I was referring to this section of the chapter:

It goes a bit beyond Skitter's bugs following the last command she gave to them.

 

As described in the chapter, she didn't give them commands to make silk, etc. So they were doing something different.

Edit: There was another page, and Nuclear already answered it.

 

As much as I'd like to take Dragon, Defiant, and MM's word on it, since they seem to be as reliable as any characters we're likely to find, Alexandria's death is one where I'd really like to see a body, preferably along with an autopsy (her power is one that I would imagine would shut off when she lost her connection with her passenger, given that it doesn't really seem to affect her physiology aside from the whole in good shape bit). Would hate to have her come back from the dead to troll Taylor again.

Was contemplating the notion that more time had passed than Taylor first thought, which might explain the lack of bugs (drones had time to kill them) as well as the spider silk (spiders got back to doing their own things), but that doesn't mesh with the timeline of the Undersider retaliation. To me it really does seem like Alexandria was setting Taylor up to murder Tagg from the moment he was assigned to BB, but I can't really put a finger on the why. Cauldron seemed to want Skitter in charge in BB after Coil's demise, but her killing Tagg would sort of preclude her from sticking around, even if it was the good guy's plan to spirit her off to do some clandestine heroing for them. Perhaps with Alexandria present they planned to fake Taylor's death in the wake of Tagg's, which backfired spectacularly.

Still can't really figure out the big picture, though. Alexandria and Cauldron kept talking about different plans to create stronger capes, and BB was apparently one of the paths they laid out. Maybe it's been said too much, but there's certainly a possibility that this was a heavy-handed attempt at getting Taylor to trigger again in order to up her power level, with the heroes secure in their knowledge that she was actually a good guy who they could explain the plot away to after the fact. Only they lost one of the strongest capes in the world, the founder of the PRT, and no trigger for Taylor (so it would seem). Oops.

Glad we finally got to see Skitter off the chain, though. For too long I feel like people in the story have been underestimating her just because she hasn't brutally murdered someone with her power. Well, that time is over and pretty much any cape out there had better be scared shitless of being murdered from a third of a mile away, possibly while the culprit is sipping tea.

 

There are a lot of things that don't match up in this segment.

1) Why didn't Defiant and Dragon speak while inside the PRT building? Note that they were more than willing to speak after they got her outside.
2) Why did they kidnap Skitter in the most recognisable vehicle in the world?
3) What's up with Skitter's unconscious use of her power?
4) How did the PRT have time to put Tagg in the morgue if Skitter's bugs forced an evacuation?
5) What happened to Rachel/Brian's (assuming it was one of them) body at the same time?
6) How did a super intelligent cape like Alexandria (with support from a guy who literally sees possible futures) die so easily?

There's a lot more going on in this chapter than is immediately obvious. A couple of ideas I've had are that Alexandria is using this as a chance to fake her own death and set up a new identity. She has a generic enough set of powers that she could do it fairly easily.

Defiant and Dragon are actively trying to get out from under the PRT's thumb, which in part means having Miss Militia in a position of power (as Skitter wanted) and possibly aware of the circumstances of Dragon's loyalty.

Skitter may have triggered again, but we didn't get a vision quest despite watching in 'real time'. That suggests that she may be becoming more in tune with her power over time and with greater experience.

Rachel/Brian may not actually be dead, though I feel that would be a bit of a cop out. I like the idea of Skitter losing a team mate; it would be very interesting story wise.

 

I think it was rather strongly implied that the bodies were a red herring to push Taylor over the edge. Remember how Tattletale kept trying to talk to Taylor over the phone, but Taylor couldn't understand? What do you suppose she was saying? Alexandria's insistence on clearing Imp's cell of bugs is also a possible clue that she didn't want Taylor looking further into it.

The only thing that doesn't mesh is Alexandria's supposed run-in with Lygiea (or whatever she's called). Unless Alexandria had time to research Accord's new team before showing up (and I'm not sure how she could have), there's probably a good chance she did run into her. Why Imp would be with one of the Ambassadors... no clue, which is also a bit suspicious.

 

This chapter was too damn confusing for me:

• What's up with the PRT letting a supervillain sit in the midst of their own HQ while dumping the body of it's recently killed director (including convenient smartphone to open her cell) in a nearby morgue?
• What happened to all the insects in a 6 block radius? Kid Win's drones might've been enough to kill those in the HQ, but any and all in such a huge area? I very much doubt that Skitter used them all up in her short lived attack on Tagg/Alexandria.
• Where are the Undersiders if the whole "capture/kill" thing was actually a headgame? Are they in contact with MM, playing a doublecross on Couldron?

I get the feeling that everyone around tries to manipulate Taylor right now- and there will be HELL to pay when she finds out what's going on.

 

Aekiel, Dragon didn't speak at any point, I'm assuming her speech being taken away was as a result of a conflict from a command. I don't think Defiant not talking before that point really meant anything, though.

As for Tagg's body in the morgue, Wildbow said it was a rushed job.

And someone from IRC had a good theory that Alexandria, sometime in the forty nine Endbringer battles she fought in, become over exposed to the Simurgh. As a result, she made a mistake like telling Skitter about drowning working as a viable tactic. It'd also explain why she didn't deal with problems like the S9 and Echidna at the start - avoiding situations where she could make a bad problem worse.

 

What's it with people and there being a second trigger event for Taylor every time she is in a tight spot (which is twice every day basically)?

It looks as if Alexandria might have been bluffing about attacking the undersiders. Wondering what's with the evacuation though... if the attacking creatures were a problem, they did still have KidWin's machines...

 

I'm of the opinion that Alexandria was holding something we don't know about in check just by being alive. And now that she's dead, shit's gonna hit the fan.

I don't mean this situation specifically, but something along those lines.

 

It's quite a natural progression, really. Smart badass underdog is cool and all, but it only gets you so far against apocalyptic threats. Eventually, you need to level up (Dresden).

Personally, I kind of want her control to go down to the bacterium level. If anybody has a problem with her, she can just shut down all the bacterial in their gut or something, or get them to produce something toxic (if they can), etc. May even bypass the Manton effect considering the bacterial, while essential and symbiotic to a human's functioning, aren't exactly human.

Beyond that, yay to the bonus chapter due in two days.

 

Normally I'd agree with you, but I'm with World on this. I really don't see the need for Skitter to get another trigger event. She's already got an incredibly versatile power.

Not to mention, any kind of Bacterial control would just be stupidly overpowered. She could insta-kill anyone with that...

 

Alexandria kept saying the timing was bad for PRT reformation. I'm thinking that whatever Cauldron's plans were, they were launching them sometime around Behemoth's attack and if successful, would render the PRT moot.

Anyways, it looks like we'll finally get some answers next chapter. Well, we'd better get some.

 

I'd be very surprised if we didn't. This whole chapter was basically a setup for the next chapter, which should be the big reveal.

 

Alexandria's comment about Tattletale knowing shows that she actually did see a undersider, at the very least.

My guess is that she met Tattletale and concocted this plan together, but....

Also, no one else is weirded out that while the PRT moved her back to her cell, they didn't just take her to DD instead?

EDIT: About second trigger event, i am pretty damn sure that Skitter had had a few dozens of those by now, it's just that they are not the same kind as the one Grue got.

Her power is RIDICULOUSLY versatile.

 

Her power is only that way because of Taylor, herself. She is really damn smart and can think her way through a lot of different situations/scenarios. She sees all the possibilities. It's like Taylor said at one point about Panacea's power - how, if Taylor had it, the possibilities would be unlimited, but as it is Amy just pisses it away simply healing people.

 

No- i am talking about the way her power constantly give her 'edge benefits'. Her resistance to pain is off the chart, her ability to multi-task is inhuman, her memory is extremely increased, etc.

I am pretty damn sure Skitter can use her swarms' brain as extra-processing power.

 

Ok, the resistance to pain thing is definitely something that hasn't really been explored yet. The multitasking has been there from the start. But what are you basing the "extremely increased memory" on?

 

So, was Skitter dumber in this chapter with her swarm nearly gone? No.

The idea that she uses them like a bot net has always seemed spurious to me.

 

Agreed. She doesn't seem to get smarter as her swarm increases, she just has more options than she would have with a smaller one. I mean, she had very little in the way of a controllable swarm in the fight against Echidna, yet she still came up with using Clockblocker to defeat her.

The way I see it is that she's got some secondary Thinker powers that let her use her power in an effective way (she'd have to have superhuman multitasking to control all those bugs separately and to collate all the sensory information she's receiving), and she just uses that to its fullest potential.

I don't see any evidence for swarm sourcing, I just see a person that thrives under pressure.