Insinuation 4.06

From her perch on the building's roof, Vista turned her head toward me. "Y'know, even without using my power to contract space and hear noises from a distance, that bug of yours can be heard from a mile away."

I smirked, arms folded, as I sat on Atlas in the saddle I'd designed for him. "Maybe, but I can see just about everything for several city blocks. I know what's there before it knows where I am." To demonstrate, I held up a finger and had a ladybug land on it. "For all intents and purposes, I am the swarm.

Aegis took a step off his roof and Vista pinched the distances together so he didn't have to waste energy flying over. "So, are you alone?" he asked. "I mean, it's Ward policy to go out in pairs and there are six of you, so..."

I smirked, my lenses once again solid orange and rendering my true emotions inscrutable. "Oh, Imp's around." I might distrust Coil, but I wasn't going to turn down the paycheck. Every dollar he gave us was one he couldn't use for other plans. So, with Imp's power, getting her a souped-up scooter had been high up on our list of priorities. From the last glimpse I'd gotten of her, she was hanging out at ground level and helping to keep watch for anything I might miss.

"Yep!"

I yelped and, were it not for the leg straps, would have hopped off Atlas and plummeted to the street. "Imp! How the hell did you get up here!?"

"Oh, I drove over to a parking garage and did a series of sweet-ass jumps from there to here."

The Wards and I all blinked at that. "S-seriously?" Unlikely as it might sound, Aisha was a little terror so it was a remote possibility.

She cackled. "Nah! I hopped up to the fire escape and climbed. Lucked out that you mentioned me just as I got to the roof."

I gave voice to the unspoken half of her statement. "...And if I hadn't, you'd have just lurked until I did say something that pertained to you."

Imp hopped up to sit on Atlas' pincer. To the big guy's credit, he didn't even blink as she lounged on his implement of destruction. "You know me so well, dah-ling," she giggled, affecting a faux-posh accent. She then gestured at the Wards. "So, you gonna introduce me? I've never formally met these drips."

"I wonder why that is," I deadpanned. "Aegis, Vista, this is Imp. We never let her and Regent patrol together."

"What, that's it? Give 'em some horror stories, Skits! Make them fear the name of Imp!"

I facepalmed with a sigh. "I'm not sure anybody could do that, but I'll try." I turned back to the Wards. Aegis looked flummoxed while Vista was torn between looking scandalized or bursting into giggles. "Back during the war, we found out one of the households was hardcore ABB. Not actual gang members, but the kind who would – and did – make attempts to smuggle gangers into the neighborhood, where they figured they'd be safe under E88's radar. Now, these were civilians, so we couldn't just beat the shit out of them. We might've officially been villains, but even back then we didn't hurt people like that. So instead, the evil genius here has an idea." I let the information sink in for a moment while Imp preened, before continuing. "She camps out in their house for a week. Brings a pillow and a sleeping bag, sets up in a closet. Every day, she rearranges their furniture. Sometimes it's just little things, like an ottoman being across the room or a glass on the other side of the table. Other times, she spends the whole day to shove the couch into the dining room. By the end of the week, they're freaking out. Of course, when she starts to write satanic messages on their mirrors, that's when they decide it's the last straw. They left the territory and we moved refugees into the house the same day. Now," I addressed them directly, "imagine her and Regent on patrol together. Street vendors would end up painted like clowns and gangers would have their pants set on fire."

"At the very least," Imp confirmed with no small amount of smugness.

Vista clucked her tongue. "You sure you guys aren't villains?"

"Good and evil are states of mind."

I bopped Imp on the head for that one. "No, we're not still villains. We might have mostly unfriendly powers, but that plus being independents means that we can do things you guys can't."

"So why are you here?" Aegis was still regarding me with a bit of wariness, which confused me. "Last time you were out and about, you fought the Teeth and the Adrift."

"Oh," I chuckled. "No, we're just on patrol and I thought I'd stop by and say hi."

"In that case..." Somehow, instead of relaxing, Aegis became even more morose. "I'm sorry. About Shadow Stalker. I was there when Director Piggot reamed into the oversight committee, again, about Ward probation."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I, uh, thanks. Look, it hasn't even been a week and I really don't want to talk about it, so..."

Aegis held up a finger while his other hand went to his ear. "Aegis. Affirmative. We'll be back A-sap." He gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry. Apparently something's come up and the Wards are being recalled."

I nodded. "I understand. Don't let me keep you."

Aegis flew off, Vista easily keeping pace. Seeing her power in action, repeatedly, was a truly interesting sight. It was disorienting and the best approximation would be seeing through a glass of sloshing water. The horizon compressed and then snapped back, individual points shrinking or widening as she moved. Vista's form remaining constant amid the chaos only further confused the eye.

"So," Imp said to my bugs, "are we gonna keep patrolling, or we gonna find out what that was about?" She started her scooter and I realized that she must have left the conversation at some point and gone back down to her vehicle.

"You make the call," I buzzed back at her. Normal bugs couldn't imitate a voice anywhere near as well as my voicebugs could, but it was enough that you could understand it if you were familiar with the sounds. "Atlas is too loud for me to talk on the phone." I had an earbug tuck itself under the collar of her jacket so I could listen in as we continued our patrol route.

"Hey, Sight," I heard Imp say. "Something just came up that recalled the Wards. You got any news for us? ...Shit. Really? Okay, I'll pass it along. Wanna meet at the scene? Kay. See you there." She hung up and spoke to open space, knowing that I was listening. "So a whole Merchant drug house was slaughtered. Sliced to pieces, but apparently there are no weapons or signs of a fight. The rest of the team is gonna meet us there, so follow me."

We turned and began heading northwest, toward one of the ritzier parts of town. I didn't even know the Merchants had places there. Then again, before the war, they probably didn't. This had been Empire territory. Now, it was more of a no-man's land. The Merchants hadn't officially established control – likely because the rich bastards in their little gated neighborhoods would've called the mayor to get the National Guard in here again – and while it butted up against Adrift land, if you could call the empty mess they seemed to control 'territory', they didn't like to push into populated areas and preferred outskirts and condemned blocks.

Moreover, slicing didn't seem to be the MO of any of the Adrift. Yes, Circus used knives, but those were for throwing. She preferred sledgehammers or heavy axes for melee. Juggernaut could split people apart, but the hits were too rough to be considered slicing. Trainwreck? Maybe, but he was a showman who liked his oversized armors. There would've definitely been signs of a fight; hell, the whole building might've ended up leveled. No, this was something new. And I didn't like new.

(BREAK)

The former mechanic shop was cordoned off, several PRT troopers standing guard, including two with containment foam sprayers. We dismounted our respective transports and Cerberus let her dogs start to shrink.

"At ease, guys," Grue said as the troopers prepared for a fight, or at least to stonewall us. "We're here to examine the scene and see if Foresight can't give us some new info on what happened." He looked around. "Any other heroes here?"

The senior officer, apparently, nodded as he loosened his grip on his weapon. "Yes, Velocity and Miss Militia. She's currently examining the scene."

"Alright then," I said. "We'll go say hi." Before they could really process what had happened, Foresight and I were already past the police line and the rest weren't far behind. "Don't worry," I told them through a voicebug, "Miss Militia will appreciate the help. Trust us."

The building's interior was...a nightmare. Blood was splattered everywhere, body parts scattered around. From the heads, I counted at least a dozen dead bodies.

"Jesus fuck," Regent muttered.

Miss Militia stood in the middle of the carnage, studying it with an intensity I'd last seen when she killed Victor. At Regent's interjection, she looked over and saw us. Her eyes softened in what looked to be relief.

"Miss Militia," Grue said, "we heard about the killings and thought the Protectorate would appreciate our help in figuring out the who and the how."

Velocity's voice came from all around us. "I've checked all over the garage and surrounding area. No blood splatter or tracks. Nobody escaped, nor were there any other attacks." He blurred to a stop beside Miss Militia. "And, speaking for myself, the help would be appreciated."

"I agree," the dark-skinned heroine stated. "I can't make head or tail of this massacre." She gestured to one of the bodies, smoothly bisected. "He was clearly cut with a physical weapon, a single stroke slicing him in half." She stooped and waved her finger over certain areas. "The way the skin is torn and the viscera drawn out, it was sharp but not tinkertech sharp. My best guess would be a sword, but it would have to be at least a zweihander and wielded by someone with incredible strength." She straightened up and huffed. "The problem with that is there's no sign of a fight. Other than the Merchants scattering in an attempt to escape, nothing indicates an intruder. Someone with a weapon capable of doing this kind of damage would leave something behind to indicate his presence."

Grue's voice was quieter than I'd ever heard while he was in costume. "You don't think Jack Slash...?"

Foresight replied for her. "No. He favors small blades. While he can maximize cutting power and extend the blade, it would still leave cuts indicative of a small blade. These are large cuts. In addition," she pointed to other corpses, "some were impaled instead of cut clean through, and the damage indicates the blade was triangular. Isosceles rather than equilateral." At Cerberus' tilted head, she made a diagram with her hands. The bulky girl nodded in understanding.

"So," I mused, "what are we looking at, then? Stranger? No, they started running away. Brute to swing the thing, maybe Shaker to keep things in order while he cuts them up?"

Foresight snapped her fingers. "That could be something." She made a frame with her hands and looked through it. "We're looking at this as if it's murder with a single weapon. But Kaiser could create blades big and sharp enough to do this kind of damage. Now, he couldn't put the metal away once he'd summoned it, but it gives us precedent. We're most likely looking for a Shaker who can summon blades of some kind."

"Thank you, Foresight," Miss Militia said as she climbed piggyback onto Velocity. "Your insights are always appreciated. Skitter, likewise. You two make an excellent detective team." Velocity took off, whatever else Miss Militia might have said lost in the immense speed.

I looked over at our purple-helmed teammate. "Foresight? You're still staring at the bodies..."

"Please tell me you're not a necrophiliac," Regent snickered.

"I'm...worried," she muttered. "During the war, Oni Lee used an aspect of his power we'd never seen before. This?" She swept her arm over the carnage. "The slaughter of minorities, in former Empire territory? This screams 'Kaiser'." Foresight turned back to us. "If he's come out of hiding, I'm scared he has nothing to lose. His children are in custody and will be shipped away unless Purity behaves. His Empire is completely gutted. His reich dreams are dead. And if he can take metal away as well as produce it..."

"...Then there's pretty much nothing stopping him from going Mask of the Phantasm on everybody," Cerberus finished for her.

"Nice reference," Imp said from the doorway. She still hadn't come inside to see the corpses.

"And considering the part I played in bringing him down..." I couldn't help it; I swallowed hard.

"Huh. I've got a call from you-know-who," Foresight stated. She pulled out her phone and answered, the call being transmitted to the bluetooth device in her headset. "You've got Foresight. What's up?" Her stance became more irritable. "Seriously? Look, I don't know if we can do that. People will see the connection, then you're out two assets. We'll do what we can, but I can't make promises." Seeing our inquisitive looks as she hung up, Foresight sent us all a quick text. T active again. C wants no waves.

Despite her grousing, it seemed that Rachel's remedial English lessons had paid off because she nodded to herself, perfectly understanding the message.

Before we could converse on that, we received another group text. Somer's Rock, 3pm. –Faultline.

We looked at one another, collectively shrugged, and decided to find out what she wanted.

(BREAK)

In the time since the last major meeting at the pub, Somer's Rock had not changed in the least. The pub seemed completely unchanged, although if a bomb had gone off it wouldn't have made much difference.

Faultline sat at the round table in the center of the pub, her costume just as dissonant as always. The welder's mask and kevlar vest stood out against the Japanese hakama and loose upper-body robes. To one side of her was the bloated form of Gregor the Snail and on the other was someone I didn't recognize, a pretty redhead wearing a shamrock mask and a green overcoat.

"Good to see you again." Faultline's tone was friendly but all business. "You know Gregor, and this is Shamrock, our newest recruit." She gestured to the table. "Please, take a seat." Once we were properly seated, she continued. "I wanted to invite you here out of professional courtesy. Since you're heroes now, I'm guessing you heard of the massacre?"

Grue leaned forward a bit. "The Merchants warehouse near Stableton Heights?"

"The same," Faultline responded. "Skidmark scraped together enough to pay our wage. We'll be playing bodyguard for the Merchants, while Shamrock is going to try to work on sussing out who's doing this."

"Oh," Foresight sounded excited, which often meant trouble, "you're a Thinker?" I could practically hear the gears in her head turning as she theorized about the new girl's powers.

"Not quite on the same level as you, but I make a good enough detective. While you're more Holmes-style deduction, I'm an expert at finding clues." Shamrock's voice was soft and low, a tone I was intimately familiar with. She was used to flying under the radar, trying not to draw attention. While she didn't seem to have the self-esteem or image problems I did, she definitely wasn't used to being the center of attention.

"Well," I spoke up, "since we're both interested in stopping a mass murderer, why don't we pool what we've got?"

Faultline gave a curt nod. "Shamrock, tell 'em what you found out. Maybe Tat, er, Foresight can get something new from it."

The redhead leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "Well, the main thing is, the blood splatter's off."

Regent tilted his head. "Blood splatter? The place looked like they filmed about eighteen Herschel Gordon Lewis movies in there!"

"Exactly," she smirked. "And, since there was so much gore, I'm guessing you," she looked to Foresight, "focused more on the bodies and how they landed to determine how they were hit. But," her grin was disturbingly close to mirroring Lisa's, "there were inconsistencies. Tiny gaps where there shouldn't be."

Foresight sat upright, excited. "...Because if a blade had bisected them, it'd have kept going. If there's a gap in the splatter pattern from the point of entry..."

"...Then that means something was there to block the splatter. Something that is no longer there, something narrow. And, since there are no other gaps in splatter to indicate another body..."

My teammate sat back. "...Then we're not dealing with another Shaker. We're dealing with Kaiser's exact power set. So either we've got an evil Eidolon running around or another Faerie Queen..."

Shamrock finished the exchange. "...Or this is Kaiser's work and he's put aside idealism for straight-up butchery."

"Fuck me," Regent muttered. "Skinhead was bad enough when he was just playing at being Hitler. If he's decided to ditch the podium and jump straight to the ethnic cleansing... Shit."

"Admittedly," Foresight sighed, "Kaiser was our best theory at the time. We were just hoping it wasn't true."

"So," Gregor spoke up, his voice deep with a Scandinavian accent, "what is our next step?"

"Kaiser is likely fixating on former Empire territory," Foresight said as she leaned forward again, resting her chin in her palm. "If he doesn't try to bust out old loyalists like Hookwolf, we can expect him to go on a genocide spree against any 'impure' in his old stomping grounds. If we can convince the Protectorate that Kaiser is responsible and that he's not going to stop, perhaps we can put a kill order on him. Then all it would take is a spider or two, or a single shot from Miss Militia, and the body count stops in the double digits."

"A spider or two?" I held up my hands. "Look, I know I've...but I was being tortured! And I was on fire! I don't know if I could kill someone on purpose, with my head clear."

Grue rested a heavy hand on my shoulder. "And we're not asking you to. But, speaking as myself, I'd rather kill a criminal and have his blood on my hands than use kid gloves and let him murder others."

"Well look at you," Imp said from Regent's lap. When had she gotten there? On second thought, I decided I didn't want to theorize. "Just turned hero and already making big moral speeches."

Grue messed with her mask. "Hush, you."

"Alright then," Faultline said as she stood and her crew stood just after her. "Foresight, I figure you're going to provide info to the Protectorate. Would it be too much to ask for you to forward copies to me?"

I suppressed a wince. The rivalry between those two was well-documented.

"In the interest of stopping a serial-killing Nazi, I think we can work something out."

Huh, that was significantly less painful than I'd anticipated.

Grue stood and we took his cue. "It was good to meet with you, Faultline. I hope we can continue working on the same side."

As we left, Foresight hopped onto Atlas behind me. I could barely articulate my surprise. "Buh?"

"We should head over to the Rig and update the Protectorate in person." She smacked me on the rump and I yelped. "Mush!"