Orb Weaver: Wrath of God, 15

They moved quickly, my bugs detecting a motion from Hookwolf’s hand. Stormtiger’s winds kick up and Cricket wend  to the window shades, looking out, before she looked back and shook her head.  I sent a text to Alexandria, telling her to be ready to expect a call in ten minutes or so.

“There’s no need for Cricket and Stormtiger to take such actions, Brad, I’m here for a negotiation, not a fight.”

“Like you negotiated with Lebensraum.”

“Come now, Brad. He was a brute, a fool, and a coward. How many times did he fight someone who could hurt him?”

Hookwolf didn’t respond, so I decided to push.

“Do you know the fight that most impressed me?”

“Yeah?”

“Zapper, the man who was going to make you crawl. And then he laughed and laughed and laughed at the rubber boots you were wearing—until his one trump card proved useless and he had never thought to ask what he would do then. You are flexible.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m the second coming of Bruce Lee. what’s your point.”

“Purity is working with the Protectorate now. How would you like a similar offer?”

Stormtiger snorted. “Brad’s got a fucking Birdcage sentence. You expect us to believe that?”

“The Protectorate can be… flexible.”

“Sure they can.”

‘They were with Shadow Stalker.” I paused. “Until she proved too stupid to rein in her sadistic impulses.”

“Yeah, teenage edgelord. People give teenagers a break.”

The three were moving, never standing still, and I could sense Stormtiger’s winds blowing around. Not just himself, but around Cricket. It was clear that they expected bugs to be an avenue of attack, and he would shield Cricket while Hookwolf depended on his changer form. Not only that, but the winds were moving oddly in a wide radius. Some form of perception, I bet.

I didn’t dare use my bugs actively, save for the ones in the ventilation shafts.

“Why have you not brought your crew here?” I asked.

“What, and get them killed or have someone run to the PRT?” Hookwolf asked. “Whatever the fuck you are, guys with baseball bats and guns are just gonna get in the way.”

“Yes, and I can give you something else. You respond very poorly when one of your gang is attacked, and yet, soon the Empire will be gone. Leaving them, and the ABB and the other opportunistic groups.  If you are willing to entertain my proposal, I will put my hand over them, and let it be known that so long as they do not harm others, no harm shall come to them.”

“And you’ll preside over the fight club?" Hookwolf asked.

“No, but so long as it involves only voluntary participants, I won’t take offense. The local police may, but I will not.” I paused. “The same does not apply to dog fights. They are not—“ Hookwolf started to swell up, but I spoke over him. “Really, Brad, animals? That is unworthy of you. Men and women can feel the blood sing in their veins. Animals only know fear and hate, and none of the higher emotions that make a warrior.”

It looked like my study had been correct. The one way to really get on Hookwolf’s shit list was to go after his faction, especially with cape support. He also regularly fought them without his power helping him—well as much as a Parahuman could do that.

Whatever the truth, Hookwolf really believed in his warrior ethos.

And now I was offering him a surety for his gang. A way out with honor.

“Why would the Protectorate negotiate with me?” Hookwolf stared. “They get me, I go to the Birdcage.”

“Where you can no longer be of use. Beyond your powers, you, Cricket, and Stormtiger are trained—maybe not suited for Image presentations, but well, there are places where the Protectorate needs parahumans who do not worry about image and know how to fight.”

“And you’re gonna give us that offer.”

“I have, but if you want…binding promises, I’ll be able to give you the phone number of another.”

My phone buzzed. She’s early. I must have caught her on a slow day.

ORB WEAVER. LOCATION OF THE MEETING?

That was odd. I sent it to her, but I hoped we weren’t about to see PRT and Protectorate forces inbound. Breaking my—

My mind stuttered to a halt as insects were blown aside, a figure zipping down, moving at nearly supersonic speed, before slowing down and touching the ground.

The fuck? Alexandria was here?

Shit-shit-shit-shit…

I wasn’t even two blocks away.

“Ah, I believe the Protectorate’s representative has arrived. They come in peace, Brad.”

The knock on the door was… strangely mundane.

Cricket looked at Hookwolf, who looked at Stormtiger.

“They weren’t here, and then they were. Not teleporter, but a fast mover.”

“Okay,” Brad said. He made some kind of sign with his hand and Cricket and Stormtiger took up positions by him, ready to support him while he went into CQC…

Then they all stared as the door opened up to reveal Alexandria.

“Fuck,” Cricket said, her voice strange.

“I do not have much time for games,” Alexandria said. “Orb Weaver, stop playing around and come inside.”

Fuck! Was she talking about Me? Did she know where I was? Okay, Taylor, breathe. No, I’ll just use bugs.

Moments later, I sent a swirling mass of bugs, forming a roughly humanoid form. Better, I could now use bug-relays to hear the entire room.

“Ah, Alexandria, how are you, this fine day?”

“Busy.” She glanced at the three. “Orb Weaver has made his pitch?”

“For what it’s worth,” Hookwolf said. “But what keeps you from just slinging us into the cage?”

“If it was found out that the Protectorate makes deals with criminal capes, the damage to our image would be severe. If it was found out that we made deals with criminal capes and then broke our word, the damage would be catastrophic.”

Left unsaid was that if Hookwolf and his companions didn’t agree, there would be no deal to break… and they were in a small room with Alexandria.

Brad folded his arms, and only a few quivers, detected by some bugs I’d managed to put on him when I’d formed the bug-clone, betrayed his fear.

“Fine. Before I decide, what is the offer?”

“You three are too distinctive for an effective rebranding in the short term, so you escape to Latin America. There are groups there that it is in our interests to stabilize.”

Latin American criminal groups tended to range from bad to worse to unspeakable. I ‘coughed’. “And civilians?”

“Part of their deal would be that they focus on criminals and other parahumans.” Alexandria looked at the three. “If we ever did decide to bring you back, avoiding going after civilians would let us play up the anti-hero aspect, as well as the fact you left the Empire when you saw the depths of their depravity.”

Hookwolf snorted.

“And with that, I’m not just here for you. Orb Weaver. Stop playing with your food, and end the Empire. This show is becoming tiresome.”

Wait, why had she— My bugs felt the two (I still couldn’t get any on Stormtiger) go tense. Why had…

Playing with your food, implied that the  Empire had never had a chance, and “becoming tiresome” implied that she had seen this before.

Holy shit, she wasn’t talking to me, she was talking to Hookwolf and the others. The implication, that the Protectorate did deals with criminals, that I could eat the Empire, that this was getting tireseome… The assumption was that she knew me, and saw me, at least in some respects as a peer…

Hookwolf and his companions would talk and the logical inference was that I was some kind of covert ops peer of the triumvirate.

Holy shit.  She was using my rep to boost the Protectorate’s rep.

Through my worry, I reminded myself that Orb Weaver didn’t ask for autographs.

“As you wish. I believe the point has been made, but I will have to play out the full six days. There is only one left, after all.”

“As long as you end it quickly.”  Then she turned to Hookwolf and the others. “Well?”

“Two things,” Hookwolf said. My respect for his bravery went up.

“You’re running my patience out. But what?”

“I ain’t gonna be tied to you forever. So that rebrand, if we do the fucking straight and narrow—it comes with a pardon.”

“Done. And the other?”

“If I die, I want it known. No unmarked grave. I want people to know how I went down.”

“Done. Anything else?”

“Fuck no.”

Alexandria nodded. She touched some kind of tinkertech device on her hand, and a portal opened. Beyond the sky was bright, so it was far from the Bay. “Go through this. You’ll get your assignments, and the moment you step through, understand that there will be no second chances.”

“Didn’t expect it.” Hookwolf snorted. “What are you going to do to Kaiser?”

“A punishment… fitted to the crime.”

He didn't reply, just left along with the others. Alexandria stayed for a moment, looking at my clone. Is she doing that because she doesn’t know or for effect?

“Orb Weaver. I’m serious. Finish this quickly so Director Piggot stops clogging Legend’s In Box. Remember, this never happened. And tell The Investigator that she still has her favor.”

“Of course not. Hookwolf merely saw the error of his ways.”

She shook her head and shot through the portal, which vanished.

****

Far away, but too close for comfort, I sat. I  had been close to her. To one of the greatest thinkers on the planet. Had she known? Was a portal going to open next to me?

I knew what I had to do. Some things, you couldn’t do through bugs.

I unfolded the paper bag I kept for collecting items.

And then  started to breathe into it. I’d leave in a few moments, once I’d calmed down. And then it would be time to prepare for the sixth day.