Corporate Relations

[T]

I sat down at my desk with a huff. After weeks without school, getting back into class felt like a waste of time. I could do so much more on the workbench than I could at a desk.

Even worse, not all the teachers had returned after Bakuda's rampage. There had been very few losses, but a number were still wounded and others had left for greener pastures. And not all courses had replacement teachers yet.

That meant that I had two classes cancelled today, and of course not the first or the last one but those in between. Sure, I could use Shadow to rush back and forth, but that wasn't the same thing. Having to watch the clock and interrupt my tinkering every few hours made it difficult to advance properly.

I would have gone for another sigh, but Chris came in right at that moment. One of the only silver linings was that school brought me back in contact with him. And I still owed him one.

"Hey Chris," I said. "How's it going?"

He waved half-heartedly in my direction, then crumbled in the seat beside mine.

That doesn't sound good.

It didn't look good either. Chris didn't seem wounded, but he had bags under his eyes, and not like those he usually had when he tinkered late.

"You okay?" I asked.

He turned toward me, eyes half-closed. "I did a four hour patrol starting at two this morning."

I cringed. "That's rough."

"That's not the only thing," he started. "I…" he was interrupted by the teacher arriving and taking roll call.

I didn't have much a chance to continue the conversation during class, as the number of days missed meant this was a condensed lecture class with only note taking.

I did, however, manage to catch up to him as we left class. "You have a class to go to?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"You should go get some sleep, then."

"Can't," Chris answered. "I'm to stay at school on call." I cringed again at that.

We moved to a table in one of the least frequented areas of the school, in an unused classroom once used for Economics. I did grab him a coffee from a vending machine on the way, because he really looked like he needed it.

"So, what happened?" I asked.

"I'm basically on punishment detail," Chris said after drinking half his coffee in one shot. "I get the unwanted shifts no one wants, I'm being retested on Protectorate procedures relentlessly the rest of the time, and worst is I'm cut off from my workshop until further notice."

That's just mean, I thought. The best way for a Tinker to relax was through tinkering, so cutting one from using his powers hurt. "That's a little much for simply going against orders." That's at least what I understood was the cause of Kid's suffering.

He sighed. "There's more than that. The weapon I deployed against Lung hadn't gone through the official testing process, so when Armsmaster found that particular detail out he was livid. That added an extra five days of late patrols, along with the retesting."

I lowered my head. "Sorry about that." It was my fault he had been there.

"Don't be," he reassured me with more energy than before. "Armsmaster wanted me to abandon someone to Lung's nonexistent mercy. I wouldn't have been to live with myself if I'd followed those orders." He gave me a slight smile. "Now, let's talk about something more interesting. Anything new in tinkering?"

I verified with Perception that Chris was the only one watching me, then reached into my bag and withdrew a rectangular box.

"What's that?" he asked with growing enthusiasm.

"A gift," I replied. "Something to replace your broken board."

"You didn't need to," he countered. Still, he opened the box with evident curiosity and withdrew the contents. First came eight bracer-like objects about six inches long, then something similar to a choker. Finally, he took out a heavy sheaf of notes.

Unsurprisingly, he immediately dove into the notes instead of looking at the rest. Typical Tinker behavior, I thought. I'd have done the same.

He didn't come out for ten minutes. "A thought-controlled flight system? Through gravity manipulation?" he asked when he did.

I nodded with a smile. "Like it?"

"For sure I do!" he exclaimed. "I mean, I had to do my latest patrols on the ground, and four hours of walking was way more than my feet can agree with."

"Glad to hear it," I answered. "Anything there giving you ideas?" Chris had told me his specialization was laser guns, but he didn't sound so sure. It didn't fit with what he used, also.

"Well…" He started, somewhat unsure. "I can't help but notice the only thing your thought reading device does is direct the various bracelets." I nodded. "If it could be made somewhat larger, processing power could be improved, along with ports for other devices. Drones, weapons… there could be a lot we could add to this."

My eyes went wide. Plug and play? I thought. Why didn't I think about that? It wouldn't be so difficult to add, and the possibilities were endless.

I smirked. "I like the way you're thinking!" I exclaimed. Once again I verified we were alone, then I withdrew pen and paper from my schoolbag. "Let's get cracking, then."

A similar smile was on Chris' face. "Well, first off is replacing this chip. It's good enough, but a quad setup would provide more versatility. Eight would prove even better for redundancy." I noted said details as he continued. "Ports would go here, and…"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

[Taylor]

While T was in school, I was working on Arsenal's armor. Fixing my remaining mics along with the rest of the damage inflicted by Genesis had taken a few hours this morning, and I could now work on adding new systems.

Which is what I was doing. While the battle against Lung had probably gone as well as it could, the fundraiser had revealed numerous deficiencies in my suit's capabilities. I went directly from knocking out normal people in close combat to Brute-level damage at range with nothing in between, an oversight which had to be fixed. I could benefit from a defense against Movers in general, and teleporters in particular.

And I had to figure out something against attacks that could go through or ignore my armor. Luckily, I already had an idea about how to handle that.

I was hard at work when the phone line in my suit indicated a call. Early afternoon, so it didn't take much to guess who it was. "Hello Lisa," I answered.

"Hi Taylor," she replied. "Mind coming over? We have the details of the Boss' latest request, and I'd like you present when we go over it."

"Only me?"

"Sveta is on her way and the rest are already present," Lisa answered.

I would have rather continued tinkering, but it seemed that work was calling. "On my way."

Using Shadow, I was in the new Undersiders base a dozen minutes later, with Arsenal's armor safety tucked away at home. "Good day Undersiders," I said as I turned back into human shape right beside my chair. I was a little disappointed that the only reaction to that was Regent swearing and handing a smirking Lisa a roll of bills.

"Now that we're all here, here's the Boss' latest." She unrolled a map of the city, then marked a dozen spots. "The Boss want us to hit these places, all of which belong to the E88."

"What kind of places are they?" Brian asked.

"Safe-houses mainly from what I can see," Lisa replied. "One or two weapon depots and a mustering place, but the rest are all hidey-holes."

"And the reward?" Regent asked.

"A thousand per person per place we hit, plus whatever cash we find as usual."

"Nice," the Master said with a smile. "I could use a payout like that."

"Only that?" I asked. I wasn't talking about the money, and Lisa knew it.

It seemed too little for Coil's latest plans.

"He's also paying the same for every other Empire place we hit after these are done," Lisa added. "Which is the reason I wanted everyone here. I know some of us scouted other places the Empire's working from, and I wanted to add them so we can do everything correctly."

Lisa had me in her sight when she said that, and with good reason. I quickly added half a dozen places I remembered from my earlier explorations. I wasn't the only one; Brian added two and Regent added another. Then Bitch took the pen and grimly added a whole seven more.

I wasn't the only one surprised. "What are those?" Sveta asked.

"Dogfighting ring," she answered with a growl.

I scowled, and even Regent whistled at that. "Anybody against hitting those places right after the Boss' locations are cleared?" I asked, voice tight.

Brian looked from side to side. Nobody was disagreeing with me. "Motion carried," he confirmed. "We'll need a place to evacuate those dogs. You have anywhere in mind?"

Bitch looked at him straight in the eyes for a moment, then nodded. "Perfect." Brian replied.

"I'll make sure I have a healing beacon ready in case it's needed." I added. Bitch simply nodded once more.

"So we're going out tonight, then?" Regent said. "Blondie, I'll need that taser back."

"Not tonight," Lisa countered while I went and unlatched Regent's scepter from my leg. "The Boss wants us to wait and hit those spots after seven AM, tomorrow."

"That's not an issue, but any reason why?" Brian asked.

"I don't know exactly, but info points toward the Boss running something before seven tomorrow," Tattletale explained. "Something that makes him expect those safehouses will be occupied."

"Any clue what?" I asked.

Lisa shook her head. "Nothing concrete. The only thing I could tell you is that it'll hurt the Empire bad."

"Any danger for the Undersiders from that plot of his?" Brian asked.

"Not that I can tell."

Brian rose. "Then, in seventeen hours, we're hitting those safe-houses. Everyone get some good sleep tonight, because tomorrow's gonna be a busy day. Undersiders, meeting adjourned."

I handed Regent his scepter as Brian left. "Here's what you asked for."

"Nice." He twirled it in his hand to test the weight. "Anything special I should know, Blondie?"

I ignored the nickname. "Just remember to plug it for at least three hours whenever the light here…" I pointed at hidden light near the middle. "Goes red." I then showed how to extend the plug.

"Glad to know I won't have to deal with batteries anymore," Regent replied. "How long should it last before needing a recharge?"

"Power supply's good for around a hundred shots. The light turns red when it hits twenty percent charge."

Regent's eyes went wide. "Nice," he said with a whistle. He then twirled it out again. "Can't wait to try it out."

The boy then left, leaving me with only Lisa and Sveta. I went back to my chair.

"You don't have any issue with this mission, I suppose?" Lisa asked.

"I was already hitting the Empire when I worked alone, so I don't have anything against doing so with the rest of the team behind me," I replied.

"Good," Lisa replied, the turned to Sveta. "We safe from being overheard?"

Sveta visibly focused for a second. "At least for the next thirty minutes."

"Thank you." Tattletale turned to me. "To answer the question you wanted to ask, no I didn't get anything more about Coil's plans from the footage you gave me." She stopped for a second, then continued. "And I can't tell you anything about whatever he's going to do before our mission tomorrow."

I took a deep breath to center myself. It was annoying when Lisa did that, and she knew it. "Anything you can say?"

"Not much," she answered. "Whatever it is, it's big. From Coil's words, I could get an undercurrent that this might actually destroy the Empire, all alone. We Undersiders are just there to hammer it in."

I thought for a moment about what that could be, but nothing came to mind. The Empire 88 was big both in capes and in general numbers, well supplied, and had a big enough hold on the city that taking them out had failed multiple times. They'd survived even the Slaughterhouse Nine while most gangs around them folded.

I couldn't see what could do that much damage.

"We'll have to see," I was forced to admit after a minute of contemplation with no results.

I couldn't help but have a bad feeling about it, though.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"You have something going on today, don't you?" Dad asked as I moved my cereal around.

I turned to him, shocked, as my spoon fell with a clack in my bowl. "What? How did…"

"I'm not blind," my father replied. "It's clear you have something on your mind. You know that if you need to talk, I'll listen."

I thought for a moment, but there was nothing planned today that I couldn't talk about. Nothing worse than the bank or the various attacks on ABB locations, at least. "We have another job today from our boss," I finally said.

"Anything… questionable?" he said, clearly choosing his words carefully.

"No, not like that," I replied. "He gave us a list of Empire safehouses and mustering points, asking us to hit them starting after seven this morning."

I saw some of the tension leave his shoulders. I knew he didn't like the idea of me fighting, but he preferred it when the targets were at least deserving, like the E88. "What has you so worked up, then? You told me of dozens of buildings like those that you've already hit, some of them even alone. What's so special about this time?"

That was the million dollar question. "I don't know, actually. It's just this bad feeling I have for some reason." Said feeling hadn't left since yesterday, and had even gotten worse as time went on. "There's something sketchy about this one, and the Boss has another plot running that we know nothing about."

I was about to continue the conversation when my alarm rang. "I have to go," I said. I was really in a hurry today, with how close I was cutting it between regenerating T and rushing to the Undersiders' base.

"Knock'em dead…" Dad said with a smile. "Figuratively, of course," he added a second later as he waved.

I smiled at his antics. "See you tonight." I then turned into shadow and dashed for the sewers.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I was the last one to enter the Undersiders' meeting room/kitchen, unsurprisingly. I appeared in my chair without more than a twitch of the eyes from everyone.

"Sorry I'm late," I said. I wasn't that late, just three minutes. I'd probably beaten my own speed record for this distance.

"Glad you're finally present, sleeping beauty," Regent drawled. "We were about to start without you."

I ignored him and turned to Brian. "Anything I should know before we leave?"

Surprisingly, it wasn't Grue who answered but Sveta. "There's an incoming danger in the next few days. Tomorrow at the earliest."

"What?" I asked. Judging by the others' reaction they'd already been told. "What type of danger?"

"We don't know," Lisa said. "We only know what it isn't."

"It isn't capes, explosives, humans, natural disasters, plagues, radiation…" Sveta listed.

"Zombie hordes, rampant AIs, dogs…" Regent added with a smirk, only to get glared at by Bitch.

"I even tested for the living and the dead, and it isn't even that," Sveta concluded.

"Basically, it isn't anything we've thought of," Lisa added. "It's not anything today, either. From what Sveta can tell it won't hit today, but starting tomorrow there's a slight danger of whatever it is happening."

"Is it… based on what we do today?"

"No, it isn't," Brian answered. "We already verified that. That's why we'll hit everything today. We don't know what's coming or how to stop it, so we'll do as much as we can today and go to ground tomorrow."

"Don't like it," Rachel added, clearly not happy. "Feels like running."

"I don't like it either, but until we know more I'm not about to borrow trouble," Brian countered. "After today, we'll be flush with the boss' latest payoff and ready to handle anything that comes." He looked around. "Anybody have anything to add?"

I didn't, and the others kept silent as well.

Brian grabbed his helmet from the table and put it on. "Let's go then, Undersiders."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Hitting the first few safe-houses went without a hitch. A couple of guards there in each, and nothing more. Regent was happy with the easy money, but it only made me stress more. Six thousand dollars for hitting an empty house? There had to be a catch.

I didn't have an opportunity to talk to Tattletale about it until we'd already hit five different places.

"I'm liking this less and less," I told her as she drove. Unsurprisingly, she had a driver's permit.

"You're not the only one," she replied as she turned, following the van before her. The rest of the team was in that one, while we had two of Bitch's dogs. "There's not enough reason for this. He could have sent regular guys inside instead of us, and gotten the same results. There's something else going on, something I can't put my finger on. And it's driving me mad." That could easily be seen in her face: jaw muscles tense and no trace of her usual knowing smile. I could practically hear her teeth grinding against each other.

"Yeah," I confirmed. We'd just hit the mustering point, and outside twenty or so racists, there hadn't been anything there. I'd expected at least a cape or two, but no such thing.

Lisa stopped the van in an alley, right behind the one driven by Grue. The place was the second weapons depot, and after that the rest were safe-houses.

Grue stepped out, followed by Alarm and Regent. Bitch was last, and she instantly whistled as she came out. We'd opened the side doors beforehand, and both Brutus and Judas ran straight to her.

"So, Alarm, danger from Empire capes?" Grue asked. He'd done so before every attack, and she'd nailed it every time.

But this time was different. Instead of quickly answering, she turned, looking toward the docks, and even walked a few steps. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at something flying in the distance.

Tattletale was the one who answered, her hand above her eyes. "Purity, I think."

Her words were confirmed barely a second later when a double helix of light shot down from the figure. Even at this distance, we could hear the sound of a building crumbling.

"What?" I said, and I wasn't the only one. Grue was clearly surprised, Alarm the same, and even Regent looked somewhat shocked.

Lisa quickly withdrew her cellphone and started typing. Before long, she had a video up, one put on the web a few minutes earlier. "Undersiders, Protectorate. Take note," a female voice said, her shining form on camera. Purity. "Because of you, the most important thing I have was taken from me. Until she's back, this won't stop." Another beam lanced out, cutting an apartment building at its foundation. It fell behind her a few seconds later. "We will kill anyone who gets in our way. White, Black, Asian... I no longer care. If you aren't already with us, you are against us." She pointed to the side. "Night, Fog, demonstrate."

The six of us then had front row seats to the horrid execution of a white man. Fog turned into his namesake, covering the man, then Night went in and ripped him to shreds as he screamed. The man Changer took human form again, and only Night was left. Of the white man, only long bloody marks remained.

It was clear she and her group were playing hardball.

"What do we…" Sveta started as Lisa stopped the video, only to be cut off by Grue.

"Call the Boss," he said, voice flat, the kind that told you someone was angry because of how forced it sounded.

"Doing it now," the Thinker replied. The phone started ringing a second later, still on speaker. It rang and rang and rang, but no one picked up. After the twelfth ring, Tattletale hung up.

"Damn!" Grue yelled, punching the wall beside him. "Tattletale, anything?" he finally asked.

"Family," Lisa replied. "Something happened to Purity's family, that's the 'she' Purity was talking about. Something happened, something she's blaming on us, and the Protectorate got involved. No clue what it is, not yet." She went back to her phone. "Give me a few seconds."

It barely took that.

"Fuck!" she yelled, and handed Grue the phone. Whatever was on it, I could see the surprise in his body language. He read for a few seconds, then handed the phone to me.

What was on it was a news site, an article with the header 'E88 identities leaked!'. I looked quickly, and everyone was there: all the capes from top to bottom, with real names, addresses and families. Even some non-capes.

Kaiser was Medhall's CEO all along, and that's where all those drugs came from, I suddenly realized. He'd been powerful even outside his gang. I feared what his riches had brought, and how many people were in the E88's pockets without even knowing.

"The Boss did that?" Grue exclaimed while I was reading. A quick look at the time of publication indicated we'd already struck three places when it went online.

Lisa nodded. "99% sure. He was planning something big against the Empire, something he felt could destroy them. I got a reading off him that he thought something to happen to us, but nothing that pointed to a play like this one. This is way beyond the unwritten rules."

I nodded at that. I didn't follow said rules completely as Slenderman, but I'd at least made sure never to put innocents in danger. Coil knew the consequences of releasing this information, and he did it anyway.

Grue glared down at her. "Why is the first time I hear of this?"

"No proof," the Thinker explained. "Just a hunch, nothing I could explain or that made sense. I was checking into it, but I didn't expect anything this soon. I half expected it to be some kind of fallout from this job."

"We're burned, then," Regent said.

"What?" I asked, turning myself from the phone.

"He's cutting us off, putting us in a situation where we'll be eliminated without him lifting a finger. Classic villain plan to deal with people not trusted," he explained. He didn't seem very surprised as he said it.

Grue looked around at the group. "Anyone here worked against the Boss?" he asked with a growl.

I shook my head, as did everyone else. I might have been planning things, but nothing had gotten to the action phase. "Hell no," Regent replied. "I'm not gonna risk a cushy job like this one." Bitch simply growled as she shook, her dogs imitating her. "Knew he couldn't be trusted," she then added.

I said nothing. Knowing who the Boss was, something like this didn't surprise me in the least. A look at Tattletale showed that she felt the same.

"Damn it!" Brian cursed, punching the wall once more. There was then a moment of silence. "Now what?" he finally inquired.

"We fight," Rachel said simply.

Brian turned to said girl. "You crazy?"

"I'm with her," I said. Grue turned toward me and I had the impression that he thought I'd been replaced by an imposter.

My reasons were mostly pragmatic. First was the fact that she was doing incredible damage to the docks, and as someone out to defeat the gangs, staying away felt wrong.

Second was that she was targeting the actual docks.

I had no clue if my dad was down there or not, but I wasn't going to take the risk. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to him because of my choices. If taking on Purity and her group was the price, I'd pay it gladly.

Sveta stepped beside me and nodded. "I'm going."

"You all wanna take a Blaster in mid-air?" Grue replied, looking from one of us to the other.

"We don't have much choice," Lisa added, having taken back her phone. "The whole E88 is on the warpath, and they're not holding back anymore. This has the potential to become worse than the ABB bombings," she explained. "The Protectorate have already taken the field, but I don't think they'll manage much. There's a whole block already destroyed, and she's been at it for less than an hour. The longer we wait, the more damage there'll be, and who knows who might end up in the crossfire. And that's not counting what'll happen if the Empire's non-powered forces join the field."

I instantly got what she was pointing out. Brian's sister, whose name I just realized I didn't know. She was a prime target for the E88, and her security was his main goal.

He stepped back as if struck, then was silent for a moment. Clearly, he couldn't refute what had just been said. "Cheap shot," Regent pointed out.

She smiled a little. "Doesn't make it less true."

"Yeah," Grue said, gathering himself. "Still not the kind of fight I like getting into."

"Hopefully she'll listen to reason," Tattletale said, though her body language indicated she believed otherwise.

"Undersiders, back in the vans," he ordered, pointing. "No use getting hammered on the way. We're riding closer before we make contact."

We didn't get far. Barely two streets over, Grue's van swerved to a stop on the curb, and Tattletale had to brake suddenly not to ram them. A second later, a chunk of concrete fell right where his van would have been.

"Well, well, well… Look what we have here…" a grave male voice rang, coming from the opposite side of the street. A muscled man in a wolf mask stepped into the light a second later, hooks already bursting out of his skin. Behind him, two more Empire capes followed, along with another pair stepping into view on the roof of the building beside him.

"Spread out!" Grue yelled as he abandoned the van, covering the E88 capes with his shadow at the same time. Hookwolf charged out of that darkness not even a second later, clearly intent on carnage.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I had to give Rachel her due credit; however difficult she might be to deal with, when in a fight she fought without hesitation. Angelica, the dog she'd kept with her, grew to huge proportions at high speed and tackled the incoming Hookwolf.

"GO!" Tattletale yelled beside me, unhooking her safety belt. I ignored my own, turning to shadow and flowing through the glass.

I'd barely returned to human form when one of the E88 capes blew a five-meter wide hole in Grue's mist. The cape's distinctive look allowed me to identify him quickly.

Stormtiger. His trick was aerokinesis, which was one of those powers that could have a variety of uses. From what I'd read he was mainly a close range fighter, though I personally wouldn't bet on that at the moment.

The bare-chested cape tried lunging forward to rejoin Hookwolf in the front lines after his failed attack, only to stumble and fall. I didn't even have to turn and look to know that Regent was smirking at his misfortune.

A series of growls signaled Judas and Brutus' entry to the fray, courtesy of Tattletale. They'd already been somewhat bulked up while in the van, but once more they grew as they joined Bitch's other dog against Hookwolf with a whistle from their mistress.

I shadow-dashed to the roof of the closest building to get a good view of the action, and found myself opposite a floating flatbed trailer full of steel girders, with two capes standing there. The first, Rune, I recognized instantly, being the youngest cape in the Empire's roster, but it took a moment before I identified the second as Krieg.

I mainly realized this due to the strange resistance the Shaker brought to the air. It was as if something akin to the wind or to gravity was fighting our every move, making us slower to react. The effect could easily be seen in the battle between the three dogs and the E88 Changer; the canines' attacks seemed slow and unsure compared to previous battles, while Hookwolf had no problem capitalizing on their sluggishness. I couldn't tell for the rest of the enemy team, as Grue kept engulfing Stormtiger and his surroundings with shadows, but Hookwolf seemed faster than the few videos I'd seen of the man.

The Empire Shaker needed to go, pronto.

The problem was getting to him. Their floating platform was well outside jumping range, and my only flying ability was useless in this light. None of the Undersiders save Bitch's dogs could attack something that high, and outside of them we were helpless against Hookwolf.

Leaving that platform free, though, would end with us hammered to the ground. I needed to find a counter quickly or we were done for.

Our opponents, however, weren't going to let us catch our breath. Stormtiger blew a larger hole in the black mists, more than twenty meters wide this time. For a moment I saw Cricket, the last member of the Empire team, before another wave of darkness from Grue hid her and Stormtiger once more. She and Alarm were going head to head, and it seemed like the Nazi couldn't manage to land a blow, something that was visibly frustrating her.

That was when Rune made her entry into the fray. Seven girders shot forward at speeds greater than I'd expected, exploding into noise that left my ears ringing as they struck the ground with torturous shrieks. Both of our trucks were instantly totaled, glass and metal spraying across the asphalt. A pair of steel girders swept into Bitch's dogs with cannonball force, brutally knocking them aside. Hookwolf didn't miss the opportunity and skipped past the canines holding him back.

Two shots didn't, however, have the expected results. One went right for what I thought was Grue, only for it to turn out to be a duplicate he'd shaped out of shadow, while the other went straight for Sveta. Cricket jumped before the girder came close to her position, and Alarm didn't miss the opportunity that presented itself. She grabbed the female Nazi by the ankle as she dodged the incoming projectile, twirled around once for momentum then threw the E88 member into the darkness at something. Whatever happened, Cricket didn't show up again.

The last girder was aimed at my head.

I turned back to shadow right as it clipped the edge of the roof, and rode the girder back to ground level. While it looked like Cricket and possibly Stormtiger were out, we were still in a bad position. The Nazi's floating artillery position was keeping the dogs busy, and while Regent was trying to keep Hookwolf from reaching him, he was clearly having difficulty. If he closed to melee with any of us, we were going to get mauled.

And there wasn't much I could do against the Changer. My armor was solid, but not enough to face a melee specialist like him face to face. He'd slice me apart in an instant.

It was Alarm that finally gave me the inspiration I needed. She grabbed the girder that had been launched at her, and hurled it back at the floating capes. Between Krieg's and Rune's powers, it was intercepted before even hitting them, but it sparked an idea. I dashed straight for her position while the two floating capes peppered the area with attacks.

I ended up having to drag Alarm out of Grue's cloud of darkness to explain my plan, but she understood quickly. She grabbed the closest projectile she could find (a sewer grate) and tossed it at the floating platform at even greater speed than her first throw. This time Rune levitated her trailer higher, and the grate struck the bottom rather ineffectually.

I did, however, manage to slither out from under the grate and into the shadows beneath the platform. A second later, I turned back to human form right behind the teenage Nazi and struck at her with two tasing hands. She dodged the first, but the second nailed her in the kidney, and she crumpled a second later.

And the three of us were now in free fall as Rune's power lost its effect.

Krieg reacted quickly, grabbing his stunned comrade and slowing their combined fall while giving me a telekinetic push off the trailer at the same time. I turned into shadow as soon as I reached the ground, negating my fall and hiding in the shadow of the descending trailer. The steel mass hit the road like a giant bell, scattering girders all around, and people the other side of the city probably heard the impact.

Luckily for me, Grue had seen my maneuver. A patch of darkness two meters wide appeared around the Nazi Shaker, with my usual inch at the bottom. It took a few seconds for me to find Krieg's back, but once I did he went down in an instant. I then ran out of the shadowy spot.

"Krieg down!" I yelled. And saw that Judas and Angelica had finally managed to dogpile Hookwolf, bare meters from Bitch's position. The Changer still moved, trying to free himself, but the dogs were now large enough that he didn't reach anything vital. Alarm had come out of Grue's shadow close to the rest of the team, and only Tattletale was out of sight.

We had this fight under control, finally.

"Good job people!" Grue said. "Now we'll…" he started, only to be interrupted by a yell from Alarm. "Down!" she cried out, jumping to knock Regent aside roughly.

And everything went right to hell.

A foot wide beam of light sliced through the darkness. It missed Regent by inches, then continued on to strike at the canine pile, where it blasted the parties all over the place while throwing dust in the air.

I didn't catch the rest with my sight blocked. I simply heard Grue cry out in pain, and turned in that direction.

And in the next moment, I was flying through the air.

I hit the wall so fast I didn't even have time to turn to shadow. I just slid to the ground, dazed and hoping the cracking sound I heard wasn't my own skull.

The air quickly cleared, and I found a hooded woman in a black cloak standing where I had previously been. It took me a moment to focus enough on the newcomer before I realized who she was.

Night. One of the E88 capes I knew the least about; there were no videos of her powers, only speculation. Rumors had it that she'd left the Empire's employ, but it seemed she was back at least for this crisis.

She rushed me once more, grabbing something under her cloak, and I didn't take any chances. I turned to shadow near-instantly and shot up the side of a building.

I found there that the situation had gotten completely upended while I'd been tossed around. Grue was jumping on one foot as translucent blades crisscrossed the pavement like shark fins breaking the water's surface, Regent was trying and failing to keep Hookwolf down for more than a second while the Changer advanced on four legs, Alarm was constantly backing away from an advancing cloud of mist, and Purity kept blasting any dog that came too close to any Empire member, along with taking potshots at Bitch.

And me, as soon as she noticed my presence.

I jumped to the side, turning to shadow at the same time. Purity was the worst opponent for a group like ours: she was fast, flying, had long-range attacks, and had light-based abilities to boot.

Things were going south very quickly.

Night rushed in, going straight for Bitch. Alarm twisted around and ran right for the Empire cape, dodging the canister the woman threw. Smoke rushed out of it in great volume, and that section of the battlefield was instantly shrouded from sight.

Only then did I notice Tattletale, and only because she'd come out of the alley she'd been hiding in. She had her phone in hand, and used her other hand to amplify her voice. "Ride out!" she yelled, then whistled sharply. Brutus ran straight for her, and she climbed on.

Seconds later she rode west out of sight, and the rest of the Undersiders did similarly on the other dogs. Bitch and Alarm escaped east on Angelica, while Grue and Regent dashed north clinging to Judas' back. Purity didn't hesitate for a second, going straight for Tattletale, while a number of ghostly figures rose from the ground to head north after the two male members of the Undersiders, grabbing a man in armor along the way.

And I was left behind.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It hurt to watch the Undersiders flee, I had to admit. I could understand the logic behind the action since we had nothing that could do more than annoy Purity. The fact was I could easily escape on my own, but being left behind like that reminded me of Emma's abandonment. And that was painful.

Nevertheless, I moved to get a better vantage point over the remaining Empire capes. I barely caught Night and Fog leaving, the female Nazi dashing through Fog's form without a care in the world. They left through the same alley Fog had originally arrived from, leaving Hookwolf behind.

The Empire Changer scowled visibly as the pair departed. I'd seen Hookwolf start after Bitch and Alarm earlier, only to abandon pursuit not ten meters later. He probably couldn't match the dogs' agility and jumping strength.

Instead, he went to examine the fallen E88 capes. Now that Grue's darkness was dissipating, I could see that Stormtiger and Cricket had both been taken down by Alarm. Only the woman was conscious, and the way she held her arm clearly showed that it was broken. She was also swearing like a sailor.

That meant that, with Rune and Krieg still down and the rest chasing after the others, Hookwolf was the only combat capable cape here. I thought about trying to take him out for a moment, then gave up on the idea. He still seemed fresh enough to fight me off and, outside of showing up as Slenderman, I didn't have anything that gave me a reasonable chance of taking him down. By the time I could return here in my other costume, the Empire parahumans would probably be gone.

But that didn't mean I couldn't call the PRT on them.

I snuck out of sight, turned back to human shape and withdrew my cellphone from within my suit.

That's when I realized I had four messages waiting, all in the last few minutes. And the lot of them from Lisa.

Corner dale & emerson​

PRT safehouse​

Deliver them safe​

Escape is decoy​

I smiled as I read, realizing I hadn't been abandoned. I simply hadn't been in on the plan. It was true that the Undersiders' escape had the feeling of something rehearsed, and Bitch had been the one to grab Alarm as she left.

I noted the address, then returned to my other form. While I didn't have the entire sewer system mapped, I was starting to get used to travelling in it. Exiting in an alley here and there to get my bearings, I quickly made my way through the city and found the house Tattletale had indicated.

It was a perfectly normal place, quite similar to my father's house if the latter had been in better repair. Normal one-story house with basement, with a van in the driveway. The only detail that attracted some attention was that all the curtains were closed.

I snuck into said basement through a window, bypassing the curtains easily before doing a quick survey of the place. I was helped by the fact that every room was abandoned. All save one.

The main bedroom was occupied with the door sealed shut. There was clearly light on the other side and the sound of voices, with a baby crying in the background.

I caught on to Tattletale's plan instantly. Purity had a daughter with Kaiser, and was also raising his son. With her name revealed for all to see, some idiot had the idea of using those two kids as leverage. That had be the 'she' that Purity had demanded on camera.

Despicable. I didn't think much of the PRT, but I thought them above using innocents.

Well, I wasn't going to let this pass. Going against a cape's family wasn't something I agreed with, from either heroes or villains. While the idea of killing people for leverage equally disgusted me, I couldn't say to what levels I might fall if someone went after my father to get at me. Just thinking about it gave me shivers running down my back.

Still, hurting law enforcement officers didn't feel right to me, especially since they might just be following orders from above.

So, I needed a different plan. And I had just the thing.

Slipping back below, I went straight for the fuse box and knocked out the power. Then I dashed right back up and snuck into the room.

The PRT troopers had been well equipped, and were already fumbling for flashlights as I entered the room. Which was exactly what I wanted.

When the first trooper managed to activate his light, I assumed three dimensions. Not as a human, but as a dragon half the size of the room. And right in the path of the beam.

The man stumbled back in shock, and even dropped his flashlight. Of course, the noise drew the other members' attention, and three more beams of light turned in my direction.

I roared in response.

I'd never done so before, and I was surprised at the effect. My voice as a dragon sounded like an echo of an enormous, distant sound, and my roar was even more so. My cry sounded like it came from all directions, and the very walls of the room shook.

The reactions were varied. Two of the troopers backed away, and only the one with a foam dispenser took a shot at me. A flap of my left wing blew the foam grenade back, and it burst in a corner of the room, far from anyone else.

The last, who'd been the closest, fell right on his ass, and started backing up as if he'd just seen the devil.

I roared again, louder, and this time the PRT members ran. The one on the floor went first, battering through the window, and the others quickly followed his example. I heard the van in the driveway start a moment later amidst shouts and curses.

With the cops gone, I took a better look at the place, and found both of Purity's children. The youngest was in a crib in a corner of the room, crying even harder, while the boy was tied to a chair, and clearly trying to move toward his half-sister.

He had guts, at least. He was looking straight at me and not flinching back.

I changed back into a human right behind his chair, and quickly had him untied. This clearly wasn't what he'd expected, and I could read it on his face. I then bent down to look at him mask to face. "Theodore, was it?" the boy nodded. "Mind taking care of…" I tried remembering the baby's name, and failed.

"Aster," Theodore replied, looking at me sharply. "And I go by Theo. What do you want with us?"

Straight to the point, I thought. I could deal with that. "I'm getting you back to your mother."

"Why?" he said, surprise flashing on his face. "Aren't you one of the Undersiders?"

I nodded. "Call me Apparition."

"Weren't you the ones who caused this?" he asked, indicating the rest of the room.

I shook my head. "You heard about the unwritten rules?" He nodded. "Well, my group and I abide with them. This here's the kind of thing that shouldn't be done, especially against people who aren't adults yet."

"Who did, then?" he asked, clearly disbelieving, as he turned toward Aster's crib.

I simply shook my head in silence. I might know who caused this disaster, but I wasn't going to risk that information becoming known.

It didn't take long for Theo to have Aster calmed. I used that time to contact Tattletale by text.

Hostages rescued​

I didn't have to wait long for an answer.

Meet up @ emerson & first​

Bring hostages​

"So…" Theo said, having noticed me on my phone. He had Aster held close against him, and she'd calmed down. "What now?"

"We go down to First Avenue," I replied, pointing. "My teammates are leading your mother there."

"And I suppose you'll tie me up if I try escaping?" he said morosely.

I smiled under my mask. "You won't," I replied. "I'll be right behind you." I then turned back into my other form and hid inside Theo's shadow.

Theo walked straight out the door, then looked around as if he was searching for a place to hide. I waved a tentacle out of my hiding place, and he blanched, realizing he literally could not escape me.

After that, Theo did as he'd been asked and walked right down the street in the direction of the First Avenue. He kept silent and walked somewhat fast, but not enough so as to look out of place. It seemed like he didn't want to draw attention to himself either.

That is, until we actually arrived near our designated rendezvous.

"Eh… There's a problem," he said as he stopped.

I retook human shape right behind him, and saw what he meant. Right where the two streets met was a ten foot high cube of shadowy mist, courtesy of Grue's power. Around it were at least a dozen ghostly shapes who surged back and forth from the darkness, trying to catch the people within.

I didn't even have time to say anything before a double helix made out of pure light punched through the top part of the cube, shearing it off. Brutus, I think, smashed down beside me a second later, Tattletale on his back. She'd seen better days, one of her arms hanging limply to the side.

Purity appeared an instant later above the building by the corner, shining brighter than the sun. She was clearly preparing another of those beams of hers but, luckily for us, someone reacted faster.

"Kayden!" Theo yelled, throwing his free arm up. "Down here!"

The light didn't die off, but Purity slowly came down. "Crusader, stand down," she shouted as she reached the ground. The Master's ghosts stopped their attack runs, but didn't disappear.

Theo walked forward toward his stepmother. "Aster's okay, Kayden. We're not hurt," he explained, handing Purity her daughter.

Said cape cradled her like her life depended on it. She then turned her face to glare at us. "That changes nothing of what you've done," she spat.

Tattletale shook her head beside me. "Whoever released your names wasn't a member of the Undersiders. What would we gain by that? It isn't like this is going to take the Empire off the map, and we wouldn't last long with every E88 cape having a bone to pick with us."

"But Kaiser…" Purity started, only for Tattletale to interrupt her.

"Who says Kaiser knows? He simply pointed you toward his biggest remaining enemy. Tell me, outside of the Undersiders, what gangs still remain in Brockton Bay?"

"Faultline and Coil," the Blaster said after a moment's thought, a scowl still on her face.

"You forgot the Travelers," the Thinker pointed out. "Anyway, Faultline's crew are out of the city and mercenaries anyway, the Travelers are nomads and Coil is only one man with a handful of non-powered operatives. The Undersiders are the biggest remaining group of villains after his own. And that's not saying Kaiser couldn't something like this again by implicating someone else. Sounds like him, doesn't it?" Tattletale smiled one of her usual grins, and Purity swore.

I knew right then that Tattletale had convinced her.

The Blaster grabbed Theo with her other arm, and slowly rose in the air. "Crusader, we're leaving," she ordered, and the Master rose beside her, the fact that he was unhappy clearly visible on his face. One of the ghosts grabbed Theo from Kayden's arms, and followed behind the two capes.

And then they were gone.

Judas walked out of Grue's cloud of darkness, with both the skull-faced Undersider and Regent on his back. Angelica stepped out of an alley with the two other Undersiders riding, having clearly just arrived.

"Everyone fine?" Grue asked, one arm holding the other.

We clearly weren't. Alarm and I might have gone unscathed, but we were the only ones. Grue was clearly favoring his left foot which had been sliced through by one of Crusader's ghosts. Regent had cuts and abrasions here and there, blood soaking all over his costume, while Tattletale's arm was visibly broken. Bitch simply had a bleeding wound on her face.

That meant half our number weren't in any condition to fight. "Does it look like we're fine, jock? Really?" Regent replied with a scowl.

"Where's that doctor of yours, Tattletale?" I asked.

She shook her head. "It's the boss' doctor," she replied, and I nodded. This wasn't the time to turn to Coil with anything.

"Can you get your beacon ready at your place?" Grue asked.

I nodded, the meaning clear. Seems like I'll be hosting the rest of the Undersiders once more, I thought. Not that I didn't understand his position; their base was Coil's property, and it wasn't the time to take risks. "I can have it powered up in a minute."

"Do that," Grue ordered. "We're not in any shape to do more today, and we have a lot to think about."

That was an understatement. The today's events might very well spell the end of the Undersiders.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

[Colin Wallis]

I threw off my helmet as soon as the door closed behind me, letting it clatter in a corner. Another day full of pointless battles; the E88 had managed to rampage nearly unopposed for most of the day and we hadn't managed to capture a single powered member of theirs.

I fell into my chair, sidestepping over two different halberd prototypes I'd left on the floor my earlier hurry to leave. It was only then that I noticed the red light on top of my screen. "Hello, Dragon," I called out, wincing as a muscle in my neck pulled.

"Good evening, Colin. How did you know?" The Canadian woman asked with a slight smile as her face appeared on the screen.

"With the number of security programs I have running on this machine, you're the only person who could connect here while I'm gone," I pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure there's at least a few Tinkers or Thinkers who could manage such a thing," Dragon replied with a slight grin.

I shook my head. "And how long would it take before you found them and kicked them out?" I countered with a raised eyebrow. I then exhaled loudly. "Hopefully, your day has been better than mine," I sighed tiredly in remembrance.

Dragon shook her head on the screen. "Nothing special on my side. Hansel died today in the Birdcage, but that's been expected for a while now and nothing could have prevented Bloodwolf from taking revenge. Outside that, with an Endbringer expected any day, things tend to be calm. How about you? Anything in the workshop?"

I shook my head as I stretched into my chair. "A few ideas, but nothing concrete," I answered simply.

"Anything you want to discuss?"

Once again, I replied negatively. "Not now; there's work to be done. I suppose you've heard what happened?"

"I have," Dragon nodded. "I've was briefed when I was asked to help investigate how this situation happened."

"You know more than me, then. I've been in the field since early this morning, and I didn't have the time to keep up with what was happening. Any clue who our instigator is?" I asked, holding back a yawn.

Dragon still caught it. She shook her head, concern evident on her face. "You should be resting, Colin. I've seen footage of your battles; you haven't had a half-hour's downtime since this morning. It can wait."

"No, it can't. I can rest later," I intoned, focusing. "The Empire clearly won't be sleeping after this, and we need to be ready." I reached to the side where I kept my personal supply of energy drinks, and quickly downed one. "Give it to me straight."

"Between the methodology and the cause of Purity's rampage, all signs point toward Coil being the source," the Canadian Tinker explained after a moment. "The Undersiders were also considered at first, but were removed from suspicion when the circumstances behind Purity's actions were discovered."

I smiled at her explanation. That was one of the things I liked about working with Dragon, she respected other people's desire to help. Many times, people above me had used whatever power they had to force things their way, regardless of what I wanted. Dragon might disagree, but she never hindered me.

"It's not their usual MO, that's for sure." I replied, then launched a few commands and removed my armguards. Normally, I kept them on day and night, but between the hits they'd taken and my current lack of combat efficiency, I had no reason to keep wearing them. "They do hit and run, that's all. Something like this would bring too much heat on them, and they can't handle the entire Empire. Not their style."

"Agreed," Dragon seconded with a smile. "Still, Tattletale is one of the foremost Thinkers in the bay, so it merited thought. Have you heard about Purity's actions?"

"Not much. Something about killing a man on camera?" I'd been on patrol when the call came, and it only ended less than an hour ago. "Doesn't sound like her." Or most of the Empire actually, I added mentally. Kaiser faked civility, and generally was good at following the unwritten rules. Hookwolf or another member of his group would not have been so surprising, but Purity was generally good at keeping bystanders unharmed.

"I'm forwarding you a file. It should explain everything," Dragon replied, and a second later the face on my screen was replaced by a document, a dispatch order for PRT troops.

I moved forward and read quickly. "Undercover mission… Aster Anders… Possible kidnapping attempt… also present, Theodore Anders, teenage E88 recruit… possible trigger risk… safehouse…" The last item on the page was Emily Piggot's signature.

"Wait a minute…" I said out loud as something came to mind. "Anders, isn't that…"

"Kaiser's real name?" Dragon said as her face came back to the fore. "Yes. Specifically, Aster Anders is Purity's daughter, with Theodore being Kaiser's older child."

I scowled, disgusted. "You mean Piggot ordered the kidnapping of a cape's children? What was she thinking?"

"She didn't," Dragon countered, face serious. "While her name is on the orders and no trace of manipulation can be found on the document, I was able to track its path backward to its source." A video came up, showing a man withdrawing an envelope from his suitcase. The next few seconds had him removing the original document from there, with a quick zoom that proved it was the very same.

"Perry McAndrews," I intoned clearly. I remembered the man; he was an ex-mercenary, and was suspected as one of Coil's plants in the building. "How did he manage that?" This particular worker was watched closely due to his status as a likely mole.

Dragon played the whole segment between Perry's taking out the document and the PRT dispatcher receiving it. I had to give the man points; without someone watching specifically for it, one couldn't track it. The file went through six pairs of hands before getting to its destination.

"Note the timestamp," Dragon pointed out. "The orders came out before the identities were released, with less than an hour between the two."

"A setup, then," I exclaimed, growling. "But for who? The Empire, the Protectorate, the PRT?"

The female Tinker shook her head. "You can add the Undersiders to the list. Based on police information, they were out hitting Empire safehouses earlier today, right around the time the news came out. And the Empire didn't hesitate to strike directly at them."

I made a face, and Dragon caught the meaning instantly. "Yes, something's fishy about all of this. Every important cape group still present in the city save the Travelers being on the field at the same time? Not a coincidence. More points toward Coil being a Thinker." That was one of the issues in dealing with Coil. The man was elusive if nothing else, and barely any information was available about his power. The main theories were either a Thinker with Tinker support or an actual Tinker who fought like a Thinker. And both were pains to deal with.

And he'd chosen his moment well. With the early hour, the members of the Wards had just gotten to school, and the public nature of the combat made it difficult for them to get away without arousing suspicion. Add to that New Wave being out of the city, with Panacea on the west coast along with her father and sister while Lady Photon and Brandish were up north for the latter's law practice.

No, timing like that couldn't be a coincidence.

"Do you have any data on the movements of E88 troops?" I asked, shoving what was left of my fatigue to the back of my mind. I might not be combat effective, but this was work I could do. "The Undersiders also, if you have them."

A map of the city appeared on the screen, with a timestamp at the top. Icons quickly appeared, indicating the relative forces present. For several long minutes I watched the various movements as they'd happened in the city. Dragon was as thorough as usual; her program indicated even the non-powered E88 forces, as they hadn't sat idle.

My eyes rose back to the camera as the timestamp hit 9PM; there wasn't an icon left on the screen. "How accurate is this?" I asked, just to confirm.

In response, arrows appeared on the screen, indicating the various movements, with dots all over the place. A quick mouse-over on said dots revealed where the information came from. "See for yourself."

I quickly analyzed the data and found nothing that could be termed guesswork. "You mean to tell me that the Undersiders fought most of the Empire by themselves and escaped without a single casualty?" That should be impossible. Purity alone should be a match for their entire lineup, and the records indicated they'd faced that, the Blaster's entire squad, Hookwolf's group and more beside.

"Fought isn't the right term," she replied, and a video started on the screen. The angle was bad and the view was clearly a low quality zoom, but the people present could easily be identified: Tattletale, along with the Undersiders' Mover and a teen boy holding a child. A second later, Purity dropped into sight beside them.

Theodore and Aster Anders, then, I noted mentally.

There were a few moments of discussion that couldn't be caught with the video quality, then Purity flew away with the two civilians.

"Based on both footage and debriefing of the PRT troopers, the Undersiders' Mover rescued the two children from the PRT, then delivered them to Purity," the Canadian Tinker explained. "Judging from other sources, that is the only reason why they escaped Purity's clutches."

I went over the map again. "Disregarding Purity's group, that still meant they fought Hookwolf's entire team along with Rune and Krieg for minutes before escaping." And that was a powerful combo. Krieg's presence was a great asset in any group battle, especially for close-range fighters. And that was Hookwolf's entire team.

"Yes," Dragon replied. "While we don't have any footage of the battle due to Grue's power, indications are that the five E88 members were beaten when Purity's group entered the scene. We do know that they somehow brought down Rune's floating trailer; that may be the reason why they managed a victory."

"True," I nodded, remembering. I'd heard the sound resulting from that crash, and I was halfway on the other side of the city. At close range, it must have been deafening. Still, I wasn't convinced.

The both of us had other fish to fry, however. "Send a request for the Undersiders' data to be gone over by analysts; even with that, I don't think they should have managed such a decisive victory against Hookwolf's group, and that means we're missing something."

The window with Dragon's face reappeared above the map. "Noted."

"Now, the Empire," I continued, focusing on the currently most dangerous group. "I'm sure you went over this already, and you have a good eye for detail. Anything you've spotted?"

She nodded with a smile. "Well, let's start with Kaiser. He was leading…"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

[Max Anders]

I sneaked inside the Medhall building at 10:43 PM on the dot. I had done this in the past, but those were simply tests; tonight was the real thing.

Let it not be said I don't have plans for everything, I mused.

I then waited fourteen minutes in one of the camera-less zones, preparing for the next hole in the security footage. I knew about such because I'd had it programmed in years ago, just for the possibility of a day like today.

The news revealing the identities of the entire Empire had come while I was outside the building for a meeting, which was the only reason I needed to reach my office tonight. I'd have launched the programs I'd prepared for such an eventuality right as I heard the news if I could have, but I made sure the could only be activated from my own office as an extra layer of protection.

Then I added a very specific security flaw that could allow me to reach said office any day.

Climbing the many floors to reach the top of the building took a good hour, where a normal man could have done it in ten minutes. That was on purpose; I didn't want to make it easy should a Thinker manage to discern this particular flaw. That was also why I made sure to keep the Protectorate as busy as I had; with the wounds they'd taken and the hours they'd placed, they'd react much less quickly if something went wrong.

Four minutes before midnight, the camera right in front of my office entered a loop, repeating the previous minute, and I stepped up to the door. I withdrew a specific keycard, one belonging to one of the janitors. I hated the man; he was everything the Empire fought against. A black man with four children from three different wives, he had done time for both burglary and drug use. I kept him on the payroll just for that; he was the last person who would be associated with the E88.

The door snapped open as I swiped the card, and I stepped inside. I quickly cleared the outer office to reach my desk proper. Five minutes there and everything would be done, with hidden money transfers ending in E88 accounts, vulnerabilities would be added on the company servers and periodic orders for drug supplies would be scheduled. I had seven minutes to do so, before I needed to leave.

"Well, it was about time," a female voice said, annoyance clear in her voice.

My high-backed chair (reinforced in case of sniper attack) turned from the window, revealing a tall woman seated in it. Her dark hair and Asian face were unfamiliar. The samurai armor didn't provide any hints, either.

But the three skulls hanging from her shoulder gave me a good idea who this was.

"Butcher," I growled. I forced myself not to tense; I wasn't going to let her get to me.

"Missed me, tin man?" she said with a smile, her finger tapping the wood of my desk. Those words clinched it; that was the nickname Butcher had given me a long time ago, when Allfather was still leading the Empire. I'd fought her (or him) multiple times while the Teeth were still in Brockton Bay.

"As much as I miss Jack Slash," I snarled back. My mind was working furiously, trying to find a way to escape my current predicament, and I could feel myself sweating. How many Butchers had there been since they'd escaped Brockton Bay? I wondered, and couldn't guess.

That meant she could have a good number of powers I knew nothing about. I did a half-step back at the thought.

"I told you I'd be back one day, didn't I?" she continued, still smiling. "And you know how I treat promises like that."

"It wasn't you who'd said so." As a matter of fact, the Butcher who'd escaped the Bay had been male. "And I told Butcher then what would happen if he ever came back."

"As if the words of a whitewashed wannabe like you meant anything," she said as she rose, becoming serious. "We were always going to come back, and with all the competition being eliminated lately we were getting ready to move. Add in the news, and we weren't going to miss the opportunity," she grinned. "Now, are we going to dance or will I have to hunt you?" Her face made it clear she would enjoy both.

My lips curled into a scowl. "As you wish." Instantly, dozens of blades surged from every direction. They came from every angle blocking all paths of escape.

Fighting in my office was another possibility I'd prepared for, and I'd trained for that particular maneuver just in case.

The very second my blades would have reached her, cutting off arms and legs, Butcher blew up along with my chair and desk. Another explosion sounded to my right, and I turned to find the Trump there, unharmed.

"That's all, tin man?" she asked with a grin. She was clearly playing with me, and I pushed back a surge of anger at the thought. I needed to think clearly now more than ever.

I didn't answer, metal spreading over me to form my customary armor. It would, at least, protect me from her festering touch. On Butcher's side, she touched a marble counter and withdrew a sizable axe from it, a clear display of her brute strength. I estimated a good hit would incapacitate me even with my armor, and swore internally.

Blades shot forward once more, and again she dodged by teleporting. I retreated to the outer office, planning my escape all the while. I had a Brute teleporter after me, and she might still have powers I knew nothing about. What I had knowledge of was already enough: she could find me through walls, feel my attacks coming and, if she ever got tired of the hunt, would try to incapacitate me with pain. Even worse, I had to fight non-lethally and she knew it, while she was under no such restrictions.

This wasn't going to be easy.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

We didn't feel like winners coming back to base the way we did.

I arrived at my place first so I could set everything up, especially the beacon, and the rest of the team staggered in fifteen or so minutes later.

They entered in near-complete silence, with only Regent making his usual off-color jokes. Brian was clearly preoccupied since the pretty boy went unheeded and unstopped.

Each fell into the seat I'd prepared for them except for Alec. The Master went straight for the first aid kit and grabbed a larger than usual dose of pain medication. He then dropped straight down onto his beanbag chair, closed his eyes, and ignored just about everything around him.

Not that there was much going on. Rachel stayed at the table long enough to make sure her dogs were fine, then walked back out as soon as that was done, her head wound simply scabbed over. I called out to her, and got a quick, "'m fine" as she left the building.

Brian was the next one to leave. It took twenty or so minutes before his foot was healed, and he was clearly stuck in his thoughts all the while. I wanted to tell him something comforting, but couldn't find anything to say; unlike the rest of the group, he had something big riding on the Undersiders.

In the end, he left without a word.

By then, Regent was asleep and snoring lightly in his chair while Sveta had left for her own room upstairs, leaving me and Lisa alone at the table.

"Are you gonna be okay?" I asked.

"Physically?" she replied. She then tried moving her arm and grimaced in pain. Sveta had helped her make sure the bones would heal properly, but it was clear the healing wasn't yet done. "It's a work in progress."

"And mentally?" I continued.

"No," the Thinker answered simply. "I didn't see this one coming, and that's making me second guess everything. I talked to the boss yesterday, and I got no hint of treachery of any kind."

I looked to the sleeping Regent just to be sure he really was asleep. "Maybe he just didn't think about it," I said. "Or maybe destroying the Empire was so important, he didn't care about casualties." I then stopped, realizing that if this was true, Lisa was in a worse situation than I thought.

"That wouldn't be better," she answered. "Would you be able to take orders from someone who either doesn't care or doesn't think about the repercussions of his actions?"

It didn't take long for me to shake my head negatively.

"Thought as much," Lisa replied, then returned to her thoughts.

The silence held for one more minute. "Can I… help with anything?" I didn't like leaving her like this.

She shook her head sadly. "No," she replied with a sigh. "I just need to think things over for a while. I'll be heading home soon, right after my arm is done; I'll probably contact you later today or sometime tomorrow to talk it over."

"You sure?"

"Go tinker," Lisa countered with a smile. "I know it's what you want." She shrugged. "Might as well get the most out of the day."

She knew me well.

"Good luck," I answered, rising. I made half a dozen steps toward my workshop, then remembered something. "How about him?" I said, pointing to the sleeping Alec.

"He'll make his own way out as usual," she said. "He might raid your fridge for beer first, though."

"I don't have any beer in my fridge." I wasn't a fan of the stuff, and what the Undersiders had brought in during their last stay was long gone.

Lisa smiled a little. "That'll just make him leave more quickly."

I turned back and waved, stepping inside my place of work. Lisa was right; I needed something good under my belt after all the revelations of the day.

Apparition was currently out of service until the rest of the Undersiders got their feet back under them, and I had no plan for Slenderman coming out anytime soon.

That meant either Arsenal's armor or beacons.

While the beacons were necessary, making them wasn't as satisfying as improving my Tinker persona's power suit. And it needed it; the Travelers had made that fact more than evident.

And, even better, I had a good clue where to start.

I grabbed a pen from the desk, then reached out for a printout of my beacon's schematics. While it wasn't what I was going to be working on, the original version of the device my power had given me had a couple of extra features which were exactly what I needed.

I lost myself to the improvements I was making, glad for something to occupy my mind.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It took two days before Lisa contacted me again, and right early. She knew my schedule well; her call ended up arriving right as I respawned T for the day.

I checked the news as I waited for her to arrive, for lack of anything better to do. No changes from yesterday; the E88 was still on the warpath, though Purity and her team hadn't shown themselves again. The Brockton Bay threads on the Parahumans Online forums were full of people asking for a kill order to be placed on her group, but there was no official word from either the PRT or the Protectorate on the subject. None of such on the kidnapping of her children or on the Undersiders' involvement, either. The same went for who had actually released the Empire identities online. Plenty of rumors, but nothing concrete.

Twenty minutes on the dot after her call, Lisa was seated at her usual spot at the table, shaking rain water out of her hair. And she hadn't come alone, either.

Brian was seated right beside her, head in his hands. He wasn't looking well, with shadows under his eyes like I'd never seen before. It was clear he'd barely slept a wink since the last time we'd met, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.

"So, what can I do for the both of you?" I had a good clue what was going to be the subject of this discussion, but I wasn't going to bring it up. Not directly, at least.

"What are you going to do now?" Brian asked, looking straight at me.

"About the Undersiders, I suppose?" He nodded. "Nothing."

"What?" Brian exclaimed.

"I never cared about the Undersiders per se," I replied. "I cared about the both of you. If the Undersiders disappeared, as long as you guys were fine, everything would be alright by me."

"Yeah, but..."

"I know, your sister," I continued for him. "Thing is, I didn't trust the boss one bit from the start. I didn't have much of an issue when it was about going after the gangs, but wanting us to hit a Protectorate event? That's the kind of thing that ends up making you a villain for life."

Brian straightened and looked right at me. "I can live with that."

I shook my head. "Are you sure?" I asked. "Let's say your plan worked, and you managed to get custody of your sister. What do you do then? The boss still has your identity in his hands, and you saw what he can do with that. One word from him and she's back with your father, or worse."

Brian opened his mouth to say something, then closed it without a word. He turned toward Lisa beside him, who nodded sadly.

"You haven't said much, Lisa." She hadn't said anything. "What do you think?"

"The Undersiders are done," she replied with a shake of her head. "We go back to the boss after this? It'll get worse. He'll know that we'll come crawling back like dogs, whatever happens."

"We can go to the Protectorate, join up, but that won't help much," she continued. "We'll be lucky if we don't end up doing some form of jail time, and even at best we won't be trusted for years. And the Boss would still have all our names. He might very well go after your sister, just to have a lever to manipulate you."

Brian cringed. "So?" I asked.

"Running's the best bet, but even then it would be the end of the Undersiders. You and I...," she pointed to Brian, "we might escape, but that would mean leaving everything behind." Brian scowled. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't, and Bitch would never run. Regent would, but he'd probably make his own way before long anyway."

"Yes," Brian replied with a sigh. "You told me as much yesterday. Still, there has to be a better solution than those," he was looking at me while he said that.

Was there? I had to admit that Coil had Brian bent over a barrel. Only way I could think of getting Brian out from under Coil was to was to make Brian worthless to Coil, and that was difficult.

"Lisa," I turned to the female Undersider. "Would the boss let Brian off if he was suddenly powerless?"

She thought for an instant. "I'd say no. He's already got a good number of unpowered troops, mostly mercenaries. He'd probably fold Brian into one of those groups, or use him in another capability. He's not one to let go once he has leverage over someone."

"Then why abandon the Undersiders?" I asked.

"No clue," she answered, and by now I could read her well enough that I could see how it grated. "I'm sure there's a reason, but I don't have enough info to get to the bottom of it. Before this week, I would have expected that us dying was the only way he was gonna let us go."

Well, that at least was a possible solution. "So, you're saying faking your deaths might be an option?"

"It might," Lisa replied. "But that's basically running away. Our identities would be gone, and we couldn't even use our powers without being recognized."

"Powers is something I can fix," I said, raising my hand and waving my fingers.

"Yeah... That's one option..." Lisa replied, clearly unhappy with the idea. I wasn't surprised a bit; I knew very well that the concept of losing her Thinker power wasn't something she liked considering. Brian simply nodded at the possibility.

"Still, even with new powers, that doesn't give us many options," Lisa continued. "Sure, it's a better option if we decide to go to the Protectorate, but outside of that it still leaves us without identities. Money quickly becomes an issue after that, unless you go with under the table work. Which simply brings us back to square one." I saw something click behind her eyes. "How would you feel about building your own team?"

"Me?" I asked.

"Well, Arsenal, actually," Lisa replied, looking straight at me. Brian moved forward, intent on my answer.

I nearly said no instantly. I didn't see myself as leader material.

"Even as Arsenal, you'd be among the most powerful in the group, which tends to equal leadership for capes," the Thinker continued. "You come up with good plans, as the bank run clearly indicated, and with your beacons I'm pretty sure funds wouldn't be an issue, not for a good while at least."

"But..."

"Better yet, with Lung's kidnapping attempt, you have the perfect reason for it," Lisa's smile was wide by now, and she wasn't stopping. "You can just say you no longer feel secure alone, and that you don't want to rely on the Protectorate being available. With your beacons coming out and the attention they'll bring, you building your own team is a logical next step!"

I had to admit, I hadn't thought much about the recognition the beacons might bring me. Dragon was sure my devices would sell for millions, which was a great morale boost, but I hadn't given a thought to what kind of negative attention it might bring. Right now there wasn't much, since there were only two beacons out and they hadn't been out for long, but that may very well change with time.

I turned toward Brian. "What do you think?"

He thought for a moment as a blast of thunder rang out. "If I worked under you, would you help me take care of my sister?"

That wasn't what I'd expected. "I don't have an issue with her," I replied. Not unless she betrayed the group, but I doubted that would be an issue. "You would abandon your custody plan?"

He sighed. "Right now, the only way I can see of managing that is by staying with the Boss," he replied, shaking his head. "And that's useless if I end up dying in a suicide mission. Not to mention I don't want Aisha falling in with someone like him." He straightened. "Would you have a place for her wherever I end up living?"

"Sure," I answered.

"Then I have no problems working under you." My eyes went wide. "It's clearly not what I'd prefer, but it's a better option than the rest. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't drop me against the E88 heavy-hitters, which is more than I can say of our former boss."

My head turned toward Lisa in a flash. Her smile clearly indicated I had no support there.

"Don't look at me; I'm not leader material. The power behind the throne, maybe, but not on it," she pointed out, raising both hands in the air. "Better yet, we can trust you a lot farther than we can our current boss. And you're already at the head of your own little group, in case you hadn't noticed."

"It's not like that!" I exclaimed.

"It's completely like that," Lisa countered. "Sveta clearly joined the Undersiders simply because you were in, and you can't say that T doesn't follow your commands."

"That's just because we're the same person!"

She shook her head. "You're not, at least not anymore. T might be based on you, but she's changed since you started creating her."

I tried scrambling for more excuses, but could find nothing. I didn't want to say no, but I didn't feel like I could do the role justice. The ever-rejected Taylor, leading a group of superheroes? Even fiction didn't get this silly.

"What about the others?" I asked. "Rachel and Alec?"

"Alec's easy. He's lazy, so he won't make waves. As long as he's paid, you won't have much of an issue with him," Lisa thought out loud. "Rachel, however..."

"She's difficult to predict," Brian added. "She might take it better than she did with us, she might fight you for the title, or she might just leave. I think she likes you better than the rest of us, but even then I'm not that sure."

"Pretty much what I have," Lisa confirmed.

I took a deep breath. "So, let me get this straight," I said, trying to keep my emotions under wraps. "You want me to help you fake your deaths, then hire you under another of my identities as a group of superheroes. Because that's the best way to get you out of under your boss's thumb."

"Just about," Lisa answered.

"Yeah, it seems bizarre when you say it like that, but that's pretty much it," Brian replied. "Unless you have a better idea."

I hadn't, else I'd have brought it out earlier.

"So, how do we do..." I started, only to be interrupted as sirens started wailing. I'd never heard them before, except during the trial runs at school.

The Endbringer sirens.

We all shot up in an instant. Sveta barreled down the stairs a second later, still wearing pyjamas. Lisa gave out one look outside the window, where clouds darker than anything natural spat a torrential downpour, and she had an answer. "Leviathan."

"That's the danger I've been seeing since Monday!" Sveta exclaimed, eyes wide.

Not human nor capes. Neither living nor dead. Not a plague or a natural disaster.

Endbringer.

Fuck.