20.5

Worm, Chapter 20.5 Summary:

Dragon’s words echo through the silent cafeteria, confirming to everyone at Arcadia High that Taylor is Skitter. Emma, pale and in shock, stares from across the room. Defiant steps forward, closing the door he breached, while Taylor retreats, putting both heroes in front of her. His spear cracks with electricity, killing every bug in the hallway.

The cafeteria isn’t an ideal battleground, but Taylor remains calm, rolling her shoulders, letting the tension drain away. Five capes against her, and she’s without her costume, weapons, or a substantial swarm. She has her reputation, her image.

“Low blow, Dragon,” Taylor says, “Outing me? I thought you were better than that.”

Dragon is just following instructions. The failed deployment of armored suits against the Undersiders isn’t the reason they’re here. Taylor reminds them of her contributions in the fights against Leviathan, the Nine, and the Class-S threat downtown. She deserves better than having her identity revealed.

“It wasn’t by choice,” Dragon says.

“You choose to follow them,” Taylor counters, reminding them that many heroes have left the Protectorate recently. “It’s never simple. But sometimes you have to take the hard road.”

The Protectorate is disorganized, picking up the pieces, making errors in judgment. Taylor questions their priorities, leaving the threat hanging in the air. Dragon steps closer, but Taylor raises a hand, stopping her.

“It’s not in you, Skitter,” Dragon says, explaining why she stopped.

Taylor lists the gruesome acts she’s committed, questioning why they’d corner her with so many potential hostages. She taunts them about Sere, hinting that he’s incapacitated, then has a centipede crawl on Emma’s hand, making her shriek. She assures the heroes she won’t take it further, revealing that Sere is fine, for now.

Clockblocker, Adamant, and Kid Win enter. Dragon sends Adamant and Kid Win to find Sere. Taylor suggests it’s all bait, that they want her to take hostages to justify using some countermeasure, discrediting the Undersiders and their leader.

“It wasn’t our plan,” Dragon admits, saying she and Defiant didn’t believe Taylor would harm hostages.

Taylor questions why they expect her to keep quiet about the Protectorate’s secrets after they’ve revealed her identity. Dragon claims she didn’t find out that way and insists Taylor will keep quiet because it’s important. Defiant suggests moving the conversation elsewhere, but Taylor refuses, wanting witnesses.

Dragon explains they were ordered to confront and detain Taylor after being forced to announce their reason for entering Brockton Bay’s airspace. They were supposed to be hunting the Slaughterhouse Nine, but now they’re here, suggesting something more important has come up. Defiant offers to explain in private, but Taylor declines, suspecting the audience is the only thing ensuring fair play.

Defiant and Dragon are playing it safe, believing Taylor might have a trick up her sleeve, aware of her past exploits. Taylor smiles; despite her dire situation, the good guys are cautious. Adamant frees Sere, and Taylor realizes she could have caught Adamant too, but it wasn’t worth the effort.

Defiant apologizes for not meeting Taylor halfway in the past, admitting he regrets how things played out between them. This was a large part of why they came, to talk cape to cape about the future.

“One last question,” Taylor says, “Why out me in front of everyone? It doesn’t fit with Defiant being remorseful, it flies in the face of the unwritten rules.”

“It’s better you don’t know,” Dragon says.

“Tell me.”

“A precog told us it was our best option for bringing you into custody.”

A precog? The flawed plan, the contradictions—it all makes sense now. Like a plan Coil might have made with Dinah. “Who was this precog?” Taylor asks. “You know who,” Defiant replies.

It’s Dinah. All of Taylor’s efforts to free her, and now this? Taylor feels numb. She barely cares about the audience, the cameras, the inevitable online posts.

“Did they force her to give up the information?” Taylor’s voice trembles.

“You don’t want to hear the answer to that question, either,” Defiant says.

The PRT is using Dinah like Coil did, or she volunteered the information. Taylor asks for the odds. Dragon reports a 96.8% chance they’ll take her into custody, less than 1% chance of success with violence.

Taylor glances at the crowd, at Emma, who’s not even a factor. A part of her wants to lash out, to hurt Emma, but it’s irrational.

“I never liked that name,” Taylor says, “Skitter. Never quite fit.” She walks around a table, putting students between herself and Clockblocker. “No idea,” she adds, “Felt like commenting on the subject.”

Defiant offers to admit some culpability to get her a more lenient sentence. Taylor realizes he’s admitting it for everyone to hear, that he’s partially to blame for her becoming a villain.

“Okay,” she says, deciding what to do.

“Students!” she calls out, “Stand if you side with me. I won’t make any big speeches here. That’s not who I am. I won’t feed you lies or guilt you into this. It’s your call.”

Nearly a third of the students stand, gathering behind her. Charlotte is there, not making eye contact. Fern and a few others join from the back.

“This is reckless,” Defiant says.

“Probably,” Taylor replies, “But not as much as you’d think. We’re not fighting. We’re going to walk out of this school as a group. If you want to stop us, you’re going to have to hurt us, and you aren’t capable of doing that to people any more than I am.”

Taylor tells them to link elbows and surround Clockblocker. They head for the doors, telling one group to go to the kitchen, past Defiant. He bars the door, using his spear to create an electrical barrier.

“Steady forward,” Taylor says, “First ones to reach him, grab him. He’s a hero. Trust in that.”

Charlotte grabs the spear, others follow. Dragon flies over them, but Taylor clogs her jetpack with bugs. Dragon’s jetpack expands, becoming more powerful, but Taylor slips into the kitchen, into a narrow hallway Dragon can’t navigate.

Dragon leaves with Adamant and Sere. Defiant is stuck, students clinging to him. He removes a panel from his spear, Taylor fills it with bugs. He disconnects his glove, then types a sequence into the spear’s mechanism.

Outside, Defiant’s armored suit looms, but it doesn’t move. They walk between its legs. Dragon stands, but doesn’t pursue.

They walk three blocks from the school. “Stop,” Taylor says. What is she supposed to say? “Thank you” seems trite.

“You saved my dad,” Fern says. Others chime in, mentioning Imp, the Nine, the ABB, Shatterbird, Mannequin, Leviathan, the Empire.

Taylor walks down Lord Street, her heart heavy. Her range is longer now. Her bugs trace over the area. A butterfly lands on her dad’s hand.

“Taylor,” he says.

Six and a half blocks away, she replies, “I’m sorry.” The butterfly and Taylor take off.