Chrysalis 20.4
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| Chrysalis 20.4 | |
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Chrysalis 20.4 is the fourth chapter of Chrysalis. Taylor gets trapped, tries to hide, then tries to escape. Using decoy's doesn't work, when Defiant and Dragon touch down.
Plot
Taylor concludes the situation with Greg, and just as things were calming down, she finds herself in an even more desperate and and rapidly worsening one. The absences of her weapons and armor make themselves increasingly felt, and trying push through any obstacle in her way with her powers would threaten to make things even worse. A guard stops Taylor, but thankfully only to point out that there was no running in the hallway. Her movements are also hampered by her unfamiliarity with Arcadia High's layout, and the need to constantly be on the lookout and evade the Protectorate heroes on site.
Taylor spots Adamant and Sere with her bugs and narrowly evades crossing paths with them, Taylor also sends a small swarm flies to the principal's office, and overhears a phone call between Howell and an unknown recipient, but only catches small amounts of the exchange and only on Howell's side of the phone call. She is able to take note of Howell's reluctance when speaking, mentioning the safety of her students and disliking the idea of a fight on campus grounds, before eventually being forced to concede. Guards begin sealing off exits, and Taylor's list of potential escape routes grow thinner. She begins to consider the idea of having to fight her way past them, or cloak herself with her swarm and disable/distract the agents.. But with only around a hundred bugs at her disposal, she disliked her chances. Taylor regrets not bringing bugs with her, upon her clothing, as she had wanted to avoid them being found by Arcadia's guards when patted her down for weapons at the security gate.
Stuck, Taylor then hears Howell announce a school lockdown, and feels even more pressured at the prospect of being able to even hide more unlikely when the students are cooped up in designated areas, which the authorities could clear one by one. Taylor then spots Clockblocker and Kid Win suiting up in a changing room near the gymnasium, and grows even more uncertain about the status of the heroes intelligence on the situation at Arcadia, but then realizes that the heroes did not know she was inside the school yet. Taylor attempts to see if she could get the lockdown lifted by deploying a decoy. Calling bugs from surrounding blocks, Taylor has the swarm form a decoy to her likeness. A guard and Sere spot it, and in order to counter Sere's long ranged abilities, Taylor splits her decoys into multiple copies and disperses them.
Taylor is then brought to the cafeteria alongside many other students, while concurrently using her decoys to engage Sere. Taylor meets with Charlotte. Having settled, Taylor concentrates on dealing with Sere. And devises a plan to fully counter him by using her flying bugs to carry stones and dirt, surrounding him with the material to limit the effectiveness of his powers over moisture, she also keeps as many bugs as she from Sere's effective range in order to minimize the casualties of her swarm. Taylor informs Charlotte of the situation, explaining that thanks to Tattletale's network of vetted personnel, she was able to receive the warning that the heroes were advancing on Arcadia, but was too late to escape the building, and that the Howell was being forced to lock down the school.
Taylor continues her efforts against the heroes, with Sere beginning to struggle and with Kid Win's weapon being disabled by spider silk. Taylor's plan to stop Sere with rocks and dirt don't prove very effective. Recalling her fight with Echidna, she then uses her spiders and flying insects to prepare an ensnarement trap for Sere while he was focused on the decoys. The tactic works, with Sere becoming heavily restricted in the silk trap and quickly bound to a signpost. Kid Win doesn't far much better, being overtaken by the swarm. For good measure, Taylor has her bugs scour Kid Wins pouches and armor compartments to divest him of his various tinker tools and equipment. In addition to this the bugs also take Kid Win's earbud and phone, denying Kid Win communication with the other heroes. Taylor then directs her swarm to assault a group of guards, scouring their pockets as they did with Kid Win and collecting the keys to Arcadia's doors.
The bugs carrying the keys were going through an air conditioning duct, with Taylor expecting to receive it from them once they reached the cafeteria. Taylor tells Charlotte that she's ready to make her escape and tells her to meet her later on, and plans to meet with Tattletale to discuss damage control. Taylor then makes her way to the kitchen, traversing through hundreds of hungry students feasting on pizza slices and avoiding Emma and the faculty. She makes her way to a door that led to the outside, the plan going smoothly that finding a way to open the vent to receive the keys wouldn't be her biggest problem.
Taylor's luck takes nosedive when she hears and feels a heavy impact on the other side of the door. Through her swarm, Taylor sees a figure on the other side of the door and recognizes them. The figure taps the door with his weapon, and the breath is knocked out of Taylor when every bug within thirty feet of the door and inside the vent dies. They push against the door, dead bolted but it wouldn't matter, as Taylor watches as its torn from its frame.
She is greeted by Defiant, formerly Armsmaster, who immediately levels his spear at Taylor's chest, forcing her to walk backwards into the cafeteria. Dragon isn't far behind, entering Arcadia through another route and navigating its halls via jetpack before landing behind Taylor at the kitchen entrance to the cafeteria.
Dragon, in a voice loud enough for a cafeteria full of students and faculty to hear, addresses Taylor as Skitter, and proceeds to apologize for what they've just done and says her hand was forced.
Characters
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References
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| Chapters | 20.1 • 20.2 • 20.3 • 20.4 • 20.5 • 20.x • 20.y |
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| Battles and Events | Incident at Arcadia High |