Riding on top of one of Bitch's dogs was way, way scarier than I ever expected it to be; at the same time it was oddly familiar. The four of us were packed together on the dog's back, Skitter holding onto Grue's waist, Amy onto mine. It wasn't that different to riding around in the back of a Hilux, except here I didn't have a rifle...and wasn't worried about Grue running us over an IED.

  A strange comparison, but it distracted me from the nausea in my stomach as we bounded down broken roads. I tightened my grip on the horny plate of armour I was clinging to as Grue took a bend sharp enough to make Amy shriek. Skitter's head turned slightly, and her shout was almost lost to the whipping wind and thundering footfalls.

  “More bugs!”

  I elbowed Amy and relayed the request. I felt her nod against me and gave Skitter a thumbs up. She turned back and I saw bugs begin to flow towards Amy. It wasn't long before a quartet of the weird looking relay bugs had taken flight, joining the growing swarm in the skies around us. It wasn't half a minute before Skitter exclaimed that she'd found the Siberian's host. Jesus she was fast.

  It sucked that I was basically dead weight here, almost literally. I couldn't protect anyone if we got ambushed, couldn't do any damage from this range, or probably at all to the Siberian. I could worry about making up for that later though, for now I set my eyes on the road ahead as we rapidly came up on a white moving van.

  The Siberian appeared on top of it and Amy screamed, her grip making it difficult to breathe. There was an explosion nearby and she somehow managed to hold me tighter. Well, it meant she wasn't in danger of falling off anyway. Suddenly, we plunged into a cloud of darkness and I let out a silent shout of fear. If I thought riding the dog was scary before, it was terrifying doing it blind and deaf. What the fuck was their problem?

  Before long, we were out of it again, and I squinted against the sudden light. We were coming up behind the other dog, the Undersiders shouting back and forth between them. Sundancer had a small, but growing orb in one hand and my skin prickled at the sight of it. Not something I wanted to be on the receiving end of anytime soon.

  The dog dove back into the darkness, though it had thinned enough to let the waning daylight through. Grue quickly refreshed it, blinding and deafening us once more, though not for long. I raised an arm to shield against the harsh light, then swore under my breath as I caught sight of the source. Sundancer's star had grown to the size of a small house, steam billowed from the street under it, and I knew I'd be walking away with a tan.

  It struck the middle of the road, igniting fires in nearby buildings from the waves of heat pouring off. Sundancer turned her attention to fighting the fires she'd ignited, using another orb to somehow put them out. Was she burning the oxygen or something with her star? That made sense, and made her that much more dangerous to me. We slowed down and Taylor said something to Grue.

  “What did you do?” I caught Amy's whisper.

  “Sundancer,” I explained as Taylor pulled out her cell and began talking. “Dropped her star right on top of them. They're probably--”

  “Not dead,” Skitter snapped, then returned to her phone conversation. Her head suddenly snapped upwards and I followed her gaze, then swore.

  The speaker of Skitter's phone buzzed, and I could hear Tattletale's muffled voice rattling off the names of the heroes arriving in protective suits. Amy squeaked when she mentioned that Glory Girl was with them, and I cursed again under my breath. Just what we fucking needed right now. At least they seemed to be focused on Tattletale's group, further down the road. Thank god for Skitter using her range right now...

  A chunk of the street flew towards the floating heroes, which one blasted out of the air with a colourful laser. Legend, I'd guess, since that wasn't white or red. Legend bellowed a command as he blasted the leaping Siberian. Black lines began to form around her, then shattered as they tried to tighten. Fuck, could anything affect her? The Siberian took the most direct route through the heroes, then vanished out of sight, Legend taking off after her. Three of the remaining heroes turned their attention to Tattletale.

  “Can we go?” Amy asked quietly. “I didn't think--” She paused and I felt her shiver.

  “We should go,” I said to Skitter. “I'm not exactly authorized to be out here.”

  “No,” Tattletale snapped, the streets quiet enough now that I could hear her. “Come over here, bring Amy. They want to talk.”

  “That's a fucking awful idea, Tattletale,” I countered. “If either of us wanted to talk to the heroes, we'd just go to them.”

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  “Doesn't matter,” she retorted. “Come on.”

  As Grue kicked his heels into the dog, I grabbed Amy's arm's and slid us backwards off the dog. She let out a little yelp as she hit the ground, and I grunted as my ankle flared up, but we rose and backed away. No way was Amy ready for this right now, not fucking twenty minutes after losing chunks of finger to the Siberian. And no way was I in a place to even try and handle...anything that would be coming. Skitter had jumped off the dog and walked over to us, wielding her cell like a knife.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  “Taking a break,” I answered. “Not in any shape to deal with...issues, right now. Both of us have good reasons to stay the fuck away from the heroes, at least for now.” Skitter pressed the phone to her ear and cocked her head.

  “Tattletale says your personal bullshit can wait.” I felt a pulse of irritation. “Come on.”

  “Skitter? Fuck off.” I raised my voice. “Tattletale, fuck yourself.” There was a beat of silence, then Skitter turned on her heel and joined the group.

  “Why is m-- Glory Girl here?” Amy asked once we were alone again. I grunted and sat next to her, taking the weight off my ankle. She sat down soon after.

  “Been working with the Protectorate more,” I replied simply. “Probably the same here. Wish I recognized the others.” Glory Girl had taken off her helmet, and as one of the others did I swore. “Gallant. Of fucking course.”

  “What do we--”

  “Stay put,” I said simply. “Let the heroes and villains hash things out, then help if we can.”

  “Aren't you one of the heroes?”

  “Good question.” I sighed. “We'll see once all this is over.”

  “That's...not really and answer.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Amy, I went AWOL in the middle of the Slaughterhouse Nine's attack,” I explained, exasperated. “Before that, I got nominated by Jack Slash, then failed to prevent your nomination. I would be fucking shocked if they just were like 'oh don't worry, kids will be kids'. I doubt my Ward career is going to be that long, at this rate.”

  “That's not what I asked,” Amy said quietly and I pursed my lips.

  “You want to know if I'm a hero?” I glanced over and saw her nod, then sighed. “Then no, I'm not. I try to help people where I can, pull my weight or whatever, but I wouldn't say I'm a hero. Not like Gallant or Glory Girl are.” There was a beat of silence.

  “Me neither,” she whispered.

  “But I'm not a villain either,” I continued after a moment. “I want to do some villainous things, I guess; break Tattletale's jaw for one.” Amy let out a snort of laughter. “Mostly I just want to use my powers to help, I guess. You...I guess I'm out here because I figured you needed it.” I looked away, eyeing the heroes as they spoke with the Undersiders. Glory Girl was staring at us.

  “I don't want to be a villain,” Amy said a minute later.

  “So don't be,” I replied simply. “I know you feel like it's inevitable, but it isn't. If you want to be bad, you have to choose to do bad things.”

  “And if you don't know they're bad?” I rolled my eyes.

  “There's some argument for moral relativism, but I really don't want to dig into AP philosophy with you right now.” I shook my head. “If you're not sure whether something you're doing is right or wrong, you can always ask. Or, you know, just don't do it until you figure it out.”

  “And if you don't have time?” She asked as Skitter and Grue trotted our way on the dog. I rose, then helped Amy to her feet.

  “Then you make the best choice you can and deal with the consequences.” I turned my attention to the approaching villains, favouring my uninjured ankle. “So, are you walking away with a pardon or a kill order?” They paused and seemed to glare at me for a moment before responding.

  “The heroes,” Skitter spat 'heroes' viciously. “Are planning on carpet bombing the Nine, and soon.” She paused for a moment to let the horror sink in. Fuck. “We need to go and rescue our friends, are you coming?” I grimaced and shook my head.

  “My ankle's fucked,” I replied, wincing as I tested it again. “Sprinting away from the Siberian, getting thrown around, it didn't help.”

  “I-- I don't wanna get bombed.” Amy's voice was small. Skitter sighed and her shoulders seemed to slump fractionally.

  “Fine,” she said tensely. “That's fine. Amy, are you still willing to help?” Amy nodded. “Good, I'm going to send you the bugs I can't use. If you want to make more bugs that can relay my signal, that'd be great. If you can think of something else... I need firepower.”

  “And we're going to be short on mobility if we need to make a run for it,” Grue added. “Too many of us for two dogs.”

  “What...what should I make?”

  “Figure it out Amy,” Skitter snapped. “If you can't think of anything else, the relay bugs are great. Excellent even.”

  “Okay.” She seemed to shrink back.

  “Good luck,” I offered. “Wish I was in better condition to help.” Wish I wasn't afraid of what might happen if I left Amy's side.

  “Me too,” Skitter replied simply. “Stay safe, I found the Nine except for Mannequin. Don't know if Jack's team is going to break their rules, but he could come for you both.”

  “Appreciate the warning.”

  With that, they were off, galloping down the road towards the sounds of a battle so distant I had to strain my ears to hear it. I sat back down on a piece of rubble, Amy joining me a moment later. Within minutes, the ground began to boil as earthworms sprung up under Skitter's sway, beetles flew down and onto her hands, and bugs of all sorts gathered around. It made me shiver, but Amy got straight to work.

  I kept a watchful eye on the heroes. They were keeping their distance for now, gathered in a group around the guy that had tried and failed to imprison the Siberian. That was good, at least they had their priorities straight and-- I swore under my breath as Gallant and another, still covered cape started making their way towards us. I nudged Amy's arm and she looked up, paling when she saw them. I rose and gestured for her to stay put, taking a couple of steps to put myself between her and them.

  It seemed they weren't going to leave well enough alone.