A/N: If you're confused about the last update, the Lung Fight was updated as the 1st chapter. Go check it out if you didn't know.


Cutscenes 7.0 - Lisa

January 30, 2011, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 5:16 PM

Lisa mused about the last two days as she cycled through a checklist of CCTV feeds. The last two days had been... Unique. Yeah, that's about the right word, how else would one define an experience that starts with the sudden realisation that you're missing a chunk of memory; because you were recreated; because you had died. Lisa couldn't decide whether to be happy or sad about it.

Technically she was a copy, but she was still herself? At least her power insisted that she was still herself. She'd spent most of the time since then absorbing knowledge and practicing limiting the input that her power got. It was difficult, but she'd been practicing well before the gamer upgrade.

Speaking of which... Power testing space whales and Random Omnipotent Beings... Who would'a thunk it? At least she managed to hide the tiny freak-out she had about that from the others, they wouldn't have let it go.

It also took a while to get used to two sets of foreign thoughts in her head than just one, the gamer power thoughts felt markedly different than her power's musings, they only answered queries related to gamer stuff or stuff that the shards didn't want them to know. And they sort of tasted... bluish?

That's how your mind interprets them, and they're called the Akashic Records, not 'Gamer power thoughts', such a disrespectful little twit!

And it was also a prissy smartass, which was alright, because the personality was mimicked from her after all.

Her musings were disrupted as she spotted what she was looking for in the feeds. She followed the target through a series of cameras across the city.

Thomas Calvert, leaving his house, hailing a cab and going to the airport.

Appears slightly nervous, but also excited about something.

Excited and sure of himself about his decisions.

Has decided to go for a new beginning.

Perfect. She didn't want to mess with Airport security cams. But whoever would, would be able to track Calvert - actually her boyfriend in a Calvert suit - boarding a flight to Munich, then coming out and taking another cab to an office building which housed a PMC with obvious ties to Gesselschaft.

She'd already sent the PRT a very apologetic but formal mail saying that he's off to do some emergency foreign consultation and would be indefinitely unavailable. It had taken her a lot of power usage for her to write it so it won't be considered a fake by the PRT thinkers.

Dev was also laundering his visible money in a way that'll stink of the Nazis but there won't be any proof.

"Are you sure this will be enough?" Aveek asked from beside her.

"Yeah, this'll send anyone investigating him on a wild goose chase long enough for us to be able to dismantle any and all failsafes he had."

"You think there are more?" Aveek raised an eyebrow.

Hopes he doesn't have to deal with any more of Coil's failsafes.

"Duh! Evil mastermind?" She rolled eyes at her boyfriend... The term still sounded weird in her mind, she'd had no concept of actually seeing someone with all that it entailed.

But it was good weird, Aveek was smart enough to keep up with her, amoral but altruistic, and mostly immune to her snark, sometimes giving as good as he got. And of course there was the fact that she could get as close to him as possible and only thing her power would give were anecdotes about his past, not a single word about bacteria or dirt or bodily fluids or deviant thoughts.

Though now that she'd absorbed tons of psychology she also understood the fact that such thoughts were utterly commonplace, but hearing only what Aveek allowed out was overall a much better experience.

But she'd realised that a years old habit doesn't go away that easily. She still flinched reflexively at being touched at times. Her newest form of self therapy was to get close to Danny and stoke his paternal instincts. When in a good mood he was a moderately touchy feely person, and generally without the slew of awkward thoughts that would come with someone closer to her age. (Honestly, Dev did his best to be casual with her but he was generally super awkward around girls.) It was perfect therapy for her.

Also, she'd never ever openly admit it, but it felt good to have a paternal figure care solely about her well being and not her abilities for once.

"What're you thinking so hard about?" Aveek nudged her.

"Huh? This and that, how long is the flight for?"

"A few hours at least... You hacked cameras in Munich too?"

She shrugged, "A few, just to ensure they get the right views. Anyway, we've got a few hours to kill. And I've never visited any ancient Indian ruins... Do you have any memories good enough to prime a holodeck?" She smiled at her boyfriend suggestively. Boyfriend, weird word, but she definitely liked the shape of it.


February 7, 2011, Dev's House - Brockton Bay, 9:26 PM

The moment Lisa felt the environment change from the forest to Aveek's bedroom, she checked the system clock in her mind. Less than 10 seconds, nice, almost as fast as they practiced. Taylor immediately took out two smartphones and started operating them with both hands... That girl was turning out to be a bigger nerd than Aveek.

If this were earlier, she'd get a slew of information from her power about how she was just disintegrated and recreated, but relentlessly practicing with her input control throughout the last week had reaped huge benefits, she could now pretty much control what her power perceived as a query as long as she remained focused on limiting the input. It was amazing, she could basically roll around in muck and choose to have no idea about how many different species' excreta did it contain.

Lisa also took out her phone and checked the latest updates from miss Xhao. Briefly triggering her power with those messages as input gave her the required information. She addressed Aveek and Taylor, "Okay, so Lung is going to hit the decoy warehouse, and Oni is going to scout around the loft. Taylor, I need to pick up some stuff from Coil's armory before meeting up with the others. Send word?"

Taylor nodded, "As Tattletale right?" She continued focusing on her phones, "Okay, informed them, the base crew will be expecting you, I'll message you the password when you reach." Lisa nodded, then hugged Taylor, then Aveek, "I'll let you know if anything varies from plan. Give me an ID for exactly 30 seconds?"

Aveek grabbed her and dropped into an ID, whereupon she gave him a more passionate goodbye, turned on Hyperfocus and left in a blur, shattering the window. Exactly 29 seconds from when the ID was created - she was standing on one of the taller rooftops away from the neighbourhood, the ID collapsed. Back in the real world, she made her way to Coil's base... Actually, it was their base now, they should call it something better than Coil's base.


February 7, 2011, Undersiders' Loft - Brockton Bay, 10:15 PM

"So that's the plan, any questions?" Lisa looked around at her team.

"Yes, how on Earth do you think you can solo Oni Lee?" Brian was looking at her with an incredulous expression. He still hadn't put on the simple common-channel earpieces that Aveek had cobbled up with his electronics knowledge.

Brian thinks she is being cagey with parts of the plan that she doesn't want to share. Is feeling insecure because of that.

Oh Grue, he's such a straight shooter, sometimes Lisa found it hard to believe that the guy went into the villain business to begin with.

Lisa shrugged, "Trust me, I have gifts from the new bosses, I'm best equipped to deal with his power."

Brian still didn't look convinced, "Tattletale, you're being extra cagey about this, and honestly, these 'new bosses'", he made air quotes, "they sound too good to be true..." He quickly interrupted Lisa's oncoming rebuttal, "Look, I'm not saying they've not been good to us, we've already got the increased paychecks, the new fancy gear will be useful, I've also been informed that the final custody hearing for Aisha has been fast-tracked. All this is very nice, but what's the catch?" He looked around to his other teammates for confirmation.

Alec shrugged, "Don't know, don't care, the money flows, I'm loving the new bosses."

Rachel gave Lisa a sharp look, "An actual kennel? I still think you're fucking with me."

Lisa shook her head, "No messing. Fully stocked and staffed kennel, I've already started looking for an out of the way location."

Rachel blinked, her hand stopped combing Angelica, then she cocked her head, "I'm good then. What do they want me to do for it?"

Lisa sighed, then looked at all of them, "Listen, I'll come clean with you. The new bosses are being generous because they're my friends. That's all there is. And in exchange of the benefits they're providing, they have only one set of directives for you."

Brian nodded in a 'told-you-so' gesture, Lisa could tell Alec slightly relaxed upon hearing that there was indeed a catch, only Rachel had no change in demeanor, given that she was just awaiting the answer to her question.

Lisa raised two fingers, "One, do not harm civilians. Two, avoid major property damage."

Rachel just nodded firmly, then went back to combing Angelica.

Alec let out a low whistle, "Not that I have any problems with that. And I don't know exactly how that sounds fishy, but that sounds fishy."

"Hmm. Do these bosses have the same need to be anonymous as our previous ones?" Brian still seemed completely out of his comfort zone.

Lisa shook her head, "Not for long, they'll reveal themselves soon enough, and you can take your complaints directly to them then. For now we have less than ten minutes before Oni Lee hits, are we good on the plan or not?"

There were noises of reluctant, nonchalant and unimpressed acquiescence. Brian sighed and put in the earpiece.

"Alright guys, positions please. Grue, you have tactical command on the grunts." Lisa left for the rooftop next to the loft.

Bitch had already started to grow her dogs, Lisa watched them leave the loft and disappear into neighboring buildings.

The ABB soon appeared, there were almost 30 of them, they had spread out and were circling in around the area of the loft, often going in to check out abandoned buildings.

Tattletale climbed up a ledge where they'll have a better view of her, they did spot her soon enough and started closing in fast, guns pointed, the silence being punctuated with random insults from the thugs. Most of them in the vicinity of Lvl. 20 due to possessing firearms, a few of them were near 30 because of unarmed combat mastery, guess the stereotypes are true in some cases.

Their command of their native tongues is halting. Many of them are second generation. Some have learned martial arts only because their parents...

Lisa reigned her power in tighter, it would still often spout irrelevant information when she lost focus at times. She couldn't wait till she had full control on that.

You need 28 more levels in Query Inputs subskill to max it out. Only then will you have full control.

Thank you Akashic Records, you're no slouch in the irrelevance department. She had a healthy respect for Aveek's tolerance of how annoying the gamer prompts could get.

ABB goon 23m away at 2-o-clock is going to shoot. Getting hit by that shot on uncovered skin will cost less than 20% HP, less than 3% if it hits one of the armor plates.

Meh, she didn't want to scuff her new costume, Taylor had taken time to dye it in her favorite purple and black, Aveek had lovingly woven carbon nanotube strands in the spidersilk fibres and fitted it with layered graphene armor plates, it was a thing of beauty. She waved at the gunman and jumped down from the ledge, the shot rang loud and the bullet whizzed by a few inches above her.

Her earpiece crackled, "Bitch, let the dogs out, Regent, mess with their gun arms."

There was a muffled command from Bitch, the three dogs ran out of a broken warehouse door outside the gangers' circle. The scene erupted into chaos.

Lisa turned on Hyperfocus, everything slowed down to half speed, she swept her gaze around and switched her power full on.

Bitch waiting in the warehouse. Waiting for the dogs to finish corralling the goons.

Angelica is not biting, only nudging the gangers, the force is enough to send them sprawling.

Regent is behind that window, looking through a binocular and exercising his power.

Judas prefers paw swipes, he's still not out of his playful age.

Hyperfocus has gained a level.

Grue is in the building at 8-o-clock, he's extruding his darkness all around them but keeping it away from the scene.

Brutus is simply using his presence to circle the gangers and dissuade any from cutting and running for it.

Oni Lee is standing on the rooftop behind her. Oni Lee is standing on a windowsill to her left.

Both are clones, Oni Lee has appeared right behind her.

She let out a full force back kick hit him at his center of mass. His look of confused surprise at her speed was poetic to watch. She saw his tag as he flew.

(Petite Mort)
Lee Jingwen / Oni Lee
Lvl. 41 ABB Villain

The cape name changed from Oni Lee to clOni Lee even as he fell. Very funny, Gamer AI.

That is now a clone, Oni Lee is standing on the ledge of the warehouse in front.

The clone disintegrated before it hit the ground. She focused on the newest one.

Oni Lee is right in front of her. The one on the warehouse is a clone. He gazes at his destination briefly before cloneporting. Power is Line of sight.

Hyperfocus has gained a level.

She ducked a knife strike and swept his legs.

He's looking behind her. This is now a clone. Oni Lee is behind her. That is now a clone, he just armed a grenade. Oni Lee is standing beside his previous clone on top of the warehouse.

The one in the front disintegrated after falling. She turned and kicked the grenade out of the hand of the clone behind her and used the spinning motion to land a roundhouse to his head. He disintegrated instantly.

The grenade did not detonate, it disintegrated simultaneously as the clone. The first clone on the rooftop behind her also disintegrated.

The clones last 3 to 8 seconds before disintegrating unless they suffer a major hit.

[warning]"DUCK!"

She complied without thinking as two shots whizzed above her, that was Taylor... Wait, Taylor?

The Queen of Escalation has positioned herself to be able to monitor both fights. She's not exercising her powers visibly here to avoid disclosing her true range.

Oh, of course she would do that. She sent a quick thanks to Taylor as the Oni Lees on the nearby rooftops shooting at her disintegrated.

Hyperfocus is now level 10, up to 4X mental speed can be achieved.

She immediately pumped Hyperfocus up to X4. There, the remaining 3 Oni Lees were moving as if they were underwater. And she felt much more in control of the speed and coordination that 100+ DEX gave her body. She messaged Taylor not to warn her unless it was something fatal. And with her bio-modded stats and costume, which even had the perforated graphene headgear that let her hair out but protected her from a headshot, nothing short of an HEI sniper round to her exposed lower face or eye-holes would actually be fatal.

She tapped her earpiece and intoned with deliberate slowness, "Grrrruuuueee, ccoooovvveeerrrr uuussss!"

Soon enough, black smoke billowed from the building Grue was in, it also started coming out of the buildings around it, he'd taken the time to build up the volume of smoke required for this. The last remaining clone of Oni Lee disintegrated. He created two more in rooftops around.

Lisa watched them raise their guns one by one, and she jerked to dodge each shot by a hair's breadth with only a little help from her power. The darkness had already circled around to build a wall isolating the few buildings around the loft. She crouched into a roll to dodge the next three shots and brought out her own gun and a flashbang from the inventory while standing up again.

Oni Lee had replicated twice more in the meanwhile, he wasn't even trying to get near her now. She aimed at the 4 Lees her power told were clones and shot them straight in the head one by one. Even before they could disintegrate, she focused on the last one and thumbed the explode-on-impact button on the flashbang. Coil had his armoury well stocked with these, they packed quite a punch and had various detonation settings.

That is the real Oni Lee, he is stunned at the speed of her shooting, he's looking around for an escape route. Can't find any due to Grue's blocking. He's gazing at a spot right in front of her. Intends to cloneport immediately behind her again.

Lisa dropped the gun, she wasn't sure which way he'd be looking at his last port. Even as he appeared right in front of her and started raising his gun, she took out another flashbang, armed it and threw both at the ground on either side behind her as she lunged at the Lee in front and braced for the explosion.

He is looking behind her... This is now a clone.

She clapped her ears and scrunched her eyes as she headbutted the Cloni Lee... Fine! it was a handy pun to use... Whatever.

She felt the light through her eyelids and felt the shockwave pass through her. She whirled and landed on her back, disturbing the white dust of the disintegrated Lee and looking at the real Lee, who was standing dazed. His tag had a Stunned status too.

"Gotcha!" She whispered as she brought out a Taser from the inventory. Lee was still shaking his head and blinking furiously. She tased him, he collapsed. Then she brought out zip-ties, a scarf and a syringe of sedative.

When she was finished, he was disarmed, hogtied, blindfolded and nicely sedated for at least 6 hours. She got a congratulatory message from Taylor, [proud]"Very nice job Lisa. I'm almost jealous that you get to engage hand to hand. Anyway, Lung and his team are almost here, you guys should come watch. The police will arrive there in a few minutes anyway. Leave Lee on the rooftop where you are, the cops have been told of him."

Well, that wasn't a bad idea at all. She went over to the ledge and looked below.

The guys were done down there already, all the grunts were lying down, a few had managed to escape. But most of them had basically surrendered once they were disarmed and threatened with monstrous dogs. She tapped her earpiece, "Great work guys, now leave them and head towards the decoy warehouse. The police are coming. I'll join you on the way."

"Copy that Tattletale, climb my mount when you do. We've got to talk."

Grue watched part of her fight with Oni Lee, is both baffled and spooked by her speed and prowess. Asked her to climb on midway because he wants to be sure of what he saw.

"Got it." She replied wearily, she already could hear the police sirens as she watched Bitch climb on to Brutus, Regent on Judas and Grue on Angelica, they ran along the streets a little distance before scaling a warehouse and hitting the rooftops.

She parkoured her way to a point her power told her would be best to mount Angelica. She waved at them when they approached, the others slowed down but Grue didn't. She jumped on effortlessly and settled in behind Grue. He turned his head and spoke, "What the fuck was that? Were you just pretending to be only a thinker till now? Was it something the old boss made you do?"

She patted his shoulder, "No Brian, nothing like that, as I said, gifts from the new bosses."

She could tell he was gaping from even behind his helmet. "What? I thought you meant the new gear and flashbangs and stuff. The new bosses are giving out powers? Are you shitting me?"

She shook her head, "Not powers exactly. Look, we're almost there at the decoy warehouse. I promise most of your questions will be answered today. Tell the others to stop on top of the old mall before the warehouse. You'll see something interesting."

Grue relayed the orders. They came to a halt on the top of the old shopping mall that had long been stripped of anything shoppable. This was a more derelict part of the docks than the area around the Loft. It was Lisa's idea for the Undersiders to appear at times going in or coming out of this warehouse, especially under the views of bystanders. The mall had a clear view of the warehouse.

Well, the decoy sure worked, the others didn't need to be told what was interesting. They were all watching Maker fight a semi-draconic Lung, helped by bugs.

"That's badass." Regent muttered when he saw Maker create a blue glowing katana and slit Lung's throat with it.

"What's with the bugs? Is it Swarm? Doesn't she have a bug body or something?" Grue asked her.

"It's not necessary, and yeah, you've heard of them?"

"Of course, the blue one is the new healer in town. And Swarm, well, there's definitely a buzz about her amongst the gangs..." He looked at her smirking face, then facepalmed, "Pun not intended. Ugh! And aren't you the one who's supposed to give us info about new threats?"

She shrugged, "They're not threats, they're doing us a favour, aren't they?"

"They're heroes, we're villains, of course they're threats."

Lisa scoffed, "Haven't you heard, Maker, the blue one, breaks the legs of all the thugs he catches?"

Grue groaned, "Oh great, another violent vigilante... And you still say they're not threats?"

She nodded, "Trust me, they're not threats, they're doing you a favour, and you should thank them for it. They knew Lung was coming to get payback for the casino."

Grue seemed confused, the battle was over by now. Regent and Bitch had joined the conversation too. Regent shrugged and said, "If you guarantee they'll not come after us, I don't see harm in thanking them. Pays to be in good graces of capes who can take down lung without breaking a sweat."

Lisa nodded, "I guarantee. Let's move from this rooftop. I know where they'll go once they're done. Bitch, try not to anger them."

Bitch sniffed, "I'm not stupid. He seems strong. Just get this over with."

Grue sighed again, "Alright, where to?"