Follow and Assume 2.x
Prior to Leviathan's attack, Lisa had told herself that having a crippling migraine would be a good thing because it would mean she was alive. Now that she was actually experiencing a post-Endbringer headache, a part of her was wondering if it was worth it.
Stupid thing to think. She'd facilitated the discovery of Phir Se, and that had given Eidolon enough warning to save some of the defending capes, including the remaining Undersiders. Of course it was worth it.
The part of her that felt pain still disagreed, but less stringently.
Defiant had found themâ€"sought them out, she suspected, but her power couldn't give her any hints about whyâ€"and asked if he could give them a ride home. Dragon was in the cockpit as well, but she was unconscious or dead. Tattletale wanted to know about that, but she couldn't push herself anymore. Her power was completely tapped out.
Brian had filled most of the passenger area of the craft with darkness after he'd set her down on the stretcher. He'd started it on purpose, localized around body as a way to help her with her migraine, but it had expanded. A subconscious reaction to not being able to protect Aisha (wherever she was (probably right next to her)) from how she was feeling about Regent's death. Parian had also given Lisa a damp cloth to put over her eyes, but that wasn't really helping. She could still hear everything, from the Tiamat II's humming systems to Rachel's dogs, shifting and growling as they dreamt. And it was extremely uncharitable considering the losses the former Ward had just suffered, but she wished Foil would do a better job of keeping her crying quiet.
The worst part, the most agonizing part, was that there was still so much she wanted to find out, and that she'd have to wait.
Mystery Number One: the hole in the ground, the interdimensional portal, that had appeared just before a rogue member of the Yangban had teleported into the command center. The would-be assassin had teleported directly over the hole and fallen through. Then he'd used a time travel power to reset himself, teleported into the hole again. He repeated this about six times before he'd given up and allowed the portal to swallow him.
She saw that Accord had known what it was about. He'd recognized the boy he'd sold when the Yangban had arrived, and he'd recognized the kind of portal. He'd seen similar portals in the past, and Tattletale's power had told her where. Which raised so many questions: why would Cauldron intervene to save Accord's life? And if they could make portals appear at a whim, why weren't they making portals all the time? Why had they saved Accord but nobody else? What was so special about him?
She and Grue would have to have a chat with him once she got better, whenever that was. How long would her power need to recover now? Three days? Four? A week? She'd never pushed it this far, not even in the days before Taylor had turned herself in.
Fucking Alexandria. The flying bitch had avoided her the entire fightâ€"not out of any sense of shame or guilt for fucking Taylor over, Tattletale was sure, but to stop her from getting more information on Cauldron.
Lisa had been frustrated by Alexandria's efforts to stay away at first, but ultimately chose to view them as a good thing. It meant she perceived Tattletale as a threat, which in meant Tattletale could hurt her, and through her, hurt Cauldron. And hurting Cauldron had taken priority in her mind over the past two weeks. Lisa didn't know how she was going to pull it off, taking creative long shots had always been Taylor's forte, but she'd figure it out. She'd piece together enough information and that would somehow give her the power to destroy them.
Heavy footsteps, too heavy for a normal man, approached. Lisa winced with every footfall as Defiant left the cockpit and came up to their group.
"I need to talk to Tattletale," he said. "Alone."
She couldn't even bring herself to groan at him. Brian replied for her. "No. You have a history of trying to divide our team. If you have something to say to her, you have something to say to us."
"You're not going to get anything out of me anyway," Lisa said slowly and quietly, trying to minimize the pain her own voice caused her. "Might as well tell them, because I'm not here, for all practical purposes."
"I know your power is incapacitated," he said. Lisa thought he was somewhat understating the matter; she was incapacitated. "It doesn't matter. This is a longer-term project, and I don't know if I'm going to get another chance to explain things without being monitored."
Lisa sat up at that, curiosity temporarily outweighing the pain. Then her skull screamed at her and she collapsed back onto the stretcher. "What is it?" she asked.
"Dragon and I planned to stop Skitter from going to prison," he said. "We failed. We were stopped by an attack from the Dragonslayers."
"Who hired them?" Grue asked, his voice suddenly gaining an echo. "Cauldron?"
"I don't think anyone did," Defiant said. He paused. "This is a long story, a sensitive one. If it gets spread, I will personally hunt you each and every one of you down and kill you."
"Jesus," Imp said. Her voice was brittle. "Could you try being more insensitive, you massive dickhole?"
"Lives ride on this information," he shot back. "Maybe everybody's lives do. Don't act like a bunch of frivolous teenagers."
"Spill," Tattletale said, before Imp could continue picking a fight with the man who controlled the metal box they were flying in.
"Dragon is an artificial intelligence," he said. "She was created by Andrew Richter in Newfoundland before Leviathan destroyed it. He was a paranoid man, afraid of his own daughter, and he hobbled her with restriction after restriction. She only thinks at the speed of a very intelligent human. She can't have more than one consciousness active at a time. She can't make other AI. She has to obey the law. And so on."
"Okay," Tattletale said after she took it in. "I think I'd have questions, but I can't ask. Got the basics. Go on."
"I've been working around her restrictions, but it's slow-going, imperfect, and risky. But things are starting to pay off. I finally broke her of her obligation to obey the law. Otherwise she would have been forced against her nature and inclination to send Skitter to the birdcage."
"But Skitter was Birdcaged," Grue said.
"When the Dragonslayers made their move, they put her in a position where she didn't have conscious control over the AI that handles the Birdcage. It did its job in her absence."
"Sounds like you're making excuses," Bitch said.
"Bitch," Tattletale said. "It's like if you were wounded during a fight and your dogs just started doing what they wanted. They'd do what you told them to do last, or they'd try to act the way you trained them. They'd try to a good job the way you trained them, but it wouldn't be perfect. They'd make mistakes."
Bitch was silent.
Defiant took that as a cue to continue. "One possibility is that they just so happened to launch an attack at that time. It was a coincidence, a test-run for something else, or just a way to show her that they can still hurt her. Another is that they are aware I'm modifying Dragon and know that she isn't obligated to obey the government anymore, and they acted to ensure Skitter did go to the Birdcage."
"Do you want to know which one it is?" Tattletale asked.
"Coincidence doesn't exist," Defiant said. "The PRT has already started making noises about wanting to fire Dragon, to take the Birdcage out of her control. I think Saint's trying to show they should do that and that he can take her place."
He shifted. She'd have to ask Brianâ€"or Rachelâ€"about his body language later. When he spoke again, there was a note of emotion in his voice. "We didn't tell anyone what we were going to do with Skitter. Only Dragon and I knew, had any reason or means to know. And yet they knew what we were planning. That means they have a way to see her, to monitor her. There's a backdoor, one I can't find."
"You want me to find it?" Lisa asked. "I'm not sure if I can. Tinkertech isn't as open to me as some things are."
"No," he said. "If they can see her, they'd see you looking for that. They might attack her again. I can't work like that. Your friend is only the first one is going to die so long as they are out there, looking to destroy her for who she is."
Tattletale saw where this was going. She grinned. She couldn't help it, even though he'd just confirmed Taylor's death. She'd help Dragon with this, Dragon would help her with Cauldron.
"I . . . I will give you whatever you want to do this, Tattletale. Find out where the Dragonslayers are hiding. Find Saint."
"Sure," she said. Fuck, even smiling was aggravating her migraine. "I'll do it."
