Brian

"Don't say anything that even implies that you're jewish."

Tats was dressed up, we were heading out to talk to a Tinker.

"So, anything else you know about Blasto?"

"hm not original, not american, middle eastern? No... resentment, feelings of betrayal, anger, hurt. Palestinian refugee, lied his way in, tried to pass as mexican, couldn't find work. Became a henchman, Blasto's henchman."

She tilted her head.

"Relationship... good? Orginal Blasto treated him like a friend, mentor, left an emergency trick so that he would gain his powers if he was killed, His mentor died, he took his place. Places less emphasis on the criminal aspects, tries to go under the radar, sells cloned organs and other things to make money. Hiding something big."

We opened the cardoor and some nondescript men in suits patted us down, if you didn't look for the green tinge to their skin they almost looked human.

"Why are we doing this?"

Boston was run down, most cities were, we passed a sign that talked about rationing.

"Because we got on Amy Dallons bad side, and we lost our old base because of it so we need something to take out New wave's organic armor."

I closed my eyes.

"And why are we on their bad side?"

"Because they're he-"

"Because you fucked up."

I interupted Tats' speech, she glared at me.

"It's because you fucked up, the bank thing... I mean having Panacea show up there? I don't think any of us saw that coming, but you shooting her with your gun..."

"She would live."

I took in a deep breath.

"She got an E-ticket, that not only pissed off Panacea, it pissed off Glory Girl. Then there was your second fuck up, the fundrasier."

She clenched her hands.

"That was a successful score."

"That isn't the point Tats, you should have known New Wave would be there, you're the Thinker, and to make it worse you decided to twist the knife again. I mean goddamn, what did I tell you?"

She closed her eyes.

"Be polite, professional and always have a plan to escape."

I felt angry.

"And then the fucking Butcher came in, you do realize that they saved our asses right?"

"To arrest us."

"We still walked out of that alive, you then decided to twist the knife, you had to have the last word, you had to make it personal."

I sighed, as we walked into the base.

"No fucking with him."

She managed to look offended.

"I'm not stupid Grue."

I was silent, and I continued staring at her.

"Fine."

She deflated as a submarine surfaced, we were frogmarched onboard blindfolded and then marched somewhere else. This happened until we stood in front of a masked man in a lab coat.

"I am the great and glorious BLASTO!"

"The second one."

The man froze at Tats words.

"Really? Really you're going to do that? You go into my lair, into my home and you immediately go there."

I sighed.

"I'm sorry, she's a little... well rude."

The villain shrugged and sat down on a chair, It looked like it was made out of bone, I saw human skulls featured prominently in the chair's design.

"Plastic, it's."

"OK little girl, I'm willing to let you insult me, but the Skull Throne will be respected, you got that?"

She crossed her arms.

"What do you require of the great and mighty Blasto?"

I stepped forward.

"We might have really pissed off New Wave and we need a way to take out their armor."

He continued lounging in his chair, a minion in a suit fed him grapes one by one.

"And what would you give me in return for this boon?"

Tats smiled.

"We won't tell him about the secret project, your predecessor's secret project ,the one that would get you a kill order."

The minions pulled out their guns, a roll of duct tape was offered to me. Tats looked at me with eyes filled with betrayal as I put the tape over her mouth. I then turned back to Blasto.

"You know I used to wonder why the Thinker wasn't in charge of the Undersiders, now I understand. So Grue, you want weapons."

"Non-lethal, we want to disable not kill."

"I can offer you some guns, New Wave uses plant based armor, I could whip up some defoliant that would disolve the armor."

"The range?"

"A sprayer would have a range of 5 meters, but I could offer you a kind of paintball option that's a lot better then that."

I thought about it.

"How much for the paintball set?"

"10,000 american dollars."

"1000, this is specialized to one enemy."

He thought about it.

"Yes but it also takes up my valuable time, and you would be getting an entire barrel full."

I thought about it.

"5000 dollars."

He lounged around.

"Ugh, Ok that sounds about right."

He snapped his fingers, and I opened up the briefcase full of money, a barrel of tiny pebble like things was given to us.

"Well since you have discovered my secret, want to see it?"

I froze, Tats shook her head, and I decided that was enough prodding.

"I'm in."

Her eyes opened up in slight horror, but I followed Blasto. Why? Because she needed to learn manners and this was the only way she was going to learn.

"My teacher's magnum opus."

I saw a skeleton like thing with wings.

"And that's?"

"An attempt to create an artificial Endbringer, for obvious reasons I have decided to not continue his work. He was a lovely man but... his judgement wasn't always the best. Your friend Tattletale reminds me of him. Which is why I didn't just, you know kill her."

I looked at the case.

"He was a genius."

Blasto softened.

"He really was, well come on it's time for you two to go home, the sub is over there it will take you home."

With those words we started going home, only after we were out of earshot did I take off the duct tape.

"Don't ever do that again Tats, that could have gone very bad."

"But he was just so-"

"No pissing off powerful Tinkers in their lair."

"Ugh ok whatever, we got the stuff."

She smiled.

"You know what this means, right Grue?"

"What?"

"Kaiser's gone, Lung's gone, The Butcher's gone, the gangs are in a state of chaos, the Protectorate's understaffed."

She smiled.

"We are invincible."