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Worm Liveblog #98

UPDATE 98: Had a Little “Chat” with the Mayor

Well this sure was a stupidly busy time in my life. Thankfully, it’s over and back to the normal amount of busy. Anyway, update time, finally! I really missed doing this.

Last time there was an interlude showing how Alexandria got involved with Cauldron’s machinations! It was pretty interesting. Now the main story will continue, so let’s do it!

Somehow, the arc isn’t over yet. I really thought it was, yet here we are. Oh well. I guess there’s something else to be done before this arc is over? I’m not sure what remains before the next arc can happen, but okay.

Okay, I think I see now. This chapter may be about Skitter contacting Coil to inform him of Parian joining the team unofficially. I thought that was going to be done off-screen, but I suppose it’s okay if it’s done here.

“She holds territory, she’ll defend it against all comers, but she’s not going to do jobs or do anything criminal. As far as anyone else is concerned, she’s not a part of our takeover.”

She’s just adjacent to the plotting, that’s all. I’m sure the heroes will be willing to look the other way since Parian has a good reputation. I mean, they let her have Dolltown. They could let her have a small territory, even if...the Undersiders gave it to her? Hm...

“The implication being that we’re too weak to deal with her.”

Iiiii think it’s more likely people would think she’s colluding with the Undersiders, or at the very least that she did them a big enough favor they gave her the territory as payment. I don’t think anyone will think Parian is strong enough to fight back against the Undersiders all by herself. Coil, you so paranoid.

Somehow, Skitter feels betrayed by Coil even if she never trusted him. I think I can understand why she would feel betrayed. She may not have trusted him, but he was supposed to help her to some extent – and he did, with money, supplies, all that. And now he’s supplying her with a knife between her shoulderblades. Of course she would feel betrayed.

It seems Parian will be in contact with Coil through a liaison. I didn’t think Parian would be in contact with the bad guy, but apparently she will. I doubt she’ll think kindly of him and what he does.

“Though this could have been done more smoothly, I do appreciate your hard work.”

This from my would-be murderer.

I have to wonder if Coil wishes Skitter didn’t have those pesky moral concerns, because she really is an useful person to have on your side. Sometimes he seems genuinely appreciative of her work, buuuut he isn’t going to risk someone throwing wrenches into his plans, so Skitter has to die. He may not like it, but it has to be done.

Speaking of inter-group relations, Trickster is getting ready to leave for the mission this evening, and since it will possibly involve getting rid of Skitter I wonder if he’s preparing himself for that too, if he’s getting anything ready for that.

She talked to Coil through the phone while her swarm spoke to Parian, who is still here. Parian is provided with a phone, and informs her someone – Coil’s liaison, I imagine – will call before the end of the day. This is the cue for Parian to leave, and although she hates Skitter, they leave on civil terms. Thank goodness! Now that Parian left, it’s time to think about what to do with Coil, while also suffering because she just got surgery on a shoulder. Ouch.

Somehow this turns into a lot of thinking about what will happen if she dies. Considering how she may die that very same night that sure is a grim thought.

My dad hadn’t heard from me in some time. If I died, well, perhaps not as great a shock as it might otherwise be. I knew it would hit him as hard as my mom’s death had, that he’d be devastated… but again, he’d recover. Maybe it would be easier, because at least here he’d have someone to blame, the city, the thugs, whoever Lisa told him was at fault for my murder. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t reveal my identity to him when a simpler, to-the-point explanation would do.

Honestly I miss Dad Hebert. I thought he’d be a more integral part of Worm, but ever since the first few arcs ended he was pushed out of the story. It’s a shame, I thought he trying to deal with Skitter being a villain would have been very interesting.

If I died, Parian could take over my territory. I had the feeling I could trust her to care about my people the same way I did, more than I could trust even my friends. The transition wouldn’t be too difficult.

Kind of...reckless to be supposing that without even discussing it with her. It’s not like they’ll have much time for that, because they agreed to cooperate just a moment ago! It’s too soon to be asking Parian to take care of the territory if Skitter dies! Going too fast, dear!

There’s a cut and then I think it’s later in the day. Maybe evening? She’s going into an area of the city where New Wave is at, and if the rest of that team also waves her for what happened to Panacea and Glory Girl, then she may be in danger being there. I don’t think the rest of New Wave will appear in this chapter, Skitter already has to deal with Trickster and Genesis.

I admit I thought it would be in the next arc, but looks like dealing with that situation will be in this one. Oh well.

Skitter lands in an area with trees, and she sets down with her laptop to prepare. Also to prepare, she makes a lot of clones and sets them both on her bug and in the area nearby, some of them looking like they had laptops. She’s banking on the number of clones to keep her safe. Okay, this isn’t evening, because I doubt Skitter would do this when the glowing light coming from a laptop screen would be very noticeable and would give away who is the real Skitter.

The clone on the beetle is sent to Trickster and Genesis. Since the clone wasn’t immediately torn apart by the others, she’s not in immediate danger, but she still may not be safe. Trickster tries to pass her binoculars, she rejects them and uses her bugs to find out some of what’s happening at the target’s house.

They’re going to scare the entire mayor’s family, and then pressure him. Turns out that was Coil’s idea. Of course, Skitter doesn’t like the thought of getting innocent people involved, but really, nothing to be done on that regard. It’s not like Skitter can defy that plan...at least in an easy manner. She’s okay with doing it because it’s just scaring them, without hurting them.

Well, I could do that. It wasn’t so different from what I’d done in my first job with the Undersiders. I’d terrorized hostages then for a greater purpose, and I could do the same with a family for the same reason.

Honestly I can’t avoid thinking it’s different. Last time was with the Undersiders, working for their own goals – well, that’s what they had thought, at least. Now she’s doing it for Coil’s greater purposes. That’s different.

Genesis goes first, Trickster and Skitter staying behind. Trickster criticizes Skitter’s moves – she asks for time to get ready and says it’s so she can prepare, but I’m pretty sure it’s because she wants to be away of them. Trickster thinks Skitter should have prepared something already, or progressively fill the place with bugs. On this I have to agree with Skitter. Better everything at once – it gives the targets less time to prepare and look for help.

Trickster is a tad hostile now, and he says it’s because he didn’t like how Skitter messed with Ballistic and his plans. He says it’s because Ballistic is sort of a friend. That’s not a mutual feeling pal, that’s for sure. While they’re talking, Skitter gets her bugs in, and Trickster tells her the plan.

“Police are on their way. Gonna swap them with us the second they get to the house. Warning you in advance so we can look confident.”

It would be quite the impressive entrance. They will be plenty terrified, and since Trickster likely didn’t prepare a mannequin on the brink of a cliff ready to be swapped with Skitter, it should be safe enough for Skitter to partake in. The problem is that she’s not, well, herself. She’s a bunch of bugs. Trickster’s power may not work.

Indeed, it didn’t work. Trickster doesn’t even have time to get her to appear for real, and groans he lost sight of the cops. The plan to make an impressive entrance is gone, Trickster will have to walk into the house like a chump, I guess. Hah! You know, if he didn’t have to kill her and all, I bet he would take this as Skitter once again stepping on the Travelers’ toes.

Skitter’s entrance is to form a human shape from her bugs, making it emerge right in front of the targets. It’s decent, I suppose, but I admit I liked Trickster’s plan better.

There’s some description of the mayor and his family. It’s nothing particularly interesting, but I do like how Mr. Wildbow managed to give some basic personality to everyone in the family except the mayor. It’s good writing.

It’s conversation time. The mayor confirms he’s going to Washington, and the son tries to use a cellphone to possibly alert someone of what’s happening. I’m not sure, but I feel by now the guards already are aware of what’s happening. Everything that happened here can’t have been very subtle. Also there’s a giant beetle hanging out in the area, that’s a dead giveaway there are shenanigans afoot.

“I think it would be excellent if the city kept on going. Things are getting better.”

“And you’re putting yourselves in charge,” the mayor noted.

“We’re just keeping the peace,” Trickster said. “Doing a better job than your local heroes.”

“If you have a liberal interpretation of ‘peace’, maybe,” the mayor said.

Well, when only like half of the people in charge of territories are trying to keep the peace and not cause any further trouble in their territories, it’s hard to say they’re doing a better job than the local heroes, hah.

For some reason the mayor’s son is very into whatever he was doing with his phone, and when it’s taken away, he demands it back. Perhaps he had to contact someone to let them know everything is okay? So they wouldn’t burst in and put them in danger? Skitter feels something’s off, but can’t tell what it is. I also suppose she can’t take a look at the phone’s screen, as all of her clones are a far away from it and I bet only the one with Trickster has the camera to see through.

Without Tattletale’s power all she can tell is that everyone is taking this rather casually. In her opinion, that can only mean there’s some security measure they can use, and the villains won’t suspect it. I’m not sure what it could be.

Whatever conclusion Skitter got to, she tries to write the words on the wall so Trickster sees them. He doesn’t see them, apparently, or maybe he did and isn’t worried about it. He’s busy calling themselves the aspiring rulers, because that’s what someone who keeps the peace would say. No, no it isn’t. I doubt that line will help tilt the mayor towards not condemning the city.

Skitter’s conclusion is something she’s still trying to alert them about, yet Trickster still doesn’t react, even though Skitter makes the words larger. What do those words say? Thankfully, Genesis may have seen them, because she gets Trickster’s attention and makes him look.

‘Triumph’ written on the wall with bugs with a triangle beneath, pointing at his head. Above his ‘girlfriend’ were the words ‘Prism or Ursa’.

The mayor’s son was the civilian identity of Triumph. Enhanced physical prowess and a concussive shout that could punch holes through concrete.

...oops. Bright move, attacking the mayor when two heroes are right here. Great.

You know, I find it very hard to believe Coil didn’t know the mayor’s son was Triumph. He’s too well informed not to know that kind of thing. I’m sure he must have known! Yet he didn’t tell them. That was a rather boneheaded move, because fighting Triumph and another hero will be of no help to convince the mayor unless the villains somehow win. It would have been much easier to do this when Triumph and another hero weren’t around. Perhaps when he was on his way to Washington? Or a day before this one, perhaps? Any other time except now.

Or maybe he didn’t tell them so Skitter would be unaware of this, and the heroes would capture her. All Coil needs is for her to be gone. The heroes capturing her and shutting her into the Birdcage may be enough. Trickster seems not to have known either. If he had, he would have taken measures.

Since the cat’s out of the bag when Triumph sees the words on the wall, they leave any pretenses they’re normal everyday people and start fighting. The mayor and other civilians duck, while Triumph uses his powers. It doesn’t take long for Trickster to be knocked out when he’s hit with a table. Everything has gone pear-shaped, eh?

The situation has turned rough. Skitter is in a safe place – for the time being – since all there is is her clones around. The problem is Trickster being unconscious. Her beetle isn’t strong enough to carry him unconscious, and she can’t leave Trickster behind for a number of reasons. One, he’s going to sing. Maybe not about the Travelers, but definitely about the Undersiders. Two, the other Travelers wouldn’t take kindly to Trickster being left in the hands of the heroes, even though they’re all not in the best of terms. Finally, Coil wouldn’t like that either. By now he’s determined to getting rid of her, but that doesn’t mean Skitter should antagonize him before she makes her move against him.

I could only pray I wasn’t exposing myself to whatever assassination ploy Coil had in mind. Or worse, that I wasn’t doing exactly what he wanted me to do.

There’s a possibility this was something Coil planned, yeah. And if it doesn’t go like he planned, well, he’s going to have other chances to give getting rid of Skitter a try. Skitter and the rest should hurry if they don’t want Coil to hatch plans, because if given enough time he will succeed, I bet.

That’s the end of this chapter. Next!

The next chapter starts with Skitter trying to figure out who the female hero is. Figuring out Triumph was easy because there weren’t that many options he could be, but there are two possibilities for the female hero, and both would require different strategies.

It was critical that I figure out which of the two she was before getting into a fight with her. Prism was a duplicator who could consolidate into one body to get a temporary boost in strength, speed and durability. Maybe other areas too. Fighting her would mean staying out of close-quarters combat at any cost.

Ursa Aurora, by contrast, summoned ghostly ‘bears’ onto the battlefield. On a level, she’d want to fight like I preferred to, relying on her minions while staying out of the thick of things.

Two possibilities, each requiring very different tactics to handle.

Well, either way it seems to Skitter has to be ready to fight multiple people/bears at once. Finding the common points between the strategies that could be used would be a good way to fight back while she figured out which heroine this gal is.

She doesn’t do that, but she does make her priority finding out who that is. The bugs pour onto the heroine, while Triumph goes around shouting and destroying as many bugs as possible without destroying the house. That can’t be easy at all! Also, Triumph is taking away Trickster’s unconscious body, so that can’t be good for Skitter’s intention of not leaving Trickster behind. Maybe Genesis should start working on that.

Since they’re on a second floor and a possible escape route is to run down the stairs, Skitter places a tripwire. The unknown heroine trips and falls, shrieking. Once there’s a moment, she checks the unknown heroine to see what she has. There’s a gun. A bit unusual for a heroine like Prism or Ursa, perhaps? Well, if she’s a heroine maybe it’s not lethal.

Maybe she’s a PRT officer? Gun, no apparent powers?

It’s a possibility, really. Would make everything a lot easier, because that would mean Triumph is the only parahuman around, and that would be easier to deal with.

The problem with Triumph here is that bugs don’t seem to be enough to deal with him. He’s fighting them effectively and he has a lot of endurance. He goes towards the closet where the squishy, defenseless family is hiding, but changes directions when she sees the maybe-heroine lying on the floor with bugs all over her.

The heroine was starting to get free. Two additional versions of herself had appeared next to her, quickly searching out and cutting the silk cords that bound her. At least I knew who I was up against, now.

Good, she’s not going to have to fight a bunch of bears. From what I heard about Prism, it doesn’t sound like she has anything that would stop the bugs. Worth nothing her copies wouldn’t have injuries from stings or anything, so Skitter may have to fight all of them. She must have enough bugs for that.

Since Triumph was on the second floor and Prism is on the first, he has to go down the stairs. Although he’s warned about the tripwire, he lands in middle of the stairs, carrying a person and losing his point of balance when a lot of bugs fall on him. He crashes down and I’m pretty sure Trickster is currently under the deluge of bugs too, so he better still be unconscious or that will be awkward.

You know, given how merciless Skitter is when it’s about selecting where to bite and sting, I’m pretty sure any person who has to deal with her begins to loathe bugs with a passion. I’m sure of it.

There was a secondary goal, too. We’d come here for a reason. If it came down to it, the mayor might change his tune once he’d seen his superhero son brought low. This was leverage.

Either that or he gets so upset he uses this to solidify his will to condemn the city. It can go one way or another, really.

Just like her new copies don’t have the same damages her original self does, the damage done to the copies won’t transfer to the main body when they get back together, I suppose. It would be a glaring weakness otherwise. Thinking, Skitter gives herself additional cover.

Her plan of attack was to use her silk to grab two of the copies, in preparation for pulling from them and making them fall down. They do crash to the ground, but they consolidate back into Prism, not affecting her at all. Oh well. It was a clever plan, though! Nice! If she could do this to all of Prism’s copies and herself, then she can win.

I could hear and feel Prism firing blind into the center mass of the swarm. She was mad now. I’d nearly taken her out.

This is definitely make them want to defeat the Undersiders even more, especially Skitter. They’re going to want her gone, definitely.

Since she’s still on the roof, she leaps and consolidates all her copies into herself, ready to absorb the impact against the ground. It doesn’t go as expected, because in the end Skitter is pretty damn good when it’s about strategy.

They leaped, then consolidated with a flash of light before they hit ground, to absorb the impact with superior strength and durability.

Only the silk thread connected the gargoyle to the Prism-duplicate closest to me. She didn’t make it all the way to the ground. In the blink of an eye, she was whipped sideways, one arm hyperextended. She dangled for a second or two before the silk gave way and she fell to the ground.

The power boost was temporary enough that she wasn’t invincible as she made her awkward landing.

Just look at that. All she had to do is make sure she wouldn’t be able to use her boost, and she managed to do it in one swift move! Clever Skitter! And that knocks Prism out. Boy, Skitter is going to be a name all the heroes will dread from this night on.

Now that Prism was dealt with, it’s Triumph’s turn. He’s already not doing well, moving a little bit before collapsing again under the weight of all the bugs and everything being covered in bugs involve. Choking on them, and the capsaicin, and getting bit and stung...I still remember how messed up she can make someone be – Lung, for example. She’s not going all-out right now, yet Triumph must be in so much pain right now. I feel bad for him; he just was defending the family from the villains who crashed their dinner all of a sudden. He did nothing wrong.

A quick survey of the house reveals Triumph’s father picking up a shotgun from a drawer, and since shotguns are quite effective against parahumans when their powers don’t protect them against such a thing, this can’t be good at all. Sure would be anticlimactic if she died because the mayor shot her with a shotgun, though. Thank goodness that’s unlikely to happen, haha! Besides, she can make many decoys. Let the mayor waste ammo shooting at bugs, that will be a lot of help for Skitter, less chances of her getting shot.

As expected, he’s fooled by a couple decoys before Skitter can mention Triumph is, you know, on the verge of death. She mentions even heroes need to breathe, and shows how Triumph is not doing that very well. Quite traumatizing, that must be. I’m kind of surprised he didn’t immediately rush to Triumph’s side, but then again, what can he do against a bunch of bugs covering Triumph?

To make his struggles a little more pronounced, I briefly increased the pressure, shifting the bugs to limit the available oxygen. I wasn’t sure exactly how much danger he was in, but he wasn’t doing well. As much as I wanted to pressure the mayor, I was ready to apply the epipen the second Triumph’s breathing slowed enough.

I’m pretty sure any state that includes gagging, feeble coughing, and wheezing, is a state that can’t afford this kind of action. This guy is lucky he’s not dead yet. Will an epipen be enough once she decides to give him a break?

It won’t be long before the situation turns direr, Skitter herself is so shocked for a moment she forgets to use her decoys to talk with, she speaks with her own voice and reveals her location. Despite that, she doesn’t freak out when the shotgun is aimed at her, instead she says with the epipen Triumph could be saved. The CPR the mayor suggested wouldn’t be too bad, either, although I doubt Skitter will do it and leave herself vulnerable. Injecting him with the epipen will have to be enough.

A person can hold their breath for roughly two minutes… he’s still almost breathing, but how much breath is actually getting in and out of his lungs?

The cops that were coming were like a minute or two away, weren’t they? I know when it’s necessary time pretty much stops in a story and one minute can take like fifteen, but still, I doubt Triumph will die before the cops arrive, and even if they arrive before Skitter can get what she wants out of the mayor, she will take the bugs with her during the getaway. No way she’ll let him die – on purpose, that is.

The gun clattered to the grass, the mayor dropping to his knees. His voice was hollow. “I’ll give you what you want. Anything.”

There we go! Success! And Skitter is still alive. Double success! And Trickster is unconscious, leaving him with some proverbial egg on his face for failing miserably at the task of both convincing the mayor of anything and of killing Skitter. This has been a good night! Which is why I’m like 60% certain it won’t stay good. How will the situation be turned around against Skitter?

She doesn’t waste any time before going to Triumph and applying the epipen, and tells the mayor to bring his wife, since she knows CPR. During the short wait, she apologizes for her actions and Triumph seems to try to say something, only managing to squeal strangely. Once Triumph is being taken care of, Skitter moves to leave, not without making her demand, though!

“Washington,” I told him. “The city survives.”

He nodded. There were tears in his eyes, this stubborn man who’d talked so casually with the supervillains who had invaded his home and threatened his family, who’d tried to take me on with a shotgun.

Mission accomplished. See what you’re missing because you don’t want to keep Skitter, Coil? She gets the job done every time! So before anyone has any bright ideas about shooting her, Skitter leaves, taking all her bugs with her. Trickster is presumably being carried by Atlas, Genesis is presumably safe and somewhere else. All in all, the only casualty is Trickster falling unconscious on the first minute of fight.

Not too shabby, I’d say. The heroes’ side got much more of a beatdown.

That’s the end of the update. I think the arc is done now! Maybe. Who knows. This arc just keeps going even after I think it’s over, haha.

Next time: in two updates

#worm #worm liveblog #webserial #webserial liveblog #liveblog

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