We don't actually find any waffles, unfortunately. It's too late to really go digging, so we have to settle for a couple of MREs from Lady Photon's relief camp. Victoria borrows my phone again, sits on the edge of a rooftop far enough away to avoid any adverse effects on the people below but close enough that she can at least see her family.

And okay, maybe I doze a bit, propped against silent duct-work. It's not like I had any clear plans for tonight, to begin with. I don't mind hanging around for a little bit...especially not after Amy'd made the comment about sleep deprivation. Maybe I hadn't been so appreciative of it yester- no, earlier today. But then, I'd also slept a little bit since then. Reminded myself that I do actually like it…

"Hey, up and at'em."

I shift, perk up, but apparently not enough to avoid a shoe in my ribs. I shove Victoria away with a huff, refuse to give her the satisfaction of acknowledging her grin. "How are things? Everything okay down there?"

"No trouble." I fumble my phone as she drops it in my lap. "I let Aunt Sarah know what happened, she said she'd keep an eye out for the Travelers but also that 'there isn't much more we can do' and it's probably best to stay settled in."

She doesn't sound fond of the idea. And, I admit to myself as I stand, I don't really like it, myself. Still, "It isn't bad advice."

Victoria shrugs. "You gotta know what I'm thinking."

Close enough to guess, anyway. I sigh, roll my shoulders to work out some of the tension from sleeping sitting up. "Where do we start?"

"I'm thinking we go back and check out the truck."

Makes sense to me.

xxxxxxxxxx

I'm the one to actually do the investigating, mostly because the truck has been pulled further into the camp (and thus, closer to people Victoria could accidentally Master). There isn't much to find; the cab is clean, the glove compartment empty. The back has been cleared out, and there's nothing apparently unusual about it.

I feel like kicking myself when I realize I have more options than poking around playing junior detective.

Back into the cab...I pull out the Heart. Just...hold it, for a moment or two.

"Tattletale?"

"It's good to be remembered."

"I'm starting to think there's a reason I keep avoiding this."

"There are so many different ways to deal with guilt."

I close my eyes, just count off a couple of breaths before taking another look around the cab. "Can you tell me anything about the people who were driving this truck?"

The Heart is quiet, but for its steady pulse. I get a flash of a smile, only inches from my face; startling. Bitter.

"I can tell you everything about these men. I can recite records and files, compiled with great care in utter secret. Observed movements...actions taken...I can tell you so much, Taylor." Another flash, further back. A ghostly figure leaning away from me. "I could have told you before I died. I'd already done all my research, after all."

"These are Coil's men."

Coil. That sparks a memory.

"Armsmaster…" It seems like forever ago, "he mentioned Coil. Asked if I had any connections to him." More than that though. "He said you'd confessed to working for him-" Oh. Oh.

"'Under duress' I think, were his exact words."

They had been. "And then Coil had you attacked."

"Drugged to the gills. I would have been dead in a couple of weeks. But it did get me shipped off to a hospital. And who expects someone to go after a burned asset in an anonymous ambulance?"

Fuck. Fuck, and the Outsider had even told me. "The Bone Tinker was working for Coil."

"Very good. See, Taylor? I knew you were sharp. You hardly even need me, don't you? Neither did Coil, really. But I'm so useful, you know?"

I feel sick. "The Heart was a request."

"A commission. One quality Thinker, upgraded by extradimensional weirdness and excised of all that troublesome 'free will'." A pause, a flash, Tattletale shrugging thoughtlessly. "Only mostly a success."

I slump back in the driver's seat, close my eyes. My fault. It seems almost painfully obvious now, the connections, the cryptic clues. I'd just...I hadn't bothered to question it. I'd just let it lie, too focused on personal problems, on my powers, on the Tinker. All it would have taken was a couple of questions, or actually...if I'd stayed and talked to Armsmaster. Instead of leaving to keep from...what, being questioned? He figured me out anyway, apparently. What was the point?

What is the point?

"I'm sorry."

Tattletale sighs. "I know, Taylor. But it's not all bad. Death sucks; it's cold, and painful, and sometimes there's too much to see. But I think we can agree that Something is better than Nothing."

I don't know what to say to that. So I settle for, "I'm going to stop him."

"Because he went after your Dad?"

Yes. But more than that. Coil backed a killer, gave him what he needed to get away with so much. And apparently he's supporting other villains, too. Organizing them? It doesn't matter. Whatever he's doing, or planning, isn't important.

"It's the right thing to do."

Tattletale doesn't respond. I don't wait for one, tucking the Heart away again.

I need to talk to Victoria about this.

xxxxxxxxxx

"...this is some conspiracy theory bullshit."

"No kidding."

Victoria makes a frustrated noise, dragging her hands over her face. "No, you don't get it. This used to be simple, right? Just go out, find the bad guy, break their face. Job done. But now everything's outsiders and Endbringers and...and murder conspiracies? What?"

I'm not exactly blind to the implications, there. "Should I be apologizing?"

"That's not what I'm saying, Taylor."

It kind of feels that way. But whatever. "It gives us a goal, at least."

"Hard to be bored when you're hunting down a criminal mastermind, huh?" She gripes, glaring sullenly out over the street before shaking herself out. Kicking off into the air. "So putting aside basically everything that's wrong with this situation...does Tattle-ghost have anything for us to go on? Or are we just going to mull around looking for guys in suspicious turtlenecks?"

I really...hadn't been thinking that far ahead yet. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Victoria doesn't want to wait. In this case, she's probably got the right of it. So...the Heart. What do we need if we want Coil?

"I have a few ideas, but...you may not appreciate them."

And doesn't that just fill me with hope. "What can we do?"

"Visit Redmond Welding. And try not to break anything important."

Well, it's better than nothing. "I've got a location...sort of."

"Sort of?"

I shrug. "Do you know where we can find 'Redmond Welding'?"

She considers that, for a few seconds. "I...know where we can find a yellow-pages?"

Close enough.

xxxxxxxxxx

Redmond Welding turns out to be a not-so-abandoned factory building. Still mostly intact, all its doors still in place, a few boarded over windows. And someone pacing upstairs.

I've got a sinking feeling I know who I'm here to talk to.

"Are you sure about this?"

"You're the one who suggested I ask Tattletale." I pull a baton, the Heart in my other hand. "If there's any trouble, I'll jump back here."

Victoria sighs, glaring at the building. "I get that you need to talk to people to get information, but I don't like all this 'hang back' talk."

Which is fair. "I'll try to make it quick." It's the best I can offer. Not particularly reassuring, no matter how you look at it...I turn away, step off the roof-

-and drop to the street.

"How do I do this without starting a fight?"

"I can't help you with everything, Taylor."

Great. So...how do I make a peaceful approach to a villain? In their base? When they may or may not be in costume?

Dammit.

Okay, first, I need to get inside. Easy enough; I teleport just past the nearest door. Empty space, broken down machinery. A rusted staircase leading up to a loft area. I move-

-to the top of that, so I can approach the door without any clanking or rattling.

Deep breath. I reach up, and knock three times with my baton. Watch the man inside freeze.

I open with what I hope will be my in. "Tattletale sent me!" And now, to follow it up, what I hope will be taken as a peace offering. "I'll give you a minute to find a mask! But then we need to talk!" And there it is. Clear, concise, hopefully non-threatening. After a few more seconds of stillness, the guy turns and moves toward the center of the loft, picking something up and securing it over his head.

As if I needed more confirmation.

The door opens, and I let it bang against the nearest wall. Make no effort at staying quiet, as I move into the light.

There's Grue. Only half his motorcycle leathers on, his helmet only just starting to smoke. I don't need to see his face to feel his anger at my being here. It's practically radiating off him. "Crow."

"I'm going to cut right to the chase." Because the less time I spend here, the less time there is for me to say something wrong and provoke a fight. "Your boss, Coil? He needs to be stopped."

"...you'll have to forgive me if we have differing views on that."

Seriously?

"He doesn't know. He's worked hard to get what he needs; looking too deep wouldn't have been helpful."

I don't care about his reasons. The point stands. "Tattletale knew about a Tinker who was killing people for materials. Did she ever tell you about him?" No response. "Coil backed him. I don't know the details, but I do know he gave him men, maybe resources, definitely helped him relocate when we were after him."

Grue's arms tense, his fists clenching. "Tinkers are valuable."

"Valuable enough to enable serial murder?" No response. "Enough to send people after a Cape's family?" That snaps his attention more firmly to me. "He sent armed men to my home. I don't think I need to elaborate as to why. But from everything I've learned, that's got to be one of the only 'rules' you people actually care about."

No response. Just more of the same. Am I missing something?

"You took a pretty sharp turn into 'confrontational' there. How about you tell him about me?"

Fine. "I don't know what Coil's promised you, or any of the other people he's got working for him, but whatever he's got planned is nothing good...and his employee retention plan sucks." I wave the Heart a bit, don't miss the way Grue tenses just that much more. "When Tattletale got caught-"

"When you caught her."

I flinch. Because that one was still a sore point. "When I caught her...he sent someone to shut her up. Stole her out of PRT custody, and gave her to the Tinker." I swallow, my mouth suddenly and inexplicably dry. "From what I saw, it wasn't a particularly clean death."

"I'm over it. Mostly. It doesn't much compare to this."

God, that's...what? I think I need to have another talk with her-

"You said Tattletale sent you." I don't miss the way the darkness surges out around us, halfway to penning us in. But I also don't react, because...well, it won't exactly stop me…

"Here's the part where you give me to him."

Seriously? "You think that'll help?"

"Better than leaving it to your diplomatic ability." I stare down at the Heart, because what? "Sorry sweetie, it's the truth." I...whatever. So apparently I'm bad at talking with people. That isn't news.

I hook my baton under my arm, holding out my free hand and starting forward. Grue holds his ground, watching me, even when I hold the Heart out for him to take.

He does.

His attention shifts down to it.

"...Lisa?" Silence. The soft pulse of the Heart is different, when I'm not the one holding it. "What the fuck? This isn't...how the fuck do you know that? What is this?" More silence. "And why should I trust…" I take a step back as he turns. And decide I'm glad I'd realized I didn't need to talk out loud for Tattletale to 'hear' me. This kind of one sided conversation is unsettling to watch. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

He stalks off, the dark fog following after. I don't think there's an exit over there, so he's probably not running. I guess...I'll just have to wait?

Looking around, the loft is nicer than my own housing right now. TV, kitchenette...the couch is comfortable. It takes a legitimate effort, after I've sat down, to move to the less comfortable chair off to the side. Falling asleep in a villain's lair isn't high on my list of things to do tonight.

Minutes pass. Footsteps track back and forth in one of the other rooms. And then they're coming this way, and Grue returns. Without the ominous cloud surrounding him, this time.

"I can't help you."

...admittedly, that's about the response I was expecting, when I'd realized who I was here to see. "That's disappointing." I stand, make a show of stretching to hide the swaying. Shouldn't have sat down again. "I'm not exactly your biggest fan, but I wouldn't have expected you to want to work for a complete psychopath."

"I'm going to let that slide, because I did punch you in the head one time. But I want you to think about why you're here, and then understand me when I say I can't help you."

He tosses the Heart back before I can respond. I catch it two-handed, because I actually have no idea how durable it is and fuck him for just tossing around his teammate.

"That's cute. But don't worry, it'll take more than that to break my heart." I turn an incredulous look on the Heart, because...that was a pun? "Let me have my fun...Grue here is right in that he can't help you. Actively. But we had a little chat, and that's given me what you'll need."

Right...I look back to Grue, who's already turned away to stare at a blank wall.

"Best to just leave. Bitch will be showing up soon, and she'll be less interested in talking than he is."

"Got it." I guess it's time to go then. "Grue...thanks for not trying to punch me again."

"Fuck off."

Fine, then. I turn away-

-and spot Victoria trailing slow circles in the air, in the middle of the rooftop. She perks up when she spots me, dropping to the gravel to jog over. "How did it go? Do we need to bust some heads?"

"I don't think so." Because I got something, apparently. "Tattletale…?"

"Territories. Locations. Grue won't tell us anything that could lead back to him. But he knows how I worked. And despite some new limitations, I also have more options, now." The Heart pulses, brightly, and I catch a smirk in the glowing afterimage of her momentary appearance. "If you want Coil, you'll have to get to him through his underlings."

His non-Undersider underlings, presumably. "We get him through the Travelers."

"Hey, sounds good to me." Victoria shrugs, eyes the Heart. "Do we have a place to start on that?"

I get the answer quickly enough. "Downtown. Ballistic's territory."

"And ground zero for Nazi civil war."

Yeah, that too. "It's more than we had before."

Victoria grins, slamming a fist into her palm. "I'm not complaining. Always up for punching some Nazis."

I can't help laughing, at that. I guess it's just good to know that...some things don't seem to change? "Hopefully we won't have to deal with that. One criminal organization at a time."

"Fine, fine...but I vote Nazis after we take down this Coil creep."

"I can get behind that."

For now, we've got some investigating to do.