You can do this, Taylor.
Finding the Undersider's lair was not a difficult thing for a cape such as myself. Simply walking in a spiral pattern away from the address Tattletale had provided to the cabbie yielded their location within twenty minutes- the second floor of the Redmond Welding building, a red bricked monster of an abandoned factory. It was early Sunday morning, and I had announced to my dad that I was starting up a running routine. This was true. I did indeed jog the few miles between my house and the Undersider's lair. I also planned to continue the routine, using it as an opportunity to frequently pass the Medhall building, approximately half an hour's run from where I lived. The ability to gather dirt on E88 was too good to pass up.
Dad had balked at the idea, and only allowed me to go when I agreed to bring a container of pepper spray with me. It was a good idea, to be honest, as I was just as weak against baseline humans as I had been before the locker.
That was the key. I had considered it last night after my lengthy observation of the PRT building downtown. My strength lay in surrounding myself with capes. The more, the better. Heck, they technically didn't even need to be on my side. Every cape was on my side when I was the one creating their reality. So, despite my misgivings, I would need to make myself known to at least some other parahumans to achieve my goals of cleaning up Brockton Bay. But that was only part of it.
As of right now, I was a total loner. As much as I was working to improve my relationship with Dad, the fact remained that I had hidden a year and a half of bullying from him, and I wasn't planning on telling him about my powers anytime soon. Even if I trusted him, the secret was too big, too dangerous. I wanted friends. I wanted people I could talk to. I had lived too long along, and I was too capable of accomplishing great things to go it alone. I had considered the Wards at first, but had shied away from that option, at least for now. I would have needed to deal with Shadow Stalker, somehow maintain secrecy around the real nature of my power in the face of a national governmental organization, and deal with being accountable to the public. It was an untenable option for me. No, it would be better to be a part of an independent but friendly hero group such as New Wave or the Guild. Each had friendly relationships with the Protectorate without actually being subject to each and every rule and regulation.
That didn't leave many options, but I still had some leads to follow. Lisa was a likable person. Yes, the Undersiders were villains, but they were basically unknowns, with no gang connections and no high profile crimes to their name. If Lisa was representative of the rest of the group, breaking them away from Coil was a definite option.
There were two people in the Undersider's lair at the moment. Both were asleep so all I received from them were strangely disjointed dreamscapes. I had no idea who they were, unfortunately, and it was still early in the morning. The Undersiders were based in a particularly dangerous area of the docks, and I wasn't safe outside. I need to be closer to my two Perspectives- the potentially hostile villains- instead.
I entered the bottom floor of the Welding building and looked around a bit. It was abandoned, plain and simple. Everything was stripped bare except for the heaviest of furniture, which was bolted to the floor, and piles of trash that naturally migrated to the corners of the room. Near the center of the building was a spiral staircase that led to the second floor, which led up to the lair proper.
I moved through the abandoned rows of belts and machinery, away from the door to the opposite end of the factory. That way any baseline human who showed up wouldn't immediately spot me. I settled in to wait on a particularly clean stool against the wall and examined my Perspectives. One was having pleasant dreams about walking dogs in a huge park. The trees were green and everything was in full bloom, giving the dogs more than enough to smell. The walkway was wide and perfectly straight, continuing infinitely into the distance before vanishing in a single point. There was no one else around. Just the dreamer and the dogs. Dreams were so weird, doubly so when you could experience them while awake. But realizing I could experience others' dreams was not my biggest epiphany during my PRT stakeout.
Yesterday at the coffee shop, my brain had been in high gear, churning out permutation after permutation of how to make my first steps in Brockton Bay's community of heroes and villains. During my brainstorming session, I had analyzed every angle, every benefit and drawback of my choices. It had only been after I had come to the conclusion that the Undersiders were the best choice did I realize that my thinking had not been normal. It had been... greater, somehow. I knew without a doubt that I would never pick a group of criminals as my primary choice without some sort of change in the way I thought.
The dreaming girl woke up to the sound of slight whining from the adjacent room and I got my first look at the upstairs living area. Bitch's room well-furnished and surprisingly clean for a sixteen-year-old girl. There was a standing lamp and a rug that surrounded her bed to help with the cold floors, as well as a television on top of a dresser opposite the bed. Next to the dresser was a mannequin with a thick fur jacket and topped with a plastic dog mask.
Bitch took three leashes from a bin by the door. The common area was also well furnished, with two couches surrounding a coffee table and facing an entertainment center, complete with huge TV, multiple video game consoles, and floor standing speakers. In the center of this room was a waist-high wrought iron gate. It ran around the ledge created by the spiral staircase, twisting downwards to the abandoned rows of machinery and my location. In contrast to Bitch's bedroom the common area was messy. A stack of four pizza boxes and used cups adorned the coffee table, while a table near the stairs was littered with random objects that had been left there as various Undersiders came and went. My stomach flipped as I was fairly certain there was a pistol on the table, but it quickly left my field of vision.
Bitch opened the scratching door and three large dogs bounded out.
"Judas, Brutus, Angelica, sit!"
Oh, the dogs. I hadn't considered the dogs.
"Good." Bitch scratched each of the dogs in turn.
I looked at the door on the opposite side of the building. I didn't think I would get to it without the dogs hearing.
"Ready for a walk?" The dogs responded with violent tail and butt wagging.
I tried to slide off the stool as quietly as I could. My sneakers silently making contact with the floor. If I could just hide behind a machine, the dogs would go to the door and completely pass me by. It was a good plan, and I gradually shifted more weight onto my feet. Then the metal chair shifted as my butt slid off, just slightly, and the distinctive chirp of a shifting chair leg echoed around the lower floor. It wasn't too loud, and Bitch didn't hear it. She did, however, see the perking ears and turned heads of her dogs as they looked at the spiral staircase.
"Brutus, go! Angelica, Judas, stay." I watched in horror as Brutus burst into action, running towards the stairs, with Bitch close behind him.
Oh shit. Oh shit… Oh shitshitshit.
The steel staircase rattled as Brutus ran down the stairs, and I ducked out of sight. Fortunately, the sound had reached the dogs' ears though the opening of the staircase, and so Brutus doesn't know where the sound came from. Wait a minute, that had been Bitch's thought.
"Brutus, search!" I watched in horror from my second Perspective as the dog bounded out towards the wall perpendicular to my hiding spot and the door. The big dog's paws scratched on the concrete floor as he scrabbled around, nose pointed down and sniffing.
Think, Taylor! Why the hell was I here? Because it had seemed like a good idea yesterday. Stupid power, influencing me into picking the group with the parahumans that seemed to be most equipped to find me. I shook my head to clear it. Not important right now. What were my options?
One- I could impersonate Lisa. Try to get her to call off Brutus when she sees me with Lisa's face. This would likely work, however it would tip my hand as to my capabilities. I did not want to reveal what I could do to the Undersiders so early. There was no guarantee my plan to integrate and redirect their path would work, and that would leave me in a terrible position when dealing with Coil.
Two- I could change my face into a stranger's and let Brutus catch me. Claim I was here on Lisa's orders. Have Bitch call Lisa, hint that I was the person at the boardwalk yesterday. Drawback was it put me in a vulnerable position, both with Bitch and with the Undersiders in general. I did not intend to reveal my physical self to the Undersiders for the time being, no matter my face. The main advantage of this choice was hiding my powers.
Brutus had reached the corner of the factory and was now heading towards my position. I needed to make a decision, and quickly.
Option three-
"Rachel," said an inhumanly deep voice from behind my second Perspective. Bitch whirled around and I saw my avatar through her eyes. It was... for lack of a better word, a void in reality. Completely black and dull, without a single ray of light reflecting off of the human shaped figure. Rachel simply saw a hole in the outline of a person- a portal into the blackness of inter-galactic space. While no light was reflected from the surrounding environment, small specks of light and colorful swirls sparsely dotted my avatar's body: stars and galaxies. When I moved, the stars and galaxies stayed put, creating a parallax effect to further sell the idea that you were peering into the void. I also added a warping effect around my avatar. He was standing in between Rachel and the door, blocking it from her view. However, she could see a twisted refraction of the door, curving over my avatar's head like a halo. The straight lines of the doorway were smudged like a wavelength around the crown of my avatar's head. It was my attempt at recreating the way that black holes bent light around themselves, to add to the theme of my assumed persona. Honestly? It was a terrifying sight to behold, it was like being confronted with exactly how small you really were.
To her immense credit, Bitch wasn't fazed by the sight, even though I felt her fear. Bitch whistled twice, the shrill sound echoing through the machine shop. "Brutus, come!" Brutus immediately broke off from his search and bounded back to his owner. I was impressed. Bitch and her dogs worked together like a machine. It was obvious that Bitch understood her dogs to a degree that must've been assisted by her power.
"Rachel, I am here to speak with Tattletale. I am not going to fight you, and I mean no harm."
"Yeah?" Bitch said, "Tough. Shouldn't have come here." With that, Brutus bounded up to Bitch, sat, and looked at her questioningly. Bitch turned away from my avatar, looked at Brutus, and I felt her confusion. Brutus should have been paying attention to my avatar, waiting for a command from Bitch such as 'hurt' or 'hold.' From my hiding place, I smirked.
"Brutus can't see me. I choose who I wish to reveal myself to. Also, do not order your dog to attack. Coming into contact with me would hurt him."
Bitch glowered at me but believed the lie. It looked like I had averted disaster, at least for now. I was about to say thank her, but something about her mind stopped me. It didn't seem like the right word. "Good. Now as I said, I am here to speak with Tattletale. It concerns a proposal that will be beneficial to the Undersiders, you included."
"Why her? She's not in charge."
"No, and I will speak with Grue as well. But for now, Tattletale is who I need.
I felt suspicion spark in Bitch's mind. The way that she thought was different. There was a primal anger to her, but she certainly wasn't dumb. "You know a lot about us."
"Yes." My avatar gestured to himself, "My form is well suited to gathering information. Now please, will you or Regent call Tattletale?" Mentioning Regent might throw more fuel onto the fire, I knew, but I needed to keep Bitch off balance. The stronger and more informed I appeared, the less likely it was Bitch would decide to fight.
Bitch was thinking things over, and I was surprised about what directions her thoughts were taking. She was primarily concerned with looking weak in front of Grue, rather than a desire to get this stand-off resolved. If she called, it would suggest she couldn't handle herself. That was not a line of thinking I wanted her to follow, because I could already see where it would lead. I woke up Alec with what felt like a cold bucket of water being dumped on him. As soon as he was shocked from sleep, I stopped the manipulation so he was left wondering exactly why he was gasping for air with tingles going through his body.
"Grue will be impressed you caught me. I did not intend to be detected until Tattletale arrived, so I could speak with her without causing a situation like this."
"Words," Bitch said dismissively to my compliment. She did, however, take her phone out of her pocket and make a call.
The phone was answered by the same deep voice Tattletale had called the day before. Grue. "Yeah?"
"Almost here? I caught a cape on the first floor, asking for Tattletale."
"Who?" Grue asked. "Tattletale's stalker?"
Bitch scowled at the question. She didn't like people pressing her for more details, and didn't understand why he needed more. There was a cape she caught, in their base, and Grue needed to get here. Why was further talked needed?
"Yeah, maybe."
"Be right there, we're both a few minutes out."
Bitch hung up without a reply and went back to scowling at me. I didn't see a need to reply, so I had my avatar cross its hands behind its back. Regent was currently walking around his room in a convincing imitation of a shuffling zombie finding clean clothes with a slow but indomitable progress, and I had to stifle a giggle.
It wasn't long before Grue and Lisa entered my range at a fast jog and Bitch's phone rang.
She answered it with a, "What?"
"He still here? Got it handled?"
Rachel scoffed, "Of course I handled it. Factory floor." Then she hung up again.
Though my power I heard Grue say, "Wait don't- damn it, Rachel!" Once again, I had to stifle a giggle. These supervillains were certainly criminals, regardless of how petty the crimes were at the moment, and from what I had gleaned through my telepathy Alec and Rachel had some dark pasts. But even considering all that? They were likable. Even Rachel. I may have had a huge advantage there, being able to step inside her mind and understand how she thought, but still… I think I could grow to like them.
Darkness filled the inside of the building, and suddenly I couldn't see anything, nor could I via Bitch's Perspective. So this was Grue's power. It was impressive. I focused on his Perspective, just a dozen feet beyond the door to the building. I enforced my avatar's presence to them, and had been from the second they had become Perspectives, so when Grue stepped through the door, guiding Tattletale by the hand, I had turned the avatar to face him. As soon as Brian had stepped into the room I had regained vision via his Perspective, despite his darkness filling the entire bottom half of the factory. Score another for my power.
I also began hearing Regent calling out from the top of the spiral staircase, "Yo, Grue, why'd you turn off the lights? Hello?"
I waited patiently for Grue to approach, examine my avatar, and choose a spot to stand for him and Lisa. I could have simply spoken to him, let him know that I could see through his darkness, but restrained myself. Giving away more than I needed to would serve no purpose.
Finally, the darkness disappeared, and my avatar was facing three of the four Undersiders, with Regent noisily stomping down the metal stairs. Tattletale was smirking, but I could hear her power going into overdrive as she examined the human shaped void, "Nice projection," she said, "Make it yourself?"
She was slightly mistaken, of course. Her power had correctly deduced that the thing she saw wasn't a real person, but it certainly wasn't a projection in the way she was thinking. Looks like her power had a weakness in that she used Occam's Razor to a large degree. When the real answer was far outside the norm or she was given bad information, she could be fooled. Well, maybe not fooled, but at least be misled to a somewhat false conclusion.
I turned slightly to face her, ignoring her question, as it was primed to give her power hints about the nature of my abilities, "Hello again, Tattletale. I apologize for coming by unannounced, but I thought you would have been here. I was just a few minutes too early, it seems." I realized I was speaking like a supervillain mastermind, so I shifted my avatar's posture slightly to make it seem more human. "I'd like to talk about joining your team."
Sudden shift in tone and word choice. Slight social awkwardness. Nervous about this meeting, even though he… wait- speaking directly to me shows lack of male preferential treatment to Brian- she is projecting strength. Young, likely our age. Definitely not sent by Coil.
Well… damn. She was really good.
"No. No way," Rachel said.
"Bitch, this isn't totally up to you and you know it," Brian said, turning her direction slightly, but not taking his eyes away from my avatar. "We'll vote on it. That's how we agreed to handle new members."
Bitch's scowl deepened, and her thoughts were angry. New members meant less money for her, which meant less she could do for the strays she found and housed. It was understandable, when you considered her priorities. "Fuck this, I'm taking the dogs for a walk. Angelica, Judas, come!" The dogs bounded down the stairs, barely missing Regent as he hopped off the bottom step and out of their way. Rachel clipped their leashes on and left.
"Maybe that's for the best," Grue said.
I nodded my avatar's head. Well, if Tattletale already knew I was a girl their age, I suppose there was no point in trying to shape my language to disguise it. "She's very intense, isn't she? I'd be nervous if I wasn't in this form."
Partial lie. Bitch definitely makes her nervous, even in her current form. Why? Projection is incorporeal, but a physical body was definitely present yesterday at the Boardwalk. A Stranger/Master. She's in the building, and Bitch's dogs can potentially find her. Tattletale's smirk grew wider.
… Are you kidding me right now?
"Maybe you should come out, now that Bitch is gone. I swear that we'll be civil and you'll be free to go once we're done talking."
Brian turned to look at Tattletale, "He's here?"
"She, I think."
"Damn, you look badass!" Regent said as he swaggered up beside his two teammates. "I vote yes based purely on the cool factor."
Bitch had left my range with all three dogs in tow, and so I stood with my real body and approached the group. I, of course, had erased all evidence of my physical body from their senses as I did so. Sight and sound of my physical form and footfalls, any dust or trash that was disturbed by my passage, my footprints, everything. I had made one small oversight yesterday on the Boardwalk. Just one moment where I hadn't been prepared, and now Lisa was using it against me.
This time went a lot better. Lisa received no tells from my approach, and I stood beside my avatar. It was strange, having three Perspectives tell me that to my right was a creepy human shaped void in reality, while I myself saw nothing but 3 costumed supervillains staring at an empty space.
"I think it would be best to reveal yourself so we can talk face to face. I'll promise no hostility, as long as you show none yourself," Grue said, "Assuming Tattletale is correct in her guess that is."
Tattletale scoffed, "I'm right."
I gritted my teeth. This is not at all how I wanted it to go. I was getting into dangerous territory, revealing myself to Lisa. If Lisa figured out my true power and I couldn't get them on my side, things would go badly. For who, I wasn't sure yet. I needed them. And after meeting them, I could see myself liking them.
"Alright," I said, with my real voice. The three supervillains looked to a spot beside my avatar, opposite of where I actually stood.
OK, it wasn't my real real voice. I made it emanate from empty air, but it was Taylor's voice nonetheless. My avatar collapsed into a singularity before vanishing, the warping of space around it lingering for just a few moments longer. Sue me, I liked the theatrics. Then I made a representation of myself, wearing a blank white mask that covered my full face in the empty spot that my voice had come from. The mask was porcelain smooth, with just the faintest caricature of human features. A slight bow of the lips, a weak featureless chin and high cheekbones, with holes for the eyes.
"That her?" Grue asked.
Tattletale considered the new avatar, before looking directly at where my real body stood. She already had a good enough read of my personality to call my bluff. "Close."
With an actual, audible huff of indignation that drew the attention of Grue and Regent, I made my avatar collapse and revealed my true self, with only an illusory domino mask to cover my features.
"There we go," Tattletale said, her stupid grin so big she was beginning to look like the Cheshire cat.
"Your power is really impressive," I said to her.
"Thanks. If I knew what yours was, I think I would say the same thing," she replied.
"You don't have a read on it?" Grue asked. He had been examining me critically, taking in my narrow frame and baggy sweatshirt. There had been a second as he considered my looks, along with curiosity what I would look like with more form fitting clothes. I blushed deeply at the attention. I, of course, erased the reddening of my cheeks and shifting stance from their reality.
"No. Gave me a headache trying to figure it out. I don't think we'll get answers anytime soon, unless mystery girl decides to spill?" I shook my head, "That's fine. What I've seen so far is more than enough to say it's a dead useful one."
Brian nodded, "I agree. The real question, though, is how you found us."
"I'm very good at information gathering," I said.
"In other words, you can see and hear through your projections," Lisa said. "You heard me give the cab driver the address and found us that way."
I nodded.
Regent whistled. "That's some high level shit." From his mind, I knew he was referring to the rare Master ability to sense via their minions.
"And why do you want to join the Undersiders? You recently became a cape, I take it? You want to be a supervillain?"
Tattletale's power answered the question for her instantly. She doesn't want to be a bad guy.
Well lying was right out. I wasn't going to try it anyways, knowing exactly what Tattletale was capable of.
"No, but I don't want to be on the Wards either. Too much regulation and corruption."
There was a beat while Grue was silent, just long enough to show he was considering my answer. "The regulation part is obvious, and while I believe you about corruption, what exactly are you talking about?"
"Like I said, I'm very good at information gathering," I replied.
"She spied on them," Tattletale said at the same time, her smile disappearing. "That's a dangerous game you're playing."
"It was career research. I'm not going to be using it against them. I just won't be joining the Wards anytime soon. What I want is to work with an independent group that is cordial with the Protectorate. Something like New Wave, but more... edgy?"
"Like I said before, we're bad guys," Grue said.
"We can't exactly turn over a new leaf whenever we want," Tattletale said. "The stuff we've done is small, but we're already on the PRT's radar. Barely, but still. That's only going to get worse in the future."
Tattletale meant it to sound like they were unwilling, but I had heard the thoughts behind her words. Coil won't let me leave.
"Besides, we've got a good thing going," Brian said. Ah, there it was. Brian's thoughts had flashed to getting custody of his little sister- something Coil had promised to help him with.
"There's no money in going legit. Boring as hell, too," Regent said.
I considered the thoughts of the three supervillains before me. Each had their reasons for committing crimes, for taking Coil's handouts. But each of those reasons had more than one solution. "There's a lot of benefit going legit, stuff you aren't considering. It's safer for one. Heroes have longer careers on average, and they don't retire to prison or the birdcage. Better long term prospects, better for families and keeping a life besides being a cape. There's fame and recognition for being a hero, if you make it big. And I think that we wouldn't have any trouble with money, either."
"And you think we'll make the big leagues?" Brian asked. "When we've got to compete with local capes like Dauntless and Armsmaster?"
"I'm not trying to form the next Triumvirate," I said, a bit defensive.
"Tell you what," Tattletale said. "You want to join the team, but you have some, ah, hangups with what sort of jobs we take. How about purely a supportive role, and only on jobs you have no moral objections to. We do a lot of work against other villains, after all." While she said this, Tattletale was mostly concerned about salvaging the situation and not letting her first real chance at freedom slip away.
That response surprised Grue. "You think this could work?" he asked her.
"I do," she said. "Our new friend here..." she paused and turned to me, "What should we call you?"
I had considered what my cape name should be the night before. Something intimidating, something that would fit with my surface level projection and stranger powers, "Specter."
"Spooky," Tattletale replied with a smirk.
"I think so," I replied. "Independent with attitude, remember?"
"Fair enough. So! I think our new friend Specter would be an amazing addition to the team. She's already said she doesn't want to go full hero, and I think we can work with that."
"Hmm." Brian wasn't convinced. He was cautious, methodical. He was thinking about all the unknowns I represented, things that he couldn't account for.
"My power has a large range. I can project my consciousness to anywhere in my range, with or without a manifestation like you saw. From there, I can look or listen while totally incorporeal, totally undetectable. In addition, I can make manifestations of pretty much anything I want."
Somewhat true, but she is holding back. Really? A power as awesome as that and she's still holding back? Fuck, why am I getting a headache so quickly? "Sounds useful," Tattletale said with a wince.
"So you're omniscient within your range?" Regent asked.
I frowned. He hit too close to the mark with his offhand exaggeration, "I have a limitation, in that I can only listen and manifest in the presence of other parahumans."
"So that's why you're so interested in joining up!" Tattletale said.
"Yes."
Grue had his chin in his hands in thought, then asked, "Can you show me how your power could be effective in a fight?"
I considered.
Just then, the door burst open, and Bitch was standing there. The three Undersiders turned to the door in surprise, "What the hell? I said no! Judas, Angelica, go!"
The dogs burst into the warehouse towards me, barking and snarling. I looked at them calmly.
"Bitch, call off the dogs!" Brian shouted.
"Fuck you!" Bitch retorted as the dogs continued their charge. Grue dropped his darkness, but they ran onwards. After only a second, they pounced on me and I went down with a shrill scream amid snarling and the snapping of teeth.
"Bitch! Rachel, call them off now!"
Just then, the scene vanished, and the four of us were left standing in Grue's darkness. The door to the warehouse was closed, and the Undersiders had gobsmacked expressions on their faces.
Grue's darkness vanished, and I stood up slowly, smirking with a grin worthy of Tattletale.
"That... wasn't real?" Grue asked.
"No," I said.
"I thought those dogs were going to kill you," Grue said.
"Seriously Specter," Regent added, "That was... a rather intense choice for a demonstration."
I crossed my arms, "He asked how I would use my power in a fight. Imitating capes, controlling the battlefield, making our enemies attack each other instead of attacking us. That's what I'd do in a fight."
Grue held up his hands, "I get it. It was a good choice. I thought Bitch had finally... well... if you're able to create those sort of scenarios with E88 or the ABB, they won't know what hit them. When you said you could create manifestations I didn't think... well- Tats?"
Tattletale was silent, but her expression was floored. In her mind, her power was repeating one word, over and over and over.
Anomaly.
Anomaly.
Anomaly.
Her headache had reached a crescendo, now a full blown migraine. Then she fainted.
"Lisa!" Grue shouted, as he bent over to check his fallen teammate.
...Oops?
****ADMINISTRATION****
I felt consciousness return to Tattletale slowly. Brian and Alec had allowed me to follow them up to their lair after Lisa had fainted, and I was currently sitting on her bedside, feeling slightly guilty I was the one who had caused her such intense pain. I wasn't supposed to be in here, of course. I had tweaked my other Perspectives to see me sit demurely on the couch, chatting with them as best as my awkwardness allowed. Lisa opened her eyes and blinked at me. Her power began to feed her information, but she reigned it in sharply whenever it touched on my powers.
"Stop trying to figure my power out, Lisa. It's only going to make your migraine worse."
"...How?"
"Did I stump you?" I asked with a slightly teasing tone. "Probably for the best. But look, like I said yesterday, I want to help. I know that Coil is threatening to kill you if you don't work for him, and that doesn't sit right with me."
Tattletale blinked again. She was working at full tilt to restrain her power to stop any further pain, but it appeared to be difficult for her to manage. It wasn't like she was incapable of not using her power. She absolutely could prevent herself from following certain trains of thought. It was that she was just so intensely curious that restraining herself was an extreme exercise in her willpower.
Seriously... she really needed to stop causing the bursts of pain that accompanied the use of her power, it was hurting her so much...
And she did. "That's... there," she said. "That's better." She looked at me, blinking a few times and said, "You why is it just you in here, and how did you know my name?"
I blushed in embarrassment about the slip up with her name. Luckily the illusory domino mask hid most of it, and I replied, "Good at information gathering, remember?"
"You're toeing the line with breaking the unwritten rules, you know."
I wasn't too familiar with those rules. I knew they existed from my observation of my various Perspectives in the past week, but the unwritten rules were pretty much ingrained into them, rather than surface level thoughts I picked up. "I'm not too familiar with them," I said. "I mean, I know they exist, but more than that?"
"It's pretty simple. Don't try to discover a cape's identity. If you do, don't use it against them. Don't take advantage of a cape who's been disabled. Don't fight to kill, either civilians or other capes."
"Ah, well..." I was pretty much a walking antithesis to the Rules, then.
"...Let me guess, Brian and Alec don't know I'm awake, do they?"
"Ermm... they are currently talking with me on the couch. But look, I want to help with Coil. I couldn't exactly talk about the topic downstairs."
"No, because I'm the only one who knows who the boss is. How do you know he threatened me? The only way someone would know that is if they were under his employment." Her thoughts betrayed her bluff.
"You know that's not true," I said. "Coil's power. That's the thing that is preventing you from escaping. I can find out what it is. I can likely counter it."
Lisa was silent for a second, coming to a decision, deciding if the risk was worth it. This was the first time in a long while where she had to make a decision with no helpful input from her power. She was thinking back to the warehouse floor, when her power made her collapse under the intense mental strain. I was an anomaly to her power. Something that made it error out. She hated it, and for the first time it really struck me how me how intensely Tattletale needed to know. It was, I realized, the driving force behind almost everything she did.
"I know you won't tell me your real power. There's something strange about it that I can't figure out. But will you at least tell me your name?" She was trying to grasp at something, anything concrete that she could latch onto.
After all I had done, it was a small request, and one I knew was crucial to establishing myself with Lisa. "My name is Taylor," I said.
She used a tiny sliver of her power to confirm it was true, and said, "You're telling the truth." She said it with such relief that I laughed.
"Nice to meet you, Lisa," I said.
Lisa put her head back in the pillow and closed her eyes, "This isn't fair, you know," she said. "People aren't supposed to get the drop on me. First Coil, now you."
I liked Lisa, a lot. Yes, I was in her head, I was experiencing everything she did and thought along with my own Perspective, not even mentioning Brian and Alec, but I was able to still respect them. I could, to a certain degree separate the vast sums of knowledge my power was processing, and the interaction that was happening with me, as Taylor. It was a relief, in some way, that I was able to still look at the Undersiders as people, and not just tools. After a week of considering Shadow Stalker nothing more than a Perspective, I had been worried that all capes would be reduced in a similar way.
Not so, apparently. I smiled at Lisa, "I don't intend to take advantage of my allies the way Coil does. And while we both got the drop on you, Coil and I are very dissimilar. You help me get started with him, a little assistance with planning and execution maybe, and I think I can get him out of your hair."
Lisa looked at me, her blonde hair framing narrowed eyes, "You seriously think you can take him."
"Yes."
"Will you tell me your power after this is over?"
I hesitated, "It depends. If we pull this off, and if we can agree on certain things afterwards, I think yes, maybe."
Tattletale nodded, and for the first time since she had woken up, a smirk appeared on her lips. As she activated her power and worked on giving me a starting point in looking for Coil, I considered what her grin meant. She wasn't consciously thinking about it, and so it was beyond my power's ability to decode. I was fairly certain of two things though. One, it wasn't something she chose to plaster on whenever she wanted. It was natural and honest. Second, it wasn't directed at me, but at Coil. What did I think that smile meant?
I know something you don't know.
****ADMINISTRATION****
I held a cup of coffee in my hands as I strolled through downtown for the second time that day. Lisa had provided me with a number of possible spots that Coil could be operating out of. A few things were known about Coil. One was that he used a combination of expensive tinker tech weaponry and unpowered mercenaries. That meant he was loaded, as far as finances went. Secondly was that he operated out of downtown, and often clashed with E88 for territory. While those two facts were enough for Tattletale to narrow the search down to six or seven likely local businesses as fronts for his real operation, she couldn't actually verify any of her suspicions without risking Coil's power finding her out. I didn't have that problem. At least, I was fairly confident I didn't have that problem. I wouldn't know until I gained the Perspective.
And so it was that I strolled through downtown later that afternoon, weaving up and down the area a few blocks at a time, making sweeps with my power. The wintry chill that had hung around throughout the morning was partially beaten back by the sun, so I carefully took off the glove that covered my splinted finger. So far I hadn't found any new Perspectives by the name of Coil, and I had already cased three of the businesses that Lisa had suggested during my psychic trawl. Next up was Fortress Construction- one of the main contractors for Endbringer shelters.
I took a sip of my drink and smiled. Given the choice between coffee and tea, I would usually take the latter, but nothing could replace coffee as the go-to companion for braving the slushy winter streets of the Bay. It was heartier in a way that made it perfect for the job.
I paused with the drink to my lips as two Perspectives popped into existence, down below the Fortress Construction offices. No… wait. That wasn't right. One perspective was down in what looked to be a bona fide supervillain lair. The other Perspective was located elsewhere, but they were both definitely the same person. My first thought was that Coil was a duplicator of some sort, but once I realized that the second Perspective was stationed at the PRT offices, that theory went out the window. The PRT was way outside of my range at the moment. The shining glass and steel beacon that was the PRT headquarters was on the opposite side of downtown, easily a 10 minute's brisk walk. It was definitely Coil though. Even if I wasn't looking directly into his (their) minds, the fact that bona-fide-underground-lair-Coil was currently having a chat with none other than Lisa sealed the deal.
"Tomorrow, three o'clock is the pickup, so hitting it just before then would be best."
Boring-sitting-at-the-PRT Coil had two web browser tabs open: his Facebook profile which listed his name as Thomas Calvert, and schematics for a casino that bore a PRT watermark on the top right. Calvert picked up his phone and dialed a number.
Lisa responded over the phone, "And your mercs are still planning a diversion in ABB territory to keep cape heat away from us?"
"Of course, Tattletale. You'll succeed, as always. The Undersiders are much too important to risk on poorly planned jobs," Evil-supervillain-Coil said.
"And the matching for the job?"
"I'll double the take, as usual," Coil said without missing a beat.
"Yes, the usual," Calvert said. He had dialed a Chinese takeout, "Remember the extra orange chicken this time."
Tattletale's line was silent for a short while. Coil assumed she was conferring with the Undersiders. Apparently he was right because she spoke up, "Consider it done. The intel?"
"Yes sir, extra orange chicken," the woman at the Chinese takeout said.
Suddenly it clicked. Coil was modeling a separate timeline. That other timeline where he was sitting in his office at the PRT? It didn't exist. Or… as far as I could tell it didn't exist, as it seemed to be all in his head. So that made him some sort of precog, based on what Tattletale was saying he could do. He never lost. And apparently he never lost because he had 2 chances at his goals.
I knew powers were broken. Like, seriously universe-bendingly broken. But how in the world were we, barely evolved apes, able to divine the future like Coil was currently doing? What supernatural thing suddenly gave a man like Thomas Calvert the ability to unerringly choose the right path in the unlimited multiverse? With a start I realized that Coil also proved that there was such a thing as a multiverse.
Damn. He had a really awesome power.
Suddenly the boring-office-Calvert timeline collapsed, and then a new timeline splintered from villain-Coil. In both Perspectives a man was allowed entrance after Coil ended the call with Tattletale. He was carrying afternoon drink service- something that Coil's Perspective helpfully supplied as being an everyday occurrence.
"Thank you, Jason," Coil said in both timelines.
Jason gave a short bow at the waist and turned to leave as Coil sipped at his tea in the modeled timeline, lifting back his featureless hood partially to do so. The scalding liquid burned other Coil's tongue.
"Jason?" Both Coils said.
The man turned around, fear etched on both his faces.
Scalded-tongue-Coil drew the pistol hidden under his desk and shot Jason four times, center mass. Then he stood and walked over to the gurgling man. Jason's eyes were wide in terror, life fading quickly as the wounds in his chested pulsed his blood away. "You. Ruined. My. tea!" One more gunshot punctuated each of Coil's words, and he stood over the corpse, panting for a bit.
Then the timeline collapsed, and Jason was standing in front of a Coil who hadn't taken a sip yet, "Jason, this feels too hot. Did you check the exact temperature, as instructed?"
"Ah. No," Jason replied, "I was running late and it, uh, slipped my mind."
"I see," Coil said. "Please take this back and redo it. You know how particular I am about these sorts of things." Jason quickly collected the too-hot cup from Coil, along with the rest of the tea service and left in a hurry.
What the hell? Coil had the ability to look at branching paths, and he uses it to fulfill his sick desires? Tattletale was under this man's thumb? Suddenly, I realized there was a huge problem. Coil could pretty much do anything he wanted without consequence, including torture and kill anyone he wanted for information. That included Lisa and the rest of the Undersiders. Coil used unpowered mercenaries, whom I had no direct power over. That put me in a very precarious position.
He had to go, and fast- otherwise my cover would be blown next time he got his chance to speak with an Undersider in person.
Soon, Coil was wrapped up his evening and headed home, leaving his modeled doppleganger at the base. As his thoughts focused on picking up his dinner and driving home, I locked his destination in my mind with a smirk. Gotcha.
As I headed back home, I called Lisa with the burner phone she had provided me. "Tattletale? It's Specter. I found him, but we got to move tonight."
"That fast?"
"No choice. He has a way of finding out about me," I replied.
There was silence for a moment, and I realized that for the first time since I'd met her, I didn't know what Tattletale was thinking over the phone. It was nice, actually.
"OK, let's do it."
****ADMINISTRATION****
Thomas Calvert lived alone, which I expected. He was a total psycho, reveling in using his power to kill, hurt, and abuse without consequence. A man like that holding on to a marriage? Pretty much impossible, unless he was somehow keeping his spouse in line through devious means. Watching him sleep via my power was bizarre. I knew he was there, and he was definitely sleeping. His dreams of getting his hooks into the Mayor via blackmail, hostages, or violence, (he wasn't picky) made me shudder despite the thick coat I was wearing.
I was in something of an ethical dilemma surrounding Coil. The man was under the impression that he was actually living two timelines. I was 90%- err 75% sure that he was actually a precog, and the only version of Coil was the one currently sleeping in his house. Did that make his projected murdering and torturing less real? Should he be held accountable for something that amounted to thought crime, but was real to him?
Even though Coil was sleeping, he his projected self was currently awake in his base downtown, going over bank accounts and various investments. This was the moment of truth. I had considered the issue of trapping Coil. Assuming that he was simply a precog, my theory was that I could simply trick him into collapsing the model for his other self, and then we'd have him, more or less. If he wasn't a precog, well, then I shouldn't be able to affect his other life, and we'd leave without tipping him off.
"So, how are we doing this?" Tattletale asked.
We were currently ducked behind a fence across the street from Calvert's home, in the shadowy side yard of another house. Calvert lived in one of the nice suburbs on the outskirts of the Bay, capital of homeowners' associations, cookie cutter houses, and the same 10 models of car repeated in every driveway. It was unremarkable in every way, except for the fact that one of the city's shadow powers was currently sleeping, a wolf among rows and rows of sheep.
We both wore simple domino masks. Tattletale had a custom made one, padded and sculpted to chisel her face into something almost porcelain. I on the other hand, was making do with a simple store bought piece. I wasn't worried about capes recognizing me. I had walked right into the Undersiders lair completely unmasked and they had no idea what I had looked like. Here, in a sleepy neighborhood filled with normal people and smartphones? I needed a mask.
I held up a hand to quiet Tattletale and reached out with my power. I paid attention to Coil's other self, and made a small tweak to his reality. Coil frowned as he fixed his typo.
"Earth to Specter. You there, Specter?" I turned to Tattletale, and apparently the grin on my face was telling. "Good news?"
"Yes. I think we can take him without his powers interfering."
Tattletale nodded. Peeking at the house. "You're sure? If we screw this up, I'm a goner. Maybe you too."
I looked at Tattletale, "Go. He's sleeping." She took a breath and nodded, hefting a short, flat crowbar- a cat's paw, she had told me. She specifically didn't check the pistol that was tucked discreetly into her waistband, hoping that she had hidden it from me. Then she strolled across the street, acting as if she belonged.
Of course, silent alarms began beeping as soon as she stepped through Coil's waist high white picket fence. I suppressed his perception of them in both timelines. Tattletale walked up to the window and stuck the cat's paw into where the door latched into the frame. With a little bit of her weight behind it, the flimsy latch broke and Tattletale climbed inside the house. Of course, that activated a very un-silent alarm, but that was expected and I had suppressed it from Coil's perception as well. Lisa climbed the stairs as neighbors' porch lights began flicking on.
Showtime. In the projected timeline, Coil's office door burst open. One of Coil's faceless mercenaries pointed a pistol and shot Coil in the shoulder without hesitation. Coil went down with a cry, clutching at his shoulder, as the mercenary barricaded the door before moving over to coil. "Accord sends his regards," the Mercenary said, and withdrew a small syringe from a vest pocket.
As he stuck it into Coil's neck, Calvert's eyes shot open and he sat up in his bed. There was a cacophony of noise and flashing lights from the alarm that Tattletale had tripped, but to him, there was nothing but a quiet, dark bedroom. He immediately went over to his PC and turned it on, pulling up surveillance of his base and his finances.
Tattletale had reached the top of the steps and she saw Specter waiting for her outside Coil's bedroom door. "He's inside," I said.
In the other timeline, Coil was beginning to experience hallucinations. A demon was leaning over him, his face a twisted caricature of one of his mercenaries' facemasks. The filter that stood sideways slowly shrunk and expanded like a mouth speaking, "You will tell me about the Travellers." Coil didn't say anything, so the demon pressed a clawed foot into his injured shoulder. "Tell me about your plans for them." He didn't respond.
Specter held up a hand as Lisa was about to open the bedroom door. "Wait," I said. This was taking slightly longer than I expected, as Coil was hesitant to collapse that timeline. With a quick check into Calvert's mind I had my answer. He was fishing for information about why Accord would attack.
Two can play at that game, I suppose. The demon's face twisted and warped, and Coil's vision darkened everything else out. "You will tell me what I want to know, or you will die." Still nothing. Finally, the demon produced his pistol, pointed it directly between Coil's eyes, and pulled the trigger. With a sharp bang! Everything in that timeline went dark and there was pain.
Calvert collapsed the timeline and immediately split it again. "Go," I said to Tattletale.
She opened the door just as Calvert bowled her over and ran into the hallway, in full panic mode. I could have crippled him with pain, but I didn't want to go that far quite yet. There was something different to me about using it against the 'real' one, versus a mental model.
Calvert stumbled down his carpeted steps, socks underneath ironed and creased slacks, slipping as he did so. He jumped the last few steps, grabbed a gun from a side table in the hall, and collapsed the bedroom timeline as he had successfully escaped Tattletale. He split the timeline once more, and I began my work. The alternate Calvert went into the kitchen, where one of his mercenaries was waiting for him with a laser rifle. A burst of red light later and Coil collapsed that timeline. His other selves were shut down as quickly as the first. To Calvert, a swarm of mercenaries and enemies was descending upon him from all directions. Tattletale with her pistol from the stairs, mercenaries with laser rifles from the kitchen and living room. Coil attempted to dodge the shots, but wasn't willing to dedicate a timeline to try and manipulate the outcomes, since he had one timeline where he continued on unmolested.
Through the use of imaginary mercenaries, laser rifles, and projected realities I forced Calvert out the front door. With my real eyes I saw a sharply dressed and armed man burst from the house. His thoughts were wild, panicked. He hadn't been this helpless since he had bought his powers.
Wait, what? I shook my head to clear it and regain focus on the situation. Parse the information later, Taylor.
In a way, I felt bad for him. His powers were so similar to mine. They were about controlling outcomes, determining reality. Both were tools used to know exactly what was needed in a given situation. Calvert had spent years building up his base of power, and a single cape with powers that trumped his would take him down.
He ran forward, leaping down the two steps that led to his door, and his face met my fist in midair. My left hand wrapped around the slide of his pistol and racked it backwards to extract the chambered round. I slid my thumb just so to active the slide catch, which locked the pistol open and unusable.
Calvert's face was thrown back violently by my fist while his feet continued forward. He went down hard, his back and skull hitting the pavement, dazing him. The pistol clicked as he instinctively pulled the trigger, but it didn't fire. I stripped the weapon from him easily, twisting it just so, and stashed it in a pocket. I permitted him to see my Specter avatar as I crouched over him.
Tattletale burst from the door just then, winded and worried that she had let the man get away. She calmed as she assessed the situation, however, and sauntered over to her former boss.
"You've made a big mistake, Tattletale," Calvert said. "You broke the rules. That won't stand."
Tattletale shrugged. "I see them more as a cautionary tale to not let things go too far." She looked down at Calvert, "You took things too far when you recruited me at gunpoint."
Coil split the timelines again, trying to make a break for it in the other, while he collected a breath on the ground. I drew my pistol and shot coil in the leg as he attempted to escape. That timeline collapsed, "Naughty naughty. Stop trying to escape." I said, Specter's voice distorted and deep, like it was coming from the void that made up my body.
That got is attention. He looked to me, "How? What is your power? Changer, Breaker?"
"Not important," Tattletale said. "What is important is the passwords to your finances."
I had to give Calvert credit. He was amused at Tattletale's boldness in asking such a question. He chuckled as the passwords flashed through the front of his mind. Bank accounts, passphrases, details of two-step authentications he had set up, drop locations, contacts. It was all there, as the man laughed at Tattletale's naiveté.
"Come now Coil," you know what my power is. It's only a matter of time before I find out everything."
The complete picture was shaping up quickly as I continued focusing on Calvert's thoughts.
"You may get what you need, if you had the time," Calvert responded, "But the fact is you don't have time. I've got people on the way. Look Tattletale," he looked at me, but I offered no name as I continued to skim his memories. I wanted to know more about where he got his powers. He didn't know much. Hardly anything as a matter of fact. All I got was that he was able to pick the general theme and abilities of his power, spent a fortune in getting it, and owed the shadowy organization one more favor.
Calvert had continued talking, "I'm a forgiving person. You gave it your best shot and got a lot farther than I expected. That is talent, and I appreciate talent. You won't get access to my resources, and I've got contingency plans in place to destroy my assets upon my death, Undersiders included." He didn't of course, it was a lie. A man like Calvert never planned what would happen after his death, only on preventing it. "I'm willing to forgive and forget, and buy your loyalty the right way this time. No guns. Just a deal that makes everyone happy. That includes you… and your friend."
I actually cringed at the thoughts of revenge running through Calvert's head. Torture and rape were a prominent part of his fantasies, but they only scratched the surface. He conjured up months of Tattletale being locked in a room, hands and feet tied and her helpless. Beatings, days without food or water, torture, the fantasies went on… and on…
Apparently Tattletale saw my reaction and had a power-driven epiphany. "You're a fucking telepath," she blurted. My flinch confirmed it for her, "Oh my god…"
Coil struck in that moment of distraction, lunging for the gun I had trained on him. I saw it coming, of course. I had complete awareness of all three actors in this little play. Doing what I did when Calvert burst through his front door? It was easy, like smacking my fist into my other palm. The gun? It was like I had the gun in my own two hands when I disabled it. So when Calvert lunged for my pistol, I simply stepped out of the way with all the grace and fluidity of a dancer. His hand missed by an inch.
A shark crack! filled the night as Tattletale's gun fired, and Calvert slumped over with a hole in his head.
It was quiet after that. I knew that the neighbors were awake, and at least one of them had called the police, but they didn't dare open their doors or make a sound. The lights that had flickered on after the alarm had been set off were dead now, their owners switching them off in fear. For the first time I really took in the night. It was foggy, and slightly wet. The street lights cast an orange glare through the mist, and at our feet, a dead man bled.
Tattletale let out a shaky breath. "We… we need to go. Still ten minutes until the police arrive, but I didn't get to talk to him long enough…"
"I have the passwords," I replied.
"Right, psychic. I forgot." Tattletale tore her eyes away from Calvert, "That's supposed to be my gig, you know?"
"I know." I said, pulling her away and back into the house, "Now do your thing."
The asset transfer happened quickly after that. I relayed the passwords to Tattletale as she needed them, and we breezed through his liquid holdings. They were transferred into a separate account Tattletale had created for this specific purpose with a parahuman known as the Number Man.
Once that was done she unplugged the laptop from its docking station and tucked it under her arm, "I can do the rest later."
I nodded, "Let's go, then."
We left the house, back out into the misty night and glaring orange streetlights. I stepped around Calvert's body, consciously not looking it. Tattletale had killed him in the heat of the moment. Calvert had made a gambit while he was at the wrong end of two guns, and failed.
Earlier in the day Lisa and I hadn't talked about what would happen with Coil. We hadn't discussed the ultimate fate of the man who had taken away her freedom and was planning on doing much worse. I don't think we could have if we tried.
Lisa stashed the laptop in my backpack and we discarded our domino masks in a secluded alley before boarding the bus. We rode through the city and before long a pair of police cars zipped past in the opposite direction, lights flashing and sirens blaring. Neither of us said anything, and we hopped off after twenty more minutes. The walk back to the lair was uneventful, and neither of us said anything. I don't think we needed to.
Lisa stopped and turned to me as we approached the Redmond Welding building, "I guess this is it. We're going to start something completely new here."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"You… you can figure out pretty much anything, can't you? You could put yourself within a few blocks of the Triumvirate, Dragon, or one of the other big players and learn… well… everything."
Thinking back to what I had gleaned from Calvert. Where his powers had come from. I had also gained a name from his memories. Cauldron. I nodded.
Lisa's eyes widened at that. Another read. Damn, her power was good. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership."
My thoughts returned to the misty street we had left behind, "I hope so too."
