Fuse 4-6

Annnnd I'm back! But you are not here for me so I will keep this short. Shout out to Ascherit and xenahort x thanks for checking in.

"Whomever said fresh air was best has never been to the Bay." Lisa laughed as we walked through the city. "Still better than house arrest I guess."

I just smiled. "It's nice to just get out and not have to worry about our jobs and just be together."

"Don't get all mushy on me." Lisa pushed my shoulder gently. "You'll blow my cover."

I eyed her. She had used temporary dye to dye her hair black and highlighted it with strands of purple and pink. She then picked through my wardrobe for what she called suitably dark clothes, which as it turned out was anything I had that had tears or was worn to bare threads. "You look like an almost homeless punk band groupie." I told her.

She picked at the worn forest green hoodie. "They're your clothes." She reminded me.

"If dad hadn't inherited the house then we probably would have been homeless." I remarked. "Besides you are the one telling me to dress 'nicer'."

She gave me a searching look at the the former comments before continuing with the latter. "I think you look way better than you think you do." She poked a finger into my side. "All that exercising and you don't show any skin."

"I'm not the one wearing a hoodie." I retorted.

"How else am I supposed to hide these things?" She gestured to her breast.

"I wouldn't know." I said airily. "Some of us aren't as blessed as others."

Hah! Blessed?" She rubbed one shoulder. "I tell you they can be a real pain sometimes."

"Sure sure."

"Come on you act like I'm some double D super model." Lisa huffed. "I'll have you know I fit just fine into a C thank you."

I scoffed. "I'd be happy if I could strain an A and you're complaining about C?"

"Yeah, well you are on the upper half of five foot whereas I just squeak over five by a small margin." Lisa defended.

"I think I would trade." I retorted.

"Right up until you realize how much you can't reach or how much boobs get in the way I'm sure you would." She sighed.

"Agree to disagree?" I offered.

"Pffft never." She laughed. "I'm always right."

"Are not." I shot back.

She shifted and gave a falsely haughty tone. "Prove it."

"Don't have to, it's self-evident."

She shot me a grin. "That's just your way of saying you can't think of anything."

"Is not."

"Oh?" She arched an eyebrow. "Let's see some proof then."

Damn she had me in a corner.

"See?" She said, total smugness evident. "Told you."

I rolled my eyes at her and changed the subject. "Where are you taking me?"

"I'm taking us dancing." She smiled.

"Oh no." I stopped dead. "No no no no. I don't dance."

"Well, not yet." She faux scoffed. "I mean have you ever tried?"

"No."

"See then how do you know?"

"Because I don't want to find out in front of a whole bunch of people that I can't dance" I emphasized.

"Pssshhh." Lisa waved it away. "It'll be too dark for anyone to really recognize you."

I looked at the sun overhead.

"It's inside." She pointed out. "And a legit business."

"Are you taking me to the Palanquin?"

"Hell no. I said legit business." She scoffed.

"The Palanquin isn't?" I asked. As far as I knew it was."

"It is." Lisa sounded undecided. "Mostly anyway. But a few capes have been known to stop in from time to time and I would like to avoid them."

"Villains?"

"Meh." Was her only response.

"Then where are we going and why are we still going there if I'm not going to be dancing?" I questioned.

"Just wait and see." Lisa sighed. "Just let me surprise you."

.

I looked at the plain wooden door in front of me. "You swear we are not going dancing?"

"Yes I swear this isn't a dance club, or even a secret dance club for that matter."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Looks like a door." Was her smartassed reply.

"Fuck it." I grumbled and with a bracing breath I opened the door to find a set of stairs leading down underground into the last thing I expected.

A rather nice, little cafe.

Behind me Lisa was laughing. "You should have seen the look on your face like I was leading you into a drug den or something." She wiped and imaginary tear from the corner of her eye and sighed. "Too good."

"Laugh it up." I grumbled. "You're paying."

"Of course." She put a hand to her chest. "I'm the one taking you out on a date remember?"

We got ourselves a booth in the corner and ordered some tea while we looked over the menu.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"A cafe duh?" Lisa grinned at her tired joke. "Jamie told me about it when I asked for a nice out of the way place to take you for lunch. Told me this long story about how Ethan brought her here a time or two." Lisa scrunched up her nose. "They bicker enough that you wouldn't expect it but those two are really meant for each other."

"I think so too."

"Well how about this place?" She gestured around us. "Good for our first real date?"

"Dunno, this is my first real date." If it wasn't Lisa I was talking to I might have felt insecure about my lack of dating experience.

"Awww, I'm honored." She gave me a genuine smile.

"I don't know what we are supposed to talk about on a date." I admitted when she left me hanging in silence.

"Well, we have kinda been together at work and with most of our free time since our little incident." She gestured to her scar. "So, we are already all caught up on current events."

"I guess." I agreed awkwardly.

Lisa chuckled. "Relax, it's just the two of us. What would we normally do?"

"Work stuff?" I guessed.

Lisa huffed. "Well, you're not wrong. Ok, hmmm."

She thought in frustrated silence while I browsed the menu. Ham, turkey ,and Swiss was currently at the top of my maybe list.

"Bah," Lisa scoffed. "We're terrible at date level conversation. Comes with being loners for a couple of years."

"Not by choice." I reminded her.

"Me either." She said. "Well not one hundred percent true. I did kinda bail on my parents."

"Who could blame you?" I retorted.

"They would I'm sure." Lisa flagged down the waitress. "You ready to order?"

"I think so what are you getting?"

She grinned. "Whatever you're getting."

"Ham and turkey?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me, but I want lettuce and mustard with mine." She added.

I wrinkled my nose. "Ugh mustard."

"What's wrong with mustard?" She asked.

"Dunno just tastes funny to me." I said.

She laughed. "Don't tell me you prefer mayonnaise?"

"God no." I shook my head.

"Ketchup?"

"Nope."

"Hot sauce?"

"Stop cheating." I scolded. "And no."

"Hmmm." She tapped a finger on the table in thought.

"Sorry about that ladies." The waitress apologized. "What'll you have?"

Lisa jumped in first. "Ham and turkey with lettuce and mustard for me and she will have the same but with chipotle instead of mustard."

The waitress glanced at me for confirmation and I gave her a smiling nod.

"Alright, anything else?"

"That's it for me." Lisa said.

"Same here." I agreed.

"I'll be back shortly with your food dears."

I thanked her as she walked away before setting a stern glare on my girlfriend. "You cheated."

"Maybe," she gave a playful smile. "What would you do if I did?"

Hmm she had a point. "I'll think of something."

"Oh," she breathed. "I'm looking forward to it."

I tried not to but I could feel the heat in my cheeks as I blushed a bit. I tried to distract myself by sipping some of my tea, but Lisa ruined that plan with one of her knowing looks.

"Like I told you before." She added in a thankfully normal tone. "I'm comfortable with whatever you are. We move at our own pace, so don't let anything pressure you. But I do reserve the right to tease you from time to time."

"Of course." I gave her a slight smile. "And thanks."

"It is my genuine pleasure." She smiled back. "Now I just hope the food gets here soon. I'm starving."

.

"Wow," I said as we exited the movie theater. "Aleph did a way better job making Lord of the Rings. It's not quite on par with the book but it was still really good."

Lisa laughed at me. "I sometimes forget how much of a literary nut you can be."

"How so?" I asked.

"That was probably the movie of the generation and you still compare it to the book."

"Well the book had a bunch more detail." I defended.

"If they had tried to fit all of the book into the movie they would have had to played it over a series of days instead of almost four hours, which I remind you is still really fucking long for a movie."

"It was a good four hours though." I said. "You didn't seem to have too much trouble either what with you know?" I couldn't help but glance around.

"Yes well there were a few times I went off on a tangent of trying to figure out the time line." She admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Hobbits are about half the size of the menfolk in the movie so reason says they should move half as fast if their pace was to be believed in the movie." She led.

"Ok?" I followed.

"So how long did it take for from when Frodo first left the Shire until he arrived at Rivendell, from there to the mines, or hell, how long were they in the mines?"

I shook my head. "I don't know."

"Hmm it's going to bother me." She grumbled.

"I have the books at home if you want." I offered with a smirk.

"No. No thank you." She declined. "I have a feeling that the books will raise far more questions than it answers. Besides we should start heading back. It's going to be getting dark and I still have my probationary curfew to deal with."

"I could just, you know?" I hinted.

"What's the matter with walking?" She asked slipping her hand into mine.

"Nothing," I gave her hand a squeeze. "Just making an offer."

She laughed. "Now that sounded like a proposition if I ever heard one from you."

"Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Can't help it, you're just too cute." She cooed at me causing me to roll my eyes at her.

Which allowed me to see the couple that was not so inconspicuously aiming a phone camera in our direction.

"Um, Lisa?" I asked.

She followed my gaze to the couple. "What? You never seen lesbians before?"

The couple looked embarrassed at being caught and hurried away.

"Something's not right." Lisa muttered and let go of my hand to pull out her phone and powered it on. "I don't know why I let you convince me to turn it off."

"It's polite in a movie theater." I reminded.

Her brow furrowed. "There's no way. It couldn't be."

Now she had me curious. I pulled out my phone and powered it back on, just waiting for the Home Screen.

"Fuck me crosseyed!" Lisa hissed and grabbed my arm hard, dragging me back into the theater.

"Ow, what?"

"Bathroom, hurry."

"Why?"

"Just go." She all but shoved me into the bathroom and down to the furthest stall from the door. Then she wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me close."

"Rooftops hurry."

"I thought you-"

"Do it!"

I focused and jumped us to the roof of the strip mall across from the theater. "Lisa what's going on?"

She held out her phone for me to read. It was a news headline from one of the local stations.

"Parahumans Unmasked!"

"Oh shit!" I cursed and reached for her phone to read but she pulled it away.

"Use yours." She reminded me. "I need to find out just what kind of shit storm this is going to turn out to be."

I hurriedly fished my phone from my pocket and selected the PHO app.

And got nothing.

"Something's wrong with PHO." I said.

"Hmm, could have crashed like after Legend came out." She muttered. "Possible they locked it because of the list that is floating around."

"List? What list?" A cold weight settling in my gut.

"I haven't found it yet, people are talking about it but it's getting taken down almost as fast as it's going up." She bit her bottom lip in nervous thought. "The fact that it is getting taken down so fast leads me to believe it could be real."

On a hunch I typed in a web address and found what I was looking for at the top of the page. "Found one."

"What?!" Lisa's head shot up to look at me. "How?"

"Winslow's unofficial chat room." I explained. "You need a student ID or faculty ID to access."

"I'm in." Lisa reported. "I don't see it."

"Top of the page. How did you get to it?"

"Later. It's not there. Must have already gotten taken down. Damn that was fast." She growled at her phone. "Can I see the post?"

I handed her my phone and she began pressing buttons on the side to take screenshots.

"Oh shit." She said as she continued down the post. "It's everyone."

"Wha-"

"Fuck, it's everyone Taylor. The gangs, the Protectorate, the Wards, everyone in between. Who the hell had access to all this?" She spat handing back my phone. "I sent a copy of all the pics to my phone and to the Protectorate. I'm sure they know but in case they didn't..."

I scrolled through the pictures and stopped on one featuring a ward in a white coat with black leather bands. "Willow Wisp revealed to be Winslow student Taylor Hebert." I read allowed.

Lisa frowned at me.

"I'm so fucked." I groaned.

"No, whoever put this out is fucked." Lisa whispered. "They will be lucky if the Heroes find them first cause if the villains get a hold of them..."

I shivered. How bad was this going to be?

Our phones started ringing at the same time making me jump and I almost dropped mine.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Taylor, thank god." It was Ethan. "Listen, drop everything and grab Lisa and get to base as soon as you can. Things are going down in the worst way and we are getting everyone together. It's all hands on deck time and we need to be quick about it. Jamie and I will meet you two there."

"Okay we were just on our way." I responded.

"Be careful kid. See you soon."

"Bye." I hung up.

Lisa was just doing the same. "I guess you got the same phone call I did?

"Probably." I agreed.

Lisa wrapped herself around me and held on. "Let's get going."

I focused on our destination and we were gone.

.

"We have a serious problem."

"No shit."

"Language."

"I think her language is appropriate to the situation."

"No one asked you."

"Nor you for your opinion."

"Everyone stop!" Aegis floated up until he was at least a head head taller than the rest, even Weld. "Things are stressful enough without us going after each other. We need to have each other's backs now more than ever."

"Well said." Weld agreed.

The lights flashed yellow and the light above the door continued to flash until the door opened revealing Armsmaster shortly followed by all of the mentors.

"So how bad is it?" Lisa asked first.

Armsmaster ignored her and took his place at the front of the room. Behind him the wall lit up with a projected image of the screenshots Lisa had taken from my phone. "No doubt word has spread amongst you, our civilian identities have been compromised and despite our continued efforts continues to spread throughout the internet." He gestured to the images behind him. "From what we can tell the first instance of The List as it has become colloquially known as was posted on a forum on that was intended only for the use of Winslow High School students and staff."

There were more than a few glances my way.

"No, neither Willow Wisp nor Alice were involved."

I looked at Lisa. "Alice?"

She smirked. "I'll tell you later."

Aegis raised his hand.

"Aegis?" Armsmaster called on him.

"Do we know who posted it?"

Armsmaster frowned and behind him the image changed to the picture clearly taken from the school's digital yearbook.

"No way." I blurted out.

"This is Greg Veder." Armsmaster continued. "It was from his account that The List was first posted."

Greg posted the list? How?

"The PRT arrived at Veder's home less than an hour ago." The image behind Armsmaster changed again to show an apartment building on fire. "It appears at first glance that another group has found him first. Once the fire is contained and pending the results of a full investigation, we will be able to determine whether Veder was home. "

Weld raised his hand.

"Weld?"

"How did Veder get the information in the first place?" Weld asked. "And if so why would he post it so carelessly to the internet?"

"We do not know but we are working on the possibility that it was not Veder whom obtained the information but either a coconspirator or even that the boy was used as a diversion." Armsmaster explained.

"So we have nothing to work with?" Lisa groused.

"We have a starting point from which to begin." Armsmaster corrected.

"My name was on the list too." Flechette added. "Wherever the info came fyrom it has to be fairly recent or even on going."

"I can't imagine whomever had access to the Empires capes also had access to the ABB or even the Merchants." Battery spoke up from behind Lisa and I.

"Don't forget Faultline's crew or even Alice's old team." Assault added.

Next to me Lisa was chewing on her lip and tapping at her chin deep in thought. "Powers. It all comes back to powers."

"That was our first impression as well." Armsmaster agreed. "It is possible that there is a new trigger who's power is somehow related to the finding and identifying of parahumans."

The room was silent as we mulled it over until Kid Win finally broke the silence. "Well they have already outed everyone so isn't that worst case scenario over?"

"Hardly." Lisa said. "It's bad don't get me wrong, but worst case? No, worst case would be one of the gangs getting a hold of the power and using it subtly to hunt each of us down or worse."

"What could be worse?" Vista asked.

Lisa opened her mouth to answer but I put my hand on her leg to stop her. Vista might be a cynical kid but she didn't need to go down the darker paths of Lisa's imagination.

Clockblocker raised his hands. "What about our families?"

Miss Militia stepped forward. "PRT squads have been sent out in plain clothes to inform and provide protection for your families while we figure out a better long term solution."

"How have the villains reacted?" Lisa asked. "It's been a little over five hours since The List was posted. I would have expected a response by now."

The Protectorate heroes exchanged glances. "The Empire and Faultline's Crew have reached out for a temporary Truce while the situation unfolds. There has been no word from any other groups." Armsmaster reported.

The lights flashed red and the was a shrill alarm from Armsmaster's suit. "There was a bomb detonated at the Bay Side Mall."

Another shrill alarm.

"Another at the Boardwalk." Armsmaster frowned as more alarms continued. "It seems we have the ABB's response."

.

Author's Note: I know it's short, but the original "date chapter" was so long winded and boring and I just hated writing it. I tried many times to motivate myself to finish it until finally I decided to cut it down to the parts I actually liked and then finally I would get to light the fuse. (The Arc Title as you may have noticed). I am not sorry for making such a cut but I am sorry if it detracts from the reading and I hope you will stick it out with me a little longer while I get back into what passes for my groove.

Thank all of you whom have Fav or Followed! It's you guys who keep me on track when I wander off base on some other idea. So thankful to all of you for your support.

K. Raiden

PS. Jim Butcher's Battle Ground blew me away. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading the Dresden Files then please start at Storm Front and hold on to your seat.