Side-Step SR

Lisa jotted her order down and passed the pad to the waitress. The girl gave Cherie a nasty look, but the little psychopath just blew her a kiss.

"What did you do to her?" Brian—Grue—asked as the deaf girl walked away.

Sovereign, Cherie, laced on the Quebecois accent and asked, "You just assume I did something?"

"Don't be an assumer Grue," Lisa said with a grin.

The boy sighed, while Bitch maintained her silence. Judas and Angelica sat on either side of their master, Brutus on the floor under the table. Made things a little cramped, but oh well. Brian wanted to leave the dogs behind, but Bitch refused to come without them. She didn't get social etiquette, but for once Lisa agreed.

Lung didn't give a shit about rules if they got in his way.

He probably wouldn't attack them right in the middle of Somner's Rock, but Lisa didn't put it past the dragon of Brockton to punch them out the door.

And like hell Lisa intended to die in such a downer of an establishment. The kind of shop you completely judge by the cover and feel unashamed for doing so. Somner's Rock in a nutshell. Stained wooden floors, drab green curtains and clothes, and honestly? Who uses old time antique light bulbs anymore?

Lisa felt certain that was on purpose, like the deaf owners wanted to stick everyone a middle finger or something.

A group of tables occupied the center of the room. Not how they normally arranged it, given the scuff marks on the floor.

"So, where is everyone?" Cherie asked.

"We got here early," Lisa answered.

"Why?"

Because the boss told us too. "Because punctuality is the first step toward success, sweetie."

Cherie kept up the flawless smile, but Lisa's power tracked the subtle contraction of her facial muscles. So easy to mess with for someone so proud of her ability to mess with others.

Lisa shrugged. "Don't worry. Company should be arriving…"

She raised her hand and pointed to the door.

Nothing.

"Well," Lisa mumbled. "That's less dramatic than I wanted."

Cherie chuckled, and the waitress returned with their drinks.

Two identical boys worked behind the bar, cleaning glasses and such. Siblings, Lisa decided. Older than the girl but related.

No business. The gangs ensure the bar remains open.

Lisa clamped down on her power. So easy to lose track of it by accident, and she needed every squeeze out of that lemon today.

Kaiser entered as she organized her thoughts. The Valkyrie twins followed right behind him on either side. Guess he liked arm candy. Krieg, Stormtiger, Cricket, and Hookwolf brought up the rear.

Brought almost his entire remaining team.

Lisa didn't need her power to know a show of force when she saw it.

Kaiser took a seat at the end of the table, his people moving to occupy a pair of booths close to the door. The king in iron gave the Undersiders a momentary glance, but said nothing.

Lisa figured most people knew Grue's skin color favored a darker tone for a long time. He didn't always wear full motorcycle leathers after all. People in the business got wind of such things rules or not.

But having it out in the open?

Awkward.

Faultline arrived next. Lisa tried not to show her double take at that revelation. She brought most of her crew with her too, minus Labyrinth. Probably not one of the poor girl's good days. Honestly, if Faultline really wanted to help she'd never have taken her out of the hands of professionals.

Gregor and Newter took up positions by the bar with Spitfire, while Faultline took a seat to Kaiser's left.

Of course, the smug bitch walked past their table and gave Lisa a nasty look from behind her welder's mask.

"Back in town already?" Lisa asked.

"Everyone knows better than to test me and mine," Faultline replied. "For more than one reason now."

Appreciates Newtype trying to help.

Lisa watched the woman go, wondering why she'd come then. Even without it being said, everyone in the Bay who knew about the meeting needed moronic abilities to not know what it was about.

Would Faultline take a contract on Newtype, even if she appreciated her?

Cherie grinned behind her mask. "Making friends Tattle?"

"Always," Lisa replied.

"What did you do to her?"

"You just assume I did something?"

Honestly. What is it with Brockton Bay capes and being unable to let things go? First Faultline, now Newtype. At the rate Lisa accrued vindictive haters, she'd never get to retire.

"Don't start anything," Grue warned. "We don't need any more problems."

Worried about Aisha.

Lisa momentarily questioned her power's deductive reasoning at that startling revelation.

"You're back in the city," Kaiser asked.

"Is that a problem?" Faultline asked back.

"No. We're all professionals. Teacher's little game is unfortunate, but it wouldn't be proper to let it get in the way of how things are supposed to work."

Faultline grunted and kept her face forward.

The doors opened again.

Lung.

Lisa felt a small chill go up her spine. She let the tight grip on her power slip slightly. The steady flow entered her mind. Thoughts not her, but that sounded distinctly like her.

Wants to kill you. Won't. For now.

How reassuring.

Bakuda followed the massive wall of a man who put a nail in the coffin of the tiny Asian stereotype. She glanced around, keeping in the dragon's shadow all the way across the room.

She hid her nervousness well, very well.

Lung took a seat at the end of the table opposite Kaiser. Bakuda moving toward the bar and setting herself atop a stool. Spitfire said hello. Bakuda said to fuck off.

Doesn't respect Lung. Scared shitless by Lung.

Well…Lisa could have guessed that. She glanced to Lung, the large Asian man leaning his seat back and lifting his feet onto the table.

Knows you're watching.

Lisa used the opening door as an excuse to look away.

No chills this time, just general revulsion.

Coil walked in alone.

Or rather, the man wearing Coil's costume walked in alone.

He fit the real deal though. Tall, skeletal thin, and hunched forward with a willowy walk. Of course, the man didn't have the balls to show up himself. Not part of the plan.

Fake Coil took a seat between Faultline and Lung, hands folded together in front of him.

Grue rose, saying, "I'm going to go before all the seats are taken."

He crossed the room and took a seat on the right side of the table, equally distant from Kaiser and Lung. Lisa didn't envy Brian in the moment. On his left, the head Nazi who probably deserved at least a little blame – Rune's efforts be damned – for what happened to his sister. On the right, the angry dragon man who wanted him dead.

And then Circus showed up.

Curious. Wants to know what will happen.

Surprising. Circus kept a low profile. He–she?–liked avoiding the spotlight. A good plan for a solo villain in a place like Brockton Bay.

Skidmark barged through the door last, in full regalia. He wore a disgusting costume, and a really stupid shit eater grin on his face. Mush and Squealer followed him inside. No sign of Whirlygig or Trainwreck. Well…the latter probably didn't fit through the door and the former simply wasn't very threatening.

Not worth inviting to the party apparently.

Kaiser turned his head as the Merchant leader strutted across the floor and took a seat.

Lung chuckled.

"Not going to say anything, majesty?" he asked.

Kaiser folded his hands together. "No fighting. It's the rules."

Lung cocked his head to one side, the metal dragon mask not quite enough to hide the grin on his face.

Poor Kaiser. He didn't have much choice but to bend over and think of England on this one. Lisa would almost pity him if his life mission didn't include giving all blondes a bad name.

But that seemed to be all the players. Only villain in the city not present was Chariot, and honestly, did he even count?

Lisa let her power slip a little more. She'd probably be laid up the rest of the day with a headache, but what the boss wants the boss gets. In this case, the boss wanted to know what the rest of Brockton Bay's finest planned to do, and of course he expected her to piece it together.

And because life hated her, the door opened again.

Everyone turned, except for Lung. He conveniently took the seat that let him watch the entire room without "looking."

The man looked bizarrely unassuming in the current crowd. More soldier than cape, with a bullet proof vest, lots of pouches, dark bronzed skin, and a mane of red hair and matching goatee. He wore a domino mask, but it didn't hide his face very well. Too thin. Anyone who really went lookin—

Convinced he can kill everyone in the room.

What?

"You lost?"

Hookwolf stalked forward from the little gathering of Nazis.

Not lost.

"I heard there was a get together," the man said with a small smile. Lisa glanced to Fake Coil, but got nothing. "Thought I'd drop by. Take in the local scene."

"You're a cape?" Faultline asked, obviously not entirely convi—

Lisa stiffened.

"I have a costume, don't I?" he smiled and pointed at himself. "I'm not interrupting, right? I heard everyone was welcome."

"And you're in the city for what?" Kaiser asked.

"Just working a job," the man answered. He stepped forward and found a seat next to Grue. "Nothing that should affect any of you."

Lisa pulled her phone from her pocket, keeping it off to the side where no one else could see it. No one but Bitch, but Bitch didn't care.

"Then why bother coming?" Grue asked.

"I like meeting new potential employers."

"A merc?" Faultline asked.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to step on your turf. I only work a certain kind of job."

Lisa scowled and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

Fuck.

"And your name?" Fake Coil asked.

"Don't really use one. Fame is a liability, but since it would be rude not to give one, let's go with…Arche."

"Arche?" Kaiser asked.

"It's German! I thought current crowd would appreciate it!"

Friendliness is a facade. Has killed capes.

The man turned his eyes on Kaiser. "So…is this just an annual get together? I've never been to one of these before."

Enjoys killing capes.

Kaiser regarded the man for a moment, assessing how useful he might be.

"We all know why we're here," the self-declared Nazi emperor started.

Kaiser looked around the room. Lisa didn't need her power to know what he wanted. Such a woefully transparent ploy, Lisa wondered how the other white power nuts didn't see it.

"Newtype," Fake Coil said, because Kaiser would never be the first one to utter the name aloud.

He already walked a tight rope. If he didn't play his hand carefully, people might see the cracks in the great white king's crown.

"She's becoming a problem," Kaiser answered.

"A problem for you maybe," Skidmark said. "Beat your scrawny asses good all fucking week."

"She attacks me because I'm strong," Kaiser replied. "She'll turn her eyes to the rest of you now that she thinks she's delivered a significant blow."

Blow is significant. Alabaster and Victor are important to how the Empire engages other cape groups.

Of course.

Alabaster didn't die. It might not seem lethal, but when faced with a brute who doesn't die you can only respond in two ways. Pin him down or ignore him. The former meant tying capes up in a stalemate. The latter meant leaving someone running around with guns and knives who could kill any cape short a brute rating.

And Victor gave the Empire something no other gang had.

A ready-made assassin able to kill in ways indistinguishable from a typical person. Oni Lee might be just as capable in practice, but everyone knew when Oni Lee killed someone. Victor committed a dozen or so major murders over the years and Lisa doubted the police attributed most of them to him.

Newtype didn't take them out because they were easy.

She took them out because it hurt the Empire more than anyone else realized.

"She'll turn her attention elsewhere now," Kaiser continued. "If we let her keep running rampant, we'll all suffer. Profits are already down, and not just mine."

Lung grunted.

Not afraid of Newtype. Knows she can't beat him. Knows he can't catch her. Finds the current situation annoying.

"She'll try," the Dragon said.

Bakuda flinched, and Lisa's brow went up.

Met Newtype. Respects he—Respects her?

How did the bomb thinker and a seven-foot suit manage to cross paths without everyone knowing about it? Especially with the massively overinflated sense of self-importance and the sheer narcissism…

"Does Oni Lee share that opinion?" Fake Coil asked.

Grue visibly tensed at the table.

"I don't ask such things," Lung pointed out.

A good cover. Lisa gave him that. Lung didn't run the ABB by being a complete idiot, and everyone assumed Lee got hurt. The masked bomber remained sight unseen ever since their encounter. No way to deny it, so just play it like he didn't care.

"She's attacking all of us," Kaiser argued. "No hero has been this aggressive since before most of you even arrived."

"Wonder why," Lung mumbled.

"If we don't do something she'll grow," Kaiser continued. "How long until she builds more suits? More robots? She's recruited at least one other cape we know of, and there's a third we don't know about."

"A third?" Fake Coil asked.

"She's too capable," Faultline said. "She can't be any older than Labyrinth, but she's planning operations with carefully hidden multi-pronged attacks, diversions and feints. She's either the second coming of Scipio, or someone's giving her advice."

"Or she's merely the front for a team that's more ambitious than we've appreciated," Kaiser suggested. He didn't believe that.

No one debated the point, though. Lisa turned an eye on Faultline for a moment. The woman's presence still surprised her. Her power didn't offer much. Curiosity, like Circus, but something deeper.

"Newtype?" Arche tilted his head to one side. "The robot girl?"

"Mostly it's the suit," Fake Coil said.

Kaiser nodded. "I'd wager its on par with anything built by Hero or Dragon. I'm surprised the PRT hasn't snatched her up."

"Or they tried and that's why she hates them so much," Fake Coil offered.

"Hates them?" Bakuda asked from the bar. "Isn't that just the Internet?"

"No," Lisa called from her seat. "She definitely hates them. Not sure why, but she hates them even more than she hates me, and she really fucking hates me."

"Making friends I see," Faultline quipped.

"Love you too, sweetie."

Lisa watched Bakuda carefully. Her face was hidden, but her body language?

Respects Newtype even more. Has grudge against the PRT

.

An attempt to strong arm her probably. Maybe a threat of bird caging. The closest tinker to compare Bakuda to was String Theory, and String Theory didn't end well.

"Except for the time limit," Fake Coil noted, changing gears completely. "A smart tinker would have foregone a degree of performance for better efficiency. The girl is rash." He turned his head to Kaiser. "You're blowing things out of proportion."

"How long until she solves that problem?" Kaiser asked. "She'll build more robots. More suits. She doesn't need to recruit more capes. She's an army waiting to happen."

Fake Coil tilted his head just ever so slightly.

"Maybe. Or she's already at the limit of her ability. She doesn't steal our money. She burns it. She seems to have some quarrel with the PRT and Protectorate, so she isn't joining the Wards. Building an army of robots takes resources she can't gain."

Knows that's a lie.

"Our money? She's barely touched you," Kaiser said with a well hidden anger.

"I'm careful with my operations," Fake Coil replied. "I don't let anyone access the Internet on the job, or post on social media about the black man they beat up last week."

Kaiser withheld a stronger response. "Meaning?"

"StarGazer," Fake Coil said. "You all wonder how she keeps managing these attacks? It's not experience. She's a child, who happens to know another child, who is a computer cape. Tinker or thinker is irrelevant. We all know StarGazer does something with electronics."

He glanced around the room slowly, following an absurdly well put together script. Something Coil's power let him do?

"She's hacking you. All of you, the Empire most of all because you maintain all your social media profiles for propaganda purposes."

"She knows things we don't put out on the Internet," Kaiser said.

"Things that aren't on your computers? Your phones?"

Guessing.

Fake Coil shook his head.

"We may band together to deal with mutual crisis, but I see no mutual crisis here. She's beating you, and that isn't our problem."

Kaiser tensed, but Lisa kept her eyes on Fake Coil. Harder to figure things out without seeing the man himself. Thinking on his words…

Wants to use Newtype. Knows he can push her aside.

Knows? How would he manage that?

"Skinny got a point," Skidmark says. "I'm just peachy. Torching a lab or two don't do jack shit to me, fuck, at this rate I'm going be doing more business than ever."

Kaiser tensed. "Don't get ahead of yourself filth."

"Don't fall behind me your majesty."

From the reputation, Lisa expected more cursing. No. He certainly cursed more when alone. Like, a shit ton more. Skidmark didn't behave this way around the Merchants.

Isn't getting hurt too much. Operations are purposefully disorganized. Newtype struggles to keep track of his guns and drugs.

Huh. Coil might be onto something... And Skidmark actually had a brain in that head. Disorganized chaos as an actual management strategy. Inventive for someone running a gang of addicts and losers too high or too dim for anything more formal.

"She's running circles around you racist fucks," Skidmark cursed. "And you come running to us begging for help. And you're begging. Only reason I brought my ass down into this shit hole bar!"

Wants to take advantage of the situation. Thinks the Empire is vulnerable.

Kaiser gripped the edge of the table with one hand. "Keep talking and I'll—"

"Fighting is against the rules," Lung warned.

Kaiser snarled.

"You are the one begging," the dragon declared. "Quite the master race."

That got the other Nazis going. Hookwolf muttered something about a "damn Jew" but Lisa knew Newtype wasn't Jewish. French-German descent, actually. Irony.

"Why not just kill her?" Arche asked. "I find it solves most problems."

Faultline crossed her arms.

Ah.

Will warn Newtype if the gangs go after her. Wants to repay her for threatening to enforce the unwritten rules. Doesn't like owing debts.

"Perhaps you haven't heard," Fake Coil pondered. "Newtype recently made it clear she both has the ability, and at least insists she has the will, to out any villain who violates the unwritten rules."

"And that's a problem for killing her how?"

"StarGazer will follow through on the threat even if Newtype is dead."

"So, kill them both."

"No one has ever seen StarGazer, and frankly, anyone capable of gathering that kind of information in the mere months they've been active is probably smart enough to build a dead man's switch."

"Huh." Arche shrugged. "Things are so much easier when killing is a viable option."

"She'll die," Lung said. "But only because it is her fate. Not because you"—he turned his mask toward Kaiser—"have begged for it."

"This is becoming insulting," Kaiser growled, theatrically. Guy knew how to lay it on. "Are you all so blind you do not see what is happening? She's hemming us in. All of us, like a hunter. She's only going to get stronger. She's a tinker."

"She's a child." Lung removed his feet from the table and rose. "Bakuda. We are leaving."

The girl hopped off her bar stool and quickly fell in behind Lung's shadow. The dragon looked back just once, glaring at Grue.

"I have not forgotten," he said.

Fuck.

"I won't be taking any contracts on Newtype," Faultline said. "Bad manners, and I'm not a hit woman." She cast her gaze on Arche. His "business" suddenly seemed rather timed. Faultline thought so too. "Mostly, I want to be certain no one is going to be rude and crash into my newly renovated kitchen."

"I think you'll be fine Ms. Fitts," Fake Coil said.

A few watchers glanced to Faultline, but the woman remained composed.

"It is what it is," Fake Coil explained. "You've always been honorable in your dealings. I think you'll find it returned. Of course, if any outsiders show up and cause you any trouble…Well, given the current state of affairs it would be best if we managed any problems ourselves. Newtype threatening to do something is one thing. Watching her actually do it? There's power in that. Far more than we want her to have."

Faultline grunted and rose. Her team followed her out.

"Well, I guess this shit show is done with." Skidmark rose from his chair. "Good luck, your majesty."

Skidmark even gave an exaggerated bow.

Only came to rub it in Kaiser's face.

Circus left not long after.

"Just might be the shortest Rock meeting ever," Fake Coil said.

"Cowards," Kaiser snarled.

"Villains. What did you expect?" Arche leaned back in his seat, glancing to those left in the room. "Not what I expected. Brockton Bay has a reputation, even on my side of the pond."

"Sweden, right?"

Grue turned, as did everyone else.

Lisa watched their reactions carefully. She felt the splitting headache on the edges of her skull, but, "It's where you're from isn't it?"

Arche grinned. "No. Though, I've been in and out for a few years."

"Mercs have turned some parts into a paradise for themselves. No pesky governments to bother you. Well, except the Sanc Kingdom, but they're just a small city state with a popular celebrity for a leader. Not a real administration."

"It is convenient."

Lisa turned away, looking as casually as she could manage. She might need to do something about that. Question was, how to do it without that monster looking her way.

Kaiser rose from his seat.

No point in staying. He'd have to solve his Newtype problem alon—

"So soon?" Fake Coil asked. "Surely the mighty emperor isn't giving up that easily."

Kaiser stared. Fake Coil folded his hands together.

Kaise's eyes narrowed inside his helmet. "I'm told I'm overreacting."

"You're not," Fake Coil said. "But Lung and Skidmark don't care. They want to find ways to turn this into advantage. They'll keep thinking that way until Newtype turns more attention on them."

"And you?"

"Thinking of ways to turn this to my advantage, naturally." Fake Coil pulled it off brilliantly, raising his head slightly and leaning back in his chair. "But my advantage, is not necessarily your disadvantage. We are not playing a zero-sum game. It's something I doubt a brute or whatever Skidmark is will understand…but you and I?"

Kaiser grunted.

"Contrary to popular belief, I am not here to beg. If the villains of this city will not act to deal with this child before she becomes far too big to be effectively handled, then I'll do it myself."

Intends to listen to Coil, but not in front of his cronies.

"Of course," Fake Coil agreed. "And I find myself less than interested in tussling with the little idealist, but I'm a businessman. I'm always open to negotiation."

Biggest lie Lisa ever heard.

Grue's chair slid back. "If it has nothing to do with us," he suggested, "I don't want to be accused of breaking any rules."

"That's fine," Fake Coil said. "I think the original purpose of this meeting is well past."

Smart move, though Lisa's curiosity forced her to peak. Her head started to sting, but she needed to use a little more power juice when Coil wasn't actually in the room.

Wants to come to an arrangement with Kaiser. Snake into his operations. Gain leverage that could destroy him, or help Newtype do it.

Clever.

Kaiser might fall for it too. He liked power, and lording it over the others. The wealth didn't hurt either.

In any case, calling Kaiser a Nazi is like calling a zebra a horse. The similarities don't go that deep.

Lisa thought that made him even more despicable. At least Krieg and Hookwolf did the shit they did because they actually believed in it.

Kaiser didn't believe in anything.

But, mission accomplished. Coil got to watch it all though a camera in his double's mask, and Lisa would give him more whenever he decided to call.

That's how it worked.

She rose, stepping aside as Bitch ushered her dogs out. Hookwolf gave her a nasty look, but the girl either didn't notice or didn't care. Cherie followed, and Lisa joined Grue just behind the table.

"What's your name?"

Lisa turned to Arche, a fake smile covering her face.

"Tattletale."

"Cute."

"Thanks."

Wants to kill you.

Lisa kept smiling.

Wants to kill everyone.

A sociopath. A sociopath who loved killing capes in particular. A sociopath who killed capes without any powers.

"We need to watch out for him," Lisa whispered as soon as they made it to the end of the block and into the van. "He's a psycho."

"And you taunted him," Cherie noted.

"I'll just have to stick close to you," Lisa retorted. "You could see him coming from a mile away."

Cherie chuckled.

"You need to stop poking your nose where we don't belong," Brian groaned. He started the engine and pulled out of the alley. "No sign of Lung lying in wait?"

"It's fine," Cherie said.

"He's crazy, but he's a pro," Lisa explained. "And he is here for something completely unrelated to the gangs. I'm just saying we want to stay far, far, away from whatever that is."

Plausible deniability and all that.

"What's his power?"

"No power."

The van came to an abrupt stop at a corner, and Brian glanced back. "No power?"

"No power. And he's killed capes. More than once. He felt pretty confident he could kill everyone in the room back there."

Cherie whistled.

"Yeah." Lisa leaned forward and looked ahead. "Let me off up here."

"We'll talk later," Brian said. "I want to know as much about Lung as you can tell me."

"Right. He's going to come after us. Newtype isn't a problem he can deal with, but we can't just pop into the air and break the sound barrier to avoid any problems."

"So he's going to come after us first?" Brian asked.

"He'll come after us because he has to do something to keep the rest of the ABB in line. He can't stop Newtype, but he can try and burn us alive to remind everyone why he's so scary."

Brian cursed under his breath. "And the Boss?"

"I've got a call scheduled later. I'll talk it over." Lisa glanced back to Cherie. The girl acted nonchalant, but not that well.

Boss asked her to read the room too. Will ask her what she saw. Will compare notes between you and her.

So, no lying or bending any important facts. Annoying.

Lisa hopped out of the van and walked into an alley. She snaked her way through the tiny corridors running behind the buildings and checked over her shoulder before opening the service door. Cobwebs and dust covered every surface of the tiny electrical closet. One of many places where a small bag tucked into a corner went completely unnoticed.

She changed into street clothes, tied her hair into a braid, and wiped away the makeup on her face. She reached her apartment twenty minutes later and took a shower. Coil might be scum, but he at least had the decency not to bug a girl's bathroom.

And so, Lisa started laughing.

They were fools.

All of them.

Kaiser and Lung thought they merely needed to wait for a chance to kill Newtype. Skidmark wanted to take advantage of her to grow his little band of degenerates. Coil thought she'd make his schemes easier, and she'd easily be pushed aside when the time came.

And how hilarious it was.

Had any of them ever met the girl? She had a bigger stick up her ass than Armsmaster, and unlike Armsmaster, Newtype kept herself rational enough to be smart about it.

Lisa got herself under control and shut the water off.

"Going to have to scrap that recruitment idea," she mumbled aloud. More for Coil's benefit than anything.

She plopped herself on the couch and pulled up her laptop. Big apartment building and modern ignorance? Finding an unsecured Wi-Fi network didn't take much effort.

"Newtype will ignore us as long as we seem small time, no matter how much she hates me. The gangs are the real problem in her mind."

She started searching news. She kept her power bound tightly. Her head already hurt, and she didn't want to make it worse until she'd found all the information she needed.

Soon, being small would be preferable in Brockton Bay.

Don't take territory. Don't bind yourself to anything that can't be moved quickly and hidden. The Empire, ABB, and the Merchants were obsolete and they didn't even see it. Coil might be smart, but his narcissism showed.

He thought Newtype nothing more than a passing storm to manipulate.

They have no idea how fucked they are.

"No one is worth recruiting around the city right now anyway. Except maybe Chariot."

No news on that though. As far as Lisa knew, Dazzler already got shipped out of the city, and Sere might be heading that way too. They'd reappear as Wards and Protectorate capes elsewhere.

Chariot? Nothing. A mystery for another time.

"Arche though…The timing."

Lisa pulled all the tabs onto her screen at once, highlighting and rereading the important parts.

Is here to kill Relena Peacecraft.

Lisa smiled.

Yeah…She might need to do something about that.

Slipping back into the bathroom, Lisa reached under the sink and pulled out the false bottom. A diary and some private photos were just the plant, along with a burner phone full of Protectorate cape phone numbers. A good decoy for anyone who went looking. Hopefully one that kept them from looking any deeper.

Lisa lifted the second false bottom and took out the pager her mysterious benefactor gave her for just an occasion.

Rl Bs. Yr grl n dngr. Hds^.

She set the pager aside, ready to go have a nice nap before talking to Coil.

The pager beeped.

What?

Lisa sighed.

Real boss.
Your girl in danger.
Heads up.

She waited.

Thank you Sarah.