| Worm (second part), John C. McCrae (Wildbow) |
| 1 | "Fine. I'll concede a point for you, then. You tried, maybe. One-naught. What about Battery?" "I was with Jack and Bonesaw, affected by the miasma, thought they were my friends. Battery was giving chase. Around the time I figured out what was happening, she got attacked by the mechanical spiders. She was fine when I left her." "Assault blames you. Probably why Miss Militia didn't have him riding in the van with us." "Okay. |
| 2 | If I'd been in a better headspace, I would have backed her up. But there was the possibility Jack would get away, and the miasma-" "It fucked with all of us. Fine. Let's call that another draw. Can't judge you either way with that stuff in play. Triumph? His family?" "Didn't know he was Triumph until we were in the thick of it," I said, "But I did it for Dinah. It doesn't excuse it, but I did it for her." "How's that work?" "To get into a position where I could free her, I had to get close to Coil. |
| 3 | He'd already clued into the fact that I was planning on betraying him if he didn't let her go, put the screws to me, basically. Forced me to do what I normally wouldn't." "It had nothing to do with keeping control of the city?" I hesitated. "I didn't say that. I could try to justify it, explain how I really felt like I was doing more good than harm and what all that meant, but it would take too long, cover too many details I'm not willing to share, and I'm not a hundred percent convinced I'd buy it myself. |
| 4 | I'll concede that one to you. Not in a position to defend or explain it." "One-all, then. Let's talk Shadow Stalker." "We're back to that?" I asked. "She was an asshole, dangerous, didn't even like her, but she was still a teammate of mine. Some of your teammates might fall into that camp, so maybe you know how I feel." "Maybe. But like I said, we weren't holding ourselves up as paragons of virtue. |
| 5 | You guys were." "Our focus right now is you. You, who drove Shadow Stalker into a corner, to the point where she flipped out on her mom and tried to hang herself with an electrical cord." What? "...I'm not sure how to respond to that," I said. "Do you feel bad about it? I'm genuinely curious." "I feel... less bad than I should," I said. "But yeah. It isn't nice to hear." "Because of what happened, because she was still reeling from the time she spent as your meat puppet, she attacked her mom, who called the authorities. |
| 6 | They caught up just in time to catch her in her room, electrical cord around her neck. Cost Shadow Stalker her probation, meaning she got stuck in some parahuman detention center until she's eighteen. And word is her mom doesn't want her back when she's finished the three-year sentence. Last straw and everything. Her life, put on hold, her family shattered. Maybe she was damaged like you said, but you took her captive and tormented her until she went off the deep end." "I'm not happy she was pushed that far," I said, "That's ugly. |
| 7 | You're right. But getting her off the streets? Yeah. That's worth it, at least." "What I don't get is... why? Was the data from that computer really so important?" "Coil needed it, and I needed Coil happy. Either he'd like my work enough to free her on my request or he'd trust me enough that I could catch him off guard and help her escape some other way." "I'm sure Dinah would be thrilled to hear that," Clockblocker said. |
| 8 | "Some other girl's life ruined for her sake. How does a supervillain warlord react to that sort of news, by the way? Finding out a heroine tried to hang herself? Do you sit in your swivel chair, stroking your tarantula and pull off your best maniacal laugh? One more enemy out of the way?" "I didn't know," I said. "Not until you told me what happened to her." "That seems to be a recurring theme," he commented. |
| 9 | "You do stuff, you have reasons, like your apparent feeling that, oh, it's okay because she was a violent personality, but you don't pay attention to the ending, to everything that comes after. A whole lot of people have been screwed up and hurt in your wake, Skitter." "I react like you see me reacting. I don't enjoy it. No maniacal laughing here." "But you plan to continue doing what you're doing." "I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing in the future," I said. |
| 10 | "Aside from stopping Noelle." "That's a good point to end this particular discussion," Miss Militia cut in. "I will be adjusting your patrol route and noting this minor infraction on your record, Clockblocker. I hope you're more or less satisfied with this discussion." "More or less," Clockblocker said, handing the combat baton to Miss Militia. "Unless our local Supervillainess-in-chief wants to pursue further debate. |
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