Step 4.3

My head hurt.

By that, I mean Jesus fucking Christ why is a herd of stampeding horses doing the electric slide on my skull?

The vision continued. The woman in the fedora and the man in the green cloak were talking. Couldn't make out the words, like listening through water.

Don't think it went well though.

The woman turned, her hand reaching for the mirrors reflecting mirrors. The man raised his hand toward her. A light formed in his palm, and the woman spun with a gun in hand.

Then his head jerked around, looking my way. I glanced over my shoulder, but no one was there. When I turned back, they were gone, and my eyes were open.

Never noticed how much mold grew on the ceiling at Winslow before.

"Veda?"

"I am here."

I sat up slowly, asking, "What happened?"

"You fainted."

Oh, right. Piercing pain stabbing out of my eyeballs. Electric slide on my head. Still hurt a little.

Now to figure out why I woke up in an empty classroom with a row of lockers on the floor. Passed out on Winslow's floor surrounded by lockers. Something fucked up about that imagery.

Turning to my left, I added a blonde to my assessment.

Rune.

I scrambled to my feet, hand reaching for my saber. Fingers ran over my hip and waist. Nothing.

Where's my saber?

"I got them. I got them."

Purple lowered from above, my phone and saber in each hand. I slipped the device into my pocket, and kept my saber ready.

With one eye cautiously on Rune, I asked, "How long was I out?"

"Seven minutes," Veda answered.

Not that long.

I didn't see anyone in the room. Didn't hear anyone. Thinking about it, I didn't remember anyone being around when Rune and I started fighting. Lucked out on that I guess.

"Okay. Where are the students? Did Trevor get out okay?"

"I have warned Miss Militia," Veda said. "She is evacuating the building."

Raising my hand I flipped the communication line back to on. Why did I turn it off in the first place?

Armsmaster's voice interrupted my thoughts, his stern tone barking out orders.

"—blish a perimeter. Vista. Transport Stratos and Dauntless."

"On it," Vista said.

"We don't have the manpower to deal with this," Stratos said.

"Putting the call in," Triumph said.

"We have to make do for now," Armsmaster replied. "StarGazer, what is Newtype's status?"

"Awake and confused," I said. "What's going on?"

"Did you locate Grue's sister?"

I raised my brow. "Who?"

Silence answered me, and then…

"I advise you evacuate the premises," Armsmaster said. "There is a potentially lethal incident ongoing. Prioritize the evacuation of civilians. Master/Stranger protocols are in effect."

"Wait. What's this about Grue having a sister?"

"I have explained it twice," Veda said.

"I didn't hear you say anything."

"I did," Triumph said.

"Me too," Vista answered.

"I heard nothing," Miss Militia said. "Grue has a sister?"

"Potential shaker effect," Armsmaster said. "Militia. Complete the evacuation and pull back. Newtype, what do you see?"

I looked around. Same room as before. Rune lay on the ground still, her chest rising and falling slowly.

Should I say anything about her?

"An empty room," I said. "And what's going on?"

"Evacuate the building. Your life may be in danger."

"From what?"

"Do as he says," Ramius answered. "This is serious."

It's one thing not airing their dirty laundry, but staying silent when the go to idea was cordon off the school and tell me to leave?

New low…or whatever it was, was that bad.

I turned at a groan behind me.

Bolting across the room, my hand snatched Rune's arm in a firm grip. I pressed a knee against her back and wretched her arm the other way. With a flick of my thumb my saber cut on and I swung the blade over so she could see it.

"Don't move."

She remained still. Easier to pull both her hands up and away from touching anything. I hardly needed an angry teenage Nazi complicating things.

"Zip ties," I said.

Purple landed and rolled out of her cradle. I held Rune's arms straight back, keeping them together while Purple looped the tie on.

"You bitch," she snarled, looking at me from the corner of her eye. "You broke the rules. Kaiser is gonn—"

"You outed yourself," I said. "I wasn't here for you."

What was I here for?

I remembered everything up until something someone said. I argued with Miss Militia about it, and then…I was in a bathroom, and then the hall.

With my saber out.

Damn.

Rune came out of a stairwell to find me waiting with a saber out. Explained why she thought I came after her, but not why I had my saber out in the first place.

Kaiser probably didn't care how I got her. He might accuse me of breaking the rules just because.

"I'm really starting to hate today," I mumbled. It's not even noon yet.

I pulled Rune to her feet.

They wanted me to evacuate, fine. Seemed like everyone else already left this part of the school.

"Come on," I said. "We're leaving."

"I'll fucking kill you!"

Of all the Nazis in the Bay, I had to say Rune ranked low on my fear meter.

"You can try," I said.

I pushed her ahead of me, one hand holding her arms and the other against the small of her back.

"Testing," Veda said.

I raised my head. "What?"

"You are here to find Grue's sister."

"I am?"

"You heard that?"

"Yes?"

"You cannot hear her name when I say it, but you can hear that she is Grue's sister."

Oh. "Okay."

And that fell together like puzzle pieces. I came up looking for Grue's sister. He's black. His sister probably is too. The Nazis wanted to hurt her and something happened…and then what?

How did I end up in an abandoned school? A parahuman in the school, or just using their power on it? Not sure I knew of any in the Bay whose power included erasing memories, or preventing people from hearing things.

Definitely didn't like the idea of my mind getting messed with.

Turning my attention to Rune, I asked, "What do you remember?"

"You attacking me for no reason, psycho," she answered.

No help there.

"We'll figure it out later," I said. "And I could just leave you behind to suffer in whatever the fuck this is, so maybe now isn't the time to be such a bitch?"

I pushed Rune toward the door and out into the hall.

And that's a dead body.

I turned my head.

Two more down the hall.

I hated Winslow. Hell on Earth couldn't have a better moniker. If I ever woke up and the news said someone lit the building on fire, I'd actually be happy.

Think they call that schadenfreude.

It's a primal thing, though. Childish fantasizing about people who hurt me getting their comeuppance. I'm not particularly proud of it.

Finding three people dead in the hallway, no older than me?

It's not what I wanted.

"Shit," the girl in front of me cursed. Rune stared at the body, eyes wide and her jaw set.

"You know her?"

She glanced back at me, and then turned away.

"Maybe."

Odd moment. Nazis are Nazis. In a way I figured some of them had it coming. Hookwolf and Kaiser for example. But a kid?

"Sorry," I said.

Rune's face took on a complicated expression, but I didn't try to puzzle it out. Already treading water. Looking too hard at her face might give the wrong impression.

The hallway otherwise looked abandoned, and something killed three kids.

"Keep going," I said.

"Hold on!" Rune slammed her foot down and fought against me. "Truce."

"Truce?"

"Yeah. Truce. You've heard of that, right?"

"Can't say I have."

"Ask them." She nodded at me. "You're talking to the Protectorate right? Villains and heroes work together for shit like the Nine and Endbringers. The shit that burns everything down."

Something came to mind from the news. "Didn't some of your friends burn a store down last week for hiring a Hispanic guy?"

Rune stomped her foot in response and shouted, "You know what I mean!"

I paused, mulling it over before asking, "Armsmaster. Does the Protectorate work with villains under some truce?"

Their conversations stopped for a moment.

"Why are you asking?"

"I have…Someone, who is offering to help."

"A villain?"

What did I just ask? "Yes."

"We do work with villains in emergencies," Ramius said. "Standing policy ever since the first Endbringer attacks."

"Villains have also taken advantage of the terms for their own benefit," Armsmaster said. "Do not trust them."

Not surprised, but if Rune was worried about her friends?

"Stab me in the back"—I nodded towards Purple—"and you get to join the list of people who got beat by a basket sized ball of fun."

"Come at me," Purple chirped. "Come at me!"

Rune scoffed. "Whatever. Keep to the rules, and maybe I forget you've seen my face."

Like the Nazi's respected the rules and didn't go after Grue's sister? I didn't miss the irony. I just didn't comment on it.

"Don't move," I said.

She held still as I cut the zip tie. Released, she took one step away from me and turned.

I looked her in the eye, and said, "I see you in a mask, I break your arms and drag you into a cell. If I see you on the street kicking someone with a different skin color, I break your arms and drag you into a cell, mask or not."

Rune rolled her eyes. "And I'll rip that hunk of metal apart and shove it up your ass blah blah blah. Truce?"

"Truce."

I started down the hall, and after a few moments Rune followed. Tried not to look at the bodies.

"What do you remember?" I asked.

"A few of mine were gonna teach some nigger a lesson. Damn idiots don't know anything about subtlety, so I was coming up here to stop them."

Don't think I like truces with Nazis.

"Which one?" I asked, then clarified, "The girl, I mean."

"The"—Rune blinked—"I don't remember."

Well that answered my theory. Some of the colorful—I regretted that pun the moment I thought it—members of the Winslow community decided to go after Grue's sister. Something happened and…

"She triggered," I mumbled.

"Who?" Rune reached one hand into her pocket.

"You know who," I said. "I was here to help her, and something happened and she triggered."

"That is correct," Veda said.

"And we can apparently talk about her without trouble, but we can't remember, or hear anyone, say her name."

"Oh joy." Rune glanced around the hall, phone in hand. "Just what the city ne—Fuck!"

I stopped and turned on my heels. Rune's phone clattered to the floor as her hands moved to cover her eyes.

"Jesus fucking fuck fuck! Fuck!"

"What?" I asked.

"That fucking hurt!"

"What hurt?"

"Looking at images of Grue's sister and others under the effect of her power is painful," Veda clarified. "That is how you fainted."

"Oh. Okay, I remember that now," I said.

Others. Fuck there were others.

Rune snarled. "You couldn't remember it a few seconds ago?"

"I'd have said something if I did," I said.

The girl hissed and bent over at the waist. She took deep breaths, but the pain seemed to fade pretty fast. We started down the hall and made it to the stairs. Another body, a boy I felt like I'd seen before, laying at the bottom.

He must have tumbled over.

At the bottom, I still didn't see anyone. I swore I saw people earlier. Where were they?

"The school is clear," Militia said. "We're getting head counts on the students now."

"I'm going to look around," I said. "Make sure everyone is out."

"They are not," Veda said.

"We can evacuate the rest once we understand the situation," Armsmaster said.

"Just come to me," Militia said. "I'm at the front doors."

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Front doors," she answered.

I turned to Rune, saying, "Miss Militia is at the front waiting for us. We need to find you a mask, unless you want everyone to know."

Spare masks might be a good idea in the future.

"I ain't going nowhere," Rune snarled. "Bitch took out my cousin. She's going down."

"In case you haven't noticed, looking at her, and I quote, "fucking hurts" and there's dead kids on the floor. What are you going to do? Throw lockers at her?"

"She is terrified of schoolwork."

Rune and I both turned, her hand slapping the wall and my saber flicking on.

Tattletale stepped out of a doorway into the hall, hands raised. Plain clothes draped her form, nice jeans and a designer jacket, but a domino mask covered her face.

"Hold on now. I'm here to help"—she turned her head to me—"wow, you are pissed."

"How can you tell?"

Tattletale lowered her hands slowly, saying, "I think you're taking something that was strictly business a bit too personally."

"I'm feeling personally involved."

"You know you're standing next to Rune, right?"

Rune scoffed, "Fuck my life."

"Pretty sure I said I didn't want to see you," I said.

Tattletale started to speak, but stopped.

"Huh. You did say that, didn't you? Why did you say that?"

"I called…Why did I say— I told StarGazer to call you?"

"Right. I remember that now. Sorry. Forgetting things and my head is killing me." Tattletale threw her arms out. "This place is a trip."

The blond girl outside. She must have been coming to get Grue's sister herself. When I never came out she must have run inside.

Or…

No one knew what Tattletale's power was, but everyone assumed master or thinker. Maybe she'd done something with her power? No. It didn't fit. Why attack Winslow? Not the Undersiders' MO, especially if Grue's sister was a student.

"You remember who you were looking for?" Tattletale didn't answer. "Do you?"

Tattletale cocked her head to one side. "I just told you."

"She did," Veda confirmed. "Perhaps it is prudent to discuss this outside."

I didn't want to ignore Veda, but it didn't feel right. Armsmaster said the situation was dangerous, and I didn't need convincing. Dead bodies and all that.

But everything seemed oddly calm.

Figures that would be the moment for Ramius to call out to me.

"Newtype, where are you?"

"She is still inside," Veda said.

"Why?"

"Tattletale is here," I said.

"The Undersiders?" Armsmaster asked.

"No. Just Tattletale."

If someone triggered and went Carrie on the school, why were Rune and I still alive? Tattletale got in unharmed. I didn't hear explosions, screaming, or see any smoke.

Awfully tame for an attack. Just like when my power made finishing the solar furnace painful. Whatever I knew sat there, on the edge of my mind. Just out of reach.

I hated that feeling.

Tattletale grinned. "Going to play a little Sherlock Holmes are we? I'm down for that."

I stared at her. "I didn't say anything abou—"

"No need. Quick question. Did you know Grue had a sister before today?"

"No," Rune and I said at once.

"Then this power doesn't touch long term memory," Tattletale mused. "Power probably fudges things a bit to smooth it all out. We're hearing and seeing everything just fine, but nothing gets committed to memory."

"Seeing?" I asked.

"Look straight ahead." Tattletale pointed at her eye. "Corner of your eye."

"Why?"

"Trust me."

"We don't," Rune snarled. "For all we know you're in on this."

And now I'm agreeing with Nazis. Fuck the Undersiders.

Tattletale rolled her eyes. "Just do it."

I looked straight ahead, and—

My head snapped to my left, but the shadow wasn't there anymore. I looked forward again. And again. And a third time. It's not easy keeping your eyes straight and not looking at the thing you see in the corner.

Armsmaster barked. "Newtype, evacuate now. That's an order."

I frowned. "I don't take orders from you."

"Is that Armsmaster?" Tattletale stepped forward with a smile. "Tell him I say hi!"

"What is that?" I asked, apparently the only person who can focus on anything. "The shadow?"

"Someone is standing there," Tattletale said. "Over there too." She pointed. "And there. And there. Basically everywhere. They're not moving though. Try not to think too hard. I'm used to headaches, but this power is a real dick to anyone trying to subvert it."

That made sense. "It knocked me out when I used a camera phone to look at people. Hit Rune too when she tried looking at a picture on hers."

Rune crossed her arms over her chest.

"Are we just going to stand here, or find the bitch doing this and deal with her?"

"Hold your horses," Tattletale said. "The power can block out what we see with our eyes, but it doesn't work on digital. Not directly. An odd restriction, but not unheard of in stranger powers."

She continued mumbling to herself, while I looked at my phone and thought. Tattletale talked like the power had a mind of its own. That didn't alarm me. It sometimes felt like my power told me things, or withheld them. Not in words, but in images. Ideas. Concepts.

Glancing around the hall, "Is someone standing beside me StarGazer?"

"Yes," Veda answered.

"I can hear that," I said. And she said it earlier too, before I passed out. "You can see everyone here?"

"I can."

She told me that before. "I remember you saying that now."

"Curiouser and curiouser," Tattletale said. "How far away is StarGazer? Yards? Miles?"

"Far enough," I said.

"Miles then."

I let that slide. Kids standing motionless around me, under the effect of a power.

"Why are some kids dead, but not all of them?" I said aloud.

"I don't think the power is lethal," Tattletale said. "Or at least, it's not supposed to be. Memory manipulation. Messes with the brain. There's some similarity there to Grue's power, in an abstract way."

She turned to the closest body.

"The brain forgot how to work the lungs," she said.

"That didn't happen to us," Rune mumbled.

"No," Tattletale replied. "But this power is acting wrong. It shouldn't be able to affect this many people."

Tattletale tapped her foot on the floor as she mumbled, and her grin grew.

She exclaimed. "It's a Case Sixty-Six!"

"A what?" I asked.

"Big PRT secret," Tattletale answered. "Only find talk about it on the Internet's dark corners and a few conspiracy websit—Damn. I missed the trigger visions!"

She turned to us, leaning forward and asking, "What did you see? People say parahumans see glimpses of the Gold War during broken triggers."

I stared at her. In truth, I have no idea what I saw. Capes fighting. A city being wrecked. Gold War was a term I knew though. Big cape fight when I was younger. Leveled Manhattan isle.

"Is that really important right now?"

"Good point." Tattletale leaned back. "Bigger point, is that we are so damn lucky!" She smacked her hand against her head and laughed. "Holy shit! I ran right into a broken trigger! You know one of these killed sixty people in Charlotte last year?"

She seemed oddly excited for something so grim.

"They don't seem very lucky," I said, glancing to the bodies on the floor.

Tattletale just waved her hand.

"Trust me. If the worst we get today is a half dozen dead, we're insanely lucky."

For someone who kept insisting I trust her, she didn't seem concerned about appearing a little unhinged.

But, big PRT secret?

Maybe why no one bothered explaining why I should be in a hurry to run.

Turning to Purple I asked, "Do you have anything on broken trigger, or Case Sixty-Six?" Like a Case Fifty-Three?

"Searching."

Turning my attention back to the Protectorate line, I asked, "Does anyone want to explain Case Sixty-Six to me?"

"Good luck," Tattletale said.

"Where did you hear that," Armsmaster asked with an edge.

"Tattletale," I answered.

The edge in his voice grew sharper. "Where did she hear that?"

Tattletale laughed. "Today of all days someone is going to ask how something managed to slip through the PRT's iron clad grasp on information security?"

"Oh, right. I'm psychic." I glared at her. She smiled. "No, really."

"Anyone want to answer my question?" I asked.

"That information is classified," Armsmaster grunted. "Public release of—"

I tuned out the rest of his rant. Now wasn't really the time to be upset that the PRT can't keep secrets.

"What is it?" I asked the annoyingly smug blond.

"Asking moi?" Tattletale chuckled. "Didn't Armsmaster give you the speech about not trusting villains?"

"I can give you the same speech I gave Rune," I said.

"Something about arm breaking," aforementioned villainess mumbled.

"Intimidating," Tattletale quipped.

"Crisis on hand," I said. "Focus."

"Why do heroes always know how to spoil the party? Fine. Broken trigger. Imagine your trigger event, except it gave everyone around you the same power."

Sharing a power with Emma? The mere thought sent shivers down my spine.

"Now imagine it doesn't have any of the safeties that normally keep parahumans from killing themselves."

"Safeties?"

"What keeps someone with speed powers from getting killed by friction? Someone who can breathe underwater only breathing underwater? Broken triggers don't have that."

She turned to the bodies.

"Probably what happened to them. Some glitch. The power hit the wrong part of the brain."

I kept my eyes forward, my attention on the shadow in the corner.

"They're under the effect of their own power," I said.

Tattletale nodded. "Forgetting themselves constantly."

I nodded back. "The reason they're just standing there is because they're stuck in their own heads."

"Basically a vegetative state," Tattletale said.

"They're not dangerous," I said.

"Not particularly, except to themselves. Hard to know if the ones who died, died during the trigger or afterward."

"During," Rune said. She kept her eyes straight, maybe watching a shadow herself. "So they're alive, but the power is keeping them stuck?"

Turning to Purple I asked, "Can you tell?"

Purple moved, hovering in the air a few feet from me. I turned my head, getting the spot into the corner of my eye. Sure enough I saw a shadow.

"They are breathing," Veda said.

"Like I said. We lucked out. These things usually go a lot worse."

"They need to go to a hospital," I said. "They can't just stand here forever."

"Hard to move what you can't see," Tattletale said. "Let alone care for them."

"Hold up," Rune said. "They're all capes now?"

"Basically," Tattletale said. "I'd hold off on the recruitment offers, though. Not sure this many people have ever survived a broken trigger before. There's no precedent."

"Will they ever wake up?" Rune glanced between us. "Or. You know. Not just stand there?"

"Hard to say," Tattletale said.

It seemed kind of stupid. We couldn't talk about them by name, or even see them directly, but we could happily know they were there and even speak generally? Broken indeed…although if I thought about it, it made sense.

Like a facial recognition program. You needed to balance the specificity of the search with the breadth of the images you needed to work with. If the power worked on similar logic, it picked what information it wanted to block and devised a means of doing so, but missed a few things. Got confused when some of the information it wanted to block got through anyway.

It doesn't hurt seeing them from the corner of my eye.

"StarGazer. Stream Purple's thermal camera to my phone."

"That seems unwise," Veda answered.

"No." Tattletale stepped forward to me. "That, is a brilliant idea!"

Pulling my phone out, I said, "Maybe if we just reduce people to thermal blobs, it won't cause the effect?"

"Fingers crossed!"

Tattletale actually crossed her fingers.

I raised my phone and switch it over to the stream. At first I only saw a blue wall with a faint outline.

"Turn the camera towards the nearest person," I said.

The camera turned slowly, and I braced myself. The pain came suddenly, but not harshly. Just a mild ache in the back of my head. Strong enough to feel but not enough to knock me out. Not like last time. Boy or girl, I couldn't tell. Person though. Two legs and two arms. Shorter than me with broad shoulders.

"Well? Having a stroke? Maybe a mild nose bleed?"

I glanced to Tattletale. "Has anyone told you you're unpleasant?"

"It might have been mentioned," she hummed, "but it's working?"

"Yeah. It's working. Turn to the next per—No. Where's Grue's sister?"

Veda didn't answer at first.

"StarGazer?"

"This way."

I raised my brow, but Purple's cradle turned and we worked our way back to where Rune and I started. The hall where I'd pulled out my saber the first time.

Figured.

The camera turned down toward the floor, and I saw two figures. One smaller than the other, but both lying motionless.

I kept an eye on Rune, but she didn't make any moves.

"Must have grabbed her," Tattletale mumbled, "and when the trigger happened the body couldn't stay upright. Good thing too. Pretty sure that one over there got smacked with a locker."

"Over where?" I asked.

"Red spot on the floor." She pointed. "Trigger doesn't cover blood, apparently."

Turning Purple's camera, I found the thin figure leaning against the wall. I turned my eyes to Rune, who suddenly looked a little pale.

"She must have gotten hit when you pulled the lockers off the wall," I said.

The girl flinched. "Well how was I suppose to know she was there?!"

"Yeah, whoever moves all these kids out of here is going to need to be very careful," Tattletale observed. "Glad I'm not a hero. It's not my problem!"

I turned to the smiling villain with a scowl. She kept on smiling, hands on her hips.

Rune stepped up beside me, staring at the blood puddle.

"Who did it?" She asked.

"You did?"

"I mean the shit with leaking a bunch of cape names onto the net," she snapped. "Who did it? BC?"

"How should I know?" I asked. "Probably Blue Cosmos. I don't know."

"It wasn't them," Tattletale disagreed. "They'd go to national news. Besides, I bet that even if I got into the PRT building I'd have minutes tops before the hammer of god came down on me. Anyone who got this info got it with parahuman help. Big parahuman help, and someone on the inside."

She leaned toward me, and suddenly I felt a strong lack of personal space. "And you are feeling guilty."

I frowned. "No I'm not."

"You can't lie to a psychic." Her brow twitched. "Oh. Oh shit it was you! You started the gang war!"

Rune tensed. "She what?!"

Tattletale waved her hand. "No, non Not like that. She's been feeding the PRT info, trying to get the heroes off their asses. Someone went and dumped her good intentions on you and yours to get some blood on the streets."

How the hell is she figuring that out?

"And you found out about it, didn't you? You were angry at the white hats before, but you're even more pissed at them than you are at me. Damn. That is saying something because you hate me."

"Speak English," Rune snarled. "Who did what?"

"There's a mole in the PRT," Tattletale suggested. "Yeah, someone fairly high up. In the Director's office I bet."

Maybe she really is psychic.

Wait. "The Director? I've never seen her. I don't think I've even heard anyone talk about her."

"Piggot?" Tattletale waved her hand. "Nah. She's as straight as they lace. Besides, anyone who makes Director gets vetted to hell and back by the Protectorate's thinkers. Someone who'd do this never gets that high up, I hope."

"The files said they were only for Protectorate leaders and PRT Directors," I remembered. "Unless the PRT is moronic, they have to keep those files on a secure server."

"Probably, but there's all kinds of way to get at that stuff if you're willing to get creativ—You took Phantom Pain offline, didn't you?"

And I decided shutting up was the best course of action. The flashbacks to Emma, knowing exactly how to read me, exactly what to say to take me apart. Too much. Far too much.

"Calm down," Tattletale said. "I won't tell anyone. I didn't realized you were that good. BC has good Internet security for guys who refuse to use tinker tech." She turned to Purple. "Or is it you pulling the wonder hacking off?"

"It is a team effort," Veda replied.

"Oh, really now?"

"I'm still not hearing who did it," Rune snarled. "Someone made this shit happen and they're going to pay."

Apparently she cared now that people she liked were involved.

Tattletale shrugged. "Good luck with that. I bet the PRT already has them in a cell. Today is their last resort. A dead man switch or nuclear option. You don't release this kind of information and go unnoticed…"

I raised my brow at the look in her eyes. "What?"

Her pupils widened for a moment, and then got small. "What what?"

"You figured something out. What is it?"

She cocked her head to one side and crossed her arms. "Curious?"

I think I really did hate her. Maybe even more than the Trio, at least for the moment. What did she figure out? Something about me, or something about the leaker?

She watched me for a moment and shrugged. "Well. Maybe. I'm seventy-five, eighty percent, sure I know who is behind it. Be nice to be wrong for once. This guy won't stop here. He'll wait for the dust to settle and hit again, right when everyone's catching their breath."

"And he is?"

"Do you want spoilers? That's how you get spoilers." She turned on her heel and started down the hall. "If we're done playing twenty questions, want to call in the cavalry?"

"Fine," I mumbled.

The Protectorate line had gone on the whole time. Debating whether or not to go in while two villains helped me figure the mess out. Well. One villain. Rune kind of just stood there.

"I figured it out," I said to my phone.

"Hey. I'm here too!"

I sighed. "Tattletale helped."

"Thank you."

"I told you to leave," Armsmaster retorted. "We have no way of knowing if you've been compromised."

"Appraiser did give us orange," Triumph noted. "I don't think he gives lower risks than that."

"And we still haven't observed anything from outside," Stratos added. "Let me go in with Militia."

"I'm willing," she replied .

"You're both too important to risk," Armsmaster said. He breathed deeply. "Velocity, go in. Constant contact."

"On it," the hero said without hesitation.

I shook my head and checked on the injured girl again. The puddle grew slowly. She remained invisible, which I assumed meant alive.

"I know at least one person here is injured," I said. "The rest need help though. Oh, and bring thermal cameras."

Armsmaster asked why.

"Because they're invisible. You can see them with a digital camera, but I wouldn't suggest it unless you want to pass out. Thermal is just a mild head itch."

How were we going to tell the families? We couldn't get pictures or names. I still didn't know how doctors would be able to work on anyone if they couldn't see them. Probably couldn't touch them either.

"This is going to take a lot of extra hands," I added.

I stood up, and looked down the hall. How many? They evacuated the school, so obviously not everyone.

"StarGazer. Get the other Haros in here. Sweep the building and"—I peeked into a nearby classroom—"find some markers or something. Draw an x on the floor or the wall by everyone you find."

I didn't get an immediate answer.

"StarGazer?"

I turned back, Purple hovering in the air beside Tattletale. Just Tattletale and Purple.

"You know, I never thought about Go Dog Go as a commentary on the beastly nature of road rage," the villain mumbled. She pointed one finger at Purple and chuckled. "That is a very inventive interpretation of children's literature!"

"I have several similar thoughts on Green Eggs and Ham," Veda revealed.

Don't question it, Taylor.

Tattletale laughed. "Now that I would love to hear. What ab—"

"Where's Rune?" Looking past them I didn't see her, and she didn't walk past me.

"She left," Tattletale answered. "What? Expecting her to wait around for the Protectorate to slip in and find her sans mask? She just wanted to be sure her friends were safe anyway."

"They're not," I noted.

Tattletale shrugged. "Yeah, but what's she going to do about it?"

Fair enough. At least I didn't have to deal with the Nazi anymore. I'd clean up that mess later.

"She's not that bad you know," Tattletale mused. "Doesn't believe half the stuff coming out of her mouth. Don't think she has choice in her circumstances."

Not sure how she expected me to react to that. Honestly, my caring only went so far. Nazi super villain is Nazi super villain. Circumstances my flat ass.

"Now," Tattletale started, "the question is, what do you and I do about sleeping beauty? Or comatose beauty, as it were."

I raised my brow under my mask. "Get her to a hospital?"

Tattletale shook her head. "Oh sweetie. How exactly, do you think the big government funded heroes keep this kind of thing secret?"

"You—" I blinked and cursed. "They're going to blame her. Say she did it."

"It has the benefit of being somewhat true and the world gets to feel a little bit safer with the terrible villain hoisted by her own petard. I'd like you to be a little heroic, and help me get her out of here."

Another lie. Another promise of safety that they knew wasn't true. Not surprised anymore, especially after today.

Still.

"She needs a hospital and you're trying to manipulate me."

Tattletale grinned. "So I am, but I can manipulate you with the truth just as easily as a lie, and I'm telling the truth." She raised her hand. "Scouts honor."

"You're not a scout."

"Wouldn't you be surprised?" She stepped back, standing at about the spot Grue's sister should be. "You were going to just hand her over, anyway."

"Things changed and don't even try guilt tripping me. Won't work."

At least, I hoped that wouldn't work. I didn't attack the girl and make her trigger. The Nazi's did that, and they wanted to attack her before I got involved.

Only I didn't really stop it from happening.

"Touchy?" Tattletale puckered her lips. "What happens when Rune reports this? She might have forgotten for now, but she knows enough to figure out exactly who set this trigger in motion. Blue Cosmos. The Families of the other kids. Whole lot of people with reasons to be vengeful. Aisha isn't safe at a public hospital."

Even granting her that, "What are you going to do with her? She's invisible. How are you going to take care of her?"

"Damn. You're going to make this difficult, aren't you?"

I glared into her smile. "Just for you."

"For the record, it's not like I planned to send Oni Lee after you. He wasn't even supposed to be there. Probably wouldn't have been if you weren't going mecha Rambo all over the city."

"Sorry if shutting down sex slavers, drug dealers, and gun runners is an inconvenience."

"Yes the heroes aren't doing enough. Try imagining a world without the Protectorate." She leaned forward, adding, "How long do you think anyone would last?"

I started to respond, but Tattletale's grin widened.

"Skidmark is just smart enough to use being a fool to his advantage. The Empire fought the Slaughterhouse Nine and they're still here. Lung survived Leviathan and beat the Protectorate. This shit is older than either of us. You think you're going to bring it all down on your own?"

She pointed her thumb at Purple.

"With a kid?"

I stopped myself from reacting to that as best I could, saying, "I don't see anyone else trying."

"Yes, New type of hero. I enjoy the wordplay, but if you really want to blaze that trail, I suggest growing the fuck up. Stop making choices out of spite for everyone who's ever wronged you. News flash. People have tried. They're dead, and if that's how you want to end up there are quicker ways."

Quicker ways to die? "I'm not—"

"Being spiteful? Yes, you are. If Grue were here, you wouldn't even argue with him. You'd let him take her and go. The only reason you're making this a fight is just for me."

We stared at one another. My face got more grim, and Tattletale's grin widened each passing second. She won. She knew she won, and she still felt like rubbing it in.

I turned on my heel.

"Do what you want," I growled.

"I might need a little help."

I waved at Purple, Veda understanding the message and flying back to Tattletale.

I walked far enough to be out of earshot.

Replaying her words in my head, she definitely reminded me too much of Emma. Saying the exact thing to tear me down at the exact moment. And she meant it too, the part about telling the truth.

Except for the dying part. I didn't want to die. It would be a lie to say it never crossed my mind, but I hadn't thought about it in months.

Red and Navy flew into the hall, and started marking the floors and walls. Seemed like a more productive use of my time than moping, so I found a marker in a classroom and got Red to help me find people.

Velocity raced in a moment later. "We should stop meeting like this." He glanced around. "What's with the X's?"

"There's someone standing or laying by each one," I said.

I showed him my phone, Orange hovering over three people standing close together.

"Okay…This is the weirdest, um, one of these I've ever seen."

He's seen more than one? "You know Tattletale already told me, right?"

"Force of habit," he explained. "PR doesn't want this kind of thing getting out and we're just barely able to keep it that way with how infrequent they are. Usually it's a lot messier than this."

"There's a few who didn't make it," I noted grimly.

"I saw. You alright?"

"Fine." I nodded to the nearest X. "They need help."

"What happened to Tattletale and the other villain?"

"One left," I said, curtly. I glanced over my shoulder, but she was gone. "Tattletale"—would they try to stop her from leaving with Grue's sister?—"walked off. Not sure where she went. Bigger fish."

Velocity nodded. "I'm going to finish looking around. If things are as calm as they're looking, we'll get as many people in here as it takes."

He sped off again, and I got back to marking the floor.

"I found Tattletale," he said over the line a second or so later. "She's got a duffel bag on her."

Where did she find a duffel bag?

"What's in it?" Armsmaster asked

"School supplies.".

Seriously? Just letting him look into an empty bag wasn't an option?

"Let her go." I heard the pain in Armsmaster's voice saying that. "We have our priorities."

"Understood."

I kept focused on the task at hand. Velocity dropped by again on his way out, and then sped off to get everyone else off their butts to come help.

Purple flew toward me, a folded up paper in one robotic hand.

"What's that?"

"Tattletale called it a peace offering," Veda answered.

Fat chance.

I took the paper. She wrote "spoilers" on the cover. Ha ha, funny. Unfolding it to look inside, there were three bullet points. Damn bitch really thinks ahead. Pisses me off and then gives me something she knows I want to try and soothe me.

Or distract me. If Rune and I agreed on anything, we both wanted to know who knocked over the dominos.

"Veda, search 2005 Phoenix PRT Bombing, 2007 Atlanta Data Leak, and 2008 NSA Breach."

And after the bullet points, a damn jeopardy answer.

"What is a Teacher's Pet?"