Finding the Way
Part 14: The Silent War
It was a very quiet war.
Universe 1:
Amy and Victoria, still walking along the Boardwalk, still hand in hand, were utterly unaware of it.
In fact, most people people in Brockton Bay were unaware of it.
It took place in two locations, separated by several miles; each was equally secure, in its own way. But that security meant nothing against infiltrators from within.
And there were casualties.
Many, many casualties.
Universe 2:
Thomas Calvert left his base, got into his unassuming car, started the drive home. He decided that a nice quiet restful night at home would do him the world of good. And if the attack on the PRT building went bad, he would try something else tomorrow.
Universe 1:
It started slowly.
Director Piggot turned the screen of her desk computer toward Lisa and Taylor. Taylor took a firm grip of her father's hand.
Taylor took in the screen at a glance; each picture expanded into a mental image of a man or woman in PRT uniform, at their workstation or in casual clothes at home. Or, in one case, in an underground location. She knew that location.
"That one's one, isn't he?" she asked, pointing.
Lisa nodded. "And this one, this one, this one, this one and this one." She grabbed the mouse, highlighted the appropriate ones, including Taylor's choice.
Director Piggot blinked. "How did you know that one, Compass Rose?" she asked.
Taylor shrugged. "He's in Coil's base."
"You know where that is, for certain?" asked Piggot sharply.
Taylor nodded. "Sure. I know where Coil is, and it's an underground location." She moved to a wall map. "Here." Her nail made a tiny indentation on the paper.
Piggot stared at the location. "Damn. Right." She took a deep breath. "Okay, let's keep going."
She showed them screen after screen, and Lisa kept picking them, and Taylor kept locating them.
And then Taylor raised her head. "That one there just got a phone call," she said.
Director Piggot frowned. "And?" she asked.
"And Coil just made a phone call," Taylor clarified. "Sorry." She paused again. "And now this guy's working on his computer. Typing something in."
"Can you tell what?" asked Miss Militia.
Taylor shook her head. "Sorry, I can only just about tell it's a computer."
"I don't think we should let him –" began Miss Militia ... and then the room went dark, as did the computer screen.
"Shit!" snapped Director Piggot.
There was a knocking on the door. "Director?" shouted a voice. "Are you all right in there?"
Lisa put her hand on Miss Militia's shoulder. "Hostile," she murmured.
The door opened; Miss Militia fired an assault rifle from the shoulder. The man, a PRT officer from the uniform, fell to the ground. His gun fell beside him.
"What the hell? What's going on?" came shouts from the outer office.
"We have to go, now!" snapped Lisa.
"Dad!" said Taylor, and grabbed Miss Militia's shoulder. Lisa grabbed her arm. Danny grabbed the Director. Taylor gave him a location. He went there.
Two seconds after the cloud of purple-brown smoke dissipated, two grenades bounced in through the open door, and made rather a mess of the room.
Universe 2:
Thomas Calvert stopped at the lights and waited for them to change.
In Director Piggot's office, Taylor and Lisa had finished identifying and locating the moles in the Brockton Bay PRT.
Universe 1:
They were in the armoury. It was dark. Miss Militia's assault rifle dissolved, reformed with a tactical light. She splashed it around the room. "What are we looking for?"
"Grenades," said Taylor grimly. She saw them, dragged Danny toward them. She raised her head. "Some of them are shooting your loyal soldiers. They know who they are, the loyal guys don't." She looked at the grenades. "Which are lethal, which just knockout?"
Director Piggot pointed. "Flash-bang, frag, smoke, tear gas."
Danny nodded. "Good enough."
Taylor grabbed a flash-bang, pulled the pin, handed it to her father. Gripped his hand. The grenade disappeared in a puff of smoke. She grabbed a frag grenade, pulled the pin, handed it to him, held his hand. It went.
Again, and again, and again, they repeated the process. And Miss Militia and Director Piggot watched, and wondered. And Lisa watched, and knew.
Universe 2:
Director Piggot made phone calls. And at the end of each call, a PRT officer looked blankly at the phone, then stood up and moved to a colleague. Quiet words were exchanged. They moved in on another colleague. Plastic cuffs were utilised. It was all very quiet, very clean. No-one managed to raise the alarm.
Universe 1:
At first, Coil's men, throughout the PRT tower, had it all their way. He had started the ball rolling with a single phone call. "Decapitate."
The man who had received the call opened a window on his workstation, typed in an access code he certainly should not have been using, and then typed in a command that should not have worked. Power went out in certain parts of the building, including Director Piggot's office, and the electronic locks for the armoury, and the Wards' part of the tower.
All around the PRT tower, men and women received that same word on their pagers or phone. Carefully calculated acts of sabotage were followed by turning on their fellow officers.
One man was supposed to enter Director Piggot's office and kill everyone there; Lisa and Miss Militia foiled that aspect of the plan. His backup tried to carry out the plan with grenades; fortunately, that didn't work either.
The loyal PRT troops, where they were not massacred immediately, found their radios jammed, their friends turning on them, and their options vanishing.
And then grenades started going off. Flash-bangs where there was the chance of friendly casualties, frag grenades where the enemy was behind a barricade. Men started falling, others died. The loyal PRT troops rallied, fought back. Took back their tower. And all the while, they were supported by a loyal, if invisible, ally that placed loaded weapons at their feet and live grenades at their enemies'.
Universe 2:
Thomas Calvert still didn't know anything was amiss. He certainly didn't know that teams of PRT men were being teleported into his base, and his own mercenaries were being disarmed and taken into custody.
He turned into his street.
Universe 1:
Lisa sat at the workstation of the original traitor. She typed away rapidly, inputting commands faster than Taylor could follow. Not that she was following what Lisa was doing. She had her hand in Danny's, and she was watching Coil.
Director Piggot looked dubiously at where Lisa worked at the computer. "Not sure I like the idea of her in our system," she muttered.
"She saved all our lives," Miss Militia countered.
"She saved her life," retorted Piggot.
"She's the best chance we've got of fixing whatever they did to the system."
At that moment, the screen cleared, and Lisa pushed back from the workstation. "That should do it."
Miss Militia raised her radio. "All surviving units, this is Miss Militia. Report by section."
The radio crackled, and voices started reporting in. They sounded weary, scared, confused, shocked. But they reported.
When the last voice fell silent, Miss Militia and Director Piggot shared a glance. "That's bad," said Miss Militia. "That's really bad."
Piggot nodded. "It is. Coil's just hit us really hard. Now we hit him back."
Taylor paused. "Coil and his men seem to be ready for a teleporter attack. He has them bunched up, aiming their guns in all directions."
Piggot frowned. "I really want to interrogate Calvert. Find out how long this has been going on, how deep his tentacles go."
"I can help with some of that," said Lisa. "Deep. Very deep."
Taylor had Danny drop a flash-bang in the middle of the men clustered around Coil; one of them kicked it, and it went over the edge of the catwalk, and detonated somewhere below.
"They're prepared for that, too," she said.
Danny said, "Smoke grenades to use as cover."
"Could work," said Taylor.
Universe 2:
Thomas Calvert pulled into his driveway and parked his car.
He got out, unlocked his front door, and walked inside.
From there, he performed a normal routine, almost as if he expected to be under surveillance.
Taylor kept watching him. Compass Rose and Pathfinder teleported groups of PRT men around Coil's base, picking Coil's minions off before they could raise the alarm.
Universe 1:
"Move toward the exit," said Coil. "Full teleport protocol."
The men moved in unison, scanning the surroundings, guns up, ready. They'd trained for scenarios like this.
It didn't mean that they'd win, of course, but they had a better chance than someone who wasn't prepared.
When the smoke grenades clattered to the catwalk on either side of them, they fired into the smoke. They weren't prepared for tear gas grenades to fall from the air above them, already trailing noxious fumes.
Within moments, they were all helpless. PRT men teleported into place around them, wearing gas masks. Coil was taken into custody along with his men.
A puff of purple-brown smoke later, and Coil stood before Director Piggot. She stepped forward, pulled at his mask. It was of a piece with his costume; it didn't come off.
And then suddenly, in a puff of smoke, the entire costume was gone; Pathfinder held it, limp, in his hands. Thomas Calvert, in his underwear, stood before Piggot.
Piggot looked up at Calvert. "I trusted you," she hissed. She nodded to the guards. "Take him away. This one goes to the Birdcage. He knows too much about the PRT."
Universe 2:
Coil swore to himself, and shut down that universe. His cover blown, his base compromised. I'm really going to have to do sometihng about Compass Rose and Pathfinder. And Tattletale.
He picked up his phone, and called his base.
No-one answered.
He frowned. Someone should be on duty.
He called again.
He was just starting to realise that something was very wrong when the PRT kicked in his front door.
It really was a very quiet war.
Director Piggot's face bore an expression akin to that of the cat which, having ingested a whole aviary full of canaries, has discovered a lake of cream all for itself.
She positively beamed at Lisa, Taylor and Danny. Miss Miltia stood off to the side, at parade rest.
"Coil is in custody," she said. "He will be interrogated, thoroughly, and then sent to the Birdcage. He knows too much about the PRT to be allowed to stay loose and alive."
She allowed an expression of distaste to cross her face. "He may not have been my friend," she said, "but I never expected that of him."
Danny nodded sympathetically. "Believe me, we know what it's like to find out that our friends are less than friendly." He took Taylor in his arms; she hugged him back.
Director Piggot nodded. "I see your point." Her face assumed the previous beatific expression. "Thanks to you three, we have managed to take an entire criminal organisation, and its very elusive boss, out of circulation with hardly anyone the wiser."
Lisa looked at her. "And he won't be let free?"
Piggot shook her head. "No chance."
Lisa nodded sharply. "Good."
"Well," said Director Piggot, "you still have the offer for a provisional place in the Wards."
Lisa smiled. "You know," she said. "I think I'll take it."
Taylor held up her hand; Lisa gave her a high-five.
"Louie," said Danny, affecting a rougher accent, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Taylor looked at him, puzzled. Lisa smirked. Director Piggot burst out laughing.
[Author's Note: This ends the 'introduction' of Pathfinder and Compass Rose to the Protectorate. Further stories will be set later on, once they've had a chance to settle in.]
[And just an epilogue ...]
Amy giggled as the credits rolled.
"That was a very silly movie," she said.
"It was," agreed Victoria. "But I enjoyed it."
Amy nodded. "So did I." She took Vicky's and and squeezed it. "Thanks for coming out today with me. You really made my day. My week."
Vicky squeezed back. "I had a really good time too," she admitted. "The Boardwalk was a lot of fun. And dinner was a blast. Seriously, where did you learn all those dirty jokes? I laughed so hard thought I was going to wet myself."
Amy giggled again. "You should listen in on doctors when they think they're alone," she confided. "They have the roughest sense of humour."
They walked out of the cinema, chatting happily together. Hand in hand; it was natural to Victoria by now. Her sister's hand in hers, together, warm, caring.
She had never felt so close to Amy in a very long time.
She paused near a shaded corner, out of the main street, and drew Amy into it.
"I had a really, really, really nice time tonight, Ames," she said softly. "And you were good, and never made even one pass at me."
Amy smiled up at her. "To be honest, Vicky," she said, "I was having so much fun I didn't even think about it."
Vicky nodded. "And nor did I. Until just now. So yes, this has been a date. And I enjoyed it very much."
Amy looked up at her. "So ...?"
Vicky smiled. "So you get your kiss."
She scooped Amy into her arms and they lifted into the air; higher and higher they flew, until all of Brockton Bay was spread out beneath them. Vicky flew northwest, landing on the lookout on top of Captain's Hill. She let Amy down to her feet, then stood there, looking at her.
"I'm here" she said softly. "We're in the most romantic spot in Brockton Bay. We're alone." She smiled. "You can kiss me just as hard as you want. You've earned it."
Amy leaned close to Vicky, who put an arm around her. Brockton Bay sparkled beneath them. Moonlight made a silvery path to the horizon. Vicky had brought her here for the kiss. She felt a great surge of love and affection for her sister.
She put her arms around Vicky's neck and drew her face down to hers. Closing her eyes, she pressed her lips to Vicky's.
Vicky let her sister draw her down into the kiss. This meant so much to Amy; she was willing to give her sister a great deal, to make her happy. A kiss? Not so much in the grand scheme of things. Even a little tongue? Sure, she could pretend Amy was Dean, just for this kiss.
Their lips met.
By the time they separated from the kiss, they were both breathing hard.
"Oh my god," whispered Amy.
"Oh my god is right," panted Victoria.
"I have no idea what's happening," said Amy, but I think I like it."
"Oh, I know what's happening," Vicky assured her. "And I had no idea that you could kiss that good."
"So ... you're attracted to me then?" asked Amy.
"I ... guess," said Victoria. "And I have no idea how to handle that." She shrugged. "I mean, I guess, we could just jump into bed and get it over with."
Amy was incredibly temped, but shook her head. "No," she said softly.
Vicky stared at her. "No?" she asked.
"No," reiterated Amy. "We'll take this one step at a time. One date at a time. Otherwise, it could get really, really weird between us. So no sex. Not to start with. Let's just get used to the idea first, okay?"
"Okay," said Vicky meekly. Amy hugged her.
They kissed again. It was just as good as the first time.
For the longest time, they stood, arms tightly about each other, looking out over the sleeping city.
"So ... another date next Saturday?" asked Vicky at last. "Or is that too soon?"
Amy smiled and snuggled into her sister's embrace. "No," she said. "It's not too soon."
End of Part 14