Thomas Calvert was a man of ambition, a man with plans. This city was rotting. When he was done, it would be an empire, an empire he sat atop. The city would be his to govern as he saw fit.

Of course, these plans were for the future. In the present, he was required to play the part of a plebian. No one could know his identity. No one could know the full extent of his plans. Parahumans were always prevented from accomplishing their ends because they worked openly where they could be confronted. Thomas Calvert would not suffer from this hubris. No one would be aware of his aims even after he had secured victory. No one would ever be able to connect the security consultant Thomas Calvert with the minor supervillain Coil.

Coil's meager reputation was yet another carefully cultivated piece of his plan, one of many dominoes he had slowly set over the years. Coil was known to be competent but too minor a threat to contend with the full might of the E88 or the ABB. According to public sentiment, the only reason Coil hadn't been run out of the bay was because the Empire and ABB were both too busy fighting each other and the drug-dealing Merchants. Coil had respect, but he was not feared. That allowed him to operate without any major complications.

Any misstep he might take could be negated by his power. Thomas lived a literal double life, walking two roads simultaneously. He never walked in only a single timeline, opening a new branching path the moment he discarded one. His power prevented him from being caught. His power furthered his goals. His power made him nigh-unstoppable.

It was just past noon when Thomas Calvert walked out the door of the PRT ENE headquarters, heading to lunch. Simultaneously, in an alternate timeline, the villain Coil sat behind his desk, secure in his heavily-fortified, underground base. Securing the funds to construct the facility and ensuring its secrecy had taken much trial and error, but the toil was worth it. No parahuman in the city, hero or villain, could assault him here without Coil being able to flee.

Often, he would ensure that he was safe in his base in one of his timelines in case something unforeseen happened in his civilian guise. It could be an attack, or something so mundane as a conversation straying too close to the truth of his double life that caused Thomas to discard the timeline where he went to work as a civilian. Above all, Thomas was cautious. That caution would one day win him Brockton Bay. It would take time, but patience was another commodity Thomas had in excess.

As Thomas Calvert sat down to eat a sandwich in a public park, Coil flipped through files given to him by his underlings, his eyes occasionally flicking up to the computer screen in front of him. One of Coil's greatest assets was his anonymity. He was rarely credited with doing anything of import in Brockton, and that fact kept the gangs from seeing him as a legitimate threat. Almost all of his aims were achieved through intermediaries. New capes had surfaced in Brockton Bay. Coil was currently looking over their files to see if he could secure any leverage over them, to see if he could use them to advance his plans. The files were not as complete as he would have liked, but he could arrange time soon to do further reconnaissance in disposable timelines, learning all he needed to know without acting, and without a single trace being left of his investigation.

"Here sat a serpent, scheming and foul."

Coil jolted in his seat, reaching towards a control panel under his desk before his hand was wrenched backwards. Coil heaved as a great force impacted his stomach, driving the air from his lungs. Coil reached towards the remote in his pocket, but his arm locked in place. It was as if he was petrified. He couldn't move.

Thomas Calvert had abandoned his lunch, leaving his meal half-eaten on the bench as he hurried towards his car, his phone in his hand as he issued orders to his underlings. He didn't close the timeline yet. If a stranger was able to infiltrate his base without raising an alarm, he needed to gather as much intelligence on the stranger in question as possible before he ended the timeline.

"Who are–" Coil's words died on his lips as a vice-like grip closed around his throat.

"His face, a perpetual scowl." the same voice said. Coil could see the man now. The cape wasn't wearing a mask. He wore a blue jumpsuit that matched his hair color. Dispassionate, glowing red eyes stared at him. The man had a long red spear in his hand that wasn't clasped around his throat.

Thomas Calvert was in his car, driving towards one of the safehouses his minions maintained. He'd raised his base to alert status, ordering his troops to search for a stranger. They had yet to discover the man, but Thomas knew he was there.

"Mortal visage fake,

The guise of a snake,

Oh, but how the serpent will howl."

Coil gasped as the hand left his throat. His arms and legs were still frozen in place. He couldn't move. "Whoever you are, I can pay you better than whoever hired you. There is no need for–"

"Bribery is pointless. You're a threat to my master, so you will die." The man stepped into a stance. There was a crackling sound against the air as the spear in the man's hand became wreathed in crimson energy like a flame licking at the weapon. Coil's eyes drank in every aspect of the display. The most minute detail could be the key to unlocking the secret behind the power this cape was using.

The assailant's lips pulled back in a snarl.

Thomas Calvert was stepping out of his car to enter a safehouse. His guards closed in around him. He was safe here – this timeline was safe. He needed to learn as much as he could about his adversary before closing the other timeline.

Aiming to get the man talking, any detail could prove vital, Coil said, "Perhaps we can–"

"GAE BOLG!"

Faster than Coil's eyes could track, the man closed the short distance between them and pierced his spear into his chest.

Coil screamed. The hole in his chest felt like it was spreading, like something was growing out of the spear, flowing through his veins away from his heart.

Thomas Calvert pulled at the spear driven through his chest. What? But…the man wasn't even present in this timeline. How did he…?

Coil fell out of his chair.

Thomas Calvert collapsed to the ground.

Coil/Thomas Calvert died.

X

Coil's power wasn't truly creating alternate timelines, he simulated them. His power predicted which path he would take and showed him the alternate timeline in real time. Ergo, so long as Coil's physical body was in front of you, that was the real Coil. With that in mind, I just needed to wait for him to be in his base then kill him. Tracking him with clairvoyance runes made that task abundantly simple. I already knew who Coil was under the mask, so it was just a matter of keeping tabs on him and being patient.

I was very careful to make sure Coil wasn't able to touch anything after I appeared. I wasn't worried about him hitting a silent alarm to summon his minions as I was confident I could deal with them, but I didn't want him activating the facility's self-destruct. I remembered that was a fairly important plot point and that the yield was multiple city blocks. I wanted to avoid that destruction if at all possible.

Coil's computer was still open in front of me. I could dig through it, but Coil was paranoid enough that I was worried I'd accidentally trip some trap that purged all his data. Plus, I was never all that great with computers anyway.

As I exited Coil's office, I came face to face with a goon in black tactical gear. He leapt back as I walked through the door, pulling out a radio with one hand and drawing his gun with the other.

"Unknown Cape in the facility! Section Alpha." he reported into the radio. He dropped the radio and aimed his sidearm at me. "On the ground!"

I rested Gae Bolg against my shoulder scratching my chin as I said, "You wouldn't happen to know how to get in contact with Tattletale, would you?"

"I said on the ground!"

"Yeah, that's not happening. If you don't attack me, I won't hurt you. But if you try to shoot me, I'll kill you. I'm going to see if anyone else here knows how to get in contact with–" I was cut off by a gunshot as the guard opened fire on me.

Time seemed to slow down. I could feel the air tremble as the bullet passed through it. I could feel the intent of the guard before he'd fired. I was moving before the barrel of his pistol spouted fire.

The man trembled, backing away as the bullet he'd fired impacted either side of the hall around me, bisected mid-way through its flight by the tip of my spear. Protection From Arrows worked against any projectile, bullets included.

I shrugged. "I gave you a chance."

The guard's pistol barked as he emptied his magazine at me. Blood leaked to the floor. His body followed moments later.

As I made my way through the facility, I encountered more organized resistance. The guards had grouped up and set up defensive positions to fight me, but there wasn't much they could do against me. I was too fast for them to easily track. I knew they were going to shoot before they did. And, when all else failed, I could just astralize and walk out of a wall behind them. I didn't kill anyone who didn't shoot at me first, but so far there was only one man who hadn't attacked me. He was backed into a corner, his hands up in surrender.

"I just want to go home. If Coil's dead, my paychecks aren't gonna clear."

"Then leave. Makes no difference to me." I said, stepping aside and motioning for him to move past me.

He shot me a suspicious look, and hugged the wall to stay as far away from me as possible, but he crept away then bolted once he thought he was out of my striking range.

"Sweet, now I just have to–" I tilted my head to the side to avoid a bullet whizzing through the air. I sighed as I chucked my spear at the man I'd just let past. After I let him go, he shot at me while my back was turned. I was starting to think I wouldn't enjoy the fights I'd get into in this world. Maybe I should track down someone tough and start some trouble?

Gae Bolg returned to my hand as I walked back towards Coil's office. When I came here, I had two main plans to deal with the aftermath of this encounter. The first was to call Tattletale and let her take everything over, but I didn't know how to contact her. Additionally, she wasn't exactly a moral paragon. I would've likely been able to get more out of an arrangement made with her, but there were too many moving parts for me to feel completely comfortable with that path. My first priority was Taylor, and I couldn't be sure that Tattletale wouldn't try something against her. Her power was good enough to potentially make the connection between this attack and her servant, and it was better to avoid any nasty surprises that may arise from such a discovery.

That left the second option.

I cleared my throat and traced some runes into the air when I got back to Coil's office. I picked up the phone on his desk and dialed the PRT emergency line.

"PRT emer–"

"Help me!" I interrupted the dispatcher, my voice high-pitched and feminine, colored by evident panic.

"Ma'am, what–"

"I-I… He kidnapped me! I think I'm underground. He said his name was Coil and that he was going to ransom me to my father. There was shouting and shooting and–" I snapped off three shots from the handgun I took off one of the guards, aiming at the wall. "Help! Please! They said something about a big bomb and traps!"

"Ma'am, remain calm and find a safe spot to shelter in place. I'm tracing the call. I have already notified PRT and Protectorate assets. Please stay on the line while I transfer you to–"

"I need to go! Get here fast!" I set the phone down, being careful not to hang it up. They wouldn't be able to trace the call if it disconnected. Actually, maybe they could. Tinkertech didn't make any sense. I needed to remember that I was dealing with an entirely separate rule set than I was used to, complete with abilities I'd never faced before.

I propped Gae Bolg against my shoulder and put my opposite hand in my pocket as I headed towards the server room I'd seen earlier. The Protectorate would be here soon, so I was on the clock now. I used runes to thoroughly destroy everything that could have conceivably held security footage showing a heroic spirit cut through Coil's guards – servers, the security room, a slew of hard drives – then burned the rubble. I'd destroyed every camera I came across before stepping into the frame of them, but it was possible there were hidden cameras I'd missed, and I wanted to make sure I was as thorough as possible. With that done, I astralized and left Coil's base behind me.

I caught up to Taylor as she was walking home. I saw her smirk as I got closer.

'You've been gone a while, Lancer. I was just about to go looking for you.'

'I was just seeing the sights, master. How was school?'

She huffed. 'Same as always. I hate that place."

'Don't worry. I know just how to get your mind off it. Your dad won't be home until seven. That means we have a few hours to train.'

'…But I'm wearing school clothes?'

'You really think your enemy is going to let you get changed before attacking you? Off to the warehouse, master!'

Taylor hung her head as she altered her course towards the warehouse where I'd been training her. She was trying to appear dejected, but I saw the small smile on her face.