teeth

Todd bowed stiffly and started backing away. "As long as it's not out of the stash house on the corner of McKesson and Richmond," he muttered under his breath so softly I almost missed it.

"What's so special about that address?" I'd recognized it as one of the smaller distribution sites, but wasn't planning to hit it quite yet. There wasn't anything special to the place that I'd noted, but Todd was a man who spent his time on the streets. If he had heard something I hadn't…

Todd stopped when I spoke. He was shocked that I'd caught what he said, but quickly recovered. "They distribute to the poorer sections of the docks and downtown, where more minorities tend to live. Usually the cheaper types of weed, and nothing that seems dangerous, yet people are still dying to the stuff. I had a friend pick some up and confirmed they're lacing it with shit. People are ODing left and right in that area, mostly those of color."

"Oh…" Stratego said and I found my mind swirling with the plans I'd been working on for dismantling the Empire.

"You're saying the Empire is doing it to intentionally kill people?"

"I am," He said firmly.

He couldn't see the grim smile that came to my face. "Well now, that changes things. I think this is the start of a very fruitful friendship, Todd."

My newest minion was completely correct — the warehouse was much more nefarious than my cursory examination had revealed, and it was well guarded for such a seemingly-small time affair. Worse, my bugs confirmed the Empire was indeed lacing the weed with something, because my bugs died within seconds of contact with it.

"This is the place," I told the rest of the Teeth hiding in a nearby alley.

Vex and Reaver had joined me for this operation, along with Big Robbie and what I hoped would be his new team. I was mildly upset that so few had come out with us, but Damien had been too high to answer, Elliot was out on the town and not answering, and Alice was working on a pot of chili. I knew better than to disturb her.

Still, we would make do. This wasn't a smash and grab, nor was it even about the money. This was me sending a message. I'd declared war on these white supremacist fucks less than a week ago, and while the Empire was reeling from the initial attack, I needed to show Kaiser and the Bay that the Teeth were deadly serious about exterminating their threat.

My people were in place, my swarms were ready, and the Empire didn't have a clue what was about to hit them.

"This is gonna be fucking awesome!" Pyro cheered.

Stratego, however, had to burst her bubble. "If Taylor's plan survives contact with the enemy, there will be a distinct lack of surprises."

"Good thing most plans don't survive that long," Knockout added.

Which is why I brought backup. This place is smaller than half the ABB places we hit solo, and I'm not expecting much of a showing here. Honestly, I could handle this easily by myself, but this isn't about the drugs or the money…

"It's about sending a message."

My swarm moved as one, assaulting the Empire goons I had located and launching the warehouse into a frenzy of motion as the Nazis began to scream. On that signal, my Teeth swept in. Their orders were simple: beat, maim, injure. The guns stayed away unless the Empire managed to mount a defense, which wasn't likely in the face of my swarm. It wasn't easy to aim a gun when you had a dozen wasps stinging your hands, after all.

I watched and felt through my swarm as my people continued through the building in a bastardization of tactical movement, which was still an improvement over the old 'dick first into a cheese grater' strategy that led to such a high fatality rate under the previous Butchers… not that my predecessors had really cared.

"Ah, music to my ears," Marauder said as the unprepared Empire goons ran around screaming in a panic, often due to a face full of Vex's force fields. Reaver was just as busy; between our capes and unpowered members, the few neo-nazis that tried to fight back were put down viciously. The attack was brutal, over in a minute, and I couldn't bring myself to feel any sympathy for this particular group of shitstains.

"It's harder to feel bad when you see the damage they are causing firsthand," Fester said. "Remember that ABB brothel? If you had just killed the guards, no one would have bothered to raise a fuss."

I would have bothered.

It was a weak rebuttal, and based on the Butchers' snickering, they knew it. However, they were more disappointed that the action was already over here and now, to the point that Pyro complained, "That was anticlimactic."

"It was supposed to be," I murmured, then teleported from my perch to the front door.

Vex disengaged from the others and ran over to me. "Well, we got good news and good news. Which do you want first?"

I gave her my best deadpan stare, despite my mask.

She laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. "We found a good bit of cash, and it turns out that those paintball drills actually amounted to something."

"Good news indeed." The more senior Teeth had only managed a few hours of paintball since I had used Stratego's power to lay out some practice drills, but it was already making a difference in how they were sweeping the rest of the building. I knew where everything was, of course, but they needed to be able to function without me.

When they were done, the beaten and bloodied Nazis were left tied up in a stack outside while the cash was collected into bags. The drugs all needed to be burned, as it wasn't worth sorting out what had been laced with what. I sincerely hoped that none of the drugs we had seized so far had been similarly corrupted, and made a mental note to ask Todd. The least I could do was ensure what he would be selling for us was safe.

That was a beneficial arrangement if there ever was one. By the time the enterprising kid left for college, my own people would be ready to fully step into his shoes and take over, and with the promise of a percentage bonus of all the profits he brought in during his time selling for us, he would be encouraged to work hard regardless of the agreement to cover his college costs in full at completion of his term of service.

One of our unpowered members brought around our escape truck, and Vex started helping load up the loot while I teleported up to the roof to play sentry. Inside, the Teeth were pouring gasoline in the building and looting electronics… including Reaver appearing with the large TV from the break room. "Hell yeah!" Vex cheered.

"Everything that's not nailed down —" Knockout started.

"And then we pull up the nails and take that stuff too!" Sabertooth finished.

I shook my head at the antics, but Reaver had a more pressing question. "Boss, do you know where their car keys are? There's a Mustang parked out back." One of the Empire goons started cursing at that, which I took as a good reason to help. My bugs found the keys in short order, and Reaver let out an excited whoop before following my bug arrows back into the building.

My practice with bug senses was paying off in the field, but I wanted to get out of here soon. Hopefully we would be long gone by the time the E88 or Protectorate got off their asses and managed a response. At least the Teeth weren't taking trophies tonight, given the Empire's 'pathetic resistance,' as Robbie put it.

I very specifically did not wonder if I would ever be claiming trophies myself.

"Why didn't the Empire send anyone?" Alkaline asked.

Don't jinx us!

"You have everything within four blocks under surveillance," Stratego replied. "It's not like —"

Just as Vex was lighting the road flare, I felt something enter my range. A motorcycle had pierced through the veil of gnats and mosquitoes I kept along the perimeter, and was breaking every traffic law I could think of as they made their way towards the warehouse. My attempts to land bugs on the motorcycle only resulted in crispy critters, which likely meant I was dealing with a Tinker.

I had swarms assemble by each of my people. "Time to withdraw, the Protectorate is coming. I'll delay them."

Most of my people gave affirmatives, but Vex hesitated before climbing into the truck. "Boss, be careful. Make sure you get home safely."

"Always," my swarm answered her. "I'll see you there."

I was tempted to mess with Armsmaster in some way when his bike rolled up to the now-burning building, but he opted to investigate the pile of disabled Empire goons instead of chasing the truck full of Teeth. He then secured the area, obviously using his Tinkertech to check for nearby threats before coming to a halt at the base of the building I was hiding upon.

"While I don't agree with her methods, it's a shame that Weaver couldn't become a hero," Armsmaster said, doing a poor job of musing to himself. "I wish that the PRT had listened when I asked for more time to let her prove herself. Maybe if she —"

I stopped listening at that point, frantically casting my bugs around to see if this was yet another trap. An unlikely plan, given that Armsmaster had just arrived and I didn't feel anyone else nearby, but I couldn't fathom another reason why he would stand there and ignore me while I was in costume.

Nevertheless, I didn't want to be a sitting target, although Armsmaster had probably lost the tail of both the truck and Reaver's new car due to… whatever he was trying right now. I waited a few minutes longer to ensure that the tainted drugs had caught fire before teleporting to a bug on the end of my range.

It wasn't until I was two blocks from the lair that the voices realized that I had made a critical error, and Alkaline whined, "You didn't get his autograph!"

Thursday, April 14th 2011

After our successful mini-raid against the Empire, we had come back to the lair and thrown a small after-party. I had retreated to my lab to get some Tinkering done once Chrissie dozed off, only to reemerge a few hours later to get in some early-morning reading. To my surprise, Damien and Alice stayed up with me.

The capes in question were seated across from me on the sofa while I lounged in one of the recliners with my book. They were clearly displeased about something, but weren't saying anything, so here I was trying to make them talk like they were misbehaving children.

This was going to be my whole morning…

Chrissie was sleeping peacefully in her room right now, and I wasn't about to disturb her since we had school in a few hours and she needed every minute she could get. Maintaining my civilian life was difficult, but it would be worth it in the long run, and I had a feeling that was at least part of the problem the two across from me had at the moment.

"Alright, enough of this bullshit," I said, tossing one of my wine coolers into the trash. "You have a problem with how I'm leading the Teeth?"

The two exchanged a glance, then Damien sighed. "Honestly? Shit's great. We're making bank, kicking ass, I have all the coke I can snort, but you're clearly different from any Butcher I've served under."

"The issue is, we could be doing so much more," Alice cut in. "If you dropped school, moved in here full time —"

"Alice, I can't do that."

"Why?" she countered. "We could take the Empire down in weeks if we went on the offensive in full!"

"She's not wrong," Ironsides pointed out.

I shook my head. "We could, but we have to be tactical about this. Right now, if there's two gangs, then the PRT tries to keep the status quo. But if it were just us, just me? The Butcher is too scary to be allowed to control an entire city. The last thing I want is Legend to come blast all of you guys to smithereens and Eidolon to pull some power out of his ass that, I don't know, banishes me to another Earth. But if I keep my civilian identity intact, and we take the Empire apart piece by piece…"

"All this waiting sucks," Pyro whined.

"True, but I for one am enjoying the down time. How long has it been since we could just relax?" Alkaline asked.

"Since before we inherited," Quarrel said.

"Who the hell cares? It's the Empire; no one cares if you kill neo-nazis. They didn't care when we took out Lung or the Merchants!" Damien said. "Everyone's getting stir crazy, and it's not like we need a reason to fight them."

"We don't need a reason to fight anyone," Alice muttered.

I sighed and set my book aside. "No, we don't, but just running around and setting random buildings on fire doesn't actually accomplish anything. Instead, I'll put together a list of targets and start planning more raids so everyone gets a piece of the action. There's a lot of Nazi ass out there for us to kick."

Damien pumped his fist, and even Alice smiled a bit.

"But, we're still doing it my way, even if I'm at school. The Teeth have a reputation as a roving band of murderhobos not unlike the fucking Slaughterhouse. I want to shift us to something closer to how Marquis ran things." They didn't seem to like that, but it was a good way to segue. "I suppose that brings up my next point: who the fuck thought it was a good idea to try and burn down a gas station in our territory?"

Damien shrugged. "Bastards wouldn't cough up enough money, so we showed them why that was a mistake."

Oh for the love of…

"We warned you that our people weren't all that intelligent," Stratego said.

So you did. Talk about a pain in the ass.

Butcher laughed. "You're trying to reform a gang that I intentionally styled after Mad Max, you expected this to be easy?"

I groaned and massaged my nose for all the good it did me. "Why were you pressuring people in our territory at all? The Empire is out there, hit their shit instead!"

"They were ABB," Alice countered.

"Which, if you remember, we demolished! What's the point of kicking out the other gangs and taking over if we're just going to destroy our own stuff? I don't care who they were affiliated with before, now they're our responsibility."

"Do you really want Lung's sloppy seconds?"

White hot fury ignited within me as I brought my fist down on the table beside me, shattering it. "I want the whole goddamn Bay, or were you not paying attention in our last meeting?"

"Oh come on, that was some funny shit!" Marauder said.

I don't care, I need to get this lesson through their thick skulls.

"So what? We can't have fun unless you approve of it?" Damien demanded. Fuck, I was going to have to beat the bastard down again, wasn't I? They seemed all too quick to forget just who the fuck I was. I was still going to try to talk, because I wasn't my predecessors, but I had to fight down the urge to punch him instead.

"First of all, the people in our territory are to be treated as if they're Teeth. If someone's being uppity about paying protection fees, you have it brought to my attention and I'll make sure it's dealt with. But don't hesitate to kick the ass of anyone harassing the people in our territory, especially other gangs. It's not like the PRT is going to protect them."

Damien's scowl lessened significantly at that. "Giving them carte blanche to beat up invaders is a smart idea," Chisel murmured.

"If there aren't enough other gang members to beat up in our territory, then either ask me or wait until I get a list of targets written up. I'll include general risk assessments and plans of action for each one; there's more than enough targets to sate our bloodlust and turn a tidy profit."

"See, that's more like it!" he said with a manic grin.

Damascian nodded. "You should always lead with the carrot. For the Teeth, that just happens to be violence and loot."

Alkaline shook her head. "Yet they respond better to the stick."

Alice hummed in agreement. "Normally we would just be left to do whatever we want until the Butcher decided to do shit. Your methods are… not what any of us expected, since even Stratego had to contend with the voices that you appear able to ignore."

"She shoves us into an inky void where all we can do is watch!" Butcher screamed.

"Which has become a far rarer occurrence since she returned to the Teeth," Ironsides pointed out.

"What the Teeth have always lacked is coordination. It's the reason we've never been able to really hold territory long-term." I gestured at myself. "With how much power the Butcher wields, it's ridiculous that the Teeth have been here for a year and the other gangs are still standing. Sure, we're not running around like crazy people any more, but that's because we actually stand to profit enormously if you all just follow my instructions. The Teeth will seize the Bay, and when it is ours we can rule the criminal underworld however we want. No one will tell us what to do!"

"Hell yeah!" "You tell them, Taylor!" "Let's fucking do this!"

At some point during my rant, I had jumped to my feet, leaving me looking down on the two rather wide-eyed capes sitting on the couch. "Well, shit," Damien said slowly. "Never thought I would see the Butcher give a pep talk before."

"I can see why little Vexy took such a liking to you, miss firebrand," Alice said. "What's next, a big recruitment drive? She mentioned that kids at your school are signing up like crazy."

"Well, it's not like anyone else is going to protect them from the Empire."

Alice leaned back against the couch and gave me a strange look. "The Teeth don't protect anyone, except maybe ourselves. But I guess that's the point, right Butcher?" I didn't bristle at the name, but it was a close thing. "You want us to help you rule a kingdom of your own."

"That sounds like a lot of work," Damien said.

"A lot of work for me," I retorted, flopping back down into my seat. "The rest of you just get to keep doing business as usual… mostly. I don't want to discard what makes the Teeth, well, Teeth… but I do intend to make us at least palatable to the masses. Fewer trophies and wanton murder and more keeping the city safe from anyone that would try to disrupt it. If we intend to rule without the city becoming a quarantine zone, we need to be something the PRT doesn't feel pressured to remove at all costs, similar to the Elite on the west coast."

"A lofty ambition," Statego stated.

Perhaps, but imagine what happens when we succeed. The Teeth, in charge of a whole city? That's unprecedented on this coast.

For a long moment, there was perfect silence in my head while my predecessors finally seemed to understand the scope of what I was planning.

"And to think, some of us thought that XV wasn't going to bolster the Butcher's reputation," Chisel said with vicious satisfaction.

"This isn't what the Teeth are about," Damien grumbled.

"Last I checked, the Teeth are whatever the Butcher says they are," I said, letting the swarm creep into my voice. "All I'm doing is finishing what Damascian and Quarrel started — taking back our hometown and finally crushing the goddamn Empire. I'm not going to close the arena or stop selling drugs; hell, I'm giving you a license to beat up assholes wherever you find them in our territory. But there's no profit in just killing civilians for no reason, especially when they're the ones paying us. You want to do business as usual? Fine. But do it on the right targets: our fucking enemies. No one important cares about bad guys versus bad guys."

For the first time all night/morning, a look of understanding passed over the faces of the two capes. I had always known that my attempts to direct the Teeth would be unpopular among the capes, but if I wanted to be able to live with myself I had to change what I could. Since the Teeth were the only group that were willing to accept the Butcher, I was somewhat limited in my choice of minions, but…

I was going to make it work. Anything less was unacceptable.

A sleepy voice from the doorway drew all of our attention. "How are you two idiots complaining when you didn't even come with us yesterday?" Chrissie asked, yawning.

"G'morning Chrissie. I hope you slept well."

"Hard not to after all we got up to last night." She winked at me as my blush turned red hot. We hadn't done much more than usual, but it kept up appearances for her to imply we had. I had bug arrows form, pointing towards the coffee pot. "Thanks Tay."

Don't even start.

The chorus just snickered.

I watched my groggy girlfriend shuffle off to obtain her caffeine fix as I turned back to the two capes that had essentially run the Teeth before I came along. "Times are changing, but I don't want this to be completely one sided. If people have issues, bring them to my attention in private, because if you challenge me in public?"

"You get Spree'd!"

"Yeah, we get it," Alice said, rubbing the spot where I had hit her with the glass.

I clapped my hands as I stood. "If that's all settled, I have classes to get to, and targets to enumerate while pretending to pay attention to said classes."

Damien groaned.

"I've always wondered — are the Butchers' memories helpful?" Chrissie asked as she came over to my side.

Fester immediately brought forth one of those memories in response, cackling like a madwoman as I pushed her and the offending thoughts away with a grimace. "Yes and no. They're great for current affairs, but not so much for anything else. Only Stratego, Damascian and Ironsides actually graduated."

"Better than none," Damien said. "Fuck it, if we're done I'm gonna go see if anyone wants to fight, and then pass the fuck out."

"There's fresh Nazis for the picking," Chrissie said cheerfully.

Damien grinned and I felt my stomach turn — I'd almost forgotten about them. "Fucking sweet! That should make for a good warm up, thanks Vexy!"

"No problem, Cannon Fodder!" she called back as he flipped her off.

The return to school was uneventful. Everyone not in our colors gave me a wide berth and I hadn't felt a single necklace crushed all morning. Even Emma and her flunkies were behaving, which had my old instincts on edge for a greater plan to come.

I met up with Chrissie as we were making our way to Gladly's class, and she gave me a nudge. "Hey Tay, check this shit out." She waved her phone in my face, showing me a PHO thread. It showed pictures of Armsmaster, Dauntless, Velocity, Miss Megabitch…

"Is their entire roster at this PR circlejerk out of town or am I missing someone?"

"Assault and Battery skipped out, but otherwise?" Chrissie said with a shrug. "Seems kinda stupid if you ask me, leaving only the Wards to defend the city."

"Yes… Quite foolish of them." I said with a grin.

"What are you plotting?" Stratego asked impatiently.

Minigun.

The chorus erupted into a cacophony of cheers and discussion at my little proclamation. Yes, it was time to reclaim one of the symbols of the Teeth. The opportunity was so perfect that the paranoid part of my brain wondered if this was yet another trap by the PRT. I would have to play this safe, and be prepared to spring the trap if it existed.

"Chrissie, I'm going to miss lunch and maybe gym if this takes too long. I have an errand to run," I said, reaching out to a bug near the edge of my range on the path back to our HQ. There was an abandoned classroom up ahead that I could use to stage my disappearance.

"Aww, you're gonna leave me out of this one?" Chrissie said with an adorable pout on her lips.

"I need someone to keep an eye out if they call in any of the Wards, since I'm about to cause no small amount of panic for the shitheads at the PRT building."

Chrissie broke out into a fit of cackles. "Take a selfie when you're in there; they'll shit themselves when you post it to PHO."

"Will do. I'll call you in if you're needed." I said with a wink, followed by a not-step that carried me to my waiting bug.

From there it took me another five jumps before I reappeared in the VIP lounge of our base.

"Fuck!" Michael exclaimed as he fell off the couch at my sudden and obvious arrival. Thankfully he was on his feet within a second and had a weapon in hand. Damascian and Chisel approved of the improvement, though Ironsides and Stratego weren't as impressed. Michael's expression quickly shifted from surprise and anger into one of confusion. "I thought you and the brat had school today?"

"Change of plans. I'm suiting up and I want our best fighters on standby if shit gets ugly."

"You gonna fuck some shit up?" Damien asked as he arrived in our lounge.

"You know it!" I said with a grin.

Making my way to my room, I donned my upgraded costume. Gone were the familiar Alexandria themed grays and blacks, and in their place? Teeth gray and red. I'd integrated dark scarlet lines across all my armored panels; they would still blend in with my swarm if needed, but provided a contrast that left little doubt to my affiliation. The scarlet XV on each shoulder wasn't needed, but it was my title as the Butcher and I would own it.

The mandibles of my mask were shaped to be a bit more serrated, and the scarlet had been applied to make them look bloodied. Around the lenses of my mask were subtle red highlights to add to the sinister look that had once led Armsmaster to mistake me for a villain…

There would be no doubts now.

It was with a heavy sigh that I secured the weapon harnesses to my thighs and torso. In a word, I was terrifying: a nightmare on two legs even without my swarm to back me up. Secured to each thigh were an OTs-62 along with three throwing knives. At my hip was the tinkered machete I had grown to like, though some of the swords downstairs looked awesome. A dozen knives were spread along my harness along with additional shotgun ammo to reload my quick loaders. Finally, I had the expanding fuck-off huge Tinker bow that Quarrel had favored, along with a modified quiver of shortened arrows that I could extend with Chisel's power.

"Add in the swarm for effect and only the insane wouldn't shit their pants in fear," Knockout said approvingly.

"I can't wait to see the reactions to this on PHO!" Fester added.

Pyro nearly squealed. "It's gonna be amazing!"

I was a one woman battalion, ready to ride to war. Not that I planned to do any fighting today, but it didn't hurt to be prepared in the event this was another trap. I needed to make an impression, especially with how I was about to humiliate the hell out of them all.

Once I was sure all my weapons were secure, I began to teleport my way across the city in the general direction of the PRT building.

"I am going to laugh way too hard at their reactions to this one!" Sabertooth said, already failing to contain his mirth.

"It is going to be a fun little diversion," Stratego said.

"Certainly better than school," Butcher added.

I had to agree with them, and while I had no intention of abandoning my education, this was going to be a lot of fun; hopefully I would only miss gym. I was glad to have a free period on Thursdays after lunch as it gave me a bit of wiggle room, especially now that I could travel and grab some takeout.

I was still near downtown when my bugs picked up something unusual. I didn't have enough of a swarm to get a good picture of what it was, but something about it was making my instincts tingle. Instead of continuing on my way towards the PRT building, I angled my way towards the disturbance.

Not wanting to risk spooking my potential quarry, I landed about a block away and put my Brute and more mundane Mover abilities to work. Roof running was an enjoyable experience; one I didn't get to indulge in very often since the teleport was so damn useful. Thankfully the rain from earlier in the day had let up.

I was already directing more bugs into the area, but now I had my actual eyes on two vans parked behind Brockton Central Bank, along with four costumed people and three mutant creatures currently gathered near the back door. A girl in a purple catsuit was working on a security panel. I couldn't help but grin under my mask.

Slight change in plans, how about we introduce ourselves to the Undersiders?

"We're still grabbing the minigun, right?" Quarrel asked.

Duh. Besides, this won't take very long at all.

Thursday, April 14th 2011

"The fire exit here in the back is protected by a digital passkey," Tattletale explained while she crouched at the keypad ineffectually guarding the bank. "Every employee has the number to get in if they need to, but that rarely happens because opening the door sets off a bunch of alarms. That password is easy. The interesting thing that the employees don't even know is that the capes and SWAT teams have a special code they can put in if they need to make a quiet entrance with no alarms going off. To do that, you punch in the regular code, 3-7-1, but you hold the one down, then press the number sign and the asterisk keys down at the same time… Voila! Go on, try it." She stood, brushing off her pant leg and smirking at Grue. Couldn't get in in fifteen seconds. Ha!

Just as the lock disengaged, a gnat flitted past Lisa's face. She absently swatted it aside.

Looping flight pattern, tracking by scent, seeking —

"Stay focused," she muttered, refusing to elaborate on useless information; Lisa needed to conserve her power for the actual robbery. Grue hesitated for an instant before yanking the door open, its squeak punctuating the total lack of blaring alarms. Lisa bowed and gestured towards the building. "What'd I tell you?"

Grue shook his head, signaling Bitch to take point with her trio of still-growing dogs turned hellhounds. They were barely up to Lisa's hip in height, a fraction of what they could be, but it was perfect for the narrow halls that made up the office section of Brockton Central. Twice the dogs paused at doors, signaling that people were inside, and twice office workers were pulled out to serve as hostages.

Lisa was not particularly proud of robbing a bank as a very obvious distraction, but this job was a necessary step towards getting herself out from under Coil's thumb. Sure, their success here would bolster the Undersiders' reputation, but her true goal was to isolate some of Coil's legitimate finances and figure out what she could subvert or subsume for her own use.

Dyed hair, stains indicate single mother, afraid husband is cheating. Retiree, well off, is verifying finances. Depressed, insufficient sleep, worried about someone —

Lisa forced herself to look away from the lobby until Grue had successfully flooded it in darkness. His power buried the hapless customers in his frankly terrifying smog before they even knew the Undersiders were there. Grue could handle the civilians and Bitch — hopefully — which meant that Lisa was off to crack the vault. Once Alec was looting the place, she would be in the clear to work over the manager's computer until the Wards arrived.

Lisa's power made even the best of vaults worthless, though she was struggling to keep her powers focused on her chosen task. She had to force down a grunt of annoyance when Grue appeared with a massive Angelica, the footsteps of the huge empowered dog shaking the floor of the bank.

Hollow thump in vault, floor vibrating, likely a large object fell over.

Some days, she swore it was like herding cats, and it was just her luck that today was one such day. No, she didn't care about a stupid bug, or the crowd of hostages, or whatever the hell might have fallen in the vault. Lisa did fight down a smile, wondering if Coil might have wanted whatever it was that just crashed to the ground.

Details irrelevant on their own, but taken together indicate —

"Problem Tats?" Regent asked.

"None at all," she declared, clicking the last bit into place and disengaging the lock with a final spin of the stainless steel wheel jutting out from the front of the vault door. Something loud and heavy sounding shifted within the door as it popped open ever so slightly. Tattletale adopted her smuggest grin as she spun around, pulled the well oiled door open with her, and took a bow. "And that, gentlemen, is how you crack a vault."

There was a beat of stunned silence as she basked in her own accomplishment. Things were as they were meant to be, for she was no mere mortal but the goddess Athena, bringing her wisdom and snark down to the unwashed masses from Mount Olympus itself. All would marvel at the majesty that is Tattletale!

Silence, shock, fear of teammates all genuine, not related to deductive prowess.

… what?

Unexpected entity within vault. Prior ignored observations correlated.

Aw, hell.

"Tats, who's tall, broody and bug fuck terrifying?" Regent asked with what would pass as terror in his voice.

Voice tremor and tone indicated fear, equal to fear Jean-Paul would experience if his Father were present in the vault.

The fuck?

Slowly, Tattletale turned, her eyes squeezed shut. Once she was properly oriented she opened a single eye. The vault was as she expected, aside from loose cash scattered across the floor of the vault.

Radial spread, decreasing density follow pattern of cash moved by blast wave.

Lisa then turned her attention to the figure leaning up against the back wall of safety deposit boxes. She recognized the menacing dark gray body suit, of course, but the crimson accents on the armor panels and mask were almost brand new. The small armory of weapons strapped onto various parts of her armor seemed to have picked up a few things since the last time Lisa saw her.

"Weaver," Lisa whimpered.

She was proud of her self control in that moment, as a lesser person might have pissed themselves or even fainted. Lisa's power unhelpfully informed her that the tiny changes in what she could see of Weaver's muscles indicated that the ex-hero was smirking something fierce. Right, she had the voices of fourteen crazed psychopaths giving her feedback on what she could be doing to Lisa's teammates right now.

"Tattletale," Weaver said firmly, the slightest hum of the flies around them resonating in time with her words. "Not how I planned to meet the Undersiders, but I'll take what I can get."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Weaver is looking to assess the Undersiders as potential assets. Or to remove them from the board.

"You're a Thinker, and from what I've gathered, a damn good one. Good enough to claim to read minds, so… be my guest."

"Well, you've clearly —" she started, but Butcher cut her off.

"Not a mind reader. If you were, you would have recoiled in disgust and likely need years of therapy to get over what the chorus just ran through my head."

Extremely lewd comments made. Graphic memories of past atrocities. Weaver unflinching in the face of such things. Weaver is still affected by them. Offloading reactions with a Thinker ability. Bug movements are erratic. Offloading emotional responses into her swarm.

Lisa felt the first twinge of a Thinker headache emerge with that revelation, so she pointedly ignored Grue and Regent's muttering. This might be the most important conversation of her life, and nothing as minor as a raging Thinker headache was going to dissuade her.

"Nope," she said quickly, "the mind reading thing is just a schtick to throw people off, I'm just good at reading most people." Weaver seemed as though she had raised an expectant eyebrow under her mask, Lisa huffed. "You want us to either work for you, or leave the city."

"Very astute of you," Weaver said, and Lisa didn't need her power to imagine the other supervillain's smirk. "Your reputation as thieves precedes you, and I have no interest in killing teenagers."

No interest in killing in general, despite voices' insistence.

Lisa nodded slowly. That was… good to have confirmation of some of the conclusions she had reached herself, given how much garbage data there was. Lisa had seen the footage from last weekend and had compiled quite a lot of research on previous Butchers, so she considered herself much better informed about Butcher XV's motivations and methods of operation than damn near anyone else. Certainly the PRT didn't grasp the magnitude of Weaver's break from normal Butcher behavior, and Lisa had started a dozen contingency plans in the event that she crossed paths with the first sane Butcher again.

It galled her to admit that 'meeting at the bank she was robbing' was not included in those plans.

"Right, well, that's good," Lisa said, injecting some false cheer into her voice. "Um, if you don't mind, we're kind of robbing the bank, here…"

"She can have it," Regent said immediately. "No offense, but I'm not a huge fan of bugs, and especially not bugs in places bugs should not go."

Amazingly, Weaver huffed out a laugh at the comment. "I knew we would get along. For the moment, I would appreciate it if you just continued robbing this bank and distracting the heroes, but in the future… Do the Undersiders work on commission? You don't need to join the Teeth proper, but we want to hire you permanently to steal from our enemies instead of us."

"Not that I'm opposed to the idea," Lisa said carefully, "but…" If Weaver was scouting talent, there was potential there. An idea was starting to form in her mind, and despite the fact that Brian was going to hate it (Alec and Rachel probably less so), it resolved a number of issues in Lisa's own plans to take down Coil.

Primarily, her inability to storm Coil's base with the axe-craziest group of murderhobos on the east coast.

Weaver just tilted her head, which Lisa took as permission to continue (sorry, not sorry, Grue). "See, we're already on retainer for a different boss. I mean, come on, why else would we rob a bank in this day and age?"

"Tattletale!" She ignored Grue's pained hiss of a warning.

"I asked myself the same question," Weaver admitted. "So…?"

Weaver asked the voices in her head.

Lisa did genuinely feel bad for Weaver, as the girl's reward for saving the Undersiders from Lung was to be publicly branded a villain and practically thrown back to the Teeth. It was obvious to anyone with a brain that the girl was a hero at heart, and while Lisa did feel bad for tugging on those same heartstrings, it wasn't like Weaver had much to fear from anyone.

"Ah, we're robbing the place as a distraction for our boss, Coil. I'm pretty sure he's looking to recruit a cape… forcefully. I doubt they will be able to turn down his pitch." Grue geared up to say something about that, so Lisa kicked his shin. Hopefully that would be enough for him to keep his mouth shut. She did not need him stepping on any potential landmines and setting off a bug apocalypse.

Weaver turned her full attention on Lisa, and she wasn't above admitting that it shut her up instantly. When Weaver spoke, it was with hideous finality and a buzzing echo. "Coil?"

"Yep! Grade-A asshole. Thinks he's the smartest person in the room. Spoiler: he's not. But his power is slippery to work around and I have limited options."

"I'm listening." The echoing from the bugs was indeed creepy as hell, but Lisa took it as a good sign in this case.

"I'm an excellent Thinker. A superb asset. That's why I was… ah, let's go with 'recruited'. That's why you want me too. But I'm not as good in combat. Now Coil on the other hand," Lisa had to fight to keep her cheer from seeming too genuine to her teammates — the bugs in the area had shifted and started scrambling around. Butcher XV hadn't missed her implication of Coil's 'sales pitch' and had just cast damning judgement on the creepy fuck that was controlling Lisa's life. This Butcher was nowhere near as insane as everyone was trying to pretend she was; if that hadn't been abundantly clear before, it certainly was now. And now all Lisa had to do was be around to pick up the pieces of Coil's organization once she set its downfall all into motion. "You see, he has the power to experience two timelines at once. He can make two decisions —"

"And keep the one he finds more advantageous," Weaver finished. "Well, my plans have changed. Originally I was going to come here, make someone piss their pants or something, make the heroes panic, maybe cause a bit of chaos at your expense, but now…"

Discussing with voices on how to best take advantage of your team. Is furious, but refusing to let it show.

Well, that wasn't ominous at all.

"Right," Weaver said, pushing herself off the wall and rubbing her armored hands together. "Well, Undersiders, welcome to the Teeth. Your first mission is to finish robbing this bank. You can bring all of the cash and whatever back to the arena when you're done, and then we're going to work on a plan to hit Coil. You know where his base is, right?"

Lisa nodded rapidly as Weaver's mask turned in her direction again. "Yes ma'am, I already have plans to take him out. There's stuff on the computers here that would help, but we're out of time."

"Yes, the Wards," Weaver agreed. "They're setting up across the street. Grue, with me — I can sense my bugs through your darkness. Tattletale, get that information. I'll send Bitch back to help load things up."

She strode out of the vault with the confidence of someone who knew she was too scary to be fucked with, but Grue hesitated before following their new boss. "Tats, what the fuck is going on here! I'm not okay with just —"

"Grue, she will literally feed you to her bugs. Do as she says." Regent tried for his usual bored drawl, but there was an edge in his voice mirrored by the urgency in his step as he made his way to the first box of cash.

"I'm… no, this is not how this works," he tried again, clenching his fists while smoke began to pool at his feet. "We're not joining the Teeth."

"Can we please have an existential crisis when the heroes are not here to arrest us?" Lisa asked, yanking on Grue's hand. "Come on."

Grue folded after a minute of anguished consideration, which forced him to jog to catch up with the living biblical plague. Weaver began issuing instructions to the Undersiders' former nominal leader, and Lisa hardly needed her power to catch the tension in his shoulders from being ordered around. Luckily for everyone involved, he seemed to finally see the writing on the wall.

Lisa ducked into the manager's office before Grue could offer more unheeded complaints, working her magic on the computer with as much speed as she could muster. While files downloaded and queries ran, Lisa's curiosity got the better of her and she opened the feed from the security system. It was probably the safest way to watch Weaver in action, and she hoped that Grue didn't do something totally stupid.

The sound wasn't good enough for Lisa to hear his whispered conversation with Bitch while Weaver waited in the hallway, but there was surprisingly little complaint out of the aggressive girl before she led her dogs back towards the vault. Weaver then teleported into the lobby with a thunderous crash, her bugs swarming in behind her a moment later.

Naturally, the civilians panicked, only to freeze in horror when Weaver raised her voice, accompanied by her bugs. "Thank you all for your cooperation, but it seems that the Undersiders have made a critical error in planning their latest heist." Lisa snorted. That was a mild understatement. "As such, their team is now under new management, and I have no interest in keeping Panacea hostage for any length of time."

Lisa jerked upright in her chair, eyes combing the screen for the hero… only to discover that it was the same girl her power had tried to warn her about. Panacea herself was no less surprised, a conflicted expression rolling over her face.

Is confused by Weaver. Is confused by Weaver's actions, and behavior. Wonders how sane Weaver is. Appreciates Weaver setting her free. Does not want to appreciate Weaver's help. Sees something of herself in Weaver's situation. Fears what happened to Weaver.

Lisa's head twanged in pain, but she was totally incapable of tearing her attention away from the impending train wreck. Is worried something similar will happen to her. Power is not healing. Power reads biology. Power modifies biology. Is a biokinetic, not a healer. Fears being sent to Birdcage for her powers. Fears being turned into a villain because of her powers.

Oh fuck!

Lisa could not deal with that can of worms right now.

Slamming the metaphorical doors shut on her power, Lisa focused back on her work with the manager's computer. The outside camera was high enough that she could watch as Grue's darkness rolled out into the street, a solid black mass of smoke that stopped just short of the assembled Wards. Thankfully, the rain had ceased. Weaver then shepherded the hostages out, only to disappear herself — no boom indicates teleporting into Grue's darkness.

An amused and mildly pained chuckle escaped Lisa's mouth as the Wards were suddenly bombarded by panicking civilians. The former hostages stumbled out of the darkness disoriented and confused as they ran through the still wet street, causing the junior heroes to rush back and forth like idiots. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Panacea who kept her cool and indicated that Butcher XV had arrived on the scene and was complicating everything.

Lisa couldn't wait until Butcher complicated her machete straight down Coil's throat.

She absently started the download on the next set of files, morbidly curious if the PRT was going to let their kiddie division throw down with the Butcher. The actual heroes were almost certainly rushing back from their wine-and-dine at full speed, which meant that unless the government really wanted the Undersiders (or… Underteeth, now?) just walking away with the money —

Oh, the rest of the Wards showed up, as did Glory Girl.

Meteor, Shadow Stalker, and Browbeat arrived later than the other Wards. Separate transportation. Separate origin points. They likely do not attend Arcadia.

Lisa had barely managed to put that (mostly) useless tidbit out of her head before Grue's smoke pulled back, revealing Weaver in all of her terrifying glory. The new paint job on her costume probably went unnoticed by the Wards in favor of the roiling carpet of bugs at Weaver's feet and the cloud of their brethren flying in formation around her head. Weaver stood with her arms crossed, holding a confident pose that Lisa could see was only slightly faked.

The Wards, on the other hand…

Well, Vista was terrified, which made sense given her involvement last weekend. Most of the others were similarly scared, although to the Wards' credit, they were hiding it well. The real outliers were Shadow Stalker and Meteor, who were clearly about to do something stupid. At least Glory Girl seemed to be more concerned about her sister than fighting.

When Weaver spoke, it was loud enough and clear enough to hear despite the bugs. "So, I'm supposed to distract you while the Undersiders wrap up, then escape. How do we want this to play out?"

Holy shit, the audacity of that girl! Lisa was laughing so hard she almost fell out of her seat, only to be stabilized by a strong, gloved hand. Grue, unfortunately, was less than pleased. "Are you almost done here?"

"Yeah," Lisa confirmed. "But I want to watch the end of this."

"End of what?" Regent asked, following his voice into the room. "New boss lady is bugfuck terrifying, by the way. That talks-through-bugs thing? Amazingly creepy."

"I'm aware," Grue bit out.

Aegis started to talk, so Lisa quickly turned up the volume. "Um, what do you mean, Butcher?"

"Please, call me Weaver — I've been abundantly clear about that — and obviously I'm not going to start a fight with the Wards, that's just bad PR. Don't worry, the weapons are just for show — I'm not Lung, I don't shoot kids. Also, I promised Panacea not to give her too much work."

The absurdity of that statement seemed to hang over the soon-to-be battlefield, and Lisa swore that she could hear herself and Regent cackling from the outside camera. Grue made a displeased noise, though whatever his objection was, he didn't get to make it before the Wards decided that they hadn't been yelled at enough by their superiors recently.

Specifically, Shadow Stalker fired both of her crossbows at Weaver.

Butcher twisted out of the way with almost contemptuous ease, snatching the two bolts out of the air before spinning around and whipping them right back at the Wards. To the junior heroes' credit, they were quick on the uptake — unfortunately, no matter how they dodged, Quarrel's power wouldn't be denied. Clockblocker took a bolt directly into his ass, and he flopped cartoonishly onto the sidewalk.

Vista was somewhat more successful, attempting to stretch space, but the projectile simply sped across the lengthened distance like it wasn't there and rammed into her criminally unarmored thigh. Lisa was thankful, not for the first time, that the PRT didn't give the little terror a weapon and free rein on the battlefield.

"Boom, headshot!" Regent called, miming a sniper rifle for emphasis. Grue made a vaguely annoyed noise that sounded like 'ass shot', but Lisa's whole attention was on the unfolding battle outside. Weaver didn't have much to fear from the Wards, so instead she had eliminated the two capes that most posed a threat to the Undersiders' ability to escape.

"Grue, Aegis and Glory Girl inbound. Fill as much of the building as you can with smoke, and I will warn Bitch." Lisa wasn't afraid to admit that she recoiled in horror at the almost person-shaped blob of bugs floating in the corner. Regent just laughed again, and Grue nodded once before pumping the hallway full of his power.

On the screen, Weaver's message had not caused so much as a hiccup while she was making a mockery of the Wards' training and message. Gallant was the unlucky winner of the 'safe to swarm' award, and his armor was already coated in a layer of disgusting, sticky bug guts. He was taking occasional pot shots with his power, to little effect.

Shadow Stalker was similarly useless, and the crazed ex-vigilante was taking her inability to hit Butcher with a crossbow bolt as some sort of personal offense. She flitted around the battlefield, taking aim from atop lampposts or around cars, but Weaver always managed to dodge the shots.

Browbeat, to Lisa's great amusement, was the real loser of those interactions. While the Ward was far from inexperienced, having clearly been tutored on how to throw their telekinetically assisted punches for maximum effect, Weaver simply tanked the hits or caught them with her translucent force fields. If Weaver's almost relaxed movements did not make it clear that she was toying with the Brute, then continually grabbing Stalker's tranq arrows and shoving them into Browbeat's arms certainly did.

Does not want to fight Weaver. Is afraid of Weaver. Is specifically afraid of Weaver.

Regent burst into laughter as the Ward collapsed, and Lisa pried her eyes away from Meteor taking over on melee duty to see —

WEAVER: 3 WARDS: 0

A scoreboard, made out of bugs, on a nearby wall.

Goddamn was their new boss a savage bitch.

Lisa was caught between that and watching Kid Win run away from dive-bombing bugs when Grue reappeared in the doorway. "Aegis and Glory Girl are trapped in the lobby, but I don't know how long until they figure out a way to find the door. I hope Butcher has a plan."

"She does," Lisa said sagely. "And call her Weaver. She doesn't like the title."

"Whatever," Grue muttered. "Come on, Regent, let's get ready to move. How much of your download is left?"

"Oh, I'm done. It's just too much fun watching this shitshow unfold." As if to make the point, Meteor collapsed to her knees with a pained shriek. The girl had pushed her Breaker state to the max, the flames of her power almost obscuring the Ward inside. She had been attempting the simple plan of 'grapple the Butcher and set her on fire,' as Weaver clearly avoided having her attacks reflected as burns.

However, Meteor's power didn't work on other powers, and even a short zap of Butcher's pain projection was too much for the Ward to bear. Weaver then vanished an instant before a huge ball of blue energy landed right where she had been standing; everyone turned to find Kid Win with a menacing energy cannon floating next to his hoverboard.

That meant everyone was watching when one of Weaver's knives blossomed from the bottom, near the back. Kid Win scrambled away so fast that he fell off his hoverboard onto a PRT van, which probably saved his life when the cannon exploded a moment later. Weaver didn't give the Wards any respite, however. Instead, she raised her her hands and sprayed a red liquid —

Consistency inconsistent with blood used by predecessors. Consistency more consistent with pulped fruit derived mixtures, sudden lack of horror from Wards still conscious indicates familiarity with the liquid. Mixture likely tomato derived. Is thinner than tomato paste or ketchup. Lack of reaction excludes hot sauce. Possible options include tomato soup, juice or piz—

Pizza sauce. Lisa burned that much of her power on fucking pizza sauce.

(Also, she really should just read that damn thesaurus for her power already…)

Butcher XV, possibly the scariest motherfucker on the coast, had replaced the blood from one of her signature moves with pizza sauce. Lisa's power was happy to inform her that Weaver was experimenting with her powers and likely forgot, but that didn't change the fact that the junior heroes were covered in tomato paste.

Lisa was still laughing when a second explosion followed right after that, much closer, and Weaver appeared in the hallway. "Let's go," she intoned, smelling faintly of tomatoes.

"Sure boss," Lisa agreed, retrieving her flash drive. "Can't say I've ever seen a cape use pizza sauce as an attack before, so nice job."

"Thanks." Butcher twitched in amusement and embarrassment, which Lisa filed away for later. She had seen the girl under the mask, after all, and it was somehow reassuring that even Weaver was not immune to being an awkward teenager.

The moment passed, and it was a once-again indomitable Weaver that led her new minions to their original entry point where Bitch was waiting with loaded up dogs. Lisa gestured at the bags full of cash. "So, uh, what now?"

"Lose the tail, figure out your costumes, and meet me near the Teeth's arena in about an hour. I have an errand to run, first."

"What's to stop us from just leaving?" Grue blurted out. Lisa had to stifle the urge to facepalm at his complete lack of survival instinct. Did he really not understand who he was talking to? She may be the sanest of her line, but she was still a Butcher dammit!

Weaver became inhumanly still, around them the drone of millions of chittering insects soon grew deafening as they seemed to flow out of every dark recess within the hall.

Has made examples of minions in the past. Willing to make examples in the future. Considering making an example right now.

Before Lisa could warn him, Weaver struck out with a single hand in a swift motion Lisa couldn't follow. Weaver had Grue lifted off the ground with one arm and pinned him to the wall in a blink. The chittering now drowned out all other noise. Weaver's mask seemed to be boring into his as she somehow gave the impression of staring down the now silent Grue.

Not silent, unable to speak due to pressure on throat. Blood and airflow otherwise unrestricted.

"I do believe my reputation speaks for itself. Pray you do not give me a reason to reinforce it." The swarm seemed to pulse in time with Weaver's words even as the insects echoed each syllable. Lisa could admit to herself, it was one of the creepiest things she had ever witnessed.

Weaver then tossed Grue aside and vanished with a distant crack of thunder.

Not even a second later, the biblical swarm vanished back into the shadows as if it had never been there, but Lisa knew better. Weaver was still close enough to keep an eye on them.

There was a moment of silence between them, so of course it was Regent that would break it.

"Damn big guy, you got beat up by a girl!"

His laughter echoed in the empty hall, until only the echo remained and we all realized what it was.

Weaver is still listening with her swarm. Sharing in the joke through her insects. Sending a message that she is still watching.

Lisa had to force herself to swallow at that realization. Right, they still had a job to finish and their new boss was the definition of big brother, or in this case, sister.

"Alright, you heard the boss lady, we have a job to complete!" She tried to say cheerfully. Based on Grue's sullen reaction and Regent's silence, she failed miserably.

Lisa had to admit that the former Brockton Arena was a pretty great place for a lair. The arena closed in 2006 after the NBA became completely defunct thanks to an Endbringer attack hitting the finals and killing both teams in full; the sport never recovered and boxing just wasn't lucrative enough in the age of capes to sustain a multimillion dollar facility.

It had been called a marvel of engineering when first built, as the main part of the arena and most of the seats were below ground with basements below that. Thus, the building was low and squat, rising only two stories to match the other dilapidated buildings here on the edge of the Docks.

Currently, Lisa was sitting in a defunct sports bar across the street, watching as some unpowered Teeth members struggled to carry a suspicious box from a waiting pickup truck through the front doors. Lisa didn't even need to know what was in the box — it was being carried by Teeth, it was automatically suspicious. Their attempts to manipulate both door and box amused Lisa long enough that her teammates finally arrived, all in civilian clothes as expected.

Interestingly, Brian was the only one of the three whose apprehension was showing on his face. That made sense — Lisa and Butcher had pulled the rug right out from under his entire life. Alec was playing up the nonchalance but Lisa could tell he was nervous, and Rachel was preoccupied with Angelica. The terrier herself was on edge, but seemed content to just stare menacingly at the still-struggling Teeth.

They had barely sat down with Lisa at the mostly-intact booth before Brian let his displeasure be known. "Alright, talk. I want to know just what the hell you were thinking earlier today."

Angry with Lisa Wilbourn. Willing to hear things out. Patience is limited.

Okay, that was something she could work with. "Let me tell you a little bit about the history of the Undersiders. Last year, Coil recruited me at gunpoint, in civvies, right off the Boardwalk. He offered me a choice: work for him willingly or he would turn me into a drugged up, on-demand Thinker. I chose the option that allowed me to at least pretend I had some freedom.

"He wanted me to assemble a team that could grow into something useful for him. He thinks himself a mastermind, plotting and scheming from the shadows, and having a team of cat's paws is part of that. Preferably more than one, though the Teeth's presence here complicated his attempts to bring in another group."

"So you sold our team to the Butcher?" Brian snapped.

"Well, I didn't get paid," Alec complained, earning a death glare from Brian.

Lisa shrugged. "We were going to end up working for her no matter what. Coil was a dead man walking ever since Weaver became Butcher XV, so it was either join up now or be bought out later. This way it's on our terms and we look a lot better. I'm also fairly certain she would let us walk away if we wanted to. Hell, we're not exactly Teeth material ourselves, so…"

Turning her power onto the Undersiders' nominal leader revealed a rather important bit of information. Afraid for his sister in the face of a sudden betrayal. Considering his options. Options include selling out plans to Coil.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

"Brian, think about it for a second. Coil only keeps us around because we are valuable, and because he has leverage on us. He's helping you with your sister now, but that's the carrot. The stick is kidnapping her and doing who knows what. Coil isn't above having someone kidna—"

"Stop!" Brian interjected. "Fine, fuck, I get it! Coil is a monster, but… damn it, Aisha…"

Lisa pressed her advantage, noting that neither Alec nor Rachel seemed to care very much about the particulars of why their teammates turned to supervillainy. "He was never going to give you custody of her, because it meant that he would lose that all-important leverage."

"Hm, I wonder what leverage the Butcher would want?" Alec asked innocently.

"Ask her yourself."

The four possibly-former Undersiders froze at the calm voice, then turned as one to find a tall girl standing in the ruined doorway. Her red sports jacket and gray jeans proclaimed her allegiance, though Lisa suspected that the intricate braid decorating her black hair might soon become a Teeth-like fashion statement in and of itself.

The newcomer approached the table with no hesitation or weakness in her gait, which let Lisa see the graphic on the t-shirt: a picture of a tooth with fairy wings, with the text 'I'm the tooth fairy' written in bold letters underneath. Lisa hardly needed the hint, even had she not accidentally recognized the girl on the Boardwalk last week.

If Lisa was being honest, calm assurance fit the girl much better than meekness.

The girl's flagrant disregard for her civilian identity did not assure Brian, who tensed noticeably at the sudden intrusion. Alec was predictably nonplussed, but the interesting reaction was from Rachel. Her posture had turned submissive in the face of the Butcher.

Accepts Weaver's position as Alpha.

Oh hell, that would go over like a lead balloon once Brian figured it out. Lisa knew she needed to take the reins of the conversation.

"Wea—" Lisa was cut short as a single wasp landed on her nose.

"You're that girl from the Boardwalk, right? I was hoping to meet you again. My name is Taylor." She extended a hand, which Lisa reluctantly shook.

Knows you are Tattletale. Knows you know she is Weaver. Respecting the Unwritten Rules. Will violently enforce those rules if her people are targeted. Considers you to be her people.

"Lisa, a pleasure," Lisa said with her best smile. "Want to get burgers later?"

Wea— no, Taylor paused, then arched her eyebrows in clear invitation to elaborate. Brian could not have looked more betrayed if Lisa had pistol whipped him. Tough. Her new boss needed at least one friend whose favorite pastime wasn't fighting in gladiatorial death matches. Well, two: Rachel was going to default to being friendly as well, which made this so much better.

"I feel bad about running last time. You caught me on both a bad hair day, and about five minutes before an interview so I had zero time to stop and be polite. Let me make it up to you?"

Taylor snorted. "Bad hair day? Really?"

Lisa just laughed. "It's been a long day and I have a headache. Yeah, I had a bad hair day. So, burgers? Do you like Fugly Bob's?"

To Lisa's amazement, horror, and amusement — none of which she let show on her face — Taylor's calm, evil villainess façade shattered and revealed a very confused teenager. "Oh, you're serious. I, uh…" Taylor blinked several times, face twitching slightly.

Was not expecting a genuine offer of social interaction. Did not know how to react, voices in head mocking her for inability to socialize properly.

Lisa's power had reported a lot of distressing or unfortunate things since she triggered, but rarely had she felt it necessary to rush forward and give someone a hug like she did for Taylor right now. The Butchers' curse was an awful reward for the hero who had risked life and limb to save the Undersiders.

However, before Lisa could do or say anything to help the floundering Butcher (and wasn't that a crazy idea), Taylor's mask was back. "Yeah, sure. Why not? I skipped lunch anyway." Taylor's lips were pulled back into a lazy grin, but Lisa hardly needed her power to see that it was forced.

"This is adorable. Also disturbing. I wish I knew why. Neither of you two should be so blasé," Alec drawled.

"These jokers," Lisa said, sweeping her hand across the table, "are my friends Brian, Alec, and Rachel."

"Nice to meet you! You guys can come for that meal too if you want," Taylor said cheerfully, then she knelt down. "And who is this cutie?" Lisa's brain short circuited at the sight of the Butcher, of all people, fawning over an unfamiliar animal.

"Her name's Angelica," Rachel answered.

"She has been well cared for," Taylor said with certainty.

Tone shift intentional. Following directions given by her predecessors.

"As fun as all of this is," Alec said, ignoring Lisa's glare, "you obviously know that we're the Undersiders, but need us to admit it first to keep up pretenses. I'm quite curious what our new, glorious overlord wants with our humble band of misfit scoundrels, but I haven't got all day."

"I'm glad you asked," Taylor said, her smile growing sharp as a swarm manifested around her. "Coil is going to see the error of his ways."

Lisa couldn't help herself, she indulged in a bit of an evil, supervillain chuckle at that statement. "Yes. Finally."

"You know, Lisa, if you really hated the boss — well, old boss — so much, you could have just ran away," Alec pointed at her, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

"I'd rather not test my luck against the man with the ear of the PRT, thank you very much, Jean-Paul." His expression darkened for a brief moment, but her point had been made.

Taylor, on the other hand, stiffened noticeably. "All joking aside, all bantering on hold: I'm going to need you to explain that, Lisa."

"Okay," Lisa said, wincing. This wasn't going to be fun, but the band-aid had to come off. "For the record, I was going to bring this up anyway, but I was hoping to do so after we had properly thanked you for saving our lives."

Taylor's face twitched — more commentary from the Butchers, no doubt. "We'll come back to that, because I'm curious and have no idea what you're talking about. However, PRT first."

"I'm not certain exactly who Coil is. But, I know he's high ranking in the PRT. I know he has a prior relationship with Emily Piggot, but I haven't figured out exactly what it is either — they could be exes, old coworkers, or just mentor/mentee. I don't know, but what is important is he's still in the system."

Rachel's eyes narrowed. "That's why we never get caught? He plays both sides?"

Lisa pointedly ignored Brian's abject mixture of confusion and betrayal. "Partly yes, partly it was his power helping us. There were too many patrols that he knew about to just be using moles. He's an operative."

Taylor had gone completely still, however Lisa could hear droning and buzzing from outside the small building. She tried not to think about what that implied. "How important of an operative? One of my Thinker powers tells me that he's not the minor player everyone assumes."

Wants to know if he was aware of their attempt to send her to the Birdcage. Wants to know if he was responsible.

No shit, power. "Coil knew. I'm about 90% sure it wasn't his idea, but I'm also just as sure that he improved the tactics they used. He's the reason they brought Vista, I'm almost absolutely certain. I believe he also tried to recruit you before and the attempt went bad, which told him how to hurt you most effectively."

"Oh? Did he now?" Lisa was not afraid to admit that she was rather disturbed by the way that Taylor's voice went completely inflectionless, nevermind her motionless posture. Normal humans emoted. Whether this was something related to how she dealt with the Butchers, or her own power with the bugs, Lisa would have to ask later.

Much later. After the girl had calmed down.

"Coil never once asked me about you. Meaning he did ask, just he asked the other me. In the timeline he erased after things went down the drain."

Brian shook his head. "Wait, I'm lost. How does that prove anything?"

Taylor tapped one finger onto the table. "Coil has a leashed Thinker, he's had her look up every cape in Brockton Bay — hasn't he?"

"Yeah. Everyone but you. So, either he never got around to you. Or —"

Taylor made a fist that could have crushed stone. "He already thought he had everything he needed, though he got it when things went shockingly bad for him."

"Yup."

"And then when the PRT tried to get rid of me too, he gleefully helped them, because he couldn't do it himself."

"Pretty much."

Taylor breathed out heavily, her mouth twitching once again. "Okay."

Alec looked between Lisa and Taylor, frowning. "That's it? Just 'okay?' What, no Rip, Tear, Kill?"

"I am not my predecessors. I plan my attacks," Taylor stated. "Coil is a dead man walking, he just doesn't know it yet." As a terrifying accompaniment, a veritable cloud of bugs surged into the room to hover in the air for several moments before immediately dispersing again.

"Anything else of immediate concern? I want to introduce you to the rest of the Teeth so that we can start getting things together."

Rachel nodded. "Yeah. Thanks. For Lung."

Taylor looked at Rachel, opened her mouth, started to speak, then closed it. She leaned back against the booth and blinked several times. "Kids. You were the kids that Lung was going to kill."

"Yup," Lisa said. She laid a hand on Taylor's arm, squeezing as hard as she dared. The other girl probably didn't even feel it thanks to her Brute powers. "You ended up as the next Butcher because you saved our lives. I'm not really sure how we can thank you for that."

Taylor's head turned to her. She winced and her eyes unfocused.

Previous Butchers suggested several —

Yup, Lisa didn't need to know that. "I'm glad you're sane. We can start trying to fix your rep after we finish taking out the trash in the Bay."

Taylor snorted, the grin spreading back on her face. "See, Lisa, now you're talking like a member of the Teeth."