"Come in, come in. What hosts would we be if we left our guests on the doorstep?" Proclaimed Krieg, dropping a few cards to the table between him and the Undersiders, and gesturing magnanimously with his emptied hand. The motion drawing attention to the wide metal room he sat in and the doors lining its walls. A cluster of mismatched chairs sat around a card table in the middle of the floor, clearly out of place.
None of the Undersiders moved to accept the invitation.
The only woman among the Empire capes -wearing a tight red bodysuit and crammed into a battered loveseat beside a man clad in leather and black armour- spoke up, "Guests? All I see are a gaggle of naughty children." That got a round of laughter: A restrained snicker from the man with his arm around her; Deep chuckles from the tattooed and maskless man on a bar stool across the table from them; And an unrestrained belly laugh from the man standing behind Krieg in ornate armour.
Krieg laughed along with them, the sound distorted from behind the gas mask and peaked cap that hid his face. "Now my dear Othala, we can hardly call them intruders. Why we practically invited them in."
Bitch growled low in her throat, at his tone, his words, the trap that they'd blundered into. Then Tattletale joined in with the Empire capes laughter and she froze.
'What the hell?! Why is she laughing?!'
The Nazis trailed off into silence but Tattletale kept right on going, bending over and clutching her stomach. Bitch was ready to walk over and punch her just to make it stop when she finally started talking, looking up at Krieg with bared teeth. "Oh that's a good one. You invited us in? No wonder you're losing at poker, even with that mask on you can't bluff worth a damn."
Even Bitch understood the way Krieg went stiff and silent. She bared her own teeth to match her teammate. So it wasn't a trap, had they just walking into a lair that wasn't expecting them? And how the hell were they going to get back out.
Stepping in closer to the others, Bitch reached out with her power and began to slowly push more of into her dogs. Hoping that Tattletale would keep drawing the Nazis' attention.
"I hadn't heard much about you little thieves," Krieg spoke again, harsher now, "But I guess you must be Tattletale. Another Thinker who doesn't know when to shut up."
He snapped his gun up to point at Tattletale.
Regent snorted, "A luger? Really? Not even trying for subtlety huh?" Krieg's grip on the gun tightened with a creak of leather, and the other capes at the card table tensed, Stormtiger rolling his shoulder's with a snarl.
"Hey, hey." Tattletale stepped forward with her hands at her waist, palm up and empty. "There's no need for that. You're here to guard something, something important to the Empire, and we just strolled right through your security."
They got even more tense, Krieg's finger slipping inside the trigger guard. Bitch grabbed Angelica's by a bone spur and braced to be dragged along with her. Then Tattletale took another step forward and put her hands to the back of her head.
"Easy!" She urged, "Calm down. There's no need for that." Once they'd relaxed a little she kept going. "Now like I was saying, we got in this far, but we're not going in any further. We didn't know this was something important, we just came to steal a bit of dirty money is all."
Krieg lowered his gun ever so slightly, speaking in the same smooth voice that he'd begun with, "Oh that's all is it?"
"You know how it goes. Nothing personal." She looked around and sighed, "Now since it turned out to be a lot more than that, I guess we could have a fight right here, in conditions that a tactician like you must know favours us, or..."
Krieg lowered his gun all the way and cocked his head to the side, "Or what?"
"Or we could just write the whole thing off as a test of your security. We turn around and leave, and you don't even get charged for us showing you where the holes were. Everyone wins, or at least nobody loses which is almost as good."
"Fuck you!" Stormtiger growled, kicking away his bar stool and taking a step towards them. Only for Krieg to hold up a hand to stop him.
"Well that is an interesting proposition, and surprisingly so coming from a group with your reputation." This time it was Bitch who tensed, Grue stiffening beside her. "Certainly you're right that I am a tactician and am aware that fighting here would favour you four, and those beasts of yours."
He rose from his chair and leant forward, resting both hands on the table. Then he snapped his head up and spat, "Pity you didn't think it all the way through you arrogant little whore."
Then Bitch heard it, almost hidden by the distant clanking of the pipes, footsteps in the tunnel behind them. A lot of footsteps. She spun to look behind them, though only Regent and Runt looked with her, the other two keeping their eyes on the capes.
Krieg kept going, "As soon as we heard you outside the door Crusader sent one of his ghosts to gather the soldiers from the factory. All of them. Now how do you think a fight will go when you're attacked from bo-"
thmp
Krieg stared at the little black thing that Tattletale had lobbed onto the table. The grenade she'd been holding behind her head. Then he shot her and dived for cover.
Or he tried to, his hand jolted to the side as he fired and Stormtiger roared in pain, clutching his arm. Krieg fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs and then a cloud of darkness engulfed the enemy capes.
"Run!" Grue commanded. Bitch didn't hesitate to do it. Whistling sharply and letting Angelica drag her towards the door Tattletale was sprinting for. Regent was almost keeping pace with her and looking back she saw Grue not far behind- 'Shit!'
Runt wasn't running beside her other dogs, the black wolf was stiff and shaking; standing just inside the doorway, eyes wide with fear. Before Bitch could yank Angelica into a turn Grue skidded to a stop and ran back towards her, yelling, "Keep going!"
Bitch kept her eyes on them, trusting Angelica to keep going and Brutus and Judas to follow her. Something pinged off the floor near Runt, then Grue slammed into her and heaved her up onto his shoulders. His looked down the tunnel behind her, voices and footsteps now echoing clearly from it, then he hurled himself away from the door and-
"Bitch!" Tattletale yelled, pulling her attention back to the front and the door that the slender villainess was trying to open. Messing with some panel she'd pried open beside it, full of little wires and lights. It wasn't opening, so Bitch guessed what Tattletale wanted and whistled two quick notes then pointed to the door, pouring as much power into Brutus as she dared.
Tattletale dived out of the way and he smashed into the door like a train. Only to bounce off it with a whimper and very slight ringing sound. He'd barely dented it. "Fucking tinkers!" Swore Tattletale, burying her head in the tangle of wires again while Bitch checked that Brutus was okay.
Before Bitch could look to see how Grue and Runt were doing, a figure stumbled out of the cloud of darkness, a man wearing a leather coat and pants, with a black breastplate and a mask with an ornate 'V' worked into the design. He brought up a bulky gun and opened fire, bullets making a trail across the ceiling when Regent gestured sharply at him.
Except instead of fighting the way his arm was seizing against his chest, Victor twisted with the motion of his arm and his other hand lashed out like a snake with a handful of blades. Metal flashed through the air towards them and then was hidden by Judas' bulk as the dog (now the size of a small horse) jumped between Bitch and Victor.
Whatever Victor was going to do next, another cloud of darkness cut him off as Grue slid to a stop amongst them, Runt still on his shoulders though Bitch could see she was calming down. Grue dropped her without ceremony, whirling to face the door they'd come in by and dropping more darkness right as a skinhead with a machine gun was sprinting into the room. By the way the gun clattered out of the darkness and along the floor a moment later, Bitch guessed he must have tripped.
For a few moments the only noises were her dogs breathing heavily as she pumped them all up to Brutus' size, and the scratching of Tattletale's attempts to get the door open. Then a blast of air shoved her off Angelica's back as the darkness in the middle of the room vanished.
Krieg, Crusader and Othala were all on the floor, only the first two looking like they meant to be there. Meanwhile Stormtiger was standing with one foot on top of the armchair, the other on top of the table, and the air around him spinning in a tightly focused tornado. It amplified his voice as he screamed, "You didn't think I'd figure out how to beat your trick Grue! You think your power's worth shit against me!"
He snarled and the air rippled around his arms. Then his legs kicked out in different directions and he fell off the table, knocking cards and cash everywhere.
Even as Stormtiger fell though, Krieg was standing and raising his gun, Bitch could already see Stormtiger moving and if he blew away the rest of the darkness they'd be fucked. Crusader stood and pulled Othala to her feet, then snapped his arm out to the side, a row of ghostly duplicates sliding out of his body.
Bitch got ready to fight as long as she could, then Tattletale shouted behind them, "Got it!" and the door slid open. They retreated into the top of a stairwell, Judas and Brutus staying between them and the gunfire even as Bitch gritted her teeth at what those bastards were doing to her dogs! They got through and the door slid closed again, the gunfire becoming a distant ping ping noise.
"Just a second, I think I've got the hang of this. Yah!" Tattletale shouted and stepped back, shaking one of her gloved hands, but she was nodding at the same time. "That'll stop them opening the door for a while, but the Tinker who made it has to be somewhere in this place so we need to move."
"Right." Grue said. "Our exit's blocked so we need a new one, or we need leverage to get out past them, Tattletale, is the Tinker inside here somewhere?"
It took a few moments for her to reply, and she was holding her head as she said, "This place is new, the Tinker who built it is powerful, limited but powerful, yeah, yeah they have him on lockdown in here."
Grue nodded at them all. "Okay, then we grab the Tinker and use him as a hostage, or to tell us another way out." Then he pointed down. "He'll be down there somewhere I bet," Tattletale nodded, "Let's move."
They rushed for the stairs and began to climb down. Bitch taking the stairs two at a time rather than riding Angelica down the tight confines of the stairwell. She'd cracked ribs trying that kind of thing before.
Three flights down, a girl's voice spoke from amongst behind them, shock sending Regent stumbling down the last few stairs of that flight. "What about reinforcements?"
All eyes turned to the black wolf and found a girl dressed in a black bodystocking standing behind them. Except after blinking a few times Bitch realised it wasn't any kind of clothing, but a thick layer of fur across all but her head and hands.
Tattletale spoke first, "Runt?"
"Yeah, I, I think I'm okay with this form, what about reinforcements?"
Regent began a wolf whistle, then cut himself off and said, "What about them?"
"If reinforcements come, more Empire capes, won't we be trapped? Shouldn't we fight our way out now? While we have a chance?"
Bitch found herself agreeing with Runt, even if it was weirding her out a whole lot to see a human being whose feelings made sense. All it would take was a few more capes and they'd be too outnumbered to get away, even with a hostage. They'd get hurt bad in a fight with those odds, but they might at least survive.
"No, they have those radios remember?" Tattletale replied, "Those things can reach the surface but they used Crusader to get the troops. The only reason that makes sense is if those radios reach much further than the paper mill. Krieg's afraid that if news gets out before we're dealt with, Kaiser will lose trust in him."
"That's it." Bitch growled. Suddenly angry at the girl who got them into this whole mess. "You walked us into this shit and now you say that we should keep trusting you? Why the fuck should we?!"
Regent stepped between them as Bitch tried to grab Tattletale. "Hey! We don't have time for this crap. Grue, which way are we going?"
They turned to Grue for a decision, and Bitch felt a lead weight drop into her gut. He was slumped against the wall, a dark red stain trickling down the metal behind him.
"Shit!"
"Grue!"
"Are you-!"
"I'm fine." He lied so badly even she could tell. "Krieg just got a lucky shot off is all."
With a little gasp, Runt clutched her hands over her mouth. "While you were saving me. That's when you got shot, isn't it?" Runt padded towards him. "All because I froze."
Grue groaned as he stood up straight, bracing one hand against the wall. Then he looked down at their newest member and said, "Don't worry about it. Your first time out and that's what we come up against? Anyone would freeze up," He reached out and patted her on the shoulder, "It happens. Just don't do it again, please."
He stumbled forward, catching himself on Judas' side. "Tattletale's right. A guy like Krieg, he cares more about his position than anything else. We stick to the plan and grab the Tinker."
Bitch growled, already imagining the shit storm that could be coming for them. Grue's hand shot out and took a handful of her coat, dragging her towards him and forcing her to look into the skull painted on his helmet.
"Bitch, we're going down." He said evenly.
He was injured. Weakened. She could take him out easily...
Bitch dropped her gaze to the floor and nodded. Commanding Judas to stick beside Grue while Tattletale handed Runt a bunch of bandages and waved her in his direction.
There were another five flights of stairs before they reached the bottom and another door. Tattletale immediately set to work on the panel beside it. Getting it open in less than a minute and revealing a long corridor to yet another door, only this one had a camera above it.
Grue had a patch of darkness over it in an instant, but Tattletale still sprinted down the corridor and Bitch was right behind her, dragging Grue onto Angelica with her. They slid to a stop at the door, and Bitch found she could hear something on the other side. Someone yelling, loud, then she forgot all about it at the sound of a lot more yelling from back the way they'd come.
"Tats, you said that door would hold." Regent moaned.
"Shut up! This one's harder. And I said it would hold for a while. The Tinker must have overridden what I did to it."
Bitch got ready as the sound of boots thundering against stairs grew louder and louder.
"Well maybe you want to go close the door we just came through, by us more time." Regent kept talking. Tattletale didn't bother answering him, and it paid off a few seconds later when the door slid open and they piled into...
Bitch had never seen a Tinker's lab before.
Tattletale leapt to get the door closed behind them, but since she couldn't help with that Bitch took the time to look around.
Everything was made of the same smooth metal. Not just the room itself, but everything in it too. The shelves full of machine parts that flanked the door; The huge vats -at least three times her height- that filled the wall on her left, as well as the pipes that came out of the roof and connected with them; Even the bed that sat against the far wall and the long L-shaped workbench that ran along the wall and divided the room in half lengthways.
Actually not quite everything. Looking closer she realised that there was a curtained off area near the bed and the curtain was just the same colour as the metal. Plus there was the mess that covered the workbench and the pile of cloth that sat beside it shivering...huh?
It took a moment for her to realise that it wasn't just a pile of clothes. It was a cape, short and fat and huddled against the workbench, shaking violently as he stared at them.
There was a computer in front of him, but he wasn't touching it. He wasn't moving. He didn't even look like he was breathing.
Bitch almost laughed. They'd actually made it to the tinker, in their own lair! Now there he was, the Empire scum, shaking and almost pissing himself at the sight of them. She stepped forward and laughed outright when the coward screamed and staggered back from the bench.
"Please don't hurt me!"
With Brian slumped against one of the shelves, and Regent and Runt trying to shove the other one in front of the door, Tattletale walked up past Bitch and laid it out for him.
"So long as you do what we say, you won't get hurt. I promise kid."
He kept staggering back, one hand trailing along the worktop. "I'm sorry to doubt you, b-but why would I trust you. You're, you're here for me aren't you. To take me!" With that shout he snatched up some kind of gun, covered in blinking lights and made of even more of the strange metal. "I refuse, I won't g-g-go!"
Tattletale just sighed dramatically and drew her own gun, heedless of the danger. Strangely, the tinker didn't pull the trigger. She kept it pointed down and towards the wall, speaking softly, "You're not going to shoot me."
The tinker smiled beneath the simple hood that his his face from the nose up. "Ma'am, do you really think an Empire cape would have a problem shooting a thief?"
"I think anyone would have a problem shooting a thief with a glue gun." The tinker froze, starting to stutter something when Tattletale pointed to his gun and said, "There's still some glue on the barrel, you're not fooling anybody. This one's real though," She waved her own weapon, "So come out from behind the bench and we promise not to hurt you."
"Much." Called Regent with a laugh. Tattletale turned slightly towards him, and the tinker grabbed for a pile of pipes and sheet metal. He pulled something out of it with both hands, Bitch shouted, "Look out!" and then Tattletale swept her gun up as he struggled to aim some kind of gun at her, so big he needed both hands and could still barely lift it.
The blonde drew first but instead of firing she yelled, "Drop it!" Then a streak of grey shot from the cannon and went straight through her, hurling her to the ground.
Rage blinded Bitch and she charged with a primal roar, her dogs loping ahead of her. He was already running, the cannon that killed her friend abandoned on the floor as he ran for his life. She slid over the workbench, grinning as he ran smack into the wall and almost bounced off. Her dogs were almost on him, then the wall slid open and she screamed denial.
"Noooo!"
The wall slid shut an instant before Brutus slammed into it, and refused to give even when all three dogs attacked it with teeth and claws.
"Stop it. He's already gone." Tattletale spoke from the floor, her voice slicing through the rage and leaving Bitch dreading the sight of her. She sounded weak. "That was his backdoor, a one way elevator straight to the surface."
She couldn't just stand with her back turned like a coward! Bitch forced herself to turn around and felt a fresh wave of fury at what she saw. Tattletale, no, Lisa's arm had been turned to stone. All the way from the tips of her fingers to her shoulder. A few feet away the shattered piece of a stone gun lay on the floor.
"Wait, you think-? Bitch no! I'm fine." Lisa yelled.
It took a few seconds for the words to register, then she blinked rapidly and cocked her head to the side. How the hell could she be fine?
"It doesn't effect living tissue. I just can't get up because my sleeve and glove are made of stone and I can't move my arm."
Bitch slumped in relief. "Then we shatter it, the stone'll be thin. No big deal."
"It's not her sleeve we need to worry about." Called Grue.
Drawn by his voice, Bitch looked at the door and saw a ragged patch now stretched across most of it. An uneven splotch of lighter grey. Stone, replacing the tinker metal that had protected them.
Lying on the floor with her free hand over her eyes, Tattletale moaned, "It probably didn't quite go all the way through, which is why they're not already in here, but as soon as the tinker makes it to the surface he'll call it in and..." She didn't need to finish. An inch or two of stone would shatter with a good kick, let alone what they'd throw at the door.
Regent and Runt had given up on pushing the shelves in front of the door, now they helped Grue to his feet and the five of them gathered in the middle of the room. Nobody spoke. They all knew how fucked they were.
Except, Bitch thought, there was one thing. Something Grue had said they weren't going to do.
Now she had to convince him different. "Grue," She started, trying to think of what to say, fumbling for words and-
"Grue, we've got no choice." Tattletale interrupted her thoughts. "I know you didn't want to do this but..."
"I'm not exactly worried about discipline at this point Tats." He said, voice low and quiet. "I don't mind, not with the alternative, especially if-" He groaned, "-it can heal a bullet wound, but..." He looked around them, barely holding himself up, and turned to face Runt "Can you really give us that much of a boost?"
Runt bit her lip and hesitated, staring at the ground. Then she looked up, she looked at Bitch.
"Not alone."
A/N: Fuck it, I'm back. Which means an update within a week of the last update, sometimes sooner. Can't guarantee they'll all be for this story, but a lot will be. Also can't guarantee the uploads here will always be on time, as I mostly hang out and post stories on SB and SV.