5.05

Tattletale, always thinking ahead, was in Skitter’s room while she changed, laying out the game plan. Coil’s idea: mix and match the teams, a hostage situation to keep everyone in line. She’d programmed Skitter’s phone with an alarm - check in with Grue every hour, and everyone else every fifteen minutes. A two-part password system: first letter of a teammate’s name, answered with the last, then a color code - green for okay, yellow for caution, red for trouble.

Tattletale’s group? Faultline, Trickster, the shapeshifter, some Empire Eighty-Eight, and Coil’s soldiers. A chance to study the shapeshifter, maybe push Faultline’s buttons. Grue was leading another team. Three teams, three targets, hit hard and fast, repeat over the next few days.

Brian knocked - was she really up for this? Not entirely, she admitted, but anger was a powerful motivator. Dealing with Bitch? She’d manage. No showing weakness, he warned.

Outside, a van, Bitch and Regent waiting. He called her “dork,” she just ignored him, too focused on Bitch’s glare. Inside the van, the choice: sit next to Regent and face Bitch, or sit next to her and the dogs? She chose Regent.

Tattletale gave the drop-off instructions. A bit of a walk, time for Bitch to power up her dogs, and for Skitter to gather her bugs. Her range was extending, almost three and a half blocks instead of two. Why? Tattletale was too busy to guess.

Watching Bitch transform her dogs was… visceral. Skin splitting, bone erupting, muscle twisting into scales, the van suddenly feeling too small. Where did the mass come from? And where did Skitter’s power get its energy? Disconcerting.

Their stop: a bridge the ABB had destroyed. A lighthouse-like tourist shop, the Merchants’ old haunt, was the meeting point. Bitch sensed Skitter’s anger. A brief exchange - a shared understanding, maybe. Skitter gathered her bugs, ready for a fight.

Silence, then the lighthouse. Kaiser, in new armor, Fenja and Menja at his sides. The Travelers’ sun-girl, Newter and Labyrinth, two of Coil’s soldiers. Time check - four-forty, attack in five minutes.

Bitch transformed Brutus, a bloody spectacle that startled everyone but Skitter, Bitch, and Labyrinth. Even Kaiser flinched. A power move, intentional or not, setting the tone. Bitch mounted Brutus, leading the way, a silent declaration. Skitter followed, ready for whatever came next.