Note: I don't own anything
Interlude 2.2: Know-it-all
A young blonde woman walked confidently into the abandoned warehouse. She wore brown low-heel shoes, blue jeans, a halfway unzipped purple jacket with a pulled up hood and a simple domino mask. While the mask did a good job of hiding her facial features, complimented by the shadows cast by the hood, it still couldn't hide the fact that the young woman was irritated, very much so. From afar, she could be mistaken for a civilian, but a closer look would reveal the barely visible utility belt and a holster under the jacket. The young woman in question was none other than Tattletale.
She was in a terrible mood because of what happened just a few minutes ago. Lisa used a taxi to get here from her apartment, but the guy behind the wheel just so happened to be a slightly drunk and depressed Neo-Nazi. The one time she actually used a taxi in a while and such shit luck. The ride itself was fine, quiet, but at the very end, when she was about to pay up, the driver tried to force himself on her.
What pissed her off the most about this situation wasn't the driver's actions, but that because of the sudden assault the mental block on her power was broken for just a few seconds, bombarding her mind with useless knowledge about the driver while she was pulling out her gun. Sometimes it gets much harder to pull the trigger when you know exactly who you're aiming at and how they ended up on the other side of the barrel. Everyone has a boo-hoo sad story, some worse than others, but rarely, if ever, it was a valid excuse for their actions.
Of course, there were also many other things she had to consider, such as the commotion that would be caused by a gunshot, attracting the cops and ruining the meeting. The fact that she didn't have much choice in the matter when it came to picking another method of transportation after the taxi already arrived to pick her up, making this messy situation pretty much predetermined, was just a cherry on top of the shit cake.
In the end, the driver backed off and apologised, but, as a result of dealing with this situation, Tattletale was a few minutes late to the meeting. Sure, she wasn't the one who asked for it, so when it came to the power dynamic she could easily afford to be a bit late, but when dealing with Villains, and Borrow was most definitely a Villain, such actions could cause unnecessary complications later on, and she already had enough on her plate as it is.
Tattletale searched the interior of the warehouse with her gaze. It was pretty dark, the only illumination coming from the hole in the roof, a few broken windows on the right side, and the entrance she just walked through. Other than a few small piles of trash and several dirty and ripped mattresses, the warehouse was empty, with no signs of the other Cape. Suddenly, it became much darker, and a slightly muffled, overly dramatic, and playful male voice came from above.
"Hello, beautiful!~"
The words echoed throughout the warehouse. Startled, Tattletale looked up towards the source of the disturbance. There was a dark figure clad in a black cloak standing still in the pillar of light that came through a hole in the roof. What made the scene even more bizarre was the figure's position. It was standing upside down; the cloak falling upwards and defying gravity. The figure started slowly moving towards her, silently walking on air in a spiral as if inside an invisible tube. When the figure finally reached the ground, Tattletale gave it a closer look. What from the distance looked like a single cloak that hid most of the figure's body, except for the legs below knee height, was, in fact, two low-quality replicas of Shadow Stalker's cloak, one worn properly to obscure the figure's back, and another one, for some reason, worn backwards and obscuring the Cape from the front. What was even more ridiculous is that the Cape has pulled the hood of the front cloak over his bird-themed mask and probably couldn't see anything.
"Borrow, I presume?" - she asked, choosing to ignore what she assumed was the Cape's poor attempt at humour. If he was anything like Regent or Uber and Leet, then any kind of reaction would mean losing. So far, her first impression of him was a bit different from what she was told to expect by Faultline. Of course, it could've been just a misinterpretation of her Thinker power that she used during their phone talk, or maybe Faultline's own assessment of the Cape wasn't completely on point. Only time would tell.
"I must look really similar to Shadow Stalker in this getup if this is the first thing you ask.~" - the Cape replied sarcastically as he took off both cloaks at the same time and threw them on the ground like trash, revealing the suit and mask underneath - "But, to answer your question... Yes, I'm Borrow, one and only. And you must be Tattletale, huh? That bodysuit of a costume of yours must be a bitch to wear outside in winter if you went out in civvies instead, eh?"
Almost immediately, Tattletale noticed the effect of the Stranger power Faultline warned her about. It was really hard to keep looking directly at Borrow for more than a second. She could see him standing right in front of her just fine, but her gaze just kept wandering off, choosing to focus on anything else but the Cape.
"Not as big of a problem as you may think." - she shrugged - "So, why did you want to meet?"
Forcing her gaze to remain on him, she looked him up and down. His costume looked similar enough to how she imagined it to be based on Faultline's brief description, minus the hat. Grey shoes, trousers, gloves, a shirt, a vest and a bird-themed mask, as well as what seemed to be a skintight bodysuit worn underneath the clothes, all covered by the same black fire or tentacle-like pattern spreading sideways from his left. What was really weird, however, is just how perfectly aligned the pattern was across all costume pieces, except for the mask. For a moment, she thought her eyes caught the weird black pattern moving. Overall, the costume looked very professional, if a bit boring and stereotypical design wise.
"To talk business, of course!" - he said, cheerfully.
"Sorry, but I'm not a Cape for hire. As you already know, I'm a member of the Undersiders," - she crossed her hands over her chest - "an independent group of small-time thieves-"
"Oh, come on," - he interrupted her - "I'm well aware that you and your little group are working for Coil."
Tattletale's mind ground to a halt. He knew. As soon as she came back to her senses a second later, she let her power run wild, but to no avail. No matter how hard she tried to direct it at him, it would just continue bombarding her mind with useless information about everything else but the cape.
Warehouse; Dirty; Abandoned; Abandoned shortly after the Boat Graveyard appeared; Looted; Damaged; Damaged in a cape fight; A cape crashed through the roof; Manpower crashed... Garbage; Left by homeless people... Dirty; Cloaks; Replicas; Replicas of Shadow Stalker's cloak; Cheap; Low quality; Stolen; Stolen from a nearby costume shop; Stolen recently; Dirty; Thrown on the ground; Dirty; Dirty...
The interference from his Stranger power was annoying, but she was somewhat prepared for it. Well, as prepared as she could be on such a short notice, anyway. Power interactions were not that uncommon after all, especially between Thinkers and Strangers, as the two were pretty much opposite to each other. Instead of directing her power at what she was looking at, she tried to construct a mental image of Borrow in her mind, and make it the target. But she failed yet again, her power sending an equivalent of ear ringing after an explosion into her mind as a response, only not as intense and disorienting. Trying to point her power specifically at what he said by thinking about it just made it repeat the lines in her skull. Clearly, her power was at the very least aware of Borrow, but it either couldn't target him, couldn't figure him out, or both. For now, the best she could do is to get as much information as possible the normal way.
'He knows who our Boss is, but he contacted me and set this meeting up through Faultline, so he most likely doesn't work for Coil. If he did, then he wouldn't need to bother himself with extra steps.' - she thought - 'His powers don't seem to match with any other Capes who live or lived anywhere near Brockton Bay as far as I can remember, so he's either actually a new Cape, possibly even a recent Trigger, or a Cape that came here from far away to build himself a new life, a new image.'
"What do you want?" - she asked, deciding against acting smug and pissing him off for now.
"Cutting straight to the chase, I see." - he said, then jumped and landed into what seemed to be an invisible armchair - "Well, to keep it simple, I want your boss out of the picture, and I need your help to make it happen."
Borrow moved his hand in a motion that suggested for her to sit down as well. Tattletale's response was a few seconds of awkward silence and a raised eyebrow under her mask. Not that he could see it, probably. He moved the hand back down onto the invisible armrest and shrugged.
"And why would I want to betray him? After all, I do work for him." - she said, confirming his claim.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say that you work for him? I meant to say that you serve him. My mistake, ha-ha!~"
'Annoying.' - this single thought summarised her first impression of Borrow as a person so far - 'Is this what others feel when I talk? It probably is.'
"Now, to answer you question properly. If it is motivation you need, other than your freedom and revenge, of course, then how about a half of Coil's stuff? Interested?"
'This offer looks nice, but it smells of bullshit. If he's even half as powerful a Thinker as I suspect, then there is no reason for him to not stab me in the back later.'
"I'm not exactly thrilled at the idea of putting my life in danger just because some nobody thinks it's a good idea."
"You know, it would've been hilarious just how oblivious you are about the danger you're in if it wasn't so tragic." - Borrow said as he relaxed in the invisible armchair - "You think you're safe now? Or maybe you foolishly believe that you can eventually beat Coil? You're already dead many times over, you just don't know it yet."
Tattletale's mind was racing with thoughts. What Borrow just said implied at least two things. First, that he knew something about Coil that would most likely prevent her from ever killing the bastard. And second, that he thought, no, he knew she's in much greater danger than she believes at the moment. It was the last thing he said, however, that really stuck out.
The way Borrow spoke, regardless of how annoying he may be, showed that he was someone who paid attention to semantics. The first thing he said to her was a joke based on the intentionally incorrect interpretation of her greeting. Later, he used the difference in meaning between words "work" and "serve" both to take a jab at her, as well as to show the depth of his awareness about her situation. And now - this. It was definitely a hint about Coil's power.
'But why would he give me this hint?'
Armed with this new scrap of information, Tattletale once again used her power and thought about Coil.
Coil; Villain; Thinker: power creates an accurate simulation of reality; other Thinkers lower the accuracy of simulations; uses power to torture people: tortured you for information; tortured you for entertainment; killed you; wealthy: can afford to hire dozens of top grade mercenaries; connected to PRT: too familiar with the inside structure; knows that you want to kill him; knows about your plans; black; knows your civilian identity; sadistic: enjoys torturing people; tall: taller than Brian; thin...
Tattletale tried to rein her power back in as it began to repeat less important information that she already knew, but failed. The complicated mix of emotions she felt at the moment overwhelmed her mind. The realisation that all those things Coil was thinking about every time he called her may have actually happened to his simulations of Tattletale, it was horrifying, disgusting, infuriating!
It was too much to take in at once, even for someone like herself. For a moment, she lost control of her body and fell down, right into an invisible armchair. The sudden sensation of sinking into the soft power construct snapped her out of her previous thoughts and made her focus on the present situation.
"It is fascinating to watch your power at work." - Borrow said quietly.
"You." - Tattletale leaned slightly forward, her voice cold, but not hostile.
"Me.~" - Borrow replied playfully, raising his right hand and wiggling his fingers in a mocking gesture commonly associated with friendliness.
"You knew that if I learned about Coil's power then I would have to choose between immediately running away or trying to get rid of him as soon as possible." - Tattletale stated as she leaned back and crossed her legs.
"Of course I did.~ But let's be realistic. You would've figured his power out on your own, eventually. I just gave you a bit of a head-start."
"And what if I choose to run away instead of helping you?"
"It would be a bit problematic to deal with later on. But, regardless of the outcome, I will manage." - Borrow replied, his tone now much colder and detached than ever before.
'So it doesn't matter if I get caught trying to escape and Coil learns about this meeting, the result would still be favourable to him...'
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not indifferent to your fate, nor do I want us ever to be enemies." - Borrow continued - "Obviously I would prefer for us to work together, however if you want to leave, then I'm willing to help with money and information."
"I need time to think it over." - Tattletale said after a few seconds of awkward silence
"Sorry, pumpkin, but you don't really have any. The longer you wait, the worse are your chances for a favourable outcome, regardless of your choice. You have to decide on your course of action right now."
Tattletale was conflicted. Now that she had a better idea about Coil's capabilities, running away seemed like an obviously better option, at least on the surface. However, this kind of choice was exactly what got her into this mess in the first place. Her parents manipulated her, used her power to get rich quickly, so she ran away only to get caught by someone much worse than them. What will she even do when she runs away? Go back to stealing on the street, looking over her shoulder for any signs of Coil's people for the rest of her life? Playing the system like she did back when she still had a family wouldn't be wise, as it would eventually catch the attention of other Thinkers, like Coil or WEDGDG. And what would happen to the Undersiders without her? She was a bit reluctant to admit it, but after working together for months, their lives on the line, she couldn't just leave her friends be in Coil's bloody hands. No, running away wasn't an option, not really.
"Do you at least have a plan?"
"It's a work in progress." - he replied while doing a so-so gesture with his left hand.
'That doesn't fill me with confidence whatsoever.'
Obviously enough, Borrow didn't tell her everything he knew, far from it. After all, there was a chance she would get caught. Regardless, whatever his plan may be, it could only get better with her assistance, and so far he didn't strike her as someone bad at planning.
"Alright, fine, we will work together."
"Splendid!~"
"But! I have several conditions."
"Eh? And what are those?"
"First, I want a half of his stuff AND his main base."
"Sure. What else?"
"Second, don't involve or harm the rest of the Undersiders."
"No problem here."
"Third, Coil needs to die. That's it."
"Wouldn't have it any other way. So, it's a deal, then?"
"Deal."
"Great! Now, here's my contact info." - Borrow said as he pulled out a notepad out of his pocket, ripped out a page and gave it to her - "It would take me forever to explain the plan, as well as everything I know about Coil by just talking. E-mail me and I will send you everything I got as soon as possible. Later!~"
And just like that, Borrow disappeared while she was looking at the piece of paper he handed to her, his power constructs disappearing with him and making Tattletale fall backside first onto the hard and dirty warehouse floor.
'This annoying bastard. I'll get him for it!'
The first thing Lisa did after coming back to her apartment was contacting Borrow via e-mail. When this was done, she logged into her PHO account and searched the website for any mentions of a new Cape. The only thing she found was a blurry image of something grey flying over the buildings at night in a short and abandoned thread. Of course, she didn't really expect to find anything of value through a simple search like this, nor did she expect for any new information about him to appear less than a day after her last search. The results just served to confirm that Borrow was indeed hiding his presence in the city, and she didn't simply miss the new Cape's debut while she was resting after the job well done, nothing more.
She considered doing a thorough search for Borrow's possible previous Cape identity, if he even had one, but immediately dismissed the idea. Without the assistance of her power, it would be just a waste of time and effort. After all, Second Triggers were a thing, besides the fact that Capes tended to use the same abilities in different ways when they created a new identity for themselves, Alec being a good enough example of that. There was also the issue of intentional and unintentional misinformation that would make the task much more difficult, even with the assistance of her Thinker power. No, her time would be better spent on trying to find a way around Borrow's Stranger power, and on collecting as much factual information about him as she can.
Her mind made up, Lisa started writing down everything she learned about the new Cape from their first meeting, adding it to what she got from her power during her phone talk with Faultline. She couldn't use her power on him directly, but no parahuman ability was without a weakness or a counter, perhaps except for Siberian. Of course, using her power on all the stuff she's written didn't work. It just kept reading whatever was written down, or kept telling her about the paper itself, providing no useful insight, but it didn't hurt to try. Sighing in disappointment and defeat, she put the papers away and used her power to figure out if she will be in danger from Coil any time soon while listening to the recording of his latest call.
Busy at base/work; Busy: checking the documents he received from Undersiders; Busy: dealing with unrest among his mercenaries; Busy: fight between Coil organisation and Empire got too much PRT's attention; Doesn't have time to torture you; Busy: will be busy at least until the gangs and PRT calm down...
Lisa was both creeped out and furious over the answer she received from her power, but she also felt a sense of relief. Coil was too preoccupied with other things at the moment, so she could sleep without worrying about him making a simulation where he kidnaps and tortures her for shits and giggles...
Inbox
From: Brightside
To: AllSeeingEye
Jan XX, 2011, 10:23 AM
Subject: (no subject)
2 Attachments:
COIL
THE PLAN
COIL
Name: Thomas Calvert
Occupation: PRT Consultant
Background:
Was a part of the PRT's special forces
When the PRT received reports about Nilbog, his team was sent in to deal with the situation
He was one of the two only survivors of the following incident, the other being Emily Piggot (current Director of PRT ENE)
Power Classification: Thinker
His power allows him to mentally simulate concomitant timelines, or corcognition, until he ends one of the simulations or dies in it
He can never have more than two
Once he makes his choice, he enters 'autopilot mode' and follows the actions he took in the simulation
Once it is over, he is free to do as he wishes again
Time moves forward in his realities regardless of what he does, which limits what he can actually do in a specific timeline
Sources of "causality interference" meddle with his power, including most precognitives and Thinkers in general, meaning he can't make use of other people's information-gathering powers again and again in different timelines
Goals:
Gatting more parahumans to work for him
Weakening and destroying the gangs
Taking over the gangs' territories
Taking Piggot's place as PRT ENE Director
Ruling Brockton Bay in secret while playing both sides
Allies:
Accord and his Ambassadors,
Forces:
Mercenaries - ex-military, unpowered, some may be armed with Tinkertech weapons or weapon attachments produced by Toybox, could be bought out, unloyal, unpredictable, threat level (group) - medium, threat level (individual) - low, priority - medium
Creep - mercenary, loyal, threat level - low, priority - high
Chariot - parahuman Tinker, specialises in mobility, loyal, threat level - high, priority - medium
Undersiders - a group of parahumans, relatively loyal, could be bought out or convinced to defect, threat level - high, priority - very low
Potential Forces:
Trainwreck - parahuman Tinker, Case 53, specialises in steam based technology, can use low-quality materials (trash) to build his tech, unloyal, could be bought out, threat level - above average, priority - low
Circus - parahuman, grab bag, unloyal, could be bought out, threat level - high, priority - low
Faultline's Crew/Palanquin - a group of parahumans, unloyal, unlikely to work within city limits, could be bought out, threat level - very high, priority - low
Uber & Leet - parahuman duo, unloyal, cowardly, could be bought out or convinced to defect, threat level - medium, priority - low
THE PLAN
Goals:
Take over as much of Coil's resources as possible
Make PRT capture Coil (optional)
Kill Coil
Keep PRT occupied for a while
Objectives:
Research Coil's civilian identity
Get Coil's work schedule (optional)
Locate Coil's main base of operations
Locate Uber & Leet's lair (optional)
Get in contact with Uber and Leet (optional)
Hire/convince Uber & Leet to build several Tinkertech devices (optional)
Infiltrate and map out Coil's base
Sabotage the security systems of the Coil's base (optional)
Organise a distraction for Coil in his civilian identity (optional)
Gain access to Coil's personal computer inside the base
Grant access to Coil's personal computer to Tattletale (optional)
Take control of Coil's resources
Search Coil's personal computer for compromising material (optional)
Expose Coil's status as a parahuman to Piggot
Expose Coil's status as a villain and a traitor to Piggot (optional)
Expose the identities of Coil's low-level moles in PRT to Piggot (optional)
Expose the identities of moles planted by other gangs in PRT to Piggot (optional)
Misinform Piggot about who the gangs' moles work for, tell her they work for Coil, exaggerate Coil's threat to PRT (optional)
Make one of Coil's men in PRT assassinate him in his cell (optional)
Assassinate Coil
Dispose of Coil's mercenaries (optional)
Equipment:
Personal Computer
Burner Phones
Leet's Tinkertech 1: communication devices (optional)
Leet's Tinkertech 2: something to deal with base's security systems (optional)
Leet's Tinkertech 3: something to grant access to Coil's computer from a distance (optional)
Leet's Tinkertech 4: something undetectable that will kill Coil on command (optional)
Leet's Tinkertech 5: computer (optional)
Time limit: 1 - 2 weeks
After waking up a bit late and visiting the bathroom, Lisa prepared some coffee and turned on her computer. She slept for more than 8 hours, yet she felt like shit. Not surprising, when her sleep was haunted by nightmares about Coil. Trying to distract herself from the bitter thoughts, she sipped on the bitter drink and opened up her inbox.
There, above a dozen unchecked notification e-mails from PHO, was a message from Borrow. There was no text, only two documents named "COIL" and "THE PLAN". A short reading session later, she couldn't help but furrow her brows, deep in thought. Borrow gave her less information than she hoped he would, and the plan he provided was very barebones.
As far as information about Coil went, it was very strange that some parts of it were pretty detailed, such as a description of his power and the mechanics behind it, even including its limitations, or the gear used by his mercenaries. But it was also very lacking in other places, such as his background. The plan was also lacking in detail, such as how he was planning to infiltrate the base, sabotage the security systems, or when exactly each part was supposed to happen. It was very vague, more of an outline than a plan.
'A "work in progress" indeed'
There were multiple reasons she could think of for why the documents were lacking these details:
1 - lack of information
2 - assumption that this information was unnecessary
3 - a test of her abilities
4 - lack of trust
5 - a precaution against her capture by Coil
6 - lack of thought
7 - some combination of other reasons
First reason wasn't just possible, it was very likely to be true, depending on how Borrow's Thinker power worked. Reasons number two and six were unlikely. Borrow, despite acting like a clown, didn't give her an impression of being an airhead. From star to finish of their meeting, he was in control. And if his grasp on the mechanics of her power was even half as good as his understanding of Coil's ability, then he wouldn't assume that any information he had was unnecessary. Third reason wasn't that likely either, as with a one-to-two-week deadline it wouldn't be wise to waste time like that. Reasons four and five were possible, but Borrow's dismissive attitude said otherwise. He was just too confident in his ability to end Coil for either reason to be sufficient on its own. It was probably just a question of how much damage he would cause along the way. Reason number seven, or more specifically a combination of reasons one, four and five, was the most likely answer. First, because no power was perfect. Fourth, because he had no reason to trust her. And fifth, because that way her possible capture would deal the least amount of damage to his plan. Until proven otherwise, she decided to work on the assumption that Borrow will ditch her at the first sign of trouble.
With this out of the way, she skimmed through the documents for a second time, just in case she missed something. Good thing she did that, because there was indeed something unusual about the document dedicated to Coil. In the Forces and Potential Forces lists, right after the threat level, there was a weird "priority" rating, and she couldn't figure out what it meant as it didn't seem to correlate with the threat level or anything else on the lists at all. Another thing she noticed is that sometimes there were two spaces before the word priority, which probably meant that a word that was previously there is now missing. The answer to this question came from the place she didn't expect.
Elimination priority; Document: recently edited; Edited to...
'Wha-?'
Lisa was so focused on the mystery of the missing word that she once again let the control over her power slip away for just a second. A lucky coincidence, as it finally gave her something to work with. Pulling out her notes on Borrow from where she put them yesterday, she let her power loose once more, but to no avail. Just like yesterday, all her power did is an equivalent of a narration.
'But why did it work on the document and not on my notes? What's the difference?' - Lisa was sure that she missed something important, some minor detail that made it possible to use her power on these documents and not on her notes - 'It could be that the Stranger power effect has a time limit, but my power said that the document was recently edited, so that's unlikely.'
Extra space between Goals and Allies sections; A section is missing; A section is edited out; Base section is edited out; Edited because information is unreliable; Information: gained through precognition; A list of Allies ends with a comma; Other sections don't; Other Allies were edited out; Undersiders listed separately from other Forces; Copy-pasted from Potential Forces section...
'This confirms that it wasn't a fluke. It also confirms that Borrow is a precog, a powerful one, too. The amount of information he edited out is way larger than I expected, at least a section and a half worth of info, probably more.'
Grabbing a pen, Lisa wrote down all the new information that she just learned into her notes. When that was done, she copied her notes into a new document on her computer. Using the power on the new Borrow document, however, gave the same results as with the notes written on paper. Lisa felt like slamming her head against the wall, cursing all those times she asked, begged for something out there to challenge her ability.
'Focus on the positives, Lisa. At least it eliminated another possibility.' - she thought as she massaged her temples.
She scrolled and skimmed through the documents over and over, looking for something, anything, that could give her a hint. Then it hit her like a truck - the cloaks. The Shadow Stalker replica cloaks that Borrow stole. Her power worked on them. It didn't outright tell her that it was Borrow who stole them, but it did tell her that they were stolen recently from a shop nearby the warehouse they met at. Despite being handled by Borrow himself, like the documents he sent, her power worked on them just fine. And there was only one thing in common between the documents and the cloaks...
'Neither of them is directly tied to Borrow's identity.'
If this was true, then she already had a pretty good idea how to work around his Stranger power, and it was a fairly simple method, too - modeling. All she would have to do is create a model of "Borrow", a theoretical being that is infinitely similar to him, yet isn't him. Of course, such a method would never be hundred percent accurate, as a model was just an approximation of the real deal. But the more she learned about him, the more accurate the information gained through her power would become. All she had to do now was to swap Borrow's name for something else in her notes and see if it works.
'And what a coincidence that I already have an appropriate name in mind for the model!~ Fucking Know-it-all.'
Know-it-all: Thinker, Shaker + sub-Breaker + sub-Mover, Stranger; Thinker: views the world as a story, views important people as characters, everything else is background, detached from reality; Likes your character: thinks you are interesting, views you as a useful plot device, wants to be friends; Wants to help; Thief; Doesn't care about money; Villain; Dislikes Coil's character: knows what he did, knows what he may do, wants to erase him; Shaker: aerokinesis, makes air act like a solid, not Manton limited; Stranger: ?, targeting interference, uNKnOwN?...
Lisa's head exploded with pain for a few seconds. Her power just shut down until the pain passed and everything returned to normal, as if it never happened to begin with.
"Well, shit."
This was both way better and way worse than she thought. Good news? Borrow was unlikely to put a knife in her back - 'Yay to that!' - Bad news? His power fucked him in the head and made him batshit insane. This kind of reminded her about Rachel's case, only instead of losing the ability to understand human behaviour, it seems that Borrow understood people a bit too well for his own good, to the point that he stopped seeing them as people. Her best guess was that his thought process was similar to that of a nigh-omniscient reader that inserted himself into a story. If his Thinker power allowed him to see the "plot", to look both in the past and in the future, then the more he could see, the worse his mental state would probably be. It would also explain how he knew so much about the mechanics behind Coil's powers and why his information was a bit all over the place.
What worried her even more was that even when she used a model of Borrow, her power still had some difficulties. Whatever his Stranger power was, it was bullshit. Well, all powers were, but that didn't make dealing with it any less frustrating. Hopefully, the more she learned about him, the less of an effect it would have in the future.
"God fucking dammit."
Finishing the rest of her coffee in one go, Lisa slammed the cup on the table and released a long and tired sigh. This was only the start of a new day and it had already gone to shit. The world was unfair like that. After writing down everything she just learned, she finally, FINALLY started working on the plan. More precisely, she hacked into the oh so secure PRT network both to look for any available information on Coil, and to see what other dirty secrets she could find. Never know what might come in handy someday...
Author's note:
Finally, I'm releasing an update. Not gonna lie, I'm not exactly happy with this chapter, and it was supposed to be separated into parts A and B, but I was sitting on this and a few other chapters for so long that it was getting unbearable. Feel free to destroy me with criticism or roast my ass if you can be bothered.
Lil cryin bitch corner: I fucking hate writing Tattletale, and I'm not even good at it. Just imagine how much worse it could've been then.
