Interlude Lisa
It was freaking cold. Why had she gone north? Fricken Brockton Bay. She should have gone south. Yeah, a Florida beach, all those rich old farts she could fleece.
Dang it.
An elderly grump of a man wandered past her alley. The man let out a wet cough.
About 75 to 80 years of age.
Widower.
Mesothelioma.
Navy veteran.
Depression.
No close family left.
Low impact target.
She wasn't particularly thrilled about victimizing a man who had clearly been through a lot but it was cold and she was hungry.
She slipped up behind him. Angling her power to determine where the man kept his wallet.
Left hand tapping his left hip every time he passed another person.
Wallet.
Left front pocket.
The man turned a corner and she followed on his heels. She just had to slip her hand into his pocket without him noticing.
He was waiting for her.
"You followin me Girl?"
"I-I-uh no sir."
"Don't Sir me Girl. Why'r you followin me?"
"I wasn't-"
He knows.
"I-I was going to try-"
"And take my hard earned money eh?"
She nodded.
The man gave a racking cough and almost doubled over and she reached out to steady him but he stopped her with a raised hand.
"This is your chance to run girl." He wheezed.
It's a test.
"Are you okay?" She asked though she knew the answer.
"No." He suppressed another cough. "Go get something to eat and leave me be." He fished a few bills from his wallet and pressed them into her hands.
Another test.
"But I tried to steal your wallet?" She again knew the answer.
"Yeah and you are stick thin and haven't washed you hair in a while. You ain't got the look of a junkie so figure you are just hungry."
Test passed.
"T-thank you." Her stomach twisted into knots, from hunger or guilt she couldn't tell.
"Yeah now go on and leave me be." He turned away from her without a second glance.
"Thank you!" She called after him again. The guilt didn't lessen in the least.
.
"You have a choice to make, Sarah Livsey. You can either work for me or, say, retire early."
The distorted voice on the phone said.
To punctuate the voice's statement the man holding the phone drew a gun from his suit jacket.
Long cylindrical attachment on the end.
Suppresses sound.
Figured out that one for myself power, thanks.
Use of a suppressed pistol indicates the threat is real. Refusal of the offer will result in death.
"Hey! What are you doing to that girl!" A gruff old voice called out.
No.
no. no. No. NO!
Older man 75 to 80 years of age.
Widower.
Mesothelioma.
Navy veteran.
Depression.
No close family left.
No one to mourn him.
"Kill him." The voice on the phone said.
"No!" She screamed to the man. "Run!"
It was too late.
She knew it was too late.
The poor diagnosis, the missing touch of his wife. The call to action that stirred his veteran blood.
Each was driving him forward to certain death.
The gun puffed three times and the old man crumpled to the ground, eyes on hers.
"This is your chance to run girl." He mouthed, no sound emerging from his throat.
Then he was gone.
"No." Damn it but she was weak. She had powers but they were now the cause of her suffering and not her salvation. She was going to kill this man on the phone. Kill him and take everything he held dear for herself.
"What's it going to be Sarah Livsey?"
Smug tone.
Knows your answer.
Know the exact words you are going to say.
Is sure of why.
Is 100% wrong.
"Fine I'll work for you." She gritted her teeth. "I'm going to be the best villain this town has never seen."
She was going to take over this town and crush the villains underfoot. And she would start with this asshole on the phone.
.
The older teen in the biker leathers was the first to talk. His voice deep and rich despite the distortion caused by his power.
Absorption of light.
Muffles sound.
Potential for more.
She mentally pushed her power off the subject. She could study her teammates later.
"Hi, I'm Grue." He kept both hands stuffed in his jacket pockets. "And this is Bitch. Her choice."
She gave the other girl a once over look. The kind that she couldn't help but do.
Feet spread apart.
Hands free.
Shoulders square.
Aggressive stance indicating perceived dominance.
Don't give an inch.
She finished her once over and rolled her eyes to Grue and squared her body to face him, indicating she perceived Grue as the more important of the pair.
Bitch growled. Actually growled and she had to smother the laughter that threatened to bubble up at the absurdity of it.
"I'm Tattletale." She hated the ridiculous name her new employer has stuck her with.
"Not exactly the best name for villain." Grue pointed out.
Didn't she know it but she shrugged anyway. "Didn't have a lot of options." He could take that however he wanted.
Grue nodded. "It can be like that sometimes. A lot of the good names get taken early on and then figuring out a new one can be a pain."
"You've been a cape for a while then?" She asked.
He shrugged. "Maybe a year and a half. You?"
"Little over five months." She admitted. That much truth couldn't hurt.
He shook his head. "The first few can be real rough."
She nodded. He had no idea. No ones trigger was easy but there was definitely a difference in the following months.
"So, I guess we are supposed to be a team then?" Grue continued. "Did you meet our boss."
She shook her head. "No it was done over the phone."
"Same for us." Grue shrugged.
Tattletale glanced at Bitch. She was having a hard time believing the girl was contacted via phone. Someone to keep an eye on for now. "What is the plan exactly?" She asked Grue.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "I was told that the boss was putting a team together and asked if I wanted to join. Two grand up front and more every month. Plus whatever we make on the job. Seemed like a good deal to me, I have bills to pay."
Bills he says. What kind of bills does he have?
"Bitch here got pretty much the same deal plus a bit of property for her dogs." He waved in the girl's direction. She was still scowling in what was supposed to be an intimidating manor.
She had nothing on the barrel of a gun.
"What about you?" Grue asked.
"Mostly the same." She lied.
She would have to see about a better deal than work or die.
"Six grand a month to support a team of minor Villains?" Grue Reached up to rub his chin but when his fingers brushed the underside of his helmet, his hand faltered.
Unused to being social in costume.
Finds her attractive.
He is unsure of his feelings on the subject, considering her age.
Not against it.
She resisted the urge to cover her chest and silently cursed the costume her new boss provided. It was skin tight and covered from her neck down, even her feet. Who ever the sick bastard was that thought this up, she hoped she would get a chance to kick him in the balls.
"Seems a lot without any strings." Grue continued, clearly trying to look anywhere but at her chest.
She scoffed. "There are always strings." She ignored the look Grue was giving her. "Did the boss say anything to you about a first job?"
Both answered to the negative.
She pulled out her phone and pulled up the email titled Job Interview that had been sent to her brand spanking new villain email.
It was a job stealing from the Merchants. As starter assignments went it could have been worse.
"Okay this is what I have."
.
"He looks stupid." Rachel's tone was uninterested but still with her characteristic edge of hostility.
"Hey fuck you bitch, just because you can't recognize taste when you see it."
"The only taste you have is when my dogs tear you to shreds." Rachel growled as she squared off on the younger boy.
"Ooh, good one." The boy rolled his eyes.
Bitch moved to put her fingers to her mouth to whistle for her dogs waiting below. Instead she punched herself in the mouth.
Tattletale looked on in mild interest. What did she care if Bitch mauled Coil's little spy, and if Bitch got a little roughed up in the process? Well she didn't mind.
Bitch tried to whistle without her fingers and blew a raspberry instead. Which was pretty funny if Lisa was able to ignore the why of it.
The annoying little shit could hijack a persons nervous system. The longer he was in proximity, the more control he had. Only the genuine disinterest in his eyes kept her from discretely making a run for it.
But the fact that Coil now has a spy working for him directly on this team meant one of two things. The first, Coil had suspicions of disloyalty and his first and expendable security measure was this kid calling himself Regent.
The second and scarier option was that Coil had proof of her starting to probe his network and had sent the little fuckwit to make sure she had an accident, potentially a lethal one.
Whatever good mood she had was now gone. Her dangerous situation had just gotten worse. It was going to be days before she was able to sleep again.
.
"Jesus!" She yelled as the dogs cleared the gap between buildings caused by the two lane road below. "We can slow down you know! We are not being followed!"
Another jump and she clung to Grue's leathers.
A flicker of light caught her attention but they were moving too fast. What was it.
Powers.
Was that her own idea or her powers? It was hard to tell sometimes.
Another flicker of light, this time ahead. Was it more than one person. They were moving to fast to get much more than a glimpse of the light, never mind a profile of their follower.
"Circle the Docks, we might have just picked up a ta- ahh!" The jostling of the dog beneath her caused her to bite her tongue.
Grue must have gotten the gist of it because he whistled to get Bitch's attention. When she looked his way he made a fist with one hand in the over exaggerating way that clearly meant stop.
The dogs abruptly shifted course and stopped. On a roof top shaded from the light of the bigger part of the city.
"Pull the bags from the dogs and be ready to fight." Grue commanded. "Tats spotted a tail- "
"Duh, each of the dog have one." Regent drawled.
"And I want to know who it is." Grue finished, ignoring Regent. "Bitch could you send you dogs..."
Tattletale pointed.
"In that direction and have them look for a scent?" Grue finished.
"They will scent everything on the block." Bitch warned.
"Have them look for someone on the rooftops. My gut says they will be there but not for long."
Bitch shrugged and gave a whistle to get the dogs attention she barked a simple command "Find it!" And pointed in the direction she wanted the dogs to go.
"Shouldn't you have gone with them so they don't grab some schlub off the street."
Bitch cocked her head. "Why?"
Regent moved his gaze in a way that clearly meant he was rolling his eyes. "Never mind."
"Tats do you see something over there?" Grue pointed a little off from where the dogs were sent.
"What did it look like?" She asked.
Grue shrugged. "Like a dim flash of light?"
"That's them!" She turned to Bitch. "Over there. Send your dogs over there." She pointed for the bulrush girl.
Bitch put her fingers to her mouth and let out a deafening whistle.
The dogs changed course and Tattletale had to wonder if Bitch had trained them to move left or right in accordance with a specific whistle or if her power didn't subtly control the dogs in some way.
There! A dim light that faded as fast as it appeared. It seems the dogs flushed them out but no howls could be heard. That meant no one was there.
Teleportation?
Shit, she hoped not.
"Grue, I haven't figured out how they are doing it yet but they ditched the dogs." She glanced around them. "We should go."
"You sure?" Grue asked.
"Yeah. I think if you cover us we should be able to speed out of here before they catch on to our direction."
"The usual then." He sighed. "Bitch call them back."
Bitch put her fingers to her lips again.
The whistle sounded the same to Tattletale but the dogs came back sure enough.
Grue's darkness began to flood from his body as they started loading up the first dog with the bags from the casino.
"Real nice." Regent snarked as the darkness enveloped him. "Now I get to climb a monster in the dark."
Tattletale would have felt the same if they hadn't gotten so used to riding them in the past year.
Besides, she would cheat.
"Grue, I can't see help me up so we can get out of here."
And soon enough they were off.
.
Lisa studied her new friend over the rim of her coffee cup.
Taylor Hebert. Tall for her age, lanky in the way that happens to teens whose growth spurt out paces their body mass. Her hair was long, dark, wavy, and was very much the most feminine thing about her what with the girl's current lack of womanly curves. She was hunched over her brand new phone Lisa had bought her. Her dark eyes slightly narrowed and her lips pressed into a thin line giving the impression her mouth was too wide as she concentrated. In all the Girl was quite plain looking and nothing about her really stood out good or bad. She was, even in her power's opinion, quite neutral.
Taylor jumped in her seat and almost dropped her phone as it started to belt out at full volume whichever default ringtone she had sampled.
Lisa nearly spit out the sip she had just taken. Taylor was most definitely good for a laugh and even more fun to tease. She may be a plain looking girl but she was undeniably cute when she was embarrassed.
"Sorry." She whispered as the predictable flush of embarrassment crept up her neck to her cheeks.
Lisa, mouth now free of hot coffee, laughed and Taylor's blush deepened. "It's okay." Lisa debated a moment on teasing the girl about her minor ineptitude, but let it pass. Their friendship was still too new to press her luck in that direction, but where was the fun in sitting in silence? Maybe another direction? One that Taylor was so clearly innocent of.
"Do you think people here think we are on a date?" There simple enough but it would get the reaction she wanted.
Taylor sputtered. "What?" She looked around. "Do they really think that?"
There it is, the game was on.
"I don't know I was asking if you think they do."
Taylor's brow furrowed a little in thought. "But you would know without asking me."
"I'm more interested in what you think they think than what they think they know." Lisa did her best not to smile. But she did anyway, she couldn't help it.
"What?" Taylor's confused expression was almost as good as her embarrassed one. "Is this your way of asking if I think we look like a couple?"
"No, but that was the question in a round about way." Lisa loved this part of the game. Where the other person was now trying to sort out what she was really asking.
"Then, what are you asking?"
"The question." Lisa couldn't help her smile.
Taylor's brow was furrowed to the point it was in danger of fusing together. "I don't- who? What?"
"Start with the question then move from there." Lisa coached.
"Do we look like a couple?" Taylor asked.
"I asked you first." She turned it around on Taylor again and she saw the beginnings of realization on Taylor's face.
"You're teasing me." She ventured.
Lisa laughed gently keeping Taylor from getting the wrong impression. "Not to be mean about it." Lisa assures.
Taylor frowned and furrowed her brow.
"Seriously Taylor, I know you haven't had the best experience when it comes to teasing and bullying but really I'm not trying to be mean about it. I just like seeing you blush, it's cute." Lisa knew Taylor might get the idea she was interested in her but so long as she didn't lead the girl on she was fine.
Taylor blushed a deep crimson and Lisa felt a small pang of regret. A relationship with Taylor would probably be fun but she was going to have to avoid it.
After all, if her plan failed then she wouldn't survive to see next year.
.
Taylor's lips were feverishly warm and her arms tightened around Lisa as the kiss lengthened. Lisa broke away first.
"Nice catch." She breathed.
Taylor's arms held her tight. "Yeah, close one." Her friend didn't immediately let her go and Lisa had to admit to herself that she didn't mind.
"We should probably get off the ground." Lisa forced herself to her feet and offered a hand up to Taylor.
"Yeah," Taylor accepted. "Thanks."
Lisa's power had given her a very detailed idea of just how she would have landed and how big a mess it would have made.
A glance at Taylor and her power supplied her with just how her friend would have come apart with her death. She didn't need her power to know that Taylor would blame herself. The girl already had an annoying penchant for self deprecation and her over all estimate of self worth was low enough that she would sacrifice herself for someone she barely knew at the time. Lisa only needed to look back at their Lung encounter to know that.
Lisa grabbed Taylor's hand and held it, pulling her along until she was walking beside her. "I was going to ask if you wanted to get something to eat but that scared my appetite away."
Taylor gave her a concerned glance. "What do you want to do instead?"
Lisa's power provided her a brief flash of pale skin and her lips burned with the phantom touch of Taylor's lips.
"Honestly? Just walk I think." She lied.
"Okay." Taylor's voice was neutral.
Lisa diverted her power away from what her friend could be thinking. "I think next time we hang out, let's just stay in and watch movies or something."
"No more tall buildings?"
"No more tall buildings." But maybe a bed. Lisa shook the thought from her head.
.
Tattletale raged inside. That stupid bitch Bakuda had to make her move now.
"What is it?" Taylor, disguised by her Willow Wisp costume, asked.
Tattletale bit off her reflexive snarky reply. Taylor's power didn't give insight like her own did. It wasn't her fault that those two morons brought a bomb into the bank. "Everyone up!" Tattletale commanded. "You are leaving."
She turned her head to the cloud of darkness. "Grue?!"
"I'm kind of busy!"
"We have a problem!" Tattletale called back with an annoyed edge.
One of Bitch's dogs came skidding out from the darkness, nails digging into the tile as if it was no firmer than dirt. The source of the dogs new found rearward locomotion was Glory Hole the Wonder Tart. With a completely self indulgent twirl the excuse for a hero flipped the dog onto its back and sent it skidding back into Grue's darkness.
Before turning her attention on Tattletale.
"Fuck."
"Where is Amy?" Glory Hole demanded.
A cold pit settled into Tattletale's stomach. She had missed something. "Amy Dallon," fucking Panacea! "Would you please go with your sister?"
Glory Hole eyed Taylor with undisguised suspicion.
Taylor defaulted to her shrug of general confusion and acceptance as she often did when Tattletale, or in all other cases Lisa, was around.
Glory Hole wasn't buying whatever she though Taylor was selling.
Amy Dallon stood from the center of the crowd. "I'm not leaving these people to be your hostages."
Tattletale waved her gun in a dismissive gesture. "Fine take them with you. Just go. Get out of here. Leave already."
No one moved to leave.
For fucks sake Heroes were stupid.
"Fuck it." Tattletale huffed and pointed her gun at the two men with the duffel. "Those idiots have a tinker bomb and- "
Glory Girl slammed into Tattletale and sent her skidding across the floor, her vision darkening after her head thumped against the expensive hardwood that made up the teller counter.
When she came to her senses Grue had her in a fireman's carry and they were coming out the alley door they had entered through. Curiously there a a tiny orb of blue flame bobbing along behind them slowly lagging further behind.
Taylor.
Tattletale hadn't known that she could make it follow like that. Not much use with the lack of speed but weird none the less.
A whump of sound reverberated from the Bank they had just fled and throat tearing screams could be heard from within.
The blue ball of fire winked out and Tattletale heart broke. Taylor, her one friend, had been caught in the blast.
.
"These aren't very comfortable." Tattletale jingled the handcuffs that bound her wrists. "Don't suppose you are the type to keep a fuzzy pair around?" She bobbed her eye brows at Miss Militia. "They are much more comfortable."
The slight narrowing of the eyes and the minuscule twitch of a finger gave her power all it needed.
Doesn't like the idea of being restrained.
"Hey join the club." Tattletale again addressed Miss Militia. "I don't like being restrained either."
A slight widening of the eyes.
"Oh yeah, I can totally read your mind." She quipped.
A slight exhalation of breath and easing of the shoulders.
She knew her powers then.
But what Tattletale did was arguably better than anything Miss Militia likely thought her capable of. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. New kinds of powers pop up all the time."
Miss Militia gave her a brief almost non existent glance before schooling her expressions and carefully managing her gaze.
It was a test. "No need to test me I'll stop." Tattletale blew out an exaggerated breath of exasperation. "Geez, save a Ward instead of making a getaway and get arrested. What a way to die."
Miss Militia looked at her sharply and Tattletale suppressed a smirk. The game was on.
"You seem awfully calm despite your words." Miss Militia frowned.
Fuck it. Why not go for broke? "My life as a villain started at gunpoint it seems poetic that it will end at the same. Hmmm, or perhaps that is irony instead."
Miss Militia's frown deepened but said nothing.
Tattletale let that thought cook in Militia's brain until the woman opened her mouth to speak. So naturally she interrupted her. "How's the new girl?" This was something she genuinely wanted answers to. "Said her name was Willow Wisp."
"Alive and on her way to the hospital." Miss Militia tilted her head slightly. "Why bring a bomb if you didn't want casualties."
"Wasn't me or the Undersiders." Tattletale looked Miss Militia in the eyes. "It was Bakuda."
"Bakuda was not present at the Bank." Miss Militia's voice was hard and slightly accusatory. "Just the Undersiders."
The slight movement of Miss Militia's eyes caught her powers attention. Miss Militia was looking for some kind of tell. Meaning she had more information than she was letting on. Something she was upset over. Something personal. What had Taylor told her about mentors? Ah yes Shadow Stalker.
"The Undersiders weren't the only ones hired for the job." Tattletale bite her cheek as she began her favorite game. Information control. "Shadow Stalker was hired on as well."
"Hired on? By who?"
"I can't say more, he will definately have me killed."
"You are in protectorate custody." Miss Militia assured. "No harm will come to you."
"Do you plan on having a Hero guard me the entire while?" Tattletale sneered, she couldn't help herself. "The Boss is a patient man. He has people in every gang and government organization in this city and maybe even a few besides. There is nowhere you can protect me." Tattletale knew what was coming next, almost verbatim.
"You could join the Wards." Miss Militia offered. "You would be well protected."
Tattletale raised an eyebrow. "Yes you have done so well protecting your precious Wards today."
Anger flashed in Miss Militia's eyes.
"No thanks to you and your associates."
"It is thanks to Me that one of your Wards is even alive." Tattletale spat back.
Tense silence followed.
"Why?" Miss Militia eventually asked.
Tattletale glanced at Miss Militia's eyes. "How could I not?" Seed planted.
Miss Militia eyes her. "Spoken like a Hero."
Tattletale gave a derisive snort. "You don't need to be a Hero to save someone."
"You said you became a Villain at gun point?" Miss Militia asked.
"I did." Tattletale agreed. "Which is why I don't want to be shanghaied into being a Hero."
Miss Militia frowned. "It is your choice. It is but one option."
"Not really spoiled for choice here." Tattletale gestured to herself. "I will be killed either way."
.
Tattletale snapped back to the present, her life as a villain flashed through her mind as it all culminated to this point. Specifically at the end of the gun a PRT trooper held pointed at her head.
"Oh my sweet Tattletale." The phone droned sweetly. "You should have just kept your mouth shut."
"You would have killed me anyway." She responded unafraid.
"Perhaps." Coil allowed. "Do it."
Tattletale closed her eyes. There was a rush of sound and a flash of light through her eyelids.
And Tattletale was no more.
.
.
.
Now she would become something else.
.
Author's Note : This Chapter took FOREVER! and I'm sorry it did but it turns out Lisa's power is too OP for my brain to handle. I really struggled with her power and how much she knew, should know, or even could know without giving anything away. I wanted to hint at some things and I did try to but after reading back through I'm not confident I succeeded or possibly lead some readers in the wrong direction.
To sum it up I think I will not be writing another Lisa POV here or in another fic without changing her powers.
Whew... now that is behind me I can get back to our beloved introvert, Taylor. I've had to reconsider my time line a bit so what I did have for the next chapter I may just toss and start over. Sorry.
Huge thank you to you all. Really every one of you who have favorited or followed or reviewed. You guys and gals are just amazing and have made this adventure so very much worth while.
A belated Merry Christmas and an early Happy New Year!
K. Raiden.