The Web of the Weaver: Interlude: Assault

Bulwark was a big guy. Much bigger than Mush had been. Or maybe…

Yeah, maybe it’s that he doesn’t look like a pile of garbage that doesn’t know how to fight.  His skin was a collection of pellets, metal and ceramic, and some plates. They’d ignored the shotguns and pistols of the E88 guys, and then he’d used some kind of CO2 sprayer on them.

Smart.

And not like Mush. Mush was down in their files as a guy who had to be yelled at by Skidmark to get out of his room, and do anything, a guy who, most of the time, was high or drunk or just watching TV.

Now, he’d taken on a bunch of E88 gangers and trashed them. He’d fought a fire. He’d gotten a job.

Just like FireTruck, Assault thought, thinking of Squealer’s new rebrand.

And the one person they had in common was Orb Weaver, with people running around shouting that he was the second coming of Teacher or HeartBreaker, or the Fairy Queen, or that he was actually several people.

Morons. Assault had no idea who Orb Weaver was, just that he was smart, experienced and…

Oddly enough, given all the pants-soiling terror he liked to sow, willing to help people make a better choice in their lives. Not so much tough love as terrifying love, but… still.

“So, Orb Weaver called you to c’mon down and give a hand?”

“Yeah,” Bulwark said. “I mean, he told me that there was a kid in trouble, and so I came down as fast as I could… Um, sorry for all the wrecked stuff. I’m… not real good at driving.” The ten-foot-tall mass of ceramic and metal made a good imitation of hunching over.

“Hey, we live in the town that survived Leet’s Hardlight Christmas Parade,” Assault said. “So, you came on down, ran into a bunch of gangers, tossd’em around like yesterday’s garbage, and saved the day.”

“Yeah, Orb Weaver said that they were gonna be armed, and he needed help.” Bulwark shrugged. “I mean, if Orb Weaver needs help…”

“What’s he like?” Assault asked. “No names!” he hurriedly added.

“Scary… nice.”

“Scary and Nice?”

“I mean, like you get him angry, brrr…” Bulwark shrugged. “But he’s like… he talked to me about my power and helped me come up with stuff like this and he doesn’t call me stupid. Yeah. He doesn’t call me stupid.”

Right. They didn’t have a lot on Bulwark but now you could probably add “bad childhood” which wasn’t uncommon among triggers. One of the reasons you got so many crooks—they didn’t start out bad, but give someone who’s been stepped on all their lives the ability to do the stepping…

“Sounds like a nice guy…” Assault didn’t look at the sobbing E88 member who had been strapped to a gurney, moaning about “eyes in the dark.”

“Yeah… am I in trouble?”

“Trouble for helping a kid who was about to be murdered. Nope. In fact, if you wanted to join the Protectorate…”

The armored mass shifted. “I dunno, I mean, I’m not great at heroing stuff…”

Assault took a quick glance, just obvious enough to be noticeable at the crushed E88 car and the shattered guns by it.

“Well…”

“Besides, I mean, I, like it, sort of when people are happy to see me.”

“Like the fire?”

“Yeah, Yeah!” Bulwark actually got animated. “I mean, they’re like, not used to people helping ‘em, and it felt good, but… I got, you know, felonies and they don’t let—“

“Oh, Bulwark, let me tell you of something called the Protectorate Affiliate program,” Assault said. “After all, not all of us like to do the punching…”

*****

“And that’ll give him cover,” Assault told Director Piggot. “It’s not as good as direct Protectorate Membership, but if he does work with the BBFD, then the Empire will both have to worry about our retaliation and the hit to their image.”

“You could have pushed,” Emily said.

Assault shook his head. “That would have just cut us off. Besides, honestly? We never expected Mush to be anything more than a pain in the ass—now we have Bulwark, who may be part of the fire department, so we both lose the pain in the ass and get help, like FireTruck in NY.” He shrugged. “So how is that coming along?”

“Fortunately, not my department, but with difficulty,” Emily said. “The adoption was clearly illegal, clear evidence of bribes…but the family who adopted her child weren’t involved, and have provided a loving home. They’re amiable to visitation rights but...”

“A mess.” Assault nodded. “Y’know, boss?”

“Yes, Assault?”

“Orb Weaver fucked up. I don’t mean morally or anything, but his entire MO up until now was setting the stage with a lot of prep. Then this happens, and he banzai charges there, grabs everyone he knows and who could draw a line to him, and heads straight out to save Aisha, after calling us. I bet he didn’t have much of a Plan B.”

“And?”

“He could have just called us. Maybe she dies, maybe she doesn’t, but it’s on us. He didn’t. I’m… I’m saying he’s got lines in the sand, hard ones, and won’t ignore them because things got risky.”

“Some would say that he’s overly brutal.”

“Yeah, well the E88 papers don’t count. That many guys decide to murder a girl, they kind’a got the Orb Weaver Special coming.”

Emily looked up and Assault ignored the tiny smile she quickly banished. “Orb Weaver Special?”

“Cops and PRT guys were talking about it. Normally, according to the street, Orb Weaver is just terrifying. But if you go too far…”

“You get an Orb Weaver Special. Thank you, Assault, that will be all.”

“No problem, Boss,” Assault threw her a salute and headed into the base.”

The PA informed everyone to be aware that the shadow figure demanding lemon pie in the cafeteria was in fact, part of power testing.

Assault bit his lip. The tone of the announcer said it all. That wasn’t any official power testing.

Huh, I wonder if Dennis and I could take her under our wings. Why the jokes we could pull…

With that cheerful thought, he started to whistle.