Chapter Forty: Plans and Executions
April 9, 2011
The times when Jason had been honestly afraid of Fi were few and far between. He'd gotten the sense, occasionally, that Fi could be dangerous. He'd certainly seen her do impossible, unthinkable things. The sort of things it would never have occurred to him to do.
But somehow the power that Fi could wield just didn't register, normally. She deferred to Clockblocker and Armsmaster (mostly), she joked around, she made mistakes and laughed them off. It was easy to call her Fi in her costume or not, because she acted like just another normal teenager. Even when she was talking about impossible things, or her own less-than-ideal past, or whatever else, she addressed them so casually that you just started taking things like sudden deafness and the potential to wipe out souls in stride.
By contrast, the girl before him right now was easy to think of as Contract. She was focused, driven, and unrelenting. Ever since she'd made the off-hand comment about Coil not being a "time lord," she'd turned into a force of nature.
She texted Armsmaster all the way back to the base, then handed Jason a list of things to go collect while she talked to Armsmaster in his lab. The supplies were extremely varied, but were all available to him as a Ward, ranging from a basic first aid kit to a generic black body suit in his own size to grappling gear. Jason would almost say that Contract was planning on going after Coil immediately, but he knew she wouldn't defy Armsmaster like that.
By the time Jason had gathered all the supplies, Clockblocker and Contract had the rest of the team gathered in the main room.
"Okay everyone, Armsmaster has just increased this situation to a class R," Clockblocker announced grimly. R was two levels below being an A-class situation. It didn't indicate a general threat and it didn't summon outside help, but it was the most serious a local situation could be and still be contained by a single team. "Don't ask why, he didn't say," Clockblocker added immediately.
"What this means for us is that Intrepid, Contract, Beetle, and Tattletale are leaving the PRT base immediately. They'll be relocating to a bolt hole that Tattletale has previously set aside, and we'll be doing most of our coordinating remotely. Each of you might be asked to perform small tasks that are part of a larger picture. For now, do not share anything with another team member unless you are told to do so."
Clockblocker glanced at Contract as he paused, and she stood up while he continued. "Contract is the person in charge of the infiltration team, which as of this moment is the Anti-Hero Team. We who are staying here are the Base Team. Details will follow, but for now, inform your parents that you won't be home for the next three days. We are all going into isolation as part of our cover."
Clockblocker looked to Contract again, and she spoke up next. "Everyone needs to eat heavily over the next three days. Armsmaster asked me to lay down a deal so we didn't have to sleep, and the cost is that anyone who wants to stay up is going to need three times as many calories as normal. If you want to opt out, you can."
She picked up a bag that had been sitting next to her chair. "Anti-Heroes, let's go. Tattletale is waiting with Armsmaster in the garage. She's been briefed separately."
Once they had reached Lisa's safehouse, Contract laid out the rest of the plan. The basis was still the same as what had been previously approved, approaching Coil on Saturday under false pretenses, but Armsmaster, Clockblocker, and Contract had evidently worked out a large number of details that the rest of them hadn't considered.
If Coil had spies in the PRT, couldn't they check the Ward's log-in records? Wouldn't they see that the entire team had been putting in extra hours?
The cover for that change of schedule was a supposed security threat to Contract that had put the Wards on high alert. Only the threat wasn't really a threat; it was Contract getting ready to betray the Wards. Then, Contract had been "moved to Boston" for her own safety, while the rest of the Wards were kept out of school to help divert attention and keep up a charade that Contract was somewhere in Brockton Bay. Contract explained that this move to Boston was what the Anti-Heroes were supposedly using to let them reach out to Coil.
The layers and layers of lies were enough to make his head spin, and that was before they sat down with a print out of every check-in and check-out he'd made in the Wards' base in the last week and ensured that it could be made to fit into his new cover story.
The three schemers had put together basic cover stories for the Anti-Heroes, but there was a lot of refining to do to make sure that it was a role he could play convincingly and that it would fit with the facts that Coil's spies might be able to prove.
In this, the early tension with the other Wards worked in their favor. Contract and Beetle's alternate selves practically wrote themselves, but he was stuck until he started looking at it not as betraying the Wards but sticking with Contract. He wasn't totally comfortable playing the loyal, never-protesting lap dog because he was pretty sure he had more spine and sense than that, but it was much easier than trying to mimic Contract's brusque, selfish calculation or Beetle's cynicism.
The need for the body suit became readily apparent: he moved his armor from one undersuit to the other, and except for the white in his visor he looked very convincingly like an edgy vigilante or darker independent hero. Beetle's costume was already dark and made scarier when she started carrying bugs around in the creases of it.
Tattletale retrieved her black and lavender costume and mask from somewhere in the safe house, and Contract exchanged her trademark jeans-and-white for dark cargo pants and a black shirt. She had Beetle add some black armor around the edges of her white visor, the only visible trace of her Wards' costume she kept, though she was wearing the silk-spider shirt under her black overshirt.
Once they were partially settled and understood the game plan a little better, Contract and Intrepid left Beetle and Tattletale to secure the safe house and scope out the neighborhood. They left the safe house in civilian garb, used cash to get on a city bus, and rode it to Winslow.
"Turn off your comm," Contract said as she directed him to sit under the bleachers, "just in case." It was after the regular school hours by now, and anyone who saw them would assume they were two junkies or perhaps lovers with nowhere better to hang out. Jason reached up and did so, glancing around.
"What are we doing here?" he asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer. It still needed to be said.
"You're my second. There are things you need to know, operationally, that the other two don't."
Jason nodded, knowing he was the best candidate for the job but wary of what it might require. He'd only worked undercover a few times before, and he was always glad when it was over.
Contract continued, "The main goal of our overarching plan is to have some way to force circumstances to follow our pre-laid plans. Coil's power manipulates situations, and we're going to try to force them back."
"I don't understand."
"The moment we react to Coil, we have to assume his power is in control. But if we make plans now, his power isn't currently affecting them, so we can trust them."
"Okay, that much I followed. So what?"
Contract pulled some loose change out of her pocket and laid a line of coins in the dirt in front of them. "We're going to create some nodes, events that we're going to force to happen. No matter how Coil's power pushes the circumstances in his favor, we're going to push back to get to one of these nodes, if at all possible. For example, if his power is precognitive, it will foresee our efforts to do manipulate the situation and escalate. Which means we'll have to escalate also if we still want to reach the node. But when we end up at the same node anyway, chances are his power foresees that it didn't gain anything, and drops back to whichever circumstances are in Coil's best interests."
"I don't follow," Jason insisted. He thought he could see where this was going, but he didn't want there to be the slightest chance for miscommunication.
Fi nodded patiently, not seeming to be put out at having to explain again. "Assume his power is probability manipulation, and we want to force him to run down the west street when we chase him. The best way to do that is put our forces on the east street. His power tells him that to maximize probability of staying uncaught, he needs to run west. If he tries to run east anyway, we escalate, possibly up to lethal force. This makes coming east even more unlucky, and his probability manipulation pushes him even harder to run west."
"And if it's not probability manipulation?"
"Okay, assume it's straight precog. He thinks about going west, sees himself free, thinks east, sees death."
"I don't get how that helps us, though. Coil still ends up free, right, or his power wouldn't work?"
"He's free at that specific moment. Armsmaster and I are counting on two assumptions. One, that Coil's power doesn't do any work until he tells it to. That's why Lisa gets last minute advice or late-game 'go' or 'no go' commands. He sets up his power, says 'go' or 'no go' and then does whatever he does. It's also a good explanation for why Lisa was able to come to the Wards.
"That's what makes it critical we plan now, before his power is active. The second assumption is that his power has a time limit. He can't change or foresee or affect or whatever it he does for longer than two days, hopefully less, closer to twelve hours. So we set up three days' worth of nodes, and we've out-gamed his power."
Intrepid tried to wrap his head around that, and could sort of see where she was coming from, but knew it would be easier to conceptualize with a practical example. "So what nodes did you have in mind?"
"Well, we're cleared to make contact at noon on Saturday, so the first node is that we text Coil at 12:13 PM, no matter what. Even if he's committing a public crime, we still initiate contact." She touched the first coin in the line, a quarter. "At that time, the Anti-Heroes will already be in Somer's Rock."
"We can't use Somer's Rock to trap him," Intrepid protested. When that idea had come up in planning, it had been shot down by Tattletale, Vista and by Contract herself, once she understood what Somer's Rock was. They all insisted that they abide by the general rules of civility, and Intrepid had absolutely agreed.
"No, it's just a show of power to be there before him, and that means being there before he has reason to use his power." Intrepid nodded to show he understood, and she continued, drawing two arching lines away from the quarter, toward the other coins. "He either shows or he doesn't. If he does show, we proceed to node two." She indicated a dime, as she arced the first line back to this node. "If he doesn't, we confront him."
Intrepid opened his mouth, but she waved him off, "I'll come back to that."
She pointed at the dime named node two. "Node two is that we get him to solicit us to commit a crime. It shouldn't be hard to do; he won't trust us and he'll want something to prove our sincerity and hold over us. Most crimes are most successfully committed at night, between ten pm and two am, so no matter what he asks us to do, we proceed to node three." He assumed that meant the nickel, but she didn't immediately move her focus away from the dime.
"Ideally, this crime will be something he actually wants done. This gives us more negotiating power because it reveals something about his current plans, and gives us something he values. If he gives us a crime that can only be committed during the day, or that doesn't seem important enough, we force him to choose another.
"Node three is that we successfully commit the crime, hopefully between 11:30 pm and midnight. This is now twelve hours after the initial contact, and might be beyond the reach of his power. We don't know, but we can hope. We still plan as though it's not, of course. We finish up the crime, then meet up with Coil as close to 12:30 PM as we can manage."
She looked up from her demonstration, totally serious. "This is where it gets tricky. We have to force him to demonstrate his power. I don't know exactly what it is, and I don't care what it does, I just want him to do something observably weird. If we can do that, if we force him to focus whatever he can do into that moment, then we've got him. If not, we have to proceed to node four."
"What's node four?"
"Armsmaster arrests all four of us, for whatever crime we committed. During the takedown, I do a really good impression of killing him. You can escape with me or not depending on your own best judgement. This happens at eight am, and I get in contact with Coil again, and run through nodes five through eight, at each node trying to force him into demonstrating his power. I don't like nodes five through eight."
"Why not?" In his own opinion, Intrepid wasn't a huge fan of nodes three or four, either. He could see why it was a good idea to try to set certain events in stone - if nothing else it would give them a much better idea of the strength of Coil's power, and possibly even its mechanics - but he didn't like the stones that had been chosen.
"Nodes five through eight require the Triumvirate. They'll probably respond anyway, if the Ender goes off the deep end and kills her Protectorate team leader and legal guardian, but if not, then I'll keep escalating until they do."
"Is that really necessary?"
"Yes." Intrepid wasn't expecting such a stark, simple answer. She sighed and elaborated. "If he gets through node four without demonstrating his power, it indicates that he is extremely smart and extremely powerful. If he gets through node five, that makes him smarter and more powerful again, at least A-class power level. Each step is an escalation, and our game has to escalate in response. If we can get him to demo in node 2, we will, but I doubt it."
She hesitated, then added, "If it makes you feel better, faking his death is Armsmaster's idea, and he came up with or approved every escalation we have planned. We also have established codes to end the escalation at any time, as well as codes I have to receive before I advance. I am not going rogue here."
It did make him feel a little better, but not much. "Why the focus on the demonstration?"
"Mental powers, subtle powers, aren't easy to demonstrate or prove. Whatever his power is, if we can force him to use it on something showy, then he most likely isn't using it on us. It's possible that he can do something obviously unnatural and still have firepower in reserve, but it's not likely. Our paranoia has to stop somewhere, and Armsmaster and I agreed that this is an appropriate threshold.
"Node three and each node after has an associated time. If he has demonstrated his power before that time, we take him into custody on the assumption that his power is tied up in the demonstration, or at least limited by its use therein. If he hasn't demonstrated, we wait. It's like a node within a node."
"Do I get to know those times?" Intrepid asked.
"I don't know those times. Armsmaster is choosing them, and for now the information is only in his head for the sake of operational security. He'll give us the signal at the instant we're to attack, if we succeed in node three. If node three isn't successful, he may or may not decide to tell someone else the times depending on what we can prove or disprove about Coil's power."
"Okay, so what happens between the nodes?" He pointed to the blank spaces in the dirt. "What if he just runs away as soon as we text him?"
"We prepare now for future escalation that might be necessary to force him to each node. We don't necessarily plan on using it all, but we have to prep for the worst case scenario."
"What sort of preparations?" Intrepid asked, a bad feeling growing in his gut.
"A variety of things. The most important trump card we have is his secret identity."
Intrepid felt the blood rush out of his face. "You didn't. Damn it, Fi!"
"Not on purpose, no." She grabbed his wrist as he went to stand up, too frustrated to listen to another word. "I swear to you, it was an accident." He met her gaze through the glasses, close enough to actually see her eyes, and reluctantly sat back down.
"I stumbled across it," she told him. "I told Armsmaster, and he's approved me to tell you that we know, but not who he is. Armsmaster and I are the only ones that know that. Not even Clockblocker knows that I found it."
She paused, and then said, "I'm sorry. It wasn't… I never wanted to put your family in danger."
He studied her face even as she searched his expression, visibly nervous about his reaction. Jason knew she was telling the truth; it was obvious from her voice and her anxiety, so he ran a hand through his hair in frustration and nodded. "Yeah, okay. We'll talk later about how you accidentally figure out something like that in the space of six freaking hours." He forced himself to take a deep breath and try to refocus. He reminded himself that Armsmaster knew and that the long-time hero would be taking the situation seriously. "So, if it comes to that, what's the plan?"
"Armsmaster and I are willing to use his secret identity if it becomes necessary, but only with extreme caution. In order to limit the risk to the team and preserve the unwritten rules, we need to make it look like Coil violated first. We're going to plant fake blackmail photos, if and only if it becomes necessary."
"Whose idea was that?"
"Armsmaster's. But I didn't protest. I am just as guilty."
Intrepid wasn't done being terrified for his family just yet, but this was a decision that was above his pay grade. He needed to focus on the mission, for now. "So how will this work? Why even tell me this much?"
"I need your help faking the blackmail photos. You'll take pictures of me around school in a variety of civilian outfits and then Armsmaster will Photoshop other kids into them to make them look like surveillance photos from a long-distance camera. Then those pictures, along with others he's isolating from various city sources of myself in costume will be mailed to me at the PRT.
"We will do that today, so that they've already arrived by the time everything happens on Saturday. If we need to go after Coil in his home, Beetle will use her power to plant the 'originals' in his house, though she won't know what she's planting, or why that house. The cape community will see it as self-defense."
Intrepid breathed deeply, thinking. Knowing that Contract and Armsmaster were using Coil's secret identity pissed him off, but he tried to think through the situation anyway. The last time he'd seen Contract this focused, she'd been facing down the Triumvirate and the myriad of corruptions therein. The last time he'd seen her so personally angry? She'd been raving against Sophia's campaign to attack Taylor.
He knew that Contract's heart was in the right place. She had to have a good reason for what she was doing, he trusted that, he just wished it hadn't come to this. But it had, and they had to get through it before they could get over it.
"We need to use me, instead." Her eyebrows shot high enough that he could actually see them over the edge of her glasses. "No one is dumb enough to blackmail you, and it wouldn't do them any good anyway because you don't really have a civilian identity. And there's a chance that the people screening your mail for bombs and poisons might find the photos before we're ready. He needs to go after me, and mail it to my family directly. I'll intercept it so they don't see it."
"Jason, if things go south that could endanger your family, possibly even expose your secret identity."
He swallowed. Yeah, he knew that. He also knew that Contract would go to hell and back for his family, if it became necessary. He was counting on that, in fact. It was the only reason Jason hadn't already walked away. Contract was willing to do a lot of things, but she wouldn't purposefully endanger civilians. "It doesn't matter. Not if this guy is as dangerous as you seem to think he is."
She studied his face, but he was serious. Finally, she nodded. She went to stand up, and this time, he caught her arm, holding her down. They weren't anywhere near finished.
"Who knows about the nodes?"
"Clockblocker and Armsmaster. Clockblocker understands the concept and knows the first three. He doesn't know that Armsmaster and I have five more worked out. Increased operational security is part of the node-to-node escalation I mentioned, so at each node less people know fewer details. Presumably, he'll react to Armsmaster's attempts to arrest us in node four by protesting our innocence.
"Armsmaster will then show him evidence that we really were betraying the Wards, and that with Tattletale's help we successfully played them all. He's working on fabricating it now. After I fake-kill Armsmaster, Clockblocker will be the one to tell the Triumvirate what he thinks is going on."
"You've gotten a lot of planning done in a very short amount of time," Intrepid observed.
"The idea of using nodes was Armsmaster's, he was already working out a timeline when I went to him. Hunters have used informational nodes in the past against B&Bs. I'll explain that to you when this is over, it's not relevant except to say that when I took my ideas to him, we were basically already on the same wavelength.
"We figured out the broad strokes pretty fast and didn't second guess ourselves, not when time is of the essence. Clock joined us, soon after, and I've been texting Armsmaster whenever I have a spare moment since. He's writing back whenever he's got new information too, and Clock's doing the same, though not as much. The details are still coming together or shifting as we all adjust, just like your cover story shifted."
"What does he think about substituting me for the blackmail?"
She paused, but if she was sending a message Intrepid wasn't sure how. Did her glasses track her eye movement? Or was Armsmaster listening in to the whole conversation? It seemed like he had enough of his own work to do. "He agrees it's necessary, but he doesn't like risking you any more than I do. He's grudgingly pulling the photos of you in costume that we'll need."
"Then let's do this."
They spent the rest of that day, and that night, and all day on Friday preparing for contingencies. Knowing that Contract was in constant contact with Armsmaster was extremely reassuring, because a number of things they were doing were nowhere close to protocol. She and Clockblocker also talked privately occasionally, but for the most part they each worried about giving instructions to their own mini-teams.
The Base Team and Anti-Heroes hid tools, weapons, and supplies at various points throughout the city. They sent cryptic messages between burner phones at pre-appointed times, which could have any of a dozen meanings as necessary. They pre-purchased a number of items that would be useful for committing crimes.
At one point, Gallant questioned whether all the preparation was really necessary. Why did the Anti-Heroes really have to stay away from the base? Why couldn't they get checked in as visitors?
Contract's reply had given them a glimpse into her mindset and explained her intensity. "Think of good planning like time travel. We're already engaged with Coil, in the future. And in the future, he's going to ask his spies if there's any sign of us around the PRT in the past, right now, to verify our story. We want the spies to tell him no. Since we know that we are going to want it, we can give the gift to our future selves by making it true now."
Finally it was Friday night, and she insisted that everyone sleep, rather than extending the contract. They needed to let their brains rest, she said, and Intrepid could easily admit that he was mentally if not physically exhausted.
"Why the hell did you agree to kidnap a twelve year old girl?" Clockblocker demanded after Somer's Rock. "You should have demanded a different crime."
Contract had played the role of anti-hero so well Intrepid almost believed it himself, and she hadn't even flinched when she agreed to kidnap a kid who turned out to be Dinah Alcott. She'd had help from Tattletale who was feeding information to her visor, and probably Armsmaster too, but the reasons didn't matter. Her superior acting had made it easy to be his new self: the loyal lieutenant who believed in Contract after the realities of the PRT in Brockton Bay made him reluctant to trust the government officials.
Much to Clockblocker's dismay, Contract (or perhaps Armsmaster) had refused to have a live communications line to the Wards during the encounter, in case Coil had tinkertech capable of detecting it. They'd recorded the interview instead, and had sent the transcription and camera views back to the team but, with the possible exception of Contract, they'd been in there on their own.
"It's one of the better possibilities, really," Contract countered. "Simple to execute, and very informative. Tattletale has already deduced that she's a powerful precog, and only triggered recently. That puts us in a position of power. Coil wants Dinah badly, so he'll have to give us what we want."
Clockblocker sighed. They all knew she was right, but it was hard for the team leader not to be in the field, taking the risks with the rest of the anti-heroes. "We can't take a twelve-year-old civilian into a sting operation, even for just a few hours. It might make sense with the plan, but we can't take the risk. I'm sorry."
As far as Clockblocker and the others knew, the operation was definitely wrapping up tonight. If it didn't, the Anti-Heroes would be going "rogue." The others also didn't know that Contract and Armsmaster were keeping in touch, in case node four became necessary. Contract probably already had authorization from Armsmaster when she agreed to the crime, but Clockblocker didn't know that. Intrepid almost, almost, wished that Contract hadn't told him about the possibilities of nodes four through eight. The stress was enormous.
"Of course I'm not taking Dinah to Coil," Contract agreed. "I'm taking Vista."
That gave them all pause, and Clockblocker waved Contract on. "We're going to break into the Alcott house, with Vista using her power to hide in one of our packs. We will wake up Dinah, and trust her precog power to tell her that she's not actually in any danger. We'll get the details of her power, whatever we need to let Vista fake it, and then we'll tie up Vista and take Dinah out in the pack we brought Vista in. Dinah goes into protective detail, Vista comes with us to Coil, pretending to be Dinah."
"Unless Dinah's already working for Coil," Gallant protested.
Tattletale answered him. "I'll be able to tell you if that's the case, and we can kidnap Dinah for real."
"What if Coil knows what Dinah looks like?" Vista asked, more than a little interested in the idea. Intrepid liked it too. He felt much better about trying to take Coil into custody if they had Vista already in the room.
"We should assume he does," Contract agreed. "You're about the same weight, so hopefully Dinah's clothes will fit, and we'll have you use a set of her pajamas for authenticity. You've got two hours to dye your hair and whatever else needs to be done to turn 'Vista' into 'Dinah.' We'll keep our fake Dinah blindfolded if possible, which will help disguise your face, and depending on how close the end result is we can put a contract in place for good measure."
"What happens in two hours?" Clockblocker asked warily.
"By then Tattletale should have a complete dossier on Dinah and the Alcotts, and Vista starts cramming her new backstory. Meanwhile, the rest of the Anti-Heroes plan our crime, and prepare a spot to meet Coil at later."
"Alright," Clockblocker said. "Everyone else, go get started. Contract and I need to have a private debrief."
The debriefing with Clockblocker was much shorter than Intrepid had expected, and soon Contract was standing next to Beetle, looking at their list of supplies and ready to launch herself into planning a kidnapping.
"He didn't walk you through the encounter?" It was standard procedure for undercover Wards to have to give an account to their handler for everything they said or did during an operation. Strictly speaking, it should have been a PRT adult who was helping Contract play her role, not Clockblocker, but they were trying to follow procedure where they could.
"We've got a lot to do. Clock and I will finish later. Can you find this stuff?" She held out the list of supplies, which she had annotated to show what they'd definitely want on hand for a kidnapping. "I need to talk to Beetle for a bit."
Intrepid took the list and went to make sure everything was in the safe house, rather than hidden around the city. He knew he was being dismissed so that Contract could give Beetle private instructions, but after the earlier bombshells he had no wish to eavesdrop.
Contract was disturbingly good at breaking into the Alcott household. First, she'd hotwired a car that was supposed to be getting maintenance at the PRT motor pool but which the Wards had previously parked not far from Lisa's safe house. Contract spread mud over the license plates and bumpers of the car, obscuring the plates and making it more unlikely they'd be stopped.
In their "stolen" ride, the Anti-Heroes (and Vista, using her power to hide in a small backpack of supplies) had driven right up to the Alcott's front door, taking a circular route that avoided city cameras where possible. Then Contract had parked in the driveway, hiked the bag over her shoulder, and walked up to the front door totally casually. An earlier survey of the property had uncovered a security system, which Contract had silenced but not disabled at that time. Now, all she had to do was pick the front lock.
When that was done, she waved to the rest of the Anti-Heroes. Intrepid, in the passenger seat, turned the engine of the Prius off and they all filed into the house behind her. As soon as they were inside, Contract opened the backpack so Vista could climb out, and implemented the contract that made Vista indistinguishable from Dinah Alcott. After significant discussion, the Wards had decided to buy twelve hours of fake identity in exchange for an open-ended period of the whole Wards' team needing extra calories, starting April 11th.
Once they had their fake Dinah, they ghosted up the stairs to find the real Dinah. Since Beetle was with them and watching the neighborhood, they didn't feel the need to post a watch or sentry. She'd reported one man watching the house when they drove up, which Tattletale told them belonged to Coil. Contract just reminded everyone to play their parts at all times.
Contract spread butter on the bedroom door hinges, then eased it open in one fluid motion. There was a slight creak, but not much. She immediately crossed the room to Dinah's bed, knelt beside it, and woke the girl by putting one hand over her mouth and using her other arm to pin down Dinah's torso. As previously agreed, Intrepid pressed down on the covers over her ankles, so that when she woke with a start, she had nowhere to go.
"We are not going to hurt you." Contract murmured, staring straight into Dinah's terrified eyes. The girl glanced around, her eyes going a little unfocused and then wide as she looked at Vista.
After a long moment, Tattletale whispered, "She doesn't believe us, but she's not going to scream."
Contract immediately took her hand off Dinah's mouth, but didn't release her chest. Intrepid didn't move either. Contract started explaining the situation in a low tone. "We're trying to take down a local villain, and he's got his sights set on you. For your protection and our plan, we're going to fake your kidnapping. Our teammate is going to replace you," Vista was already moving to the girl's closet with pajamas in her hands so that she could change into Dinah.
"We need your help. First, we need you to go into protective custody so that it looks like you've been kidnapped. We can't tell your family until it's over, which should be tomorrow morning. Second, we need to know what your power is so that we can fake it."
"I don't understand," Dinah whispered in a voice that was almost as loud as regular talking. "Before I went to sleep there was only a five percent chance that you'd come. And nearly a perfect chance that Coil wouldn't be fooled. Now your odds of capturing or killing him are above 60%."
Intrepid felt himself releasing her in pure shock at the clarity of those numbers, but Contract was nodding, rolling with the information as though she'd expected Dinah to be one of the most useful precogs in existence. "My power screws with precogs. How precise are those odds?"
"Down to the billionth if I'm not careful."
"Can you get odds on anything?" Beetle probed.
"Anything I can sort into two specific categories. Right now I've got quite a few questions saved up. I've been trying not to ask anything until I figured out a way to use them to avoid being kidnapped and drugged by Coil in the next two weeks."
"What are the chances of that right now?" Contract asked.
"30.9284%" Dinah answered with a glare. "Don't ask me anything like that. I can't help but answer or suffer the headache. And I don't know if that's me or her." She waved a hand at her closet where Vista was still changing. "Someone who looks like me gets captured."
Contract winced. "Sorry. Didn't realize any question would set it off."
"How are we going to fake knowing the future to four decimal places?" Vista asked as she re-emerged in Dinah's pajamas.
Dinah looked at her consideringly. "I could give you the numbers, if I could talk to you."
Contract stared at Dinah, judging her even as Dinah had judged Vista. "I have strict instructions not to take you anywhere near Coil. Your safety has been made my current number one priority."
Dinah nodded. "The future is better for me if I'm on comms than if I'm in a safe house."
"And you're willing to take that risk, knowing that I mess with your power?"
Dinah paused at that, but eventually she insisted, "Yes. My odds are getting better with you, not worse. And that way, I can warn you if my numbers suddenly get worse."
Contract evaluated her for another long moment, then nodded back to her. Intrepid assumed that Armsmaster or Clockblocker or both had just approved the change of plan. "Okay. Good. Here's the new plan. Vista uses her power to expand the backpack, you get in and get carried out to the car. As previously arranged, Vista pretending to be you is walked to the trunk of the car at knifepoint and climbs into the suitcase we have hidden there. We drop the car off where we picked it up, and the three of us go to the meeting point.
"Beetle stays to set the car to rights and wipe it down for fingerprints. Before we go, I'll drop the backpack in the sewer, which will let you get out of it before we take Vista out of range. You wait for Beetle there, and then she can stash you on her way back to meet up with us. We'll have to trust your safety to secrecy, and the fact that Coil ought to be focused on Vista.
"Any objections?" She turned to all of them, but there were none. It was a minor change to the pre-existing plan, and Intrepid assumed that a secret "stash" location was one of the things that Contract had talked to Beetle about, given that Intrepid wasn't sure what she was talking about, but Beetle clearly was.
"Good. Let's go."
On their way back from scoping out the Alcott's house and disabling their alarm system, Contract and Intrepid had driven through the Docks and picked out a location to meet Coil at later. It was on the very edges of ABB territory, surrounded by buildings that were quiet but not quite abandoned.
It was almost a mile from where they needed to return to the car to, but with Vista in a wheeled suitcase, the journey wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was 12:10 am when Contract texted the address to Coil, and within five minutes Beetle had joined them, her work finished. She'd probably jogged to get there so fast, but Intrepid felt better when he was able to see for himself that she was fine.
Then they waited.
It was twenty-eight minutes past midnight when Beetle warned them that Coil and ten other passengers had just entered her range: one cape besides Coil himself, nine mercs, some with weird equipment.
Before she could say more, Coil drove up to, and then into, the warehouse they'd chosen, correctly interpreting the open doors as an invitation. When his two SUVs had passed the threshold, Intrepid flew up and shut the loading bay doors, locking the Anti-Heroes in with Coil had his men.
Contract had arranged the Anti-Heroes at the far end of the open space, with Vista - Dinah, Intrepid reminded himself - still trapped in the suitcase. Coil's SUVs stopped ten yards away, and by the time Intrepid had made it back to his team, the villain's men were all out of the vehicles. Coil was the only one not obviously armed in some way. With him was Circus, two men in hazmat suits, and seven others who looked like ex-military, all as well equipped as one might expect.
Contract stepped forward to meet Coil, hands shoved in her pockets. "Just one backup cape, Coil? I'm crushed. Surely you have more respect for me than that." Her tone was teasing, with belligerence underneath.
"Oh, I don't expect her to be necessary," Coil replied in a matching tone. "And if I do need anything more, Contract, you'll get that demonstration you wanted."
Contract laughed, and like her early laughter at Somer's Rock it held a hint of malice. Intrepid wasn't sure how she could fake such a different personality, but she was very good at it. "Touché, Coil. Touché."
"You're in a good mood," he observed, approaching lazily. His men spread out and followed him. Contract let them come, forcing Coil to meet her on her own ground.
"You didn't tell me she'd be worth her weight in gold," Contract replied, tossing her head back toward the Anti-Heroes. Tattletale was able to interpret the motion, and bent down to unzip the suitcase. Dinah tried to fight as best she could, until Intrepid got a grip and physically lifted her out of the suitcase. Then she stilled, upright, breathing shakily as he kept a harsh grip on her arm. "Dinah Alcott," Contract declared proudly, "as promised."
Dinah's ankles were cuffed together with about a foot of chain between them, her hands were bound behind her, she was blindfolded, and there was duck tape over her mouth. Even knowing what he knew, standing so close to the younger girl while she shook and whimpered was testing his resolve.
Coil took a step forward, and Contract side-stepped, blocking his view and putting her hand out in a classic "stop" gesture. "Not so fast," she protested. "We've upheld our end of the deal. Now it's your turn."
Without any facial expressions, it was hard to judge Coil's emotional response to her challenge. His voice was very businesslike when he answered, "Am I to take your word that she is who you claim? That could be any brown-haired girl."
Contract's mouth, visible beneath her visor, twisted into a grim smile. "Don't pretend you don't know every detail about that girl. I bet you could even tell me her blood-type."
Coil didn't advance, but his posture did seem a little stiffer. "I demand a demonstration of her power."
Contract shrugged, her smirk never wavering. "You really do underestimate me. Admit it, it's pointless. Any probability that's verifiable, such as a coin flip, she already knows and would be easy to fake. Any probability we don't know, she can just lie about."
"Nevertheless, I will have a demonstration."
Contract's smirk dropped away, and she was more serious when she answered him. "And I suppose you have some pre-determined question in mind."
"I do," he admitted. She waited, and when he didn't immediately reply, she turned her head and mockingly held one hand up to her ear, waiting. Coil shifted his stance, evidently not amused, but elaborated. "What are the chances that all of my men make it out of here alive?"
Beside him, Dinah cocked her head. Intrepid waited for Contract to give some signal for them to remove the tape gag, but she didn't do so.
Instead, she sighed. "Come on, Coil, this really is becoming insulting. I know that you think we're still playing you. If we were trying to fake Ms. Alcott's power, we'd tell you a high number to keep you happy. But I bet you've already given instructions for someone on your squad to kill someone else, proving us to be liars.
"Except, of course, that maybe the high number wouldn't be a lie. You're not the kind of schemer to forget to account for my reaction. There is no way I'm letting you kill someone while my team and I are technically still in the progress of a kidnapping, giving each and every one of us a murder charge on top of everything else. So I'd be obligated to save your man's life, and neither of us wants to bring our powers to bear against each other. So let's just accept that I am smart, and you are smart, and leave the pissing contests to lesser capes, yes?"
Intrepid assumed Tattletale was the one who had fed Contract that slew of information. It was too twisty for anything else. Coil cocked his head. "You're very paranoid."
"It keeps me alive," Contract said with a shrug, her hands relaxing from her hips back to her pockets again. "I assume you have a follow up question prepared."
Coil nodded to one of his men, who stepped forward and held up a pair of dice.
"Non-standard faces, of course," Coil said. "What are the chances at least one six is showing?"
This time, Contract turned her head back toward Intrepid and nodded. He pulled the tape off of Dinah's face with one quick motion, and hissed, "Answer the question, if you don't want to be hurt."
"67.1344%" Dinah said in a shaky voice.
Coil nodded, apparently satisfied. Intrepid tried to do the math in his head, but Contract beat him to it. "One standard die, and one that's half sixes I presume? With imperfect weighting, of course."
Coil didn't bother to answer her, just gesturing for his man to toss the dice away. No one bothered to check the faces. It wasn't about whether this future happened to be in the majority or minority of futures, it was about proving that Dinah knew odds she couldn't have known without use of her power.
"One more question, and then I will demonstrate as you wish."
Contract sighed, crossed her arms over her chest, but nodded. "One more."
"Chances that I walk out of here, under my own will power, if I demonstrate my power to Contract."
Intrepid could almost feel Contract roll her eyes as Dinah cocked her head and answered, "87.3342%"
Contract immediately advanced on Coil, aggressive. "You're planning to betray us? By at least 13%?"
Coil held his ground, but did raise his hands. His men, who had been raising their weapons, froze and Contract reluctantly came to a stop as well. "Or a misunderstanding such as this one escalates beyond us both," he shot back. Contract cross her arms over her chest, glaring at Coil. She was closer to Coil, now, than to the Anti-Heroes.
"I have no intention of betraying you," he reassured her after a moment. "As I infer from your reaction that you have no intention of betraying me, the 13% must refer to outside forces."
"In that case, perhaps it would be best if we were to speed this up," Contract said.
"Not quite yet," he insisted.
"You've gotten your demonstration of our commitment and her power. You have your odds of success. What more could you possibly want?"
Coil crossed his own arms in front of his chest. "First, you're going to go back to your teammates." He stopped then and waited. Contract waited too, stubbornly mirroring his posture, but after an awkward ten or twelve seconds she huffed, turned her back on Coil, and retreated to the Anti-Heroes. She whirled around and faced Coil again, looking pissed under her mask.
"Second," Coil said just as calmly, "I'd like to ask the question again, now that we've narrowly avoided a significant confrontation."
"Why do I have the feeling there's going to be a third and a fourth demand? You're stalling. Keep it up, and I'll take my people and my prize and go. With her, I probably don't need you anymore."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Sophie."
Contract stood up straight as a board, her right hand jerked a gun out of somewhere, and she pointed it steadily at Coil, advancing a step as she hissed, "Excuse me?"
Coil's men raised their guns in response, but he again lifted his hands, and no bullets flew. Contract advanced another step, now shouting. "How dare you? How dare you break the capes' code?"
"Tell me you wouldn't do the same, given cause," he challenged, and Intrepid unconsciously tightened his grip on Vista. Did Coil somehow know that Contract had already done the same? But why would he believe her name was Sophie?
Slowly, so slowly, Contract lowered the weapon just a touch. Coil's men didn't mirror the action, instead staying ready to fire. "What's demand three?"
"No demand three. I just want to check our odds, with that little tidbit out of the way."
Contract didn't take her eyes off Coil as her voice snapped out, demanding, "What are the odds that Coil walks out of here a free man if he demonstrates his power in the next sixty seconds?"
"96.4431%"
In answer, Coil turned to one of his men, the dice man again, who stepped up and handed him something that Intrepid couldn't see. Coil tossed the tiny object to Contract, who caught it. "A quarter?" she asked.
"Which side is showing?" Coil replied.
"Heads," she told him, now inspecting the coin more carefully.
"Toss it back," he told her, and she did. He turned it over in his hands for a moment. "How many heads do you need to see, to be satisfied in my abilities?"
Contract waited, studying him for a moment as she thought, or perhaps as she worked out the odds in her head. "Shall we make it a Baker's dozen? One down, twelve to go?" Coil didn't reply verbally, instead tossing her the coin. She caught it, and said, "Heads," then tossed it back.
He threw it again immediately, and this time she caught it in her right hand, then slapped it on the back of her left, changing which face would be showing when she pulled her hand away. "Heads," she reported, sounding surprised. Without moving a muscle, Coil seemed to radiate smugness. Ten to go, Intrepid thought. When would they get the signal to attack?
"Do you really need ten more?" Coil asked her after he caught the quarter again.
"Humor your future ally," she insisted and he threw it back to her. She looked at it casually, said, "Heads," though there wasn't any doubt, and then sent it back to Coil.
"We could do this all night," he promised, flipping her the coin again and again she reported it was heads before she threw it back.
"It won't take ten minutes. Heads," she said, even though she'd again looked at the "other" side of the coin, seemingly at random.
"I was promised sixty seconds of safety, as I recall," he said in a voice that was almost… teasing. Contract didn't rise to his bait, only answering "heads" once again. Six more tosses.
Coil continued prodding her. "I'd think you'd be more interested in how I discovered your name."
Contract seemed irritated by this, not giving him the coin back right away. Her eyes narrowed, and she flipped the coin for herself. She didn't look at it right away, instead just staring at Coil. "Well?" he finally prompted.
She glanced down. "Heads," she admitted. She tossed the coin to him again, and put both hands in her pockets. He didn't throw the quarter back to her. "How did you know?" she asked.
"It wasn't difficult," he said patronizingly.
"Is that so?"
"It is. You practically told me yourself."
"I bet I did," Contract said. "So where do we go from here? Do you trust me yet?"
"No, but close enough," Coil admitted. "I'm sure Tattletale has told you about the retainer I pay the Undersiders. I will match that to your people as soon as you declare yourselves to be villains."
"Independent heroes," Contract corrected him. "I'm not a complete PR fool."
Even though it wasn't necessarily in character, the comment caught him so off-guard that Intrepid laughed. He could just picture Glenn's reaction to being told that Contract was going to run all of her own PR.
Her head turned toward him slightly, before she re-focused on Coil. "Well, at the very least, I know when to listen to my thinker," she said, seemlessly accepting Intrepid's mirth and turning it into a scripted part of her speech. Tattletale shifted uncomfortably, playing the part of the reluctant recruit.
"Is that-"
Intrepid's visor flashed white.
"-so?" Coil asked as Intrepid dropped his grip on Vista and shot as fast as he could towards Circus. The flash was the signal, and it was his duty to take out the highest rated cape on the scene. Given Coil's forces, that was Circus.
Intrepid whipped out his brand-new tinker weapon, courtesy of Kid Win, and opened fire as he accelerated toward Circus. She was fast, and pulled some sort of shield out of pocket-space but the sonic blast hit it hard enough that she dropped it just as Intrepid was upon her. He went over the shield, shoulder checking her, slamming both of them into the side of one of Coil's SUVs.
She brought the hammer around, as hard as she could but the angle was awkward. She hit him right in the small of the back. Intrepid's legs went weak, but he was holding himself up with his power, not his muscles. He put the gun in her face and pulled the trigger again. This time, the sonic blast did its trick and seemed to leave her disoriented. He twisted the cylinder of his gun, as Kid Win had shown him, bringing to bear the limited supply of containment foam it held. He used his close-up position to shoot foam behind her back, sticking her to the door of the SUV.
Intrepid backed off rapidly, just in time as Circus had recovered enough to trade her hammer for two knives in each hand. He managed to foam her left hand while the right lashed out towards him, releasing both knives. If he hadn't already been rising from the moment he realized the hammer was gone, he'd probably have taken one or both in his dominant arm. He used the last of the foam to catch her other hand.
Circus wasn't out of the game, she could still use her pyrokinesis if she found a source of flame, but she was mostly neutralized and he was probably needed elsewhere.
Intrepid rose up rapidly, taking advantage of the height to protect himself and to get a good look at the battlefield. Beetle was swarming the individual soldiers, while Vista had managed to trap the two who were in hazmat suits. No one's guns seemed to be working, so Beetle had probably managed to jam them before the fight, as planned.
The high windows on Intrepid's three o'clock suddenly crashed in, monstrous beasts landing heavily on the warehouse floor, twenty feet below. Shit, the Undersiders. They'd been hoping Coil would be wary enough of Tattletale that he wouldn't call up the team of teenage villains.
As Grue's darkness started to obscure the floor, Contract's voice rang out.
"FREEZE OR I KILL HIM!"
She was standing behind Coil, who was on his knees. She had a long knife tucked under the side of his neck, lying just under his jaw, the tip by his ear. Her other hand was apparently twisting his arm in some sort of submission hold, because Coil seemed to be almost leaning into the knife.
Bitch shouted a single-syllable command and the dogs stopped. The Undersiders, who were riding the things, didn't drop down, but Grue did continue to exude darkness, which floated down and around.
"We're here for Tattletale," Grue shouted back.
"If you walk out of here, Tattletale, I will find you. I do not take well to betrayal," Contract said in a voice that was calm but also deadly. "Either leave with them, or tell your team to go. Your choice."
"Get out of here," Tattletale shouted to her team. Intrepid used the chance to rotate his gun out of sonic shot position, which it had automatically fallen back to when he ran out of foam, and into hard-light shots. Grue's darkness might or might not stop hard light - Tattletale hadn't been sure - but it would definitely screw with sound.
Grue hesitated, looking at Coil.
"Do not think I haven't killed before," Contract said. "This man can no longer pay you, and he cannot protect you either. Go. If you're smart, you'll turn yourselves in before I come looking for you." She twisted Coil's arm a little further. "Tell them."
But no one was listening anymore.
His men were still fighting against Vista, Beetle, and Beetle's swarm. Vista had armed herself with the containment foam sprayer that had been hiding in the suitcase with her. One thug was down near Beetle, perhaps from a personal blow of some sort. Three were trapped by foam, and two more were tangled together courtesy of a Beetle-laid trap. Intrepid used his hard light shots to snipe two more, knocking them off their feet until the girls could handle them permanently.
As for the Undersiders, Regent was already sliding off from behind Bitch, and Grue and Bitch were each moving the dogs farther apart, making it harder to target them. Regent rushed at Vista, avoiding Intrepid's shots, as Vista focused on Circus, finishing the foaming Intrepid had started to keep her out of the fight.
At the last moment, as Regent lunged forward, Vista stretched the space between them, forcing the villain to fall short. Regent waved a hand and she twitched, just slightly, the distance collapsing back. Ironically, it put Regent right in the line of fire of Vista's sprayer.
Intrepid turned his attention to Grue, who was trying to communicate with Bitch over the noise of battle. Intrepid used a hard light shot to knock him off the enormous dog he was riding. Bitch whistled to her dogs, but at that moment the warehouse doors caved in as PRT vans busted them open. Troups poured out, even as Bitch and her monsters charged them.
Intrepid ignored that, knowing both Vista and Beetle were better equipped to help in that fight. He descended on Grue instead, who was pouring out black smoke everywhere. A second hard light shot connected, but Grue barely reeled so the darkness must be acting as a buffer, even the thinnest portions next to his skin.
Before Intrepid could try a third shot, or switch to sonic, he was in Grue's darkness. Only being prepared by Tattletale let him accelerate instead of slowing down as he tucked his gun back in its holster. He was utterly disoriented, like trying to swim in a river with rapids and silt, except that the rushing was replaced by silence. Even so, Tattletale had warned them that Grue had perfect perception in the cloud so Intrepid had only moments before he'd be at the villain's mercy.
The acceleration did the trick, slamming him into Grue before the other could dodge. He wrapped his arms around Grue in a horrible approximation of a grappling hold, then re-accelerated, not caring which direction they were headed.
Grue was heavy, far heavier than Contract or Vista who he'd practiced carrying around. He was also struggling with more than just desperation, but with some actual intelligence. If Intrepid hadn't been regularly sparing against Gallant, he knew he never would have stood a chance. As it was, he barely got out of the darkness before he lost his grip on Grue.
It was luck, or else Tattletale's own power, that meant he dropped Grue practically at her feet. For a heart-stopping moment, the villains' eyes met and Intrepid thought the two of them were going to unite against him. Then Tattletale leaned down and tazed her former team leader. Grue twitched, but Tattletale's power had let her target an unprotected area between the bike leathers and helmet, so he didn't get up.
Intrepid left her standing over the villain and shot up again, headed towards Bitch and her dogs. Bitch was no longer mounted, but was now standing behind the dogs with her back to the wall, calling out commands. Intrepid hugged the wall as he flew closer, then swooped down and tried to lift Bitch up into the air.
Like Grue, she was too heavy. His momentum let him carry her a few yards, and Vista was paying enough attention that she bent space, so she was ready when he dropped the villain. Vista foamed her, and the two PRT officers on either side of her did likewise.
The dogs went berserk, egged on by Bitch who kept howling obscenities and commands. Vista stretched the space between the dogs and everything else, but it wasn't enough. Intrepid's hard light shots were useless against their bulk, and the sonic only made them madder. They snapped at Beetle's swarms, but refused to be distracted from their targets, and they were getting closer to the PRT forces no matter how fast Vista tried to create new space in the now cavernous warehouse. She likely could have caged them, if she wasn't so busy trying to buy a moment of breathing room.
Intrepid used the expanded space to really build up speed as he aimed for the far wall between the dogs, firing his sonic weapon as he passed them. This, finally, was enough of a distraction. They both turned to snap at him as he raced for the ceiling, dodging as first one and then the other leapt impressively high.
Then it was over. Vista had them caged, with walls that went up to the ceiling. It would hold until they got Bitch out of range, or until she calmed down enough to surrender.
He turned back to Contract and Coil, and didn't like what he saw. There was blood, a lot of it, and that was all Intrepid registered before he was racing over to her.
Contract was sitting heavily, looking at the prostrate Coil, blood dripping from her hairline. Her visor was in pieces; it must have taken one or more impacts, and parts of it were actually buried in the left side of her face, where Beetle's additional face armor had been torn away. The knife in her hand, which she'd held against Coil's throat, was drenched in blood.
"Contract, are you…?" He couldn't finish the question, couldn't stop glancing from the knife to Coil's prone body. Experience kept the tinker gun in Intrepid's hand, partially raised, but it was clear that Coil wouldn't require the threat.
"Ll'be fine," she slurred, over the top of the question. With her visor broken she didn't know that he'd spoken, since she hadn't looked away from Coil's body. She was just reacting to the presence of a teammate.
When Coil moved and groaned, curling in on himself, Intrepid accidentally shot him in startled reflex. Contract looked up then, and Intrepid could see that there was blood on her neck, and drenching her shoulder. "I cut the tendons in his ankles," she said, still sounding drunk. "He's not going anywhere."
Now that Coil was curled on his side, and not prone on the bloody floor, he actually looked like he was in better shape than Contract. There was a very thin slice of blood on his neck, but it had missed the major artery that Contract had been threatening. His arm, the one she'd twisted behind his back, was looking a little floppy, like something had been dislocated. Probably how Coil had escaped. And yes, sure enough, both ankles were bleeding.
Intrepid surveyed the warehouse, reflexively looking for threats, but there were none. They'd won.
"Don't let me sleep, Red. Sleep's bad for head shit," Contract told him, authoritative and slightly less slurred. When he looked back at her, her face was screwed up in concentration.
He dropped down on his haunches, to be on eye-level with her. "I got you," he said, facing her squarely.
Her head tipped to the side. "Everyone's okay?"
Intrepid glanced around again, verifying. The PRT personnel were dealing with Circus and the goons. Grue was submitting to handcuffs courtesy of the PRT captain, or one of them anyway since a second captain was talking to Beetle, likely verifying that they'd accounted for all the known hostiles in the area. Vista was headed his way, with Tattletale and a PRT soldier in tow.
"Everyone's okay," he said, nodding as he turned back to her. He figured there was a good chance she couldn't read his lips very reliably at the moment, and he cursed their reliance on tinkertech and her skills to make up the deficit from her deafness. He needed to learn some basic sign, for emergencies.
"Good. I hate bloody time travelers."
Intrepid cocked his head. "Time travelers?"
Contract didn't get a chance to answer. At that moment, Armsmaster's motorcycle roared into the warehouse, past the bulk of the people in it, and skidded to a stop beside Contract and Coil. She looked up at him with a loopy smile.
"I think I'm going to puke now," she announced, and promptly did, all over Coil's feet.
Head trauma or no head trauma, Intrepid was pretty sure that was on purpose.