1.2

-- Lisa Wilbourne --

"Who?" she asked, already knowing she was caught out, rising panic obvious.

Oh, she had a good poker face, but not good enough to fool my power. Not nearly. I capitalized on the moment of weakness.

"Cut the crap. You're not what you pretend to be."

My power charted the panic as it peaked and fell, subsiding into resignation. I started to slip into a predatory smile when my power finally elected to fill me in on her thoughts instead of her feelings.

Willing to murder you and your team to silence you. Certain she can kill you before you say anything too incriminating. Will not allow you outside of her effective range alive unless she's certain of your silence.

What the fuck, power? What the fuck, Tanya? Who thinks like that?

Alexandria, Coil, Kaiser, T--

OK, not a productive line. What great company you keep, Tanya! Well, fuck. I glanced at her silent compatriot.

Very poor grasp on English. Grieving. Intensely loyal to Tanya. Will back Tanya's play without question.

Double fuck. Why'd I have to poke at her? It's not like I didn't already know how dangerous and unstable she is.

Chronic need to prove intellectual superiority via--

That's enough of that. Not the time to retread old ground. This isn't working. I need a new direction to send my power in. I let in a trickle of insight. Why is she willing to kill me to protect this secret? Haven't I been helpful?

Clinging to military hierarchy as a source of stability and security. Believes secret threatens subordinates' loyalty.

OK, orphan, adoptive family(?), abandonment issues, recent loss, basic stuff. Still a bit extreme, though, but I guess that fit neatly into the whole Tanya package. I glanced at the 'intensely loyal' subordinate. Probably not even true, but it's not a rational judgment. Not going to convince her here and now.

Noticed your panic. Surmised that you understand her intentions. Impressed by your power. Considering what assurances she'd need to let you live. Considering how to secure your loyalty.

OK, definite improvement.

"Pretend to be?" she asked, giving me an out.

I didn't miss the way her hand tightened on her rifle stock.

"You know, the soldierly professionalism thing. Let out that sassy bitch we both know is your true self."

That actually offended her. Really? Miss 'Dauntless is the name of a battlecruiser' doesn't like being called sassy? But she didn't kill me, so good enough. Now, to arrange a private conversation. I reduce the trickle of insight to the barest drip-feed. Need to conserve as much as possible for that conversation.

"Well, no reason to hang around here. How about we all come back to my hideout, maybe get something to eat?"

Taylor didn't like that.

"What the fuck, Tattletale? She murdered Dauntless right in front of us!"

Now is not the time for your issues, Taylor!

"Self defense, not murder. I'd happily turn myself in and await my vindication in court, but unfortunately the Empire maintains exclusive jurisdiction over its soldiers even in foreign nations in absence of a Status of Forces Agreement, so the local justice system has no legal authority to prosecute me."

Taylor scoffed. I gave that line all the attention it deserved.

"They get kidnapped from their world and immediately get attacked with lethal force. What were they supposed to do?" I sighed. "Look, it's a fucked up situation, I get that. But they're about to get screwed over by the system for something that isn't really their fault. Besides, we need all the friends we can get if we're going to succeed in our plans."

Was that laying it on a bit too thick? Nah, not for Taylor. Her resigned "fine" confirmed my judgment.

"And why your hideout? We finally find a fun one and you're just going to steal her away? I want the sassy Nazi magical girl."

I flinched away from anticipated blood splatter, but none came. OK, her fuse isn't quite that short. Still, Alec, don't test the landmine by stepping on it!

I glance back at Tanya. Yeah she does not look happy. But she's... yeah, pretending not to know what a 'Nazi' and/or 'magical girl' is. Actually, her need to keep that secret might be what actually saved Alec's life. Eh, I need every drop of my power for myself right now. Good luck, Alec.

"I'd be happy to, Tattletale."

She muttered a few sentences in German. Tinker tech radios? That'd be a huge deal in World War 1. (Or whatever the equivalent and her world is. The rifles are distinctive, and limit the 203rd's origin to a pretty narrow window in time if firearm development continued in their world as in ours.) And her battalion got 4? The dead one probably had one too. Lot of a very limited resource to spend on one unit. Elite unit? I involuntarily glance at Dauntless's upper torso, intestines spilling out of the bush and onto the street. God, I hope they're the elites. If not, I don't want to meet them.

"I have things to do. We'll talk later."

Yeah, Taylor would need some handling later. If there was a later. Well, maybe it will work out on its own. Best I point them at Coil before he realizes they're in play, and Taylor will forgive a lot for Dinah's saviors.

We start walking and I realize Matheus and the other one aren't planning on coming down.

"Uh, Tanya? Are your men not coming?"

"Oh, I told them to follow."

"In the air?"

"Obviously. I'm not going to just cede local air superiority without a fight." Seeing my continued confusion, she elaborated "A mage in the air has a far greater capacity to observe and target both air and ground assets, and in turn makes a much harder target due to their speed and additional axis of movement. Further, I've instructed them to fly low enough they should be able to sense any grounded mages spinning up their mage shells, flight spells, or reflex enhancement formulae and with a little luck eliminate the threat before they're ready. Grounded aircraft are even more vulnerable."

Excellent tactical reasoning, Tanya... for a war zone.

"Eliminate? Look, the heroes are going to figure out Dauntless's death was mostly their fuck up sooner or later. You kill another hero, though, and they're not going to hold back."

"Oh? You think they're reasonable enough to forgive that misunderstanding so long as I don't exacerbate it?"

Yes. They wouldn't be happy about it, but they'd give up more than that for you four.

I snorted. "Would you forgive someone who killed one of your comrades, whatever the circumstance?"

Her rifle stock creaked. Loudly. I was a little afraid it would shatter in her hand. OK, that was the right lever, but let's not pull it any further just yet.

Who was this girl? Well, 80% sure it was a girl. It's an important question. More important in her absence than she ever was in life, for sure. Through all my interactions with the 203rd I've been building a profile, a portrait painted in negative space. It wasn't enough, not yet. I let up on my power, just a bit. Who was she to Tanya? Love interest? Favorite pet human? The first killing machine she assembled with her own hands, and took pride in maintaining ever since?

Her friend.

Ouch. Way to make me feel like a heel, power. Back into the dark with you. I glanced over at Tanya, still lost elsewhere, and then over to the silent one, who still had no clue what we were talking about. A step behind and to the left, this time. Matheus probably clued him in on his fuck up so he wouldn't repeat it. Had I misjudged her? I had Tanya pegged as a sociopath from her second sentence. Exceptional self-possession and remarkable charisma, (even, as when she mentioned her duty to her 'Fatherland,' she in fact cared not a whit about the subject,) all combined with a frankly frightening intellect for a 12 or 13 year old, but the kind of person who cracked an economics textbook when she wanted to learn how to understand people, and stunningly ruthless in a fight. And disturbingly casual about it, too. She went from civil conversation to murder and back in about 20 seconds, and nearly half that was updating her team's orders. Oh, and she's still half planning to murder me over some secret. Definite mark against her.

But she was taking this loss hard. It didn't fit. Perhaps she was simply damaged by years of war? Toss an 8 or 9 year old into the trenches, and what comes out? Probably a corpse most of the time, cape or not. A lot of parahuman researchers like to reduce a cape's personality to their trigger event, but I really doubt that was her greatest trauma. And then there was the secret. Knowledge she shouldn't have. Important things, like cruise missiles and Nazis, but also trivia, like kids' detective novels published most of a decade after her time and translated into German who knows when and the magical girl genre, which had only really existed for a few years in the 90s. Precognition, on top of all her other powers? Maybe something subtler, like a thinker power that allowed her to learn about things from the behavior of nearby people? A decent ace in the hole, but why would that bother her men? Maybe something wilder, like time travel? But why send a child back to fight in a war? I really couldn't afford to burn more of my power on the question, not while my life depended on the outcome of our next conversation, and possibly on whether I could convince her I didn't know the details. The curiosity still burned in me.

By the time she responded, voice flat, I'd nearly forgotten where I'd left the conversation.

"I take your point."

More German muttering, then silence. I let it sit.

A\N: So, uh, sorry if you didn't pick up on those hints about Visha last chapter. Lisa's not going to dance around the issue in her own head. But don't worry! Soon the 203rd will be holding auditions for a substitute Visha! I'm certain the resulting relationship will be completely healthy for all involved!