AN: Not a whole lot to say about this one, just that next chapter is Taylor finally dealing with Danny and the juicy stuff starts after that. Also "Lise" is pronounced like "Lease" in case anyone thinks it's a spelling error.
"Nihilus actually did a very good job on these." I said to myself, looking over the last building I'd tagged.
She'd taken her assignment to make us an emblem seriously and actually made them all personalized. I got a simple Shield with a sword going through the top with a "1" in the middle of the shield and a wolf head on the hilt of the sword. It was streamlined and the opposite of extravagant, just like I wanted it to be. For herself, she'd gone with a snake wrapped around a sword in such a way that it looked like a "3". For Theo she'd gone with a flaming Zweihander sword with a "7" on the blade. Lisa and Alec got matching designs similar to mine. Lisa's was a sword through the Tragedy mask with a "5" on the forehead while Alec got the Comedy mask with a "4" on the forehead. I was actually kind of looking forward to what she'd design for Missy and Panacea if they decided to join up.
I pulled out my burner to check the time. It was almost half past four, which meant the transport van would be showing up soon if it hadn't already. I decide to text the others and tell them to meet me at the Boat Graveyard when they're done. Madison showed up first and Theo a few minutes after that.
"So, what's up?" Nihilus asked.
"You guys know about that singer, Canary?" I asked.
"Kinda. Not super into pop." Samael shrugged.
"I love her music!" Nihilus said.
"She's going to the Birdcage. I decided to break her out." I explain.
"You're going to break out of the Birdcage?"
"No, I'm going to get her before then. Her transport is coming here to pick up Bakuda and Lung in the next hour or so. I plan to grab her before they get too far out of the city."
"Why's she getting caged in the first place? I don't want to break out some deranged killer." Samael said.
We stare at him for a moment and he sighs.
"Yes, I understand the irony considering my step mom."
"Just making sure." I said. "Anyway, she's getting sent to the Birdcage mostly because she's a high power Master and she reminds people of Bird Girl."
"Bird Girl?" He asked.
"Ziz."
"Ah." He nodded.
"She can control people through song and by giving them orders. She got into an argument with her ex-boyfriend after a show and told him to go fuck himself, not realizing he'd heard her sing."
"So he…"
"Took the order literally. There was a lot of blood."
He cringed at the mental image.
"So they're sending her to Super Jail for an accident. That's pretty fucked up."
"Even worse, during the trial she wasn't allowed to speak and they had her in restraints meant for low power brutes."
"That's super fucked up." Nihilus said.
"Yup. Which is why I want to break her out. You think Squealer can get along with her?"
"Maybe. They'd have to meet. She's nice if not extremely trashy."
"Figures. Anyway, my plan was to scout out the Oil Rig to see if I can scout out the transport truck. See what I'm dealing with."
"You need any help?" Samael asked.
"Not really. Wraith and Rhapsody know about this. I just didn't want you two in the dark for it."
"I can be look out. Let you know when they leave and everything." Nihilus offered.
"That should help." I nodded.
"Kaiser's mentioned that they tend to send out at least two identical looking vans to try to throw off people who might be looking to do what you are. I'll be on look out too. It should save time searching for her if you hit the wrong one."
"I appreciate this, you guys. I'm glad you're willing to help despite this being kind of selfish."
"It's for a good cause." Samael shrugged.
"I'll do anything you need." Nihilus said.
"Anything is a pretty tall order, you know."
"I—."
"Don't tease her like that, Samael. Other ways, sure, just not that way."
"Sure, sure." He said dismissively. "You heading out soon?"
"I'm going now." I said before popping into Vacio Mundo. I go over to the Oil Rig and walk in. The inside is a lot nice than I was expecting from how brutalist it looks on the outside. I make my way over to the parking lot. It was weird that parked cars showed up, but it made sense in that things that moved never showed up there. Which gave me free reign to look over the inside of their vans to see what I could be up against.
Most of the ones I checked were standard police vans and didn't have anything special on the inside. However, I came to a few vans near the back that were all similarly bulky and hit pay dirt. The inside was reinforced to help prevent capes getting out if they managed to get past the motion sensor containment foam sprayers. And those were only if someone managed to get through the high level Brute restraints attached to seats I could only assume were supposed to also be filled with containment foam. So it was counter measure stacked on counter measures. Too bad none of that would stop me from getting my target. The cameras in the corners I could guess were just to keep an eye on anything going on inside since there wasn't a window to see into the drivers seat. Having finished my investigation, I head back to the others.
Samael jumps when I appear next to him.
"Jesus, scared the hell out of me." He said.
"I'd hope there's no hell in you. That's be weird." I said.
"Ha, ha, very funny. You find the trucks?"
"Yeah. Nothing I can't get past. But they'll know it's me for sure. Four cameras in the back. The foam sprayers and everything else is easy enough though."
"Great, so we're good to go. Now we just have to wait."
—
It was another hour before we see one of the Transport trucks pull out of the Oil Rig and start North. I get up to follow it to the outskirts of town. Once it passes through the Trainyard I jump on it, sliding down through the roof. The transport is empty and I phase out just as the foam sprayers go off.
My phone went off and I got a message from Samael saying another two vans left since I'd left. The first headed south while the first went straight east.
"We really need someone with clones." I sighed as I headed for east. I was able to find the van without much problem, they didn't exactly blend in to normal traffic very well, but that one was a bust too. I caught up with the south bound van just as it left the city and it was another bust. Both Samael and Nihilus had texted me twice each and I left for the most recent departure first. I caught up with it and slipped inside from the roof as it got into an isolated area. I sighed when I once again found it empty. That was long enough to get foamed.
The foam itself was sticky, which was annoying, but it was quick drying for the most part and that left me standing in a rather comfortable cloud of fluff. It was too solid to move, but had enough give that it was soft. I probably could have fallen asleep in the stuff if I wasn't busy. I phased out and headed for the next one, which was headed North again.
"Fourth time's the charm I hope."
And it was, thankfully, and I voiced as much.
"Oh thank fuck." I sighed as I reached my hand through Canaries restraints and grabbed her arm as the foam sprayers went off, leaving Bakuda and Lung completely covered in the stuff while Canary and I slipped freely from the back of the still moving van.
I had never really been a fan of her songs, so I had no idea that she had feathers growing from her hair. There were probably a lot of people who thought they were fake, but they felt like real feathers and they sure weren't budging from her head easily.
I shot a quick text to the others to meet in Las Noches and opened a portal.
"Well, that went about as smoothly as I could expect." I said as I placed Canary on the floor.
"I mean, we didn't get into a fight, so I agree." Theo said, swiping his mask away and dropping into his seat.
"Table." Madison called as she did the same. "I'm surprised the heroes didn't show up considering there were cameras."
"They probably just could get to me fast enough. I'll ask Lisa later about it, but I feel like they know for sure by now it was me. Especially with how clean it all was." I said.
"We can deal with the heroes later, though. They'll be upset but there's nothing they can do about it." Theo said.
"True enough. You guys have anything to do for the rest of the day?"
"I have to be home for dinner soon, but outside of that, no." Madison said.
"I'll ask Kayden to cook for us. Tell your mom you're eating with Taylor." Theo told her.
"That could work. I'll go call her." She stood up.
"I'll call Kayden too, see what she says." Theo followed her out.
"Text Lisa too." I called after them.
—
It was an hour later when Kayden showed up with food. She'd made a casserole and even brought plates and plastic forks for us to use.
"I get the feeling I'm going to be playing team mom a lot." She sighed as she sat down in one of the spare hairs we'd finally gotten around to adding to Las Noches. She had her daughter with her, held to her hip with one arm.
"I mean, you are a mom, so it makes sense." Lisa said.
"If I'm going to be cooking often my pay should get bumped."
"No one's getting paid yet." I pointed out.
"Exactly." She said, tending to Aster.
"You know, I've been thinking about this for a while, what are you guys going to do with your territory?" Madison asked.
"We get territory?!" Alec looked up from his food with wide eyes.
"Yes?" I said said slowly. "I thought you knew that."
"No one explained that to me! Who has what?"
"I have the Docks, Theo is taking over Downtown when we get the Empire out and Madison has the Trainyard. No one else has picked anything else yet."
"Well we still have a free seat right?" Lisa asked.
"No. All seven of us have our powers now." I said.
"What? When?" Theo asked.
"I thought I explained this already." I said to myself, looking down at my food. "Some little blonde girl showed up a few weeks ago. She'll show up sometimes while I'm smoking and we'll talk."
"You really should have told us that sooner."
"I thought I did. Anyway, with Panacea joining in terms of getting her powers that means all seven of us are effectively in play. Missy and Panacea aren't official members, but that's fine as long as they aren't actively getting in our way."
"I guess." Lisa sighed.
"Back to the territory thing, I want the beaches." Alec said.
"Sure." I shrugged. "That means the South Docks and the Commerce District are still open."
"From what I know, the latter of those is where Coil usually operates, since he's been pushing the Empire out for a while. I want that area. Just as a fuck you to his ghost once I take over his operation." Lisa said.
"Which means only the South Docks are unclaimed. I doubt Panacea will want to keep watch over an area, so it can go to Missy. Or they can watch it together."
"Panacea's not the fighting type. She probably won't even join properly." Lisa said.
"Actually, if her family situation is as bad as I think, she could end up joining full time eventually."
"Speaking of bad family situations…" She trailed off.
"No."
"You know you need to. It's been what, two weeks? You should at least check on him. I know you're worried."
I glared down at my plate.
"I really hate you can tell that. Fine, I'll go talk to him tomorrow."
"There you go! Progress!" Lisa smiled smugly at me.
"Don't make me suplex that smug off your face."
She responded by sticking her tongue out at me and I rolled my eyes.
"No one's answered my question." Madison chimed in.
"Oh, right. Uh…" Theo trailed off. "I'm not really sure. I guess I'm going to spend most of my time trying to get rid of all the Empire stuff in the area."
"I'm gonna have businesses to run, so mostly that." Lisa shrugged.
"I'm probably gonna spend most of my time on my ass or hitting on college chicks when I can actually drag myself off my ass." Alec said.
"The first step is admitting you have a problem, so good progress, lazy ass."
"Fuck you too, Lise." Alec flipped her off.
"Uh…" I trailed off as I thought about what to do. There was a lot I could do because the Docks were such a high traffic area. "I don't know." I finally said. "There's a pretty high homeless population in that part of the city. Maybe I'll start a shelter. Look into legally acquiring abandoned property and all that. Maybe buy out a couple businesses when I have the money."
"Homeless shelter sounds like a good plan. There's not really much for me to do in the Trainyard, so I'm mostly gonna be spending time going through scrap to either sell or give to Squealer for her tinkering." Madison said.
"You could also set up a place for Canary to sing without accidentally using her power on anyone." Lisa said.
"That would be nice too. Maybe Squealer could help with that."
"Hey, so how did you guys mark your territory or whatever? I want to do that ASAP." Alec said.
Madison rolled her eyes and pulled a cardboard stencil and some spray paint from her bag. She handed me the stencil and I made it bigger by stretching it with space powers and handing it to him.
"Since you have a coastal part of the city you only need to mark the parts that touch the other territories." I explained. "Hell, Lisa, you could probably go do yours now too, partly just to freak out Coil."
"Heh, that sounds like a plan. It won't make him flounder, but it should freak him out a bit." She laughed.