scene. Note: I am not sure how to write one so this will be my first attempt. If there are ways to improve it I would be highly appreciative.

As always, any and all feedback is highly appreciated.

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Me, Skitter and Mimi walk into the gun store and are greeted by racks of weapons, some big, some small. Hell, I can see a rocket launcher behind the counter there. This place has everything and that's why I like it.

"Frederico, my man, how the hell are ya doing!?" I call out to the guy who I've been buying my guns from since I first arrived here in Hell. The massive elephant like demon brightens up as he sees me.

"Hey hey hey! Adam, you here to do another gun run for me?" Ah shit, like Hell! I remember a while ago when I agreed to come with him on one of his gun runs. Granted I was happy to help, and get a little bit of a discount for helping him, but that thing was a shit show. Run a bunch of guns over to New Canada and make sure they get to the rebels there. Shit was fucked the whole way there. Giant fuck off worms, bandit, feral demon tribes, demon bug hives, and even a fucking crusade with armoured knights and everything going on. Makes me wish that we had been using the tank rather than the van but we didn't get it until we got the warehouse. Still, gave us the boost of cash we needed to start the new Merchants.

"Nah nigga! I nearly got eaten by a fucking worm! We ain't even thinking of going out again until we get a better damn ride," Frederico chuckles at my expense. He's a bastard but got the damn charisma to keep me coming back, I just am never going to accept a job from him ever again unless I want to be eaten by fucking land krakens. Plus that discount is pretty sweet whenever I need to stock up on ammo for the fire fights around the city.

"Next time then my friend, though I haven't seen you in a while. Have you been seeing another gun store!?" he says and levels a finger towards me.

"What me? Nah, my girl knows her way around a pile a scrap and shit. Hooked me up with a baseball launcher that I been using with my magic and shit. Literally blows fucking heads off my dude."

"Ah then, I guess that poor old Frederico can no more get your business then huh? This is a sad day my friend a sad day! How could you do this to me?" He says this while clutching his heart and making a pained expression.

"I wish, nah, I came here 'cause I need to get mo' ammo. You know that big ass gun fight that was going on in Val's place?" That got him to straighten up.

"With the vigilantes? Don't tell me you were in that? That shit looked as crazy as the battle of Wofla."

"I was man, I was. You said it, shit was crazy, but we came through, partially 'cause of this girl here." I reach over and pull Skitter close. "Girl blasted a load of 'em and we managed ta get outta there 'cause a her." Frederico reaches over the counter and sticks out a massive hand out for Skitter to shake.

"Well, let me be the first to congratulate you on your well fought victory my lady. It's not often that I meet a woman such as you, even here, if his stories are to be believed that is. Is he lying to me or did you actually manage to help this poor desgracado out?"

"I did a bit to help get us out of there."

"Ha! So modest, you remind me of all those tales where navigators or explorers would discover that one of their best men was actually a woman! Only without all the disguises and finding out and stuff. Haha. So, how can I help you three?"

"I'm just looking." Mimi says beside us, looking at some of the shooting range clothes that Frederico had out, mostly outdoor hunting stuff, mostly in red camo, since we are in hell and every damn thing is red.

"I didn't have my launcher so I was using ma gun, an I'm startin' to run low 'n' sheit." Frederico snorts at that and his shoulders shake a bit in amusement at me.

"Let me guess, you were shooting like a dumb ass right?" He then makes a finger gun and starts pointing it side ways, making some low effort gun sounds.

"Ha, fuck you man I was shooting straight. There was just a fuck ton of 'em and I couldn't see for shit. Smoke and dust and shit was everywhere." Frederico stops with his teasing and nods along.

"That sounds about right, from all the smoke I saw on the news, I bet half of the bandidos were using black powder rounds. So what about you miss? Looking to defend yourself? Or deal some damage?"

"Both preferably, do you have a pistol that fires forty five auto for under a thousand?"

"Straight to business then. Yeah, I got about a dozen different kinds of them on hand that are less than a thousand. Got a bunch of ten millimetre too, cheap to if you like you're guns oversized and looking like the bastard child of a desert eagle and a block of steel."

"I think I'll stick with the forty fives. I'm more familiar with them than the ten millimetres." Frederico shrugs as he grabs a small binder that shows the various pistols that he's got.

"Alright, so here is what I got. I have it all sorted cheapest to most expensive so you can buy on your budget. I know most people these days like to sort on that on that internet thing." He thumbs one of the tabs sticking out of the side and opens it up to the forty five auto pistols. "You can check the other guns if you want as well. Like I said, the ten millimetre are pretty popular among some people, same with nine millimetre. But that one will only get you so far if you're trying to bring down a big mean demon on your ass, or some of the other bad shit out there."

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind, thank you."

"Enjoy yourself miss." Frederico says before turning to me.

"So you do need bullets from me then? Good. I just machined a fresh batch, did you want the smokeless or the black powder ones? Oh, and what gun did you use?"

"What else homie? I used my glock!"

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Skitter had grabbed a hold of a classic, a M1911. Replica of course, made with the black metal you can get in hell. Still looks fine as Hell. Frederico let us use the shooting range he got for a bit less than usual, curtsey of my discount of course. Skitter mostly wanted to test out her gun, check the sights and all that. Mimi didn't want to, instead she just asked for something to muffle gun shots and pulled out one of her comic books. Girl's damn well obsessed with them.

She checks the gun over first. Once more she reminds me of those veterans that ended up with us in the old Merchants gang. Always checking over their guns, always cleaning them. Skitter's got that kind of movement to her.

I watch Skitter load a mag in faster than I've seen anyone but professional soldiers, or Frederico, do, sight the target down range, and let out five shots. Three of the bullets enter into the chest and two bullets into the head of the target. None of them miss their mark.

"Damn girl you scary… Makes me wonder why you never had a gun." I tell her. She doesn't look away from the target as she just stares ahead. Like usual I suppress a frown at her. Girl's so damn uptight, back in the bad ol' days Big Daddy would have tied a uptight bitch like her down and would of fucked the bitch out of her, or until she bit her tongue. I remember having to watch that. Some tough chick, tough as nails and ugly as sin. Started working with us, she could take orders, but she never fucking calmed down, pissed off Big Daddy more than us, we never really gave a shit.

I still remember the screaming… Daddy didn't even care about it. Was just him "loosening up a bitch." She wasn't the same after… then again… none of us were the same after Daddy came into our lives.

"What changed?"

"Wha?"

"What changed?" She asks.

"What you mean?"

"You, Sherrel, the Merchants. You were all runts." I can't help my brow scrunching a bit as she says that, was that an insult or? "I don't mean it in a derogatory way, but rather in a more literal sense. Always scraping with the big dogs, always fighting for every single scrap, never caring at all who got in your way. You never had a bit of self preservation in mind when you started fighting everyone, no plan, nothing, just thinking in the now and fighting for every scrap you could get, tearing down everyone on the way to eat your next meal… a force of destruction and anarchy." I don't know what to say to that so I just let the girl talk.

"Now I come across you and you're saving people on the streets, helping the poor, giving them jobs… you've built a business, and despite how some people may see it by selling drugs, you're contributing to society here. So what changed? What changed you Skidmark? What changed the man that would have revelled in this anarchy and chaos and made you into an honest man?" Ah, shit, that. I pull out a small joint I had, and lit the end with a little fire magic that Mimi had shown me. I take a long drag, feel it in my lungs, and finally exhale.

"Shock… I guess."

"Shock?"

"Yeah… shock. Like one moment we were having the party of our lives. Then the next moment, none of it mattered. Nothin' that I did mattered after I died and ended up here… Ya know, I've been fighting my entire life you know? From fucking birth to right now. I've been fighting, scraping, surviving, all that shit. At some point it became sort of a habit. Wake up, get dressed, figure out what you lost in the night, figure out how to get it back, or how to get even and shit. Just habit. Eventually when we went big, we just kept going. Kept fighting, kept surviving, even after all that shit. Fight, survive, celebrate that you ain't dead yet. How it was. No body gave a shit 'bout us.

Then Levi hit. Suddenly there was a fuck ton a people just like us. Joined up with us. We were golden, damn well platinum. We were the strongest gang in Brockton and we could do what ever the fuck we wanted. You wanna know how I felt? What I felt at that moment when the Merchants were top of the world?" Skitter is silent as I look at her. Her expression never changed. If it weren't for her big eyes it would almost look like she didn't care, or she was waiting for me to properly answer, but with them it almost looks like she's looking at me with puppy dog eyes. I know she ain't, but the impression is still there.

"Nothing. Not a God damn thing. All that shit was the same thing, different day. None of it mattered. Just going through the motions. Kind of like I said. 'Sall just habit. I know I should of felt something. I just didn't know what. I'd look at how my guys were taking over, grabbing more territory than we ever had. And I'd just nod along as they talk to me. Telling me about what we were doing."

"I had a similar feeling in the Wards. I didn't realise it then but I could have been doing something else that either made more of a difference or just spent it with my friends."

"Not when you were the big bad warlord?" I ask, a wry grin gracing my face as I watch Skitter turn to the targets once more. She hits the button on the side of the shooting range and a large number of targets start to pop up at random.

"When I was in the Undersiders, at least I was with my friends. We were making a difference in the city. For some we were the new gang that was keeping people down and bringing crime to the city. For so many more however, we were saviours. Then I gave it all up to try to stop the end of the world." While she talks she's popping off shots, bulls eye, bulls eye, bulls eye. Her aim never wavers as she continues to hit targets, more like a tinker tech robot made for shooting than a person… or that one Canadian guy that we ran with. Wonder what ever happened to him?

"Well ya did." Skitter looks over at me for a second while reloading her mag, after loading it, I watch as despite looking away she is still aiming for the next target, she squeezes the trigger. Bulls eye.

"We did. But we didn't prevent it. That was the whole point of joining the Wards. Prevent the apocalypse. Turned out that all that time in the Wards, all that training. We dealt with a lot of bad things, fought Endbringers. But none of it stopped the apocalypse. None of the things I did in the Wards couldn't have been done outside of them as an independent." Skitter empties her mag at the targets, reloads, and holsters it. I look at the targets, already knowing what I'll see. Bulls eyes. Seems Skitter's happy with the gun I got her. We walk out, and Mimi is just where we left her, reading her comic book. I see a bug go by Mimi's view, hover there, before coming back to us and Mimi follows the bugs until shes looking up at us. Seems Skitty got her power back.

"Up until I learned more about the heroes, I had wanted to be one. I would dress up as heroes with my once sister. It wasn't until I learned more that I stopped wanting to be a hero. Then… there I was, a hero. I did good work as one, and I don't regret the good I did. But the entire time, I was being blocked from doing much of anything meaningful. It took me years trying to get the momentum I needed to actually properly get things rolling in a ways where I could try to change things for the better. Those changes however, might have been easier if I had been outside of the system. At some point, all the stuff I had been dealing with, everything I had sacrificed, all of it, it had stopped being worth it, but by then I had already been committed, and the dead line for the end of the world was coming up fast. Even if I had wanted to get out and try again, it would be too late. So I stayed, because after everything I had gone through, it had to have been for something." Mimi and I are silent as we continue along with Skitter, walking out of the gun store.

"Was it something?" Mimi asks. I'm about to ask what she means but Skitter seems to get it. She glances over to Mimi before nodding.

"It was, but not enough to be worth it. I didn't do enough, didn't get enough done. Some of it was because whenever I wasn't attending to Ward duties, I was confined to my cell or the base where I would do research and make sure I didn't get lazy. Whenever I was actually making a move to something positive, the Protectorate leadership or PRT would block me off, and keep things from getting done." Skitter shrugs.

"Part of it was prejudice, some of it was because I was making waves, disrupting people's nice little system. I was riling up the status quo, and people didn't like it, so they tried to stop me. Some people didn't like what I was doing to the Wards so they would look into stopping me there, others would just show disdain. Lots of heroes just avoided me because they knew that the leadership didn't like me, so they choose that they would rather keep their career secure rather than associate with me or my ideas." We were silent for a while. It sounds like the hero shit was a bunch of bullshit. But then Skitter had been a warlord and took over Brockton. Can't have been good for the shit heads on top to have got shown up time and time again by a gang of brats. Wonder how Skitter managed to avoid the cage for that though?

"You know… I always wanted to be a hero." Mimi says, staring off in the distance, the way she always does when she reminisces. I can sometimes see the horror in her eyes when she's remembering things. Makes me wonder what she has experienced to give her such a face like that. But she doesn't like to talk about it, so I keep my distance. She's a good Merchant, even if she won't fight for shit. "I'd look at all their pretty costumes, all the TV shows. I'd read all their comics and dream I was a hero. I'd fight the bad guys in my mind while I read their comics and played with their action figures. I'd imagine what my costume would look like, and I would just dream of being something I'm not. Though… the way that you talk about it… and… what they did to you after… I'm not sure I want to be a hero anymore."

"It wasn't actually the Protectorate that killed me in the end. It was a cape named Contessa. She'd been behind the scenes in nearly everything. After the end, she came for me, pulled me to another world, and talked to me for a bit. I wasn't sure what was happening to me, but because of the alteration to my power, I wasn't really me. Yet Contessa managed to talk to me. She was the one who killed me. I think it might have been a mercy killing, but I can't be sure. I just know that I let it happen."

"Why?" Skitter doesn't answer. She, like Mimi, looks out as she reminisces. Unlike Mimi however, her face didn't change into one of fear, or horror. Instead she just contemplates. She doesn't answer.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"Fear."

"Fear? What the hell was you scared of? You the warlord o Brockton! An' you just killed Scion. Couldn't ya just go back and get ya mind unfucked by Panpan?"

"I wasn't in control, not really. That's what I was scared of."

"You were being mastered?"

"In a sense…"

"Shit man…"

"As for the Protectorate, I don't know. They are, or rather were necessary. They were also reforming things from how they were, or at least trying. I paid attention when I could. Unfortunately, without the PRT playing ball, most of the time the reforms they were trying did nothing or were put on the back burner, as well as there was an attempt to get capes to clean up their acts. I don't know how well it went though. I was about to find out myself before the apocalypse hit. If you had joined the cape scene, I think it might have been best to join them, or some other hero team. You could make a difference in the world and help people, save some lives, and make sure not so many people die. Don't get me wrong, for all the faults of the Protectorate, at this point, after so long, they had made themselves necessary. Not to mention that they were one of the major organisers of the Endbringer fights. Without them, I don't think we would be doing so well." Skitter finishes her musing on the Protectorate for Mimi. She doesn't look like she's convinced though.

We just walk for a bit in silence again. Heavy shit like dying and all that shit was a damn mood kill, but then, the mood was already dead. Still. Control, makes sense. Masters are a bunch a mother fuckers like that. I don't need the god damned PRT boys to tell me that. All that mind shit is freaky as hell and I made sure I ain't never got involved with capes that did that shit. Not just too much heat, but also you never knew if they were going to try something on you. More than a few human masters had thought about joining the Merchants back in the day. Daddy let them, but after I took charge, I told them to fuck off. Usually with a dozen or so guys with guns, and a dozen more out of sight to take him down just in case.

"Hey," Mimi speaks up and draws our attention. We're by a clothing store. The place doesn't look like it's even been affected by the bullshit that other parts of the city have been dealing with. "Do you even have any of your own clothes Skitty?"

"Not really. I've been getting by with just Squealer's spares. I haven't exactly had time to get clothes before now." Aw crap, clothes shopping. We're going to be here for hours.

"Well why don't we go in here then, maybe even find some more stores, come on, we can make a day out of this right? Not everything has to be about work."

"When have I ever said that everything has to be about work?" Mimi rolls her eyes in an exaggerated fashion.

"Come on Skitty, You've been here what, three days? All you've done is work, and from what you told me, all you've done for the past two years is just work. You need some time off!"

"I had some time off less than two years ago."

"Oh really? When was that?" Mimi had crossed her arms and moves in front of us, her eyebrow raised.

"My birthday, right before everything started happening. I got to be with the Undersiders for a bit. It was nice for a while."

"And that was?"

"A little more than a week ago. I don't quite remember how long we were fighting Scion for. I think it was maybe four days, but I'm not quite sure, everything was happening so fast. But I had a bit of time off."

"Not enough! Come on, just one more day before you go back to working on the next problem?"

"I wasn't planning on trying anything today. Yesterday proved that I was woefully under equipped to even deal with some of the things we will face going forward with my plan."

"So then today you can relax and stuff. Come on, we can go shopping!" Mimi moves over to Skitter's side and drapes an arm over her shoulders, guiding the taller moth demon over to the store we had stopped in front of. I follow along as well. I got a bit of cash on me. Might as well browse, could find myself something better than a shirt and jeans. Heck, might even find something bug themed as well, go with the fact that I'm now the toughest son of a bug that there ever was, a cockroach.

"Hey how old are you now anyways?" Mimi asks Skitter.

"Eighteen."

"Oh cool. I'm twenty four. Just turned that a couple of months ago."

I walk off towards the guy's section of the story, though in the corner of my eye, I can see Mimi drags Skitter off to the women's side of the store. The mouse demon starts showing Skitter different outfits and trying to get her to try some on, some of which she tries, where as other's she rejects. A onesie being one of them.

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I drag Skitty along with me as Skidmark follows us to the store. She's barely offering any resistance as I bring her along with me to the woman's side of the store. Oh this is going to be so fun! I haven't been able to do this in so long. Now with all those paydays under my belt I can finally have some fun and spend it on something more than comics and that stupid TV licence thing they have here.

I push it from my thoughts as the boss walks off to the men's section of the store. Probably for the best since he could use some new clothes as well. Maybe when we expand the gang and all that like what Skitty was saying we could do a theme kind of thing. I've never really done a theme thing before, and the Undersiders didn't have a theme last I remembered, it could be cool.

We are in the middle of the racks when I let go of Skitty's shoulders and turn around to see what I'm working with. Skinny, tall, with legs for days… are her breasts bigger than before? Could have sworn she was smaller, like a b-cup or something like that. I must have been paying more attention to the blood on the jacket than her. How many time… how many times, I push it from my mind. I'd rather not get caught up in old memories. I… I aggressively throw it out of my mind this time as it comes back. Skitter, no, Skitty. I'm… I'm focusing on Skitty.

Skitty stares at me with her big cute eyes. Definitively need to accentuate that. Maybe some glasses to go along with it, like big cute glasses. Maybe… I look around and a big grin starts to spread itself on my face.

"I know the perfect thing!" I say before walking off to one of the racks. Yes this is perfect, and totally works with in making her cuter!

"How about this?" I ask as I show her what I grabbed. Unfortunately, she doesn't exactly look impressed with my choice.

"A onesie?" what? What's wrong with a onesie?

"Yeah totally, it works great with your eyes and make you look cute! Come on see!" I guide her to a mirror where she can see for herself. I put the onesie in front of her where she still has her eyebrow raised.

"See!" I say, she doesn't exactly brighten up however. She does start feeling the material though.

"Maybe if Hell was actually cold… but with this, I think I would die at night."

"Oh, but if we had a cold day you'd wear it?"

"Maybe. I was more just thinking some practical clothes that aren't an oversized shirt and some short shorts. I'd say a hoodie but I've already got my wings as a jacket." Skitty says while indicating her fluffy jacket. Actually, I should probably take that jacket into account. She needs something to go with it and make it pimpin. Maybe… I hate to think back to it, but what had…?

"Okay then, what about, uh…"

"Did you ladies need some help?" A fox like demon saunters it's way over to us as I try to think up some ideas for what could go well with Skitty's coat. I haven't really done much with long coats. I hadn't needed one for a while.

"Perhaps, any suggestions what might go well with this coat? I got it recently and I've only just gotten the freedom to actually decide what I can wear," Skitty says.

"Oh? Is your pimp letting you have a bit of fun deciding what to wear?" the foxy lady asks in return, mildly curious.

"No, I just finished my sentence, and then the world ended," Skitty retorts.

"Oh dear, well, you've been out of practice for a while then, and you haven't even had time to look up the most recent hell fashion trends have you? Well, we will just have to fix that. Do you need the jacket?"

"I'm quite attached to it," With the way that I've seen her cuddle up in it when she was baby sitting Lil Mark, I'd say so. The little devil and her when I was passing by were all curled up and snuggling together. Skitty practically wears it everywhere.

"Let me guess, they're your wings? Oh don't act surprised, many older demons like to turn their wings into parts of their clothing. Though I wonder how you managed to figure it out, if you're as new as you claim." She stares at Skitty for a moment before continuing. "But then you must have been one of those 'capes' that were running around up on one of those Earths that's got them."

"I was," the fox demon shrugs.

"figures, anyways, why don't we figure out something for you to wear underneath. Oh and did you need anything ma'am?" I start as she suddenly begins addressing me.

"Oh uh, no, well maybe but you can attend to her first. She turned eighteen right when everything started going to crap."

"Oh jeeze. Well then I'll do my very best to help then! Do you want to come along or were you going to keep browsing until I can help?"

"I'll come along, I want to see what she picks." The foxy demon leads us over towards the changing rooms.

"So what are we working with then? Got a budget?"

"My budget is around a hundred," I can imagine the store clerk frowning.

"Make that two hundred." I say, it's Skitty's birthday, or well, close enough to it. She deserves something nice to go with the gun she got, as well as maybe a… No stop thinking about that. I've got a bit of money from not spending it on everything I see. Would be a shame to let a girl go without some clothes of her own.

"Alright then, I think I can make an outfit with that. Anything specific you are looking for? Or do you just want to have something casual?"

"Casual is fine."

"Well then just give me a minute and I'll be right back," the fox demon walks off, and starts going around the store, grabbing a few different items. Most of them look like to be on the parts of the store where things are on sale, completely ignoring any of the racks where there wasn't a sale going on. Was two hundred not a lot for clothes?

When the fox demon returns, she sets down a small pile of clothes down on a bench by the changing rooms.

"Alright, I've gotten a few different outfits for you to try." I look over to the outfits for Taylor. One of them is a set of jeans and a light blue stripy loose fitting shirt. Another is a set of black pants and a black tee, with the final outfit being a Champagne skirt and orange tee to go with it. I'm not sure she would like the bright coloured one. Plus I don't think that Skitty is a skirt girl despite having legs for days. Personally I think the contrasting colours would look best, rather than the one with the striped shirt.

They take a few moments to try on the two outfits. I smile when she leaves the changing rooms with the black pants and shirt, and even give a thumbs up. Skitty gives a small smile my way before changing back to her original clothes.

"So what did you think?" the fox demons asks.

"I like the black outfit, it shows off the coat better," I voice my opinion.

"It does seem like a decent choice." Though, now that I think about it, the other outfit had been pretty alright as well. It looked cute on her, and I can imagine what it would look like without the jacket.

"Though the other one did look cute as well."

"Did it?"

"Yeah it did, plus it's nice and light and it goes with your jacket well."

"The stripes do go well with your coat," the fox lady comments as she listens in. "It really make's the blue pop," Skitty nods along at her advice.

"And what about the third outfit?" our attendant asks, Skitty however frowns when she looks at that one.

"It's not really what I am looking for."

"Well alright then, you are still significantly under budget, did you want me to get you some more outfits?"

"Something simple please, and just one more. I don't want to go over budget," the fox demon nods before walking off.

"Not much of a clothes shopper are ya?" I ask Skitty and she shakes her head.

"Not really. Other than when I was taken as a kid, I've only really gone clothes shopping a few times. A few times with… someone I thought I knew, and a few times with my friends."

"Really? I used to love clothes shopping, I'd run around the racks, put on a few shirts when no one was looking and have to be chased around the store by grandma when we had to leave." I smile while remembering that. Most of my memories are not of happy times, but those days, those days were happy days. Didn't have a care in the world, everything was sunshine and roses, those days with Grandma… Then they were over. Just like that.

"I never put on the clothes that were on the racks when I was a kid, but I did the rest of that as well. That was only if it was just a clothes store though. Otherwise whenever my parents wanted to find me they would find me with the books. I'd go to the shelves and find the most interesting looking book there, sit myself down, and then read. Mom knew where I was all the time, and when I got older, she would let me stay there while I read while she went shopping. I still had one older lady bring me to the front and made an announcement on the intercom about a lost child though." I giggle at Skitty's story. Fuddy duddy Grandmas who coddled kids, they can be over bearing, but at least they cared… Not like Mom and Dad.

"I guess they didn't give you much free time when you were a Ward?" Skitty shakes her head.

"Not really any. For a long time they would just send me back to my cell whenever I wasn't on Ward duties. Not much to do in there so I did my best to keep in shape. After a while it just became a hassle to keep doing so I argued for getting a room in the Wards lounge. There was a few of them that were vacant. Some people didn't like that at all and tried to stop the transfer, but I talked to the leader of the Wards and the Protectorate leaders and got the transfer approved. Even so, I was confined to the base and wasn't allowed to leave except for official business so I never really got much time to go clothes shopping," I nod along as Skitty tells me more about her time in the Wards. Meanwhile I'm watching Adam trying on different coats and outfits while over on the men's side of the store. Trying on fur lined coats, leather jackets, as well as a wide brimmed white fedora. I tilt my head a bit, and start glancing between Skitty and Adam, before smiling a bit.

"Just a sec I wanna see something," I start walking over to the men's side of the store and straight to Adam. While he's distracted by one of the various leather jackets, I snatch the fedora off of his head. He lets out a surprised "Hey!" as his hat is taken. I quickly make my way back to Skitty who's looking at me with an inquisitive expression. As I get to her, I plop the fedora on Skitty's head and smile at how it looks. Combined with Skitty's long fur coat, it strikes as almost appropriate to have a nice wide brimmed fedora. Maybe combined with the black outfit… I try to imagine it and grin harder, she would look pimpin.' Oh that's good I gotta use that!

"You look pimpin.'" I say through my wide grin. Skitty's got a small smile on as she turns towards the mirror that's in the dress room. Skitty turns this way and that, looking at the outfit she has on now and looking at the fedora, and how it mixes with the rest of it. She frowns however and messes with her antenna a little bit.

"Ooo, you look good. The hat really goes well with the coat. If you want I can make some adjustments so that your antenna can go through the hat. It's a popular modification among those of us that have longer ears or things coming out of our heads," the fox lady says as she returns with a new outfit. This one had a shirt with a moth in yellow printed out on it, and another pair of jeans to go along with it.

"It's nice… how much is it?"

"Sixty dollars, even with the new outfit, if you got it all, you would still be below budget." Skitty still looks unsure as she looks at herself in the mirror. Behind her I give the thumbs up again, and she gives a small smile.

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I'm not sure how I like this chapter and I might think about rewriting it to make it better later. Any suggestions on improving it would be highly appreciated.

I made this chapter to maybe get a bit more characterisation of Skidmark and Mimi going as well as show a bit about how Skidmark thinks of Taylor in this. I also kind of wanted to explain a bit of the face heel turn of Skidmark as well as foreshadow some of the stuff that is going on in New Canada.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Christmas Special, Clone Interlude

With university's test weeks done I finally have time to work on this story again. Sorry for the long wait there. Just something to get back into the swing of things as well as to expand on things going on in Hell a little.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated
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I walk briskly down the street, my head high and swivelling, watching for any kind of danger as I walk. The hood of my hoodie, something I had snagged from a clothesline a couple of days back, was down despite wishing that I could put it up. With my horns, however, that's an impossibility unless I get a hoodie with a much bigger hood.

With one of my hands, I stroke one of my horns. They're large things that spring from the sides of my head and go back, then forwards, like goat horns. The horns come forward just enough that the tips were in line with my chin. Not particularly useful for goring people unless I didn't mind possibly breaking my nose at the same time.

Even so, I continued to stroke my horn, passing by storefronts and even storefronts where the glass wasn't broken, displaying the fine merchandise inside. There were demonic cops and other things in uniforms on the various street corners while people wandered around gazing at the various merchandise that was spread around. Signs declared the various stores and the streets are bustling with various kinds of traffic, ranging from peddling bikers to regular cars. It reminds me of the boardwalk in Brockton, all nice looking while the rest of the city was shit, or at least, parts of it. There certainly were many more nice areas in Pentagram city than in Brockton Bay, especially when I left the world of the living.

As I am walking, I notice that people have begun putting up various wreaths, and other things that look rather Christmassy. Did demons even celebrate Christmas? Maybe the sinners but for demons, the holiday just meant that their hated enemy was born or something. Even so, I watch out of the corners of my eyes and around my hood as Imps, demons, and sinners alike all begin decorating the various storefronts, hanging up lights, and I even see a few places have begun to advertise candy cane hot chocolates and other festive things.

My answer however comes when I pass a shop window where the owner is putting up a sign announcing that there was going to be a "YULETIDE SALE!" So they weren't celebrating Christmas, but the pagan equivalent, Yule. That certainly made more sense than them celebrating the birth of Christ.

While I'm watching out I notice an owl looking demon across the street do a double-take as she looks my way. Shit. She'll likely call the enforcer equivalent here and get me kicked off the street. Rather than wait for her to call them, I turn into an alleyway. Not exactly the safest thing to do, but this was fairly close to the wealthy district so the place should be fine.

I casually continue down the alleyway, watching for anything that might pop out. People, animals, possibly even giant bugs, there were a lot of strange things in the alleyways of Pentagram city. As I walk through the alleyway, I come across a chain-link fence dividing the alleyway of the wealthy district from the other alleyways here in the city. I look back and my eyes widen as I see the owl woman turn into the alleyway. Oh shit.

Rather than wait, I latch onto the fence and begin climbing. I hear the owl demon call out to me but I ignore her, preferring to not take chances and just book it. I'm not ending up in some woman's basement for her to do whatever with!

Luckily the fence isn't too high and I bolt for it, not even looking back as I run down the alleyway. Reaching to the small of my back, I pull from my belt a revolver I had grabbed from the aftermath of some firefight that had gone on between a bunch of demons. I hear a sound like flapping wings and there is a rush of wind as I look back. The owl demon is running after me and just jumped the fence, her large eyes intense as she charges after me.

Not wanting to take a chance trying to shoot at her I duck around a corner and keep running, hoping to lose her in the maze of alleyways that ran between the various buildings in Pentagram city.

Left, right, and left again, I run halfway down an alley before taking another left before I look back. I hug the wall and raise my gun to watch the entrance of the alleyway, waiting to hear anything. I wait… one moment… two… I look up, expecting to see the owl demon overhead, wings flapping as she dives at me, yet, nothing.

Sighing, I step away from the wall and start making my way further into the alleyway. It seems I've lost my pursuer for the moment. The alleyway is littered with graffiti, showing the various gang signs like any other crime-filled city on Earth. I recognise a few of them from being in the area for a few weeks now. The one with the serpent and sword was some old gang sign that was from a gang that had long been beaten away from the area so I don't pay it much mind. Another was a gang sign I've heard was a warning about raiders. Looked like some wolf head spray-painted in red. Called themselves the Crimson gang and they made trips into the city every once and a while when things started getting crazy. Judging by the fact that it was half-covered by some graffiti artist's own stylised "Tyrone's a bitch!" sign, it wasn't very relevant.

I keep walking along the alleyway, looking at the various graffiti art as I do so, seeing older gang signs. Then I notice a newer looking one. There was writing underneath it, but it was in a language I didn't know, what I did know, was the image of a fanged mouth looking like it was about to bite. I cock the hammer of my revolver and look down the alley I'm in. The sign was known to nearly anyone who wandered the alleyways and survived for more than a few weeks. Biters. A designation given to any kind of demon munching creature that decided to turn the alleys into their home. They could range from Demonic Hellhounds that had gotten a taste of demon flesh, to giant insects. Sometimes they were even designated for feral demons that stayed in an area long term. So long as they tried to eat Demons and were unable to be reasoned with they were called biters by the alley going homeless of Pentagram city.

Cautiously, I start to walk back towards the alley I had just come from. Hopefully, the owl lady wasn't there to greet me, and even if she was, I hadn't seen her armed, so hopefully whatever magic she had could be interrupted by my bullets.

No luck however as I pass a trash can, and it bursts open. Without even looking, I fire a shot into the can, hitting something and knocking the can over. I spare the thing a glance. The thing was red-skinned, scythes for arms, and almost looked raptor-like. I hear a couple more trash bins topple over, revealing the scythe raptors popping out of them, and even a dumpster deeper in flipped its lid to reveal a trio of the creatures.

Without hesitation, I try to sight the closest one as quickly as possible and fire off a shot. It goes wide and I fire again. I miss once more as the kick of the weapon throws my aim off. Rather than try for a third shot, I turn and run. I hear loud screeching behind me but I don't look back, not yet. There are two more garbage cans down the alleyway which topple over, revealing their inhabitants. Gritting my teeth, I continue my charge down the alleyway.

The first of the creatures from the front gets close but I practically shove my revolver in its face before squeezing the trigger, sending a jolt of pain through my wrist as the power of the revolver forces it upwards from the recoil. No matter, not pain, no getting out of here in one piece. The thing's face is blown off as I keep running. The other creature I barely have time to readjust my aim before it's nearly on me.

The biter lunges at me and I try to dodge to the side, only to take a sideswipe from the scythe arm. Without my bugs to use to express my pain, I just settle for shouting "Fuck!" as loud as I can before I fire my last round into the creature as I pass it. It hits the biter in the arm, and I can see the others are gaining on me, nearly at my heels. Fuck!

I drop my heavy gun, I try to sprint harder, I try to swing my arms, anything to get me away from those things. Then, ahead, I see the owl lady standing in front of the alleyway, levelling some kind of gun at me. I see her mouth moving but the blood in my ears is pumping too loudly and I can't hear her. However, I see her take aim and I dive, just trying to last even a second more. God, I wish I hadn't dropped my revolver now!

Suddenly my world is the sound of thunder as I hear bullets whizz past overhead, slamming into some of the biters that were behind me, making meaty whacks and pained groans as they fall over. I hear panicked yips from behind me that are already starting to get farther away.

I lay there a second, then, as I hear the sound of shoes on concrete getting closer, I look up. There, the owl lady is walking towards me, her big expressive owl eyes looking at me concerned. I don't know why she decided to save me, but then, when she speaks I realise.

"Taylor?"

"M-mom?" I say before I can stop myself. How is she here? How? Mom was the greatest, kindest person I've ever known, she, how, no she can't have, she can't have gone to Hell. Yet… here she is… Mom… Annette drops her gun as she runs forward towards me. I… I shouldn't have said that. I start to get up but Annette wraps me in a hug, and I feel tears on my cheek. I want to hit myself. No… no… this… this was wrong. I…

I'm not Taylor…

Even so, Annette embraces me like my false memories of being Taylor informed me she would. It… it felt good. It… fuck… it… Rather than fight it, I just hug her back, burying my face in her shoulder. I… damn it.

"It's okay little owl, it's okay little owl, mommy's here," as she mentioned "mommy," it felt like a dagger in me. Despite my memories, despite this emotion, intellectually, I knew that my mother wasn't this wonderful woman, it wasn't Annette. Not really. The closest I could stretch it was that she was my grandmother, but even that didn't feel right.

No, my mother was that bitch Noelle, who didn't care for me, who wanted me to kill Dad… no, Danny. I clench my fist behind Mom… Annette's back, and grind my teeth once more.

"Shhh, there there… I'm here now… you don't have to worry anymore," Mom… Annette rubs my back just like she used… no… like… as she did to Taylor. She… she never did it to me. I… this… this is wrong, I… I should just…

Yet… despite knowing what I should do, despite knowing the right thing, I can't bring myself to even let go of Mo… Annette. When I try to get the words out, to say that I'm not her little owl, I'm a fake, a fraud, an evil clone, the words get choked up in my throat, and I can't say anything. Mom holds me tighter, a happy hum worming its way into my ear. I feel more tears begin to fall down my cheeks. I silently mouth "sorry."

And I embrace her.

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Edit: I realised I forgot the disbelief I meant to put in there.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 9

This chapter is mostly just for set up, and a bit of further character development with the Merchants. Plus I thought I might as well include some of the ideas I had in the Skidmark interlude and add them here instead as they work I think a bit better here. Though there is a bit of action here because of it.

I've decided to change up how Skidmark talks and would love to get some feedback on it. I'm thinking of going back and changing Skidmark's dialogue to be much less egregious to read to improve readability while also keeping the contents largely the same since I know some people find Skidmark hard to read or just skip his dialogue entirely.

Edited it a bit to try to fix up the tense.

Any and all feedback would be highly appreciated
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I unload my gun and check for what must have been the fifth time that the bullets I have in my gun are actually the rubber bullets we were going to be using for training. Once more, I see the dull rubber tips inside their casing. I had gotten us the rubber bullets for training purposes, as, due to our brute rating from being demons, they were basically worthless as non-lethal deterrents unless they were fired from high calibre weaponry. Demons didn't even consider rubber bullets as something that a lethal gun would fire, hence, how I managed to buy them from a dollar store we had passed while out shopping.

The side door to the warehouse swung open and out came Adam, carrying his magical baseball railgun. The glow on the gun however much less than when he had come and helped me out with the lizard thugs. It was still big, bulky and honestly looked like a tinkered up bazooka, but he had lessened the output of the thing to have a bit more power than the average baseball cannon. We would however still be treating it as if it still had its original power.

Mimi, on the other hand, sat by the sidelines, idly reading a comic of hers while her gun, a small twenty-two pistol sat to the side. Despite all the danger here, she has never fired a gun, and really only had one because a concerned neighbour in her apartment block had given it to her for her own protection. Even so, she apparently had never used it, her excuse being that she didn't like the sound of gunfire.

It must be unfortunate for the girl with the city being in such disarray as it is. She seems to have adapted to it well enough though, not even flinching when there was gunfire off in the distance. Reminds me of some of the kids in Brockton when Bakuda was blowing the entire place to hell and back and the ABB were fighting in the streets. I saw kids who would sometimes stare off towards gunfire when it happened in Brockton to just ignoring it entirely. In Brockton during those times, gunfire was just another sound of the city, and it became even more so after Leviathan hit.

"Alright, I want to see what we are working with before we actually plan on getting into a fight. Adam, did well with the barriers and keeping heads down in those riots, so I want to see what you can do one on one," I turn to Mimi. "If you want to stay you're getting involved too," I tell her and she nods after looking up from her comic book.

"Ain't we just waiting for Sherrel to finish installing the turret on the van and shit? If you really think she ain't going to be done in the next ten minutes, you must be trippin,'"

"That's why it's just going to be a spar, see where we are properly and where we can improve. I did this all the time with the Chicago Wards when I joined them after leaving Brockton,"

"Shit, fine by me, just don't expect me to go easy on ya just 'cause you're new 'round here," Adam says, a big grin on his face. Thank God they weren't his old teeth; those would have been unpleasant to see. Even so, when he gets to his spot, he doesn't relax. Good, if that hadn't just been bravado I would have to wonder if he was all there in the head.

I draw on him while moving to the side, Adam ducks behind a dumpster and already I can see fields going up in the middle of the alleyway. I charge forward while keeping my pistol trained on the dumpster he's hiding behind, meanwhile, the barrier's glow is getting brighter. While I charge I lay down my own barriers, speeding me along to Adam's own barrier.

Adam however pokes his gun around the corner and starts to blind fire, sending his baseballs down the alleyway at random, but just close enough I have to break off my charge as a few get too close for comfort. With the barrier getting brighter while using the bugs I have on him to get a general idea of where he's aiming, I try to fire a few bullets his way, hoping to catch his hand, but the barrier is interfering with my bullets, like when hitting water. The sudden resistance is enough to keep my bullets from getting to the dumpster on target.

Adam's gotten faster at laying down his barriers than I remember seeing in videos from before my cape days. Whether that was because Adam managed to get more experience while down here or due to it being demonic magic rather than some eldritch shard power I don't know.

Secure in his position now with the further intensifying barrier Adam finally steps out from it, a smug grin on his face as he takes aim and fires. Luckily because of my bugs on his gun as well as on his baseballs, I'm just able to dodge the balls as they come at me, though as the barrier between us intensifies, the faster the balls come. I set down some barriers to accelerate myself as I retreat. At the same time, I'm laying down some more to slow down the balls being sent my way.

Meanwhile, I begin to layer some barriers down near Adam's main barrier, pointing straight up. Adam's barriers can't go on forever in any direction, just high enough that people can't usually jump over them. I know that in some fights Adam's had in life fliers like Glory Girl were able to fly over the barriers, and considering that most capes copied their power with their magic, myself included. To make sure, however, I sense Adam's barrier with my antennae. Was I Lisa, I'd likely be grinning.

I call my swarm down on Adam, bugs flying down from the roof and the dumpster. I didn't have as many as when I still had my old power, but I'd been hard at work possessing as many bugs as I could get a hold of in the short amount of time since I had learned how to take control of them. I unfurl my wings and dash in as my bugs go straight for Adam's eyes, not biting them or anything, just distracting him, while the other bugs I had started biting at Adam's hands. I hear Adam shout out in surprise while I take advantage of the lull to advance my way up to my barriers, of course using additional ones to boost myself forward faster. As I hit my vertical barriers I open my wings up wide and push down with them as I jump up, boosted by my previously placed barriers.

For a moment I'm high in her air, over the roofs of the warehouse and short buildings around us. I look down to my opponent, and almost by instinct, I move my wings while extending my foot out. Adam finally waves my bugs out of his face long enough to look for me, his baseball cannon ready. For a moment, right before the heel of my shoe makes contact, his face is scrunches in confusion as I'm no longer on my side of his barrier.

My heel makes contact and Adam's head jerks back. Adam makes a sound, more surprised than in pain as my kick drives him into the ground. With my wings, I flap them once so I don't follow him downwards and curb stomp him. Even so, he bounces a little on the ground and his head makes a meaty thwack as it impacts the ground. As I land on the cement, Adam makes a pained sound while on the ground.

Shit, I think I hit him too hard.

I fold my wings back into their fluffy coat and rush to Adam. Even with our natural demonic brute rating, it was still better to check to make sure that Adam was alright. Luckily he's still groaning on the ground so Adam wasn't knocked unconscious. He looks up at me looking over him.

"Mother fu- where the fuck did you come from?" Adam immediately looks upwards to the top of his barrier behind me. At least he isn't disorientated, and he isn't slurring his words. He should be fine.

"Did you fuckin' dive kick me!?" Adam accuses, his face scrunching up more as he looks even more incredulous. "Damn."

"Glad to see you're doing alright," I say as I reach a hand out to Adam, a small smile on my face.

"A mother fuckin' dive kick. Thought that shit was only in movies 'n' shit," he says as he grabs my offered hand, and I pull him up.

"There are a few capes that use it, though they can usually fly somehow or can jump well," this was one of my very few dive kicks I've ever done. Most of the time I have had my baton with me or my gun, or I just used my bugs. With how I've changed, however, until I get a large enough swarm, and maybe get a breeding operation going, I will have to be a bit more frugal with how I used my insects. Especially since I know that a few have been destroyed while riding Adam's baseballs, getting crushed while immobilised on the balls due to the g-force if they hadn't fallen off.

"Oh yeah?" Adam says as he uses a hand to crack his neck, making popping sounds as he makes sure his head is screwed on right. "Then why didn't Glory Hole ever dive kick?" I shrug.

"I think she was more of a pugilist," I say before turning to Mimi. I can see the barrier Adam had made has already begun to fade, and I do the same with my own. Rather than turning tail, Mimi seems to consider me for a moment before putting down her book. Even so, she looks nervous.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," I say despite what I had said earlier. While I would like her to participate and join us, I wasn't going to force her. This wasn't the end of the world, and this wasn't the Wards. Even so, it would be good to get a grip on what I might be working with.

"I, if that's alright?" she asks, and I nod.

"Yeah, it's not a problem. I want to help you, not beat you up," when he hears that, Adam snorts.

"Could of fooled me," Adam complains as he leans back on a wall by the table that Mimi's sitting on.

"Unlike her, you were an experienced cape. You actually know a thing or two about fighting, she doesn't," as far as I know.

"Glad to actually be acknowledged. You know I swear I used to beat the shit out of half the newbie capes that came to Brockton 'n' shit from outta town just cause they think I ain't shit,"

"You never did give much of a decent showing when you showed up on video."

"Well excuse me for being a medium-sized fish in a pond full of big ass mother fuckers, you included," I let the matter drop.

"Either way we might as well show you how to use your gun, you've never had to use it before right?" Mimi nods at that and presents it to me. I take the gun gingerly and begin to look it over. The gun itself is fairly light and as I slip my hand around the grip, it feels comfortable enough. I aim down the sights and they seem decent enough, though if Mimi has never fired it before the sights would have to be calibrated, she couldn't cheat at shooting as I do with my bugs. I feel for a button and as I hit it, the magazine slides out. It's got a full payload inside the magazine. I load the magazine back in and pull back the slide a few times, letting the bullets fall to the table, my bugs forming a small area for them to fall into. Some of the bullets bounce out of the makeshift bin so I have some of my flying bugs grab before they can roll away. I watch the chamber, looking for any feed failures as I empty the magazine. With no failures, the magazine spring seems to have kept its tension. Then once more I slide out the now empty magazine and pull back the slide once more to make sure that there are no rounds in the chamber I didn't know about.

"Have you ever disassembled this?" I ask Mimi who just shakes her head. Nodding, I begin to look for a way to disassemble the gun. The model looks like a knock off of a 22 Ruger pistol. Finding the catch in the back of the pistol, I begin to process of disassembling the pistol, pulling the pin, sliding the barrel off, and looking through the thing. The barrel itself looks clean enough, as well as the spring, and there is barely any kind of gunk inside the receiver aside from some dust and lint from being carried inside of Mimi's hoodie pocket all this time. With a small burst of magic, I clear out the receiver and begin to reassemble the gun.

I slot in the magazine and the slide cocks in automatically. To make sure I reassemble the thing correctly and didn't screw up somewhere, I aim at the wall of the abandoned building and then squeeze down on the trigger, watching as the slide comes back and forth. Luckily there doesn't seem to be any kind of problem while I continue to pull the trigger and watch for anything wrong. Eventually, I present the pistol back to Mimi.

"It's an alright gun, though not as useful as it would be on Earth," I turn to Adam. "You wouldn't happen to have anything that could work as target practice?"

"Yeah, we got some cans and shit up in the loft. You want me to go get them?" I nod.

"If you wouldn't mind," and I turn my attention back to Mimi.

"Alright so since you've never fired a gun before I'll just go over the basics while we wait for Adam to get back, and I can let you reload the magazine with your bullets there."

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It wasn't long before Adam came back with the cans and Mimi got to start shooting. The building beside us wasn't occupied so we were fine to shoot at it, and Little Mark was awake so we didn't have to worry about waking him, especially since Sherrel had turned on some video for him to watch and had Felix watching over him for a little extra pay.

Mimi turned out to be a fairly good shot once we had gotten the sights all properly aligned. She wasn't hitting every shot but she did manage to hit most of the cans she shot at with the first shot and the rest with her second shot, with only the ones we had set up farther away sometimes taking more. Compared to some of the Wards I had actually gotten to come down to the gun range, she had potential. There had been some awkwardness at the start, but she had adjusted to using the gun quickly enough and was actually enjoying it.

After getting through her magazine she had wanted to shoot some more despite having no bullets left. Taking pity on her, I let her use my colt replica. The shooting for a moment was a bit off, hitting beside the cans that were beyond point-blank, but she quickly got her rhythm back and was popping cans off with my remaining rubber bullets.

That was the scene Sherrel opened the door to, Mimi smiling as she pops off rounds at cans down the alleyway, angled so that unless she fired wildly off course, they would impact the brick of the abandoned building beside us. With my bugs on her, I knew that she was coming, and so was packing up the small ammo box I had that I was re-supplying Mimi with.

"Having fun?" Sherrel asks. Mimi nods emphatically as she lined up the shot to the last can at the back of our makeshift range. With a final bang, the four of us watch the last can topple over.

"Yeah, it's… different. I guess I never realised that it would actually be fun to try," Mimi explains. "Guess you're heading out now huh?" I nod. Sherrel and I were going to be heading out so that I could get an idea of where all the various pubs that vigilantes frequent so that I could spy on them and find out where we might find their bases so that we could hit them. With the loot gathered from their bases, we could finance and grow the Merchants. Hopefully, we wouldn't have to hit too many before we made enough money to begin to properly expand.

"Ha, you think that's fun? How about next time you can try out Sherrel's magnum, shit's cash," Mimi's eyes go wide before looking over to Sherrel, her eyes practically sparkling.

"Can I?" the mouse demon asks and Sherrel just shrugs.

"Sure, just warn me so I can grab a few more rounds from the shop," with that, Sherrel turns to me.

"I'll catch up in a moment, I've got to show Mimi a thing or two about disassembling her gun and how to properly clean it before I leave,"

"Sounds good to me, I need to check to make sure that the turret won't catch after a few rotations anyways," and with that, Sherrel walks back into the garage. Mimi looks at me curiously and I beckon her over. As Mimi walks over, she makes sure to keep the gun I was lending her pointed at the ground, and keeping her finger off the trigger like I taught her, bringing a small smile to my face.

"Alright, since I'm sure you're going to be using your gun a bit more often now, you've also got to learn how to clean it properly," I start and Mimi watches in rapt attention as I begin to explain to her how to disassemble her Ruger knock-off, and showing off some of the various minor details of the pistol.

I make sure to have Mimi assemble and disassemble the thing a couple of times until she can do it without my help. She isn't fast at it but it shouldn't matter so long as she keeps the thing clean when she isn't using it.

"I'm going to head in, I still need to go out with Sherrel and check those places Felix gave me," I tell her as Mimi finishes reassembling her pistol once more. She looks up at me and smiles my way.

"Hey, thanks for showing me this, and well, not making me fight and stuff. I'm, well, I don't really want to fight really," Mimi says as she stuffs her Ruger into her hoodie pocket.

"It's alright, not all of us are really cut out for a fight. Though, you're going to have to choose to either fight with us or run at some point. With a gun or without, I hope you will fight with us if things come to it," I say as I walk to the garage to let her stew on what I've said. Despite things being calm at the moment, I'm sure that us claiming the territory around us will change that, and soon she'll have to choose whether she's going to stand with us or not. While it will be unfortunate if she does decide to run, I won't begrudge her. When she joined the new Merchants, I doubt she thought it would end up like this.

In the garage section of the warehouse, I can see the van. The thing had been outfitted with a set of armour plates that had been welded together that honestly made it look a bit like a block of scrap steel welded together with the front sticking out. The top of the van held the tank turret and the front, comparatively, was lightly armoured, though I can still see where scrap metal has been welded to reinforce the engine block and the more solid metal parts. Surprisingly, the thing hadn't gotten any lower to the ground despite the extra weight. Perhaps some of the tinker knowledge had transferred over to Sherrel, or maybe she just retained some of the less crazy things that her shard had her tinker up.

Sherrel herself is in the tank turret, spinning the thing around. The turret doesn't spin very fast but at a range, it wouldn't matter as much as if it were in close quarters. Considering what most of the vehicles look like in Pentagram city, that is to say, a complete lack of tanks, unless the demons that were attacking the van had anti-tank weaponry, whoever was in the turret likely had enough time to sight the target and just blow them away. The turret, however, as I approach, does look familiar. It almost looks like it came off of some tank from world war two. It wasn't a German one I don't think, those ones were generally flatter, and it definitely didn't look like a Sherman. It kind of looked like someone had taken a round steel bin, and had attached a tank barrel on the thing, and flattened the top of it so that it was at an angle. It wasn't exactly pretty, but it actually fit in with the rest of the van's armour. As the tank turret turns towards me, Sherrel seemed to spot me from within and the turret stops, pointing the barrel right at me.

If I didn't know that Sherrel was the one that was in that van, this might have been intimidating. Instead, Sherrel crawls her way to the front of the van, her larger form getting in the way, causing her, assets, to jiggle in some… uncomfortable ways, as she finally got to the front and climbs out the doorway. Once she is all sorted out, she walks up to me, a nervous smile on her face as she approaches.

"So? What do ya think?" Sherrel asks. It looks like one of the contraptions that she'd have made during her Squealer days, though less crazy. It spoke less of Mad Max and more of something an African warlord thought counted as a tank. Even so, it looks good, and it had fewer random bits sticking out of strange places as some of her vehicles in life have had.

"It looks good," I compliment. Sherrel beams at the praise, and then she reaches out and pulls me close. Not sure what to do, I just let her until she let go.

"So we're off to find some vigilantes, any idea where they are?" Sherrel asks. In response, I reach into my long coat and pull from it a list of various bars and pubs with various addresses on them. All of them were given to me by Felix when he asked his various brothers and sisters what bars the vigilante's hung out in across Pentagram city. It wasn't an exhaustive list, but it did give a few dozen places in clusters across the city. Luckily, my ability to control bugs didn't seem to be affected by distance, as I still had control of some of the bugs I had gotten while Adam, Mimi, and I had gone shopping, outside of my range.

"These are all the bars and pubs that Felix says his family knows have some vigilante activity," I say while presenting the list to Sherrel. Sherrel looks it over, mumbling the various pubs and street addresses next to them, nodding as she went until she reached a specific one.

"Oh hey, I've been to this one a few times, we should go drinking after we get this done," I stop, and surprisingly, Sherrel does as well. She looks over to me, an eyebrow raised. "Have you ever even had alcohol?" Sherrel asks.

"No, part of my probation in the Wards prohibited alcohol since I was, or rather still am, underage," it also didn't help that they had been looking for any kind of slip up to put on my record. Not that I had time to drink in the Wards, but it was one more thing they wanted to do to add to the case they likely had been making to take me off the team and either send me somewhere where I wouldn't cause trouble or possibly even, send me straight to Juvenile Detention.

At my explanation, Sherrel's lips slowly close, and a wide grin spreads across her shiny plastic face.

"Oh, I'm definitely going to be taking you out drinking then, I wanna see you have your first drink!" Sherrel then takes off for the driver seat of the van. Wait, I can't drink yet.

"But!"

"No butts! I clean enough of them with Mark!" Sherrel calls back, having popped open the van's driver-side door and calling out over it. Sighing I walk over to the passenger side of the van and climb in. Considering drugs were legal here, I doubt there is an official drinking age or any kind of law regarding it really. Though if she thinks that I'm going to let her have some drinks when she's my only ticket back here, she's got another thing coming.


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We drive around the city trying to find the various addresses to the bars that Felix gave us the names for. Most of them were dives and bars with entrances hidden in alleyways. There were a few that actually looked like reputable joints, but they were few and far between. While we drove, I let my more predatory bugs resume their natural movements, searching for prey and before they were about to kill their prey, I had them bring it to me.

A lot of the bugs in Pentagram city were carnivorous and killing other bugs rather than scavenging off the debris and detritus left behind by civilization. Not to say that there wasn't a massive amount of scavengers that were loving the chaos that was being left behind by the various vigilante attacks and random gunfights that were breaking out between gangs who were taking advantage of the chaos the Vigilante's were causing.

More than a few times I had Sherrel stop so that I could go search through the aftermath of gunfights. Most of the time, they were stripped clean of everything other than their clothes and were being picked at by bugs. Bugs weren't the only scavengers in this city. Though, I did manage to find a few wallets and some pistols here and there. Nothing too large though. Some of these might make a good gift to Mimi so she can finally get a proper gun for down here.

We reach our final stop on the list, a pub named "The Toy Bar." It seems like an alright place, that is to say, it isn't some bar down an alleyway. I begin to fill the place with some of the bugs I got from the previous looting when Sherrel turns the van off. I look over to her but she's already getting out of the van.

"Come on, I said we were going for a drink, I want to see you get your first!" and with that, she slams the door. She hadn't forgotten about it as I had hoped. I get out of the van and walk after Sherrel. I'm not letting my ride back to the warehouse get drunk, especially since I doubt she would even consider leaving her van here without being knocked out first.

We enter the place and the first thing that hits me about the place is how little traffic there is here. Only a few people in the place, one blue-skinned demon is drinking at the bar and a couple consisting of a lizard creature and a faun is in the corner sharing drinks. The bartender looks like some kind of plastic army soldier toy, all green plastic, and I can see a trench gun on the back wall, feeling it with my bugs though it doesn't seem to be made out of plastic but rather spray painted to be green. Interestingly, another was under the bar counter, and rather than the stereotypical pump shotgun, I can feel with the bugs I had bugged this place with, that it feels more like the automatic shotguns that I have seen some PRT and SWAT units use when they were expecting heavy resistance.

"Sherrel! You god damn sad excuse for a sex toy! You got a lot of nerve coming back here after the shit you pulled!" the toy soldier accuses, his plastic face glaring at her which stops Sherrel short. The toy soldier glares for another moment, and my hand slowly moves to the pistol in my belt. Then, the toy soldier smiles.

"Ya haven't called, I was worried about ya, come on here and get yourself a seat, I'll get you your favourite," He says and turns around.

"Hold on, she's the designated driver," I protest. The toy soldier looks back at Sherrel and she sheepishly nods.

"Huh, well tell you what, I'll drive you back to your place so you can have a drink as well. Your's is the eyesore out front right?"

"Hey!" Sherrel protests. "It ain't an eyesore she's my baby."

"Yeah, with a face only a mother can love," the soldier retorts as he sets down a cup filled with ice and starts filling it with a mixture of alcohol, some fizzy pop, and a straw.

"Jackass," was Sherrel's reply as she drank from the straw in her cup. The soldier gave a chuckle before turning to me.

"So what'll you be having missy? I'm Anthony by the way."

"Skitty," I tell him, using my cutesy nickname rather than my new demonic name. Considering this place caters to vigilantes, and they had decided that I was persona non grata, it would be better to keep that name under wraps until the Merchants had grown strong enough to be able to take on roving gangs of vigilantes. While there is a danger of realising the connection, my old villain name was known to inspire fear and making it all cutesy would hopefully be enough to throw them off.

"Skitty then, what'll you be having?" Anthony asks again, not really knowing what to pick, I look at the back of the bar, but I might as well be looking at a sign in a foreign language.

"I'll just have what she's having," I say eventually and Anthony nods. I sit down beside Sherrel and take my hat off to set down on the bar.

"So how did you find out about this place?" I ask, not wanting to be a bore as Sherrel stops sipping from her drink. Sherrel takes a second to think.

"She walked into my bar looking like a hot mess," Anthony said as he continues to pour my drink.

"Yeah, I didn't even have any clothes," Sherrel agrees before continuing. "I just woke up on the street to some guy touching me on the street, luckily he was a dumb ass and I got a good kick in before he tried anything else. Something like that happen to you?" I shake my head.

"No, I had my wings so I just used those as a poncho until I figured out how to turn them into my coat here."

"Lucky, I just woke up with not a stitch on me and even bigger tits than I had before. I had to get outta there so I just ran into the first door that was open."

"Which was here, here ya go," Anthony says as he passes me the drink. Picking it up I take an experimental sip. It's sweet, with a bit of a strange taste that's sitting alongside it. It definitely isn't bad though.

"Yeah, anyways, Anthony took one look at me, and walked off to get me a shirt and some pants."

"It's what any good American would do," he said matter-of-factly.

"So yeah, after that he helped me for a bit while I got back on my feet," Anthony smiles at that.

"I still get customers asking about you sometimes, say, why not come back just for a weekend, see the guys again? You always did get a big ass tip," Anthony asks but Sherrel just lets out a chuckle.

"And get practically molested again? Nah, I had enough of that when I was alive, I think I'll stick to getting frisky with Adam thank you very much," So he was another person who liked to help. Maybe, I ponder as I take another sip, he could help us?

"So what about you two? When'd you two meet?" Anthony asks, and Sherrel is all too happy to oblige.

"We saw her on the sidewalk getting harassed by some of Valentino's goons. 'Course we didn't know that they were Valentino's at the time. Just saw her getting harassed. Skiddy saw her first and I wasn't about to stop him. I wouldn't want that shit to happen to me so we just stopped by the road and Skiddy got out and blasted one. Turns out Skitty here knew some magic so when she blasted them away, I ran one over, and then we picked her up and got ourselves a new Merchant."

"Well I'm glad my kindness rubbed off on you a bit, so what have you been doing lately?" This might be a good idea to see where his loyalties lie or even what he thinks about the vigilantes. If he betrays us, I'll know, and we can quickly get rid of him.

"Laying low mostly," I remark.

"Oh?"

"You know that big shoot out in Valentino's territory?" I ask and one of Anthony's plastic eyebrows rises up.

"Other than on the news, there were a few guys who were in here before that were talking about it, why? You involved with the vigilantes or something?" He asks, placing his hands on the bar, nearby enough to his auto shotgun that he could pull it out quickly.

"No, but they did attack while we were there."

"So you're hiding from Valentino or something?"

"The vigilantes, some of them attacked us and we had to defend ourselves," I ready my magic, prepared to blast Anthony back if he tries to draw on us. I hope he doesn't but vigilantes do frequent here according to Felix. Instead of trying to draw though, he just shakes his head.

"Some people can't get it in their head that this place just isn't America," Anthony leans heavily on the counter now, arms folded underneath him. "But then, America's been looking a lot less like the America I fought for from what I heard. Done get me wrong. Some of them are good people just trying to help, some of them are just trying to make the world make sense again. While they are trying to do good, they're hurting a lot of people with what they are doing. From half the things I've heard, they don't even have a plan; they're just attacking people for laws and crimes that don't exist here. Some of the shit people were getting attacked over in some of the territories that the vigilantes held back before they got broken up by the big man himself was mad. Whatever happened to "give me liberty or give me death?" fuckin' bullshit..."

I don't even know half of what he's talking about, and he seems to have gone into his own little rant while talking about them. He's probably right in that the vigilantes are trying to make things better, and maybe I can use that. The vigilantes and I have similar goals, of making things better. Maybe I can convince some of them to join me, the ones who haven't decided that I'm some threat to deal with before I get too big.

"Perhaps you could help us," I venture as I swirl my drink. "We, want to see about making things better here. You see, back in Brockton Bay, I and my friends all lead efforts to try and improve the city after a disaster hit. The government and its various organs were being useless, so we took it upon ourselves to try and protect the people of the city while the government only protected those that are rich and worth protecting," there had never been an official policy regarding the PRT and the Protectorate pulling back to the few wealthy areas of Brockton, but that had been what had essentially happened. Everywhere beyond the rich suburbs had been abandoned, and it had been up to us to re-establish order there. Pentagram city was in a similar state of chaos with all the vigilantes stirring up the pot of an already heavily divided city, separated into little fiefdoms who were now taking advantage of the chaos that the vigilantes were leaving behind.

"Pentagram city is in a similar situation. The government or whoever is not willing to come in and help anyone here, everyone is fighting, and if Pentagram city was in America, it would likely be quarantined. I want to try and make an island of stability here that we can use to try and help the people here, like my friends and I did in Brockton Bay. We can't do it alone, however. Right now, it's just us, but if you would help us, direct people to us, I think we can replicate the good my friends and I did in Brockton here in Pentagram. That sounds like something you could do for us?"

The other patrons are all quiet as they seem to have taken an interest in what I was saying, watching us as I talk about what I want to do, what I want to accomplish here. Anthony himself looks at me for a long couple of moments, considering whether he wants to get involved with us and help us out.

I won't begrudge him if he doesn't want to join up. Not everyone can handle it all. I had been able the first time but it had been a lot of work. I would do it again in a heartbeat, though I might relegate some more to Charlotte, or even have seen about getting some more help than I had originally. Lisa had been there but I had continued to do things mostly my way. Maybe, maybe I could have included Dad in all of it. He wouldn't have like that I was a villain, but if I had shown him what I was trying to do and that I was working towards bringing Brockton back from the brink, maybe I could have gotten him on board with me.

So many maybes, so many things I could have done differently to make things better, yet largely I would do it all over again. This may not be a second chance a life, but in a way, by trying this all over again, I was getting a second chance. I was going to drag my little section of hell up from the pit it had fallen down, and I would do it better than I had the first time.

This time, I would do better.

Finally, Anthony seems to stir and he looks up at me, an amused smile on his face.

"Fancy yourself an Overlord do ya?" I think about responding with a resounding no, but, that wasn't really true, was it? Despite it being possible to easily connect it back to me and my cape identity, I was asking him to send people our way to join us in at the Merchants. He already knew Sherrel and where we live, he could easily bring the vigilantes down on our heads, but then, I had already bugged this place along with the other bars that vigilantes went to according to Felix. I would have advanced warning.

Then I pause for a second, realising what I'm doing. I'm moving forward with plans I hadn't even brought to the attention of Adam and Sherrel. I'd done such things many times while in the Chicago Wards, after all, most of the time the PRT and Protectorate would have tried to stop me from doing what needed to be done if they had known what I was about to do, or even actively tried to stop me. I'd never gotten in any significant trouble for it, or at least, anything that actually affected what I was in the Wards to do, restricting my ability to leave the base on anything other than patrols didn't do much to someone that rarely left the base other than to do my job… and to attend a few dinners being thrown by the mayor. He and some of Chicago's officials had actually proven useful in making sure I didn't get much more than a slap on the wrist, as ever since I had been invited to one of their dinners, they had stopped implying that if I continued going off script, they would reconsider my placement in Chicago.

This wasn't the Wards though, I wasn't dealing with the PRT and Protectorate anymore. I wasn't some inconvenient ward that was just politically important enough to let things largely slide, I was now a major part of the new Merchants, and I was going behind the backs of Adam and Sherrel with this. I look to Sherrel, and I see a smile on her face as she sips from her drink. As she notices my attention, she gives a thumbs up. Well, that's one.

With the bugs I had left at the warehouse, I find Adam, he and Felix are watering the plants on the main floor while Mimi has brought lil' Mark down and is bouncing the giggling babe on her lap. I coalesce my bugs into a sort of orb so that they can speak for me.

"Adam," my bugs buzz, causing Adam to jump, splashing water about as he turns, one of his hands tucked into his jacket pocket when he turns to my small swarm. Seeing the mass of bugs, he blinks a few times before he relaxes.

"Jesus, you scared the shit outta me, so what you want?" remembering how Sherrel acted when he swore in front of Mark, she likely wouldn't approve, I'll have to tell her about it later.

"Sherrel and I have met one of her friends in a bar, a man named Anthony, I was planning on recruiting him to help us get some manpower, he seems decent enough, and wanted to make sure it was fine with you before I did," Adam's eyebrows raise as I buzzed at him.

"Anthony? Yeah sure, if he really wants to, I didn't think we'd be grabbing anyone until we did that raid thing you were talkin' about. Get some moola 'n' shit," I note the second swear, and have my bugs bob up and down in a pseudo nod before I disperse them back to what they had been doing before. With my permission secured, I continue with Anthony.

"I was a Warlord in life. When no one else would, I took charge and fixed my city, why not do the same here?" I ask him, and his smile grows.

"Well at least you're honest," I nod, and slowly stick my hand out, I'm not sure exactly what I am doing, but I can feel something happening to my hand, energy engulfing it. My antennae detecting something I've never quite felt before. It was magic, but… different. Softer in a way, somehow, yet, unrestrained. I see a kind of wind, like when I let out a burst of magical energy, pulsing in my hand now, engulfing it, myself, and Anthony in a yellow glow as the lights around the bar dim until everyone except for us, was bathed in shadow. I look Anthony straight in the eyes, and Anthony looks into mine, both of us searching.

"Will you help us?" is all I say. All I can hear is the howl of magical wind, an eerie buzz, and through my antennae, the beat of Anthony's heart, suddenly pumping as he stares at me. He seems entranced for a moment, before, finally, he seems to shake himself from whatever spell I have accidentally ensnared him in. He looks down at my hand. He swallows hard now, gone is whatever bravado he seemed to have before.

"Fuck, I'm probably going to regret this, but, alright," he reaches forward, and we shake hands, the energy between us intertwining around us, and the wind suddenly reverses, imploding, before finally everything was back to normal,

And a pact has been made.


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[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 10

I'm going to edit the previous chapter to have Skitter ask Skidmark if it is alright with him that she recruits Anthony with her bugs, as it makes sense that Taylor would leave some of her bugs back at the base, and ask Skidmark if it is fine with him to recruit Anthony. Mostly just want to emphasize that Skitter wants to be a team player here rather than what I had previously put having Taylor just recruit him.

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated
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"Want another?" Anthony asks me indicating my empty cup.

"Come on, it's your first time, drink!" Sherrel calls out, raising her glass, along with some of the other patrons. I smile politely, but my head already feels funny. The room isn't spinning or anything, but… there is a fuzziness to it that won't go away no matter how many times I shake my head. It's weird, and I'm not sure I like it. I can almost feel my eyes go bug-eyed so I'm shutting my eyes really tight to try to deal with it and it seems to work.

"I guess I could have one more," I say to them. Anthony nods at me while Sherrel cheers and starts giggling soon after. The sparse crowd that is here at the bar seem like fairly nice people. Not that I have much to go on. But they were generally polite, especially compared to some bars. Through the bugs, I've planted in the other bars some of them were really loud and the people there rather rambunctious. In a few of them gunshots had rung out and the whole place had gone to shit. Whenever that would happen I would frown, but there wasn't much I could do about it at the moment, not with how little of a swarm I had.

Not only that but I didn't really have a way of telling what was fully going on because I didn't have as large of a swarm as when I was alive, though I had made sure that I could listen in on the various stalls, and shifted bugs around the various tables when I could. Many of the conversations were rather mundane, or sometimes, steamy. I had gotten a few tips that were actually useful. Like don't buy the bulky 10-millimetre pistols, they were a bunch of replica garbage base off of some game. Another was to watch out for someone called the "Radio Demon" who was some up and coming big shot in Hell.

"Well alright then, what'll ya have? You could have some more of the Rum and pop, you liked that, you could try something harder, like whiskey, if you're feeling adventurous, or I could get you something lighter," Anthony states, I frown for a second, trying to think of what I might have. Though, I'm already kind of tipsy judging by the weird feeling in my head.

"Something lighter, I'm already feeling it," I lazily continue to fly my listening swarms around the bars and clubs we had bugged while driving around. I note the various weapons that people are carrying on them, most of them being small things, though I have felt a few larger weapons sitting beside people. Despite not really needing to since I'm not going into any of the bars tonight, not while I'm tipsy like this. At this point, it's just a habit to note where all the weapons were and figure out how to avoid them. Right now, don't go into that bar. Anthony brings me a short glass of some kind of light fizzy drink. I look up at him.

"It's some peach cider. I get a shipment of the stuff every few days from New Minos. Moth Demons love the stuff, you love the stuff, so I thought I might as well share it with ya," I nod at him and give my thanks as I accept the glass. I take a sip, it's nice and sweet, and really smooth. I can still tell that it's alcoholic, but even straight it tastes exceptional, even better than the sweet rum drink that Anthony gave me before. I continued to fly my bugs around as I continued to drink. Sometimes, I get my bugs to vibrate or do something that lets me focus on them, away from my tipsy mind.

"-om on Snipes," I blink as I recognize the name. That had been the name of the vigilante that had been gunning for me specifically. I direct my listening swarm back to their table and note where the bar they are in is.

"You've been drinking yourself under the table ever since we lost him, if you keep at it, you'll blow all of our money," slowly, I start to moving my bugs to get a sense of the people around the table. I only had enough to listen in on a single conversation so I begin with the one that had been talking. Positioning the bugs over his clothing and on places where I know, unless someone is paying attention to that particular body part, a person shouldn't notice.

The man that had spoken and was discussing the issues of money was a short man who sounded fairly young from his voice. The young man had on a light and loose-fitting tee-shirt along with some shorts to go with it. He honestly seemed fairly human, though I can't really tell what colour he is due to just using the bug's sense of touch. Another interesting thing was that the man has a large pair of feathered wings that he has folded up behind him. Holstered on either hip are a pair of boxy guns. Judging by the general shape of them, they had to be some kind of Mac-10 ripoff or something similar.

"Fuck off Ace, if we neeeed more moneeeeey, we *hic* can just find a dealer or… something…*hic*," so Arial Ace was a part of the group, Snipe's group, who had been specifically gunning for me. I couldn't really tell by the group chat on the phone I had stolen from Brainiache if he was or not before I got banned from it when Snipes had posted that Brainiache's phone had been stolen. Had I been conscious after escaping Valentino's territory during the attack, I might have had time to try to contact some of the demons in the chat and get their numbers, but alas, a lost opportunity.

Shifting my bugs over to the new speaker, I immediately noticed that the speaker, who was obviously Snipes, was hunched over the table, and judging by the complaints, likely had some kind of drink her hand. Like the picture on Brainiache's phone showed, she was a kind of bird demon who's wings were more like feathery arms than actual wings, though considering that I could shape shift my wings, it wouldn't surprise me if she could do the same.

"That's not the point, the way you're dealing with this is a problem. I get it, he was my friend, and Rollout's too, but even if he's gone, that doesn't mean that you can just sit there drowning your sorrow away with a bottle of booze," I shift my bugs to the last person who is with them. The first thing I noticed is that the man who was sitting by them had a kind of exoskeleton over him and that his arms and legs were massive in comparison to the two other vigilantes. Despite the exoskeletoned demon's massive bulk, the man seemed to be as tall as the other two, meaning he was big but short. He was likely some kind of bug demon judging by the antennae on his head, probably some kind of beetle, as ants weren't shaped like him… but then again, I was less a moth and more a gray girl who had moth-like features.

I begin to spread my bugs out between all of them, giving me a kind of marionette mental image of them as they moved around. Snipes was chugging the last of her bottle down while Arial Ace had his arms crossed as he watched her. Rollout, who she assumed the rotund one was simply sat there shifting uncomfortably. Considering how Snipes had reacted when Adam and Angel Dust had been taunting her over Brainiache's phone, they were talking about Brainiache.

Angel Dust had said that Valentino had flown into a rage when everything was all over. Considering what he had said that Valentino would have done to us had he caught us in that fight, or even just selling drugs to Angel if Brainiache wasn't grabbed, he wouldn't be in a good place. Judging by the tears and the fact that Snipes had been drinking herself to ruin, it didn't seem that they had picked him up before Valentino flooded the place with his magic smoke.

"Hey, let's not fight, come on," the one known as Rollout said, trying to act as the peacemaker. "Snipes, I know you're angry and upset, and that's okay," Rollout reaches over to Snipes and puts a hand on her shoulder, "I'm upset about losing him to, we all are. This wasn't supposed to be like this, but it happened, and things went to shit. We can't do anything about it. But what we can do is keep going. You said it yourself, we can't give up, we need to keep going," Snipes seemed to still herself as she listened to him.

"Hey, Skitty? You alright? You've been quiet for a while now," I hear Sherrel say and I look up to see Anthony and Sherrel looking at me, concerned.

"I'm listening in on some vigilantes at the moment, one of them was the one that nearly killed me,"

"Lemme' guess, you want to go give them a little payback, right?" Anthony asks, however, I shake my head.

"No, I'm feeling a bit tipsy, besides, they're over a dozen blocks away. Instead, I'm going to track them with my bugs and we can take care of them when they think they're safe. I'm going to tell Adam about our next target," I say as I gather the bugs I had left back at the warehouse. Once more, I form them into a ball of bugs that I could use to once more tell Adam and Mimi about our latest development.

"Adam, I found the sniper who shot me. She and some other vigilantes are drinking in one of the bars I bugged, I want to hit them tomorrow when we find out where they are staying," unlike the first time, Adam doesn't jump when he suddenly hears the chittering voice coming from the bugs.

"Already? Damn girl, you work fast."

"Wait, someone shot you?" I hear Mimi ask from where she's bouncing the giggling and gurgling Mark.

"I got better," I reassure Mimi before returning to answering Adam. "Seems they never got their last member back from the attack on Valentino's. Snipe has apparently been drinking a lot since then. I have other bugs listening in but I haven't heard anything suspicious yet from the other bars yet," Adam nods.

"I can see what I can cook up for tomorrow. Say Felix, you said you know how to make guns 'n' shit right? Can you make pipe bombs too?" I move a few bugs over to Felix and feel him nodding.

"Good shit. We'll start getting some of the stuff you might need when we raid those fuckers and show them that the Merchants ain't someone to fuckin' mess with," I can practically feel the manic grin spread across Adam's face. I wonder if I'm a bad influence on the man. He's finally gotten his life back together, and now I'm dragging him back down into being a gang member once again.

He'd said that he had felt nothing while he commanded the Merchants, though was this any different. Sure I wanted to make the places we took control of into better and safer places but did that really mean much to Adam? He and the Merchants he controlled while alive had as he was saying, were just surviving, getting by and leaving nothing but destruction in their path. The way that he naturally fell into commanding Felix to begin making bombs for the raid, what we are doing now must not look all that different from the things he had been doing while he was running the Merchants.

Yet, unlike the Brockton Bay Merchants, we weren't just here to make money from peddling drugs. It was just a means to an end, the same with this raid. We were gathering capital for ourselves so that we could begin to make a push into Pentagram City and start to try to improve things. We just had to make sure not to forget ourselves. This was just like Brockton Bay, and like in Brockton Bay, like in my and the other Undersider's territories, we had to be the change in the city that would make this place better because no one else would.

Even while I talked with Adam and Sherrel, however, the vigilantes had continued to talk.

"Look, he was your boyfriend, the relationship between you two was more than what we had with him, but we knew him too, and do you really think he would want you to be doing this?" Snipe's head jerked towards him as he said that.

"Fuck you! Don't fucking use him against me you asshole, and don't you think I deserve some time to fucking mope? You weren't the one that got him killed; you weren't the one that managed to get a bunch of people to join us in Valentino's territory. I was the one who did that… and… and I was the one that got them all killed or captured or whatever happened to them. It's, it's my fault all this shit happened, and I just want to curl up and die."

"Well at least you know you made a mistake," a vaguely feminine voice comes from near the table. "Mind if I sit down?" the stranger asks them. They shake their heads and Ariel Ace moves over so that the stranger can sit with them. I use some of my bug to get a sense of the new person. They're tall and some of my bugs have already brushed up against a long furred tail. The woman is wearing some kind of jeans and a leather jacket to go with it. She's furred from what I can tell and judging by the cat ears on the top of her head, she's some kind of feline demon. Having all the information of her I could without my bugs being noticed, I pull them back to relative safety while I listen in.

"Uh, if you don't mind, who are you?" Ariel Ace asks.

"Someone who's been doing this longer than three you, and actually knows what is going on around here, unlike most of you new vigilantes it seems," that agitated Snipes, who points an accusing finger at her, which swayed as she pointed.

"Fuck off, I'm a Ward, I, I know what I'm *hic* doing," the stranger turns her head to look straight at Snipe, and I can guess that she isn't exactly impressed. The stranger reaches over a plucks the drink from Snipe's hand, eliciting a sharp "Hey!" from Snipes who scrambles to get it back, but the stranger is too quick for her.

"And I was a Ward that graduated into the Protectorate, and I've been here for two years already being a vigilante, while most of you got here at some point in the last week or so, isn't that right?" the veteran vigilante turns her head to look at all of them again. They all nod along as she looks at them.

"So you don't have any idea what is going on down here and this is pretty much all new to you," the feline demon sighs. "I guess you can't be blamed for not knowing the first rule in Hell, do not to fuck with the Overlords, especially as new as you guys seem to be," the other three vigilantes nod their head, likely remembering back to their assault on Valentino's and their attempt to kill me.

"What were you even trying to do there anyway?" The hero asks.

"We were gonna *hic* go kill the bitch that started mastering everyone at the end of the world," I frown slightly at that. It wasn't as if there was any other choice. No one would work together, and we would have all died otherwise. It had not been my first choice, but no one would listen or even try to put aside their differences and come together. If it were up to me I would have gladly not subjected myself to Panacea and Bonesaw and thus gotten killed at the end to stop whatever chain reaction they had started when they opened up the connection allowing me to start mastering people.

"So you attacked one of the demon triumvirate's territories so that you could kill a single villain?" it was at this moment that Rollout decided to jump into the conversation.

"Well not everyone. Some of us were there to try to take down this master, other people in the group chat, well, actually, a bunch of them joined to attack the overlord and take him down since there were a couple of teams that were going to come back us up when we went after her. Some were there to take down the overlords businesses and weaken him in general, and there were a few that just wanted to fight."

"Most of *hic* the guys I got to join were already itching for a fight, 'n' Brainiache told me that they were Valentino's territory, so *hic* I said that they could get a good fight in with the Valentino gang while we tried to take out Weaver. We'd help them getaway, and we'd *hic* hit the overlord there. Then more people wanted to come just to help fight one of the gangs… and then some wanted to actually fight the gang leader as well and take him down for good. Things kind of just spiralled from there,"

"I guess it didn't cross your mind how he was able to stay as a demon overlord for decades?" the feline former hero asks, and judging by her tone, she wasn't particularly impressed with the vigilante trio.

"No not really, but we weren't going to really planning on fighting him much, at least, not until everyone started piling on to fight him. We were just after that one villain that was mind-controlling people like Brainiache at the end of the world," Ariel Ace told the hero. The hero nodded along.

"Alright… I guess it wasn't the worst attempt at taking down an overlord; there are a few nut jobs and idiots around here that try it every year. You guys shouldn't be one of those nut jobs just so you know. Nothing good happens to those guys," the feline lifts Snipe's drink and starts to drink it down, causing Snipe to literally squawk at her.

"That's my drink!"

"And you're underage, or did you graduate from the Wards?" the veteran vigilante asks as she finishes the drink off, causing Snipe to sputter indignantly.

"It isn't like we are trying to be like those 'nutjobs'," Rollout complains.

"I get that now, I wasn't so sure when I saw it going on in the news. What you guys need is someone to show you the ropes, help you realise who you do and do not fuck with. I can help you with that, I've been here two years already and I've seen a lot of shit, plus, you guys can show me that vigilante group chat thing you were talking about. It's the first time I've heard of it," the hero says. The others in the group start nodding as well.

"Hey Skitty, what's going on?" I hear Sherrel ask beside me.

"It sounds like they know less than me when it comes to Hell," I say simply while continuing to listen to the conversation. "I'll tell you on the way back," I go to take another sip and realise my cup is empty. I'd been sipping at it while I listened in on the vigilantes. My head doesn't feel significantly different, but then, I'm still feeling a bit dizzy… better safe than sorry.

"Yeah sure, that sounds great,"

"Hey wait a second, *hic* I'm supposed to be the leader, we voted!" Snipe cried out. Fragmentation among the ranks then? The team from the sounds of it is fairly new, and already someone from outside was trying to move in on the leadership.

"Now hold on, I didn't say I was going to be your new leader," the hero declared. "I just want to show you guys the ropes. I get that you guys probably want to stay independent, I get that, I do too, but I wouldn't mind having some allies so that we can back each other up when the big guys start making some moves. You've riled one of the demonic triumvirate up from what I've heard, and when one of them gets riled up, the others get riled up as well," even so, assuming mentor ship over them might cause dissension between them as they look at the more experienced hero's work. Despite what the former hero is saying, mentor ship is still assuming leadership over the group. The Wards technically were being led by Tecton, and myself when we in tactical situations, but we were ultimately under the command of those who were supposed to be our mentors, and their orders overrode our own when it came to the chain of command. Luckily, it didn't happen to us very often, but I've heard during the few times I actually bothered to go to the meet ups to meet with other Protectorate heroes of the problems mentors could cause to the chain of command. Often times when that happened, things devolved into Wards politics, and who was the mentor of who.

"I guess…" Snipes says finally as she twiddles her thumbs.

"Good, I've got a bit of time on my hands now, what with Valentino looking for trouble now. Just give me your address and I'll see you tomorrow morning and I can get you properly informed about what you just fell into," useful… Ariel Ace tells the hero their address, though since I don't know the city that well I relay it to Anthony and Sherrel.

"32nd​ red walk road? I think that's an apartment building. Whole place is residential. Other than that, I don't know. Not a good part of town, but it ain't bad either. No overlord there either so they likely won't care," Anthony states. I nod and listen back in on the vigilantes. The hero is getting up to leave now, though she turns back to them before she leaves.

"Oh, and I'm Battery by the way. From the Protectorate ENE," Battery. I remember her back in Brockton. Bonesaw had killed her while we were all under the influence of her mind plague, and she'd been the one that had confronted me when I took my territory back in Brockton. How would she react to finding I was doing the same thing here? Would she fight me, like she had wanted to back in Brockton Bay? Likely, even if it was just to settle the score. The PRT and Protectorate had been rather hostile to us back then despite the good work we were doing. While it's possible that she has had a change of heart ever since her death, I can't count on it, especially if she blames me for her death. Assault certainly did. Though, I can track her, and use my bugs to talk to her. I'll have to do it before the other vigilantes tell her about me. Snipe knows that I was Weaver, and Battery knows me as Skitter. She'll likely make the connection. Though with Snipe there to poison the well, I likely won't be able to try to convince her otherwise of my good intentions, not after Colin had spilled to them that I had tried to be a hero first. With how she talked about "my kind" always having an agenda, she might make assumptions.

I leave my bugs on her. While listening in on the bar would prove useful, it was more useful to… Despite not really paying attention to the eyesight of my bugs, mostly because it was a confusing mess, there is a flash of light, and suddenly the bugs are gone. I fly a few bugs out, but can't find the feline hero. I wonder what happened?

No matter, I can still track the vigilantes in the bar back to their place.

"I think we should get back to the warehouse, we need to plan our attack."

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I look over my gun one more time as we begin to near the apartments that the vigilantes were still in. They were just getting up and were moving around sluggishly inside of their apartment. Snipes was cooking eggs in the kitchen, Rollout was waiting patiently while Ariel Ace was in the main room of the apartment.

With some of the extra bugs, we gathered on the way here I scouted out the surrounding buildings for people. Mostly tenants, and while there were a few feline demons around, none of them were wearing a leather jacket like Battery had been last night. While it wasn't much to go on, it would have to do as I mark each of the felines around the area. Better safe than sorry.

Satisfied once more with my gun, I load the magazine back into it as we are coming to a stop. At the same time, I shift my wings from a nice and comfortable long fur coat to my old Skitter costume uniform, while I shift my antennae into the mask. I've been trying to figure out how to make my mask with the silk I can spit, but trying to sort though it is a pain. I'll likely need a loom or something before I'm able to begin to properly weave my costume again, or I need to find many many more spiders.

"Alright, here's your stop. Make sure to tell us if you need Skiddy to blast the apartment," Sherrel says.

"Don't be shy, any problem at all, you just tell me and I'll get blasting," Adam comments from his seat in the turret where he was looking through the viewport of the tank turret that had been welded on top of the van. I pat the seat that Adam is on.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get a chance to blast someone very soon," I comment before stepping out the back door of the van. At the same time, I bring together some bugs to act as a quick way to tell Adam and Sherrel if anything was wrong. Sherrel had parked on the opposite side of the road, just far enough that the turret could fire on the apartment or anything that came out of the main building's entrance. None of the vigilantes are paying attention to the windows of the apartment and the blinds were drawn so they wouldn't even be able to catch a glimpse. The back of the building leads into a dense section of alleyways with a pack of animals of some kind back there seeming to be patrolling their territory.

There are a few people walking around on the streets already, either heading to cars on the sides of the road or just walking down the sidewalk. Had I still had my old power I could have used my bugs to keep them out of the way, but I've only got a large enough swarm to create something of a mental map of the building I'm going into, and to track the people inside of the building. If everything goes to plan, however, this fight shouldn't leave the apartment let alone the building.

The entrance of the building is sparsely populated, and the red-skinned demon manning the lobby counter doesn't even look up from his magazine as I enter the building and walk past his desk. I, like him, do my best to ignore him and the audible sound of too much lotion on a specific body part. I think I saw Angel Dust on the cover too.

Before I head to the stairs, I reach the back door and start laying down some layers of barriers to prevent escape through the back into the alleyway. Adam, Angel and I had been able to escape out the back of a building, why couldn't they? Soon enough, there is a visibly glowing blue barrier with its acceleration heading back into the building. With the back alley being patrolled by territorial animals, there shouldn't be anyone trying to come in.

Turning from the back door, I walk back over to the main lobby, once more ignore the disgusting act at the front desk, and ascend the stairs to the vigilante's apartment. The apartment itself is on the third floor and as far as I can tell from my bugs marking the different members of Snipe's vigilante group, they hadn't really moved much. Pulling out my pistol from a pocket on my wings turned villain costume, I manoeuvre the bugs in the room onto them, a bug for each body part and each joint, giving me a good idea of what they are doing inside. I take aim at the door as I prepare to fire through it at Ariel Ace's head.

I fire a bullet through the door, the thin wood door doing nothing to stop my magically accelerated bullet. With the additional effects that I put onto the fields within the barrel, it accelerated the bullet much faster than it had any right to be while also muffling the bang of its acceleration, meaning I essentially had an effectively suppressed pistol without having to go about buying a silencer for it. I felt the light that was my bug on Ariel Ace's head disappear and felt him slump over. Not wasting time, I used the bugs I had on the inside to unlock the door.

The other two are confused about the sound, though Snipes seems to realise what it is as she pushes herself away from the stove and heads for her weapon on the kitchen table. She's the least likely to be a threat, what with having been a tinker/thinker combo when she'd been alive. Once they all awoke from their "nap," she can be the one that tells them why it's a bad idea to come after us. As I take a few steps into the apartment and aim at where I can feel the bugs on her legs are. I fire two shots and I can feel with my bugs as she crumples to the ground at the same time the bugs I had on her knees vanish from my senses. I hear a shout of fear from the kitchen, and a scream of pain.

Just like I did with Ariel Ace, I aim at Rollout's head through the wall and fire. I feel the bug on his head die, yet, he doesn't fall down. Instead, I feel his arms fly to his face and a shout of pain coming from the kitchen as he nearly gets thrown over and almost falls down. I land a bug on the back of his head this time and fire again. His head flies back and he falls down, his back to the wall of the kitchen. Rather than staying down, he pushes himself forward towards the fridge, and presses his back against it. His armour must be tough, or he's a much more powerful brute than I thought. I fire a few more times, penetrating the wall and the fridge, but unlike when I was just firing through the wall; he doesn't seem that affected by my bullets. His hands are on his head after the first shot through the fridge and barely seems to faze him. The only sign of damage I can feel with my bugs is that he seems to be bleeding badly from his head. I move a few bugs onto him from Snipes onto his head, and feel that his head armour is completely cracked and slit open on the spots where I managed to shoot.

I don't have enough ammo to keep plinking at him through the fridge so I begin to walk through the main room to the doorway into the kitchen. As I pass the couch, I see Ariel Ace slumped over the remains of the cheap coffee table, his weight apparently being enough to cause it to give out. I fire another shot into his head to make sure he's dead. You can never be too careful.

I make my steps to the kitchen slow and deliberate, making sure that Rollout and Snipe can hear me as I walk towards them. It wouldn't be enough to just kill them. They would be up before long and will have learned nothing, especially since they likely didn't even know it was me who had so easily defeated them. We had a plan to keep them down for a while, though I was going to add onto it. For Ariel Ace, he wouldn't know what hit him, but the other two would know who killed them, and being so easily destroyed would harm their morale, and make them think twice before coming after me, and subsequently the Merchants, again.

As I stand near the doorway, I finger one of the pipe bombs that Felix had made. I consider using it against Rollout, it would minimize the danger to me if either of them turned out to be blasters, though the way that Snipe had been trying to crawl to the table before I got close to the doorway, and how Rollout was cowering, it wasn't likely. I take another deliberate step, and the bug on Snipe's head swivelled, showing her looking towards the doorway. Good.

I step through the doorway, my gun already up. I can see Snipe's eye widen as she sees my masked face, showing her the mask of the person she had just down her scope less than a week ago. I see Rollout tense up to try to tackle me, and I adjust my aim slightly to aim at his less armoured knee. I fire once and his tackle dies there as he falls to his side, a pained shout escaping his lips.

"Rollout!" Snipe shouts out, I watch her with my bugs, but she's frozen and no longer trying to get to her gun on the table. I adjust my aim for his head now that he's incapacitated.

There is a surge of magical energy inside of him and suddenly he's growing much larger. I fire my gun at him but all it does is throw his head back and create another divot in the exoskeleton armour on his head. At the same time, I sense with my antennae how he's doing it. I'll have to try that for myself later to see if it works, or even see if I could reverse it to make myself smaller and less of a target. Though it seems he's pouring magic into his body, different than how Angel did to bring out or pull in his extra limbs.

"Grahh!" Rollout shout and he flings himself my way and I skip back while I hit the button to drop my magazine from the handle. I'd run out of bullets, I'd been hoping that I could deal with the beetle-like demon with my last few bullets, but no such luck. He stumbles to his feet and he is significantly bigger. He must have been a Changer in life. He tries to swing at me but I send a blast of magical energy his way, throwing him off balance, causing him to stumble backwards, though not over.

I slot a new magazine into my pistol and begin firing again, though this time he hides his head behind his arms. They're covered in even thicker exoskeleton armour now and while they do penetrate his arms, sending small amounts of blue blood out with the impacts, he doesn't seem phased at all. He charges me and I step back out the kitchen, letting him hit the wall. I raise my gun again into his head, only this time when I hit it, it doesn't fling his head back, but rather more like someone had punched him.

I send a blast his way once more but rather than pushing him off balance he just takes it before he seems to dive at me. I jump out of the way of him but he keeps going, seeming to curl up into a ball and rolls. Rather than stopping his roll it keeps going, only getting faster, then, it climbs up the wall a bit. Rather than fire, I begin to put down some acceleration fields, I can guess that he's going to come back around. His spin rolls around and comes back for me as I expected and I hop through my acceleration field in time for him to impact heavily with the wall, sending dust and debris around. I stare incredulously for a moment as he has gone through the wall and the cabinets.

So much for reducing collateral damage. With my lower arms, I grab one of the pipe bombs and get ready to prime it. The things were made with a fairly short fuse so that Adam could use them in his modified baseball cannon. With the way that the magic that Rollout was using I didn't even need my bugs on him to know where exactly he was, though, whatever magic he was using was turning him into some kind of unstoppable object because I can feel him spin around the kitchen and go right through a chair as he continued to speed up. Once more I begin to lay down acceleration fields to let me dodge with as he comes in for a second pass. I prime the pipe bomb and jump out of the way using the acceleration field, speeding me along to the kitchen entrance again. He comes through the wall again, only slowing down a bit as he comes for where I had just been a moment ago. I duck into the kitchen again as the pipe bomb explodes knocking him off balance and sending him spinning end over end to the side.

I hear a grunt from him through the bugs I have on him, but he isn't dead, not yet. Stepping out of the kitchen again, I begin to unload my magazine at his head. The first three shots connect, and I can even see a small splatter of blood before his arm raises again. It absorbs a few more shots, cracking his arm armour more. Switching tactics I aim for his knees as I had before.

He starts charging again, this time however for the wall instead of me. I fire a few shots, hitting his carapace knee, and it causes him to stumble but he keeps going regardless of the number of shots I put into him. I step back into the kitchen to see him come through the wall for the third time, and I shoot his knee once more. This time his knee gives out from under him and he stumbles to his other knee. Though he reaches forwards… and grabs Snipe. I try to fire again but instead of another shot, I hear a distinctive click. Once more I hit the release for the magazine while my other set of hands grabs my other pipe bomb and chucks it at them. I step out of the kitchen once again and load my magazine back into my gun, sensing him with my antennae and bugs. He notices the bomb and seems to make another dive, Snipes in his arms as he rolls up, holding her tight and rolls toward the doorway I'm aiming at. Then, he bounces.

The bomb detonates, and the duo rides the explosion. Rather than hitting the wall, however, they smash right through the window, glass flying everywhere as they exit the building.

"They've left through the window," I announce to Adam and Sherrel from my bugs in the van.

"Yeah, I fucking see them. Damn that mother fucker's fast!" Adam comments. I step just close enough to the window to look out of it as Rollout rolls out onto the nearly empty road. People are staring and looking in the direction of the window as well as the escaping rolling beetle bug. Rollout continues to get faster as he continues to roll. This was likely where he excelled in his combat style, out in the open where he could build up speed and ram into people. It's barely a few seconds more, as Rollout gets near the end of the street and is likely about to turn when I hear the boom of the van's cannon. The road near Rollout explodes and the both of them are sent flying, Rollout flies out onto the street, while Snipe is sent even further, rolling onto the sidewalk, where she lies motionless. I can't see anything from where I am but I can feel that Adam is reloading the cannon as fast as he can. I can still sense Rollout trying to move with some new bugs on him. The turret readjusts, and just as Rollout finally stands up, Adam fires and splatters the bug across the road.

"Hell yeah! Did you see that! Fucker went splat!" Adam shouted from the turret while Sherrel giggles at her boyfriend's enthusiasm. As I look at the damage to the road and frown slightly. The vigilantes that had come after me had been defeated, but it wasn't a total victory. Not the worst outcome and the crater from the tank shot didn't look any worse than a particularly bad pothole.

Turning from the scene, I move into the kitchen. There are small fires from the pipe bomb I threw, only just starting up. I move to the sink, which was luckily still intact, and pulled the detachable nozzle from its place so that I could spray down the small fires. It wouldn't do for any of the loot that these vigilantes had to go up in flames.

While I'm spraying down the fires though, I feel one of the felines I had marked while they were entering the area, begin to sprint towards the scene. Lightning surrounded her and my bugs were destroyed in an instant as she sped up significantly before my bugs died. Damn it, I'd hoped that Battery wouldn't show up until after we disposed of the bodies and grabbed the loot.

"Heads up, Battery's in the area, coming fast from the left street ahead of you," the tank turret turns to look in the direction that Battery is coming from, but Adam reacts too late as Battery speeds past the corner, and picking up Snipe. With my bugs, I can hear her scream out as lighting courses through her before it turns into something further away as my bugs are incinerated by the lighting cat demon. Adam tries to adjust the turret to hit her, but she speeds off back around the corner she had just appeared from.

"Shit! Don't let her get away!" I hear Adam shout and suddenly Sherrel is taking the van out of park.

"You handle Battery, I'll get the loot," I tell them with my swarm. With whatever she is using to become a speedster is also keeping me from being able to track her properly. If Adam and Sherrel can catch up to them, we could take out a veteran vigilante, it was already too late to consider an alliance now. If she got away we would-be enemies, as Snipe tells her about me, but even if she didn't escape, or we somehow got Snipe away from her, she'd be able to tell who we are by the van, and I don't know that an alliance with Battery is worth throwing away Sherrel's van. Though, considering Battery's head start, and how fast she is moving, unless she ran out of juice after rounding the corner, she could easily escape into the alleyways. Even so, I move my bugs to where Battery had last been, keeping them at around torso level so that I can better track her. Then, suddenly Battery breaks down an alleyway like I had thought she would.

"She went down the third alleyway coming up on your left. Get the turret ready, you've only got one shot," I tell them. As the van approaches the third alleyway, Sherrel brings the vehicle to a squealing stop, lining up the turret to the alleyway. Adam fires, but swears loudly as I presume he misses. I have no more bugs in that alleyway and with how she was going; I doubt the bugs I have would be able to catch up with her now.

I frown over failing to take down Snipe and Battery. That was another enemy we will have to deal with, and this time, I doubt she will be so easy to track her in the future. In the end, though, it wasn't a total loss, and truth be told, while taking out these vigilantes before Battery arrived was one of the objectives, it wasn't the main one. It didn't even guarantee the assistance of Battery, but rather just the opportunity to talk with her. Stepping away from the sink, I pull open the fridge and grab a milk jug from it to pour onto the fire in the main room. It's only just starting, but carpet fires were a serious danger. With that done, I move into one of the bedrooms, the one where I knew they were keeping all of their money and loot.

Alec, if you're still alive, I'm coming.

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I'm curious how people feel about getting a closer look at the vigilantes that helped instigate the attack on Taylor, and how the combat scene feels. Not a 100% success but it certainly went well enough in my opinion, especially with one of the members using the power of friendship *cough cough demonic form cough cough* to nearly let some of them escape before getting smeared across the concrete.

Oh, and Snipe died in the arms of Battery, getting electrocuted to death while getting sped away. Just thought you should know.

I'll also be continuing to polish this for a bit since I wasn't able to give it the proofreading it deserves before I got it out for my self-appointed deadline.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 11

Bit of a loss of where exactly to go with this now as I've got a few ideas but not exactly the confidence to make a definite decision. Either way, things will continue to trundle along. I've also edited the chapters to make Adam's dialogue less egregious to read and hopefully people who've just been skipping his dialogue will give him a second chance, but truth be told, that might be asking too much, kind of like for some people it might be asking too much to make Greg likable, also I've basically dropped Greg being a prominent character for now as well it just don't feel proper and Snipes actually fits the roll of Greg better than having Greg show up for no reason and possibly acting out of character

Any who, any and all feedback would be highly appreciated
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I'm going over the loot that we got from the vigilantes in the back of the van, the fresh bodies of our unfortunate enemies beside me, or rather, one body and a pile of gore and what little we could nab of Rollout. Skidmark was holding the feet of the winged man demon inside of a pail of quick-dry cement, while the other we were going to put into one of the bags and just fill that with cement.

The vigilantes had a significant stock of firearms and ammunition, though most of it was for lighter guns like nine millimetre or .38 special. Some of the heavier rifles they had didn't even have full magazines from what I could tell, although they did have a pile of what looked like 7.62 rifle rounds to go with several soviet looking assault rifles they had a few of, and a couple of boxes of rounds for Snipe's own sniper rifle.

Off at the warehouse though, I hear a knocking sound. I send a few bugs around to the front and there are a few smaller demons or something there, knocking. I move some of the bugs around to get a feel of the newcomers. The two of them are wearing wide-brimmed hats on them as well as I can tell are holding a couple of what appear to be Tommy guns. Looking back over to the loot, there are a fair few Tommy guns there as well. Seems the guns in movies and television are a hot commodity down here. From what I can tell about the two demons at the door, other than being short was that they don't have fur, but they did have horns and short spade-tipped tails.

"There's trouble back at the warehouse," I say to Adam and Sherrel. "Two short demons armed with Tommy guns, any ideas?" I ask. Adam makes a humming sound while Sherrel tears down a side street, causing the guns to slide a bit, though I've gotten much better at bracing myself for Sherrel's wild rides.

"No idea, unless someone wants to get their car fixed up, but I don't have anyone booked for the day," Sherrel explains.

"I'll listen in on them then," I tell them. We aren't far from the warehouse anyways, the place where we are planning on dumping the bodies having gone right past the warehouse's neighbourhood.

Through some of my bugs, I feel Mimi get up from her spot watching over lil' Mark and begin to head for the warehouse floor. With the bugs I have breeding in small corners of the house, I have them fly or scurry towards the door that leads to the staircase for the warehouse floor, and move them to form a large X on the door. Mimi notices the unusual activity of the insects immediately and stops to watch them converge on the door.

"Alright then Skitter," Mimi responds as she sees the X before going back to the living room, but not before entering the kitchen and grabbing what looks like her gun from off the table. It isn't loaded, but she did have a magazine on her in a separate pocket. Meanwhile, the pair of demons below began talking.

"You think they're home?" one of them asks while the other shrugs.

"Yeah, they've got a light on upstairs and I saw someone in the windows there when we were walking up to the place."

"Hey what do you think they sell here anyways?"

"Can't you smell it? It's demon weed, Hell, this place is probably a weed den for a bunch of losers who came in after the fighting settled down and those Crimson bastards finally stopped destroying the place."

"Huh, I thought it was just that someone had been smoking a joint near here."

"Nah, it's coming from in here."

"Think we should just break in and show these losers some manners then?"

"Hold on a minute, we'll wait another five minutes, and if they still haven't opened up, we'll break in and show them manners," luckily we won't really need the time to get there as Sherrel begins driving up the road to the warehouse. Meanwhile, Adam points the tank turret down at the pair of demons. The two turn towards the sound of the van and the two freezes. Through the window of the van, I see the two of the men now. As I had felt before, the two demons are rather short and have wide-brimmed hats along with some cheap-looking suits. They are red-skinned and have horns sticking out of their hats. They look almost exactly like mobster stereotypes from television and fiction.

"Hey Frank?" the larger of the two asks his buddy.

"Yeah?"

"They got a tank."

"I know."

"They got a tank."

"I know."

"They got a fricking tank."

"I know Phil, I can see it!" The van comes to a stop on the driveway of the warehouse, and Adam is still pointing the turret of the van at the two demonic mobsters. Reaching down to the pile of guns, I grab a shotgun from the pile and head to the back door, having my bugs bring me a few shells which I load into the gun. I open the door of the van and step out. I rack the shotgun to get a shell into the chamber before rounding the corner of the van to look at the two mobsters. They similarly look in my direction as well. I feel for any movements of their guns through the bugs I have on them but they don't move. Good. Sherrel then rolls down her window.

"Can we help you two?" she asks in a sickeningly sweet voice. The two mobsters look at each other before shaking their heads at her.

"We uh, we were just leaving."

"We were in the neighbourhood."

"And uh we uh wanted to say hello."

"And a warning," the smaller one said and got a swift elbow to the arm before he elaborates. "about the Crimson gang."

"Yeah, the Crimson gang."

"They sometimes run around this area."

"Y-yeah."

"Well uh, since we warned you, uh we'll be off."

"T-talk to you again soon." Immediately the two demons start walking away, and we let them, though the sound of the turret moving to track them seems to speed them along their route. Inside the warehouse, I gather my bugs together enough to speak through them.

"They're gone now, we'll be up momentarily."

"Who was at the door?" Mimi asks.

"I don't know, some kind of Mafia-looking guys. They ran rather quickly after realising that they were in the sights of the van's cannon."

"Yeah I'll bet, that can be pretty scary." I don't say anything in regards to Mimi's statement, just raise my eyebrows, but she doesn't elaborate. Mimi then leans over to pick up Mark who was standing up on the couch and hitting one of his adorable little hands-on Felix's arm to get his attention. The imp boy in contrast would swing his head rapidly towards Mark for a second, saying in a silly voice "what you doing," much to Mark's delight.

"How're the kids doing?" Sherrel asks as I head towards the garage to open it up.

"They're alright, only Mimi heard the knocking, so they don't know much," Sherrel nods at that before she holds up a set of keys for the door. "Need these?"

"I should be alright," I say as I unlock the door with some of the hell spiders I have on the other side. The little creature's webs, even individual strands, are much tougher than the ones back on Earth. I'll have to check on my phone if they sell any of the bugs down here in Hell, or if they have a preferred environment, as well as do more research on the bugs native to Hell in general.

I head off towards the door and open it, much to Sherrel's surprise. A thought occurs to me. If I had joined the Undersiders earlier in my cape career and had been serious about it, I think I might have made a fairly good thief even if I just controlled insects.

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"Who was knocking?" Mimi asks as we ascend the stairs into the loft, holding onto Mark who has his arms reaching out towards us. Sherrel lets out an "aww" before walking up to Mimi to take her baby back from her.

"Some kind of gangsters, they looked like the stereotypical mafia tough, they were in suits and even had Tommy guns," I say, making way for Adam. Mimi's face scrunches with confusion. Felix on the other hand, seems to perk up, and calls from the other room.

"Wait, did you say suits and Tommy guns?" he calls from the other room and gets up from his comfy spot on the couch. I let him poke his head out of the living room before I answer.

"Yes, there were two small demons in some somewhat shabby suits that were knocking; do you know anything about them?" I ask. Felix is a local that lives somewhere close by, likely in a less ruined part of the city, so he might know a thing or two about these people.

"Yeah, the Raz family, they're a crime family thing that watches over the area, or at least they were. A year or so ago, a different gang moved into the area called the Crimson gang and started causing trouble, robbery, kidnapping, a bunch of stuff. The Raz family tried to go after them or something, it didn't exactly go well for them and they've been hiding ever since. Actually, I think this place used to be the farthest part of their territory, and it was the same place that the Crimson gang were doing a bunch of their kidnapping and robbing."

"So where's the Crimson gang now? We've been here for months and I ain't never seen no one around here 'cept for a few pedestrians now and then," Adam asks. Felix in response shrugs.

"I don't know, all I know is what my brothers told me about avoiding gangs and stuff, I was a bit busy with school and videogames and stuff, but I can ask them more if you want," Felix offers.

"Probably a good idea, I'll ask Angel Dust as well, he might know a thing or two since Valentino's territory is close enough that he might keep tabs on these two," as I say that, Felix's eyes widen. I raise an eyebrow at him as I pull out my phone. However, he says nothing more. Ignoring it for now, I dial Angel Dust's number. I don't have to wait long for him to pick up.

"Yello?" I hear Angel Dust from the other end of the phone. I walk over to the kitchen where I can take a seat. Sherrel's heading over to the living room while Adam follows, his hands wrapped around Sherrel's sizable rear. Felix on the other hand follows me to the kitchen and stands by the doorway, listening in. I consider shooing him off, but all I'm doing is confirming his information. Maybe he just wants to see if his information is right, or maybe it has something to do with Angel Dust.

Could he be a spy for Valentino?

"Hey Angel, it's me, Skitter, there were a couple of gang members in suits that were knocking at our door just a bit ago. Supposedly a gang called the "Raz Family" were the last ones to walk around in suits like that in our area, that sound about right?" I hear a slow groan come from Angel from the other side of the phone before he finally answers. Did he and the Raz family have a history then? Or maybe he was just thinking.

"I think so, yeah, some kind of Imp neighbourhood watch that kind of turned into a mafia gang thing. Guys called the Crimson gang wrecked their shit nearly a year ago and they ran away with their tails between their legs. For a while Val was getting a bunch of his new whores from them, as well as a couple of choice cuts of meat. Crimson's mostly slavers and cannibals. Not good people, plus, they've got a couple of tough guys in there as well. I only know about the leader guy though. Calls himself The Beast, real original, he's a tough customer, figured out magic a long time ago, and he's been around longer than me. As far as I know, he's the main threat. Took out damn near everything that the Raz family sent at him and more. Started fucking the whole gang up and attacked the place. Reason your neighbourhoods a shit hole to. Most of the damage and shit was from him fighting the Raz family and the cops all at the same time. Hell I bet if you go looking you could probably find a couple of helicopter wrecks."

Slavers, and ones I can actually get at. Funny, the Merchants briefly experimented with slavery back in Brockton after they got their big break, apparently after Adam stopped giving a shit and just let things go on how they were. I'd saved Charlotte from the Brockton Bay Merchants at the time. I certainly won't let something like that continue if I can help it. Another interesting tidbit of what Angel told me however was that there were apparently cops around. Whatever happened to them? Or are they trying to control the situation all around the city and we just aren't in the area where they are trying to restore law and order?

"There are cops here? I haven't really seen them around."

"Yeah, apparently, they mostly hang out in the other circles of Hell, or in the areas where the nobility hang out like the parks that certain nobles like, their estates, yadda yadda ya. Pretty much are just security for the nobles and public officials and stuff like that. Most of them won't even go out to anywhere controlled by a gang on good days. Now? After the apocalypse apparently dropped and shits going down? Not a chance you'll see them outside of the palaces and parks of the few nobles up on this circle so I wouldn't go doing anything there unless you're up for giving them a hefty bribe of cash or bullets," I frown at that. We had been thinking of dumping the bodies into one of the lakes of the parks.

"Are there any good dumping spots for bodies?" I ask. Angel however doesn't answer for a few moments, but I can hear his breathing pick up. Did I catch him on a run or something?

"Ah, uh yeah, but they've got a bunch of bodies in those places already. If anyone actually is looking for whoever you killed, then they'll probably show up there and have a Hellhound find their bodies for them. Those guys have wicked snouts ya know?"

"Do you know of any way we can get rid of these bodies that will keep them dead for a while that they can't just easily find?" I ask. However, before Angel has time to respond, Felix from behind me pipes up.

"There's milf," I turn to look at Felix, my brows scrunch as I try to figure out what he meant. Maybe "milf" was some kind of organization?

"Milf?"

"Yeah, M.I.L.F, milf! I think their name stands for "Manual Imp Labour Force" or something like that. My Mom apparently went to school with the woman that made the company. They mostly work in the rings below, but they also do corpse storage. Dad usually uses them when he kills someone he really doesn't like and wants to keep them down for a while."

"Probably, mmmh, your best bet, I don't usually care about keeping anyone down unless it's what they paid for if you know what I mean," I don't have to imagine what Angel meant by "keep them down." Considering how many innuendos and his job as a whore, Angel was obviously talking about sex.

"Thank you for the advice Angel, I'll call you again later"

"Sounds, hah, good, mmmhh, talk to you later," I hang up at that, feeling warmth flood my cheeks after I properly identify why Angel was making the noises he was making. I didn't really need to hear that.

"Do you have their number?" I ask Felix as I try to distract myself from what Angel was doing just now, but he shakes his head.

"You could probably just find them online and call their number from there," He answers. I nod and look at my phone, pulling up the internet app on it. Now I just need to schedule some corpses to be taken away.

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"So, how you think we should deal with these guys?" Adam asks, lounging on the couch beside Sherrel. Mark's sleeping on top of Sherrel and she didn't want to move him in case it interrupted his sleep. I'm left standing in the living room off to the side and Mimi has elected to just sit on the floor while Felix leans against the wall.

"Can't we just attack them? Felix, you know where they are right?" Mimi asks. Felix meanwhile shrugs.

"Not really. My brother and Dad might know where they are but I don't know where they are exactly."

"Why not just use the bug trick Skitty used on those vigilantes?" Sherrel asks. "You can plant bugs in the bars they go to and then we can find out where they usually are, then we can hit them like we hit the vigilantes."

"That might of worked if the bas… buggers didn't know where we were. We ain't got a lot of places to hide and I would really rather not have to relocate. Reason we could do that up top was cause we had the money to keep setting back up. We ain't got that here, remember?" Adam says to Sherrel.

"But didn't we get all that money from the vigilantes, with what we got right now we could right?"

"Yeah but that don't mean I wanna waste it getting another place, I'd rather use it to get more money," and keep Skitter loyal. I complete Adam's remark in my head. They knew I want to find Alec as soon as possible, though keeping me loyal could just be a secondary goal in comparison to accruing more money to let them live the good life down here. We did get a somewhat sizable amount from the vigilantes. The money we got is enough that if our raids on vigilante hideouts continue to be this profitable, I might even be able to afford the private investigator after all, but we would have to do a few more raids to be sure. For all I know, Snipe's group was just that lucky.

"So what, we have to pay them then?"

"Maybe not," I interject. "If the Crimson gang is still around, and still kidnapping to sell the people off to Valentino, then we could perform something of a false flag attack on them," that brings everyone's attention to me.

"Considering that one of the main ways that the Crimson gang makes their money is through kidnapping and enslaving people they grab off the street. Then they sell them to Valentino and perhaps others. If Angel can tell me where Valentino's men go in order to purchase more girls to make into whores, then we will have a place to start off at. From there, we just need to take down their warehouse and make it look like the Raz family did it. So long as we keep a low enough profile, the Crimson gang may assume the Raz family is trying to get back at them, especially if we hit a warehouse with a number of their girls in it."

"What about them vigilantes? Could also assume they found wherever they're keeping the girls," Adam asks.

"That is a possibility. We'd have to find reports of their attacks and see if they do anything distinctive, or we could try to dress up as them and do it like that." I suggest. Some of them are nodding along now.

"But what if they're not here anymore? They could have moved on," Sherrel suggests. From my pocket, I produce two of the cell phones that not too long ago had belonged to Ariel Ace and Rollout.

"Then we can send the vigilantes after them. We'll still be able to see what the Raz Family is capable of, and we can track the vigilantes back to their bases so that we can take them down before they become a problem again."

"Why not both? Hit them on all sides while we raid the Crimson guys," Mimi suggests, and I nod along.

"Good idea, it'll give us more opportunities to raid them as well, and we can have vigilantes raiding the Crimson's slave operations as well. Hopefully, they will take care of the slaves there, or we can offer our services to them, take the girls in, and give them a safe haven here. Most of these buildings are abandoned. We could even see about taking advantage of the vigilante's goodwill and getting donations from them to help buy the buildings and fix them up," I turn to Felix. "Felix, I assume from the M in M.I.L.F. that they do repairs?" The Imp boy nods.

"Yeah, they're kind of a general labour force kind of thing. You need any kind of heavy lifting they'll do their best to get it done, so long as it doesn't require fighting and stuff like that; they're not that kind of imp."

"That's fine; I doubt we'd be able to afford many mercenaries anyways."

"Sounds like a plan's coming together," Adam says, a wide grin spreading across his face.

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I step outside into the alleyway where I'd shown Mimi how to use her gun. It was all cleaned up now, the only evidence of our little range was a series of bullet holes from the practice. I consider not even going farther than the alleyway. It was as close to safe in this city as I could get. Now isn't that funny. I'm safe with the Merchants of all things. I'm sure if it was back when I was alive, and I ended up in this position, I'd be happily drugged away, either drowning my sorrows away in a drink or shooting it up, having finally given up on life and deciding to just enjoy my last moments on Earth.

Now… I'm the bad influence, pushing the Merchants into becoming a gang again. Not just three hours ago we made a plan to fire off a four-way gang war in hopes of getting out on top and taking control of the area properly. The hero, Weaver, planning on causing millions of dollars in damages, getting dozens of people killed, all for some nebulous goal of taking control and making things better and safer for everyone… actually, I'm pretty sure none of my teammates would be surprised at what I'm doing now.

The only real justification I've got is that no one will actually die, since no one can die. Instead, I'll just be destroying their livelihood as innocent people are caught in the crossfire between the four of us. At some point, I'll have to answer for that. Maybe no one will bring me to task for it, but I should still do something to help them out.

Tactically, it made sense to do. They would have their property destroyed by the Crimson or the vigilantes in the attack against the Raz Family, and we, after claiming the territory around us, would be able to take the desperate people in and give them the protection and safety they needed.

However, helping the girls and probably boys that would be getting sold to Valentino was the major reason I wanted to go after the Crimson gang. For almost a year they had had free reign to just do as they wanted in this part of the city, which mostly consisted of robbery and slavery. It disgusted a deep part of me and I didn't want to wait a moment longer than I had to before we went after the Crimson gang to save them.

We'd agreed that we would mostly be financing the purchases of the ruined buildings around us with money from the raids against Crimson territory, as well as promoting people working for us so that we could push more product, and thus, make more money, or they could help us in other ways. Just like how I did it in my territory, giving privilege to those that helped me out and making sure they got food. If that isn't enough, I'll contribute my portion of the loot from the raid on Snipe's vigilantes. Not ideal, but it'll contribute towards my long-term goal. It's a gamble, this could actually set me back on trying to find Alec, and I don't want to go through a purge without bringing Alec into the fold, or at least making sure he's safe.

With the bugs in some of the hives in other buildings, I begin to have them bring their young to me, either through handing them off to my controlled flying bugs or just flying them to me themselves. With my hands outstretched, the moment a larva lands on my hand, I push a minuscule amount of my magic into it, and possess it, and establishing my control. It was one of the various ways of increasing my swarm.

Another thing I want to do was to test out what Rollout had done to make himself so tough. He'd used his magic and just seemed to push it throughout himself. Rollout's magic had almost seemed more potent as well, but I hadn't had the luxury to notice it at the time. I'd watched how he had done it, and it almost looked like a changer power. Reaching within myself, I mentally grab a hold of my magic, and try to push it throughout myself, trying to assume this so-called "true demon form."

I felt a change wash over me, and I see myself getting taller, and in general, growing larger, my antenna grows more as well, and I can sense things with it much easier than before. I feel more fluff seem to spread across my body underneath my clothes. A part of the fluff makes a kind of scarf or collar. I feel my bust begin to expand as well along with my rear. I look down and I'm surprised to see that for once I have breasts, though I use a bit of magic to make them just a little bit bigger, though they are more fuzzy things, kind of like what angel has, though I can still feel the flesh underneath the fuzz. Running my hands on the fluff I feel beneath, I note how soft and sleek it is. It's almost like petting a well-groomed dog whose hair was meant to be sleek, or like running a hand over a soft and comfortable blanket. It's certainly something that I wouldn't mind having as a material for a blanket or for a pillow.

With my antennae, I can also feel my own magic, and it feels much denser than before, and from my senses, it looks like it too. With a hand, I place a barrier down and note how it glows a deeper blue than when it is usually first put down, almost as if I'd put down a few instead of one. I continue the place-down barriers and note how its intensity seems to have been doubled with half the time it would take to cast a barrier of similar strength. I mentally dismiss it.

So in my "true demon form," I apparently gain more power over my magic, and my perception is generally better. I wonder…

I begin to walk out of the alleyway and onto the street of the ruined part of town. Almost no one was here as usual. Though there was a person or two wandering about. As I pass them I notice a few heads turning towards me as I walk, I can smell… something through my antennae. It smells like the smell that had from the demon in scrap armour when I'd stuck my pistols underneath his helmet. I wasn't quite sure, but maybe… fear? The other smells mixed in I can't easily identify.

I cross over to the other side of the street and begin to make my way down an alleyway, letting my bugs scout the way, though I can also sense through my antennae some of the various creatures that are around here. I take a deliberate left as I come to an intersection. I can feel one of the creatures of the alleyway, eating the corpse of some unfortunate creature. It perks up as I walk forwards towards it.

It's a strange thing, like a giant rodent. The thing is completely covered in black fur and with wicked teeth and claws as well, while its eyes glow a soft white. Rather than let it charge, I unleash my magic and begin to shove it down the alleyway with the wind generated from pushing my magic in a certain way. The creature begins to roll, curling up into a ball and rolling backwards until it seems to lose balance and begins to tumble until it's stuck up against a wall. I decrease the force of my magical pushing the closer I get so that it stays up there but there isn't so much pressure on it as I get closer.

As I step up to it, I reach out towards the black furry creature. While I will have to test this while not transformed, this would serve as a good initial test. I'm not exactly sure that my magical master power is as limited as I initially thought. I set my hand down on the creature, it tries to thrash at me but my magical push is still keeping it immobilised. I push my magic into it, there is a slight resistance, before, suddenly, I feel in control of the thing. I let my magical pushing cease and the creature drops to the ground, docile. Bending down, I begin to pet the creature, and it begins to purr at me. I've never really been a cat person, and technically this creature isn't a cat, it just purrs like one, but this is nice. Mentally, I seize control, and it allows me to as if it were natural to let some greater power than itself control it. The black-furred creature plods over to the corpse and I have it dig in, filling itself on the smaller creature it was devouring, some kind of large meaty insect by the look of it.

Seems my hunch was correct.

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Experimenting with giving myself a bit of a break before trying to edit it so that I'm hopefully not just sliding my eyes past a punch of mistakes. Hope you enjoy.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Chapter 12

Bit more set up and kind of slice of life to try and get myself back into the action and flow of the story.

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I walk back to the side door of the base, having finished my jaunt through the alleyways around the local area. From my bugs, I have a better idea of why the alleyways were so dangerous. Every couple of turns there would be something nasty prowling or hiding in wait, either another demon, or biters as well as other creatures. Most were in packs, while others squatted in buildings.

Even without my new enhanced form, just due to the trick I'd done on the small black biter I'd possessed previously, the biters weren't much of a threat. Most of them were quickly pinned against walls. Those biters that hadn't been caught up in my magical gales were quickly ended as I used my new found minion to intercept them. As it turns out, the little guy had rather sharp claws along with a nasty bite.

Of course I'd possessed more of them, not really finding myself strained as I did so either. There wasn't much consistency among the biters, some of them were like my first possessed, furry, viscous, and seemingly a lone hunter. Others were insectoid in nature, creating little hives and burrows out of dumpsters or buildings. There were prowling packs of dogs, clowders of cats, and surprisingly, there was even a mechanical monstrosity in those alleys as well.

I'd avoided that one, not really sure what to make of it. From my possessed biter that encountered it, it seemed like some kind of tinker tech dog. The monstrosity was larger than a man with a vicious bite. My own biter barely had time to turn heel before the jaws of the mechanical dog snatched it up and crunched down.

Perhaps it would be prudent to find a local library and research the various different kinds of biters there were, or even other species that I could possess. I had lamented my bug powers in the beginning of my cape carrier due to their apparent weakness in comparison to other powers, yet I'd quickly realised how deadly and effective they could be. With larger creatures at my beck and call, my small swarm had its power increased significantly.

As I unlock the door with my bugs, I knock as well, announcing my return to those inside, those being Mimi and Felix. The bugs on the two still as I open the door. The imp and mouse demon are holding watering cans and seem to be back on weed watering duty as I interrupt them. The two demons look over to see me come through the door, and Mimi seems to do a double take as she sees my "true demon form" for the first time. I've grown taller so I have to duck a little in order to not knock my head on the top of the door frame.

"Skitter? Is that you? You got taller… and you're fluffy!" Mimi says, awe creeping into her voice as she notices how I've gotten fluffier. During her exclamation, her ears perk up and swivel forward. I straighten myself back up to my now full demonic height. I don't think it's quite seven feet but it is certainly closer to that than to six.

"It's me, Mimi, I was trying out some magic that one of the vigilante's used, and it seems to have empowered me, though I'm not exactly sure by how much and to what extent," I reply.

"God, I bet you've just got the softest fur ever now!" Mimi exclaims, then after a moment of seeming to fight with herself, she shyly asks, "Um, can I uh, touch… your fur?"

Amused, I smile and let out a quiet snort as I draw one of my lower hands out of my coat for her to feel. Mimi put her watering can down on the table before coming forward, and gingerly running a hand over the fluff. I hear Mimi mutter "so silky" under her breath as she feels the fur.

Felix himself just watches as he keeps watering the plants before his eyes are drawn down towards my legs where my biter is sniffing around in this new place.

"Is... that a biter?" Felix asks, apprehension clear in his voice.

"Yes it is, turns out that the magic I use to copy my old powers was far more versatile than I realised," I say as I kneel down to pet a dry area of the biter. The little creature preens and holds still due to my mental command. "I don't know if it is due to my empowered form, or if I was always able to do so, but at the very least, I seem to be able to control bugs and biters. I'll have to test this magic more later."

"Cool. Just, uh… don't master me please? I uh… kind of like being myself for once, you know?" I smile at that. I'm sure nearly everyone from Earth Bet had the same fear, even me. Part of the reason I let Contessa kill me. I didn't want to be a puppet, at least anymore than I had already been.

Though she mentioned "being herself for once," could Mimi have been a mastering victim? I know that medication could alter how a person feels but with the reaction to mastering, might have something more to do with that, hence her wariness regarding myself.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on mastering anyone," at least so far. The unfortunate reality is that sometimes, such things were necessary, like letting Regent master Shatterbird and Shadow Stalker. Unfortunate, but necessary. Even with my reassurances, Mimi doesn't look convinced, and really, I can't blame her. I'm apparently known down here, not for stopping Scion, but by how I mastered everyone to do it.

"Hey, I was thinking about this idea you guys had for making the Crimson gang think they were hit by Raz family, and you're going to need Imps for that," Felix pipes up. I look towards him. Even knelt down as I am, he's rather short, and we're about eye to eye. The idea we would need imps makes sense. If the Raz family was like he had said was some kind of imp mobsters, then we would need some kind of force of imps to be seen. Felix had already mentioned M.I.L.F. maybe there were some kind of imp mercenary group as well, or maybe imp assassins?

"True, but I don't think we have the kind of money to recruit mercenaries at the moment, I assume you have an idea on how to get us some imps?" Felix nods, setting down his watering can and sticking his hand into his pocket.

"Yeah, even though I'm a city imp, most of my family is still out living in the ring of Wrath, and I might be able to get some of them to come over and help us out. Free of charge too. Almost everyone over in Wrath loves fighting. Plus they're pretty old fashioned so at least some of them'll come over just so that they can be big heroes and get the girl or something like that," I raise an eyebrow at that.

While I don't want to get Felix's family too involved, if they were willing then they can join in. Plus, the benefit if they managed to convince some of the girls to go back with them to wherever the ring of Wrath was would then mean less money and time needed to make the buildings livable for them. Though we would likely still need to either do some more raids on vigilantes, or figure out where the Crimson gang kept their money so we could raid it during the false flag to keep us going.

"If you managed to get some of your family to help out, what exactly should we expect?" As I ask, Felix smiles and his eyes brighten while his tail begins to wag behind him. At the same time, he opens up his phone and searches through it for something before turning it to me.

It's a group photo which looks to be some kind of family reunion. A dozen or so couples of imps were there with quite a few young adult imps as well. I can identify Felix with them, he and the family he's standing by are in nice looking clothes. The rest of the imps in the picture are all in clothes that looked like they came from over a century ago from the wild west, ranging from cowboys in their Sunday bests to a family near the edges that looks to be wearing something like what a banker or some fancy city folk from the late eighteen hundreds would wear. There had to be over thirty people there from just a quick look at the photo.

"I don't know about getting all of them, but they're from Wrath so they're going to be tough, and good shots too. They'll have their own guns as well so you don't have to worry about that, and I know where we could get the suits to. Moxxie here," Felix said, pointing to the edge of the family photo where the banker-clothed family was. "He and his family have always been snappy dressers, so I bet that they've got a bunch of suits that we could use."

I nod along. The idea seemed sound. If they're willing to help us with the raid, and the snappy dressing imps are also willing to let us use their suits to disguise the imps, then it would certainly make the false flag more believable. Depending on how much time we have to prepare, and how many imps we get, we could even hit multiple spots at once before the Crimson gang could properly respond. If done right, the imps would return back to the ring of Wrath with the girls who decided to go with their impish saviors, while the rest could stay with us or find a place to lay low for a while.

"Have you discussed this with Adam and Sherrel?" I ask, but Felix shakes his head.

"No, we got sent down to water the plants, and I was thinking about it while working."

"Are you going up now?" Mimi asks, "can you wait 'till we're done? I want to see their faces when they see how fluffy you are!"

"I can do that, I should probably wash this guy anyways," I say as I pick up my biter and make my way to the water spout. I feel through both my bugs and my antennae the two of them return to their work. The two demons work faster than before, though Mimi is working the fastest on account of her excitement. I begin running water as I move my biter into the water, letting it run over him for a bit as I pour some soap onto him and try my best to wash the alley off.

Slowly the dirt is washed away, as suds dominate the biter's form while dirt, grime, and blood are washed away down the drain and quickly, the biter is looking far more presentable as his fur gets a bit of a sheen to it from the washing. The simple task reminds me of the times I would help Rachel out with her dogs, washing them in silence as we just worked together. It was a nice break from duties as a warlord in Brockton. A bit of time with my teammates, just, enjoying each other's company.

During the time between Echidna and my unmasking, I didn't usually give myself many breaks, I was just working all the time, making sure my territory was secure, stopping those that broke my rules, sometimes even face off with the Protectorate, though after everything that had happened, they were too scared to go after me. I'd used that fear to keep myself from being caught in my last week of being free… giving me the time to solve the last few issues in the Bay, and tell my team goodbye.

My bugs grow agitated as I pour my reaction to own thoughts into them. I let those that weren't watching things get agitated, not wishing for my washing of this biter to grow more aggressive. Sometimes I hate hindsight. Even my good memories are tainted by what I did, how I betrayed them.

I never saw Lisa's face when she realised what I was doing, and back then I was glad I didn't. I wasn't sure back then if I'd have still gone through with it, and done what I had thought at the time needed to be done. Now I know I would have still done it, I'd have still walked out on them. When they get down here, I'll have to make it up to them for everything I put them though. Refurbishing this neighbourhood will have to be a start. After this whole false flag thing is dealt with, then I can see about finding Alec wherever he is. I can make it up to him, and I certainly needed to.

"Alright, we're done! Come on, let's go show Adam and Sherrel your new floof!" Mimi calls out to me as she and Felix come closer to place their watering cans by the spout I'm washing my biter at. Looks like that is as clean as he is going to get at the moment. I use a bit of my magic to give him a bit of a blow dry before picking him up and place him under my arm as the three of use move towards the stairs.

Mimi is grinning like a loon as the three of us ascend the stairs up into the loft that Adam, Sherrel and lil' Mark are in. I can feel that Sherrel is playing with Mark, on one of the couches, from the position of my bugs on both of them and the sounds of Mark's giggling gurgles. Adam meanwhile is sitting in the chair in the room, likely watching TV or his family members play.

Before I enter the living room of the loft, however, Mimi raises a hand with a wide smile on her face, while I quirk an eyebrow at her. Mimi enters the room.

"Hey guys, guess what?" she asks. I place the biter down on the floor and straighten up my coat. If Mimi wanted to put on a show I might as well oblige.

"What?" I hear Adam ask from his chair. Mimi looks over to me from the doorway, and beckons me over. Amused, I follow her lead. It feels like… No, stop it. No introspection, no reminiscing about before, just enjoy the now. I have all of eternity to reflect on my past life, the past can wait, the present can't.

I stride forward and turn into the living room, to the attention of both Adam and Sherrel. The first reaction I get is Adam whistling while leaning back into his chair while Sherrel perks up from her place on the couch.

"Dang girl, you got your demonic form and sh-stuff."

"You look good, and you're smiling, you need to smile more, it really looks good on you, both your form and your smile!" Sherrel comments.

"Really? Is that so?" I ask, and receive Sherrel's nod back.

"You could probably make people see you completely differently if you just smiled more, rather than always have that intense look on your face," Mimi chimes in.

"Yeah, your face is just really expressive when you actually show your emotions rather than when you kind of just… don't express anything. Heck, even with your normal form, you're like one of those plain girls they have in movies," Sherrel explains as she makes finger quotation marks around "plain girls" as she says it. "They just need a proper makeover and then suddenly they're a solid seven out of ten at least, right Addy?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Adam says.

"Come on Adam, you watched them with me. Remember "Mean Girls?"" Adam in response, just begins to scratch his head as he looks up to the ceiling, as if he was trying to remember.

"Honestly, I was paying more attention to you then the movies most of the time, remember,"

"Oh yeah, right. And you'd always fall asleep after we well…" Sherrel stops mid sentence, seeming to think better of what she was about to say, however, Sherrel did seem to gain a bit of a blush as she thought of what she was about to say.

"Well, you know," and that was all that needed to be said.

"So whatcha' get from yo new demon form? Some kinda brute rating or something?" Adam asks, drawing the conversation away from his love life with his girlfriend. With my power over my biter, I have him enter into the living room before sitting down.

"I didn't test it out much, but my magic was boosted from what I could tell. I took control of several biters, most of them are out scouting the alleyways and getting a lay of the land."

"You find anything interesting?" Sherrel asks as she plays with Mark's tail, the little demon reaching up to grab it while Sherrel holds the end up above him.

"One of my biters came across a mechanical dog. The thing was as big as a car and built like a tank. Do you know anything about it?" Sherrel's interest peaked there as I mentioned the mechanical part, while Adam shrugged.

"Probably some mad scientist shieeeee- stuff. They're basically tinkers or something, only they apparently don't need powers or something. Lot of sinners eventually end up as mad scientists around here and try to do stuff with their inventions."

"There's a bunch of them!" Sherrel remarked, "I was looking into it, and apparently Hell's had mad scientists since the ancient days with things like steampowered clockwork soldiers trying to conquer parts of hell for over two thousand years and they've only gotten better since then," Sherrel reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone, quickly pulling up a picture and showing me it. The thing almost looked like a terminator, and from what I could see it looked like it was glowing. Probably with magic.

"That was a clockwork from I think around year three hundred. When I looked it up apparently some Roman demon or something decided to try and take over Hell, got a bunch of guys together to make these clockworks to boost his troops, and from what I researched, they did pretty well for a bit. The clockworks were kicking ass and taking names, just slaughtering demons left and right, until they picked a fight with one of the more powerful nobility, then they got wrecked. But from what I read, they were worth ten demons all by themselves."

"If there were so effective, why don't people use them now?" I ask as I lean against the door frame. The Eagleton robot army was a nightmare to deal with from the reports I'd read, and that was with the parahumans stationed there being able to take on a dozen of the bots at once and come out unscathed. A robot army, especially back then when they were still using swords, shields, and not even full body armour, would have been a near unstoppable force without magic. To my question Sherrel shrugged.

"Resources apparently, that and the demon lord who was fighting them at the time teleported into the facility where the clockworks were being created and smashed the place. Then raided pretty much all of their mines and slaughtered all their workers. By the time they were done, the little empire these guys made was dismantled and the main guys were all on crucifixes outside of Pentagram city. Plus, they take a lot of resources to make and repair, whereas demons are already brutes with some pretty insane regen. Just keep them fed and you don't have to mine a bunch of stuff. Granted, the clockworks were the best automaton around for like a century before another mad scientist came around, but the noble who fought the last bunch of clockworks recruited him pretty quickly," I nod along as Sherrel explains. It almost sounds like mad scientists have many of the same problems that tinkers on Earth Bet have in regards to recruitment.

"Would you be able to make something like that?" I ask, and Sherrel's excitement died there as she leant back, letting go of Mark's tail who looked up at Sherrel and tilted his head.

"Most of the schematics from the internet are gone or missing parts of them. When I asked on some forum, they said that the ones that were up were purged by some demonic nobility one time, and then again when some demon overlord named Velvet started to take control of parts of the web. Most of the stuff I can find are more magic than science, and even that doesn't have the magic stuff with it either," Sherrel sighed. That made sense, after all, the PRT did something similar regularly where they would purge schematics of tinker tech online and sometimes even schematics using advanced science or were based on tinker tech due to it being dangerous. I hadn't really been interested in that part of what they did so I hadn't paid much attention. I only know about it because the issue came up a few times on the Wards lounge news feed. One such schematic that was purged from the internet I remember was some kind of prosthetic arm that was purged from the United States patent and trademark office's site.

"We should look into that later then, but for now, Felix has some ideas on how we could perform the false flag on the Crimson gang," I say shifting the conversation away from the state of Hell's internet censorship. I move out of the doorway to let Felix through, taking a seat beside lil' Mark. The tot had been trying to get Sherrel's attention by bapping her on the leg while I'd been presenting myself. Rather than let Mark continue to get frustrated, I lift him up, and pull him onto my lap. He makes a small inquisitive sound as I boop his nose with one of my lower hands.

I listen in on Felix once more explaining his plan while at the same time playing with Mark to keep him occupied. The demonic tyke likes to slap at my various hands, high fiving me and low fiving me while letting out giggles as he does his best to hit them all, even using his tail a bit to hit at them as well. Mark's tail, however, is even less coordinated than his hands so he usually misses with it, poking at me instead. As Felix shows the photo on his phone of his large family again for the rest to see, lil' Mark commits to slamming both his hands and his tail against one of my own hands, and ends up falling forwards into me. As he does so, he explodes into muffled giggles as he lands face first on my fluffy ruff.

"How long would it take for them to get here?" Sherrel asks.

"Uh, a couple of days. Usually when we go to meet them we get a hotel for a night. then we're are back on the road again and finally reach Crag Plain, uh that's the town they live in."

"So if you can get them, we'll have to sit on our hands for a few days while they get here then," Adam comments.

"It gives us time to properly get to know who these two groups are. Right now we just know that the Crimson gang beat the Raz family," I comment.

"So how do we do that then?" Mimi asks. Remembering back to my first day, suicidal demons like the one I had tried to save had been clamouring to record the footage, so the war between the Raz family and Crimson was likely online somewhere, it probably was even on the news.

"We could search online, in the Wards I did a lot of my research on capes like the Nine and others on there, as well as there could be something like PHO here. Maybe even some other kinds of forums or sites that cover the various gang fights," real life cape videos, just like police videos with combat were always popular, though many of the sites based in North America restricted videos where it showed the heroes in less than stellar lights, there was still a significant amount of videos that showed the ways capes fought, however. Plus, as a Ward when I was doing most of my research on capes outside of Brockton Bay, I was able to bypass the restrictions and even access private videos on the internet of cape fights. I likely wouldn't be able to access people's private videos here, but Hell cared less about violence and sex, so I shouldn't have to worry too much.

"We could also ask Angel, Crackas been around longer than any of us. and he's got more underground contacts than you could shake a stick at," Adam comments. My phone rings, and as I pull it out, I recognise Angel Dust's phone number on the front. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. I tap the "accept call" button and put it to my ear.

"Angel?"

"Hiya tiny tits, just calling to ask, that was you who was smoking those vigilante guys right? Thought I saw you for like a split second there when that rollie pollie went through the wall," remembering back to the last call I had with him, and the sounds...

"Before I answer, please tell me," I pause for a second and lower my voice cupping my hands around my mouth, "that you're not having sex this time."

"For your information I as masturbating, not having sex, m'kay," my frown deepens. "Besides, it ain't my fault that you called right when I found the perfect angle to hit my bitch button with-"

"I don't need to know the details Angel-"

"Well you're in Hell for the long haul toots, unless you catch a stray Angel spear or something. So I say have a bit of fun now and then, tell ya what, I'll even help ya with whatever man you manage to catch in that web of your lil miss black widow, if you take my advice and try something on the deviant side."

"just… can you at least..." I search for the right word but they all sound inappropriate, and I'd rather not say anything like that in front of Mark. Mark meanwhile grabs my enhanced forms fluffy ruff and rubs his face against it, making a cute sound, kind of like a yawn. "not, please? Or say that you're busy?"

"Sure sure, now anyways, back to what I was askin', was it you or nah?" Angel asks, finally relenting on the teasing. I swear he's worse than Alec and Aisha combined. I'd try to keep them from meeting, but with how involved Angel is likely to get in this whole enterprise, it's inevitable that they'll meet.

"Yes, it was us."

"Alright cool, mostly just wanted to know cause I got a buddy, Cherri, did I mention her before?" thinking back, he had mentioned a girl named Cherri Bomb. Some kind of ex villain who, judging by the name, had something to do with explosives.

"You mentioned her, yes."

"Okay good, she called and wanted to know who wasted those vigilantes on her turf, said next time she wanted in on the action. Oh hey, is Sherrel there?"

"She is."

"Mind putting me on speaker will ya?" obligingly, I hit the speaker icon and am about to lean forward, when I look downwards to see that Mark's fallen asleep on my chest. Unsure what to do I just awkwardly hold the phone before Sherrel realises the issue and grabs it and holds it up. Meanwhile with my upper arms I hold Mark closer and pull my fuzzy coat inwards so that it covers him like a blanket.

"You're on speaker now, Angel," Sherrel says into the phone, making sure to stay quiet enough to keep from bothering lil' Mark.

"Hey Sherri, how's it been?" Angel calls out.

"I've been doing good so far, how about you?" Sherrel responds, leaning forward toward so we can all hear.

"Been doing real good, making doe tonight, anywho, Cherri loves what ya did with your van. If ya want I could introduce you two so that she could make her suggestions and stuff,"

"Oh yeah? What did she want to add?" Sherrel asks, quirking an eyebrow.

"She said something about mortars and stuff like that, I don't know the specifics but it sounds like she wants to do some mad science with ya," the three of us from Brockton stop as we realise something. With a name like Cherri bomb connecting her to explosives, and her favouring tinkering to get those explosives from the sounds of it, the implications for us Brocktonites were obvious. While Adam and Sherrel didn't have much interaction with Bakuda, from my fight with her early in my villain days, she certainly seemed like the kind of person that would "take charge." While her wanting to join in a fight on her turf rather than be offended at someone for even stepping into it didn't sound like her, she might have changed.

"Say, ya never said, but how long you known this Cherri girl?" Adam asks. I notice Felix and Mimi are looking at us strangely, likely due to our pause.

"I don't know, like twenty or thirty years or something, girl died in like the eighties, why?" the three of us breathe a sigh of relief. So Cherri Bomb just happened to be some other bomb tinker who lived in the eighties, or took a liking to them while in Hell, considering that Hell had reproducible tinker tech since before the Romans fell, it was certainly possible.

"Anyways, you wanted to know about that Crimson gang right? I did a bit of digging for ya, asked one of our resident info guys about them, and I got some stuff for ya," at that we all perk up.

"So, turns out that they came in from the wastes a while ago, basically a bunch of nomad tribals who come in, wreck the place, and leave. You know the kind right Adam?"

"Yeah I know the kind, me and Sherrel ran into a few of them out on that trip for Frederico."

"So yeah, they're pretty much are just about to leave after they sell a last few batches of slaves to whoever's buying. Val's probably going to get most of them, while the ones not sold'll probably get brought along as entertainment or food when they leave the city."

"How can you tell?" Mimi pipes up.

"They're contractin' inwards apparently. Val's boys have been seeing them less and less near the border they share with Crimson, and the last time they bought slaves from them they'd been asking for gas and horses and stuff for the next trade, so they'll be off soon." meaning that the Raz family might somehow know this as well. It would explain why they were coming back in force if they knew their enemy was leaving.

"Any ideas why they might be leaving?"

"Eh, who knows, though if I were a betting demon, and I am, I'd say that they probably overstayed their welcome. I mean between them being one of the more obvious gangs to go after for vigilantes, less and less profits from slave raids, and them probably not exactly being the best neighbours for pretty much anyone means that they'll probably have decided they've stayed long enough," I nod along with the assessment.

"Did you learn anything about the Raz family?" I ask.

"Nah, but they're imps, so they probably got dusted, plus when their Don died their cop support dried up. After that, they turned tail and made for their basements. I mean the Crimson gang's a bunch of nomads, so the Raz probably thought that Crimson'd leave and they can take back over."

"Even so, I'd like to know more about the Raz family," I say. Information was key after all in nearly everything. I'd likely never have lasted as long as I did without the information I'd researched before becoming a cape, then once more while in the wards.

"Sure, I know a few gal that make their ways around the imp neighbourhoods every once and a while, shouldn't be a problem," from the background of the phone I can hear a distant voice call out "Mr. Dust, we're ready to shoot scene five."

"Alright I'm coming! Well my breaks over, I gotta go. Talk to ya later," and with a click the call ends. More information, but still not enough. I sit back for a moment, thinking as I guide my various bugs, and now biters through their tasks.

"Well, Felix, should probably make that call yeah?" Adam remarks to Felix, and he nods before scampering off while Adam gets up. At the same time, Sherrel stretches and I can hear pops as she does so.

"Aww, ain't he a cutie," Sherrel remarks, after putting the phone down, turning to Mark and I. I smile a bit and nod as I look down at him, the demon tyke's face peaceful as he snuggles up against my fluff.

"Do you mind watching him? The talk about mortars got my brain buzzing. "

"No I don't mind," I reply.

"I should get back to work on those drugs downstairs too," and then Skidmark follows Sherrel, and wraps a hand around her as they go. I stare after them for a moment, feeling… something. I don't really know how to place it, but even if it's a small interaction, I feel something. Eventually after they leave, I just sigh as one of my hands pets Mark's wild and unkempt hair.

"Something on your mind?" Mimi asks, but I shake my head.

"No, not really. Just… not a lot of down time until now. It's all just been fairly busy." Mimi nods along before getting up from her spot behind the couch and makes her way around it.

"You know, we could find those videos you want to search up and learn what we can about "The Beast"," Mimi says, a mocking tone entering her voice as she says the leader of the Crimson Gang's name. I give a breathed snort, not exactly the most original name ever.

"You don't have anything else to do? I wouldn't want to take your time if you needed to do something," I ask but Mimi shakes her head.

"Nah, I got the watering done and I don't know much about making drugs, never really did chemistry," Mimi says as she sits down, her own phone out and she's already tapping the password into it.

Mimi does a quick search on her phone, and begins to pull up various year old news reports about various gang violence and fights going on during that time. There are a few news reports, podcasts, videos, and even a radio segment by someone called Alastor on the gang violence going on in Hell during that time. Mimi pulls up a vid, and turns down the volume to the point that she likely can barely hear it as to not disturb Mark. With my antennae, however, I can hear it fine. As we watch, Mimi leans closer so that I have an easier time seeing the screen as she holds it up. She leans against me more the longer we watch the news on the various gang crimes that went on a year ago. I don't mind.

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I don't even know how the fashion show bit got in, but I felt like it would be amusing and I kind of liked the idea of Mimi wanting to show off Skitter since [redacted], not to mention after that one summer camp, Taylor had to grow up quick because of the shit she was going through.

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated and encouraged!

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 13

I'm trying something new with the descriptions of people in this one to give the characters a better description, and would appreciate knowing if I did well.

Any and all feedback is highly appreciated

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My mental map grows as my various bugs and biters navigate the Crimson gang's territory. The rival gang's territory hadn't been immediately identifiable until my biters got further in. From there patrols of heavily armed demons, usually in squads of five began to appear. While some were on foot, more of them rode on motor bikes, hanging off of dune buggies or were in the back of pick up trucks.

Other than the occasional foot traffic, fewer people were on the streets that further into Crimson territory I scouted. Most who were still living in the inner parts of Crimson territory were holed up in their homes with curtains drawn so people couldn't look in. With the biters that had better senses, I had them scale upwards to the rooftops to get a better vantage point. Hopefully I might see where the various patrols are coming from. Maybe I can get an idea of the places of interest.

Slowly, as I watch the streets from all of my different eyes, I notice a few buildings which seem to have armed men and women entering and exiting. Using my meager swarm, I move my bugs in while some biters hop across the roofs and stalk the sewers toward the building.

My bugs trickle inside and I begin to map the warehouse, quickly finding the office and several sealed crates. Guards wander around the levels of the warehouse, passing the time in one way or another. With some of the holes in the crates, I move some bugs in to check the insides. As I trickle more bugs into the crates, I slowly get a clearer picture of the contents. Mostly guns in these crates, though a few of them have other odds and ends that are less identifiable.

"… man, what's biting at ya?"

"Fucking vigilante cunts, some of the fuckers hit the east side again."

I could set up nests in them, breed some more bugs, and have the larvae brought to me so that I could take control of them before sending them back. It would make a good back up plan for distractions if the raid backfired on us and we needed a lot of bugs to cover our escape. I'd started building some small nesting operations, but I'd yet to properly set up anything more than a hive or two in the sewers beneath the building. It was slowly beginning to resemble the set up I had made back home when I hadn't even gotten out heroing yet. There had been various chambers with different bugs so that they didn't fight too much. Sure there was some killing and fighting when I went to sleep, but it was rather minimal, unlike some of my earlier attempts at bug isolation back in the day.

"Which ones was it this time?"

"That one with the squid face dude."

"You were in that?"

"Yeah, fucked my motor so my buggy's fucked, but I still shot the fuck out of squidy, and blew the legs off of that gal they had with them with the turret."

"That was you who brought her in? Nice, had her last night, tight as a virgin," mentally I perk up as I hear this.

"You did? Where is she? I wanted to pay her back for the shit she did to my ride, but when I looked around the west pen I couldn't find shit," I place a few bugs on the two demons talking so I could track them.

One of my biters gets to the skylight of the warehouse, and I start looking down into it. The two that are talking are some kind of massive bug with a huge needle for a nose, likely a mosquito, while the other is some kind of wasp demon. The two of them are dressed similar to the videos I watched of the gang fights between the Crimson and the Raz family, outfitted in leather with metal studs and spikes in random areas on their jackets. Metal bits were strapped to random areas, mostly around their central mass.

"I'll take you to where she's at after the shifts over. Maybe the boss'll let you keep her," the wasp says. As I check the other boxes I note that there are more guns in them. Seems that this warehouse was acting as an armoury for the Crimson Gang. I move most of the insects out of the warehouse to start searching other buildings while I mentally mark the place as a possible target.

My bug make their way into the other buildings while biters continue to check the sky lights and windows, giving me a slowly growing awareness of the area as I continue to mark on my mental map of the points of interest, civilian housing complexes, and areas that could be hit indiscriminately like abandoned ruins and empty warehouses. There are a few garages around that hold armoured and armed dune buggies among other vehicles.

I could hit them there, if they decided to stay and fight it out with the Raz family as we hoped, then taking out their mobility could keep the Raz family from being initially overwhelmed if they weren't up to actually fighting the Crimson gang. The vehicles could also help out in figuring out the extent of the Crimson gang's territory, or what they considered their territory. The gang map that the news provided helped with determining their general area, but if what Angel said was true, then they're contracting inwards. I move more of my bugs into the garages and have them hunker down in some of the hollow parts of the vehicles so I could track and possibly even sabotage them later.

As I do that, something catches one of my biter's eyes, and I see what looks like a Crimson gang member on a balcony with some woman. From the distance, I can't see much but judging by the uniform skintone, the woman is likely naked, and from their movements, they're likely fucking. I start to move more bugs to the place in question.

From just the sounds alone that my bugs are hearing I can tell this place was one of their "slave pens." As my biters get closer I can spot a dozen or so guards around the building, manning the entrances. The exclamations and grunts tell me all I really need to know as I try to block out most of what I'm hearing to focus on the layout of the building. A few of my biters spot a couple of girls on a balcony, thankfully at least somewhat clothed compared to the one lady a few stories above.

"… alright?"

"I guess…"

"Hey I thought I told you to give me a straight answer, now, are you doing alright? Do you need me to handle this guy?" the two are silent for a moment before the second voice speaks again.

"Won't work… he just wants me. Carly already tried…"

"Shit…" there's a clink and the sound of a flame igniting before the first voice takes a long drag. "fucking bastards… hey, you hear that they caught more girls? You're no longer that newest."

"Woo hoo…"

"Yo Skitty you still there?" I hear Adam's voice and a blink as I focus less on my swarm.

"Yes Adam I'm here, I'd just been focusing on scouting out the Crimson gang's territory," I say as the three, technically four since Mark was in a stroller being pushed by Sherrel, of us walk across the street to our destination. While we could have taken the van to get to get here, after the incident with the two enforcers of the Raz family, we didn't want to push our luck that they would recognize Sherrel's mechanical baby.

Pulling out my phone and logging on to the vigilante group chat under a fake name, I watch as the chat goes by slowly.

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Welcome to the "Earth Bet Capes" chat room!

[Mistakes Were Made] has joined the chat

[Lucksman] : Hey mistakes, how's it hanging?

[Factory gal] : hey mis, never seen you around before, are you new?
[Mistakes Were Made] : Alright, how about you?

[Int-net-wiz] : Yeah she is, Le Porc verified her yesterday, no mention of her at all from my searches or from Le Porc's sources, said she was a combat thinker before shit it the fan and she got blasted by the big golden dick

[Factory gal] : You sure we can trust her? And how do we know she was really a cape, or even had powers?

[Lucksman] : Considering that we couldn't verify that you were a cape either factory gal, I wouldn't be throwing stones.

[Factory gal] : I told you guys my designs and what I made! I even went into detail.

[Int-net-wiz] : Sounded like a lot of technobabble from Star Trek to me

[Factory gal] : Fuck off wiz

[Lucksman] : Hey now, no need to fight now, besides, we're all here for you know what, plus there are a bunch of people who just want to help out that weren't capes in life either. After all, there's plenty of PRT guys who're willing to help out, and we also got others like Le Porc.

[Factory gal] : fat lot of good they did.

[gr0un6p0un63r] : the fuck you talking about?

[Akuma Ree # 457] : Sorry to intrude, but would you mind clarifying Factory-san?

[Factory gal] has been banned for (1 day) (Reason : Demoralisation)

[Int-net-wiz] : Sorry about that Akuma, Factory gal's got major beef with the PRT, some stuff happened when she was alive between her and them. Plus she was with the PC Protectorate before Satan glassed most of them.

[Mistakes Were Made] : I may have some information that could be useful to anyone who is interested in fighting the Crimson gang, I just have to verify some things first before I give out the info so that it doesn't end up like the disastrous attack on Valentino.

[Lucksman] : Alright, stay safe Mistakes.

[Mistakes Were Made] has logged off

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Seeing that things were going nowhere fast in the vigilante's private chat room, I say my piece and put my phone to sleep, having planted the seeds for a possible two prong attack against the Crimson gang. If the vigilantes were successful, they might be able to save the people on the other side of Crimson's territory, as well as draw the Crimson gang's response away from us

The place we were meeting Angel's friend as well as the Valentino girl was a café in the area by the name of Lilac's café. Apparently the girl that Angel arranged for us to meet loved going there before and after her shift on the corner she worked. As we enter, a curvaceous demon wearing a skimpy french maid uniform waves at us as we enter.

"Welcome to Lilac's~! I'm Lilac, anything I can get you?" the succubus asks as she leans over the counter, making it easy to stare down her shirt. I deliberately ignore her ample bosom in favour of her smiling face.

"We're supposed to meet a Cherri bomb and a regular by the name of Gina," I say. The demon lady nods and points to one of the corners of the café where a pair of sinners sit.

The cyclops was beautiful in a way similar to Aisha, extremely similar. A lithe feminine icon that would have people in the modern day fawning over her and turning heads left and right to get a look at her. She had the right assets in all the right places to fit that adored hourglass figure.

Yet, just like Aisha, her stunning beauty was covered up by a level of miss use and adherence to punk fashion that marred her beauty. With her fashion choices she turned herself from an elegant head turner into merely another trashy eyecatcher. Her hair was a mess of split ends and done up in a top knot that had half of her hot pink hair flowing down the side of her body while the rest of the hair in the top-knot trailed behind her. Her jeans were ripped to the point that I can't help but wonder how it stayed on while a strapless top threatened to fall were it not for the cyclops's breasts holding it up.

The other sinner was a towering bear woman who looked like she was sitting in a chair just a size too small for her. Where the cyclops was a model with the "impossible figure" all teenage girls dreamed of, the Urcine demon was like a sex idol from an age long past. She was comfortably chubby in a cuddly way like that of a teddy bear, and shaped in a way that was pleasant to the eyes with no odd lumps that might come from just built up fat. Her breasts were something from a teenage boy's, or flat girl's, wet dream. The furry globes of flesh were as large as a person's head and overflowing from the woman's own strapless top.

Unlike the cyclops, the bear's clothing spoke of an awareness of her assets and sought to advertise them off in a very deliberate fashion. She wore an open coat showing off her figure and large breasts nearly overflowing from her low necked shirt while skinny jeans hugged her shapely waist and thighs, advertising herself to any who would look upon her.

Between the two of them, only the cyclops was paying attention as we approach, and was playing with what looked like an old timey cartoon bomb dancing between her fingers while the bear woman taps at her phone. Judging by the bomb, the cyclops is Angel's friend Cherri Bomb, while the other is likely Gina.

"Just over there, would you like anything to drink? Maybe some tea or coffee?" I smile and nod. We order our drinks, black for Adam, tea for myself, and another coffee, this time a double double for Sherrel. Meanwhile, Sherrel could also provide for lil' Mark. With our drinks ordered we head to the corner of the café where the two sinners were.

"Well well well, look who finally showed up," the Cyclops said, drawing the attention of the bear demon to us. "Normally I don't like it when people do shit on my turf, but since you were fucking up some bitches that moved in, and you're friends with Angie, I'll let it slide."

I don't rise to the bait as I sit down at the table. As I do, the bear seems to do a double take as she looks at me. I can't help but notice the gulp that she tries to hide as she watches me. I notice Sherrel giving the Cyclops a hard stare as well, though considering how Sherrel had banned foul language from being anywhere near Mark, it made sense.

"Cherri bomb I presume?" I ask, partially for manners sake, and partially because I wish to be sure. After all, I wouldn't want to make a fool of myself just for assuming.

"That's right, and you three must be the Merchants, mind telling a girl next time you find vigilantes on my turf?" I'm about to nod before I stop and look to Adam and Sherrel to make sure I don't just make a unilateral decision for us. Adam just shrugs to the unspoken question while Sherrel is busy unbuckling Mark from his stroller to pull up to the table.

"We'll call you if we find them in your territory, though, would you mind not swearing?" I ask, drawing a snort from Cherri.

"What? Princess don't like it when I say bad words?" the demon asks, her voice shifting tone to that of a mocking one with a small quibble in her lip while her hands come up to make crying motions.

"More that we are in the presence of a baby, and Sherrel is rather protective of his sensitive ears," Cherri's mocking expression softens a bit as she looks from me to the baby demon who's looking around curiously, his tail swinging to and fro, a happy smile adorning his face as he looks at this new and exciting place. Finally the demon nods before Sherrel pipes up once Mark is sitting on her lap.

"So, you said you wanted to make some suggestions for my ride?" to Sherrel's question, Cherri's grin turns large and toothy again. The cyclops reaches into her jacket and pulls out a notebook with the words "tech 'n' shit" scrawled on the front in permanent marker. I turn from them to address the bear demon sitting across from us. I've experienced enough tinker talk to know when to duck out of a situation. While sometimes I could offer useful advice to Defiant and Dragon when they talked shop, most of it went over my head when they got into the specifics and details as Sherrel and Cherri Bomb are likely to.

"You must be Gina, Angel said that you work a corner around here?" I ask. The bear girl nods, taking a sip from her drink before she answers.

"Yeah I do," her words are short, clipped, and tense, like Rachel's. No beating around the bush then.

"What can you tell me about the Raz family?" the bear pauses for a moment before answering. As she speaks, she seems to slowly ease up on the tension. Perhaps she was simply worried about us then?

"They used to be big, well, big for an imp gang, that is, the boss was some big shot imp, you know, the kind that are just straight up better than every other imp. Made inroads with all the cops in the area and stuff, basically controlled the police force whenever one of the nobles or the commissioner wasn't ordering them around. I've only really started seeing them again a little while ago."

"Where'd they go?" I ask.

"Underground mostly, keeping out of the streets and hiding in their homes, like what any sane person does when a raider gang is prowling in your part of town. After the Don died and the police left, they came running in, burning cars, looting random buildings and stores, and grabbing people right off the street for their pens. Hell, they nabbed me when I was running to my apartment because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You were a Crimson slave?" I ask and the bear girl huffs.

"Only for a little bit, they sold me pretty quick to Valentino, and…" Gina trailed off and shook her head. Cherri pauses in her conversation with Sherrel to look over to Gina, specifically as she mentions Valentino, perhaps some kind of connection there? "Whatever, not important. You want to know about the Raz right? Well a couple of weeks ago while I was working my corner I saw some of the old members wandering around, going door to door for "protection money." Same stuff different day, then-"

Gina cut herself off as she looked past us outside to a large robot that I'd felt with my bugs awhile ago. From what I could sense the treads were as wide as the sidewalk and that the thing was around two meters tall. I'd heard it's treads on the pavement since a little while after the conversation started. Now, however, I could get a good look at the thing.

Across the street the silhouette of the thing looked like a large, slightly rounded coffin on a trio of covered tank treads. It had ball joints for shoulders which connected to arms that were covered by some kind of metal tubing. The arms ended in balls with what looked like some kind of gun barrel sticking out of them facing forward. As the robot slowly moved out of the shade of the building, we could see that the connection between the main body and the tank tread covering had the same kind of flexible metal mesh covering as the arms did, while the upper body looked to be made of thicker stuff than the rest of the robot. It had a single eye which could spin around three hundred and sixty degrees and emitted some kind of laser as I could see a red dot briefly cross one of the walls inside of the café.

And it had an oversized fedora on it's head.

The thing was reminiscent of some of the earlier models of combat robot from Eagleton, when the robots were still using guns and firearms while going for a more direct approach to expanding than their tactic of artillery based expansion into various areas around Eagleton. In truth, if the thing replaced the hat with some kind of gruesome human part, and the guns with something like blades or harpoon guns, then it might have fit right in with the robot army. I could even imagine it with a severed skull on some spike on it or even human flesh draped over it. Non-cape researchers and thinkers kind of agreed that the Eagleton bots likely did so in order to demoralize human troops.

Considering that from just the ads that I've seen and even some of the segments on the news I've watched, that wouldn't work so well here.

"Well... then I saw one of those things," Gina finishes, after we'd all taken a good look at the Robot across the street. If the Raz family had that kind of hardware and was coming back because of it, then we'd need to look into grabbing some of that if we want the false flag to go off right. I look over to Sherrel and she looks absolutely giddy, like a child seeing a parade. Cherri Bomb on the other hand merely snorts with derision.

"That thing must have cost them a pretty penny, wonder if it was worth it."

"Does anyone else use robots like that?" I ask, as I turn to look back at the bear and cyclops.

"I don't know, you could probably check on some news forum or listen to the unofficial pirate radio broadcasts. Mad scientists sometimes like to set them up despite there literally being a Radio demon, he doesn't really seem to mind them being around though, not like Vox and hsi TV stations. I got a client that's trying to become a mad scientist so he listens in on all the tech stuff."

"So what's your interest in those bots anyways?" Cherri butts in. I consider rebuking her questioning, but she is Angel Dust's friend, and unless he was playing at being a double agent, I doubt that he would set us up with an informant. Gina was a little harder to guess, but considering that she'd been sold into slavery by the Crimson Gang to Valentino, she wouldn't be likely to rat on us.

"We're interested in conducting an attack on the Crimson gang and making it look like the Raz family did it." I say simply, and watch as the cyclops's toothy grin grows larger.

"False flag huh? Let me guess, the introduction of those robots has complicated things then?" I nod and Cherri bomb slowly leans back on her chair.

"Tell you what, I can get you one of those bots, but I want a few favours, 'mkay?" I raise an eyebrow at her.

"And, what would those favours be?"

"Well one, since I'm grabbing the bot, I get to keep it once you're done with it. Two, Valentino's getting slaves from Crimson right? When you do this false flag stuff, I want you to hit wherever those slavers are keeping their girls, and get them out away from Val. And three, when you guys start fighting Crimson for real, I wanna be there blowing stuff up and grabbing loot, sound like a deal?" Cherri Bomb sticks out a hand as she leans forward. There is a sudden breeze as Cherri's hand glows a soft green. I delay the deal for a moment in order to keep from seeming too hasty as I learned once from Dad. We were already planning on hitting the slave pens anyways, and while keeping the bot would have been nice, and certainly a boon for Sherrel, it wasn't the end of the world if we didn't get it. Plus, if it wasn't too hard to do, we could grab one of the automatons ourselves and see how they ticked.

"You'll grab one? What they gonna fall off a truck or something, and how you gonna move that shi-stuff over to us?" Adam asks.

"What, don't trust me to get the job done?"

"More I'm thinking that Sherrel and I go with you to grab this bot, this false flag stuff's Skitty's idea anyways so you probably don't really need us for what's going on back at home, yeah?" If he didn't feel he needed to be there when the planning was going on, who was I to judge? I nod and Adam continues.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, so, we got a bit of time to get us one of them there bots, you and Sherr can do your tinker talk stuff some more, plus, we learn how to take down one of them bots if we ever need to fight one yeah?" Cherri cocks her head to the side as she thinks about the proposal for a second before nodding.

"Sure, the three of us'll go grab us a bot and bring it back to wherever, I get to keep it, you guys hit some Crimson slave pens, and when this all goes hot, I get to have some fun blowing stuff up like I did Down Under," Cherri summarizes, and prompts her hand again, the wind picking up once more as a deal is has once more been proposed. Seeing nothing wrong with it, I reach across and shake.

And as we finish shaking, our drinks arrive.

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On the screen a scene of a street from a high vantage point show imps dressed in mobster clothes alongside police in heavy armour move from burning wrecks of cars down the street under a hail of bullets as demons in leather outfits with metal bits strapped to them fire from cover and lob grenades down the street. Even with all the bullets flying down range towards the cops and mobsters, I watch as the outnumbered Crimson gang members are slowly picked off as they are forced to retreat farther down the street. The street is littered with corpses and the ruins of vehicles as the heavily armed police are quick to answer the arrival of vehicles with the lobing of grenades.

From off screen, there is the sound of more vehicles approaching. Already I can see the police in the scene reaching to their grenade bandoliers, pulling grenades and hunkering down, preparing to throw. The camera pans over showing a single figure riding on a large chopper, armoured clothed in just a regular leather jacket. Even from under the leather, I can see the muscles bulging beneath the massive man, while his huge canine head snarls as he drives closer.

As he approaches the scene, some of the mobsters pop their heads out of cover and start to try to lay down fire on the approaching motorcycle only for the hulk of a sinner to leap up from his chopper up high into the air. As the Raz family members and paid off police officers adjust their aim up, some kind of electrical current flashes across the canine headed Crimson member, and within an instant he's slammed into the found, his foot caving in the chest of one of the armoured police demons. The canine headed demon thrusts a fist out and a blast of lightning fires from his palm into another enemy before he dashes forward, smashing into another enemy in an instant and leaving behind a path of lightning in his wake. Those he passed froze up, jerking around as they were hit by the after shock.

As expected of a speedster, he was making quick work of those in the mobster and police lines. A cheer could be heard from the Crimson side of the conflict as gang members began to fire on those that were distracted by the canine headed demon.

The largest imp, dressed like a mobster, seemed one of the few that could just barely hold up against the onslaught of the canine headed demon, barely dodging the sinner's attacks and doing his best to power through the aftershocks. Even so, he'd emptied his gun already as the shocks paralysed his fist closed, causing him to waste his bullets. He was already smoking in various areas, and after a punch he hadn't quite managed to dodge, his arm hung limp at his side. The police and mobsters had broken, and were fleeing while the canine headed demon dragged the large imp into an alleyway out of the line of fire. He slammed the imp against the wall, before with a single punch he splattered the imps skull like a watermelon. Blood and grey matter splattered against the wall as lighting sparkled across the body, lighting fires across it before the canine demon tossed the body aside.

Then with a jerk the camera fell to the side and I could see what looked like a demon fallen over, blood pooling as I watch the death of the camera man.

So that's the Beast. I think as I feel more of my bugs bring me more of their young. With barely a thought I incorporate the infantile bugs into my swarm and they are sent back to their nests underneath the warehouse.

As I close the window on the phone, I see though a biter a convoy of vehicles heading towards our street. The convoy of camper vans, family vans, trucks, and even a horse and buggy with a flaming horse pull up to the warehouse. As I get up from the couch Mimi looks up at me from the floor. Her, the biter I brought in and cleaned up, and Mark were playing together, Mimi watching Mark as he rode around on the biter.

"I think Felix's cousins just got here," I say before getting up to head outside to greet them. By the time I get downstairs. Felix is already there with a large group of Imps that have already gotten out and are greeting him with hugs and slaps on the back. Some of the group look like they did in the picture, in what I had assumed to be Sunday bests for them, though if they were wearing like it was normal, then perhaps I was wrong. Others looked far trashier. These imps generally seemed to err on the younger side, with provocative outfits showing off their fit and slim bodies for the ladies, with the guys showing off their muscles in shirts that were likely just a bit too tight. Finally there were those that had come in some kind of red camouflage gear and were armed to the teeth with heavy weapons packed with attachments.

From what I can see of their guns through my biters, excluding the paramilitary imps, they ranged from western style revolvers, repeaters, hunting rifles, and a few shotguns. Some of the more modern looking hunting rifles looked like they were more for big game hunting, or even looked like assault rifles with large capacity magazines and judging by the few that had bandoliers, had far bigger bullets. As for the paramilitary imps, they were geared like a PRT kill team with heavy weapons that ranged from some kind of Kalashnikov rifle to strange boxy submachine guns that looked like it was something out of some kind of sci fi. As I leave the warehouse, Felix notices me and waves me over.

"This is one of my bosses, Skitter, she's the one that is getting this all organized," Felix says. Immediately one of the adult imps steps up and sticks a hand out, a big grin splitting his goatee'd face.

"Howdy Skitter, names Lars, this is Lilly," the imp says as I take his hand while he indicates to the imp woman beside him. "And these are my kids Lary, Lloyd, and my oldest Lee-anne, when Felix here called and said you were lookin' to put some raiding dirtbags in the ground and save some good folk, well me and the kids just couldn't resist. Now down the line, there is the Bob family with Billy Bob, Joe Bob…" and the names go on as Lars introduces me to the rest of Felix's cousins, uncles, and aunts that had come to help us with the false flag attack. By the end there are twenty seven imps, all happy to volunteer for the mission. Lars is quick to point out those that are in it mostly for the possible loot, those being a trio of young imp men with their wives in one hand and their guns in another. The others Lars pointed out were also those that had specifically come to help out the "damsels," his daughter Lee-anne being one of them apparently.

"It's nice to meet you all," I say, "Now if you could head inside, we can figure out what we are working with and figure out a way to best use everyone," as I say that, one final car comes driving up and another two imps come out. I recognize the young imp man from the picture as one of the imps in the picture that looked like a late 1800s banker. The imp had changed his suit from the picture for one that seemed from the sixties, but he still had a bowtie.

Like many of the other imps that were his cousins, the imp from the picture had thick horns with thick black stripes followed by thick white stripes which matched his somewhat scruffy white hair. His long tail ended in a large point with two black stripes on the tail. Amusingly for a creature of hell, his large eyes almost indicated a kind of innocence that I knew was absent of nearly all creatures in Hell.

The young imp lady that came out on the other hand wore some kind of shirt that looked like the top of some black coveralls were combined with a black shirt with some well worn black pants to go with them. Other than that, the imp lady was rather slim with tall pointed horns with thin white stripes on them and a spaded tail ending with a white tip which connected to hips just wider than her shoulders. Her wide and happy smile revealed a gap in her teeth among her pearly whites.

"Well shucks, Cousin Moxxie! I ain't seen you since Daisy's birthday, how've you been lil' guy, and Millie! You've been taking care of lil' Moxxie right?" Lars calls out as the suit wearing imp waves back. The Imp looks like he wants to cry back out at Lars when his wife, Millie calls back to him instead.

"I sure have!" Moxxie seems to shake his head before responding as well.

"I've been doing well Uncle Lars," then Moxxie turns to me, straightens up, and adjusts his bowtie as he and his wife walk forward to me. Like as Lars did with me, I stick my hand out for Moxxie who pulls himself from his significant other before taking my hand and shaking it.

"Welcome to our operation, I'm Skitter, as my bosses are out, I'll be representing the Merchants here," Moxxie seems to brighten up at my greeting.

"It's a pleasure, Felix said that that you might be the one that would be meeting us, I'm Moxxie and this is my wife Millie, though with my Uncle over there, you probably knew that already," I nod as we lower our hands and move onto business.

"Thank you for allowing us to use your suits. As I understand, you might be interested in joining in on the fighting?" I ask. Felix had told me that Moxxie had sounded interested, and his wife even more so about our little false flag and rescue operation. At the mention of them joining in, Moxxie nods.

"We are interested, and in truth, this kind of thing is pretty close to what we do for a day job."

"We're assassins you see," Millie pipes in after Moxxie, her head popping up from behind the suited imp to rest on his shoulder. Moxxie nods before he continues.

"The company that we belong to, The Immediate Murder Professionals, or I.M.P. specialise in assassinating targets in the living world as opposed to the usual kind of assassination companies which are a dime a doz-gah!" Moxxie's speech however is interrupted as his wife pulls him into a hug with an arm around his neck and pulls him in.

"Come on Moxxie, we ain't at work, you don't need to be all stuffy like, besides, we're just helping family right?" I merely watch them as I think about what exactly the implications of this are. These imps have access to the living world. Actual access to the living world, and they were specifically trained to go in and assassinate targets. Who might be a good idea to have killed and brought down here to reduce the amount of damage they could do to the living? Nilbog might be a good idea, with the world fucked by what Scion had done to it, it couldn't really get much worse. There were certainly a lot of psychopathic capes that were in the birdcage that shouldn't be let out. Cauldron members were no longer useful now that their purpose is gone. Maybe it would be prudent to have them eliminated before they cause more of a mess. Considering how their plan went for fighting Scion, it will only be a matter of time before one of them attempts to take over and make the world worse while trying to make it better. Then there was also the Yangbang and it's various capes, and any other S-class threats I'm not thinking of right now.

But what if I could get up to the living world? I could go up to the living world and help the Undersiders out up there, and help keep them safe. As a demon now, it would be a bit harder with how my old bug powers were gone, but I was also a brute now, and perhaps Lisa could help me figure this magic out. It would also let me reconnect with everyone, maybe even have some fun for once after all this time. I wonder if dogs go to hell, and if so, how would I be able to find Rachel's dogs? Could I bring them back to her? Could I bring Alec back up to the surface as well, maybe we could all get together and figure something out.

What about the Merchants though? Should I bring them? Charlotte wouldn't be happy to see them. what about bringing people down to Hell to visit? Could we use Hell as an escape route if we get into a fight? There were the people who already hate me, I wouldn't be surprised if it was similar in the living world. Would it be better for them to come here or me to go there? So many questions, and not enough time. I'll need to figure this out, but not now.

"I mean yeah, but if we get some extra work in, we could get a raise," Moxxie says, trying to defend his advertisement of I.M.P. when his wife gasps and a giddy smile spread across her face.

"Then we could get the suits we saw in the catalogue, with the-" Moxxie immediately jumps at his wife and wraps his hands around her mouth to keep her from speaking, his eyes wide while Millie's dance with mischief.

"Well how about you come inside and perhaps we can discuss the strategies we can undertake as well as where you two might fit into them," I say in an attempt to save Moxxie from further teasing by his wife, before finally turning towards the warehouse where the meeting could begin.

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Moxxie, myself, and Lars stand over the kitchen table with a couple of the older imps, including all the paramilitary looking imps who were now dressed up in stereotypical mobster wear. One of the imp's had a map of this part of the city, and with his permission I'd penciled out the area of operation where the Crimson gang were operating for us all to see. On loose pieces of paper were rough drawings of the insides of buildings from what my bugs had mapped out, including the various important locations such as which warehouses held their weapons and ammo, which apartment buildings were their slave pens, as well as the general amount of men there were in each of the important buildings I'd scouted so far.

"Okay, so from the top, we are hitting here and here," Moxxie says, pointing towards one of the warehouses and one of the three slave pens. "Group A with the Robot will hit the warehouse here hard, fast, and make a ton of noise."

"Once that's started, group B will use the roof access I found and they'll enter the building from there so that they're less likely to get some unexpected visitors coming in from behind," I continue on.

"Right, you and the rest of the Merchants will hang back as back up in case either situation gets real hairy while Millie and I provide sniper support from the skyscraper over here," Moxxie says as his clawed finger draws a line from the gathering area in an abandoned warehouse over to one of the closer skyscrapers. The skyscraper was close enough to the target warehouse to provide good sightlines for a sniper, while also able to give those inside of the apartment building turned slave pen a heads up in case of back up. It even had a decent vantage point to hit distant targets with the sniper rifle if a significant portion of Crimson gang members were outside the main entrance.

"I'll also be acting as overlord for the mission, as I can track where the enemies are in each building and the area around them while also providing the locations of more gang members."

"Right, and you said that there might be a fight going on across town between the Crimson gang and a bunch of vigilantes?" Lars asks to which I nod.

"I don't know if they will be going for it anytime soon but I've informed some of the vigilantes of the location of both of the slave pens on the other side of Crimson's territory, in either situation, we have until the next trade with Valentino to hit Crimson before they are likely heading back into the wastes." The imps around the table nod.

"So all we need now are the robot, the ammo for the guns that you gave the guys, and some armour plates?" Lars asks and once more I nod. Despite my fears from first seeing their guns, many of the imps had additional guns that were far closer to that of the kinds used in the city, those that didn't were either provided with some of the guns from the cache of weapons we'd taken from the vigilantes, and as for the rest, Moxxie apparently carried a whole armory of weapons on him, with multiples of the same gun in various colours. This resulted in a majority of our force being armed with a combination of short shotguns with large magazines of shells and submachine guns ranging from the infamous Tommy gun and its multiple variants to various machine pistols more common among the local gangsters.

The armour plates would be a bit more expensive than I wanted, but despite the fact that demons could all be considered at least some level of brute, I'd rather reduce the amount of casualties we take to a minimum if possible.

"Okay but where are we going to get the Raz robot? I doubt that they'll just sell us the thing," Moxxie asks. I'm about to tell him we have it handled when I hear a truck approaching and stop in front of the convoy. From what I can see from my biters and feel with my bugs, it looks like Cherri had delivered on her side of the bargain.

Shouldn't be long now until I deliver on mine.

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I feel I've been focusing on other things far too much lately and now I've got this thing done. I also feel that the pacing of the fic has gotten too slow. Granted that could just be me over reacting, but since I've put this story on so many pauses I'll be working on the next chapter next rather than moving onto making a chapter of a different story since you guys deserve that much.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Interlude: Felix

I have edited both the talk about the Robot Army Robot talk, changing the reference from the robot being seen as a heaviler variant to that of an earlier variant with talk of weapons that are more in line with those of the robot army, those being things like harpoons, or melee weapons.

The other edit is to the initial meeting of Moxxie which I hope I made better.

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"Alright Ma'am, we're in position, just waiting on you guys to give the signal," I hear Moxxie through my phone, just like everyone else. Since everyone had a phone people had gotten a kind of conference call set up so us imps could talk to each other. That was mostly a backup system; Skitter was the main person who was coordinating the communications and the job in general. I look over to the front of the vehicle to see Skitter sitting shotgun with Sherrel. Neither of them is saying anything.

I just hold my gun, my hands gripping the barrel of the tommy, staring downwards towards the floor as we get closer. There are thirteen of us heading towards the warehouse target, while the other twelve are on their way towards the apartment block where some of the slaves are being kept. As my thumb continues to flick across the edge of the wooden underhand grip, I can't help but think about my sister. For a moment, I wonder if she's there. We hadn't heard about her ever since that night, a lot of things could have happened to her.

I shake my head, trying to expel the thoughts of her from my mind. I can't worry about that now.

"Hey there big thinker, nervous?" I hear Lars ask me, as usual, there's a warm smile as he looks over to me. The other imps are talking, laughing. Billy-Gee is retelling the story of the comedy of errors that lead to him "saving the town" by accident when he accidentally drove through his father's gate with his quad, totaling the quad, sending him flying into a pile of flaming nightmare shit, and unleashing a horde of flesh eating nightmares onto an army of raiders that had attacked the town.

Of course, his father tells a different story, of how it was actually just a small gang of raiders that had ridden into town. The nightmares had however distracted them enough that the imp militia had been able to take the first couple of shots on them while they weren't looking. This story was told every time we had a get together, sometimes by his father both with pride and to show his pride in his boy, and sometimes by Billy-Gee to impress those younger than him with his "impressive feat."

"No I'm fine," I say, feeling it too. Despite all the talk, the entire hubbub about being nervous and scared before going off to a fight, of people feeling butterflies and all that stuff. I just don't feel it. Really I don't feel anything except… contemplative I guess? Maybe bored? I'd kind of felt excited a little bit at first. First bit of action I'd ever gotten really, especially since despite all the dangers and how Pentagram city was a terrible place with killings and crime nearly every day, I hadn't really seen it up close. Granted, I'd been near shootouts when they happened but not really in them myself.

"You sure? Everyone's always a bit nervous before fights like this, especially if it's your first," Lars says, and I nod just to relieve him of his own worry. He gives me a smile before he leans back and we continue to listen to Billy-Gee until the van slows down to a stop. Moments later, the double doors open into an empty warehouse. It was a short walk from each of the targets, right in the middle so that the Merchants could move in on either target if backup was needed to get us out if things started to go haywire. I hop out and look at the other two vans here that are bringing people. Since we weren't expecting to be bringing extra people back, we left most of the bigger vehicles that had come in the convoy to those going to the apartment building with the slaves in it.

With one exception of course, the truck hauling the Robot drives in and Adam hits the button for the main door, closing it down as people start loading their guns and the door to the truck opens up revealing the robot.

It looked in pristine condition. I don't know how they managed to nab the thing with explosives and keep from damaging it, but apparently it had been a cake walk.

But then sinners could do a bunch of crazy magic stuff that I could only dream of so maybe since the girl they helped get the robot with was a sinner, and Adam and Sherrel were sinners as well, maybe they did some magic mumbo jumbo to do it? Hit it with a grenade of some kind and just grab it and rewire it after? Could have also just bought it maybe, but while the Bosses were doing good for money, they weren't that rich, at least I don't think.

Just seeing the thing, seeing everyone loading up, racking slides back and donning Mafioso like hats on, checking their armour plates underneath Moxxie's suits, stamping out cigars and cigarettes. I swallow suddenly as it all starts feeling real, and my stomach starts acting up. Like I ate too many sugary sweets, manageable, but it came all suddenly, where before I'd been feeling nothing. I don't like it but I can live with it. I grab a stick magazine from my own suit jacket, and slide it into the tommy gun Moxxie had given me. Apparently it was some kind of variant called a M1A1 or something. He'd shown me how to fire it, reload it, and all that when we showed up at that gun range that Adam sometimes likes to go to with his girl and which he brought Mimi and Skitter to a few days ago.

"Vigilantes are already hitting both the apartment blocks on the other side of the territory. How soon until the Robot is up and running?" I overhear Skitter asking Sherrel, who's got her Squealer mask on. Adam's gotten his Skidmark mask on as well. Skitter meanwhile is still in her regular clothing.

"Shouldn't be more than a minute," Sherrel says as they walk over to the bot and Sherrel opens up a panel on the back. Sherrel starts flicking switches as lights turn on and a buzzing whir comes from the robot. Skitter nods, pauses for a moment, then turns to the rest of us.

"Alright, group B has nearly gotten to their staging area, everyone get ready to move," Skitter calls out. Despite myself, despite how I'd felt nothing before, the butterflies are getting worse. I can almost feel them as if they were a physical thing, fluttering around, making me feel worse after every second. I breathe deeper, trying to get more air in, yet I can't get more in, or it doesn't feel that way. I just keep breathing, just keep breathing like that. I know I'm getting enough air… why doesn't it feel like I'm getting enough? I try to breathe just a bit faster, trying to keep people from noticing. I'm just a bit nervous, better now than later. Just… just a little nervous.

I keep breathing, in… out… in… out… yet I can't seem to catch my breath. My stomach feels worse. The more I breath, the worse it gets, I feel like I'm suffocating, my stomach is roiling. I breath a bit faster, in, out, in, out, still deep breaths, just faster. In, out, in, out. I lean against a pillar, and place my gun down, my hands are getting sweaty for some reason, leaning harder against the pillar as well and I wipe my hands on my pants, hoping to dry them before sticking them in my pockets. In, out, in, out. It feels like my mouth is dry all of a sudden, I feel like I'm about to puke, and I still can't get any breath. I open my mouth slightly. Just breath. Just breath, in, out, in, out.

"Hey," a hand lands on my shoulder, and I can't help but gasp in deeply as I look up from the spot on the floor I'd started staring at, at some point. Skitter is standing there in her fluffy long coat and fedora tipped up. She's crouched and looking down at me, when did I sit down? She looks worried with her expressive mouth and eyes. I, fuck, I… "Are you alright?"

I want to speak, tell her I'm alright, but the words don't come, and honestly from how hard I'm breathing, I'm not doing alright. I, I don't know why now, but for some reason my nerves decided to fire off now rather than earlier. Now I'm panicking in front of my boss rather than in front of a family member. Fucking Hell.

"Nerves?" She asks, I swallow again and nod. She smiles at me before answering. "I understand, I felt the same way on my first night. Those butterflies, shortness of breath, all that stuff, I know, I've been there too."

She's silent for a moment before she continues. "You've got a lot of advantages going your way, you've got a lot of family that can help you out that have a lot of experience, a big robot there that's rated against Blaster 4s and lower, and I'll be helping you guys, telling you what to expect and where the enemy is coming from."

I have no idea what a Blaster 4 is, but it sounds powerful. The rest of it… yeah, I guess. Lars is a part of the local militia in his town, and heck, most of the guys that showed up have been in a few fights with raider gangs before already. Skitter, with those senses that Moth demons usually have, they could tell a hell of a lot from just their antennae, and I've seen her control bugs and biters. Maybe she can tell where things are as well rather than just command them? If she can tell us where the enemy is and coming from, it would be like having a team mate on a tactical shooter who's got a fully revealed mini map. It was practically cheating! I just wish there were call outs that I could know and use beforehand so that we might be able to use short hand better.

The notion makes me let out a giggle. Cheating, as if life was a videogame. Damn loser, and yet for some reason, I can't help but smile a bit at the thought. Maybe someone will even accuse us of hacking? The thought brings out another chuckle.

"You'll be doing that thing with the bug ball right?" I ask, and she nods. I reach down and start to push myself up again. The butterflies are still there, my mouth is still dry despite feeling like I have to swallow, but for a moment I can catch my breath again. I take a moment as I stand there with Moxxie's gun slowing my breathing as I try to get a hold of myself. My stomach is still fluttering, it's just more like I'm about to go in for a test I hadn't studied for rather than something like a life altering surgery. I look at her as she pulls her hand from my shoulder.

"Don't worry, everyone gets nervous, like Lars said," Skitter comments as I nod. Right, everyone goes through this out in the wastes all the time. If Mom and Dad hadn't moved here, then I might have already been used to this kind of stuff like the others were. Uncle Lars is looking at me and Skitter, a worried expression on his face again, and I give him a shaky smile with a thumbs up. He smiles back and turns to his boys that came long.

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Despite us rolling up to the warehouse with a massive bot that sounds like a tank, we never encounter anyone. Skitter had control of some of the biters, she'd shown that when she showed up just a few days ago with that biter, but she hadn't just gotten rid of all of them right? Just as we are about to exit the alleyway onto a street just on the other side of a building from the warehouse we were hitting, a ball of bugs began to take form in front of us. Lars holds up a hand which I guess means stop because everyone else did so. The robot shifts it's aim to it, but Lars tells it to "hold up."

"There are five men just ahead of you on the street on the left, from there, two men on the roof of the warehouse, both with rifles, and there are twelve in the warehouse," Skitter informs us, her voice from the bug ball coming out like a mimicry of speech, almost like what someone would imagine the overlord of some alien swarm would sound like. The sound honestly kind of freaks me out despite having heard it before, and I can't even picture Skitter with her big expressive eyes sounding like the buzzing cacophony her bug ball sounds like.

"Acknowledged, they will be terminated," the robot announces and starts to move forwards. Lars steps out of the robot's way, an amused smile and a twinkle in his eye.

"Enthusiastic fellow ain't he?" Lars comments as we move up with the bot. The street opens up ahead of us. Most of us look left but don't see much, just some buildings and another street that was going to lead us up to the warehouse. I look right just in case, died enough times not doing that in video games, but see nothing but empty street. The robot drives forward, gunning it for the left street, leaving the rest of us in the dust as we scramble to follow him. As the robot rounds the corner, I hear cries and shouts.

"Holy shit!"

"What the fu-"

"Get back get back!"

I see the robot turn to face them and immediately the guns on him open up with a rapid deluge of lead while letting out thunderous booms. If people hadn't realised we were here yet, then now they definitely knew. We round the corner to the scene of three sinners utterly shredded by bullets, blood everywhere as the robot drives forward, pushing the bodies aside with it's covered tracks.

"Two around the corner and two heading out to the alleyway down the street on the right," the Skitter ball says and I see some fireflies fly out through the middle of the street, moving to highlight our targets. The robot moves forward and as it does so, there is a crack as something hits the bot's shoulder. Unperturbed the bot continues onward, guns pointed towards the roof as it moves. We move along the wall of the building, unwilling to let the sniper get an easy shot. As the robot rounds the corner, a shit ton of fire comes out at the robot, who's sparking as bullets ricochet off of it or impact into it as the metal dents or even pierces it's armour. The robot turns and opens fire on some guys down the street, likely mulching them as some of the gunfire down the street falls silent.

Knowing some are on the roof, a pair of imps step out from the building wall to open fire on the roof guys. In the heat of the moment, I step out with them, my gun up as I side step off the sidewalk with the others. I spot the fireflies hovering over a spot and don't even question it as I open fire on the dark rooftop. Bullets impact all over and the other imps have join in firing at the place. I see a bit of movement as someone goes to take cover. Another figure rises out from an air conditioning unit but after I hear a crack from somewhere else, I see the figure fall after its head jerks back, then another shot ring out as I see a small amount of sparks and another dark figure fall over. Rather than stay out in the open, I immediately side step back to wall of the building. Nervous laughter and a manic smile spreads across my lips as I slam myself back up against the brick and mortar.

"Holy shit, I can't believe I did that," I say breathlessly as the other two follow my lead and slide back to the wall. The robot has moved forwards some more, and has started moving towards what looks like the loading dock of the warehouse. I and some of the others are about to move up when Skitter speaks again from her bugs.

"Seven go right, down the street, the rest follow the robot," I look up towards the roof. They had to have gotten up there somehow, and maybe I could grab a better gun while I was doing so. The Tommy gun was nice, and I could handle it well enough, but maybe I could do some good with the sniper rifle?

"You heard the boss, me and you six come with me, the rest of you follow the bot, we'll flank them," those of us that were just behind Lars, myself being one of them, nod. Lars moves forward and the rest of us follow him.

"There are two gangsters in the alleyway, one behind a barrel and another on the stairs, hold before the alley," Skitter tells us as we begin to run across the street towards the warehouse's alley entrance. Just as we are about to reach the alleyway I begin to hear screams and shots being fired.

"Move in," Skitter orders and Lars is around the corner. He immediately fires on something. As we move into the alleyway, I aim up to the stairs, hearing a biter growling and ripping into something, before I spot a black head pop up over the edge of the fire escape, chewing something. It raises a paw at me and I wave back at it.

"The biter is friendly," Skitter informs us as we enter the alley.

"Alright, three go up the stairs to the second story, the rest of us-" Lars is interrupted as all hell breaks loose inside of the warehouse. It sounds like the robot just made it to the warehouse's main door from the amount of shooting going on.

"Fuck, you know what to do! Go!" Lars shouts as he moves to the door. I can hear buzzing but I can barely hear it over the sound of gunfire coming from inside. I want to wait for Skitter's instructions, but with all the noise, and everyone moving, I follow Lar's directions and take up position with two other cousins while the three going up top to the second door start rushing. Lars holds up a hand and with three fingers out, counts down rapidly before he reaches down, opens the door and moves in while I follow.

As Lars enters, there's a boom and Lars is sent flying back as he gets hit. I don't even aim properly, I just hope for the best as I point at the guy, a some kind of elven looking demon with tiny little horns armed with a shotgun. I dump my mag, hoping to hit something, lighting up the forklift he's hiding behind as he ducks down and I shuffle to the tall and wide stack of boxes that was blocking the view of the door from the rest of the place.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" I mutter as I desperately reach for my other stick magazine in the jacket that Moxxie had given me. I hear the shuffling of my two cousins as they come in through the door.

"Forklift!" I shout at them as they come in and thankfully they immediately start pointing at the thing as they move up. The demon elf guy pops his head up for just a moment and gets two bursts of 10mm to the head as they blast him before turning to me and seeing Lars.

"Shit," one of my cousins, Beth, says. "You two go on, I'll see if Uncle Lars is alright."

"Right, shit, come on Felix, reload that shit already," Lloyd, Lars' youngest says as he sees me fumbling with the stick magazine. I nod as my shaky hands try their best to hurry things along, pulling the empty magazine from the gun as I try to align the stick to the gun.

"For fuck sakes Felix, take mine, I'll grab Dad's," Lloyd says as he passes me his gun, some kind of heavy machine pistol or something. It kind of looked like a micro uzi. Lloyd on the other hand grabs his Dad's Tommy gun from the ground. I hear more gunfire from above and a body falls over the railing in front of us. We begin to move up and Lloyd fires a few bullets in the sinner's skull, splattering the buggy looking sinner's brains across the cement.

We duck behind the forklift, and as we move I get a look at the fight before we hunker down. Off on the other side of the small warehouse, I see the robot, hiding behind a wall by the main entrance, using one gun to fire up at the second story where I assume most of the guys are. He isn't in the best shape already, his armour has a ton of dents and holes where rounds pierced him, but he seems to be doing alright as far as I can see. There are a few guys firing at the robot just above where the forklift is, fireflies on them or hovering near them, paying more attention to the robot than to what was going on below them. Across from where the forklift is, past the crates, I can see splatters of blood likely from the two slumped over figures on the second story. Behind the robot, I can see some of my cousins pulling another cousin away as the others seem to be waiting for the robot to move in. While we are hunkered down, I spot the dead demon's shotgun, some kind of pump action from the look of it. I grab the thing and stick the machine pistol in my belt, racking the grip back as it lets out a satisfying sound and a shell.

"Come-on cuz, we gotta get moving," Lloyd says as he points over to a set of double doors near us. I nod and we start moving, him taking point as I follow behind him. Around the corner are some stairs that look to lead up to the second floor. Lloyd starts taking the stairs two at a time as I do my best to follow. As we reach the top of the stairs I see a demon, some kind of mosquito man, crouched behind some box as bullets are flying around him. Within a split second of each other, Lloyd and I blast him, 10mm and shotgun pellets slamming him against the railing and his box before he crumples. Lloyd takes point as I round the corner. I see the three imps that went up the stairs over by their door, aiming over the railing towards the office section of the warehouse, which was basically a metal box with a window on the side closer to the main entrance. Everything goes quiet as with the final guy down, the shooting stops. My ears are ringing and I realise I'm breathing hard.

One guy pops his head out of the office and those of us on the top floor all start shooting at him. His bit of metal wall gets filled with holes and he falls back, dropping his gun. From the looks of it, the wall did nothing to stop the bullets. Then he gets pulled inside. One of the cousins by the door opens fire at the wall, puncturing holes along it as he sprays the office section. Hopefully he got them.

Since I've got the shotgun, I start moving up, keeping my gun trained on the office entrance while Lloyd comes up behind me, doing the same with Lars' Tommy gun. As I slowly move up, I notice out of the corner of my eye the robot moving forward, scanning the warehouse as more imps come in, one of them dragging in Billy-bob who's hopping on one foot. As I'm about to round the corner and see into the office, I take a big step out and pre-fire my gun, hoping to catch someone in the office but all I can see is a sliding trail of blood from the one guy with another closed metal door. What I wouldn't do for some grenades right now, I should have gotten on those pipe bombs sooner.

"There are four enemies inside of the office, I can sense something going on inside with magic but I don't know what," I hear the buzzing of Skitter near by Lloyd and I. "Some Crimson reinforcements are coming, three vans of men."

"I've got eyes on, I'll try to thin them out a bit before they reach the warehouse," Moxxie says through our phones before putting us on hold again before muting himself.

I back up from the door, keeping my shotgun trained on the door as two more of my cousins come in. I look to the hovering ball of bugs. "Is Uncle Lars alright?"

The ball is silent for a moment before it answers. "He will live, the shot possibly broke some ribs and his arm is injured, but otherwise he'll live."

I breathe a sigh of relief, and Lloyd seems to chuckle, almost as if to mock me for my worry, as if nothing could go wrong.

"One enemy in the office remaining, watch out, incoming from the office," Skitter's buzz came through and we refocused on the do-

The metal door smashes open, and a massive crimson man comes through it, his face screwed up in a rictus of rage as the door slams into the wall and the man charges forward. I barely have time to fire a shot off right at the guy's face before he back hands me. Pain explodes across my front as I suddenly find myself flying backwards, and slamming through the window of the office area. I feel a fuck ton of sharp jabbing pain in my back as I fly through the air seeing the outside of the office area as the gunfire starts again and I can see a shit ton of flashes inside.

My flight is prematurely ended however as I slam into the floor, I hear something crack and I scream as immense pain is all I can feel as I bounce across the floor, skipping like a stone before settling and sliding the last little bit. My horns keep my head propped up and looking towards the metal box I'd just been tossed from. I watch as Cousin Joel flies out of the office entrance and hits the wall of the warehouse on the second floor.

Everyone else responds immediately as they train their guns on the metal box, though I watch some more imps head over to the entrance we just came from while others stack up by the main entrance and take aim at something outside. For a moment there is nothing as the box goes silent. I try to move, I try to breath but it's hard, and I can't feel my legs. Even though it's painful, I reach to my belt and grab the machine pistol, shakily aiming it at the box. I see Cousin Lou run towards me from where she had been tending to Billy Bob.

Then the crimson hulk runs out the side of the office's entrance and jumps the railing, wielding Lloyd as a club as he smashes two of the other imps, the two of them flying out of the warehouse and slamming into the street outside. The robot starts firing on the hulk of a man and in response he throws Lloyd at it, obscuring it's vision as he runs forward towards the robot. I watch as the muscled man slams a fist into the robot, it's hat flying off and a massive dent in it's head as a follow up punch to the less protected section of the body goes right through the lower part of the bot and into the stomach area. I hear the screech of metal as the robot falls over.

Lou's looking back at the man, and she pulls her gun out on the thing and we both start opening fire on it, bullets piercing it's crimson hide but it doesn't seem to be doing much as he barrels forward. his right arm across his body as he reaches us and with a swipe, Lou is backhanded away from me, the blow sending her flying across the warehouse before I can hear her hit a wall with an audible crack accompanied by the screech of metal. The warehouse is quiet again. The hulking red thing looks down at me, and a thick red tongue licks his lips, as he bares his teeth at me. His teeth are dripping with blood, red blood, not the black blood of imps. Oh Satan, did he eat someone while in the office, did he eat all three!?

The beast reaches down, I scream and try to fire some more, but my gun is all out, oh Satan oh Satan! Just as the beast's hand is about to reach me, just as I'm about to become a snack for this guy, something starts firing again, and the beast turns. Oh thank Satan! I look as the robot has turned over and is pushing itself up with one arm as the other aims at the crimson man, letting loose with it's gun. Realising my chance and ignoring the pain, because like fuck am I going to be eaten alive, I use my arms to try to push myself backwards away. The hulk is just too fast, however, and a moment or two later he's at the robot, tearing the things arms off before he continuously starts to curb stomp the thing into the floor, each stomp flattening the robot more and more. Sparks fly from the thing as he takes out his rage at it.

All too soon though, his rage at the thing seems gone as he stops stomping. I'm fucked, I'm fucked, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! Unable to help myself, I feel tears start to fall as I try my damndest to keep from crying. We're all going to die, and we're going to be eaten. Oh Satan!

Then suddenly there is a wave of black specs rising from the boxes and entering from the outside. There is the sound of small explosions as smoke pours into the room, and I can just make out the silhouette of someone in a long fur coat, and a wide brimmed fedora walking in from the main entrance.

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Been a while since we did an action scene, any suggestions on how I might improve on this kind of thing? Or even just suggestions on how it could have gone better for either side.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Chapter 14

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"You are looking at about twenty guys coming your way in vans," I inform the team at the apartments, relaying the information that Moxxie and Millie had given me. While I have a decent amount of biters, I'm using them to watch for reinforcements from the alleys. I'd already taken out a few scattered groups of Crimson thugs who were running towards us, ambushing them from alleyways.

At the same time, I continue to use my bugs to identify enemy combatants in both areas of operation and use fireflies I'd possessed to indicate hostiles. One advantage that the apartment team had over the warehouse team was that I'd focused more of my fireflies in that direction. Most of the walls were thin drywall and didn't actually provide much more than concealment. As such, I'd started indicating with my fireflies where to shoot through the thin walls to eliminate the enemy combatants.

"Copy, we'll find a place that's nice and defensible for us to hold out in while the girls get out, Mary Anne, Archie, get these girls moving, we got more incoming!" the leader of the apartment team orders while the two imps nod and continue to help the various slaves up to the roof. There they would move across a roof to a neighbouring building and get loaded into the vans they brought.

With the bugs I have on Felix and the others in the warehouse team, I feel them move up towards the office. The gunfire there has fallen enough that I can finally speak. As I am about to speak, however, I feel something going on inside of the office. Of the four people inside of the office, I can feel one getting picked up. I don't have enough bugs on them to properly determine their movements as I'd kept my bugs on the more immediate threats, and it was taking a bit of time to traverse the air ducts with my bugs.

"There are four enemies inside of the office, I can sense something going on inside with magic but I don't know what. Some Crimson reinforcements are coming your way, three vans of men," I tell them before Moxxie's voice comes through from the phone.

"I've got eyes on the reinforcements, I'll try to thin out the ones heading to the warehouse first," Moxxie says. With all the advantages the apartment imps had, not only the drywall situations but also the fact that they were veteran militiamen, they will likely fare better against the reinforcements than the green horns at the warehouse.

"Is Uncle Lars alright?" I hear Felix ask as they enter the metal box entrance. As I pull together many of my bugs near the area form a bug ball by Lars to ask about his condition, I can feel with some of my bugs on them that the imp that was left to help Lars is slowly helping him to his feet.

"Are you alright Lars?" I ask through my bugs. He, however, just waves at my bugs.

"Ye-" is as far as he gets before he starts hacking and coughing.

"He'll be alright, he just got his arm shot up, and maybe a few broken ribs, but he'll be fine I think," Beth says, answering for her uncle who just nods his head. Satisfied, I report back to Felix.

"He will live, the shot possibly broke some ribs and his arm is injured, but he'll live," Felix sighs in relief while his cousin Lloyd chuckles. As he does so, however, the magic of one of the thugs starts increasing rapidly. It feels almost like the man assuming a demonic form, but not quite. I can't quite figure out what is going on magically, but as more bugs enter the room and latch onto the thugs, the one man seems to be sucking on some of the men's necks after he's already snapped their necks and bit into them. I hadn't exactly been sure what he was doing, but from the feeling with the magic- He's started to move.

"One enemy in the office remaining, watch out, incoming from the office," I say through my bugs but I can already feel how much more powerful the magical signature of the last remaining thug was. I reach into my coat and pull my gun from it, flicking off the safety. I look at Skidmark and Squealer who look up in surprise as I pull my gun out.

"Warehouse is going FUBAR, we need to get there now," is all I need to say before the two nod, grab their guns, and start moving towards the van that had brought the robot in.

"How many of their reinforcements have you taken out?" I ask the sniper team.

"Hell yeah! That's my Moxxie," I hear Millie cry out before Moxxie answers.

"I've taken care of one of the vans, the other two swerved onto the back streets and are heading for the warehouse, there are still three heading for the apartment, should I focus on those?"

"Things at the warehouse went FUBAR, take out as many heading for the apartments as possible, we're not likely to be able to help if things go to shit there as well."

"Copy that, I'll focus on the other reinforcements," Moxxie says as I feel his sniper with one of my bugs shift towards a spot closer to the apartments.

"So we still doing false flag shit?" Squealer asks and I nod.

"As much as possible now that we've got to get involved, come on, hopefully they'll think we're vigilantes," I say as I hop into the back of the van with Skidmark. Skidmark himself is loading metal balls into his cannon as the truck starts and Squealer hits the gas, barely waiting for us to get in. With a biter, I identify some of the trucks moving in towards the warehouse and move some bugs towards the vans and closer to the warehouse.

The two Crimson vans move in, stopping right beside where the three gangsters had been shot up by Cherri's new robot.

"Stop before turning the corner, we'll get out there," I tell Squealer with some bugs in the front. Following my instructions, a few seconds later the van lurches as Squealer brakes. I wait a moment for the van to slow, my bugs growing more agitated as I can feel with my bugs the one imp, Lloyd, being used as a club against the rest..

I jump out of the van and hug the building as I move up, my gun out in front of me as I use my bugs to mark each of the emerging Crimson gang members, bugs for each of their limbs and their torso. Interestingly, on the torso bugs as they move around, I can feel various grenades on bandoliers of the men coming out. Maybe I should get my bugs to try to pull their pins? I'm about to round the corner, however, it would take too long.

Instead, I take aim at the first gang member's head as I approach the corner, then fire as I turn it. I barely even think as muscle memory takes over, and I line up my shots with each of the bugs I have on their heads. I fire twice more and two more go down before even reacting to the first shot. I line up my next shot with two of the bugs and fire, feeling two of the gangsters fall like puppets with their strings cut. I move to do the same again with my fifth shot. I fire into another gangster, and hear a clang as the bullet hits the side of the truck. I feel the next gangster behind the truck go down but my bug on his head isn't injured. The truck's wall likely altered the course of the bullet.

I don't have time to ponder as I take a step out, and fire at a gangster who accidentally steps into my body's line of sight. With the bugs I have on the dead I have them come together to start pulling the grenades from them, and towards me. I can feel the gangsters moving now, trying to get behind the cover of their vans. The bugs are taking too long, so I bend a little and reach down with my lower set of arms. I remember how Angel had been able to pull weapons from his little hammer space, much like Circus had. As I touch a grenade on the bandolier, I try to mimic it, and I can feel the grenade in the back of my mind, somewhat like when I pull my arms into myself. I slide my hand across the bandolier and pull in the various grenades on them. I begin to move along the side of the building as Skidmark catches up to me.

"Damn bitch, you work fast!" he says and I ignore his comment. I pull on one of the grenades and look down to see a smoke grenade. Useful, especially since I'll hopefully be the only one that can sense through the smoke. I pull the pin on the grenade and underhand toss it forward to the front of the van. There is a small pop and smoke billows outwards from the thing quickly making an impregnable cloud. I walk into the cloud, using both my antennae, bugs, and a hand on the van to navigate it while I keep my gun trained on one of the gang members that's in front of the van. Two shots left, six enemies to go.

In the warehouse, I can feel the thing finish off with those in the metal box, and move to one of the exits. Hopefully the robot is enough to deal with the big guy, but with how it didn't even flinch at all the fire that the imps in the box had poured into it, I didn't have my hopes up. Damn, I should have empowered their weapons like I had my own. We might not have taken so many casualties.

Finally around the van, I snap off two shots, first into the closest gangster's head and then another into one of the gangsters heading to the front of the second van. The two go down as those before. I feel Skidmark move up to the van and I form another little bug ball, pulling them from some of the grenades I'd been hoping to snatch.

"They're behind the second van, two behind the mid section, two behind the engine block. I'll hit the ones behind the engine block, you hit the ones behind the mid section," I say to him as I pull back and reload my pistol. Then, once more I move forward towards the second van while still in the smoke. As I disperse my bug ball, I have them join the others again in trying to pull grenades from each of the gangster's bandoliers. As I reach the edge of the smoke, I feel one of the gangsters begin to reach for their own grenades. I take aim at the arm and fire. The bug that was on the hand is jerked off before I fire again at the gangster, this time aiming at the bug on his head, before with another step I have a shot on the second gangster and I blow his brains out as well.

Skidmark himself moves around the van and doesn't even aim when he starts firing at the thugs. He just sticks his cannon around the van and starts wildly firing his metal shot-puts. The cockroach demon can barely keep a hold of his gun as the metal balls slam into the gangsters. The smell of blood intensifies as I smell a lot of it around the other side of the vehicle while I can feel my bugs get thrown off by a tide of fluids. Skidmark makes his way around the vehicle now and properly aims at them, putting another of his metal balls into their skulls. As I start to head towards the warehouse, I aim back and fire at the gangster that went down after my shot penetrated the van. Despite how he hadn't been moving, I'd rather not have any nasty surprises. I form another bug ball near Skidmark.

"Form up on me, I'm moving up on the warehouse," I say before I move onto Squealer.

"Bring the van up to the main entrance of the warehouse; Skidmark and I are moving up."

I reach down and suck in a few more of the grenades that my bugs bring me along with some that the one behind the first van had. I had prioritized smoke grenades with my bugs while the one gangster had all kinds of grenades. Drawing out a smoke from the other space, I pull the pin on it, toss the grenade forward, and move in. I can feel lots of electronics starting up in the area, and with some bugs and a biter I have around, I can see and sense that people are recording what is going on. Some had started earlier, while others had taken longer, but like with most of the idiots in the living world, they couldn't help but try to record the various violent struggles that occured. Thankfully, the one apartment building was abandoned and there was some kind of bridge for a train on our left, obscuring any kind of vision from that way. The only places where Hell's inhabitants could get a proper picture of us were some apartment building windows down the street that lead to the warehouse, and I'd already smoked the street to get us across, hopefully unseen.

I feel the van moving up as I run into the next cloud of smoke while crossing the street. I can feel the robot being stomped on by the big guy. Skidmark is moving around the smoke near the tracks towards the imps that had been smacked out of the warehouse. From the bugs on them, they are doing marginally alright as they start to pick themselves up from where they'd been tossed. Already they'd started scrambling for their guns. Seems their demonic regeneration was working wonders as usual.

I emerge from the smoke at the entrance of the warehouse. I can see the massive red man that the imps inside had been screaming about. He is hulking, and his muscles bulge as I take aim at him, lining up my shot with the bugs I have on the front of him. I fire three shots, each finding their mark along the beast's spine. He shrieks as he winds up, a hand across his back. Seeing an opportunity, I fire into the man's skull one last shot before my pistol's empty. The man, like a beast, merely reacts and turns my way, and suddenly I realise that I know him, or rather, of him.

The Crimson gang had recruited Crimson, a previous member of the SlaughterHouse Nine into their ranks. He looked exactly like he did when he had been alive. His tongue lolled out from his mouth, his skin bulged with power, and with my magical senses, his presence was significant, like combining six different regular demon's powers together into a single person. He roared as I loaded another magazine into my gun, spit flying everywhere.

And then I shot him repeatedly in the face.

He hadn't actually died that easily, the moment my magazine entered the gun he'd tried to dodge and weave, putting his hands in front of his face, and trying to side step. My bullets into his spine, however, seems to have slowed him down. My bullets quickly ripped through his hand, and as he shifted, his hand moved out of the way of his face, and I had a clear shot. I can see blood dripping from his hand and his face where the bullets hit. One eye is a ruined bloody mess, his engorged tongue had burst, and blood dripped liberally from his nose where a bullet had smashed into it. His remaining good eye stares at me with wide astonishment, seemingly stunned at how my gun could do so much damage. Without giving him another moment, I load another magazine into my gun, and fire again, shifting my aim and my bugs to let me hit some of the softer targets on his face. With his hand out of the way, the magically accelerated bullets slam into his face, hitting more and gouging deep holes into him.

Now blind, he wildly charges in my direction as I continue to fire upon him, aiming directly for his ruined eyes as he charges. Just as he gets close, I sidestep and hit him with a blast of magic, destabilizing him as he falls to the side, his hands flailing around wildly as I continue to dump shot after shot into his face, reloading rapidly as I continually dump my bullets into him as he tries to no avail to avoid the onslaught of magically accelerated and silent bullets being driven deeper and deeper into his skull. Finally, he falls limp as my bullets penetrate the magically enhanced bone of his skull, and turn his grey matter to mush.

His face is a blood mess as he lays limp on the floor of the warehouse. Magic rapidly flees him as he lies on the floor, his form morphing quickly to that of a mere human. I raise an eyebrow as the dead man looks exactly like a human. He wasn't like Squealer, who was some kind of latex doll demon with a form built for explicit things. This was a regular human body, not only that, but from my magical senses, Crimson barely had any magic at all. In fact, as I look to the imps, who already had such pitiful magical reserves, he was an order of magnitudes lesser than even them.

I swap out a magazine and slot in a fresh one. I need to get a bigger gun if I am going to keep running into brutes like this. First the beetle and now Crimson, not to mention that unlike in the living world, both the law enforcement and the gangs had armoured vehicles with thick armour plates and enough firepower to rival a tank. I think of some of the guns that I'd picked up, perhaps I should upgrade one, or maybe even a few of them with the same thing I'd done to my 1911.

I hear the van drive up from outside, and see a quartet of imp faces pop up from around a stack of crates. I recognize Lars among them, still breathing hard, his arm hanging limply to his side from where the shotgun blast had peppered it.

"Come on, lets get whoever's hurt into the van, we can grab the loot after!" I shout to them. I can feel Skidmark and the two boys who'd been smashed with Crimson's improvised imp club following along, clearly in a bit of pain but compared to some like Felix, doing alright. I turn to Skidmark, the two imps, and see Squealer getting out of the vehicle as well. As I turn, I begin to transform into my larger demonic form, growing larger as I look to the fallen imp, Lloyd.

With my larger form, I gently slide my arms along the ground, making sure to keep Lloyd's neck almost absolutely still as I slowly begin to lift the tiny imp. Even if we can't die down here except with angelic weapons, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be cautious, and the boy looks far far worse for wear. His nose was broken, blood drizzling from it, while his eyes were shut in pain. Some of his pointy teeth were gone while a horn was also broken off. The boy makes a pained groan as I lift him as gently as possible and begin to move him to the van as Squealer opens up the back, giving me a spot where I can put the poor imp.

All the while things are going smoothly by comparison at the apartment building. The paramilitary imps haven't been able to clear the whole building, but they have set up in defensible spots by the stairs on the second floor where there is a thin wall they can shoot through with their guns. I have enough fireflies over there to be able to point out targets even if I lose some of them from the imps firing through my bugs into the backs of the Crimson Gang members. Perhaps I should have assigned the less experienced group to the slave apartments and the experienced group to the warehouse, and then maybe this wouldn't have happened.

But hindsight is always twenty twenty, I think as I slide Lloyd's broken and battered form into the back of the van. One of the two imps who'd been with Lars is bringing over the female imp who'd been smashed into the wall while another moves to help Felix, picking him up to move as well. Another imp, whose foot was shot because he was standing too close to the robot, starts hopping on over to get into our make shift ambulance. Lars moves to help the one hopping on his one foot while the two, Squealer, and Skidmark are looking around for more casualties.

"Upstairs in the metal box, follow me," I say as I start moving towards the stairs. As I do, I might as well figure out the situation. "Moxxie, Millie, anybody coming this way?"

"Not from the looks of it, oh hey Moxxie, second sto-" the firing of Moxxie's gun deafens my bugs for a moment before their hearing is back. Even with a suppressor on Moxxie's sniper rifle, the thing was damn loud.

"Scratch one more," Moxxie says as his wife giggles.

"Honey, you are adorable when you're all serious, I could just eat you up! Now where was I? Oh yeah, nah, I ain't seen no body coming your way, most of them are going towards the big fights over on the far side of their place. Lots of gunfire and stuff coming from over there," Millie pauses for a second. I nod to the statement since I could hear the gunfire on the other side of the Crimson territory as well, though in the warehouse, it's muffled to barely some pops. Then Millie continues, "Huh, they got," another pause as I hear what could be some kind of detonation. "Well, uh, had a tank. Looks like it got blasted."

"Thank you," I tell Millie as we get up to the second floor of the warehouse. One of the imps following me moves to help his cousin who'd been smashed out of the box as we get closer and look inside. I frown as I see the carnage that Crimson had done to the last two imps that hadn't been knocked out of the metal entrance way to the office area. Groans of pain come from there as they lie on the floor. I can see one of them had their arm smashed in by something, leaving it in an unnatural position. The other imp was bleeding heavily as if he'd been gored by some goat. Then I spot the other bit of Lloyd's horn stuck in the imp's midsection.

Remembering some of the first things we learned in the Wards about first aid, I don't try to remove Lloyd's horn from the wound but leave it in there as I gently pick up the imp. As I turn back to follow the others back to the van, I continue to command the bugs at the apartment. The Crimson gangsters were getting ready to try to retake the building while mustering on the ground floor. From the look of it, most of the girls had already been collected, and moving up onto the rooftop where they could get across to the other buildings that led to our vans.

Then a pair of Crimson thugs broke off from the main group and started heading into the basement. Curious, I move some more bugs into the building into the basement, and even a biter as well to look through a basement window. Remembering what I'd already mapped out in there, they could only be going to one location.

While mapping out the pens, I'd found that I hadn't been able to get into one of the places in the basement of the apartment building. At first I assumed it was some kind of vault for money or something, though since they were only going for it now, it must be some kind of special kind of weapon or something to use in an attack, much like Crimson likely had been. Since we weren't after loot in the apartment attacks, I'd been less concerned about it.

"So, what are we grabbing down here?" one of the demons asks while the other one moves his arm up to where the keypad is on the vault door.

"Power armour, and you're going to help me put it on," the lead demon said.

"Power armour?" the demon asks, apparently just as much out of the loop on the Crimson gang's capabilities as I was if they had power armour. "Why can't I wear it?"

"Because dumb ass, I'm in charge here, and the boss only wants those of us with the pass codes to these vault doors to use them," the lesser thug nods as the lead demon pulls open the door. Oiled hinges barely making a sound as the two walk in. I move some bugs in to get a sense of the room. At the same time, I place the injured imp into the van.

"They've got power armour in the basement, how long until you finish up there?" I ask the lead imp in charge of the apartment raid.

"About five minutes, we've cleared most of the floors but we've got wounded girls here that we're grabbing and moving as fast as we can."

"You might not have five," I say as I continue to observe the demons. With the other helping the lead demon, they are getting on the armour rather quickly. The thing, from what my bugs could figure out, was in pieces all over the small vault, with an exoskeleton standing in the middle while there were outfit bits all over with thick metal plates on them that were only a bit thinner than the robot's armour at its thickest. Even after grabbing the heavier guns that the Crimson gang members had had in the apartments, the imps would have a tough time actually piercing that armour unless they hit a chink in it.

Though, now that I can sense the other side of the vault door, I can't feel any kind of mechanism to open it up from the inside, and the gangster didn't have to exert that much effort opening the door. As with most of the windows in the less affluent areas of Hell, the window is shattered and open to the outside. With my biter, I have it crawl in, and quickly drop to the floor before quickly having it scuttle over to the vault door. Pushing at the bottom corner, the vault door slowly begins to close on the pair inside, before quickly gaining speed as I keep having my biter push.

"Alright," the voice of the gangster in powered armour says as he grabs the heavy machine gun inside of the vault, seemingly completing his outfit. "Lets go kick some-"

Then with a clang, the vault door closes on the pair. The two stare at the vault door for a moment before the lesser of the pair decides to ask.

"Uh… how do we get out?"

"Ah, fuck…" is the only answer the lead demon gives. Despite myself, I smile as I turn around.

"Nevermind, two more are gone and now it's just the guys waiting downstairs. I'll mark targets and you take them out," I tell the apartment team before I begin to point out some of the loot that is going to be useful in the future.

As a measure to make extra sure that there wouldn't be a problem, I start moving the bugs I still have in the vault between the various kevlar armour sections in order to gain access to the various grenades that were on the gang banger's bandolier. From there, I get my bugs to collectively start pulling at the pin of one that vaguely reminded me of the shape of a pineapple.

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While I don't very much enjoy begging for comments, I would absolutely love it if I could get some feedback on this and these chapters, speculation, anything really, or even critique.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Chapter 15

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"And the Beast just showed up folks to fight the vigilante raiders, and he's already smashed, one, not three, no, five vigilantes! But, what's this! One of the vigilantes actually managed to stand up to the guy," The shrill female news anchor's voice comes through the radio.

"What a great fight we have going on right now, everyone is pulling out the stops on this fight folks, we got flanks, tanks, and even the big guns showing up, now remember, if you're listening and are missing the fight, don't forget we post all these fights online at 666news.hel," the male news anchor says, his voice muffled a bit as if he was wearing some kind of mask. There is a pause before the female news anchor speaks up again.

"This just in, we are receiving word that there were another series of attacks against the Crimson gang at the same time that the vigilantes attacked the gang as well. One shoot out happened around Hades station while another occurred around four hundred and ninety eighth avenue, both reportedly involving imp gunmen wearing suits while snipers kept overwatch… Ooooh, in addition, the firefight near Hades station also had on the imp's side, an automaton!"

"An automaton? Well damn, looks like someone really has a bone to pick with the Crimson gang if they're shelling out the cash for one of those," the male news anchor chimes in as the van we're in begins to slow down as we've arrived back at the warehouse. Some of the vans have already arrived before us and are parked along the street.

"Now, let's go to the recording, remember, if you are listening to this rather than watching, you can watch full videos of the fights on 666news.hel," the female news anchor says.

The van stops and I get out. We'd taken a few vans with us originally, one for the robot, and one for the people now. Sherrel drives as we sit in the back with the robot, much of the loot, and those few imps that weren't hurt too badly. Lloyd, Lars, Felix, and a few others, however, were off to the hospital. The biter in my arms growls before I silence it, recognising how I'd pushed my reactions into those I control again. I let my bugs get agitated in my place however as I continue to pet the biter, trying to sooth my ire with myself.

Some might argue that it isn't my fault, that I didn't know that imps and other things born in Hell could actually die for good, beyond being sliced with an angelic weapon. I was new, and no one had told me. Yet despite that fact, this operation was my responsibility, and I'd fucked up. I hadn't asked the right questions, and with the belief that none of us could truly die; I'd been reckless and overextended.

What if I hadn't been there to help at the warehouse? What I hadn't been able to shut the vault? There were so many things that could have gone wrong in the operation, but I'd made the decision to be reckless because I hadn't had enough knowledge and hadn't asked enough questions. I need to know more for next time, so that something like this doesn't happen again. I may not know Lloyd, but hopefully he pulls through. Lars looked pretty worried, luckily enough, because of demonic healing, and the durability of demons, most of the imps were actually alright, if in need of a couple days of light duties.

I'll know better for next time.

Adam drops down beside me along with some of the imps. The imps move slowly due to what is likely an incredible amount of bruising from getting pummelled and tossed around like that. There is a squelching sound beside me as someone drops a bag from the back of the van, a purple fluid dripping from the bag, a mixture of blue insectoid and red mammalian blood mixing into an indigo. Something I'd learned from Lars who had experience dealing with roving gangs of sinners, was that one of the ways of keeping sinners down for a while was to take off their heads. They would have to generate an entire body rather than just healing a bit of damage. It didn't work for every sinner, but it's a good rule of thumb according to Lars to just chop the head and keep it so that they wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

We hadn't gotten many heads, there were simply too many to do in a timely fashion, we hadn't even gotten all of the loot, merely the most expensive things, along with a few crates of weapons. Crimson's head, however, had been a must. The former cape had been a one man army both in life and death. Strangely, he wasn't as tough as the rest of the various demons once he fell, his body being completely human, and as such, the imps hadn't had a problem prying it along with a few of the other demon's heads, off to stuff into the bag.

Turning from the imps, I move out from behind the van as Adam follows. We could grab the loot from the back later, then divvy it up between us all. Now, however, there were the former slaves to deal with.

Along the street people are getting out of vans, imps helping the former slaves who'd from the Crimson territory. Like the slaves that I'd seen a few days ago when I'd first began scouting out the Crimson gang, they were barely clothed, dressed in skimpy underwear that left little to the imagination. Some where better fed than others, while some were as skinny as sticks. Perhaps those ones had been more cooperative then? Wouldn't surprise me if the Crimson gang used hunger to force people to do what they wanted.

I'd certainly learned that food was a powerful way of gaining followers and loyal minions. Back in Brockton Bay, all I'd had to do was to provide food for people to eat, help out a few residents, and establish my rules for my new territory and people had begun to follow my lead and work with me. After I'd shown I could defend them, they'd began to work with me happily, I'd earned myself a loyal community and outside of it, left behind by the PRT flocked to my banner.

"How much did we get out of that safe?" I ask Adam. While a majority of the money from the raid will come from the various goods we would be selling off, the vault that the warehouse had in it had contained a small fortune in cash.

"Couple ten k's in a variety of bills, but I gave like half of it to Lars though to pay for Lloyd and Felix, why?" with my head, I nod toward the people getting out of their vehicles.

"Look at them, some of them are starving there, besides, we just pulled off a successful raid, why not celebrate a little?" I say, seeing the slowly widening smile on Adam's face as he realises what I was asking.

"Sure, I'll see what I can get, pizza alright?" Adam asks and I nod.

"I'm sure they'll love it," remembering how after some successful missions in the Wards, sometimes the rest of the wards would pitch in for a bit of a pizza party to celebrate and keep moral up. As Adam pulls up his phone to start ordering, I turn back to the former slaves.

Food, protection, shelter, and work. While the food would just be a start, most of them here would have issues getting the money to get these essentials due to having just been freed. We can offer to help them until they get their feet back under themselves, give them work since the main issue was mainly not enough workers to produce enough drugs, that, and with more employees, we could attempt to rapidly expand into other markets, perhaps using some of them to sell drugs, or maybe they will have a marketable skill from back on Earth or before their enslavement.

Protection will be the main thing that will keep these people down and with us, those that don't wish to leave to start a new life outside of the city. Unless they live far enough away from Crimson territory, the gang might be on the prowl for them, and if they spot them, then there could be issues. With the Crimson Gang getting ready to leave, however, they should be abandoning territory enough that some of them could move back to their own homes if they'd been on the edge of the territory. For those that can't go back home.

The place we've been preparing isn't the worse building around. The walls and roof are intact, and there isn't much in the way of rusted machinery that needs to be taken out. Sherrel and Adam had already been grabbing the various metal bits from over there to use for the reinforced armour on Sherrel's baby months before I'd even died. As such, the few things still in there were mainly just scrap metal that some of the imps and I had cleared out when we weren't tweaking the plan and preparing for the raid.

As I look back, I can see that people have begun to look my way, staring at me as I stand before them. Due to my demonic form, compared to everyone else I tower over them.

I hadn't seen a reason to dispel it since it was barely even a drain on myself. Not only that, but a height advantage was beneficial for commanding authority. Narwhal had demonstrated that whenever we would work together. People would look to her first unless they had an established chain of command. Independents would look to the towering Canadian goddess as she gave out commands and helped them face off with S-class threats. The height also was a good confidence booster when talking to those smaller than you. I'd learned this after my growth spurt, and it might have also helped out the seven foot tall woman, her beauty likely helped as well. She could have been pulled straight out of a teenage boy's wet dream. Plus, people with the knowledge that Narwhal was also naked under her force fields, likely left those in the know flat footed when speaking to her. All the stumbling with their words likely left Narwhal even more confident as she possibly amused herself with flustering people.

I'd certainly been distracted the first few times talking with her after discovering that.

Clasping my upper arms behind me while my lower arms keep hold of my biter and continue to stroke him, I stride towards the group of people arrayed before me.

"Imps, Sinners, fellow residents of Hell, and newly freed slaves," I pause for a moment, seeing them all now turn to me. The people we'd rescued from the apartments perking up at that last bit. "Allow me to begin by first thanking the imps, without all of you none of this would have been possible to accomplish. Despite your mortality, and how you had no dog in this fight you volunteered to come to the aid of these people who'd fallen on hard times.

I would like to commend the apartments team, for making it through there without so much as a casualty, something that most trained PRT forces can't pull off when clearing a building. Next the sniper team," I look over to Felix and Millie, who perk up as I mention them.

"I didn't work with many snipers when I was alive, but those I did work with, I was assured were the best snipers around, and you two were more effective, more efficient, and deadlier than them by a long-shot."

"And the final group I would like to thank are the warehouse team," I say as I look to those that came out of the vans behind me, battered, bruised, and walking with limps. "Up until Crimson there, despite having far more greenhorns among you, you were kicking as much ass as the apartment team, and even when things went to shit, you kept your heads on straight," there are some smiles coming through despite the bruising and battering. I see one of the paramilitary imps slap a hand down on one of the imps from the warehouse, earning a yelp as the veteran congratulated the younger imp. Even so, the smiles were smaller, remembering the pummelling they got, and likely remembering what happened to Lars' boy. At the same time as I speak, I see a black van drive up, various kinds of equipment are on the racks of the van while a few imps in some generic worker uniform hang off of it or are on top of the van as it drives closer and stops near the back of the crowd. From the driver's side of the vehicle, I catch a glimpse of one of the largest imps I've seen so far as they get out, which would be around regular height really.

"Now, for the rest of you," I say, now shifting my attention to the former slaves who are standing among the crowd of imps, watching as I congratulated the imps for a job well done. "You heard me correct when I said "newly freed slaves," if you have a place to stay that is safe, or if you just want to leave here, you may do as you will. I will not force you, nor will I demand anything from you. Because, like some of you, not even one week ago, I to woke up, confused, naked, and disorientated. Were it not for a few charitable sinners, I might have ended up much like you."

"As such, if you do not have a safe place to stay, or if you're new to Hell and need a helping hand, you may stay with us," I let things hang as I look over to the building beside us. "We are renovating this building here for your use, if you stay here, you will have shelter, food, and protection. If you wish for more, then work for us, and you will be well rewarded." I hear the garage door for the Merchant warehouse begin to rise, with Adam and Sherrel driving out in Sherrel's Merchant mobile.

"For now, however, we celebrate, to the Imps, for a job well done, and, for those we've brought back, to your freedom, and once Adam returns," I say as I point to the Merchant mobile which was driving off, "we'll have pizza," I finally say while giving a smile. Some of the imps begin clapping and quickly others join in, whether for the pizza or for the impromptu speech, I don't know. As I watch the crowd, I can already see some of the imps heading to their camper vans or their vehicles, and I see one or two grab a cooler from their vans. A small cheer rises up as I see beer starting to be passed out. I hear with my antennae some of the warehouse imps turn back to the van that has the loot in it. I know that one of the imps had grabbed a crate of liquor as his reward for the raid, so it seems that we're well stocked for this. As people start moving towards the sources of beer, a large imp I've never seen before approaches easily able to differentiate her from the crowd. The imp held an air of formality about her as she walked forth with a wide smile adorning her almost beak like face.

Her hair was voluminous, rising up and following her horns as it came down behind her. She held a clipboard to her bosom, pushing it out a bit from her jacket into her shirt while her sheer stockings did little to hid the tone of her legs as she gracefully approached me despite her absolutely ridiculously high heels. Were it not for the large horns that had a kind of cow print to them, her red skin, and the tail behind her waving with each shift of her sizable, for an imp hips, she'd have looked like someone's dream secretary that stepped straight out of the eightys.

"Do you make a habit of making speeches dear?" the new imp lady asks as she stops in front of me, looking to my demonic form.

"Mrs. Pictress from M.I.L.F.?" I ask, ignoring the question. The large imp woman's smile grew.

"Yes dear, which likely makes you one of the Merchants, hmm? Rather strange way of going about getting yourself a nice stable of whores, most just prefer to just force them or break them, but generosity does have it's perks," Mrs. Pictress says.

"We are not planning on making them into whores, we make most of our money selling drugs and performing raids on undesirables," I reply. To that Mrs. Pictress merely shrugs.

"Well you know what they say, never too late to expand into a new market, it's what I did when I added corpse removal, fortification emplacement, and bathroom instalment to the things my company will do. Now, you said that you wanted to fix this building here?" Mrs. Pictress asks as she turns from me to the nearly empty warehouse I'd indicated previously.

"Yes, I was mainly thinking of getting the various utilities back up and running, as well as fixing up the rooms in the upstairs area so that people could actually use them."

"Just that?"

"For now, we have to see how many will stay with us and want to help our little project out first."

"Your little project?" the large imp asks as she turns to me.

"I want to improve this territory, and make it a place where when my friends in the living world die, they can live here, relax, and enjoy themselves. Instead of having to fight for their lives and lively hoods every day like we did back up top. I won't be able to make a paradise, this isn't Heaven and I'm not God, but I can do what I can, and make this a better place."

"Ooo, big ideas and the will to make it happen, I like it. If you can make it happen, then I'd love to help you build this little utopia you've got planned. Anyways, I'll get my boys to start moving the beds in first, and then we can get working on the upstairs, sound alright?"

"Sure."

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"Looks like we'll have about forty to fifty staying with us," Sherrel said as we stand in a secluded spot inside of the warehouse that we are renovating. For now it more resembles a barracks, with small beds scattered about the place. The sinners and imps are mingling, happily munching on pizza and drinking merrily as they chat up the various former slaves. Some of them giggle and entertain their rescuers, while others preferred to chat with each other.

One imp had brought out a boom box and was acting as the DJ for the impromptu party, playing the songs he could find on Hell's internet and taking special requests. In theme with the outfits that the imps were wearing, they'd put on some swing music and cleared out the middle of the floor to act as a dance floor.

"That many? I would have assumed that more of them would have had a place to stay, or even that some of them might want to get out of the city, possibly go with the imps," I say, but Adam simply shrugs.

"Eh, still time for that, lotta guys and gals have been chatting it up, Hell, I seen a few couples sneak out for a bit after a few drinks, but a lot of hoes here only just arrived in Hell before they got snatched, and while some do have places to stay, most of the ones that were still around would either be in danger cause of one reason or another, or they used to live in Crimson territory until they couldn't pay the protection fee or some shit like that," Adam says as my frown deepens.

"I guess I had hoped that there would be less new comers to Hell for them to pluck, but with everything Zion did, and with more people dying every day," I sigh for a moment before continuing. "I guess it was a bit unrealistic."

"It isn't just that though," Sherrel pipes up, "We've also got some people that want to stay because they want to help out, and also some that were interested in whoring for us."

"They don't call it the oldest profession around for nothing, lotta cash in that shit for having a bit of fun, and some end up liking it," I frown a bit more at Adam's words, but only just. While I would prefer if the people we'd rescued had found something less demeaning to do, likely my feminist mother's influence shining through me there, it is ultimately up to them if they wish to continue to prostitute themselves. At least I can make sure that they remain safe, and possibly arrange for a place for them to stay safe.

Though, am I really considering basically opening my own brothel just to keep some women safe? Then again, what was the alternative if they wanted to continue to be prostitutes? We could kick them out but then what was the point in even saving them? But then… Actually, what was the real issue with prostitution? It was a crime in the USA for moralistic reasons as far as I understood, but here, nearly every law based in morality has no ground to stand on here as morality has been abandoned for hedonism and vice. Actually, I don't even know if there are any kinds of crimes in truth other than those that the rulers of areas create.

There was also the practical side to consider, such as the fact that prostitution is a lucrative prospect, and could boost our profits significantly if they decide to pay to improve their living situation, or just decided to pitch in money to help us. Then there is the fact that they will do it anyways, why not benefit and assist them rather than leave them vulnerable. If we do want to expand and develop the small amount of Merchant territory we have, then we will need that steady source of income.

"Seems like some will have to double up for now," I say, shelving my thoughts which were slowly trying to justify pimping out the people who wanted to whore themselves out to instead focus on the bed situation. We'd only ordered about thirty five, having not quiet expected how many we would have to house. It shouldn't be more than a day to order more beds and then receive them, but for now some will just have to make due.

As I try to ignore my justification of becoming a pimp, I notice Adam and Sherrel share a look with each other before turning to me once more.

"Anywho, I think the pizza is running out so we'll just go and grab some more from the van, see you in a bit," Adam says before the two push away from the wall. I say goodbye, then they start making their way through the crowd, leaving me to my own devices. Reaching down, I pull my phone from my pocket and open up the chat room for the vigilantes, checking up on how they made out in their own raid against Crimson.

Welcome to the "Earth Bet Capes" chat room!

[Mistakes Were Made] has joined the chat

[Lucksman] : Well look who it is, the lady of the hour, how you doing mistakes?

[Le Porc] : Bonjour Miss Mistakes, I am sure you are curious in how useful your information was, well let me say that it was highly useful.

[Mistakes Were Made] : I'm doing alright, just dealing with some things that have come up. @Le Porc Really? I'm glad that you managed to hit your targets. Did you manage to get both of them?

[Akuma Ree # 4457] : Indeed some did Mistakes-san, though some were more successful than others.

[Le Porc] : Yes, those that helped with the operation did rather well in making sure that most of the slaves got away, though we did lose a few trucks when the beast showed up and we had to make a tactical withdrawl. An unfortunate loss, but this is still a great victory for us. We even got back a few of us that had been captured before.

[Lucksman] : Makes me wish I'd been there to help, but I was on the other side of town when the info dropped, and traffic is fucking awful in this city. Almost makes me want to try to hang up the bow in order to try to get elected to some position or something to fix the roads.

[H34DP0PP3R] : that shit was crazy, fuckers had a tank! Hell, we had a tank, who the hell brought a tank?!

[Le Porc] : That would be my tank, some of my men were soldiers in the second world war for France, and so the recreated the tank they commanded during the war. @Mistakes Were Made We have you to thank for this victory Mistakes, were it not for your detailed information, and the enthusiasm of everyone that participated, we heroes have been remoralised and reinvigorated. I believe that we will be a thorn in the side of those who oppress and oppose us for many years to come!

[Mistakes Were Made] : I'm glad I could be of assistance. If you don't mind me asking, what happened to the slaves that were saved?

[Le Porc] : Fear not, I have taken care of them. Those who were a part of the cause rejoined whatever hero teams that they were a part of, or joined others. Those that wanted to join us did so as well, as for the rest; I've already made arrangements to ensure their safety and protection. They are already being moved to the safe haven I've arranged for them.

As I learn more about what is going on with the vigilantes, I feel Adam and Sherrel with my bugs come out of the van with Mimi following along, Adam holding onto something that isn't a pizza box, and Sherrel is holding a box as well. Curious, I turn one of my biter lookout's heads towards them, and see Adam holding a small cake, Sherrel holding a wrapped present box while Mimi snaps her fingers. I see the candles on top of it light up, all eighteen of them.

With my biter, I tilt it's head in confusion as I watch them come into the warehouse. I can already see them with my regular body, and I put away my phone as I watch them approach, smiles spreading across their face as they look my way. Remembering to react with my actual body, I let the surprise spread across my own, and smile a bit as I see them come towards me.

I don't really know how to react as they walk up, but their grins grow wider as Sherrel holds the present out for me, and I take it, for a moment, I just stare at the colourfully wrapped present.

"We thought that since you've joined us, and well, everything went to shit on your birthday, we thought we might as well get you a lil something both for your help, and everything you're doing," Sherrel says as she comes to the rescue, interrupting the awkward silence. I let my smile grow some more as I look to them.

"Thank you, but you didn't have to do this," I say but am waved off by Adam.

"Yeah but we wanted to, give you a bit of happiness and shit despite fucking dying and all the shit you went through with the golden dick head upstairs."

"Plus, you did kind of save the world, and while it doesn't really affect us, it's well, kind of heroic, and I mean, you should be able to be a bit happy, both for your birthday and also cause you did save the world. Heroes are supposed to get celebrations and stuff… not… well… what happened to you," Mimi says. I appreciate her trying to avoid talking about my death, despite how other than my unfinished business, it didn't bother me so much. I'd been so tired, and truth be told, not having the world on my shoulders like I'd felt back then, it was kind of refreshing. Not only that, but in the end, I actually know that I will be reunited with my friends eventually. I actually know that I'll get to see them again some day, some like Alec, much sooner than the others, hopefully.

"Thank you," I say finally. There isn't really much else I can say. Looking down at the present, I have my fingers roam the colourful wrapping until I find the ends of the wrapping at the bottom, and do my best to keep from damaging the paper as I slowly pull off the wrapping, revealing an old shoe box. I open it up to reveal a thick book and a set of fine tools. Lifting up the book, I read the title.

The Complete Guide on Cottage Industry Silk Weaving, From Lingerie to Body Armour, by Lady Orb Weaver. Reading the title, I feel my bugs grow more energetic before I remember to allow my face to show my emotions, my smile growing larger as I read the title.

While I'd learned how to weave spider silk on my own at home, that had been when I'd had been able to just capture every spider in my several block radius and draw them into my house, using them to weave for me. Learning how to do it by myself, however, was proving to be somewhat awkward, especially when I could produce my own silk and it came in such abundance. Perhaps if I'd taken to knitting or something like it when I was younger I would have a better idea on how to have my body weave the silks. Then again, I hadn't had time for anything but school work, and spending time with the girl I had once considered my sister.

Finally, I look up smiling at them, and all I can say is "Thank you."

"You're welcome, I saw how you've tried to weave with your silk the last few days, so I thought that this would make a good gift, plus, you had a great costume for a new cape, better than all of ours, and we were veterans," Sherrel explains as Adam nods.

"Well now, I think it's time for your cake, and you know what that means" he says, holding the cake up higher while a mischievous grin spreads across his lips. By now, I've noticed that we've caused a bit of a scene, with imps and sinners looking to us as they notice the small birthday celebration going on with the cake and present. Rather than show my embarrassment, I let my possessed biters express it for me around our territory, hiding their faces as I keep my body from reacting.

As Adam, Mimi, and Sherrel start singing, the crowd begins to join in as well as in the celebrating. I can hear a few of them slurring the song and giggling at their screw ups. As the song comes to and end, some people who are far too drunk start cheering as I blow out the candles.

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And there we go, another chapter for people to enjoy, hopefully it is to people's liking. If you enjoyed please leave a like, comment, or even a critique as I am not above making a mistake and I would love to improve my writing, Also, any speculation around on things? I'm curious to hear people's thoughts.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 16

Bit of an ambitious project I've set out for myself, sorry for delays and such as sometimes I have to rethink and rewrite some of the plans I have for the story as things get derailed and sent off course by events both in story and out of story.

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I walk into the office of Sam Spade, the detective I'd called last week in regards to finding Alec, leaving the envelope of money for this first session with the man's secretary. The man himself is at his desk, looking up as I walk in. The sinner looks like a humanoid falcon, sharp eyes watching me as I enter the room. He's dressed like a stereotypical detective main character in most film Noir. The standard white button up shirt, his long coat hanging off his chair along with his hat, and he's puffing on a fat cigar. As I walk in he leans back and pulls the cigar from his mouth.

"So, you must be the lady that called last week. Please take a seat, and you can tell me about this friend of yours who you're trying to find," The falcon says as he points towards the seat across from him. Graciously, I sit before I begin.

"Well Mr. Spade, my friend is a man named Alec, he died nearly two years ago, on the twenty sixth of July, killed by Behemoth."

"Behemoth hmm? Did he attack your friend's city?" I shake my head.

"No, we were there fighting the thing. He was a villain that went by the name of Regent, though he has gone by other names before. Hijack is the other one I know of," the falcon nods as he pulls out a small note pad and starts to jot down some notes.

"I see, now knowing you parahuman types, your powers generally leave some kind of major impact on your psyche, and thus, can possibly affect your appearance. It isn't sure fire, but it can certainly influence things. Now one of his villainous names was Hijack, so I assume that this Alec fellow was some kind of guy who could take control of something, vehicles maybe?"

"People, he didn't control their minds, but their bodies." I correct him.

"Hmm, kind of like a puppeteer. Maybe something related to that like maybe a puppet? Or maybe even something that generally controlled things. Could also be spider what with all that "string of fate" nonsense that comes up in mythologies."

"His father was also a master, he went by the name of Heartbreaker, and Alec triggered because of him and then fled some time after," I add in, if I were to guess, then Alec would likely be a puppet. It would make the most sense, and if Sherrel could end up a latex doll kind of demon from her experiences, it would make sense for Alec to end up as some kind of puppet from how he was always moving to someone else's tune.

"Hmm, right, so probably some kind of puppet then, or maybe even a robot or something. I won't discount the possible mythological theory either, but this definitely gives me a place to start. Now, what did this Alec fellow enjoy doing? It might give us a bit of a clue as to what he might be doing now…"

The questions continue for a time as I do my best to give the detective an accurate picture of what I know of Alec. As we continue, I'm slowly beginning to understand the extent of my lack of knowledge about Alec and his everyday life. While we hadn't been the closest of the Undersiders, we had still been team mates, and I still regret not getting to know him more. There had always been more to Alec than meets the eyes, we'd just never had much time to really interact as much. I'd regretted it after Behemoth, and I'll be making up for it now… if he is still around that is. The purge is a yearly thing, and while Alec hadn't died too close to it, it can be hard to pick yourself up enough in three months enough to keep from becoming a casualty, especially with all the competition that would be coming from Endbringer attacks all the time.

"Alright then miss, just a couple more questions and then that should hopefully be all I need to start off this investigation. Is your friend Canadian?" I raise an eyebrow at his question. What did it matter if Alec was Canadian?

"Yes, he's Canadian, why?" Sam's beak moved a bit as if to show a smile as he wrote that down on the large pad of paper he had in front of him.

"Because here's a little fact about Hell ma'am. All Canadians end up in New Canada. No idea how they do it but every Canadian citizen that dies, ends up there. So that will actually make this much easier. I can start my search there. Now, judging by the fact that Alec was a villain, he started off as a Canadian villain right?" I nod and Sam sighs.

"That probably means that he's in jail up there then. Them Canadians apparently don't believe that death absolves you of crime, and they view themselves as a continuation of the Canada up on the surface. So if you were a criminal and didn't serve your time, then you end up as a criminal down here. So I guess I'll have to get into contact with my buddy up in Canada and see if we can't find your friend Alec, or rather, "Jean-Paul" and see what exactly his sentence is like," I nod before getting up.

"Well if that is all, then I'll take my leave then, when might I expect a phone call from you about Alec?" the falcon demon stands up as well.

"Considering he's likely in a Canadian prison, probably a few days, if he somehow managed to escape that, it might take a week. Only issue is if he's joined up with the rebels up there or left the country. If he's in the wastes, then I can refer you to a few man trackers in Canada that might be able to find him, but if he joined with the rebels… well, you'll have a hell of a time. I don't do rebellions."

"I'll keep that in mind, good day Mister Spade," I say before I walk out of his office.

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I pinch the bridge of my nose as I continue to look at the sign up sheet. A lot of the girls and some boys want to stay with us and would rather not join up with the imps heading back into the wastelands. That made about most of them staying with us. That was fine, I had already been prepared for that eventuality especially from what Skidmark had been saying, what I hadn't been prepared for was when I came back after asking Mimi to help me get people to sign up for jobs, was how many of them signed on the sheet asking to be prostitutes. I'd just saved these people from that, and now they want to go straight back to it, only under me rather than with the Crimson gang.

"To be fair, you are actually asking them rather than telling them, and they get to keep some of the money," Mimi pipes up from her chain in my office. I open my eyes and just look at her.

After the party, I'd decided that I couldn't just crash with Adam and Sherrel the entire time, and I had one of the MILF imps move a bed up to one of the spare rooms in the office area. It was a temporary arrangement for now, especially as some of the money I've gotten is going towards overhauling the building, turning the main area into a series of rooms for people. Even just from the work this morning until now, the people of M.I.L.F. work quick, likely helped by the various men we'd saved also helping out in the renovations. Much of the scaffolding was in place already and the base was soon going to be constructed to turn this warehouse into a proper two story building, with them starting below my office and the little area I had to myself.

The plan, at least for this building, was something of a general purpose dorm, though with how many names I'm seeing on the sign up sheet for working as a whore, I might have to reassess that and instead make this into a brothel and take over another building to turn into a housing block.

"I would have thought that their dignity would have been worth more than easy money, especially when you take away the need for money to pay for basic needs," I say then realise my naivety as I say it out loud. Of course people aren't just going to be satisfied with that. Considering the amount of whores in Brockton Bay despite the risk, the cheap shipping container housing the city had set up in the docks, and the various charitable organisations that helped feed them, many still turned to prostitution.

"That sounds right to me. You know, I actually had an encounter with a pimp once, he wanted me as one of his working girls, but I turned him down cause I guess I have too much respect for myself to become a two bit whore, but then maybe we're just different than most people?" Mimi asks and I just sigh. Now I almost wish I'd actually gone with Skidmark's suggestion of taking a sixty percent cut rather than the fourty I'd decided on. Not because of the money since it seems like I won't even really need that if Spade was able to find Alec in New Canada. It would be more to push those we rescued away from a life of whoring towards something more productive and less degrading.

Though, if it was such an appealing prospect for them to become whores despite them having been slaves doing the same thing, then maybe I'm doing something right? Or maybe they just like sex and are like Angel Dust? He seems pretty okay with the sex part what with how he acted about the whole thing. Mimi doesn't know much, and I'm not sure I can trust Skidmark on this kind of stuff since the Merchants were mainly drug pushers and not pimps, though I doubt there were none in the old Merchants. I reach down for my phone and dial Angel's number.

"Heya tiny tits, how's things over there? Caught any backlash from your little move?" Angel asks.

"A few casualties with one still in hospital in critical condition. Otherwise, we're doing well. No attacks on us yet," everything had become rather quiet after the attack last night. Perhaps the Crimson gang is still licking their wounds and trying to figure out what just happened. Though, the Raz family had gone quiet as well, and their Eagleton look-a-like robot enforcers had disappeared from the streets entirely.

"Eh, just an imp," I frown.

"Just an imp?" I ask, to which Angel responds immediately as if it were just some natural thing.

"Yeah, just an imp. They're a dime a dozen and breed like rabbits. Hell from the vids I saw of your guys going in, it looked like you were a bit understaffed, but then you guys still managed to get the job done so I guess you had exactly what you needed," I can feel my lips pursing and my bugs and biters acting up. Frankly what I am hearing is awful, but then Angel did probably die before the civil rights movements of the sixties. It makes a bit of sense that he might be racist, or in this case speciesist. Culturally, we hadn't morally developed as much as we have now, not to mention we are in Hell, where the worst of the worst come.

Besides, I'd worked alongside far worse people than just a racist. Many heroes I knew personally during my cape career had done far worse things in the past. After a moment Angel pipes up again.

"So whatcha need anyways? Some more gossip of what is going on in Val's place? 'Cause it's mostly just the same old as usual, repairs from the raid, bounties for the heads of vigilantes being brought in, clients blowing their loads in me."

"I've somehow managed to become a pimp," once more there is silence, this time caused by Angel, before he finally responds.

"Wait, seriously? You got yourself some girls? Ha! I didn't think you had it in you tiny tits, I thought you were some prudish feminist type but now you've got yourself a nice stable of whores. Oh wow that's precious. So how'd it happen? Come on, gimmie the deets so I can tell Cherri," I let out a slight groan before telling him, relaying how we'd put out a sign up sheet and how most wanted to be whores.

"Okay yeah, makes sense. Whoring's easy if you got the looks and no dignity… not to mention its fun. So what's your cut like, because you obviously not some gorilla pimp if you got them working for ya. Plus, it ain't like they're doing it out of gratitude or some shit like that, Hell don't work that way."

"I take fourty percent, and they get to keep the rest," I say, to which Angel whistles after hearing the number.

"Only fourty percent? Damn that's a steal. If it weren't unhealthy to leave Val for you I'd run to join your stable quicker than you can say cha-ching. But seriously, that's got to be the best cut in the city. Only people even close to that are usually two bit chumps who just came down from the living world and haven't figured out that the going cut for whores is usually only twenty percent at best. Course those guys either realise real fast and raise it up, or they find themselves on the other end of a Chicago typewriter when the whores run off to the new pimps, pissing off the old ones."

"I assume most aren't able to defend themselves?"

"Considering most of the competition is both more experienced than them or at least has had a head start in hiring some goons? Nah, most of the new guys don't last a week after word gets around that the whores are getting good pay, especially since the law don't care unless you are messing with the nobles or you're paying them to protect ya."

"And no one else has tried to lower it to undercut the competition and get more girls in?"

"Eh… there are a few, most of them are pretty big though. Like I said, it paints a big target on your back. I mean if you keep it you'd still have to deal with some of the other pimps coming after you for stealing their whores, but considering that your neighbours are picking up shop and leaving, and the other is an imp gang of all things, and Val who everyone knows not to fuck with… well if you don't manage to piss off Val you might actually be able to get away with it. Still, I'll keep my ear to the ground and watch for any irate pimps coming your way."

"Will Valentino be a problem?"

"Funny enough, nah, at least not for you. See Val's got something of a monopoly on most businesses that deal with sex and stuff, but since you can't really monopolise whoring, especially since that would mean declaring war on basically everyone and taking over the whole city is something no one will allow, that ain't happening. Instead he buys up pretty much all the stores that deal with this kind of stuff. Sexy outfits, sex toys, strip clubs, sex clubs, you name it he'll probably try to buy it or something, and for the places that can't be bought he'll see if he can't get something to profit off of it like exclusivity deals for his brands and stuff."

"Then who will he be a problem for then?"

"Like I said before, it is pretty unhealthy to try and get out from under Val's thumb without his permission or the backing of some pretty powerful people. Hoes don't leave unless they got a death wish, same with the pimps that try to protect them. Just make sure your girls don't go hoe'ing in Val's territory and you ain't liable to get a visit from him, oh and go with whatever exclusive deal he offers, he ain't one for playing nice after the first refusal, and shit will only get worse from there."

"Alright, any advice for the business in general then?"

"Always charge extra, people down here are freaky as fuck, and the longer you stay down here the freakier you get. People are going to want to do extra with your hoes, so charge them out the nose, since they'll be horny, they'll pay it, just you watch. Other than that, pimping is just managing your girls while also acting as protection. Know your girls, know what they are best at, and figure it out from there. Got it?"

"I do, thank you," while I wasn't involved in a majority of the money making schemes of Coil's and later Tattletale's gang, I had been an effective manager of both my funds and staff during that time, taking on a significant amount of the workload with the rest of it going to Charlotte. Amusingly, while I was in the Wards, my experience managing my gang in Brockton had helped with the various administrative tasks that were a part of being a ward and would often have to help some of the others with those kinds of tasks.

"My pleasure tiny tits, now I gotta go, I'm meeting up with Cherri in an hour and I need to go earn me some lunch money," and with that I end the call.

"So how did the call go?" Mimi asks from her seat as I pick up the sheet of names that had signed up.

"Productive. It's given me a better idea of what to expect in the future and he even gave me some good advice regarding Valentino."

"Oh okay, I guess you will be busy running the business then?" sighing, I shake my head.

"We don't really have a place for them to even start working properly, and with a gang war likely about to fire off, I don't want them out on the streets possibly getting caught. At the moment we will be just living off of the money from the raids, and the drug money," Mimi nods along as I speak before then piping up.

"So does that mean you're free, or did you have some other stuff to do?"

"Other than monitoring the alleys and the developing gang war, not much at the moment, why?"

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to go out drinking with me and Sherrel? Just a little fun before turning in for the night, you know? Plus, it's at Anthony's bar, so you can see about how he's coming along with recruiting people," I nod along with her reasoning. With what was going on with the false flag on Crimson, I hadn't had much time to check up on Anthony, and we did have a deal with him as a recruiter. Despite how hands on I am with managing my forces, especially back in the Warlord days, having people who you could delegate some of your duties to was definitely a must when it comes to organisations. I hadn't really understood that in a combat sense back when I was a warlord, but with the kinds of enemies we fought, it wouldn't have made a difference anyways.

"Sure, why not?" I ask, seeing Mimi's smile grow as I say so.

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Interestingly, the Raz family begins to move first while the dust settles and before the Crimson gang has fully regrouped. Their absent Eagleton robots now charging into the territory of the Crimson gang, riddling anyone they came across full of holes as they blitzed their way through the streets. There were three teams of Raz family troops, each a group of seven, five imps, two Eagleton robots. The imps almost looked like a mirror of our imps had the night before, with two of them armed with various kinds of submachine guns and machine pistols. Two of them however wielded melee weapons like fire axes and machetes while also wearing butcher aprons over their fronts.

Moving alongside them in the alleyways, I can see mechanical biters moving in tandem, becoming far more aggressive than before, patrolling the alleyways to attack lone members of the Crimson gang who were moving towards the teams of Raz family troops, and no one else, mulching and tearing apart any of the gangsters they found with their iron jaws and claws.

As I get a better look at the mechanical dogs, the more they seem to at least superficially share a similar look to the Eagleton look-a-likes. While they have no symbols, they share a similar colouration, though the mechanical biters definitely seem more advanced than their more humanoid counterparts. Almost like an early variant of the Eagleton bots before they turned themselves into moving coffins and buildings of death in the living world. While I can't say for certain, but the mechanical biters are more than likely being provided by the same tinker that is making the Eagleton bots.

I watch as the Raz family troops advance into Crimson territory swiftly, the bots act as the spearhead while the imps followed behind, taking cover behind them whenever fighting starts. While they advanced, whenever the imps would come across one of the Crimson gang corpses left behind by the robots they would have their melee weapon imps begin to hack off limps and heads while the Tommy gun wielders would watch the rear. They don't take long as they only hack off a few pieces before continuing to follow the twin robots.

With my own mental map, I can tell that one team of them are pushing towards some of the garages of the Crimson gang, one team heading towards a slave pen we'd just saved the girls from last night, and one was heading in the direction of a warehouse, but they are likely to miss it.

"Hey Skitty what do you think about the Merchant outfits?" I hear Mimi ask.

"Other than a bandana, a symbol, or maybe a general colour, I think it would be a bit unrealistic, or just wasteful to just have every member of our gang wear costumes," I say in response. During the course of the night, the conversation had turned to Mimi and Sherrel talking about the aesthetic of the Merchants.

Mimi had been arguing that because the Merchants are a gang of former super villains, we should have our "henchmen" wear costumes corresponding with our villainous nature, with her citing various examples from comic books. One example was some fictional villain named the Joker had his minions wear clown outfits. It was kind of similar to what Leet and Uber would do back in Brockton Bay for their show or what a few of the more comical villains I'd taken down during my time in the Wards would do. We'd tried it at least a little bit to have themes in the Undersiders, but with how chaotic things got, I wasn't around for long enough to actually see if anything like that had really continued.

"Aw, but that's boring, come on! Bee outfits for Skitty! Mad Max stuff for Sherrel! Uh… uh…"

"Portal stuff for Skiddy?" Sherrel asks, to which Mimi's face brightens as she vigorously nods her head. I can't help but giggle a bit, though that might be from the drink that Anthony had given me.

"I'm not going to do bee stuff, besides, I'm a moth now, it'd have to be fluffy," I say, humouring Mimi's suggestion for a moment. That caused Mimi's eyes to begin to twinkle as she seems to think of something and starts giggling.

"You're going to have the fluffy moth men," then she gasps as she gets another idea, "and your moth girls'll be fluffy to! That's a great idea, but it kind of doesn't go with your previous theme you know?"

I shrug as I take another sip of my drink, enjoying the sweetness of it mixed with the distinct taste of alcohol. "Well maybe I'll be both? I'll be fluffy, my girls will be fluffy, and my "goons" will wear black and yellow."

"Maybe they can be dressed up like thieves you know? Kind of point back to your old gang and stuff… the Undersiders, they're… you're were… beh, you, were, thieves right?" Mimi says after a long sip, slurring her words a bit as she talks.

"Yeah, before they became big shots, they were just a small gang of thieves. You guy's mostly robbed businesses and stole from stuff like casinos and stuff like that before you hit the bank, right?" Sherrel asks top which I nod.

"The Undersiders before I joined mostly did small targets yes. Coil when I joined, however wanted us to hit bigger stuff which was when we hit the bank," I say, remembering my first few days as a part of the Undersiders, and that idiotic plan of mine. I give a breathed chuckle as I remember my foolishness. Even so, it had given me the best friends I could have ever asked for.

"So how about this then? You know the stereotypical thief right? Got like black outfit and stuff with a weird hat and the black and white striped shirt? Why not make it a yellow and black striped shirt? That would be cool!" Mimi says as she holds up her drink for emphasis, but I just shake my head.

"Maybe later when we have a bit of spending money, but for now, I think I'll just have them wear a yellow bandana, or wear black and yellow for now. We can go into themes later okay?" Mimi pouts at my words, then deflates and nods.

"Okay fine, but I'm so going to be wearing that henchman outfit I thought up and then you'll see!" she says as she points her glass forwards a bit, letting some drink spill out. I smile as she does so while I drink the last of my own drink.

"What? You don't want to stay with us?" Sherrel asks, to which Mimi's ears fall.

"Well, not it's not that, it's just… well, you guys have Felix, and, and all those new guys who're going to help out with the drugs and stuff," Mimi starts off, sputtering excuses but Sherrel just laughs it off, reaching over and ruffling the mouse demon's head.

"Nah it's alright, I get it. Skitty's a badass and probably the closest thing to the superheroes and villains you love to read about in your comic books. Plus, you're right, we got all the help we really need right now until we start expanding to the other warehouses with our drug growing. Just make sure you don't forget to come over and visit with Mark, he'll be upset if you don't come and see him every once and a while," Sherrel says while Mimi nods. At the same time, Anthony comes over with another glass of alcohol for me while also holding a piece of paper.

"Here's another drink, oh, and I got some names for you, just some people around here that might be interested… Probably going to need them soon enough if what I've been hearing on the news is anything to go by," Anthony says as he passes me the note with about a half dozen names on it.

"Oh, what's the news been saying?" I ask as I take a sip from my new drink. At the same time across town, I can see that Crimson has finally gotten a proper response to the blitz of Raz forces moving into their territory. A dune buggy or two are driving up the street towards the warehouse group, with a couple of demons hanging off of it, including a few with the same very heavy armour of the demon I'd blown up last night. There's also a van a red symbol spray painted across the side speeding towards the group of Raz family troops.

"News says that a bunch of imps hit Crimson last night while some vigilantes were hitting them as well. Said something about them likely belonging to an old rival of Crimson called the Raz gang. Seems like a gang war is about to start, and the news anchors were kind of baffled that Raz might attempt something considering last time. Those two also happen to be right near you in case you didn't know, so the fighting might spill over close to your guy's place," Anthony continues.

At the same time in Crimson territory with the warehouse group, the robots have turned towards the oncoming buggy and lit up the vehicle, sparks flying everywhere and men falling off as bullets wiz. Despite what the news anchors might be saying, Raz certainly seemed to be doing well for themselves at the moment. If anything, it might be a complete reversal of what was going on a year ago. The ones that were heading to the garages have already reached their objectives and have begun torching the place, destroying the vehicles left inside, shooting up those inside, and stealing what they can.

"Poor sons of bitches are going to just light a fire under Crimson's ass, and Raz'll probably get burned for it. They're just an imp gang from what the news said," Despite Anthony's words, the Raz family seem to be doing fine. Of course, as I think that, the back of the van opens up. The biter I'm using to watch the carnage's eyes open up wide in surprise as I see Crimson, a full powered Crimson step out, his tongue thick in his mouth, his skin as red as a cooked beet. The robots turn their guns on him, along with the members of the Raz family that brought their Tommy guns.

With my bugs at home I feel around for Crimson's head in the corpse bag, and quickly find him. His head is still in there, and with a few bugs I feel his corpse. They still haven't cleared out the warehouse, and his headless corpse is still there, with no head. How is he still around? Do they have multiple of him?

Then it hit me. He, or maybe they, are clones. Clones have souls, or at least, Bonesaw's clones have souls. Wait, did that mean that Echidna clones have souls as well? What about Nilbog's creations? Did Dragon have a soul? Suddenly I'm struck with the idea, the thought that perhaps there was more than just one me running around. My evil clones, Scurry and Chitter, from Echidna. They were likely out there somewhere in Hell, along with everyone else's clones as well. I frown further as I realise all the clones of the slaughterhouse that must be out there. They likely aren't helping with the slaughter and chaos. Then there are also the powers that make sapient copies of their hosts, did they have souls as well? What about projections that were also sapient, what of them, what of the Fairy Queen's host?

Seems Sam will at least be receiving a few more visits from me in the near future.

Despite my epiphany the assault continues on. Among the other groups of Raz family troops I watch as more Crimson members come out to meet the Raz family's assault. With the group at the garage, I see a massive mountain of a muscle man, with bronzed skin and a ferocious bestial head speeding into battle. Lightning following his moves and as he passes by a group of Raz imps, lightning flaring out and hitting them before the Beast turns on the robots and begins to move in on them.

With the group that moved towards the brothel, I see a massive snake man, armed with a shotgun and a cleaver. The naga has blood red scales and has covered himself in some kind of metal armour. He ignores bullets much like Crimson does as he rips and tears his way through the imps while trying to crush a robot with his massive tail. One unlucky imp gets his head sliced off and the snake demon stops to grab the imp's body and begins to drink deeply, growing larger as he does, eventually crushing the robot, causing the rest of the imps to retreat, leaving the final Eagleton robot to distract the naga.

"I feel sorry for them, they don't stand a chance," Anthony says as he cleans the bits of drink that Mimi had spilled.

"Certainly seems that way," is all I can say as I watch as the groups of Raz family troops break off their attack and leg it for friendly territory, the biters moving in to support their robotic comrades. Of the fights, only the one with the Crimson clone seems to be going at least evenly, up until another jumps from a nearby building, slams into another bot, and the two of them start fighting off the various mechanical biters.

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[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 17

Made an edit to chapter 16 so that Taylor took a bed upstairs to the office in order to preserve her appearance as someone that could protect them.

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When I came to one of Hell's hospitals, I didn't expect the place to look like it was a PRT base of operations inside an Endbringer disaster zone. The place was filled to the brim with what looked like machine gun nests. My bugs can also make out four different anti aircraft towers surrounding the place with more on the roof, and the electric fence was so high current that it was uncomfortable to even come close to it with my enhanced senses. Yet, some part of me called out to me to touch it as I passed. The guards almost looked like they were wearing some kind of variant of Dragon's Teeth while also armed with what looks like some kind of energy weapon guns. Much like with the fence, as I passed the guards, I couldn't help but train my senses on the guns, almost like it was calling to me or something. Perhaps it was some kind new instinct, because while it would have been nice to have an energy weapon, I'd never felt this kind of desire for an energy weapon as I felt as I passed by the heavily armoured guards with their high powered weapons.

In either situation, however, if I were in need of medical assistance, needed protection, and money didn't matter, I would definitely want to stay in this hospital, and not just because baser instinct in my new body yearned for those energy weapons.

I walk into the waiting room and I can already see Lars there with his wife Lilly. He's still in the suit he borrowed from Moxxie for the raid. He stands up from his seat, and while he tries to put on a smile, it slips near immediately. The imp beside me and my ride, Lee-Anne rushes over to him and Lilly, but slows down as she sees him try to smile again, but it doesn't even start to turn upwards, tears in his eyes as I can see him clenching his fists. I can smell blood, and I watch some blood begin to drip from his hands, his claws having opened up wounds in him.

For a long while, they just embrace each other, tears falling as they take comfort in each other. Compared to some of the reactions I've seen among those who've lost people, this is a bit more stoic than the horrible wailing I've heard from those who lost people in service, or those parents who lost their children who served as Wards in Chicago and other places. Just from the reaction, I don't think Lloyd will be going home today. After many long moments, they finally pull away, and then turn to face me.

"Miss Skitter," he says, his face stony as he looks up at me.

"I know that my face must be the last thing you want to see right now, the woman who failed you. I just want to say that I'm sorry, I should have planned more, and you have my sympathy," I say. I see Lars jaw clench, and he takes a few deep breathes before he answers.

"You're right, I don't want to see you right now. I want to see my son, standing tall, proud, and healthy before me," he gives another big sniff, and wipes his nose. "I also know I'm being unreasonable right now, and I certainly won't be reasonable for the next while. I want to fuck up the sinning bastard that killed my son and leave him out for the angels, I want to box that boy Felix's ear in for calling us out here, and I want… well I ain't going to say what I want to do with you Miss."

Lars breathes in deeply as he closes his eyes and runs his hand through his hair, before letting it out in a angry groan. "Thing is, my family's been lucky thus far. Barely a hand full of deaths to go around, and none from my immediate family until now. Not like how it was for my grandfather, not like how it was for my bothers and sisters. You'd think I would be used to it, having to stand there as my Father buried some of my siblings, buried some of his. You know my father lost twelve brothers and nine sisters before I was born? And I lost just as many brother and sisters out there in the wilds of Hell from bandit raids and other bullshit. All to build the little piece of paradise we live in out there today."

Lars sighs, tears in his eyes again as he wipes his face, seemingly tired out from his rant, his hands go into his pockets again as he looks down, Lee-Anne placing hand on his shoulder which he places a hand on hers as well.

"I… thank you for the concern; honestly, it means a lot to me that you can actually pretend to give a shit about us imps. Just… give me some time, I can't fucking see straight right now. Alright?"

I nod, backing away from him and leaving him to his grief, instead looking to the other two imps in the room. The other imps that came to the hospital look alright, Billy-bob actually looks, to borrow a rural colloquialism, fit as a fiddle, but Felix is in a wheel chair. I walk over and Felix looks up, doing better at faking a smile as he looks to me, though I can still see the pain in his eyes.

"Hey Boss, don't worry about me, nurse says I'll be back up to work in a day or so after the doc heals me up," Felix said, a little fearful and possibly worrying about his work, which was ridiculous… except that we are in Hell which probably means no labour laws. Either way I'm not too worried about how long his recovery takes.

"I'm sorry," is all I say and it's all I can say. Despite this, Billy-bob and Felix look up surprised, though for a moment, Felix looks a bit fearful.

"I should have done better research, and I should have prepared better. If it weren't for my neglect, this would never have happened," for a moment everyone is silent, before Billy-bob speaks up.

"Damn cuz, she must be new right?" to his question, Felix just nods.

"Yeah, I forgot that she only just died Only here long enough to lose the smell of the living world… fuck… wait, does that mean I get to keep my job?"

"We weren't planning on firing you," I say.

"Thanks Boss, it isn't much, but well at least I don't have to worry about that."

"So, when we going to do another attack?" Billy-Bob asks, looking me dead in the eyes. I raise an eyebrow, even though it makes sense.

"At the moment we have nothing planned as we're waiting to see the results of what we've done. After that, we will likely hit whoever is suffering the most, or is weakest in order to eliminate them quickly, before rounding on the other. If you wish to help with this, we might have a place for you and those others that want revenge with us if you would like. We will however have to discuss it at a later date since we aren't exactly in a private place at the moment." Billy-Bob frowns a bit at my pronouncement, but doesn't say anything more.

"How many might be joining us for revenge?" I ask, knowing it can't just be Billy-Bob wanting revenge. Revenge is a powerful motivator, especially when the target of that vengeful desire has hurt or even killed one of your friends and family.

"Just a few, Cousin Lary might stay here to help out, Uncle Lars and Aunt Lilly with Lee-anne, along with her new girlfriend are heading back to their home so they can bury Lloyd and start planning a small funeral. My brother Joe-Bob and me were close to Lloyd, so we were planning on staying, and uncle Cletus is kind of hoping to get some more loot before he heads back so he's looking to stay as well. Might be trying for one of your girls as well. As for the rest, either they are giving a part of their loot to the cause, or they wish they could help, but well… Home, compared to the rest of the places in the wastes, is a bit of a paradise, but not if they don't keep it safe, so they're going home to help protect it, plus, the Crimson gang aren't the only raiders riding the wastes," Billy-Bob explains as I nod along.

"If that's so, you are welcome with us for however long it takes for us to deal with those who hurt your family. Though you'll likely have to stay in the warehouse or in your vehicles as that is the best we've got at the moment. Help with the renovations would be nice as well since it can get us some better sleeping arrangements than what we have right now."

"Thanks, that's kind of ya, though we'll likely stay in Cletus' RV since he offered us the extra bedding there. Though, with your girls being right there, I doubt he'll be sleeping there too often."

Glad I figured out how to turn my antennae into earmuffs then.

Then I sense something, I adjust my antennae, looking in the direction I felt it. There is a lot of energy in the direction, but I ignore it, instead focusing on the magical energy being used.

"When you said you would be healed up, did you mean with magic?" I ask Felix, who nods.

"Yeah, the doc'll start healing me with his healing magic, kind of boost my regeneration so it doesn't effect those without that kind of stuff much, but it can help with recovery. After a few hours my spine should be fixed, turning what might have been a few weeks off work into a few hours long job."

"I see… do you think they will allow me to be there so that I can watch the process?" I ask while Felix just shrugs.

"Maybe? I know Lars and Lilly were with Lloyd in his final moments, so I doubt it's an issue," I nod along, already thinking of the possibilities. I'd controlled a few dozen parahumans with healing powers during Golden Morning, and had had to use them to great effect while I was commanding the army. If it weren't for those healers, our forces might not have had as many survivors during our fight, and were it not for Panacea, I wouldn't have survived until the end either. Hopefully it functions somewhat similarly to parahuman healing.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

The hardest part of waiting for things to fall into place, is the waiting. Despite myself, I've grown less patient over the last little while. I've always had something to do, something to prepare for and a clear way of moving forward. In the Wards I had the ability to train, to work, to patrol. Even during my down time I was doing my best to build relations with other Heroes so that we could properly trust each other if we had to team up to fight Jack, so that we could do so without them looking at me with suspicion. Here in Hell, it's been a constant rush of trying to properly orientate myself, keep myself alive and free. Then there is my work to expand the Merchant's influence, territory, and power by attempting a false flag operation to start a gang war.

Now we just have to wait. Thank God for my birthday gift because it gives me something to do, well that and watch Mark while talking with Mimi.

"So you scooped out his eyes?" Mimi asks, having been relegated to listening to my stories while we babysat Mark. Adam was helping train his new workers, acting as the supervisor while Sherrel had actually gotten a new car to work on this morning, so they'd asked me to baby sit and Mimi came along to help and keep me company.

I nod as I continue to work on the thing I was making, my hands slowly getting used to using such small tools with my larger transformed body. Mark himself was cuddling up to my leg, giggling and gurgling as I lift my leg every once and a while for his entertainment while he holds on like a little monkey.

I'm just trying to knit some scarves for my people to wear, though where I'll get yellow dye I don't quite know yet. I've slowly been getting better, my first scarf Mimi had tucked in the back of Mark's shirt making it a cape. I'd accidentally made it too long, having not cut off my silk fast enough. The thing was long enough that it could even act as a blanket for the excitable tot. As for how I'd gotten distracted, I'd been paying a bit too much attention to some truck that was dropping off what looks to be another Eagleton robot for the Raz family.

"It was the only way I could think of to disable him, he was already powered up, and nothing else was weak, so I just gouged at them because otherwise he wouldn't have stayed down long enough for the PRT to pick him up," I say with the ball of bugs I have near by my head, acting as my voice while my mouth was occupied producing silk.

"Jeeze, I can see why you got your reputation, if you kept acting like that,"

"I never stopped really, even as a Ward I continued to go in hard. Most criminals didn't care for it and ended up giving up before things got to that point though. I actually had some of the best arrest records for a Ward that wasn't inducted extremely early in their life or from Brockton Bay and a few other areas which weren't really following the rules of what Wards are allowed to do." Mimi nods along as I talk, growing contemplative. For a moment she looks like she wants to say something but eventually thinks better of it before eventually asking something else.

"So I guess you are still going with the gang colour thing? With the yellow and black bits?" I nod again as I continue to knit.

"My people will have a scarf to show that they are my people, or under my protection."

"Anything else?"

"A bit of magical experimentation, you know how in movies and other media vampires can burst into a cloud of bats in order to move around?" Mimi nods at my question.

"I've been trying to figure out how to do that, or rather, how to create something of a clone of myself using those I possess."

"How?" to Mimi's question, I have the biter that had been resting beside me on the couch get up and jump down from it's resting spot. Mark immediately looks over to the furry black creature and detaches from my leg.

"I kind of feel as if I can do various things with the creatures under my control, including use some parts of it that I have no context for as either a human or a moth demon." I have the biter circle Mark so that Mimi can see the front of the biter as well. With the small magic that the biter has, I have it use it's ability. The biter's eyes start changing colours, shifting into a rainbow pattern, drawing both Mimi's and Mark's attention, especially Mark's. The colour shifting in the beasts eyes aren't anything special other than a somewhat similar spell to that of the body modification magic I learned from Angel Dust. I don't actually know why the biter has it though. It hadn't used it against me when I went through the alleyways and caught it.

"The only issue is that the creatures have a very limited amount of magic that can be used. That and I've only been testing this kind of thing lately."

"What if you possessed a person? I mean you can do that right?" Mimi asks. I think for a moment. It would likely have to be a sinner, as imps aren't as inclined towards magic as sinners are, though that brings up the question of acceptable targets.

"I think so, my possession isn't limited to bugs. Though… I am a bit hesitant to master people."

"Why? We're in Hell, there are only good targets." Mimi exclaims, to which I raise an eyebrow at her. As someone who was, presumably, raised in the same culture as me surely being mastered and mastering humans holds a bit of a stigma?

"Even yourself… Even little Mark here?" I ask. Interestingly, Mimi only seems to frown as I say for Mark, rather than herself. Curious.

"Okay, maybe not Mark," Mimi relents, but I press on a bit.

"But yourself? You are an acceptable target?" I ask. Mimi starts to look uncomfortable, looking to the ground at her feet.

"There are some good reasons why I'm in Hell…" Mimi says. For a moment we are silent, I continue to knit, while Mimi keeps her head down for a bit. Why was she so blasé about mastering? Did she want to be mastered? If so, why? Does she think being mastered will give her penance? I want to ask her, to break up this sombre moment, then Mark does something that breaks up the silence.

Mark makes a sound almost akin to a war cry and his tail shoots forward, the tip smacking up against my biter's face while Mark himself charges forward but falls on his hands and stomach. I have my biter reel back and let out a surprised yelp before having it sprint back to the couch. Mark explodes into a fit of giggles that draws Mimi's attention to him, having still seen the whole thing despite looking down. She begins to giggle as well, and I allow myself a little chuckle as Mark continues to giggle and gurgle on the floor, looking over to the biter that had retreated from him to safety.

Serving as a useful distraction, I pivot the conversation to something more concerning, like the Slaughter House clones. "Have you heard any news of any of the slaughter house nine running around?"

Mimi looks over almost immediately for a moment, before frowning, thinking for a bit. "Not exactly, at least, not until recently. There are enough psychos around here that any one of them could have been part of the Nine. Though lately, there have been easier to see examples. I saw burnscar on the news a few weeks ago once. She almost looked like her old self. Though she was off."

"Off how?"

"Off like she was just emotionless. News was slow so they only had a few shoot outs to show that day, but it was just before we realised how many people were about to show up. Some naked human looking people started fighting, and I saw some Burnscars among them, and they all looked like they were a part of the nine at some point."

"You could tell?"

"Um well um, yeah, she wasn't wearing a mask, and some of them never wore masks, you know?" I nod along, but am not very convinced. If it were as simple as to not wear a mask then maybe, but when I'd been revealed, it hadn't been so easy even when every corner had my face plastered to it, I had still been able to walk around Brockton for a bit without a mask and not be recognised. Unless Mimi had been killed specifically by Burnscar… or Mimi Mance…

The name couldn't be a coincidence. There hadn't been much on Mimi in her PRT profile other than she made sculptures of people made of fire occasionally and was a fairly powerful pyrokinetic. Even my own experiences with her were limited, but Burnscar was far more emotionless when I'd met with her, not so animated as mouse Mimi was. Though, I had seen Mimi use a bit of fire, or rather, imply it. It had been how she dusted the shop apparently, with a snap of her fingers and a bit of fire she'd gotten it clean in no time, and yet had enough control that she could only burn that and nothing else. Then there is also the fact that Mimi, despite being a woman on the street, had felt safe walking about with a twenty two, which judging by how effective my nine millimetre pistol had been on the first day without upgrades, might as well be a toy gun. While I can't say for certain, fire might be Mimi's way of defending herself.

Her profile said that her compassion and other emotions fade with the prevalence of fire, so now without her power, if Mimi really is Burnscar and it's not just some coincidence, Mimi was possibly herself again or rather, not so sociopathic as before.

"How could you tell that she was acting emotionless?"

"Um well, they managed to capture a cop, and kept him alive for some reason. He still had his body cam, so while they were torturing him, viewers got to see a few of the nine up close, and Burnscar was one of the ones torturing him, and she was so cold."

"Like there was a lot of fire around, was there a lot of fire?"

"No, not really."

"I see." Now how could a civilian know that? The fact that she would loose her emotions with more fire wasn't exactly that well documented outside of the PRT offices and documentation from the asylum.

"What happened to them?"

"They got rushed. Some kind of SWAT guys showed up, snipers took out most of those at the window and like cars of SWAT guys came in and took them out. Last part of the video showed a SWAT demon come in and fire off a bunch of magical scythes at everyone inside that wasn't a hostage. I can show you the video if you want? They're showing is actually kind of pathetic since only a few of them have powers, and those that still have their powers only have really reduced versions of them, like Burnscar could only make small fireballs and heat up her hands." Mimi says, unaware that for two years I'd been researching and watching various videos of the Slaughter House Nine both past and present for the final confrontation with them. Even so, it might be amusing to watch the Nine be taken down like low level villains by some police officers.

I nod my head to her and Mimi gets up from her spot to come over here, her phone already out of her pocket and typing. Eventually she sits down next to me, and leans into my larger and fluffy form, cuddling up like she had a while ago while showing me the videos of the Beast and other Crimson gang clashes. The video starts and while I watch, I continue to knit, and I have my biter jump down to play with Mark.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

Typing a quick search into my phone, I look up the phone number I need and begin dialling. There isn't much of a chance of meeting in person, not with how delicate things are and with how things are developing in the gang war some blocks over. Though luckily, it seems that Crimson is continuing to be distracted by the forces of the Raz family, just not the regular kind.

When the Raz Family troops pulled back, they lost most of their Eagleton look-a-likes, but what is still prowling around there is their robo-biters, harassing and moving about, attacking at things that look important. With their enhanced strength and power due to their mechanical nature, they easily rip through thin sheet metal walls and weak doors, quickly hitting their target in a lightning strike before pulling away and fading into the alleyways.

It had pushed the regular members of the Crimson gang to either fortify their buildings or to move to ones that were better defended. With the attacks from before, they didn't suffer a significant amount of casualties from these biter attacks, but it did keep them from moving around except in large groups with heavy weapons. The powerful members of the Crimson gang, the snake, the two Crimson clones, and the Beast were out and about, exterminating biters and robo biters alike wherever they found them, but the robo biters act as if they were being controlled by a master, moving in sync and usually avoiding the four gang members.

"I.M.P., whadya want?" a bored sounding teenager answers the phone. Not particularly enthusiastic, but then this is Hell and people likely stop caring after a while unless threatened with something.

"I would like to talk to you're boss Blitzo, I have a few questions about your organisation."

"'kay," was her only reply before the phone cut for a second, ringing again before someone else picked it up.

"Yellow, Immediate Murder Professionals here, you're talking to Blitzo the "o" is silent, so who's the living son of a bitch that needs to get fucked," a man, likely Blitzo answers.

"I have a few questions about your organisation."

"Uhuh, what's your question sis?"

"How exactly do you find your victims?"

"What haven't you seen our advertisement? We have a magic book we use to get to the living world, and we also use it to find the fucker you want to kill."

"I see, are you able to track anyone with that book?"

"Kinda, I don't quite know how but we do some magic thing that lets us look into worlds of the living and check up on where stuff is, we find who we need to fuck up, and then figure out how to deal with them."

"Are you able to do the same for people in Hell?"

"Yeah, but we're assassins for people in the living worlds, we don't do Hell assassinations, especially because if we fail, they can come after us and you, m'kay?"

"Alright then, are you willing to deliver a message to someone who is alive?"

"Nah not really, see we go out to kill people, we aren't a postal service or something like that, plus doing stuff like that can get me and you into a Hell of a lot of trouble."

"And killing people won't?"

"Not if they aren't alive to tell no body up top, it's all good."

"I see, what do you normally charge for a kill?"

"Ten thousand, now are you going to ask me to kill someone or are you going to just keep yapping?"

"How does twenty thousand sound for just giving someone a letter?"

"Deal! No take backs, so who's this poor schmuck that gets to find out that Hell exists?"

"A woman by the name of Lisa Wilbourn, though she also goes by the name Tattletale. I don't have the letter ready yet but I'll have it ready in a few days."

"Alright, but you have to pay half in advance, then just call back when you want to send that letter. Fuck yeah! Hey Lun-" I put the phone down as Blitzo starts shouting at someone across the room, probably one of his employees.

I'll have to thank Moxxie for the advice. The imp had been rather useful in his suggestions on how to get Blitzo to agree to things. With everything being rather materialistic with his boss and the near complete disregard for the law so long as no one brought it up, he'd suggested Blitzo would do anything so long as the money was doubled. I.M.P. had already done some body guard duty for a noble by the name of Stolas because he offered to pay Blitzo more money than what their company made each assassination job.

While rather expensive for a letter, they do literally transcend life and death, entering into the lands of the living. Though, after all the payments for the renovations going on, establishing the budget for the basic needs of those saved, and planning the payments to those willing to join me. This spending is eating through my portion of the money from the raids rather quickly. I might have to do another raid on a vigilante target before this gang war is over with, or maybe even raid Crimson again.

Of course, now I have to write a letter to Lisa telling her I'm dead, my plans, everything that has happened…

For a moment I just sit in my chair at my desk, my phone down, not even properly paying attention to the various creatures under my control, and just stop for a moment. Lisa. I'll get to send a letter to Lisa. God it's been too long, and that short reunion was not enough, not nearly enough.

Granted, we weren't being reunited now, at least, hopefully not so soon… but at least… hopefully I can make up for cutting her and everyone else out from my life, and apologise for what I did to her, did to them. It won't make up for what I did, but maybe it'll be a start.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

As I continue to work on experimenting with my magic, the truck that had delivered the Eagleton look-a-like finally arrives at its home. As it approaches the building, my biter gets ready to sneak out, and my bugs fly towards the building. Mentally I figure out the general area of the place is by generally how far away my bugs are and their direction. With my phone, I open up the maps feature and move the map until it's somewhere around an industrial area, not an exact match of course, but it's in the general direction. With my bugs on the driver, the man gets out and rings a doorbell. At the same time I move my biter back so that it can sneak out once things start getting moved into the truck.

The driver is some kind of automaton, vaguely man like and from what my biter had seen, was like some kind of mechanical man, complete with a skull head and metallic body parts. Seems like whoever was making these early models of Eagleton robots was really going all out on automatons. After a moment, the door opens and my biter sees that the bay doors were opening as well, showing a small warehouse beyond with Eagleton look-a-likes standing at the ready to be loaded up and shipped out. From what my biter can see, they are not on and not moving. There is nothing else around that my biter can see and with my bugs inside, I can't seem to find anything other than the two by the door and the deactivated Eagleton bots.

With some of the bugs that were a part of this small scouting swarm, I move them onto the one that opened the door and from the feeling the bugs were having, it was metallic as well, only less bulky to the point of being skeletal. Deciding to take a chance, I move my biter out of the truck, and move behind some kind of obstacle I'd felt by the bay doors, which turned out to be a fork lift. Looking back, my biter saw what looked like one of the robots from a Star Wars film that had the elongated heads and the skeletal bodies that had invaded that swampy/plains planet in that movie.

Then I noticed one of my bug get stuck, before quickly dying to something. I look over with my biter and spot a spider's web in the corner where the bug died, and some kind of lumb in the web. Looking back to see that the robots had moved away from the door and closed it, I move my biter to the web, find the spider, and with the meagre magic in my biter, possess the spider, then I have my biter look at the lump.

It's an egg sack, full of nearly mature spiders. Reaching over again, my biter works its magic into the miniscule minds of the tiny spiders. Within a day or so I'll have them hatch and spread throughout the facility. Looking around again, I spot an ajar door, and with my biter push it open and move further into the facility, moving my swarm about to see more of the facility and watch for more robots.

Beyond the door, the area opened up into a far larger factory area, in one area it seemed that some machines were being loaded with raw materials by a few of those skeletal Star Wars robots which went up a conveyer belt. Sensing with my bugs, parts are being slowly shaped and moved into different machines at the top and slowly making their way down towards the bottom, the parts leaving the machine growing more complex with every machine they gothrough. From what my biter can see, it ends with the final products being mostly parts. One robot at the end of it is working on putting all of the various parts together into a mechanical biter.

The last robot was closer to that of the diver robot; only it seems far more complete. The thing had plating over it, and seemed to have a proper colour scheme about it. Dark metals with a kind of bronze lining along the edges of its various plates. As it turns around, its face is almost cartoonish, with one large eye and a smaller eye, both lit up. It seems to have for a mouth a kind of small rectangular opening but other than that, nothing else. It seems to have the hulking biter nearly done as it moves to connect the rather large biting head of the mechanical biter onto the neck, before using a finger as a screw driver to fasten the head. Then finally, it stands up, raises its hands up high above its head, its fingers shifting to Tesla coils, and finally lighting starts firing from its hands, entering into the machine. For a moment I wish I was there with my enhanced senses watching the thing, so I could understand magically what was going on. Just watching it through a biter, however, was useless. The mechanical biter stood up after a moment, looking around, and panting as the robot pet the mechanical dog.

Then the robot points towards where my biter is watching and said one word in a tinny robotic voice.

"Fetch," realising that my biter had been caught, I have it try to bolt away but as it reaches the door, the steel teeth of the mechanical biter grabs the skin and fur on the back of my biter's neck, gripping it tightly enough to cause a bit of pain but nothing serious. Even so, I have my biter thrash, even though it's useless. These biters usually thrash if picked up, and who knows, maybe it will give my biter a chance to escape. The mechanical dog turns around and walks towards the assembling robot, and the assembling robot crouches down to look at my biter, grabbing the head and looking it straight in the eyes.

"Hmmm, possessed hmm? Now, who are you? The PCP!? No, they dissolved months ago… the Vigilantes? They're always getting new recruits from those who die above… hmm… the Crimson gang? Mmmmmm maybe… though… it could be Pentious… No, no, possession isn't his style… a curious master perhaps?" the robot muses at my biter for a moment, and I quickly realise this was no Automaton, but a sinner.

"Well whoever you are, know this, Addison A-lectronics and Robotics is open for business, and if you have the money, we've got the bot for you! You can contact us as 666-1638-9999-5555-2385! Order now! Our stock is limited due to the abundance of sales of my own creation, the Rob-o! Now scram unless you have business with me," and with that my biter is dropped to the ground. The robot tinker walks to the door and opens it, pointing outwards. Without further prompting needed, I have my biter run out the door and out of the warehouse before looking at the factory itself.

What a strange encounter…

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos: Imp Interlude

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"Those are all I have at the moment, and it takes about a day or so to build the parts and assemble these things so you'll have to deal with it at the moment while I trickle the Rob-os to you Simon," Addison says to me over the phone as I continue to watch the displays of the various mechanical biters that are still left while sending commands to them on their version of the city's map which was updating in real time as they got more information.

"I understand Addison, but six more bots just isn't enough, not with those psychos out there being able to smash them so easily, isn't there something you can do? I know that you can get much better AI for them than what you're giving me, I've seen the vids of other mad science automatons," I say as I click on the map with a squad of my biter bots to keep them away from Crimson's big boys, biting my cheeks some more as I lose another one to the Beast as he speeds down the alleyways. Not many left, I do my best to have the bots scatter. At the same time, I get an alert that another biter bot in a different squad got into a fight and I shift my attention to that one.

"Look, the AI in these bots are what you are going to get. I don't want to mess around with anything more advanced than that until I know for sure it won't go to shit. I've had some bad experiences in the past with more "intelligent" AI like that."

"Can't you buy some better AI that isn't going to as you say "go to shit" and use that?" I ask.

"And get more lawyers on my ass as well? No thanks."

"This is Hell, no one gives a shit about the rules."

"Not unless you have enough money to make the police actually give a shit. I haven't pissed off a rich enough guy to do that, and I would like to keep it that way. Look Simon, I can't get you that, and besides, I know that even if I did sell you the bots with some added on AI to it, you likely wouldn't be able to pay for it, at least not the full batch you bought. While I like you, I'm not going to just ruin myself to keep you out of a debtor's prison for your fuck up," Addison says, and despite wanting to bite back at the comment of "my fuck up," regarding everything else, it sounds annoyingly reasonable. Family funds were already running low from just re-buying the bots I lost in my doomed rush, not to mention the reinforcements for the mechanical biters. I could go get some loans but doing so in Hell was basically just asking to get fucked by ever rising interest rates.

"What about anti armour? Or one of those mad science ray guns and stuff like that? I know you've made them before," I say. Addison is silent for a moment as I continue to evade the enemy. As I do so I grab my drink, uncaring that Addison will hear as I begin to guzzle it down before tossing it behind me, the can hitting the few dozen others. It'll take a few minutes but hopefully the energy drink it will keep my sleep at bay. Just… just a few more hours. I can sleep when I get through this, after all, can't sleep when your life is dependant on keeping your dog bots alive while they're being actively hunted.

"Won't work on brutes, or well, at least that's what was said for those Slaughterhouse members that they have in Crimson. I know of a few ideas that would likely work on brutes. For you're boy Crimson, I can gas him. All the topside news regarding him when he was still a big thing up top was that he was invincible to bullets and stuff so anti tank isn't going to help, and lasers are more anti personal than tank. Don't know about the snake though so some Anti tank might work on them. If you want, for a small fee, I can swap out the newest batch of Rob-os weapons with some Anti-tank and some gas grenade launchers. I can even include some regular frag and stuff with it as well. Or I can just apply them to the Rob-os that are being made in the future. It will come with a fall in fire rate, however, I haven't yet properly configured a system to have it become rapid fire without serious malfunctions yet."

"Swap out some for the next shipment, something like two to four with the four having the anti tank, and give them all the grenade launchers if you would. There are still Satan knows how many regular members of Crimson out there after that year of recruiting. We'll need the anti infantry to handle those guys and hopefully draw in the big guys."

"Alright, I'll get working on it in the morning. Oh uh, I had a bit of a strange visitor today, a possessed biter, know anything about that?" I scrunch my brow as I look to the phone.

"Why would you think I had anything to do with that?"

"No no, I was more thinking that Crimson might have someone who is possessing biters and might have been trying to find out where you got your robots."

"Do you think you're in danger?"

"Not at the moment, just thought I'd let you know. Just in case."

"Alright then, I'll send a few guys your way to keep watch, make sure that the convoys don't get hit in transit and all that," while I say that, I continue to click around the map, continuing to move around my biters. As I do so, one of the squad of biters not being chased, comes across a garage. Using the simple commands that the robot biters understand, I have them attack the garage door and try to get in. A horrible screech comes from the speakers linked to the biters as the biter uses its claws to tear through the garage door. There are shouts inside and it looks like there are some Crimson gang members inside. As one biter jumps in, a bullet must have hit something critical as the biter powers off while the other rushes forward.

One of the gangsters is pushed down, the biter turns it's head, and within an instant, bites down on the gangsters head. The sound of gunfire drowns out the wet pop that I would have heard otherwise. The biter turns just in time to see the door to the garage close. I type in a command and the biter rushes forth into the door. Denting it but otherwise it's fine.

With another typed in command the biter turns to the vehicles and I let my attention drift to the other biters, the previous one already set to begin destroying the vehicles held within.

"I can hear that you're busy so I'll just let you go, the refits will take a couple of hours tomorrow so rather than getting them at noon you'll get them later in the day, alright."

"Alright," I say and the call goes dead. Seeing no alerts for a moment, I let out a sigh and rub my eyes before I reach for my headache pills. From behind me, I hear the door open as I down my pills with another of my energy drinks. Thank Satan for demonic regeneration because this can not be healthy.

"Hey Boss?" I look over to where the voice, a friend of my Father, who calls out. He's holding a plate with a steak on it in his hand with two beers in the other, one already open, "Supper."

"Just put it down over there please," I say, pointing to the table with the map of our local area of the city, spread across it, Crimson's territory lined in red and ours in blue. I roll my chair over towards the spot as Frank puts it down in front of me, placing a beer by me as well. As I pick up the utensils at the side, I stare at my steak for a moment.

"What am I doing wrong Frank?" I ask as Frank turns away. I look up to him as he turns back, his bottle up to his mouth, taking a swig of it before he grabs a chair and sits at my map table, leaning back as he does so.

"Well, if you'd asked me a few days ago, I'd have said you're not paying enough attention to the businesses, you're not trying to get the police and old timers that left back in our pocket, and instead, you're spending the money on all of this expensive robot shit. That and you micromanage a lot, then try to do stuff yourself like with the robot patrols and stuff. Course now, I don't know. I just know I'm happy that we've got those bots that can take a bullet for me."

"Then why the Hell is all of this happening?"

"I don't know Simon, I guess maybe the robots got some of the young guys excited and tried to fuck with Crimson, but that's their fault, not yours."

"I don't think that those were our guys, I think someone is trying to frame us," I say, but Frank just shrugs.

"Well if it wasn't us originally then it doesn't matter now what with attacking them with our guys right after." I eat quietly for a minute while Frank drinks.

"Any advice?" I ask, looking back to him. He seems to ponder for a moment as he takes another swig of beer.

"If this were some other small gang like us and not raiders, sure, but not these guys. I wasn't good at the gang war stuff anyways, that was always what Gary would handle," he said, and of course, Gary had died with his Dad in his last fight against Crimson before the raiding really started in earnest.

"I see, thanks," I say as I look at the beer. Were I a weaker imp, I'd have taken it, and possibly drowned my sorrows with it, but I've got to keep the biters alive and harassing until those reinforcements arrive. Of course, that's when my phone started going off. Turning to it, I hit the accept call button and lifted it to my ear.

"This is Si-," I'm cut off by the sound of gunfire in the background.

"Boss! Shits fucked! We got guys shooting up the place down near Beezle Street, get the boys, it ain't Crimson!" and with that the line disconnects. I squeeze my phone for a moment as I bite into my cheek, accidentally piercing it with my sharp teeth and I can taste blood.

"Ow! Fuck!"

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"Hey Billy-bob! Pass me another beer!" I hear someone shout to me, my uncle having apparently run out.

"Sure thing Uncle Dixie, catch!" I say, reaching down into the cooler and doing an underhand toss towards him. Uncle Dixie plucks it from the air and leans back again, one hand around the girl that might be going back with him to the town he lived in. Judging by her expression, she seems impressed despite how it was an easy throw. As he does so, he looks to Moxxie who's sitting on an abandoned pile of bricks with his Millie with him, the two being sickeningly cute as usual.

The lot of us are having a bit of a get together in an abandoned section of an industrial zone in the city before most of us either left town for home or a few like myself stay behind to help Skitter with Crimson. Unfortunately the crowd willing to stay and help avenge Lloyd is smaller than I'd hoped, barely a handful, but then, can't exactly defend home when you're not there.

"So Moxxie, how's things in the assassination business?" he asks to which Moxxie gives an exasperated groan.

"Busy, the boss is actually considering hiring some new people rather than having just us. You know all those guys from Earth bet? I swear a third of our jobs are from them trying to kill one super hero or villain or another, and more than half the time, they're dead already and running around down here. Plus, with all the people showing up, I think we just got twelve new assassination orders in the week before we took this little vacation."

"Most of the time we just do one a day, but lately we've been having to do multiple, it's driving Luna up the wall having to find all of these people," at Millie saying that name, Moxxie drops his head into his hands, groaning aloud.

"Please don't say her name, I just want to relax and not have to think of her right now,"

"Aww, Moxxie," Millie says and warps her arms around him, her voice lowering for a moment to the point of being indistinct. Whatever she says cheers him up as he straightens out and looks at her with excitement.

"With the?" he asks, trailing on and as Millie smiles, he hugs her close. "You're the best!"

Looking away from that, Dixie looks to me. "So you're staying in town then?"

"Yeah, someone's got to help Skitter kick those Crimson cunts to the curb, especially after the shit they did to Lloyd," as I say that Uncle Dixie groans at that, shaking his head.

"Boy, didn't your Father ever teach you the lesson that revenge ain't going to help an imp worth nothing?"

"He did, but that doesn't change the fact that Lloyd's dead now, and I and a bunch of others aren't just going to let that go,"

"And get yourselves killed with nothing to show for it," he remarks dismissively as he takes a swig of his beer. As he says that my hands clench into fists, and my teeth begin to grind.

Fuck you! I want to say to him and I have a sudden urge to slug the jackass across the jaw, even if he is my Uncle. While Uncle Dixie and Lloyd are all a part of our family, we're a big family, and he hadn't known Lloyd like I had. The two of us had been friends since we were kids, hanging out whenever we could get away with it. Hell we barely even saw Dixie since he and several other imps here live outside of town in their own villages and towns.

But then, Uncle Dixie does know about losing close loved ones, not just a close relative you were good friends with either. He doesn't live in a paradise like we do. His town is far more typical of most imp towns and villages. A bunch of ranches, farms, and imps all together toughing it out. Far more often than us, he's dealt with raiders, wild hell beasts, and all sorts of other dangerous critters roaming the wastes.

Uncle Dixie lost his wife and kids after all. They had been killed by one of the nomadic bands of bandits that drove around the wastes looking for victims to prey upon. The lessons that Uncle Dixie had learned were that which almost every imp in the wastes learns. One of those being that revenge is a sucker's game that imps shouldn't play, even if it physically hurts to let the bastard get away. After all, sinners come back, and they have a hell of a vengeance, imps don't and unless you can take them down for good, a sinner will always win in the end.

I'd been taught the same thing, but unlike Uncle Dixie, I've never had to live it, so the lesson hasn't exactly stuck. It was all because of some wandering sinner waltzing into town one day, who single handed, turned around a bandit raid, and helped my Grandpa and Dad build up the town into what it is today. He helped us set up fortification around the town that still stands today. He gave us the knowledge that eventually lead to us beginning to have a bit of industry within town, and he even furthered helped us by setting up automatic turrets all around the town and spotlights that shine every night, lighting up the wastes for miles. Maybe if he'd had the fortune that we've had, he might not be so jaded, but then, what ifs never got anyone anywhere.

As Dixie finishes his drink, he looks back and he frowns a bit. Probably taking the hint that I certainly don't like his tone and attitude as I make no effort to hide my anger from him. He shakes his head and sighs.

"Look, I love… loved, Lloyd just like the rest of us. Don't take this the wrong way, I hope you guys actually do it, but well. I've just seen way too many friends run off into the wastes to avenge their family or friends. I've never seen a one again."

I take a deep breath, trying to calm down a bit before I respond. "This time is different. It's not just us imps, we've got Skitter with us."

He raises an eyebrow at me as I say that.

"One sinner?" he asks. He hadn't been there. He hadn't seen that red freak smash through us like a kid ripping through a sheet of paper, moving like an unstoppable train of death and destruction. He had been in the pens, looking for a girl to pick up to maybe fill that hole in his heart when Auntie Shae, cousin Arnold, Ben, and lil Carl had been murdered. He hadn't seen how Skitter so easily took down the creature that had killed Lloyd, and had actually cared enough to make sure the rest of us got out of there, including Felix, rather than gather more loot.

"One sinner," I say, more sure than certain in our success. It had only taken one sinner to turn my home from a withering village to a boom town in less than a generation. Why not here as well? I may not have met the mysterious wanderer, nor will I ever be able to tell my eventual kids of him, but I can certainly tell them about Skitter, how we helped her take down a raider gang and built up her little slice of Heaven right here in Hell.

"Well, when I see it, I'll believe it. Still, she's a moth demon so maybe she could use some of her silk and make you guys some kind of shirts or something you can slip some plates into. Or heck, even just getting some of her silk could get you a pretty little profit if you sold it to the right person," Dixie says as I remember the scar that Skitter had given me. It was just something to show our alignment in case a fight broke out and we needed to figure out who was who quickly. Reaching into my pocket, I grab the scarf and pull it out.

The thing is dyed in a black and yellow pattern of stripes. Skitter had been giving these out to everyone who was staying with her as she completed them, the first batch going to the girls who are working under her, and the second going to us that are staying to help fight Crimson and possibly this Raz family.

"You mean something like this?" I ask, holding up the scarf. As I hold it up, Dixie's eyebrows raise and he pulls away from his girl to get a closer look at it. As he inspects the scarf of silk he reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a softly glowing blade. A few other family members look over as I hold up the silk scarf.

"Mind if I test it? Genuine demon moth silk is supposedly pretty tough," shrugging I pass the scarf into his waiting hand as he walks back to the wall he's leaning on. He puts the scarf against it up against the wall and then drives his glowing knife into it, or at least, tries to.

I don't see the blade really going in too far despite it being obviously magical, and as he moves the scarf away from the wall it seems undamaged. I can't see much if any kind of damage to the material, and as I look, I can't see anything on the wall either. Dixie pulls on the scarf a bit, trying to see if a hole opened up, but the scarf is still as solid as before.

"Hmmm, good stuff."

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"Hey, you going to finish that?" a boy, some kind of puppy dog demon or something, across the table from me asks, his bowl of the bland soup already finished and scrapped clean.

"Hey, lay off the girl, she's probably as hungry as you are, ain't ya impy?" the girl beside me, one of my room mates while still in the Crimson gang's brothel, asks me. I nod as I continue to eat my soup. The soup is the same kind Mom would always buy in bulk for when we were running low on money that month. Some kind of pea soup or something. Cheap and filling if rather bland. As I keep eating though, the girl Marsha, a succubus I'd made friends with while we were room mates decided to keep prodding.

"So come on girl, what's the matter? What's got my favourite imp in the downs despite getting out of that shithole? You're not missing that place are you?" at the suggestion I make a face.

"What? No! It's just… well, I feel a bit homesick."

"Aw shit girl, missing your folks again?" Marsha asks, wrapping her hands around me, one hand rubbing my back, the other snaking across my leg. I can feel Marsha get closer to my ears as well.

"Want me to make it better?" she asks in a hushed whisper. I know what she's asking, and it was such a succubus way of doing things. Of course, she's a succubus, and sex is always on her mind, not that I wouldn't enjoy a little bit of cheer up sex. I smile, leaning into her a bit as she says that but I shake my head at the same time.

"Maybe in a bit, but I still gotta eat Marshy," I say as I nuzzle into the crook of her neck before shifting back to my bowl, keeping an eye on the puppy dog who's still trying to scrape some more soup out of his bowl.

"Well then how about we talk about something different then hmm? How about the new boss?" Marsha asks, pointing her spoon towards the upstairs office which the boss claimed. Through all the scaffolding, tarps, and various other kinds of things, the office is pretty obscured, but still somewhat visible.

"So what do you think about her poochie? You like her?" Marsha asks the puppy demon and he seems to brighten up at her mention.

"Oh yeah, I like her, I really like her," he says and I can see his tail start to wag and a smile start to spread across his face. "She's like, Mmmh! With how tall she is, her legs, I'd love to have a night with her, show her my moves."

At the mention of his moves, I can't help but snort while Marsha can barely hide her laugh as well. "Your moves? Puppy dog, if I had to guess, your moves are "roll over" and "present" so unless you planning on shaking your sweet lil ass for her I don't think you'll be getting jack."

Despite her words, the puppy doesn't seem deterred at all to which I smirk a bit. Kinky lil Hellhound, might have to have a little fun with him.

"Besides, she's already got herself a lil toy following her around so I doubt you'll get much, better to try to hook up with one of the out of town imps, or one of us you know? I could show you a good time," Marsha says.

"You don't know that, she could just be an enforcer or something," the puppy says but I shake my head.

"Come on, she's a moth demon running the pimp angle, she's gotta be taking after her Daddy, Valentino, which means that lil mouse is probably her eager little toy, you know, like how Valentino always has those cat girls with him. Probably was one of her birthday gifts or something. Like Father like… well not son but you get the gist," I say.

"But doesn't he sample his own hoes? Wouldn't that increase my chances if she is taking after her papa, if she even is his kid?" the puppy asks, to which I just shrug, and Marsha picks up the slack.

"Maybe, but then you're getting personal with your pimp, and I know all the stories of whores getting personal with their pimps. Never a good thing cause they'll rob you blind and push you to do things you didn't want to do," Marsha says. I smirk a bit as I look to her.

"Oh yeah? And what exactly would a succubus not want to do?" I ask to which Marsha rolls her eyes.

"Work for free. My Daddy taught me right so I don't get all worked up over the idea of hoeing for free… unless my customers are really hunky that is…" she says and I can't help but giggle at bit.

"Don't laugh, I may be greedy but I'm still mostly a lust demon."

"Speaking of greed, any idea when we'll be allowed to work the street? I'd really rather get myself some different food." I say changing the subject.

Puppy boy and Marsha shrug at my question. "Till the nearby gang war is over or something, though from the news it seems that it's mostly going on in Crimson territory so I think the Moth is being a bit of a Mommy Dom about the whole shebang and stuff. Though, you could see about getting with one of the imp boys around here, after that raid they're loaded and are going to be leaving town soon, so get your share while you can girly."

"You know what, I think I will," I say as I tip the bowl up and begin to drink up the rest of the soup. Maybe earning some money'll keep my mind off of what might be about to happen to my old home.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

A bit of a shorter interlude but hopefully it gives everyone a good idea of the general attitudes of the imps while also shedding light on the Raz VS Crimson situation.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 18

<><><><><><><><><>

There is something about Hell's tea that gives it a bit of an extra kick. Maybe it has a higher caffeine concentration in the leaves, or maybe this new body of mine isn't as used to the caffeine as my old one. Though, with a demon's constitution, it wouldn't make much sense. Weed from Hell was a bit of a kick to it as well if my sense of smell is right, so it's likely the first.

"So what's going on today boss?" Mimi asks as she sips her coffee. Whatever kind of coffee she's having though, from how bouncy it seems to be making her, might be a little too much for the little mouse demon.

"We're keeping busy for the most part while I continue to monitor the situation between the two gangs," it's all we can really do without playing our hand. While the Raz Family's defence is weak, their harassment tactics were working in their favour for now and continuing to weaken the Crimson gang while they built up their forces. Though, without any heavy hitters to take out Crimson's own, without a change in their strategy, the best they can do is take out the fodder. I doubt the Raz family isn't trying to figure out how to deal with the Crimson gang's boss, the clones, and their heavy armoured troops.

"Mimi, there is one thing I want to get out of the way," as I say that, I can see Mimi shift her full attention to me. "And before we start, I want you to know that I'm not someone that holds a grudge."

Mimi's mouth twitches downward as I say this, and her posture becomes a bit straighter. Despite the energy that she had before, she stills, my wording worrying her. She's looking at me, straight in the eyes, and while she does so I can smell something with my antennae. A bit of sweat, and she brings her coffee up to take a sip.

"I want to know, were you Burnscar?" I ask. Long seconds pass as we watch each other. Mimi stares at me, trying her best to keep from betraying her emotions to me, yet I can still smell the slight scent of sweat on her, and can hear the quickening of breath. I don't particularly wish to confront her on this and force her into this kind of situation, it would be better to get this over with now. Not talking about an issue is what led to the rift that grew between Dad and me. While we both worked on repairing our damaged relationship, it never was the same. If this all blows up now, and Mimi runs for it, it'll be less of a hit if it happens now rather than simply waiting on top of this landmine until it blows up. Not that it would be pleasant either way as despite only knowing her for a short amount of time, I enjoy her company and find myself connecting with her more than… well, more than I had with the Wards.

Eventually, she looks down, away from my eyes as she grips her coffee cup a bit harder, staring down into the bitter black stuff. A few more moments pass between us. I can hear the conversations downstairs, the girls happily chatting as they grab their breakfast. Despite her hesitation, I don't sense her magic shifting in a way that indicates a spell, and she'd have to drop her coffee to get at her gun. While I hope that Mimi doesn't try anything… interacting with the Nine changes people, not to mention actually being one of them.

"Yes… I'm Burnscar," Mimi finally said, her voice low, and her nose twitches. She never looks up from her coffee. I frown a bit.

"You are Burnscar?" I ask, trying to put emphasis on the "are." The mouse's ears twitch and I can smell the slightest whiff of salt. Mimi looks up, her lips are pursed, and quivering a bit. She's blinking often, likely holding back tears, while her brow is scrunched, a mixture of anger, fear, and misery.

"I am Burnscar," she says, seeming not to have picked up on what I was trying to say.

"No, you're not, you were, Burnscar. The key word being "were,"" I say, but Burnscar's brows just scrunch more, confusions seeping in. Hoping to better display my point, I place a hand face up on my desk between us, and use my magic to light a fire with it, a small blaze about the size of a torch. Mimi stares at it, her breath quickening, her lip quivering a bit more as her grip tightens on her cup.

"Burnscar's file says that when using her power, she would feel better, like everything was going to be alright. Her depression, her anxiety, and her inhibitions would slip away the more she used her power and the more fire there was around her. Look at this fire now, do you feel those tears of yours drying up? Are you feeling more sure of yourself? Do you feel a bit more compulsive?"

She doesn't answer my question right away, continuing to stare at the fire, her blinks grow rapidly and I can still smell the salt. She starts to breathe in through her mouth, her nose clogging up. I extinguish the fire and get up from my chair. She doesn't move, still staring at the spot where I'd held up the fire. Slowly, I reach out as I get closer. Mimi doesn't try to pull away as I gently place my hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think you're Burnscar, not anymore. Burnscar was the amalgamation of a depressed and lonely girl in a terrible situation, with a mind altering power that slowly drove her over a cliff. I don't see that in you, what I see is a girl, burned and hurt by a situation she was pushed into, and slowly trying to turn her life around," I can see Mimi's grip on her cup relaxes a bit as I talk. Good, hopefully that means I'm getting through to her.

"You may have been Burnscar once, but that life doesn't have to define you. From what I've seen, what I know, and how you've acted while I've been here, you're not Burnscar. You're Mimi, the girl who enjoys comic books, who hates injustice, who is starting to have a love of guns, and, who I hope I can consider a friend," Mimi looks up at me as I say that last part, tears slowly falling from her huge eyes, her lips quivering. She sniffles and puts down her coffee cup. Mimi's arms rise up, hesitantly. I smile and pull her towards me. Her arms wrap around me as she hugs me tightly, her breath holding a tremor in it.

I begin to stroke Mimi's hair, remembering how Mom would comfort me when I would go to her crying, either because something scared me, or I got hurt. She'd stroke my hair, cooing at me, telling me sweet nothings. Slowly I would calm down as Mom made sure I was alright. Knowing Mimi's big ears, I start to do the same as Mom, just quieter; I begin saying sweet nothings as well. Telling her it will be alright, and that she needn't have to worry. At the same time, I start to grow, slowly turning into my true demon form while also growing out my other pair of arms as I slide my arms under her, picking her up to keep her head on my shoulder. I maneuver us over to her chair and sit down with Mimi on my lap. Her crying has slowed but still present as she continues to hold onto me tightly while my whispers continue.

"We-we're actually… friends… right?" Mimi asks through sniffles. She doesn't look at me, still hugging me tight, but her head does lean in a bit more.

"I consider us to be, why?" I ask. Mimi doesn't respond immediately, letting herself calm down a bit more as we sit there on Mimi's chair. Slowly, her whimpers fade, and she doesn't shiver or shudder as much as when she started trying to hold back her tears.

"I… I thought I had a friend… once. Elle, I… I thought the world of her… she… she was… I loved her… she was my best friend…" Mimi stops for a moment, her breathing growing uneven again as she hugs tighter for a moment.

"I… I learned…" Mimi starts but can't seem to continue, though I think I get the picture.

"She betrayed you," I finally say, having assumed as much both from her attempts to convey her message, and from my own experience with the destruction of friendships. Thinking about this kind of thing, especially if the wound hasn't healed, it can be hard. It had been hard to think about Emma's betrayal in the beginning, and even as it scarred over during the years of bullying, it'd made me just that little bit more cynical and bitter. Though as I moved on from Emma, and my life got turned upside down, I'd been able to move on from it, and heal. Part of it was likely due to my friends. They supported me when I felt no one would, or in Dad's case, could. Our developing friendship and my mission gave me something to do and enjoy rather than stew in my bitterness, letting me heal from the damage Emma and her posse had done.

Of course, I'd also piled it on with the revelation that I knew who she had been, what she had done, and I was willing to look past it, at her, rather than at the shadow haunting her. Ending up in the asylum, slowly being forgotten about, and then being recruited by the Nine. It would have been tough, the kinds of things she'd have gone through, that she'd have done.

She didn't elaborate further on what happened between her friend and herself. I knew that she was friends with Labyrinth, but nothing about what might have gone on between them as I had focused more on how to combat Burnscar, her power's effects, and how the interactions affected her. I hadn't expected to face her again after I'd finished my research on her, both during Jack's first failed apocalypse, and now. Though, both now and then, I'm glad I did, it gave me a bit of insight, both on her condition, and on the girl behind the mask.

Slowly, Mimi's breathing turned calm, her shuddering eased, and the smell of salt didn't grow stronger as things continued. I stopped whispering in her ear, but I didn't stop petting her head, using my nails on them to give a bit of a head scratch at the same time. Mom would do it for me when I would grow upset, her nails scratching at itches I didn't know I had and the simple pleasant and repetitive motion helped me calm down faster as a kid.

"I won't tell Adam if you don't want me to," I say. Mimi doesn't react much really, tired from a good sob, merely relaxing in my lap. She isn't asleep though, her heart hasn't slowed down enough. "Though, it might be best to tell him."

"No," Mimi says, "We… we killed his gang, Jack was the one that killed him but… I was still a part of it… we still dismantled him and Sherrel's gang, their life work. I mean they even brought back their gang and its name in the afterlife. It must have meant something to them if they brought it back."

"Maybe, he doesn't like it when people mess with him, and I think for a time, he saw himself as the Merchants. But as time went on, he seems to have lost interest in them. He's changed from what I knew of him… While he likely isn't happy about dying, he has had time to rethink his life after all of this. I don't know him well enough to say whether he'll be upset or not, but he told me that at their peak, when you, Jack, and the rest of the Nine moved into town but hadn't taken them out, he felt empty. That he felt "nothing" despite the fact that he and his gang were the most powerful force in Brockton at the time.

As for Sherrel, I don't know. If you want, I can ask her about it, what the Merchants meant to her. For Adam, it was about survival… I don't know what the Merchants meant to Sherrel."

"Could you?" Mimi asks, a bit of hope in her voice. Smiling a bit, I ruffle the older woman's hair.

"Sure. I can go check, and after that, if you want to, maybe you can tell Adam and Sherrel. Either way, you don't have to worry about me," I say, giving Mimi a bit of a squeeze, hoping to reassure her. Mimi squeezes back before she cuddles into me a bit more, resting her head on my shoulder as I continue the head scratches.

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Eventually, Mimi and I had to separate from the impromptu cuddle, both because we needed to work, and we were getting hungry again. Of course, I was delayed from extracting myself from the cuddle by the mouse demon falling asleep on me, though I did get more practice with my scarf weaving, and it was getting to the point that I could work on weaving while looking through my phone. I only have to pay a cursory amount of attention to the project to get a consistent quality scarf.

While I weaved my scarf I researched about New Canada. As Sam Spade had said, New Canada considers themselves as a continuation of Canada. As expected, the terrain is absolutely frigid. Most of the place is covered in snow all year round, making farming a bit problematic. The Canadian's, however, had managed to figure out ways around it. Cannibalism was one way, but it went beyond that. While Cannibalism is the most likely punishment for those who committed crimes in New Canada, due in part to the high prevalence of demons there resembling prey animals, most prisoners would be used in one way or another to fuel New Canada. Some, like demons made of wood, would find themselves chopped up for fire wood while their head sat in a prison cell, others would have what natural abilities they had exploited.

For example, if I were a Canadian, and I ended up in their jails for some reason, I'd find myself having to spray out my silk day in and day out, giving it away to the Canadians until my sentence was up. Adam would likely be chopped up for prisoner rations. Sherrel… well… I'd rather not think about what would happen to Sherrel.

Some of course resisted this, and with capes having a better grasp on magic than others, they fled. Some would run for the hills and the rest of Hell. Others stay and fight. Of those that stay, there are apparently two major rebellious factions they can join. The Quebecois French, which started off as a separatist movement that has apparently been around since before Canada in the living world was properly founded, and some other faction calling themselves the "Metis," which as far as I understand are some kind of rebellion of mixed race natives. Interestingly, both factions were older than capes by quite a bit, with the more recent of the rebel factions forming over a century before capes began appearing around the world.

I doubt Alec is in either of these factions, he never was the kind of person to really want to get involved in things with grand missions. He'd rather just spend his time lazing about and enjoy himself rather than get involved.

As I continue to perform some more research on New Canada, my phone chimes with an alert.

Private Message from : [ENE_Battery]

Intrigued, I swipe away the internet browser and open up the chat room app, then tap on the private message from Battery.

Topic : Thanks

[ENE_Battery] : Just wanted to personally thank you for your help a few nights ago with that information. A lot of people just got saved because of you.

[Mistakes_Were_Made] : It isn't really a big deal, I just used what knowledge I had to try and help everyone out and hopefully save some people. Any good person would do the same.

[ENE_Battery] : I wish, if there were more people out there like that, I doubt hell would even be this large, or have this many people.

[ENE_Battery] : Though, if you don't mind me asking, I've since learned that there were three slave brothels, and not just the two that you mentioned. While we were raiding the Crimson gang, some imp mafia attacked at the same time, and hit the last brothel that we didn't know about. Would you happen to know about that last group of slaves?

I frown, not liking where this is going. Pulling open my desk, I pull out one of the other vigilante's phones. This one had had a fingerprint lock on it that I had easily spoofed by cutting off the vigilante's thumb before changing the various settings on it and the password. With it I start setting up another account and use the rollie polly vigilante's account to prep an invite for my sock puppet.

[Mistakes_Were_Made] : Are you implying that I might have coordinated something illicit for my own benefit?

[ENE_Battery] : I am, but that doesn't mean that if you did have something to do with this, we can't work this out. While I find it a bit unsavoury, I'm also not exactly in the position to be picky about my allies, especially when it is us against all of Hell. We vigilantes aren't just a collection of heroes and PRT officers from Earth Bet, but we're also former villains, and criminals who've all united under a common cause. We each have our own reason for joining up and sticking with this coalition. So I'm willing to make a deal. If you tell us who you coordinated with to kidnap those slaves, and who they are being sold to, we'll pay you, you can help us get them back, and we can make this all right again.

[Mistakes_Were_Made] : You've obviously made up your mind on whether I'm guilty of this or not.

[ENE_Battery] : Mistakes, don't make another mistake. Just because you made one mistake in the past doesn't mean you have to make another. Work with us here and we can put all of this behind us, so please don't make this harder than it has to be.

[Mistakes_Were_Made] : While I would love to inform you of my collaborators, there are none. I have not kidnapped any slaves or conspired to kidnap any slaves. I know what you are implying that I'm making a mistake, but I have not done anything of the sort. If there is a leak in this loose coalition of vigilantes you will have to look somewhere else for it as I've never had any dealings with any kind of Mafioso.

I type up and post to the private chat. While I wait for a response, I finish up the new sock puppet profile and invite my sock puppet into the chat room.

[Earth Bet Capes Chat Room]

[Queen_Crustacean] has joined

[Loco_for_Just_Ice] : There are guys all over the safe house, I can see in the cameras that they're going door to door!

[4gent_5mith] : Stay calm Loco, help is on the way.

[Lucksman] : What's going on?

[Psicho] : Fucking fucks are teuk to raid the fucking safe houses tha porkypig set up

[Psicho] : Theye taking the girls

[Psicho] : Gonna ficm em

[4gent_5mith] : Hold on @Psicho, we're only a few minutes away, don't get killed for no reason!

[Hedonisk] has joined

[Deceaced_Dir_Arny] : I'm at the second safe house, and we just fought off a group of guys like this, no idea who these guys are but they're well armed and armoured. I've got what's left of my team here working on figuring out who attacked us. Whoever they are though, they put up one hell of a fight. Got an armband on them that looks like a black owl.

[Lucksman] : Hey @Hedonisk, you're back! What happened? It's been a year since you last poked your head in. We thought you died or something.

[Porc # 33] : This is communications officer Gage at safe house 3, we've come under assault by outside forces and request immediate assistance!

Seems I'm not the only mole in that group. This likely won't help at all with Battery being on my case because I didn't disclose the third brothel to her. While I could have, would it have lead to greater success on our part or theirs? Their forces would have been spread thinner meaning they would have been easier to deal with by the Crimson defenders. Though if they'd been successful, we'd have been able to hit more of the Crimson gang's warehouses and hurt the resources they had.

Losing that account hopefully won't lead to a cascade of my socks being banned. While I tried to make it seem like they were being invited naturally, there is only so much I can do without losing time on all my other projects.

Of course, the question is now, who are these guys? If they are in fact mercenaries, then someone must want the slaves. Valentino's a possibility; Angel said that Crimson was selling them to Valentino. Perhaps he decided he still wanted them? It could also be someone trying to cash in on the bounty money that Valentino put up for vigilantes while also going after their loot. Some of the more violent vigilantes were certainly not hurting for guns, ammo, and other kinds of loot.

As I ponder, I watch through the eyes of one of my biters as the robo biters come to a stop. Curious, I move my biter closer to the edge of the roof it's on. Knowing how relentlessly some of the Crimson gang bosses have been chasing the robo biters, them stopping all of a sudden is bizarre. Feeling with the few bugs I have tracking the other robot biters, they've stopped as well. What was going on?

Then, I hear gunfire from the possessed biters in the Raz family's territory. I direct a biter and many of my bugs towards the gunfire, sticking to the alleyways with my biter to keep it from being spotted. As I move my biter into position, the gunfire grows in intensity. Soon enough the high calibre booms of one side are quickly joined by the sound of a few sub machine gun raining down fire upon whoever started firing the bigger guns. I feel through my bugs members of both sides fall down. As my biter comes closer to the conflict, I can see a body on the ground. The dead demon looks like it's some kind of black wolf dressed up in a military uniform, some kind of red camo like the veteran imps had underneath a tan vest with various kinds of gear. On the wolf soldier's arm I can see a band of red cloth wrapped around it, and on it, the symbol of a black owl.

They're after the slaves then. While I still might be wrong, whoever hired these guys probably want the slaves if they attacked both the vigilantes and the Raz family who we framed. That means it was likely one of the people that I know wants those slaves, either Valentino, or one of his lieutenants looking to impress the boss. Though, it could actually be the Crimson gang fighting back… How did they get information on the vigilantes so quickly? Then again, all they would have to do is nick a vigilante's phone and get into it. From there, figure out where the safe houses are from the conversations on there, and now you have the ability to direct any hired mercenaries to where you need them.

Either way, if the attack on the Raz family is hampering their ability to distract Crimson, it'll only be a matter of time before Crimson can regroup and go on the offensive. With their heavy hitter still in play and most of the Raz family's robots out of commission from that doomed assault, they'll run the imps through. No doubt they'll take more slaves to replenish their losses from our looting and the attacks on their brothels.

The Raz family has to know this; why else would they have kept the mechanical dogs in Crimson's territory for so long? Even now, I'm watching as the dogs, while they are attacking the Beast, they aren't running like before. The speedster utterly demolishes them as he speeds past them, lightning springing out in his wake, stunning the other robot dogs as he slams his fist down into one of their heads. The mechanical monstrosity head is flattened by the Herculean demon while he rounds on another, continuing the carnage.

Maybe I could turn this to my advantage. With the distractions gone, and their supply of robots seemingly slower than their need, the Raz family will need someone or something to stay alive and unmolested by the outside. Even if they don't want to play ball, it could prolong the war between Raz and Crimson, weakening both further while we grow in power. I grab my phone and pull up the number of the toy soldier I'd made a deal with, Anthony. At the same time, I start to move some of my flying bugs off of my biters in the Raz Family's territory and begin to tag the armoured combatants, letting me track them.

"Hello, this is Anthony."

"Anthony, it's Skitter, do you have some new recruits for me?"

"Oh hey, yeah I got some people for ya, about a dozen or so who kind of like the idea and are willing to come on over. Are we doing something?"

"Get who you can and meet us near 347th street and 958th Ave, and make sure they're prepped for a fight."

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"Moxxie, I need information," I say into my phone while Sherrel drives.

"Oh, hey Skitter, I'm back in the office right now and we aren't heading out again for a bit, so I can see what I can do. What's your question?"

"Do you know anything about some mercenaries, guys that wear tactical armour like the more veteran imps but they have an armband with a black owl on it?"

"Uh, I think so. They could be a small time merc company called Black Owl. There are a bunch of mercenary companies like them around, especially up here on Pride. Don't really have anything that stands out about them. Even their name is pretty generic. Most of the time it's Black something or other. They got some alright guns and stuff, probably some heavy armour, maybe even a suit of power armour if they're about to move up from small time stuff, nothing too scary though, and nothing you can't handle from what I've seen. I'll check around the net to see if there's anything different about them and text you if there's anything out of the ordinary. Other than that though, you fought S.W.A.T guys before right? Basically that, only a bit tougher."

Swat? Trying to remember about history class, I remember that there had been an organisation, which had basically been the proto PRT before they were eventually formed by Alexandria disguised as Rebecca Costa-Brown. Swat had lost most of its funding to the PRT since dealing with Parahuman issues took precedence over handling less important regular crime. So if the mercenaries were like Swat, then they would probably be closer to Coil's minions or even PRT troopers.

"Alright then Moxxie, thanks," as I hang up, Sherrel looks at me, somehow still managing to drive through the insane traffic without crashing.

"So why exactly are we helping the Raz? I thought that the whole idea of doing a false flag was to have Crimson and Raz fight it out so that they'd be gone and we'd pick up the pieces."

"That was the plan, but a lot of the girls we grabbed are from this area, and the Raz family isn't going to be putting up much of a fight now that they lost most of their robots. They haven't been doing as well protecting their territory either so we're moving in to take out the mercenaries that are attacking them. What rep they have will crater and we'll show the people that they can't be protected by the Raz family. From there, what they do is up to them, but it'll grow our good will in that community if we can actually protect them here. After that we deal with the Crimson gang."

"So what, we're going with hearts and minds and shit?" Adam asks from his spot manning the turret as he ducks down to listen to us.

"It'll bring us more recruits and weaken the Raz family. After this, they'll either decide to play nice, and we can set up our territory officially, or they won't and we can deal with them here and now," personally, I hope that they decide to actually ally with us and not stay a problem, but some people can't be reasonable. I learned that early on when we tried to make an alliance with the various factions in Brockton against the Nine and were spurned for it.

"Alright cool, just tell me where to go," Sherrel says as she finally looks back to the road and I can let go of the handle in the arm rest. Through my bugs, I can feel several of them that I'd used to tag mercenaries with coming up on the left. From what my biter that followed them had seen, at least two of them were packing some kind of bazooka. As we drive, I start to move my bugs up from their hiding places on their torsos and up to more critical places like their necks and their heads.

"Mercs on the next left, get ready!" I shout and look to the back of the van. In the back are the few imps that decided to join us, each of them wearing the scarves I'd woven with my silk. Once I have a bit of down time, I'll weave them something more, and include a few inserts for armour. For now, their natural demonic durability, and the few tricks I learned at the hospital will have to do. Before the van moves around the corner, I use a bit of magic to draw my antennae in, so I don't get blown over by the sound of the tank cannon firing.

As the van takes a left and skids to a halt, I'm already poking my head out of the passenger's side of the van and aiming over at the group of mercenaries, lining up my shots. I get two shots off, before Adam fires. The shot shakes the world, running through me and keeping my aim from steadying, while the van shudders and starts swaying.

The two I hit go down, though whether it was necessary, I don't know. The group had been moving down the street on one side, and while my shots made sure the mercenaries with the bazookas weren't operational, that single blast blew out the wall behind it and sent the squad of mercenaries flying.

"Fuck yeah! I'll never get tired of that!" Adam shouts while his wife giggles at his enthusiasm. Right, I forgot the Merchants never had been the kind to care about collateral damage. I get back into the van, there not being any more mercenaries down this road, and a fight is going on up ahead. I can feel some of the bugs I tagged on a robot trundling it's way towards the fight.

"Let's try to keep the collateral to a minimal Adam, especially as we want to control this place eventually. Next fight is a few blocks down that way," I say as I point down the road we'd just peeled off from. "After that, the third left and then straight down the street."

"I'll try Skitty, but this thing isn't exactly meant for not fucking shit up!" the cockroach says as we back up and start driving down the street again. On the bright side, if things go as well as back there, we might not even need to get out of the van.

<><><><><><><><><>

Sorry for the long wait, I'd been working on the Thanksgiving stuff and then the Halloween stuff.

Please comment, it makes me giddy and critiques help me figure out where I might be going wrong... or influence where the story might go in the future by drawing my attention to things I hadn't considered.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 19

I will be making some edits later so that the armoured van doesn't just leave since that wouldn't make any sense. Once I make those edits (should be some time tommorow, then I'll be posting the previous chapter to the other sites). So Squealer and Skidmark are coming with!

Going to also have to edit chapter 13 to update Lilac's description, because it has recently come to my attention that in the middle of Golden Morning, Taylor straight up ogles Marquis for like a paragraph. Taylor, there's a fucking apocalypse going on, stop wanting to fuck the incredibly effeminate man and save the god damn world! You god damn useless Narnia wardrobe lesbian!

<><><><><><><><><>

"Enemies coming up on the left side," I call out to Adam who's already swivelling the van's turret in that direction. Sherrel in unison turns slightly as if to turn down that street. The van rounds the corner and comes upon a firefight between some mercenaries and a group of civilians, both of which take cover behind some vehicles as they take pot shots at each other. From my seat in the front of the van, I can see the almost comical widening of one mercenary's eyes before Adam fires. The boom blasts through the van, and the vehicle rises up from the recoil of the shot. The round impacts into the road and debris flies everywhere, with cement dust obscuring the mangled corpses left behind. From the bugs that survived the blast, none of the men there are moving after that.

As Adam starts to turn the turret back to its original forward facing position, the "civilians" shout out in surprise and start to flee the scene as Sherrel backs up and starts blasting back down the street we'd been following.

"Which side next?" Adam calls out from the turret.

"Right side," I call out as I continue to use my bugs to keep track of the various combatants. Unfortunately, with my swarm divided from tracking what's going on in the Crimson gang's territory, tracking all the combatants in the Raz family's territory, and the various other things I've been using my swarm to monitor, I'm actually running low on spare bugs.

With my now effectively infinite range combined with the fact that I no longer simply take command of bugs in my range, I've let myself get spread thin. My range had always been something of a limiting factor to my power projection, with my power fluxuating how far it extended depending on if it liked me and what I was doing for not. With infinite range, I've let myself get too caught up in the utility of it that I've let myself take on too much at the same time without the numbers to also keep a personal swarm for myself to use. Despite the amount of bugs I've been grabbing, I just can't fully match my previous self's swarm, not with how I've spread my bugs out and how I have to manually possess each bug either on my own, or with my biters. While my skills with firearms, my ability to easily track where the bullets will go, and the fact that most of my enemies have effectively been immortal has allowed me to compensate for using my swarm elsewhere. But at the moment, the here and now is more important. Once this is all over, I can finally figure out a more efficient system so I can do both.

But that's an issue for the future, not one to think about in the middle of a firefight. Refocusing, I start to pull back my bugs that I have in non essential places, small nests near or in vigilante bases, non high profile targets, and the combatants that aren't Raz outside of what used to be my range. I leave the ones in the Crimson gang's territory because I'll need them for the later attack, but for now, the brute force of my hell bug swarm will serve me better than information.

"Alright, next left and then a right?" Sherrel asks as she turns into the street so that Adam can fire a round down at the next group of mercenaries. From a distance, they look like they are trying to dance around, some of them having dropped their guns while they patted themselves down while my bugs start to bite and nip at them, tearing into their flesh, stabbing in their claws, or in a few that have already fallen over, inject their poison. They don't even have time to take cover as another tank round flies down range and blows them off their feet.

"Nice shot!" I shout out to Adam, glad for the accuracy. While I'm good with a pistol and things I've trained on the shooting range with, I never got training to operate any kind of heavy weapon. I'll have to fix that in the future, maybe with Mimi. I'm sure she'd get a kick out of trying to handle something like this.

"Ha! Yeah sure, and that's coming from the girl that domed all those mother fuckers at the warehouse. I seen the shit you did there and I'll bet you'd have head shot these bitch ass niggers just to style on me." Sherrel reverses again and we get back on the move. As we move, Adam squats so he can look down into the van while still standing in the elevated spot for the turret.

"If only. With small arms I might be able to but I still don't know how to properly drive let alone handle tank turret controls."

"Well shit girl, you must never have played them tank games at the arcades and shit," Adam says while showing off a wide smile.

"Never got much of a change," I say back. As we drive, I start to move some of my swarm to the nearest place where the Raz is being attacked. A fun fact about Hell's bugs as I've slowly been learning when I search more into them. Nearly all of them are flesh eating and practically evil in some way or another. The ecosystem of Hells bugs are effectively, the scavengers, who feast off of the flesh of the dead, then come the predators, and then it's predators all the way up until it reaches things straight out of science fiction like giant sand worms and hell born sapient bug demons. Each of the various predators have strange and interesting ways of killing, and nearly all of them have ways of causing incredible amounts of pain. Some are like the bullet ants in the living world, with excessive toxins. Some simply have razor sharp claws and mandibles, while some others, like the fireflies I'd used during the warehouse and brothel raid were quite literally magical bugs. The fireflies specifically are able to light fires with their butts since instead of being bioluminescent, they are actually on fire.

Thus, as we drive to the Diner where some Raz family imps are holding out, some of my swarm crashes upon the mercenaries, biting, gnashing, clawing, or at times lighting them up with hellfire. The squad or two of mercenaries dropping everything to focus on my swarm. Those that are unlucky enough to fall behind cover spend agonising seconds writhing on the ground while my bugs continue to dig into them. The lucky ones run from cover, and are mercifully shot to death by the café's defenders, or had already bitten the dust by the time my swarm arrived. I can already feel the ever so slight feeling of empowerment as some of them die. Not as effective as deal making in terms of gaining power, but it is an effective way to determine if someone was faking or has actually died.

From the bugs on the fallen mercenaries, I begin to coalesce my swarm into a more humanoid form, something that those inside can talk to. While it will give myself away to those that know of me, and how I use my bugs in life, once this gang war is over, I can focus more on increasing my swarm as well as keeping my people safe from attacks. Perhaps something a bit like what Valentino did when the vigilantes had attacked his territory in order to get to me.

"Attention Raz family, I'm here to help, tell me where your Boss is," I announce through the bugs as we drive up. We sit tight for a moment. From what I can see, the imps are spooked, looking between the remains of several armoured mercenaries and my own bugs while they talk amongst themselves.

"Holy shit, that's gotta be gruesome under that armour," Sherrel comments as she looks around at the mercenaries, only a few of which are still rolling around, some are twitching but by now most of the mercenaries are dead.

"Fuck man, glad I never pissed you off enough to come after me like that," I hear from Adam in the turret.

"You didn't have to worry, back then, I'd only do it to those that really deserved it."

"These guys deserved it?" Sherrel asks but I shake my head.

"This is different, they can't die from this, and I've never been opposed to using pain."

One imp Mafioso eventually steps out in front of the rest of his peers as he looks at my swarm clone, his gun pointed in its general direction as if it would help him were I to attack. He takes a deep breath as he keeps trying and failing to look at the corpses around him before he talks.

"Last I heard he was holding out at Lilac's café, don't know if that changed but that's all we know. Oh and uh, thanks for saving our asses."

"Not a problem," I announce through the swarm before relaying where we need to head to Sherrel. Without hesitation, Sherrel speeds off as I start to move my swarm in the direction of the café as well, starting to incapacitate mercenaries along the way, beginning to devour them. While there are a few of them that are tougher than what most of my bugs can get through, the sight and sound of their comrades, the screams of agony as hundreds of flesh eating bugs start to devour them from the inside, blood soaking their outfits and their screams turning to gurgles in their throats as I start to rip them apart. It seems to prove too much for some of them. One of them, some demon made of stone, curls into a ball as he watches his team mates get devoured. From the sounds I can make out from my bugs around him specifically, I can hear dry heaving as well. As we drive to the café, I don't spare any of the mercenaries, not caring about the pain I inflict on them. Without a rule of law, brutality, as I learned in Brockton Bay, was one of the ways of keeping your enemies in line. Not to mention it was the most efficient.

As we drive to the café, I open my phone and dial Anthony again. Thankfully, he picks up quickly.

"I have a location, it's a place called Lilac's, a café at the end of Vincent Avenue. Get the recruits and the girls and meet me there. If you follow Vincent Ave, I should have the path clear of mercenaries."

"Alright boss, sounds good, I'll get everyone to move out."

"Good, call me if there is trouble, I don't have my bugs watching everything at the moment."

"If you're not watching-"

"I'm mimicking one of the twelve plagues at the moment, and until I get more bugs, those things are mutually exclusive," I interrupt, referencing one of the few biblical references I know, or at least, think I know. I've never been to church what with Mom having been a bit of a militant atheist which kept us from having to go, though I think I was baptised as a concession to Dad.

"Oh shit, okay, I'll be there soon, I'll just look for the building marked with the red "X" then," and to that he hung up. What did a red "X" have to do with anything?

I can feel the imps at the café. By this point, my swarm has reached it, and as we get closer, I can hear their dying screams as my swarm descends. Some of the imps keep shooting but some of them stop, likely staring out at the mercenaries as they start to flail about, like those before. As we come to a stop outside of the café, most of the mercs are already dead, and all of the imps inside have stopped shooting. They look over as I step out from the van and start to move towards them. My own imps hop out as well, and like those inside, they stare at the corpses around us, the once threatening group of mercenaries, reduced to nothing more than feed for my bugs. Not wishing to waste time I advance on the building while sending my swarm away down Vincent ave to clear it for Anthony. Only a few imps actually acknowledge my approach, too busy watching my swarm flow down the road.

I see a few imps on the ground inside and as I enter I unfurl my antennae from their place as earmuffs protecting me from the booms of the canon. Some are clearly dead, what little magical signature they had, having faded into nothingness, while a few are still holding onto life despite being shot up. Without hesitation, I move into the café towards the wounded, and try to remember how the doctors in the hospital did their spells. I'd practiced a little with them, but I'd never used it in a serious capacity like this, though this isn't a time for second guessing. Mimicking what the doctors did, I push out my energy, not like when I used it before to let out bursts of wind, but in a way that mimicked a few powers I knew.

Interestingly enough, very few powers were straight up healing, but rather, their main function was to perform something else, and healing was usually just a side effect of it. There had been a few I'd used in the battle with Zion that had actually been healing power, and even those were different from magic actually intended to heal. Powers went with a more round about way of healing, more akin to cellular regeneration mixed with matter grafting, while magic was more direct, and seemingly a bit less convoluted, at least on the healing front. With that in mind, I try my best to copy what the doctors did, rather than fall upon something more familiar from Golden Morning, and as I watch the wounds begin to close, though a bit slow compared to the doctors, the healing magics do their job.

I watch before my very eyes as the black bleeding wounds slowly close as I heal the imps, eventually their various bullet wounds being replaced by white skin stained by their black blood as the imps heal. Bits of bullets slide out of the imps and fall onto the ground with a soft tinkling as I heal the imps. Luckily, there are only a few in critical condition while most of the others have only been clipped or managed to keep from getting shot. As the last of the critical injuries heal up and close, I stand up straight and turn to the other Mafioso imps.

"Where is your Boss? I need to speak with him," I announce to the group, to which one of the injured with just a shot in the arm raises his good hand.

"Right here," the boy calls out. He sounds a bit older than Felix, more like Moxxie or one of the young adult imps from the Wrath ring. He steps out and he even looks young like them as well. Maybe imps grow differently from humans but he still seems to have a youthful smoothness to his face, though his eyes are bloodshot and he himself looks like he just came out of an Endbringer fight.

"So, what does Valentino's kid want with me, miss…?" The imp starts off, leading on, but I tilt my head. Valentino's kid? I don't look that close to him do I? Sure we are both Moth demons but other than a superficial similarity that doesn't mean I'm his kid. When I have more time, I'll ask what he means.

"Skitter," no point hiding it with a potential partner. "And I am here because I want to propose something of an alliance with you."

The imp raises an eyebrow before he brings up his good hand to wipe at his eyes before suppressing a yawn. Perhaps he is an insomniac? "Sorry, I've been up for days trying… trying to keep the dogs alive."

"Well I can tell you that they are dead now," I tell him. The Crimson gang had been rather effective at hunting down the dogs, when the dogs actually started turning around and fighting back against the Crimson gang, they had no chance against them and made it easy. They must have been set to some kind of guard mode while the Raz's boss came out to help defend the territory. Not the best idea for keeping the dogs alive, but with how things had been going with the mercenaries before we'd shown up, they obviously had needed every gun they could get and then some.

The imp lets out a groan and leans up against one of the overturned tables. As he leans there, he shakes his head. "Yeah I figured. Never were going to last long without a bunch of micro. Now don't give me that shit about wanting an alliance, I know how this goes… pardon my language, I'm not exactly in the best mind, space, uh, thing.

Now you got the power, and it's a fucking lot of it, I can see that. So, lets cut all the bullshit and just get down to it, you want to take us over, I get it, I'm a greedy fuck to. So what can I do for you?"

"Boss? You're just going to give up like this?" one of the Mafioso imps asks as he looks to his leader, concern and bewilderment clear to see on his face. The boss just holds up a hand and shakes his head.

"Yes, I am, I know when to resign and keep the game from dragging on longer than it should. Now I could decide to be a little shit, and go for as long as I can, just to inconvenience Miss Skitter here, get my town burned to shit for it, or I can just say "GeeGee'' and throw in the towel while we still have flesh on our bones, or did you miss the horror show that went on outside?" the boss of the Raz Family was met with silence from his subordinate, which he took as understanding. Finally he turns to me.

"So, since you wanted to start a lopsided alliance, you must need us for something at least, so, what do you need?" he asks me.

"First, I should know your name."

"Simon."

"As for why I suggested an alliance, I wanted to build some good will, and solidify my gang's presence. You see, a few days ago, you probably saw it on the news. We rescued some girls from the Crimson gang, and some of those girls used to live in this area," I can hear some vehicles coming towards the café from outside. I look past the barricade and can see a convoy of different vehicles coming to us. None of those inside look like mercenaries so they must be Anthony bringing in the recruits and the girls.

Initially, I'd planned on using our rescue of the girls, and how we were able to do it to undermine the power of the leader of the Raz, but he capitulated to me so easily. More often than not, those with power usually cling to it desperately rather than roll over, so now my plans regarding the Raz don't seem necessary anymore. As I say that, Simon's head tilts while his brows scrunch.

"So what, you just wanted to return our women to us?" he asks.

"Not just that. You are right that eventually we had been planning on absorbing you into us. But first, we, the Merchants, would establish our territory," as I say this, I reach into my magical other space, and pull out a map I prepared of the local area of the city. With it, I had highlighted the areas where the Merchants would control and where the Raz family's territory was in comparison to it by the current gang markings of the area. I spray out a string of silk, cut it with a bite, and pull a table to us as I lay down a map for Simon to see. It takes him a second to realise what he's looking at. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem too perturbed about loosing a bit of his claimed territory. Rather his focus is on the section of the map where Crimson's territory used to be, which was now completely yellow, the colour I'd used for the Merchants which also happened to have been my own when I'd been Skitter.

"That's Crimson territory, so what, you're going to move in and take it after they're gone?"

"I'm not a patient enough woman for that. No, I'm going to evict them, and as you were so kind of give me your…" I wrack my mind for the proper word, though while he might be my subordinate, he should still have a degree of independence. Perhaps something more medieval? "Vassalage, you are going to help us take down the Crimson gang, once and for all."

As I say that, the trucks and cars from Anthony's convoy have emptied out of their passengers and drivers. Most notably for some of the imp's, the women that used to live in this area. I can see recognition dawn on some of their faces as the women approach. One of the women even starts running, shaking her hand at one of the imps, crying out at him.

"Doni!"

"Jessica!" the seeming couple cry out as one of the Mafiosos drops his gun and the two run towards each other. Others start to leave the ruins of the café as well to greet the women I had Anthony bring along. A few stick around, looking in at the crowd, probably to keep their boss safe but they aren't paying much attention. Simon looks for a moment through the corner of his eye for a moment as well, but then turns his attention back to me.

"So you're going to return our girls just like that?" he asks, an eyebrow risen.

"I offered them a place working for me. If they want, they can continue working under me, and they will remain under my protection"

"So what, you're keeping them as hostages or something?"

"No, I just said that they can leave if they want," the imp looks at me for a moment, seemingly uncomprehending for a moment before he shakes his head a bit and rubs his eyes.

"Sorry, I'm tired as fuck right now. Just… tell me what you need before I fall-" mid sentence he lets out a big yawn and tries to cover it up. One of his men walks up to him for a moment.

"Hey, Simon, like you said, you're tired as shit, and can't focus. Let me handle this for you, okay?"

"No Frank… I just… I just need a coffee, or, something. Lilac! You still there?" from behind the bar, the curvaceous demon who'd served us when we came here to meet with Angel's friends rises up from behind her counter. She's still dressed in her very skimpy French maid's uniform which she must use as a work uniform.

"Still breathing Mr. Raz."

"Would you kindly get me a coffee? I need to wake up," Simon asks the demon who smiles brightly at him.

"Sure thing Mr. Raz, two shots as usual?" she asks, her voice going low and husky as she places her hands under her breasts, and as she says "two shots," she emphasises her breasts with her hands, making them jump ever so slightly, much to the amusement of Mr. Raz who's got a wide smile on his face. Had she… done that for me as well? I hadn't been paying attention to Lilac except where she had been, hiding a fly on the underside of her skirt so I knew when she'd been close enough to hear us. I don't… wait no, she'd stopped at some point when she was making our drinks, and how her skirt had moved back then, as if…

"You know it beautiful," he says before turning back to me.

"So, since we're going to be taking down the Crimson gang, what do you need me to do, what's the plan?"

"First, we're going to go to Addison's A-lectronics and pick up some more of those dogs of his. Because of you, we have momentum, and that gives us a chance to take them out. I already know where all their heavy hitters are except for the Beast. His speed and lightning keep me from being able to track him the same way as I do the others but he will come if we cause enough of a stir. We will target the Crimson clones first, and then move onto the snake. If we're lucky, we will be able to catch them separate from the Beast, and then we can take him out," as I tell him my plan, Lilac walks up to us, two cups on a tray. From the smell, one is coffee, and the other is the orange pekoe replacement tea I'd ordered when I'd last been here.

"Here you go, coffee, triple triple, and one tea with a little thing of cream and sugar on the side," Lilac says, giving me a wink as she places the tray down. I hide my surprise as I focus more on my bugs as they search around for more enemies to kill. I guess she remembers me.

"Thanks Lilac, okay, but how exactly are you planning on taking the Beast out? The tank there might be good for taking out the, you said clones?"

"Unimportant at the moment so I'll just leave it at that they are clones of mass murderers that died about a month ago."

"Right, well, the tank might be good at taking out the clones, or even the snake guy they have, but what about the Beast? He's bullet resistant enough to be a real problem that you can't just spray and pray with like with the average speedster," at that comment I pull out my pistol from my magical other place, and then one of the soviet style assault rifles I'd taken off the Crimson gang member that I'd been layering up acceleration and silencing fields, like with my pistol. To emphasis my point, I tap on my pistol.

"I've upgraded this pistol enough that I was able to get past the durability of the clone that I took out a few days ago. If the Beast is as durable as that thing, then this," I say as I tap against my assault rifle. "Should hopefully be enough for the job."

"And if it isn't?"

"With the destruction of most of your dogs, we've run out of time to search for other options, but from what I've seen of the previous fights that the Beast has been in, the Beast is bullet resistant, not immune. If anything, he likely is less resistant than even the Crimson clones could become if they drank enough blood. If I can pin him down long enough, either myself or Squealer's van can take him out of commission. After that, the Crimson gang should fall apart," Simon nods along as I lay out my plan to him before taking a sip of coffee.

"Okay, but then what are we doing?"

"You are going to help with the defence of the Merchant's new territory and help us grab as much loot as we can from the Crimson gang's stores before either they or some other gang comes in to take it. That and you'll help us secure the territory against anyone who's looking to turn this into an expansion opportunity."

"Simple and effective if it works. When do we start?"

"Immediately, call your robot friend and tell him we will be there within the hour."

"Woah woah woah, hold on, I've still got mercs running around and stirring up shit here, I can't just leave to take out Crimson while mercs are fucking this place up until they're dealt with. I know you got your swarm flying around, so maybe I can tell you where they are and you take them out with that swarm?" Simon asks while I use a biter to grab a radio from the armour that one of the mercenaries have and bring it close so I can grab it.

"Bravo squad, this is Command, if there is anyone alive down there, we are pulling out! Shit has gone FUBAR! I repeat we are pulling out until the client pays up for the extra bullshit we got ourselves into!" a voice from the radio shouts.

While I'd been talking to Simon, the few bugs I left on some of the mercenaries had been listening, and I'd heard as one person started reporting in regarding my bugs. As I hold the radio aloft, Simon raises his eyebrows in surprise before nodding.

"I'll go make the call to Addison then."

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When ideas clash and yet work together so well. I hadn't actually planned for the healing to originally be used this way, as it was both a reaction to people getting hurt and dying in Hell, and Taylor doing a bit of a sneaky power grab.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Chapter 20

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"Streets are pretty quiet, not even a patrol," Sherrel notes as she drives down the streets into Crimson territory.

"There are only a few patrols out right now," I explain as I continue to feel the congregation of those bugs I had attached to gang members earlier in my scouting of Crimson territory in one of the warehouses. Two of Simon's bots are moving along side us, keeping pace as we drive down the street with impunity. At the same time, those of my swarm that wouldn't have been able to keep up cover the robots and hold onto the van while my fliers carry the rest. That of my swarm that isn't with us is on Anthony's vehicle ready to assist him and his recruits.

"Most of the gang is at a rally at the moment, the beast is working them up for an attack, trying to get morale back up," I continue on. With most of what remains of the gang, which in truth isn't a whole lot after all of the attacks from the Vigilantes, ourselves, even the failed Raz push and the subsequent robo biter hit and runs put a significant dent in the active cannon fodder of the Crimson Gang. Were it not for their heavy hitters, they'd have likely dissolved by now, or fled the city.

"Shit, if they're at a rally right now, wouldn't the guys we're after be there too?" Adam asks once more comfortably in the turret.

"Just the snake, the Beast wants the Crimson clones out and about to watch for dog attacks with about a squad guys with them, sounds like they are listening in on it though," I say as we're starting to get close to the group.

"Skitter, we're near the first target, what're we looking at," I hear Anthony through the phone. I'd sent him and his boys to start hitting some of our other targets. Of the three places, two were warehouses which were lightly defended, with one only having two guys there playing cards, while the other is a large garage beside a gas station, with several vehicles inside, including something that felt like a tank to my bugs. I'm almost tempted to leave that be. It would be easier to just let the enemy flee than to slaughter them to the man, but then they would just go out and pillage what ever settlements and villages are out there in Hell.

"The first place is Crimson's main garage, they got other places but this one has something special that I think Sherrel will enjoy you picking up for her," I say which of course immediately draws Sherrel's attention.

"What's there?" both Sherrel and Anthony ask simultaneously, their interest peeked.

"There is a big armoured vehicle in the garage there, part of the reason why I've got a part of my swarm with you. It feels like an APC but it with the actual gun on it," as I say that, Sherrel does the weird eyes off the road thing as she looks at me, her resting O lips shifting to a manic grin as she looks to me.

"We're getting an APC?"

"Or an IFV," I remark. They have tanks just laying in random warehouses down here. It wouldn't even surprise me if they could get a hold of modern military vehicles; especially since hospitals have power armour and laser weaponry… which I kind of want.

"You hear that Skiddy, Skitty's getting me an APC!"

"The fuck!? How the hell am I going to compete with that!?" Adam complains

"I'm sure you'll think of something, hon," Sherrel calls back to Adam before she finally turns back around to watch the road.

"Anyways, once the garage has been dealt with, I'll take my swarm back while you bring the more expensive vehicles back and torch the rest along with the fuel. Simon is sending some of his boys over to take on the other warehouses that the Crimson gang is keeping some of their loot in," I continue with relaying my commands to Anthony.

"Roger that boss, Anthony out," and with that I end the call.

"They'll be on the left," I call out and watch as the turret immediately starts turning left. As we round the corner, I see a group of Crimson gang members walking down the road in front of some shops with blown out windows. Among the demons are two human looking men walking with them, the only ones without guns. The two look kind of red and beefy, though not like when Crimson had fully gorged himself on blood. Rather it seems that they're still coming down from their transformation. The moment the van starts rounding the corner the few in the group looking back our way act on instinct. One demon levels his gun while one of the humans grabs a demon and they both dive into the store. As the turret comes into view, the one who'd been raising his gun to shoot at the van realised his mistake and shouts to alert the rest of the group.

Right as Adam shoots.

The round impacts into the ground near them and within moments they're consumed by a fiery explosion as those closest to the blast fall apart and have their limps torn off them as the bits of them splatter across the store front. The Crimson clone who didn't dive tumbled head over heel before he finally stopped, his neck and arms in completely wrong angles as blood pools around where his body lay. The Crimson clone that tried to jump into the store with one of his companions is sent rocketing into the ruined store, having been in mid-dive when the van's cannon fired, practically pulping the demon he had grabbed as it ends up between the demon and whatever he landed on.

With my swarm I started moving some in, at the same time, I can feel Anthony and his men reaching the garage. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I start to move the swarm I have with Anthony towards the place. Before my swarm reaches one of the demons guarding the outside though, Anthony comes to a full stop and fires off a round at the guard. From what I can feel through my bugs on him, the Crimson guard didn't even have a chance to raise his own weapon before he falls back and goes limp.

With my own part of my swarm, I send them out to deal with a few guys heading our way, attracted by the cannon going off. While the Crimson gang's territory is only lightly patrolled at the moment, they still have a few patrols walking around, only one or two guys on foot in each patrol. I hear the sound of a phone or two that survived ringing from the carnage.

"Hold on," I say as Sherrel shifts the gear to reverse. "The Crimson clone in the building there is still alive."

As I say that, Adam must have heard me because the van's cannon starts to shift towards the blown in shop window. Though before he can fire, I call out. "Hold on, I want to see what's going to happen."

"Come on, can't I just shoot this nigga and be done with it, shit don't go right if you prolong it and shit, learned that from Bond and shit."

"Hold on, I want to see how he powers up, besides, he'll stand up and give you a clear shot in the moment," or at least he should. Bonesaw programmed the Slaughter House clones based off of the personality's she remembered of the members, or were told of them. Since Crimson was known for basically being bullet proof, the clone will act like that, and if not, then I can always just shoot him like I did the first one.

I watch as the Crimson clone, hidden in the rubble but not to my extra senses, begins to gorge himself on his fellow demon. I watch as he does something interesting with his magic, almost pulling at the magic of the demon as he drinks from him. I can guess that he's likely sucking out the blood of the other, and just so happens to be sucking out the magic as well. I don't really care for the blood, but sucking out the magic with the blood could be useful.

Though, it feels inefficient. I can sense the magic splattering against the ground around, wasting so much. Moths and mosquitoes have a more efficient way of doing things, and I could probably improve upon Crimson's method, letting me drink more and faster without wasting too much. With a bit of a shift of my own magic, I let my mouth morph into a more useful mouth for sucking and feel what it is like. Where I had my mouth before, not it'd turned into a long tentacle that I curl up like a moth's. With a finger I touch it, making sure it was sharp, and pull my hand back as it nearly breaks skin.

We all hear a roar as the huge red hulk emerges from the rubble of the ruined shop front, staring at us hatefully as he starts to walk forward. With another shift I turn my blood sucking mouth back to my normal one.

"Shoot hi-" before I can finish Adam fires the main gun. The ear splitting boom rushes right through me, and everything is deafened for a moment as I hadn't had time to properly transform my ears, them having been mid transformation when he fires.

Fuck, I can feel a splitting headache coming through already. As I open my eyes again, the Crimson clone is still standing… though, considering I can look right through his chest and the fact that he's on fire, I don't think he'll be an issue, especially as one leg finally gives out and the hulk goes down.

With a bit of magical healing, I can feel the headache fading and my hearing starting to come back. I can hear Skidmark giggling to himself.

"-sus christ, you see that shit, he's fucking down for the count!"

"So we got two of them, who's next?" Sherrel asks as I point down the road in the direction of the warehouse that the Beast was using to rally his troops.

"The Beast is getting his people ready for an attack on the Raz family's territory that way. We can deal with him and his pet snake there," I say. As I point, Sherrel backs up from the street and starts heading down towards where I pointed.

"Alright, sounds good, though what's the plan, we just running in there or what?"

"I'll be heading to the roof and will flush them out with my swarm. From there, you and the bots wait for them to start panicking before barging in and hitting them hard," I tell them as Sherrel starts making a b-line straight for the warehouse the Beast is broadcasting himself from.

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"How've the raids gone?" I ask into my phone as I watch over the rally that the Beast is holding. It doesn't really look like too may people, less than a hundred people to the point that if I got all of my imps minus the Raz family's and Anthony's boys together, we might only be outnumbered two or three to one.

"My boys got the stuff dealt with, my dogs and bots took care of the guards and my boys are loading up the loot now," Simon replies through the phone. Despite his adviser's suggestion, he'd wanted to keep going if only to crush the Crimson gang. Despite how tired he must be, he still is able to control his bots the best of any of us, mostly due to actually having experience using the control system.

"Good, your friend knows where to put our share?"

"He knows," Simon says through the phone before I hear the sound of a crack and furious gulping. Were he a regular person, I'd have worried about his health, but with a demonic constitution, he'll likely sleep off any ill effects, like how demons easily heal from the negative physical effects of extended drug use. As for his friend, since packing and divvying up the loot wouldn't be as important, that would be when he went to sleep.

"Good, I'll be hitting them in a few moments, have your robots ready," I say before ending the call.

The Beast was around the mid point of his rallying call. As I already knew, the demon looked like something which had stepped from some mythology of old. Maybe the offspring of Zeus in the form of a wolf deciding to have his way with some woman before fleeing off to Olympus once more. While I'd seen some of him in the videos, his figure as he stood there, shirtless and with his wolf head, it was impressive to behold, in a kind of physical definition kind of way. The man himself was the size of a fully powered up Crimson, standing head and shoulders over all of the rest of the men he had on stage. Only unlike Crimson, he wasn't a bulging grotesque creature barely kept in the shape of a human, but rather he looked properly proportioned. His humanoid body was like a perfectly sculpted Adonis, complete with an immense size that to smaller demons, must make him larger than life. Then there was his magic, it was more than most demons I'd encountered, enough that if he desired, he could probably pull the same kind of tricks I did with just expelling magic in order to create wind.

Otherwise, the demons near him are less impressive, other than the snake who's the one which was able to go toe to toe with the robots that Simon had sent into Crimson territory. He looks like much of the regulars of the Crimson gang, though his armour looks better crafted. Though truth be told, the main thing that stood out about him was the fact that the armour that the snake is wearing on his upper body is close to the armour of the Uruk Hai which had marched on Helms Deep in Earth Alpha's Lord of the Rings movies. Though in addition to the cleaver sword, he's wielding a double barrel shotgun.

"…We may have been getting hit hard by a bunch of damn imps and those vigilante fucks, but now we have a chance to strike back at them all!" The Beast shouts. In the crowd, I can see several cameras; I already know they have a live stream set up. From the phones that the skeleton crews at the warehouses were watching, I'd been hearing the Beast start his speech. It had mainly started off with an expression of sympathy of the various plights the Crimson gang had suffered, but now things are slowly ramping up.

"Their busy with some mercenary fucks and now that we've dealt with the mech dogs, we're striking back!" as he said this, the Beast pulled off a sheet from something that had been behind him and on it was a detailed map of their part of the city. It's the same as what I've got back at base, only instead of territory being marked out, it had that and more. There were circles all over the place, showing off the various hide outs, with a big red "V" on each of the buildings that had been circled. Some of them were even in Crimson territory, just on the edges.

"With the dogs gone, the Raz won't have anything left! So boys, we're hitting the fucks that tried to fuck with us! Now I've received some very good info on where the first band of these fuckers are. Each of these V's here is the hide out of a vigilante in or near our terf, and the X's are the places where they're keeping the slaves they stole from us. Now those mercenary fucks I talked about are hitting them right now but they aren't hard enough to take them out, so we're going in to show these fuckers why we've been allowed to run around this place for so god damn long!"

That map could be rather useful. Especially if we keep growing, we'll need the guns for our recruits or just sources of money in case of hard times. If the vigilantes keep collecting guns like that one group with the sniper bird had been, then we'll be set for quite a while with just a single raid or two. Plus, maybe some of them could be reasoned with, and convinced to help with my plans.

Pulling out of my other space my magically enhanced assault rifle, I rack back the bolt, and shoulder the rifle so I can start to aim, only for the beast to flinch and look up at me.

Shit. I think as I hastily bring up my rifle, line up the shot, but he dodges back, and his electricity field is already up, destroying the bugs I'd been using to aim at him. Taking my chances, I make my bugs descend upon them all, a mass of chittering, buzzing creatures of mandible and claw. The reaction from the crowd is immediate, and bullets start flying everywhere as the demons suddenly become aware of the mass of killer bugs. The bugs start to rip into the gang, biting down with all their might, attacking them, and a few of the more magical ones starting a few of the furrier demons on fire with their magic. At the same time, I try to line up my shot with my bugs, firing in bursts at where I can feel the Beast's magical presence is, but with his super speed, he isn't where he was as I fire, and my bullets only graze him while he bounces off the walls of the place, zapping both my bugs and his own gangsters as the recoil throws my aim off further as the rifle bounces, having not been set to select fire.

Despite my immediate failure at taking down the Beast, I continue to assault the rest of the gang. Bodies are already hitting the floor as the bigger bugs are able to begin to rip out the tendons of their prey, driving them to the ground to either be eaten by the crawling bugs dropped by my fliers, or trampled by the mass of panicking people. Any kind of discipline and morale that the Beast might have been trying to instil in his forces, just like with Lung's men back on my first night, was broken. I can already see gangsters fleeing out emergency exits around the warehouse. The Beast snarls before dashing for the loading bay doors while my bullets trail him as I try to fire continuously, adjusting for the recoil just trying to hit him. At the same time, his snake lieutenant grabs one of the men by them and prepares to bite down.

Not wanting to deal with another brute, I direct some of the swarm to him, bugs flying into his mouth as he chokes on them. His jaw snaps shut but it's already too late. His scales do nothing to protect his soft innards, and already my bugs start to rip into his throat and mouth. His screams join the others as he tries to reach in and grab at whatever bugs entered him, clawing at his mouth and letting in more of them as they continued to fly and crawl into him.

While his snake dies, The Beast breaks through the door, his electricity flaring out and clearing the way for him as his gang members are flung to the side, he come up right in front of Sherrel's baby in full view of both the van's turret, and all the robots that Simon had sent with us.

"Yo nigga, what's up!?" Adam shouts from the turret, either not realising or not caring that the Beast can't have heard him. Knowing what's coming, I turn my antennae once more into ear muffs before my bugs hear a click, and the cannon fires. Even without my advanced hearing, the sound is enough to deafen me for a moment. The tank shell flies into the warehouse, and lands in the middle of the crowd, body parts fly out of a gout of flame in a shower of gore which coats the room and obscures the dusty warehouse windows even more. However, I can see the Beast from one of my biters, and see him use his enhanced speed to dodge the round, barely dodging the thing before charging straight at Sherrel's baby.

It takes less than a second for the Beast to reach the van, and already his electricity is flying across it. I can feel the bugs near or on Adam and Sherrel get incinerated by the Beast's magical electricity as he starts to climb up the vehicle, passing the front window before reaching up and grabbing the tank barrel. With both hands, the wolf headed demon pulls down, and bends the barrel, turning the tank from an unstable if extremely powerful armoured van, into just being unstable. As he finishes bending the barrel of the van, I reach the edge of the roof as the ringing continues.

Note to self, silence that gun next.

I see the Beast jumps off of the van and towards one of the robots that have all turned their focus onto the Beast. I raise my rifle towards the Beast as the electricity and his brute strength wreaks havoc on the robot, disabling it first before he rips off an arm. Before I can properly line up my shot at him, he moves onto the next robot, ripping into it like he did the first. This time though, I have a shot. I flick the firing mode to semi auto this time before pulling back on the trigger. The shot kills a few bugs I have swarming around the area as I use them to aim at him, though the shot is off, slamming into his offhand arm instead of his torso, blasting through it and taking a good chunk of meat off his forearm. He doesn't pause to look for me as he grabs the robot with his dominant hand and holds it between me and him as he runs off, trying to get out of my line of sight. I'm only able to fire off two bullets before he is able to get around the corner, the recoil actually helping this time as it lets me get off that second shot. Both shots aimed at shooting through the robot to try and take him down, but the robot must be thick enough that even these large bullets are losing their power as they hit him, or are ricocheting off target after penetrating the robot.

Where is he going now?

While my body can't see him, my biter can, watching as it is from a rooftop, watching the Beast round the corner of the building where one of my imps is firing upon a crowd of fleeing and flailing gangster as they try what they can to get the bugs off of them. Hoping to catch him, I try to add a bit of the beast's speed, electricity sparking around me as I leap forth, using my wings raise me up as I bound to the edge of the roof. As I am about to reach the edge, the Beast runs off towards the abandoned building my imp is in.

Before I'd flown to the roof to watch the rally and prepare my attack, I'd ordered the imps with us to spread out into the surrounding buildings. All of them were long abandoned, and I can guess why from all the gang signs painted both inside and out. Each had a few imps watching each of the entrances, waiting for me to send my bugs in and flush out the gangster within. Since the largest entrance was the service entrance at the front, the bots along with Sherrel and Adam were there as well, ready to slaughter them as they tried to escape. Now, they're sitting ducks as what was supposed to be my coup de grâce, stumbled at the first hurdle. Like Hell am I going to lose another to these second rate Teeth wanabes.

Knowing where my gun imp was firing from and not having enough time to form an insect ball to try to talk with him, I spread my wings wide and use the power of the Beast's speed to launch myself at the window. The Beast in the meantime bolts up the stairs; moving up them at a ludicrous speed while the electricity starting fires as he moves through the building. The imp, Lary, sees me coming and pulls away from the window, just as the Beast slams through the door. I land as the Beast tries to slam a fist into my imp, but I blast his hand with a gust of magical power, pushing it out of the way as it impacts and slams into the wall. I grit my teeth as the electricity of the Beast slams into both me and my imp as I round my gun on him. I'm about to pull the trigger as a gust of magical wind suddenly slams into me, throwing my aim off and I'm just barely able stay on the window with my lower hands gripping the window sill as I try to pull the gun back on the Beast.

Taking a hand off the sill, I pull my pistol from my other place, and aim it at the Beast, while still fighting the wind to aim my rifle at him. I fire off a few pistol rounds into his chest. He's winded but throws himself back before I can fire my rifle. The Beast with his speed throws himself back into the stairwell, tumbling down as I hop down from the window sill and place a hand on Lary. He's spasming from all the lighting and as I focus, I can't hear his heart. Calling on the healing magic I'd copied from the hospital, I start to heal Lary, pushing the magic into him. For a second, there's nothing, then I start to hear his heart begin to beat again, and the spasming starts to subside. Hopefully, he'll live.

The Beast meanwhile hadn't stopped just so I could heal my imp, but rather continues to flee, speeding out the door of the apartment. I get up onto the window sill, jumping off and using my magical wind to push myself further up to give myself a better shot. The Beast has already sped across the street to Sherrel's baby, his arm in the window, and was pulling at Sherrel.

"Oh Hell no! Let go of my fucking wife you fu- ah!" I hear Adam shout from below before the Beast pulls Adam out of the car with his good hand as electricity dances across the cockroach. I can smell him frying while the Beast tries to bite at him. As he is about to bite down though, I sense Adam using magic, and like the beetle had, his skin covers up in armoured plates as he stops spasming from the lightning. Instead, he reaches down and grabs the Beast's off hand. The Beast screams in pain as Adam fights through the lightning to continue to grip down on the Beast's wounded arm, his long hair turning into a massive shell as he continues to turn into his true demonic form, before he headbutts the Beast, knocking the wolf headed demon down off the van before flicking the Beast the double bird.

With him vulnerable now, I transform my mouth into the long tentacle like mouth from before, and angle myself downwards. As the Beast groans and starts to get up, I pull in my wings, and aim my feet down, before I slam feet first into his head, a wet cracking sound coming from the head hitting the pavement. I bend down and flick my tentacle mouth out, stabbing it deep into the Beast, and started to suck.

He's still electrified, and it hurts, but I power through is as I begin to suck, drinking in both the Beast's blood as well as his magical power, a shiver going through me as the magic, whatever it was, rushes into me, filling me up and filling what power I'd used in the fights, and then going beyond. As I drink, I can feel my magical power increasing from what I had before. I'd moan if I had the mouth to do so as the power of the electricity grows weaker while I heal myself. I can feel myself growing larger in my true demon form, my breath becoming heavy as I just continue to sup on the power of the Beast.

I don't know how long I was there as I continued to suck at the Beast before I finally, finally pulled back. It wasn't because I had to or anything, but because there was almost nothing left of him, the returns of continuing, continually reducing until it was like trying to get the last of the juice out of a juice box. There would be a bit of power with every suck, but not enough to enjoy. I transform my mouth back as I stand up from my crouch on the Beast's head, before stepping off of it to look at the withered husk of the demon. He looks like a wolf headed mummy, only without all the wrapping. As I lick my lips, I look to Adam who's still covered in chitinous armour.

"Sweet lord Jesus, the fuck was that shit?" Adam asks, his far buggier face not being able to convey much in the way of emotion, but his tone is both astonished, and somewhat horrified.

"Crimson's ability to grow stronger from blood, only I improved upon it," I say as I use my foot to nudge at him, and accidentally slide the now bloodless demon a good foot.

"I'll fucking say," Adam says before a full body shiver seems to overtake him, his antennae twitching like mad as he looks away from the dried up corpse. "I seen a lot of shit in my day, and a lot more freaky shit when high as fuck, but I swear that shit'll be in my nightmares for at least a good while, fucking Christ on a bike."

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Hmm, I may have thought that initially when I was setting up the Crimson gang in my head, that they would be more of a danger, but as I continued to think on them, I realised how Taylor, especially one not so caring about how brutal she was and how deadly she was, was such a powerhouse as she just continues to grow her swarm.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Chapter 21

Big thanks to Scheissdrauf for betaing this for me as it certainly improved the quality of the piece.

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As I walk into the warehouse, the smell hitting my enhanced senses nearly makes me gag. Blood and filth covers everything, the floor, the walls, some demons. Most of them voided their bowels as they died and in some cases my insects even completely exposed their innards. Despite not being one that was squeamish, I still blast a way forward, my magical wind blowing away most of the blood, gore, body parts and filth out of my way as I move towards the warehouse's stage. Most would have needed the stairs to get up to the stage, but I've grown large enough from eating the Beast to simply do it in one step. Looking at the map, I pull out my phone and as I snap a picture, I feel some kind of magic behind me. There's the sound of a sudden displacement of air, rubber squeaking on blood, and the buzz of an old radio coming into tune.

Outside I coalesce my bugs into balls near where my imps and fellow former capes are.

"Someone just teleported in, he's powerful. Don't come in yet, but be ready if this goes badly" I say to them all as I can feel the power coming off of the Demon.

The newcomer cast off a presence that demanded attention, like a fire cracker going off in the night sky, the magical energy wafting off of him had my antennae buzzing and shaking in his presence, like a kid high on sugar. Other than his unkempt hair, the deer demon appears civilised in his rouge suit and glowing eyes, completely in contrast with the field of gore he stands in. Yet paradoxically, he seems completely at home in it as well. His smile is filled with sharp, predatory teeth, and combined with those eyes, I can't help myself as I raise my guns at him, my bugs already moving towards us. He has a tall, thin figure, combined with his obvious power and total focus on me as he stands there with that too wide a smile, those too large eyes, the radio static slowly diminishing the longer he stands there sets me on edge. It's like something in the depths of my consciousness has set me on edge at seeing this demon.

"Hello there my good mademoiselle! Hello! Mighty fine work you pulled off here with those ruffians," the demon speaks, his speech warbled and strange, with a tone as if it were coming from a low quality recording, or Gran's old radio she still had last time we visited. The spell he had on me, that cold spine tingling feeling, breaks, as if with a word he'd dispelled the deep, instinctual dread of seeing something not quite right. Even so, he continues. "Were I humble I'd say that I couldn't have done it better myself, but then even when arriving in this place, I had a bit more experience than most in the ways of magic and less allies to care about.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, allow me to introduce myself, the name's Alastor and it's a pleasure to meet you my dear, always a pleasure to meet a fellow chaos bringer, especially a speedy one such as yourself! Why I haven't seen this quick and brutal a slaughter since one of Lilith's ladies and her daughters fought their way through the tree fort of all those superhero wannabes! Hahaha," the demon says, throwing his head back as he laughs, before raising his hand. I can feel the magic taking form and adjust my aim for his hand, pulling on the trigger just as he snaps.

In an instant, the world shifts as the hum of radio static bombards me at full force for a moment before it quickly resolves and we are suddenly sitting in rather comfy and plush seats. My antennae twitch as I feel around us while I look, noticing we are still in the warehouse. It had been… two major magical spells at work here, done with just the snap of his fingers. First he pulled out chairs and the table between us from somewhere and then teleported us both to be sitting on the chairs, all in an instant.

"Sorry to be so abrupt, coffee?" the demon asks. My initial instinct is to refuse him. I have no idea who he is, but he is undoubtedly powerful. Though with him ignoring my guns from before, he either doesn't see me as a threat, he wants something, or I'd done something that he likes, possibly all three.

"Tea, please?" I ask, humouring the magical demon while re-centering my swarm back to the warehouse from where they'd moved from. With his power, he could likely hold back the entirety of my swarm through merely expelling his magic, but I've worked past these kinds of issues before. The deer demon does a little flourish and suddenly the pot of coffee is replaced by a fine china teapot, and he pours a bit of tea in the cup before placing it in front of me and summoning from his own "other place" cream and sugar. He holds up the small cream dish as he asks:

"How do you like your tea then? One lumps, two?"

"A bit of cream and one lump please," I answer and watch as he carefully puts a small amount of cream in my tea, before filling the small spoon just enough, stirring a bit, and then passing the tea over. I thank him before taking a small sip as Alastor lounges back in his chair, sipping from his coffee.

"Sorry to be rude," I say, trying to be polite like I had been some of the more powerful capes I met during my career. "But why have you decided to just pop up all of a sudden? What is it that you want?"

"Oh, not much my dear, a little celebration on a job well done, a thank you for giving me a bit of entertainment to enjoy, as well as maybe help encourage you to move up your schedule a bit, and progressing from being a thorn in the sides of Valentino's pawns, to being one in his. For that though, you'll need help, my help," Alastor said, his arms going out to emphasize his desire to "help" me.

"What exactly do you mean by help me? What would you do?" I ask. I doubt he'll actually want to join me, he feels too powerful. No, he'll want to manipulate me in some way, or control me.

"Why I'd help you protect what is yours, you keep fighting Valentino's pawns, and in return, I make sure that the boss-men of Hell can't come after you directly without going through me. Believe me when I say that even with your bugs, you'd likely need to find a different way of taking on Valentino and either of his two fellow compatriots," the deer demon said as he got up from his chair and walked over to the map. With a wave of his staff, Alastor changes the map, shifting it from showing a small localised area to the whole city. It then further shifts to show various different territorial powers, with the demonic triumvirate controlling the largest area compared to them all, even Satan had less territory than them, though his is far more centralised, and if what Adam said is true about what he could do, Satan could wipe out the whole city if the Pentagram floating above our heads is the super weapon that Adam implied it was. Before he continues, I interrupt his little presentation.

"If you are so powerful as to be able to stand up to the likes of Valentino, why exactly am I of interest to you, or do you have territory around here as well?" as I ask, he turns his head without moving his body, tilting it a bit.

"Territory? Ha! No no my dear, I don't deal in territory, politics or anything else of the sort. I merely enjoy the drama of the moment, the chaos as everything falls apart, which let me tell you, that little shindig I heard up on Earth Bet, unfortunate, but the aftermath has been wonderful to watch."

"Is that so?"

"Indeed it has! Do you know how many gangs have already been toppled, been torn apart, or have been fighting for their lives and livelihood since this all went down? Countless, and there are so many little dramas to watch, to root for, or to enjoy laughing at as they burn everything around them because of the stress. It's actually why I know about you, you've come up quite a bit on the radio chatter, explanation after explanation to each and every one of those vigilantes. Why, you'd think from their point of view that you actually did it, possess everyone that is," the demon explains, though the fact that he was listening in on the vigilantes struck me, and through radio, combined with how he sounded, and the staff, it fit with his theme.

"Can you listen through all the radios in Hell?" I ask, and the demon shrugs.

"Radio, broadcast, et cetera and all that, unless a visual medium is used, that's all Vox's forte. Myself, I prefer the simpler things, the far more wholesome radio show you can listen to while working on a car, doing the chores, butchering a pig, the thing to keep your mind occupied while the body works. Nothing like that mind rotting drivel known as television. But let's have less about me and more about you? Tell me," as he speaks, he snaps his fingers and two old fashioned microphones appear in front of our chairs. He takes a moment to down his coffee with a flourish of his fingers, and puts it back into his other space. If he's able to just hear through anything over the radio, what about this Vox? Has he been listening in on everyone this whole time? While I don't have a television at the moment, it might be best to keep any television that I might get away from any kind of important documents.

"How do you like Hell so far? Enjoying your stay here? How does the big bad… Actually, what should I call you? Skitter, Taylor? Or would you prefer one of your more recent names, the one that those above speak in hushed, traumatised tones, or maybe your hero name, hmm. Fly the colours of your heroic friends?"

"Skitter will be fine," after we killed Behemoth, Skitter was the least known of my cape names since the PRT all liked to focus on the hero Weaver in order to recruit capes into the Protectorate.

"Skitter then, how do you feel about a little interview, something for my show you see. Maybe act as a bit of inspiration for myself hmm? I do need to get some new material and interviewing the girl who every new arrival from Earth Bet is scared of because of that whole mastering thing," as he says it with his hand waving it off, as if it were no big deal that I'd done one of the worst things imaginable on a mass scale. As if my greatest sin was some kind of joke. I hold back the instinct to frown at him, to show my displeasure, and merely sip my tea. When and where is he from? Unless he was a master in life, he'd have to be either from before the silver age of capes with the rise of the PRT and their propaganda machine, or from another Earth entirely, one that didn't have such a massive social stigma against human masters, where hysteria will get one lynched in the streets if the public thinks they can get away with it.

"You're not interviewing me now?" I ask him, and he shakes his head as he sits down, pulling an unlit "On Air" sign he places on the table.

"No no, not yet at least, merely getting things set up in case you agree. Feel free to refuse, but it would be a good way of boosting your influence," He says that last part with a little up-beat tune following the syllables.

"and perhaps attracting any allies you might have that didn't make it through your little apocalypse. It would also attract your enemies but what's a little challenge hmm? Besides, you seem to have the general rabble well in hand," he says as he flings his hand out towards the room of corpses.

"I think I'll pass for right now," I say while at the same time feeling my allies gathering around the building, imps climbing up the ladders to the roof, Adam and Sherrel poking their heads in to see what exactly I'd been talking about, and spot Alastor. His head turns to them, moving far more than a human head should, his chin moving past his shoulder to look directly at them. At the same time, I sense something, and I hear the cracking of bones coming from Alastor that almost makes me want to grab my neck. I hear Adam's under breathed remark of "fuck me," and I form a small swarm near them, the imps on the roof, and those coming towards the building.

"Everything is in hand at the moment; just keep watch for anything else coming our way," I say through the bugs, before Alastor's head turns back to look at me, the horrible crunching sound accompanying it, even though I know it's an illusion. I see Adam shake his head again before he and Sherrel pull their heads out of the hole the Beast had made. As I'd watched them pull their heads back, Alastor had pulled out a pocket watch and hummed.

"Probably for the best, I don't really have that much time, friends of yours coming don't you know, so I might as well make this next part short. You see other than the interview, there is one last thing I was hoping that I could get help with," he said before getting back up and moving to the tacked on map, and with a snap, it shifted into an illusion of a far larger and less focused version of the map, displaying most of the city, all broken up into various different areas. I remember going over something similar when I was getting the maps ready for when we were preparing the raids on Crimson. A website called "TerritoryWatch" had a similar map which tracked all of the various gang territories at the moment, detailing turf wars, and the altering battle lines of the constant gang warfare. Though, as I focus on the area of the map where we are, the red colour of Crimson had shifted from dark red to bright yellow. Raz's colour was still there, but with a yellow border around their territory.

"Do you mind if I take a picture?" I ask, to which the demon shrugged.

"Go ahead," he says and I pull my phone and take a picture of that map as well.

"Now you are going to explain why I need protection I assume?" I ask and Alastor nods.

"Precisely so! from what I've seen and what I know, you are in a rather precarious position here, right next to Valentino's territory here," he says as he indicates the massive pink territory beside us.

"Now this might not be an issue, but with how you've been moving so far, you are going to get some push back, especially if you begin to splash too much," as he spoke, the image on the map changed as various different heads and faces began to appear, with myself at the bottom of the little mural, a tiny moth in a fluffy coat looking up at giants who loom over the mini me. I don't recognise most of them, but I do see Valentino there, among them, with three others right by him. Surprisingly the one at the top isn't some classical devil armed with a pitch fork and with a goatee, but rather a well dressed man with a top hat and an apple pin on his hat. Then I notice Alastor among them, around the middle of the mural, his original smile there alongside with his pupils being replaced by radio dials. I take another picture, then in an instant, the picture changes, showing off a trio of men, with the silhouettes of others near them, but those three were the clearest. One was the Beast, another, Valentino, with the final distinct one someone that I don't recognise. He was some kind of fat pig demon, dressed up in some kind of blue uniform with a flat blue cap, while he also wielded some kind of sub machine gun which looked like someone had stuck a wooden rifle stock to the back of a machine pistol. Once more, I take a picture.

"Would it surprise you to know that the vigilantes have a rat among them?" Alastor asked, to which I shook my head. I'd been infiltrating their chat logs enough that it was hard to not notice how easily they could be watched through non magical means. If there is some powerful demon who can just get everything they are putting in there, like Alastor can hear through any radio, then it'd obvious that they'd have someone in them watching over everything. They could even easily infiltrate it from there.

"I thought not. Now both of these men, in one way or another work or worked, for your big neighbour. Now Miss Skitter, how would you react if your subordinates were to end up getting killed one after another by a tiny gang? Would you perhaps squash them like a bug?" I can see where he's going with all of this now.

"I see your point. What exactly do you want for this protection then?" I ask, since I already knew that nothing's free. As I ask, Alastor's grin grew wider, and his eyes narrowed a bit, making him look rather self amused and smug.

"Just a favour, dear. A job I want done at some point. You know how it is, the usual and all that. It's a small price to pay for protection against one of Hell's powerful evils, wouldn't you say?"

"Is that so? And what exactly is this favour you want?" I ask, well aware of the deal making devil trope, and of how it usually ended for those foolish enough to make those deals.

With another snap of his fingers, the illusion changes, turning from the three men and a dozen more silhouettes, into a book, no, a grimoire. The navy blue book had gold etching all over it, with a stylised crescent moon on the front and an array of symbols in the midst of the crescent. All the while a large red gem stuck out of the spine of it, glinting as hidden lights reflected off of it.

"There is this book that belongs to one of the nobles in Hell, I merely desire it for a day, and right now, the noble that has this book has gone and lent it out to a small group of imps. For that first favour, retrieve it for me, and after that, you can even have the book afterwards."

As he explains, I spot something through one of my biters flying towards the warehouse. It looks like some kind of futuristic dropship, vaguely like some kind of VTOL with room in the back section for transporting cargo or troops similar to the ones the PRT sometimes used for rapid deployments when movers weren't available. Interestingly, the symbol on the side of the VTOL was that of an apple rather than one of Valentino's hearts.

The imps along with the other Merchants look up at the craft, Squealer grabs a few bugs in her hand and shakes them as if to grab my attention.

"Skitter, there's a helicopter that's coming pretty close, and I don't think it'll just pass by," she says as if I can't hear it already. With my bugs on the roof, I move them to the imps.

"Get off the roof, and let the VTOL through, we don't know who they are yet," I say, not wanting to make any more enemies.

"And when do you need this?" I ask, to which Alastor merely shrugged.

"Any time in the next year or so, I don't really have that much of a time limit, but I'd rather be prepared for my little plans. There's a certain man I'd love to get into contact with up on Earth when the time comes if you know what I mean?" He wants to contact someone up on the surface? Just like that? For a moment I can't help but think this might be alright, especially if his deals are so frivolous, but then, it only seems frivolous. Demon's, even those who used to be humans are natural tricksters, and deal makers are usually the worst. I doubt that Alastor is telling me the whole truth, and for all I know, this could certainly turn far worse for me, not to mention if whatever noble found out I stole the book from his imps. If Alastor wanted the book so badly, with his power he could easily just take it from them were it not for the possibility of the noble coming to take back his book. I don't really know what kind of power the nobles of Hell have, but I doubt it's insignificant.

"Well? Clocks ticking Skitter, do we have a deal?" Alastor asks, his hand reaching out as all around us green magic begins to swirl as the wind picks up, pushing away the blood and gore that's on the stage, even the table and chairs start to get pushed away as I stand up from my own chair. We on the other hand are unaffected, standing in the epicenter. My frown deepens as I look at his hand, feeling the immense power in it.

Without any assurances on what exactly he'd do with the book, how exactly can I trust that? Then there was the fact that this was the classic dealmakers move, to propose protection or something the person really wanted in return for favours. While just getting a book from some imps might not sound like much, what exactly did he want with it? Not only that, but he called me and him "chaos bringers". No doubt he would likely do something with that book that would just make everything here worse, and I'd be forced into helping him. Yet… there was Valentino to worry about. While Angel Dust had suggested a way for dealing with him, it would tie me up with him when I'd really rather just not have to answer to anyone. Though, Valentino honestly sounds like a better deal right now, since I would only have to sign exclusivity contracts with him to have him support me, but what could he leverage from that? Meanwhile Alastor here merely wanted one favour, but the possibilities that the book gave him, as far as I know with magic, are endless.

"Times ticking Skitter, they'll be here any moment, and once that happens, my offer will no longer be on the table," Alastor said, his grin growing larger, probably referring to the people in the VTOL. Why is he so insistent on getting me to make a deal with him?

Damn it, I wish Lisa was here, While she could possibly make the "who is this guy?" situation worse, she could also maybe help to figure out what Alastor's motivation here was beyond just getting that book. At the same time I watch through my biter as my imps are getting on on edge holding their weapons tight as the aircraft hums above us. From the back of the VTOL two figures rappel down while another simply jumps out with wings outstretched. She pulls out her weapon and my antennae start twitching as I feel the energy of it.

The latter crashes through the skylight, debris falling around her as she levels her laser cannon at us while I raise my guns at her. The wind around us ceases as Alastor's hand pulls back but otherwise he doesn't seem particularly perturbed by the sudden development. Rather, Alastor merely shrugs before speaking again:

"I can see you're not interested, well it's been a delight seeing your work but I must go, so many plans to put into place and all that, oh, and if you change your mind on that interview, please feel free to pop on by, tata!" he says with a playful lilt in his voice before with a snap I hear the sound of radio static again. With my antennae I pay attention to how he does so, trying to remember the magic for myself to possibly test in the future. Then, reality shifts and he disappears in that rift, the static quickly disappearing as quickly as it had the other two times.

Staring at the woman, I can't help it as my gaze is drawn to her weapon; drawing my attention like a moth to flame. My antennae focus on it, feeling how powerful it is, and I know I want it. I pull my eyes away to observe the woman carrying it. The wielder's an owl demon, garbed in some kind of latex suit; the way it clings to her, in a similar way to Lisa's costume, honestly makes me a bit jealous, accentuating every curve in a distracting way while leaving her feathered arms free. She had the kind of figure that I'd always expected to have, a slender, healthy and toned body. It was what had attracted Dad to Mom originally. Magic emanates off her clothing in ways I've never seen done before, but then I don't have much of a reference. Her feathers are black and white, a cape flowing off her back matching those feathers, but I doubt that it's actually just a cape as I can also feel power coming from it. It isn't as potent as Alastor's, but closer to that of the Beast. Her face itself is white, framed by a head of black feathers, with a black mane of long curly hair done up in a bun. At the same time, she has a black beak, and large predatory yellow eyes, watching me as I watch her, our guns pointed at each other.

"Who're you?" I call out to her, when two more figures fall through the sky light to land at her side. They're dressed like her, only their own cat suits still have sleeves. Though, unlike the owl, the two flanking her are barely there according to my magical senses, they have far less magic than the average sinner. As they stand up though, I can see why, and I swiftly pull out more guns from my other place while my swarm begins to chitter and buzz around us.

My clones. My evil clones finally found me. I'd been hoping that something had dealt with them, or that they'd ended up elsewhere. At least it's only two of them. The one on the left of the owl demon stands there holding onto the same kind of laser cannon. She has a pair of horns spiralling out of her head, like those of a goat. She looks almost like me, as I'd been back then if I'd decided to become a body builder after triggering. A bit younger, but the same wide mouth, curly black hair, and the need for glasses, or in this case, goggles.

The other clone is different, and I'm pretty sure she was the rat controlling one, Scurry. This girl's face was more animalistic, with large incisors peaking out of her mouth and a gnarled twist of a nose. Unlike the other two, she has a rat on her shoulder, and is wielding some kind of suppressed sub machine gun, of course, pointed at me.

After a moment of staring, the owl lady lowers her gun and asks:

"Taylor?" her voice hopeful as I pause. She'd said my name, my birth name. Did she know me? Wait no, of course she'd know my name, she literally has my evil clones beside her.

"My little owl… is that you?" she asks, and this time I feel my guns lower a bit. Little owl, Mom's pet name for me. Can it be her? Or is it a trick? But, if she isn't, then why are my clones following her?

If it isn't some falsehood, if this owl demon real is Mom, what has she heard about me from my clones? What have they been poisoning Mom's mind with? What have they been doing to try and destroy me while I was still alive? They were programmed to hate me. So what was it they were playing at? Though, can this really be Mom, or is she a fake, to get me to lower my guard? Mom can't be in Hell… right?

Would Mom be in Hell? My gut reaction says no, that it couldn't be possible that Mom, my wonderful, adoring Mother would be sent here, to the pits of Tartarus where those who sinned and had done evil ended up, those who deserved it, like me.

But then… she was a Lustrumite back in the day, and she never liked to talk about those days. Mom was a strident feminist for certain, or at least had been for a time, before Dad had de-radicalised her enough to get her to see reason. Then, since this is Christian Hell I think, she was kind of the one who didn't really worship anything. She wasn't exactly a militant atheist, not after university that is, but she had certainly been one that hated all the bible thumping that some people did.

If I remember correctly, those who don't believe go to Hell when they die. Mom certainly hadn't believed, so... maybe it really is her.

"It's me," I finally say, letting the guns aimed at the owl woman lower, but I keep the others trained on my clones. I watch as the her eyes light up, her smile widening as she can't help but give her biggest grin. It's infectious as I start to smile as well. I get to see Mom again. Or rather, I might. I don't actually know if this woman really is Mom or just some imposter that the clones had hired to pretend. It's hard to be sure with them around. Perhaps if my clones weren't here I'd have an easier time believing that this woman is Mom, but their presence puts everything into question.

As I ponder, my smile begins to falter. The woman claiming to be Mom notices almost immediately.

"Taylor, what's wrong?" she asks, and I don't answer for a moment, keeping my arms steady as my smile falls off my face.

"How do I know it's you?" I ask her, and the owl blinks a moment, then frowns.

"Taylor, you can't…" she starts before Scurry interrupts.

"I told you it'd be a bad idea to bring us along," she says, not looking away from me. She knows how much danger they're in, they can hear the chittering, they know about my bugs. I could kill them right now and be done with them. Without them around, Mom or this imposter could be truthful with me. It would be so simple. Empowered as I am, I might only have to worry about the laser weapons, and with the power of the Beast, I could escape faster than they could correct their aim.

But what if this is Mom, had the clones taken my response into account? They have all my memories from before Echidna. They'd know how I'd react, they'd know that I could never trust this, so why such illusions? Why try to trick me? Are they even trying to trick me? It certainly sounds like they are subordinate to the owl woman, but then, how can I know? How exactly could I try to figure out if this is Mom or not? For a moment, I almost wish Alastor was back, and maybe he would know a way of telling if she's a fake.

As I wrack my brain, slowly, a memory surfaces. During one of the monthly phone calls me and Dad had where we tried to fix our distant relationship, and tried to grow closer, like we both wanted. I remember how Dad had about one of the times when Mom had actually gotten sent to jail for a bit. It hadn't been for long, and it was just a minor thing as far as the law was concerned. But Mom had taken part in some of the hazing that the pledges of Lustrum's sorority took part in. Dad hadn't gone into the details, but he'd mentioned that Mom had said it had something to do with a rather extreme and particularly sexual hazing. One of the girl's parents had convinced her to press charges, Mom ended up in jail for a bit, but got out on bail pretty soon after and even back into the university because she was a part of Lustrum's main sorority.

"If you really are Annette, then you can tell me what happened that landed you in jail?" I ask aloud, drawing surprised glances between my evil clones, while the owl recoils, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape.

"How did… when did…" the owl sputters before looking back to my clones. "Did you two know about this?"

The two clones look between each other before shaking their heads. I can feel my grips on my guns getting sweaty, and with bated breath, I wait her answer, though with her response, it could be…

"When did you learn about that?" the owl demon asks.

"It was during one of Dad's calls to me while I was in prison. We were trying to reconnect, and he told me about how you went to jail once. I think he was trying to cheer me up," I say, and Annette nods.

"How much did he tell you?" she asks but I raise my assault rifle a bit higher. Aiming for the bug on her head but keeping my fingers off the trigger.

"Answer the question," I demand of her. The owl sighs, looking down and away.

"It was a while ago, a long time ago, and I've had a lot of time to regret it, but back then, when you wanted to join the sorority Lustrum was the leader of, you had to go through a hazing process. We all had little things we signed, saying that we understood that the sorority would haze us, and we consented and all that. We all went through it. I'm not going to say what it was… but… to say the least, they weren't exactly legal… and… well, some girl squealed about it to her parents one year. That was one of the years I was one of the sisters that was helping haze the pledges. And… well… someone may have gotten a bit out of hand with the pledges, and… and…" The owl was quiet for a long time as all three of us stared at her. She looked at us all, before sighing again. So, it really is her. It's… it's Mom. I… I feel my eyes begin to get wet as I take a deep breath and breathe it out, trying to calm myself, but I can feel my eyes growing wetter as I continue. Mom… she's, it's… it's really her. She's… she's here. I'd ask why and how, but… I already know just one reason why she's down here. A tear, drips down one of my cheeks as I start to lower my assault rifle and my other guns. With my bugs I feel my clones start to lower their weapons as well; taking this as a good sign, I start to walk forwards, towards Mom.

Mom looks up, having heard me drop down to the floor, and as she pushes her gun away to her "other space," her smile grows, tears starting to well up in her eyes as well. She's hesitant, but from how big I am now, my long strides quickly close the distance. Unable to hold back, I reach out and grab Mom with all four of my arms, and pull her in, picking her up easily as I bring her close, like she used to do to me back when I was still small. Mom mimics the old me, her arms trying to meet behind me, but only just can't. It doesn't matter as I lay my chin on her head as she buries her face into my coat.

"I-I missed," my breath catches a moment before I continue. "I missed you."

Tear start to fall in earnest as I feel them begin to drip down my cheeks now and I sniffle a bit. At the same time, despite this moment, I keep a watch over my clones, just in case they do anything, but they've holstered their weapons, letting them drop on their slings as they watch us, smiles on their faces. I hear Mom sniffle as well below me, and she hugs tighter, possibly seeking comfort in my larger form.

"I did too, my little owl," she says as we continue to embrace, my smile growing so large that it'd hurt to keep it like it is right now. For a moment I look up to the sky, and am able to see the white moon over the red one, the moon with a halo, and clouds orbiting it. Some might say I was cheated for not ending up in Heaven, after saving so many worlds, but could it have really been my Heaven, if none of my friends or family were there? I squeeze on Mom some more as I lower my head once more and nuzzle into Mom's feathers.

Maybe, but I doubt it.

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[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Chapter 22

Absolutely huge thanks to Scheissdrauf who beta'd this chapter and now the previous chapter as well. If you are so inclined, I would highly recommend reading the previous chapter to see what improvements have been made to it. Without further ado, please enjoy chapter twenty two~!

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Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Of course, it's not like we won't hug again. It's been far too long for me not to try to hug Mom again, and I know Mom'll too. Even so, the hug has to end. I pull away from Mom and turn to see the clones noticing my forces looking in. Adam and Sherrel are poking their heads in while my imps are watching what's going on.

"Going by the fact that you ain't shooting at each other, and that whole hug there, that you know these guys, Skitty?" Adam asks as I nod.

"Yeah, this is my Mom," I say as Mom steps forward while I place a hand on her shoulder. It's strange being able to do that for once.

"Hello, I'm Annette, I'm glad that Taylor could find someone to help her out after everything that's happened. Though, Taylor," she starts before turning to me. "While it did help us find you so quickly, did you really have to go back to being a warlord so soon?"

"Mom-" I start but she interrupts.

"I mean considering the kinds of stuff that goes on down here I don't blame you, but couldn't you have taken some time off and maybe relaxed a bit? I mean you just got out of figurative Hell, surely you could have taken a load off, maybe… no, you've had hang ups about that kind of stuff, but…" Mom tries to continue, but she shakes her head, wraps her hands around my waist again and pulls me close.

"Sorry, I'm babbling, it's just. It's just. Watching your career, seeing you get 'out'ed, and then go to Endbringer fights, it's just. I don't feel like you've been taking care of yourself is all. Then there was everything with…" she pauses again, before pulling away. "We can talk about it another time. It… well, things were, and some still are rather sensitive with Rose and Scurry, Satan only knows how bad it will be with your paranoid clone when we finally find her."

"There's still another clone out there?" I ask Mom and she nods. I vaguely remember there being three clones, with Rose likely being the one who didn't speak at all, and Scurry was obviously the rat controller we called Chitter. There had still been the paranoid one who'd called into question Lisa's motives and everything else. Scurry starts to speak up but Sherrel interrupts:

"Hold on, clones? Like, evil clones?" Sherrel asks.

"Maybe once, but not anymore," Mom says with a bit of force, while I lean over.

"Not anymore?" I ask in a low voice while Mom shake her head.

"Mastering goes away after, and while Echidna affected their personalities, a part of their hatred was at least partially to do with mastering, your… we can talk about this later, or, no your sisters can tell you when they're ready," Mom says, I want to press her on it but Adam speaks up:

"Shit Skitty, you sure you ain't the hero or some shit of your own comic book and shit? 'Cause shit like that is exactly the kind of bullshit that a comic book hero ends up messing around with," Adam asks and I shake my head, a small breathy snort coming out. Sherrel meanwhile decides to continue his point.

"Hey, you were a villain, so wouldn't that mean that they're you're good twins rather than your evil twins?" she asks, her usual open mouth shifting to a toothy grin.

"There's more to it than that," Scurry comments, looking down a bit as she plays with her sleeve a bit, like I used to do back in high school, though as she says that Mom jumps in.

"None of my daughters are evil"

"Shit mamma bird, I know, I get that shit, we was just having a bit of fun. And obviously there's going to be more to that shit, can't just do evil clone and play it straight, that shit boring, there's always a story line or some shit that makes this clone different then that-" Adam starts to say before Mom this time interrupts him.

"Look, lets get back on track, I never did get your names. Though, considering that you've set up the Merchants again, and the fact that you look like a sex doll version of yourself, I'm going to assume that you're Squealer," Mom starts as she looks at Sherrel before turning to look at Adam. "And going by the bandana, Skidmark right?"

"Shit, got it in one, how about that," Adam replies. As he does so, I hear a buzz from my phone and take a brief look at it.

Anthony: Got everything secured boss, and we're going to drop your guy's loot off at your warehouse, make sure to be there to pick it up and keep people from stealing shit.

Pulling the phone out fully, I type up a quick text to Anthony and send it off.

Skitter: Bring us the APC, the van is out of commission.

"Anthony's coming to deliver the armoured vehicle that the Crimson gang had to us," I say as Sherrel's face lights up, her toothy grin spreading even wider, turning practically manic.

"Aw fuck yeah, serves the bastard right for fucking up my ride!"

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Like a lot of APCs, the one that came up for us looks like someone had strapped wheels to a somewhat rounded cargo container. The PRT had a sleeker ride though and the turret on top was a containment foam sprayer most of the time. Amusingly the PRT ones were more intimidating even though this one has an anti-personnel cannon on top of it. The moment it drives up, Sherrel squeals in delight as she runs towards the vehicle. As she does so, her bits begin to bounce around; jiggling in ways I can't help but watch. As she runs to the APC, her rear…

Then I hear Mom snort, and look over to her to see her smirking at me. I'm about to look away, when I notice that beside her are my two clones, both of them staring at Sherrel in a similar way. Rose had even lowered her glasses and has a smile on her face, while Scurry's blush is turning her face red as she keeps trying to look away before her eyes get drawn back to Sherrel fawning over her new APC. Had they… but I shake my head. It's this place. Angel said it himself, that this place changes people, eventually. After all, since Hell is so full of sin, it makes sense that eventually people'll change to their environment, and my clones had obviously been corrupted.

I don't even like girls in that way…

Shaking my head, I look away from the APC and the admittedly eye drawing form of Sherrel's shapely body. Instead I look off to the distance, past Mom before frowning. So I found Mom, I need to figure out who else died. Alec's still over in Canada, probably. If I'm able to use that VTOL of hers, then it might avoid the issue of the dangers that Adam and Sherrel dealt with while out in the wastes. Plus it would be faster. From there, then maybe I can figure out who died from Golden Morning. Not many under my control died, though there were some sacrifices. Despite not being entirely there, a whisper trapped in my own body really, I… don't remember any of my friends dying. Even so, it would be good to get reassurance. I know Lisa's alive, Blitzo confirmed it, but perhaps I can negotiate with the imp to figure out who else died?

Though, Mom has resources. She wouldn't have found me otherwise, not to mention the VTOL. Better safe than sorry just in case Blitzo can't find them for one reason or another. Plus, maybe it will prepare her to see Dad again. I… I know we never moved on, but maybe…?

"Mom…" I say, drawing her attention once more. "I think that Dad… he might be dead, he might be down here with us."

Mom blinks and frowns. "I kind of assumed that was the case. Though I already have some private investigators looking for Danny since my usual source for finding people has been rather reticent as of late to help me locate people as of a few months ago. I had to hire one for you as well, but now I don't have to keep paying him to look for you now. As for Danny, I'm not sure if he made it out alright or not, and with news on the surface being rather sparse now in addition to the internet just being gone up there on Bet and a few other worlds, I couldn't be sure. Hell, I wasn't even sure you were dead until my investigator got a lead about someone named Skitter hiring Mr. Spade to go looking for one of your old team mates."

So Mom had been watching my cape career, or at least, was watching the official broadcast about me, though depending on when she or the clones found each other, she might have found out about my time as Skitter fairly close after the whole Echidna debacle. Likely a highly biased view in one way or another depending on how Echidna's mind bending affected the clone's personalities and perspective on things "So you get news about the world here?"

"Yup, while most of the stuff is made here in Hell, there are quite a lot of pay to view channels on the TV that deal with the various Earths they connect to," Mom says as she nods along. "I mainly just watched the Earth Bet channels but I doubt that there's going to be much else on other than the various emergency broadcast channels."

"Yeah, I guess so," I say as I turn away and start to head towards the APC. As I do I call out, my bugs buzzing to alert my imps as well. "Come on; let's get out of here before something else happens."

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As we turn onto our street, the small crowd that had gathered outside all freeze as we drive closer. The whole of the APC is still painted up to look like it's a Crimson vehicle after all. A few from the crowd break away and run to the door of the shelter while others merely stand there. I feel someone starting to use magic in the crowd.

Which promptly dies away as I form a bug clone, standing atop the APC while the rest of the imps round the corner behind us. Imps and a few others are sticking their fists out of the windows as cheers erupt from the small crowd who had been waiting for us.

The hero's triumphant return if I've ever seen one. Sherrel drives us right to the crowd, while others shove the doors open and climb out. A few imps get engulfed by the crowd as slowly we stumble our way towards the exit of the APC. A few of my girls have already begun to kiss a few of the heroes while the rest of us hop out the back. Grabbing the dried out husk of the Beast, I make my way out as well. As I reach the back of the APC, I fling the corpse ahead of me to land in an open spot on the ground before jumping out myself.

"The Beast is dead, and Crimson is no more!" I shout, and immediately the crowd explodes in cheers once more. Some run up and start attacking the corpse, kicking it, clawing at it. Others come up and I get hugged a few times while I try to reciprocate. There are a few calls of "thank you" mixed in with the cheering while I followed Glenn's steps in how to appear to bask in the praise for moment. While this victory isn't much, and probably doesn't deserve this kind of praise, it is nice none the less. I never dealt with the public much, and the closest to this kind of reaction were the cheers of Boston's political elite raising their glasses to me and the rest of the Wards, or when I returned from fighting back to my territory, though it's closer to the later now.

Of course there are those other PR events, but I avoided those as much as I could. They were a waste of time, and while I did have my fans, I knew I could better spend my time researching, or training myself and the others. I hadn't given myself up for a chance of fame and recognition; I'd already started to get some of it after the entire Echidna debacle took place.

"Like an Amazonian princess returning from conquest," Mom notes behind me as she jumps down. I look back at her.

"You disapprove?" I ask, as despite how the Amazonians of Greek legend were great symbols of female empowerment, they were still barbarians and uncivilised. Yet Mom shakes her head.

"No, not in the slightest. Circumstance makes us and despite all these trappings of civilisation, there is a distinct lack of civility in this city. Even before in Brockton Bay it was similar, but at least there were places where we could get away from it all and just enjoy ourselves for a bit. Here, well… the places that are safe are rather more limited," the last part has her gaze turning off in a certain direction towards the sky scrapers. Though, I can't see where myself.

Turning her head she looks up at the building I'm restoring with the various rafters hanging off the thing, imps either working or watching the festivities as windows are repaired.

"I'd heard you already likely had a place, though I assumed that you were crashing with some friends," Mom said and I shrug.

"It's something of a recent expansion, I needed somewhere to put the people rescued from Crimson, and no one was using it so I've taken it over. It's also got an office that I've started to use as well," Mom nods along, though as she nods she spots a few of the signs that the imps have put up on the sides of the building. Generic neon lights of an XXX, something I remember signing off of without really thinking about it.

"Getting involved in prostitution?" Mom asks lightly, seemingly catching the notice of my clones as well as they look over to where Mom's looking now. Mom herself has moved on though, looking around at the girls, possibly with a new light.

"I'm more just giving them a safe place where they can work their trade, most of them would have ended up doing so anyways, and those that aren't interested are already about to move on or are working with Skidmark on his drug operation," I try to explain but Mom doesn't really react except for a knowing smile as she looks at me, a slight and nearly silent chuckle coming from the owl demon. Then she turns back to my base while wrapping an arm around my shoulder. By now I've shrunk down, no longer the massive creature I'd become after drinking the Beast's blood. While I'm still am a bit taller than Mom in my true demon form, it isn't by much.

"I'm sure that was the only reason you opened this place up Taylor," she says, though I don't really know what she's implying. Yes the money is nice, but with how things are, looting from the corpses of my enemies is far more profitable. Speaking of enemies, I ought to check on how the vigilantes are doing, though not now.

"The money is nice," I mutter, not really wanting to lie to Mom, but that just makes her chuckle harder.

"Right, money," she says, a bit of a blush forming on my cheeks, finally realising what she's implying. To be fair, the lot of them are generally all good looking, and some of them are exceptionally beautiful even in their emaciated state, enough that it would have made me extremely jealous back when I was a teen. I like to think that I've grown beyond that now though.

"Well, aren't you going to show me around? Maybe let me see what exactly you've got going for yourself here? I'd love to see what my little owl has managed to get done in just a month," Mom says as her smile turns from cheeky to just happy. I mirror her while a few people seem to take notice.

Oh god, that stupid rumour. I hope Mom doesn't hear it while we're here. Meanwhile, I sense a certain mouse making her way through the crowd before slipping in near me.

"You know, you never did tell me what you do now," I say, giving a bit of a hint towards the direction I want the conversation to go. Plus, keeping this up would be a good way of keeping Mom from hearing the rumour as well.

"Oh you're right! We've just been all caught up in finally seeing each other and being together and all of this I haven't even told you about anything I've done since I got here. I know the broad details of what you've been doing up top but you've heard nothing about me for the past three years! We've got a lot of catching up to do my little owl, or should I call you my little moth hmm?" she asks as my smile widens a bit as I bump her.

"Whatever works Mom," I say as she giggles a bit.

"Alright then, well I guess to start off things have been going absolutely great for me. I mean there was a rough patch at the start. I first arrived butt naked with horny demons all over the place in some small city out in the wastelands. Yet, I got a bit luckier than most since I actually was able to get away from the horny hordes of hellions and ended up in a fight after finding a cadaver with a loaded gun. Things were a lot calmer back then, but it didn't help that I managed to piss off what seems like the whole damn city," and then she starts to regale me on her journey through Hell, her raging rampage through the streets of New Roe as she took on a cult called the "Followers of Aphrodite" that had taken over the small wasteland city and how things had just kept snowballing. It almost sounds like something straight out of an action flick that the male wards would like to pick when they got to choose for movie night.

Mimi meanwhile follows as we make our way to my office. She doesn't speak up, but she is there. Mom notices her but continues on with her story of everything that's been going on, how she ended up getting recruited by Lilith of all things after dealing with the cultists. Lately she's been body guarding one of Hell's princesses, a girl named Charlie who's up here in the Ring of Pride doing charity work.

What a world, where a demon born of Hell is a better person that most of us humans turned demons. Then again, I guess that's why all of us are in Hell and have been turned into demons, when we're just as bad if not worse than the Hell-born demons. Going by all the shootings, the general chaos and disregard for life that we seem to have up here on the ring of Pride, maybe there's a good reason why we apparently can't got to the other rings of Hell?

"So that's the gist of it, I left out a lot of parts though," Mom says as we enter the office, Scurry and Rose still with us along with Mimi. As we enter, Mom rounds on her, giving her a once over.

"Friend or girlfriend?" she asks.

"What?" the two of us ask nearly in unison as I'm still trying to register what she said, but Mom just giggles a bit.

"You know what I mean," she says, strutting over to Mimi who's stuck looking up at her. "I mean I don't know your type really. I know Rose and Scurry's but not yours. After all, you weren't old enough to have a type when the accident happened."

Mom continues to stalk around Mimi, inspecting her up and down like a predator. Mimi keep her wits though, merely sticking her hands in her pocket and cocking her hips. I can feel a bit of a fiery pulse in Mimi and I know that she keeps her gun in her pocket. Mimi's no doubt has quite a bit of experience dealing with rather predatory people.

"Mom," I start to say but Mimi replies to her question right after.

"Friend," is all she says, and Mom makes a clicking sound, almost sounding disappointed.

"And you're so cute too," Mom says, the disappointment rolling off her tongue and I can imagine her almost pouting were it not for the beak. Then she looks over to me while pulling away from Mimi, "but then I guess you're going through the same thing as the others," she says while the clones share a knowing look. I don't like that knowing look, but at least it isn't conspiratorial, merely the kind of look siblings or friends give to each other when something's ironic. Which doesn't really make much sense; I've never shown any interest in women, even if I can clearly understand and see what some men enjoy in regards to women.

Looking over to Mimi briefly, while she's petite in the chest, she does have what the boys from the Wards would call "thick thighs." They're nothing on Sherrel's which could probably have smothered Leviathan were she to wrap them around his face. Plus, she's certainly cute, though that could be the mouse thing going for her with the rather large ears, curious look, and baggy hoodie on her. Right, enough of that, moving on.

I sit down at my desk; the sound of music starting up begins from one of the boom boxes that someone had already bought. From it I can hear the latest pop music of Hell playing as the party downstairs starts to kick off once again. The clones moves to the window and take a peak outside down to the main part of the floor. MILF hadn't finished putting up solid flooring so there is still space to look through to the main floor where the party is starting to pick up.

"I guess one thing has stayed the same," Scurry says as she looks out to the floor.

"What's that?" I ask, but she doesn't look at me.

"The Merchants, they're still having parties all the time…" she says before rounding on me. "So, Skidmark… really?"

Her expression is like a looking glass into my old life, a mirror staring accusingly at me and my body. Only this isn't some mirror, and the accusing expression isn't over my inadequate body.

"Repayment of a deed well done and he has changed," I say and her eyebrow rises.

"Is that so? While I can certainly say you've changed, you could certainly fit in with Squealer with a slight change in attire," she snipes and while I could take that as an insult, I instead quirk my lips a bit smiling at her, and her still gawky and strangely proportioned teenage body. She's definitely jealous. "But he seems the same, still running drugs, still running a gang, still… well still doing everything he did before."

That part, however, puts a bit of a damper to my amusement. "My fault unfortunately, in truth. Before I came along, he was an upstanding citizen. More than upstanding really, down right heroic if how we met is anything to go by how he acted before I met him again."

"Really, we're worse than Skidmark? I highly doubt it," she says.

"Now Scurry, just because someone ended up in a bad place doesn't mean that they're bad people. After all, I'm sure we've all done things while in a bad place. I mean the three of you ended up villains after all," Mom says, no accusation in her voice

"No, he was definitely a bad person, but like you said, Mom, he did change." I say. "The Skidmark we knew before though is no more. I don't know exactly when he died, but at some point he and Squealer turned their lives around for the better here in Hell. Pulling themselves from the gutter and made themselves a nice little living across the street. Granted it is a drug mill that he made himself to make ends meet, but with how our demonic regeneration works and the fact that there's no laws against it, drugs far less of an issue than in the living world."

"Huh, I wonder what changed," Scurry asks.

"Lots of things, he arrived in Hell, had a kid, and a few other things, which begs the question, what about you two? What happened after you both ended up here?" I ask, finally catching the attention of my less socially inclined clone.

"I kind of just wandered around for a bit before finding Mom, or well, she found me. I didn't know she was here until she was chasing me down an alleyway. I… she thought I was you, and for a bit I didn't have the heart to tell her," she said, looking away from us to Mom, holding her arm as if shamed by it but Mom just walks over and wraps Rose up in the hug.

"You should have seen the look on my face. I ended up stopping in the crowd for a solid minute. Accidentally scared my little Rose into a pack of biters and I only just managed to save her in time," she says while rubbing her chin against Rose's head between the horns.

"What changed?" I ask.

"I saw Scurry one day." I look over to Scurry, but she looks away, instead finding her rat suddenly rather interesting, pulling a bit of cheese from a pocket and passing it to it.

"I don't want to talk about it," she says, her words firm, the entirety of her focus on her pet as she stroked it's fur, even nuzzling it's nose a bit. Mom meanwhile reaches over and puts a hand on her shoulder, and with a tug, she comes over while Mom hugs them both. I guess that's fair enough. I look to Mom but she just shakes her head and her head leans over so that her beak is pointing down at Scurry. I guess if she wants to, Scurry will tell me about what happened in due time, if ever.

"Alright then. If you wish, feel free to take part in the rest of the festivities," I say. The pair frown, almost confused a moment, until I send a buzzing insect by them. I know what my teenage self would have thought. Neither objects. Rose nods before extracting herself from Mom's hug and heading out of the office when something buzzes in Scurry's pocket and she pulls out a cell phone. She shares one look with Mom who just giggles.

"Sorry, I have to take this," she says before making a speedy retreat from the room as well. The name on the screen is too far away to see, but the picture is that of an owl demon. Not Mom, but of someone else, someone younger, and wearing a beanie. Mom almost looks at me expectedly, but after a moment of nothing, Mom herself frowns as she tilts her head.

"Not going to join in on the fun?" she asks, but I shake my head.

"I still have things to do. I need to figure out how to integrate the Raz family into the Merchants properly, I have to plan a trip to Canada to see if I can bring an old team mate, Regent, into the fold, and I have a letter I need to write," while from the drawer, I pull out some paper and a pencil.

"A letter, to whom?" Mom asks, and I hesitate a moment, remembering what Blitzo said, that communication between the living world and the world of the dead is strictly prohibited. Not to mention those rules were likely made by her boss' husband. Would it really be a good idea to tell her this? But then, she's Mom.

"To one of my team mates that's still alive, I've recently found a way that I can get a letter to her. Though it costs a fair bit," I say while an eyebrow rises.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? How do you know they're not scamming you?" she asks.

"I've met a few of their employees and quite a few of my imps are actually family to one. They vouched for their company, it wasn't the boss by the way," I say while writing out the initial part of "Dear Lisa" though I don't continue just yet.

"Okay, um, who are they?" Mom asks.

"A company going by I.M.P, they're apparently a company specialising in assassinating targets in the living world. They agreed to deliver this letter however," I say as a bit of recognition dawns on Mom's face.

"Oh, that's that company who's Stolas' lover runs," then her eyes widen more as she seemingly realises something. "So that's why Stolas couldn't help me with finding you guys," she mutters under her breath, though I still catch it. Then she notices my tilted head and slightly twitching antennae.

"Oh, sorry, just some Ars Goetia drama that's kind of putting Scurry's girlfriend through a rough patch at the moment. Anyways, just something to include in your letter, or maybe even to get you to reconsider writing it, is that we, and by we I mean those in charge, do not like the idea of Hell existing getting out," Mom says, matter of factly.

"Why's that?" Mimi asks, piping up as Mom leans back against the wall.

"Well, imagine that people actually knew that there was an afterlife? Now, who wants to end up in Hell, I mean really?" Mom asks as I look to Mimi and she looks back before we shake our heads at her.

"Had I known you were here, maybe," I say, though I would effectively be abandoning my friends, and possibly even Dad were I to do so. I'd see Mom, but what about everyone else? While I love Mom, and in no way would I ever do anything to push her away… she is only one bit of my social web. Sure, the Undersiders were villains and… well weren't the best influence on me, but they're still friends; good friends that I'll never regret meeting.

While it sounds bad, Lisa, well Lisa and I might have eventually ended up like Emma and I once had been had I not run off to the Wards, without the betrayal and backstabbing of course… I would hope.

"Besides that. If people knew for sure that there really was a Heaven and Hell, they would certainly try to get into Heaven, and the elite of Hell wouldn't get anyone to play with or refill the ranks of those who suffered their final death during the purges," Mom explains, and it does make sense. Though, other than minor tweaks, I doubt I would have changed what I'd done. I'd felt they had been necessary at the time, even if some of my old decisions almost give me conniptions if I dwell on them for too long.

"I don't think it would have mattered with me. I… my head was pretty messed up," Mimi says, looking away. Mom merely nods and doesn't pry.

"Sometimes it's like that. Anyways, Taylor, just, whoever you're writing to, please impress upon them that they need to keep the fact that Hell exists a secret they take to their grave, okay?" Mom asks as I nod.

"Don't worry, despite her name, Tattletale knows how to be discreet," I say before putting my pencil back to the paper. Now, time to actually write this letter. I've been putting it off for too long.

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Please like and comment if you enjoyed this.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos Moxxie / Lisa Interlude

Massive thanks to Scheissdrauf for betaing this, this thing went through like four different drafts and wouldn't have been as good as it is now without his help, so give him a big thanks as well~!

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"Huh, these guys really know how to build shit fast," Blitzo said as we all look around at the city of refugees from Earth Bet and what they'd created here. I nod along, remembering how fast the rebuilds usually are when disaster strikes a rural imp town. Most damages are usually fixed or replaced within the week. Especially among imp settlers on the Pride ring who, have to compete with gangs of sinners roaming around in addition to the usual dangers.

"Like fuck, look at all this smoke and shit, like I can understand maybe a bunch of log cabins and shit from cutting down trees but these fuckers got concrete and factories set up," Blitzo continues, though I pipe up.

"Actually sir, I looked a bit into the city since we have some customers interested in us doing business here, mainly for layouts and other such things we could use, and turns out that a significant portion of the industrial parts of this city were built about a year or more before the apocalypses that hit a many different Earths."

"Huh, neat, where'd you learn that?"

"I looked at old news reports regarding who we are delivering to and the name Brockton Bay kept came up, so eventually I started to look into things. I will admit to getting a bit of help investigating, but I learned about the building of "New Brockton" a city made by Fortress Construction that appears to have been a front for a super villain," I say, though I can tell I lost Blitzo about half way through as he goes back to taking everything in. Classic of him really, though it would be nice if he was a bit more conspicuous with his gawking.

"Hey Moxx check out that freak," Blitzo says as he nudges my shoulder and points over to one… person that looked like someone had tried to make a spider out of human body parts, and used some necromancy to bring it to life. The thing was pretty big as well, lumbering along with four bins of some golden material being dragged behind it. "Man someone really fucked him up."

"Sir, while he is... rather... umm unpleasant to look at, perhaps you could be a little less rude about it? You're actions are drawing more attention than our obnoxious costumes," I try to complain since there are people giving us the side eye or even just openly glaring at us as we move along. Before it was just wary looks as we passed since we look like super people with costumes and everything.

Blitzo is the most eye catching of us three, though I'm a close second. His bright red cape flows in the wind just right to catch people's eyes, though the rest of him draws attention as well. His cape highlights his black, skin tight spandex outfit that with a red crown on it's front. He has even gotten himself a black metal mask with a red blush painted on it. With his weapons on display, he certainly looks like a stereotypical villain character or maybe some kind of assassin.

Of course he also picked out things for us to wear as his minions. Nothing so… edgy might be the best way to put it. For Millie and me, he has gotten some similar form hugging spandex like his that were a mix of black and colour in a checker board pattern with white cuffs at the end of each limb and a ruff around our necks. In addition, he gave us jester hats to cover our horns, or at least mine since Millie's went straight up. Each of us had different colours; Millie's was green while I got pink. Unlike Blitzo we didn't get capes, and had just domino masks on rather than a full helmet. I also have a small enchanted backpack that has my other guns in them as well as my regular armpit holsters with my pistols in each of them. Millie herself is carrying a solid metal bat on her shoulder.

If he'd just given us a heads up, we might have been able to make our own outfits as well, but of course, he only told us last minute so I couldn't even pull out the costumes Millie and I had designed back on our 37th​ date.

It was at a graphic novel convention.

"Yeah, weren't we supposed to fit in a bit? So that the you know who's don't realise we're not you know what?" Millie asks backing me up while her deliciously Wrathi accent tickles my heart and I can't help but smile a bit as she speaks. Of course, Blitzo just blows us off with a raspberry.

"Oh stop worrying you two, these guys got like four portals to other inhabited worlds open just to do business and who knows how many more they think are unpopulated just to extract resources from those places. Who cares if we are attracting attention like this, it's not the "scream and run" attention, it's the "Fuck! More fuckers coming to look at us and gawk at how shitty our lives are" kind of attention."

"To be fair Sir, that is kind of what you are doing, though to further my point, why would we want to attract that kind of attention Sir? Wouldn't it also attract reprisal?" I ask but he just shrugs.

"Who cares? We can take these chumps, also why the fuck am I smelling vanilla all of a sudden? Fuck it's everywhere," Blitzo asks as he looks around before spotting a curvaceous girl with a demonic looking mask on. Just looking at her makes the smell even more intense. I wrinkle my nose a bit, the scent is rather powerful but otherwise kind of pleasant.

"You like that Mox?" Millie asks and I can't help but smile at her.

"I certainly do Millie, maybe a bit lighter but it's still nice," I say as Millie giggles a bit before turning around to approach the girl as Blitzo swings his head back and groans at the delay.

"Howdy honey, I'm Millie and I just have to ask, where'd ya'll get that perfume from? Stuff's mighty scrumptious," she asks, all smiles, and then the girl starts to act weird. Freezing on the spot and her hand darts to a knife at her belt. By the time she does so I've already got my gun out, but I've not pointed it at her. I see her eyes glance at me for a second, though her hand doesn't slip away from her knife, and so I don't put my gun back. Millie herself however doesn't move, merely smiling at her. All around us, everyone starts to act weird, looking at Millie like she'd just grown a second head. No one even looks at the girl with the demon mask on.

"Uh," is all she says while Millie waited patiently, looking between the three of us, Millie hitting her with her irresistible puppy dog eyes that I so adore. This goes on until I take pity on the girl and come up behind Millie.

"Um, Millie, baby? I think that might be her power, you know? This is technically a refugee camp so they won't really have perfume, remember?" I tell her, and as she realises her accidental faux pass, she blushes all cute like and by Satan I want to kiss her so much.

"Oh shucks, I'm sorry, uh, I didn't mean to offend, um, I'm Millie, and this is my husband Moxxie. How 'bout you darling?" stepping in front of my darling, I jump in before she broke any more social rules among these "super hero" cultured people.

"Just your super hero name ma'am, as I understand there is a separation between super hero life and civilian life so please don't assume we are trying to inquire into your more personal matters," I say, a nervous smile on my face as people continue to whisper, someone behind the super person pointing at himself but we ignore him as we hear a kind of chuckle from the demon masked person, before suddenly the smell of vanilla falls away. People suddenly start shaking their heads, and many start to look towards the masked individual. Some kind of "notice me not gas maybe?"

"Imp, I work for Tattletale so I guess that kind of makes me a super hero around here. Also means I get to watch out for trouble," she said, her eyes looking around, scanning the situation from the looks of it. I can see her focusing on spots, and as I look to where she's looking, I can see some people moving out of the crowd. Most of them have some kind of armband with an eye on them that marks them as being all together. Some of them have guns but most have things like bats or other kinds of easy to acquire melee weapons. Looking back at her, I can see a duo walk up near her, one holding a pistol while another has a board with nails put through it. Around us, the various civilians are leaving the area; either being directed by some guys with eye arm bands or is just getting out of the way. In truth, I'm not too worried. These are mostly humans, and form the looks of them, not even trained ones, more just a few guys who were brought in to act as muscle. If things go south, we can probably kill most of them before any more supers than 'Imp' could reach us.

"Huh, ain't that a coincidence, anyways can you get us to your boss? We need to give her this package from someone, her eyes only and all that crap, you know?" Blitzo says, as "Imp" tilts her head.

"Is that so? You know I'm not just some lackey and we are pretty close, so you can hand it over and I'll give it to her when I get back to the office," she starts but I can't help but furrow my brow.

"Sorry, we don't know that ma'am, our client specifically asked us to deliver the package to Tattletale," I say and I can tell the girl is frowning inside of her mask, but seems to accept it.

"Fine, I'll take you to see Tattletale, I hope you know not to try anything," she says as she starts to lead the way through the maze of buildings, her mob of guys following us. As we walk I notice many buildings are being painted by various people on quickly constructed scaffolding, many of them not wearing proper safety equipment. Though it would make sense if corners were cut considering how fast they managed to create this industrial sector and a few concrete blockhouses. Interestingly, most of the people on the scaffolding seem to be painting nature inspired murals on the buildings, mostly just vines and flowers and stuff. It hadn't really been very present in the factory areas, but an apartment complex we passed practically was a mural of painted plants.

Eventually we enter onto what looked like the initial stages of a new street, with the beginnings of buildings being set up, but not much else. There is only one building in this part of the budding city that was even done. It looks like one of those small apartment complexes, the kind made for those who liked a lot of room and lived in suites.

"Here's the place, just head inside and ask the lady at the front desk to buzz you up, I just got to deal with something first," she says, talks to the guard, and then things start to smell like vanilla again as she walks into the building.

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With my hands on my temples, I rub at them as I close my eyes a moment, my tired brain refusing to really focus on much at the moment. There are many things to get done and so many little deals or plans here and there to finalise or get put into motion. It gets hard to keep up with everything. For example a fight broke out and turned into a full on brawl over a can of beef. There is a small gang of thieves in the tent city around New Brockton, that I had not set up to promote people paying my protection fee, who are stealing my building supplies and selling them to some of the other settlements on the cheap. Drugs were also entering into New Brockton through the trade portals, something Taylor certainly wouldn't have wanted. Granted, I won't ever really be able to stop that last one, but I might as well make the effort to reduce the amount of the harder ones available to the majority of the public. For Taylor's sake.

Besides, the softer ones are making me enough resources to cover a quarter of the budget of the enforcers I've got running around, especially when I can pay some of them in recovered drugs and food rather than in my newly minted currency. Not that I expect it to last long which is why I haven't bothered to cut back on producing "Eyes" or started preparing for any long term plans regarding it since it'll be worthless in about six months anyways. Numberman is in the game after all and over investing in any kind of monetary money scheme while he's around to manipulate the market is foolhardy at best and moronic in the extreme at worst. Not that I can't take advantage of the confusion and make a tidy little profit off of it. Thus infrastructure, drugs, and things that are required are my focus at the moment. Making myself and by extension the Undersiders indispensable from the rest of the mega city that Numberman and Citrine are planning despite how quite a lot of people are not exactly happy with me at the moment.

Then there's also someone who had started to try and unionise the workers in one of my factories, thankfully not Taylor's Dad. Thus I don't feel bad as I start to write the order to rough him up. Nothing major yet, just a warning for now to shut up and be happy he has work or else.

I don't even want to have to do it, but we can't slow down, not now at this crucial juncture. Sure worker rights and all that would nice to have right now. I'm sure many people would be glad to not have to work dawn to dusk with only a few breaks. But that can all come later. While winter isn't exactly at our door step, any kind of slowing down will lead to not enough room to house people during it. If that happens, people will panic and…

I sigh, leaning back for a moment, and just let myself breathe for a second. Okay… one thing at a time. The union thing is going to be dealt with. Now, onto the thieves that I don't have influence over. Okay, expensive targets I can clue them onto that would both benefit me and them so they fall into my reach. I look to the local map on my wall with all of my notes and all the pins in it with string connecting the notes. I already know most of them.

Roster change on Warden posts indicates a reshuffling. Miss Inscrutable and Big Bug left to join Dragon. Old posts will have unskilled guards. Good target to sell to thieves after a week. Negotiate for items to be bought at a premium.

I nod along with my power's assessment as it cuts through my stress and tiredness to help me out. New guards after a certain point get complacent if nothing happens, and places guarded by complacent inexperienced guards are always a ripe opportunity for prospective thieves, especially if the thieves are good at what they do.

I make a note of it on a piece of scrap paper and get up to stick it to one of my cork boards. This one dedicated to the various little things I have to deal with, the people I have to arrange meetings with, the things I have to plan out. Basically a "to-do" board to help me remember what I have to work on even as the headaches start eating at my ability to remember. If I don't remember them after all, they can easily go from being a small little issue to becoming a big problem that I can't deal with.

I need to make this work. For her.

Then there's a knock at my door as my secretary comes in, from beyond I can see what looks to be something red beyond the door in-

Outfit is made from unknown power made material. Costume is new; has been worn only two times, doesn't often use costume. Cape is empowered. Someone else's power. Costume is professionally done; has significant access to resources. Foreigner from post industrial society. Crown symbol; leader. Case 53, long term minion summon, biotinker creation, changer, or non human intelligent species from alternate Earth.

Then my secretary closes the door behind her and I lose sight of the strange being on the other side.

"Miss Tattletale? Some demon looking capes have come to see you, no appointment. Say they got a package for you that they need to deliver directly. Shall I get security to escort them out after taking their package?" my secretary says as I raise an eyebrow at her, mostly surprised to have visitors. Then again, I've started to rebuild my name around here as an info broker just like I had been after we took over Brockton Bay and ousted the old boss.

"No it's fine, send them in," I say as I open my drawer and pull out my pistol before laying it on the desk in front of me. In my other hand I palm a foam grenade with the pin pulled but the lever still attached.

A trio of spade tailed beings enter into my office, two smaller ones with a larger one at the head of the group. He was the cape I'd seen briefly before, only now I could observe him and the state of his dress more clearly.

High quality clothing, flame proof material. Skin is fireproof, scar tissue is white, splotches indicative of injury in the past. Dense skin, resistance to blunt force trauma and piercing. A natural at moving with horns, tails, and digitigrade legs. Created with them.

So they were definitely not changers then unless their form didn't heal after the change.

Trace stains of various reproductive substances on leader's body, smaller one in pink walks with slight lim-.

Well that's disgusting, but let's focus on more important things.

Smile isn't cruel. Smaller ones don't betray any hostile intent. Not new; veteran, scanning room for threats, sensing strong smell, focused behind you, corkboards; enhanced senses. Non military; assassins. Not target. Entwined tails between small ones; Strong bonds. Jester outfit not their choice, big one determined their costumes; history in circus. Green is far stronger than small form implies; focus on melee weapons. Size of gun; large calibre. Ranged focus. Flintlock pistol on leader; modified; ranged focus as well.

"So then, to whom do I owe the pleasure?" I ask, laying it on a bit thick with the cliché greetings of the influential, but it certainly sold the image to some people that I was more than just some kid who somehow lucked into her position as top dog.

Not that it helps with some morons. Putting the boot to those who disrespect me, however, quickly turns their opinion around enough to take me seriously afterwards.

"Hi there, I'm Blitzo, the O is silent and we're your messengers for today. As for the message, oh it's just a package toots, girlfriend of yours is all sad and sappy and shit about not being able to tap that fat ass of yours and decided to send you a gift to try and make up for being a cheating bitch," the large one says as he reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a box which really should have bulged out of his coat. The thing's wrapped up in spider web pattern gift paper like a present and even has a bow over top of it. It certainly looks similar to what Taylor would send us sometimes, though it wasn't as if those were particularly secret. One look through a log of gifts prisoners and later probationary wards sent to others would yield that information. Despite Dinah telling her not to contact us, she did send us gifts on our birthdays and for Christmas. It was a small part of the reason Bitch didn't hate her for abandoning us and was only a bit bitter, though a part of that was because I was also running damage control for her leaving us, again.

But Taylor's dead, or at least likely was. She… hadn't been in a good place, her power, and her… how it…

The thought of eventually finding her… or rather, her corpse always made me hesitate a bit when having survey teams going around checking out every new portal that they open up. There was always that hope that she'd not… but the allure of resources beat out any potential of coming face to face with the hard truth that I might one day have to face.

Though I guess there would be a little silver lining if we found… her. At least we could give her a proper burial. Aisha refuses to believe she's dead… but…

"Sir! She's not like that," the smaller demon interrupts as the larger demon groans as he looks at him.

"Yeah sure Moxxie, she's totally a friend to imps and definitely isn't trying to manipulate you guys into doing more free work for her. Stop being simps and realise she's just using you two and the rest of your family to build herself a tiny little kingdom for free before kicking everyone to the curb."

"Sir-"

"Blitz, she ain't like that. If she was she'd 'ave used us like cannon fodder and shit like that, she didn't though and was right in the thick of it, and don't try to say you suddenly care about other imps or something like that."

"Ugh, I don't care except that she's using you guys to do her dirty work when you guys should be with me helping me with my dirty work," right, one more point towards either master summon or biotinker creatures. So what about whoever is sending this?

Leading creature has interacted on different levels compared to smaller imps; largely independent. Employer unlikely to throw away lives for gain; front line fighter. Experience in leading from the front. Similarities between Taylor and creature's employers growing.

She did… does have a bleeding heart. I have no doubt that if she saw some kind of injustice; she'd try to act on it in some way, even without her powers.

Looking over the package that the cape had placed on my desk, I raise an eyebrow as I notice that on one of the sides, an "X" had been cut, and the box's lid was haphazardly thrown back on, barely fitting over it with one end sticking up a bit.

Slight indent of claws, likely perpetrators are in front of you, specifically the large one. Irreverent to employer; does not believe in privacy. Did not have privacy in home life; did not develop it.

"Is this supposed to be open?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at Blitzo as Moxxie and Millie look over before glaring at Blitzo, though the big demon looking guy just shrugs.

"Sir!"

"What? It's not like I took anything from it, and besides if she wanted me not to have me open her package she'd just have had to pay extra," I almost feel like arguing but refrain. Instead I stick the pin back in the foam grenade and pull the package out from the wrapping paper. I look up to the demon looking guy.

"I assume you didn't add anything to it?" I ask, watching his reactions as he just shakes his head.

"Nah, it's just a phone and some sappy ass letter. One of those stupid brick phones that's more battery than phone. Got nothing on it either since it doesn't even have any apps other than the default ones. Plus the brand is kind of shit since no one makes anything for it anyways other than them so all you can do is play one of their shitty cash grab games that aren't even good."

Not lying, has already read the letter, used the phone. Trap unlikely; creature still alive.

Taking that as a positive despite his snoopiness, I set the box down on my desk and turn back to the "imps", giving them a little smile.

"Thank you for delivering this to me, you can go now," I say and the three nod before walking out. I watch as they leave before heading to the window and watching the trio leave the building. With them gone, I go back to my desk and lift the top of it slowly. I peer into the box and see a small pile of papers, along with what looks like a very large electronic brick that had to be the phone. The thing was rather generic with a rubber case over it with greasy smears on it. As I pick it up and find the button to turn it on, I'm greeted by a picture of Blitzo wrapping his arm around the neck of a pissed off looking Amazonian wolf girl.

Hug is casual and for fun of it. Wolf girl is annoyed at the closeness of it. Knows him personally. Unlikely to be direct family, potentially friends? Clothing style likely points towards youth, while Blitzo is an adult. Either very young friend or potentially attempting to be some form of fatherly figure to the wolf girl.

Ignoring that for now, I wipe the screen of some of the smudges and find that the phone unlocks without need of a password. Like Blitzo said, there are not really any apps except for the phone app and a few that are just installed normally. Blitzo also took the opportunity to replace the wallpaper with him making a goofy face as well. Curious at what I might learn, I tap at the app labelled pictures to see any potential history this thing might have had. Many pictures were obviously by Blitzo. Those would certainly help me figure out what exactly it's like on Blitzo's Earth when I to look into it. Others though…

One's an eye design made of purple on a black background, with another that has the colours inverted. It almost looks like the Eye that I used to have on my Tattletale suit back before I changed the design a bit. There are some incorrect parts, but it's still recognisable. Someone was really looking into me, though it was almost like they were going off of memory rather than just looking through my costume history. Other pictures are of someone that looks a lot like Taylor. Or rather Taylor if she was a Case 53 with a moth-like form.

Also if her breasts had grown three sizes.

Okay, leaning towards the theory that Taylor was revived via cloning then by some perverted bio tinker. That or somehow Taylor got a changer power if this is her. If this is her, then how much is left of her? Is she like a Valkyrie clone, where they remember some of their previous life, but are only an impression of the person, or is this a full revival kind of situation?

Then again, perhaps if Valkyrie were to revive Taylor, because of that whole thing with Amy, maybe she'd actually come back fully, hopefully?

Drawing away from the pictures of what could be Taylor, I set the eye pictures as my background and lock screen before checking the contacts. There's only a single person set up there.

Skitter

I furrow my brow, why would she go back to using that name? Last I'd seen her she'd just wanted to be Taylor, she had been done with all of the cape stuff. Practically exhausted by it, how it dragged her down. Both being Skitter, and then finally seeing her after two years, how haggard she was, and how she didn't even realise how tired she was from being Weaver. Why would she go back to that old name? Was it because that's just what she remembered the most? Why not Weaver? She'd been Weaver longer than Skitter so if she was like a Valkyrie clone, she'd have more of an impression of being Weaver than Skitter. Was she being manipulated? Did she or someone else choose Skitter because of my connection with her while she had been Skitter?

Too many questions and not enough to go on. I'll have to call at some point and maybe work it out from there.

Then again, I also have this letter.

The envelope in the box is one of those office envelopes, nice and large, and I can already see that there's fair amount of paper in it. Pulling it out, I start to read.

Lisa,

I hope this letter finds you well.

The first thing I would like to say is thank you. Thank you for letting me join the team. Thank you for not just ratting me out, or betraying me like you should have. You knew about me from the very beginning, and despite how I intended to betray you, how I wished harm unto you and our friends, you helped me.

I know this might not mean much; you've never been one to really idolize or even care about the heroes, but, thank you. I guess I can solemnly say that you are my hero. Even if part of why you did so had been selfish, that doesn't change that you were my hero back then when you helped me. Thank you for letting me have friends for one last time before I died, thank you for everything you did for me.

I grunt a bit, pushing the letter down a second, and try to breathe a second, blinking rapidly, and keeping anything from falling in my eyes. That's Taylor. It's Taylor.

Matches Taylor's cursive. Beyond the capabilities of 90% of clones. Outside observers would not have been able to know about your knowledge about Taylor's intent. Intent hidden from all but Armsmaster. Obscured from him as well later on. Others think you'd been fooled by her as well.

Which I know and I don't need you to tell me. If this isn't the real deal, then the Taylor clone is far more complete than anything anyone right now could put together. I pull the letter back up, only to realise that I must have done so earlier. No matter.

The second thing I wish to say is that I'm sorry. I'm not the friend that I should have been. I was selfish and foolish. I should not have abandoned you, Brian, Rachel, Alec, Aisha, everyone. While I could possibly make a million and one excuses, and some of them might have even been convincing, but I don't wish to fill this with hollow justifications for what I did, for how I betrayed all of you.

I will say that if I could go back, if I could have known what I knew now, I would take it back, and have remained with all of you in Brockton Bay. I would likely have also tried to get to know everyone better than I did. Perhaps forge a connection with Alec and Aisha, or perhaps worked on pulling Parian into the fold, and tried to make peace with Foil. I don't know how I would feel about Cozen. Breaking up with Brian hurt, a lot, but despite that, maybe we could have been friends as well.

I'm sorry that I hurt you, Brian, Rachel, Aisha, everyone when I left. I don't know if I have the words to describe as I write this, the regret I feel for what I did and put all of you through.

While it might just be me projecting onto my past experiences, I might have been avoiding thinking about everyone again. It helped to distract myself from thinking about you all, and made it a bit easier. Though I think I started to do that again.

I've started burying myself in work once again. I don't know if it is habit, avoiding my troubles, or if that is just who I am, but it's taken me far too long to write this letter.

Apologies ahead of time as this letter might get a bit long, but I feel I have to describe my situation.

I'm dead. I did not survive Scion's rampage, though it was my choice. At the end there, I was losing myself, or rather had already lost myself. I could feel it. What everyone else had felt there as well. I knew what it felt like to be mastered along side everyone there, because in the end when Panacea did what she did, it wasn't me there. Not really.

But then you knew that. You knew that once Panacea was done, I'd be gone.

I let Contessa kill me. With her power she was able to speak with me. I was but a whisper inside of my own head, my power having overtaken me, thinking it was me. My conversation with Contessa was brief, and in the end, I helped her deliver that last blow.

As for how I am writing to you from beyond the grave, I have managed to contract the services of an imp company known as I.M.P. to act as a messenger for me at a cost. I will say right off the bat that the cost is, while not insignificant, manageable due to my recent bouts of ultra violence netting me a nice little nest egg to use at my leisure. I've also paid them extra to allow you to send a letter back to me through them, and they will appear to collect it in about a week's time. If you do not wish to however, I understand and do not begrudge you.

In regards to where I am, I am in Hell, though it isn't that bad. Winslow was worse.

The letter continues, and it describes a fantastical kind of "Hell" that wasn't much worse than the average big city. Only the city was far larger than even our planned "mega city" and thus holds far more people than even some countries did back on Earth Bet, along with her experiences in it. Somehow she'd ended up with the Merchants of all people. What the hell Taylor? Why would you even associate with those losers?

Just one more thing that some would be pretender could never imagine up.

Then she ends up in a…

God fucking damn it Taylor. Take a God damn break. You don't need to save, gah! I have to put the letter down for a second, this time sighing before looking out the window towards where the imps had gone. I can still see them in the distance, the lead has a phone up to his ear.

How the hell is he getting reception here? Some kind of interdimensional technology? Could be useful, and maybe I can fuck with Numberman's models a bit if I can get some outside assistance. Should keep my city on top for a little bit longer. Could even net me long term power if I can establish a monopoly, at least until the Warden's new government is up and running at an effective enough level to even be able to deal with me. Of course, a benevolent monopoly leader would keep me in power longest at least until Dragon or the Wardens finally manage to create ones that are as good as the ones I might end up pulling in.

Not to mention it could also be used to help distract people from their problems if there are games as Blitzo said there are. Hell, once we get computers running I could see if Dragon wants to design a nice little game for the thing, maybe share a bit of wealth until I can get some people to make games for the phones. I'll need to secure a supply of those phones though. Maybe call them "Eyepods" or something as a joke.

If imps are amendable to acting as a delivery service they could deliver the phones for a price which I can sell at even higher prices since there would be a monopoly on the phones. Just not too high so I don't end up accidentally speeding up the new government enacting monopoly laws too early.

Thank you Taylor~! Alright, what else does this say?

Thus, that is the extent of my tale thus far. I do hope that you reply, but I will not begrudge you for not doing so.

Your friend,

Taylor.

PS: I should have thought of this earlier but only just realised this now as I am about to have this letter delivered. I've included a phone that you can use to contact me. I've been told that it works across dimensions by the vendor and I hope you call me at some point. It would be nice to hear from you. I don't plan on cutting contact like I did when I was with the Wards in Chicago, so please call when you get the phone. However, after everything I've put you through and how I have likely hurt you Lisa. I understand if you don't. If this is the last time I hear from you. Thank you, and from the bottom of my heart I'm sorry.

"Holy shit," it was only from the fact that Aisha just loved to do things like that which kept me from jumping at how she just appeared behind me, again. There's a slight tremor in her voice that I only just barely catch. Something that will no doubt be in mine as well as I read the last part. Damn it Taylor, I don't fucking hate you. Stop being so damn dramatic.

"Imp," I merely say after a moment, my stuffed nose making it sound a bit strange but I greet her like I normally do these days when she decides to pop up behind me. I briefly glance to her and she looks over my shoulder.

"Hey can you go back to big titty Taylor? I wanna see her dobonhonkeros again," and with that I deliver a righteous smack to Aisha with Taylor's letter as she cried out in surprise. Not in the mood right now.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

 

[Thread Necromancer]

The Skittering Chaos 23

Thanks a million to Scheissdrauf for editing this! He caught quite a few errors that I hadn't spotted when I was looking this through on the first time, especally some things, not to mention just making it a better read over all catching my mistakes that I'm blind to as the original writer. So give him a big thanks as well if you don't mind~!

Anywho, enjoy~!

<><><><><><><><><>

"Almost like the old days," I mutter to myself as I figure out payroll, though as I try to work, my pen keeps slowing, and my mind wanders. Apprehension… all from that letter. Lisa probably won't even call today, or even next week, if she even gets it at all in a timely manner. Who's to say that something doesn't happen in transit? Not to mention she probably has a million and one things to do on Gimel. Things far more important, and honestly, she should be getting her work done instead of humouring me. Even so, my antennae droop a bit before I take a breath and try to get back to work. Like Lisa is, I should get back to work. Yet…

What if something had happened to her? What if she didn't want to speak with me again? I… kind of deserved it after how I'd abandoned them again. It was to save them but… that never stopped the vigilantes around here from trying to get a piece of me, not that I can blame them. Not having control, being mastered, it's something everyone fears. It's why everyone hates human masters with a passion, and why the Simurgh is the most feared of all. More than the Hero killer, and more than-

Suddenly my phone rings. Before I can pick it up though I see the number, the name. I freeze. I can feel my antennae to rising to attention. My blood goes cold.

It's Lisa.

I pause a moment, before picking up the phone, and putting it to my ear. As I do though, I don't hear Lisa, but someone else in the background. They're chanting something...

"Big Titty Taylor! Big Titty Taylor!" It's Aisha…

It's Aisha… she's the one calling, and…

I can't help but giggle. That'd… not been what I'd been expecting. Slowly my giggles turn to laughter, and my head falls back. Of course. Of course Aisha of all people would be the one calling.

She probably snatched the package before Lisa even got it.

"Taylor?" I then hear a voice dripping with trepidation, and it's Lisa's.

She's here as well and the first thing she heard is me giggling and laughing at Aisha's silly chant.

"Sorry, I just… I just didn't expect… well I expected you but… but then Aisha," I trail off.

"Aisha?" Lisa asks, and as she does, Aisha goes quite all of a sudden. Lisa however continues: "No, doesn't matter… Fuck Taylor… it's, it's really you, and… You're really dead… fuck me, and not only are you dead, but we're talking. Like actually talking, and you're not like one of Valkyrie's puppets either."

"No I'm not; at least, I don't think I am. I don't think I'm under anyone's control, or if… if I am then I can't tell…" had I been mastered lately? It's possible. I've met a lot of people… and possession apparently is well known enough. Though I… actually, I have no idea who Valkyrie is.

"Wait, who's Valkyrie?" I ask. Lisa had said I wasn't a puppet of her, so some kind of master, possibly some master that raised the dead since Lisa had mentioned that I was dead and yet not one of this "Valkyrie's" puppets. Does that mean I have to worry about my body being driven around if anyone manages to find it?

"Valkyrie's the Fairy Queen's hero name, only she's all grown up now and grown a pair of tits," I hear Aisha pipe up from somewhere nearby. "Hey Taylor, nice tits by the way, though I think you should go bigger, like sure, Ds are great, but if you're ever going to beat Squealer in a boob battle, you'll need some dobonhonkeros to compete with her tombonheracougers."

…

What?

"What?" I ask and an explosion of laughter bursts through the phone, the youngest Undersider letting out a cackle at how her butchering of English has left me speechless.

"Haha! Holy shit I wish I could see your face right now, hahaha!" Aisha continues to laugh as I hear a groan from Lisa.

"She's been insufferable ever since she saw that picture of you," Lisa says through gritted teeth as Aisha's giggling starts to die down.

"I mean yeah!? Come on girl her tits grew three sizes since we last saw her! Don't tell me you don't want to tease her over them," Aisha exclaims and I purse my lips even though she can't see them.

It wasn't three sizes… probably…

I let out a sigh, and can't help the smile slipping onto my face. Despite her immaturity, I can't even get annoyed at her, and I almost want to giggle myself.

"Ah Aisha… so how've you two been, what've you gotten up to since… well… you know?"

"Oh you know, the usual, bathing in our solid gold Jacuzzi and drinking pina coladas free of charge for helping save the world and all that, you know, like how heroes should be treated after saving the world," Aisha says, the sarcasm heavy in her voice.

"I see…" I say.

"It's... been alright. Busy around the clock and we've been cutting every corner we can before winter hits so that we can keep people from freezing out here, but otherwise it's been alright. Hopefully we'll have apartments ready for roughly eighty percent of people here finished by the end of November, while the rest can maybe rough it in either some tents or any railway cars and shipping containers that can be emptied out. Course… that's optimistic," Lisa says while I nod along.

"What's the main hold up?" I ask, because if the reason for the housing shortage is labour, maybe MILF could help out? Though, would they even accept any kind of contract up above, and not only that, but how would they get up above?

"It's mainly production side. The factories we have here are churning out as fast as we can but it's just not enough. It'd have been nice if that city builder had survived but… well no use crying over who died, especially to you," she says. "Otherwise, there's also people being dicks, thieves stealing our supplies to sell off, the other Earths are getting ready to fuck us over, but we can't focus on that right now because winter's coming and we got to get this shit done. Then you've got some morons that want to paint the city gold for some reason and have already started trying to get gold fucking paint of all things instead of actually doing something useful, since they've been adding it to the train carts, taking up space and… fuck, you don't need to know about my problems Taylor, you've got enough of your own."

"No it's fine Lisa, really. I don't mind at all, in fact, things are kind of quiet around here at the moment, and obviously you need someone to vent to," I say. Lisa gives a small breathy chuckle, taking a moment before replying:

"Thanks, but… I think I'll hold off for now. But, I'll take you up on that later, okay? Maybe we can complain to each other about our problems, hmm?"

"That sounds alright to me."

"Maybe you could even visit instead of just calling huh?" Aisha asks, and that's certainly an idea. Not just yet though, not until things have stabilised around here first, but then maybe after I could see about maybe finding a way up. Maybe IMP could take me up? They do have that book, the same one that Alastor wants. Actually, why hadn't he gone after it? Imps aren't that tough. If he really wanted to he could have easily secured it himself.

Actually why couldn't I just get the imps to take me to the surface? What might the issue be, other than needing to shell out more money to let them make a round trip with me? Well, other than the people on the surface likely hating, and fearing me…

"Hey, no need to rush on our account," Lisa interjects quickly, though she sounds sombre. The slight breath she needed to take after saying "hey"; I don't know what to say for a bit, and the three of us let the silence drag for a few moments. Collecting our thoughts, or thinking of what to say next.

"It's… good to hear from you again Taylor," Lisa finally says. "Really, when you… when you slipped away, I thought… I thought that was the end. You… you weren't… you weren't your-"

She takes a shuddering breath, and I hear a snuffle.

"Hey," I hear the soft tone of Aisha, not at all like the prankster and sidekick of Alec I remember her as.

"Take your time Lisa, I've got more than enough of it nowadays," I say smiling a bit as I listen on the phone.

"It's just… I thought, you were gone. I didn't want to believe it at first, but… what my power was telling me, and… I wanted to believe that my power was wrong again, since it's not so good with people, but… but it was hard not to accept when everything was screaming at me that… that you were gone, and… I guess you are. but now Hell is real and you're there, and, and you managed to somehow get a bunch of imps to bring me a phone so we can talk and… It's, it's a lot. I… thanks for picking up. It, fuck do you know how nervous I was to call? Fuck, like, I kind of convinced myself it was you, and I let myself hope, but there was this… you know, small doubt in my head, and it's been eating at me all afternoon. Like, I don't know what I would have done if…" her voice near the end starts to tremble, and she stops for a while. As she speaks I dig my fingernails into my palms, wanting to reach out, to touch her, to hug her and bring her close.

When IMP gets back I'm going to see if they can take me to Earth Gimel. Not for a long visit, but maybe for tea and coffee. No doubt I'd be supplying the treats. Perhaps I could even get them from that coffee shop in the Raz family's territory.

"Well I never doubted. I knew it had to be you," Aisha adds in, her tone superior and I can almost see in my head her gesturing to herself. "I mean come on? Who else could have literally somehow gotten word out of Hell right? I mean you killed the equivalent of God. Hell won't be able to keep you down for long and I for one welcome our soon to be new demonic overlord."

I chuckle a bit, "Here's hoping it doesn't need to come to that."

I guess there's a reason that demons always want to get out of Hell in fiction, outside of the obvious reasons. What about those who they left behind? Those still in the world, unsure, who were unable to properly say goodbye? At least with the phone call Lisa will be getting something.

Of course, down here, probably not too many people are concerned about their living relatives and friends considering the chaos and their impersonality.

"I wish that things could have been different… but there wasn't another way was there?" Lisa asked.

"No… I don't think unless everyone was working together that we could have won… that we could have got him to… well let us kill him, and even then."

"The casualties would have been far greater," Lisa said, finishing my thought.

"Yeah," I say, and the two of us are silent for a while until finally Lisa speaks up.

"So uh… you probably want to know about what's been going on up here, huh? Oh and who died?"

"That'd actually be pretty useful, especially those who died. Since pretty much everyone probably went to Hell, I can see about finding anyone who might be down here. I know about Alec, and was just about to ask to send someone to get him, but, well I know someone died, someone close... You didn't want to say… was it my Dad?"

"No… no, it's, it was Brian… during that one attack, well… he didn't make it, but I guess that means he could be down there with you," she says, though her response was less than sure.

"What do you mean? Did…" wracking my brain I try to think of a reason he might not be down here.

"Wait, did he convert to Christianity after I left?" I ask and Aisha lets out a snort.

"He better not have," she says. "Because I doubt I'll ever be good enough to get into Heaven unless that pray on your death bed kind of thing actually works."

"No, no, Brian didn't convert. I don't know, he never thought about that kind of stuff as far as I know, and her certainly never stepped foot in a church for as long as I knew… know him? I don't know. But uh, honestly I'm just kind of taking stabs in the dark here, and my power is likely less than useful in figuring out… well this whole "souls" thing. Let's just say I don't know if Brian is down there, mostly because Valkyrie, um, kind of turned him into one of her ghosts and put him in a body. That's how they revived a bunch of capes. My power says that the version that's walking around's not the original. It's a copy made by Valkyrie's power, but I also didn't know about souls and stuff like that… so, uh, it could be him, I guess?" she wonders aloud.

Could he really still be up there? I mean no one really knows how powers work. People used to talk about how the Fairy Queen's ghosts proved that there was an after life. So perhaps her power let her grab souls before they continued on? But then… what about my clones? What of the Slaughterhouse clones?

"No… he's got to be down here. You remember what I wrote about the Slaughterhouse Nine clones?" I ask and I hear the ruffling of papers on the other side.

"All of the Slaughterhouse clones ended up here in Hell. Every single one of them we killed from what I've seen, or at least those with enough experience to I guess get a soul. That and… well my clones are down here as well."

"Wait, Chitter and Scurry are down in Hell?" Aisha asks.

"Yeah, and probably that last one as well, the paranoid one, but my Mom doesn't know where she is; oh and my Mom's down here as well."

"Well that's great, honestly sounds like Hell is kind of the place to be if everyone you know is going there… you think that was part of the plan? You know, to let you be with your friends?" she asked, and I stop. Was it a possibility? Maybe? Most interpretations of the end are that of a life of eternal peace and prosperity. "Thy Kingdom" and all that. I'd kind of taken for granted the possibility that Hell might not exactly be the Christian idea of it, but rather it could be something else? While I doubt it, could this end be more like a Valhalla that the Norse legends speak of?

But then why have Lucifer? That and in truth, I highly doubt I don't deserve this fate I've ended up with. My choices had led up to this. I'd let myself go all in pursuit of my goals multiple times. After all, even if the ends justified the means, would that be taken into account? Robbing a bank, murder, infanticide…

"Hey Taylor? You still there?" Lisa ask.

"Yeah sorry, just thinking on it. Honestly, I don't know, but… well, my Dad. He's still alive huh? Could you… well, could you let us talk? Bring him in and we can talk? I can get Mom, and… the clones. We can all say hi, and talk… could you do that?"

"Sure thing Taylor, might cheer him up enough to become a nuisance to me. He's… well I've been keeping track of him and… he's not doing so hot. Kind of in a funk at the moment. He still thinks you're alive and out there which is honestly for the best right now 'cause it's keeping him occupied trying to convince the heroes to go out and look for you. I've got some guys watching over him, making sure nobody messes with him just in case someone takes offence to him wanting to find, well, you. I mean, you're kind of a taboo subject to even talk about," she says and I nod at that despite her being unable to see me.

"That makes sense. No doubt people don't exactly want the girl that mastered multiple worlds back," I say.

"Pretty much. Despite Scion literally destroying cities, you've kind of gotten a boogey man status as well. Hell it's gotten to the point that… hey you know those Harry Pot- of course you do. Book nerd before warlord, duh. So, you've got a Voldemort thing doing where no one likes to talk about you at all, and people kind of glare at anyone who might mention it. Nothing official has come down the pipes from the heroes who're trying to take charge, but I wouldn't be surprised if even without their help you end up just another big bad that Scion was trying to stop, or that you and Scion were just two villains trying to take over or something like that."

This is not exactly ideal. Especially if the people right now end up just as pissed at me as those I'd mastered and let die during Golden Morning. The vigilantes already are proving to be a mess and a half to deal with. Initially they knew nothing about where we are, but now? I've already had to deal with two scouts.

The first was some sort of flying winged human. Dressed in red spandex and decided the best way to get info was to fly down and beat up one of my girls for information just because she was wearing my scarf.

Idly I double check if the ripped apart corpse of the man was still in the dumpster and he was but MILF hadn't gotten to disposing of him yet.

The second had been more covert than the other, up until he started asking too many questions and a Raz imp got suspicious, which resulted in a gunfight. No fatalities, but two of mine were wounded who're taking it easy for now.

"I don't suppose there's anything you can do about it?" I ask.

"I mean I could try. But I'm kind of already on the Warden's shit list for not bending over backwards for them and having a bit of enlightened self interest in how I get things done. It's all getting done, don't worry. Industry is booming and all that. Raw materials spilling in and everything is getting built for everyone. Even helped the heroes out with their whole thing for a price, though they kind of don't like having to pay off the loan I kind of forced them into," Lisa said as I let out a short breathy chuckle while shaking my head.

"To be fair you jacked the interest up through the roof like you're one of those shitty loan sharks," Aisha pipes in.

"They can pay it. They have literal whole other worlds to exploit for resources and compared to what some of the other earths would have asked for later in return, I think I was being more than fair," Lisa says and I can almost see her waving off Aisha's concerns.

"No doubt, and its fine. It's not the end of the world if you don't get too trying to turn my image around immediately or even in the next little while. Though I've already run into the consequences of my actions that day… other than the dying part. But I'd appreciate anything you might be able to stop the people from Bet from hating me."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," she says.

"That's all I can ask for."

"Okay, so speaking of what you've been doing. Taylor, the Merchants… what the hell!?" she asks, her tone joking as I smile.

<><><><><><><><><>

"So Danny's alive?" Mom asks through the phone. Lisa had to go unfortunately. Some kind of meeting she couldn't put off which is fine by me. It let me call Mom.

"Yes, he's alive. You know the letter I sent out to Tattletale?"

"Yes, she knows what happened to Danny?"

"Yes she does. She'd been keeping an eye on him, and when I sent my letter I put a phone in there for her as well. We were just talking and I found out from her that Dad's alive… if kind of depressed." For a few moments, silence fills the call as I wait for Mom's response.

"Fuck…" is all she says at first. As I wait, my biters stalk the "Sorry. It's… I shouldn't want him dead, but… well… I kind of wanted to see him again. It's been a long time."

"I mean I was going to see if IMP could maybe take me to Gimel, you could tag along as well… and maybe my clones to," I say.

"That's not going to work Taylor," she says, and I pause a moment.

"It's not?"

"I mean, you can, it's just. Well. Sinners can't exactly leave hell," Mom says with finality in her voice. "Despite all of our power here, we're not exactly… physical, or even fully there when we're not here. You know ghost stories and stuff like that? Tales of poltergeists and haunting visions of ghosts? Or even the more modern stuff where ghost hunters are going around with EMF readers and stuff like that? Those are probably sinners or maybe even human angels who've ended up in the world of the living. Most lose themselves, since while we seem to have bodies, we don't really; we're just souls taking on a form that fits us as we were when we died. I mean if you can find a few bodies to inhabit and master then we could, but… well… honestly it'd probably be easier to bring them here, but I've only seen it done in a "You're here forever!" kind of way, where Lucifer will pull in humans that can't complete their end of adeal. Other than that though, I can't think of anything off the top of my head."

I can't help the frown as my hope of possibly going up to Gimel, of getting to see Lisa again, and proper apologise to her, to Aisha and all the others I hurt, of being able to hug Dad again is dashed. Fuck. "Oh… Yeah, uh, I can get Tattletale to bring Dad in and we can all talk, maybe figure something out for just… reconnect. Be a family again."

"Alright then, do it, I don't care how you do it, just… Fuck, Taylor, I…" I hear Mom on the other side, her voice slightly chocking up, then I hear a deep breath before Mom speaks again. "Just, do whatever it is you need to do to get this all set up. I… I want to hear Danny's voice again, and not in shitty biased interviews on the TV about you, but… well I guess the phone isn't going to be the same, but… at least we'll be able to talk. God… just hearing him… I wonder if he'll be okay with… never mind. Fuck I've got so much to tell him, I need to tell him about Rose and Scurry, my new job."

Slowly Mom starts listing off some of the things she wants to tell him, ranging from the major to the minor, all accompanied by her voice catching or joyous giggles interrupting her musings…

<><><><><><><><><>

"Listen bub, this here is our turf now, so you better start paying up," I listen in on the trio of scantily-clad, pastel-skinned, elf-looking sinners that had moved in on a shop. The place, a small butcher shop, was being run by what looked like one of Lovecraft's Deep Ones. Though I'm not actually there, my biters converge on the shop while my imp waits outside the shop. While my biter and bug numbers continue to grow, my knowledge on the surrounding area is still rather lacking, especially about some of the now neighbouring gangs. Even though I have their names and a few general characteristics from searching online, most of the info isn't too useful or it's so general that just looking at their territory could reveal the same results. It almost reminded me of when I tried to look up the Undersiders. Though, unlike then, the Raz family is intimately familiar with the various gangs in this city, and their information is invaluable.

After all, I'd originally mistaken the gang of elf girls as some whores moving in a group for their own protection. Though yesterday they'd raided a shop on the edge of the former Crimson territory so now I have to set them straight. Not even a day had gone by after we'd kicked the Crimson gang out and people are already reaching out to take what they can. As usual it seems; solve one problem, two more take it's place.

"That's them alright. Never had a problem with these girls before, but then we never had territory near them either… so how you wanna do this? Shock and awe, or see if I can't talk them down?" my imp asks and I have the biter tap its paw down twice for the second option.

"Alright then, let's see how this goes," the imp starts but before he leaves, I place a paw on him first, just in time for another of my biters to show up. I nod my biter's head towards the other.

"You wanna wait for more then? 'Aight. Sounds good to me," he says before pulling out a cigarette and got back to waiting by the shop. Meanwhile inside, I can hear the shop owner.

"Pay up? If I paid every gangster that took over the territory my shop is on before things had settled down, I'd be paying twelve sets of protection fee and get nothing in return, not to mention, I'd be broke after the second set of hoodlums like you showed up."

"Is that a no? Sushi?" one of the elves, a bright pink one asked the fish man. The girl placing a hand on the gun she had on a thigh holster. The butcher however just shook his head.

"No it's not. It's a "hold onto this territory for more than a day and then I'll pay you" kind of answer. You'll get your money, and don't think of robbing this place either. I barely keep enough in the drawer here to get by every day in change unless someone comes in and pays cash for a big order of meat."

"And has there been?" a blue elf asks, to which the fish man gives her a look.

"There's a gang war about to start. No, no one has come into this place for the last few days ever since that new Merchant gang took down Crimson. We're all waiting for this to start. I was just about to board up the windows up myself before you three came in," as the man kept talking, another four of my biters showed up, and the first patted my imp on the leg, to which he nodded.

"Right then, show time," spitting out his cigarette and racketing back the bolt on his Tommy gun, he opened the door to the butcher's shop and my biters walked in after him.

"Evening ladies, now I heard from my boss that you three are causing trouble at this fine establishment, and I'm going to have to ask you to leave or this could get ugly," my imp said, his Tommy up and ready to fire as my biters stalk up to the girls, surrounding them, growling and baring their teeth.

"The fuck are you, a vigilante?"

"No toots, I'm with the Merchants, and this here is Merchant territory. So if you enjoy staying alive, I suggest you step off the plate here and let the real batters play ball."

For long moments the room is tense, the only sound there is the low menacing growls of my biters. The slutty elves keep looking between the biters, my imp, and between each other. No one speaks; it's a test of will. To see if any one of those girls has enough confidence to cause a problem, though unless my imp forced it, it seems unlikely.

"Fine," the pink elf girl says and my imp steps aside before nodding to the door.

"Get out of here then girlies," he says before the elves file out and take off down the street towards the edge of my new territory. I place a few bugs on them as they go just in case I need to teach them a lesson.

"I hope you don't plan on trying to make me pay immediately, because I'll tell you the same thing that I told those girls there," the shop owner starts but the imp waves him off.

"Nah, not yet, but soon probably. Can't exactly keep you safe from the coming gang war if you don't pay up you hear?" he says, the butcher nodding along with that.

"Yeah yeah, I know how it works," and with that my imp tips his hat before walking out of the shop, my biters following him out the door. As we get outside, he looks to my biter and keels down, rubbing at the creature's fur and behind its ears. From how the biter's instincts leave it panting and wanting to push into the imp's petting, no doubt it's enjoying it.

"So then Moth Boss, we gonna keep this place? Or bug out once those other boys finish looting the other places of those armour things you're grabbing?" He asks, but my biter can't exactly reply. Slowly, I start to form a ball of bugs above the biter, though it takes a minute for there to be enough bugs to answer.

"If we can, though the more we try to hold, the more spread out my swarm, and it takes a while to gather enough bugs when they're dispersed like this right now. Biters are currently the best thing I have, but there are only so many in these alleyways. They've started migrating away from our territory since I've started to capture more."

"Damn shame we don't have any big hives of bug biters in the city like they have out in the wastes. Bet you could turn a whole hive and cause some serious damage," the imp says before pulling out a cigarette from his coat. From my office I nod along with him while pulling out my phone and glance at the open pocket book on my desk. The spoils from the Crimson gang had significantly increased our money and resources. Searching up various hive making bugs, I start to browse some of the selection while I have some bugs near me start to scout out a neighbouring and abandoned building.

Could work… While not exactly what the imp had meant, starting up some new hives like I had as a Chicago Ward could certainly bolster my swarm, especially with how vicious the bugs around here are already.

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"So what did Dad get up to while we were, well, away?" I hear Scurry ask from her end of the conference call. Lisa had gotten Dad to come in today and take a break for from his eternal crusade at petitioning the heroes or "Wardens" as they are called now to go and find me.

"Yeah, it'd be nice to know," Rose says.

"He mostly was just being a supportive parent. Or at least as supportive as he could be when I was in jail. You remember how it was before," I say and hear affirmative sounds from my clones. Mom's silent, just listening in on us. She likely knew all about how I kind of had pushed Dad out of my life from the clones.

"We did what we could to stay in touch. He'd visit me whenever he could get out of Brockton, and if I wasn't out and about traveling with Dragon and Defiant to whatever disaster was going on at the time," I say only for Scurry to speak up:

"Wait, you travelled around with Dragon. I thought you just got captured and pushed into being a hero."

"Yes, Dragon was rather… sympathetic to my plight after I killed Alexandria. No doubt you two saw the trial that was held about me?"

"No but I told them the gist of it," Mom pipes in.

"Okay. Well after that I worked with Dragon and Defiant for a while before eventually I got put with the Chicago Wards as their combat leader. While Tecton was the official Wards leader, I handled the teams training and field operations. It worked out for me since I didn't want any sort of official title. I wasn't going to stay longer than I had to," I say, and then I start to hear the sound of people moving around on one of the phone lines. For a second we're silent before I heard the distant voice of Lisa.

"She's right on the phone there Mr. Hebert," she says while someone picks up the Hellphone. We all wait for a few moments, before suddenly Dad's voice comes through.

"Taylor?" he asks, his voice laced with worry. The same way he'd spoken when he'd first called me in prison.

"Dad," all three of us spoke, the other two injecting a bit of jubilance into their voices. Obviously he'd only meant me… but I don't begrudge the others. They'd not spoken to Dad for a lot longer, and unlike me, their last memories of him weren't exactly as pleasant as mine were. Our fight before I ran off to play warlord would not have been a good thing to end off on.

"Tayl- Taylor- Taylors, what?" Dad asks and I heard Mom let out a giddy giggle.

"Wait… Anne?" Dad asks, his voice going distant, disbelieving.

"It's me Danny, and your daughters too."

"Anne… wait, daughters? What?" He asks as I smile. No doubt the others are as well at Dad's confusion.

"It's complicated," I tell him and I hear a little chuckled sigh.

"No doubt. Heh. You know, I thought when I'd finally see you again, or hear, that that'd be the end of all of this cape weirdness. Or at least for a while. Guess that's not the case. Though, Anne. How is, how are you…?"

"Here? Talking with you?" Mom says, pre-empting Dad's question.

"Yeah. I mean… how are you alive?" Mom takes a few moments to answer, silence reigning for a little bit before she speaks.

"I'm not, Danny. I… we're dead."

"Dead? But I'm talking with you. You're talking through the phone. I don't care if you're some kind of undead or whatever philosophical college level mumbo jumbo you're about to tell me, but you're alive, you can talk to me. You're not dead. How?" he asks.

"No Dad… we are dead. It's just… well the Christians kind of got it right," I tell him. Like Mom he's silent for a bit.

"Wait so you're… o-oh… I uh… I see." He says, doing his best to keep the emotions from his voice as he speaks, but he "oh" is enough. "But how, are you speaking to me then? If you're… you know… up above?"

Though as he asks that Mom gives a little snort before replying: "Ah yes, we were definitely in heaven honey, especially me who'd been an avowed atheist up until I got here."

"Oh… uh… how's that, no, what's. Okay, what's hell like?"

"It's kind of like how Brockton Bay was before, only far bigger. There are other places though apparently outside of Pentagram city, like the wastelands, or Canada, but I've only been in Pentagram city so far," I add.

"We've been to Imp city," Scurry adds in after me. "It's basically a smaller and more orderly version of Pentagram city, but there are still groups of crazy sinners that end up there sometimes."

Rose meanwhile just hums along with her fellow clone. Mom then pipes in: "Think of it less as Hell and more of a hell themed wonderland or fantasy land. It's not as bad as say Dante's Inferno makes it out to be but you know how Brockton Bay was. It's not exactly a paradise unless you can get something of a stable job. No unions unfortunately except the kind that are just covers for whatever mob or mafia there is around that's backing them. Which reminds me Taylor, since you're in that gang, you might want to start looking into that. Unionising the workers in your territory could get you a good pool of recruits."

"Another gang? Taylor?" Dad asks, disappointment seeping into his tone, and I cringe a bit at hearing it.

"Not just that, but she ended up joining the Merchants as well," Scurry pipes in, and my frown deepens. Did she really have to include that part as well?

"The merchants!? Why in God's name would you join the Merchants?" Dad exclaims and I really want to sigh.

"I know right? I was surprised as you to find that out," Lisa says from the background as I rub my nose and actually sigh this time.

"They're not the same as they were before," I say. "In spite of everything down here, they've kind of turned themselves around for the better."

Even with my explanation, I can still feel Dad's disappointment radiating through the phone. Eventually though he does speak:

"While… I'd prefer if you didn't deal with them… I can't really do much about what you decide. You're a grown woman, hell, have been for two years, or maybe three. Just like before. I won't get in your way Taylor, hell, I literally can't, and even if I could I wouldn't. Taylor, you're a force of nature, just like you Anne. I hope you haven't been trying to control her or anything. While you might have better luck than I, not even you could possibly stop Taylor when she's put her mind to it."

All that does is elicit a laugh from Mom though. "Believe me Danny when I say I know.
We've got three more daughters now, all because of that bitch Echidna up there ate my poor baby."

"Echidna… wasn't that thing that S-class threat that showed up here but got destroyed? I remember there being a few broadcasts going around about it spawning clones and watching out for "wrong" versions of your family members. They told us to be vigilant of relatives and friends that suddenly have deformities, or have started acting irregularly. Uh… wait, did you…? So they're, clones?"

"Yeah…" Scurry said, Rose humming in the affirmative again before Scurry continued. "Our memories were intact; they kind of needed to be for us to be clones. We don't know much about what was going on. We just remember Echidna bearing us, and we loved her like we loved Mom, at least until we died. After that…"

"After that we came too, no longer were being mastered, and suddenly found ourselves in Hell," Rose spoke up.

"Shit…" is all Dad says for the moment. Silence returns once more, until Mom speaks up:

"So Danny, what've you been doing since I've been gone?"

"Oh you know me, for a while I was trying to get the Ferry all fixed up…"

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"So why'd you kill that guy?" Mimi asks as she watches my biter try it's best to rip out a chunk of flesh from the now deceased sinner. While the ox-like demon had been able to go invisible, his sheer bulk had made it easy for my biters to catch him as some could sense the vibrations he made when he stepped. I look to Mimi and hold up my phone, showing her the group chat of the vigilantes.

"The vigilantes have been looking our way since we finished off the Crimson Gang. Le Porc at least is trying to steer them in our direction," I let Mimi read the chat for a bit, especially the part where Le Porc suggested that they should focus more on our area. He was likely the mole, but since all I have is a silhouette to go off of and the suggestion by Alastor that there is someone among them, I'll have to wait and see.

"So you think that taking down some of the guys heading our way will keep them from coming?" Mimi asks, her brow rising a bit but I shake my head.

"No, not really. But hopefully we can delay them for a while. Plus… I've got a bit of a project I'm working on at the moment that these sinners can help me out with," I look back to one of my biters, the thing rapidly growing larger and larger as it drinks more from the being. Lucky for the sinner in question, my improvement on Crimson' technique only could really work if the biter had a similar mouth to the one I'd used when supping from the Beast.

"You're making werewolves?" Mimi asks as she looks over, cocking her head a bit. Admittedly the biter I'd used was rather wolf like, but as it grew bigger it started sprouting spikes from its back, and even standing on its hind legs and its chest grew more humanoid.

"Not quite, I'm still working on that magic I learned from Crimson. With his power I could easily empower the entirety of my swarm, or even theoretically make a swarm of myself, if with very little magic and almost no other special body parts unless they drained a few sinners."

"Kind of like your clones. Just you'd actually be in control of them right?"

"Exactly."

"So what do you need clones for? Better decoys?" Mimi asks.

"More than just decoys, there are so many different tasks that need to be completed and many of them need a very hands-on approach. My proxies will allow me to get multiple things done at once, as well as leave our territory without actually leaving."

"Feeling a bit stir crazy sticking around our turf?" Mimi asks, though not in a serious way. Even so I shake my head.

"No, I just want to finally get to Canada and pick up my old teammate, Regent, but with how many enemies are around us now and with the vigilantes poking around again I'd rather send out a clone than actually split up."

"Regent, that's Cherie's brother right?" Mimi asks and I nod. "He's not like her right? Kind of a bitch and likes messing with people's emotion?"

"No. He's annoying, and tries to get a rise out of you like a younger sibling but that's about it from my actual experience. He's done terrible things in his past what with being one of Heartbreaker's children, but then we all have." I say, old memories threatening to surface again, though I quash them by focusing on my bugs and biters. Seeing what they are doing and taking a bit of extra care patrolling our new territory.

"How long have you been working on it?" Mimi asks.

"Not too long, about almost a week," I say. "The transformation from feeding is kind of hard to control, but luckily, I only have to get it in a vaguely humanoid form. The rest can be fixed up by using transformation magic to solve any aesthetic problems or strangeness, like so."

To demonstrate, using the leftover magic from the boost I alter the hairy upright being's face. The thing's hair begins to fall out on it's head and it's head shifts around as as I try to make it somewhat close to my own. Luckily since the thing, unlike most canines, is missing a snout, I don't have to change so much of the general shape. I frown a bit however since it still doesn't quite look right. I'll have to work on that; it shouldn't take too many biters though to get this right.

<><><><><><><><><>

"Heya Boss, Skitty's got a new body!" Mimi calls out as we walk into the Merchant's work place. All around imps and sinners are tending to the various drug plants. Some are at the APC, looking to be upgrading it and tuning it up or adding a few modifications. The old turret from our van is being shifted over, assisted by a shop crane while they keep it stable as it slowly gets shifted overtop the main body.

"The fuck!?" Adam calls as he walks over before looking my furry clone body up and down. "Shit, never took you for a furry. Thought you liked that Moth bod and shit."

I shake my head before I explain: "This is just a clone I'm piloting right now. I plan on sending her out to retrieve Regent while I stick around to help with any problems that might be coming our way."

"Well shit, that body as powerful as your other one or are you just straight up better?" I shake the furry head of my clone.

"No, this body of mine is barely more magical than the average imp. Though if need be I can increase her power though through sucking up someone's magic like I did the Beast's."

"Well don't go sucking any of my guys off then because I need them so still be alive after having their fun and you got whores for that shit," Adam jokes, but all I do is raise an eyebrow. He gives a bit of a nervous chuckle while scratching the back of his head. "Uh, just a joke 'bout how you said that and shit. Anyways, what you need?"

"I mainly just came over here to both tell you about my new body, as well as to see how things are going around here. I also wanted to see for myself how your van is coming along," I say, looking over to the husk of the vehicle now in the other slot of the garage. Adam grinned as he nodded along.

"Van's all good Shere decided that she wanted to put the tank turret on her new APC. She can't stop gushing about that shit." Adam says as he turns to look at the APC again. "Hell, only reason she ain't down here telling these guys what to do and shit is because she's feeding and getting Mark to take his nap right now. Tyke'll start messing shit up upstairs if he ain't sleeping or having someone watch him, and well,"

Adam pauses a moment to shift his focus over to Mimi: "Ever since you started tailing Skitty like a god damn puppy dog, we lost our best babysitter, not that Sherrel minds spending more time with Mark and all that since we got employees now and all that loot to pay them. Could actually think about expanding and all that extra space to set up drug mills and shit like that, sell more to those weirdo vending machine guys, or maybe some other kind of stuff. Enough loot probably left around the Crimson Gang's turf that we could sell it off like we used to back when in Brockton we'd run in and fuck up some minor gang of dumbasses, jack their shit, and then sell it. Maybe we could set up some chop shops as well or just regular mechanics and shit. Sell to the other gangs and shit huh?"

I nod along as Adam talks before I add my own thoughts: "It would be a good idea to get something set up for long term profits. You and Sherrel would know more about that kind of thing than myself."

"Fine by me. Skitty, say, how's your guys doing grabbing that armour and shit? I know you got your guys running around the Crimson Gang's place grabbing some of the more expensive shit they had there."

"Well enough. Several of them were already gone by the time Anthony got his boys to crack the vaults they're supposed to be in. Other gangs are already scouting out some of the turf as well while the vigilantes are looking towards our territory here though I've been having my biters and boys push both groups back. There are also a few small groups of Crimson gangsters still there hanging around, but already most of them are moving out and fleeing the city all together."

"Shit~ yeah, that sounds about right from what my guys been saying too. Sounds like a gang wars about to get rolling around here. So how much we want to keep it?" I frown a bit as I consider. If we could hold over all of it, I'd be closer to getting something set up to start setting up the paradise I wanted to make for my friends. Arrayed against me however are numerous smaller gangs, the vigilantes, and even Valentino now neighbouring my territory. If we try to hold everything with just the guys that Anthony was able to scrape together, a few Raz imps, and my biters, we'd be overwhelmed if more than a few gangs attacked at once. It'd be better to consolidate into a smaller area for a bit and maybe let the others fight over a few of the streets near the edge of our new territory. Though, unlike this place that got completely ravaged, where Crimson's territory had been hadn't been hit as badly, and a few areas around the edges could be useful to us.

"If there is going to be a gang war, it might be a good idea to let the other gangs fight it out for a bit before we commit to any hard borders. While my swarm could be useful in keeping territory, it's not invincible. Anyways you've seen the map, anywhere specific near the edges you think we should try to keep?"

Adam frowns as he thinks a moment. "Honestly, probably nothing worth holding at the moment. Maybe if we can hold onto some of it long term and shit it'd be good, but right now we got what we need right here, and if anyone's stupid enough to put shit down in no man's land that can be stolen, just means probably more loot for us. Take it from me, when I was alive, we moved territory like twelve times, once three times in a month since I'd taken over as the Merchants. First couple of times it was really shit because I put a lot of shit into holding that stuff, but afterwards I was able to figure shit out. Lot of small businesses and distributed production and shit like that. You and your pals never really lost territory did you? Well for now I think we're set until we can get more muscle to hold onto it, muscle that can regenerate and shit, maybe have some crazy ass powers or something. Imps are great and all, love the little fuckers to death but unlike sinners they just die easily, and I doubt you want to keep using them for too much longer going by how you acted after Felix and his cousins and shit got hurt."

"Hopefully, but for now we don't have a choice," I say as I look over to the sinners and imps working. In a perfect world, I'd be able to just use the almost immortal sinners that Anthony was recruiting to do all the dirty work, but no doubt something would happen that would bring that hope crashing down.

"Yeah, shit happens," Adam says as he looks over to the APC. The turret had been lowered on top of it by now, and from atop the vehicle, Felix is waving over at Adam and I, the little scamp having made a full recovery by now.

"It's all set up boss, just need Sherrel to get the welding and inner stuff all connected and then she'll be all set for a fight!" Felix calls out from the turret as Adam nods.

"A'ight. Hey wait, can't you do the fucking weld!?" Adam shouts back but Felix shakes his head.

"Nah, I don't know how to weld! Sherrel was going to show me!" he calls back, Adam shaking his head before he addresses the other workers there.

"Any of you other shit stains know how to do a fucking weld?" he asks as one sinner raises their hand. Adam points to the sinner there.

"Then fucking weld that bitch up," he says as he shakes his head again before turning back to us. "Hey you doing anything right now? These guys are going to need Sherrel to help them figure out how to properly set up the tank and I don't want there to be no one to watch Mark while we're working."

"We can watch him," Mimi says, piping in as I nod along.

"Good shit, thanks for this, yeah?" he says as we nod before walking off to the spiral stairs. As we enter, I can hear happy giggles coming from the living room. A quick peak in reveals the giggling demon playing with his Mom, the woman smiling as she and Mark playfully poke at each other, Mark with his tail, Sherrel with her two index fingers that Mark bats away with his little arms.

As we approach, Mark looks up to us before Sherrel pokes him again and immediately the tots, attention returns to his Mom. He lets out a happy laugh before grabbing onto her finger with both hands and keeps it at his chest. Sherrel giggles along with him before pulling away and then looking to us.

"Oh hey Mimi… uh?"

"It's Skitter," I say. "This is a proxy body I'm using at the moment. My main body is still over at my place."

"Oh really? That's a pretty neat trick, so what're you two doing here?"

"They need you downstairs," Mimi explains. "Something to do with fixing up the connections after they finish welding your van turret to the top of your APC."

As Mimi mentions the turret though Sherrel's eyes light up. "You mean my tank's nearly done, heck yeah!"

Mark meanwhile had enough being ignored and launches his tail tip at Sherrel, poking and drawing a surprised "gah!" from her.

"Why you little," she says as she turns back to Mark and rears up on him, causing the tyke to let out a joyous yet fearful cry as Sherrel comes down on him, smothering him as she pulls him close. The two laughing like loons in each others embrace while we watch. Mimi giggles along and I can't help but smile a bit with my proxy. Eventually though Sherrel calms down enough to turn back to us.

"So I'm guessing that you two are here to babysit for me" Sherrel asks as we nod.

"Sweet, alright, just a sec while I get my stuff. I already fed Mark so he should be good. Just keep him occupied while I get the turret up and running, shouldn't take more that twenty odd minutes once they've finished welding," Sherrel says as she puts Mark down and heads downstairs. Before Sherrel even leaves, Mimi has already knelt down to Mark's level, a big smile on her mousy face.

"Hey little guy," she says before picking the gurgling tot up. I myself reach over to him and in response he bats at my hand. The smacking sound seems to amuse the little guy and he keeps it up, giggling after every good smack he gets with his chubby little hands.

"Cute as always," I comment as I let Mark play a bit longer while continuing my work at home. It isn't much, only trying to figure out the various benefits of what kind of hive of deadly demonic bugs to get. From razor bladed mantises to some bug called a fire fairy.

Though speaking of details, entertaining Mark with my clone is drawing a lot more focus than I'd expected. I'm not getting distracted, my work continues at the same pace as before, but I have to do a lot more in order to command this proxy.

Natural things that don't require as much thought now are things that require more attention while in this body. While I might be able to react instantaneously in my regular body or even when directing my bugs and biters, this body requires more orders and doesn't move on instinct. It doesn't know exactly how to walk on it's own, how to do more than bark without me actively participating with every action to ensure it was correct. What exactly was causing it though? Possession was already a different enough power compared to my original. Perhaps more powerful or complex creatures required more attention? While my time with my old power has certainly increased my multitasking, perhaps I'm not quite ready to possess too many humanoid creatures?

Or could it be some other kind of issue? Who could I ask?

Mom… while she might not know, she might know of someone who could help me out with this. She has connections that would make finding out about these things far easier. Either some kind of library that she could access as Lilith's servant or perhaps someone magically inclined that could help me. Though, considering that this is Hell, it would probably come at a price. I wonder what they might want from me to answer my questions?

While I ponder though, I notice a trio of vehicles turn off the road and head in our direction. One quite obviously a tank with tesla coils mounted on its turret that crackle and spark, catching bugs as it goes by. Another is a van, armoured and with some kind of dish on top of it spinning around, and the final one looks like some kind of army truck only with the back wheels replaced by tank treads. The word "Justicier" is painted on the sides of all the vehicles, with a cartoon pig wearing an old fashioned French police hat beside it. The last truck has various sinners in some kind of tactical garb and backpacks with tesla-coils sticking out.

Seems like the vigilantes are making their move.


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