AN: Friendly reminder that people speaking or hearing a non-native language will do so in italics. I will also try to make it clear in the dialogue cues.
ooOoo
Lisa felt like she would be doing well if they could make it back to the mainland without a fight. If they could walk away on friendly-ish terms with the Protectorate she'd treat herself to ice cream.
She was having a hard enough time adjusting to her first public appearance in costume. Just maintaining a cape-appropriate pose was a strain. She had to focus on keeping her head up, shoulders back, and gaze away from the gaggle of people who had formed a loose circle around where they stood on the ferry. Next to her, Tenten stood in a completely natural version of the pose Lisa was aping. She looked confident and quietly lethal as she gazed at the Protectorate base off in the distance.
Lisa did feel proud of her costume, at least. Once they'd gotten settled into their hotel room she had dug deep into her cash stash in order to put something together that wouldn't embarrass her in front of the professional heroes. The base layer was a crisp pair of slacks and tidy white blouse. The actual parahuman-ness of her look came from the lightweight trench coat that covered her from shoulder to knees. A sash tied around her middle allowed her to present a bit of femininity, but the details of her figure were well obscured. A domino mask covered her eyes, and atop her head was the piece de resistance: a fedora with attached wig that allowed her to put her own hair up and present herself as a brunette.
All in all, the costume did a terrific job of protecting her identity. The effort was undercut somewhat, however, by Tenten's adamant refusal to wear a mask.
It was too bad, really. The girl's native dress sense lined up surprisingly well with parahuman culture. Her high collared shirt and color-coordinated pants screamed kung-fu princess, which also seemed to be a decent description of her power set. With her face covered, she would have fit right in to the PHO Brockton Bay cape montage.
Unfortunately, she had adamantly refused to wear any of the masks Lisa had picked out. Lisa had brought them along with her in her pockets, just in case. It would be nice if they could at least try to protect their identities.
"Are you sure you don't want to wear a mask?" she asked. Some of the surrounding onlookers had their cell phones out, but walking into the Protectorate with a bare face was a whole different level of self outing compared to random photos showing up on the internet.
"I told you, I will not give them an excuse to take offense," Tenten replied, her voice calm.
"And I told you, it's expected for independent parahumans to keep their identities secret," Lisa said. "You can't take this back once you walk in there. Please-"
"I have done nothing to be ashamed of," Tenten said, making a sharp gesture with her hand to indicate that her mind was made up. "I will not hide my face."
Her entire bearing was confident and serene. It made for quite a contrast with her frantic reaction to the mere existence of the Protectorate. Lisa had been intending to save the use of her power to help navigate the minefield awaiting them at the Rig, but decided it was worth expending a little bit to check in on her partner's mindset.
Determined to conduct herself with pride today. At peace with whatever happens. Prepared suicide pill to be used in the event of forceful interrogation.
Lisa began massaging her temples to ward off a non-power induced headache."Please don't do anything drastic in there. If you follow my lead, everything should work out."
Tenten nodded. "Translate my words faithfully and I will follow your cues. What will be will be."
Lisa was, of course, the only avenue Tenten had available to communicate with anybody in English. Lisa had given her a bit of a crash course in the language last night but she wasn't at the point where she could do much besides greet people, count, and ask where to find a bathroom. Accordingly, Lisa would be able to control their conversation with the Protectorate to some extent. On the other hand, Lisa had found that Tenten was quite observant. Lisa might be able to fudge a few words here or there to create a polite impression, but she doubted she'd be able to slip any wholesale changes past the other girl. As to what Tenten would do if Lisa broke her trust, well, she really didn't want to find out.
One thing that had become abundantly clear was that Tenten considered Lisa to be dangerously naive when it came to negotiations between high level capes. Lisa thought that Tenten ought to respect her expertise-she was a Thinker and the only one of them native to this universe, for crying out loud-but the disrespect was less galling in the wake of the discovery that Coil had been perfectly willing to kidnap and brainwash her into working for him.
Lisa still didn't think the Protectorate was willing to deploy the kind of Gestapo tactics Tenten feared. If they were, guys like Uber and Leet should be in an unmarked grave somewhere instead of deleting her comments on their Youtube videos. Even so, she was starting to believe that the Protectorate wasn't quite the bumbling, image-conscious warm and fuzzy bunch of yahoos that PHO would have had her believe. She was trying to keep a stiff upper lip, but she was all too aware of the many ways this meeting could go horribly wrong.
The ferry jolted slightly as it came in to the dock. No more time to brood. Lisa squared her shoulders and walked off the ferry with purpose. The crowd parted as the tourists scrambled out of the way of the obvious pair of capes. It was a heady feeling for somebody who had been skulking in the fringes of society for so long. Tenten fell in step behind her as they made their way inside.
The lobby was decorated with a bold futuristic aesthetic that spoke to the Protectorate's vision of a better tomorrow. It also had open sight lines to allow the five hidden containment foam turrets Lisa could pick out to catch any intruders in an unavoidable crossfire. Most of the incoming crowd would head for the gift shop or the large desk up front that sold tickets and tour packages. Lisa made her way to a small concierge's desk off on the other side of the room.
"Hello there," Lisa said as they approached the desk. "We have an appointment. Confirmation code kilo victor five five three nine."
The receptionist looked up at her, then glanced over at Tenten. She saw his eyes linger for an extra beat on Tenten's unmasked face, but his expression remained calm as he turned his gaze back to her.
"You're right on time. Charlie will take you to the meeting room."
The young man who jumped to his feet and made his way out from behind the desk would be Charlie, then. Lisa didn't need to tap into her thinker abilities to figure that much out. He seemed a bit nervous but did a decent job maintaining his professional demeanor as he greeted the pair of them. He then used his ID card to buzz them through a discreet security door located behind the desk.
The door led them into a short corridor where they were analyzed by a plethora of barely concealed scanners while being covered by another plethora of barely concealed weapons. No alarms sounded nor were any weapons fired as they made their way down the hall to the door that led into the Protectorate proper. Tenten had at least listened to Lisa's advice regarding weaponry, then.
The whole process had gone much more smoothly than Lisa had anticipated, at least so far. She had done her due diligence the previous night in a haze of drug and thinker fueled internet browsing. At least enough to know that rogues rarely visited the Protectorate of their own volition. Most simply hunkered down and tried to live their lives without interacting with other capes at all. It was the independent heroes who were more likely to visit the Rig to meet their compatriots in the fight against villainy.
Despite that, the Protectorate was after all an enormous bureaucracy and they had procedures in place for everything. Once Lisa had called their non-emergency cape contact number she was able to make an almost immediate appointment with no further ado. The employee on the other side of the line hadn't given her one bit of hassle over her declared intent to become a rogue. She had expected a bit of a cold shoulder once she declared her neutrality, but the Protectorate had continued to extend every courtesy.
The smooth sailing was making Lisa feel jumpy. She wasn't sure how much of it was coming from the instincts she'd developed from living on her own and how much was Tenten rubbing off on her.
In any event, their guide led them to their meeting room without anything going horribly awry. The room itself was quite nice. The door opened onto a fair bit of open space. The walls were decorated with iconic photos from Brockton Bay's parahuman history. At a glance it appeared that photos from each era were separated by tasteful arrangements of potted plants. Along the far wall a small conference table sat beneath an enormous window that offered a view of the city skyline across the bay.
"Would either of you care for a drink?" their guide asked, fidgeting a bit as he came under the scrutiny of a pair of largely unknown capes. "Or a snack?"
"We're fine, thanks," Lisa said.
"All right. Your contact should be here in a few minutes."
With that he departed, leaving the two of them to their own devices. Tenten began studying the photographs on the wall while Lisa wandered over to the windows. From the outside the protective force field transformed the Rig into a glittering jewel. From the inside looking out that same force field turned an ordinary city into a kaleidoscopic landscape of shining color and deep darkness, all swirled together in a crazy whirl with no pattern or logic to it.
Lisa sighed. Not so long ago she'd had everything figured out. She'd had a parahuman power, but she steered well clear of the parahuman world. There were rules, lines, and as long as she stayed inside them she'd considered herself safe. Now, after being hunted by Coil and saved by Tenten, she was wearing a costume and jumping into cape life head first. She could only wonder what the world would look like tomorrow.
She offered a wry grin at her ghostly reflection in the window before squaring her shoulders and pulling herself away from the view. She settled into a chair that offered her a view of the door and did her best to look relaxed. She didn't have too long to wait before the door opened.
Lisa felt a thrill of relief when she recognized the iconic costume of Miss Militia as the hero walked into the room. She had hoped that they would meet with a fellow cape, and of the local heroes Miss Militia was reputed to be by far the most patient and empathetic. They exchanged a nod of greeting. Lisa had just started to think that things would be all right when Miss Militia spotted Tenten.
Lisa's teammate had positioned herself so that she was in the natural blind spot of anybody entering the room. Not a coincidence. Lisa could tell the instant that Miss Militia locked eyes with Tenten. The hero's eyes widened slightly before they changed, going ice cold. Her posture shifted just so. Lisa was struck with the bone deep certainty that Tenten was about to be shot. She leapt to her feet, desperately trying to think of how to salvage the situation.
Tenten's knees hit the floor before Lisa had fully stood. Her forehead followed a heartbeat later, the thud coinciding with the clatter as the file folder Miss Militia had been carrying finished falling to the ground. She held that pose, completely submissive. Miss Militia looked from her to where Lisa had frozen once her intervention proved unnecessary.
"Explain."
Miss Militia's tone was stern, but she had shed the deadly edge that had appeared in that perilous moment of surprise. It may never have been there in the first place, Lisa decided. She was too keyed up and was seeing threats everywhere. She took a deep breath. Time to get back to the plan.
"My partner cannot speak English. She also has a deep seated fear of authority that I can neither explain nor soothe away," Lisa said. "I want to act as her translator so she can see what the Protectorate is really like."
Miss Militia's posture relaxed, and Lisa started to see a bit of the famous den mother of the Protectorate East Northeast peeking through. "Go on, then."
Lisa took a few steps to stand beside Tenten, then looked down at her. "She'll hear you out."
Tenten began to speak, still not lifting her head from the floor. Lisa translated word for word as best she could.
"I arrived in Brockton Bay three days ago. I do not have a passport, nor do I have a visa permitting me entry to the city. I have not presented myself to the Protectorate until now. I have no excuse."
She paused, then continued once Lisa finished translating. "I humbly beg that you restrict punishment to myself alone. I will return the bodies-"
Lisa was simultaneously mortified at the change of subject and grateful that she had been translating one sentence at a time as she hissed an interruption. "Don't say anything about bodies."
Tenten raised her head to regard Lisa with a calm gaze. "I don't want them to think I'm trying to steal any secrets."
"That's..." Lisa said, shaking her head. "Just let her talk before you bring that up again."
Lisa straightened up and focused on Miss Militia. "Sorry about that. I thought going any further would be unnecessarily morbid. Unless we do have some reason to discuss the form of her execution."
"What? No. No," Miss Militia said, "visiting Brockton Bay without approval isn't a crime."
"Thank you!" Lisa said, before turning to relay her statement to Tenten.
Tenten gave Lisa a skeptical look, obviously doubtful of what she was hearing. Without saying anything, she returned her forehead to the ground.
Miss Militia cleared her throat. "Please tell her that the Protectorate focuses its attention on those who go out of their way to cause trouble."
This time after Lisa translated Tenten looked up to see that Miss Militia was offering her hand. She accepted the help and returned to her feet before bowing once more in deep gratitude. Even after she stood straight she still seemed to be in a bit of a daze, torn between happiness and disbelief. Lisa held in her sigh of relief. While it looked like no blood was going to be shed today, the real test was whether they'd be able to leave without attracting any undue attention from the Protectorate.
Miss Militia scooped her folder up off the ground before leading the two of them to the conference table at the back of the room. Once they were all seated she set the folder down on the table in front of her before studying them for a moment with an even gaze.
"She arrived here three days ago... how, exactly?"
"Does it really matter?"
Putting the right spin on Tenten's background was always going to be tricky. Lisa would have preferred to avoid the matter altogether, but that was impossible once they were at the Rig. Obviously telling the Protectorate that she came from a different dimension, retained all her memories, and wanted to go home would not go over well. Even more so if it came out that her home dimension was ruled by powerful, murderous capes. On the other hand, if the Protectorate decided that Tenten was just another Case 53 then they wouldn't pay her any particular attention.
Case 53s. Amnesiac, super powered people who had been popping up at random throughout the world for nigh on twenty years. They were fodder for internet conspiracy theories and a convenient label for somebody looking to fend off questions about her past. The problem was that if Lisa made the straightforward claim that Tenten was in fact a Case 53, the Protectorate would be able to probe her story and would inevitably discover the inconsistencies.
Lisa had settled on the plan of acting shifty and evasive whenever Tenten's background came up. Eventually she might slip up and say something that implied Tenten didn't have much memory of her own past. Ideally the Protectorate would conclude that they were trying to hide the "fact" that Tenten was a Case 53. The first step in that plan was to blow off Miss Militia's perfectly reasonable question.
It was considered very poor form to press a friendly cape about their past. On the other hand, Tenten had opened the door somewhat with her odd behavior and refusal to wear a mask. Lisa honestly wasn't sure how things were going to shake out.
In the end Miss Militia simply sighed and shook her head.
"I suppose not," she said. "Before we proceed any further, would you like us to provide a translator?"
Lisa laughed. "Good luck with that. Unless you have somebody on staff who can learn a new language on the fly?"
Miss Militia shook her head again. "We'd have to bring her in from Los Angeles."
"Don't worry about it," Lisa said. "She already got what she came for. I'm the only one who's interested in doing paperwork."
"All right," Miss Militia said, shrugging, before looking down at the folder. "For the record, you are going by Tattletale and she is Tenten?"
Lisa nodded. The name wasn't exactly mature but she did have an image she wanted to project. She'd also always adored alliteration.
"No group name. No intent to engage in law enforcement," Miss Militia continued. "Do you have an idea of what you will be doing?"
"I thought I might try my hand at private investigation," Lisa said. "Find lost pets, look into cheating spouses, that kind of thing."
"Right. You're a Thinker?"
Another question Lisa would be well within her rights to blow off. Unfortunately, she did have that image to project.
"Nothing flashy or supernatural. Just... picture the most intelligent person you know, and now imagine they were twice as smart. Got it?" Lisa said. "You're imagining a moron."
Generally speaking there were two kinds of thinkers. The quiet ones who stuck to their own business, focused on leveraging their abilities, and stayed under the radar until they took over a city or sent some S-class threat to the birdcage. And the loud ones, who bragged about their ability to anybody who would listen and inevitably got themselves killed when they bit off more than they could chew.
Lisa didn't want the Protectorate's respect. She didn't want their future business. Ideally, she wanted them to completely forget about her once she walked out the door. It was galling to play the fool, but it should be worth it in the end.
Miss Militia didn't say anything in response to her boasts. This obviously wasn't her first rodeo. She took a few notes before looking over at Tenten. "And she's a grab bag cape?"
Lisa smiled as she looked over at her teammate. Tenten had her game face back on but she was having a hard time suppressing the relieved grin that kept breaking through her stern facade. "Focused around close range combat, yes."
Tenten could put on a very convincing performance as a brute and combat thinker. As to any other aspects of her power set, Lisa figured that what the Protectorate didn't know couldn't hurt the two of them.
"You met in the last three days, decided to team up and go into business together, and now you're here to register with us," Miss Militia said. It was not quite a question, but the intent was obviously there.
"She helped me, I helped her, we bonded through shared adversity," Lisa said airily, waving her hand dismissively. "A story you've heard a hundred times before, I'm sure."
Miss Militia took a few more notes before closing the folder and pushing herself back from the table. "That's everything from me. For us these meetings are mostly about getting to know the parahumans in our city. If you're interested, I can take you on a tour of the Rig. We'd be seeing a few highlights of the public tour as well as giving you a look at some of the support we can offer to parahumans who join the Protectorate. We are, after all, always hiring. Otherwise I'd be happy to answer any questions you have now before you head back to Brockton Bay."
Lisa immediately accepted the offer of a tour. The chance to look around the Rig along with one of the premier superheroines on the east coast was too good to pass up. Only after she spoke did she realize she probably should have run the idea past Tenten first. She took a minute to-rather sheepishly-explain what had just happened.
After she finished the explanation, Tenten cocked her head in thought for a moment before she smiled. "They wish to cow us into servility with a show of strength. This will be a good chance to take their measure."
Lisa just shrugged. Now really wasn't the time to get dragged into another debate about the true nature of the Protectorate. Instead she turned back to Miss Militia with a smile. "She's interested in taking a look around as well."
ooOoo
They began at the top. The observation platform built atop the Rig offered a three hundred and sixty degree view of the crazy quilt landscape visible through the barrier. Lisa noticed that along the way all of the security they encountered was biometric. She had to give the Protectorate credit for showing at least a little caution around an unknown Thinker. She also noticed with some amusement that Tenten reacted to both the tinker built holographic security interfaces and the decidedly non-tinker built elevator with the same sense of wide-eyed wonder.
The next stop was the special hall of the Protectorates museum that was dedicated to showing off the relics from Brockton Bay's cape history. Lisa had to admit that while she had read about the exhibits before coming here, seeing such things as weapons actually used by the Teeth before they were driven out of the city in person was another thing entirely. Say what you want about Brockton Bay's economy, the city had a lot of fight in it. There weren't too many places that could call themselves former territory of the Butcher.
After that the began the non-public part of the tour. This was what Lisa had been waiting for, the good stuff that tourists didn't get to see. They had to go through another impressive array of security devices before passing through a door that wouldn't have been out of place on a bank vault to finally enter the Protectorate's work space. To describe it more specifically, a cubicle farm.
"The Protectorate isn't just focused on parahumans fighting in the streets," Miss Militia said, leading them over the a cubicle on the outer edge of the room. "The work we do wouldn't be possible without the support of the PRT and people like Mark here."
"You're too kind," Mark, a slightly overweight, balding, middle-aged man, didn't seem too out-of-sorts at speaking with a costumed hero. "Are these the new rogues? I tell you, it's so nice to meet people who want to be responsible with their powers. Even some of the folks here at the Protectorate, not that you heard it from me, it's like pulling teeth to get them to file their reports on time..."
Without pausing for a response, Mark proceeded to launch into a tribute to the wonders of paperwork and bureaucracy. Lisa paid enough attention to nod and smile at the appropriate places. She was starting to have trouble maintaining even that level of alertness as he started lauding the importance of TPS reports when she was brought out of her haze by a tug on her sleeve.
Turning back, she saw a surprisingly serious expression on Tenten's face.
"This is a test."
Lisa raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"I'm not sure," Tenten admitted. "It's a gut feeling. I can't see underneath the underneath."
"I'll figure it out. Thanks," Lisa said, before turning back to Mark. "My teammate doesn't speak English. I tried to explain a little about what you do. Sorry about the interruption."
"Not at all, not at all. Anyways, like I was saying, what's really important is the cover sheet..."
This time, as she tuned out on the stream of words, she let down the walls on her power and focused on the office around her. On what she could see in her peripheral vision. On what she could pick out from the hum of background conversation. It didn't take long for her to confirm Tenten's hunch. Lisa kept up her polite facade and kept gathering information as they moved from cubicle to cubicle.
By the time they were ready to leave the room Lisa had spotted three husbands cheating on their wives, two wives cheating on their husbands, two moles the PRT knew about, one they didn't know about, six hidden cameras, four more hidden cameras she couldn't see but could deduce existed, five members of PRT assault squads who had never seen the inside of a cubicle before, and one poor bastard from WEDGDG keeping the whole dog and pony show running. The question was what she was going to do with the information.
Nothing. At least for now. While blurting out information would burnish her image as an arrogant naif, Lisa did want to be known to have at least a little bit of discretion. Besides, if her suspicions were correct, this wasn't going to be the end of the tour.
Sure enough, Miss Militia spoke up as they walked out of the office. "We have workout facilities on the Rig that are made available to all Protectorate employees. Non-villainous parahumans are also permitted to use the gym at will, although we do have some blackout dates and times. We can go take a look if you're interested."
Lisa indicated for the hero to lead the way. When they arrived the doors opened to reveal what looked for all the world like a commercial gym. A nice one, as far as Lisa knew. She wasn't much of a physical exercise enthusiast.
Tenten, on the other hand, lost most of her reserved demeanor as her eyes lit up at the sight of all of the workout machines. She moved from station to station, peppering Lisa with questions about each of the machines. Not knowing the answer herself and unwilling to deploy her thinker abilities for such a plebeian purpose, Lisa was forced to play translator for quite some time. Finally they reached the end of the machines and Tenten darted ahead to the rack of dumbbells along the far wall.
"Not exactly a gym rat, are you?" Miss Militia said once Tenten was out of earshot. Lisa could hear the smile in her tone.
"I work out!" Lisa protested. "When you lift a coffee mug up to your mouth, that's a 'curl,' right?"
Before Miss Militia could reply, Tenten came bounding back towards them. She had a dumbbell clutched in each hand. While the metal blocks on either side of the bar were roughly the size of her head, Tenten's movements didn't seem to be affected at all by the weight.
"Check it out," she said, holding the dumbbells out for Lisa's perusal, "they put the weight on each side of the bar like this so it's evenly balanced!"
Lisa scratched the back of her head, a bit bemused by Tenten's excitement. "What do you usually use for weights?"
"Rocks."
With that, Tenten started a round of shadowboxing. A jab. A jab into a cross. A more complicated combination that ended with a nifty spinning backhand strike. Each move was crisp, precise, and completely unaffected by the weights she was holding. When she finished, she looked down with longing written all over her face.
"We could buy some weights for you to use," Lisa offered.
Tenten hesitated, then shook her head. "If I did anything to make training easier, sensei would be disappointed in me."
Miss Militia spoke up as the three of them moved toward the weight rack so Tenten could put the dumbbells away. "For workouts that need a bit more space, we have another room at the back."
Lisa and Tenten trailed behind the hero as she led them through another door and into what looked for all the world like a boxing gymnasium. A boxing ring had pride of place in the center of the room. It was currently hosting a pair of shirtless men in what looked like a training bout. Once Lisa tore her eyes away from that she saw that a series of exercise stations had been set up around the ring: a speed bag, a heavy bag, a jump rope area, and a plethora of gymnastic equipment that she didn't recognize. A running track hugged the wall as it ran around the outside of the room.
"I'm sure Sergeant Menendez would welcome a friendly spar," Miss Militia said.
Lisa translated for Tenten. The pair of them shared a knowing look. Of course Lisa wasn't the only one the Protectorate would be interested in testing. Lisa's initial instinct was to play her cards close to her vest, but it could prove useful to show a bit of competence in front of the Protectorate. She could see similar thoughts running through her teammate's mind. After a long moment Tenten shrugged.
"It will be good to know where we stand," she said, then made her way to the ring.
Miss Militia exchanged a few words with the men in the ring. One of them ducked out, nodding at Tenten as she passed him on her way into the arena. He made his way over to stand next to the two parahumans and watch the spar.
The two combatants took a moment to size each other up. Lisa wasn't a martial arts expert, but the sergeant was certainly built like somebody who could win a bare-knuckles brawl. He stood a head taller than Tenten, and half again as wide. Of course, that didn't mean much in the age of parahumans.
It was Tenten who broke the stalemate. Rather than making a move, she turned to address Lisa.
"Is this a deliberate insult?"
Lisa turned to Miss Militia. "Perhaps an introduction is in order."
She didn't believe for a heartbeat that anybody in this room hadn't been briefed on Tenten. Her suspicions were confirmed with a glance at the expression of the man standing behind Miss Militia's shoulder. It was only fair that they learn a little bit about this Sergeant Menendez.
Apparently Miss Militia agreed. "The sergeant is our hand to hand combat instructor. He's won the northeastern division of the PRT's unarmed combat championships three years running."
Lisa shrugged, then turned back to Tenten. "It's not an insult. Try not to hurt him too badly."
Even with her power active Lisa had a hard time following exactly what happened next. The two fighters approached each other. It looked for all the world like Menendez's right hook was about to send Tenten into next week, then there was a motion that Lisa didn't quite catch. Suddenly he was overextended while Tenten was positioned off to his side, perfectly in balance with her palm strike set to shatter several vertebrae-until she pulled the hit at the last second, turning it into a shove that sent Menendez stumbling a few steps forward into the ropes.
He steadied himself for a moment before moving to engage with her once more. He threw a punch. This time, Tenten dodged without retaliating. Another punch, another dodge. Another punch, another dodge. The same punch each time, actually. Lisa frowned.
She's maneuvering him into trying the same attack each time, then correcting the flaws in his form as he misses.
The two of them circled the ring a few times before there was a change in the pattern. Tenten caught the incoming punch with her left hand, stopping it cold. She then nodded at Menendez in approval before making a circling gesture with her right hand to indicate repetition. Then she spoke her first words in English for the day.
"One hundred."
Lisa decided that this would be a good time for a side conversation. She nudged Miss Militia in the side with her elbow, drawing the hero's attention away from the punching drill going on in the ring.
"You guys didn't put that room together just for me, did you?"
Miss Militia raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
The microexpressions visible above her mask had already answered Lisa's question. Of course she'd known the answer before she asked it, but there was still something exhilarating about letting her power off the leash and picking up body language almost to the point of mind-reading.
"It just seems like an awful lot of work to dig up that many people for one little test," Lisa said.
"How so?"
"Well," Lisa said, beginning to tick items off on her fingers. "Three guys cheating on their wives."
Leaving out the female infidelity would show how she could be blinded by her own bias.
"Four PRT assault grunts riding desks for some reason."
The fifth had at least had the decency to pull up solitaire on his office computer.
"A mole that you have to know about already."
The other one had been a little more subtle. Not to mention that Lisa didn't want to burn one of Coil's guys even in a controlled environment.
"Four hidden cameras watching over the whole thing."
The cameras were the real tipoff to what was going on. They were deliberately hidden with varying levels of skill. If Lisa had been on top of things spotting the cameras would have alerted her to the test before Tenten had. She figured that picking out four of them was good, but not great.
"It seems like a lot to put together for one visit."
Miss Militia was obviously smiling now. "We like to give our thinkers a chance to test themselves in a controlled environment.
"You should try raising the difficulty a little if you want to give them a real challenge," Lisa said, layering as much arrogance as she could into her tone of voice. It was always possible that they would suspect her of sandbagging, but all she could do was behave so that the simple and obvious conclusion was to dismiss her as a threat.
Tenten called out for her, interrupting the conversation. Looking up, Lisa saw that there had been a pause in activity in the ring. She stepped forward to talk with her teammate.
"He's getting tired. Any more punching practice will just teach bad habits," Tenten said. "Time for endurance training! Tell him he needs to do twenty laps around the room. Switch between four laps running, and one on his hands."
Lisa chuckled, then translated her directions. Sergeant Menendez looked like he was about to protest until Tenten snapped at him. Even without translation he got the message, practically leaping over the ropes before hitting the track and starting to run.
"You look like you had fun," Lisa said.
Tenten smiled, looking a bit sheepish. "I used to earn pocket money pitching in at the academy between missions."
"Actually," Lisa said, her smile widening, "that gives me an idea."
ooOoo