With my projection, it wasn’t that hard to slip through the crowd and tail Taylor. It helped that she stuck out from the crowd, standing a head over most of the student body. Of course that meant the people actually looking for her would have an easy time actually spotting and finding her. Fortunately, I was the first, and I wanted to avoid a shitshow.

  I managed to get alongside her and jammed an elbow into her ribs. Taylor’s head snapped down, her eyebrows knit, then her eyes widened and I saw her tense. I shook my head, then jerked my chin to the stairs, nudging her towards them. Lucky for me, her stupid pills apparently made her compliant, and she followed my lead. I headed up, past the second floor, then stopped once we reached the door to the roof. Alone.

  “Cameras,” I snapped.

  “Covered now,” Taylor said flatly. “Why the h—”

  “The fuck are you doing here, dipshit?” I cut her off, glaring. “I was pretty clear about what the plan was and you decide to just waltz in the front door alone?” She glared right back.

  “I got contacted,” she said. “Told Greg was asking around about me, loudly. You didn’t hold up your end of the bargain.”

  “I just talked to the little bastard last class,” I hissed. “He’s not going to say a word. You need to fucking leave, Taylor.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “I made him think Skitter had caught on to his snooping,” I explained. “When he mentioned you you, I played it off. He thinks Taylor Hebert is just some loser again, and that Skitter is about to shove cockroaches up his...you know.”

  “Gross.”

  “You need to go now,” I said gravely. “God dammit, I told you this was how it goes badly.”

  “How badly?”

  “No, we’re not playing twenty fucking questions, Taylor. Come on and—” My phone rang and I froze.

  “Are you going to get that?” Taylor asked, cocking her head.

  “It’s my work phone,” I replied numbly, taking it from my pocket and pressing the ‘answer’ button on the screen. “Amaranth.”

  “It’s Clockblocker,” he said breathlessly. I could hear the rustle of cloth in the background. “Skitter’s at the school, we need your help.”

  “She’s what?” I affected surprise, glaring at Taylor. “Don’t fuck with me on the first day of school Clock.”

  “Did you bring your costume?”

  “Of course not.” I hadn’t expected to be ignored.

  “Come down to the gym storage,” he said. “Got a spare generic-o, might fit. It’ll at least cover your face.”

  “What are you trying to pull, captain?” I asked, glancing up at Taylor. “Even if she’s here, there’s no way we can take her without some sort of civilian casualties. This is a bad move.”

  “Reinforcements are coming,” Clockblocker barked, running out of patience. “Get down here now, Amaranth.” The line clicked and I stuffed my phone into my pocket, swearing violently.

  “You needed to leave ten minutes ago,” I muttered. “Now the god damn—”

  “May I have your attention please? The school is now being locked down.” I groaned and smacked my hand against my face as the announcement rang out. “For your own safety, please remain in your classrooms.” The speaker continued, letting students know where to gather if they weren’t in class.

  “Now that.”

  “Can you help me escape?” Taylor asked innocently.

  “I should fucking arrest you and let you rot because you decided to be a dumbass today.” I took a deep breath, shutting my eyes. “If you don’t have a plan, I’m going to punch you.”

  “I have backup,” she explained. “Bitch isn’t far. I need to get off the school grounds, then she can pick me up. I just need your help getting out of here.”

  “Oh is that all?” I asked sarcastically. “Well let me just let the heroes know first then I’ll be right—” My phone rang again and I swore as I grabbed it. “Clock my teacher’s gonna be real pissed about me walking out of class so much, so what—”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “This is Dragon.” A voice I hadn’t heard since trying to save Armsmaster from Mannequin. “Come down to the gym store, I’ll brief you on your way.” I bit my lower lip and glanced at Taylor, then at the ground.

  “What’s going on?” I asked like I didn’t know.

  “We’re currently looking for a person of interest, Taylor Hebert, also known as Skitter. Six feet tall, black hair, a thin build. She may or may not be wearing glasses.” Wow, classy of you to out her just like that.

  “And here?”

  “She forced our hand. Hurry Amaranth, this may be our only opportunity to take her down without violence.” I hung up the phone and put it in my pocket again.

  “Dragon’s here,” I explained, watching Taylor’s eyes widen slightly. “Yeah, just in case you weren’t aware of what a stupid idea this was. Plan?”

  “Entrances are locked now,” she said flatly. “Your friends are at the doors. Adamant and Sere are on the first floor doing a sweep, haven’t found Dragon yet.” There was a loud rumble and a dull ‘thud’ that reverberated through the school.

  “Found her,” I said bitterly. “Well fuck, sounds like you shouldn’t have fucking come.” She glared.

  “Either help me or arrest me,” Taylor snapped. “Don’t make me guess whose side you’re on.” I met her gaze and opened my mouth to retort, then shut it and shook my head. No point. Instead I reached out a hand and crushed the lock on the door to the roof, pulling out the remains. “I can’t fly.”

  “You can fall,” I retorted, stepping out and looking around. Clear. “Come on, this way.” I noticed bugs were beginning to gather and it made me shiver.

  We crept across the roof quietly, staying as low as possible. There was plenty of machinery to block us from sight, but the roof was lined with a tall fence. I wasn’t sure how we were getting through that, but led Taylor towards the back of the school. I heard the PA system go off again, too muffled to hear properly.

  “Putting decoys by the front,” Skitter explained, definitely Skitter considering her tone. “Trying to disable the heroes, keep their attention away from us.”

  “Could you maybe not narrate your crimes to a fucking Ward?” I grumbled. “Here.”

  I stopped by a section in the fence that had started to come loose. With some deft work from my projection, I began widening the gap until I could squeeze through. I frowned, then made it a little larger; it wasn’t for me. Once I’d finished, I rose and dusted my hands off, then gestured to it. With a moment’s hesitation, Taylor went through and I followed.

  We were walking out on one of the wings when a flicker of motion caught my eye. I turned my head and stifled a shout of surprise as the wings of Dragon’s mech flexed slightly. I dropped to my belly and gestured for Taylor to do the same, and thank god she had her listening ears on. We crawled slowly to the edge of the roof, shuffling to the of the courtyard where Dragon wasn’t at.

  “Now?” she hissed when we came to the lip of the roof.

  “Remember that first fight with Mannequin? I’ll break your fall.” I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. “After that you’ll have to run, can’t help you with that.” She frowned.

  “Doesn’t seem the best option,” Taylor said dryly.

  “Then call Atlas for a pickup,” I retorted. “Or summon a bunch of bumblebees to carry you away. You wanted a way out? I got you one.”

  “You’ve given me a good way to get hurt so the heroes can capture me,” she countered. “One wrong move and—” She froze, then swore. “They know we’re here, we need to go now.”

  “What do you mean they know?”

  “I mean we have four heroes running up the stairs towards us right now.” There was a whine of engines from the opposite side of the roof. “And that.”

  “Fuck me,” I swore, rising to my feet as I heard the roof door bang open. “So what’s the plan?”

  “Jump.”

  I didn’t have time to react. One second I watched as Dragon and Defiant rounded the corner, flanked by Clockblocker and someone who could only be Adamant judging by the armour. The next, I flinched and let out a shriek as I toppled over the edge of the roof, or rather was dragged. I forced my eyes shut and tensed my body, just in time for impact. I heard a number of cries of fear and surprise as we landed and forced myself up when the weight on top of me vanished.

  “Stop!” A shout from the rooftop. I looked up, then flinched as an arm snaked around my neck and tightened.

  “Follow,” Skitter murmured, then started dragging me towards the fence. I heard a quiet ring from her phone, then a slight click. “A, blood. Pickup.”

  “Skitter!” Defiant bellowed, spear in hand as he walked out of the back door, spear in hand. “Hold it!”

  “No thanks!” She retorted.

  Her arm left my neck, then I nearly stumbled as she suddenly clambered onto my shoulders and leaped over the fence. I fell forward as the thunder of galloping paws grew louder in the distance. When I rose, I turned my head in time to see Skitter vanish down a side street. I dusted myself off and sighed, turning back to the heroes.

  Defiant and Dragon gave me a look, but didn’t say a word since I was in civvies. I saw Clockblocker gesturing from the door and headed inside, following him through the empty halls and into the storage room he’d ordered me to earlier. Once the door shut behind us, he turned and crossed his arms.

  “The fuck was that, Amaranth?” he demanded.

  “What was what?” I spat. “Getting taken hostage by a fucking warlord and used as a god damn cushion?”

  “Why the hell didn’t you come when I called you?”

  “I was...up here,” I said, not exactly lying. “Needed some space from everything.”

  “That doesn’t make it cool to ignore an emergency,” Clockblocker growled. “That was Skitter if you didn’t notice.”

  “Wow fucking astute observation boss,” I said sarcastically. “Didn’t realize it was her til it was too late,” when she was already at school. “Then she grabbed me and threw me off the roof. Which hey, thanks for that by the way because I’m pretty sure she was trying to get away from you.”

  “Hey, you okay?” Kid Win asked as he burst into the room, breathing hard. “I heard you fell off the roof.”

  “I’m fine,” I grumbled. “Just getting the third-degree for being blindsided. Hey who the fuck okayed a cape fight at school?” They shared a look.

  “Let’s get back to headquarters,” Clockblocker said, tossing me a grey jumpsuit and paper mask. “Got a lot to catch up on.”