Parasite 10.3

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Parasite 10.3
Chapter guide
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Chapter List

Parasite 10.3 is the third chapter of Parasite. Weld spots the trap – fight scene; Grue gets frozen and Tattletale reaches the PRT Mainframe.

Plot

Following Weld's warning, the Undersiders, with the exception of Skitter, quickly disable the PRT members holding them and escape their restraints. Shadow Stalker throws herself at Weld recklessly to occupy him, since Regent doesn't have to take much care with Shadow Stalker's body. Bitch takes this chance to escape through the front door and whistle for her dogs. As Tattletale faces down four of the Wards near the elevator, a high pitched cackling is heard and Flechette shouts a warning that the Undersiders have somebody with a Stranger classification, though Skitter doesn't remember this. Flechette pins Grue to the ground by sending a bolt from her crossbow through the side of his boot, but the crossbow is quickly broken by Imp, who Skitter is able to begin recalling temporarily before Imp's power causes her to be forgotten again.

Skitter releases around 1000 assorted bugs from under her armor and sets them on Flechette, Vista and Kid Win, since she cannot effect Clockblocker in his full coverage costume. It is revealed that while trying to find a way to protect her bugs from pepper spray, Skitter had discovered how to coat parts of them in capsaicin without immediately killing them. The three wards begin screaming as the capsaicin is delivered to their skin by the bugs. The unaffected Clockblocker is able to charge Grue, who remains stuck where Flechette has pinned him, and swiftly freezes Grue in time. Regent and Imp cause Clockblocker and a PRT member to fall into each other on the floor and Tattletale uses one of the foam sprayers to secure Clockblocker.

Flechette swiftly uses her darts to pierce all the containment foam tanks in the room, preventing any further use of the weapons by the Undersiders. Regent causes her to drop her darts before she can direct them on any of the Undersiders themselves, but suffers a backfire. Shadow Stalker regains control temporarily, screaming and firing a shot that misses Regent and hits Tattletale in the shoulder. She begs Weld for help before Regent regains control and starts attacking Weld again. Bitch's dogs arrive and engage Weld in combat. Weld asks if Shadow Stalker is conscious during Regent's control, which Regent confirms is the case. This disturbs Skitter, drawing a comparison with her injury against Leviathan and a long held fear of being helpless in her own body.

Shadow Stalker shoots Vista with a tranquiliser shot, relieving her of the pain Skitter had been inflicting on her with the capsaicin. Imp frees Skitter from her handcuffs just before Kid Win opens fire from parts of his armor, launching blue sparks that boomerang back around and loop around his armor. The sparks kill bugs very effectively and Regent is unwilling to direct Shadow Stalker to charge Kid Win because it may disrupt his control. Skitter manages to command Bentley to attack Kid Win instead, knocking him into Flechette and disabling both of the Wards. Bitch slams Skitter into the wall to berate her for giving commands to the dogs, but Tattletale insists they stay focused on the job at hand. Using Vista's eye to pass the retinal scanner check, they gain access to the elevator and head down to the Wards' headquarters.

Tattletale inserts USB drives into the computer and logs on using Director Piggot's details. She begins downloading all of the documents the PRT keep on the network while Skitter works on removing the crossbow bolt from her shoulder and patching her up. Tattletale expects that even though they will have to wait for Grue to unfreeze, the Protectorate team shouldn't be able to respond quick enough unless they have recruited new members quickly like the Wards have. Just before the download finishes, the entire room goes dark. As Tattletale explains that due to the power setup in the building it would be impossible for this to have been caused simply by somebody cutting the power, Dragon's face appears across the computer monitors.

Major Events

• Download of the PRT Mainframe.

Characters

Heroes	Villains	Others
The Wards Shadow Stalker Vista Weld Clockblocker Kid Win Flechette The Protectorate Velocity (Mentioned) The Guild Dragon	The Undersiders Skitter Grue Tattletale Bitch Regent Imp Bitch's Dogs Angelica Sirius Bentley Lucy	Endbringers Leviathan (Mentioned)