Executive Search 1
"It's about time!" T yelled as I stepped into my base. I'd just come from a supper at home with my father. Lisa and Sveta were at the table with T, something I hadn't expected.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
T put her hands on her hips. "Let me guess, you didn't look at your phone, right?"
"That would have been difficult, since I didn't have it with me." I replied.
T rolled her eyes while Lisa scowled. "Where were you to be out of reach like that?" Sveta asked.
"I was working on the beacons as Arsenal in his lab, which is why the phone stayed here." I was pretty sure the Protectorate wouldn't monitor communications from the workshop they'd provided, but there was no sense in taking risks. "What happened?"
Sveta rose from her chair. "It's on my computer. Come see." I followed Sveta upstairs, and the other two were right behind me.
Once there, it wasn't long before I was up to date. "So, who is this Morris_Elk?" I asked Sveta.
"He's…" she started, sounding uncertain. "He's the one who helped me escape my room at the center." She straightened and looked me in the eyes. "If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have known what to do. He gave me a map of the place and a way to stop the cameras. He's also the one who deleted my entire profile on the PHO forums."
I nodded. "And you trust this person enough to think this isn't a trap?" I asked.
"I know it's not a trap," she said, clearly sure of herself. "That's the first thing I verified. He's not lying and not planning anything other than what he said. I made sure with my power. I even verified it was still working to be certain."
My eyes went wide. "You mean your power works over the Internet?"
She nodded. "It's one of the first things I tried, when Morris_Elk contacted me. I went over to the Slenderman visit thread and found a post that came up red. Someplace in New York. Whatever he did, he never lied to me."
I turned to the others. T nodded in understanding, while Lisa grinned knowingly. "T here had the same reaction, and I probably wasn't that far off."
I nodded. After her power failed with maps even while on a machine, I'd thought she needed to directly see the area or the person involved. "Are you sure he might not have gamed your power somehow?"
Sveta shook her head. "I don't see how. I haven't informed him of any of my abilities. I'm pretty sure he suspects something, given that I escaped my room in the asylum, but I'm pretty sure he has no clue what."
"So, not a trap for sure," I said.
"The main issue with this depends on what you do, Taylor." Lisa explained, full on serious face. "You do nothing, your identity and Sveta's connection to you is safe, but this Paige Mcabee will end up in the Birdcage. But on the other hand, even if Sveta doesn't respond a single word to this, you show up to take her power and Morris_Elk will have strong evidence of Sveta's involvement."
"Are you sure she'll be convicted?" I asked.
Lisa nodded sadly. "I read through everything he sent while we were waiting for you, and I agree she doesn't have much chance of getting out. There were even some trial transcripts in there, and you can see the defense isn't going to win. She was presented bound and gagged in a chair, for fuck's sake!" Lisa swore. "And it's clear from the context her lawyer's afraid of her."
Lisa took the time to show me the relevant passages, which even included an image of the defendant in her restraints while in the courtroom, something which I was pretty sure was illegal. Still, it sold the point very well. Someone on their way to winning such a case wouldn't have been bound by an apparatus like this one.
I turned to look at the others, only to find them staring at me. I got the meaning of those gazes very quickly.
Decision time.
On one hand, I'd be losing part of my anonymity, of my mystique. On the other, the life of a young woman whose only mistake was telling her ex to go fuck himself.
Only one choice to make.
"I'll do it." I turned to my copy. "You're ok with that, T?"
She grinned. "Sacrificing someone for our convenience never sat well with me, and you know that." She shrugged. "And anyway, you're the boss." Such a reaction didn't surprise me in the least. T always tended toward some level of deference, though it was unnecessary. She preferred that I made the important decisions. I made sure to always have her opinion if I could anyway.
I looked around and saw that the other two weren't surprised in the least, and with good reason. I had done to Sveta basically the same thing I was planning, and Lisa could read me like a book.
"So, what do I do about this?" Sveta asked with a little smile, pointing at the screen.
"Wait a second," I said, and went to get my laptop. I came back up and loaded Encryptchat, a web service known for having some of the most secure chat rooms. It was the same service that T had used to work with Kid Win on one of Bakuda's bombs. Sveta sent the address over PM to Morris_Elk, and I didn't have to wait long before he connected to the room.
Morris_Elk has connected.
Slenderman: yOu wANteD tO tALk To Me, to AsK soMEthInG
Morris_Elk: Yes.
Morris_Elk: Did you get the data?
Slenderman: i rEcEiVed iT
Morris_Elk: Did you go through it?
Slenderman: i hAVe
Morris_Elk: The woman in court, Paige Mcabee, is innocent of anything other than making a horrid mistake.
Morris_Elk: It is clear the court is not judging her fairly, based on her powers.
Morris_Elk: Should her power be removed, there might be a change in ruling.
Morris_Elk: She would also be imprisoned outside the Birdcage, which would at the very least allow her a retrial.
Slenderman: iS tHiS iNFoRMatioN aLl tHAt yOU hAve
The wait was a moment longer than usual.
Morris_Elk: No.
Slenderman: GivE mE eVerYThiNG
There was about a minute before she came back to the chat room.
Morris_Elk: [link]
Morris_Elk: That is everything.
Slenderman: anYThIng eLse yOu wANt
Slenderman: dAtE
Slenderman: tiMe
Slenderman: loCaTIOn
Morris_Elk: No.
Morris_Elk: Just don't harm anybody.
Slenderman: tHat MuCh rEMaIns tO BE SeEN
Slenderman has disconnected.
I released a deep breath. "Is it normal that this was more stressful than visiting Victor was?" I asked everyone.
Nods all around answered me. "Not surprising," Lisa added. "Since this is unexplored territory." She smiled. "You did good. As far as I can tell, he was sincere about what he said. Desperate, also. You were clearly his last choice for a solution."
I had no issue with that. It was understandable that someone would try every option before reaching out to a cape like Slenderman.
"No risk of your identity becoming public, no traps and no lies." Sveta said. "Everything's clear."
"Any viruses?" I asked Sveta.
She shook her head. "Nothing I can see, but I've never used it that way, so I can't be sure."
A quick visit to a popular torrent site proved that, yes, Sveta could read for viruses, back doors and the like. Morris_Elk's data was clean, at least to Sveta's eyes. So I downloaded the (very large) zip file.
And there was a lot of information in it.
I actually could not think of anything more I could have needed. It went from the blueprints of the courtroom to the entire court case on tape, including the number of Paige's cell and guard patterns. It was a lot more than I expected.
It reminded me of something, actually.
"He's a parahuman," I said halfway through everything.
Everyone turned to me. I could see the gears turning in Lisa's head. "You're right. How did you get that?" Lisa asked.
"This is too much data to be otherwise," I explained. "It makes me think of whenever you send me information, actually." It reminded me of what I'd received when Lisa had pointed me toward this base of mine, and all the details she had included. "It also explains pretty well why he would be concerned about someone going into the Birdcage. All capes fear the Birdcage, and since I'm pretty sure a good part of what he gave me is illegally acquired, he would have good reason to be wary of the law."
"That would explain a lot, actually," Sveta added. "When I escaped the center, he caught me online in less than a minute."
Lisa nodded. "That fits with what I have." She finally said. "Ninety percent sure. Only other way he could do all that would be if he was top PRT or Protectorate brass, and I can't see one of them helping an inmate escape."
"So, a Thinker like you?" T asked.
"Or a Tinker specialized in computers, or even a talented Stranger who could get physical access to all that data," Lisa added.
The discussion tapered off after that, and we went back to the data. Once that was done the lot of us sat down and planned an infiltration mission to be performed in four days. There would be work to be done before I left for Boston, where the trial was taking place, and T would have to do double duty as Arsenal while I was gone. Still, with all that we had and what the pair of us could build, this visit was quite doable.
It was now official, Slenderman was going nationwide.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
[Dragon]
The court session on Thursday began and Slenderman still hadn't showed. I knew because I'd performed extensive checks on Paige Mcabee every day ever since contacting him. In a way, I wasn't surprised; I didn't expect him to go and steal her power right from under the noses of the entire Boston Protectorate. He seemed like a person who chose his battlefields carefully.
The courtroom seemed a better option, especially with the sense of showmanship he seemed to have. It was also less secure, more easily available than a cell three levels under the ground guarded by dozens of PRT members and more than fifteen capes.
If he was true to the pattern I'd noticed, he'd appear somewhere clearly visible to everyone, probably right behind the defense's table. He'd take Paige's power while everyone was trying to escape, close in or get a good attack vector. There were four capes in the room, all members of the Boston Protectorate: Herald, Odyssey, Scyther and White Mirror. All were present in case of an escape attempt, regardless of the current state of the accused.
I estimated ten to eighteen seconds before the Protectorate capes could mount an attack. The main question was if Slenderman would remain present while they struck, as he did against the Undersiders, or simply vanish once his goal was complete. He seemed to have abilities that allowed him to either resist or cancel other capes' abilities, judging by the results of the Undersiders' actions.
I hoped that this was where he struck, as there were not going to be many opportunities after this one. The trucks leading to the Birdcage was the only possibility if he skipped the courtroom, and the results of an attack there were difficult to predict because of the long distance involved.
The members of the jury came out of the deliberation room and I started planning to respond to an attack on the trucks when I noticed someone coming out from under the table at the witness stand. It was empty at this time, and no one paid attention to it, intent as they were on the jurors.
Slenderman.
An idle thought started a background process counting the time since he'd appeared. It would be a good indicator of the Boston Protectorate's reaction time, regardless of the rest of the proceedings.
He sat down in the witness chair for a moment, looking around the room as the jurors read their verdict. Paige dodged attempted murder, but was convicted of both assault and sexual assault with a parahuman ability, which the judge would clearly use to send her to the Birdcage, regardless of the 'three strikes' law.
Slenderman rose out of his chair as the judge turned to her. He stepped out of the witness box, passing less than two meters from the court reporter and as he went to stand straight in front of the defense table. He made no sound I could detect as he did so.
Still, nobody reacted. Why? Some form of Stranger ability, unseen until now?
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
[Paige Mcabee]
I was in shock.
Assault? Sexual Assault? It wasn't fair! It wasn't anything like that! I yelled inside.
The judge called my name, and I turned my attention toward him. I was surprised to find that I couldn't look directly at him, as a tall shape in a business suit blocked my line of sight. I had no difficulty recognizing him, not after how much attention he'd been getting in the Media. I still managed to get infrequent newspapers even while in holding, and the troubles in Brockton Bay had made national news. I'd even seen a grainy photo of him holding up two parahumans from tentacle-like limbs.
It was Slenderman.
With the hood he wore, I couldn't see his face, but I could feel his eyes on me. He took off the glove hiding his right hand, and fingers similar to tentacles appeared from under the cloth. He extended his hand simply, like a man asking a woman to a dance, and I understood his message clearly.
He was offering to remove my power.
It didn't take long for me to think it over. I was not fond of my abilities, outside of the fact that they made me a great singer. I found controlling people like I'd unwillingly done to my ex morally reprehensible, and wanted no part of it. Had I known then what I knew now, I'd never have bought them, even if they'd been free.
My restraints did not have much give built into them, but they had enough. I stared straight toward the hood and nodded, trying to be a clear as possible. I ignored everything else, including the judge who was clearly trying to talk to me.
He started moving once again as soon as my head started nodding, and I found I couldn't follow his steps. He went around the defense table and I quickly felt him arrive at my back. His bizarre fingers appeared from above, and I braced myself in preparation for the removal.
Regardless of their shape, his fingers were cool on my forehead. I had my eyes closed, expecting pain, but none came. Three, four, five seconds passed, and still I felt nothing. He then brushed the strands of hair that had obscured my face behind my ears, and I had the most bizarre feeling that he was trying to tell me that everything was going to be fine.
That was when the laughter started.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
[Dragon]
My timer indicated that sixty seven seconds had passed since his arrival, but no one had done anything. He was in clear view of everyone, yet nothing happened.
As usual, I had a dozen different video analysis programs running in the background, and one of them finally gave some form of result.
Eye movements from a member of the media whose view of the judge was obscured by Slenderman's presence indicated that he was still following the movements of the judge.
Some form of invisibility then, I concluded. He wasn't bending the light, as both the cameras and Paige could clearly see him. Illusions then, or perception manipulation and the like.
"Miss Mcabee, are you paying attention to me?" the judge said. I tuned him out as I realized that, up until now, every single instance of Slenderman's presence had been on video. Outside the E88 capes, Faultline's crew and the Undersiders, all of which were parahumans fitting the criterion of targets, no one had ever seen Slenderman in action live.
This ability explained a lot of things. How he'd been able to take down the non-powered ABB gang members without any indication of battle, how he got right next to the Merchants while they were asleep without them noticing.
It even explained Oni Lee. The teleporter must have noticed his presence somehow, yet couldn't target him reliably. As such, he went and filled the room he was in with as many explosions as he could in hopes of catching his target. The criminal had probably died when Slenderman removed his power and he didn't notice, continuing to toss grenade after grenade. He was ready to toss one when he found his power gone, and in his surprise failed to throw it in time.
The scenario seemed viable, and fit with all the data I had. What he'd been trying to write had probably been 'invisibility' in chinese, only he'd perished before finishing even the first ideogram.
It was the sound of children laughing that brought my attention back to the courtroom. Slenderman was by now right behind Paige, barely two meters in front of Herald, leader of the Boston Protectorate. The Protectorate cape was clearly not seeing the Trump, moving his head around to find the source of the noise. He wasn't the only one. One thing was clear from the microphones in the room, the sound wasn't coming directly from him. I could detect four different sources, all over the room.
Only then did I see the reaction I'd been expecting.
Eyes went wide all through the crowd, and people started running for the exits. Herald, who was closest, reacted near instantly, sending one of his concentrated sonic yells right toward Slenderman, who didn't move an inch. I saw the air ripple on the cameras, but Slenderman didn't seem affected in the least. Even Paige, who was close to the line of fire, showed no effect on her person.
The Protectorate parahumans reacted as I'd expected them to. White Mirror joined his leader, preparing to use one of his signature forcefields while Scyther and Odyssey, close range capes, focused on getting the civilians out of the room as quickly as orderly as they could.
I ignored a message from Arsenal in Brockton Bay, dedicating a simple background process to message him my unavailability. Instead I focused on the events in the courtroom.
I saw Herald prepare another attack, only to stop when Slenderman turned his head - and only his head - towards the man. A full 180 degree turn without twisting his torso in the slightest and Slenderman was now looking directly at Boston's head cape. The sight of his head doing a half-turn to stare at them made the two capes step back, then back yet again as Slenderman's body slowly rotated in their direction, his head not moving a single inch.
By now, only the capes and Paige were still in the room. Tentacles sprouted from within Slenderman's suit, and his laughter grew ever louder. At that very second I started seeing the room's lights fail one by one in random order, and the cameras weren't long to follow suite. The interference didn't last long, barely ten seconds, but when the cameras restarted everything was back to normal, and Slenderman was gone.
I made a copy of the videos from the entire time he'd been in the room, and went over it in detail. I still paid attention to the courtroom, to Paige and the four capes still present, while I typed a message for Chevalier, the head of the Philadelphia Protectorate, requesting his presence in Boston due to an incident and specifying that I would pick him up. I then uploaded myself into one of my suits that could transport passengers, and started on my way toward Philadelphia.
Slenderman had held up his part of the bargain. Time to do my part of the work.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
[Lung]
I was defined by vengeance.
This was something I knew, something I accepted. Engraved in the very core of my self was a list, names of people who had slighted me enough that their actions needed reprisal. It was a very short list, as there weren't many who I couldn't take care of easily.
The woman in the suit, the Yàngbǎn, Slenderman.
Only three.
One had made me, and in doing so had destroyed everything I had. One had tried breaking me, tried molding me into a slave. And one had taken what was mine and needed to suffer for it.
Still, I had learned much from my time as leader of the ABB. The gang had always been a means to an end, and I could gather another in some other place if I wanted. I would need to avenge it later, but Slenderman was the real target of my actions. I'd hoped to draw him out of hiding with the bombing spree, yet he still hid, and only faced my lieutenants.
Luckily, he was somewhat predictable. He attacked those who went against innocents in some way, so escalating was the way to attract his attention.
And there was a target perfect for that.
Arsenal. A rogue Tinker.
I had to admit that Tian Yan had made herself useful by finding a way to buy powers for herself. She could track only three people at the time, but tracking Armsmaster, Kaiser and Coil made for full knowledge of my enemies' plans. Along with a wealth of other information.
Such as the location of this rogue tinker's new workshop. One thing I had learned from Bakuda was the versatility of Tinkers, and how much power their tools could grant. Forcing this 'personal equipment' Tinker build devices for me would be quite worthwhile, and if a Tinker specialized in explosives couldn't fight me, I doubted that one talented in less destructive items would pose a challenge.
And if he could, all the better.
The Protectorate would probably retaliate, but I could handle them. I'd sent them packing with their tails between their legs once, and I could do it again.
I walked forward, intent on the workshop. I'd wait for him there with an ultimatum.
I hope this Arsenal doesn't take it.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
[T]
Contrary to our usual schedule, Taylor had created me a little after one this morning. This let her go to Boston and do her stuff without my body turning to ash while she was gone.
My job while she was away was simple: I was to take up the role of Arsenal. I had been given the task of finishing the pair of beacons the two of us had been working on. I was also going to be in a power-boosting zone from one in the afternoon until she gave me the OK. We'd modified both the Slenderman costume and Arsenal's power suit with a simple text-based message system along with voice-to-text commands. That feature was the only newly added one for Arsenal this time, as we'd spent the rest of the previous few days working on the Slenderman outfit. I'd mainly worked on a sound-nullification system while Taylor had made a few modifications to the actual frame of the suit, along with the installation of a remote voice projection system.
I made sure to be inside Arsenal's lab before seven in the morning, as I had a plan. Given a good four hours of work, I was pretty sure I could finish the beacons, and that would allow me time to work on what I really wanted.
A flight system.
As such, I tackled the work like a woman possessed, and managed to finish the two healing devices before the clock struck eleven. I'd even made some improvements on the things; as they were now, they'd require only thirty minutes downtime every four hours, a noticeable step up from the two hours up, one hour down of our original blueprint.
Then I hit the drawing board and started designing a flight module.
I could have easily gone with a design similar to Kid Win's, especially with all the videos of him in action and the few hints he'd given me, but a hover board didn't interest me. I wanted something I could keep on me at all times, something that could not get stolen, especially in mid-air. Death might not be as permanent to me as it would be to others, but dying from a fall of all things held no interest to me.
I was surprised to find it was past two-thirty when Taylor messaged me. She was starting her 'visit', as she called it. I sent back a simple 'Good luck' and slid over to my computer (making sure to stay inside my zone) to write Dragon an e-mail. I made sure to wait until I felt a new power in the back of my mind before pressing the 'Send' button.
There ended up being two new powers, which meant Paige Mcabee had been a bronze cape. I'd have to see Sveta to drop another Human spark, then.
It was only a few seconds before I received an answer, and it wasn't the one I expected.
I'm sorry, but I'm dealing with an emergency at the moment. I'll contact you a little later regarding the beacons, but my current issue requires all my attention.
Be talking to you later,
Dragon.
I wondered what issue that was. It couldn't be an Endbringer, as Dragon would have simply transferred me to someone else. The only other possibility I could think of was Taylor's 'Visit', and I hoped Dragon wouldn't involve herself. It was a known fact that she wore sealed power suits, which meant that our perception manipulation wouldn't work due to cameras, and stealing or negating her power would be impractical. It also wouldn't stop her from going after Taylor. I was pretty sure she could deal with our shadow abilities, so Tentacle was our only usable ability, and not something that could compete with the world's greatest Tinker.
I waited for some very long minutes, my tinkering completely forgotten as I hoped for a response from Taylor saying she was OK. Unfortunately, Dragon replied first.
Arsenal, this is Dragon. Can I connect to your machine?
The computer I was on was set up for such an eventuality, and as such contained nothing incriminating. Not even some of my blueprints, which went directly into the suit's onboard systems.
Go ahead.
A window opened on the screen, a little less than half its size. Dragon's face appeared in it, with the background that could have been just about any computer room in the country. The view was almost exactly the same as the only known picture of her (taken two years ago) to the point where it was a little eerie. It was a surprisingly normal face, coming from one of the top capes in the world. Brown hair, amber eyes. It could have fit on any American woman around her thirties.
"Sorry for the wait," the Canadian woman's voice rang from my speakers.
"No prob," I said, voice gruff. "Mind telling me what the issue was?"
There was a second's pause. "As numerous members of the media were present, there shouldn't be any issue with me telling you. Slenderman attacked Paige Mcabee's trial a few minutes ago."
I tried my best not to reveal anything. Luckily, a power suit helped quite a bit in hiding body language. "The singer, right?" She nodded. "Was he caught?" I thanked the stars that I remembered to say 'he'.
"No," she replied, sighing. "There were only a small number of Protectorate personnel there, mainly placed in case of Miss Mcabee's escape, and they weren't prepared or able to deal with him."
I internally sighed in relief while remaining outwardly stoic. "Better luck next time, I suppose."
"Indeed." She smiled a little. "Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"
I stepped to the side, grabbed the two beacons and brought them before the camera. "I was just wondering where I should deliver these."
Her eyes grew somewhat wider. "Two?!"
"Well, you did say you needed some as soon as possible, and for a good number of components making two isn't much more work than making one." That wasn't the complete truth, though it wasn't entirely false either. The main reason was that both Taylor and I worked in tandem, and it was rare that we could work on the same beacon at the same time. Two Tinkers meant two beacons, naturally.
"I'm not complaining," she replied with a nod and a smile, then looked to the side for a second. "Would you be able to pass by the Brockton Bay PRT today?"
"Depends. What time?"
"Give me a second," she said, then typed what I supposed was a message to someone other than me. "Would four-fifteen be good?"
I was about to ask for a later time when Taylor responded. She was finished and I was to drop off Human to Sveta as soon as possible. "Four-fifteen will be fine," I ended up replying.
"See you then," Dragon said, and her window closed itself.
Four-fifteen meant I had a little over an hour and a half before the meeting. That was enough time to see Sveta and even grab some lunch before arriving at the PRT. I had snacked while waiting, but a good meal couldn't do anything but help.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
[T]
It was past eight when I finally left the PRT building. Armsmaster had wasted no time in conducting rigorous testing on my beacons, running separate tests on each, and it had taken more than three hours before he was satisfied. I was actually glad I had two, since I estimated it would have taken more than five hours to go through every test with a single device. I was also glad for my late lunch.
By now, Taylor was on her way back from Boston. Dusk had fallen and the shadows were lengthening on the ground, which meant that Shadow movement was now a viable means of getting from one place to another. From what I understood she'd already done a good part of the trip home before sundown while hidden under a bus, but that only meant I had no real clue on when exactly she'd be arriving.
And I was gonna tinker until she did. I had a few good designs, now I just needed to go over them one last time.
Stepping into Arsenal's lab, I went directly to my workbench, flipping on the lights along the way, and scanned over the various plans I had once again. One version seemed the most promising, though I'd have to work something out for the control mechanism. Implanting a chip in the back of my head wasn't something I was keen on doing or even feasible with my clone nature.
"Good evening, Tinker," came a rumbling voice from behind me. I spun around to see the last person I would have expected here.
Lung.
His dragon tattoos shimmered in the low light, and he was wearing his dragon mask. His body language was silent about his emotions. His eyes were boring into me.
"You know who I am, Tinker, and I can see by your reaction you know what I've done." He rose slowly from his seat. "You will build your devices for me, or you will fight me and die, like many before you." I could hear the smirk in the last part. "Make your choice."
My mind went into overdrive as I desperately considered all the possibilities. Working for him wasn't an option; I had only five or so hours left anyway, too little time to actually build something impressive enough to placate him. If he even could be placated. Taylor would be back before that point arrived, but neither of us wanted any link between Slenderman and Arsenal.
Escape was a possibility, but it carried some costs. Arsenal's suit was solid, but it wasn't made for speed; I doubted I could outrun Lung, especially while dodging his pyrokinesis. Shadow form was always an option, but that would compromise Arsenal's identity.
Fighting him with everything I had was also an option, but it carried the same sort of risks. Unless I killed Lung (something I wasn't prepared for), information about my other powers would come out. Sure, I could try to pass them off as Tinker devices, but with Armsmaster and Dragon interested in me I doubted that would fly.
So, fighting solely as Arsenal was the only option I had that could allow this identity to remain intact. I had an ace in the hole, so to say, though how long it would work against someone of Lung's caliber was not certain.
It would be enough for a holding action though.
I switched the external speakers off, then used voice commands to send text messages. The first was to Taylor, explaining the situation. It wouldn't do for her to appear unprepared in the middle of combat.
I wasn't going to send a message from my suit to Dragon. She seemed like a perfectly good person, but I was not going to trust that she wouldn't track my suit, which was often in my real base. I didn't have the Protectorate line memorized, something I would have to fix, so I went with the next best thing.
Under attack. Lung @ 4047 Lincoln. Please help.
I sent the message to Kid Win.
Now that I had backup coming, I switched the external speakers back on. "No," I said. "You will get nothing from me."
I could feel the smile in his voice. "So you will fight, Tinker?" He flexed his fingers as if they were claws.
I didn't answer him. "Lucifer, battle start," I invoked.
"Acknowledged." A handle shot out of the back of my suit and into my waiting hand, a metal ball covered in spikes landing on its end not a moment later. I wasted no time, firing said ball between the still open doors of the workshop, then purposefully failed to brace myself as I allowed the line to reel me out into the street.
"Are you fleeing, little Tinker?" Lung roared, his voice even more grave than before.
"Come and get me!" I yelled back from the center of the road. "Lucifer, Disable Brute Restrictions."
"Disabled," it answered. I didn't wait for a second, detaching the end once more and swinging it to build momentum. Then I sent the offensive part of my device forward. It rocketed ahead, its propulsion coming online at the touch of a button.
The physics behind most weapons are simple. In terms of math, there was no difference between a punch and a bullet. Of course, the latter had much greater speed and affected a much smaller area, which meant that the results were different. But, in the end, the kinetic energy of both was mass times velocity squared divided by two.
Lucifer was no different. Only it worked on a higher level.
The hard end of my weapon hit Lung just as he came out of the building. He somehow dodged part of it, a surprise since Lucifer was moving just short of mach one. Still, the impact launched him into a spiraling tumble to my right, and I was surprised to see scales already present all over his body, hiding his tattoos.
Wasn't he supposed to ramp up slowly?! I screamed inside. Still, I continued the motion I had started, and swung Lucifer around for another pass, this time aiming for his legs.
Now prepared, he jumped over my weapon as it approached, only for me to reverse its flight barely a meter after having passed under him. I clipped him in the knee, this time with less than half of the force due to lack of time to build momentum. Still, he flipped in the air and fell face first to the ground.
I kept the business end of Lucifer spinning above me as Lung rose. I was buying time, and I was sure he would dodge if I tried to hit him while he was down. He was smiling as he stood, a great wide grin. His mask had fallen off. "I will break you, Tinker," he snarled, and the rumble in his voice was even more prominent.
"Big words," I said, aiming to goad him into a charge. "You haven't done anything yet."
He didn't rise to the bait. "I will outlast you still."
"Then come."
He did, charging straight at me, hands trailing flame. I twisted and swung my morningstar straight at him, and battle was joined again.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
[Kid Win]
I was alone and deep in tinkering when my phone indicated I had a message.
That's surprising, I noted. I don't tend to get many messages. Not on my personal phone at least.
Like most Wards, I had two phones. One was my official phone given to me by the Protectorate, the other a personal one for things one didn't want the higher-ups to see.
That phone didn't see much use. I wasn't much of a social person, outside the Wards, and barely anyone had my number. Still, I went and checked it. It wouldn't be the first time Dennis sent me a funny caption or picture that he didn't want Piggot to know about.
Under attack. Lung @ 4047 Lincoln. Please help.
That… That's not Dennis, I quickly realized, helped by the fact it wasn't a number I knew. A message like that from a Ward would have gone on my official phone, if not on the intercom. It couldn't be my parents, either, since both of them were old-fashioned folks who never texted.
Taylor, I deduced. It can only be her.
Then I blanched, realizing what that meant.
I reacted instantly, without thinking. I already had most of my suit on, as I used it for tinkering, so I just strapped my helmet on and put on my gloves before grabbing my hoverboard and leaping through the open window.
I was already a good distance away from base when I realized that might not have been the best idea. I hadn't even informed the others.
I tapped my earbud. "Console, this is Kid Win. Come in."
"Hey, Kid, what's up?" came Browbeat's voice over the line.
I could already see flames from afar. "I'm at the corner of Lincoln and Arlington. Lung is here, fighting someone," I said even though I was still two blocks away.
I could hear the surprise in Browbeat's voice. "I'm transferring you to the main line."
I repeated my statement, and Armsmaster responded. "Kid Win, your patrol isn't for another hour. What are you doing outside at this time?" he asked, his tone suspicious.
"Uhh, I decided to go early?" I answered lamely, and the sound the Protectorate leader made in response clearly said he didn't believe me one bit. Then I stopped in the air as I arrived at the location Taylor had specified.
Lung was there, as the message had said, fighting someone in a power suit. The gang leader was already deep into his dragon transformation, as tall as most trucks and scaled all over. His mask had already come loose, and his face had started to shift. Fire was covering his arms from hand to neck.
His opponent was still fighting, but looked to be in worse shape. Part of the suit's surface had melted, and the Tinker was clearly fighting defensively. Still, the cape swung his mace at the charging Lung and the spiked end shot forward, breaking the sound barrier not long after being launched. It hit the dragon-man straight in the shoulder, and with how much he was pushed back I could guess there was more to the weapon than could easily be seen.
I wasn't fooled by the armor's male lines. It was clearly Taylor down there. I recognized some of the things we'd discussed the last time we'd talked together, before Bakuda's bombing rampage closed the school. She'd even spoken of a weight manipulation system, which was probably how her mace could fly so fast and hit so hard.
"Velocity, Battery, Assault, be ready for deployment. Miss Militia, go to the armory and get the package we discussed," Armsmaster finally spoke. "Kid Win, back to base. The Wards will hold the fort until we come back."
Not happening, I said to myself. "Sir, you can't be serious. Are you telling me to abandon someone to Lung's mercy?" I tried making it clear in my tone that I didn't believe the ABB leader had any.
"A Ward has no place on this battlefield," he replied, and I could tell he was getting irritated. "We'll be on site in five minutes."
Five minutes?! I yelled inside. Was he stupid?
"You're expecting someone alone to last five more minutes against Lung?" I said, trying and failing to keep all of my anger out of my voice. "When he's already taller than a building?"
"That was an order, Kid Win." His voice was cold as ice, a clear indicator that he was furious. "You are to come back to base immediately."
Taylor dodged another blast of flame coming from the ABB leader, and I decided I didn't have time to argue. I shut off my earbud and sheathed my laser gun, since it probably wouldn't do any good.
Besides, I had something much better to fight with.
I pressed a few buttons on my arm, and my greatest work yet started appearing before me, piece by piece. My Alternator Cannon, the result of days of work under the only drug I tried that had an effect. It still needed a good fifteen seconds to finish arriving, much too long, and I crossed my fingers that Taylor would survive until it did.
She managed to, though her left arm had lost most of its mobility, the armor there having partially melted. I remembered her telling me she used boron alloys, which tended to be quite heat resistant. I didn't want to guess how hot Lung's flame was, by now.
The normal setting of my cannon would be useless, being heat generation, so I switched it smoothly to the cryogenic setting as I aimed, and pulled the trigger. Lung dodged somehow, even thought he'd shown no indication of noticing I was there, but my shot still extinguished all the flames in a region larger than the width of the street on impact.
The dragon turned to look directly at me, and I had to admit that was the scariest thing I'd seen as of that moment. It lasted barely a second, but I'll remember it my whole life.
It was worth it, though, since Taylor used the opening to bounce that spiked ball of hers right in the back of his skull.
It seemed like Lung was too solid to be taken down at this point, since the supersonic weapon just made him stumble forward, but it gave me the opportunity for another shot.
Then another.
And another.
Taylor and I fell into a rhythm quite naturally, hitting and shooting. My Alternator Cannon was strong enough to freeze Lung for a moment with a direct hit, which gave enough time for Taylor to get another strike in. She never focused on a single part of him, attacking legs, face and shoulders with no pattern, but it was enough to make him stumble or fall each time.
With each passing second, however, Lung was still growing. His flames were getting hotter and hotter, I realized, as my cannon started having less and less of an effect. Taylor's attacks grew faster and faster, but even there it seemed like they weren't doing enough. Wing sprouted from his back as he kept growing, nearly reaching two stories high by now.
Time was our enemy here, and it seemed it was catching up to us.
Then he managed to jump over one of her attacks, turning toward me at the same time. Her attack twisted in mid-air to catch him anyway, but it seemed like it had lost too much momentum as he toughed it out. I wasted no time and fired straight at him, but he intercepted the shot with a blast of flame more focused than any before. The beam punched through his fire, cancelling it, but it was weakened enough that it didn't slow down Lung as he took flight.
He was charging right at me, so I pushed my board to the side, evading him. Then I twisted around only to see a curtain of flame coming straight at me.
I tried shooting to the side, really I did, but there was no time. My costume took the worst of the hit, melting on my skin in dozens of places, but my board fared worse. It wasn't rated for extreme temperatures, so it stopped working near-instantly. My Alternator Cannon shared the same fate, falling to the ground.
I was lucky enough not to fall all the way to the street, my momentum carrying me to the roof of a nearby building. I rolled as I landed, my nerves raw and screaming from the burns, and turned towards where the ABB leader was banking through the air, glowing like an angry comet.
Taylor had clearly gone straight for his head, hoping to distract him, but he'd expected the attack and caught the spiked ball in his oversized hand, not letting go.
We were screwed.
Worse was that Lung knew it, releasing a great laugh that could probably be heard six blocks away.
Then his head was consumed in a burst of electric blue light, lightning crackling all over him. I was blinded for a second, and when I could see again Lung was on the ground, his wings and scales receding.
"How!?" he yelled.
Armsmaster stepped out of an alley. "Seems like Bakuda didn't trust you so much, Lung. That was one of hers, tailor-made to shut down a parahuman's powers. Just the thing if you wanted to make sure a Brute died in a blast, actually. Doesn't last very long, but works perfectly otherwise."
I could hear more grenades landing around the ABB leader, and he was soon covered in yellow containment foam. I raised my head and saw Miss Militia on another rooftop, on the other side of the street, a grenade launcher in her hands.
"Arsenal, is everything fine?" Armsmaster asked, turning to Taylor.
"It's gonna be a lot of work fixing everything, but otherwise all's good," she replied, and it came out as a gruff, male voice. I belatedly realized that I hadn't even heard her speak before, and that I hadn't known her codename until Armsmaster said it.
"I'll have to thank that Ward of yours," she continued. "Kid Win, was it? Without him, I'd have been toast a good while ago."
"Yes," the Protectorate leader said, and I could hear the undercurrent of anger in his tone. I suspected I was going to hear about this, once we got back to base.
I also understood Taylor's unspoken message. She didn't know me and I didn't know her, not while she was in costume. It didn't surprise me, not with what she'd said about the Protectorate. I also knew she valued her anonymity highly.
On my side, I grabbed the remains of my board and made my way down the fire escape. The action for the night was done, now came the fallout.
I just hoped it wouldn't hurt too much.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
[Lung]
I had lost.
I had wondered why the Tinker hadn't run when it was clear he wasn't up to size. He'd known the Protectorate had been ready for me.
It had been a trap.
There was no one left that would come rescue me.
I wasn't afraid. I had escaped the Yàngbǎn's prison, and I would survive this one as well.
And I would remember, and avenge this defeat.
The lights in the truck suddenly went out, and it stopped barely a moment later. I knew very well from the distance that we weren't yet at the PRT building, so I wondered if some ABB remnants hadn't managed something useful for once.
Then the laughter started.
No, no, no!, I screamed inside. Not now!
A figure stepped right before me, and I could see inside the hood of my sworn foe, at the blank face there. No nose, no eyes. Nothing but white skin.
"Why must you come now?!" I yelled at him. "I tried to get your attention for weeks, to get to fight you, and still you didn't come! Why now?!"
He said nothing. Numerous limbs fell on my face, the only skin not covered in foam. I tried blasting fire at him, but my powers had barely recovered, and the thin flame didn't even mark his face.
Then I felt my power disappear.
"No! Kill me instead!" I yelled. "Anything but that!"
He stepped back, the sound of laughter increasing for a moment, then he was gone.
I cried right then, like I had never done before. I was still crying when the PRT members opened the back of the truck to transfer me to jail.
I couldn't even bring myself to care. I was defeated for good, this time.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
I was at my original base late Thursday morning when I received a message from Lisa.
I'll B @ base for 12. Bring lunch?
I had a good idea what she wanted to talk about, and I had no issue with her presence. She probably would be able to help. Even if she didn't, seeing her is always nice.
Fugly Bob?
She replied in less than a second.
Sure. You, T, Sveta?
Sveta was out, meeting with someone from Brockton Bay she knew on the net. She'd been in contact with him for over a year, from what I understood. With her abilities, I was pretty sure she'd be safe. Also, more social contact might not be bad for her.
Only me & T.
Lisa appeared at the door minutes after twelve, carrying a pair of paper bags. I quickly took one as we exchanged greetings, and the both of us made our way to what I used as a dinner table. "T, lunchtime!" I yelled, then turned back to Lisa. "I recommend staying on that end of the table," I pointed out.
It took a second before she caught on. "Boosting zone, correct?"
I nodded. "I'm testing my new abilities, so I'm over my normal power count."
T came and grabbed her lunch to go. "Hello," she said, face serious. "If you don't mind, I'll eat in the workshop. I've got a lot to do."
"Sure," Lisa said as I nodded. "She okay?" Lisa asked as T went out of sight, looking somewhat concerned.
"She is, but yesterday's battle revealed a few issues with both Lucifer and Arsenal's armor, and she's working on them. Since it seems like school will restart any day now, she doesn't want to waste any time." I then took a bite of my burger.
"Good work on that, actually," Lisa replied, giving me a thumbs up. "Two in a day including Lung, that'll make waves."
I nodded again, frowning. "I'm sure."
My morose look didn't escape Lisa's attention. "Something happened."
"Lung said I'm the reason he bombed the city," I explained. "He wanted to grab my attention. I…"
"You did nothing wrong," Lisa interrupted, looking straight into my eyes. "Lung's a bully, just like Kaiser, the ABB and E88, and that's what they do. They hurt people, just to prove that they're stronger, as if that proved they were superior. If you hadn't done anything, it would have still happened." She smirked. "With someone like Bakuda on their side, it's not like they could have stayed silent and peaceful."
I'm pretty sure she had a point there, but I still had to ask. "You sure?"
"Positive. The ABB wasn't going to stay on the sidelines for long, and with Bakuda's personality massive explosions were pretty much a given," she explained. "She didn't seem like someone who could hold their impulses back. Don't stress on it."
I smiled. Her words had lifted a good part of the guilt from my shoulders. "Thank you."
She returned it. "Now, changing the subject… Powers." She smirked, and I could hear the excitation in her voice. "I suppose you have three or four more, one of them another Human, correct?"
"Yes, three," I answered. "How did you know?" At this point, I shouldn't be surprised, I told myself.
"Up to now, every single cape with physical changes has been a bronze aura," Lisa explained, the smirk not leaving her face. "While Paige Mcabee was more human-looking than Gregor or Newter, those feathers of hers sure weren't normal. I was pretty sure she was a bronze from the very moment you started thinking about meeting her. What about the other two?"
"Music from Paige, and Wyrm from Lung," I replied. I'd hoped for something like his growth powers, but no such luck.
"Music, really?" Lisa asked, curious.
"It's more like rhythmic vibrations of air, but Music is still a good summary. And Wyrm is the concept of a dragon, I simply call it that way so I don't confuse it with the Tinker."
"I'll take your word for it," she replied. "Found out anything already?"
"I've mainly worked with Wyrm so far, and this is what it does by itself." I pressed my hand to the ground and activated the power. When I lifted my hand back up, a small dragon-like construct made out of concrete flowed out of the floor, hanging right under my palm.
"Nice," she commented. "Is it stuck like that under your hand? Do you use your hands to control it?"
"No," I said, and I made the dragon fly up then land on the table while my arm fell back at my side. "I control it with my mind, and it's like gravity doesn't affect it. I can make it slither up or down pretty much at will."
"Do you… see through its eyes, or anything like that?"
I shook my head. "No. I can tell where it is in relation to me, but outside of that I get nothing from it."
"Anything else?"
"I could have made it bigger or smaller, and made more of them. Total mass seems to be my limit. I can also make them sink back into the ground with just a thought."
"I can see this one is made out of concrete. Are you limited to that?" She added. "Could you have made one big enough to ride on?"
"See for yourself." I dipped a finger inside my glass, and a miniature dragon made out of Cola slithered upward around my fingers to arrive right before her face. I even made its wings beat. Then I stood and walked a few steps backwards, pressing my hands to the ground. I was quickly lifted up by a draconic neck the width of my body, and the rest of its body rose behind me.
"An impressive Master power, then." she said, eyes wide. "What about Music?"
I scowled, making both of my dragons sink back to where they came from. "Music is another one with requirements, it seems. A lot like Area. Activating it makes it flash on for an instant, then shut itself down."
"Show me," she asked.
I did so, activating it three times in rapid succession. Up and down it went, staying active for barely half a second. "See?" I said afterwards.
She shook her head. "I get nothing. What have you tried?"
"Not much," I answered. "When it didn't work, I turned to Wyrm."
"Any combinations?"
"Wyrm works with Shadow, with or without Tentacle, and as usual Music combines with Area," I said, explaining. "The latter combo seems to work more like Music, as it doesn't activate on the ground anymore. I did learn something else, though."
"What is it?"
"Paige had Music and Human, and they combined properly in her. It doesn't do the same now that I have them. Also, unlike Sveta, leaving her with only Human didn't remove her abnormal features."
Lisa nodded. "It confirms what I thought. When Sveta turned back into human form, she had Danger and Human combined, true?"
"True," I confirmed.
"I'm pretty certain that Sveta's Changer power was what turned her back into human shape and not the fact that her Human spark was now working properly. The Human spark alone must give Paige a different sort of power, which is why she didn't turn back," Lisa explained. "As for the combination thing, I am not surprised. Since sparks have different effects in different people, it wouldn't be surprising that two sparks that you can match together would be incompatible in someone else."
"Makes sense," I replied.
"You said Wyrm works with Shadow and Tentacle, right?" I nodded. "What does it do?"
"This," I said, and turned into shadow state. I dashed to a darker corner of the room, making sure Lisa could still see me, before I pushed myself back out into three dimensions, but without turning back to human form. I unfolded, taking the shape of a dragon in the darkness, wings unfurled to the sides.
"Most impressive," Lisa said. "Any use?"
"I can affect physical stuff in this form, and even take it back with me if I return to being two dimensional," I explained. My voice was different in this form, as if it was an echo of a distant but enormous sound. "I can also fly, but only in shadowy places." I did so as an example.
"Talking is a bonus too," Lisa pointed out. "What happens with only Shadow and Wyrm."
"I lose the ability to affect physical stuff, and to drag them with me. No tactile sense, either."
Lisa was pensive. "And I suppose Wyrm works with nothing else?"
I shook my head. "No."
She handed me her hand. "Try it with mine?"
I did so. Wyrm and Read, which was the name I had for her spark, didn't fit together. Music did, however.
"Only music works with yours," I replied, giving her back her spark. "Wyrm doesn't."
"Shame," she said. "Want to try figuring out Music?"
"Sure. You have any ideas?"
She grinned. "Have you tried… singing?"
I wanted to hit myself for not thinking of that. Paige Mcabee had been a singer, and her power had worked through her music. The fact that it could be the same for me wasn't far-fetched enough to dismiss out of hand.
"You sure you want me to try that? I mean, it's not like I have a good singing voice." It was another thing I shared with my father. 'A chorus of screeching wounded cats' had been my mother's description of the pair of us. Personally, I think I sounded like a cowbell.
Her lips curled in a smile. "Hit me with your best shot."
Her funeral. I took a deep breath, then started singing 'Ode to Joy', which was the first thing that came to mind. I had been forced to learn it by heart in elementary school, and I still remembered it now.
I activated Music as soon as I reached the second word, and I could feel it staying active this time. I sang for barely a minute without any reaction from Lisa, then stopped for her reaction. "So?"
She blinked after a second as if she'd just realized I'd spoken. "Whoa!"
"What?"
"I couldn't move," she said. "Couldn't do anything but listen. I won't say it was well sung, but I couldn't focus my attention anywhere else."
I scowled. "Not something I'd mind losing."
"Can I try?" she asked, holding out her hand.
"Suit yourself." I grabbed her power and handed it back combined with Music. Her face went blank as soon as she received it, and she turned from left to right as if she was tracking things. Her smile went wider and wider as the seconds passed.
"It's…" she started, then a phone rang. I checked my own, but I wasn't the one receiving a call. Lisa was.
"Lisa here. Yes. Yes." She rose from her chair, and went in a corner to have more privacy. I went back to the food, letting her finish her conversation in peace.
She talked for a good ten minutes, which gave me enough time to make good headway in my meal. She looked anxious when she came back to her seat. "So?" I asked.
"That was the boss," she replied. "He has a new job for us."
"I meant with the power," I specified.
"Oh," she said, and her smile came back to her face. "It… enhances my hearing. It's like having a pair of ears for each sound that comes up, and hearing them all separately. There is so much I can tell from it all it's somewhat dizzying."
"Like?"
"I could name the tools T's using in her workshop, simply by the sounds they make. I can tell there's a computer upstairs by the slight sound of a fan. I could name the few birds we can hear from outside. I could read so much from the boss' words on the phone."
"What about your original power?" I asked.
"Still there," she smirked. "Better, even, since I have more data to work from."
"Good for you," I said. "What's the job?"
"There's gonna be an event this weekend, a fundraiser by the Protectorate," Lisa explained. "With the heroes' takedown of Lung, they want to capitalize on the event to show that it's the good guys who did the important stuff, not the villains. The Boss wants us, and I quote, to 'embarrass' them."
"What?"
"He want us to show the people that the heroes aren't to be relied on. There will be a number of them at the event, along with the upper crust of Brockton Bay, and he wants us to prove to the mayor and the other invitees that the heroes can't protect them."
"That's…" I had to search for words for a second. "Insane. Suicidal, even. Are you sure the Boss doesn't want us to fail somehow?"
"No," Lisa replied instantly. "I could hear it in his words, in his tone. He really wants us to hit the Protectorate in their pride."
"Does he have another plan running in the background? You know, like last time?" I asked.
Lisa shook her head. "I didn't feel anything like that. From what I can tell, this is what he wants. Not a diversion."
I took a deep breath and started thinking. "I don't get it."
"What do you mean?" Lisa asked.
"The image I have of Coil is someone who doesn't waste any time or opportunity, someone who's always reaching for his goals and nothing else. Right?" Lisa nodded. "So it means embarrassing the Protectorate somehow advances his goals."
"Thing is, he doesn't look like someone who's hung up on reputation, on pride. I could see Lung, or even Kaiser, hurting the heroes just to show he can, but not Coil. He needs to get something tangible out of it."
"It could simply be a test," Lisa pointed out.
"No," I replied. "Even in a test, he'd gain something. I don't see him doing a test simply for the test's sake. He'd gain something else, like hurting an opponent or getting data out of it at the same time."
Lisa thought for a good minute. "It fits," she finally replied. "I can't see anything wrong about that train of thought. So, you're against it?"
I nodded. "Unless he brings the one thing I want to the table, I'm not going forward with this."
"And that is?" she asked.
"A face to face meeting with our 'mysterious boss'" I made finger quotes. "And you know why."
"Yes," she said somberly, then rose. "I'll talk to the others, and to the Boss. I'll see what I can do." She started walking, then turned back. "Yeah, about Music…" she started.
"Keep it." I waved my hand dismissively. "I'm not about to sing my enemies into submission. I'd die of shame and end up in jail, defeated by the first deaf person I found. No thanks."
She smiled and waved, and I did the same until she closed the door behind her. Then I rose myself and turned toward the workshop. T could use some help, and doing something with my hands would feel good.
No sense in wasting time.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Coil's request was still trotting in my head the next morning at breakfast. What we'd been asked to do made no sense. It didn't fit with what I'd read online and in the papers about Coil, nor did it fit with what I heard from the other members of the Undersiders, let along what info I had gleaned from Lisa.
There had to be something I was missing somewhere. Some as of yet unknown context that made the situation make some sort of sense.
"Penny for your thoughts, Taylor," my father said with a hint of worry. I nearly jumped out of my chair; I hadn't noticed him coming down and getting his own breakfast.
"You startled me," I admitted in embarrassment as I forced my heart to calm down. "Just some cape stuff, dad."
His face darkened. "Another job?"
I nearly said no automatically, before catching myself. "Yes and no. We've gotten a new request, but I'm not accepting it, and I don't think the others will either."
"Which is?"
"Attacking a Protectorate event." His eyes instantly went wide. "Yeah, that was my reaction too."
There was a good amount of anger in my Dad's voice this time. "That's basically suicide! What is he after?"
"That's the million dollar question, actually," I replied, sighing. "Lisa's the one who's in contact with him, and she says he wants us to embarrass the Protectorate."
"Oh…" he said. "I was afraid of worse."
I could guess what he'd been thinking of, maiming or murder. Picking a fight with the Protectorate without a good reason was simply stupid; the heroes played for keeps, so one didn't risk the Birdcage or worse on a simple whim. Then something came to mind. "Why would someone want to embarrass the Protectorate?" I lost nothing by asking.
My father was silent for a good two minutes, clearly thinking it over. I used the time to make headway in my cereal. I was putting my dishes in the sink when he drained his coffee and turned to me.
"Now, I don't know about capes and the like, but there's really only one thing that comes to mind," he answered. "Whether in business or government, people sometimes attempt power plays like this one. They are mainly done for hierarchy purposes. You're trying to get someone demoted, fired or removed from consideration, most of the time to open a path for yourself or to protect your position."
I almost said this couldn't apply in this case, but suddenly remembered that Coil had very good access to Protectorate information. Who was to say that Coil wasn't a PRT or Protectorate member?
"Is that any help?" Danny asked.
I smiled. "It just might be, thank you."
"Glad to help." He pointed at the clock. "Time for you to go, I think."
I checked and nodded. "Right. See you tonight."
"Have fun kiddo," he said. "Knock'em dead."
"You too, Dad." I ran out the door, waving behind me.
I'd have to discuss this with Lisa later.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
It was two PM when Lisa finally got back to me. The afternoon reply meant she'd probably been working all night again. By now, I was in my PRT-given workshop as Arsenal, finishing the latest touches on my male identity's armor. T and I had done enough work yesterday that I didn't fear going out in public. What work was left could be done anywhere without revealing who I was underneath.
"'lo Taylor," Lisa said on the phone, which was redirected inside my armor's helmet. "You wanted to talk?"
"Afternoon Lisa, and yes," I replied, my voice carrying a smile. "I was curious about what the rest of the team thought about the latest job."
"Pretty much the same as you, actually," she sighed. "Brian was clearly against, and Alec didn't see the use, even with the payout on the line. Rachel was the one closest to saying yes, and that was simply because she didn't like the implication that she was weak."
"I'm not surprised." I had a good idea this was how it would go, especially in Brian's case. "And I suppose you talked to the boss?" I asked.
"Indeed," she answered. "And I transmitted your request. He said he would think about it."
She usually got more out of her conversations with him. "Nothing more?"
"No," she replied, and I could hear a note of anger in her voice. "It was a very short conversation, not much more than a minute. Only thing I can say is that he wasn't happy with the answer."
I didn't like the sound of that. "Will that carry risk for the Undersiders?"
"I doubt it, but it's a possiblility. We've already refused jobs before, back when it was only the four of us, and nothing came out of it," she explained. "He'll probably come with a different offer soon enough. He tends to keep us busy." The both of us were silent for a moment. "That wasn't the only thing you wanted to discuss, correct?"
"No, it wasn't," I replied. "Do you know how the boss gets his information from the Protectorate?"
"I know he has spies in the ranks of the PRT for sure, but I don't know how he gets everything," she said. "Why are you asking?"
"I discussed the job some with my dad this morning, and he pointed out that it looked similar to promotion and demotion ploys in the workplace. That's when I realized I had no clue what he was outside his identity as Coil. You think he might be part of the Protectorate?"
There was silence for a moment. "My gut says no," Lisa finally said. "But I can't say I'm sure about it. He does contact us at all hours of the day, which would imply an irregular schedule, but that may be simply another one of his ploys. Your cape sight doesn't work through cameras, right?"
"Right." I had the proof just two days ago, when Lung and T met. Through the visor, Lung didn't show as a cape, even when he obviously was one. "No such luck."
"Damn," she swore. "That would have made it easy finding him if he was PRT."
"You have access to the PRT cameras, right?" I seemed to remember Lisa mentioning that.
"Yeah, but it doesn't help much in this case," she replied. "It's still looking for a needle in a haystack. And that's only if your idea's correct."
"Still that's at least…" I started, then was interrupted by an alarm flag in my helmet.
It was my new security system, the one that I'd just installed this morning. It was the first time I'd worked on something outside my specialty, and it showed. Compared to what I usually did, it was a kludge and a disaster. Still, it worked, and that was the most important part. It was however nothing better than a normal alarm system.
A quick check at the camera I'd installed showed who it was. "I'll have to go," I said to Lisa. "I have Armsmaster at the door. Catch you later."
"You too," she replied. "Good luck with the Tinker."
"Thanks," I replied, and hung up.
I went to the door, absently noting that I'd need something more secure in the future, and threw it open. "G'day, Armsmaster," I said, and it came out with the gruff voice of my male identity.
"Arsenal," he replied, nodding respectfully.
"What can I do for the Protectorate today?"
"Just two things, and I'll leave you to your tinkering," he said with a slight smile. He was a Tinker too, so he understood that one did not keep someone from his workshop. "First is I simply wanted to make sure you were fine. You seemed alright after that business with Lung, but I know from experience that some injuries aren't noticed until hours afterwards."
"Nothing some time under a beacon can't fix," I ruefully replied. "As for the armor, you can see for yourself." There were still parts which had been deformed by the heat, and some others where the metal plates had been removed. "A day or two of work, and I'll be back to one hundred percent."
He nodded. "That's good to hear." A panel in his armor opened, and he withdrew a letter from it. "This is the second point." He handed it to me.
I opened it with my screwdriver finger attachment, and read it quickly. "What?" I said, surprised.
"The powers that be," he said, and I could clearly hear the irritation in his tone, "have decided to do a fundraiser now that the ABB issue has been buried, some form of PR move." He was scowling, I realized. "Given your work in the battle against Lung, the PRT heads would like to have you there."
"What work? I just held my ground, that's all."
"And against Lung, that's a lot. How long did you manage?" Armsmaster asked.
"I don't know, seven, eight minutes?" Seven minutes forty-three seconds, actually, between sending the message to Kid Win and Lung getting foamed. T had noted the end of the battle, and the calculation wasn't difficult to make. "And I had help." I wasn't denying the fact that Kid Win was the only reason T had lasted that long.
"The only time the Protectorate managed that well against Lung, there were seven people fighting him, all capes," Armsmaster replied. "That two people did that well is impressive."
I looked again at the invitation. "I don't see why I should go."
"Well, I won't force you, I'd sure prefer to stay in my workshop myself," he pointed out. If he wanted me there, he sure wasn't doing anything to sell it. "I hope you do come; it'd be good to have someone to talk Tinker stuff with." He did a move that made me think he was looking at something inside his armor. "I have to return to my patrol. Talk to you another time."
I nodded. "Thank for the check-up."
"Happy to see you're fine." He waved and stepped out.
I didn't know what to think. I'd just dodged this particular shindig from the other side, only for this to drop in my lap. Having a world renowned Tinker wanting my presence still had an effect, though. I was over most of my hero worship after what happened, but some still lingered. And he'd been the one who'd saved Kid Win and T's bacon.
I'll have to think about it.
I went back to the workbench. Regardless of what I chose, I'd need the armor fixed as soon as possible.