Fionnuala sighed. "Does this proposal involve you promising to not give the order to have a sniper kill us, so long as we, I, whatever, do as you say?" The middleman who'd handed her the phone, who had moved a few feet away (hopefully to grant her some semblance of privacy), went wide-eyed and started edging further away as fast as he could without being overt or attention-grabbing. Which was honestly a waste of effort, seeing as I'd kept an eye, both metaphorical and literal, on him the whole time.
Coil was silent for a moment, before starting to chuckle in what seemed to be genuine amusement. "Oh, goodness, no! Nothing so crass, Miss Fionnuala."
"Huh," she said before I could stop the words from slipping out, "you pronounced it right first try."
"But of course. I do try to learn all I can of those I come into contact with. As a common courtesy, among other reasons."
She snorted. "'Common courtesy'. Sure. What is it you want?"
"Straight to the point, then? I can respect that." Coil was silent for a moment, the call only transmitting a faint creak of leather. "Very well. I am prepared to offer you and your sister a fair sum of money — say, a hundred thousand dollars? — if the two of you would be willing to leave Brockton Bay."
Fionnuala went very still, while I did everything in my power to keep my reaction restrained until it dissipated. That was… quite a lot of money. More than an order of magnitude more than I'd ever had to my name. And he was just throwing out the number like it was pocket change! With that, my efforts to build something of a life on this Earth would be markedly less stressful. For as long as it lasted, at least. And in all honesty, I did want to leave, despite the fact that I didn't know if what I was afraid of would even happen at this point. Though, of course, I didn't know that it wouldn't happen worse, either. But perhaps… now, I didn't want to get greedy with the megalomaniacal asshole, but maybe I could wring out some more concessions and assistance from Coil? It was worth a try, at least.
"While that is a very generous offer," Fionnuala began, "there are some things that'd make just up and leaving a tad difficult. If you could find some way to help us ameliorate those issues, we'd be more than happy to take you up on your offer."
After a mere moment's hesitation Coil asked, "And what issues might these be?"
"There's two that I can think of right now, the first of which would be making arrangements to travel to, say, New York, and to find accommodations there." Wait, no. I don't want someone like Coil knowing where I'll be sleeping. "Actually, scratch that, nevermind. I can make arrangements on my own. Probably."
"Very well," he replied, and I couldn't help but be impressed by the absolute lack of reaction in his voice. "And the other?"
"The second… well. As I'm sure you are aware, there are a number of material samples currently held in the PRT lab that Morven tested her power on. I'd like for arrangements to be made to have them moved to the New York PRT so that nothing… untoward happens to them. I assume you can do something about that?"
This time, the silence is more than merely momentary. "Miss Fionnuala… you are aware that I am a villain, yes?"
She rolled her many eyes, and in the distance, my other body rolled hers as well. "Yes, and I am also aware that you have agents within the PRT, though I'll admit that I do not know who, precisely, they are, or where they are placed. Can you have them moved before the fifteenth of May or not?"
"What happens on the fifteenth?" he asked, a hint of morbid curiosity managing to slither its way into his tone.
She sighed. "Let's just say that a little bird told me things were likely to get rather wet in this city, with a side of widespread destruction. Now, admittedly, given recent events, there is the chance of nothing at all happening, just as there is the chance of things going far worse than expected. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not stick around to find out." Her hand reflexively moved to her nose as if to push up a pair of glasses, only to stop abortively when I remembered that neither of me wore them any longer. "So, can you do it, or will my departure be delayed?"
A moment of silence allowed my mind to catch up with my tone, and I immediately started backpedaling while doing my best to not appear to be doing so. "Sorry, I just-" Fionnuala began, only for Coil to cut her off.
"No, no, it's fine," he said, his tone tinged with curiosity. "But just to be certain, I must ask: Are you talking about a powerful hydrokinetic parahuman going on a rampage, or…?"
"No, I'm talking about Leviathan himself." I did my best to project an air of seriousness into Fionnuala's voice. I didn't want this mistaken for sarcasm.
"Last time I checked, precognitives are unable to perceive Endbringers. I can only assume you were given false information."
That dismissal irked me, and Fionnuala's free hand came to rest on her hip. "No precog involvement, actually. I…" Fionnuala trailed off as I forcibly restrained myself from just blabbing about my out-of-setting knowledge to the amoral megalomaniac. "Actually, it doesn't matter. I, well, we wish to leave this city, and the reasons we want that shouldn't matter to you because those desires line up with your stated goals."
A neutral-toned hum came through the call. "That is a fair point, I will admit. We do share that goal. As for your other, ah, 'request'..." A sigh, heavy with regret that I didn't for a moment believe was genuine. "I'm afraid I am unable to assist with the relocation of those samples of yours."
Fionnuala frowned, which felt a little odd what with the horns coming out of her eye sockets. "Unable, or unwilling?"
"Does it matter?"
"... No, I suppose it doesn't." That frown became a scowl, and the ribbons of her skirt quivered.
"Quite," he said, amusement tainting his tone. "I took the liberty of putting together my end of the bargain in advance. If you hand the phone to my agent, I will have him lead you to the person who has the money."
"Fine."
Fionnuala held the phone out towards the guy and waggled it until he got the message and jogged over to take it. He had a quick, murmured conversation with Coil, while I bled off some stress by shredding her left forearm into ribbons of weeping flesh and jagged molars that I let writhe angrily. I'd overextended. I'd fucked up, if only a little. Mistakes like this had always had a disproportionate effect on me, and a part of me was honestly tempted to tamper with my brains again to deal with that issue. I settled for aggressively dialing down the limit for the more negative emotions I'd feel, and set what amounted to a timer to undo the changes later. Fionnuala took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it out, nictitating membranes flitting over her eyes in sequence as I tried to re-center myself.
An uneasy look from the man centered my attention on him, and I quickly pulled Fionnuala's arm back together. With a slight grimace at the shallow holes eaten into the concrete by the fluid dripping from her shredded arm, she moved to follow him as he moved further down the alley.
.o.o.o.
The money weighed disproportionately heavy in the pit of Fi's belly. Literally, since that's where I'd had her tuck the surprisingly small case away when she'd received it, to the consternation of both of the men present. I honestly felt rather relieved at the size, since I would've dreaded the questions she'd inevitably get from Velocity and the others if she'd had to return to them carrying a briefcase. Small mercies, I guess. It didn't balance out the fact that Coil had been unnecessarily dickish behind his veneer of cordiality, or the fact that I was sure he'd kidnapped twelve-year-old Dinah Alcott in this reality to drug her up and use her for her power.
I'd only remembered that fact as I was accepting the money, and the details were still hazy, even though I could recall Coil's power with perfect clarity. Which was rather disturbing, since one of the modifications I'd made to my brains had been specifically intended to improve my memory. And now that I checked, a bunch of my memories from before I'd done that were either cloudy and vague, or more clear than any I'd had back then, seemingly at random. But I'd have to worry about that later.
I hated how I was just giving Coil what he wanted, even though it was what I wanted, too. I couldn't just hare off to try and free Dinah, not if I wanted to stay out of the violent hero-villain dynamic like I intended. Maybe I could tip off the PRT about it before I left? I didn't know.
Half of the bills were in twenties, the other half hundreds. And as a freebie, Coil had even included a pair of tracking devices, one embedded in the case itself while the other was tucked among the bills. I waited to deal with them until Fionnuala returned to Morven, who quietly reached her hand into her sister's belly when no one was looking to warp them far past the point of functionality. Fi could've done it herself, sure, but I wanted, needed, to keep up appearances, even if only for those following the trackers. No need to give the bastard any more information than I had to.
It wasn't long before the entirety of the glass into blocks, though after one of the PRT agents noted that each one weighed a little over a hundred pounds I elected to divide each in half again. No reason to make the lives of those who ended up loading them onto trucks overly difficult when it wasn't necessary. Speaking of whom, both of me offered to stay a while more to help do just that, only to get told that it'd be at least an hour before any trucks would arrive. So, I elected to call it a day.
What awaited me back at the PRT building was an actual cash payment for my time spent working. I felt a tiny bit of guilt accepting Fionnuala's portion when she hadn't really done anything, but I wasn't exactly in a position to turn it down. Sure, it paled in comparison to the bribe Coil had given me, but a couple hundred dollars still wasn't anything to scoff at. And while I was there, I had Fionnuala arrange for a meeting for the next day. The future was already altered, so I might as well help alter it further.
.o.o.o.
Chinese takeout tasted just as good on Earth Bet as it did back home, and we'd gone all out. Acacia had a meal's worth of shrimp fried rice and nabbed occasional bites of her sister's food, while Tabitha took full advantage of the fact that Paz and Jacob knew she was an auto-biokinetic by getting herself the equivalent of three meals in the form of dumplings, pork lo mein, and beef fried rice.
… I really liked fried rice. Sue me.
"So," Jacob said as he worked away at his own portion of the take-out meal, "I assume this is something of a celebration for getting your first paycheck?"
"Something like that," Tabitha replied, using her chopsticks to dip half a dumpling in sriracha (which I was really glad Bet had) and pop it in her mouth. Once she'd swallowed, she continued, "It's also, well, comfort food, of a sort."
"Homesick?" Paz asked sympathetically.
"Yes, but it's complicated," Acacia said, then shoveled some more rice into her mouth.
Paz waited a bit, as if expecting Acacia to elaborate. When she didn't, she said, "By the way, not to nag you or anything, but I don't think immediately splurging on take-out is the best idea with your limited funds." When Tabitha had brought up her desire for Chinese food, Paz had tried to get her to let Paz cover it all. After a certain amount of negotiation, Acacia managed to convince her to let the two of me at least pay for their own shares.
"You're right," Tabitha agreed, and Paz blinked in surprise, probably at how readily the assent had been given. She grabbed another dumpling, holding her arm low to hide the mouth on a stalk that peeled away from her forearm to grab a sneaky bite of rice before quickly retreating. "However, there's where part of the complicated-ness comes into play."
While Tabitha busied herself with dipping and eating her dumpling, Acacia spoke up in her place. "Basically, a supervillain gave us a bribe of a hundred thousand dollars so we'd leave the city." She paused as Jacob's beer went down the wrong pipe and left him coughing and sputtering. She continued to wait as Paz clapped him on the back to help clear his airway.
"A hundr- seriously!?"
Tabitha nodded. "And I accepted, since we wanted to leave anyway, and that much money would be extremely helpful. And before you ask why we want to leave, well. That'll require a lot of context."
Paz frowned thoughtfully. "Is this 'context' why it's 'complicated'?"
"Yeah." Tabitha took a drink of her water, giving herself the time to gather her resolve. "Okay, so back home, there was this story we read, called Worm…"
