1.11

-- Tanya von Degurechaff --

Angry, I just about ordered the pursuit without thinking it through, but a moment of deja vu stopped me. But when? Right, the first assault on the Queen of Anjou. My blood went cold. That had been a disaster, a whole company dead and hardly anything to show for it. Well, we'd killed plenty more of their mages, but we do that without losses all the time, and it's not like they ever seem to run out. With three men to my name and no replacements anytime soon, I simply could not afford that sort of slip up here. I felt my hand drift to the Type 95 without conscious direction. But why am I remembering that now? Just... losing my nerve? I couldn't shake the feeling there was more to it.

Regardless, the interruption allowed me to consider the situation analytically. Immediate pursuit would likely prevent Bonesaw from attending to Jack, but he was never a real threat. He'd be just as easy to kill after Bonesaw finished fixing him up: trivial without Siberian and impossible with. Even if delaying his treatment might cause irreparable brain damage, and I had no clue where Bonesaw's limits lay in that area, so what? There's no bounty for brain damage, and it's not like he's an important piece worth incapacitating for his own sake.

Actually, why had I attacked them? Taking out Bonesaw would have been nice, but I'd have had a better shot at that if I'd just kept the bomb for later when Siberian wasn't paying such close attention to her. Not like I was under actual threat from a man with a knife, either, power or no. I could have simply stared him down, or flown away and preserved some ambiguity as to my capabilities. That had been the plan, actually, to hide from the Nine until we'd killed Shatterbird. But... Ah, Tattletale! Of course I couldn't have left her to the Nine's mercy, and flying her away myself, even if I had been willing to risk it with Siberian in play, would have revealed our relationship at the worst possible moment. I clearly had to provide a distraction to let her escape.

I shook my head. Forgetting my own reasoning? It had been a snap decision, hardly any time to consider at all, but still. I suppose I'll just have to content myself with the fact that I'd made the right call.

And they had no way of knowing I could track Siberian down whenever she used her power. Even now she was putting off enough magic to light detectors down to New York, if there had been any. Of course, she put off far, far less when she wasn't mowing down buildings, but her power was unusually profligate. Even minor uses were comparable to an A rank mage running a full combat suite. And unlike most parahumans, she radiated magic even when she didn't seem to be doing anything. Not that much, but enough to pinpoint her if I was in the right neighborhood. Felt like an illusion, almost, though I'd never confuse the two. Point being, letting them think they got away now would hasten the moment where they felt secure enough to separate, and only then I could kill them.

Of course, once they separated, I'd want to find whoever wasn't with Siberian. I briefly considered sending someone to follow them from stealth, but it could be surprisingly difficult to track individual people from a decent altitude even in the open. Hardly worth the attempt in a crowded city. And Jack had found me easily enough. Was told about me? Well, he was in such a hurry to leave he forgot his phone, so I could do a little snooping. Well, maybe... it'd been a while since I'd held a cellphone. Actually, these hands have never held one. I paused, suddenly disturbed. I am a product of modernity, as I explained to Being X all those years ago, and that hasn't changed. He choreographed this life to break me and he failed. Hardly a surprise, when he'd failed to manage his own workload. But it was... uncomfortable to consider how foreign the other products of modernity felt. But now wasn't the time to reacquaint myself. Probably best I just let Tattletale handle it, anyway.

So, what now? Well, there was the fire at the boardwalk. If we've already tipped our hand, no reason not to take out Burnscar and whoever might be with her. But from what I understood of her power, that was likely to last a while. Let's see what we can salvage of this meeting first. The Nine running scared and everyone more or less still around, now was a better time than we'd likely see again for the duration of the crisis. And given their embarrassing showing, likely no better time for me to assert some authority.

"Koenig, destroy Hatchet Face's body. Granz, remain on lookout. Weiss, follow me."

I dropped my illusions and clapped my hands, magically amplifying the sound.

"Let's get back to it, everyone. I know Siberian is scary but she's gone now."

An explosion punctuated my words, splattering our foe's body across the street and nearby buildings. Perhaps this reminder of the Nine's mortality would put them at ease? If anything, the faces I could see looked more nervous. I sighed and started down at a leisurely pace, not wanting to startle any of the frightened rabbits. I explained myself to Weiss as we descended.

"The Nine probably won't bother us again, and perhaps they'll take us more seriously with a tall, intimidating man looking down at them."

"I... don't think you'll need me for that, Ma'am."

Ah, Weiss, always so courteous. But even if he wasn't willing to draw attention to the fact I looked like a little girl, I could hardly count on everyone to be so polite.

"Nonetheless."

"Yes, Colonel."

Everyone had more or less made it back by the time I reached conversational range. Gregor and Labyrinth were missing, but that made sense. She had some issue using her power, and he was presumably watching over her. Corporal Richter was coming down fast, even though he likely hadn't heard my announcement at his distance. Presumably he'd observed the situation via magical telescope and determined the danger had passed on his own. The Undersiders hadn't made it far, dogs still incapacitated from Hatchet Face's disruption. Purity and Hookwolf were on opposite sides of the circle now, glaring at each other. Ugh, Nazi drama. I'd have to try to keep a lid on it. Not like any of them mattered, except as bait. The heroes, both government and New Wave, had bunkered down in their HQ. Stupid in the face of an unstoppable force, but what can you expect from civilians? The Protectorate mages had far less excuse. Barely a third of the way through their spin up, and now they were letting their magic fade. What? I gave them a closer look. They weren't old men, to be sure, but they were hardly young enough to be green, given universal mage conscription. How had they survived the war with such suicidal habits? Granted, the African Front was far from the worst the war had to offer, especially now, but our mages were getting lazy if these fools had survived down there for more than a year.

Most of the rest were looking up at us, far warier. Always nice to have one's work recognized, I guess, even if I hadn't really been too successful. Or perhaps they really did find Weiss intimidating? I had a little trouble seeing it myself, too familiar with the man's prudent, considerate nature, but he certainly had the stature for it. I touched down by Jack's body while Weiss remained a half meter in the air, perhaps taking my instruction to look down on them literally. Or perhaps not. It always felt a little awkward and crude to rely on the Rube Goldberg mechanisms of non-magical locomotion when simple, perfect vectored thrust was just a thought away. But Jack's body wouldn't come to me, so I'd make do. The upper torso was pretty shredded, but the lower half was more or less fine. Hadn't been much of an 'artillery' spell, given how little time I'd had to construct it. As I knelt down and started rummaging his pockets, I introduced Weiss.

"Everyone, this is my second. He's chosen to go by Major."

Clockblocker snorted. "Because he's a Major? Not a very creative fellow, is he?"

Privately, I had to agree. I'm not certain he understood the assignment. He didn't have much excuse not to; Koenig's English was terrible, but he'd already had his figured out by the time I got around to explaining the custom in Germanian. I might have preferred he understood it a little less well, actually.

"I have other virtues, boy. Creativity is the Colonel's job."

Huh. Was he deliberately playing up the accent? Maybe he got it after all. I had a sudden premonition of danger. Was it possible I was the one who hadn't understood? Granz had seemed a bit enthusiastic for my liking, too, though he was always a bit excitable.

"Major is taken, actually. Ward sibling duo in Texas, Major and Miner," Kid Win contributed, obviously reading something off his visor.

"How unfortunate for your record keeping. I do not care."

... I should have taken Granz. He doesn't know enough English to embarrass me. I finally located the phone. It was a cheap burner, but tough for it. Screen was pretty badly cracked by the pressure wave, but it otherwise looked fine. I was about to stand up with it and put an end to this line of conversation when the collection of knives on his belt caught my eye. Most of them were glorified toys, switchblades and straight razors and chef's knives, but he had one decent combat knife, no fragile mechanisms and not so sharp it'd chip on bone, nearly 20 centimeters of steel and sturdy. I had my bayonet, of course, but if war has taught me anything, it's that it never hurts to have a spare knife. I fastened the sheath to my belt as I stood and looked around for Tattletale. Ah, they might have been a little close to the exploding corpse. Well, she had no cause to glare at me like that. It was Koenig's spell. I didn't tell him how to do it. Glory Girl interrupted my appraisal.

"You know he probably killed people with that, right?"

I shot her a confused look.

"What do you imagine I plan to do with it?"

I held the phone up before any further distractions could present themselves. I made sure everyone got a look at it before speaking.

"Anyone think they can get something out of this?"

Tattletale fortunately picked up on the hint and called out first, so I didn't have to scramble for an excuse not to hand it over to Kid Win or whoever. I tossed it to her, only for her to nearly fumble the catch. I suppose back liners can afford to be clumsy, but that was a little much. I destroyed the body with a weak explosive spell contained by an extension of my mage shell, hopefully demonstrating that I wasn't the one making messes. I topped up my magazine while I addressed the group.

"Let's cut to the chase. I can't kill Siberian or Crawler and I won't kill Bonesaw without a guarantee doing so won't release a plague. Unless you have more bombs, Director?"

She'd been regarding me with a calculating glint in her eye since I'd come back down, not put off by the violence like most of the capes. Appearances aside, she clearly had some combat experience. Taken out of the field by an injury?

"Perhaps. I can't just hand them over, though."

"Naturally. You have an obligation to ensure the munitions in your custody are used properly. I assume an outright sale is similarly off the table?"

She looked a little surprised. At my polite tone? That I was negotiating at all?

"Yes. If you capture Bonesaw and bring her here, we can safely dispose of her."

I shook my head.

"I don't understand her capabilities well enough to risk getting in that close. Perhaps you could loan me a bomb or two? I'll agree to either use them on the Nine or return them at the expiration of the truce, and you can hold Hatchet Face's bounty as collateral. I could likely buy plenty of similar munitions with that money in the normal course of events."

"Not legally."

I shrugged. "Neither could I legally break my agreement to use your bombs in the manner described. If you believe the law would constrain me, the collateral doesn't matter."

She didn't seem to find that argument compelling.

"Would the law constrain you?"

Victor broke in, "Careful. You sound almost like you're fishing for information about another participant in the truce for personal gain."

When I declined to answer, she grunted. "Then no. I don't know you. Your offer might be reasonable, but I don't know if you are reasonable."

Frustrating. I plotted out my next steps: explaining to her that I didn't need those bombs to hurt her or her people, perhaps asking Koenig to provide a demonstration of a full strength artillery spell, perhaps simply taking them by force. But... was that really wise? She wasn't being unreasonable. I doubt I would have entertained my suggestion from an unknown actor in her position, either. If anything, her behavior made more sense to me than anyone else I'd met in this world. A sad state of affairs, a peaceful person like myself losing touch with the civilian world, but that was hardly the worst the war had cost me. Regardless, I could work with this woman, but not if I robbed or killed her now. And I didn't really need the bombs. The original plan hadn't included them at all.

"Very well," I replied, after a too-long pause, then turned back to the capes. "Those three are beyond me. The rest, without Siberian's protection, should fare about as well as Hatchet Face did. We can provide close air support anywhere in the city in less than a minute. Your role is simply to inform me when you've located any of the Nine. Flare guns, perhaps?"

"Those I can provide," Piggot offered.

"You want to use us as bait?" Grue asked, tone a little hostile. I appreciated the misdirection. Or maybe he was also a little upset about Koenig's clumsiness. Getting blood out of leather is a pain, but that had nothing to do with me.

"The Nine target local parahumans as a matter of course. 'Bait' is an upgrade in your situation, because the alternative is that no one comes to save you."

Faultline crossed her arms.

"We don't work without pay."

I scoffed. "Then don't work. I don't need you. If you signal me, I'll come, but if you want to lie down and let the Nine kill you, that's none of my business."

I dismissed her and turned back to the Undersiders. Tattletale was still staring down at the phone with furrowed brow.

"Tattletale, what have you got?"

"It's a new burner. Hard to get much from a single text message. No expression or tone. Just says there was a trap, and where the 'Mama bear' was hiding. Thinker or Stranger. Based on his reactions when he got it, I'm thinking they're the new member, and that he doesn't really like or trust them."

Someone spying on us? Well, that's not too big a deal. Knowing about our strategy won't really help them avoid it unless they want to just give up and leave. Actually, that was probably the biggest worry. I was already planning out how to spend this windfall, so it'd be really inconvenient if they were to just slip through my fingers. But there wasn't really anything I could do about it, so I'd just have to make do. Good to have some idea of their ninth's capabilities, regardless.

"Thank you. Unless there's anything else, we'll be on our way. There's a fire on the Boardwalk I'd like to investigate."

A/N: I'm a little surprised no one mentioned how Tanya's instant violence last chapter didn't make a ton of sense given the plan. I'm never sure how many clues to give in-text when she's not being as reasonable as she believes. Was it just not worth mentioning, was the Tattletale angle too obvious, or what?

Also, is anyone going to be too upset if I invent some instant English Cranial tech? It would have stretched suspension of disbelief if everyone already spoke perfect English, but the language barrier is really getting in the way of letting the men interact with the rest of the cast, and the timeline is more compressed than I realized. Can't plausibly have them learn a language in a few days without cheating somehow.