19.6

Worm, Chapter 19.6 Summary:

The naked Eidolon-clone touched Alexandria, flickering her into a white costume, a dark mirror of her true self. Legend attacked, a laser tearing through Eidolon-clone and into Echidna, whose leg buckled. The Alexandria-clone blocked Legend, forcing him to divide his beam, then charged. Skitter watched as Eidolon-clone healed, while Echidna charged the heroes.

Chevalier, his cannonblade growing, stood in Echidna’s path. He slammed the blade into the ground and fired, the massive cannonball ripping through three of Echidna’s legs. She skidded, and Chevalier shot again, halting her. A hero created ice glaciers, possibly to hinder Echidna’s regeneration. Chevalier severed Noelle from Echidna’s back, swatting her away. Noelle, fatally injured, began to disintegrate.

Echidna caught Chevalier with a tongue. He cut it and circled, seeking a way to rescue the trapped heroes. A clone with burning hands attacked Chevalier, flinging molten metal. A rock-throwing clone shattered a glacier. Chevalier blocked, while the ice-cape rained attacks, encasing clones in ice.

Skitter joined the fray, her swarm attacking clones. Bugs fell from the air near the Eidolon-clone, suffocating in a vacuum. He was dressed now, a dark reflection of Eidolon, flickering, possibly using a variant of Scapegoat’s power. Aerokinesis allowed him to float, manipulating air, creating a vacuum around him.

Miss Militia shot him, but he flickered, uninjured. Her bullets, then lasers, began to miss as he altered their trajectories. A headwind hit Skitter, her bugs mapping the effect’s perimeter: a storm with a diameter three-quarters of her range, a vacuum extending a hundred feet. Clones on his side suffered.

Eidolon-clone approached fallen heroes. Skitter ordered Rachel to fetch the wounded, others to retrieve teammates. Rachel, herding clones, heard and complied. The ice cape, one of Chevalier’s, was redirected to contain clones. Heroes struggled to move the injured, Eidolon-clone dangerously close.

Rachel’s dogs, following her and Bentley, began the rescue. A risk, but better than certain death. Eidolon-clone, lacking targets, turned to Echidna. He chipped away the ice with sharp wind, fragments helping to break it apart. Echidna stood, her wounds healing, Noelle regrown.

Chevalier’s cannonball veered, hitting Echidna instead of Eidolon-clone. A focused wind blast sent Chevalier flying. Legend and Alexandria fought above, Legend’s speed increasing as he flew, circling, firing, taking out clones. Myrddin, recuperating, flew up from behind, attacking Eidolon-clone.

The Eidolon-clone’s vacuum expanded, Myrddin set down, reserves low. Eidolon-clone reappeared, battling Myrddin, the vacuum smaller but growing. Myrddin deflected sharp wind blasts, attacking with energy and debris. Echidna mended, the heroes’ heavy hitters down.

A tinker’s layered forcefields were a weak barrier. The ice cape returned, creating glaciers, a temporary measure. Skitter sought a better solution, surveying the fallen, the unfamiliar capes. Red lightning accelerated allies, a phasing boy rescued them.

Rachel returned with the wounded. A dog had bitten too hard, cracking armor, a rib. Skitter didn’t mention it, focusing on the man’s survival. Eidolon-clone attacked Myrddin, shoving him against a wall, choking him with the vacuum. Myrddin, struggling, fell, hand to his chest.

Eidolon-clone was driven back by gunfire, forced to flicker. His armor absorbed the impacts, healing. He diverted fire away. Skitter bound his neck with a cord, tied to a car’s side-mirror. He flickered, the cord falling free. Wanton attacked, barely slowing Eidolon-clone, who produced a knife, gripping Myrddin.

Eidolon-clone’s hand convulsed, dropping the knife. Regent. He flickered, the knife back, plunging it into Myrddin’s chin. Wanton attacked, using the knife against the clone. Myrddin was dead or dying, Chevalier’s fate unknown, two Triumvirate members turned against them.

Gully carried Clockblocker, his mask shattered. Skitter spoke to him, Gully overhearing. Eidolon-clone, echoing his earlier sentiment, craved a fight, a challenge. He spoke of Cauldron, the Triumvirate, selling powers, creating monsters like Siberian, Shatterbird, Gray Boy, Echidna. Manipulating media, nations, kidnapping, experimenting, casting out failures.

A crimson clone confirmed, calling them monsters. Legend shouted, unheard. The naked Alexandria-clone joined the chase. Nobody helped. Eidolon-clone declared them all deceived, fools. Echidna belched out more clones: a forge-man, two stone-throwers, an Alexandria.

Clockblocker declared they’d lost, not just the fight, but the war. Without the Protectorate, heroes wouldn’t unite against Endbringers. Skitter, unsurprised, unlike the shocked heroes, saw a chance. The villains could think straight.

Skitter, seeking optimal effect, used her swarm to draw attention. “Noelle!” she called, her voice augmented. “Is the deal still open? An Undersider for your captives?” Noelle confirmed, “You’re dead anyways.” Skitter offered herself for Eidolon, a necessary asset.

Noelle spat out Eidolon. He flew towards the Protectorate, barred by two fliers. He turned, watching Legend, wary of his clone. Noelle told Skitter to run. “I’m not running,” Skitter said, stopping Rachel from intervening. Noelle charged. Skitter closed her eyes, ordering Clockblocker to use his power.

He froze the gun, the thread attached, held aloft by bugs. Spider silk, thin but unyielding with Clockblocker’s power. Echidna, unable to stop, was severed. Skitter urged Miss Militia to hit the Eidolon-clone. He moved, stopped by a thread, flickering. Miss Militia fired her rocket launcher.

“Watch the two pieces,” Skitter communicated. “Tattletale said there’s a core. Whichever half regenerates has it.” Echidna swelled, regenerating. Heroes attacked, freeing captives. Her other half decayed, revealing more captives. She reconnected, minus eleven, but reforming.

Clockblocker, cared for by Scapegoat, nodded at Skitter. A containment van approached, Chevalier in the turret. They could win, but morale was low, heroes distanced, no orders given. Gully, Weld, and the crimson boy stood apart, Cauldron-made. The divide, Skitter hoped, wouldn’t be their undoing.