1.7

-- Tanya von Degurechaff --

"Mr. Calvert." I gave him a nod. "We did meet briefly yesterday, but circumstances precluded a proper introduction. You may call me Argent, or warden."

After a little more refinement, the plan had gone off without a hitch the next day. Not that that should be a surprise. With the Travelers out of the picture and the Undersiders turning coat, his combat assets totaled a bare couple hundred unpowered mercenaries, few true combat vets, and Trainwreck, who hadn't even arrived yet when we went in. And Tattletale had managed to suborn nearly a third of the mercs, too. Intelligence is, at the end of the day, a force multiplier, and we had him so utterly outgunned that it was easy to force open the smallest gap in his panopticon into total victory.

In the end, it was hardly even a fight. At the speeds experienced combat mages reacted and moved, we'd bulled our way through all impediments and hasty resistance to secure Coil before the alarm had even truly been raised. Only 11 dead, most of whom were just cut down when they proved too slow to get out of the way. The other 4 had died when one of their platoon managed to wing Weiss with their tinkertech lasers and I'd immediately retaliated with an underpowered artillery spell. Not that he'd actually hurt Weiss, of course. Mage shells were designed to efficiently deflect optical formulae, to which those lasers were pretty comparable. And naturally, the rest of the mercenaries had folded when we'd marched their employer out in front of them and explained that he wasn't in any position to pay them anymore.

Thomas Calvert, stripped of his costume and mask (affectations I remained unable to perceive as anything other than ridiculous, my own new domino mask aside), was an unassuming, wiry man. Believable as a former cop and current consultant, rather less so as a cackling mastermind. Not that I'm sure any real person could match my expectations for that caricature, but he was supposedly as close as I'd find on this world. Currently, he was regarding me in silence with an icy, hostile stare. I didn't mind.

And why was the man alive to stare? Lisa had wanted the man dead. She'd wanted it badly. Still did, probably, though she'd accepted she'd been overruled. She watched on from the doorway, arms crossed, intense frown on her face. A bit irrational, but I didn't blame her, really. He'd kidnapped and enslaved her, forced her to effectively torture herself through overuse of her power, done who knows what to her in discarded timelines. And through it all he'd maintained an aura of nigh omniscience and untouchability, such that even now when she held all the cards she couldn't accept he wouldn't eventually turn the tables. It was hard not to notice parallels to my own situation, and I can't imagine a scenario in which I'd allow Being X to live had I the power not to. But that power! If I'd had access to that power just last week... Well, all I could do was ensure I had access to it going forward. And I would, whatever it cost. And it wouldn't cost too much, really, not practically. Just another small step in line with a hundred I'd already taken.

"You know your crimes. I won't bother enumerating them. It's beneath your dignity and mine to pretend what's happening here is truly in line with the rule of law. Nonetheless, your actions have harmed society and I will collect on that debt on its behalf."

You'd hardly have known I'd spoken, looking at his face. And it was not like I was truly acting against Lisa's interests. She stood to gain as much as me from the exploitation of his power. She'd admitted his power had already saved her and her team several times, though perhaps she wouldn't have found herself in those situations at all if not for him. And it was her idea to bring in Skitter, who, in spite of all her natural ruthlessness, had a bizarre aversion to killing. (Naturally, we'd had the base cleaned up a bit in the past day, in between other preparations for this conversation. Not like she'd notice a few missing faceless mercenaries.) She stood next to Tattletale, body language similar, though with different reasons.

"That monitor will instruct you on how and when to use your power. It will convey messages, checksummed and encrypted with one-time pads, for you to pass to your other timeline. Behave and you will be treated well. Simple comforts and entertainment. And in 10 years you will have served your sentence and you will be free. What do you say?"

I extended my hand.

Had to leave him some hope, not that I really expected it to ever come to fruition. I hadn't really expected to live another full year at any point since I graduated from the war college, and while this new world may not be at war, it was chock full of new threats, several of them far more dangerous than simple armies. Alexandria, had she been dropped on my previous world as I have been on this, could have done as she pleased. Mowed down armies simply by flying through earth and trench alike at Mach 20 with her arms spread. Assassinated every commander and politician who stood in her way with total impunity. Won the war for Dacia, even. And there were a dozen things here more dangerous than her.

He took my hand with a very strained smile.

"I suppose I don't have much choice."

My own smile was more relaxed, if no more pleasant.

"Ah, but Mr. Calvert, there are always choices. Of course, you understand that I have to be sure I can trust you to make the right one."

As Tattletale had so eloquently reminded me, trust is just a matter of providing proper incentives. I did not release his hand even as he tried to pull back. In a move I imagine he had trouble following with his unaugmented perception, I pinned his hand to the desk with mine while I detached my bayonet with the other. I activated the intercom with a knuckle while he fruitlessly struggled.

"Dinah, what is the chance that Mr. Calvert here will betray me in the next 30 days?"

Tattletale said it wouldn't work. That there was no training a scorpion not to sting. And if it came to that, she'd get her way. But with this method, there was no real risk to trying. Because, in a way, Coil's power was closer to Dinah's than Tattletale's. Dinah had to answer questions, and answer them truthfully. It was almost like it was designed to be exploited. On the other hand, Tattletale was impossible to control because the only way to make use of her was to give her information she could as easily use against you, and there was no rule that she had to tell the truth. Coil was presently enjoying the fruits of such an approach. Coil, though? You didn't have to tell him anything. Just tell him how you wanted him to use his power, interleaving genuine use with tests, and punish any betrayal harshly. Dinah made it even easier, as a couple simple rules allowed her to say beforehand whether he'd behave. And punish him for that future betrayal without the risk of waiting for it to actually occur.

Dinah had donated 4 questions to Coil's subjugation. When she confirmed his intention to betray me, I'd take a couple fingers. And then we'd try again. The rest of the hand next, then an eye. Straightforward enough, and any real squeamishness regarding injury and the infliction thereof was beaten out of me in my first months on the Rhine. Securing another's labor through threat of pain and mutilation was distasteful, to be sure, but was it really any different than shooting a conscript for cowardice in the face of the enemy? And I'd been prepared to do that since my initial officer training. No orders to force my hand now, but I needed the security that power could provide. And, after all, turnabout is fair play.

"1.28934548236%."

A beat of silence. I released him with a chuckle.

"Well, I admit you've impressed me. I'm too used to dealing with foes who only respond to force. The capacity to rationally adjust to your new circum--"

"He's just as surprised as you are!"

The implications sunk in slowly. I activated the intercom again.

"Dinah, what is the chance that Mr. Calvert survives the next 24 hours?"

"1.28934572983%."

I took a judicious step back just as a wave of magic permeated the area. It wasn't terribly strong, but I had no idea what it was meant to do. Coil's power? I darted back to the doorway and raised an active barrier, watching Coil warily, though he mainly seemed to be panicking.

"Tattletale, magic wave. What's going on?"

"I sense it too, through my bugs. A high keening sou--"

"Shatterbird! Skitter, your mask!"

I was about to ask for more information as Skitter frantically tugged her mask up and Tattletale knelt down, arms around her face, but events preempted me. The weak wave of magic transitioned into a sudden powerful burst and all the glass around us, from the fluorescent light fixtures to the monitor to Skitter's goggles, exploded violently in all directions. I produced magic light and rapidly assessed the situation. The explosion had been pretty powerful, but my active barrier had caught the burst from the monitor with ease and my mage shell had blocked the rest. It had also blocked the magic carrier wave(?), so my orbs were fine. Skitter and Tattletale were both injured, but not seriously, thanks to Tattletale's timely warning. Coil didn't look great, but he'd live with a little help. Then the fail-deadly antipersonnel mine I'd had installed in the ceiling of his cell detonated. Oh well. Good thing I had the active barrier up.

A\N: Delay was mainly real life stuff. I'm more excited for where this story is going than where it's been, so I'm not giving up on it soon. That said, writing this chapter and planning out the next few really highlighted just how little I remember from canon. Which makes sense, since I read Worm cover to cover in 2015 and haven't touched it since, and all the fanfiction since hasn't helped me keep things straight. I'm going to have to go back and review things more thoroughly, because there's nothing worse than picking up on a discrepancy and thinking you discovered an important clue to the AU only for it to turn out to have just been the author's mistake, and I've already made at least one in my description of Dinah's power. (She actually can remember the contents of the futures she sees if she chooses, though it's extremely painful.) I read a lot faster than I write, though, so it shouldn't delay things too much.

A\N2: Edited in a couple paragraphs explaining Tanya's plan and why she thought it made sense.