Interlude: Tattletale
The PRT holding facilities of the PRT East-Northeast.
In a city like Brockton Bay where the crime rate was practically through the roof and Parahuman activity was nearly twice to three times the national average there was no simple 'Jail'. There just couldn't be. Between Masters and Strangers alone, anything that didn't have PRT personnel, training and security equipment was practically gift wrapped for an escape attempt.
And if they ever managed to pull it off once one could consider it open season on any and all penitentiaries.
That had been a lesson learned very very quickly after Parahumans came on the scene decades ago and had proceeded to crack open Maximum security facilities, banks, national security files and a couple of other locations and caused damage that had been estimated in the billions.
So these days, there was typically one prison where everyone went to. Parahuman and non Parahuman alike. The only way you were remanded to a purely non powered, low security facility was if you were a juvenile or had no criminal record related to any known villain affiliations. Even if your old gang or what have you was out of state, you would still be remanded to this facility.
Here in the Bay, Parahuman criminals were kept in specially sealed Vaults at the lowest level of a three storey basement. Every one of the cells could be flooded with Containment Foam instantly, as could the hallways, the maintenance access areas, even the recreational yard held underground with artificial sunlight could be foamed to capture any out of control Parahuman or anyone really.
There had only ever been one attempted assault on the location back when the Teeth and Marquis were still household names here in the Bay. The Butcher had gotten it into his head to spring one of his captured Parahumans.
Nine minutes.
That was the response time.
Between minute one and minute nine, the entire PRT had been mobilized, as had the Protectorate, the then "Brockton Bay Brigade", the full police department and the national guard. Somewhere on the internet there was still an image of an entire military convoy of Tanks and military APVs grinding their way down first street.
Rubber bullets weren't used by any of them.
Needless to say that had been a disaster for the Teeth. And had marked their death keel in the Bay. The Empire was not going to let them recover from losing almost 3/5ths of their manpower in the span of nine minutes.
Now, with Dragon's systems possibly coordinating rapid response teams, you could cut that time by two to four minutes.
Her job was to make sure this went far better than that.
Namely by completing their objective in three minutes.
Her eyes panned over the screen, just managing a glimpse of Coil in his black body suit a few feet beside her.
Her power drank in the proverbial buffet. Dozens of snippets of information pouring over her. Minute details becoming obvious. "Trickster. You're up first." She called.
"Go ahead?"
"Get us a radio. The walkies Coil gave are the exact same brand and model you can switch it with one from one of the patrolling guards." She threw a look her boss' way. He'd prepared for this. Knew it was gonna happen. That meant he knew about the guards equipment but didn't have enough inside information to just find out the frequency off hand. Probably because prison security was an entirely separate branch from the local protectorate. His reach had limits.
Good to know.
There was a pause and on one of the cameras she saw a guard on the tower turn and reach down to the ground and pick up his walkie that had fallen from his belt onto his ankle.
'Done. Using frequency six two four.'
One of Coil's computer techs started to work.
Fifteen seconds later.
"We're in." He called. "Whatever they say, we'll hear."
"Can we give orders to them?"
The man looked at his computer, shaking his head. "Honestly, wouldn't risk sending more than two. This gear is practically running on full power just to get a peak in through the back door. Anything more and Dragon's systems will know something's wrong and start tracing us back to this location."
Not pleased, not exactly surprised though.
She turned back to the monitors.
"Alright. First things first, diversion. Biggest baddest, heavy hitters. Bitch, Grue, Ballistic, Spitfire I want you three over that west wall in thirty seconds, go!"
She sucked down a breath and waited.
She was the first to see it in the cameras as a blanket of Grue's darkness, rushed close. One guard on the tower did a double take, leaning close to the railing to see if his eyes were deceiving him. The two men in the monitor room caught it five seconds later. One lunged for the walkie, the other for the phone.
The Guard on the tower spoke.
"Control this is north west tower I...I'm not sure if-"
Then the dark was gone and she saw Bitch's dogs lunging out to claw their way up the sheer stone wall.
Countdown start.
"Shit! Control! Control this is north west tower we are under attack by unknown numbers of parahuman forces! Under attack!" The man ran into the tower, emerging a second later with his friend, both holding some tinker tech long-rifles.
"Grue, dark field as much as you can!" She shouted!
The black abyss bloomed out from him, like a sheet of night, the cameras were all blacked out on the northern side.
She looked to the others, the alarms were going off in the barracks, seventy-five on site agents scrambling to put on their armor and grab their weapons as others scrambled from locations across the prison compound.
Massive stone slabs shot out of the dark like they were fired from a cannon. Moving impossibly fast, the stones hit the north west tower with brutal, timed precision, almost rhythmic.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
By the fourth the neck of the Tower was crumbling, the sheer weight of its crown making the thing tilt and snap itself in two to tumble onto the wall itself. One officer dived onto a nearby roof, alive but definitely with something broken, she didn't see what happened to the other one, though her power helpfully provided its opinion on how many different ways he broke his neck.
The southwest tower was then hit by an impossibly fast slab of rock, while cameras on buildings four and six, closest to the cloud of darkness, caught sight of towers and walls being set on fire, blocking the closest exits.
Thirty seconds.
"Faultline you're up."
"Moving to the control tower."
"No no." She shook her head. "That tower is a decoy. The computers there are just glorified hard drives where they keep their records. You're heading to the very south corner of the east wall. Punch straight through, then into the building across, and then you're punching through two floors to get to the Room that's housing the control center for the whole prison."
"Better be right about this bitch."
'Well fuck you too buddy.' She grit her teeth...oh what she wouldn't do to lead her straight into the barracks full of armed and angry guards! No love was lost between her and the Mercenary leader. Regent had made the comparison between the two as a cobra and mongoose.
She shook her head, once more tossing Coil a look out of the corner of her eye.
Their reason for being here was bullshit. That much was obvious to her the second he opened his mouth. No group of people were this important. Especially not to him. He'd sooner have them all killed in a prison yard 'accident' than go through all this trouble to get them out.
She still didn't have enough information to discover what exactly his endgame was but she would. It was clear it had something to do with the PRT HQ and the Protectorate. Something to draw them here rather than elsewhere, his real target.
The bank was a distraction job too. Distractions seemed to be his favorite modus operandi.
She wished she'd have taken a minute or two to peruse a newspaper before she collapsed on her bed after the bank.
Maybe she'd have found what was so important.
Nothing for it now though, she focussed back on Faultline.
"Genesis!" She heard her demand. "Help us out here and flank them."
"Genesis is making her way towards the armory." Ballistic called back over the comm. Faultline sighed in frustration.
"Then you come. The guards and automatic defenses are pinning us down! Where is the place anyway?"
Coil gave Tattletale a look and her power told her of the location.
"Okay, you just have to make a straight beeline to the control room. Should be about thirty yards from your position, right down the hallway and past the walls."
"Ballistic?"
"Working my way there now. Gotta take down these foam guns before they get a bead on us. Just hang tight."
"Fine forget it, I'll handle it myself." Faultline snipped in frustration.
Tattletale's eyes panned over the monitors, her power feeding her more information.
Grue's team splitting up in the dark, hitting many targets, trying to get as much confusion as possible, cover Ballistic so he can use his power in peace.
Faultline taking care of turrets by splitting whole walls in half, cutting the wiring inside them, bypassing others.
Newter is handling the normals on the south, ambushing, hit and run tactics.
Genesis slipped into the armory, hitting the guards before they can arm themselves.
Faultline sprinting to up-link room. Gregor's covering her. Trickster running interference with the guards as he listens in on the walkie he has.
She made it.
Faultline places a hand on the door. Then there's no more door. That alarm joins in to the hundreds of others now ringing through the place.
"I'm in. What next?"
Coil raised his watch. "Log into the server. The password is Tommy-Harry-Xavier-One-One-Three-Eight."
THX-1138… So the designer was a Star Wars fan? Tattletale smiled a bit in amusement, then she furrowed her eyebrows.
"Putting it in now...I'm in."
"Next, there's an emergency command prompt for the doors. It's installed for an Endbringer evacuation. Press these next keys in this exact order and it will immediately shut down all automatic defenses while it's at it. None of the prisoners will be foamed and the override code to end the evacuation protocols can only be pressed in manually. Destroy the computer when you're done to avoid that. " Coil sat down at the one of the computers and began reading the series of keys to Faultline himself. That was a welcome sight, the boss finally doing some work himself and not grandstanding.
"Cell Doors to all quarters unlocked. Inmates freed. Defenses shut down."
She gave her boss a thumbs up and he connected a port of sorts to his watch.
"Greetings, gentlemen." Coil addressed, probably hacking into the intercom. "Congratulations. I have deigned to give to you what has been taken away. Freedom. If you wish to be free, then I suggest you cooperate with the parahumans already fighting on your behalf. Either fight, or stay in your cells, but whatever decision you make, do so quickly, this window is rapidly closing for all of you and the Protectorate will not be kind to those they find still in here once we're done. If you wish to arm yourselves, the password for the armories are seven, seven, three, eight, Beta, Zulu, nine. With that said." Tattletale saw his mask shift, she didn't need her power to see that he was smirking. "I give you leave to make certain they don't capture you again."
Inmates confused, wary, others are getting out of their cells, running. Others getting up, following, understanding opportunity to escape.
'One minute twenty-seven seconds. Right on time.'
He leaned back in his chair, satisfied with himself.
Plans to use inmates as cannon fodder and distractions incoming heroes.
Stall tactic. Wants to keep the heroes bogged down. Exhaust them?
No, simultaneous strike ready to take place. Other computer techies are tuned in to some other operation, whispering.
She furrowed her brow, the crease only a reflection of the headache coming on as she tried to narrow down the list of possible targets. The banks were out, a list of important people were discarded just as quickly.
One by one her power definitively ruled out the other alternatives leaving only one target that was still viable. Much as she might not want to even consider it.
Wants to hit the PRT HQ.
End goal?
Drop in public support? No. Cause panic? Unclear.
Coil picked up his phone, dialed and spoke his voice altering in its pitch and tone to sound alarmed as he spoke to the person on the other end. "This is agent James Edison-"
Her eyes widened as her power fed her new information as she listened.
Draw heroes out. Wards too. Leave PRT HQ undefended for a secondary assault
There was a call to his cellphone which was answered at the second ring. "Speak."
Being careful not to use his name. Person on the other end knows it. Avoiding use because of me.
"You're sure?" He questioned before nodding. "Good." He hung up the phone and then picked up the other he'd been using to call before.
Person on the phone just gave information. Important information. Possibly target of the whole operation.
The patterns were there, all coming together like the interweaving threads of a complex tapestry being pulled and strung together to paint its picture. Individual pieces impossible to discern alone coming into an identifiable place in the design.
Luring PRT to a trap.
A trap, to what end!? This was still just the means for the goal.
"This is Trickster. Do I move in?" His tone was becoming annoyed now.
"Patience Trickster. You'll move in shortly. For now, hang back, and then you will move in on my personal order." Coil spoke into the watch. "Tattletale. Status on our heroes?"
Tattletale closed her eyes and thought, extrapolating information based on distance, transportation, heroes that were reported to be on base.…
"Another forty-five seconds tops." She answered.
"Genesis, I need you to control the prison's automatic defense systems now. Stop wasting time.
"You try fighting your way through this crap!" They heard the girl shout. Lisa began switching through monitors trying to find her.
Finally they did. She was punching her way through a half dozen PRT prison guardsmen in a combat form that looked like a cross between an alligator and a gorilla.
"You're going the wrong way!" She shouted. "There's nothing in that room they're guarding, its just another decoy."
"Then where the hell is it!?"
She stood up, and back, as far away from the monitors and the blueprint layouts as possible. Letting sheer scope of her eyes gather in everything as her power flooded her mind with information. She could feel a major headache starting to form in the base of her skull.
"Another building, building Three, Cell block seven two. One cell was empty!" She shouted, then looked to the computer satellite imagery tracking the team.
Closest…
Bitch.
"Bitch! Into the building to your right!"
"Why?"
'Because you're gonna hack Dragon today dog girl.' Now there's a thought she never would have guessed to cross her mind. Any other person would have been thrilled. But nope, it has to be Bitch.
"Do it or we're all fuckedandyouwont'seeyourdogseveragainbecauseyou'llbearrestedmovemovemove!" She shouted in a fast highly pitched tone. She switched to another camera, one covering the courtyard and saw Bitch wheel Brutus around and literally smash through the building's cement wall.
She trampled several of the escaping inmates and combating guards that were in her way crushing them under Brutus or tons of brick and cement.
"Turn left, down the hall!" She demanded!
Coil got up, muttering "human error" as he shook his head and then spoke into Genesis' comm frequency. "Genesis you have to move now, follow my orders to rendezvous with Bitch immediately You're still the only one that can upload the backdoor virus."
"Goddamnit your plan sucks!" Genesis got on all fours and began bolting down the hall, charging through two guards who were foolish enough to stand in the way of a rampaging Gorillagator.
"Get off Brutus! He's too big for the halls and you'll take too long to break through."
"I'm not leaving my dogs!"
"You're not!" She agreed. "You're just telling him to stay. You'll be right back. There's no guards in your immediate area, he'll be fine. Relax."
She heard the snarl in her ear. But saw Bitch dismount and move down the hall into the open cell blocks in a sprint.
Tattletale looked at Coil with exasperation in her eyes. Coil looked back, seeming to express a moment of solidarity in their exasperation.
"Ok...Ok…" Lisa muttered chewing on a nail. "Cell...cell number…. Section N. Hall C2 Cell Number 1701.
She blinked. Wow...really? Really? Star Trek? She watched an episode of The Next Generation just the day before the heist and remembered the Enterprise's designation. This is...quite the coincidence.
Finally, she reached the cell.
"I'm here..."
"There's gonna be a false wall or a fake floorboard, find it."
As she waited she turned her attention back to the others. The prisoners were now brawling with the guards in the middle of the prison courtyard. The overwhelmed force was completely on the back foot and it was only a matter of seconds for the whole prison to be subdued as it was now.
Good. She could already hear and see the sirens approaching from the various screens around her.
"Found it. Needs password."
"Larry-Oswald-Larry-Two-One-Three-Three-Seven-Four-Ulysses." Coil spoke with the most serious tone imaginable. Tattletale snorted. LOL 2 1337 4 u? That was it. The security designer here really was a fucking nerd. Or a Troll. She had thought Dragon designed all the security systems. Guess that info was wrong.
'Thank God Dragon didn't design this thing come to think of it. Passwords are probably as long as my arm, in triplicate, Zulu or Klingon or something.'
"Now what?"
"Genesis is almost there. She'll upload control to us here."
Ten agonizing seconds later, Genesis barreled into the cell block, looking for all the world like she just barreled through a Warzone.
Probably had.
"Alright I'm here what do you want!?"
"Put the USB into the control system then open up the command prompt. Should pop up when the virus is inside the system."
"You know, if I didn't know what a command prompt was this plan would go to shit."
He ignored her. "Input the following commands-" Tattletale's power fed her new info. Bitch was already running back to Brutus.
Coil provided USB Hacking probes to Genesis, worth a pretty penny, should lock out Dragon from the computer. Permanent? No. Gamble. Ten minute window tops.
"Gotta hand it to you." She said. "Using their guns against them is pretty clever. How much did hacking Dragon's security systems cost you?"
"Not much."
Lying. Cost a fortune. Actually dented his budget a bit. Toybox make.
"I believe that when you attack a castle, you don't have the intention of destroying it. You aim to control it and use it against your foes. It's common sense, and common sense and warfare make the most beautiful of bedfellows."
"Riiiiight…" Tattletale focused back on the screens, hearing Coil input his commands via hacking device.
"We're in." One of his technicians called. "Access to prison security systems. Ready to input commands."
Tattletale felt a shiver down her spine. She thanked god that most, if not all of the automatic defenses were just non lethal containment foam. The thought that Coil could draw in the heroes and wipe them all out in the span of a few minutes was not one she wanted to entertain. The Triumvirate would be bringing the wrath of god down on their heads within twelve hours if so as they would hunt them down one by one.
"Good." Coil relaxed back in his seat and raised his watch. "Everyone, auto defense systems are under our control. Take positions for defense and prepare to acquire objectives. Grue, Faultline, Spitfire, Ballistic. Head to the armory and lead prisoners with you. Help distribute fire arms to the inmates, as well as yourselves."
Two minutes...fifty three seconds.
Seven seconds ahead of schedule.
"This is Trickster. I see Armsmaster riding down the street, he's here. Velocity's right along with him too."
"Sundancer." Coil ordered.
"A-alright...you sure these places are empty?" Said the hesitant voice of the other female of the Travelers. Tattletale's power fed her information but Coil beat her to it.
"They are!" He snapped. Tattletale was surprised. Not every day she sees her boss with a raised voice. "The buildings were abandoned after the Teeth's first attempt at a mass breakout now use your power and cut them off!"
One of the technicians spoke. "Auto defense systems all activated, even backups. Ready to fire on your order."
Tattletale saw the glare on her screen as Sundancer's sun suddenly dropped down from the sky like Scion's wrath. Velocity stopped, turned on a dime to avoid the sheer heat and ran past it.
Armsmaster was still limited to the laws of physics though. He turned his bike hard, the whole thing falling and grinding across the asphalt, edging closer. He grabbed onto the Halberd mounted on the bike's side and used the grappling hook to yank himself free in a move that would have ripped off anyone elses arm. But nope, power armor and possibly some bullshit iron-reinforced bones or some other crap too. Fucking Tinkers.
On the other hand his bike was reduced to half melted slag by the time it came to a stop. The army of PRT and police cars behind them were slamming on the brakes to not get any closer to the extreme heat.
"We have choppers inbound." Trickster called.
"How many?" She asked.
"Thre-no, si- eleven. Eleven choppers en route!"
Mother of fuck...so this is what a pissed off Protectorate looked like.
"Newter are you almost to Trickster's position?" Coil asked.
"I am. I see PRT vans and police coming from the roads Sundancer isn't covering. They're going around the sun."
"Good. You know what to do when you get there."
"On it."
"This is Grue. We're at the armory, arming up inmates now. Genesis opened the door for us before heading to the cell block."
"Good. Keep at your posts. Faultline, head to point B with Gregor and Ballistic. Bitch, Regent, Spitfire, and Genesis head to the Courtyard with whatever prisoners are armed. You'll be the a line of defense behind the auto defense system and Sundancer's sun." Coil said. He got affirmatives all around and leaned back.
"Shit!"
Newter's voice, surprised, alarmed. Not woun-
"Argh!"
Scratch that, got hit. Got hit by target. Only one on field that could do it. Armsmaster, has countermeasures. Came prepared. Tagged Armsmaster, but stunned. Shocked.
"Newter's down. Armsmaster had some electrical field. Switched him with an unconscious guard on the North Wall." Trickster.
"This is Grue, lots of inmates coming out. They're pissed and looking to shoot. Still have some to go."
"Faultline here. I'm going to get Newter now."
"Yo. This is me to you. Just wanted to let you know we've got Miss-All-American-Immigrant with a BFG on a chopper. Guys with not so BFG's are with her, these aren't containment foam BFG's by the way." Regent.
"Engage." Coil said, not minding Regent's unprofessionalism in the slightest. "The inmates are armed. You know what to do." He stood up and left his chair, giving Tattletale a pill bottle and walking away. "Tattletale, I need to make an important call, I'll leave the rest to you. Have Trickster fall back." Tattletale opened one of them up and downed a tablet with a swig from a water bottle.
"Got it." She looked back into the screens as the drug began to null out the pain in her head, and she was fed more information.
Coil going to call PRT contact? No. But...someone involved with them. Has to do with the operation. Body language anxious. Important part. Lynchpin of the whole plan.
She had another swig of water and watched at the screens of the battle. Militia was shooting the Foamgun Turrets with a sniper rifle on the choppers. Impossible shots that she was pulling off with pinpoint precision. Using armor piercing rounds to punch straight through the Turret's casing to destroy the inner mechanisms and clear the way for Armsmaster and the others.
Dragon must have warned them.
The police and PRT forces that could get past the sun were now smashing down the prison gates with what amounted to a tank. The sheer shock and awe value outweighing the cost as they stormed in with an array of weapons leveled out against the prisoners.
Then the firefight started and this whole thing went down into a clusterfuck of lots of dead people.
Three minutes, forty-six seconds in.
Velocity zoomed into the Prison, the red blur of his costume quickly mixing into the inmate crowd. Armsmaster was right behind him, standing at seven foot something in his power armor which now bore a glowing riot shield coming out of the left vambrace as he advanced.
She could see Grue finishing up arming the last inmate and give a thumbs up towards the camera. Ballistic was with Sundancer and Trickster, Ballistic and Trickster guarding Sundancer as her sun was now the size of a beach ball. She was creeping it closer to the prison gates, giving the Police and PRT plenty of warning. Not wanting to harm anyone. Ballistic was firing molten hot pebbles, heated by the sun and skimming off the ground, and attacking PRT and police from their rear.
They were effectively trapped between the hammer of angry prisoners and the anvil of a very deadly projection.
Tattletale turned and looked into the satellite feed that was currently covering the bay, and another covering the state itself.
"This is Tattletale. Dragon is en route to the prison. In one of her quick response suits." She spoke. "And…." Her power fed her more information.
"Wards from all over the city are coming in. So is Dauntless. They will be pouring in, one at a time due to the differing distance. But you have another two minutes tops before they're all there."
"We have confirmation." One of the Technicians said. "The New Wave Heroes have just left their homes, they're en-route. ETA one minute and thirty four seconds."
Fuck!
Too much. Way too much. The whole Empire could be here helping them and it might still be too much. They'd never be able to win here.
What was Coil's true goal...What is the snake hiding…He was telling the truth when he mentioned that he had a plan to get them all out of here she made sure of that ten times over before accepting the deal.
And he didn't fail.
It was that above all that had kept her from blowing his brains out herself.
"This is Trickster. I've got eyes on your new Ward Coil."
Her power gave her information. Inflection, tone, voice patterns.
It screamed at her.
Target acquired.