Dad hadn't seen fit to punish me for standing up for myself, for which I was glad because I knew there were some parents who would punish their children for getting suspended regardless of the context, so I basically had the week off. Crime was a lot lower during the day, especially because there weren't many, if any, Capes out before evening. Maybe you'd catch Hookwolf or Oni Lee out doing stuff, but most capes had stuff to do during the day. Not to say they didn't operate during the day, just that seeing a Cape out and about during the day was rare. Which was why it was better to meet with the Undersiders plain clothes during the day.

I started my run later than usual, but I still did my usual route. Since it was Monday, I stopped in to the donut shop.

"Morning Abby."

"Taylor." She nodded. "You're late today."

"I got suspended for the week."

She threw her head back in laughter and my lips pulled back into an amused grin at her reaction. Abby wasn't a cold woman, but getting a reaction like that out of her was a rare one.

"What did you do? It's not because you took my advice to heart is it?"

"Nah. Me and her are on… better terms because of it though. No, I got suspended because I got into an argument with some other girls and the principal decided everything was on me, as usual. Then I called her a liar to her face and three days became a week. She may also have been a little mad because she heard me say she only cared about the money and not her students."

Abby laughed harder this time, folding over the counter. She laughed herself out of breath and then kept laughing.

"You've got… You've got some big brass balls to do something like that!" She said through laughter. "Oh, fuck. I knew there was a reason I liked you, kid."

"Aw, you flatter me." I smirked, raising a hand to my chest in mock embarrassment.

"Yeah, yeah. What do you want? I'll throw in an extra on the house for making my morning."

"Abby, you sweet talker! I might just spend all my money here." I smirked.

"That's the idea." She smirked right back, more toothy and feral. She looked dangerous when she smiled. Made sense why so many guys were scared of her.

"Ha-ha." I said dryly. "I want a buttermilk today. Chocolate milk as always."

"So what are you planning on doing for the week?" She asked as she bagged up my order.

"Nothing really. My dad didn't punish me so I'm free for the week. Maybe sit around the library. Study for the Exit Exam."

"You're getting out early? That bad?"

"Eh, I'm just over school. Teachers suck, students suck, the work is too easy, there's no point in staying anymore. And with everything that's happened I doubt dad would refuse to let me test out. It's a little expensive, but it will be worth it in the long run."

"If you want to work, I've got a spot open here. If you can swing three a.m wake up calls, that is."

"I appreciate it." I said. I was surprised she liked me enough to offer me a job. This was the mushiest I'd ever seen her too. Abby didn't do emotional on her best days. "Later, Abby, I'll think about the offer."

"Whatever." She waved as I left.

—

I got to the pizza place fifteen minutes early only to find Lisa and Brian already there. Lisa waved while Brian stared at me, wide eyed. I had no idea why he was surprised.

"I hope you didn't order pineapple." I said as I sit down.

Brian got a defensive look on his face while Lisa scrunched her nose at the idea.

"Gross." She said.

"There's nothing wrong with pineapple on pizza." Brian argued.

"As good as the pizza here is, they just put canned pineapple slices on pizza. Like, whole circles, not chunks. If it was grilled or baked into the pizza, or both, it'd be a different story, but it's none of those things."

Now Brian looked disgusted.

"What kind of hellhole have you brought me to?"

"I promise everything else is good." I raised my hands in surrender.

"She really does like the place, Brian. She wouldn't bring us to a place she didn't like to eat. Thinks it's rude." Lisa supplied.

"It is rude. Why would you take people out to eat and pick a restaurant with trash food? That's not what you do to people you're trying to have a civil conversation with."

"Aright. Let's get started then."

"Hold on." I said.

"We're waiting on one of the others." Lisa said. "Nihilus, right?"

"Yeah. She wanted to be here. I'd also like to talk over food."

"Is she the one Lisa said not to hurt too bad?" Brian asked.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"You didn't even take that advice. And it turned out to not be her in the end." Lisa rolled her eyes. "You didn't even apologize. You probably should. I'm sure she'd appreciate it, even if she didn't really mind it."

"I'm missing some context here." Brian said.

"She used to help bully me pretty bad." I started. "Now she's trying to… Make it up to me I guess. Be a better person. But she helped do a lot of really fucked up shit to me and I'm not the most trusting person anymore, so while I'm willing to be civil, she's on thin ice. The other bullies knew something they shouldn't have and I thought she told them. Turns out we were overheard. I kicked her ass pretty bad before she told me who actually did it."

"How fucked up are we talking?"

"She should and would have triggered from it if not for whatever we have now." Lisa explained.

"Jesus." He scowled. "And you're working with this chick?"

I shrugged. "As much as I dislike her, I'm willing to give her a chance to be better. My hatred isn't quite that deep. And kicking the shit out of her for training every day helps."

Brian laughed. "Yeah, I can definitely see that. It takes a big heart to give someone like that a chance, let alone work with them in something like this."

"Or a lot of apathy." Lisa said.

The door rang and Madison ran over to our table.

"I'm not late, right?" She panted.

"Right on time, actually." Lisa held up her watch reading 12:00 pm.

"Why are you out of breath?" I asked.

"Ran from class… Ran to hiding spot… Sonido here… Not good at it yet…" She said, catching her breath.

"You should start exercising."

"Yeah… I'll do that."

The Pizza's came out only a minute later.

"Good timing." Brian said, grabbing some slices. "So let's talk shop."

"You nerd. Who even says that?" Lisa snarked.

"I do. So let's talk. What were the details of the deal you made with Lisa?"

"Nothing formal. Just that if you guys were in trouble we'd help out and vice versa. Of course we want to keep the illusion that we aren't working together, so nothing explicit, but things like what happened last night are okay." I explained.

Brian nodded. "That's it? Nothing more to it?"

"Not really. Nothing big is going on for us right now. Eventually we'd like to fold you guys in. Most likely under Lisa, but that's not for a while. Like, a long time."

"Fold us in? Like a merger?"

"Yep. While we're not explicitly good, we aren't explicitly bad either. The hope is to, at one point down the line, take control like the current players, except it's all us. I'd like to avoid hostilities with the good guys for as long as possible."

"You're crazy." Brian shook his head. "How would you even go about doing that? Do you realize what you're up against?"

"I do. The fact of the matter is that last night wasn't much of a sweat. It was intense, because the fucker is hard to take down, but it was doable with just the three of us, and I'm the only one good enough to risk going toe to toe with him. Once everyone else catches up you have up to seven of us, all strong enough to take him on when he gets big. The rest of the groups don't mean anything. It's just a matter of avoiding a war if possible."

"You're not joking, are you? This is crazy. You really think you can pull this off?"

"I do. Given enough time and information all things are possible. It just so happens we have the power to back us up as well. Recruiting people under us just solidifies a base. Makes it easier to maintain control. The goal is to oust the old regime and take over so no one else can move in. Call it… a play at feudalism. Consolidating all of the cities power under one flag will help not only keep others from moving in and taking over where the old regime left off, but it allows us to decide how we want things run."

"I…" He trailed off, brows furrowing as he thought it through.

"Take a minute. We'll go smoke while you think it over." I tapped Madison and she followed me out the door.

I leaned back against the wall and pulled a black box and Madison looked at it for a long time, lighter stopped just an inch from lighting her own.

"Black Devil." I drawled, pulling one from the box. She blinked, lit hers, then offered her lighter. I nodded, letting her light it.

"I didn't realize the paper on them was black too."

"They're basically Goth cigarettes, everything on them is black but the accent colors."

"They smell nice."

"I don't know what the special flavor actually is, but I like it well enough."

Neither of us spoke again for a moment. The sounds of cars and the gentle wind being the only noise.

"Did you mean what you said?" Madison asked after a while. "About what our plans our? I thought it would just be us…"

"Even if all seven of us work together, it's unrealistic to expect us to hold a city without support. We need people, powered and not, to make this work."

"You weren't lying then." She paused for a moment, before looking up at me. "Why didn't you? If you told him something different he'd be more likely to join us."

"The first reason is we don't have the resources to do that." I explain lazily, my eye catching a group of birds flying over head. "We can't make large promises because we're not in a place to deliver on them. The second reason is lying to people you'd like to work with you long term about your long term goals is a bad idea. At some point they'll realize you have no intention of following through and either leave or try to kill you. Either way you lose something. I'd like to work with them long term. And I mean long term as in for as long as possible. I don't need them jumping ship at any point because they realize our goals don't line up."

"You don't want to manipulate them." It was a statement, but she said it like a question.

"Yes, but you're missing the point. I want them to know what I want up front and make their choice now instead of realizing I lied to them and having to jump ship or ruin everything. If you want to get something done short term, lying can be a good way to do it. Convince them you can give them what they want so they do what you need done, even if you have no intention of following through."

She grimaced. "I don't understand. That's the exact opposite of what you just said?"

I took a long drag and shook my head.

"The difference is time frame. Hell, lying about your intentions can work long term, but only for as long as the person believes you intend to give them what you promised. It's about knowing what you plan to do and knowing how long you need something for. If we were working with, say, the Merchants on this, I'd sell them every lie in the book for as long as they were useful to me. Because they're expendable. They aren't the kind of people you want to work with long term."

"But Lisa and Brian are." She said slowly, still sounding unsure.

"Exactly. Let me give you a hypothetical. Two guys meet in a bar one night and start talking over drinks. Both have servants. The first guys servant brings him drink and food when he orders. He ruthlessly beats and berates her for any mistake she makes and sometimes just for fun. The seconds guys servant is an assassin who wants to kill his master because he's responsible for killing the assassins family years ago. One of these servants kills their master in the night. Which do you think it is?"

"The assassin." She said without thinking.

"And why do you think that?"

"He's a killer with motive."

"You're wrong."

"Huh? Why?" She asked, confused.

"We were talking about manipulation. The guy was traveling with someone he knew wanted to kill him and he was okay with that. Why?"

"Because he's dumb?" She put a hand out like she was explaining the obvious. I rolled my eyes.

"Madison." I said forcefully. "Look at the bigger picture. How were the men controlling their servants?"

"The first guy was using fear right? Beating into her that mistakes mean pain. The second guy… I don't know."

"If he was traveling with the man who killed his family, that means…" I trailed off to give her a chance to answer.

"He must have promised him something." She said, finally starting to get it.

"Right. The assassin has traveled with his family's killer for so long because he was promised something he wants while the other servant was being controlled through fear. And that's why she killed him. Fear only works for so long. But if you promise someone something, in this case a chance to kill his family's killer in a fight—."

"You have that person working for you for as long as they think you'll honor your promise." She snapped, a light bulb going off in her head.

"Exactly. In this case the man has a servant until he loses or the servant dies. Manipulation is about intent. Making someone believe you you'll do one thing even if you don't plan on following through with it. What I'm doing with them is not manipulation because I'd like to work with them. If it were people I didn't want to work with, then it would be manipulation."

"Huh. That's really interesting. How do you know that?"

I looked off to the side, staring at some of the signs before I answered. "I've skipped a lot of school since 9th grade started. About sixty days I think, not including leaving early. I spent a lot of time at the library. At some point I picked up some psychology books to try to mitigate the damage Emma did to me." I blew a puff of smoke. "Fat lotta good that did. But I learned some interesting things about psychology."

"Did you ever use it to figure out why Emma started bullying you?" She asked lowly.

I sighed. "I don't know what made her change so much, but it's mostly empty. There's no real enmity behind it from what I can tell. It's not really that she hates me, she just seems to enjoy it. She definitely gets something out of it, but I don't know what, exactly."

"And Sophia?"

"She just likes hurting other people."

"And… Me?"

"Funny enough," I laughed, "I was never able to figure you out. It was always fourth grade school yard stuff with you and there was never really any emotion I could figure out behind it. I never would have guessed you did it to fit in. I'm not that good at figuring people out, I just know Emma well enough to get an idea of her and Sophia is more transparent than glass. The others I can see now, knowing social status is a part of it. I don't think that way, so it never would have crossed my mind otherwise."

She was silent at that. I looked inside to see Lisa and Brian still talking.

"We've still got a but of time." I said, tossing my butt into the trash. "Let's do another. You've been locked in a dungeon. You're there for a month before you get the chance to escape. You can get out on your own, but you don't know the way and could get caught again and maybe killed. The person in the cell next to you is someone you hate. You have a grudge against them for something they did in the past. You know they know a good way out but they hate you just as much. How do you get them to show you the way when you get your escape opportunity?"

"Threaten them?" She asked.

"They tell the guards. You're dead now. Try something else."

She hummed, thinking it over.

"Tell them… I know a way to get us both out if they work with me. Tell them we can go our separate ways after and I'll drop the grudge."

"Good. Now, do you actually drop the grudge?"

She thought longer about that one.

"No?"

"Why not?"

"Because if they hate me too then they might kill me when we get out or the first chance that's easy. So I stay on guard."

"Okay. What else? You get out. Now what?"

"Leave."

"You get stabbed from behind."

"Oh come on!" She stood off the wall. "Are you trying to teach me to hold grudges?"

"No. I'm trying to reinforce it's about intentions. You can say whatever you want as long as they believe you'll follow through. If you actually follow through than it's not really manipulation is it?"

"… I guess not." She looked down before leaning against the wall again.

"It's not. Manipulation, by definition, is underhanded and furthers your goals at the expense of others. You can follow through with little things to keep them under you longer, but eventually something has to give. That's the nature of manipulating someone and why I'm being upfront with Brian. I don't want to them to be disposable pawns in some bigger game. I want them to work with us towards a goal that should ultimately help to better the city."

She didn't speak again, scrunching her face and thinking hard about what I said. I checked inside again and saw Lisa nod. I flicked Madison in the forehead.

"Ow…" She whined, rubbing the spot.

"Think later. We're going back in."

We sat down at our table in the back of the little restaurant and I grabbed more pizza.

"I've thought it over. Lisa thinks you can do this, and I trust her. So for now we'll support each other when needed and when the time comes we'll come in under Lisa. She says you'll keep everything smooth sailing after you help her out with a personal project, and I believe her. So," He put his hand out, "I believe we're in business."

I smiled wider than I should have as I took his hand.

"Pleasure to have you on board. When we're done here I need your help, Lisa. General information."

"Yeah, got it. Meet in Las Noches?"

"Yeah."

We finished lunch, each of us taking a few slices home because they ordered too much, and split up. Madison ended up coming with me while I put my food up though I didn't let her in my house. Then we took off for Las Noches.

We arrived to once again find Lisa and Brian already there.

"Took you long enough." Lisa joked.

"Had to swing by the house to drop my food off."

"Right, so you wanted info on gang territories. Easy enough. You have some markers or something?"

"I do." Madison offered.

"Great." Lisa took them as I rolled out the map. "So based on what everyone knows, gang territories end here and here." She marked the area the ABB controlled area in green and Empire territory in red. But really, it's more like this." She extended the lines a little into the surrounding areas. The ABB controlled part of the Trainyard and a few miles into the South Docks while Empire controlled a little of the Coast, a sliver of the South Docks, and parts of the Commerce District. "Coil is the one who controls the Commerce District for the most part and his people are usually getting caught up fighting Empire for territory in Downtown."

"I was hoping to start in the South Docks and expand from there. It still seems doable, but we'll have points of contention on the border. And since we don't have general members like the others we'll be limited to mostly vigilantism for now. We can control territory just from power, but that's looking…" I trailed off, thinking about my options. Starting in the South Docks or the Trainyard was probably our best bet. Lung was out of the picture for now and Oni Lee springing him from Protectorate custody alone was unlikely. Especially since Lung wasn't likely to have his legs back yet.

"With just the three of you it could work. Samael has other stuff so he won't be joining as often. Sonido means you can get around quicker than most flyers, and you could easily win a three on one fight with the Empire. Oni Lee is nothing to worry about, so it's basically keeping Empire from expanding at this point. Capture Oni Lee, split the entirety of the Docks between the three of you, and you only have to worry about Empire. Coil won't be coming after you for a while and I doubt he could pick up much information with the way you operate."

"What do you know about Coil's M.O?" I asked.

She glanced at Brian, who was looking at the map with his own plans, and shook her head enough most people wouldn't tell.

"I don't know much besides he has a bunch of mercenaries with tinkertech. He's a shady guy and slippery enough no one's ever seen him and most people don't even think he has a power."

"Annoying, but I guess we'll come to him when he becomes a problem. The ABB is pretty weak without Lung meaning our main priority will be Empire. You know how they operate?"

"I do. Kaiser is the kind of guy who leads or else. He can be amicable but only if it's on his terms. The Empire is split into a few factions each run by Hookwolf and Krieg. Hookwolf runs fighting rings, both dog and human. Krieg is a bit more secretive but he's generally the one Kaiser calls when Hookwolf would be too heavy handed."

"What about Purity?" Madison asked.

"Purity is still active in the city, still going after the ABB, but she hasn't been seen with any of the Empire in a little over a year or so. Night and Fog also haven't been seen either. She might have left, but I'd need more info on her to know for sure."

"I'll ask Samael later." I said absently.

"Why would he know?" Brian asked.

"Oh shit!" Lisa half shouted. "You're not kidding! That's a huge in to the Empire! It would be super easy to tear them down in that case!"

"What?"

"Samael is Kaiser's kid." I sighed. Brian froze, then started to say something before Lisa cut him off.

"No, no, it's okay. He hates his dad and everything the Empire stands for. You're good. I mean, if he really ran with them he wouldn't have picked a Jewish name. With Samael's help we could probably start grinding down the Empire sooner rather than later!"

"I'll have to talk to him. To make sure. I trust you, Lise, but I have to be sure about this." He said sternly.

"I know. I got it."

"Good."

"You guys hit gang safe houses right? That's what got you into with Lung? How much of a cut would you want for passing some to us?" I asked.

"Twenty five." Brian said.

"That's lower than I was expecting. Deal." I reached out and we shook on it.

"You're not going to negotiate that?" Lisa asked.

"Nah. I was expecting half. If we hear about any new safe houses we'll pass a few your way if you don't already know about them."

"Fair enough." Brian shrugged.

"Now, what do you guys do with weapons? You take the cash and leave the guns?"

"Pretty much. Anything liquid we find we take and stuff that we'd need a dealer for we leave unless the boss is specifically looking for something." Lisa explained.

"Makes sense. We'll probably just bowl the place over and take what we can get. It'll be easy for me to case places once I know where they are, so getting in and out will be easy."

"Because of your isolation thing, right? How does that work?"

"Isolation?" Brian asked.

"I can slip in and out of… Let's call it the regular plane of existence. Everything looks the same, except I can move through walls and things like that. I can even check to see if I'm the area I plan to come back is being watched before I come back. It's essentially an empty version of the world where everything looks the exact same. If someone moves something in reality, I won't be able to see it in the Isolation world, but if they put it back down I will."

"That's like, the ultimate Stranger power. That basically makes you the go to for in and out jobs. Can you take people with you?" Brian asked.

"Yeah." Madison answered, looking up from the map. "We train on the roof every lunch and no one knows we're there because of that power."

"Holy shit. That's the ultimate get away ability. And we can call on you for risky jobs?" I could see the plans forming in his eyes. Having me help would open up a larger range of options.

"Sure, long as no one will be able to put us together." I shrug.

"I generate darkness. If I flood an area and meet you at a designated spot no one would know."

"Sounds like a plan. Do I get a cut?"

"Yeah. Say… Five percent?"

"I want fifteen." I said flatly.

"Eight." He countered.

I hummed, pretending to think it over and ignoring the smirk on Lisa's face. She knew exactly how much I wanted and was more amused by the haggling than anything else.

"Twelve." I tried to make my voice demanding. Like that was my final offer.

"Ten, that's final." Brian said. And just like that I'd won.

"Deal."

I ignored Lisa holding back laughter as we shook on another deal. I was glad I wasn't negotiating with her. The sly smile on her face told me she'd have convinced me to buy Volcano insurance or something.

"That was the most cliche negotiation I've ever seen." Madison said.

"It worked though." Lisa shrugged. "So, you have a game plan?"

"Kinda." I shrugged. "I don't want to jump into taking over the ABB territory but I also want to keep Empire out of there long enough for us to viably control it without seeming like we took out Lung specifically for that purpose. We'll start patrolling the South Docks tonight, maybe get some presence on the borders. I'll call Samael and see if he can come. Are you in Madison?"

"Yeah. I'll tell mom I'll be with you for a few hours after school."

"Alright. I think that's everything then."

"Almost. We need to get you a cell phone." Lisa said.

My sigh was almost theater worthy.