Step 9.7

The bell dinged as I opened the door. I left Astraea outside, standing on the sidewalk under Veda's control. The corner guards could just sit and watch. I didn't have any patience to deal with them.

I walked between the isles, Green and Orange flying on either side of me. The woman behind the counter called out, saying she'd be just a moment. She was white of course, with long dark blond hair. She faced away from me, hands managing a line of white bags with scripts and receipts stapled to them.

I stepped up to the counter and stared at the back of her head.

"I'd like to speak to the manager."

The woman turned with a sign, and then froze. Her face paled, blue eyes fixed on my mask.

"Please, I insist."

The woman hesitated. I guessed she knew. Why else have that extreme a reaction? She was young, too young to be a wife but maybe a daughter?

"On—one moment."

She hurried to the back through a secured door and I fought back any sense of fear. I didn't have time for it. Neither did Labyrinth.

The woman returned a moment later, with the manager. I imagined his attempt to call his 'supervisor' didn't get far with Astraea standing outside. He'd never risk a land line and the solar furnace was too close for a cell phone to get a clear connection.

The woman stepped away at the man's insistence. Definitely a daughter. Same eyes and hair color. A certain line of the jaw seemed the same too. I wondered how that worked, being the daughter of a super villain.

"May I help you?" the manager asked with a straight face.

"Mr."—I didn't bother looking at his name tag—"Fliescher, is it?"

It needed to be clear I'd keep up the pretense. He did relax slightly as a result. Good.

"I'm looking for someone who's gone missing," I said.

"Oh?" Mr. Fliescher raised a hand.

I maintained my posture. He'd be insane to attack me in this context. It would be tantamount to outing himself, while I was merely being exceedingly rude.

He brought the hand to his chin. "I'm afraid I haven't seen anything."

"Oh, I'm thinking you probably haven't. It wasn't anywhere near here. You heard about the fire at the Palanquin?"

"The nightclub?" Mr. Fliescher asked. "It was in the news. Was anyone hurt?"

"The proprietor is unconscious, and two of her employees are seriously injured. One can't even be healed by Panacea due to circumstances."

Sucked to be Newter. His power made all of his body fluids hallucinogens, even his skin oils. Panacea could neutralize that of course, but not before the chemicals were already in her own system. Something about the lag time it takes for her to figure something out and change it versus how quickly Newter's chemistry could affect her.

She could heal him, but Newter's power was potent. She'd send herself into an acid trip in the process and no one wanted to risk that.

Gregor and Faultline would wake up on their own eventually. I'd almost wager whoever attacked them knew Panacea didn't do brains and set out to give them bad head injuries. Spitfire was the only conscious member of the group and she didn't see anything. The attackers knocked her out from behind. She woke up to flames.

Far as the PRT could tell the fire started in the kitchen, where Faultline was found. Some kind of fight, a gas leak, boom.

There was no sign of Labyrinth.

No human remains were found, and the fire didn't burn hard or long enough to remove a body from cursory observation. She'd been taken. I wasn't sure her identity being out and in the open really played a role in that, but fuck that.

"Labyrinth is missing." I watched his face for any telling reactions. The PRT was keeping that detail close to the vest, but I expected the Empire knew. "I'm looking for her. Quite intently."

"That's unfortunate," Mr. Fliescher said. "But I had nothing to do with that."

"I doubt you're involved, and that is my main concern. Community involvement."

"Community involvement?"

"Like the unwritten rules. You've heard of those?"

"It's cape business. Not really my interest."

"Well, it works like this. Someone breaks the rules, and everyone is supposed to do something about it. Just a few months back, I voiced my support for that notion. After all, if the rules are only followed when convenient"—I raised my head and looked Krieg in the eye—"they might as well not exist."

I watched his face, but he held his reactions in check well. He didn't hide it completely though. I felt a tension in the air. A mild pulling in his direction. Not enough to cause any discomfort, but enough that I noticed.

He got the message.

Either the rules mattered or they didn't.

"Sounds like a way of thinking that could start a war," Mr. Fliescher said.

I grinned. "I've been winning a war for six months." Mr. Fliescher frowned. "What's one more?"

His mood deepened, like he was trying to figure out if I was serious or bluffing.

I can fix that.

"To be honest, I think the unwritten rules are bullshit. Nothing more than an excuse for the strong to ravage the weak. If it were up to me, I'd tear them down. But it's not, and I'm a hypocrite using them myself. So, I'm content to let them sit as long as they keep people safe…But if they're just a bunch of notions with no meaning at all, then I'm perfectly willing to bring them crashing down."

Someone grabbed Labyrinth and I would not be toyed with.

The girl might be on a team with less than legal business, but I remembered her file. Caring for her was a full time job, and there'd never been a major incident with her since Faultline took her in. Someone was dancing too close to the unwritten rules and Labyrinth was close enough to an innocent to piss me off.

"It's like I said." I turned on my heels and walked toward the door. "Pick the rules you want to play by and those are the rules you'll play by. Have a nice night Mr. Fliescher."

Outside I climbed into Astraea and took off.

Part of me did suspect the Empire, but after a friendly little chat with Mr. Fliescher, I felt pretty sure they weren't involved. In the end the threat would be worth it. If putting the Empire on their toes did anything, it would get them to at least try and ask around. They'd probably come up with nothing but I couldn't discount that the mystery might be solved by the smallest of details.

"It is time," Veda said as I got into the sky.

"I know."

I turned Astraea toward the radio station and flew.

Lung?

I considered it but no. It didn't make sense. Why go after Faultline, and why take Labyrinth? Despite the fire, the Palanquin also stood mostly intact. No smashed walls or anything I'd expect to find with Lung or Bakuda involved.

Someone from outside the city?

Always a possibility, especially with all the damage done to the gangs in the Bay. I didn't think anyone could slip into the city without Veda noticing it. She'd already picked up hints of the Elite and Accord sniffing around, plus the Red Hands. Of those, only the Elite seemed like they'd engage in kidnapping and bending the unwritten rules, but Labyrinth?

No.

Coil seemed the most likely candidate. There were signs of a gunfight in the Palanquin, and you'd need a team of professionals to take out Faultline and her team so absolutely.

The first part of some scheme to free himself. I knew he still had resources somewhere. He kept something in that large room and moved it. The data and bases we'd cleaned up didn't have anything on that scale.

But even in a cell, Coil was a bitch to investigate.

I tried tracking down the company that closed up the Endbringer shelter. Using that place as a base, he'd need bribes and people on the inside. I thought that I might start following the money, but I didn't get far.

Dead end, in the end. The company was managed via dark money transactions. Bunch of shells and funds being moved about so much it was near impossible to find who propped the firm up in the first place. Coil almost certainly bribed someone to get them the job and had them do the work he wanted.

In the end the firm was ultimately sold to Medhall years ago. Decent decoy. Coil wanted anyone who looked into that company to turn the Empire's way. There were no electronic transactions to track as to its founding. All cash, or the records were well destroyed. So, a dead end.

With a sigh, I added, "Three days. Command. Names in the Hat."

"Confirm?" Veda asked, following the procedure we'd laid out.

"Confirm. Krieg. Bakuda."

Veda loaded the data from level seven, not that it meant much anymore. I trusted Veda to keep what she knew to herself and I didn't go poking around in there.

They'll either do their part to make the rules matter or I'd fire the world's most blatant warning shot.

"There is no going back," Veda warned.

"There never has been. I knew that when I said it the first time. If I back down now, then everyone my threat is protecting is put in danger."

I made my bed.

I flew toward the mountains. The size of the yards and the elegance of the gardens I flew over were startling. It contrasted so sharply with the Docks. One could easily mistakenly believe I'd flown to another city.

The radio station was nestled into the woody area west of Captain's Hill. A nice suburban area where some of the richer residents of the city lived. It held a few smaller office spaces, shopping centers, and all the other conveniences of living in Brockton Bay but never having to actually be in Brockton Bay.

I landed in the lot beside a tall white building with some big antennae and some radio dishes on top.

The van was already parked, so everyone else arrived before me. I set Green and Red to guard Astraea and keep an eye on things. Pink should be inside with Dinah and Lafter. I walked up to the front doors where Kati greeted me and walked me in.

"Everything is arranged." She smiled. "I expect you'll have an easier time on the air than on TV."

"Definitely," I replied.

As well as my TV interview turned out, it was nerve wracking. Thank god the PRT was keeping Labyrinth's kidnapping quiet. I did not want to field questions about it in public.

"Some last minute thoughts I had." I pulled it open and flipped through the jotted down suggestions. "With the business association meeting coming up, I thought it would be good to put some focus on that."

I nodded as I read. Busy, busy week. The meeting was just two days away. I did want to make a good impression there, and a dry run on radio covering some of the talking points couldn't hurt.

Speaking of, "We may have to use that plan we talked about."

Kati stiffened a little. "Which one?"

"The one for when I start outing villains."

"Labyrinth?"

"Either the rules matter, or they don't. A threat is meaningless if you're unwilling to follow through."

Kati inhaled sharply. "I'll get the preparations started. If they're needed."

"Depends on if anyone lives up to expectations."

We continued down the hall to a small studio. An elderly woman with fading red hair and a very multi-colored poncho greeted me and lead me in.

"Welcome to the rainbow zone," Lafter said sardonically.

"Newtype!" A young man called as I entered. He got up from his seat and reached across the table to offer his hand. "Thanks for coming!"

I needed a moment to remember his name. I didn't really listen to radio. Eledore. Stage name, I figured. A tall and thin man with long blond hair and a purple headband. He wore a denim jacket over his shoulders with ripped sleeves. Fit with the hippie vibe of the room.

I'd never seen so much tie-dye before. But I wasn't going to say that.

"Thanks for hosting us," I said politely.

We shook, and I took a seat between Dinah and Lafter. They both seemed pretty relaxed.

"Gladly!" Eledore grinned. "We never get enough time with capes in radio! I think it's the lack of cameras."

The PRT does like its cameras.

"Have a seat," Eledore offered. "We're still fifteen minutes out. Need anything? Glass of water."

"I should be okay." I took my seat between Lafter and Dinah.

Lafter sat with her boots propped up on the table, and Dinah held Pink in her lap. First time the three of us were doing something PR related together.

A window covered one wall, Kati just visible in the darkened room on the other side. The woman stood with her, and a younger man waved from his seat in front of the controls.

"Right," Eledore replied. "If you change your mind let me know." He pulled a stack of papers in front of him and started looking them over. "I asked listeners to email in some questions they were interested in having answered. We've never gotten so many emails before!"

He divided the stack into three.

"I know we arranged a few things with Kati," he said, "but if you want to look through these and answer any of them, we have plenty of time! We'll take a few calls, have some chat about being a hero and starting your own team. Should be a great ride!"

I gave Eledore credit for honest enthusiasm.

We took the papers between us and started looking through them. A lot of the questions were the typical stuff. Questions about powers, about fighting villains, about having a secret identity. Some were too personal. I didn't plan to talk to anyone about my relationship with my parents or my love life.

Lafter snickered at my side. I leaned over and peered at the paper.

What color panties do you wear?

"And I thought some of mine were personal," I grumbled.

"Someone has clearly never talked to a real girl," Lafter laughed.

I checked over on Dinah's list to see if it had anything nasty but her stack seemed very tame.

Eledore apologized quickly.

"We didn't think it would be right to filter the questions outside of anything death threat-ish! The questions are for you, so I leave it to you to pick what you're comfortable talking about."

"What he really means," a male voice said through the speakers, "is we totally rushed this and have been making it up as we go."

Eledore turned to the window and the other man smiled at him.

"Traitor!" Eledore accused. "They're going to think we're unprofessional!"

"I'm just being honest," the guy said. He glanced to me. "Sorry. I printed all those off ten minutes ago. I tried to cut out the really bad ones."

Lafter grinned. "Eh, it was good for a laugh."

"Oh puns!" Eledore pointed. "Can we work some of those in?"

Lafter got a glint in her eye and I felt a shiver of fear.

We chit-chatted for most of the time. Eledore got the papers back with a few questions marked.

I mostly picked questions that let me answer them flexibly. I wanted to mention the factory and get that across. With Trevor setting up to start the first run of the line, it was time to start marking the Helpers. It was about time to get it up and running, and setting aside the chaos of cape life I was pretty excited. I needed to sell the idea though. Potential buyers would be reluctant to buy into the Helpers for many reasons.

"Alright," Eledore said. "Thirty seconds!"

It's okay. We practiced for this. Sort of.

The situation with labyrinth kind of derailed Kati's impromptu dry run.

Eledore pulled a headset onto his head and directed some microphones over our heads. He held up a hand and started counting down from five.

Pink ended up marking a few questions herself. I suspected Veda picked one or two. A nice little surprise for the radio people who only thought they'd gotten three 'capes'. Lafter probably picked questions she could laugh at or make a joke with. Hopefully not in an insulting way. Dinah I suspected would pick ones that she could quip at…and in retrospect I might have under-prepared for this.

"HELLO BROCKTON!" Eledore shouted with a boom that pressed my back into my seat. "It's your man Eledore here with our special guests! Say hello ladies!"

"Hello," Dinah said.

"Hello!" Lafter said with more enthusiasm.

"Thank you." Fuck that's not how you say hello.

"Hello," Veda said through Pink.

"Oh it seems we have the whole team!" Eledore announced. "I hope you're ready listeners because tonight we here at Ninety-Eight Point Eight the Vibe"—some bizarre wave like sound played in the room followed by some voice saying "smooth listening" and this may have been a terrible idea—"have Newtype, Laughter, Forecast, and StarGazer of Celestial Being in the studio with us tonight!"

Some track of clapping started playing, and I turned my head toward Kati. She smiled and waved.

"We have a lot of eager listeners who are super excited tonight," Eledore continued. "We got flooded by so many emails we didn't even have time to sort them properly!" Why would you brag about that? "So I hope you're ready because we are going right into it!"

I am never going to be prepared for this.

"Newtype. Just two days ago Coil got taken right out! How does it feel to play a hand in the fall of yet another villain?"

I blinked. "I mean. I didn't do it alone. Technically, Lafter and Vista caught him." And apparently it was now my job to put Vista's name out there.

I recounted what I remembered in brief, leaving out a few things like how I figured out Jenkins. I didn't want to give the PRT any reason to start a PR fight. Dinah came in with what she knew, and Lafter offered her own bits.

None of us mentioned how I told Lafter where to wait to grab Coil and why. No one needed to know that.

"Forecast gave me some descriptions," I said. "I noticed a few of them on the street and told Laughter to hang outside in case Coil slipped out."

"Sounds like he got close to getting away," Eledore pointed out.

"Not really," Forecast replied. "He always got caught." A little pleasure dripped into her voice.

"Not that he didn't try," Lafter quipped. "I wish I could have seen his face when I grabbed him. The sound he made was a real laugh!"

I stifled a groan while Eledore's smile broadened.

"I'm wearing earplugs and that hurt."

I turned my head toward her in surprise, but Lafter and Eledore just laughed.

"Earplugs?" Eledore asked. "What is that about?"

"I need protection from stupid questions," she said in a deadpan tone.

"Her power is activated by questions," Veda explained, as Kati suggested. "Count how long you can go without asking a question, aloud or in your mind."

"How long?" Eledore asked. He blinked. "Oooooooh!"

"Try it all day every day," Dinah replied.

Veda came in again, explaining, "Newtype and I devised the design to intercept any questions and reword them into statements. That way Forecast can avoid unintended disruption."

Just like Kati said they should do it. Dinah's sassiness was apparently endearing, but someone needed to balance it out so she wouldn't come off as mean. Veda volunteered.

"Sounds rough," Eledore sympathized. "I guess sometimes being a cape comes with some serious downsides."

Dinah shrugged. "Sometimes life bands down."

And he was smiling again. "Well, I hope it's bounced back."

"We will roll with it," Veda offered.

I stared straight ahead.

This could be worse.

"Well, I am ready to roll!" Turning his attention back to the microphone, Eledore said, "We've heard CB's side of the capture of Coil but we've got more! A little Q&A, some chit chat, and if time permits we'll take some calls live!"

It wasn't that bad. Eledore's enthusiasm became kind of infectious after the first few minutes. Between the silly sound effects and the overbearing energy he projected, anything dumb I said would get drowned out. I couldn't possibly draw more attention to myself, even with a mask on.

Maybe that was the whole point.

"Must be a lot of work running a hero team and starting a business," he said. "How do you have any time for fun?"

"She doesn't know the meaning of fun," Lafter grumbled.

"Some people like working," Dinah noted.

"I enjoy the time we spend developing new theoretical models," Veda added.

"I don't have a problem with it," I said in my own defense. "I'm driven? I like having things to work on. Being at home and having nothing to tinker with or plan would drive me crazy. People already think I'm crazy."

Lafter leaned over the table, whispering not that quietly. "I'm pretty sure she'd never leave if we didn't have Chariot around."

"He does keep the gears turning," Dinah punned.

"Unlike these two, he never back-sasses me."

"She likes it and doesn't want to admit it," Lafter sassed.

Eledore quickly asked, "Speaking of the intrepid man behind the scenes, where is he? Busy evening?"

"Chariot likes to focus on his tinkering," I answered. "The hero thing isn't really his deal so we keep him out of that side of things."

"That's why she picked him up." Lafter smile slyly. "She needs someone to stay at home and clean the place up."

"Well, yeah." That was the point. "I want to do hero work but the factory needs a tinker to keep an eye on it. Chariot wants to be a tinker without getting sucked into cops and robbers." Kind of the perfect solution really. "It works for us."

Lafter started laughing and Eledore was clearly trying to keep quiet.

"What?" I asked.

"It'll come to you," Dinah said. "Maybe."

Eledore shuffled through the papers briefly, looking over the questions we'd marked.

"Well that's one," he said. "People have heard a lot about Newtype since her interview, but the rest of the team is still a mystery for most."

Clever. Some of the questions we circled were simple ones. How did the team come together. How did Lafter and Dinah meet me. Why did they join. Simple stuff. Instead of asking them off the paper, he just rolled the conversation that direction.

"Not that mysterious." Lafter jokingly pulled her mask up. "Everyone kind of knows me."

"Oh yeah." Eledore nodded. "What was it like being unmasked so suddenly, if I may ask?"

"You may," Lafter replied. "Have you ever noticed how every episode of House is basically the same? I do. I watched every episode back to back for a week." She pointed her thumb at me. "Until this one showed up, pulled her mask off, and asked me if I wanted to do something important."

"Lafter—"

Eledore interrupted me, saying, "Really?! Just like that?"

"Just like that!" Lafter confirmed. "And the funniest part is that she thinks she's bad with people!"

"I'm not bad with people," I protested. "I just don't come by it naturally." And how did the air get so relaxed in here?

"Case and point," Dinah deadpanned.

"How did you join up?" Eledore asked.

"I wanted to be all I could be but the Army said no."

Eledore nodded, despite the complete non-answer that was. I figured Dinah wouldn't say much about herself. Kati actually suggested it. Lafter was goofy and fun loving. I was aloof but focused. She said Dinah rounded out the ensemble by being sassy.

"And what about StarGazer?" Our host looked to me, and then at Pink. "You've been with Newtype ever since her first appearance!"

"We came together by happenstance," Veda answered.

We'd practiced her answers, with a focus on avoiding overt lies in case any thinkers tried listening in. Lafter, Dinah, and I had 'models' that Kati said we naturally fit into. Veda was the hard one, because there were things we didn't want her to say and we wanted to avoid dropping any hints.

"I do not think I could be where I am without her," Veda said. "Celestial Being exists because of Newtype."

"Yeah, I'd probably still be stuck indoors watching reruns," Lafter said.

"I hear silent movies are vogue right now," Dinah suggested.

"Sounds like Newtype really brought you all together," Eledore said.

"She did," Veda confirmed.

I frowned, not entirely comfortable with being the center of attention. I mean, it was true but it felt kind of arrogant to hear it said aloud. I didn't set out to aggrandize myself. I wanted to change things, make them better. Forming a team was something I needed to do for that.

"She's very humble when she's not beating up bad guys," Lafter mock whispered.

"Well a little humility never hurt anyone," Eledore offered, giving me a grin. "And it's cool to get an inside angle on what you're all like behind the scenes!" He turned his wrist

The phone started ringing.

Taking calls already?

Eledore blinked and turned to the window.

The guy on the other side shrugged. He reached over, picked up a phone, and immediately set it back down.

Or not?

"Something else everyone really wants to hear about are the rumors about StarGazer going mano-e-mano against Leviatha—"

The phone started ringing again.

Eledore turned and his partner stared at the phone. He picked it up and put it down again. It began ringing once more three seconds later.

"How is—"

"I don't know," Eledore's partner said over the speakers.

"Someone is calling the number directly," the older woman noted. "We never put out that number."

And it occurred to me they wouldn't have an office phone that rang in the recording room. Right? They'd have people call in and make sure they weren't crazy first, then route them to where listeners could hear them.

My eyes narrowed.

"Put it through."

The three radio station employees looked at me. I shrugged. If it wasn't a public number, then someone went through the trouble of figuring it out. And calling in the middle of our segment? Not a coincidence.

I started running through a mental list of ideas as Eledore's partner picked up the phone and pressed a few buttons in front of him.

Who would—

"Oh fuck." Shit, can I say that on radio?

"Fuck is right!" A voice shouted from the other side of the line.

I groaned. She's doing this to screw with me. "What do you want Tattletale?"

Why am I not surprised she's seizing the chance to fuck with me?

Eledore's voice rose. "Hot digits folks we have a super villain calling in on our private line!"

"Yes, yes, I'm very bad," Tattletale droned, "Hello. Newtype, how badly do you want to punch me?"

"It varies from moment to moment," I snarled. What is this fucking childish shit.

My heart jumped at a loud bang.

Silence filled the station.

"Yeah," Tattletale drawled. "So, want to come punch me?"

"What was that?" I asked. Is this some kind of threat? "Who are you shooting at?"

"Would you believe self-defense?"

Another voice came from the background. "Seriously Tattletale?!"

"I'm being honest!" She insisted to the distant voice.

Another sound came over the line, and an uttered curse, but I couldn't quite make it out over the phone. There was a crash and a bang and barking.

"Tattletale," I snarled.

"Yeah so, we're kind of under attack?" Another gun shot, a shout, and a crash. "How much does it cost for a heroic rescue?"

"What?" Lafter asked.

"First hero to rescue us gets a free shot at my smart mouth!"

Two more gun shots followed.

"Who are you shooting at?" Veda asked.

"Tattletale! Stop taunting her!" Grue? Something fumbled and his voice came in more clearly. "We're under attack, unmasked!"—a more distant Tattletale shouted "we were minding our own business!"—"Kids with laser rifles have us surrounded!"

"There is a villain fight going down live?!" Eledore exclaimed.

Veda sent a message directly to my visor.

sys.v/ I have traced the call

She sent the address to my visor. Fugly Bob's. Really?

I looked at the man and said, "I have to take this. Excuse me."

I pushed my chair back and got up.

"Preparations are underway," Veda said.

Good. "Laughter, stay here with Forecast. This could be a diversion."

By the time I could get her across the city things would probably be over anyway. And I was serious about the diversion thing. I wouldn't put it past Tattletale to come up with an elaborate scheme to distract me.

"Oh, let it be a diversion." Lafter pulled a saber from her belt and grinned. "I love diversions."

Dinah had a concerned look, her shoulders shaking slightly. I pulled up my phone and kept walking.

sys.t/ Dinah is using her power
sys.t/ keep an eye on her?

sys.v/ we will manage

I went down the stairs.

The elevator was a little on the slow side.

Cranial's kids are attacking the Undersiders?

Why would they do—Labyrinth?

That made even less fucking sense.

Shit, Mouse Protector's going to say she told me so.

I ran out of the building and climbed into Astraea's already open cockpit. The armor closed around me, green flashed across the mountain side, and the air cracked. I shot forward, fingers quickly running some checks.

Why grab Labyrinth? I didn't know they did it, but suddenly I felt so sure. They did it. But why? Why attack the Undersiders now, and in such a public way? When they hit Faultline they did it in the off hours, took them by surprise. They probably didn't plan for the fire. That's why the blaze started was so innocuous.

If the kids didn't want revenge on Coil, then they were grabbing all that gear for something else.

I turned on my com as I flew over the city. I didn't wait for the ringing to stop. There wasn't time. I started talking.

"Veda. Play this message as soon as Ramius picks up. Undersiders are being attacked by Cranial's children. I think they're the ones who grabbed Labyrinth. Whatever they're planning it's happening tonight."

They'd gone and attacked the Undersiders in public. They weren't going to be wasting any time now.

I angled down, diving from above and pulling up before I hit the street. I stayed low as I flew through the Docks, buying myself some time for Yellow to fly off from the Factory toward Fugly Bob's.

And I can't see Fugly Bob's.

A cloud of black enveloped the building. Grue's power. The cloud wisped up along the street. I spotted a dozen of the kids.

Three stood on rooftops with laser rifles, and half a dozen spread out along the street. Three covered the back of the store from an alleyway. They all wore black body suits and armored vests, with goggles over their eyes and masks over their mouths. The gear they stole from Coil.

"Veda, call Tattletale." Why isn't Ramius answering?

Veda dialed the number that called the radio station.

"Hello," she greeted.

"You said you were under attack." I came to a stop a block north and throttled the drive down. "You're not."

"Let me check. Nope. Still surrounded."

She said it so fast, I don't think she checked.

"They're literally standing outside doing nothing. They're not even aiming at you."

"Yeah, it's pretty weird."

"What do they want?"

"I don't know."

I gripped the controls.

"Okay then. Have a nice night Tattletale and say hi to the kids for me!"

"Hey wait a minute—"

"I am not going to be fucked with," I said. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm plenty happy to sit here and follow them when they leave. One time as your decoy was plenty."

"Hold on—"

"Especially if you're going to jerk me around," I added. Fuck Tattletale.

"My power doesn't work on them!"

I needed a moment before saying, "I don't believe you."

"I'm serious! My power doesn't work on them. Sovereign's neither! You think we'd be bunkered down in a fast food establishment if we could just send them all into a fit of depression and walk out?"

"And how does—" I stopped. "Cranial. Brain tinker."

"Technically memory."

"Your really going to be a know-it-all even when your power isn't working?"

"It's working fine," she protested. "It just doesn't work on them."

"So your power is working and your first idea is to call me for help?"

I watched the kids while talking to she-who-should-not-be-spoke-to. They hadn't moved since I stopped. They just kept standing there. I couldn't make out any sign of communication between them. No plan to attack the store.

They're stalling?

Veda got me a list of visions from Dinah.

Let's see. Undersiders fight. ABB fight. Bakuda. Burnscar?

Dinah asked herself what might happen tonight, but that seemed to cover a range too broad to be useful. Only a few of the visions involved the kids and they didn't tell me much. The bay is full of abandoned warehouses. The other results she got gave me a greater concern.

This is going to spill out if it isn't handled fast.

Fugly Bob's was still squarely set within ABB territory. They'd been forced to retreat from a lot of areas in the city by a lack of manpower, but they held onto this area. I didn't see many people on the street. They were steering clear of the obvious cape fight for once.

"Well, I maybe planned to call in and screw with you a bit," Tattletale admitted. Fucking knew it. "But let's be fair, you've been screwing with me for months!"

I sent two questions back, fingers thumbing a few wrong buttons at Tattletale's statement.

"If I were screwing with you Tattletale, you would know it."

After a brief moment of silence, I got a, "Wha?"

She went silent and after some mumbling, someone reasonable took up the job of speaking to me.

"Where are you?" Grue asked.

"How many people are in the restaurant?" I asked back.

"The three of us, four employees, and a dozen others."

Three of you? "Where's Hellhound?"

"Bitch is on the other side of town," he said. And I thought Tattletale was awful. "She knows what is happening, but I told Tattletale to call you because you would get here first."

I called bullshit on both those things, but for the moment, "And that matters because?"

"We're being attacked out of mask?"

"Did you call the police?"

"We're unmasked," he repeated. "The unwritten rules—Look, I don't know what they're doing. They started shooting at us when things started, and we called you figuring you'd get here first after they pinned us inside. Then they stopped. Now they're just standing out there."

"Pull your power back," I said.

"What?"

"Pull it back. Enough that I can see the front of the building."

It took a moment, but the mist did recede. I spotted a broken window, and some scorch marks on the brick. I didn't get much more than that. Lights on inside the store and apparently no smoke.

So, Grue can shape his darkness. Good to know.

The kids reacted, which is what I really wanted to see. They lifted their weapons a little higher. And their heads all turned toward one direction. Toward one of the kids on the rooftops.

The leader then.

I pulled back on the controls. The people in the building needed protecting, if nothing else. I still didn't know why Ramius hadn't responded to my call. Ramius always responded to me. Even when I was pissed at her and she was angry at me.

Something is very very wrong.

"Tattletale, why isn't the PRT answering my call?"

"What makes you think I know?"

"Tattletale, why isn't the PRT answering my call?"

"I'm psychic not omnipotent!"

"And you'd be bragging snidely if you actually knew anything."

"Happy?" Tattletale asked.

"In the fact that you can't taunt me lest I leave you to your fate? Yes, actually. Thank you for noticing."

"I let you have that one and you know it."

"Tattletale!" Grue snapped. "What is the plan?

I got Dinah's answers back and read them over.

The kids don't attack me if I try to talk to them and they don't attack the restaurant? Why did this keep getting weirder?

"You three are going to stay right where you are," I ordered, "and do absolutely nothing."

"Okay," he replied.

I sent Navy flying toward the PRT building. "Good."

While he moved, I flew up and into the air. Half the kids turned their heads and looked at me, their guns again going up. They didn't aim though, which I found increasingly weird.

Last time they attacked me almost instantly. Or, did I attack them?

Crap.

Why corner the Undersiders with a sudden attack and then stop? They knocked out Faultline and most of her crew. Actually, what benefit came from grabbing her a whole day before this? They'd made themselves known now what did one day—One day.

They needed time.

Labyrinth's power grows stronger the longer she's in one place. Did they recruit her somehow? Subvert her? Faultline would go after them, hard. Everyone would and they knocked her and the rest out to buy time.

They're still avoiding violence when they can.

My suspicion proved true when I landed Astraea on the roof behind the one I figured for the leader.

He turned to face me, watching from his stationary position.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You wouldn't understand," he said.

Cranial said something like that.

Were they attacking the PRT? I needed more time for Navy to reach Downtown. Only a dozen of them were here. The rest must be somewhere. A few guarding Labyrinth, clearly. How many would it take to assault the PRT building?

Maybe it all was still about Coil I'm thinking myself into circles.

"Try," I suggested. "You all seem to have a habit of avoiding unnecessary injury. What happened at the Palanquin?"

"Things got out of hand," the boy answered.

Tattletale chimed in, saying, "Oh, that was them!"

I shut off the com to the Undersider's phone so Tattletale couldn't keep listening. Probably should have done that first, but I was making it up as a went.

"Where is Labyrinth?" I asked. "Why did you take her?"

"She'll be released when we've finished."

"Finished with what?"

"I can't say. We do not intend to harm the Undersiders. We are merely keeping them out of the way. If bystanders wish to leave the building they may. We're not interested in them."

I turned the com back on, saying, "The kids are only interested in you three. Tell everyone else to walk out calmly and go home. And you'll do it because I care very little about your well-being and holding hostages makes me care less."

Turning the com back off before anyone replied, I asked, "Tell me what you're doing."

"It's necessary," the boy replied.

Damn it. Why? Just—Was it something Cranial did? She seemed completely out of it, and completely manic. Did that carry over into the kids? They could fight and obviously they could plan.

I watched a stream of people rush out of Grue's mist. I counted them as they went, just to be sure the Undersiders didn't get any really dumb ideas. True to the boy's word, the kids paid them no mind and let everyone leave.

I tried another angle, saying, "Dragon is looking for all of you. Cranial was her friend."

"We know," the boy said. "She can't help us. Chains bind her."

What? How do they know about that?

I didn't get a chance to ponder that.

"We'll be leaving now," the boy suddenly announced.

I blinked. "What?"

"We have no further need to hold the Undersiders here. We will leave peacefully at this time."

I watched him step back and off the roof.

What?!

I shot forward and looked down. He landed on the street just fine and waved to the others. As one, they all started retreating from their positions.

They're leaving just like tha—

"Shit. Newtype!"

I raised my head just as Grue's power blasted out of Fugly Bob's and enveloped everything.

"I said don't do anything!" I shouted.

"They took Grue's sister!" Tattletale shouted back.

"What?!"

"The doctor we left her with just called, he says five kids raided his place and grabbed her."

"Why?!"

"I am not all knowing!"

I looked through the mist but I couldn't see anything. All my sensors returned errors. Thermal and multi-spectral cameras came up with garbage imagery. The sonic camera just returned a muck. I think I saw movement in it, but I wasn't sure. Above, Yellow couldn't see anything but a massive black shroud covering half the block.

I pressed on the pedals and shot upward until I cleared the miasma.

"Where is Grue?!"

"He can see in his power. He's going after them!"

As if on cue, Veda patched Ramius in.

"Newtype," she called.

I heard shouting in the background. Lots of shouting, including a very vocal Piggot. Something about brining everyone in?

"I just got your message," Ramius continued. "I called as soon as I could."

"What's going on at the PRT?" I asked immediately.

"Vista has been taken!"

THE FUCK?! "Why?"

"We don't know. Mockshow and Kid Win are chasing the kidnappers, but we've been shut out of all communications for the last twenty minutes. It's Cranial's kids. They knocked her out, pinned Kid Win and Mockshow and grabbed her!"

"How am I only hearing about this now?"

I didn't mean to sound angry, but Ramius didn't seem to take it personally.

"Some kind of device planted on a few employee vehicles," she explained. "They scrambled all the power in the building, nothing was working. Where are you? What's going on."

"Cranial's kids took Labyrinth," I revealed, "and they just grabbed Grue's sister."

"Aisha Laborn? Why?"

"I don't know!"

And to think I thought I handled the last rush of events fairly well.

Labyrinth. Aisha Laborn. Vista too? Why did they need—Space. Vista and Labyrinth were both powerful shakers who manipulated space. Were the kids trying to go somewhere?

"Newtype?" Ramius asked.

"Grue is chasing them right now."

The miasma moved, pulling up the street and turning a corner. I didn't see anything, but I'd guess there was a fight. Tattletale and Sovereign both emerged from Fugly Bob's as the mist pulled off the building, staring up the street. They wore casual clothing and makeshift masks that covered the bottom halves of their faces.

I came down and landed on the street.

"What happened with his sister?" I asked.

Tattletale looked up at me. "The doctor says the kids came in with weapons. They're already gone."

Movement behind me drew my eye, and I spun.

Two of Hellhound's dogs slammed into the pavement on either side of me, a third running past after the faster moving black cloud. Hellhound sat atop it, a bat in one hand while her beast's claws tore up the road.

Surprise, surprise.

"We're bad guys," Sovereign said as she hoisted herself up onto one of the dogs. "We lie."

"Good for you," I droned.

"Trump card in case you tried to arrest us or needed help," Tattletale said as she climbed onto the other dog-monster. "Kind of moot now. Aisha Laborn, Labyrinth, and I'm guessing a Ward. We all have bigger fish to fry now."

The two dogs lurched forward and started running after the cloud with the third.

"I fucking hate you," I muttered to myself. I shot into the air and followed. "Laughter."

"Sup?"

"Get Forecast to the PRT building for safe keeping and join up with the Protectorate. The kids are hitting everywhere and they're doing whatever they're doing now. Veda, where are you with Queen?"

She answered me with a flash of green in the air ahead.

Queen shot through the air, straight toward Grue's cloud.

I caught up with Tattletale, asking, "Can Grue's power be offset by wind?"

Tattletale glanced at me. "Yes." Then she smiled. "Oh. Oh that's good. Yeah do that!"

Astraea shot forward. I didn't need to say much to Veda. She set Queen on a parallel course. The buildings blurred on my left, and Queen rocketed past my right. The cloud of Grue's power broke apart as rushing air washed through the street, air of the two suits breaking it apart.

I took aim and fired, and the Fangs shot out. I got a glimpse of Grue brawling with three kids, doing a much better job of it than I had. The window didn't last long. The mist closed back over the street and I didn't see if any of my shots hit.

They're going to get away if he keeps doing this.

I circled back around, but the mist had stopped. Hellhound and her dogs stood along the edges of the mist with the other three Undersiders. Tattletale was snapping at Sovereign, but I couldn't he—

Oh no.

The mist faded slowly. Grue's form emerged from the smoke, kneeling on the street and looking back at Sovereign with a pained face.

Fuck she did.

I flew past again. The smoke blew away, and I spun about pistols raised. Queen hovered overhead, the Fangs shooting out of their docks.

The kids were gone though.

And I didn't know which way they went. Yellow and Queen swept out searching. They found more than one open manhole.

"Yellow, go down and look. Be careful. Ramius, where are Mockshow and Kid Win?"

"They're running along Eighth," Ramius answered. "Dauntless and Triumph are on the way to join them."

I began directing Navy that way. "StarGazer, you go."

Queen veered off, and I landed on the ground by Grue. That pained look was gone, replaced by anger as he rose and turned on Sovereign.

"Shut it," Tattletale snapped. "That was stupid Brian! You're smarter than that!"

Grue snarled. "They—"

"Grabbed your sister," Sovereign said from atop her dog-monster. "We know."

"And we'll get her back," Tattletale interjected, "but we won't get anywhere with you trying to pull a Rambo on an army of amped up kids who beat Faultline. You know her crew is good and they had all their powers working."

Grue's hands tightened at his sides.

"Did the doctor say anything else," I asked. "Did the kids say anything?"

"No," Tattletale replied. "In and out super fast." She glanced at Grue. "They probably wanted Grue to overreact and chase the wrong kids to buy more time. Which Ward did they grab?"

I hated tonight. "Vista."

"That might be a distraction too," Tattletale mumbled. "The PRT and Protectorate have to respond to that. The safety of the Wards takes a higher priority than anything else once one gets attacked."

"Pretty stupid," Sovereign mumbled. "They'll have everyone coming down on them at this rate."

"Which is why it's not a distraction," I said. "The stakes are too high."

"Probably," Tattletale agreed. Fuck, Tattletale agreed with me. "Warn the PRT. Some of those kids are about Vista's size and build. They might swap her out for one of their own to keep a goose chase going." I let Veda handle telling Ramius about that possibility. "Labyrinth and Vista," Tattletale mused. "They both warp space. I don't get how Aisha fits into that."

"Define how your powers don't work on them," I asked.

Tattletale could still clearly use hers, and Sovereign too.

"They don't have emotions," Sovereign said. "Tapping into them is like wading into the ocean and finding it mostly empty."

"My power keeps insisting they're not where my eyes say they are," Tattletale added. "I look at them and I get a bunch of jumbled nonsense." She tapped her chin. "Something Cranial did to them. Maybe to give them an advantage against thinkers and masters."

"We going to keep sitting here talking?" Hellhound asked in a rough, dismissive, tone. She wore a cheap plastic dog mask over her face, eyes glaring at me from atop her monster.

"No," Grue snapped. "We're not."

He got up and walked over toward Tattletale's dog.

"We're going to the clinic. We can use Bitch's"—seriously? To her face?—"dogs to track Aisha's scent."

Oh, that's a good idea.

Grue mounted the beast in front of Tattletale and looked at me.

"Are you coming?"

Was I? Aisha Laborn never did anything to anyone. Not on purpose. The kids grabbed Vista, but I couldn't do much more on that by throwing myself into the mix. I'd already sent Veda. I had no leads on Labyrinth and if the kids swapped Vista for one of their own at some point then tracking Aisha's scent might be the best chance of finding them.

"Yes, but—"

An explosion rattled the air in the distance.

Tattletale tensed. "Oh no." She twisted around at the waist, watching the pillar of light and smoke rising into the air. "That's Bakuda."

A tinker. Did the kids hit her too? Stealing equipment or something?

sys.t/ check the factory security
sys.t/ make sure we're secure

Sovereign whistled. "And I thought daddy bit off more than he could chew."

Another explosion went off, a little more east of the first.

God fucking damn it.

How many questions had Dinah answered? Four or five? This was too much, too fast. I'd almost accuse the kids of stirring as many pots as they could just to throw up chaos. If Bakuda started bombing the city, the PRT and Protectorate couldn't ignore it, even with Vista grabbed off the street.

Fuck.

"You four go. Yellow, go with them." I lifted Astraea off the ground. "Keep StarGazer updated on what you're doing or all bets are off."

Tattletale's eyes followed me as I rose.

"If this doesn't call for a truce," she proposed, "I don't know what does. Truce?"

sys.t/ I think Tattletale is right
sys.t/ the kids might have already swapped Vista
sys.t/ help chase them
sys.t/ but I think the Undersiders are the best bet

sys.v/ agreed
sys.v/ you are going to face Bakuda?

I mashed my teeth together.

sys.t/ we can't let her blow up the city
sys.t/ not right now

Hopefully, I could appeal to the unwritten rules and get her to calm the tits down.

sys.t/ I'll catch up when I can

sys.v/ be safe

I threw Astraea toward the explosions as a third ripped through the streets.

"Ramius, I'm going to check on Bakuda."

"What?"

"Explosions south of the Trainyard," I said. "The kids are trying to stir the pot, or they stole equipment from her." If the latter, I might be able to figure out what they're doing. "Keep everyone focused on finding Vista and Aisha. The Undersider's are going to track the latter's scent. I have Yellow following them."

"Wait. Slow dow—"

"I'm going to keep Bakuda from making this worse."

I killed the line and banked.

There wasn't time to debate this. We couldn't track three kidnappings and who knew what else with Bakuda blowing up city streets.

The vehicle roared through the streets. A jeep. Bakuda leaned out of the side, firing a grenade launcher at a truck. The truck swerved at a corner and the grenade flew past and slammed into a building.

I dove, slamming Astraea's foot into the hood.

The vehicle snapped into the ground and the sound of cracking metal filled the air. Bakuda got flung off, and the driver whipped forward into the expanding airbags.

"Are you insane?!" I inquired, feeling like I knew the answer.

I turned back toward the building, trying to search for anyone inside.

"Great," a scrambled voice groaned. "Full Metal Panic is here."

I didn't see anyone inside the ruined building. The area had plenty of abandoned buildings. Squatters were ubiquitous, but we got lucky with that one.

Turning back the way they came, I saw the other explosions, but not what they hit. Too much smoke. Mundane explosives?

"Ms. Bakuda?" A hand pulled at the airbag, and the pudgy boy looked up at me. His eyes widened and he went, "oh."

"Get going cinnamon bun." Bakuda pulled herself to her feet on the road side. "This is going to be over your head. And stop calling me that!"

"Sorry." 'Cinnamon' bun' scrambled out of the jeep and started moving away.

I ignored him, turning Astraea's head toward Bakuda. "Cranial's kids have kidnapped Labyrinth, Grue's sister, and Vista. A Ward."

"Sounds rough," she said. "I feel real bad for her."

She still held her grenade launcher, the red lenses of her mask turning on me. I stared at her. Was she going to fight? Now?

"I really wish you'd minded your own business," she declared. She turned her body toward me, and drew her grenade launcher up. "I really have other things I'd rather be doing."

Reflexively, I swung the Buster sword forward.

She sighed and rotated one shoulder. "Lung will rip me a new one if I just let you fly off."

I stared at her.

She stared at me.

Sigh.