Tattletale fell through the portal that opened underneath her with a yelp, unable to brace herself in time to land on her feet when she hit the floor. Instead she fell backwards and landed on her backside, letting out a small shout of pain. As she did she heard what could only be her teammates doing the same, Bitch's dogs letting out whines and growls, no doubt scared and angry after the shock of the unexpected travel.

"What the-?" Regent asked before going very quiet. Tattletale took a moment from cursing under her breath and rubbing at her posterior to look up and see what had made her normally mouthy teammate shut up for once.

Standing in front of the Undersiders stood an imposing man in no doubt Tinkertech green armor, a golden visor hiding his face. What drew the most attention, understandably, was the absurdly sized gun in his hands, which was aimed at the teenaged villains. Tattletale immediately gulped. Yes, she knew that this was part of the plan, and that it was wise to make sure that the Undesiders that weren't aware of it wouldn't do anything stupid, but that didn't change the air of lethality whoever this was carried. Even her power was saying to not mess with him.

"Well, that was a mess." A British accented voice sighed as Nevermore stepped into view, eyeing the Undersiders curiously. His gaze turned to Tattletale. "What happened?"

Tattletale scowled. "Glory Hole happened. I was about to give your agent the signal when I spotted fucking Panacea next to her. You don't need my power to guess what happened next."

Grue turned to look at Tattletale, his helmet doing little to hide his surprise from her. "You sold us out, Tats?"

Tattletale turned to him in exasperation. "I took the route of least resistance, Grue. There was no way for me to keep them from capturing us, since my power doesn't work on them, and if they turned us into the PRT then I'd be fucked when the boss killed me to keep me quiet. So yes, I helped them catch us to keep myself, and by extension, you guys, alive."

Grue and Regent were eyeing her as they considered her words while Bitch just looked angry even as she kept her dogs calm. Tattletale sighed before turning back to Nevermore. "Anyway, yeah, everything would have gone fine if Collateral Damage Barbie hadn't decided to bust in."

Nevermore brought a hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose in obvious annoyance. "Right, I'll see what we can do to prevent Glory Girl's impulsiveness from causing more trouble. She's a teenager though. You can't expect too much out of her."

"Says the man that's fought monsters and terrorists with plans that amounted to 'stick pointy end of sword in other guy' and the like." A female voice said as she approached, revealing an attractive brunette woman that was smiling teasingly, her accent placing her as being British as well. "Besides, you're only about seventeen at the moment, so you have no place to judge."

Nevermore gave the woman a sour look before looking back at Tattletale, resolutely ignoring her teasing. "In any case, Cortana has infiltrated Coil's systems and is going through everything she can find. We'll know why he wanted you to rob the bank momentarily."

"I can probably answer that." Said another man that entered the room from a nearby door. He was an attractive older man with black hair and beard dressed in dark clothes. Like all the rest of the Unbound he was mostly no-selling her power, for the most part, but what she was catching was that he was exceptionally lethal and not someone even a cape would want to face off against unprepared. He was followed by a twelve year old girl that stuck close to him, looking at everyone warily, and who was not, for a change, immune to Tattletale's power.

'Guarded and in mild shock. Man saved her from attack. Feels safe with him despite being very aware of his lethality. Saw him take out her assailants with lethal force. Is a cape. Assailants aimed to kidnap her for her power. Assailants worked for Coil."

Tattletale hissed, both at the approach of a Thinker headache and what she'd determined. "We were a distraction, keeping the PRT and police focused on us so Coil's mercenaries could kidnap the girl." She absently heard Grue curse under his breath.

Nevermore looked over at the assassin sharply. "John?"

"I was walking Pax around The Towers area when this girl ran into me after turning a corner." John reported. "She was being chased by three mercenaries with Tinkertech rifles. I called for pickup after I'd dealt with them."

Nevermore nodded thoughtfully. "I did wonder why you asked for a portal back." He turned to the girl with a closed lipped smile, probably trying to hide his fangs so as not to scare her. "Hello there. Can I ask your name?"

The girl glanced from John to Nevermore before nodding. "I'm Dinah. Dinah Alcott."

A female voice that Tattletale recognized as Cortana came in over speakers hidden in the ceiling. "That's the Mayor's niece, Nevermore."

Nevermore's eyes tightened at the information before he nodded. "We should get you back to your family, then."

"No!" Tattletale and Dinah both shouted. The two looked at each other before Tattletale continued. "The girl's a cape. A Thinker. Coil will get her if you put her back with her family or the PRT."

"91.37 percent chance he'll get me if I'm in PRT custody." Dinah added.

"That's what she told me when I said I was going to take her back." John said with a nod.

Nevermore considered things for a few moments before nodding to himself. "Alright Dinah, if you don't mind, we'll keep you here at our the time being. The only way you'd be safer is if I put you on a different Earth."

Dinah eyed him for a moment before speaking to herself. "Chance that the Unbound will be able to protect me?"

As everyone watched the girl grimaced before whining slightly in pain, shaking her head. Tattletale could already guess the answer before Dinah spoke. "My power can't get an answer." She admitted.

"Yeah…" Tattletale told the girl, feeling a bit of kinship with her as someone else screwed over by Coil. "The Unbound seem to be at least partially immune to Thinker abilities."

"Good to know." Nevermore said with a smirk before it dropped into seriousness. "Cortana, Coil has just become much higher priority. Make him wish he'd never heard of the Unbound." The venom in his voice was pretty impressive.

"Consider it done." Cortana said, sounding vindictive herself. "I'm already in most of his bank accounts, and I have his civilian identity. Once I have everything I'll prepare a plan for your review so we can take him out."

The brunette woman turned to Dinah as Nevermore smirked darkly. "Let's get you settled in, Dinah. Are you hungry?"

Nevermore turned to the Undersiders as Dinah was led away. "Till Coil is dealt with, I'm afraid to say you'll be our guests. The job offer is still on the table, though."

The Undersiders glanced at each other before Tattletale shrugged, a smirk on her face. "You get me out from under Coil's thumb, and I'll be happy to sign."

Nevermore nodded, smiling with a glint in his eyes. "Welcome to the Unbound, then, Tattletale."

Tattletale's vulpine smirk grew. "Pleasure's all mine…"

Jaune glanced over at Pyrrha as he set up a miniature camera under an awning, where it wouldn't be noticed. His partner was offering some food and money to a couple of homeless people while directing them to a nearby shelter Excelsior had completed.

Jaune and Pyrrha were in one of the poorest sections of Brockton Bay, a large amount of the surrounding buildings dilapidated, and most storefronts shuttered. The fact that it was the territory of the drug pushing Archers Bridge Merchants didn't help.

They hadn't had to fight any of the gang members just yet, but that wouldn't last long. Though neither of them expected any issues dealing with them. The Merchants were known to be constantly drugged up to their eyeballs, so fighting them should be pretty easy.

Jaune stepped back once he was sure the camera was secure, studying it to make sure it could see where it needed to. Then he brought a finger up to his earpiece. "Latest camera is set."

"I've got a visual." Cortana responded. "Nice placement. Please continue."

"Roger." The blonde said before turning to see if Pyrrha was done. "You ready, Pyr? The stash house shouldn't be far."

The redhead nodded as she made her way over to him, the people she'd been helping beginning to leave in the direction of the shelter she'd pointed them to. "Yes." Her face hardened. "I'm looking forward to dealing with the Merchants."

Jaune nodded in agreement. While all the gangs of Brockton Bay were bad, the Merchants were especially loathsome. Which, considering the fact that the biggest gang in the city was made up of Neo-Nazis, who all the Unbound had a special loathing for, was saying something. The Merchants pushed drugs on anyone and everyone, no matter their age. They were even known to grab innocent people and force a cocktail of highly addictive drugs into them in order to increase their customer base, if not the numbers of their actual gang.

Despite a large number of members and three decently powered capes, however, they were by far the weakest gang in the city due to a combination of factors, one of the main ones being that a single member of any other gang was worth ten Merchants. Not to say the Merchants couldn't be a problem in large numbers, but the point stood.

They also controlled the smallest amount of territory of the three gangs, which was why the Unbound had decided to focus on them first.

One of the reasons the gangs were so prolific was that the BBPD and PRT couldn't, or wouldn't, secure an area once they'd dealt with the gangers in it. So the Unbound had decided to take over the territories as their own. They would take out any gang members in the area, capes as well, when possible, and claim it as theirs. They would essentially be acting as a fourth gang, the intent being to eventually lower the gangs' holdings enough that the authorities would then be able to sweep them up.

The Unbound didn't have unpowered members, however, and weren't going to actually form a gang to get the numbers to secure the territory they would be claiming, which was where the cameras Jaune and Pyrrha were setting up came into play. They were being placed in a large enough amount that Cortana, who would obviously be monitoring them twenty four seven, would know the instant any gang members tried to reclaim an area, at which point an Unbound member or two would be dispatched to deal with them. This would allow them to keep their territory while lowering the number of enemies.

Jaune and Pyrrha resumed making their way towards the Merchant stash house that would be their opening salvo against the gangs. One could argue that taking down Lung could be considered that, but he was more a target of opportunity, even if his capture had weakened the ABB significantly. This was when the real war would start.

After Pyrrha set up another camera the two reached the nearly condemned house that was their target, the two making their way into a nearby alley to observe, not having been noticed by the single, practically passed out, guard. From the intel they'd been provided, it mainly served to hold a significant amount of the Merchants' drug supply, though there would also be a not insignificant amount of weapons and cash.

"Alright, plan's simple." Jaune began, as much to remind himself as his partner. "Take out the Merchants, secure them somewhere away from the stash house, grab any money they have, then rig the place to blow before calling the authorities to take the gangers in."

Pyrrha nodded, a slight smile on her lips even as she focused on preparing herself for the coming fight, no matter how simple it was meant to be. "I look forward to using their ill gotten gains to help the people they hurt." She said.

Jaune nodded back. Any money taken from the Merchants was earmarked for use in drug recovery programs. Considering the fact that Cortana had several extremely effective 26th century medicines and treatments in her database which should leave most addicts almost good as new, that mattered more than it would otherwise.

The two glanced at each other before nodding, drawing their weapons. Then they stepped out of the alley, shields up, just in case, and made their way towards their target.

They needn't have bothered. The guard still didn't notice them, even when they were feet away. His eyes were mostly closed as he drew a drag from a crack pipe that emitted a truly foul odor, and he was swaying slightly where he stood.

The two teens glanced at each other again once they were practically next to him before Jaune shrugged and bashed the junkie's head with his shield. It was barely more than a tap, but it was enough, and the 'guard' passed out immediately, slumping against the wall before falling bonelessly.

"Well that was just pathetic." The blonde muttered. "If they're all going to be like this then I could have done this all on my own even if I was only as skilled as when I'd just arrived at Beacon."

"Let's not tempt Murphy." Pyrrha said with a smile even though she obviously agreed with him as she knelt next to the unconscious Merchant, beginning to bind him with zip ties, her nose wrinkled in distaste at the smell and obvious lack of hygiene he had.

Once that was done Jaune took position in front of the door with his shield up and protecting his torso, Pyrrha at his back with Milo in rifle form, ready to fire. Then the knight kicked the door in before rushing forward, taking an emaciated looking, strung out man that had been standing nearby by surprise, his shield hitting him and sending him flying with a cry.

As Jaune did that Pyrrha began to fire as soon as she drew a bead on the nearest Merchant, a man with bloodshot eyes and a large amount of white powder under his nose who would have leapt from his seat on a broken down couch if not for the woman kneeling between his legs and bobbing her head in his lap. The bullet, like the rest of the ammo in most of the clips she was carrying, was enchanted by Harry to not cause damage and render the target unconscious, like one of his stunning spells. So when it hit him in the chest he immediately slumped, the redhead quickly shifting her aim down to fire on the woman that had been servicing him before she could really react, making her slump to the ground and give Pyrrha a sight she really didn't want to see.

While that was happening Jaune had engaged another Merchant that had immediately thrown the razor he'd been using to cut some lines of cocaine at the blonde in a panicked reflex, the piece of metal bouncing harmlessly off of Jaune's shield as he approached. The man tried to turn and run, but Jaune quickly swung the flat of his sword at the man's head, scoring a solid strike and making him drop.

After a moment of looking around to make sure all their enemies had been dealt with, Jaune turned to Pyrrha, who was making her way toward the stairs leading to the next floor, rifle still at the ready. "Go clear the rest of the house while I secure these guys."

Pyrrha nodded before heading upwards to do so. She checked every room in the second story, finding a nearly naked woman snoring loudly in a bed, a used syringe nearby. The redhead quickly shot her to make sure she wouldn't wake up before continuing her search. She didn't find any further Merchants, but she did find where they were keeping the loot, finding it to be surprisingly organized for addled junkies, with the weapons, drugs and cash each being held in separate rooms.

Jaune walked up the stairs shortly after she was done, Crocea Mors in hand, just in case. "So?"

Pyrrha motioned with her head towards the room holding the final Merchant. "One more in there. Also found the money."

Jaune smiled. "Good. Mind starting to pack it all up while I deal with our sleeping friend?"

"I'd rather switch, if you don't mind." Pyrrha said, not enthused with the idea of her love interest carrying a woman wearing so little down the stairs. Yes, it was a bit irrational, but it wasn't like indulging the impulse would cause any harm.

Jaune raised an eyebrow, confused, before nodding and making his way towards the rooms holding the loot, tossing her a small hip pouch as he did. "Alright, if you want to. Once you're done with that, start setting the charges while I do this."

"Got it." Pyyrha said with a nod as she caught the pouch, tying it to her sash before getting to work.

For the next several minutes they both worked on their tasks, Jaune shoving the stacks of money into a bag of holding Harry had made for cases like this, while Pyrrha began setting the explosives as they'd been trained to by Chief, making sure she didn't use too much and damage other nearby buildings unnecessarily, though she did set one in the drug stash room, to make sure they would be destroyed.

Once they were done the two worked on moving their prisoners to a safe distance, putting them in the alley they'd been in earlier to minimize the chances of any debris hitting them. Once that was done Jaune turned to his partner with a smile. "If you would?"

Pyrrha chuckled lightly as she prepared the detonator. "I feel like Nora should be doing this." Then, without another word, she hit the button. The house they'd just been in exploded magnificently as soon as she did so, the two flinching at the blast.

"I'd say that's a job well done." Jaune said with satisfaction after a few moments to admire their handiwork. "Now we just need to call the cops so they can take our-"

"What the fuck!?" A high pitched voice yelled from further down the street behind them, making the teens whirl around to find a large mass of junk and garbage in the shape of a human standing there, the upper part open to expose a man that looked like a goblin out of a fantasy movie glaring at them angrily, filthy, partly rotten teeth bared under his pointed nose as he snarled at them. "You fuckers do this?"

"...Figures." Jaune sighed as he stared at the Merchant cape, drawing Crocea Mors as Pyrrha drew her own weapons.

The man, Mush, glowered at them before the trash that covered him redistributed itself to completely protect his body, obviously preparing himself for a fight.

Jaune quickly went over what was in the dossier on Mush that Cortana had provided the team. The cape could make a sort of exoskeleton out of surrounding materials which gave him strength and durability. Of the three Merchant capes, he was the muscle, used when they needed brute force.

That said, he wasn't very smart or skilled, and worked best when supported by others, such as the Merchant leader, Skidmark, or a group of unpowered goons who could shoot his targets while he kept them pinned down.

Mush made the first move, rushing toward the two heroes, trash limbs outstretched as he prepared to hammer them.

Jaune moved forward, bringing his shield up to block the blow Mush sent at him. The force shook his body a bit, but he'd endured much stronger hits before. He pushed the arm aside before slashing his sword at it, chopping it off with ease, much to Mush's obvious surprise as he reared back, already redistributing his mass to form a new arm.

Pyrrha didn't give him a chance, moving behind Mush while he was distracted with Jaune, Milo in rifle form once again in order to use the stunning bullets to end the fight quickly if she got the chance. As Mush swiped at a dodging Jaune again, Pyrrha focused on a manhole cover that was attached to Mush's back, apparently to protect his back. It was a smarter idea than she'd expected from him, but it worked against the villain in this instance. With a quick application of her semblance she ripped the manhole cover off of Mush, taking quite a bit of attached debris with it, before launching it away as the Merchant squawked in alarm. Before he could react in time to cover his vulnerability Pyrrha took aim at the spot of pale, exposed skin and fired, practically unable to miss at this range. Mush's garbage golem immediately collapsed into its components, the man himself dropping to the ground, completely unconscious.

The two stared warily at the cape for a few seconds before relaxing. "Well, I'm not going to complain about bringing in more than we planned to." Jaune said as he let out a breath, a slight chuckle in his voice.

Pyrrha nodded as she stepped away from Mush, trying to get away from the smell even as she kept her weapon aimed at him, just in case. "Yes. One less villain is definitely a plus." She looked over at the blonde. "We should probably call the PRT now."

"No need." A new voice said, making Jaune and Pyrrha whirl around once again, expecting more trouble.

What they found was a man in a well made red costume with racing stripes along the sides and a V on his chest, a helmet hiding his features.

The two relaxed as they recognized him. "Velocity." Jaune said in greeting as Pyrrha waved in welcome. "I'm guessing you're here because of the explosion?"

"Yeah." The Protectorate hero said as he approached them, eyeing their weapons carefully. "New heroes?"

"Members of the Unbound, actually." Jaune said as he began tying Mush up while Pyrrha kept watch.

"We were sent to deal with a Merchant stash house. Blew up the weapons and drugs, and we put all the captured guards over in that alley." The redhead added as she motioned towards it."

Velocity blurred over to the alley to check before turning back to them. "You must be pretty good, if you dealt with this bunch along with Mush."

Jaune shrugged as he stood back up. "The unpowered members weren't hard at all. They were too high to do much. And let's just say that Mush wasn't expecting what my partner could do."

"I wouldn't have had such an easy time if you hadn't distracted him." She said with a smile.

Velocity nodded with a small smile. "Alright, I'll call this in and then get your statement." He said as he brought a hand up to his helmet.

Jaune nodded and leaned against a nearby wall, turning to watch the destroyed building continue to collapse, Pyrrha joining him. The two smiled at each other, pleased with how things were going.

Their war on the gangs was off to a promising start.

Bleh, I meant to have this out weeks ago. I really hate writer's block.

In any case, yay, new chapter!

Not too much to say at the moment. Coil is fucked, he just isn't aware of it yet, though he will get a small reprieve when something higher priority comes up soon. And the Unbound are going on the attack. And not just in Brockton Bay, though that'll come in the next chapter.

Actually, the things the Unbound are doing outside of Brockton were going to at least get a mention in this chapter, but Jaune and Pyrrha's house cleaning became a bit longer than planned, and I want to get this out today before I go to bed. Still, now that I think about it, it might work better in the next one.

Can't think of anything else that needs to be mentioned, so here come the usual reminders:

The first is that you can have a say in what I write when you donate to my Pat A Ron. Every dollar donated equals a vote in my monthly poll, and now I've made it so that the votes for the things that don't win in a given month roll over into the next, which is why some fics that haven't gotten much love for a while have been updated recently. So if you want to donate and see your favorite stories of mine updated more often, go to Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. The current poll closes on April 6th.

The next two reminders are more important to me, however. First is that my best friend has a Pat A Ron for their original fiction. Donate any amount you want and get access to some objectively excellent writing (far better than mine, if I'm being completely honest). Their first story, which is a supernatural steampunk detective thriller that I very much enjoy called 'The Curious Investigations of Mister Jonathan Scott', is currently at 18 chapters, the first of which is free, so you can see what his style is like. So if you like, say, The Dresden Files, but want it more steampunk, this is for you. And they've now started another story that will be updated while they build up more Jonathan Scott chapters, this one being a cyberpunk (the genre, not the game) story called 'Tales of Luminous City', the first chapter of which is now also free. You can find their stuff by searching for Grimm Tales in Pat A Ron. Unfortunately their updates might be a bit delayed seeing as their computer suddenly went kaput, making them lose all their stuff.

I would appreciate it a lot if you could help them out, as unlike me they've had employment trouble due to some disabilities, which this pandemic hasn't helped.

Second, my sister has also begun a Pat A Ron. She recently got her Bachelor's in Digital Animation. She's trying to make her own series to post on Youtube, but needs money, so she's making art and plans on accepting commissions. She primarily does tokusatsu themed fanart (Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, Power Rangers, etc.), and she plans to let people have a say in what she makes, much like I do. That's at Pat A Ron dotcom /linduarte. (Oh no, now you know my last name! The horror!)

Please keep in mind though that we've been made aware of a bug with the site that makes it seem like you can't donate less than $5. If you don't want to donate that much, to any of us, just put a zero before the number you want to donate, such as 03. That should get you going.

Thank you all for the support, even through the dry spells I've gone through. I promise to try to improve. Till next time!