Side-Step K

Max Anders tapped the table as the news played.

"But the PRT isn't doing anything about it," the commentator said. "That's a clear indication to me that the mass hacks were just a coincidence. No cape could be capable of it and the PRT would do something if any were."

"StarGazer is literally on PHO right now issuing apologies," the news caster asked. A pretty white blonde. They're always pretty, white, and blond for some reason. "Maybe the PRT doesn't know what to make of it themselves?"

The news is such a fickle creature. It's not so much a matter of sorting through truth and lies, as discovering which information mattered and which didn't.

More Huxley than Orwell.

Everyone has their story. Their version of events. In Max's experience few outright lied about it, but the telling is always shaded by what they'd like to believe. It's a lesson a rational man learns well around Nazis, ironically.

And Max Anders considered himself a rational man.

It seemed outlandish. Accessing so many computers at once? In an of itself a thinker or tinker could easily do it. Trivially even, but while fighting Leviathan? While supposedly overwhelming Leviathan?

The only story that compared was that of Lung fighting the beast to a standstill at Kyushu.

"Think it's true?" Jess asked. She lounged on the couch by the window.

"Maybe," Nessa answered from her seat by the door.

"Would be annoying if it were."

"Maybe."

"Makes the whole 'blow up the factory' play seem kind of suicidal."

"Maybe."

Jess scowled. "Are you just fucking with me?"

Nessa smiled and shrugged. "Maybe."

"Girls," Max warned. "This is serious. It's no time for jokes."

If StarGazer could fight Leviathan, and Newtype knew it, revealing her factory so early made some sense. She hoped to use the fear of StarGazer as a shield against attack. Nevermind that only a fool took attacking a tinker in their own workshop lightly. Only an idiot would attack a tinker in their workshop with something like StarGazer protecting it.

Something needed to change.

Gesellschaft didn't like excuses, and Max found himself with far too many. First Kayden ran off with Night and Fog, a problem Newtype of all things prevented him from rectifying. Then Coil's raid on the bank at just the right moment, and the general problem of continuing raids damaging the Empire's prestige.

Money, drugs, and guns. All paltry necessities in the end.

Prestige? Pride? Far more valuable commodities.

And Newtype kept hurting his, and boxing him out of his preferred choices.

No opportunity to call in Kayden now. She'd never go along with him. Anything more forceful than mild custody threats would have her coming against him fully, with Crusader, Night, and Fog behind her.

Gesellschaft would always help, but their help came with more strings the more of it one needed. He'd carefully cultivated that relationship to minimize such strings.

Yet, time ran out.

Max checked the time and rose.

"Ladies, it's time we put on our best dresses."

Nessa and Jess rose, following him into a side room with a secret elevator. At the bottom both women began to change into their armor, while Max simply grew his from the ground as he walked.

"Make up your mind?" Nessa asked as she fell into line behind him.

Jess donned her helmet by her sister's side, asking, "About the factory?"

"Not just yet."

Striking the factory may yet be a viable option. He needn't cause any direct harm to Newtype doing it. The blow would damage her image and set her back. But such a paltry attack may itself show reluctance on the part of the Empire.

If StarGazer truly fought Leviathan to a standstill…

All three got into a car, and the driver took them out.

Signs for the memorial celebration of the fallen heroes lined the streets. The truce period would end soon and the war with the ABB would begin. Another annoyance, one he found himself with not enough resources to tackle.

Alabaster and Victor in particular. Those resources could pin Oni Lee, and eliminate Bakuda from a safe distance. Without them his only options consisted of direct close range combatants and… Rune.

No healing unless Othala hurried herself back. That, assuming his moles gave him accurate information about her release.

Something.

Something needed to change.

"Wait here," Kaiser ordered as the car pulled into the garage.

Fenja and Menja hesitated.

"This source is confidential," Max offered. "They are concerned about their loyalties to their race being revealed. It's something we of all people can respect."

Both women got out of the car but stood guard.

Kaiser approached a solitary door alone, noting the logo of Fortress Construction on the wall.

The stairs led down into a room.

Coil sat behind the table, a single guard behind him. Two other seats waited on his left and right, one empty and the other occupied by Grue.

Max narrowed his eyes and came forward to take his seat.

A testament to his desperation. Something Coil certainly took note of.

"I trust you arrived without incident?" Coil asked.

"Yes," Kaiser said.

He looked ahead at Grue. Brian Laborn, rather.

The table didn't seem set for any further parties.

The guard leaned forward and whispered to Coil.

"That time already?" He took a phone from the man and pressed a button.

Max narrowed his gaze inside his helemt.

"Are we disturbing you?" He asked.

"No," Coil replied. "Hello, my young friend. I thought I would warn you. My sources say a PRT vehicle is trying to head you off before you can cross the state line. I don't know if they're aware of the route I provided. Thinkers are difficult enemies to predict. You can run, or you can fight, but I'm suspicious of the timing of this interception. The choice is yours."

The snake closed the phone and set it aside.

"Merely offering a 'warning' to a young man who is feeling rather pursued at the moment. My apologies."

Max raised his brow.

An obvious ploy.

A bloodless battle then, and with a thinker at that. Well, one of the keys to a battle against a thinker is to be like the news.

Never lie. Thinkers can spot lies.

The key is to obscure which truths matter, and which lies don't.

And any good thinker knew this too, and Coil wouldn't still be alive and well if he weren't good.

So, which parts of that conversation mattered? PRT sources? A young friend on the run? Maybe he simply wanted to illuminate them on his resources, but why? It could of course be a lie. Practically lying always remained an option.

Good lies are more subtle however. Thinkers know how to tell good lies.

"It's Leet," Coil said. Kaiser raised his brow. "Though I think he's going by Frontal now. Toybox has suddenly refused my purchase requests. Having a tinker or two in the back pocket could pay off."

Not a lie.

No one would lie about looking at Leet as an investment, even to deceive.

So the other pieces of information mattered.

Sources in the PRT.

Access to outside resources.

"Rumor is he broke the Endbringer truce," Grue said. "Tried to set Newtype up to die."

"So he did," Coil said. "It makes him a very desperate young man. The Protectorate is a precocious foe when fully riled."

"And you'll aid him?" Kaiser asked.

"I like to root for the underdog," Coil said, "being one myself. And how well I'm soon to be rewarded for that fact!"

A curious statement.

A statement of purpose.

It was good to leave Nessa and Jess outside. In the presence of others the Emperor needed to be strong, unbreakable. A guiding hand that never wavered.

Realistically such things did not exist.

Least of all now.

"Are we waiting for anyone else?" Grue asked.

"No," Kaiser said. "Look at the table."

Grue did. Max would give the boy his credit. A capable enough leader for such a small band of rabble. He sorely lacked experience, however.

So why invite him?

"He only intends to speak with us," Kaiser clarified.

"Indeed," Coil said. "I see little point in inviting Lung. He isn't capable of taking part in what I'd like to achieve."

Kaiser and Grue both responded at once. Max by tightening his gloves, Grue by spilling a bit more of that black mist from his leathers than normal.

"You want an alliance?" Kaiser asked.

Preposterous.

"I want a truce," Coil said. "Let's be honest, shall we?"

Coil leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.

"Newtype has won."

Max scoffed.

"A curious position," he said.

"A fact in the making," Coil countered. "Tell me, Kaiser. What is your response to our dear tinker's efforts? You called a meeting of every villain in the city to try and form a pact against her. Lung and Skidmark were too arrogant to accept. Skidmark has fallen, and the Merchants with him. And Lung?"

Coil chuckled.

"Lung only knows one solution to a problem, and I am going to gamble that it won't work. You can't smash Newtype. Not now. Even if he succeeds there's StarGazer behind her, ready to finish the girl's work. We're well past pushing the upstart aside. She bid her time. She struck only when ready. She didn't rush out in costume seeking criminals to stop like so many young capes. Now, she's simply too far along. That factory will have defenses besides her suits. The PRT will protect their new ally against the Endbringers, and killing her is not an option."

"Get to the point," Kaiser said. "I don't need to be told things I already know."

"Tattletale prattles about it enough," Grue said.

"The point," Coil said, "is that she's won. As I said. We can no longer readily defeat her, stop her, or remove her. Newtype is now a permanent staple of Brockton Bay and only those who recognize that fact will survive."

That's the game then.

"Lung won't change?" Grue asked.

"No," Coil said. "He won't. He doesn't know how. His raw power and the fear he invokes have always served him. He can't recognize that it will not work on someone who has already accepted death."

What?

Kaiser didn't think Newtype feared Lung. At least, not in anything but the most direct sense.

"Curious, isn't she?" Coil asked. "She isn't reckless. Well, she is, but not in the way it seems. She simply knows she's going to die. Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. Someday. A rather enlightened viewpoint really. Sooner or later, everything dies. Which brings us, finally, to the point!"

Coil held his hands out, one to Kaiser and one to Grue.

"The status quo is changing."

Something needed to change.

Kaiser knew this.

He couldn't consolidate his capes and protect his assets. They'd keep losing prestige. They'd keep losing, period. Splitting his capes up didn't work either. Newtype simply picked the battle she wanted and pursued it. If he'd wooed Kayden back he might have options there, but he didn't.

Gesellschaft might provide him the fliers or shakers needed to hem the girl in, but they'd ask for a lot if he went to them now.

Something needed to change.

The Empire needed a victory.

"And is this why you stole from me?" Kaiser asked. "To blackmail me into joining your little scheme?"

Grue turned in surprise. Kaiser kept his gaze on the Snake.

"No," Coil said, "I stole from you to make the path forward obvious. You need support from Gesellschaft, but they weren't happy with you even before I stole their secrets. One might think, they'd be a fair deal happier if you stole them back."

Kaiser scowled

He thought through the game that far ahead?

"You would hand me a victory?"

"I would seek a more prosperous order," Coil said. "Lung will fall. It's done now, only a question of when and with how much collateral. In the aftermath, Newtype will have no one to turn on but the Empire, assuming she doesn't target you first."

"And why would you bother then?" Kaiser asked.

"Better the Empire I know, than whatever villains who might turn their eyes on the city once you're gone."

"And the territory?" Grue asked.

"Don't be silly, boy," Kaiser said. "There won't be territory."

Grue turned, clearly confused. Inexperienced indeed.

"Think about it," Kaiser said. "We can't defend territory against her suits. We can't pin her down for a fight. Coil is proposing that her victory is inevitable, but that we can survive by adjusting our strategy."

"And in that course, new options open themselves," Coil said. "Newtype cannot so readily raid criminal activities that are not conducted as openly as Brockton Bay crime traditionally is."

"We can still profit from street crime. Shift ourselves to enabling unpowered street gangs that the PRT has no jurisdiction over. Move our most sensitive and profitable ventures to more public settings. Ones that will draw negative responses from Newtype's typical antics."

Coil turned to Grue.

"My operations already reflect this mentality, and the Undersiders are just thieves making their way. The answer to the Newtype problem isn't to deal with her, it's to not deal with her at all."

That's the point.

Unfortunately, he already thought of that course.

Krieg took his pride seriously. Shifting operations to the more shadowy, abandoning the Bay's old game of capes establishing their own domains, would run against his instincts. The Empire would split.

Hookwolf shared much with Lung. Not that he'd admit it. Both men only knew one way to solve a problem. He'd split if Kaiser made it clear he didn't intend to defeat Newtype directly.

"I would like to facilitate this transition," Coil said. "As I said, I prefer the Empire I know to the Elite, Teeth, and Minutemen I don't. I have resources, in and out of the city. I will make them available to you."

"I can see how Kaiser needs that," Grue said. "I don't see why I do."

"What you, and capes like you, need is bigger fish," Coil said. "Without someone like the Empire and I to draw attention, Newtype will put all her time and effort into you. In exchange for my information, I'd like to have access to your services. Contracts, if you will. The kind I'd rather not be connected to."

"And what would you have of me?" Kaiser asked.

That's what he really wanted.

His concessions. A shrewd businessman indeed. He saw the way the water flowed and he wanted to stake his claim now when Kaiser found himself at his most vulnerable. When Grue could easily be strung along by inexperience.

"I would like to expand my business," Coil said. "No Merchants. No ABB. You and I have always maintained a sort of detente, haven't we? I prefer my financial schemes and launderings, while you like your prestige and power. We can easily divide the new order between us. Maintain a hold on the city against outsiders."

And he possessed files Kaiser needed to coerce this accord.

"I need a victory," Kaiser said. "More than just stealing back what I lost in the first place."

"No," Coil said. "What you need is a properly managed loss. One that will push Kreig and Hookwolf into line. Then, you need the victory."

A properly managed loss? Clever. Victory is victory, but a defeat if expected and prepared for can be just as valuable. Especially if the problem were keeping Krieg and Hookwolf loyal while showcasing the need for the Empire to evolve. Such a wonderfully tailor made solution. One that worked better when the other side helped facilitate it.

Thinker indeed.

Kaiser tapped his finger against the table, watching the Snake.

"You're not that clever," Max said.

Coil remained silent.

What information mattered, and what information didn't.

"What you need is a bigger fish," Kaiser said. "Lest Newtype have nothing to do but pursue you."

"The girl hasn't even touched me," Coil said.

"Because the Merchants, ABB, and Empire are much easier targets. You need one of us. Skidmark was a fool," - inviting Cranial to the city proved that - "and Lung answers to no one. I'm the only option."

Grue looked back and forth between them. He clearly couldn't keep up. A common deficiency of his breed.

"That's why you stole the contents of my boxes," Kaiser said. To give him no choice. Without those files he'd be forced to give more to Gesellschaft than he'd get back.

"Well," Coil mumbled. "I suppose that's one way of seeing it."

An iron spike shot from the ground.

The mercenary behind Coil reached for his gun, and found his arms and legs pierced. He screamed, blood trailing along the iron to the floor. The man shook, tried to break free. He only tore himself more.

Kaiser rose to his feet, staring down at the snake.

"Going to threaten me now?" Coil asked.

"No. You conveniently brought a body guard on which to vent my anger. Well played."

Coil no doubt saw the outcome. Why he brought the guard at all. If Kaiser didn't kill him, it would signal defeat, or deception. Coil would try to usurp the Empire, or remove them for his own gain. A display of anger at the circumstance? That's an honest answer to a scheming question.

Dealing with thinkers is so tiring.

Kaiser folded his hands behind his back.

"Well then. It seems we three will be in concert."

He could feel the smile on the snake's face.

"First," Coil said, "we must ensure Lung falls. And that the Empire remains intact. Newtype's gaze will need to go that way, but we can't make it too obvious." He glanced to Grue. "Can we?"

Grue said nothing, but he clearly intended to go along with the scheme. Kaiser already saw it. Let the gang war between the ABB and the Empire go forward. The Undersiders would stage an attack, giving him the excuse to pull back his forces. A ready loss outside control. One that could induce change. And then Coil conveniently arranges for his stolen files to be 'taken' back.

Not a bad idea. Coil, the Empire, and the Undersiders. Properly hidden no one would guess the three worked together.

Kaiser turned back toward the door and started walking.

He needed a drink, before the bad taste in his mouth became permanent.

"How did it go?" Nessa asked.

"Less than desired," Kaiser answered.

He took his seat in the car and looked out the window.

Coil did have a point.

Newtype had won, hadn't she? Gangs like the Merchants, ABB, and Empire couldn't survive. Not without capes to counter her and finding capes with the speed and strength to do so? That doesn't grow on trees.

A new order.

The Undersiders served a superfluous role. Someone to take care of things on the side. To instigate. Coil wanted to maintain his operations unmolested, and for that he needed the Empire. An Empire that currently stood in its weakest position in years.

But Coil showed his weakness as well. The snake needed an attack dog. Or a guard dog, as it were.

Not a role for the Empire to keep forever. It simply wouldn't do. Forever.

Something Krieg and Hookwolf would never understand.

You don't always win, but losing is not necessarily defeat.

Something needed to change.

And if it needed to change now, it could well need to change again.

What information mattered, and what information didn't?

Thinkers are difficult enemies to predict, Coil said. Tinkers in the back pocket, plural.

"Wasn't Squealer being transported early today?" Kaiser asked.

"Yeah," Jess said. "Why?"

"A matter of timing," Max answered.

Clever man, but too clever for his own good. He liked trying to show off. That signaled pride. Arrogance. Irrationality.

Someone vulnerable to time and patience.

For now, more than anything, Kaiser needed time, and he could be very patient.