Bakuda's capture had been a resounding success. I honestly didn't even really care that the PRT was taking full credit for it. I knew they wouldn't give the people who actually captured the mad bomb bitch the credit we'd earned, but I wasn't upset about it in the slightest. We spent most of our time after her capture cleaning up the rest of the ABB, helping people who were conscripted and taking down those who weren't. It took us almost another week to sort everything out, not to mention most of the PRT building was still unusable because of the bombings. The Oil Rig didn't have enough space to hold everyone, so a lot of people were just transfered out of the city.
There wasn't much left to do that day while waiting for the truce to officially end, so I was lounging around Lisa's apartment watching TV. Lisa had come back from wherever she was and made lunch and flipped it over to the news. Most of it was boring or talking about things I had more knowledge than the casters on. Then it came to a report talking about that singer, Canary. I was… appalled to say the least.
"Do you know where she's being held?" I asked.
"… No…" Lisa answered slowly. "Why?" I could tell how cautious she was about that question. Like she didn't really want to know even though her powers had likely supplied the answer.
"Can you figure it out? Or at least when the Birdcage transport is leaving the city?"
"Taylor…"
"You can't seriously be okay with that." I said, looking at her.
"I mean… It's none of our business." She sighed.
"That's super fucked up! She gets the Caged because of an accidental misuse of her power? If every Cape got Caged for one fuck up that ended up seriously hurting someone they'd have to build another one!" I said heatedly. It bothered me to no end that they'd gone so far for something like that. Strapping her down in Brute restraints was way too far.
"It's probably because she's a high level Master. Not to mention she invokes the image of… Her." She pointed up.
"Because she has to sing to use her powers." I said plainly.
"Yeah."
"So a Hydrokinetic should get Caged because people think Leviathan? Or Dynakinetics should get Caged because of Behemoth? No, that's super fucked up and I'm not gonna let her get life in the worst prison in the world for a single accidental fuck up. I couldn't stand for that."
"What are you going to do when you get her out? She'll be wanted. She won't have anywhere to go."
"Madison will be getting two subordinates." I said. "Unless you want her."
"Why don't you take her? You don't have any subordinates. I'd suggest Alec if that wasn't a horrible idea."
"Technically everyone is my subordinate. But, really, I'm just not sure about it. I think it would have to be someone I'm comfortable with relegating work to."
"Which means you'd have to be able to trust them a bit."
"Yeah."
Lisa sighed. "Fine, I'll figure out when the transport is leaving. Try not to make it too flashy when you get her, alright?"
"Sure. By the way, I'm going with Nihilus to kidnap Squealer later. Wanna join?"
"Tempting as that sounds," She rolled her eyes, "I have to go talk with the rest of the Undersiders."
"Speaking of, what's the deal with Bitch? I've only spoken to her once and that wasn't more than a few sentences, but she always seems off when I see her."
"Bitch's powers really fucked her up. She doesn't really think like a human anymore. Her powers made it easier for her to relate to dogs so that's how she behaves. She probably looks at you and sees power and that makes her wary of you, because you're too strong for her to take on so she has no choice but to listen to you."
"God, parahumans have the worst luck. First you have to go through hell to get your powers then they screw up your mind. I'm glad I didn't properly trigger. Who only knows what I'd have turned out like."
"You'd be a warlord who doesn't know how to stop escalating." She joked.
"Honestly, probably. You already know where I was before I got my powers. If I was still like that with powers I can definitely see myself putting myself in corners due to short sightedness and having to escalate to get out of it. I'm not the best at long term planning. If I were a Thinker my specialty would be combat."
"I've seen the way you fight, you don't need a thinker power to make your moves scarier."
"Oh, take me out to dinner first, you sweet talker, you." I smirked.
Lisa punched me in the arm. "Shut up." She was smiling too.
"So, any idea what your team is talking about?" I ask.
"No, just that Coil is offering a job and he's going to explain what it is later."
"Any ideas on what the job might be?"
"Unfortunately, no. Knowing Coil, it's probably something stupid that could get us into a lot of trouble."
"Well, good luck with that. Glad I don't work for that asshole." I say, then pause as I think about the implications.
"The place was wired," She answered before I could ask, "but I got a signal jammer. As far as his spies are concerned I spend all my time here listening to smooth jazz."
"Wait, I didn't know signal jammers could do that."
"Tinkertech ones can. Surprisingly cheap, too. Only dropped fifty bucks on it."
"Fifty bucks for a Tinkertech signal jammer that plays smooth jazz? Well, that's a quality investment."
"Isn't it, just?" She smirks.
—
I met up with Madison a little after one in the Boat Graveyard. We stood on top of a ship looking out over the water, specifically at the Lighthouse a few miles off the coast where the Merchants liked to hang out. They didn't have any real territory in the city but they had vehicle Tinker and an abandoned area no one else could reliable get to. The Ferry was down and the Protectorate didn't use boats. They had a forcefield bridge to get too and from their HQ reliably and quicker than a boat could, which meant the Merchants were pretty safe having their base where it was.
From every one but us, at least.
"So, how do you want to do this?" I ask. "You're the one who wants Squealer, so it can be your operation."
"That's too much pressure and you know it!" She whined at me.
"Come on, Nihilus. I know you're not stupid, much as you play the airhead. You didn't have to steal my work to pass classes."
She physically recoiled at being reminded of that, but didn't say anything.
"I've probably said it a million times by now, but I'm really—."
"Sorry, yes, I get it. I'm sure you know by now I prefer actions to words, so keep up as you have been and I'll see you as a friend eventually. Now, you want decide how we approach this or not?"
"Fine." She nods and I see her visibly relax. What little brightness there was in her eyes fades as she observes the Lighthouse for a moment. When she speaks again her voice is flat with little inflection or emotion. "We'll go in quick. They're druggies so half of them will likely be asleep or in no shape to fight. You disable Trainwreck if he's here, I'll knock hit Skidmark. We drop Squealer in Las Noches before dropping the other two off with the PRT and taking off."
"Efficient. What about the people who will be stuck on the island?"
"You can squeeze space like Vista, right?"
"Yup." I nodded.
"We toss them onto the mainland using that."
"Nice. So, we ready?"
"Yes."
We use Sonido and stop just outside the Lighthouse. The island itself is pretty disgusting. Needles, pipes, bottles, all manners of trash are littered about the grass and stone. Scrap metal covers some of what might have been holes in the Lighthouse as well as the ground, bits and pieces of jagged metal having been discarded haphazardly. The smell isn't much better, reminding me of a portable toilet that's been baking in the heat for too long without being cleaned. I'm not sure why exactly the smell gets to me so much since I wasn't exactly expecting the area to smell nice, but it hit a lot harder than I could have imagined. It even made Nihilus gag.
"Let's get this over quickly before the smell makes me puke in my mask." She said, sounding more like her usual self.
"Yeah, let's make this quick." I nod.
I phase us through the wall and we find a couple dozen people inside, some sprawled out on the floor or slumped in chairs or against the wall, obviously strung out while other seem to be mostly idling. A few I can see getting ready to take hits of whatever drugs they have. Our target is among the sleep, passed out with a needle in her arm on a dirty yellow mattress in the back corner of the room. Trainwreck and Skidmark look like they're handling some Merchant business when Trainwreck spots us and points us out.
"Hey! What the fuck are you ass stains doing here?!" Skidmark yells when he sees us. He's slurring his words and he stumbles to his feet, pointing at us. "You sluts come to join the gang? Well, you're gonna have to suck my—." He stops as I rush past him and slice Trainwreck's mech to pieces. "What the fuck?!" Skidmark yells.
Trainwreck isn't much without his mech suit. He's a Case 53 was basically a thinking blob-person. He could shift his body around to do stuff, but it was slow going. He wouldn't be able to do much by the time we were ready to leave.
Nihilus doesn't waste time and creates a bubble of air around Skidmark's head. The effect is immediate and he starts scratching at the spinning bubble of air around him. I couldn't really tell what it was actually doing, but considering how hard Skidmark struggled and how quickly he went down I assumed she vacuumed the air from his lungs and kept it out until he dropped to the ground.
It was only now that the rest of the gang catches up to what happened and the ones actually awake, aware, and sober enough to fight us start pulling guns. Nihilus pulses her Negative Zone and all the guns fall apart into their base pieces.
"Decomposition?" I ask.
"Picked it up from some Aleph show. Show's okay but the powers gave me ideas."
"More power to you then." I shrug. "Now, let's see if I can do my part." I close my eyes and focus on the area I want to affect and target the people within specifically except Skidmark, cause fuck that guy, and reverse the effect of their drug addiction. Surprisingly, I find it more difficult than I was expecting. I open my eyes the people look mostly okay. They look healthy now instead of like sacs of water and bone held together by skin. Some of them are confused while others actually seem to be happy to be free of their addiction.
I ignore the growing sound of talking and walk to the door, shrinking the space between the shore and the island.
"If you want to get back to the city, you can leave now. The Capes stay." I call. Most of them rush past me while others sit still, forcing us to move them ourselves. With that done, we move to the Capes, grabbing a still struggling Trainwreck and a now passed out Skidmark.
"Hey, wait! Aren't we on the same side?! I work for Coil too!" Trainwreck said.
Nihilus and I look at each other then at him.
"We've never worked for Coil." She said.
"His time will be soon. What made you think we worked for him? We have no deal."
"You work with the Undersiders, right? You helped them and Circus on that robbery a few weeks back? You have to be with Coil!"
We stare at him and he shakes harder the longer we go without speaking.
"How did you know we were helping the Undersiders?" I finally ask.
"Coil found out. Don't know how." He manages to make it through the sentence without stuttering despite how scared he seems.
"Well, that's a problem, but not a major one." I think aloud.
"So you'll let me go?"
"We never said that." Nihilus answered.
"I'll talk!" He shouts. "I'll tell the heroes everything I know about you!" He yelled.
"How pathetic." Nihilus drawled.
"You won't be telling them anything. Besides, after today, chances are high they see us as villains anyway." I said as I reversed the conversation, going back to where I first picked him up. He starts to speak and I knock him out instead.
"Your powers are so fucked up." Nihilus said.
"Coming from the chick who just vacuumed the air from a dudes lungs."
"… Fair…" She said after a few seconds.
"You take care of Squealer, I'll take these two to the Protectorate."
"Got it." She opens a Garganta while I take Skidmark from her and Sonido to the Oil Rig. The guards on duty are startled by my sudden appearance and start to raise their weapons when they see me.
"Hold on!" I shout. "I come bearing gifts!" I hold up Skidmark and Trainwreck.
One of the officers talked into his radio while the other relaxed a bit.
"Miss Militia will be up in a moment."
"Great." I nodded.
Miss Militia ends up coming out more quickly than I expected. She must not have been doing anything important because if there's anything I learned from my father it's that bureaucracy loves making people wait. She had a few Troopers behind her ready to arrest my captures.
"Sacrosanct." She said when she was close enough.
"Miss Militia. Just doing some cleaning. You know the drill." I said as the Troopers took the men away.
"Indeed I do. You only got these two? No Squealer?"
"Unfortunately, no. She wasn't in the Lighthouse when we crashed their party. Must be in a workshop somewhere or something."
"Well, three out of four is still passing. Saves us the trouble of anyone trying to get them out, too."
"One less gang off the streets. Though the Merchants weren't all that influential they still pushed drugs and I won't have that if I can help it."
"I'm glad. Speaking of keeping bad off the streets, I have to ask about the Wards again."
"And I'll have to decline again." I said and her eyes crinkled a bit.
"I figured." She laughed. "The Espada have been rather successful so far. You've helped a lot of people. Especially during the bombings."
"We were just trying to make a difference." I say.
"Well you are. I've got some paper work to fill in now, thanks to you, so I need to go. Care to give a report before you leave?"
"Can I do it here?"
She laughed again. "You're one of the first people I've met who's not excited to get a closer look at the Oil Rig. Yes, I can take a report here."
I gave a quick and to the point explanation of what happened, leaving out the parts I felt might cause trouble, and went on my way, leaving to Las Noches from there instead of bothering with taking off anywhere else first.
"She's still sleep?" I asked when I saw the blonde woman laid on the floor.
"I know, I'm surprised too." Madison said. "It's weird. You'd expect her to wake up after getting wiped of drugs, but she's still out like a light."
"Well, nothing to do but wait, I guess."
—
We were in the middle of a rather intense game of War when we hear Squealer yawn. We put our masks on as she sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Man, I haven't slept that good in years." She yawned again. She looked confused as she saw where she was, taking in her surroundings the best she could. "Whoa, that heroin must be good, cause this is a new one."
"This is no drug induced fever dream, Squealer." I said as we approached her, acting as if we weren't just playing card games.
"What the— it's you fuckers!" She snaps up. "Where am I? Where's Skids?"
"In order, You're in our base, Las Noches, and Skidmark and Trainwreck are with the PRT."
"You turned Skids in?! What am I gonna do now? How am I gonna get my next fix? I'll kill you fuckers when I figure out how to get out of here!" She shouted erratically.
"There's no need for a next fix. I've gotten rid of your drug addiction."
"W-What?" She stopped, staring at us.
"You're no longer addicted to drugs. Neither are any of the Merchants who were in the Lighthouse with you. I used my power to get you clean."
"You… I don't…"
"We're offering you a deal, Squealer: Work for us, or go back to where you were. We wont' force you to join us, and if you do we won't force you to do anything you might not want to do. We will soon have access to better equipment for you to tinker with and you'll have our protection from Coil and the Empire. If you want to sit in your shop all day and tinker after joining us, you can do that. Nihilus was able to see how lost you looked while you were drugged up and when we heard your story she wanted to bring you in. It's your choice, in the end, but I hope you choose to stay with us." I explain.
Her eyes are wide as she absorbs all the information I've given her. Then her face scrunches up as she starts thinking about what to do.
"When you say better equipment soon, how long with it be until I get it? When and where can I have my workshop?"
"Nihilus will be controlling the Trainyard, so that is where your workshop will be as well. As for equipment, our worst case scenario is six weeks."
Her eyes go blank and she starts drooling after a moment at the thought of unrestricted access to the scrap in the Trainyard.
"This is a chance to turn your life around, Squealer. It's a tragedy what happened to you, and you'd be highly sought after. I hope you choose to have your second chance with us."
"So that chick is gonna be my boss?" She pointed to Nihilus.
"Your direct boss, yes. I'm the leader of our little group, though." I said.
"And what's your goal? What are you gonna be doing that would make me want to join you?"
"We simply wish to get rid of the rest of the gangs so make the city safer."
"Simply." Squealer scoffs. "You're talking about going to war. We just got outta one with those Asian fucks!"
"And yet we took out your group in less than five minutes. If there's going to be a war, why not pick the winning side?"
"And what makes you so sure you'll win? The Empire is the strongest gang in this city. There's only three of you, yeah? The Empire outnumbers you four to one."
"It's actually three to one, and they only have two or three members that can actually hurt us. Trust me when I say there is not a cape in this city who can actually rival us if we decide to fight seriously. What I did to Lung wasn't a fluke, it was the least violent option I had."
She considered the words for a moment and I see her understand them.
"Okay, I'll join up. If only for all the shit you two are offering. Now, you got any food, I'm starving."
Nihilus hands her a bag of Fugly Bob's and she starts in on it.
"Well, I'm heading home. Have fun getting to know your new subordinate, Nihilus." I wave as I take off.
—
Lisa was late enough that I thought she wasn't coming back that night, which wouldn't have been that bad. I learned that sleeping with Lisa was not fun. She moved so much that she sometimes woke me up. And then there was the fact I'd wake up with her in weird positions like curled around my head or with both her feet on the floor.
"God, I fucking hate that asshole." Lisa steamed, slamming the door as she came in.
"Hi, babe, how was work?" I ask flatly while I watch TV.
"It sucked!" She threw her hands in the air. "Coil is such a— Did you just greet me like a housewife?" She asked, pausing her angry ranting.
"You calm now?" I ask, offering her a flat look.
"No, but I'm less mad." She flops on the couch next to me. "Coil's such a stupid asshole."
"Yes he is." I agreed.
"You know what he wants us to do this time? Crash the PRT banquet tomorrow night! Like, what the fuck?! Why would we do that? It's basically a suicide mission."
"You didn't agree to that dumb shit, did you?" I asked incredulously.
"Fortunately I managed to talk the others out of it despite the decent pay out we'd be getting. Brian and I just didn't want to risk it."
"Good." I nodded. "Seems like he sees you guys as expendable. Lung would've killed a few of you if we weren't around, you probably would've gotten caught at the Bank, and now he's having you attack a PRT banquet? That's the kind of work you hand to people you don't need to survive. They're loss is inconvenient, but not so much so it would hinder your plans. I hate to say it, but you guys are just bait."
Lisa was hunched over, rubbing her temples.
"God dammit, you're right. Fuck, this is the worst." She sighed.
"Well, now you know you can handle it better. It must suck realizing your boss sees you as expendable though. I'm sure it must hurt."
"I hate you." Lisa sighed.
"I love me too." I smirked.
"Fuck off." She laughed, punching me in the arm.
AN: This chapter ended up longer than I was expecting it to, not that that's a bad thing. This is also the end of Arc 3: Grinding. Next arc: Family drama and dealing with the Empire without setting the city on fire... Again.