No light. No sound, except my own pounding heartbeat, the claustrophobic echo of my breathing. I manage to stand just in time for something to nearly just about take my legs out from under me. It takes me falling over the damn thing and rolling off into the legs of the table to realize that it was a chair. And I'm off to a great start, here.

I enhance my vision, and the Darkness vanishes. That makes it much easier to avoid the chair as I regain my feet. And much easier to see the panicked people scrambling around, grabbing, shoving, trampling...

I appear beside a man in a suit, who's looking much worse for wear. A sharp push keeps the next person from stomping on him, but that just causes more problems...shit.

It takes me five seconds to teleport the injured man into a far corner of the room, make sure he's settled comfortably, and turn my attention back into the fog. In that time, the dogs have made their way toward the Protectorate heroes, several people that I think are PRT troopers have come under attack, and...and Shadow Stalker has decided that the best course of action would be to shoot blindly into the crowd in the villains' general direction.

While the comforting clack of a baton extending in my hand isn't audible, feeling it is enough.

And even if I'm not using the chair, I still take way too much satisfaction in hitting Sophia in the face. Because seriously, what the fuck? Does she just not give a shit that she's probably shooting innocent people? I mean, I know they're not actual arrows or anything; Wards wouldn't be allowed to carry that sort of thing, right? It's still-

This isn't the time.

I refocus. Grab the crossbow before she can recover enough to start using it again. The people have mostly settled down, cowering against walls or half-hidden around tables...and there's a big group that just got covered in foam. Foam streaming towards the Protectorate heroes, now. The PRT Troopers - the ones that aren't being assaulted - are...they're doing the same fucking thing!? Just firing with those stupid foam guns and hoping they hit something?

Okay. Okay. Need to find Grue and shut him down so people stop acting like morons.

Victoria is...above. Circling. Dodging? Obviously trying to find some kind of opening. I can help with that. I shove the crossbow through my belt, ignore the way it digs into my side as I reach out-

-and wrap my arms around Victoria from behind. I'm immediately forced to grab on for dear life as she picks up speed and corkscrews violently. The elbow to my ribs doesn't help. "Me! It's me!"

"T...Crow!? What the shit!?"

I'd love to sit and play catch-up, but there's no time for that. So while Victoria stops and straightens out, I focus on the floor below. Where to put her…? Wait, yes. There. "Dog." I point. "Take it out."

She let's out a strangled sound. "You want me to kill it!?"

Goddammit. "Outside! Take it outside!"

"Right. Right, okay! They probably won't give a shit about the windows now, anyway!"

Good. Communication is good. I teleport back to the floor below, and watch her streak down into the darkness to practically tackle the dog I'd pointed out. Armsmaster stops, and reaches out to pull another man (Assault?) back. So he can see, too? Or something? He's a Tinker, so maybe he's got some kind of equipment for it. Don't know, don't really care, because it just means he can turn his attention to other things while Victoria wrestles the dog out of the way.

Next problem...not the PRT Troopers. That's been taken care of by the Undersiders getting their hands on their own foam sprayers. Of course, that just means that now they-

-are spraying foam at the Wards. I reach out, suddenly extremely grateful that Clockblocker and Vista stayed together, because it makes it that much easier to just drop my baton and grab both of them-

-and get us all out of the way as containment foam rains down. Worth it, even with the way Vista twists out of my grip and- fuck, my wrist! I try to follow the motion so it doesn't hurt so much, and wind up on my knees. Which is probably the point, isn't it?

I don't have much chance to consider the implications of that before Clockblocker presses a hand to my shoulder...then my head. My mask. No, I'm not one of the Undersiders. Yes, you should be smacking yourself. I reach up with my free hand to grab his arm, and drag his hand over to Vista. She gives my arm another painful twist before letting go and grabbing at him...only to let go when he gets gets a grip on her in return and taps her shoulder a few times.

I really hope that means we're all done hurting each other, because we need to move again. I grab Clockblocker by the wrist, move around to stand at his side before holding his hand out in front of him. I pick one of the two with the sprayers-

-and put the both of us directly behind Regent. Light and sound are a sudden shock. Clockblocker startles, but only for a moment; he recovers quickly and lunges forward, out of my grip, to tag Regent in the back. The villain freezes in mid-fall, while Clockblocker stumbles a few steps to recover his balance.

"Holy shit. That just happened." His voice shakes as he turns back to me. "What just happened?"

"I put you where you n-" Darkness falls. Because of course Grue is paying attention. I breathe again, close my eyes to cancel out and refresh my vision. I open them just in time to see something falling toward me. Half a thought-

-and now I'm the one falling. Not good. No time for a recovery, I need to be back-

-inside. By the man I saved from being trampled. There's the Wards table, there's where I put Vista...she's waving people into motion, and they're disappearing as they move past her. Not sure where she's putting them, but anywhere is better than underfoot.

It looks like there's one less dog in here, too. I don't see Victoria, but...she can handle herself. Clockblocker is...foamed. Just what I needed. On the up-side, that puts Regent out of commission, even if he unfreezes.

Sound returns, suddenly. I shake my head, blink a few times as everything brightens. Grue's pulling back the fog. People are starting to panic again. Taking cover properly now that they can actually see where they are. An unlucky few run straight into piles of still-hardening foam.

A sharp whistle sounds as the remaining dog comes into view. Hellhound, there, reigning it in. Grue, looming threateningly over...Velocity?

And Tattletale, having apparently traded her foam sprayer for a handgun and hostage.

Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Battery, and Assault are all still standing. That's not a terrible show of force, but I can already see them hesitating. I can do something about that. I have to be able to do something about that.

The dog is too big. Hellhound...she's keeping it under control. No telling what might happen if I take her out of here. The other two have hostages...but Armsmaster can counter Grue, and Velocity is Protectorate. This is his job. The frightened woman whose arm is being twisted by a girl with a gun?

That much, I can handle myself.

"Sorry to crash the party, everyone!"

I narrow my eyes as Tattletale calls out, reach for my spare baton and turn it over in my hands.

"But it seems like our invitations wound up l-hrk!"

Whatever speech she'd prepared is cut off as I hook my arm around her throat and yank-

-taking her off her feet and putting her on the rooftop with a heavy thud. The gun hits the gravel. I kick it away before she can do more than wheeze.

No more hostage. No more gun. And that...that was too easy. She should have seen that coming, right? I think back to...shit, not even a minute ago, when Vista put me on the floor without even being able to see. So before Tattletale can recover-

-I move away, well out of arm's reach.

Alright.

"Four against-" What was it? "Eleven. Even with those dogs...you knew you'd be outmatched." She takes a shaky breath. "So what was the plan, exactly?"

A long moment passes, as she struggles to sit up and catch her breath. "Wh-" She coughs, gasps, and narrows her eyes at me. "Well...I'll admit, we weren't expecting Gloryhole and her pet creeper to be in...in attendance."

The insults are more annoying than anything else. So why is she bothering? "Four on nine isn't much better." Unless...no. "You have backup. The Travelers, right?" Not here yet, obviously...but why wouldn't they have coordinated their attack? Are they just late showing up? Or maybe it's something simple. "They ditched you, didn't they?"

She grins, and pushes herself to her feet. "Maybe we're just lulling you all into a false sense of security." Insincere. So she's lying, then. "Yeah, I wouldn't have bought that one, either. I'm obviously not at my best, right now."

Thinker. Right. So she was either lying, or lying about lying. But that doesn't matter; their connection to the Travelers isn't exactly unknown. They've worked together, publicly, in the past. I'm not the only one who might assume they're coming, so it's not something I have to take care of myself.

"It's interesting that you brought me up here. Alone." She's still smiling, but I can tell she's fighting some kind of tension. "And you know, I bet a lot of people saw you disappearing with me, too."

Why does that matter? "A lot of people will see me take you back, too."

Surprise? "Well, that's probably for the best. Wouldn't want all your hero friends asking any...awkward questions." I frown curiously, and she smiles again. "Your little hobby hasn't exactly gone unnoticed, after all. It wouldn't take much for them to make the connection."

My hobby? "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Her smile drops away. "You don't...? Oh, crap." Her eyes widen and dart downward. "There's two of you?"

Two of...oh. My hand. The Mark. She's talking about someone else with...someone else connected to the Outsider. "You're talking about…" Does he have a name? Does it matter? "The Tinker."

"Tinker? Oh, that makes way more sense than I was hoping." She lets out a strangled laugh. "You've met him, huh? That is...very interesting." Another smile; I take a step back when she moves forward, sweeping my coat open just enough for my second baton to be in easy reach. "I take it things didn't go over very well. Not too surprising, I guess. Serial killers aren't usually known for their social skills."

…

"And you didn't know that. So you're not that closely linked. Interesting."

"What are you talking about?"

She takes another step forward; this time I stand my ground in the face of that grin. "The police haven't made the leap, yet. They've only found half the bodies, and nobody's connected any of them, just yet. But they don't have a high-end Thinker on hand, do they?" Another step. "Me, I've tied at least a dozen other disappearances to him."

At least. How many people...why wouldn't there have been any mention in the notebook I'd taken? If he'd killed a dozen people, there would have been something there. Right?

"And the only thing that any of them have in common is a handful of missing or damaged bones."

...no.

She's just barely out of arm's reach, now. I should probably do something about that, but I'm having a little trouble trying to figure out what. "You know what he's doing with them."

"I don't." But I do. It makes far too much sense. No mention of killing people, in the notebooks...but there were plenty of times he wrote about 'gathering supplies'. Things that he needed to make the Runes. The Charms. The Outsider said they were made of Whale bone...or had been. In the past. I hadn't bothered to question it. I'd just used the things. Carried them around.

"You know...I could probably share a bit more, if you're willing to talk things through." She leans in. "Our first deal kinda fell through, I know, but we can...you know, even the scales a bit? Huh?"

'Our first deal'? "You mean the time you tried to bribe me to ignore you robbing a bank and taking my best friend's sister hostage?"

She blanches. "Uh…"

I let myself get distracted. I let her distract me. But I'm not going to let her get away with it. And I'm not going to just run away this time. She takes a step back, as I extend my baton with a flick of my wrist. She takes another when I move to close the distance.

"Whoa, hold on!"

I stomp another step closer, and she yelps, stumbling back-

-right into my waiting arms. She has enough time to realize what's happened before I put us both-

-on the edge of another rooftop, higher up. The Gallery is still glowing brightly, just half a block away. And even from this distance, I can see Victoria struggling with a massive dog on the street out front.

Tattletale struggles, for a moment, then freezes as our precarious position registers. "Fuck me…"

"You're going to tell me what you know about this guy. All of it."

She laughs, a little hysterical. "I thought you were trying to be a hero?"

"And I'm questioning a villain who has information on a fucking serial killer." I grab her arm, step back, and push. She yelps as her attempts to stay on her feet nearly sends her over the edge.

"Fuck! Look, all I know is that he exists, okay! He kills people, and he takes bits and pieces of them! He's built these weird sculpture-things, too, all over town, and whenever someone tears them down he'll make more! That's seriously all I have, okay? The rest is just details, nothing useful!"

Shrines. "Where?"

"What-?"

"Where is he building them!?"

"What, do you want a fucking address!? Places! Basements, abandoned buildings, it doesn't matter. If there's a connection to anything, I can't see it, okay!" She cringes as a gust of wind sets both of us wobbling. "I don't have anything else useful, okay?"

"You really expect me to believe that? After the shit you've pulled?" I tighten my grip, gritting my teeth. "You knew I was in the library when I responded to your message online, you knew Panacea would be at the bank a day before you attacked it." A twist, and she's facing me. Pale. Afraid. "You know things…"

"The library thing was a guess! I knew you were a teenager, I knew it was a school day, that one was easy!" She has the gall to smile at me. "And the bank...do you really think it was part of the plan to take Amy Dallon hostage? No way. I didn't know she was there until Glory Girl landed on the roof."

"Bullshit!"

She bites down on a scream as I take a step forward, forcing her to lean back over empty space. "It's true! It's true! I swear to God, all I do is make connections! I don't have what you want!"

It...doesn't sound like a lie. And I really do find myself believing her. Is that stupid? Probably. But...I'm getting worked up. So, I take a deep breath, try to relax.

She shivers, glancing down toward the street below. "Just...I told you want you wanted. Just let me go, okay?"

It takes a moment for that to process...and then I snort. Because if Victoria was here, I know exactly what she'd do.

"...wait, no." Tattletale's eyes narrow. "No. Don't you fucking do-"

I let her go, and step out of the way as her arms windmill. As she struggles (and eventually fails) to keep her balance. Of course I dive after her when she falls. I'm not actually trying to kill her, no matter what she's done.

We weren't that high up; only a couple of seconds pass before I catch her-

-and take us both back up to the top of the Forsberg Gallery. She collapses to her knees almost immediately, wrapping her arms around herself and shaking violently.

"W-what the f-fuck…?"

"That was for screwing with my friend." I ignore her glare, considering my next move. I still don't have any restraints, which is something I'll need to fix...something else I'll need to fix. After the rest of the clusterfuck that my Cape career is quickly turning into. So, either I hit her until she's in no shape to run away, or...well…

I tug at my belt, tucking my baton in as securely as possible before freeing the crossbow I'd taken to look it over. It's small, obviously meant to be fired one-handed; there's a soft whirr as I squeeze the grip, and the string (cable?) is drawn back automatically. It clicks into place, and a bolt snaps up from inside the main body of the thing.

"That's convenient." It doesn't look like its sharp. And there's no needle or anything, so not a tranquilizer. Not sure how much use a blunt arrow is, but apparently that's what they give her-

"You took that off Shadow Stalker?

I glance at Tattletale, but she hasn't moved at all. "Yeah."

She closes her eyes. "Please tell me that's not loaded with the broad-heads she likes."

That sounds like the Sophia I know. "It's not." A pause, and I tip it forward to show her.

"Well, I guess tranqs are better than actually getting shot." Huh...so they are tranquilizers? "Fine. You got me." She sighs, her expression disappearing behind her hair as she slumps forward. "Just...before you take me, in, I think you should know-"

The arrow hits her in the shoulder. She yelps, flinches, and looks up at me in shock as I correct my aim and wait for the crossbow to reset itself.

"Did you just-?"

The next one hits her in the neck, just above her collarbone, and she glares for another few seconds before starting to waver.

Then she falls. Her eyes shut, and her breathing evens out. Unconscious.

So that's done. Tattletale, captured. And...everything else can wait. Right now, I've caught a Supervillain and I need to take her back inside so that can be handled.

I pad over to her side, poke her with the crossbow a couple of times. No reaction, so it's probably safe to just grab her. A moment to focus on an out of the way corner that had still been clear when I'd left, and then-

-we're there.

The first thing I notice is the lack of crashing and barking. Then that there's no sign of Grue's darkness anywhere. The place is almost empty, only a few groups of party-goers still gathered around. As I watch, Gallant appears in front of them, and guides them across the room in a few steps. Vista still at work.

And in the meantime, the Protectorate are all gathered by the stage. Just...talking.

"Hey!" I don't have to raise my voice very much to draw attention. Armsmaster turns my way immediately, the rest of them tensing as they do the same. "Is anyone going to bother helping me with this one?"

The Tinker starts moving, biting something out to the others that I can't hear. Miss Militia falls into step behind him, while the rest just...keep standing around. Which...I guess that's fine. Doesn't matter.

"She's unconscious?" I wave the Crossbow meaningfully, and he nods, coming to a stop a few feet away. "Did you attack Shadow Stalker?"

"I...did I what?" I did, but I wasn't exactly expecting to have it thrown in my face immediately. But maybe that's a good thing. Because it reminds me that she's a Ward, and all that that little fact implies. "I stopped her from firing into the crowd, yeah." When he doesn't say anything, I continue. "Did you get Grue and Hellhound?"

That gets a response, even if it's only a frown. And a wince from Miss Militia, as she takes a step forward. "They escaped, shortly after you...captured Tattletale."

They escaped? "You let them get away?"

"Our priority was to secure the civilians…"

Seriously? I snort, scowl down at the unconscious villain at my feet. "You outnumbered them two to one, and you still couldn't catch them?"

"With Tattletale's capture, half of their team will be in custody." Armsmaster breaks his silence. "The others won't last long."

I grit my teeth, and turn a glare on him. "I guess it's a good thing I was here to take care of that for you, then." Silence. I nudge Tattletale with one foot, then shake my head and step over her, start moving for the broken window that Victoria took the dog through. "Whatever. I'm going to go make sure Glory Girl is okay, and the Undersiders can't have gotten far."

"Before you go?" I stop, turn again. Miss Militia holds out a hand, meaningfully. "I'm sure Shadow Stalker will want that back."

Right. The crossbow. The one that belongs to Sophia Hess. "I'm sure she will." I start walking again. "But it's pretty useful. I think I'll keep it."

"That's-"

"Consider it payment for services rendered."

"Wait!"

I pick up the pace, jogging right up to the edge of the shattered window and diving out without hesitation. It's a short fall, and after a quick (and unnecessary) teleport to kill my momentum, I'm looking around the torn up street for...Victoria.

She's sitting on the hood of a car, glaring at a very large, very injured dog that's curled up in front of her. She perks up when I wave, and wastes no time darting over; I wince at the state of her dress. I guess those sorts of things just aren't made for fighting in.

"You okay?"

"Am I okay? You're kidding, right?" She raps her knuckles against my mask, before frowning up at the Gallery. "Did you get'em?"

"Regent. And Tattletale. The rest of them got away."

A flurry of emotions flash across her expression, before she finally settles on a scowl. "Fuck, seriously?"

"Yeah. Apparently they were too much for the 'big heroes' to handle."

She lets out an incoherent, angry noise, rocking back on her heels and crossing her arms. "Shit, I didn't even notice. They're probably long gone, by now…" Her eyes narrow. "You got Tattletale, though?" I nod, and she sighs. "Good."

"It's something, at least." 'Good'. "Listen, we might be able to catch them, if we hurry-"

I'm surprised when she waves me off. "No. It's bullshit, but chasing after them now won't do us any good."

Now that I think about it, she's probably right. Which is frustrating. Because this was probably one of our better chances to actually do something about those assholes, and now...now I don't have anything to focus on besides everything else that went wrong today. Tonight. Whatever.

"...we need to talk."

Victoria looks pained. "God, do you have to say it like that? What's wrong now?"

I'm not even sure where to start.

"Not here." I look around, warily, then offer my free hand. "Your place."

"Sure thing."

And away we go.