- - -Still-Defiant- - -

Meetings concluded, tinkertech analysis done and reports filed, I arrive back in the bay in the early evening of Wednesday the ninth. With my gear safely stored back on the rig, I pull into my home.

My trip had been… productive. Despite it technically being considered a break, it had been anything but. I've been run ragged the entire time - my only real downtime had been medically enforced. My jaw is still fairly raw - I'm not quite talking normally yet, and it still causes a bit of pain, but it's nothing I can't ignore.

Locking my front door behind me, I pick up my handset to order a pizza. Nothing else nearby does deliveries at this hour, and I don't have any food to eat here at home. I probably should have just eaten at the cafeteria back on the rig, but it had slipped my mind.

Tomorrow I'll be rushing all over the place getting all my ducks in a row with the Protectorate, so I won't have the opportunity to track down Tattletale then. Chances are, it won't be until the weekend that I do. My workshop needs to be packed up, paperwork needs to be filled out, Miss Militia needs to be trained to assume my responsibilities, the last of my administrative backlog needs to be cleared and several meetings need to be had.

Thankfully, Dragon is more than willing to assist me in finding Tattletale - she said that she's looking into it. Hopefully she'll have something for me by the time I'm ready to go looking for her.

I collapse onto my couch. I'm about ready to fall asleep now, but I should really have dinner first - which won't arrive for another ten minutes. Enough time to catch up on my emails, then. I pull up the program on my mobile, paging through the backlog.

Most are reports that require no action from me. I end up marking a few to handle in the morning - nothing urgent, but doing the sorting now will help me out later. An email from Miss Militia entitled 'Re: Shadow Stalker report inconsistencies' catches my eye.

Oh? Did she manage to find evidence of Shadow Stalker's belligerence? I open it up, scanning through the contents. A line jumps out at me. 'Formal investigation warranted'

My eyes widen. She didn't find anything direct, but the caseworker had been found to be acting with serious negligence in regards to reporting on her charge. A full investigation has been called for, and is currently pending.

Apparently, the handful of duplicate reports I'd found are far more than a simple isolated incident. Miss Militia had gone through the archived documents with a close eye, and what she found hadn't impressed her.

I close my phone, leaning back. It's only a matter of time before the jig is up, then. Good - Shadow Stalker deserves everything coming her way.

Nothing - no frequent meeting places, no likely hideout locations, no occupied territory - not a single clue towards where I might be able to run into Tattletale. Nothing except a Parahumans Online handle, that is.

Villains don't tend to advertise their accounts on the website, and those that do are closely monitored. Dragon deduced a likely candidate by comparing speech patterns from a small collection of recorded speech of the girl with posts on the forum. She couldn't do much better than that, given the red tape binding her hands. Honestly, I shouldn't have expected much more from her than this.

She's relatively confident about the result, but this is by no means a sure thing - she didn't have enough of a sample size of speech to be absolutely certain of it.

I suppose there's nothing for it but to send a private message. Considering that she's a Thinker, honesty would be the best policy here. Tracking down her location via her access to the forums, while technically a possibility, would be entirely stifled by even rudimentary security precautions. Knowing what I do of her, I can't imagine that she would forgo such measures.

I suppose that showing up to her house or hideout with an offer of employment wouldn't go over too well. No - this is probably for the best.

Subject: Gainful Employment

To: AllSeeingEye

Tattletale. I have a project which needs someone of your talents. Work will be challenging, full-time, and very important. Benefits are negotiable, pay is the standard Guild rates, and included is a full pardon subject to a probationary period. Will require relocation to Canada. Offer is open until the fourteenth. Interested?

From: Armsmaster

Blunt, to the point, and leaving nothing to the imagination. Hopefully she will be able to intuit that the offer is sincere. Everything I've offered her so far is something Dragon and I have already OK'd with the Guild. I'm laying my cards out on the table, and leaving the ball in her court.

With social Thinkers, I've found that this is the best strategy. Doing anything less leaves them with considerably more power over the negotiation. I give it a final once-over, before hitting send.

If we're wrong about this being her account, then I can't imagine that the actual owner will pretend to be her. Even if they do, the fiction is likely to fall apart relatively quickly.

It's Friday evening now, and the press conference is scheduled for Monday morning. If things go to plan, I'll be in a suit with Tattletale headed for Toronto on Tuesday morning - the fifteenth. I've got a few more things to pack away in my lab before I leave tonight, but otherwise everything is ready for me to go.

The other capes in the Protectorate had been surprised to hear that I'm leaving, and the Wards even more so. Miss Militia has taken to her new duties well and told me that she plans to regain leadership of the Wards from Director Piggot in the near future - understandable, I suppose.

A ping from my computer draws my attention. A reply already?

Subject: Re:Gainful Employment

To: Armsmaster

I'm interested. I'd like to discuss further in person. Meet me at unit 3, 37 Fitzgerald Street. You'll want to be in fancy dress for this. My current employer will likely take a dim view on me defecting to the white hats.

From: AllSeeingEye

An address and a request to meet already? A trap?

It's possible. I had thought that The Undersiders had a team dynamic, rather than an employee-employer one. Or - maybe this 'employer' isn't a member of The Undersiders at all. I never found out any of the details, but I did hear that The Undersiders once worked with Coil. At that point in time I'd already left the bay for good - the only reason I had even heard of it in the first place was from an offhand comment from Dragon.

Weaver never told me anything about it, but our relationship hadn't exactly been the sort where you reminisce about the past with each other.

My gut tells me she's being honest. But, I should go into this expecting betrayal. The chances of her having arranged something like that so quickly seems slim to me - but there's no point in being reckless.

"Dragon. I'm headed out to look into this. Will you be available on comms?" Having a second set of eyes with me would be much appreciated, but if she's busy with something else I'll have to go without.

Her voice comes through on my helmet comm. "Absolutely. Do you know who this employer could be?"

I grab my halberd, stowing it on my back and leaving the room in a hurry. Talking quietly, I respond. "Not for certain. Grue and Coil are the only possibilities I know of."

"Coil? He's in charge of The Undersiders? Or is Tattletale a mole?"

I step into the elevator, hitting the button for the garage. "I don't know. I wasn't exactly kept in the loop about the things happening in the bay when it came to light. I don't know any of the details."

I step out of the elevator, mounting my bike. It detects my armour, turning itself on. Pulling out of the garage, directions to the unit appear in my helmet. It's only a few minutes away from the PRT building. The streets aren't nearly busy enough to slow me down at this time of night, but I still have to weave through traffic on my way.

Dragon's voice comes through my helmet. "Armsmaster. Director Piggot wants to know what you're doing."

I should have expected this. I'm too used to operating outside of the Protectorate - I really should have at least sent a message. "Let her know. Put her through if she wants to speak with me directly."

My comm is silent for a few moments. I take a hard turn, headed away from the central business district and towards the urban residential area. "Putting her on now." I almost ask Dragon to take control of the bike, but I remember that I haven't implemented that functionality yet.

She gives me a second, before connecting Piggot to me. "Armsmaster! What's going on? Why are you meeting with a Villain?"

I have to slow down so I don't risk crashing while I talk. Why couldn't she just speak with Dragon? "Recruitment. Tattletale's criminal record is small enough that I believe I can turn her without issue. There is a Guild project that could use her assistance - Narwhal has already given me the OK."

"Recruitment!? Why hasn't this passed my desk? Goddamnit Armsmaster - there's a procedure that needs to be followed with these things!"

Dragon cuts in. "Director Piggot - I recall that I filed the required paperwork with the PRT several days ago. I've already received approval - if it has been caught up in the PRT bureaucracy, then that is a problem on your end."

"We can sort this out later. I'm pulling up to the unit now." I end the call, parking my bike. That wouldn't have earnt me any favours but, frankly, I'm not in the mood to pander to her sensibilities.

I grab my halberd from it's mount on the bike. "Get me a floor plan. Where am I going?"

Directions from Dragon appear in my helmet. The unit I'm looking for is at the back of the block on the first row of units. It's got three rooms - a connected kitchen and living room with a separate bedroom. Potential ambush locations in the first two units, and from the bedroom. Across from the front of the units is the windowless back wall of the next row of units - potential for a breaching charge or Parahuman equivalent to be used there, too.

I turn my head, scanning the surroundings. "Snipers?"

Dragon responds, capable of analysing the scene far faster than I. "Negative."

I march towards my destination, stepping over the waist high gate. "Any unusual signals?"

"Nothing unexpected. I've got a likely civilian ID for Tattletale. The chance of this being an imposter is minimal."

She doesn't tell me more, and I don't ask. It's an unavoidable consequence of Dragon's nature that she comes across secret identities frequently. After what happened at Arcadia, we had made a point not to directly act on that information when we could at all avoid it.

I reach the first unit. The front window is curtained. I grip my halberd, ready to respond to a threat as I pass. I'd be far more at ease with a full-face helmet, but as it is I'll have to cope with having that gap in my armour. That bullet from Mags wouldn't have even phased me if I had been properly equipped.

I refocus, reaching the second unit. The blackout curtains are parted, but the interior is dark. I don't see anything, but I could be missing something. "Dragon?"

"Clear."

I've fallen into a familiar routine without even realising it. Dragon's ability to process information so far exceeds mine that I had often relied on her in situations like this during my time as Defiant.

I reach the third unit. The curtains are drawn, but I can see that a light is on from the glow around the edges. I stop at the door. My first instinct is to breach and clear, but I reign that in - despite my suspicions, I haven't seen any indication that I'm walking into a hostile situation.

I raise my hand, and knock on the door.