Orb Weaver: Wrath of God, 14

I was finding it hard to keep up the pace. Some of it was being tired, although my bugs kept me nicely warm, and a few abandoned houses had beds I could use. After all, I had no worries about lice.

No. My problem was that I was running out of people.  I had an entire little skit for one man and his family, and when I got to his house, it was empty. The car was gone, even the dog was gone, and the only thing I could find was a note to the housekeeper that they were heading… To Shamrock, Texas?

I also found one of Hookwolf’s safehouses for the dog rings—its watchers had also fled, leaving dehydrated, frightened animals.

When I got there, I saw a girl with a group of dogs around her and Tattletale and Trainwreck. Regent was nowhere to be seen. I set up a bug-receiver and the speaker near me transmitted their words.

The Undersiders.

“If Hookwolf comes by,” Trainwreck started—

“We’ll fucking kill’em.” Bitch growled.

“You are quite safe from Hookwolf,” I said.

“Fuck!” Trainwreck said.

The dogs and cats whined.

“Stop scaring the dogs, fucker,” Bitch growled. One of the fighting dogs, coming out of its cage, growled and snapped. Moments later, Bitch had it by its scruff, holding it while… glaring at it and growling—no, staring into its eyes and growling. A few moments later, and the dog whined, getting down on the ground and letting Bitch put it in one of the cages that Trainwreck had ready.

“Very well, Tattletale, call this number.” I gave her one of my burner phone number, handled by my bugs, and sufficiently far away from me that she couldn’t hear my body moving around.

“You know, I really gotta say I’m a fan of the whole Plagues of Egypt thing,” Tattletale said.

I didn’t say anything for a moment. There was a temptation to use what I’d learned about her during our meetings when I was working as The Investigator, but… no. I couldn’t be certain if she would make the connection.

“Well, given the Empire’s choice of victims… The choice seemed appropriate. I see you are also working against them.”

“Yeah, maybe you didn’t think about it, but if an Empire guy runs, he ain’t gonna care about the dogs he has locked up, especially bait animals.” Tattletale said, and her voice didn’t sound happy. “It was either all of us together, or Bitch on her own.”

“Ah.”

“Don’t know what we’re gonna do with all of them,” she muttered. “Next time you decide to go apocalyptic, warn a girl, okay?”

“I shall. But are all the dogs… Ah,” vicious “Difficult to handle?”

“Not, all…” she paused. “You want us to turn them in?”

“The police are otherwise occupied. If you were to return these poor, mistreated animals, some of which no doubt have distraught owners, well, it would make your problem easier, as well as making you… appear more heroic.”

“Yeah. That’s your real power, isn’t it?”

“Power?”

“Presentation, you set everything up so that you look like you’re totally in charge.”

“So you say.”

“One favor deserves another, look we’ve been keeping tabs on the Empire and Kaiser is losing it. That’s another reason people are dumping the Empire and getting out.” I could tell that her voice had become more serious. “Got some news.  Krieg bailed last night.”

She has access to sources in the Empire. Or she was just that good of a thinker. My interactions with her had all been on the offense, giving her little time to consider things, or working collaboratively, where I wasn’t the target. It would be very foolish to assume I’d seen the full degree of her ability.

“And now there are seven.” I paused. “Unfortunate. I had hopes to persuade Krieg to talk.”

“Yeah but look, Kaiser may be losing it, and that might include no longer caring if he gets a kill order. You’re pushing him so he loses it, fine but remember what he can do.”

“And what do you suggest?”

“Give him the Lebensraum treatment? Take him down now.”

I reached into my pocket, and pulled out another energy bar. I could…

But no. No, it wasn’t enough to kill Kaiser, I had to break him, so that the Empire would never rise again.

“I will consider your advice.”

“Fine.” Tattletale said. “Don’t say I didn’t try—“

“Are you going to help with the dogs or fucking talk all day,” Bitch snarled. She had a carrier full of whining puppies, the fleas on them letting me tell their size and shape. “Take them to the van.”

“Right, okay, fuck,”

“Thank you for your assistance,” I said and hung up. Am I moving too slowly?

 I shook my head. No. And I had another meeting to get to.

****

Finding Hookwolf, Cricket and Stormtiger had actually turned out to be easier than I had expected.  I knew, roughly, where they were. Deep within the E88 territory, where there was still some concealment.

Even if the occasional Orb Weaver tag let everone know that state of affairs was changing.

Hookwolf would not want to hide, but his history showed he wasn’t stupid. He, Cricket and Stormtiger were probably the most dangerous remaining members of the E88, not just due to power, but due to their skill.

But I had an advantage. Walking on a street I could cover, depending on my mood, a radius of three to four city blocks, depending on their size, since the Bay had varying sizes. That let me cover six to eight blocks at a time as I wandered through the streets, enjoying the day.

Looking for something unusual.

And as the sun started to set, I found it. A place where the air was moving strangely. Three people. Tiny insects flitted through the air, too small to see, and one landed on…

Metal. The others were picked up and moved, as the third individual stalked around the room the wind blowing around him.

Stormtiger. Aerokinetic. And someone who very often seemed to move the air around him almost unconsciously.

It was a small hotel, with a parking lot in the back. Some people were in front, kids splashing in the little pool.

My plan to directly speak to them ended. I couldn’t tell how they’d react and there were far too many civilians around.

Fortunately, hotels had room phones. I called the manager, and had him transfer me. Evidently Orb Weaver’s voice was not one people wished to disappoint.

“Who the fuck is this?”

“Ah, Brad, so good of you to answer. Tell me, would you like a way out of your current predicament?”