Chapter 7-1

I've done quite a few very stupid things over my (admittedly) short cape career. Fighting Lung, for instance, could have been avoided if I'd carried a few quarters with me. The bank robbery could have been a lot easier if I'd just knocked Tattletale out instead of assuming that she had some sort of ace up her sleeve. Now, standing on a roof in the middle of the night, a few blocks away from what we thought was the Boxhead HQ, I came to a chilling realization.

Win or lose, this fight would go down in history as the stupidest thing I've ever done.

Needless to say, I wasn't brimming with confidence. The fact that I wouldn't get any back-up for at least five minutes didn't help either.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" I asked after Armsmaster lined out his plan.

"Granted."

"Is this seriously the best you could have come up with? I mean, really?" Murmurs followed, most of them arguing in my favor.

To my surprise, Armsmaster didn't scowl, as he often did when someone disagreed with him. "Unfortunately, yes. As far as we can tell, the Boxheads haven't fortified the facility much, but if we don't hide our approach or distract them, they will and attacking an entrenched Tinker is suicide. We need to flush them out. This is the best we've come up with considering the situation and the resources available to us."

I sighed, exasperatedly. "Can't we get more capes or something? I mean, we've got the entire Protectorate backing us up, right?"

"And flying them in will take time. Time we don't have." Armsmaster took a step towards me, probably trying to 'connect' or something. "Taylor, Kid Win was grabbed from a routine patrol in Downtown. We need to get him back before the press catches wind of this and turns it into a scandal. If we recover him tonight, we can control the fallout. If we don't, it's out of my hands."

"Chris was taken from the safest part of the city." I argued. "What are the Powers That Be going to do? Stop the Wards from patrolling altogether?"

The boss flinched. I didn't like that look on his face. He was probably thinking up worst-case scenarios as we speak. "Believe me, there're plenty of organizations lobbying for just that. We can't risk giving them more ammunition. I'm sure you understand that benching the Wards would have disastrous consequences."

I nodded. Sure, our patrols didn't accomplish much but they were nevertheless important. Just by being there, the Wards deterred the majority of the criminals. Few people were bold or stupid enough to commit a crime in front of a superhero, even if we were only teenagers.

"The alternative is a direct assault without a proper distraction." Lisa chimed in. "Believe me, that's going to get ugly fast. We will lose people in the attack and Kid Win probably won't survive either."

I sighed again. There really wasn't much I could say to that, was there? "Alright, I'll do it."

Fucking Thinkers. Always know exactly which button to press. In spite of all my attempts to stop them, people still managed to manipulate me.

I looked down at the target building. Multiple armed guards on the roof, at least a dozen in total. Even then, this only accounted for about a quarter of the total force. Multiple roof access points. They were expecting someone to come in from above, just like we thought they would. The moment I set foot on the roof, I'll be swarmed. If our plan didn't work and our fliers weren't right on the money, I'd end this night with more holes than a Swiss cheese. I could still back out, of course. They couldn't make me fight, not like this. Then I remembered my teammates and that they'd have a much higher chance of getting hurt if I didn't follow through.

Fuck my life.

I leapt over the alley and onto the Boxhead building. A gangster noticed me almost instantly and raised his weapon. I closed the distance, tore off his helmet, and punched him in the throat before pulling his gun out of his hands in a single motion. Then, using my power to make sure everyone heard me, I said: "If you'd be so kind not to commit suicide-by-cop, I have a business proposition for your boss."

The other men raised their weapons, but didn't fire. I looked around. Slightly elevated heart rates and swift breathing. They were afraid. They had to be. One of the braver ones started inching towards me, charging up some sort of energy rifle. Apparently, a few of them needed more convincing.

"You could shoot me, but then I'll have to kill you. Even if you get away, you'll have to deal Alad, who's not going to be happy that you cost him something very valuable. Take me to your leader."

One of the men tilted his head and said something in his helmet. A few minutes later, another twenty men and an army of drones came onto the roof. God, this is actually going to work.

"This is never going to work." I said.

"Trust me, it will." Lisa replied with a stupid grin plastered on her face. "You just need to stall them. Remember the bank robbery? Remember how you spent five minutes wondering if I had some hidden thump card? You were so focused on me that you totally forgot about my team. We can do that here."

"Didn't I knock you out back then?"

"Well, yes, but not before I delayed you long enough for Circus to get there."

"Who promptly got his/her ass kicked." I rubbed my helmet. This was going to end badly.

Lisa sighed. "Okay, you're getting this wrong. You actually have weapons besides your big mouth and unlike Circus, the Protectorate is money well spent. Oh, and then there's that one little thing you keep forgetting."

"Which is?"

"Reputation. The Boxheads fear you. Like, really, really fear you specifically. You, showing up at their base? It's like getting a visit from Jack Slash to them. They will listen to you, if only for a few minutes. Trust me. Besides, if you do manage to scare the fucker into giving Chris up without a fight, all the better."

A small drone flew up to me and a hologram winked into existence. "Well, I have to admit that this is quite a surprise. Your kind usually doesn't do business with me. Not that surprising, considering my previous ventures and your silly morals, but still…an opportunity I certainly won't waste. I have to admit, I am rather curious: what do you want from me, and what do you have to offer in return?"

I recognized his voice immediately: Alad. He was a shortish man, slightly hunched over. The suit he wore was obviously Tinkertech: some sort of body suit and overcoat, with a massive device around his neck that looked like a control panel of some kind. His face, or at least the part not obscured by tech, was so smooth that I wasn't sure if he was wearing a mask or not. On the whole, he didn't look very impressive. Then again, Tinkers didn't need to. Not when they have an army of robots and slave soldiers at their command.

Alad's ridiculously confident babbling was really off-putting. In hindsight, that could have been the point all along. He could be playing the 'raving psychopath' angle to fool people into thinking he's much more dangerous than he actually is. Or the other way around, now that I think about it.

I took a deep breath. I was here to intimidate and my armor could only do so much on its own. They needed to believe I was a living nightmare and I needed to play into their fears. I just had to follow Lisa's advice. I guess a villain would know more about being feared than I do. "You have taken something from us. I'm here to take it back."

"Ah, yes, the Tinker, I presume? I was wondering how long it would take you to come for him. However, I'm afraid he'd not for sale. Tinkers are quite valuable, you see, and I'd rather not give him up just yet."

"You misunderstand." I said, taking a step forward, trying to invade his personal space. "Kid Win will be coming home with me. We're just arguing about how many of your people need to die before I leave."

Alad's mouth fell open and he smiled. "Are you threatening me, little girl?"

"No. The word 'threat' implies an avoidable danger, that if you fight hard enough, you'll be able to escape what's coming. What I'm saying is that if I don't walk out of here satisfied, this base will be in flames before the next sunrise."

The Boxhead took a step backwards and sat down, still wearing that damnable smile. At least he was still talking. Every second counted. "And how do you propose to do that? Your Protectorate is quite powerful, yes, but even they don't have the forces to overwhelm this position without taking losses. And before you mention it, you couldn't have gotten reinforcements already."

"You shouldn't be worried about the Protectorate." I pulled out a small device out of my pocket, courtesy of Armsmaster. It kind of looked like a grenade and had a few blinky lights. I was really pushing my luck with this, but I needed a few more minutes. "This is a detonator. It's linked to half a dozen Tinker-made bombs I've 'appropriated' from the PRT. Bombs build by our mutual acquaintance Bakuda and hidden in six different Empire 88 safe houses. When I press the button, they detonate. I have no idea what will happen next, but knowing Bakuda's work, I'm sure it's going to be very flashy and that a lot of Nazis are going to end up dying horribly."

Alad giggled. "Little girl, a bomb in enemy territory means little. I care nothing for those imbeciles."

"Neither do I, but Kaiser will and he will come after the idiot crazy enough to attack him. Considering the…unique nature of Bakuda's bombs and the fact that she's in your employ, he'll assume it was your doing. Kaiser being Kaiser, he'll probably retaliate almost immediately, if only because he'll lose face if he doesn't. Now, maybe you can fight off the Protectorate, but the twenty-to-thirty capes the Empire has at their disposal?" I let that sink in for a moment. Watching the smirk fade from that bastards face was the most beautiful thing I've seen all day. "By the time you're done fighting them, you'll be easy pickings for us."

"So why haven't set of your bombs already?" He asked, sounding considerably less smug.

"Because Kid Win will probably be killed in the crossfire which isn't the outcome I'm hoping for. So, consider this your lucky day. Give me Kid Win and disappear, or take your chances with the Neo-Nazis. Oh, and when they're done blasting your gang to kingdom come, we'll be dragging what's left to the Birdcage. Assuming they live long enough."

Alad stood up again. I was getting through to him. "Even if you destroy this base, that won't get you any closer to me."

Lisa mentioned he might say that. Luckily, I came prepared. "Do you know what a Thinker is, Alad? We have a few on the payroll. Basically, it's a cape with extrasensory powers. Remote viewing, super-senses, precognition, etcetera. They can find out all sorts of things."

"Like what, exactly?" There was a small tremble in the back of his voice. He's afraid now, I'm sure of it. No way he can fake that. If he could, he deserves a fucking Oscar.

"You're not from this country. You didn't leave your home by your own free-will, but you still have acquaintances there. You buy a lot of luxury goods like wines and fine cheeses, but you don't actually use them yourself. No, you prefer a healthier diet and won't touch anything more fattening than a glass of milk. Instead, you use a teleportation device to beam them to your customers. How am I doing?"

I rubbed my temples "So I just need to stall him, right? Keep him talking for a few minutes until you guys do your thing?"

"Five to eight minutes. That's how long it will take to get our people in position." Armsmaster bluntly replied. "Hopefully, they'll be too distracted by you that they won't notice us until we're ready to charge the base. By then, it'll be too late to form a unified defense and we can pick them apart piece by piece."

"Don't they have security cameras everywhere?"

"Yes, they do. Luckily, I was able to call in a favor from Dragon. With her help, we'll be able to hack their security cameras and feed them false information. Even if they realize we're hacking them, they won't be able to tell where we're coming from or what we're really doing."

I nodded. "So, when you guys are in position, what do I do? I don't like the idea of being surrounded by fifty murderers armed with laser rifles."

"I've built a series of devices specifically tailored to deal with the Boxheads. It's basically a flash-bang grenade strapped to an EMP device. When I give the signal, throw this at them and cover your eyes. The flash will be our cue. If things get violent before that, throw the grenade, run, and we'll do this the hard way. In any case, try to take out as many as you can without getting critically injured. Do you understand?"

I looked at Lisa, who seemed to have trouble meeting my gaze. I guess this is what she meant by signing my death warrant.

The plan sucked. I really wished I could've thought of a better one. One that wouldn't end with me being surrounded by an army of psychos. Then again, if I had been part of the planning, I probably would have done the same thing. We needed a five-minute distraction and I couldn't think of a better way to do it without risking people a lot more fragile than myself. "Yes, I do."

Alad sat there for a moment before laughing uncomfortably. "Well, I am quite impressed. However, I doubt my eating habits will lead you to my location. In fact, I doubt your organization would be willing to risk a gang war for a mere child."

"Banshee, we're in position." Armsmaster spoke through my earpiece."Engage when ready."

"You know what will happen if you're wrong, right?" I threatened, slowly pulling the safety pin from the device.

"I'll take my chances."

I smirked under my mask. Famous last words. I threw the grenade into the air and curled up an instant before the world went white.

A/N And now for something different, style-wise. For those of you who haven't realized it yet, the parts in italics is a flashback to the briefing. Is this clear enough or do you want me to stop using it?