"Does that require villainy?"

"I would have said no before but now... I think it requires being able to work with and trust people who are going to do villainous things? Regent shop lifts random electronics, Bitch scared people away from the couple of blocks that are her territory, Tattletale blackmails quite a few politicians."

"Also uh, I think part of the reason other gangs haven't moved in because they're afraid of the Undersiders, and Skitter in particular, in a way that doesn't happen often for heroes. The Fallen sent some capes, including one who does mind control via eye contact. She uh, removed his eyes. They haven't sent anyone else."

"Ew. If they send another mind control villain in just call me and get me a foam sprayer."

"I expect they will."

"Mind, it'd be easier after I get my kit back, it wasn't as urgent as the implants."

"Oh, why can't you get it back?"

"They're antsy about unmaintained tinkertech and I'm not a tinker any more. Which was complete bullshit about the implants - I was never a biotinker, I wasn't doing fancy surgery on myself, I just made them so they could go in and stay there forever one and done and do their job, nothing about that would have changed - but is less totally unreasonable for the suit and drones."

"I could try poking at the politics if that'd help? Though not being a hero makes that harder for me."

"Nah, probably the same guy who's been patching Dad's suit can cover mine and the gears will turn eventually."

"Mhm. Hopefully that goes fast."

In the days after Behemoths attack more attention is paid to Skitter, and Brockton Bay's situation by extension. The PRT does not know what Director Piggot was doing wrong exactly but she must have gotten something badly wrong for the situation to get this bad - she's demoted and a new Director moved in to replace her.

What's the gossip filtering to her from Dad and the bot?

The PRT has been under pressure over appearing to lose control of Brockton Bay to villains, and the fact that Skitter was involved in the New Delhi disaster is not helping their case. The promotion of Director Tagg is widely seen as a response to this - Tagg has a military background and first made a name for himself during the quarantine of Lausanne after the Simurgh's first appearance.

The Brockton Bay Protectorate is in a rather different boat - the leader, Miss Milita, has an understanding with the Undersiders where the Protectorate doesn't proactively go after the Undersiders and they coordinate when facing threats. That being said, it seems likely she'd obey direct orders to engage. Vista is known to be friendly with some Undersider associates, though no one wants to risk her defecting so they don't push her on this.

There's been some sort of drama involving Clockblocker, Assault, and Battery that no one seems to know what to do about. For now Assault has been temporarily transfered to Boston.

Well, if she was thinking about signing back up the Lausanne background puts her off again.

She goes back to school under her middle name and Nikki's surname. She didn't have a lot of friends but someone might recognize another Bella Swan showing up after the last one was reported dead. Bella Swan didn't have time for extracurriculars but Marie Carter is going to show up to the interest meeting for robotics club and also Model UN.

Lucien is also doing Model UN!

Fancy that. She doesn't wave but she does sit in his general area.

Wait are they pretending to not know each other. Lucien can do that. Probably.

They can know each other after a couple days but she does not want to have to explain how they met.

He can manage to pretend he doesn't know her for those first couple of days.

Cool. She listens to the model UN people talk about how it works so she can decide if she wants to come back for the next meeting.

The speech is informative, and reasonably well delivered, until it is interrupted by a school wide announcement on the loudspeakers.

“May I have your attention please? School is now being locked down.  For your own safety, please remain in your classrooms.  Students not in an assigned classroom should proceed in a calm and orderly fashion to the nearest seating area.  Students in the north wing of the school will need to make their way to the auditorium.  Students in the south wing should gather in the cafeteria.  Remain calm and rest assured: there is no immediate danger.“

...is this the north wing or the south wing.

South wing!

... why is there no cell reception all of a sudden.

Good fucking question. She gathers in the cafeteria.