Orb Weaver: Interlude, The Hero

Colin felt one of Hebert’s ribs crack in the ambulance. He kept performing CPR. His new compact oxygenator was filtering her bloodstream, not just keeping it oxygenated, but removing the devil’s fucking brew of stimulants, fatigue poisons, and even straight up neurotoxin, and where the hell had that come from?

In front the paramedic was forcing air into Hebert, using the bag-valve mask. Then the second paramedic checked his instruments.

“Pulse is coming back, but it’s… Stand by for defib.” Colin pulled his hands away, the growing bruise from where he’d been compressing her obvious against the teen’s pale skin.

“Clear,” he told them.

Moments later, the charging beep stopped as the shock was administered. Taylor’s body convulsed once.

“Okay, heart rate… oh shit.”  

“What is—“ Colin fell silent as his own sensors detected the problem. Taylor’s heart was beating faster than it should. Much faster.

“240 BPM,” one of the medics said.

“Shit, prepare for another shock.”

Colin waited, and Taylor jerked again… and his sensors showed her heart beat slowing… To zero.

Fuck.

And he was back on top of her, compressing her chest. Colin thought he might have fractured another rib, but you could heal ribs. You couldn’t heal a brain without a blood supply.

The Ambulance jerked on the street, sliding across the road. A horn sounded outside the cabin.

“Mike, what the fuck!” a paramedic shouted.

“It’s all the fucking dead bugs on the road. It’s like a bug snow day out there!” the driver shouted back.

“Whatever, drive faster.”

The time stretched, but Colin’s chronometer showed it was only five minutes until they got to the ER dock of the Bay’s central hospital. There was already a full trauma team on staff, and Colin stood aside as they raced Taylor in, another nurse taking his place for CPR.

“Where is Panacea?” he asked.

“On her way,” the PRT officer said. “Roads are fucked, and she had some injuries to handle.”

Colin nodded. “Any severe injuries?”

“Except for The Investigator? No. We were lucky.” The officer shrugged. “Some stress-induced heart issues, non-fatal so far, and some wrecks, but most people were willing to get the hell off the road and stay indoors when they saw the apocalypse inbound.” He paused. “We were really fucking lucky.”

“That remains to be seen,” Colin said, glancing in the direction of the trauma center where Taylor had vanished.

A flash and Legend was standing by him. “Armsmaster.”

“Legend? Kaiser has been taken into Custody as have Menja, Fenja, and Crusader. The Empire 88 is no more.”

“Sir, we have your conference room set up,” a trooper said. Colin nodded. Taylor was currently guarded, but he was staying here.

After all, who knew when the utterly insane girl might decide to get up and walk off to find another way to get killed. Part of him wanted to remain in the surgical theater to monitor Taylor’s care, but… The team with her was as good as could be, and understood that so long as they kept her on life support, Panacea would be able to help her recover.

But now…

“This isn’t going to be fun, Armsmaster,” Legend murmured as they entered the temporary conference center, screens set up to show everyone else.

“…beyond anything else, how could you justify letting a fourteen-year-old girl arrest a dangerous criminal like Kaiser!”

“That was my suggestion,” Colin said as he entered, looking over at the screens. The head from Youth Guard was the one speaking. Normally, he wouldn’t be here, but Krewe was both underage and an open cape, and the clip of her arresting Kaiser was being shown all over the world… “Kaiser’s powers make him lethal to be close to—so long as you have a body. Krewe was over 1500 meters away at the point of arrest. She was in no danger.”

“Not physical danger…” the rep said. Papers were ruffled. “Fine, but the Protectorate and PRT ENE have a very poor record of compliance with Ward’s safety. One justified by the large number of hostile organizations… But that’s changed, hasn’t it, so expect our toleration of playing fast and loose with the rules to be substantially scaled back.”

On another screen, Director Piggot looked sour. “Understood.”

“Now that is dealt with,” Director Costa-Brown said. “Orb Weaver, or as some wits are calling him, ‘the Bay’s very own Endbringer.’ It’s clear we vastly underestimated his power.”

“Maybe not.” Colin shook his head. “I haven’t had a chance to go over all relevant information, but we did have some visual imagery. If you’ll all look at the feed…” He touched a button, and images appeared. Heat maps, drone observations, immense rivers of bugs streaming across the city. “The swarms were directed, but not nearly as controlled as Orb Weaver’s reputation claims… until they got within about 4 blocks of the target building.” Enhancement was played, showing the number of bugs, some attacking each other, some doubling back, and then… Perfect order. Legions of insects forming the terrifying shape that had shattered to top story of the building.

“Which would explain his warning,” Emily said. “It wasn’t that he was angry; he might not have sufficient control to keep the swarm from responding.”

“Then how did he call them in?” Director Armstrong asked. “An effect that declines with distance?  Even the ability to call up uncontrolled swarms is terrifying.”

“We don’t know,” Colin said. “But we do know that the majority of the insects used were sent away from the city after the conflict was over. I’ve also sent PRT teams equipped to protect themselves to investigate the regions we saw the swarm first appear. They’ll be using non-intrusive sensors until we can be certain of not triggering a response. Regardless, given the fact that we have no real center to focus on, I’m suggesting a preliminary increased rating of Shaker 9 and Master 7.”

“Master 7?”

“The way his control appeared to drop off. But until we can find some way to address the actual controlling entity, even uncontrolled swarms would be lethal across the city, so Shaker 9.”

“We’ll keep those ratings private and in house,” Costa-Brown said. “For now, Orb Weaver is a vigilante who may, in his understandable rage over the kidnapping of a young girl, have… gone above and beyond the call of duty.”

“A girl he may have lured into his circle and used as a stalking horse,” Tagg muttered.

Right, Director Tagg has two daughters.

“That may be my fault,” Colin finally said.

“Armsmaster?” Legend asked.

“It was my decision to allow The Investigator to observe Sheila Cho after Victor had… assaulted her.” He shook his head. “I underestimated, I think I badly underestimated the impact on The Investigator.” And right now, she’s in a surgical ward because of that.

“And yet,” Glenn Chambers said, “I have just as many reports of Orb Weaver being… sympathetic. Firetruck and Bulwark come to mind, as do several other instances.” The man with as high a clearance as any director went through his papers. “An E88 supporter, guilty of numerous financial crimes, and yet Orb Weaver went to some trouble to ensure his daughter was clear of any possible retaliation. For all the terror he’s unleashed, we’re at what… 16 deaths for the whole thing, and put bluntly deaths that were richly merited?”

“You don’t think this is a Gavel situation.” Legend nodded. “I agree. If someone like Orb Weaver was willing to target families or low-level soldiers with lethal force…” He left the consequences unspoken.

“Nonetheless, the next time Orb Weaver makes contact, Emily, you are to make it clear that the Investigator is fifteen and if he tries to claim that she forced her way in, remind him that adults have the power to say no.” Costa-Brown made a quick pointing gesture with her hand to reinforce the order.

“Thinker 5, right?” Legend asked.

“That may be a low-ball estimate,” Colin replied. “She regularly undersells her abilities. She is… unusual in that she doesn’t need to be seen as the smartest person in the room.”

“Good,” Armstrong said. “If she joins the Think Tank, we can avoid the traditional dominance rituals.” A chuckle ran through the room.

“The good news,” Emily said, “is that I think Orb Weaver’s actions may have left an impact on the other parts of the Bay. He’s terrifying, but attacks on civilians really set him off. Our sources indicate that most of the other groups in the Bay are taking the Empire’s fate to heart… at least for now.”

“Good, but Emily, if you make contact, remind Orb Weaver that a little terror goes a long way and he has not unleashed a little terror today. I—“

“Armsmaster?”  the agent’s voice cut Costa-Brown off.

“Pardon me. Yes, Agent Sims?”

“We’ve scanned one of the regions the swarm came from.”

“Ah, what did you find?”

“You’re not gonna like this sir. Looks like most of the bugs headed away from the city… but…”

The image was displayed, false color heat maps, and MRI scans.

Buried under the street, going down to the water table, those look like… galleries?  Ventilation shafts and its…

“Twenty meters in diameter? 30 meters down?”  Armstrong muttered. “What the hell are you feeding your parahumans, Emily?”

Emily looked a little pale. “Is there any sign of genetic modification?”

“No Ma’am, just bugs. I think maybe we should get the college entomology department out here.”

“Yes. Also, check every other site people saw swarms rise from. I want to know how many there are.”

“Yes, Director.”

Colin just stared and shook his head.

Shaker 9, indeed. Especially if Orb Weaver had no true body they could strike at. Why the hell did you get so interested in Taylor Hebert… You surely didn’t need her.