Fuse 4-2
True to Lisa's prediction, she had quite the scar on the side of her head. One that would hopefully fade with time, but for now remained an unsightly red. So naturally Lisa decided to grab it by the horns and show it off.
"You know, it's kind of growing on me." Lisa ran her fingers through her much shorter hair. One side was shaved down to her scalp to match what was done by the doctors. The rest cut down to a feathery pixie cut. She swept this back and to one side. Better to show off her scar. "Still feels like a punk eighties style though."
"Maybe you will start a trend?" I offered. I liked the look on her.
She gave me a skeptical look. "I hope not. Now that Tattletale is dead, I'm hoping to play it a bit quieter this time. Why? You thinking of doing the same with your hair?"
"Nooo." I shook my head. "If I cut my hair short then people would definitely think I was a boy."
"Bahh," Lisa scoffed. "You know they might not get that idea if you changed your wardrobe some."
"No thanks." I held up a hand to forestalled comebacks. "I been shopping with you enough to know what you have in mind. Tight shirts and skinny jeans." I shuddered. That just wasn't my style.
"You look good in them." Lisa defended.
"I disagree." I retorted.
"Yeah but you have more than a little in the self deprecation department." She smirked.
I didn't respond, my nerves getting the better of me, even with Lisa helping to distract me.
"You two kids ready?"
Both of us jumped in our seats and Assault laughed.
"Not funny." I glared at him. "You know I hate that."
"Yeah yeah, come on." He waved to us.
"We were waiting on you." Lisa said.
"The big hero always arrives last." Assured sniffed.
"Pffft guess we will be waiting on Miss Militia then." Lisa exaggerated a sigh.
Assault made a thoughtful face. "Actually that's true. She should have been here by now." Assault tapped a finger on his chin, a sure sign he was mocking Lisa. "If only I had super brain powers to tell me why."
Lisa's eye twitched and I tried to hid my smile. The two bickered like siblings which meant that they generally got along fairly well.
"It's probable that even without super powers someone with a brain could figure it out," she cocked her head at Assault. "Guess you are still out of luck then."
Assault responded by sticking out his tongue. Which was probably the most mature thing he could manage.
"Sorry I'm late." Miss Militia stride quickly into the room stopping by Assault, her eyes tight with concern. She leaned over to Assault and whispered something to quiet for me to hear.
I glanced at Lisa and saw her eyes widen for a moment before she schooled her expression. Following her lead I did the same.
"Uhhhhh," Assault glanced at the door that lead to the director's office. "You two wait here. Wisp can you promise me you won't let Her run off?" He gestured at Lisa.
"Yeah," I answered on reflex before it really hit me. He had used my cape name. He was expecting me to act as a Hero. Something was wrong. "Of course."
He gave me an assessing look. "Okay, we shouldn't be long." Assault followed Miss Militia into Piggot's office.
The door had hardly shut before I was questioning Lisa. "What was that?"
"Hold on." Lisa closed her eyes in thought. "Not an Endbringer, too early."
My blood went cold. I hadn't thought about that.
"Could be Bakuda again. No. Assault looked scared. Higher threat lev-" she broke off. "That would be very bad."
Ugh I hate when she was so vague. "What?"
"The Nine." Lisa all but whispered. "They must have been sighted."
I shuddered. "Here?" Please say no.
Lisa shook her head. "No, you would definitely know if they were in town. But nearby? Maybe."
"I hope not." I got up and moved a few chairs down from the window.
Lisa did the same, choosing the chair next to mine. "It might not even be the Nine. I'm not sure what it is but it has them spooked.
I put my hand onto the back of hers and she turned it over and twined her with mine. We sat in silence. Me, wondering what horror could scare the heroes I idolized. Lisa, well who ever knew what Lisa was thinking about. Neither of us spoke until Assault returned for us.
"Been waiting long?" His attempt at levity fell flat.
Lisa rolled her eyes and got up, her hand slipping from mine.
It seemed strange to me, that in the moment her hand left mine, the room felt colder.
I shuddered and followed after Lisa.
.
"Tell me Miss Hebert, when did you plan on bringing up your apparent relationship with a known Villain?" Director Piggot was an imposing woman for her stature. At least I thought so.
"She is the one who pushed me to become a Ward instead of a Villain." I protested.
"Perhaps she intended to use you for information?" She steepled her fingers. "Did it not occur to you that she might not be your friend?"
My flaming fist slammed down onto the arm of my chair, blasting it off. "She is my friend! More than that. If it wasn't for her..." I thought about how Lisa had helped me both as Willow Wisp and as Taylor Hebert.
"She did save Wisp's life at the Bank." Assault commented.
Piggot shot Assault a quelling look. "Regardless. Miss Wilbourn's trial will be held later this week. Should things go her way she will join the Wards, just like you wanted."
"But not here." I pointed out. "You want to send her away to some city on the other side of the country!"
"It is protocol." Piggot rolled her eyes. "Something that Heroes seem to be forgetting as of late."
"Fuck your protocol!" The words were out of my mouth before I even knew they were mine. "I love Lisa, she saved my life and almost died before you would believe her abo-"
Lisa put a hand on my arm and I stopped mid word.
Piggot frowned and motioned to Armsmaster.
"Zero indication of master influence." He reported. "We went through all the tests we could think of and followed the protocols to the letter with isolation."
"I'm not mastering anybody." Lisa rolled her eyes. "It's called trust. She trusts me with her life and I trust her with mine. Already she has saved my life and I hers." She squeezed my arm a bit and I sat down, careful of the broken armrest.
"You bring up protocols and I get that," Lisa continued. "But protocols are nothing but chains once you have been infiltrated. Now your opponent knows your every move long before you do, he will have literally read you like a book."
"You keep telling us of this mysterious boss of yours but have never once given his name." Piggot's lip curled slightly as if she wanted to snarl.
"Yes because Neely giving up his existence was enough to get me killed." Lisa pointed at her scar. "If I had given his name and his plans and you didn't believe me? He would have done something far worse."
"Oh and what would that be? Torture? The murder of your long estranged family?" Piggot's contempt was open displayed now.
"Enslavement." Lisa said.
Miss Militia shuddered.
"He would have locked me up in a basement somewhere and used me for my powers, my body, whatever he wanted." Lisa was shaking slightly. "You don't understand just how dangerous he is."
"If He is so dangerous why won't you give his name?" Piggot questioned.
"Because out of everyone in this room I only trust Taylor." Lisa said. "But I realize that you don't trust me either."
Piggot purses her lips and didn't say anything.
"Coil." Lisa said. "His cape name is Coil."
Miss Militia exchanged a glance with Armsmaster.
"Coil?" Assault asked. "That villain wannabe? He doesn't even hold territory. Hardly anyone has even seen him. We don't even know if he has powers."
"He has powers." Lisa said. "I don't know what it is but he definitely has powers. Too much goes his way, too many pieces fall into place. Beside he has stupid amounts of money. He promised to double whatever we took from the bank on top of a flat fee to robbing the place." She looked at Assault. "As you probably know, money is practically a super power in its own right on the Villain side of things."
"In the real world as well." Piggot commented.
I felt my ire begin to rise again at the statement. As if Heroes and Villains were not part of the 'real world'.
"So what's your game?" Piggot asked Lisa. "Dangle a little information at a time, strong us along, using it as leverage to get what you want whenever you want?"
"No," Lisa said, serious. "I'll give you everything on Coil. If he ever finds out I am alive he will come after me again so others don't get the same idea." She looked at me. "And it won't be just me. Coil doesn't play by the rules. He'll go after your family, your friends, he'll tear down your whole life to get what he wants and tell you it's your fault the whole time."
"You have seen this?" Miss militia asked quietly.
Lisa nodded to her. "One of his hired guns tried to take over shortly after he forced me to join. Coil destroyed the man, and made sure anyone in a position to interrupt him again knew the consequences."
Director Piggot mulled it over. "Give us whatever information you have and we will see about making sure you remain here as a Ward."
"If she doesn't." I said. "I won't stay either."
"Is that a threat?" Piggot's eyes narrowed.
"A promise." I clarified.
"You know even if she stays you will not be able to work together in the field for patrols." Miss Militia pointed out.
"She shouldn't be on patrol anyway." I said. "She is a thinker, she doesn't have super strength, lasers, speed, or any of the other BS that she can use to defend herself." I glared at the woman, Director of the Bay's PRT or not she wasn't going to dress Lisa up and throw her to the wolves. Especially not when Lisa didn't want to be a Hero or Villain to begin with.
"Then why should we take on the risk of adding a former Villain to our Wards roster if she cannot contribute?"
"She could run console." Assault pointed out. "We could add the cameras we had been talking about to the Wards costumes and send her the feed. With her thinker abilities she could invaluable to operations in the Bay. Ward and protectorate both."
"I do not think it is a good idea to give her such access to our computers." Armsmaster droned.
"Well not at first but perhaps after she has earned our trust." Miss Militia returned. "Remember She was forced to be a villain and does not have a single instance of violence on her record."
"No but she does have a small host of non-violent crimes with the Undersiders and I bet quite a few we don't know about." Piggot retorted.
"Not really." Lisa shrugged. "I stole food money and clothes when I was on the streets but other than that nothing but what I had to do as Tattletale."
"That brings up another point." Piggot said. "You are a minor an-"
"Emancipated minor." Lisa interrupted. "Practically the first thing I did when I left home."
"Legally?" Piggot questioned.
"Of course otherwise what would be the point?" Lisa sighed.
"Was that when you changed your name?" Piggot dug, with a slight glance at me.
Lisa's eye twitched a fraction.
"No, technically my name is still Sarah Livsey but I don't use it." She gave me a guilty look and I gave her a one shoulder shrug back.
I knew Lisa wasn't her real name, she had told me that much, but she had never given her name and I never asked.
"So there is nothing but PRT protocols keeping me from being a Ward here. I can even live on my own." Lisa's smug tone was involuntary, I hope.
"I would prefer if you didn't." Miss Militia said. "If Coil does actually come after you I would prefer if you were not alone."
"So long as the PRT uses the information right then he shouldn't know I am even alive."
"Powers being what they are, I agree with M&M." Assault added.
Lisa frowned.
"She can live with me!" I blurted.
Everyone looked at me and I felt my cheeks burning.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. You two being in a relationship and all." Assault said.
"It's not like we could get each other pregnant." Lisa dead panned.
I was pretty sure I was nearing tomato red after that statement.
"No," Armsmaster coughed one and cleared his throat. "But it doesn't set a good precedent."
"Do you expect me to continue bunking in my cell even after the trial?"
Piggot cleared her throat and the room fell silent. I glanced at Tattletale and she winked at me. She knew something. Her confidence was back.
"You all are proceeding as if Miss Wilbourn has already been inducted into the Wards." Piggot said. "Should she be, there is still the discussion of if she should remain here in Brockton Bay."
Armsmaster shifted slightly. "With our recent losses to the team we could use the help, even with the two new transfers."
"And if it wasn't for her, no one would have made it out of the Bank." I added.
"Enough." Piggot's voice was firm. "Enough. This is a discussion for another time. If it becomes necessary then we will have it then. If there is nothing else?"
I shook my head with everyone else.
"Good. Miss Wilbourn, please stay behind with myself and Armsmaster. Let us discuss Coil."
.
Author's Note: Just for the record, I wanted Bakuda to blow stuff in this chapter but I needed to do some world and plot building. Maybe next chapter too. Ugh, narrative timing is hard. Also autocorrect is an asshole.
Thank you all for the support! Be it either fav or follow, it is much appreciated and I always love to read your reviews (hint hint)!
K. Raiden