The Weaver's Web: Book II, Chapter 7

Fifteen minutes after I got home, Dad’s truck roared up into the driveway.

“Taylor?” He called.

“Dad?” I asked from the bathroom, where I was rubbing topical cream on the truly impressive bruise on my upper arm. “What happened?”

“I just—“ There was a pause. “I just heard about how The Investigator went to war with Uber and Leet. I thought you said you weren’t—“

“In that case, I didn’t have a choice, but it’s all over.”

“Really?”

“The man who hired them is no longer in position to trouble me.”

“What?” There was a world of threat in that word.

Oops. Dad had a temper, and sometimes…

I probably should have considered that he didn’t know me as Orb Weaver, so this was a bigger deal than it would have been otherwise.

Dad knew who Aisha was. So I could talk to him openly.

“Can this wait until we have some tea?” I asked. “I had some… food.” Okay, microwave lasagna but I had been planning on going out.

Which might not… be a good idea at this point. Dad didn’t sound happy.

Absently, I wondered how many villains had to deal with this. “My campaign of terror against crime in the Bay was postponed due to grounding” definitely didn’t sound like the kind of thing you heard about on PHO.

But Dad didn’t say anything when I came out, carefully not favoring my arm.

Maybe it would be a good idea to stay in anyway. Just because I didn’t plan for Orb Weaver to get into direct fights didn’t mean someone might not have other ideas. And my arm might not be broken, but it was most definitely sore. I’d set out the table, and Dad didn’t say anything as I pulled the lasagna out of the refrigerator and put it in the microwave.

We ate in silence while I also focused on what my bugs were showing me.

My shoulder twinged a little bit more. Advanced escrima techniques had to be practiced. And I needed a trainer.

A good trainer and one who I could trust.

The latter was going to be a harder problem than the former. I was also brushing up on some more medical texts…

And that was also a problem. I did seem to learn faster—a little bit, but my power didn’t fill in everything. There was a reason they only let paramedics and doctors do their work after a lot of hands-on training.

But now the food was finished, and Dad was looking at me.

“So, I seem to recall a promise to stay out of cape-related affairs.”

“I did try,” I told him. “But Mr. Timmis, the lawyer Carol and I were dealing with, apparently hired Uber and Leet to… discourage me. He was also helping Aisha’s mother string out proceedings.”

“He put a hit out on you?”

I shook my head. "No. It was clear he was aiming for harassment, not murder.”

“With Leet.”

“Leet’s tools… don’t… always go bad?”

Dad just looked at me.

“You could have been killed.”

I didn’t say no. I could have been.

“Taylor… Why? What makes this so important that you didn’t consider joining the Wards?”

Dad was asking, not telling, and I…

I needed to answer him.

“Four dead people.”

“What?”

“Mr. Timmis is a bad lawyer. Worse, he’s corrupt. He either extorted money out of people hoping to get their children back, lying to them by omission and implication if not by fact… Or he worked with people who never should have their kids, trying to extort money out of their partners, or keep the child for monetary gain.” I shook my head. “One woman committed suicide, one man drove drunk away from his court case and hit a tree, two children… killed during proceedings that Timmis was stretching out.”

In comparison to the Slaughterhouse, the Endbringers, the Empire, not much… But to the people involved? More than enough.

“He might have hired someone with a gun.”

“Maybe, I didn’t…”

“Like you didn’t think he’d hire Uber and Leet?”

Letting Dad know I’d expected that, if not the timing…

“I may have overestimated his intelligence.”

Dad snorted. He glanced to the living room door. Mom’s chair invisible. Dad was wavering. Wondering about what would happen if I died.

And I could have died. I’d almost tried to shut down Leet’s generator, which would have caused an “energetic” event.

And I would be safer in the Wards. I couldn’t tell him that wasn’t the truth. It would cause immense problems for me, but in the aftermath of Aisha, I expected every major gang had standing orders to avoid the Wards.

I took a deep breath, and around the house, my bugs stopped, and then started acting… normally, as I withdrew my control. I hated this, but…

“Do you know what one of the worst things about Winslow was?”

Dad didn’t say anything for a moment, looking at me across our old table. “What?”

“Not Sophia. After the first three or four bodychecks, I got used to them. Not… Madison… Emma was terrible…” I shook my head. “But everyone else. I wasn’t their problem. Emma Sophia, Madison, they were sophomores. I doubt half the seniors even knew who they were. But… they didn’t know who I was. They didn’t care. And the ones who did…” I looked down at my hand.

Huh. It was trembling. So was my voice. For a moment, I started to push my control into my bugs and then, with effort, pulled it back.

“The ones who did, didn’t want to get involved. It might backfire on them. They had their own concerns. It was easier.”

I looked up at Dad and blinked once, twice, three times. Maybe I should shove my emotions… No. He needed to understand…

And suddenly, I needed to understand. The Investigator was just a cover for Orb Weaver, something I could drop if need be, and yet…

“When I spoke to the people Mr. Timmis had victimized, many of them… They needed someone to listen to them. But nobody listened. It was too much trouble. That’s how he got his claws into them. They weren’t stupid, some uneducated, but the ones he hurt worst, were just too desperate to forgo any chance, however small.” I paused. “I can’t say they’ll have happy endings—I know at least one woman who loves her child… but probably won’t get her back. But Carol is working to get them proper representation, to get them people who will listen to them.”

“And that was worth him sending Uber and Leet after you?”

“That would be worth him sending Hookwolf after me.” I had to be honest here. Because I didn’t think I could carry this lie off.

Because talking about it, I realized… I couldn’t ever be one of those people who looked at the girl after Sophia had sent her tumbling… and be very annoyed, maybe even upset, but… It wasn’t their business.

I couldn’t be that person, not without dying, even if I still breathed.

Orb Weaver could kill monsters, but all that meant was that there was a bigger monster in the dark.

The Investigator could be something else.

Dad didn’t say anything for a few moments. He shook his head.

“Well, I’ve said it before, but you proved it. You are Annette’s daughter.” He glanced back to the room. “Before you were born, I see it now, you have her…” He shook his head. “I blow up. My temper… I have to control it because it flares up, even if it’s a bad idea. Annette… She had a temper that ran cold. When she was with Lustrum, she was an organizer, not just someone marching through the streets.”

“I never saw that…”

“Because…” He shook his head. “When you have a child, Taylor, suddenly it’s no longer just your life. You have duties. But she worked with her students. Found different battlefields. I expect Annette would be the one to tell you this, but…”

“Yes.”

We stayed silent for a while. Then Dad shook his head. “I have some friends in LA.”

I blinked. “I…”

“Taylor, it may be you’ll run into trouble you can’t handle. And just going up to Boston isn’t exactly going far. After you had your… run-in with Uber and Leet, I thought about what if it had been Hookwolf.”

“And?”

He handed me a little piece of paper. “I’m not so poor I can’t help my daughter. There are two lockboxes, at these two banks. Enough money to get a bus ticket, all the way to LA, and a phone number if you want to get in touch with them.”

“Why LA?”

“You’re as determined as your Mom. If you’re leaving the city, it’s probably for something that you need Alexandria to handle.”

I chuckled. “To clean up my mess?”

“Or to protect your enemies from you. I also heard from the people who keep up with Uber and Leet, that you displayed a surprisingly cutting tongue.”

“You thought of this?”

“Well, when Annette and I were dating… A bugout bag and emergency stash was part of the deal.”

“Did anyone ever send a cape after you?”

“Just a band of drunken thugs who wanted to put Annette in her place.” He paused. “As a word of advice Taylor… bloodstains on fenders can be surprisingly hard to get off.”

I couldn’t help it, the image of Mom and Dad behind the wheel of a car, laughing like loons as they ran down some E88-style goons made me laugh. “I’ve got a year before I have a license.”

Dad gave me a flat look. “Then don’t get caught. I can’t afford the traffic ticket.”

I shook my head. “Okay, I won’t… But I think I’m going to go to bed a little early. I had a hard day.”

“Good night, Taylor.”

“Night, Dad.”

And I would stay in. Tonight, Orb Weaver could rest, and I could think. Besides, tomorrow was the day when Aisha came back to school, and maybe it would be a good idea if I was rested for that…