Chapter 2

"I don't like it." Brian remarked, his hands drumming a nervous pattern on the kitchen table. "People don't mess with him for a reason. If he finds a way to follow us-"

"If we do it right that should be impossible." Lisa argued back, one hand massaging her brow. The two of them had spent all morning... discussing the implications of their latest job. Lisa didn't understand why Coil wanted to piss off Lung, but she had little choice but to obey. She'd lost the right to choose, the moment the man put a gun to her head. Do or die was not a position she ever wanted to be in, but she would survive for as long as it took to escape the bastard. In the meantime, she would play her part, and follow the sadistic asshole's orders.

Still, even with the large advantage her power provided, convincing Brian that robbing a literal dragon was a good idea had been taxing to say the least. Thankfully she knew him well enough to make a convincing argument, even if he had several legitimate concerns. "Think about it what this will do for our rep," she continued, "We are the getaway specialists right? What better way to cement that than to rob Lung and get away with it?"

"Yeah except if we don't get away with it, he burns us alive." he said wryly, "What are our chances of taking Lung on, just Lung, four on one?"

"Not...great." Lisa admitted. Her foot bounced up and down against the carpeted floor for a few moments while she reformulated her arguments. Brian watched her with a raised brow and a smug grin, her grin dammit, as if he knew she thought this was a bad idea. He was right, of course, it was a terrible idea, one that was as likely to get them killed as not, but Coil had made the consequences for failing this particular mission abundantly clear, the fucking bastard.

"Alright look," she began, finally deciding on a plan of attack, "Even if Lung somehow tracks us down, the boss has informants in every gang. Nothing high level, but if there's a posse forming for our heads he'll hear about it in time to warn us, and we should have plenty of time to decide what to do. He'd be happy to pay for new accommodations," maybe, "if we decide to run, and if not, well, while fighting Lung directly is a terrible idea, getting the jump on him with Rachel's dogs before he ramps up might work out." She shrugged helplessly, out of arguments and needing an Advil.

Brian sighed heavily, running a hand over his shoulder length cornrows. He turned towards the other two people in the room, Rachel and Alec, who were both watching television on the couch, "Any thoughts?"

Lisa suppressed a laugh. She did not dislike her other teammates, but neither of them ever contributed much towards mission planning, not through lack of intelligence, but rather desire. Rachel lacked the desire to act in any way that didn't scream out her dominance, and Alec lacked the desire to... well, to do anything really. Lisa knew the former was a result of her power, and the latter was a result of a frankly awful upbringing, so she didn't begrudge them their lack of input. Much. She did enjoy being the brains of the operation, so to speak, but it would be nice if the success of a plan didn't fall squarely on her shoulders. There was enough stress in her life just from the psychotic super-villain whose power she still couldn't figure out. Brian was a solid leader, he understood the subtleties of cape 'politics', how actions formed the invisible shield of reputation that stronger groups enjoyed, and his tactical sense during a job was serviceable enough, but it was Lisa, or in this case Coil, who chose the targets and created a workable strategy. She was utterly unsurprised then, when Rachel grunted and said, "We can take him," while Alec unhelpfully chipped in with, "I don't care."

Their fearless leader glared at the pair, who were back to watching television, before turning back to Lisa with a grimace. "Fine. Tell the boss we'll do it if he covers any relocation we might need from the fallout of this job. Also I expect you to go over every single step of your plan with me, as many times as I need you to before I'm satisfied." He pointed at her, his other hand curled into a tight fist, "I'm serious Lisa, we're about to enter the big leagues here. No half-assing this."

Lisa nodded with relief, he didn't need to tell her the stakes, and sent a quick text to Coil. Hopefully this would satisfy him for a while. She could use the room to breathe while she figures out how to strangle the bastard.

"If you two are done arguing you should come watch this," Alec's voice drifted from where he was splayed out on the couch. After a moment he added, "Downtown is on fire."

"What!?" Lisa and Brian both shouted simultaneously as they scrambled to look at the screen. On the television an attractive blonde woman spoke into a microphone against a backdrop of a smouldering wreckage, "-speculates terrorist involvement, though no comment has yet been made. It was a matter of pure chance that nobody was hurt in the fire, most of the employees having just left for lunch and the rest able to evacuate, when an intern pulled the fire alarm after smelling smoke. At this time we do not know why the building collapsed, but the fire fighters we have spoken to all agree that the suggested cause of an electrical fire could not have caused this kind of reaction."

The report cut to an amateur video of the office building, still standing at twelve stories tall, and very on fire. Lisa's power worked furiously as the building swayed and crumpled, collapsing on itself in a neat pile and smothering the flames. Firefighters correct, fire burned through building supports far to quickly, likely parahuman involvement. Building fell in a way to eliminate spread of fire. Building did not fall until all civilians evacuated. Parahuman did not want civilian casualties. Parahuman did not care about property damage. Parahuman likely has control over fire.Interesting, but what was the point of burning down a building? Parahuman wants to send a message? No. Easier ways than destroying a building. Maybe the building itself was significant? Office building located nearly in the center of commercial district. Located outside of major gang territory. Barely within territory of Coil's Organization. Location equidistant from the three major gangs. Ideal location for Coil's base of operations. 

Someone is attacking Coil. 

Lisa shut down her power with a gasp, staggering back against the wall. Brian was speaking to Alec, "-just a building, not the whole damn district. Don't say shit like that man," but she didn't care. Someone attacked Coil. Someone dropped a building on Coil. Did that mean-

Her phone buzzed. She suppressed a flinch through sheer force of will.

She flipped it open with trembling hands, nearly crying out loud when she saw Coil's name replying to her earlier text. The keypad clicked as she entered her password, the new message automatically appearing on the screen.

Today 12:54 PM

Evil Asshole: Hello Lisa

Evil Asshole: I have a gift for you.

Evil Asshole: Your favorite bench at the Boardwalk. 2 p.m.

Evil Asshole: See you soon.

Lisa let out a shaky breath, sagging against the wall in relief. Not Coil. Not hostile. One hand covered her face, the other biting on a knuckle as she silently left her teammates, ascending the staircase towards her room, shaking with suppressed mirth. In the privacy of her room she collapsed in bed, crying and laughing and rolling around with glee. Someone had Coil's phone, which meant they got it from Coil, which meant Coil was most likely no longer a factor. Now she just had to deal with this mysterious third party. She clamped down on the urge to use her power, she simply did not have enough data to justify it, and she'd need to be at her best when she went to the Boardwalk in...

Shit. An hour. Lisa sat back up, quickly wiping her face and recomposing herself. Two Advil went down the hatch and she dug through her closet for an outfit she could wear to the Boardwalk but still run away in. The meet probably wasn't a trap, but she was dealing with an unknown and possibly unstable parahuman. Worst case scenario, they would want to use her the same way Coil did. Backup was not only prudent, it was necessary. She took a deep breath, idly wondering how she would explain this situation to Brian, and walked back down the stairs. She survived Coil's bullshit, she'd get through whatever this is too.

And then, finally, she might be free.