Tattletale sat on my couch. Dad was nice enough to get her some tea, and now we rather awkwardly sat together.

"First of all," She spoke and smiled. "Call me Lisa. I'm sorry for dropping in on you like this, and I don't like doing so, because it hits right up against the unwritten rules. But I'm asking for your help."

I blinked slowly. "Why do you need my help? Last time I checked, it wasn't something most villains do."

Dad frowned. "I understand there's a fair bit here I'm missing, but I definitely don't like this."

Lisa sighed, looking down at the mug of tea in her hands before she spoke. "First of all...I didn't really want to be a villain. I got snagged up by Coil."

I stiffened. She nodded at me. "Yeah. He's got a lot going on. Or had. You scared him to the point of leaving town."

I growled from deep in my throat. "You're definitely treading on thin ice here, Lisa."

Dad looked between us, anger rising on his features. His hands tightened on the couch. His knuckles turned white, and I could see his face redden. He looked at Lisa, his voice quiet. "You'd better have a good reason for working for him."

Lisa's eyes widened a bit, and she shook her head. "I didn't want to. I got drafted. His recruitment speech involved a gun to my head." She looked between us. "My power lets me get lots of information from a very small amount of data. His men picked me up after I used it to get a few winning scratch tickets." She smiled wryly. "Normally I tell people I'm psychic. Pretty close, really, but I'm just good at cold reading. Absurdly good."

I laughed softly, shaking my head. "Powers are bullshit. All right. So what is it you want from me?"

"Protection." Lisa said. "I pledged to follow you, because that's what my power told me was the right move when we first met. Considering you just summoned an entire flying island full of creatures out of nowhere...wait, not nowhere. They existed all along. Interesting." She tapped her chin, then shook her head. "Anyway, I couldn't just leave his employ. He's got moles in the PRT. If I tried to defect, I'd be found dead in a PRT cell. I tried to run a couple of times, he had men waiting for me. I didn't want to be a villain. My teammates, they're not bad, either. They've been screwed over in various ways, and Coil got ahold of them, though things were a bit more civilized in their cases. I'd tell you, but it's not my secret to tell. Despite my cape name, and all that."

I nodded at that. "All right, fine. How did he manage to suppress everything? Sophia and Emma should have hung for what they did."

She winced. "That? I don't got. I can speculate, and from what I do have, I'm pretty sure it came down to more luck than anything." Her eyes flicked to Dad.

He shook his head. "I know who Sophia is. We were given full disclosure."

Lisa nodded. "All right. Shadow Stalker's always been rough. Before the whole thing with you, she hurt a lot of people in her vigilante work. When she started out, Coil was just getting set up here, slowly and carefully building a power base in the city. He's got enough fingers everywhere to get information rather quickly. From what I know, he found out her civilian identity and had plans to use it if her name crossed his desk with anything useful. His network's pretty damn good, though imperfect. Despite how much they were clamping down on things, it took about four days for him to learn of your return from the dead. Might have gone longer if you weren't running around like crazy." She gave us a mischievous smile. "Glad you did, though."

Dad scowled. "What am I missing here?"

I winced, looking at my dad sheepishly. "Um...kinda saved Lisa here from a rough spot. I was just sort of working on autopilot at the time, but I helped her team out."

His eyes narrowed. "Rough spot?"

I ducked my head, smiling faintly. "They were being attacked, I dove in and helped."

"Lung. She just thumped him on the head and knocked him out." Lisa said with a wide grin.

I blinked. I was trying not to say that. "Gee, thanks."

"You're welcome." Lisa said brightly.

Dad sat still for a moment. "You took on Lung?" He rubbed his face. "I need to sit down."

I sighed. "You are sitting down. And I took on the Simurgh, too."

Dad glared at me. "Yes, and I'm still mad about that." He covered his eyes with his hands. Then there was an echoing bang outside, making us all jump. I got up and looked out the window.

Our neighbor's yard had a geyser of water pouring straight up into the air, raining down onto the backyard and the house itself.

I looked to my dad. "Uh.."

Lisa was looking at him, some speculation on her face. "Have weird things happened around you when you were upset, Mister Hebert?"

He sat still for a moment, then shook his head. "No. Not that I know of." He slowly got to his feet and muttered. "Something's got to be wrong with the water pipes in the street. Gotta call the water company again." Dad swore under his breath as he moved to the kitchen.

Lisa opened her mouth, then shook her head and closed it. "Nevermind."

I looked to Lisa. "Go on." I growled.

She nodded, swallowing a bit nervously. "Just a hunch. Probably a dumb idea, anyway. Anyway, I'm not sure of anywhere I can go to get away from Coil. He's got resources, and I...well, don't. I guess you could say I'm asking for asylum. I'll work for you, help you where I can, long as you keep me from him."

I laughed softly. "All right. What about your teammates?"

Lisa shrugged. "All of them got reasons for doing what they're doing. I'd say it's likely you could get Regent on your side. Bitch, too. Grue? Not sure. What he needs is a bit more complicated, but with the right incentives, he probably would. Not sure you can provide, though. At least not now."

I made a wry chuckle. "I've already got an entire population of people to lead, Lisa."

She nodded. "Sure, but you want to help people, right?"

I closed my eyes for a moment, sighed, and nodded. "Yeah, but now I'm officially the head of a foreign nation. Things are a lot more complicated than just me forming a gang, you know."

Lisa's grin was fox-like. "Yeah. And that's where I can come in. I can tell you things that aren't immediately easy to know."

I raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Her amusement faded, and she looked at me seriously. "There's a big one I doubt you'll like. The Simurgh let you win. Your attacks, Dragon's attacks, all of it... you might have been able to possibly win if everyone there was working together, but her goal at Vancouver was to let you kill her. If she'd gone all out, it's pretty damn likely that she would have flown on and everyone else there would be dead. Or her time bombs."

I stilled.

Ariel, the black and red chains of my foe wrapped around her form. Her asymmetrical wings lay on the ground, torn away, her body dripping blood, and she writhed and screamed with every black pulse of energy that flowed into her. Her body was shifting, enlarging, and ever so slowly her expression turned from agony into serenity.

"I know." I said quietly. At least I suspected, after what Dracul showed me.

Lisa's mouth dropped open as she looked at me. "You know? I hadn't said it to anyone else...you knew the Simurgh. Somehow. Someone told you? No...showed you. Memory sharing. A telepath? How did he know..." She winced, rubbing her temples.

I glared at her. "Calm down."

She shook her head. "Sorry, sorry. It's just..." Her eyes widened as she looked at me. "You know where the Endbringers come from? How?"

My glare intensified, and she swallowed. I knew my eyes were glowing red. "That's my business."

"Right," She said faintly. "Sorry."

I took a deep breath and sighed. "Forgiven. It's just a sore point. I've had a lot dumped on me in a short time. That's one of them. I might tell you one day, but that would be after you've earned my trust. Right now? I barely know you."

Lisa nodded slowly. "Okay. Fair enough."

Silence reigned for a moment. We could hear Dad muttering on the phone. I shared a small smile with Lisa.

"Hold music." She said.

"Most evil thing ever." I said.

Then the ground shook slightly. Not much, just enough of a vibration for me to feel it, making the windows rattle. I blinked. "Earthquake?" I guessed.

Lisa shook her head. "No...not without something weird. That was a single rumble." She got up and headed to the window.

Smoke rose in the horizon. I gave Lisa a look.

"Go." She said.

I narrowed my eyes. "Uh uh. You're coming with me. I'm not letting you anywhere I can't keep my eyes on you." I ripped open a Shadow Portal.

She gulped as she looked at me. "Where we going?"

I grinned. "You'll see. You wanna work for me? You're going to have to deal with the uncomfortable." I raised my voice. "Dad, going out for a bit! Taking Lisa with me!"

He came back from the kitchen, phone on one ear, a frown on his face, and resignation in his eyes. "Please be careful, Taylor. That castle might be your home, but here is too. I'm here for you."

I smiled, went to him and gave him a hug. "I'll try to remember that."


Lisa and I emerged atop a roof downtown. She blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting from the darkness of the Shadow Plane.

"That was seriously weird." She muttered.

I looked at the column of rising smoke from below. My newfound minion looked down at it, as well.

"Shit." She said, then turned to me. "That was the Fortress Construction headquarters for the city. Coil's base was below. Well, one of them. He had a lot more, but down there was a big one."

I frowned. "What was down there?"

Lisa shrugged. "Lots of guys. Mercenaries from all over. He has a good supply of Tinkertech laser guns. Well, had, I guess."

I grumbled a little. "Anything else?"

Tattletale tapped her chin, considering. "The Travelers were working for him. So he didn't just have mercs on his side. There was something else, too. A very large vault holding something. I think a Parahuman, but whoever it is has got to be dangerous."

I raised an eyebrow, looking at her calmly.

She shrugged. "Well the vault was built to keep the prisoner in, not just to keep other people out."

I sighed, looking down at the rubble and rising smoke below. "All right." I took out my phone and called the PRT.

"PRT services, how may I direct your call?"

I spoke quickly. "This is Scarlet Dragon. I am in downtown Brockton Bay, overlooking the collapsed Fortress Construction building. Is search and rescue en route?"

There was silence for a moment, then the operator's voice spoke, filled with nervousness. "The police and fire department have been dispatched."

I grimaced. "Get the Protectorate to send backup. I've got information that there's a base beneath the rubble that belonged to a supervillain, Coil. There may be unpleasant surprises."


I looked at a piece of rubble in front of me. It was huge, easily the size of a car, and I wouldn't have even considered trying to move it before my death and resurrection. Not without cheating and using construction equipment, anyway.

I looked over at the firefighters, who were both keeping a respectful distance from me and busily dousing some of the lingering flames. Some of the other firefighters were digging through rubble, though thankfully they hadn't found any fatalities. Quite a few people injured, though.

Tattletale, now costumed, gave me a shrug. "That's where the entrance was. If we want to find anything, that's probably the place to start."

I floated over it, considering the problem from every angle. I felt a grin threaten to split my face as an iconic image came from out of my subconscious.

Tattletale seemed to realize what I was thinking. "No. No way, that's crazy. Maybe if you went all humongous first, but..."

I grasped the chunk of rubble and lifted. My fingers dug into the concrete easily, until I was grasping it by the rebar reinforcements inside the twisted chunk of rubble. Carefully, I lifted it over my head, then flew to the side and put it down.

Tattletale looked at me, her eyes wide. "I knew you were strong, but..."

I shrugged and dusted off my hands. "That wasn't heavy, actually. Just kind of awkward." I looked over at the somewhat cleared space. There was a small amount of room in there, despite all the torn up concrete and rubble filling the former doorway. "Think anyone's left alive in there?"

Tattletale shook her head. "Not likely, without a Brute rating anyway."

There was a distinctive whine of a Tinkertech motorcycle, and Armsmaster pulled up. He gave me a respectful nod, his metal feet clanking solidly as they dug into the ground. Miss Militia pulled up next, parking her distinctive Humvee nearby, while Dauntless floated down from the sky.

"Didn't expect you to be lending a hand." Armsmaster spoke. He looked to Tattletale, who gave him a little nervous wave back. "Not exactly keeping good company."

I shrugged. "She's a former employee of Coil. She's here to help save lives, so if we can put the game aside for a minute and get to what's important?"

Armsmaster's frown deepened.

Miss Militia cleared her throat. "We're going to have to ask her to come in."

Tattletale shook her head. "Look, I'll give a debrief, but call your boss. She already knows it's not likely to be safe for me to go to any of the authorities. Coil has a lot going on, and I don't know if he was down here. I'm only here because I know something about how the base used to be, and where people might be trapped down there. Can we call things on the level for today?"

Armsmaster's lips twitched a little. Then he paused and nodded to himself. "You're still wanted for a number of minor crimes, Tattletale. But right now, saving lives takes precedence."

Dauntless set himself on the ground. I couldn't see his features, but his voice was filled with good cheer as he extended a hand to me. "Good to meet you, Scarlet. Wish it was under better circumstances."

I took his hand and returned the shake, smiling. "You too."

Tattletale rolled her eyes. "Sorry, but can we please get to work? I'm pretty sure we don't have all day."