Allegro 3
"Lady Photon, Glory Girl, Manpower, Flashbang, Brandish. New Wave is accounted for, Boss!" Chicago shouted over his shoulder as he frantically worked on his tablet.
"Great, keep going!" The Composer called out as she frantically paced along the atrium.
She and a majority of the Parahumans who had participated in the raid were in the base's main entrance area, waiting for the arrival of their comrades. The mood was extremely tense due to the cavernous chamber occasionally shaking violently, inhuman roars echoing throughout the halls.
"We should get out of here now, Boss!" Grunge demanded, nervously glancing at the various entrances and exits to the room.
"No!" She snapped, shooting a venomous glare at him. "We started this together, we end it that way too. No one leaves until we are all here. That's final!"
FWOOSH!
Attention was drawn to the burst of tattoo-fire that arose as Psycho warped back into the room, bringing a disoriented Rune, Regent and Newter with him. Once they stumbled away from him, he warped away once more.
Chicago mumbled under his breath as he swiped across his tablet before speaking up. "All of Faultline's crew are present, Undersiders and E88 are missing Tattletale, Kaiser, Victor and Othala respectively! Protectorate's still missing Assault and Battery, Merchants Skidmark, and I haven't seen South, Hip or Hop!"
"Better change the count, son!" South proclaimed as he and Skidmark ran into the room from one of the side-passages. He stopped next to Grunge and the Composer, doubled over with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "Me and... the shitstain... took the back corridors... I dunno what that thing is, but it's huge... Good to see you guys got out alright."
"Yeah, you too," Grunge grunted noncommittally. "Now, would you mind helping me convince the Boss that we need to evacuate?"
"Grunge, stop being a wet blanket!" The Composer burst out in an authoritative tone. "South, reassure Grunge!"
The cowboy chuckled as he patted his equally sized friend on the back. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be fine."
Grunge scowled at his friend from beneath his mask. "I am not reassured."
"Chicago, doublecheck your numbers, I don't want to leave anyone behind on accident!"
Chicago flashed her a thumbs up as mulled over his tablet.
"Gangsta, more primary colors, less tertiary!"
"You got it, boss!" The teenage Reaper confirmed as she continued to tag the wall of the atrium.
"Is that really a priority right now, Composer?!" Armsmaster demanded.
In an instant, the Composer was face to helmet with the hero, hovering above him with tattoo wings. "This entire thing has just turned into a fiasco with my name on it! If anyone gets hurt, it'll be on my head, so forgive me for panicking, and forgive me for trying to find a way to cope!"
"Don't worry Boss, most everyone's here!" Chicago piped up. "All New Wave, Faultline Mercs, Merchants... Travellers are all accounted for too, for that matter!"
The Composer spared a glance at Squealer's armored demon-truck. More specifically, the humanoid mass of wires, cables and garbage that was sitting in its bed. Trapped in Mush's mass were all four of the Travelers, plus a fifth.
Despite initial misgivings over Tattletale's revelation of the Undersiders' backer, her information had been invaluable, especially the Traveler's presence in the base. The coalition of Parahumans had successfully blitzed the renegade Parahumans in their quarters before they'd truly been able to get moving. Trickster had presented a bit of a problem at first, what with him wreaking havoc on the team sent to capture them by swapping everyone around, but in the end Psychedelic had managed to incapacitate him before he could react.
The Composer used multiple Jellies as a means of restraining the Travelers' heads and hands, thus blocking any usage of their powers before imprisoning them in Mush's body.
"Anyways..." Chicago tapped on his tablet hastily. "We're still missing Hip, Hop, Assault, Battery, Victor, Othala and-!"
FWOOSH!
"That's it!"
"Composer!" Kaiser growled furiously as he marched towards her. "What the hell is going on!?"
"Oh, I intend to find out!" The chief Reaper snarled as she stormed past him and used her wings to tower over a very nervous Tattletale. "Explain." She growled. "Now."
Tattletale chuckled anxiously. "Um... well... I might have forgotten to mention something."
"WHAT!?" Over a dozen Parahumans roared simultaneously.
Tattletale glanced away as she poked her fingers together. "Er... the Travelers have a sixth member?"
The Composer's eye twitched furiously beneath her mask. "Skidmark..."
"Way ahead of you, bitch! HEY! CUNTSNIFFER! GET DOWN HERE, NOW!"
With a heavy thump, Mush rolled his mass off the truck and towards the group.
Once the mobile junkyard stopped, the Composer ripped the Jelly off of Ballistic's head. "Sixth member. Talk." She demanded.
"Ga-LUKE!" Trickster snarled as he jerked around enough to dislodge the Noise from his mouth. "Don't even consider it, Luke! Don't you-MMPH!" He was cut off by the Composer ramming the Jelly she was holding into his mouth.
"Now." The Composer growled furiously.
Ballistic nervously glanced at his team's leader before sighing dejectedly and hanging his head. "You know what? Fuck it. Marissa, Jess, Oliver, I'm sorry. Krouse? Fuck you. Our sixth is Noelle, Noelle Meinhardt. She doesn't have a cape name. She... she can't even go out in public."
"She triggered into a Case 53?" Faultline pressed hastily.
"Never heard of anyone triggering into a 53," Chicago mused. "I mean, the most people usually do is wind up an ugly-ass bastard like Alabaster. Some offence." He directed at the white-skinned man.
The neo-nazi shrugged indifferently. "I've heard worse."
"She... she didn't Trigger..." Ballistic admitted. "None of us did. We... we drank some stuff from vials in a briefcase and... we had powers."
"These vials and case..." Gregor the Snail cut in before anyone else could say anything. "Did they have a mark..." He turned to the side and pointed at an omega-like symbol on his upper arm. "Like this?"
Ballistic stared at it numbly for a second before shaking his head. "I... I dunno, man. This was over a year ago, I can't even tell you what their damn colors were..."
The Composer snapped her fingers in front of him impatiently. "Focus. You all got your powers fine, she's screwed up somehow, why?"
Ballistic shrugged helplessly. "I-I think she only drank half of it, it screwed her up somehow."
"Screwed her up how exactly?"
The Traveller made to respond-
"BOSS!" "KAISER!" "ARMSMASTER!"
-when several shouts from down the largest and longest corridor drew everyone's attention.
It was the missing Parahumans and Reapers: Hip and Hop were speeding through the air on ragged wings, with Victor, Othala, Assault and Battery keeping close pace with them. Victor was carrying Othala in his arms and running superhumanly fast, whereas Assault had Battery slung over his shoulder as he ran down the corridor, traversing it with huge leaps.
They were at the gathering in less than a minute.
"Boss!" "We're so so sorry!" Hip and Hop apologized as they hovered over their boss.
"What happened? What did you do?" Armsmaster demanded.
"It's not their fault, Armsy," Assault groaned as he let a rather furious Battery slide off of him. "We all got greedy when we saw the vault. We expected gold, cash, riches! Not... ergh!"
"What do you think this is, a Saturday morning cartoon show!?" Kaiser scoffed.
"Boss, no offense? But kinda! I mean, seriously!" Victor spread his arms wide. "Have you seen this place!?"
"Listen!" Ballistic spoke up, his voice panicked. "If Noelle is free and on a rampage, then we all need to get out of here, right now!"
"Psh!" Glory Girl snorted incredulously. "Come on! So it's loud! How bad can it be?"
Silence fell over the room as all the Parahumans and Reapers present slowly turned to stare at her.
"Did that bimbo really just...?" Gangsta trailed off incredulously.
Brandish groaned as she slapped her hand to her face. "She did. She really, really did."
Tattletale scrunched her eyes shut as she walked over to the nearest wall and rammed her head against it. "You. Stupid. Bitch."
Victoria looked around in confusion. "What? What's wrong? I mean, come on! Seriously, I know there are bad things out there, but this literally cannot-!"
"GROOOAAAAR!"
She was cut off by an ear-shattering roar erupting down the corridor the missing people had come down.
And from around the corner... came hell.
It was like a sick, twisted mockery of a centaur. From the waist up, the... creature, seemed to be an average, ordinary teenage girl. From the waist down, things became... monstrous. The mass of flesh was huge, almost the size of a semi truck with a sleeper attachment. Protruding from the front of the mass were two monstrous, animal heads with a third in the process of growing out. Two claw-hoof hybrids bordered the heads, supporting the mass. Protruding from the rear-left part of the mass was a huge, grotesque hand, whereas an unbelievably huge amount of varying tentacles hung out of the rear-right end, coiling and grasping madly.
"Shutting up now." Glory Girl squeaked in terror.
The teenage-half blinked numbly as she took in the scene before her. "Wh-who are you? What are... you..." She trailed off as she caught sight of the Travelers. "K-Krouse!?"
The Composer shot Ballistic a suffering look. "Dare I ask?"
The Traveler grunted and jerked his head at Trickster. "Her boyfriend and only tie to sanity."
"Perfect."
"Let them go..." Noelle breathed quietly. Her chest heaved as she started to hyperventilate. "Let them go. Let them go let them go let them go letthemgoletthemgoLETTHEMGOLETTHEMGROAAAAAAR!" Her rant evolved into a roar as she started to stampede down the hall.
"Someone do something to stop her before she eats us all alive!" Ballistic shouted in panic.
Noelle was about a quarter of the way down the hall...
SHINK!
"GRREEAAAHH!"
When a small forest of metal spikes erupted from the floor, walls and even ceiling, impaling her mass and pinning her in place.
The Parahumans stared at Kaiser in awe.
The leader of Empire 88 shrugged indifferently at their looks. "What? I've been to Endbringer fights. It's not so different from attempting to impede Behemoth. Though admittedly, this is turning out far better."
CRASH!
Attention returned to the corridor as Noelle tore the spikes out of the wall, regenerating almost instantly and starting to lumber forwards anew.
Acting fast, Kaiser raised his arms again, causing a whole new set of spikes to emerge, this time at as constant a pace as Noelle tore them out.
The action managed to snap the Composer out of her shock and into action. "BACK HIM UP!" She bellowed. "Anyone who can blast, lay into her, no remorse! I want her lit up like an Endbringer!"
"And whatever you do!" Hip interjected.
"For the love of God, don't get close enough for her to grab you with one of her damn tentacles!" Hop ordered.
"Or else what?!" Chicago asked, dreading the answer.
The response was given when Noelle halted in place, ignoring the spikes tearing into her. She shook and shuddered, and then... she vomited. Or, to be more specific, the beast heads vomited, heaving out gallons of bile and viscera. The smell and sight of the stuff alone was horrifying.
What erupted from it was worse.
A quartet of multi-hued blurs shot down the corridors, bolting towards the assembled Parahumans at an inhuman speed. They got within a dozen feet of the crowd...
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
When four shots rang out, forcing the things to a halt and leaving them to collapse on the ground.
Victor panted desperately as he lowered his pistol. "Those damn things have been chasing us the entire damn time..."
Grunge gagged as he took in the creatures. "Oh that is just not right..."
The things were once Death Thrash Minks. Their sizes and details varied immensely, but the basic theme was the same: half pseudo-flesh, half mutated, twisted and disgusting tattoo.
"Why aren't they dissipating into static?" Gangsta asked quietly.
"Because they're not the originals," Ballistic moaned. "Considering how small they are, at a guess I'd say they're still inside her. Those are clones. Want to see what she does to a Parahuman, powers included?"
Horrified silence fell over the gathered people for a moment before Noelle's roaring snapped them back to reality.
"Miss Militia! Dauntless! Triumph!" Armsmaster ordered firmly.
"Purity! Rune! Krieg! Stormtiger!" Kaiser grunted.
"Mark!" Lady Photon shouted as she flew up.
"LOCK AND LOAD, BITCH!" Skidmark snarled as he climbed into the demon-truck's cab.
"Regent, try and trip her up!" Grue shoved his teammate forwards.
"Spitfire, Gregor, take point! Labyrinth..." She held her teammate's shoulders firmly. "You're going to need to concentrate..."
"Hip? Hop?" The Composer asked desperately.
"Corehog quills seem to work!" "Good range and boom!"
"Alright, in that case, you two, South and Gangsta, blast her with quills. Grunge, lay into her."
The resulting barrage was... awe-inspiring. Miss Militia conjured up a massive minigun on a tripod before her, with which she unloaded a barrage of bullets, Dauntless fired bolt after bolt of lightning, and the reverberating bass of Triumph's sonic assault was ever-present. Purity, Lady Photon and Flashbang unleashed wave after wave of light and energy down the hall. Stormtiger launched waves and blasts of air whereas Rune ripped up chunks of the wall and floor with her telekinesis, either passing them to Krieg to be launched or flinging them herself. Hidden compartments in Squealer's truck opened up and unleashed a hail of bullets and explosives, while Skidmark layered the floor up to the monster with countless fields to push her back. This impairment of movement was aided by Regent forcing her legs to go wild without warning. Spitfire's flames, aided by Gregor's chemicals, lit up the hallway. As for the Reapers, Hip, Hop, Gangsta and South all drew out separate cans and sprayed their arms, causing them to erupt in masses of spikes, which they then pointed at Noelle. The spikes launched off of them like rockets, and exploded like them too. Grunge fired round after round of paint-grenades at down the corridor, pausing only to slam in new cans.
The greatest Parahuman-powered artillery strike in Brockton Bay history... and it was all for naught.
Noelle was visibly slowed down by the assault, yes, but not permanently injured. She continued her advance, slowly, inexorably. She wasn't stopping any time soon. If anything... things were only getting started.
The Composer worked her jaw in shock before scowling and rounding on Tattletale in righteous fury. "You forgot to mention THAT!?"
Tattletale stepped back and put her hands up defensively. "Hey, I was focused on being out from under the thumb of the man who's threatened and coerced me for almost a year! Forgive me for getting some tunnel vision!"
Armsmaster scowled and kneaded the bridge of his nose. "Why was Coil keeping her anyways!?"
The high-level Thinker shrugged helplessly. "She was his collateral to keep the Travelers in check! He had me looking for a way to cure her!"
"Really? Great!" Amy exclaimed in relief. "What's the cure?"
Tattletale snorted out a derisive laugh as she gesticulated at the monstrosity slowly marching down the corridor. "Does it look like there's a cure!?"
"What!?" Ballistic burst out incredulously. "You said you were making progress!"
"I EXAGGERATED!" Tattletale roared in exasperation, flinging her arms out. "I DO THAT SOMETIMES! DEAL WITH IT!"
"YOU WHAT!?"
The blood drained from her face as Noelle's monstrous voice roared out. "Oh shit..."
Noelle was shaking in blind fury. "You... You... YOU... I'LL KILL YOU!"
And with that, the behemoth's speed all but doubled, in spite of the ongoing assault.
Chicago whistled appreciatively. "Damn, today is not your day, is it?"
The Composer pointedly ignored a livid Tattletale trying to choke the life out of her comrade as she marched forwards. "Enough of this shit! I'm ending this now!"
Before anyone could react, the Composer reared back, lifting her foot high into the air and slamming it down on the metal. Extending forwards out from her foot erupted a trio of massive tattoos with draconic designs. The tattoos flashed simultaneously before a trio of static fountains erupted from the designs, rising high into the air.
When the static stopped moving, they coalesced into a trio of... well, the best description was dragons. The had midnight blue bodies with ridges running up their spines and fleshy wings extending out from their sides. Burnt orange markings ran the length of their bodies, and their heads and horned, dinosaur-like skulls and legs were composed of the tattoos.
"Say hello to the Goth Metal Drakes..." The Composer huffed.
The Drakes roared and growled as they stalked forwards, their attention fully focused on their target. Suddenly, as one, they reared their heads back and whipped them forwards once more, opening their jaws and unleashing an onslaught of dark red and black tattoo flames that utterly filled the corridor. Everything, the walls, the ceiling and the floor, was on fire.
The attacking Parahumans ceased their assault as they stared in awe at the inferno raging before them.
"Wow..." Gangsta breathed as she dropped to the ground, dismissing her wings and quills. "Man, I realize that this is tempting fate here, but seriously? There is no way in hell that anything could have survived that. I mean... just... holy shit..."
Silence reigned over the room, apart from the crackling of the flames...
"GROOOAAARR!"
And the pure, unadulterated rage of Noelle Meinhardt.
Before anyone could react, a mass of tentacles shot out of the inferno, latching themselves around the limbs, necks and bodies of the Drakes and dragging them off of their feet and into the fire.
For a moment, roaring, snarling and thrashing was all that could be heard. Then...
Noelle slowly stomped out of the dying flames. Poking out of the top half of her lower body were the Drake's heads. As one, they opened their jaws, leaned back and blasted their flames into the air.
The Composer slowly opened and closed her mouth wordlessly before her face went neutral. Without fanfare, she turned around and clapped her hands together. "Well!" She proclaimed. "That's not my best, but my best wouldn't do jack anyways. Anybody else have any bright ideas?"
Snapping out of her shock, Faultline placed her hands on Labyrinth's shoulders. "Alright, Labyrinth? I'm so sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Are you ready?"
The girl swallowed heavily, but then smiled nervously and nodded.
"Alright... Newter?" She nodded solemnly at the lizard-man. "Do it."
Newter nodded right back, stepping up behind her and placing his hands on her cheeks.
In response, Labyrinth's body went slack. The shift in environment was nigh instant: the walls of the corridor's smooth metal melted into padded walls lined with barbed wire and broken glass, stains of blood and fecal matter everywhere.
Before Noelle could react, Labyrinth twitched slightly. Starting right in front of the monster, one after one another after another, massive, massive infernal doors, walls in and of themselves, composed of rusty, bloody metal rumbled out of the walls, ceilings and roof, sliding and slamming shut over the corridor. Almost a dozen of them closed off the corridor, before the final one sealed itself over the passage's opening.
"Holy fucking mother of bitches..." Skidmark breathed.
South whistled lowly as he nudged the brim of his hat up with his shotgun. "That shit just ain't right..." He muttered.
"Tell it to the good doctors of St. Jude's Asylum for the Mentally Incapacitated," Faultline growled as she hugged Labyrinth and slowly rubbed her back.
Chicago choked in horror. "St. Judes!? As in the the same St. Judes that Burnscar allegedly broke out of!?"
"Allegedly nothing, she nearly torched me when we broke Labyrinth out!" Neuter complained.
Chicago's mouth flapped open and shut for a moment before he snapped his teeth together and brought up his tablet. "Pardon me, I need to go and... observe some specific bank accounts. By the way, Boss? We're loaded. Totally unrelated, of course."
"Oooof course," Battery drawled.
"Name a charity. It'll be several zeroes richer by the end of the day."
"I'll help!" Tattletale volunteered, moving to look over his shoulder.
"Actually!" Faultline interrupted, breaking away from Labyrinth and grabbing the Thinker's wrist. "You need to do something else," She breathed heavily through her nose, visibly bracing herself for what she was about to say. "We need you to come up with a plan."
Silence reigned over the room for a moment until several reactions occurred.
"Are you fucking nuts!?" Gangsta shrieked, her reaction mirrored by no less than a dozen others.
"I am going to love hearing this," Brandish muttered.
"Pay up, you two!" Newter cackled, holding his hands out to Gregor and Spitfire as they muttered darkly and dug through their pockets before forking over a few bills each.
"Well, we're fucked." Regent stated calmly, barely even flinching as Grue slapped the back of his head.
"GREAAAAH!"
The assembled Parahumans were jolted back into focus by Noelle's screeching piercing through the metal barriers, a shriek of metal informing them that one of the doors had been torn down, frantic scratching heralding the destruction of another.
"Alright, enough! We don't have time for this!" Faultline snapped.
"Yeah, no shit!" Hookwolf growled. "Do you even remember how that bitch's last plan worked out!?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," The mercenary deadpanned as she crossed her arms. "Coil is dead and his operations are finished. As far as I can tell, Tattletale's last plan was a success."
Another screech of metal rang out, followed by a roar.
"You call that a success!?" Ballistic laughed in disbelief.
"That was an outside factor. The initial plan went off without a hitch, this is just a byproduct." Faultline sighed wearily and ran her hand over her mask. "As much as it kills me to say it, we need her to come up with a plan."
Tattletale stared at Faultline numbly for a second before speaking. "What... are you saying exactly?"
Faultline ground her teeth as she clenched her fists before sighing miserably. "I... need you... to come up with a plan... to save us... happy?"
Tattletale's face was set in an expression of numb shock for a moment...
Before slowly morphing into a vulpine grin.
"She's back," Glory Girl groaned apprehensively.
A slight choking sound came from behind Psycho's mask as he drew his finger across his throat.
"Quiet!" Tattletale barked, the grin never leaving her face. "I need a moment to think!"
She began to pace back and forth, her fingers spasming and gesticulating as she muttered madly under her breath. "Yes, yes, no, yes, maybe? No, too costly, how about-? No, that would take too long, but if... yes, yes! But where would we get the cornstarch and water? Hmm... tempting... Armsmaster!" She snapped her head around and jabbed a finger at the hero. "How many Wards are you willing to-?"
"No." He deadpanned.
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"...not even Shadow-?"
"No."
"Damn!" She scowled before flipping back to her smile. "No matter! Now... hmm... rate of regeneration... time of arrival... favorite flavor of pie... mmm, pie..." She started to drool slightly. "Man, I could really go for something to ea-!"
"TATTLETALE!" Grue barked in exasperation.
"DONE!" She roared. Tattletale whipped a hand up and jabbed a finger at Chicago. "You! Tablet! Now!"
"What!?" The informant yelped as he clutched the device to his chest. "Hell no!"
"Chicago, just give her the tablet." The Composer groaned in exasperation.
"Boss! Do you know what he could do if she got ahold of the information on this thing!?" He protested. "She-she could topple a small country! Devastate the economy! She could steal my contacts!"
"Sooo glad you have your priorities straight," Victor drawled.
"Oooh, now that's interesting!" Tattletale grinned eagerly. "Maybe later! For now? I need to talk to the DJs face to face! Give!"
Chicago grimaced momentarily before handing the device to her. "Just... just talk to them, alright? The password is-"
"Really, really cute, I know!" Tattletale grinned as she tapped on the tablet. "Now then... dadada! Here we go! Hello DJ Synth, DJ Chiptune!" She waved at the Reapers who appeared on the screen.
"Uh... hi?" Synth asked uncomfortably. "Tattletale? What are you doing on Chicago's tablet?"
"Yo, Chicago!" Chiptune shouted. "Is everything alright over there?"
"No, everything's not alright!" Chicago barked as he looked over Tattletale's shoulder. "My tool of the trade is being manhandled!"
"GROOOAAARR!"
He flinched at the roar and tearing of metal. "But seriously though, we're in a jam. Just do whatever she says, alright?"
"Err... fine? I guess..."
"Great!" Tattletale chirped eagerly. "Now then, you know that thing that Chicago setup for you two?"
"Uhh..." The DJs glanced at each other in confusion. "The 'thing'?"
"You know! The thing, the thing! The one that Chicago hacked for you t-yes!" She jabbed at the camera suddenly. "Yes, that thing, yes, that one! Yes yes, you're thinking of the right thing! Do that, do the thing!" She blinked and looked up contemplatively. "Ooooh, I like the sound of that. 'Do the thing'. 'Do the thing.' 'Do the thing.' I've gotta use that more often..."
"Chicago?" DJ Synth cut in. "If I think she's talking about what she's talking about..."
"I am!"
"Ergh..." The hooded reaper massaged his forehead. "I think I know what she means... and yeah. It's that bad. Do it."
"Alright, if you say so..." DJ Chiptune muttered. "Good luck, man."
"Thanks..." Chicago grumbled as the screen shut off and he yanked it back. "We're gonna need it."
"What was that all about?" Kaiser demanded.
"Oh, just putting into use a little... party favor that Chicago cooked up."
"What kind of party favor?"
At that instant, all noise was drowned out by a very familiar and very foreboding sound.
Grunge's mouth dropped open in sheer shock as he listened to the wail of the Endbringer sirens. "You have got to be kidding me."
Chicago whimpered and shrank in on himself as Armsmaster loomed over him menacingly.
"Why do you have a backdoor to the Endbringer alarm system?" He growled furiously.
"Eheheh..." The informant chuckled nervously. "City-wide party emergency?"
"You do realize that after this is over I'm going to put a price on your head, correct?"
"Again!? Damn it, fifth state in a row!"
"...riiiight. Anyways..." The Tinker snapped his attention to the ever-grinning Tattletale. "And you! What the hell do you think you're pulling!?"
Tattletale rolled her eyes. "Clearing the streets, obviously. Do you want that thing to munch down on every random passerby and their grandmother when it goes topside?"
"You want to let her out of here?!" Ballistic sputtered.
"Obviously! After all, we can't hold her in here! She's going to get through Labyrinth's walls sooner or later, she's halfway through already, so we need to draw her out into the open!"
"Alright, so that's how we don't get killed dealing with her," Brandish nodded slowly. "But how do we deal with her?!"
"That's where you come in!" Tattletale answered exuberantly, jabbing a finger in Armsmaster's visor. "Armsy, you need to go back to PRT HQ and get the thing!" She suddenly groaned in frustration and began to knead her forehead. "Nooooo, not that thing, the other thing! The other other thing! Are you even trying!? Not that thing either! Come on Armsy! The thing, the thing you were saving for-YES!" She jumped excitedly. "That's the thing, right there! You need to get that! Go get it, Armsy, go get the thing!"
"Stop. Talking to me. Like that." He growled furiously.
"No!"
Armsmaster snorted furiously, counting backwards in his head as he throttled his halberd before slowly relinquishing his grip. "That... 'thing'... you're talking about-"
"Would have a fifty-fifty chance of backfiring and killing a few people, depending on which one you used it against." She deadpanned, her smile dropping for once. "If against the prior, then yeah, good chance. But if it's the second, it'll do more harm than good. At least this way, you know it does some good. Alright?"
The Tinker pursed his lips tightly for a second before slowly nodding. "I... comprehend."
"Great!" Tattletale perked up again. "Now, go get the-!"
"If you say 'thing' again, I will taze you."
Tattletale snapped her mouth shut.
Armsmaster pointed at Miss Militia. "You're in charge. I'll try and be back as soon as I can. I'll need to prep it first, finish it, but I should be back in about... thirty minutes."
With that, he turned and exited the base as fast as he could
"Wait, why not just have Psycho 'port him there!?" Gangsta jabbed a thumb at the masked Reaper.
"Because he's been teleporting all day and he can't handle a jump that big. Right?"
The fox-themed Reaper shot her a shaky thumbs-up as he swayed on his feet.
"So!" Tattletale clapped her hands. "As such, we need to buy time for Armsy to get back with the thing. So! We'll be drawing Noelle out into the open where we can stall her without danger. The main idea will be to run and gun: keep moving, don't stop, don't give her even a second to try and get a foothold. We just. Keep. Moving. Blasters, Tinkers with the tech, lay into her. Every second of every minute, just do not let up. Brutes, Movers, you'll be transporting any Blasters who can't keep up on their own. Make sure you keep a minimum of thirty to fifty feet away from her unless you know, know, that you can dodge her tentacles or get away without being yanked in. Even a trace of doubt, you stay the hell back. You get caught? You're as good as dead."
"You seem to be giving a lot of orders for someone who isn't going to be putting their neck on the line!" Spitfire accused venomously.
"Of course I'm giving you guys a lot of orders!" Tattletale spread her arms in exasperation. "After all, I'm trying to ride on the high of being in command for as long as I can so that I don't panic from the pressure of what I'm going to be doing!"
"And that would be...?" Lady Photon trailed off curiously.
"I'm going to be acting as bait!"
The Parahumans stared at her incredulously.
"Well..." She backpedalled slightly and jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at Mush and his captives. "Me and them, of course."
"WHAT!?" Ballistic yelped in panic, a sentiment that was mirrored by the other Travelers.
-o-
Noelle huffed and growled as her body clawed at the ragged metal barrier before her.
In some deep part of herself, Noelle knew what she was doing was wrong. In the back of her mind, a tiny little voice was pleading with her to stop, to do the right thing and go back to the cell, to just stop moving.
This voice was violently and ruthlessly silenced by the sheer, overwhelming rage that was driving her to tear through everything in her way, save her friends and rip that lying bitch's HEAD OFF!
She was about halfway through the barrier... when it suddenly evaporated. Without warning, the hellish facade around her faded away into nothingness, receding into the smooth walls she remembered.
The atrium ahead was empty, devoid of the Parahumans that had previously occupied it.
"Hey pukey!"
Correction, almost devoid.
The last thing remaining in the chamber was Squealer's demon-truck. Mush's body was back in the truck-bed, and Tattletale was sitting back there with him, grinning impishly at her.
"Congratulations! You finally managed to haul your ugly ass through all those walls! Good for you!" Tattletale chuckled as she jabbed her thumb at the furiously struggling Travelers. "By the way, got your friends here too! Just thought you should say goodbye to them before we haul 'em off to the Birdcage! You know, big, inescapable Parahuman prison where they'll probably be someone's bi-!"
"GROOOAAAARR!"
"-Right, she's plenty pissed!" Tattletale amended as she hammered on the truck's cab. "Gogogo!"
The truck's wheels smoked and squealed as they dug into the meal floor, the vehicle tearing out of the room and towards the base's exit ramp at high speeds, with Noelle hot on its tail.
Tattletale clutched at the side of the truck as it rocketed out into the open, wind whipping through her hair.
The whole time, she cackled madly.
"YOU'RE INSANE!" Ballistic shouted fearfully.
Tattletale fell silent for a moment, her grin slipping off her face. "I THINK YOU'RE RIGHT..." She mused...
Before allowing the grin to return, twice as mad.
"ISN'T IT EXCITING!?"
"SOMEBODY SAVE ME!"