526 Palmer Street, Brockton Bay

Palmer Street was in the bad end of Brockton Bay. It had been the bad end of Brockton Bay for twenty years, and time hadn't improved it, many of the once flourishing businesses had since left, after the bay's sea access had been cut-off. Though in truth the decline had began long before that as newer ports, with modern facilities had enticed the businesses away, leaving only the empty shells of the warehouses.

Most had simply been abandoned, or repossessed by the banks, looking to recoup their losses form the insolvent firms, a few had stayed open, but even these were abandoned when both the Empire and ABB had made their moves, staking out claims. Some of the abandoned warehouses had since been occupied by the Empire or ABB, as staging grounds, or holding areas for the illicit goods the gangs used to stay afloat.

But most, like the one Lisa Wilbourn, AKA Tattletale, was investigating, weren't used at all. That or they were used by the cities booming homeless population as somewhere to rest with a roof over their head.

No gangs, water and power disconnected, some of the beams need replacing, cockroach infestation in the managers office. Upper level inhabitable.

Her powers provided the answers by a simple glance around the building from the entrance.

Sometimes she thought smugly having powers isn't so bad.

She wandered in, her powers told her nobody was in the building, but ever since Coil had found and Convinced her to work for him, Lisa hadn't been quite as sure that her powers were as good, or at least all knowing, as she led the few others who new of her powers to believe, or even as all knowing as she thought they were, therefore she stepped gently, listening for the tell tale sounds of habitation.

Sometimes they, she and Coil, would talk and her powers would jump one way about what he was going to say next, and he would go the other. Even stranger were the times he let slip some small detail, something only she could have known at that point, as if he was reading her mind.

Lisa had resolved to figure out his power as soon as possible, despite this, and her abilities, she had been unable to work out what they were, that was five weeks ago, and she was still no closer to answers.

Her thoughts had taken her most of the way through the warehouse, and now she was on the second floor, like her powers had told her, it was a lot more inhabitable than the first, though work would have to be done, getting lighting and a heater, rebuilding a wall that was going to fall down in a few months.

In truth she didn't need to do this, when she had been told to pick out a base of operations, Lisa could have just looked at a map and a few pictures and gleaned everything from that, but she needed to get out, away from Coil, away from his perpetually poised and alert guards, who she knew would kill her in an instant.

It wasn't like they were unprofessional either, unlike a lot of teenagers, and even older men, who her powers told her were openly, or secretly ogling her, they all treated her with absolute respect. For all his faults, and she knew they were legion, Coil had developed and maintained a professional force of mercenaries, not an easy thing to do given the rate he went through them, what with them being well equipped men and women going up against capes on an almost daily basis. Aside from his captains he had a replacement rate of 187%, keeping both morale and discipline up, without bankrupting himself must have been a challenge.

So all-in-all aside from them being ready to execute her if she got rowdy, it had to be better than some of the places she had lived and worked in before. The main problem was the omni-present sense of menace, a feeling that had kept her cowed, not broken, but well aware of her own mortality.

In fact Lisa had been surprised that Coil had approved her plans to go out and investigate the properties personally, maybe she had convinced him with her arguments, or maybe he was distracted with his newest project, some kind of storage facility located in the lower levels of his new base, unlike most topics, on which he asked her questions, expecting answers from her powers, on this one topic he had been almost completely silent, but from what she'd overheard and pieced together he must have been planning to hold a cape of some kind, brute most likely, and a high rated one at that, Glory Girl? Lung? Unfortunately her powers could only take her so far, especially given such a small information base and she was wary of going to far out on a limb.

Lisa sighed, and glanced around the fairly large second floor communal area, it led of to five small offices, which would be converted to officers rooms, or secure rooms for heavy ordnance, and continued her fairly leisurely walk around the building, moving into one of the officers rooms, ostensibly for a better look.

Perhaps he wanted her out of the way, he trusted her to betray him the second she had the chance, he had no illusions about her loyalty, but she was fairly integral to his plans, her thinker powers, combined with whatever his powers were, had meant that his plans would succeed far more often than not. From that point of view, if this was something he wanted to keep quiet then sending her away on a relatively harmless scouting mission would serve to keep her away from anything damaging and get her out of his hair.

Lisa was always capable of pushing him, ever so slightly, nothing actionable, nothing that could even be traced back to her, her powers at least were a good indication of how far she could push him, still she was circumspect, even more so when she realized he knew about most of what she did, somehow.

Fucking thinker's.

The irony was not lost on her, but unlike some capes, who disliked tinkers for their ability to manufacture a way out almost any situation, Lisa was intimately familiar with how dangerous and good thinker was, after all she was one.

She sighed, again and rubbed her eyes, wishing she could have convinced the two goons Coil had assigned to Transport and 'Protect' her, to go to Starbucks for coffee, she'd spent the last three days managing hundreds of little details, mostly buying assets, anything from bullets to biscuits. Coil didn't trust her to organise the drop off, but her powers proved useful for spotting bargains and when to negotiate.

So while it was getting away from the base, a good nights sleep would have done her wonders. As it was she was dead on her feet, and paying the price, not only for the lack of sleep, she'd over used her powers and while the migraine wasn't as bad as it had been in the past, and certainly not as bad as when she'd woken up, what with the clinical strength pain suppressors, direct from a medical tinker in Ohio, that she'd taken, it was still there, and the tablets were wearing off, another few hours and she'd have to take another dose.

Air pressure change, not from the windows.

She stilled instantly, the train of thought disrupted. Another cape? her minders? Thankful for her soft soled shoes, but aware of her nakedness, given that she was in her civilian attire, she moved as silently as possible to the door, and looked around the corner, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, but she could only see part of the main room, so she carefully slipped around the half opened door, making sure not to disturb it.

The room looked just like it had, but given that part of it was hidden around a corner, it was quite possible that someone was there, so cautiously, keeping her powers as primed as possible for a completely passive power, she made her way out, again it looked just like she had left it

creak

Tattletale whirled around to face the noise and saw the intruder, he was dressed in a leather greatcoat, obviously worn and used, his face was hidden in the shadows of the hood, but she could she two sharp pinpricks of red light, where his eyes should be.

He took a step forward, and her powers started feeding her information.

Mover, has combat training, not with any local teams, used to fighting with backup.

Lisa was about to talk, needle him for information, when he spoke in an oddly quiet tone, that was completely at odds with his image, but I could practically hear the viscous smile he wore "Hello, miss Livsey"

Short and sweet, hopefully. Actually this took me a lot longer than I had hoped, and I'm still not happy with how I characterised Lisa, so any opinions would be appreciated.