It was several moments before I could respond.
"What?"
I didn't say anything about being articulate in my reply.
"You made good time," the girl clarified. "And you cost one of your minders a bet."
What?
There was no one else in the room, no sign of dad either. He wasn't the type of person to let a random stranger in the house. At least, I thought so; it was possible that this girl had bluffed her way past dad, saying something about school or the PRT.
I mentally shook my head. No, dad had years of experience dealing with people, he would have caught on to something like that fast. And even if he did end up letting her in here, he wouldn't have just left her alone.
So where was he? It smelled like breakfast had been cooked, and it wasn't that far from the kitchen to the front door, he had to have heard me coming in. Or at least heard the girl talking.
A bolt of fear shot through me. Had she done something to him?
"Relax," the girl said suddenly, with a fox-grin. "I didn't do anything to your dad. He just stepped out, and my boss told me that this was the perfect opportunity for us to… get to know one another."
If anything, that made me more worried. Dad had said that he going back to work today, but he didn't say when; did he leave without saying goodbye? I found that hard to believe about the last few weeks we had, let alone the months that he endured.
Furthermore… how the hell did she know what I was thinking about dad?
"Oh, that?" the girl smirked and tilted her head to the side. "I can read minds."
That, that I called bullshit on, mostly because of my own research into capes. There were a lot of powers out there, but the only one that everyone seemed to agree came the closest to 'reading minds' was the Simurgh.
Strangely though, the girl's actions helped to steady me. Her words about dad meant that she had likely waited until he'd left before breaking and entering. Which meant that it was unlikely she was from either the PRT or the school.
It also hopefully meant that she wasn't here for violence, but it was also just as likely that she waited for dad to leave for that very reason.
"Who are you? How did you get in?" Perhaps not the greatest of questions, but that didn't invalidate their necessity. And sure, her comments signaled that she was all but certainly a cape, and pissing off an unknown cape that showed their face in your own house was a major red flag given the Unwritten Rules; but I hadn't done anything to warrant attention yet (other than Winslow).
So, what the fuck?
"An ally of convenience, and back door; you leave it unlocked, brave of you two. And for the record, this wasn't my idea," offered the girl with a sigh. "I wanted to meet you at school, but I was overruled in that. My Boss wanted to extend… an offer, to you and your father however, and told me to do it like this."
Suddenly, the grin was back, and if possible bigger. "But surprise surprise, all the bugs in your place have been turned off! So we can speak a bit more candidly about what's really going on. Because I owe you one, for helping me figure out something about my 'employer' and that I feel bad for you, considering that you're in over your head and have no idea that you're even underwater yet. But, being the (relatively) good person I am, I'll take some time and effort to extract you from the deep end of the pool."
"I…" What does one say to the stranger that breaks into your house, and proceeds to offer to help you out?
"Most people would knock and ask to be invited in," I said by way of reply.
And immediately wished I could have said anything else, because really?
"Most people would be freaking out more," the girl shot back. "But you figure your chances are better than most. After all, you just need to make it out the front door or hit 911 on that new phone of yours, right? Unless of course, I'm one of those capes that can kill you before you get to the door or reach for your phone; which I'm not, by the way."
Like I could believe she would just tell me that. As for her power… Thinker, easy deduction to make. That limited who I was talking to, to unknown. The Protectorate didn't have Thinkers in the Bay, and none of the gangs that I had looked up had a mental based Thinkers.
Über and Victor were more physically-based Thinkers, but Über didn't seem to be the type to want to kill anyone; he and Leet made more money off their videos than any crimes they did.
Victor was E88 and they weren't the type to knock gently.
And it didn't mean that she didn't have a second power, one that could, in her words, kill me before I got to the door.
"Oh and, sorry about all of this," the girl gestured around the room. "But the PRTs bugs are off and… sorry, I'm repeating myself here; I just wasn't expecting them all to be off. Because I can talk a little more freely than I normally ever could, which is kind of a relief really. Therefore, I'm kinda winging things here, hoping that the PRT hasn't noticed that I'm actually here, and comes barging in to get me. The last thing I need right now is to be caught and placed inside an easily accessible kill box at the PRT HQ; don't need to give my boss any more reasons to have me offed."
"What?"
"As much as I love a good Q -and-A," The girl stood and dusted off imaginary dust from her pants. "Let's at least introduce ourselves. I'm Lisa."
The girl, Lisa, extended a hand, as if she expected me to shake it. I considered it for a moment, general kindness and social niceties kicking in over the general weirdness, before I decided not to.
Lisa didn't seem at all offended when she lowered her hand. "Now I know who you are, Taylor Hebert, and I know that you recently Triggered. I also know that you turned down the PRT's offer to join the Wards. Smart move, they would have likely moved you to some random little town in the middle of nowhere that only has like, three really small-time capes to its name."
"Now as for what I'm doing here? Well, my boss wanted me to reach out to you and make an offer, the type that is implied that if it's refused, the next time it's offered it's done with a gun to your head."
I stared, wide-eyed at Lisa, who despite the situation, continued to smile at me.
"Oh don't worry," Lisa added with a wave of her hand. "I'm not the type of person my boss wants me to be, not that that would work out well either, so I'm not here to make that offer; mostly because of the fact that I don't view myself as an asshole. Sure, I might not be the most morally sound person out there, but at least I don't look into killing people because they happen to get in my way."
Lisa continued to speak, even as she sat back down on my couch. "You may not have realized it yet Taylor, but you just became something of a hot commodity in the world of capes. Or a passing fad, I don't know which yet. The PRT is keeping an eye on you, my boss wanted to know everything I can dig up on you (which isn't much let me just say that now), outside the PRT severs, and the fact that some parts of the public are still on the lookout for you; they want you to be held accountable for Winslow, upset parents you know. Luckily, the PRT is keeping a lid on things so far. Which in turn leads us to now, with me, sitting in your living room, and you, with a whole bunch of questions."
"Shouldn't you know them all already?" I ask semi-dryly, even as I glanced around the room, seeing if anything had been shifted. "With the whole, 'reading minds' thing?"
She was definitely a Thinker. It didn't seem like anything had been moved from this morning, so I couldn't tell if she had got through things. And there was nothing nearby that would get me sometime of edge here; short of walking out the door, or reaching for my phone.
Which had the chance of ending badly; at least if I listened to her, I might be able to figure out why she was in my house.
Lisa snorted. "You didn't believe that for a second. And given my little rant, you have questions, ones that I'll happily answer."
This whole thing was surreal. First, a complete stranger shows up in my home. Next, she's offering commentary of my cape state. What I should be doing was calling the police and getting out of the house, and not necessarily in that order.
But at the same time, she knew who I was, she spoke of having a boss that knew who I was. Hell, she'd offer up that information willingly, and while this whole thing just screamed 'don't do it!', the fact remained; someone other than the PRT knew who I was.
I could work with the PRT, they had laws that they at least should follow and as long as I didn't do anything cape-like, then I was safe from a legal standpoint.
That wasn't to say that I didn't have worries about them taking a less than legal approach, but I figured that as long as I didn't go against the PRT and worked with them (in a way) instead, then I would be ok.
But whoever Lisa's boss was? I had no guarantees that they wouldn't arrange an 'accident' if I didn't follow their wishes. This whole thing broke several of the cape world's 'Unwritten Rules,' particularly the ones about not going after civilian identities or their families.
Furthermore, the information that she was giving up on me… most of it could only be found within the PRT.
"It's starting to sink in huh?" Lisa asked. "Some of what I said, and the implications."
"… I don't trust you," I said bluntly. "And right now, frankly, I really don't like you."
Lisa shrugged. "Good, that's a smart choice. Don't trust the random stranger that broke into your home; I'm not even going to argue against that one. Doesn't mean that you shouldn't listen though."
… She was right, and I hated that fact. If she knew about what the PRT had about me…
"What do you want?" I all but spat.
"Ah, there's the aggression. I was wondering where it was, considering, you know," Lisa glanced around the room. My living room.
I just glared at the blond, and she raised her hands up in a surrender motion.
"Sorry, sorry. Really actually. I really wasn't expecting your place not to be bugged anymore, nor was I expecting this opportunity. You see, my Boss is a paranoid old fuck, and we do not see eye to eye. And ever since you showed up, he's not only been even more paranoid, but also making mistakes, and the Boss doesn't make mistakes."
"So, what does this have to do with you? Well… for me, you helped out in figuring out who my Boss is; for him… you represent both a problem and an opportunity. Somehow, your power is messing with his, which means that you're very lucky that he really doesn't like to make any rash decisions, or you would be having a different conversation, with someone else, in a concrete room and you tied down to a chair."
"What? Why?" I asked. "I haven't done anything! The only time I even used my power…"
Was back at Winslow. Was her 'boss' one of those really young and powerful capes, like Grey Boy was? Or did I happen to do something to him when Winslow happened?
"See, this is the part where you helped me out," said Lisa. "I had a good idea who my Boss was before this, but you helped confirm it with Winslow; even helped point me in the direction of what type of power he has. He's a Precog of sorts; it's the only thing that fits. How his power works… I don't know. But your power, on the other hand, it seems to screw with Precogs."
"Which is bad, considering that, as best as I can tell, he wants the city under his thumb, and that he's willing to recruit those he can leverage, and kill those that stand in his way."
… I didn't need this, and I didn't want this. I was supposed to be moving on with my life, getting past my past, and getting dragged into some sort of underground cape power struggle was decidedly not on the agenda.
Yet… if what Lisa was saying was even remotely true, then I really didn't have much of a choice. My power was messing with his; how? I had no idea.
Suddenly, not getting my powers tested seemed like a stupid thing to do.
Sure, it wasn't like I had any plans or thoughts about getting into the world of capes, or having anything to do with them after Winslow and the disaster that was the PRT handling Hess. But hell, I didn't even know how to use my power, what if I ended up blasting apart Arcadia with another ice-tree because my first boyfriend cheated on me?
Granted I never once felt like using my power, and didn't ever want to as well, so I had no idea on what my power did (plus I didn't have any plans on getting a boyfriend for a while; after what I'd been through, I didn't want to deal with that potential drama for a few more years). But I also was smart enough to realize that they won't just leave me be, at some point, whether I wanted it or not, I would have to go to the PRT to get my power tested.
In the same thread… the PRT was built to deal with things like this, Lisa, her boss. If I went to them… except that they might not believe me, and the thing was, Lisa knew who I was, and hadn't she just used the words "easily assessable," "PRT," and "kill box" in the same sentence?
"… look," Lisa said with a sigh at my silence. "I get it, really, you're not alone in this boat. I wish that you hadn't been dragged into this mess." She made a face. "After all, when Coil 'asked' me to look into you, it didn't take long to see our similarities."
Coil? The minor villain that used mercs? He was the one that had found out about me?
PHO didn't have that much on him, other than him controlling some territory and having some minor crimes accredited to him. But…
Lisa smiled wilily. "Kinda my reaction when I first heard about him as well, well, mostly. Getting grabbed off the street in my public identity to be forced into service changed my perspective on Coil. So, for the record? Going to the PRT about this would get a mark on your head pretty quickly."
I didn't know much about the capes of my hometown, other than the obvious ones like in the Protectorate. And Lung. That's not to say that I didn't know about the capes, just that I wasn't able to name half of them before Winslow, other than the leaders and the rather… infamous ones.
During what free time I had between Winslow and the PRT meeting, however, I took the time to better look into the cape scene. What I found wasn't good.
Empire Eight-Eight, basically Nazis. Fifteen capes to their name; everyone knew about the Nazis, some of the posts on PHO claimed that they were 'the good guys.' But dig just a little bit deeper, and you find that some of them, like Hookwolf or Alabaster, were just killers with an idea to hide behind.
Azn Bad Boys; also known as the group that Lung commanded. Only three capes, but two of them where powerhouses capable of sending a number of the Protectorate running, if they survived the fight in the first place. While the third was an, 'informational security' nightmare.
Archer's Bridge Merchants, or just the Merchants. Drug dealers, and just generally a group that didn't care about anything but what they wanted to do. They only had like two or four capes, depending on what source you believed.
After that it was the minor groups, like Faultline's Crew or the Undersiders. The smalltime Villains, Rogues and Independents that drifted on the outskirts, trying to make a living however they could.
But Coil? Practically nothing. A few details here and there, mostly about him using mercs with Tinker-Tech weapons and controlling a small section of the city. In fact, the only reason I even remembered the name was that he was marked as owning territory in the city despite the fact that no one knew anything about him.
Despite what it sounded like, this didn't make it better. If Coil was able to figure out who I was, had links inside the PRT, and had no issues with killing, then it wasn't looking good for me.
I had read enough books over the years to understand where this was going; the other gangs in the city had reasons for being around, like drugs, power, racist comments and agendas, money, fame, showboating (in case of Über, Leet and Pwnage at least), that kind of thing, but if what Lisa had said was true, then Coil was different.
His actions spoke of patience, of planning, of gathering information; these weren't the moves of a TV cartoon villain, these were the moves of the type of plotter that only revealed himself at the final twist, to show that everything had gone exactly as he planned it all along. A mastermind that had no qualms about finding out someone's public identity (mine) then sending someone in to… talk to them.
Which was really bad, as it seemed that I somehow was inadvertently messing with that very mastermind; a man that would lose no sleep at night after he had me and dad killed for simply stepping into his way if what Lisa was saying was true.
"Yeah, you're pretty fucked," Lisa said bluntly. "And it's mostly because you haven't done anything other than exist, and who your father is, that you haven't been snatched up yet. Luckily, I think we can help each other out."
After this she winced and rubbed at her temples, muttering, "Damn headaches," before fitting me with another smile.
"It might not be obvious, but I really don't like Coil being my boss," said Lisa. "Plus, after being ordered to look into you, I found that you're a good person in a shitty situation. So, I think we can work together and resolve this problem in a way that benefits us both."
"Resolve? I… I'm sorry? You're not the one that just had a stranger walk into her home and practically get a death threat," I snapped. "And now you're saying that I'm the one that needs to help you?!"
Lisa again held up her hands in surrender. "Woah there, while I get where you're coming from, and I respect and understand it completely, don't forget that I'm basically putting myself in the crosshairs here. If Coil finds out that I'm doing this…" she trails off, before continuing.
"Look, normally, I'd never be this open, but with the combo of your power, and the fact that you have a direct link to the PRT because of it, means that you alone are in the very unique position to help me get free."
"How would I even begin to help you?" I ask, still in a slight daze but still feeling like something was boiling over in my skin. "I barely know what's going on! All I want…"
I cut myself off, because… I didn't trust Lisa. Sure, she hit me with some very powerful information, but the fact that she just showed up out of the blue was suspect. How did I not know that she was feeding me false information?
Despite what had happened with Hess and the PRT, I really didn't think that they would bother setting something up like this to label me as a villain. The thought had crossed my mind, it fit better than what Lisa was saying (or I hoped, because in other words it meant that someone had seriously thought about killing me). But they didn't really need to do that, because they had managed to (mostly) sweep Winslow under the rug when it involved me.
If they had wanted to get rid me in secret, it would just be my dad that would protest and while he could make a pretty big fuss given his links to the City Council, the PRT should would be able to cover that up fairly easily as well. Plus, I hadn't even been back to school for two weeks yet (and was still a loner), so it was unlikely that anyone would miss me at school.
"You don't need to trust me," Lisa said. "It would be uncharacteristic for you to just trust what I'm saying without checking it first. But at the same time… you need to extend a bit of faith, because if I'm right… then you will definitely not have a choice in the matter. Which you don't, by the way."
Damn it, that was starting to get really annoying. Just what was her power anyway? She smiled her fox-grin at me and continued.
"So, do we have, something, of a deal? You help me out? I help you out?"
"… it's not like I have much choice," I bitterly replied.
The age-old idiom came to mind, 'stuck between a rock and a hard place.'
After all, here were the facts as I knew them:
· The PRT knew who I was
· I did not trust the PRT to have my best interests in mind (not after Hess and Winslow)
· This girl, Lisa, knew who I was
· Her boss, Coil, knew who I was
· Coil was a villain
· Coil was very unlikely to have my best interests in mind.
· Coil, based what on Lisa, his subordinate, had told me, had no problems with killing me and my dad.
· Lisa, at significant personal risk, t old me several of these things.
· I couldn't really trust Lisa, but was failing to find a reason for her to risk herself like this.
· I also couldn't find any reason for her to lie about this (well I could, but not in a way that put me and dad in possible danger)
· Several of these things contained information that only the PRT had.
· Therefore, Coil had connections to/inside the PRT.
So, in other words, I couldn't go to the PRT, as Coil would get to me and my dad; not to mention they might gang-press me into the Wards if they A: believed me, and B: could protect me from Coil (getting put into the Wards was still better than the alternative though).
And if I let Coil get his hands on me, I might end up using my powers at his wishes or could very likely end up dead if I had no control over this… anti-Precog part of my power.
All of this meant that, barring a sudden out falling into my lap, I had to work with Lisa. Unless this was all complete and utter bullshit, but then only a fool would dismiss this all and not work with the girl.
Despite the fact that I so wanted to turn her away; I wanted no part in cape games.
But it seemed that capes wanted me to play their game anyway.
"Right, not-teammates teammates then," Lisa said with a smile. "Now I know that you have a ton of questions, just as I know that you really don't want to be seeing my face right now; So, before I tell you my plan and leave, anything critical that you want to know?"
There were several things I wanted to know. Some of them involved how and where she got her information. How much did Coil know about me? How far was his reach into the PRT? Did he have any of the Protectorate or Wards under his thumb?
All of this was just happening too fast, but I didn't have any control over it and didn't that cause my chest to tighten.
Luckily, Mr. Rieper had taught be a few breathing exercises for situations like this; they helped a bit, but I was lacking in a 'calm controlled center, where one's emotions lie still in the rain.' So, I had to make do with what I could do.
"What types of… things, would you have me do?" I ask. "Because I'm not going to cover for you, nor help you do anything. The PRT hasn't gotten around to forcing me into the Wards over my powers yet, so I can't even be a mole, not that I would do that anyway."
… Thorough I might have, given that it was both my and Dad's lives on the line. The PRT might have been able to protect me from getting kidnaped vis getting me into the Wards, but short of placing a guard on him, my dad would be harder to protect.
Lisa shook her head. "No, nothing like that. If anything, all I'll ask for is you to check something for me, maybe quietly feed some info to the PRT, or Dragon, she would be better."
"That doesn't really answer my question."
Lisa sighed. "In truth? All you need to know is to keep your guard up, and not to take any offers from anyone. Coil has more than one mole in the PRT. What I'm really hoping is that you are still messing with his power enough for me to get the drop on him and get rid of him, one way or another. As for something that you can do… The PRT is going to want you to come in for powers testing, my advice? Go in for it. It would be helpful for you, Coil will get his information, and it will give me some more time to set my plan into motion."
"Long term, however… there might be a few things I'll need you to do when the time comes. Until then, however, just keep doing what you're doing. As long as I'm careful, it's unlikely that Coil will lay into me, or you for that matter; he hates to make snap decisions."
That didn't sound that bad really, other than the whole possibility of getting killed if Lisa screwed up. But she was in the same boat as I, and while I had doubts about her, I could at least tell that Lisa wasn't lying about most of the things she was telling me; her actions and the bitterness in her tone when talking about Coil told me that what she thought about the man were true. I would be in the same position as well, hell, I was in the same position.
"Ok then… Coil, what does he want? He is a villain, obviously, but most would be making more noise at this point, so does he want to be the top dog of the city? To does he want the city? And what plan?" At a glance, both of those were the same things, but if Coil wanted to own the city, then that meant that he needed to kick out all the other gangs and do something about the PRT.
"Can't tell you everything, informational security, you understand." And that grin was back, damn her. "But… Coil works for the PRT, but he's avoided suspicion by not acting on anything that's come across his desk. So, my best guess is that he wants to do something to get rid of all the gangs, and out the Director at the same time, opening up the position for him to take or barring that, making it so that he is the guy controlling the underworld around here. I bet it's one of the reasons he's working so slowly, he wants to have everything come together in a chain of events, a chain that he holds onto."
"As for my plan? …similar thing; but just know, that you've given me the opportunity to throw a few wenches into Coils plans."
"… that's it?" I ask. "Just… mess with him?"
"It's far more complicated than that," Lisa admitted. "But Coil is the type of man that really doesn't like it when complications crop up, and I plan to give him one hell of a complication."
"So, what does this with all have to do with me?" I ask after a moment. "Why hasn't he just killed or captured me and been done with it? If he has as much control as you say he does, and I'm messing with him as bad as you say, why am I still here?"
It was something that had been bugging me, if my power was messing with his, causing him to make mistakes, then why hadn't he grabbed me or taken me out yet? Sure, I was happy he hadn't, and it made sense for Coil not to waste everything he had worked for by making a rushed decision, but why send Lisa? Someone that he has to know would be looking for ways to get away from him?
"Truthfully? Coincidence… mostly."
I blinked. "What?"
"You just so happen to be Danny Hebert's daughter," Lisa clarified. "The same Danny Hebert that's not only the de facto head of the local Dockworkers, but also one of the main men behind the DWA keeping the gangs out of the still working portions of the Docks. In the current economic climate, this doesn't matter much, but a man with ambitions like Coil? Well, he wants to rule the city, even if it ends up in secret."
"So, if the gangs mysteriously were taken down, or at least lost huge chunks of their territories, by the PRT or Coil himself, and if he were to get your father into his back pocket, by maybe getting the ferry working at full capacity again, then align you with his plans, or just make sure that you don't get in the way… then all that needs to happen is for the recycling plants to open back up again, pulling at all the spare steel that Brockton has laying around in the Trainyards and the Graveyard. And if the labor first used was from the DWA?"
"Dad would have political power again, and be under Coils' control," I finished.
"Yep," Lisa popped. "I knew you'd figure it out. In fact, if you hadn't Triggered, you likely never would have known about all of this, unless your dad talked to you about it. But because Coil likes to stack the deck in his favor, you becoming a Parahuman just means that Coil just found another set of 'pawns' for his plans. So he's just finding ways to work you in without tossing away part of his current plans, as anti-Thinkers are useful, to say nothing of getting another cape on his side. I'm just trying to get a few steps ahead of the game by getting to you first, hopefully without Coil noticing because he's trying to work his way around you."
"For me, this is a test, to see if I do anything stupid, like use you to betray him to the PRT. But the thing is," Lisa laughed out. "This is what I was talking about, I don't think he meant to turn off all the bugs inside your home! He said he would take care of the footage of this meeting, but he can't because there is none! That, I think is your power at work messing with his, which is the whole reason that we're even having this conversation; otherwise I would be wearing a mask right now."
"So you're basically using me?" I spat in anger. "Because of my power messing with his?"
Lisa lifted her hand up and wobbled it a bit. "It's more of… a mutually beneficial relationship. I get out from under a really bad boss, and you get to sleep a little easier knowing that no one is out to kill you anymore. Besides, most everyone uses each other in one way or another, even if it's just to not be a loner for life."
I gave the blond intruder my best stare, at which she just smiled her fox-grin back.
For a time.
Before she sighed and hung her head for a moment.
"… ok, so I am using you a bit. But to be fair, it's not as bad as you think it is. Coil isn't one to rush into things unless he's forced into it, so you have some time before he makes a move; he likes having all the information before he commits to something. This means that if all goes well, you won't have to do anything more than keep your head down; just like how you're doing right now. It's nothing you shouldn't be used to."
"What do you mean?"
Lisa shrugged. "I mean that, no matter what why you look at it, this is how the world works; people just don't hang, met, or become friends with to just do that. From a purely psychological perspective, humans are social creatures, we group up with others to fulfill that need, sometimes it's for the short term, others for the long term. We might walk away from this all being best friends, or, could never want to see each other's faces again."
That stung, not just the raw matter-of-fact way she said it, but for the fact that it reminded me of Emma's words. We had been friends for years, practically sisters. Yet, in the end, none of that mattered, she still seemingly made it her life's goal to tear me down in any way she could.
All because she wanted to feel better about herself.
"I for one want us to be friends," Lisa continued. "And even though this is a … bit of a rocky start, I hope that as we go along this crazy ride, that you will come to see me as one. I didn't want my life to end up like this either; working for a man that could kill me, performing crimes, breaking into a strangers home, practically threatening them, but this is the way the cards have fallen for us. Best to run with it and see if we can't figure out a way to get something good out of it, right?"
… I didn't know if that was depressing, or uplifting. There was a hint of truth to her words, but at the same time… this whole thing wasn't something I was happy about, so it was hard to see any 'silver lining'.
After my mom, dad, Emma, my Trigger… I guess I could consider it lucky that I never once considered ending it all.
"By the way, your dad is really fine, the house was empty when I came in."
"Really?" I asked, happy to pull my thoughts from a rather dark place. "Then what happened to him? Why isn't he here right now?"
"You were really lost in thought huh?" Lisa asked with a grin. "There's no car out front."
I closed my eyes with a groan. Of course. Something had to have happened with the DWA and he headed in for the day. Something good I hoped. Had to be, otherwise he wouldn't have left me alone with telling me first, not after everything that had happened.
"What? You think I would knock him out and then move the car?" At this, Lisa gestured toward the kitchen. "He left a note on a covered plate. And based on what it says, my guess is that Coil is making some overtures to him and it's likely going to involve the ferry. That would fit, both with your dad, and Coil's agenda, which really is the stereotypical villain 'take over the city in secret' kinda thing. He even has a secret underground lair."
I had to blink twice at that one.
"Those exist?"
"Sure," Lisa replied. "I even think the PRT has one or two somewhere; speaking of which, you know they're watching you right? Near constant radio comms between two different teams. Well, more like they're bored enough to just talk to each other because you haven't done much."
Of course I knew I was being watched, I practically blew up my school before telling them that I didn't want to join their team, just so they could ship me off somewhere else. If they didn't at least have someone keeping an eye me, then that would be another whole level of incompetence.
And I could understand why what happened did (mostly because of talks with dad about managing people and the issues involved), so I could kinda see how what had happened, happened. Which, in turn, made how it happened even more cutting to me.
Because it shouldn't have. I can get someone not doing their job and fudging a few reports for the sake of looking good and getting money, but for what had happened to actually happen, spoke volumes of the PRT bureaucracy.
And the fact that it happened to me really sank the blade deep. Dad had explained that real life was just like high school; with its good apples and bad, complete with all the little social circles, some of which existed for a reason, others existing only because people decided that it needed to exist.
(the two teams was something that concerned me though, why two teams?)
"No love lost between you then," Lisa continued. "Figures, given what you did and what they did to you. I had to come in through the back after jumping a few fences to avoid getting spotted by the way."
… that, I didn't know. I had figured that they were watching me, I just didn't know how much.
"Speaking of which," Lisa said while standing. "I should get going. Have to leap back over those walls if we don't want to arouse suspicion. Last bit of advice? Act normal, don't tell anyone about all of this, and just go about your life. I'll contact you."
And with that, she began to walk towards the back door.
"Wait."
Lisa paused on her way out, glancing over her shoulder at me.
For a moment, I fidgeted, unsure if I should ask this given what we'd… I'd, been saying but…
"You never said why you were doing this. I mean, I'm grateful," if it is all true and you didn't toss me under the bus, was my unspoken thought. "But… you didn't need to see me for your plan to work, you even said as much. So why even talk to me about it? Why risk getting me pissed at you," which I totally was, and she had to know it. "Just to basically tell me that my life was in danger?"
Lisa looked at me for several seconds, before sighing. "To be honest… yeah, I didn't need to. You simply going about your day would have worked fine. But… I got two real reasons in doing this." she bit her lip for a moment, and I was struck by how sudden that seemed to shift her personality. The entire time that we were speaking, she was in control. Now, however?
"… I like to have back-up plans," she admitted. "Coil is slippery, and I'm pretty sure I can nail him, but if you know about what's going on, even if it's frankly terrifying, then I should get a little more wiggle room in how to deal with him. Who knows, maybe you'll be my unseen trump card in taking in him down."
She beamed at me with her next sentence. "After all, you now have a vested interest in wanting Coil to be taken down as well, which means that you'll help out if I ask."
Fuck you too Lisa.
"And as for the other reason?"
I cocked my head to the side as Lisa turned away, moving to open up the back door.
"… let's just say that I wished someone had helped me figure things out, like I'm helping you."
And with that cryptic comment, she left.
