Controlling Interest 1

A/N: New story, so let me know what you think! Not a crossover this time. You know, I don't think I've ever written a non-crossover Worm fic before, so we'll see how this one goes.

Controlling Interest

Commissioned by Toxinvictoria

Chapter 1: Pavlov’s Dogs

I jabbed the room number on the callbox before tucking my hands back into the pouch of my hoodie. The dial tone sputtered out from the old speaker, and I pressed myself tighter against the building to avoid the rain.

I jerked once when the box clicked loudly. “Hello?”

“M-Ms. Anders?” I swallowed once around the lump in my throat. “It’s Taylor Hebert, your sitter? Sorry I got here a little ear—”

“Oh, perfect timing!” The door to the apartment building buzzed open. “Just take the elevator.”

“Ah, okay I’ll—” The intercom clicked off. I let out a breath. “I’ll just be right up.”

At least I could get out of the rain. In the lobby, I took a moment to rub my face and drip onto the linoleum. I’d hoped that my first part time would be easy, but I guess that just wasn’t my life.

“Things are getting better,” I told myself, sliding my glasses back on. “Just…yeah.”

I pulled my hair over my shoulder, shivering once as the cold air hit the back of my neck. The elevator was old, like most things in the bay, but it was clean. I hit the button for the fourth floor and spent the ride watching the red number slowly tick up as I readjusted the straps of my backpack.

“Four thirty-two. Four thirty-two.” I knocked on the door, only for it to fly open.

“Finally!” Ms. Anders was a small woman with shoulder-length brown hair. “Did the elevator break?” She gave a short laugh, the kind that adults use when they’re trying to seem like they’re not annoyed even though they actually are.

“Sorry, Ms. Anders.” I did my best to look contrite. “It took me a bit to find the room.”

“Well that’s fine.” She stepped to the side. “Like we talked about, I’ll try to be back by eight tonight, but if I’m not, I’ll cover the extra hours.”

“Mmhm.” I nodded.

Ms. Anders started moving around the apartment, grabbing a bag and a cream blazer. She looked dressed up, for a date or maybe a trip to the theatre. “I left money for delivery on the counter, make sure to feed Aster at—” Her phone rang and she hurriedly fished it out. She smiled at the number. “I have to take this. Aster is in the bedroom; you can handle the rest, right?”

I found myself nodding before I really processed her question.

“Great.” Ms. Anders pointed me down the hall to the bedroom.

I walked down the hall, setting my backpack down next to the bathroom. Behind me I heard the muffled start of Ms. Anders’ phone call. “Sara, I’ll be right over!” A laugh. “No, no, the sitter was just late, I’m…”

I frowned. If anything, I’d been early. If she wanted me to show up earlier, she should have told me so. I shook my head, slipping into the bedroom.

It looked like an interior designer’s bedroom; Ms. Anders told me that’s what she did during our IM conversation setting up the babysitting job. The queen bed was unmade, but the rest of the room looked almost staged except for the shiny wooden crib a few steps from the door. An elaborate mobile hung over the crib; inside, baby Aster was sleeping.

Even as wrung out as I felt, I couldn’t help but coo at the bit of formula dotting her chubby cheek.

“I’m heading out!” Ms. Anders called. “Everything else is on the fridge!” The front door thudded shut.

Unfortunately, that woke up the baby. Aster took one bleary look around the room before immediately starting to cry. I sighed. “Hey there.” I reached into the crib. “What’s wrong?”

Aster’s cries turned into that piercing wail somehow only babies could get. I winced, taking her with me back down the hall for my bag. I hadn’t seen any spare burp rags in the room, but I’d brought one of my own because the books I’d read said that was important, and getting ready for this job was something I could do while weaving my costume.

My bugs had the zipper of my bag open by the time I got back down the hall. As much as I would have liked my stuff not being covered with creepy crawlies, I at least made sure the baby supplies stayed clean. It took me a little bit to get Aster set on my shoulder, gently patting her back as I walked the rest of the way into the kitchen.

No linoleum here. The apartment had actual tile. More shivers.

Just like the bedroom, everything was neat, beige, and looked like it had come right out of a magazine. I felt a twinge of envy at the thought of our own house, with couches that hadn’t been new since before I was born and a fridge that was even older.

Another loud shriek from Aster knocked me out of those thoughts. “Okay, so it seems like you don’t need to burp?” I gave a pat to the baby’s diaper, wrinkling my nose at the squishy feeling followed by an increase in crying.

It would have been nice for Ms. Anders to change her baby’s diaper before I showed up, but maybe Aster had gone while she was sleeping? The books said babies sometimes did that.

With a sigh, I went back for my bag. A few spiders found a large crinkly bag in one of the closets that turned out to be fresh diapers. It took longer than I thought possible to wrangle Aster out of her onesie, but after I changed, she finally stopped crying, blinking at me with those big blue eyes that babies had as I ran the sink until the water turned warm.

I got her cleaned, fed, and burped before settling her into the living room playpen. I hovered to make sure she wouldn’t try to eat a block, or the carpet or something, before collapsing on the couch “That was harder than I thought it was gonna be,” I said. With another sigh, I got up and washed my hands again.

It hadn’t even been half an hour.

I went back to my backpack one last time and pulled out my homework. If it was going to be a long night, I could at least get things done for next week. At least I had a reason to do my homework, now that Madison wasn’t stealing it.

After the frantic start, Aster was pretty easy. I checked up on her several times throughout the night, feeding her a bit more after she got especially insistent about it. I’d have to ask Ms. Anders when she was supposed to have dinner. I’d finished all my homework by the time 8pm rolled around.

When Ms. Anders didn’t show up by 8:15, I picked up the home phone from its wall cradle and called my dad.

No one picked up. I tried not to let it bother me. After the beep, I said, “Hey, Dad. Looks like the babysitting thing is going a bit long. Don’t worry about me, I checked the bus schedule and they run till midnight. Uh, yeah. Love you.”

I waited for a moment, listening to the static of the phone line, before pressing the receiver and dialing the pizza place on the fridge.

Ms. Anders came back at about nine thirtyish, looking tired, but still happy. She checked on the baby and made some small talk I painfully picked my way through while she counted out extra bills.

“Thanks again, Taylor. My normal sitter...” Ms. Anders pulled to face. “He isn’t really an option right now.”

“It’s fine,” I said, before pausing. “This is more than we talked about?” I waved the wad of bills.

“Just a little something extra for a nice girl like you,” she said. “Do you need a ride home?”

I shook my head. “I’m fine.”

“If you’re sure.” Ms. Anders clicked her tongue. “Are you available next week too?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Great, I’ll give you my phone number.” She wandered over to her purse, fishing for a pen. “I don’t really get the whole instant messenger thing.”

I worked my lip for a second. Then I asked, “Would you like me to come earlier?”

“Well.” Ms. Anders paused, biting her thumb. “A bit earlier would be great actually.”

“OK, I’ll see you next week, Ms. Anders.”

“Oh, call me Kayden.” Ms. Anders—Kayden, waved to hand. “Now, I’m about done for the night. So, unless you had any questions?”

I shook my head again. “Oh, just… Could I use your bathroom?”

She raised eyebrow. “Sure, just lock the door on your way out.”

Once I was safely locked in the bathroom, I reached into the bottom of my bag and ran my fingers along the silk fabric of my costume hidden under homework supplies. Friday night, no school, and dad wouldn’t be back till maybe after midnight.

I’d waited for weeks to make my debut as a hero, but I couldn’t ask for a more perfect situation.

The smooth spidersilk of my costume slipped out of the bag with a whisper. Even if I’d waited, I knew I’d put the time to good use. Light gray spray paint for the armor panels helped break up the silhouette, and it made the whole thing look much more heroic. I cringed a little when I remembered what my suit used to look like before the last-second changes. I even added a utility belt that flattered my nonexsitent hips.

I changed, grinning as the bodysuit slid over me like a glove. I pulled myself up to my full height, glaring directly at the mirror.

That girl was a hero. She didn’t look like a frog. She looked like someone who could change the city. I let the thought fill me up, pushing against the hollow spaces between my ribs.

Then I remembered I was still in Kayden’s bathroom and hurriedly threw my hoodie and jeans back on. A quick flush of the toilet and I was out the door before she could peek out of her bedroom. I paused a second before my hand left the doorknob, slipping it back open and locking the front door.

There. I didn’t forget.

I raced down the stairs and out into the rain. I’d already picked a spot to stash my bag, carefully concealed behind two industrial dumpsters that look rusted to the pavement. I took a deep breath, pushing my awareness out into my bugs. No one was nearby; no one was watching.

I reached into the pouch of my hoodie and pulled out my mask. The yellow lenses stared up at me, challenging my resolve. I clenched my gloved fingers, feeling the pull of silk against silk. The mask went on, and I went out into the city.

This part of downtown, just a few blocks south of Lord Street market, was in trouble. Just a few months ago, Empire 88, the Bay’s very own home-grown Nazi gang, started popping up here. They were my target.

Yeah, they had a lot of capes, but according to PHO, the Empire was in a lot of fights right now. They were clashing with the other gangs and the heroes, spread thin. Last week, one of their capes called Alabaster got into a fight with this a new villain called Coil and his gang.

The hero teams could deal with that new threat; right now was the perfect chance for someone like me to mess up the Empire’s operations. Sure, bug control would suck in a cape fight, but it would be perfect for finding drug houses. I could hit the rank and file, without ever having to deal with a nazi cape.

Maybe if I caused enough trouble, the external pressure would even cause Empire 88 to collapse in on itself. Even if I couldn’t do it directly, I could be part of cleaning up the Bay.

As I patrolled, I saw more signs of the damage the Empire had done. Even though the street was still brightly lit, there was almost no one out. Anytime someone caught sight of me, they averted their eyes, and walked the other way.

Scared of the Empire.

I spread out my bugs, sending small ones like flies and mosquitoes into homes and warehouses, looking for drugs. Empty homes I marked for later as potential safe houses. I didn’t find anything that looked like an Empire drug den, but I did find someone’s apartment with bottles of beer on the floor, and a baggie with some ground-up plant inside of it.

Just an addict probably, but I didn’t have a cellphone to call it in. For a moment I considered arresting him myself, but just breaking into some guy’s apartment…didn’t feel very heroic.

I loud crash split the air before I could decide what to do. My head jerked up. I realized that I could sense more bugs than usual in the direction of the crash, a lot more. Fleas and ticks.

The Empire had dog fighting rings.

I started running, gathering more bugs. I hissed out my annoyance when I realized the rain made it hard for my fliers to keep up. Instead, I just had to get everything moving in the right direction, like a reverse treadmill where I left the slower bugs behind.

Despite that, I swarm only grew. One thing I’d realized in the months since getting my power: there were always more bugs.

With them, I found four hulking shapes entering my range. I slid to a stop just around the corner from them. Slowly, I peeked around the brick and saw a line of rowhouses. Two of them had the door open, people pouring out of them.

Then the façade of the buildings blew open with another crash, echoing loud enough to drown the rain. A massive wolf made of metal flew out into the street. Blades carved divots in the asphalt, and the wolf didn’t so much climb to its feet as shift, metal against metal, until it was upright again.

That had to be Hookwolf, an Empire cape that could turn into a giant mass of metal blades and chains that took almost any shape.

I felt my heart beat hard against my chest. I couldn’t think of a worse matchup for my power except for Lung.

Three massive, spine-covered lizards followed Hookwolf out of the hole in the rowhouse. They formed a loose half circle facing the Nazi cape, growling so deep I heard it from halfway down the street. There was a figure sitting on one of the lizards, but I could barely make her out.

She whistled sharp, and the lizards charged.

I had no idea who the girl was, but even if she was a villain, she was a breaking up a dog fighting ring.

A nazi dog fighting ring, even.

I laughed; it bubbled out of my chest before I even realized it. The giant lizards circled Hookwolf, darting in and out. He lashed out with a giant metal claw, and one would tackle it, clawing at the metal before jumping away.

My bugs slid out of the darkness, almost invisible in the rain. In the time it took me to stop, I’d already brought thousands to the street. They crawled up Hookwolf’s limbs, into the cracks between metal—and found only more metal beneath.

I bit back a curse. He didn’t even notice. Each time he shifted, a few dozen bugs would get crushed between shifting places of metal. I covered the metal wolf’s head with flies, and he didn’t even stop to brush them off.

Embarrassingly, I think I lost more bugs to those lizard things trying to claw at him than I lost to Hookwolf.

I shook my head. It was fine; I already knew my power wasn’t good for cape fights, but I could still deal with the gang bangers in the house.

I turned back down the alley and circled around. My bugs let me keep track of the other capes, but for now, it looked like the lizard girl was having trouble with Hookwolf too. Three monsters just weren’t enough to pin him down long enough to do any real damage, but Hookwolf couldn’t risk overextending himself either. The lizards’ skin was too thick to easily cut, so he couldn’t just kill them.

Another laugh burbled in my chest. Three capes, and none of them could hurt each other.

I reached the back of the rowhouses, right across from a warehouse park. More people came running out of a second hole torn through the back wall between two buildings. Some of them were clearly gang members, tats and guns on clear display, but I saw people wearing normal clothes, suits even, running off into the night.

I’d paused for a moment, not sure which group to target, when maybe a dozen men came out carrying stacks of crates. Inside the crates, I felt the bugs I’d noticed at the very start.

But really, it was the constant barking that gave it away.

The fleas boiled out of the crates in a thin black mist even as the rest of the swarm rose up from the ground. In the dark, it took a few moments for the nazis to realize they were under attack.

One jerked, screaming and slapping at his face.

“Fuck! She’s got backup!” someone shouted.

I slipped my collapsible baton off of my belt and sprinted forward as a wall of bugs rose up and darkened the night even more.

Inside, I could still feel all of the gang bangers. One screamed, slapping at his arms and face. I brought out my hornets and started to sting. A man fell to the ground, and my baton raced out to meet him with a thick crack.

“Someone’s—” Whatever he’d been about to say was cut off as gnats and midges filled his mouth.

I lashed out again, knocking a snub-nosed pistol from someone’s hand. He screamed, and I hit him again until he fell to the ground.

I took out a third, before another man raced out of the swarm, hands over his face. I directed more bugs after him.

The rest of the fight happened in a blur, until I found myself standing over ten men all groaning on the ground. The last had gotten away; my chest wouldn’t stop heaving, and the dogs wouldn’t stop barking.

At some point, the rest of the gang members must have realized what was going on, because they’d also run and left this group to their fate.

I forced myself to move. Zip ties, I hadn’t forgotten zip ties.

“D-Don’t move!” I tried to lower my voice, but it came out almost in a squeak. One man tried to roll over, and I hit him again. “I said don’t move!”

That time my voice held, thank god.

“Hands behind your backs and I—” My mind blanked for a second. “I won’t send the spiders down your pathetic throats until you suffocate!”

I winced again at how reedy my voice sounded, but the blanket of my bugs scared them into following my orders. I bound their hands and feet as fast as I could. The one unconscious man took the most time for me to wrestle his meaty arms into the zip tie.

The dogs in the four crates kept barking. I had no idea how to help them.

Instead, I turned to the house. I wiped the back of my wrist against my goggles, leaving streaks of rain, and then I made myself keep moving.

The inside of the building had been ripped out, but not by the other cape. The wall between the two rowhouses at the end had been completely removed, leaving a wide-open space for a fighting pit and stands instead of a second floor.

Everyone inside was either out on the floor or had run away. I found the door the basement quickly, racing down the stairs.

In the basement, I found rows of crates stacked against each wall, most of them in even worse shape than the four upstairs. I felt sick to my stomach as I realized that those four were probably the prize dogs, the ones worth money. The rest they’d left down here to die in covered in their own urine.

I picked my way through the room. These dogs were scared too. Some barked, some cowered at the back of their cages, but again, I didn’t know how to move them.

One of the cages rattled, and I jumped, almost falling over a grate in the floor. When I spun around, I just saw a large, barrel-chested pit bull paw at the front of its cage again. It looked frightening, with half an ear bitten off and pink scars showing through the thin skin of its muzzle.

But unlike the other dogs, it wasn’t barking or whimpering. The dog was even wagging its tail at me as it tapped the front of its cage with its paw.

Swallowing, I reached out and placed a hand against the outside of the crate, looking closer at the dog. He just wagged his tail harder. I had no idea what to do with the rest of the dogs, but this one? I quickly unlatched the crate, helping him down onto the floor. He yawned, good ear flicking towards the other dogs.

“Hey,” I raised a hand for him to sniff. “That’s a good boy. C’mon, let’s go this way.” I started making my way towards the stares but the dog ignored me, turning towards the wall of crates.

“Ugh, what? No.” I clapped my hands. “C’mon boy. C’mon!” When he started growling at the other dogs, I sent a small cloud of bugs towards him. Not sure what I was going to do, but the moment the cloud got close he turned, snapping at the bugs. “That works.” I used the cloud of bugs to bait him towards the stairs, while a thicker wall of gnats and flies obscured the rest of the dogs from sight. That even stopped some of them from barking.

I lead the dog back up the stairs, still no plan in my head except get at least one dog out of this mess. I paused at the ground floor, looking out onto the street while the dog chased gnats around my ankles.

Hookwolf had baited the other cape up the street, where the road narrowed to just one lane with cars parked on each side. The narrow spaces made it harder for her to maneuver. That Hookwolf take her lizards just one or two at a time.

It didn’t look good.

I looked down at the scarred pit bull at my side. Even if I could save him, what was one dog? I’d barely done anything at all except follow behind this other cape as she ripped a hole through the Empire. I had no idea what to do, but the thought of leaving twisted knots into my gut. If I left now, how could I even think of being a hero?

As I watched, Hookwolf finally found an opening, diving at one of the lizards. He picked it up in metal claws, disemboweling it and throwing it across the street. It hit a street light, sending it toppling in a shower of sparks.

“No!” She roared. The cape leapt off her mount, scrambling across the street.

Hookwolf jumped after her.

“Look out!” I screamed. The girl dived to the side right as my bugs swarmed the street. Hookwolf landed in the middle of a writhing black cloud. I called on every flying bug in my range and sent them whirling around Hookwolf in a mass so thick that I couldn’t even see the metal.

I heard is voice, deep and growling in my swarm. “The fuck is this?”

He lashed out at the darkness, but just like earlier, his blades barely killed anything. Even with a direct hit, the air currents sometimes sent flies or beetles tumbling through the air. He still killed dozens with every breath, but at that rate, I could still thicken the swarm around him enough to move it with him as he crashed into cars in a whirling blender of death.

I sucked in a deep breath before racing out onto the street.

“Hey!” I waved my arms over my head. “Hey!”

The cape didn’t even look up. She was half bent over the wounded lizard, arms shoved deep into its guts. As I got close, I watched her pull a dog out of its insides. My heart dropped when I realized it wasn’t moving, but then a membrane around it popped and it shook itself, hopping back up to its feet.

I skidded to a stop a few feet away, mind whirling. “Those are dogs?”

The cape turned, and I caught sight of a cheap plastic dog mask and a leather jacket. She couldn’t have been much older than me. “You got a problem?”

“No!” I shook my head. “I just—Look, I’m keeping Hookwolf distracted for now, but eventually he’ll figure out he can just out run my swarm. Your power, does it make dogs bigger?”

“…Yeah.” The cape grunted, eyes flicking towards the mass of bugs in the middle of the street. “That you?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I tried to cover his head before and it didn’t work, but this time he can’t see.”

The girl grunted. “Doesn’t see through his eyes.”

My own eyes widened at that. “Oh.” That made too much sense. How would he be able to see through a bunch of metal anyway? He must have some other way of seeing out of his shell, but my swarm was thick enough to block it. Still, that just meant my idea might just work. “Can you grow more dogs? There are a bunch in the house.”

She glowered at me for a moment, but then Hookwolf started running. I grabbed the cape, pulling her off the street and sending more bugs as he tore blindly through the space we’d just been. “We don’t have much time!”

“Can’t control them,” she muttered.

“What?”

“Can’t control them,” she shook her head. “Pit dogs are all aggression. Kill us just as fast as him.”

That brought me up short for a second, but then I remember the dog I pulled out of the crate. “I-I can help you direct them,” I said. “Look!”

I brought the pit bull over with another cloud of flies. He chased after it until he saw the other dog, then he started to growl.

“Brutus, stay,” the cape said, but I just brought in more dogs, cutting off their sight before distracting the pit again.

Brutus, for his part, shifted away from the small wall of bugs nervously, but didn’t move.

“Wow. He’s so good.”

She grunted.

I shook my head. There would be time to be impressed later. “I can distract the dogs, make sure they only see Hookwolf. If we have enough of him, then we’ll be able to pin him down and rip him apart.”

She crossed her arms, glaring out from behind her mask.

I shifted nervously on my feet. With my swarm, I knew Hookwolf was getting more aggravated with each second. If he broke out of the swarm and saw us…

“Where are the other dogs,” she said.

Relief rushed through me. “There are four behind the house. Skinheads were trying to kidnap them.”

She shifted. “And them?” she asked about the Nazis.

“I took care of them,” I said.

“Good.” She whistled once, long and sharp, and the other two lizard-dogs came bounding over. We all raced towards the back of the house and the four other dogs still barking in their crates. I watched nervously as she put her hands on Brutus first. He bulged under her touch, flesh and bone and spikes spilling out from him until he stood almost twice my height.

It was only then I noticed him panting happily, still sitting where the cape had told him to. The other dogs cowered in back at the sight of the three behemoths, but I imagined that would change once they were the same size.

“How are we gonna do this?”

I jolted. “Right, uh.” I split off part of my swarm, making a wall around the side of the building, thick and buzzing as I could make it while still keeping Hookwolf occupied. “You grow them, and I’ll make sure Hookwolf is the first thing they see.”

She nodded and placed her hand against the side of the first crate where the first dog was pressed against it.

The dog grew.

I covered us in a veil of bugs, making a hole in my swarm just as the dog grew large enough to break free of the crate. The moment it stopped growing, the dog let out a massive howl that rattled through my bones before tearing off out of the swarm. It rounded the corner and saw a hulking metal thing in the shape of a dog.

Baying, it charged.

“Next one!” I shouted.

In less than a minute, all five dogs had grown. I separated my swarm, doing my best to keep them separate from each other so that they could only see Hookwolf, distracting them with bugs in their face if they ever started to turn towards the other dogs.

Instead, they literally dogpiled Hookwolf, sending him skidding back across the street as he tried to handle so many more enemies. But they weren’t coordinated. I bit my lip. “He’s gonna take them out one at a time!”

“No.” The cape jumped, pulling herself up on Brutus’s back. “We take him out first.”

“R-right!” I paused. Eyeing the dogs. “Uh.”

She held out her hand. “Get on already.”

I nodded and tried to hop on, the cape pulling me the rest of the way up and into the saddle behind her. “Go that way!” I pointed around the row houses. “He’s open!”

She eyes me again before whistling twice, short, and sharp. All three of her dogs took off the other way around the rowhouses. I expected her to circle the block, but then with a trill, the dogs leapt. A scream tore out of my throat as the three of them cleared the top of the buildings in one jump.

I barely managed to part my bugs so that they could see Hookwolf.

“Kill!” she shouted.

The dogs jumped off the building, pinning Hookwolf to the ground. His metal limbs were splayed out then the villain gave up on his wolf shape, splitting out into a dozen limbs. One whipped through the air towards us, but our ride dashed away.

Then one of the other dogs caught the metal limb in gaping jaws, jerking its head so hard metal tore right off of Hookwolf.

Again, my bugs tried to slip between the plates of his armor. This time, though, they found flesh in the gap that limb left behind. Before I could take advantage, more metal sprouted from Hookwolf, blocking the gap.

“I’ll shred both you bitches!” he roared.

“Tear the limbs off!” I shouted.

“What?”

“Tear the metal off! My bugs can get inside.”

She nodded, whistling. “Angelica, pin!”

The next time Hookwolf lashed out, Angelica pinned it beneath her massive paws. The metal couldn’t cut through her skin, and two other dogs ripped the metal right out of Hookwolf like pulling a weed.

This time I was ready.

My hornets rushed into the hole before he could shift metal, but I only got a few through. It took him longer to recover, but not long enough.

“Again!” I shouted.

Even as Hookwolf threw one of the other dogs through a building, the cape’s dogs pinned and ripped out two more of his metal appendages. The fourth time, he wasn’t fast enough to grow the metal back, and a flight of hornets got through carrying as many spiders as I could gather up.

The center didn’t feel like skin; it didn’t even seem human. But it was the only thing that wasn’t metal, and I commanded my swarm to bite and sting, pumping as much venom as I could into him.

Hookwolf screamed, thrashing wildly on the ground.

“It’s working!”

The cape whistled. “Pulling back.”

I shook my head. “What are you doing? We almost got him.”

“Other dogs!” She jabbed me in the stomach.

“What?” Before I could come up with a more concise question, the remaining four dogs, no longer held back by Hookwolf, fell on him all at once. The pawed and tore at the metal as he screamed. This close, I couldn’t stop them from seeing each other, and two of them started tearing into each other. They clawed at each other’s sides with massive paws while the last two finished dismembering Hookwolf’s metal body.

“Take your power back!” I shouted.

She shook her head. “Can’t!”

“What?”

“I can’t!” She growled. “Fucking listen!”

“Oh.” The last other two dogs finished with Hookwolf and caught sight of us. “Oh shit. I didn’t think this far.”

The cape whistled, and all three of her dogs formed up against the other four. “Do the wall again!” she shouted at me.

“Just a sec!” I started pulling it together, trying to put a block between the three different groups before we all died. But then one of the other dogs jumped directly at us. “Oh fuuuuck---!”

A blur of white hit the massive thing in the side and sent it flying off down the street. A wave of terror washed over me as the new cape, a shining star of retribution stopped in the air above us. “Halt, Evildoers!”

The dogs fled. The terror burbled up inside me so thick I couldn’t breathe.

It spilled over. I sucked in a breath as my swarm of insects writhed and boiled around me. I pushed more of the terror into my insects, letting them feel instead of me, until I could breathe, until I could think.

Until the veil of terror around me popped like a soap bubble.

It was only then that I recognized glory girl, and the relief came rushing in.

“Oh, thank god.” I slipped from my ride’s back, half stumbling against the pavement. “For a second I thought you were another Nazi.”

She paused, drifting sideways in the air. “Why…would I be a Nazi?”

“We were fighting—Oh shit, Hookwolf!” With a thought, my swarm parted, revealing a shirtless man collapsed face down on the ground. Somehow, his metal mask was still on his face, and he lay surrounded by a full carcass of metal blades, chains, and other twisted shapes I couldn’t name. His right half was covered in insect bites, but he was still breathing.

Fortunately, it didn’t look like he had any fight left in him.

“We were fighting Hookwolf,” I explained quickly. “It got…kinda dicey at the end there, so—so thanks for bailing us out?”

Glory girl frowned down at the two of us, but that blanket of terror that I was sending into my swarm faded entirely. I sucked in a deep breath as she floated slightly lower.

“I haven’t heard of you.”

“First night out.” A laugh bubbled out of my throat. “If you can believe it.”

“Really? Your costume’s super professional looking?” She turned to look at the other cape girl. “And you?”

She grunted. “Came to crash the dog fighting ring, ran into that bastard.”

“Oh, so this was an impromptu team up, cool.” She nodded and landed lightly on the ground. “That makes sense, sorry for thinking you were villains, your costumes…you know.”

I blushed, thankfully I was wearing a mask. “You should have seen mine before I died the armor a lighter color.”

She laughed, and all of that embarrassment washed away. “You made a good choice then. I’m Glory Girl, it’s nice to meet you. Good job taking down Hookwolf on your first night” She shook her head.

“Yeah, uh, I recognized you. I…haven’t picked a name yet.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Sure, maybe we can work on that while I call the PRT.” She flipped open her phone. “And what’s your name?”

The cape girl grunted. “Bitch.”

“Woah. Woah!” I stepped between the two of them. “There’s no need for—”

The girl growled. “That’s my name. Bitch.”

I paused, arms half raised. “Like a…girl dog?”

She nodded.

“Well.” Glory Girl tossed her hair. “Takes all kinds, right?”

Bitch grunted again, pulling her mask lower. “You got Hookwolf?” she asked.

Glory girl nodded. “Yeah, I’ll call the PRT right now.”

Bitch nodded. “I’m taking the dogs.”

“The…dogs?” Glory Girl asked.

“It’s a dog fighting ring,” I repeated. “They had a bunch down in the basement, in these filthy crates…It was awful.”

Bitch whistled, and all three of her dogs shifted.

Glory Girl shifted back up into the air, but the three only turned and went back into the house. A moment later, I heard a sound of ripping as they dug the floor up.

“What’s she gonna do with all of those dogs?” Glory Girl asked.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “But unless the PRT will take them all to a shelter, she’s probably the best bet. She...seemed to really care about them.”

“We all have our reasons.” Glory Girl nodded sagely. “What about you, New Girl? You gonna stick around? It’ll make it easier for me if any of this scumbag’s friends show up.”

I winced. “I wouldn’t want that to happen, but…” I shrugged. “I don’t really want to join the W—the Protectorate right now.”

“Scared of the hard sell?” she asked. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they can’t go to hard on you, and they’re usually pretty gentle with new capes, especially if you collar a bad guy like this.”

I shifted back and forth as she finally finished dialing. “I don’t know.”

“C’mon,” she said. “We can work on your cape name, or else what am I gonna tell Armsmaster if he shows up? Bitch and this unnamed cape took down Hookwolf and left? Do you know the look he’d give me?”

I laughed despite myself. “Is Armsmaster…like that?”

“He’s a great hero, but he’s a bit of a stickler for the rules.” She smiled. “Get it, stick, cause—Oh wait a sec. Dispatch, I’m with a new cape on…12th street and Duke, we have Hookwolf apprehended, need pickup, and maybe some support in case more Nazis show up.”

I waited while she finished the conversation, going back and forth in my head.

After she hung up, Glory Girl turned back to me with an expectant eyebrow. “Well?”

I sighed. “Sure, I’ll stay.”

“Great!” She clapped her hands once, landing on the ground next to me. “Now let’s see if we can’t get you a good name before the boys show up. Do you have a list?”

“Uh…”

“No? Okay, what about…” She snapped her fingers. “Weaver.”