Chapter 36

-Lisa-

We were quiet on the way back to the loft. It was only after we'd finally settled down that Brian finally broke the silence.

"Well, fuck," he sighed. "This was supposed to be a simple one. How the hell did it go so wrong?"

Regeneration fueled by blood. Instinctive response to severe trauma is to seek —the Beast awoke— any available sources.

I shook my head. I was starting to feel the onset of another Thinker headache, and my head felt oddly fuzzy beside that.

"Eh, could've been worse," Alec pointed out while I rubbed my temples. "We're all in one piece, and if you wanted to get back at them for Aisha, I say we well and truly did that."

"Good question," I answered, ignoring the clown. "I don't think the Empire was just guessing we'd be there. With the boss specifically demanding this one last job and the Empire just having so many of their heavies waiting for us…"

"You're saying he set us up."

Rachel growled. Her dogs looked up at her. "If he did," she spoke slowly, "I'll feed him to the dogs."

"It's either that or there's an information leak," I shrugged. "He probably got the info off a mole, maybe they were busted? Wouldn't explain Taylor, though. She could guess we'd find Panacea more than a week in advance, and yet, either she missed this—"

"—or she didn't bother telling us this is about to happen," Brian realized. "For her sake, it had better be the former."

"Don't think it fits if she was trying to screw us over," Alec said, looking thoughtful for once in his life. "Crazy as she is, she has been trying to help out since night one. Or, at least, helping Aisha out."

I was leaning in the same direction, not that I'd ever let him know that. But I couldn't be sure. Not with her. I needed a good night's sleep, as unlikely as that prospect was becoming. I still hadn't reported to the boss, after all.

"Aisha should catch up to her soon," I noted. "Maybe she'll get something useful out of her. What's the plan until then?"

"We lay low," Brian said immediately. "Doesn't matter what kind of jobs the boss wants done, killing Kaiser means nobody will be treating us as B-listers anytime soon."

If the boss gives us a choice. He knows. "Might be more than just Kaiser," I pointed out. "Taylor looked like she was about to go completely berserk."

"That's only going to make matters worse, if she left a pile of bodies. We're definitely laying low until we find out just how badly this went. Lisa, how long do you think it will take to find out who else died, and who else besides us and the Empire knows about it?"

"Maybe a couple of days?" I ventured. "Takes time for the information to slip out, and I could do without using my power for a bit." It wasn't entirely untrue. I'd already pushed myself with all that went down, but I could tell I'd be getting yet another headache just trying to figure out how we really got made.

"And I'm just fine taking a break, thank you very much," Alec piped up again. "I mean, really, we've been working hard for weeks."

"Very well then. Rachel?" The girl was already halfway to the door with her dogs, having clearly decided that everything important had already been discussed.

"Yeah?"

"Be extra careful when you go back to the kennel. The Empire might do something stupid, and you're easier than the rest of us to find."

She grunted in acknowledgement.

"Well, now that that's settled, I'll have to go pick Aisha up," Brian said. "She's going to Taylor's house, she said?"

"Yeah. Probably almost there by now. You know she can get back on her own, right?"

"It's a school night."

Didn't stop you from bringing her, I didn't point out. If only because he couldn't really stop her, either.

"You do that. I'm going home."

I could already see my apartment when my phone rang. My work phone. And that'll be the boss.

"Tattletale. I understand there were… complications."

"That's one way to call it," I replied. "Still, the job got done, and I—"

The Serpent bites with both heads.

I shook my head. What the hell was my power up to? Catching sight of a man striding purposefully towards me, I got a terrible feeling about the entire situation. I looked around. There were a few more of them. Moving in sync. Lower faces concealed. Communicating with each other. Coordi— Minions of Ouroboros.

I turned around and started running. There wasn't a chance in hell he didn't have someone waiting that way, but if they cared so little about being spotted, there was no way all the escape routes weren't being covered by someone. I just had to hope that going to where the streets are wider and the people stay out later would help.

A brief glance back told me one of the goons was raising a walkie-talkie to his head. That means…

I pulled out my pistol the moment I slipped out of sight, and pointed it down the first alleyway I had to run past. Surprisingly, no ambush came, so I kept running. Where's the guy he was calling?

I glimpsed movement on a rooftop, and just barely got out of the way of a dart. Tranquilizer dart. Dosage specifically for me. The man didn't get another shot off before being flung off the rooftop. I winced as he landed, already running again. I didn't need my power to tell me what the crunching sound meant.

The ambusher slid down the fire escape ladder, trailing red hair on the way down. It took a lot of effort not to stop when I recognized her.

"Emma, what the fuck are you doing here?" I asked her when she caught up with me.

"Wanted to ask you if you know where my Taylor is. She was supposed to show up after tonight's job," the redhead answered.

"And how did you find me? I know we didn't let you know our identities. So—"

"I flagged down a cab."

This time I did stop.

"A cab? A fucking cab?"

"Yeah. It's waiting just around the corner, we can get out of here before they catch up."

"What makes you think that—" I stopped talking as the first of Coil's men showed up behind us. Fuck it, no choice.

We started running again, and found the cab waiting as promised. I heard the ricochet of a bullet as I slammed the door behind me, and the driver, a pale man with sunglasses —at this hour?— floored it. I kept my head low, just in case Coil's men tried to shoot us again, but after a few corners taken at decidedly unsafe speeds, it seemed that we were out of immediate pursuit. I still didn't relax until we reached downtown and blended into the traffic, joining a line of taxis driving away from Palanquin. The driver rolled his window down.

"I have so many questions," I finally said.

"That does not mean you'll have answers," the driver said calmly. I stared at his sunglasses in the rearview mirror, to no reaction.

"Eh, there's not much to say," Emma followed up. "Taylor was late, I got bored of waiting, flagged down a cab and hopped on. He took me to your place."

"And where, exactly, did you ask him to take you?"

"I… Huh." Emma blinked, shaking her head. "I don't think I did, actually? I got on and he started driving."

I turned my attention to the man again. As much as it pained me - literally, by now - I turned my power towards him.

Well. That's new. For perhaps the first time, my power was absolutely silent. The man - a cape, a Trump, had to be - pulled over.

"Your stop, I believe," he spoke, still in the same calm voice. I looked at the street number. I did have a cache nearby, and there was a parking lot I could "borrow" a car from, enough to get me out of town at least.

"Uh, thanks?" I told him and Emma as I pulled the door open and got out. "And… good luck finding her."

"You bet," she chuckled. "And give me a call if you figure out where Taylor's gone off to!" she shouted as the car pulled away.