Interlude - 1.x (Insight)
March 4th, 2011
Lisa sighed as she started booting up her telecom software and voice changer on her laptop. Four different camera feeds started feeding her information on her external monitors. She didn't like working with villains, and she especially hated working with Coil. Still, his job offers weren't exactly the kind she could afford to refuse.
"Hello Undersiders," she drawled out through the microphone. The voice modulating software would ensure that her age, gender, and some speech patterns would be hidden. "This is Insight. I'll be your eyes in the sky this evening."
"Whoa, the boss sprung for you? That couldn't have been cheap." A cocky, young-ish sounding male voice came through one of the radio channels. Regent, Lisa thought, Coil's direct link to the Undersiders. Doesn't feel any compunction working for Coil. Based on what Lisa knew about him, it was likely that he had a more severe criminal history under another alias, and was rebranding himself in Brockton Bay to hide from his past. His costume looked more appropriate for a Renaissance fair than fighting capes: a white frilly shirt, dark leggings, tall leather boots, and a Venetian mask. He also had a garish-looking scepter and two empty duffel bags strapped to his back.
"Glad to have you with us, Insight." A deep, rumbling voice spoke out next. "Not that I'm ungrateful that you're here, but I was under the impression that we'd be getting backup in the field?"
Grue. Lisa liked Grue. She was the one who put him in touch with the Undersiders a few months back, which was something she still slightly regretted. He seemed like a decent guy who was only trying to do right by his family. Coil wasn't the type of employer he should be getting involved with. He was wearing his normal costume of black motorcycle leathers and dark helmet, except he also had a shotgun loaded with bean bag rounds slung over his shoulder.
Coil had asked her to find three young parahumans for his new team to go with Regent, and so far she had only found Grue and Bitch. There was a promising young telekinetic that had triggered recently, but she was quickly snatched up by the Empire 88. She was 99.99% sure the backup she had found them for tonight would not join the Undersiders permanently, which was a shame considering how powerful and useful her power was. Each of the Undersiders was wearing a helmet or mask that had a small built-in camera and radio, so that she could direct them tonight.
Bitch, the third member of the group, was quietly staying in the back next to her dogs. She wasn't wearing a costume, just a thick coat and dark jeans, with heavy combat boots and a cheap Rottweiler mask to cover her face. The three dogs were already the sizeof small ponies and they were gradually growing larger. The view was grotesque as flesh kept splitting and expanding, revealing layers of muscles and bone. Bone plates and spikes slowly spread over the exterior of the creatures as the transformation took place.
"Yes Grue," Insight spoke into the microphone. "I'm just here to run the command center. Don't be alarmed, your backup shouldbe arriving from the alley to the west of you right now."
Three of the camera feeds on her monitor swiveled towards the western alley, as a dark, almost intangible shape slowly approached the three Undersiders.
"Holy shit, bug girl!" Regent exclaimed.
Grue elbowed Regent in the ribs as he stepped forward to introduce himself. "Hey, I'm Grue. You're Arachne right?"
"Yyyeesss" Lisa shuddered as the chittering of a thousand bugs sounded out Arachne's reply. Her entire form was covered by amass of insects and bugs that were constantly moving and flitting around on her body. The only clearly visible part of her visage was the twin large, yellow eye lenses on her mask.
"Ahem," Grue cleared his throat in a valiant attempt to hide his discomfort. "Glad to have you with us here tonight. I was under theimpression that you were more of a rogue or vigilante? What made you want to help us tonight?"
"Hhheelllp againsssst villainsss" the swarm responded as Arachne's yellow eye lenses stared straight at Grue. "Wwon't join Underrrssidersss."
"Well we're glad to have you with us tonight, at least." Grue responded easily. He had a gift with getting along with people, which made him a natural leader.
Lisa wondered if the bug girl knew how creepy she truly was. Still, her power was incredibly useful, and the two of them had worked together to survey the casino and to plan the hit. As far as she could tell, Arachne seemed to have some personal vendettaagainst the ABB. Maybe something to do with her trigger event? 60% certainty. The ABB used to be a two-bit gang run by Oni Lee before Lung came to town with his lieutenants after Myrddin had driven them out of Chicago. Lung had quickly subsumed the ABB, and established the gang as a powerhouse after they had soundly driven off both the Empire 88 and the local Protectorate in a huge gang fight that had left two blocks of the Dock area completely destroyed.
"Alright everyone," Insight started speaking. "You guys have been informed of your roles already. Regent, Arachne will be assisting you with your part. The plan is simple. Grue and Bitch will crash the party and cause some chaos. Arachne and Regent will sneak in through the side and rob them blind."
"Yup, I've got my loot bags all prepared and everything," Regent drawled as he twirled his scepter.
"Right," Lisa continued. "None of their capes are here right now. The ABB recently established a supply house close to Empireterritory, and they just happened to receive an anonymous tip that the Empire are planning to hit it tonight. They should all be preparing for an ambush right about now. We want to be in and out before they have a chance to respond."
"Is the Empire actually launching an attack?" Grue asked.
"Yup," Insight smirked. "They just happened to receive an anonymous tip about that new safe house too."
"Heh, it's amazing that nobody's tried to kill you yet, you know?" Regent said with a lazy tone.
"Pshhh, nobody knows who I am" Insight responded. Except Coil, she thought bitterly. She didn't know how far his reach wasexactly, but she had a feeling that not even the Protectorate could protect her from him if he turned on her. "Get in position and hang tight for now. I'm monitoring police bands and traffic cameras. I'll let you know when to start."
So far all the Undersiders had done was some relatively small robberies and corporate theft; some financial records from Medhall, a shipment of encrypted SIM cards, and stuff like that. Now they were hitting the Ruby Casino, one of the ABB's higher value assets. Hopefully her name would be kept out of it, but she was still worried for the Undersiders and Arachne. Lisa wasn't sure whyCoil was ordering this attack. Her power told her Coil wanted the Undersiders to raise their profile, and that something had happened recently that made him speed up his plans, whatever they were. Any finer details were lost to her. The ABB had around half a dozen capes, and with any luck all of them would be tied up tonight and unable to respond.
Lisa had tried to hire Uber and Leet for the job instead of Arachne, but they had (smartly) refused after learning who the target was. Not as stupid as they looked, Lisa thought, which makes sense considering how long they've survived in Brockton Bay.
Any minute now, Lisa thought. She was getting more and more restless as she stared at her mapping software. The casino was housed inside what used to be a medium-sized two-story warehouse. The base floor was where all the gaming took place, and asingle stair-case along the back led up to a couple of offices that made up the second floor, which only covered about one-third of the total warehouse. The only windows were dotted along near the roof of the warehouse, out of reach of normal humans.
Minutes later, 911 calls started pouring in from the area that Insight was tracking. The Empire and ABB had started their clash.
"Showtime," Insight said. "Bitch, Grue, you guys are up."
The main door leading into the casino were always guarded by two armed ABB members, but the Undersiders weren't about to use the front door. Three giant monstrosities bursted out of an alley a block away and sprinted towards the back of the casino. One of the monstrous beasts, lagging a bit behind the other two, was carrying Bitch and Grue. The loading bay garage doors at the back ofthe building were reinforced on the inside with metal and wood beams, but they offered little resistance as two of Bitch's monstrosities, each weighing upwards of two tons, slammed into them.
The metal gave way with a piercing shriek, and the large bay doors collapsed inwards into the casino. Screams started emanatingfrom inside as the two beasts barked and howled. Grue's signature black smoke started pouring out from behind the two beasts. "Get down and drop your weapons!" Grue yelled into the building. Insight managed to get a quick view inside before Grue's helmet-cam was obscured by his smoke. There were less than dozen armed ABB thugs inside, and around fifty patrons that were just entering full blown panic mode at the sudden appearance of the large, van-sized monstrosities.
"Arachne, Regent, time to head inside." Insight said. A thin, silken rope ladder unfurled from the side of the building, over one of the second floor windows.
"Uhhh, you sure this thing can support our weight?" Regent asked.
"Yes," Insight responded. "Spider-silk. NOW GET MOVING."
Lisa turned her attention back to Grue and Bitch. The ground floor of the casino was in total pandemonium. Grue and Bitch were hiding behind a layer of smoke and one of Bitch's dogs near the new whole in the building they made while the other two beasts knocked tables and ABB thugs around. Most of the occupants inside the building, including several of the ABB thugs, had made a mad dash towards the exit after getting over the initial shock. A few of the braver ABB gunmen had stuck around and wereshooting blindly at the black fog covering Grue and Bitch or at one of the monstrous dogs. Grue periodically popped out from behind the doggie cover to fire a bean bag round at the remaining gunmen. Idiots, Insight thought. They're going to get some of their own people killed with a bad ricochet. The few stray bullets that were actually on target bounced harmlessly off the thick bone plates of Bitch's enhanced dogs.
Regent and Arachne had reached the second floor window a few moments later. With a quick bash of his scepter, Regent broke the window and carefully slipped inside the office room. Arachne followed seconds later. There were four ABB gang members in the office who were already on the ground, writhing in pain as their faces and mouths were covered by a multitude of cockroaches, spiders, and other bugs.
"Bug girl, I am really glad you are on our side tonight." Regent muttered as he stepped past the four downed guards, tasing one of them at random with the stun gun hidden in his scepter.
A round table dominated the center of the room, with a large pile of cash resting on top. Ignoring the rest of the downed ABB members, Regent and Arachne quickly set about filling their duffel bags with the cash on the table. A large safe rested in the backcorner of the office, but Lisa doubted that there would be enough time for her to take a crack at it.
After a few minutes of loading the bags, Arachne suddenly stilled.
"Hello? Bug girl?" Regent waved his hand in front of her face. "You still with us?"
"C-c-cape incoming, South-South-East," Arachne's swarm voice reported in over the radio.
Shit! Too soon. "Can you tell which one?" Insight asked.
"Ffflying. Shikigami."
Lisa breathed out a sigh of relief. Shikigami. Not Lung or Oni Lee then. Lung was virtually undefeatable in combat, and Oni Lee was an absolute psychopath when he was creating his suicide bomber clones with his grenade bandolier.
Still, Shikigami was dangerous. She was young, very likely a recent trigger, and the ABB's newest cape. She had a shaker ability that let her telekinetically control paper in a certain radius around her, which she liked to demonstrate by flying small origami swans around. A lot of people thought she was weak and a joke when the ABB first announced that they had recruited her. Popular opinion changed very quickly after she gouged out the eyes of a dozen Empire 88 thugs with confetti. Of all the ways to die, death by a million paper cuts had to be among the most unpleasant.
"Grue, behind you! Shikigami incoming." Insight yelled out.
Grue muttered a curse and quickly turned his head. Shikigami was rapidly approaching the casino riding atop a large cloud of multicolored paper and confetti. The ABB cape wore a blood red kimono with a white floral pattern etched onto it, along with a painted feminine Kabuki mask. Her waist length black hair flowed freely behind her as she flew towards the Undersiders. Short,Lisa thought. 5'0 to 5'3. Either a petite young woman, or more likely, a young teenager. Probably twelve to fifteen years old. Hesitant to engage the Undersiders while outnumbered. Hypothesis: wants to keep us engaged until other ABB capes can show up.
"Time to leave! Grue, Bitch, go dark and pick up the others!" Insight ordered.
Bitch whistled sharply and signaled for her dogs to retreat. Grue shifted his cloud of darkness in between them and Shikigami just as a tendril of multicolored confetti snapped out of her cloud and disappeared into the fog that was covering Grue and Bitch.
"Regent, Arachne, pack it up. Time to leave!"
"There's still a lot of money left here!" Regent said indignantly.
"Leave it, no time!" Insight ordered.
"Gah!" Regent cried out in frustration. He grabbed the duffel bags and dragged them to the window before tossing them out. "Buggirl, what are you doing? Let's go."
Arachne pulled out a small lighter from her utility belt, flicked it on, and tossed it onto the pile of cash that was still on the table.
Regent snorted. "Damn girl, you're crazy. Lung is going to kill you. Well, all of us too I guess. Still not sure why we decided this was a good idea."
The two of them made their way down the rope ladder just as Bitch's dogs bounded around the corner.
"Arachne, swarm her!" Insight yelled out.
A swarm of bugs, barely visible in the dark of night, leapt out from the surrounding streets and buildings, forming several tendrilsthat converged towards Shikigami. The cloud of paper that she was flying on bursted open in response and formed a spherical barrier of rapidly moving paper and confetti that orbited her at breakneck speeds. Bugs and insects died by the thousands as they threw themselves into Shikigami's barrier. The rapidly moving pieces of paper and confetti were able to shred the bugs with ease, but the sheer number of bugs that were present was able to restrict both her vision and mobility. Each bug death wasn't in vain, as scraps of paper and confetti slowly fell from Shikigami as they were rendered useless from the accumulation of bug guts and piecesthat were stuck on them. By the time the swarm dispersed, Shikigami's floating paper cloud was noticeably smaller, as was the insect population within several blocks of her. The Undersiders were also nowhere in sight.
Lisa sighed in relief as the Undersiders moved further away from ABB territory. It looked like they were able to make a clean getaway. "Is anyone hurt?" She asked the group.
"Bitch is bleeding a bit." Grue said. While his costume didn't have any exposed skin, Bitch's had a bit around the neck area as well as through the sleeves of her jacket. Blood was trickling down from her neck as well as down her arms.
"I'm fine," Bitch grunted in response.
"Yeah, just some papercuts!" Regent said, with a roll of his eyes.
"You'll want to get those wounds looked at. Make sure that the cuts are cleaned out properly and they don't get infected." Insight said. "I don't think I need to tell you guys to lay low for the next few days or hell, even weeks. The ABB is not going to take this lying down."
"Yup," Grue replied. "Don't worry, we know how to keep a low profile. Arachne, thanks a lot for your help today. You really helped us get away back there. We owe you one."
The bug covered cape nodded slowly in acknowledgment.
"We could've taken her," Bitch muttered. "She was only one person."
"Yeah probably," Insight agreed, "But what about the next three ABB capes that show up while we were tied up fighting her."
Bitch chose not to respond.
"C'mon guys, any day where we walk away unharmed and richer is a win in my books." Insight continued.
"Hey you don't need to convince me," Regent replied. "I'm all for running away."
"Yeah, good work all around, guys." Grue added.
Whatever Coil was hoping to get out of this, it had better be worth it. Most of the bills that Arachne and Regent grabbed from thetable were in small denominations. Lisa estimated that there couldn't have been more than $100,000 in the duffel bags. A sizeable haul, even split five ways, but hardly worth having Lung as an enemy. Lisa only hoped that everyone would survive Lung's retribution.
Canon Omake - Myrddin is a Wizard
"Myrddin…"
"Yes Hero?"
"Look, Rebecca asked me to talk to you. Everyone in the PRT wants you to tone it down with all the wizard stuff."
"I'll do no such thing, you foolish muggle."
"What the hell is a muggle? C'mon man, just tone it down a little. You're making people nervous."
"… you know, I saved your life against the Siberian."
"Ahhh not this again."
"It's true! She ripped your head off and I used Wish to ALTER THE VERY FABRIC OF REALITY to undo it."
"The PRT scientists haven't been able to find any temporal anomalies to back up your claim, and you've never been able to do it again!"
"The magical stress of casting Wish has rendered me unable to cast it again! I told you that already!"
"Just… tone it down, OK?"
"… I hate you."