Taylor's phone woke her with the sharp bzzt-bzzt of a text, felt more than heard through her bugs. She pushed herself up with a muffled groan, wincing as her muscles twinged. Lisa had managed to get them all patched up after Echidna, a while after Echidna, with the help of a corrupt hero named Scapegoat. Still, she hadn't exactly had time to rest in the five days since, and her body was making its complaints known.

  Of course things hadn't died down since then, between the Undersiders securing their new portal which Lisa swore by, or the new gangs moving into town. The heroes, at least, seemed to be focused on licking their wounds instead of coming after them. Taylor was almost hopeful the truce from Echidna was still holding, but she knew better. They hadn't stopped consolidating their territory, after all; it was just a matter of time before a showdown. She reached out and snapped up her phone.

  A text from Lisa saying she was on her way. Right, she wanted Taylor's help pinning down where the Fallen were hiding. She sighed and rose, heading straight into the shower. She didn't take her time, only rinsing last night's sweat off her body and slipping in her contacts. After that she took her time assembling everything she'd need, packing it in a small backpack along with a good number of extra bugs. Once she was ready, Skitter grabbed her phone and headed down.

  “Morning Skitter,” Sierra greeted her as she reached the first floor. “Forrest said he'd be by later, about that Teeth attack?” She suppressed a sigh.

  “Right,” she replied, bugs in her pack humming with her. “Might be late for that, going with Tattletale this morning, scouting the Fallen.” Sierra winced.

  “Ah, good luck.” She didn't sound confident.

  “Appreciated.” A sharp pair of knocks came at the door, then two more. “See you.” Sierra gave her a nod and went back to making breakfast for the kids, oatmeal today.

  “Hey Skitter,” Tattletale greeted her with a smile. “All set?” She nodded.

  “Let's go,” Skitter said, walking out into the warm morning.

  As they walked out of her territory, Skitter took account of everything within sight; relatively speaking. Trash was starting to pile up on a number of the streets towards the edges of her territory; an issue she'd have to figure out sooner than later. Figuring out the logistics of her territory without Coil's organization was a headache she hadn't expected. All worth it since Dinah was free.

  In an apartment, a man was yelling two other people, smaller. Skitter frowned and had a pair of mason bees land on his cheeks, then bite twice. He quieted down after that. She sighed, wondering when the world had fallen apart enough that she was policing stuff like that. Right around the time she had committed to being a villain full time...

  “Things are looking good around here,” Tattletale said as they left the south edge of Skitter's territory. “Quietest territory in the city.”

  “Been lucky,” she replied with a shrug, gazing out at the bay between a pair of buildings. “Helps that most people don't want to chance being near the water anymore.”

  “You've explained she's not dangerous if you don't get close to the graveyard?” She shrugged.

  “Doesn't mean people believe me,” Skitter said. “Doesn't mean they listen either. Caught a few teenagers trying to push a rubber boat out on a dare. Sank them before they got twenty feet.”

  “People are stupid,” Tattletale said with a sigh.

  “Speaking of, how's the portal?”

  “Low blow,” she muttered.

  “You decided to make a portal to another world, and you did it without talking to anyone else,” Skitter countered. “If we had known what you wanted, we could have backed you up. Instead, they're going to look at me and wonder if I'm really the leader of the Undersiders or not.”

  “You're exaggerating.”

  “Am I?” she retorted, pausing and looking Tattletale in the eyes. “Tell me that you going around my back doesn't undermine me, tell me hatching these little schemes that bring the hammer down harder doesn't hurt all of us, tell me that going after the heroes wasn't a mistake.” Her swarm hummed along with her for a moment and she sighed. “Sorry I...it's been a rough week.”

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  “It has,” she agreed. There was a long silence as we walked through the ankle-deep water still standing in the streets. “I already apologized, I don't know what else you want from me.”

  “A promise you won't do something like that again, not without talking to us.”

  “Done,” she said far too quickly. “Seriously Skitter, we're golden. Even all this, with the Teeth and the Fallen? We can handle it. The Protectorate getting up our asses about our territory? We can handle it. No Coil behind the scene, tying our hands anymore; we're a proper team again.”

  “No Coil feeding us funds either,” Skitter replied. “And his contacts are gone, and--”

  “Not gone,” Tattletale countered. “Just scared off to the sidelines, for now. And a few are already making contact, like the Ambassadors. Once we secure the portal, secure our seats here, they'll come crawling back.”

  “I really hope you're right Tattletale,” she said, reaching out to her swarm, getting a feeling for the area they were heading towards. “I don't think we can afford anything else.”

  “Trust me,” she said smugly, turning down an alley. “I'm on the mark, you'll see 'boss'.”

  “Don't,” Skitter buzzed.

  “Easy.” Tattletale sighed. “Sorry, I'll quit snipping; just a little...antsy.” Skitter cocked her head as they headed up a fire escape.

  “What about?” If Tattletale was on edge, it could mean trouble; trouble her swarm couldn't detect. “The Fallen?” She shook her head.

  “No, not yet.” She sighed again. “The PRT isn't going to take this laying down. They've got a hawk in charge, Tagg. I don't think we're going to be getting along with the heroes any time soon.”

  “We already knew that going in,” Skitter replied with a shrug. “We'll just have to make do. Like you said, we can handle it.”

  “Yeah...” Tattletale took a deep breath and grinned at her. “Besides, with the shitshow they've got going on internally? We'll have a little breathing room, more than enough to clean up the freaks moving in.” Skitter couldn't help the smile that touched her lips.

  “So,” she said, staring out at the city as her bugs swept across her range. “Who are we looking for?”

  It turned out, there were a lot of people they were looking for. The Fallen clans may have been disorganized, but they were relatively numerous. Their capes were an issue, but Tattletale said they weren't what she was looking for this time. That was fine by Skitter, she'd had enough cape fights to last for the foreseeable future. Ideally forever but, well, she wasn't that lucky.

  Today though, it really was just scouting. Tattletale led her to a few more locations, taking notes as Skitter reported the comings and goings of myriads of people throughout the south end of Brockton Bay. It was...an interesting exercise in multi-tasking, one where she wasn't in constant danger of enemy action. No one knew Skitter and Tattletale were on one roof or another, and no one was really looking for them. It would have been relaxing, if it wasn't work.

  Finally, they finished. The sun was hanging low; it had taken all day, just like Tattletale had promised. The results were, according to her, excellent. She'd managed to track several hideouts of the cultists with the information Skitter fed her. They would need to find more, and check if they were moving bases, but it was a good start. Now they were headed back to Skitter's territory.

  “I wish we could strike now,” Skitter said with a sigh. “They're only going to get stronger, more entrenched. If we had Shatterbird--”

  “Then we'd be a bigger target,” Tattletale cut her off. “Look much as I dislike the little shit who wrung her neck, it's better that we don't have a Slaughterhouse Nine member hanging out in Regent's living room. Besides, I know how you felt about it.”

  “I was fine,” she protested. “Shatterbird was a monster, one of the worst.”

  “And you still weren't comfortable with it.” She held up a hand. “I don't really care about it Skitter, I knew how you felt about that stuff a long time ago.”

  “I'm worried about her killer,” Skitter said after a moment. “Amaranth, right?” Tattletale nodded.

  “Jack's nominee, starting to see why.” Tattletale shook her head. “She's got a mile-long grudge against us and I can't figure out why.”

  “Does she?” she asked, cocking her head. “She worked with us well enough during the Nine, even though she didn't really fight. And she vouched for us when Miss Militia came for us after Echidna.”

  “Bigger threats,” she explained. “She's...not much like you, but she'll throw aside old grudges if there's something more dangerous on the horizon.”

  “Better than some of the heroes, I guess.” Skitter frowned. “Not sure I like the comparison.”

  “Rather have you on my team,” Tattletale replied with a shrug. “Anyway, she'll probably be out of commission for a while. You got eaten by Echidna right?”

  “Yeah,” she bit out sharply, trying not to think about it.

  “Yeah just going by your reaction, she's probably in a padded cell; not made of the same stuff you are you know?”

  “Alright.” Skitter sighed as they entered the range of her territory. Almost right away, she found someone seemingly robbing someone else. A dozen hornets drove him off, and she alerted Forrest in her headquarters. “Never a god damn break,” she muttered.

  “Go,” Tattletale said, patting her shoulder. “I'm a big girl, I can handle walking home alone.”

  “Be careful,” she said. “Just because Coil's gone--”

  “I know, I know, just kidding.” She pulled out her cell and pressed a few buttons. “I'll get a lift. Go, seriously, I'm fine.”

  Skitter nodded and took off, veering to intercept the fleeing mugger. She had plenty to worry about without thinking of some Ward that was probably too broken to go back on patrol. Like Tattletale said: bigger threats.