5224

by thejarl7166

4225

3. nenstan

Even in Brockton Bay, my Instant Death Ability is Overpowered

or, Tattletale and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Ch. 1: Don't You Think That Outfit's a Little Tacky?

"Park Jihoo, yes? Ever hold a gun before?"

"No."

Telling the truth. Doesn't want to be here.

Wow, thanks, power. I dragged my eyes away from the terrified boy and tried to focus on Bakuda. The storage locker was practically stuffed to the brim with ABB, armed with a motley assortment of firearms and improvised melee weapons. I only half-listened to her argue with poor Park Jihoo, keeping my eyes locked on her loadout. She held herself with absolute confidence.

Megalomaniac. Does not feel threatened. Not afraid of her own bombs. Grenade launcher tied to her biometrics.

See, power? That's what I'm looking for. Not exactly great news, but actionable. Reasonable. Bakuda suddenly stepped back as Park Jihoo started wailing from the ground where she had kicked him. I forced myself not to look at him, and instead took in Bakuda's posture as a bomb detonated and the boy liquified. She had shifted, a very slight adjustment in her stance, one probably invisible to anyone but me.

Control system for remote detonation in her feet. Toe rings. Goggles are a control interface.

There we go! Finally, a vulnerability. All we had to do was steal her grenade launcher, cut off her toes, and not get shot by her dozens of reluctant followers. Or, of course, we could just kill Bakuda by shooting her in the head – I didn't have a gun on me, but most of her followers were untrained and terrified of her, so it wasn't impossible. I would rather not kill anyone, but Bakuda clearly had no such compunctions, and –

Voice smug; confident that you cannot defeat her. Confident she cannot lose even after dying. Dying will trigger all of her remaining explosives.

Oh, come on! I could maybe talk myself into killing Bakuda, but not if that would involve blowing up all of her poor conscripted foot soldiers, and who knows what other bombs she had stashed away around the city.

"That was pretty cool," Regent said. Not bad, Alec. I kept my eyes fixed on her as she gloated with her kindred spirit. Bakuda was certainly getting into it, but in doing so just confirmed an earlier suspicion of mine.

Enjoys praise but cannot stand criticism. Believes herself to be a genius. Has been told she's a genius. Will not tolerate being disrespected. Related to trigger event.

"Chill the fuck out," Regent said in response to Bakuda snapping at him, "I was just asking."

For fuck's sake, Alec. I shot him a dirty look. The one thing he shouldn't have done, and he goes right and does it. Bakuda was steamed, and I knew our grace period had just about run out. Bakuda clapped her hands and pointed into the crowd.

"Alright! So, you… yeah you, the girl in the black dress and shawl. If I told you to, would you pick up the gun and shoot someone?"

Despite my best efforts to keep reading Bakuda, I followed the line of her hand by habit and spotted the girl she was calling out. She must have been only fifteen or sixteen, a Japanese girl with her hair done up in two ponytails. Standing next to her in a white shirt and black tie was another Japanese boy, about her age. Unlike the girl, who was surprisingly beautiful, the boy was totally unremarkable.

"Uhh, I just got here. So, no? Why?" she said. I blinked. Even Bakuda seemed to pause.

Just got here. Not in the ABB. Doesn't understand what's going on.

Holy shit. This random girl and her friend just happened to wander into a storage facility during a cape fight, and stuck around to watch a dude get liquified? What were the odds of that? I couldn't resist digging a little deeper. First, the girl.

Disoriented. Doesn't know where she is. Wants to ask a question.

Okay, weird. Now, the boy.

Bored. Looking around; wants to go home. Could kill everyone here in an instant.

What.

Has killed before. Does not enjoy killing. Does not believe anyone here can hurt him. Likes the girl next to him.

What.

Unnaturally relaxed; absolutely confident in his own safety. Thinking about killing Bakuda.

"What?" Bakuda said, at the same moment I said "Don't!"

Bakuda turned to stare at me, but so did the two new arrivals. Taylor and Brian were both giving me strange looks, but I had to decide fast. Power, if you messed this up – well, I was going to be dead anyway.

"If you kill Bakuda, all of the bombs in everyone's head go off and we all die," I said. This got a startled reaction out of the girl, though the boy maintained his perfect dead-fish poker face.

"You know about Takato's power?" she said, confirming my deductions. This caused Bakuda to snap around to look at her again.

"You're a cape?" she said, hefting her grenade launcher. Likely, she'd realized that there weren't any bombs in this Takato's head, and she'd have to do the deed herself. "One chance, then: join or die."

"No, wait, stop!" the girl shouted. Bakuda swung the barrel of the launcher towards the two of them and the crowd scattered, trying to get out of the imminent blast zone. The boy and girl remained perfectly stationary. There was no talking Bakuda down: she barely felt in control of the ABB as it was, and if she couldn't force these two random passersby, cape or not, to join, then her power would be obviously false. Even faced with an unknown cape, Bakuda knew she had to either recruit him or kill him. Anything else would deal a blow to her leadership that she would never recover from.

"Where are we?" the boy asked, and Bakuda simply laughed in response.

"Not how this works, shithead! Join, or die?" she said.

"I'm sorry, but I'd rather not," he said. Bakuda tensed, preparing to pull the trigger, and I dove towards the ground, the rest of the team following my lead.

"Die."

Bakuda collapsed like a puppet with cut strings. I braced myself for the dead man's switch, but nothing happened. No explosions, no flashes of light. After a few moments, I lifted my head and looked around. Most of the ABB conscripts had already fled the area, and the rest were making their escape now that they realized Bakuda couldn't just kill them on the spot. No further bombs had gone off. The night was unnaturally silent. The boy and girl were still in the same spot, unphased.

Bakuda is dead. Bakuda's bombs are dead. Takato killed them.

What does that even mean? Obviously, Takato was the culprit, but – well, whatever. First thing's first: get on the good side of the extremely powerful and confused cape.

"Hello!" I said, scrambling to my feet. Ow, ow, ow, I was already banged up from running from Bakuda and dropping to the ground like that hadn't helped.

"My name is Tattletale. Thanks for the save," I said, keeping my distance. The rest of the Undersiders were slowly picking themselves up as well, content to follow my lead.

"A fake name?" the girl said under her breath.

"I'm Takato Yogiri. This is Tomochika Dannoura," the boy said, perfectly at ease. I winced instinctively at their real names.

Unusual accent. Japanese, not Japanese American. Speaks flawless English but did not learn naturally. No recognition of your cape name. Expected your real name. Doesn't know what capes are. Doesn't know about cape identities.

Right. Okay. I could work with this.

"We're at the storage facility near the Trainyard. On the other side of the docks is the Boardwalk," I said, remembering their earlier question.

Did not understand directions.

"And we're in Brockton Bay," I said.

Does not recognize city.

"In the United States. On the East Coast," I said, frowning. Finally, they reacted with recognition.

"The United States!" Tomochika said. "I've always wanted to go there!"

"We're definitely on Earth," he said. "Now we just need to get back to Japan."

"But I've never heard of Brockton Bay," Tomochika said, frowning. I checked on the rest of my team – they seemed fine, but they were regarding Takato with wariness. I signaled Brian, and he limped over.

"They're fine, just lost. Whatever you do, just don't piss off the guy. I'll talk to them and sort it out. Can you and Skitter try to find Bitch?" Brian gave me a long look but nodded. I felt bad for ordering him around, but my power was still screaming at me that Takato was capable of killing us all where we stood, so he could deal with it.

"Where in Japan are you from?" I asked.

"Fukuoka," Dannoura said, and my mind stuttered to a halt.

Telling the truth.

"Uhh," I said, looking around. "How long ago were you last there?" God, I sounded like an idiot.

"Well, we've been gone for a few months at most, I think? I sort of stopped counting," Dannoura said. A few months? Leviathan had sunk Fukuoka and Kyushu over a decade ago. I produced my cell phone from my pocket and checked the time, but mainly watched their faces.

No reactions. Knows about cell phones. Expected you to have one.

Okay, so they likely weren't time travelers from before 1999. What did it say about this situation that time travel was my first thought? Come on, Tattletale, let's put it together: they're totally lost, had never heard of Brockton Bay, came from Fukuoka, and have "been gone" for a few months.

Dimensional travel.

"I don't think we're on your Earth," I said, carefully. Alec was staring at me with what I could only assume was a dumbfounded expression behind his mask. Too bad, Alec, maybe I'll explain when I'm no longer mad about you pissing off Bakuda.

"What? Earth is Earth," Tomochika said with unfounded certainty.

"We call our Earth, Earth Bet. We know about another Earth we call Earth Aleph, and they have a different history from us. They don't have Endbringers, or as many capes," I said.

Doesn't know what Endbringers are. Doesn't know what capes are. Barely following you.

"What the fuck?" Alec asked. I ignored him. Brian and Taylor emerged from a nearby row of storage lockers, hefting Bitch between them.

"Ah!" Dannoura shouted, taking in Bitch's bloody form. Still breathing, though, so this was pretty much salvageable.

"Get the money," I told Alec, and he scampered off. This was going to be a longer explanation than I was expecting, and I wasn't sure the Undersiders were qualified for problems of this magnitude – let alone whatever Coil might think. How bad would it be if I just shipped these two off to the Protectorate? Even with all of us, could we take Takato down if things came to that?

Takato is totally relaxed. Avoiding looking at Bakuda or Park Jihoo. Does not enjoy killing. Kills as first response to threats. Kills in response to people planning to threaten him. Looking at you with suspicion. Knows you are thinking about ways you could stop him from killing you. Knows you are thinking about how to fight him.

Jesus Christ! I shut that line of thought down and tried very hard to not think about ways I could beat Takato in a fight. That was just unfair – not only could he kill with a thought, but he had a Thinker component that let him know when people were thinking about hurting him? I imagined leaving him with a paranoid Armsmaster and half of the Protectorate dropping dead when they started making threat assessments and engagement plans. Right. Time to do this the hard way.

"If you want, you can come with us to our apartment," I said, trying to sound as casual as possible. Brian gave me another look, one that I resolutely decided to ignore. "We'll order some food and figure out where you come from, okay?"

Dannoura looked at Takato, who shrugged.

"Okay!" she said. Alec had returned, carrying the money. Bakuda's jeep was parked nearby, the keys still in the ignition.

"Alec," I said, nodding at the jeep. Brian and Taylor shuffled off to load Bitch into the back, and I made my way over to get a seat, Dannoura and Takato following. As I circled around the jeep to sit down, Brian grabbed my arm.

"Hey," he said, lowly. "What the fuck."

"I know," I hissed. "But Takato over there has the ability to instantly kill anyone he sees, and he can know when someone is planning on hurting him or his friend. We play nice, make sure they don't accidentally murder half the Protectorate, and get them out of our hair."

"We're going to take them back to our base, and then give them to the Protectorate? Are you stupid?" he said, and I scowled.

"Grue, if you don't want to end up dead on the ground, do what I say." Getting into a power play with Brian right then probably wasn't wise, but I was pissed at him. He could be in charge of the Undersiders for everything else, but right then I needed him to listen. "I'm sorry. I'll explain more later. But our number one priority needs to be getting home and making sure these two don't murder us all."

Brian tightened his grip on my arm and stared at me. I wished I could see his face through his motorcycle helmet, but he must have decided to play along because he released my arm and climbed into the passenger seat of the jeep. Alec settled in behind the wheel, and I jumped in the back with Dannoura and Takato.

"And away we go!" Alec said cheerfully, starting the engine. We drove in silence for almost five minutes as Alec navigated us out of the storage facility and onto the roads. I didn't like driving like this, our obvious cape costumes exposed to anyone who was watching, but it was late enough that we hadn't seen anyone else on the road. I checked on our passengers and saw that Dannoura was clearly holding in some sort of urgent question. I made eye contact, and she took that as permission to speak.

"Why are you all dressed for Halloween?" Dannoura asked, and I sighed.

"What?" Taylor said.

"No, wait, it's not October. Don't you think the outfits are a little tacky?" Dannoura continued, heedless of Taylor's confusion.

"They're costumes," I said. "We're supervillains."

"How honest," Takato said.

"Too honest!" Dannoura agreed. "Supervillains! Are you kidnapping us?"

"No!" I yelled, perhaps a little desperately, because Alec laughed from the front seat. "Honest. We're not really supervillains, just – small time crooks with powers. And you saved us back there, so we owe you one."

"Was that lady a supervillain too?" Dannoura asked, and I nodded. "Hey wait a minute, you're just kids!"

"You're one to talk," Brian muttered under his breath.

"Yup. Honest to goodness teenage superpowered thieves, right here. Bakuda was trying to kill us because we stole from her gang." A little bit of misdirection, maybe, but technically true if you followed the chain of events all the way from "stole from Lung" to "accidentally got Lung arrested" and ignored that this money came from a bank, not from the ABB.

"So you're criminals that steal from other criminals," she said. "Like Goemon!"

"Let's not disrespect the memory of Japan's national heroes," Takato said. He was probably joking, but I resolved not to waste my power on checking. Ah, who was I kidding.

Has no opinion of you or the Undersiders. Not planning on killing you. Could kill you. Could kill everyone. Cannot be killed. Death.

Scary! My power was making some pretty big leaps in logic today, but I'd take whatever I could get. Dannoura and Takato both looked like they had been through some kind of fight – or maybe not, considering Takato's power. Both teen's clothes were scuffed and dirty, and Dannoura had some light scrapes on her knees. Overall, though, they looked to be in pretty good shape. Dannoura's beauty was almost unnatural, which made Takato's plainness even more apparent. Dannoura had clearly lifted her dress and shawl from whatever world they had been on, but Takato was still wearing what appeared to be a school uniform.

Comfortable in anonymity. Does not think himself special. Is the end of all things.

I checked on the rest of my team. Bitch was still unconscious but breathing steadily. Taylor was shaking as the adrenaline left her system. Brian was staring at me with what I could only assuming was a burning anger. Alec, blessedly, was focused on the road. All in all, for an encounter with a deranged tinker and an entire gang, tonight could have gone much worse.

All I had to do now was make sure Takato didn't kill us all.

#

Spoiler: Author's Note

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May 24, 2022

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aospare

May 24, 2022

#4

Ch. 2: Pretty Cool, Armsmaster

Brian and I shouldered Bitch as we trudged up the stairs to the loft. Alec and Taylor had quickly changed out of costume and taken off with Bakuda's jeep, intending to dump it somewhere else in the city before returning here. Takato and Dannoura followed us up, the former with a bored expression and the latter with undisguised interest. We dropped Bitch off on her bed in her room and returned to the living room, where Dannoura and Takato were wandering around, taking in the apartment.

"This isn't a very good supervillain lair," Dannoura said, somehow managing to sound disappointed.

"We mostly just live here," I admitted, and Brian glanced at me again. "Just a moment."

I dragged Brian back into my room and shut the door. He pulled his helmet off and I got a good look at his furious expression.

Does not understand why we took them back here. Is afraid of your identities being leaked. Is afraid of the Protectorate finding this building. Is worried about what the boss will think. Angry at you. Angry at himself.

"I know," I said, raising my hand and cutting Brian off before he could even start. "But we have to play this very carefully. Takato might be the most dangerous parahuman in the city, and he's confused and lost. If we can get on their good side and pass them off onto someone else, then we'll be in the clear."

"Then why not just give them to the PRT?" Brian asked. "Why do we have to risk everything and take them back here?"

"We'll have to hand them over eventually," I admitted, "but I had a reason for bringing them here. Takato is on a hair trigger, and if the Protectorate or the PRT play hardball with him, then they all die."

"So?" Brian said. Nice try, Brian, but I could tell the idea actually bothered you.

"So, all of a sudden, an entire branch of the Protectorate disappears overnight. You know what happens next? Open gang war in the streets, even worse than is about to happen after tonight, and the Protectorate calls in reinforcements. And not just some extra manpower from Boston, but the big guns. Myrddin, at least. Maybe Alexandria. Brockton Bay goes down the shitter while the Protectorate tear the city apart trying to find Takato."

"So you made him our problem? I don't like this at all."

"It's not ideal. But I'm hoping I can talk to them today and we'll manage to work something out so they don't accidentally destroy the Bay, and they'll be out of hair by tomorrow. I know this isn't ideal, and we'll probably have to move bases, but I can talk to the boss. He'll understand," I said. Of course, Coil wouldn't understand, but I was starting to develop the idea of a plan that might make his disapproval irrelevant. Ideally, he wouldn't even know we had met Takato until it was too late to matter.

"Fine. I'll stay here and watch, but I'm not unmasking. Then, once they're gone, we'll have a long talk about giving orders in the field," Brian said. He stomped out, and I stood alone in my room for a moment. Yeah, if everything worked out like I was hoping, I wouldn't be here for that talk. Another plus side of my new plan. I took a few calming breaths and searched my desk for my bottle of aspirin. I was already feeling the beginnings of a headache from overusing my power, and I definitely wasn't done for the night. I peeled off my mask and tossed it on my bed before returning to the living room.

"Water?" I asked as I filled myself a glass. Dannoura and Takato both requested a glass, but Grue shook his head and took up a standing position in the corner of the living room. Very ominous, Brian. Too bad you literally can't intimidate these people.

I took my medicine and passed out the water. Dannoura was practically bouncing in her seat, and Takato looked perfectly relaxed.

"Let me start with the basics," I said, and began a crash course in world history since 1982. Scion, parahumans, the PRT, and the Endbringers. Even talking about them like this felt like inviting bad luck. I hesitated for a moment on whether I should discuss Kyushu and decided to get a quick read on how they were taking my story so far.

Believe you. Surprised but not that surprised. Have seen many unusual things before. Trust you. Takato could kill every living being on this planet with no effort.

Well, that was disturbing, but at least they're being receptive. Might as well drop the bomb, then, and hope we don't all die as a result. Better to hear it from me than to think I was hiding it from him if he found out later.

"In 1999, the Endbringer Leviathan attacked Kyushu. It was one of the worst Endbringer attacks in history, and as a result Kyushu was almost completely destroyed," I said. Dannoura gasped.

"I see why you were confused when you said we were from Fukuoka," Takato said. God, did nothing phase this kid? I took a sip from my glass and waited for Dannoura to finish processing.

"Capes generally keep their identities secret, to protect themselves and their families, but since you told me your names, I might as well introduce myself in return. I'm Lisa Wilbourn," I said. There we go. Establishing trust with the dangerous off-worlders. Maybe now that Takato had a name to put to my face, he would be less willing to kill me.

No change in expression. No increase in sympathy. Has killed people he was familiar with before. Has killed classmates.

"And all of you are capes?" Dannoura asked, and I nodded.

"If you see someone in masks or a costume like us, it's safest to assume they're capes. It's probably for the best you met us, instead of one of the big criminal gangs in the city. And it might be for the best that you didn't meet the Protectorate either," I said.

"Why not? Takato asked, and I shrugged, attempting to project nonchalance.

"They take killing really seriously, and if they found out you killed Bakuda they might try to arrest you right there without listening to your story. They're your best bet at getting home, but you'll have to be careful with them."

"I trust you!" Dannoura declared. Of course she did – being friends with Takato probably meant she had the luxury of trusting everyone until a millisecond before they tried to hurt her and instantly died. I'd say she had no sense of self-preservation, but the normal rules didn't seem to apply to these two.

Unafraid of consequences. Has been attacked and threatened before. Takato protects her from harm. Takato has killed for her. Does not believe anyone can harm her while Takato is around. There is no safe distance from Takato.

"Only one cape has ever successfully opened a portal to another Earth, and they're dead now. But the PRT controls that portal, and if anyone would know how to make another, it's them."

"It shouldn't be too hard," Takato said. "We were told that moving up the chain of worlds is difficult, but if there are a bunch of Earth's next to each other, then moving sideways probably won't take very much energy."

What. Chain of worlds?

"How did you even get here?" I asked. I noticed that Brian had relaxed his posture. Maybe the absurdity of the situation had finally gotten to him.

"It was the worst!" Dannoura shouted, and then launched into a breathless explanation that started with a school field trip and somehow involved traveling to another world totally unlike Earth, fighting dragons and demons and zombies, and eventually finding a source of energy strong enough to send them back to their home world.

"We must have missed," Takato said, and Brian snorted. I heard something padding on the floors and turned to see one of Rachel's dogs – Angelica – trotting towards us. Takato held a hand out for her to sniff, and after a brief introduction began petting her. Dannoura leaned across Takato and began cooing at Angelica.

The door clicked open, and Alec and Taylor arrived in civilian clothes but wearing masks. Alec took in the scene, laughed, and took his mask off as well. He collapsed into one of the stools at the kitchen bar. Taylor hovered awkwardly by the door.

"Need to go home?" I asked her, and she shook her head.

"I'd rather stay the night," she said. "I'll think of an excuse for my dad in the morning."

"Everything good here with the wonder twins?" Alec asked.

"We're all caught up. They're a long way from home and need somewhere to stay."

"I'll leave," Brian said. "I've got… something to do, anyway. One of them can sleep in my room, and the other can use the couch."

"I'll sleep on the couch," I offered. Maybe it was a minor gesture, but I would take every opportunity to build some goodwill with Takato. "Dannoura, you can use my room."

Sleep seemed to appeal to everyone, and the group rapidly split up for bed.

#

I woke up the next morning to an unusual sight. Takato was sitting at the kitchen bar with a glass of water, and Rachel sat in the big chair in the living room, staring at him.

"We good?" I asked, my voice raspy. I clumsily reached for the glass of water I left on the coffee table last night. If Rachel went all attack dog on Takato, I wouldn't be able to help her. Please, someone save me from being the only person who knew what kind of threat Takato represented.

"I think so?" Takato said, sounding honestly confused. Rachel just grunted.

"Right. Let me get us some breakfast, and we can plan what we'll need to do."

It was barely nine in the morning when I finally stepped out the door to find us some food. It was always cold in the morning in Brockton Bay, with the heavy winds coming in off the water. Fortunately, it was only a five-minute walk to the nearest donut place, and I honestly didn't feel comfortable leaving our guests from another world alone for any longer. I picked up a dozen various donuts, some bagels, and a large cup of coffee for myself. When I returned to the loft Taylor and Dannoura were both up and awkwardly sitting in the living room, and Rachel had vanished. Alec, I determined, was still asleep.

"Is this what Americans normally eat for breakfast?" Dannoura asked, eying the glazed chocolate donut.

"Not normally," I admitted, "but I thought some sugar would do us good."

We ate in companiable silence for some time, and I realized that Taylor had taken her mask off. Either she had forgotten, felt obligated to reveal her identity to our guests, or had just given up on caring.

"Taylor," I said, and she looked at me. "I think I'm going to turn myself into the PRT."

It was adorable to watch her hide her reaction. Shock, mostly, but also a bit of happy surprise. Taylor had been an amazing villain, but her heart clearly hadn't been in it. Also, she had always planned on betraying us to the PRT, though I doubted she'd have the guts. Here I was, doing the hero work for her. She probably would have been fine if I had left her in the Undersiders, but without me there to push her less legal directions she would have found a way to arrest them all within a week. I probably owed it to Brian, Alec, and Rachel to at least give them a running chance.

"Uhh – what, I mean – uhh – why?" she said, and I laughed. Taylor scowled.

"You've got Armsmaster's phone number, don't you? You've even met with him? I need your help," I said. Taylor stood up suddenly, and I became aware of bugs buzzing around the apartment.

Thinks you're going to sell her out to the Undersiders. Thinks you might ask Takato to kill her. Suspicious of you. Afraid. Defensive.

"Hang on!" I said. "Takato and Dannoura need to meet with the Protectorate. I need to meet with them too, to make sure that everything goes fine. That means turning myself in. This isn't a trick, and there's a reason I'm telling you this while Alec, Brian, and Rachel aren't here."

Taylor calmed down, and the buzzing decreased. Dannoura had paled in fear.

Afraid of bugs. Has been swarmed by bugs before.

Interesting, but a little gross. How many bug controllers were out there in the multiverse? Whatever – I needed to keep Taylor from using her powers around Dannoura if they freaked her out that bad. Once again, I was the sole line between Takato Yogiri and the end of the world.

"I know you wanted to find out more about our boss before handing us over to the Protectorate," I said. I had to tread carefully here – come on too confident, and Taylor would get mad that I had essentially strung her along into a life of crime. "I'm willing to tell them everything, and I'm willing to say you convinced me to turn. Believe it or not, but I don't like our boss either."

Taylor hesitated, but before she could come to a decision, Dannoura spoke.

"Should we leave? Is this personal?" she asked, looking between us. Takato continued casually eating a donut.

"Everything's fine," Taylor bit out. "We can talk about it later. Let's call Armsmaster."

I turned to Dannoura and Takato to explain.

"Armsmaster is the head of the local Protectorate, the superhero team. I can explain to him who you are and what you need, and hopefully keep him from being boneheaded about you killing Bakuda."

Taylor went back to her room to find Armsmaster's business card. I took several calming breaths. This was my shot at dealing with Coil, and ideally, he would never know what him. When Taylor returned with Armsmaster's card, I realized my hands were trembling slightly. I dialed the number on my cell phone and paused before hitting play. Taylor put her hand on my shoulder, and I hit the button. It rang exactly twice before Armsmaster answered.

"Who is this?" he said, his voice angry.

In bad mood. Short on sleep. Kept up due to Bakuda bombs. Was in a fight last night.

"This is Tattletale," I said. Business time. Armsmaster was in a shitty mood, but I had something to offer. He'd be a fool to turn me down, but he'd also be a fool to accept and walk into a potential trap. I had to convince him the value outweighed the risk.

"How did you get this number?" he said.

"Not important. I have important information about Bakuda," I said. There was a pause.

"Go on," Armsmaster said.

Believes me. Knows I have important information. Spying on me? No. Has a way of detecting lies.

"Bakuda is dead. She attacked my team last night at the storage facility near the Trainyard. Another cape showed up and killed her and shut off her bombs." Another long pause. A lie detector, huh, Armsmaster? Pretty cool, but I could work around that. Wait – no, I didn't need to work around that. No lying, no needling, no half-truths. Full disclosure.

"Skitter wants me to turn myself in, and I agree." There, all true, though just phrased in a way to make it sound like it was Taylor's idea. Ugh, I literally just said I wasn't going to do half-truths! Wow, I sucked at this honesty thing. "We want to enter ourselves into PRT custody. But there's a problem."

"You're not getting immunity," he said instantly. I frowned. So suspicious, Armsmaster! I really was on the level on this time, you know.

"You may give it to us anyway, but that's not what I'm asking for. Skitter and I come in. I tell you all about the Undersider's secret backer. I also have with me two very lost and confused dimension travelers."

A longer pause this time, as Armsmaster dissected all my statements. All true, but a lot he probably he had to chew on. Dimension travel was hardly a regular occurrence, even for the PRT, but it wasn't outside the realm of possibility. Armsmaster would know that I believed they were from another world, so the question now was how highly he rated my powers of deduction.

"In order: you and Skitter surrender yourselves to Protectorate custody. You answer any and all questions in an interrogation regarding your operations as an Undersider. Have you verified the dimension travel? Is one of them responsible for killing Bakuda?"

"We'll agree to an interrogation, but we won't unmask the rest of our team," I said, shooting Taylor a stern glance. She wrung her hands but nodded. "I believe them about the dimension travel story. One of them did kill Bakuda, but it was in self-defense. That's actually the most important part of this call."

"Fine," Armsmaster said. "Tell me more about them."

Never expected you to unmask your team. Doubts the dimension travel story but recognizes that you think it is true. Fishing for info. Doesn't think you'll actually show up.

"One of them has a power. Whenever someone intends to hurt or kill him, they instantly die. Think August Prince, but lethal. As far as I know, it's always on."

Not strictly true, as I could guess that he had some way of not accidentally killingly people who gave him friendly punches in the arm or bumped into him on the street, but I had only actually seen the power in action once.

"How extensive is this threat detection?" Armsmaster asked.

Incredulous. Thinks you are misunderstanding the power.

Have a little faith, Armsmaster. I'm doing my best.

"How far can you detect threats?" I asked Takato, letting Armsmaster hear me. He shrugged.

"Anywhere. Sometimes, I don't even know who is trying to hurt me or why, and I kill them before they get the chance. I try not to, though," he said. Dannoura snorted.

Telling the truth. Has killed hundreds of people. Does not think killing is a big deal. Largely avoids killing to maintain place in society. Has recently had occasion to kill many people.

"Did you hear that?" I asked Armsmaster, and he grunted.

"We'll see," he said.

"No!" I practically shouted. "Armsmaster, listen to me. Do not make a threat assessment. Do not make containment procedures. Do not plan to ambush us or attack us. I cannot guarantee what will happen."

"If you think you can – "

"This is not a threat. Please. I just want to impress on you that we all need to be very careful here."

Armsmaster was silent for a long time. The desperation in my voice had been real – even Taylor was giving me a shocked look. Not for the first time I cursed my powers for making me too smart. We were all standing on a cliff and only I could see the edge.

"I see. I'll keep information about this totally confidential. I'll use memetic hazard Stranger protocols to direct observation away from the meeting room, and keep the personnel involved to a bare minimum. Myself, Miss Militia, and someone from the PRT – likely Deputy Director Renick. Is that acceptable?"

I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Yes. Thank you. When should we come to PRT HQ?" I asked.

"Come in two hours. Come to the Easton Alley side, and we'll open up an entrance for you there. We're expecting four of you – no more. Understand?"

"Crystal clear, Armsmaster." He hung up.

"That seemed like a very stressful way to set up a meeting," Dannoura said.

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Threadmarks Ch. 3: Obviously Manipulative Thinker

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May 26, 2022

#80

Ch. 3: Obviously Manipulative Thinker

We descended from the loft and began the walk to the bus stop. I had lent Dannoura a spare winter coat I kept in the apartment, but I hadn't felt comfortable borrowing a spare jacket of Brian's for Takato, and so he suffered in silence. I didn't need my power to tell that Taylor was anxious about going to the PRT, in stark contrast to Dannoura's excitement and Takato's total disinterest. After a block and half, Takato's head twitched in the direction of a nearby side street.

Looking down alley; noticed something. Looking away; subject of interest is no longer there. Just killed someone.

"Takato," I said, trying to keep my voice light. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"There was a person in there who wanted to kill me," Takato said defensively. "Err, I mean, sorry?"

Wanted to kill Takato in particular; member of ABB from last night. Not conscripted; loyalty to gang. Location of ambush is not optimal; attack of opportunity. Coincidence.

I wanted to kick myself for not considering the ABB revenge angle, but seriously, what were the odds of running into one of the few loyal ABB members who would know Takato's face? Was this guy just a massive trouble magnet or something? Either way, I knew I'd have to find a way to keep this from the Protectorate or they might start getting dangerous ideas about "laws" and "justice."

We reached the bus stop shortly after and were the only ones waiting. The morning commuters had already made their trip, and no one seemed interested in a casual day about town. Our lengthy bus trip revealed the results of Bakuda's aborted bombing spree. A couple of landmarks had been affected by esoteric bomb effects, and some other buildings had simply been burnt to the ground. The entire city was on edge, but the bombs suddenly ceasing had left everyone unsure if things were definitely over or just on pause. If it had just been nonstop explosions, people would have known what to expect, but this quiet détente unsettled more than it reassured.

Halfway to the PRT Building, my phone started buzzing with a call from Coil. I declined the call and turned off my phone. I had hoped for a little longer without intervention, but he was now at least suspicious about my movements. I forced myself to be calm. We were almost in the clear. We stepped off the bus and walked the short distance to the alley along the side of the PRT building.

"Ahhh," Dannoura sighed. "We're so close to going home."

Single-minded in her focus. Thinks Earth Bet is neat but doesn't want to stay here.

Taylor and I donned standard domino masks, though they barely offered much in the way of identity protection. I checked myself over in the reflective glass of the PRT Building – seriously, the entire thing was made of windows, covered in iron bars. It would probably been a pretty building if they hadn't felt the need to reinforce the windows. Dannoura and Takato wandered around the alley, looking for ways to amuse themselves. After we had been waiting for ten minutes, a crack appeared in the glass wall of the PRT building and a door swung open.

"For real?" Taylor said in disbelief.

"A secret door! How classic!" Dannoura yelled.

Miss Militia poked her head out of the door and fixed Taylor and I with a long look.

"Come in," she said. "Move quickly."

I led the way inside and noted the large pistol at Miss Militia's waist.

Anxious. Doesn't think they should trust you. Thinks this is a waste of time.

Just you wait, Miss Militia. I promise this is going to blow you away. Nevertheless, I couldn't help the feeling that I was getting in over my head. When Coil had put me on the Undersiders, I hadn't even wanted to go out into the field, and here I was negotiating face-to-face with Protectorate heroes. If I didn't get this right, I got arrested, the Protectorate died, and my power seemed quite certain that the world might end. No pressure.

She led the four of us down a series of featureless winding hallways, and I noticed that we didn't pass a single PRT trooper. It seemed that Armsmaster was keeping up his bargain of taking secrecy seriously. I checked the ceiling and corners for security cameras and saw that they were turned off. This place was terribly boring, though. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, and the entire hallway smelt of cleaning supplies. Trust the PRT to have boredom perfected to an artform.

We came to a stop outside a conference room, and Miss Militia knocked four times on the closed door. It opened, and we filed in. Armsmaster, in full power armor with his halberd at his side, sat at one end of a long wooden table. Next to him was a middle-aged man with thinning brown hair; I recognized him as Deputy Director Rennick from the PRT personnel files I had made a habit of browsing. Miss Militia sat next to Rennick and gestured for us to join her. In the end, the three of them sat on one side of the table, and the four of us on the other. How confrontational; and here I thought the Protectorate was all about building trust and good-will with the common folk.

"Good to see you again, Armsmaster," Taylor said. Miss Militia and Rennick cast surprised looks at Armsmaster.

Didn't tell anyone that Taylor stopped Lung. Didn't tell anyone they met about her going undercover.

Keeping secrets, Armsmaster? The new and improved Tattletale wouldn't be making that mistake. Everything was above board today.

"Let's begin," he said, hastily. "Following our discussion this morning, I accompanied a PRT team to the Trainyards. We recovered Bakuda's body, as well as a significant supply of her bombs. A cursory examination revealed no clear cause of death. For the moment, we have decided to treat your story as true." He turned to Dannoura and Takato.

"Through no fault of your own, you have been associated with supervillains. You have also committed a grave crime. Know that, at this stage, the PRT and the Protectorate still welcome you to join. You have been afforded some degree of leniency due to your status as dimensional travelers, but that will not shield you forever."

As far as hardball recruitment pitches went it wasn't bad, but I didn't even need my power to know that Takato and Dannoura weren't going to go for it. I wanted to interject and remind Armsmaster that we had already entered PRT custody willingly, but I decided to let Takato handle it.

"I'm not interested in joining any organization," Takato said. "All we want to do is go home."

"Yeah! And anyway, Takato's power isn't really superhero material," Dannoura agreed.

Fondly exasperated by regular close contact with Takato. Both does not want him to kill people and relies on him killing to keep her safe.

"In any case, I don't use my power unless someone's trying to hurt me or Dannoura, and I pretty much never use it for myself," Takato finished. Armsmaster nodded, but Miss Militia and Renick hadn't relaxed.

"Could you describe, in your own words, how your power works?" Armsmaster asked.

"Anything I want to die, dies. I can tell when someone is trying to hurt me, and I can kill things either automatically or on purpose. I can pick up on a couple people who want to kill me right now, but unless it becomes an imminent threat I'm trying to not use my power," Takato said.

There was a long moment of silence where both Miss Militia and Renick not-so-subtly looked at Armsmaster, who gave an imperceptible nod.

"We're taking a lot on faith, here, but we've determined that there's no safe way to test your abilities. Know that if we find out you have lied to us about either your objectives or your abilities then we will consider you to be a hostile actor," Miss Militia said.

I resisted the urge to facepalm. I could understand their reluctance to just take me at my word, but they didn't have to threaten Takato while they were at it. Fortunately, he seemed to take this all in stride.

"Sure," he said. "We only really want to get out of here."

"Regardless, you are requesting the use of government resources to return you home. We must have some assurances that you will follow, if not our orders, then our guidelines," Renick said.

Is willing to do quite a bit to keep Takato happy. Received permission to negotiate with full authority of PRT. Someone in PRT sees potential in Takato.

"That's fine," Takato said. "I'm not going to try to make any trouble for you."

Not going to try, huh Takato. I bet you could make plenty trouble for the PRT by accident. I checked on Taylor, and she was mainly keeping her attention focused on Armsmaster.

"I do have an idea," Armsmaster said, immediately receiving glares from Miss Militia and Renick. "Tattletale mentioned that you disabled Bakuda's bombs. How was this done, and could you repeat this effect?" Takato scratched the back of his head.

"Right, Tattletale said that when she died her bombs would all go off. So, when I killed her, I could feel her intent to kill traveling towards her bombs. I guess it's more accurate to say I killed the connection between her and her bombs, so they didn't go off but they were still active."

There was a moment of silence as I soaked up that explanation of pure bullshit.

"You killed… the connection?" Miss Militia said, and Takato nodded.

"Yeah," he said, and everyone waited for him to elaborate, though no further explanation came.

"Takato can kill all sorts of things! It makes no sense!" Dannoura whined. I agreed with her but kept silent.

"Would you be able to… kill… her bombs without detonating them?" Armsmaster asked, and after a moment's thought Takato nodded.

"From Bakuda's gear we managed to recover the location of all the bombs she planted, both in people and around the city. In exchange for providing you with food, shelter, and protection, I would request that you travel with me around the Bay to disable the most dangerous of her explosives."

"That's fine," Takato agreed immediately. "I saw what her bomb did to that one guy – it wasn't pretty."

"You're one to talk," Dannoura muttered, but did not object.

"Excellent!" Renick said, clapping his hands together. "We can get you a safehouse and a secure transport right away. The sooner the better, I say."

His job is done. Wants to get out of here. Wants to leave as soon as possible.

Renick rose and Miss Militia rose with him.

"Wait," I said. "I think Miss Militia should stay."

That got me some assessing looks. I just had to stick the landing. I had refrained from speaking until now on purpose, and I had to make my opening gambit count.

"No offense, but Armsmaster's already burned Skitter, and I'd like another hero here to listen to what we have to say, in case he decides just to not mention parts of this conversation again."

Ugh, and I had just promised myself not to needle. Armsmaster's jaw was clenched tight, and Miss Militia was looking at me with open suspicion. I guess that had been a little too obviously Manipulative Thinker, and now Miss Militia was going to walk away just to spite me. Wow, she was petty!

"Please," Taylor said, sounding beaten down. Miss Militia's gaze softened, and she glanced at Renick. Nice assist, Taylor!

"Go ahead," he said. "I'll get these two squared away."

Miss Militia returned to her seat as Dannoura and Takato stood.

"Thanks so much for your help! I hope we see you soon," Dannoura said, throwing her arms around me in a hug. I smiled at her and wished them luck, and they followed Renick out of the conference room. The second the door swung shut behind them, the temperature seemed to drop a couple degrees.

"Tattletale," Armsmaster said. "So far, you have been honest with us. Know that we have ways of knowing when you are telling the truth. Begin with the formation of the Undersiders."

"Not much to tell," I said. I took a brief pause to read the room.

Armsmaster: Angry at being shown up. Eager for any actionable intel.

Miss Militia: Does not trust me. Wants to know what's going on between Armsmaster and Skitter. Suspicious that Skitter may be acting.

Taylor: Angry at Armsmaster. Angry at me. Wants to be a hero. Worried that they hate her. Worried I will throw her under the bus.

Ouch. I take it back – the worst thing about this power isn't being so much smarter than everyone else, it's knowing exactly what everyone thinks of me.

"I ran away from home shortly after I became a parahuman. I was on the Boardwalk when I was grabbed by a couple of guys with guns. They knew I had powers. They took me to meet the boss, and he put me on his retainer – with a gun to my head. After a few months, he said he had a team he wanted me to manage. That was the Undersiders, and it was the first time I met Grue, Bitch, and Regent."

"Who is he?" Armsmaster asked.

"Coil. He's got a lot of money and a lot of mercenaries, and a bunch of bases in the Downtown area. He told me he would know if I went to the PRT for help, or any of the gangs. He dictated when and where we would do our jobs and would pay us extra for completing them. He has a complicated thinker power I can explain if you need it. He also got me log-in credentials for PRT systems."

Wow, Miss Militia was pissed, but evidently didn't feel too bad for me. Armsmaster didn't seem to have much empathy either. Some heroes, huh? Taylor at least was looking at me in a new light, and she was the only one here that I actually wanted to like me on a personal level, so I guess I could count that as a win.

"When did Skitter join the team?" Miss Militia asked. Now here was an opportunity, and while I was tempted to spin things in the light that would make Armsmaster look the worst, I knew that Miss Militia would never trust me. Instead, I looked at Taylor, prompting her to tell her story.

I kept my eyes on Miss Militia as Taylor spoke, detailing her first night out, fight with Lung, and meeting with Armsmaster. She glanced guiltily at me as she described her intention to go undercover and find out about our boss and related her meeting with Armsmaster ahead of the bank robbery. As I suspected, Miss Militia was much more receptive to Taylor, who she likely saw having been deceived by the big bad thinker, than she was to me. Armsmaster was pissed, sure, but Miss Militia was the one we had to convince: if she thought Armsmaster had mismanaged things, she would take over our case herself.

Sympathetic to Skitter. Suspicious of me. Willing to hear us out.

Time to drive it home, then.

"Bakuda tried to kill us last night because Skitter played a part in capturing Lung. She killed one kid and was going to kill us when Dannoura and Takato arrived. Once we got out of there and learned about where they're from, and his powers, I knew it was beyond us. Skitter wanted us to go to the PRT."

Once again, technically true. It also implied that Armsmaster had failed to protect a new hero from ABB reprisal, which again wasn't exactly true, but definitely had the feeling of truth. I also knew they would start to look for hidden motives if I said it had been my idea to go to the PRT, but Miss Militia would eat up the idea of Skitter doing her darndest to convert a villain to the good side. Besides, there was no denying that Takato Yogiri really was a problem beyond my ability to solve alone. All I had to do was convince every parahuman organization on the planet to not try to arrest him, and we were in the clear.

"We're in a crisis right now, Tattletale. In any other time, we might be willing to barter for information. For now, I'm going to ask that you allow yourselves to be put in holding cells until we can negotiate in full," Armsmaster said, trying to regain some control. I thought a little about his phrasing – he seemed to think the crisis was ongoing, even though Bakuda was dead and the bombs had stopped.

Bombs a distraction. Oni Lee freed Lung last night. Oni Lee equipped with Bakuda bombs.

That was bad, but unless things went terribly wrong, not our problem. Being put in a holding cell, on the other hand, was the worst-case scenario. Coil would be able to pick us off at his leisure.

"Coil has men in the PRT. If you put us in a holding cell, we won't wake up in the morning," I said.

Angry you are doubting their competence. Thinks you are building up to something. Wants to put you in a holding cell just to show you that you aren't in charge.

Came on a little strong there, huh? Time to walk it back a bit before Miss Militia decided to draw that gun at her hip.

"Coil will probably let Skitter go without issue, but I know too much. He'll do anything to retrieve or kill me before I can spill anything crucial. His power gives him basically infinite chances on assassination or kidnapping attempts, and he's clearly used it to infiltrate the PRT before," I said. To my surprise, it was Armsmaster that came to my defense.

"She's right. Until we have more time to discuss Coil's resources and the specifics of his power, it doesn't make sense to make easy targets of valuable assets," he said. A little on the nose, Armsmaster. Not even a bit of consideration for us as human beings? Hang on, were you thinking of using me as bait?

"Skitter," he said, and Taylor straightened up and looked at him. "Previously, you rejected joining the Wards. You've been involved in criminal activity, but you haven't physically harmed anyone who isn't a parahuman. Most of your actions can probably be excused as undercover work. However, that story only works if you officially join the Wards, and even then, likely as a probationary member."

Taylor bit her lip, and I decided to spend a little juice on her.

Head down but looking up; wants to join the Wards. Body angled towards you; liked the Undersiders. Afraid the Wards will hate her. Doesn't think she deserves to be in the Wards. Afraid of people her age.

"You'll be fine," I told her, squeezing her arm. She looked at me in surprise. "You should do it. You're a hero."

Taylor smiled at me and nodded meekly at Armsmaster. His jaw relaxed minutely – poor guy had been grinding his teeth for half this conversation. Miss Militia, at least, no longer seemed to want to lock us up and throw away the key. They would likely separate me from Taylor, to keep me from influencing her further, but that was fine. I needed her out of the way to devote my full attention to Takato, and this way her powers wouldn't accidentally give Dannoura a panic attack.

"Tattletale," Armsmaster began, but cut himself off.

Receiving a call in his helmet.

"Shit," he said. "All of you, with me. There's been a problem with Takato and Dannoura."

Armsmaster stood abruptly and powerwalked to the door. I traded a concerned look with Taylor and followed after Miss Militia. Armsmaster set a demanding pace through the hallways, and we soon left the secluded back rooms and emerged into the PRT Building proper. We received barely a glance from the bureaucrats and troopers that hurried past us. Armsmaster took a few sharp corners and the office workers practically dove to get out of his way. Finally, he came to a halt at a door labeled "Garage."

We followed him in, and saw Renick, Takato, and Dannoura all standing awkwardly in a circle. Three troopers had surrounded a mechanic, sitting on the ground and wearing handcuffs.

"What's going on here?" Armsmaster demanded. One of the troopers snapped to attention.

"Sir. We were escorting the Deputy Director and our two guests to a secure transport, to move them to a safehouse. As we approached, the boy pointed at this mechanic and indicated that he was going to attempt to kill him. Out of an abundance of caution, we elected to detain him."

"Err, sorry," Takato said, scratching his head. "But there was someone else who tried to kill me. I stopped myself with this guy, because he wasn't trying very hard, but this other person had much stronger bloodlust."

"You killed someone in the PRT Headquarters?" Armsmaster asked sharply, reaching for his halberd. I flinched. All of a sudden, I saw in my mind's eye exactly what was going to happen: Armsmaster would try to take Takato in, then die. Miss Militia would try to take Takato out, then die. Then the PRT troopers would call for reinforcements before opening fire on Takato, and they all would die. Then every member of the Protectorate, the rest of the PRT, and then whatever reinforcements showed up to subdue Takato. Every parahuman on the eastern seaboard, maybe more, going down like a line of parahuman dominos. God, was I going to have to play peacemaker again?

"Armsmaster!" I said. He did not turn to look at me. "This is Coil's plan. This is what he wants."

Armsmaster remained tense. He wasn't convinced.

"Is your power telling you that?" he asked. No, you dumbass, I'm saying literally anything that I think will keep you from trying to arrest Takato. Of course, we could be in one of Coil's split timelines – probably the one where he didn't actually order the assassination of Takato, but that would mean that there was a chance that anything we did here didn't matter. No, I couldn't think about, I'd give myself a huge headache. I just had to make the best possible moves for myself, regardless of the situation.

"Not exactly," I prevaricated. "But rather than try to stop Takato himself, he'd want us to fight amongst ourselves. Test Takato's limits. Kill a few members of the Protectorate."

I could tell that it physically pained Armsmaster to relax. Every instinct he had was telling him to subdue Takato, but he knew that he couldn't. At least the idea of playing into a villain's scheme seemed to stymie his enthusiasm for law enforcement (he was playing into my scheme, of course, but I was acting in everyone's best interests). Desperate to redirect his attention, I turned towards the mechanic.

Flinched. Looked away from you. Knows how your powers work. Works for Coil. Was not ordered to kill Takato. Would have killed Takato if ordered. Legs shift subconsciously; something important in pocket. Receives orders via phone.

"He's a plant for Coil," I said. "But he wasn't ordered to kill Takato, not yet. But he was thinking about it."

"Just thinking about it? Is that enough to set your power off?" Armsmaster said sharply.

"Sure, but it's like, well, think of it like percentages. How likely is someone going to try to hurt me? I felt something like 40% from this guy, which is pretty high, but it lasted for under a second. As if he had the thought and immediately dismissed it," Takato said.

"And the other threat?" Miss Militia said. I didn't miss that she was keeping her hand on her gun, now an impossibly large revolver. Not going to help against Takato, MM. I beg of you, chill out.

"It was almost exactly 50%, and more sustained. Like he was working himself up to it. The probability kept getting bigger, and then when I felt the attack start, I killed it on reflex," Takato said.

Renick approached Armsmaster, holding his phone.

"We've got word on who died. Thomas Calvert, a few floors up."

"The consultant?" Miss Militia asked, and Renick nodded.

"Found dead in one of the guest offices, still looking at his computer. He was viewing my request to use this vehicle."

"Check his phone," I said. "Coil communicates directly to his plants' phones. See if he got an order."

There was a pause as Renick relayed my instructions over the phone. Armsmaster stood stock-still, staring straight ahead, and I figured he must have been using some sort of electronic system on his helmet. Miss Militia occupied herself by wandering around the garage, checking corners as if Coil was going to pop out from behind a Humvee.

"I see," Renick said. "Confiscate everything. Lock it all down. I'll tell the director."

Renick hung up and looked at me and Taylor. He sighed deeply.

"Calvert wasn't a Coil operative. It's looking like he was Coil," Renick said. Armsmaster swore, and I laughed. I kept laughing. I laughed a little longer than was probably appropriate, to be honest.

"I get it!" I said, gasping for breath. "He must have used his power to order an attack on Takato. It probably involved Mr. Mechanic over there. And then, the second he finished making a plan on how to kill him, bam! He's dead. Takato, I love you. You're the greatest."

"Hey!" Dannoura said. "I mean, yes. Uhh, what do we do?"

"What?" Miss Militia said, and I waved her off.

"I'll explain exactly how Coil's power works, err, worked, later. Promise."

Armsmaster grunted, deep in thought. Miss Militia looked like she'd short-circuited.

"I have to report to the director," Renick said. "Armsmaster, you should take all four of them off-site, immediately." He handed Armsmaster a piece of paper.

Location of the safehouse reserved for Takato and Dannoura.

"I'll explain everything to the director, and hopefully we're all here tomorrow."

Renick walked to the door we had entered through. He paused next to me, and leaned in.

"You understand Takato's power best. Stick with him, and make sure there aren't any more cockups like this." I nodded. Renick probably wasn't in the mood to hear me describe this as a major win, and exactly the result I had been hoping for.

#

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Threadmarks Ch. 4: Just My Guardian Spirit

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aospare

May 28, 2022

#218

Ch. 4: Just My Guardian Spirit

Turns out safehouses were much less exciting than the movies made them appear. The four of us, plus Armsmaster and Miss Militia, settled into a large four-bedroom apartment a thirty-minute drive from the PRT Building. It was surprisingly well-decorated, with framed pictures of the Bay hanging on the walls. Besides the living room, which had a huge television and two couches, there was a dining room and well-stocked kitchen.

Almost immediately after arriving Armsmaster had shut himself in one of the bedrooms for a conference call with the director of the local PRT branch. The rest of us had awkwardly settled into the couches in the living room, television off. Miss Militia seemed unable to take an eye off Takato, as if her watching him carefully would prevent him from killing anyone else. The awkward silence frustrated Dannoura the most, and by the time Armsmaster returned from his call she was practically sweating.

"I have just spoken with Director Piggot," Armsmaster announced superfluously. "She's not happy with how things went today, but we're going to move forward to salvage the situation. Skitter, that means you're cleared to join the Wards as soon as possible."

"I'll need to talk to my dad," she said, glum.

"I'll go with you," Miss Militia volunteered. "It might help to have a Protectorate member there to explain." Taylor didn't look thrilled to have someone else intrude on her family moment, but she was also logical enough to know that Miss Militia could probably forestall whatever eruption of temper her father might have upon finding out his only child was a teenage supervillain.

"I will debrief Tattletale on what she knows of Coil's operations. The director wants to hit as many of his holdings as possible today or tomorrow, before his subordinates find out what's happened. Then, tomorrow, she's okayed a drive-through of the city with Takato to disarm any of Bakuda's bombs still on the loose."

Miss Militia stood and after a moment of reluctance Taylor joined her. She looked at me and even through the mask I could tell she was conflicted. I opened my arms and Taylor slowly came in for a hug.

"You'll be fine. Trust your dad," I whispered. She nodded and pulled back. Taylor offered an awkward goodbye to Takato, Dannoura, and Armsmaster, and then left the apartment with Miss Militia. I'd known Taylor for less than a week, but I found myself honestly hoping that she got a good deal. Odds were, the Protectorate would just pretend she had never been a villain and ship her off to some other city that had never heard of one-time bank robber, Skitter. I may have gotten Taylor involved in a life of villainy against her wishes, but surely getting her back on the side of heroes did something for karmic balance.

"Hey, by the way, a couple of people are thinking about killing me," Takato said. Armsmaster and I turned to stare at him. "It started on the ride over. Just so you know. I shouldn't kill them, right?"

"No!" Armsmaster and I said, in unison.

"Your power doesn't trigger automatically when people are planning to kill you?" I asked, and Takato shook his head.

"No way. There are always lots of people thinking about if they can kill me, or if they should, or planning ways to kill me. I can't just go around killing people for thinking things," he said. Well, I guess I was glad to know that just drawing up threat assessments wouldn't get the entire Think Tank killed like I had originally thought.

"Do you know who it is?" Dannoura said, and Takato shook his head.

"I just detect their malice. What should I do if they stop just planning to kill me, and start actually trying?"

"If you are attacked by anyone, cape or not, you should first immediately alert the Protectorate, but you are allowed to defend yourself," Armsmaster said. Holy shit, was he giving Takato implicit permission to murder people? Sleep deprived Armsmaster was scary.

"It's probably Lung and Oni Lee," I said. "They lead the ABB. There were lots of guys in the Trainyard when you kill Bakuda, and the news probably got back to them. But I guess it could be someone who worked for Coil, or one of the other gangs, or even the PRT."

Takato seemed to take being the target of so many people in stride. What kind of life had this guy lived?

"Let's get into it," Armsmaster said to me quickly, walking over to the dining room. I joined him at the table.

"Takato, Dannoura… you're free to do anything you want, without leaving this apartment," Armsmaster said. Dannoura practically lunged for the television remote, and they soon settled on gaping at American reality television.

The next two hours were an exhaustive recounting of my experiences working with Coil, starting with my understanding of his power. Once Armsmaster understood Coil's ability to split timelines, and how that had likely resulted in his death, we moved onto the logistics of Coil's operation. He had been careful to keep me from knowing too many details about his business, but even the small clues he had left made it easy to fill in the gaps. I didn't think he had a single primary base, but instead a distributed operation.

Even the few places I'd met with Coil or his goons in person let me paint a picture of the safehouses and storage facilities he used to spread his resources throughout town. Given that it was in Downtown, a wealthy and commercial district, and had armed goons flowing in and out of it all day, he probably had some sort of business front that covered his movements – one to which Calvert would have obvious links.

Armsmaster was insistent on getting a proper estimation of Coil's forces. As far as I knew, the Undersiders were the only capes in his employ, but I wasn't willing to bet on it. I estimated upwards of forty mercenaries, some armed with tinker weapons. With access to Coil's phone and computer, though, how much new information was I really providing? Was this just to verify my story, or were they looking for something really useful that Coil wouldn't have written down? My personal observations weren't worth much now that he was dead.

Well, too bad, Armsmaster. The information I could deliver would have been revelatory if Takato Yogiri hadn't accidentally killed Coil. I had put the PRT into a very awkward position. They made deals with turncoat villains all the time, but they always did so from a position of absolute strength. Normally, they made these kind of offers to villains they'd arrested and stashed in the holding cells for a week and made to stew. They didn't make offers, or concessions, but demands.

Now, though, two villains had practically waltzed into their headquarters and demanded to be made into heroes (even if only one of us had actually wanted to switch sides). It was only because of my connection to Takato Yogiri that they couldn't just tell me "No" and hide me away until I started singing their tune. At least now Armsmaster was focused on the juicy target of Coil's holdings rather than the villain he had sitting in front of him.

"Will you be going to join the raids?" I asked, and Armsmaster clenched his jaw. Geez, this guy's poor molars must be shot.

"No. The director feels like I would be better served protecting you and our guests," he said. Translation: He pissed off the director, and she's keeping him out of the action to punish him for messing things up with Taylor and getting Coil killed. It took every ounce of my restraint to not point that out to him.

"Need anything else?" I asked, and Armsmaster shook his head.

"Not on this topic. Listen," he whispered, and leaned across the table. Reflexively, I mirrored him.

"We have been unaccountably lucky that Takato has only killed two people so far, and that both were dangerous villains. I have attempted to… obscure him, from the PRT and other members of the Protectorate. Director Piggot has agreed that the best-case scenario in this situation is that Takato returns to his home Earth as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it could take months or even years to open a portal to another Earth, and it would necessarily involve multiple tinkers. All we can do for now is keep Takato happy, distracted, and far away from parahuman conflict," Armsmaster whispered.

I nodded. Finally, someone who got it.

"Somehow, you have earned their trust," he said, though I could tell it physically pained him to admit it. "Keep them busy and keep them happy. I am in talks with Dragon about possibly relocating them to a remote town with minimal parahuman involvement until we can prepare a way for them to leave. There are agendas at work in the PRT that would see Takato… deployed into certain situations. I do not agree with this plan. Today has made it clear that even incidental contact with Takato carries the risk of casualties. Keep an eye on them."

Uncomfortable with honesty; believes this to be important enough to warrant frankness with someone he dislikes. Director Piggot is concerned with Takato; does not want him to be her problem. Willing to pass him off elsewhere. Does not want to introduce potentially unstable elements into Brockton Bay; willing to ignore him unless he makes himself a problem. "Agendas" in the PRT refers to other directors; Armsmaster does not think that plan will end well. Wants to fix Brockton Bay himself.

Maybe I would have attributed more altruism to Armsmaster if he hadn't already proposed a plan of using Takato as a human mine sweeper and contemplated using me as bait for Coil. Regardless, it was good to know that I could at least trust him not to sell Takato upstream.

"I have to go report the results of our interview to the PRT," Armsmaster said, standing.

Armsmaster returned to one of the bedrooms to make another call and I joined Takato and Dannoura on the couches. They were watching an episode of Wards of San Francisco, a deeply sanitized bit of PRT propaganda that aired on eight different major channels. That's not to say I didn't watch it every now and then – with my power, I could pick up on the very real drama happening behind the scenes. I wonder if the PRT knew that the production staff on that show all worked for the Elite? Probably.

"How do people get powers?" Dannoura asked. Right to the heart of things, huh, Dannoura? There's a reason that even Wards of San Francisco didn't make up origin stories for its stars.

"No one really knows," I said. "But most people get them after something bad happens to them."

A major oversimplification, but this was one topic I really didn't want to get into with Mr. Instakill. Of course, Dannoura seemed to possess no social graces.

"What happened to you?" she said. I winced. Now, how to deflect in way that doesn't seem suspicious.

"Don't be rude," Takato said, chopping Dannoura on the top of her head. I take back everything bad I've ever thought of you, Takato. We lapsed into an awkward silence, watching one of the San Francisco Wards apprehend a purse snatcher.

Running slower than is capable of. A plant. Ward does not know purse snatcher is a plant.

Ahh, this show really was great. Dannoura still looked pretty down after Takato reprimanded me, and I really needed them to like me, so I decided to cut loose a little.

Looking away from you; feels bad about offending you. Still curious about where powers come from. Head tilted; listening to someone talk that you can't see.

Oh boy. What in the hell did that mean?

Not wearing earpiece. Takato can hear them too. Also not wearing earpiece. Trying to avoid looking at a specific spot in the room. Someone in that space. Invisible.

My blood ran cold. There had been a third person with them the entire time? And they brought them into a Protectorate safehouse? I could just bury my head in the sand and pretend I didn't notice, but that would probably come back to bite me at the worst possible moment.

"Talking to someone?" I said, trying to sound innocent. Instead, it came out sounding like a teacher chiding someone for whispering during class. Takato and Dannoura certainly reacted like guilty students, and they both reddened.

"Just my guardian spirit," Dannoura said. Come on, Dannoura, you were supposed to be the normal one!

Telling the truth. Referring to invisible person. Takato unsurprised. Do not push further.

Hang on, was my power giving me advice? I had noticed it acting a little odd yesterday, but I put that up mainly to an unhealthy combination of adrenaline and sleep deprivation. Normally, reading people just gave me observations and conclusions, but not courses of action. I furrowed my brow and concentrated further.

Not trying to keep guardian spirit secret. Forgot about it. Would not mind explaining. Do not annoy Takato Yogiri. Get Takato Yogiri off-world.

Okay, there it was again, even more insistent. For a second, I entertained the idea that my power had spontaneously developed a sense of self-preservation. More likely, however, was that Takato, or Dannoura's spirit, was interfering with my ability to read them. I knew that Takato already had some sort of anti-thinker properties, and it wasn't impossible that prolonged exposure to Takato and Dannoura was somehow skewing the output from my power. That was even more worrying; what would I do if I couldn't trust myself?

"Cool," I said, even though it was not.

Armsmaster returned from the bedroom and looked at the television. He snorted in derision, then sat down at the dinner table. I twisted around and saw he had produced a laptop from somewhere and was typing away.

Infrequent typing. Talking to someone. Not looking at us. Keeping an eye on us through the computer. Wishes he wasn't here.

I looked around until I spotted the corner where the camera was likely hidden and gave it a wave. Armsmaster frowned and glared at me from the over the screen of his laptop. I grinned.

#

The rest of the day passed slowly. Armsmaster's presence stifled any real conversation between Takato, Dannoura and I. Wards of San Francisco was evidently on a marathon, and I took some pleasure in ruining Dannoura's expectations of superheroes by pointing out all the lies and PR-speak that peppered the show. The producers were really pushing a romance angle between Monkey Business (capable of transforming himself into a monkey, who wore a business suit) and Starstruck (capable of emitting blasts of very photogenic stars and astral bodies). Of course, Monkey Business really had a crush on Protectorate member Cetacea (an aquatic-rescue specialty cape best known for her swimsuit calendar), and Starstruck was a lesbian. The welcome on my constant commentary grew thin, and faced with a fearsome pout from Dannoura, I allowed them to watch in peace.

Fortunately, the day had been so hectic that Armsmaster hadn't thought to confiscate my phone, so I turned it on to find I had been bombarded by text messages from Brian. Aha! I knew I forgot something. I ignored the messages and sent him a quick text.

"Boss dead. With PRT. ABB knows. Hide."

There, now Brian couldn't complain that I hadn't warned him. With any luck, the Undersiders would scamper to somewhere upstate for a month or two. It was probably a violation of whatever terms of my surrender to communicate with my old team, but I really didn't care. I did turn off my phone before Brian could respond; I really wasn't in the mood to elaborate.

Around six, Armsmaster finally stood up from the table and went to the door. He opened it and retrieved three pizza boxes sitting on the ground.

Not very hot. Delivered less than a minute ago. Store location on the other side of the city. Delivered by PRT officers in plainclothes.

"Didn't even ask us what we wanted?" I said, maybe a little too snidely. Armsmaster simply didn't respond, and instead placed the pizzas on the table and went to get plates from the kitchen. I stood and opened a box – cheese. I opened another – also cheese. I sighed, opened the third, and saw more plain cheese pizza.

Terrible taste aside, I was still pretty hungry and would never turn down a free meal on the PRT's dime. Takato and Dannoura devoured an entire pizza and moved on to the second. Armsmaster, I was disappointed to note, ate his pizza like a normal person. I was half expecting him to break out a knife and fork.

The meal was unbelievably awkward, and I blamed Armsmaster. I turned my thoughts to my eventual escape. Once I was sure the PRT wouldn't accidentally cause Takato to destroy the world, I needed to find a way out. If Armsmaster and Dragon got them settled away in Canada, I could rest easy – they at least seemed to grasp the magnitude of the situation. As for me, well, even with Coil dead, I didn't like my odds staying in Brockton Bay. And loathe as I was to admit it, I didn't trust myself to hold my tongue around Accord. Setting up in New York was just asking for trouble, so my best bet on the East Coast was Philadelphia. But when to slip away?

It wouldn't be good if the second I left some PRT director decided to spirit them away to a government black site for experimentation. At the same time, I really didn't want to stick around until someone got the bright idea they could make me a Ward somewhere intolerable, like Houston or something. That whole process would necessitate getting fiddly little details like my real name, and then my parents would come back into it – ugh, no way. So, escape. Eventually. Then again, think of the damage I could do on Wards of San Francisco. That might actually be fun enough to be worth turning hero.

"Tattletale," Armsmaster said abruptly, looking up from his computer. "What do you know about the Travelers?"

Casual voice; legitimate question. Worried about something.

"Not much," I admitted. "They're a villain team, no home base. They in town?"

"Yes," Armsmaster said. "It looks like they were recently employed by Coil."

Word choice: recently. Does not suspect I knew about Travelers despite my connection to Coil. Travelers arrived very recently. Discovered by Protectorate. Found them while they were arriving.

"Wait, you literally caught them as they were moving in? What, were they carrying cardboard boxes when you busted down the door?"

"Something like that," Armsmaster allowed. "They escaped during the fight. Do you know where they might have gone into hiding? We've already hit all the locations you've provided."

I shook my head.

"Sorry, I've got nothing. If they're new in town, they might not even be at another base of Coil's. I'd check the edges of the city, places they could make an easy escape if they decide it's not worth it to stick around in Brockton anymore. Motels, that sort of thing."

Armsmaster nodded and returned his attention to his laptop. I sighed. Maybe I could talk Takato and Dannoura into playing cards.

#

I woke up early the next morning to someone pounding on the bedroom door.

"Tattletale," Armsmaster said through the door. "We have to move. Quickly."

Voice strained. Just got off call. Knocking frantic. Extremely worried. Something has gone wrong. In danger.

I jumped to my feet, the sleepiness driven from my head. I was ready in minutes and stepped out into the living room where Armsmaster, Takato, and Dannoura were waiting.

"We're moving to the PRT Headquarters," Armsmaster said. "Late last night, several members of the Protectorate launched a raid on the Travelers' hiding place. One of their members has a power that we were unaware of. The Travelers are heading in this direction, and it is no longer safe to remain in the area."

I frowned. Armsmaster was being frustratingly vague.

Fight began late last night but is still continuing. Travelers fighting running battle. Protectorate outmatched without Armsmaster. He remained here; Protectorate outmatched even with Armsmaster. Reinforcements are coming or have already arrived. Afraid of Travelers coming into contact with Takato.

"What's the power?" I asked. "And how bad is the situation?"

"I'll explain on the way," Armsmaster said, and left the apartment. I had to jog to keep up with him. Takato and Dannoura followed, listening in with interest.

"The cape is tentatively designated Echida. She appears heavily physically mutated. When her body comes into contact with a person, they are absorbed within her lower half. She then disgorges clones of that person, with their powers intact. The clones are aligned with Echidna."

Disgorges. Jesus. And Coil had hired these guys? Multiple clones of each cape?

"Who did she get?" I asked.

"Battery. One of the other Travelers, Ballistic. And Gallant."

A Ward? I was truly feeling the contrast between Wards of San Francisco and life for the Wards of Brockton Bay. And the Undersiders had just kicked the shit out of Gallant less than a week ago, too. Poor guy.

After a tense elevator ride, we arrived at the apartment complex's indoor garage where an armored PRT van was waiting. Armsmaster threw open the back doors and we piled inside.

"Drive," he commanded, and we practically squealed out of the parking lot.

Did not verify identity of driver. No time. Driving well above speed limit. Echidna is close. Worried about what might happen if it clones Takato Yogiri.

"Holy shit," I said under my breath. Armsmaster gave me a look I might even call commiserating.

"Yes," he said.

There were no windows in the back of the van, so I was left to my imagination as to the situation outside. The driver was taking turns so fast I had to reach out a hand to stabilize myself against the walls of the vehicle. I felt a little motion sick, and Takato and Dannoura didn't look much better.

"Shit! I can see it!" the driver yelled. Armsmaster fiddled with his gauntlet and frowned.

"We're too close," Armsmaster said. "There's no clear path forward. Turn around, I'm calling for assistance."

I felt the car back up, and a bang as we hit against something. Probably a fire hydrant or parked car. We lurched forward, and Dannoura fell across Takato's lap. The van rattled and I wished deeply for the ability to see where we were going. Was Echidna chasing us? We had definitely sped up, and I could only imagine that whatever Echidna looked like she was bearing down on us with horrible speed.

"We're not really in that much danger," Takato said casually. "It's not really trying to get to us in particular. It's only 20% or so right now, but I could kill it if – "

Suddenly, the rumble of the road beneath the van's wheels vanished. I felt a lurch in my stomach. We were flying. In under a minute, the van settled as we were set down on something – a rooftop, most likely. The van doors opened. A tall woman, in a gray bodysuit with a dark visor looked down at us.

"You!" I said.

"Me," Alexandria agreed.

#

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aospare

May 28, 2022

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Threadmarks Ch. 5: Alexandria is a Jerk

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aospare

aospare

May 30, 2022

#284

Ch. 5: Alexandria is a Jerk

I'd watched footage of Alexandria, of course, but seeing her in person was something else. She was like a coiled spring, every muscle in her body constantly tensed and ready to jump into action. It made reading her very difficult, a fact I'm sure was intentional. She also insisted on hovering a few inches above the ground, as if to remind us we were literally beneath her. I immediately hated her.

"Who are you?" Dannoura asked as she stepped out of the van. Alexandria cracked a small smile; probably not a question she got very often. The five of us gathered in a small circle, the driver hanging back by the front of the van, and I took the opportunity to check our surroundings. Sure enough, we were on top of six or seven story building, likely an apartment building based on our surroundings. I could see plumes of smoke in the distance, the only visible evidence of the battle against Echidna.

"I am Alexandria," she said. "I'm one of the people in charge of the Protectorate."

"I thought Armsmaster was in charge of the Protectorate," Dannoura said with a frown.

"Only the local branch. I work on a more national scale," Alexandria said. She even managed to make it sound humble. An affectation, obviously, but Dannoura seemed to buy it.

"Armsmaster, you should proceed to the fight. Tinkers are especially valuable against Echidna," Alexandria said, her tone brooking no disagreement.

Nicely done, stroking his ego in the same breath as dismissing him. I was surprised when Armsmaster frowned and gave me a long look, one that I interpreted as I am leaving you in charge of making sure that Alexandria doesn't get killed. He then turned and ran for the edge of the building, throwing himself off the roof. Ugh, Armsmaster could actually manage to be cool in the moments where he wasn't a total stick in the mud.

I took stock of the situation. Alexandria was here, not at the fight with Echidna where she was most valuable. That meant she wanted something from Takato specifically, and I could guess that it involved killing Echidna. Was I working with her or against her? Echidna sounded like bad enough news that I wanted her dead on principle, but I wasn't sure if getting Takato involved in even more cape business was a good news. Was Alexandria an envoy from the directors in the PRT who wanted Takato to work for them? If I let her talk him into killing Echidna, would I be able to stop her from taking him on a tour of the world to clean up various S-Class Threats? Could Takato kill an Endbringer? Would Alexandria feed him into the meat grinder of Earth Bet until he snapped?

I didn't like any of these outcomes.

"She wants you to kill Echidna," I said, trying to get the momentum. Alexandria's gaze snapped to me. I had to push to get a solid read on her, and I could feel the tickle in the back of my skull that signified an oncoming headache.

Legs tensed further. Considering attacking you. Does not want you to speak. Thinks you will undermine her plans for Takato.

Let her try; I was pretty sure that Takato liked me enough that I was included in his automatic protection. If she came for me, she would die. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, Alexandria relaxed minutely. Hang on, was she reading me? No fair! I suddenly got why everything thinks I'm so annoying. What a bitch.

"I don't really get this superhero thing you guys have going on," Takato said, "but didn't you say that killing was, uh, frowned upon?"

"There are exceptions made for dire situations," Alexandria said. "Due to the nature of Echidna's powers, this engagement has the potential to spiral out of control. Additionally, some members of the Travelers are interfering with our attempts to combat Echidna. Additional reinforcements are on the way, but we do not know how many lives could be lost in the meantime."

Appealing to Takato's desire to help people. Knows he has an altruistic streak.

I had to turn this around on her. I didn't want Takato to not help, but I wanted it to be his idea, his prerogative.

"And then what?" I asked. Alexandria frowned. She knew I was leading her into a trap, but she had to answer to satisfy Dannoura and Takato.

"And then we work on sending them home," she said.

"You'll 'work on it,' huh? What happens in the meantime? Going to pay a visit to the Slaughterhouse Nine? Or Sleeper? How many people will you have Takato kill before you send him home?"

"I wouldn't ask that of him. I understand that, as a villain, you have had negative experiences with heroes, but we don't make a habit of having civilians execute people, even those with Kill Orders."

She was reminding Dannoura and Takato that I was a villain, and she was a hero. But Alexandria was drawing on the instinctive awe that the people of Earth Bet held for her and the Protectorate. Dannoura and Takato didn't have that cultural background. I looked away from Alexandria for a moment to gauge their reactions. Something roared in the background, inhuman and loud.

Frowning, Dannoura scratching head; don't understand why you are arguing with Alexandria. Want to stop Echidna. Want to go home. Lost.

"How long will it take to get them back home? You know you have us over the barrel, and you're trying to get something out of it. You can hold that promise of taking them home over their heads for as long you want," I said.

"We have no idea how long it could take to find a reliable method of dimension travel, or locate their home Earth," Alexandria said.

Lying.

Got her.

"You're lying," I said, breathless, desperate to accuse her as soon as possible. Alexandria made a half-turn towards me but had to visibly restrain herself. Her reflexes demanded she take me out of the conversation as soon as possible, but they had just betrayed her intentions to our audience. I heard a loud noise in the distance, sounds of the battle raging while we spoke.

"You're lying," I repeated when she didn't respond right away. "You know how to go to other Earths. You could get them home by the end of the day."

Who knew if it was really that easy, but I just had to get the idea in the open. Make her deny that detail and give away others. My head pounded. I had her. Alexandria was thinking fast, but Takato and Dannoura were now regarding her with open suspicion. I had won. I had –

A loud crash and bang echoed down the street. We all turned to look and saw a monstrous creature barreling down the road towards our position, having just swung around a corner. She was more grotesque than I had even imagined; everything from her torso up appeared human, but it was perched on nearly twenty feet of amalgamated flesh and animal parts supported by stubby chimeric legs. Dozens of heroes, Wards and full Protectorate members alike, scrambled around Echidna's feet trying to get out of her way. Eidolon and Legend hovered overhead, peppering her with energy blasts. She was headed right towards us.

Alexandria didn't even look surprised. She knew. She knew. She had put us on this specific building, and probably directed the rest of the Triumvirate to push the fight in this direction. The argument hadn't mattered; she was getting what she wanted one way or another. Takato didn't have a choice about killing her now; the collateral damage from the fight was a definite danger to his life.

The fight continued to rampage down the street, half the capes fighting Echidna herself and the other half fighting amongst themselves. I spotted Miss Militia ducking behind an overturned car before popping up and letting loose with a machine gun into Echidna's side. Vista stood on another roof a few buildings down, stretching space between Echidna and any capes she got close enough to swallow.

It was the most capes I had ever seen in one place, and I felt acutely how out of place I was. How did I go from ripping off the shops on the Boardwalk to this? Arguing with Alexandria and watching the focused totality of the PRT do battle with a cape the size of buildings? I wanted to scream, or let the anxiety out, but I needed to stay calm and collected for Takato's sake. The top half, the human half of Echidna looked up at us and I could have sworn we made eye contact.

I blinked, and Echidna's momentum had stalled completely. She collapsed into the street. Some of the capes fighting on the ground dropped as well, and I noticed that they were naked. Clones, then. It took a few moments for involved capes to cease their assault, but when they realized that Echidna had fallen, they took up a ragged cheer.

Alexandria had won, but it wasn't a complete victory. She hadn't gotten Takato to agree to anything long-term, hadn't even established a working relationship. And he knew that she could take him home whenever she wanted. I just had to make sure she followed through.

Eidolon touched down on the roof next to us. Unlike Alexandria, he was an open book. That didn't mean my headache went down, just that reading him was like drinking from a stream instead of a leaky faucet.

Jittery. Wired up. Still running on adrenaline. Was enjoying the fight. Thought he could handle it. Annoyed the fight is over. Glancing at Takato. Suspicious of him. Wondering if he could take him. Looking for excuses to try.

Bad Eidolon! That was literally the worst thing you could be thinking. Please, for all our sakes, relax.

"Takato followed through on my request to end this fight before more lives were loss," Alexandria said, placating Eidolon and making Takato out to be a hero. How fortunate that the moment I had caught her in a lie she could move on and pretend like nothing had happened. Alexandria leaned in to Eidolon, and they began whispering.

Takato and Dannoura were looking down on the street from the edge of the building. I joined them there, taking in their expressions.

Grim faces. Dannoura looking away. Horrified by violence. Disgusted by Echidna's form. Want to go home.

Well, no chance they would want to stick around to solve any more S-Class threats, then. Tattletale wins, at the cost of some of Dannoura's remaining innocence. Takato seemed completely unflappable.

"Alexandria put you here on purpose," I said. "She was going to get you to kill Echidna, one way or another."

"Hm," Takato said. "But you said she could get us home right away, so I didn't kill her."

You're welcome, Alexandria. Not that she'd ever admit I saved her life, but I allowed myself to feel a little smug about it. On the street, some of the capes had submitted themselves to the Protectorate, and I figured they must be the remaining members of the Travelers. Small groups of capes were forming around Echidna's body, pointing at different parts of her mass.

"This sucks," Dannoura said. "We were so close to getting home and there are still people trying to kill us."

"We'll get you there," I promised. I was surprised to hear that I meant it. "We'll get you home. Today, if possible. Just a little more."

Good.

Shut up, power. Seriously, what in the world was going on with -

A loud whining sound pierced the air. I looked around for a source before I realized it was coming from everywhere all at once. It blared once, twice, and then didn't stop. I could feel their screaming in my bones. Endbringer sirens.

"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me!" I shouted, at no one in particular.

"Into the van!" Alexandria yelled, and I scrambled to comply. Self-righteous bitch though she may be, an imminent Endbringer attack was no time to argue. Takato and Dannoura joined me, and Alexandria slammed the door shut behind them. We barely had time to sit before we felt the van being lifted up again.

"What's going on?" Dannoura asked, worry written on her face.

"An Endbringer," I said. "Here. We probably have under an hour."

Dannoura looked at Takato, who shook his head.

"If it's an hour away, and not coming for me specifically, I have a harder time picking it out. If you show me a picture, or a video, I could probably get it," he said. I nodded.

"I know I literally just argued with Alexandria about not having you kill things, but this is a worst-case scenario. Thousands of people will die, regardless of which Endbringer it is, and the city will either be destroyed or quarantined," I said. "Think of this like stopping a hurricane, or a tsunami."

"Couldn't we leave the city?" Dannoura asked, and I shifted awkwardly. Technically, yes, though there was the remote possibility that the Endbringer was coming specifically for Takato and would follow them wherever they went. But I also wasn't comfortable with the idea of consigning Brockton Bay to an Endbringer attack when Takato could probably take care of it an instant. My god, was I turning into Alexandria?

"Maybe," I said. "But all the heroes who could get us out are going to be preparing for the attack. Endbringer attacks are an all hands on deck situation because of how lethal they are."

Dannoura and Takato lapsed into uncomfortable silence at my unsubtle guilt trip. The timing of this attack was unbelievably awful. In some ways it was advantageous to have a number of the United States' most powerful capes already on the scene of the attack, but so shortly after the fight with Echidna half the defending force would already be exhausted. How many had we lost to Echidna, and how many were still inside her corpse after being swallowed up?

I felt the van settle on the ground. I couldn't help but marvel at Alexandria's flight speed. We had gone all the way across Brockton Bay in under a minute, and if she hadn't been carrying passengers she probably could have gone a lot faster. I opened the rear doors of the van and stepped out onto the parking lot in front of the PRT Building. We had arrived so soon that people were still fleeing the building, heading for shelters. Alexandria gestured for us to follow her inside.

We breezed through the front desk – turns out having a member of the Triumvirate accompany you eases the usual entry requirements – and into a network of hallways. Takato and Dannoura kept their eyes fixed on Alexandria's back, not even taking the time to gawk at the various hero merchandise on display on the walls. We arrived at a conference room – and was the PRT building just mostly conference rooms? – and Alexandria opened the door.

There was a wall-mounted monitor displaying Dragon's logo, but the room was otherwise unoccupied. Presumably the director and other capes would be joining us soon. Thus far, only Eidolon had followed us in.

Alexandria receiving directions on her visor. Already knows which Endbringer it is. Isolating us. Attempting to maximize drama to influence Takato.

"Which is it?" Alexandria asked the air, and Dragon responded.

"Leviathan. Estimated time to landfall is fifty-seven minutes."

Dragon had a surprisingly pleasant voice. Alexandria turned to Eidolon.

"Go tell Legend. Start getting prepared. I'm going to situate these three," she said. Eidolon clearly bristled at being ordered about but did as told. Was Eidolon Alexandria's Grue? Alexandria turned to Takato.

"What do you need?" she asked, not even questioning that he would help.

"Uhh – if you have a live video, that would be easiest. But any picture or video would do. I just need to know what I'm aiming at. There's, uh, a lot of stuff on this planet that's actively thinking about killing me and I'm just ignoring most of it," he said. Jesus, was Earth Bet really that bad? No, wait, I already knew the answer to that.

The screen flickered and displayed some live footage of a massive ripple in the ocean. Leviathan' was moving too fast to actually make out, just its wake. After another moment, a photograph of Leviathan, one I'd never seen, appeared next to the footage. The shot showed it from far away, hunched over, facing towards the camera. It was an incredible photo, and a horrifying one. I knew the PRT maintained a general media blackout on images and videos from Endbringer fights, and seeing this picture made me understand why. Dead capes littered the feet around Leviathan, some floating in pools of water and others impaled on debris.

Takato frowned.

"Hang on," he said, "I've felt this before…" He trailed off ominously, and I gave Dannoura a panicked look. She shrugged.

"Die," Takato said. There was a long pause where nothing seemed to happen, and I held my breath. Could Endbringers be killed, even by Takato's power? Takato had demonstrated the ability to kill even inanimate objects like Bakuda's bombs, but no one knew what the Endbringers actually were. On the screen, I saw the moment Dragon's footage caught up to real time. Leviathan's wake stalled out with remarkable speed, and I realized it must have been propelling itself with hydrokinesis. When it died, its power had cut out, and so had most of its acceleration.

"Revenge for Fukuoka!" Dannoura cheered in a wildly insensitive manner.

Alexandria stared at the screen for a long moment, as if disbelieving. Of course. She'd been at every Leviathan fight, and here Takato had ended him from the safety of an uncomfortable conference room with little more than a photograph.

"What bothered you?" Dannoura asked.

"It was like that time we were being attacked by bugs, or by those exploding ladies. Leviathan was trying to hurt me, but it was being controlled by someone else. It took me a minute to figure it out and follow the chain of intent, but I killed both Leviathan and its controller," Takato said.

My mouth dropped open, and I was pleased to note that Alexandria was visibly startled. Leviathan was what, a master's minion? To whom, a secret cape with the world's biggest body count?

"Dragon," Alexandria said warningly.

"I understand. I have ensured there will be no record of this conversation. I will go inform the rallying capes that the danger has passed," Dragon said, and the screen winked off. No, come back! I want you to take us to Canada before Alexandria gets any more ideas!

"I got the other two while I was at it," Takato said. "One of them was really thinking hard about killing me. It hadn't tried yet, but it was kind of bugging me."

The room was silent for a long moment. I could only assume the Endbringer focusing on Takato had been the Simurgh – and of course he would describe being the center of her attention as "kind of bugging him." Alexandria and I were still both processing what had just happened, and Takato and Dannoura were just awkwardly standing about, unsure what to say.

Confused. Lost control of her facial expressions. Did not know the Endbringers were being controlled.

Well, at least Alexandria was only keeping some secrets. Odds were, the Endbringer master had been some totally obscure cape, trying to stay out of sight of the PRT. For what endgame, though? Were they just sicker than Jack Slash? We may never actually know who was –

The door slammed open. Legend hovered there, looking sick.

"Alexandria. Eidolon just keeled over, dead. We don't know what happened," he said.

Eidolon died. Eidolon died under two minutes ago. Eidolon died when Takato killed Leviathan and its master. Eidolon had many powers. Eidolon was Leviathan's master.

Alexandria looked at me. She knew. She knew I knew. I tensed.

"Get him somewhere safe and calm the crowd," she said, not taking her eyes off of me. "I'll make sure these three get into good hands and then I'll join you."

Legend spent a moment to give us a confused look. I wondered for just a second if I could get him to stay, but by the time the words started to form he had already left. Shit.

"Door to Cauldron," Alexandria said. A glowing yellow square formed in the space next to her, and she pointed at it.

"In." We complied.

#

Last edited: May 30, 2022

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Threadmarks Ch. 6: Try Very Hard to Not Think About Killing Takato Yogiri

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#407

Ch. 6: Try Very Hard to Not Think About Killing Takato Yogiri

As soon as I stepped through the golden door it snapped shut behind me. The four of us were in a large room with white walls, white floors, and white ceilings. I couldn't tell exactly how it was lit – probably lights concealed in the tiles of the ceiling – but it was almost blindingly bright. A conference table sat in the middle of the room and I almost sighed. Leave it to Alexandria to take us from one conference room to another. Alexandria hovered, literally, by one of the chairs at the table.

Literally vibrating with anger; restraining herself from attacking Takato. Confused and betrayed about Eidolon. Waiting for someone; deferring to their authority.

Takato and Dannoura inched forward, uncertain if they were meant to sit or not. Dannoura looked back at me, confusion evident on her face, but I just shrugged. We heard the clacking of shoes on tile and turned towards one of the hallways leading out of the room. The footsteps slowly grew louder as the wait became almost unbearably awkward. Finally, a black woman in a white labcoat stepped into the room. I had never seen someone who more fit the definition of the word "harried."

"Alexandria? I thought there was an Endbringer – who is this?" she said as she realized Alexandria was not alone. Her expression morphed almost instantly into a closed-off mask, projecting nothing stronger than vague distaste.

Looking at Alexandria in expectation. Expecting answers. Is Alexandria's superior.

"This is Takato Yogiri, Dannoura Tomochika, and Tattletale," Alexandria said. "A… situation has come up."

The woman in the lab coat took a seat, and Alexandria followed. They both stared at us until we all shuffled forward and took seats next to each other, far away from Alexandria and the woman. It wasn't as if the extra space of the table would spare me if Alexandria decided to splatter me against the back wall. I was basically praying that either Takato would protect me, or Alexandria didn't want to clean my blood off their pristine white secret base.

"I am familiar with Takato and Dannoura from Armsmaster's reports," the woman said. Doctor? She certainly had the look of a doctor. How did she get her hand on Armsmaster's confidential reports, especially since he had gone through extra efforts to classify them? "But I do not understand why you have brought them here."

Glancing at Takato from the corners of her eyes. Does not care about Dannoura or myself. Afraid of Takato. Does not want him here.

"I requested that Takato assist us with the imminent Leviathan attack. In the process of… eliminating… Leviathan, he informed us that someone was controlling Leviathan, and killed that person as well," Alexandria said.

"Was it -" the doctor said, but stopped herself. She nodded for Alexandria to continue.

Was hoping it was a specific person. Expected it to be a specific person.

"Moments later, Legend informed me of Eidolon's death. Seeing as Tattletale's thinker power allowed her to determine he was the master of Leviathan, I thought it prudent to remove all three from the situation before news could spread."

My thinker power let me determine that Eidolon was the master? Please, Alexandria, give me a little more credit. Pretty much anyone could have drawn the same conclusion from the evidence we were given.

The doctor looked pretty surprised at this news, which told me that whoever she had been expecting to be controlling the Endbringers, it wasn't Eidolon. I kept my gaze fixed on her as a complicated series of emotions ran across her face.

Upset about Eidolon's death. Knew Eidolon. Not upset because she liked Eidolon personally. Eidolon dying is an inconvenience. Wanted Eidolon to do something.

"Even then, you should not have brought him here," the doctor said, looking for all the world like she wanted to be anywhere but in the room with Takato. Finally, someone else who gets it! Please, doctor, help me in sending Takato back home where he belongs.

"Given his ability to kill even the Endbringers, I thought that Takato might be able to help us with our ultimate purpose," Alexandria said.

Oh boy. I could tell the doctor was considering Alexandria's idea. And I had such faith in you, mysterious doctor! Why couldn't you also be reasonable? More worrying was Takato and Dannoura's rapidly growing pout. They'd been pulled out of bed, hauled off to watch dozens of capes die fighting Echidna, and then made to kill Leviathan. No wonder Takato was starting to look comfortable with making demands.

Sleepy. Wants to go to bed. Wants to go home. Angry. Feeling manipulated. Worried about Dannoura. Worried about you. Suspicious of Alexandria. Suspicious of Doctor. Looking around room. Surroundings are familiar. Surroundings bring up unpleasant memories.

Great, and now the mystery conspiracy crew were bringing up buried trauma from Takato's past. Once again, it looked like the great Tattletale needed to save the day.

"How about, instead, you send the two of them home?" I said, drawing the doctor's attention for the first time.

"You don't know what's at stake here," she said. Was that a sneer? I'd never seen someone manage a sneer in real life before.

"Then explain it. Takato and Dannoura just want to go home. Talk to them like humans and maybe they'll agree to help you," I said. Not that I actually wanted Takato to help these two out, but I figured it was easiest to go through them rather than around them.

The doctor and Alexandria shared a long look, and then the doctor began to speak.

"My name is Doctor Mother. Many years ago, I fell through a portal to another world, where I encountered a giant alien creature. It, along with its mate, had come to Earth to seed the population with powers. It would give humans great abilities, study them, and then take the powers back, in the process destroying not just our Earth, but all Earths. With one of our associates, we killed the first creature, as it was in a weakened state. The second, however, still lives, and our organization has spent decades preparing society for a final war against the enemy," she said.

Keeping eyes on Dannoura. Afraid to look at Takato, does not want to look at you. Leaving details out, but not outright lying. Not trustworthy.

"Pull the other one," I said. "Tell us what's really going on."

"No, no, that makes sense," Dannoura said. I stared at her in disbelief. "On the world we used to be on, the Sages kept giving out powers to Japanese high schoolers to see if they would get strong enough to become a Sage. I don't think they were trying to destroy the world or anything, but the powers made people go all crazy and stuff."

Takato nodded in agreement. This was unreal – they made fun of superheroes nonstop, but this was what they found believable? Doctor Mother shifted awkwardly, evidently surprised at their cooperation.

"These Sages – they appeared to be human? Did they communicate with you?" she asked, interested. She leaned across the table, staring straight at Dannoura, who seemed to wilt under the attention.

"Ah – yep! Humans, I think! Or vampires? Elves?" she said, flustered. This time I nodded in faux-understanding, just to annoy Doctor Mother. It worked.

"Look, it sounds like even if I went home this alien might try to blow up my Earth too," Takato said. "And when it tries, it'll probably die anyway. But if you want me to help, right now, then I want to see some proof, and I'm starting to feel like you're just going to keep jerking me around until you get everything you want. I don't kill people who aren't trying to hurt me."

Please, Doctor Mother, this was the exact situation I wanted to avoid. If Takato started to feel like he had to make some ultimatums, there's only one way he could carry them out. He may look like an easily manipulated high schooler, but Takato thinks killing is the first and best solution to all his problems.

"By the time this creature begins to destroy your world, billions of human lives may have already been lost. Choosing to wait could doom countless Earths to death," Doctor Mother said. Takato's seeming indifference had clearly pissed her off. She'd dedicated her life to this cause, likely spent all her time around people who felt the same way as her, and encountering someone so blasé about the end of the world was breaking her worldview.

Another golden door opened into the conference room, and a tall woman stepped through. She had olive skin and was dressed in a suit and a fedora. In her hands was a laptop computer. She looked around the room, puzzled.

"Oh, hello," she said, sounding faintly confused. Doctor Mother and Alexandria both stared at her with their trademark intensity.

Surprised by her appearance. Know her. Work with her. Widening of eyes, opening of mouth; haven't seen her for a while. Surprised by her appearance. Confused by her confusion. Expected her to know what is going on.

Who was this mysterious yet fashionable lady? She took a seat on the conspiracy side of the table and set the laptop down in front of her.

"I have been off world on a number of errands," she said. "But I think I have picked things up. I possess a very strong thinker power that allows me to chart the course of actions needed to take to achieve a certain objective. The current path I am on is very complex, but the general focus is something along the lines of 'Prevent the Total Destruction of Earth.'"

Face open. Making eye contact with me. Being totally honest. Could be using her thinker power to deceive you. Is a stronger thinker than you. Alexandria and Doctor Mother eyes tightening; did not expect such honesty. Surprised not by content of woman's explanation, but that she is telling you anything.

"She's telling the truth," I said. "I think. She could… be fooling me, with her power."

If the last 36 hours hadn't been a major lesson in humility, that might have been almost galling to admit. Takato's presence had inured me to feeling inadequate.

"Currently, my power is instructing me to take the step 'Try Very Hard To Not Think About Killing Takato Yogiri.' I have just completed the step 'Thoroughly Explain My Power and How it Works.' Now, it is telling me to 'Provide Proof that Scion is an Alien Bent on Destroying the World.'"

"Scion?" I practically yelled, not surprising the woman in the slightest. Never mind, I definitely hadn't been inured to anything.

"Oh yeah!" Dannoura said, snapping her fingers. "That golden guy, right? The Sage lady from the other world was called Sion, too!"

Curse these two and their strange tolerances. Let me have a moment of total existential shock, here, Dannoura. Doctor Mother seemed very interested in hearing about this other Sion, but a small signal from the fedora woman kept her silent. Of course, now that I thought about it, Scion being the power-granting alien did have some small logic behind it: he hardly ever spoke, didn't really have clear priorities, and was the first person – being – to display powers. The woman had opened the laptop and turned the screen around to face us.

What essentially amounted to home video-quality footage began playing on the screen. An impossible mass of flesh sprawled out across the landscape. Whoever was filming – likely the woman – drew closer to a nearby lump of the creature. It seemed to glitter and glisten as fluids sloughed off of it. A woman's body grew from the flesh, unclothed. The flesh-woman-alien's eyes were lifeless, her form slumped. The camera circled around her, revealing a stab wound near her neck and spine.

I looked away from the footage to keep an eye on Alexandria and Doctor Mother. In doing so, Alexandria turned and looked towards me.

Jaw clenched. Fist clenched. Upset you are being informed about Scion. Worried that you will tell people. Planning on killing you once Takato leaves.

Oh god. No wonder they were being so forthcoming – as soon as Takato was off-world, they could clean up this mess however they wanted. I was in too deep, and there was no way out, especially if the fedora woman was being honest about how her power worked.

"This was the first entity, Eden. The form of Scion that you are familiar with, that of a golden man, is simply a projection of a similar creature, hidden away on some unknown world," the woman said. She looked at Takato, leaving me to wallow in my impending death. The image on the computer changed, this time to old footage of Scion pulling people from collapsing buildings during an earthquake.

"I would ask that you agree to kill Scion and save our Earths. I promise that, upon doing so, you will be returned immediately to your home."

Fuck. Fuck. This was it – if Takato agreed, Scion would be dead in seconds, he'd be home right after that, and I'd find out exactly how Alexandria preferred to kill people. Alright, let's look for an out.

Takato: Considering their offer. Likely to accept. Just wants to go home as soon as possible. Still annoyed, contemplating options if he is being tricked.

Dannoura: Not really paying attention. Grossed out by video. Wants to go home as soon as possible.

Doctor Mother: Trusts the fedora woman. Willing to let this play out.

Alexandria: Wants answers on Eidolon. Thinks plan will fail, but is worth trying. Wants to kill you.

Fedora Woman: Thinking about getting ice cream. Really wants to eat ice cream.

Ugh, of course the fedora woman could spoof my power. Even worse, Takato and Dannoura just wanted to get home, and any protest I made would be getting in their way. Hell, that video had been creepy, but it hadn't actually included any proof that Scion was an alien. Takato and Dannoura were so willing to jump on anything that would get them home that they were accepting the barest explanation.

The fedora lady was definitely using her power to steer them towards her desired outcome – explaining her power, showing the video, it was all a big show so that they would cooperate with whatever she wanted. And, if I was right about her power, then there was no way for me to out-thinker her like I had with Alexandria. Of course, she could be lying about her power, and then if I – no, no, no. This was just like with Coil. There was no point in second-guessing my power or trying to understand how our powers might interact. I just had to make the most optimal move.

If I couldn't stop them from killing Scion, then I would have to ride their coattails. I'd done my best to play nice with the two of them, and it was time to see if building all that goodwill had actually paid off. If I annoyed them enough, Takato might just decide to kill me, or not kill Scion. Too bad, universe, it's time for Tattletale to be selfish!

"I want to go with Takato and Dannoura," I said. Everyone looked at me except the Fedora woman, who was smiling off into the distance and likely pretending to think about ice cream.

Do not do this.

"Huh? Okay! Why?" Dannoura asked.

"Thanks!" I said, capitalizing on Dannoura's automatic acceptance. "Well, I think that Alexandria's going to kill me once you leave because I know too much."

Dannoura gasped. Come on, sympathy points. Remember all that television we watched together? Don't you pity me, Dannoura?

"She's trying to manipulate you," Alexandria said, accurately. "Tattletale is a dangerous supervillain. It would be illegal to allow her to simply escape custody to another world."

Dangerous supervillain – as if! The way things were looking, I wasn't even the most dangerous thinker in the room. Time to turn up the charm: I wrung my hands and looked down, making myself appear weak to contrast with the strong and imposing Alexandria.

Takato looked at me for a long time. Alexandria could simply refuse to take Takato home if she decided to really make an issue of keeping me on Earth Bet, and it would definitely be easiest for Takato to just leave me here to my fate. Takato's deadpan expression gave me little to read, so I did a check on Dannoura.

Staring at Takato. Annoyed at him. Thinks he is too easily persuaded by beautiful women.

Beautiful women, huh? Why thank you, Dannoura. I carefully tossed my hair over my shoulder and looked up at Takato, doing my best to project "vulnerable, attractive teenager." Alexandria scoffed.

"That's fine," Takato said. "You can stay with me."

"Absolutely not!" Dannoura cried. "She'll stay with me, Takato."

Takato shrugged, as if to say I had to try.

I let out a sigh in relief. Alexandria looked positively apoplectic, and when I knew Takato wasn't looking my way, I gave her a little smirk. She crunched part of the table in her grip. Sure, I had just consigned myself to a life next door to the deadliest being in the universe, but he actually seemed like a pretty normal person. Even if I had just traded an immediate death for one further down the line, I would take any extra time I could get. I was practically salivating at the idea of a world where I was the only parahuman; oh, think of the financial crime…

This is a bad idea. Do not go with Takato Yogiri.

Ha! Again with the advice, power? A little alarming you'd rather have me stay and get pulped by Alexandria than go with Takato, but that ship has sailed.

"Okay. I kill Scion, we go home, and Tattletale comes with us. All good?" Takato asked.

The fedora woman and Doctor Mother agreed, but Alexandria's acceptance was through gritted teeth. Leaving me permanently on another Earth would get me out of the way just as well as killing me, but I suspect I had wounded Alexandria's pride. Takato scrunched his face together, looking at the laptop screen that still displayed a video of Scion.

"Die."

There was a moment of awkward silence as the six of us just alternated between looking at the laptop screen and each other. Takato wiped at his brow. The fedora woman spun the computer and tapped away at the keyboard for a few seconds. She spun it around, showing Alexandria and Doctor Mother something. Doctor Mother sagged in relief, sinking into her chair. Alexandria remained ramrod straight.

"Thank you. I promise, you will never see another resident from Earth Bet on your world again. Door to Earth Samech-Chet-Three-Five-Eight."

Another golden portal appeared across the room. It opened up into the front courtyard of what I took to be a Japanese high school, empty of any other people. Dannoura squealed in delight.

Please. Please stop.

"That's our school!" Dannoura said, dragging Takato up from the table and towards the portal. I quickly followed after them. They stepped through and I followed immediately, not giving the three conspiracy ladies a chance to close the portal with Takato and I on different sides. Dannoura continued pulling Takato towards their school, and I turned around just as the portal began to close.

I win, I mouthed at Alexandria, and skipped off to follow Takato and Dannoura.

#

Spoiler: Author's Note

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Threadmarks Epilogue and Author's Note

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Jun 2, 2022

#494

Epilogue

"It just doesn't make sense," Armsmaster said. He tinkered idly with a spare halberd, a sign of his mounting stress. Dragon's face watched him with concern from a nearby monitor.

"I know, Colin," she said.

"They just disappeared! One second they're with Alexandria, and the next they're gone," he said. Colin reached for a fresh stick of solder and wound it around his finger. "And Alexandria hasn't returned my calls. They've been missing for five days, Dragon!"

"I am just as concerned as you are," she said, her tone even.

"I'm going to try to call her again," Armsmaster said, hitting the redial button on his lab phone. Dragon sighed.

"I'm sure she's very busy, and there's a good reason that –" the phone clicked as someone picked up.

"Armsmaster," Alexandria said, her voice tinny. There was a low roar from her end of the call, and Armsmaster surmised that she was flying.

"Alexandria. What happened to Takato Yogiri?" Armsmaster said.

"It's been taken care of. Nothing you need to worry about," she said.

True.

Armsmaster grunted. The biggest problem with his lie detector is that it could only report whether an opinion was earnestly held, not whether it was true.

"I would like a little more detail, for my peace of mind," Armsmaster said. While waiting for an answer, he listened to the wind blowing fiercely in Alexandria's microphone. "Are you busy?"

"I'm in Indiana," she said by way of explanation. Dragon frowned. "But it's no one important. I can give you the rundown."

True.

"Please," Armsmaster said, frustrated. Dragon's monitor pinged, and he looked over to see a tweet Dragon had pulled up of a civilian in Linton, Indiana, claiming to have seen Alexandria flying overhead.

"Takato Yogiri and Tomochika Dannoura have both been returned to their own worlds," Alexandria said.

True.

"That's good. How did that happen? I was under the impression that it would take some time to devise a reliable method of targeted dimensional travel," Armsmaster said. He looked over at Dragon, who appeared to be preoccupied by something.

"A piece of Hero's old tinkertech. Single-use, I'm afraid. It's not replicable."

False.

Armsmaster frowned and opened his mouth, but his question was cut off by a booming sound from Alexandria's microphone. It was followed by a woman's high-pitched scream and the unmistakable sound of snapping bone.

"Is everything alright" Armsmaster asked.

"I'm great," Alexandria confirmed. "Just taking care of some old business."

True.

"And what about Tattletale? I've been running some searches and she hasn't turned up yet."

While he waited for Alexandria's response, Armsmaster checked Dragon's monitor and saw she had pulled up a PRT briefing from a few days ago that placed the Slaughterhouse Nine in Carrollton, Illinois, just a few hours west of Linton.

"She elected to follow Takato and Dannoura to their home Earth," Alexandria said.

True.

"Why?" Armsmaster said. Tattletale had been manipulative, annoying, and self-serving, but she had also proven to have surprising restraint in matters dealing with Takato Yogiri. She had worked well on the problem, but Armsmaster knew she had been deeply frightened of the young man. It beggared belief that she would follow him home rather than return to a life of villainy.

"She felt that her talents were best used in further managing Takato. I dare say she had a bout of heroism," Alexandria said with a chuckle.

Lie.

What was going on? Armsmaster was happy to hear that Takato and Dannoura had managed to make their way home in record time, but Alexandria clearly felt he was not qualified to hear either the method or true circumstances of their return.

"Did he have anything to do with the disappearance of Scion?" Armsmaster asked. To the world at large, Scion had simply dematerialized in the middle of diverting a flooding river away from a small town. The talking heads had been arguing for days about what could have caused it, but Armsmaster knew deep in his gut exactly who had been responsible.

"I do not believe so," Alexandria said.

Lie.

"In the van!" a man shouted, barely picked up on Alexandria's microphone. Dragon pulled up another PRT bulletin, this one from this morning, showing that Legend was going to be out of New York for the day.

"Ha! I've got you, you little rat!" Alexandria crowed, and then she ended the call. Armsmaster and Dragon sat in stunned silence.

"Dragon," he said, slowly. "Something is going on with the Triumvirate. First Eidolon dies, then Alexandria lies about Takato – there's something happening here. Something we aren't allowed to know about."

"Colin," Dragon said warningly. "Don't do something rash."

Armsmaster scoffed.

"When have I ever? But I can't let this be. Not when it comes to Takato Yogiri."

#

Doctor Mother closed the audio feed of Alexandria's call with Armsmaster.

"That woman needs therapy," she said to Contessa, who was staring idly off into space, licking her lips. "I'm worried about Armsmaster. He clearly suspects something, but we aren't ready to go public. Not yet."

"Mmhmm," Contessa agreed.

"The Nine are taken care of, at least, even if there weren't bodies of most of them to identify. Still no plan for Sleeper, but I expect that, with your help, we can have the Three Blasphemies and Moord Nag out of the way by the end of the week."

"Right," Contessa said.

"Alexandria said she would work on a plan for cleaning up the quarantine sites in the States, but even without that we're looking at a major crime decrease and increased faith in the Protectorate. Of course, this comes with a commensurate drop in the number of new triggers, but, well, have you read the broken trigger briefing?"

"Mm," Contessa said.

"Well, the drop in fresh triggers is likely going to turn out to be a good thing. Without an entity to direct them, we've already gotten two broken triggers that almost turned into total disasters. We've been able to contain it so far, but I'm not so sure that it's something we can stop unless we can find a way to influence the agents themselves. In fact, we could maybe get –"

"No." Contessa said.

"What?" Doctor Mother asked, blinking.

"We will not ask Takato Yogiri to kill every agent and end all powers on Earth. I have taken extensive steps to guarantee that reaching or contacting his home Earth is now impossible. That option is off the table."

"I see," Doctor Mother said, shuffling the papers on her desk. "Well, perhaps we could –"

Contessa stood. She looked down on Doctor Mother.

"I have somewhere to be. I have heard some intriguing rumors about Vivoli," she said.

"Vivoli? Is that a new trigger?" Doctor Mother began to shuffle through the papers on her desk frantically. Contessa looked at her for a long moment, sighed, then turned away.

"Door to Florence," she said, and stepped through.

#

"You're good to go, Dannoura. The Ministry of Education will be sending a post-isekai catch-up tutor to your house some time next week. Could you wait in the lobby for us to finish with Wilbourne?"

I had already forgotten this guy's name. I probably should have been more alert, but he was just another in the endless procession of scientists and government officials I had met with since coming with Takato and Dannoura. Mostly it had been us recounting our stories, me describing life on Earth Bet, and assuring them that I had no interest in criminal activity (a bald-faced lie, of course).

I could tell that this guy, however, knew Takato personally, and that he was the highest ranking official I had met with yet. The impression I had gotten from Dannorua and Takato was that their world had been fairly normal, with no parahumans, and yet the government had whole protocols in place for the regular kidnapping of Japanese schoolchildren to other worlds.

Dannoura waved goodbye, and left me in the room with the scientist. He sighed deeply, and rubbed his hands into his eyes.

Deeply exhausted; has not slept well in the last few days. Wishes you had not brought Takato Yogiri back to this Earth.

"Okay," he said. "You're pretty much clear to live with Dannoura in Fukuoka, and that isn't contingent on the outcome of this meeting. There's just a few more informational topics to cover."

"Sounds good," I said, trying to remain upbeat.

"Now, generally speaking, the Japanese government and other involved organizations do their best to suppress the public knowledge of the supernatural. Your abilities make you much more likely to uncover people or beings that we would prefer to remain secret, and we ask that you not publicize your findings – both for the good of public order, and your own safety," he said.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"You may encounter anything from zombies to witches to vampires to evil spirits. Many people possess some form of self-professed magic or supernatural ability," he said. I blinked.

Telling the truth. Aware of examples for all of these phenomena.

"Right. I can keep my mouth shut," I lied. I wouldn't go to the newspapers with it, as Nameless Government Official seemed to fear, but I wasn't above a little blackmail here and there.

"Moving on. You're already read into the secret of the subject's existence, and I need to stress that you are absolutely not to divulge that information to anyone, for any reason, ever," he said. I nodded eagerly, and he seemed satisfied.

"You've proven uniquely capable of managing him, however, so the lab and Japanese government would like to request you stay close and report any warning signs you might detect."

My stomach sank. I could say no, of course, but the Japanese government knew too much about my powers and while Takato could likely protect me from any extreme measures, there were far too many ways the government could make my life immensely difficult.

"Right," I weakly agreed, and he smiled.

"Great. Are you interested in having a micro-explosive installed in your brain?"

"What?" I shouted, standing up, and he raised his hands.

"If you're worried about it, the surgery doesn't hurt at all. I've had it done myself," he said.

"Why would I do that?" I hissed, sitting down.

"The subject possesses abstract abilities that he could use to plunge the entire planet into chaos. Our lab makes these bombs available to anyone regularly in contact with the subject who fears that they might be subjected to ontological torture."

"I'm good," I said. "No way."

"Your loss," he said with a shrug. "Ahh. There is one more issue."

"Lay it on me," I said. It couldn't be worse than the bombs.

"You've been granted Japanese citizenship, of course, and we understand that you completed the equivalent of high school education on your home earth. However, there has been some concern raised that you aren't up to date on what's expected of a Japanese high school graduate."

No. No way.

"Furthermore, in order to maintain a, uh, useful closeness to the subject, it has been decided to enroll you with Takato and Dannoura, when they return to regular schooling."

I couldn't believe it. They really had found something worse than installing a bomb in my head.

"That magic ring Takato gave you might allow you to speak Japanese, but we have no way of knowing when it might run out – you'll have to learn the language eventually!" he said with a small laugh.

Back to high school. This was going to suck so, so much.

Told you so.

#

Author's Note

Now that the fic is out there, I thought I'd write down some of my thoughts on how I constructed this story. This is the second fic I've written, but the first I've published. I entertained a lot of ways this fic could work, including a more standard crossover where Takato joins the Undersiders / The Wards / etc. and spends a lot more time on Earth Bet. However, that version of the story quickly got repetitive and basically became another version of One Punch Man. While it might be fun and cathartic to see Takato kill everyone on Earth Bet, that story doesn't actually go anywhere. I thought it was more in the spirit of Sokushi Cheat to have Takato basically warp the entire setting around his presence, forcing the entirely unreasonable parahumans of Earth Bet to Shut Up and Get Along.

Naturally, that means this fic isn't very long. I probably could have written another half-dozen chapters of Takato meeting and killing a variety of parahumans, but all of those chapters would have been fundamentally the same. This story doesn't explore the full ramifications of Takato's powers because I couldn't figure out a way to make that fundamentally interesting beyond being a power fantasy – which is the exact sort of thing that the original work is all about avoiding.

I also tried to write these intelligent characters as being fairly intelligent – Armsmaster and Tattletale both attempt to employ a sort of defense through obscurity, and it just wouldn't make much internal sense if they let Takato wander down the street to get mugged by the Empire 88 or something. Additionally, I couldn't contrive of a situation where Takato wouldn't go to the PRT for help – in the source material, he basically follows a straight line to whatever group or person he thinks is most likely to get him home. Therefore, upon hearing that the PRT had access to Haywire's materials, he would likely immediately go to them. Takato simply doesn't possess much of an anti-authoritarian streak, and what little he has isn't enough to justify not doing his best to get home.

Originally, this fic would have been in third person, from Takato's limited perspective. But I also knew I wanted a little chapter of Tattletale trying to parse what the hell his deal was, and then I realized that it was much more fun to write the entire thing from her perspective (that said, figuring out tenses in first person while having a character comment on events is a massive pain in the ass I never want to repeat).

I thought setting Tattletale up as the Hero Who Saved The World was extremely funny, and led to a more complex and interesting story. I thought it would be interesting to put Tattletale in a role that naturally opposes her usual behavior (by making her a peacemaker) and to see the strain that put on her. As a result, I tried to capture moments where she wanted to argue with people and get into things but had to restrain herself.

This story also originally started with the Lung fight (as is tradition), but that version both would have warranted writing more Taylor (I feel a little bad for just writing Taylor out of the story in the way I did, but she wasn't the focus) and had less for Tattletale to do. The Bakuda fight is great because people have generally settled into their allegiances, and it's a fight where Tattletale really shines.

I almost drove myself crazy looking for references in canon to Bakuda's dead man's switch, and for a long time I thought it might even be fanon. As far as I can tell it comes up exactly once: in 5.01, Brian tells the villains that if Bakuda's heart stops, all her bombs go off. What? Where did he get that info? Tattletale doesn't mention it during the fight with Bakuda, but all of a sudden Brian knows about it. I decided that Tattletale must have picked it up during the fight but not mentioned it until later, as it wasn't relevant until then. If someone has a more concrete reference to the dead man's switch, please let me know.

If there's something I'm not satisfied with in this story, it's Tattletale's characterization. She's tough to write: in canon, we mainly see her from Taylor's perspective, in which she's friendly and helpful most of the time. But she definitely put some of the thinker whammy on Taylor, and she's also mean, spiteful, and digs herself into holes. I tried to capture some of her ego, but I also allowed her to be correct almost the entire time with her deductions, where one of her major features is that her power often fails her. I'm not sure if I hit the right balance between "sometimes well-intentioned, but only really when facing S-Class threats" and "enjoys being a villain and manipulating people." This may make it sound like I don't like Tattletale, but I really do. She's a big stinker, and that's fun.

Of course, writing from Tattletale's potential meant leaving a lot of characterization for Takato and Dannoura off the table. I decided this was fine, because neither of them have particularly strong personalities anyway, and since most of the readers would be coming from Worm they would be much more interested in Tattletale than the isekai characters. I was pleasantly surprised by how many readers were familiar with Sokushi Cheat, though, so if I had known that going in it may have changed how I approached this story. Takato and Dannoura are pretty relaxed in the source material, as they basically just go with the flow and wander from place to place trying to get home. So, I didn't feel like it was too much of a leap to have them be much more passive compared to Tatteltale.

I thought it would be logical to have Takato basically work his way up the chain of command on Earth Bet, from independent villains to the local Protectorate to the Triumvirate to Cauldron. Maybe everyone behaves a little too rationally in this story, but Tattletale's only job was to keep people in line, so perhaps that's the excuse. I re-read Miss Militia's scenes in canon, and wow, she really hates the Undersiders. During the Echidna fight she puts a gun to Tattletale's head to keep her from talking about Cauldron, and during the S9 truce meeting seems to de-facto side against the Undersiders with the E88 remnants. I tried to convey her general suspicion of Tattletale and Skitter here, instead of making her into a total Team Mom as she often is in fanfics.

A problem with Takato is that he naturally necessitates the involvement of Cauldron, which means Contessa has to get involved. So where was she for most of this story? Well, the moment that Takato landed on Earth Bet her power suddenly had some very important errands for her to run very far away from Brockton Bay. Running an ill-advised path might get her killed, so her power just kept her off-world and ignorant of the problem until the last possible second, where she could swoop in and get the scary death monster off-world with minimal effort. As a result, when she shows up in the last chapter, she literally has no idea what is going on or who any of these people are. I kind of wanted to go further on writing a baffled Contessa, but while that would have been funny, I couldn't figure out how to make it work.

At the end there, Contessa was running a path called "Get Takato and Dannoura to Willingly and Happily Cooperate With Cauldron," which essentially meant bamboozling them with all sorts of information about her power. Similarly, she used the Path to retrieve the coordinates for Dannoura's home Earth, and opened a portal there. I decided that, given that dozens of Japanese teenagers are regularly getting kidnapped out of Takato's Earth (and some are later sent back), there wouldn't be any particular protection on their Earth from interdimensional travel. I'll admit that I hadn't even considered the idea that Lisa might die from her shard disconnecting – we don't see that happen in Worm (or Ward, as far as I know) with any of the alternate Earths there, so I figured it simply wouldn't apply.

Lastly, the mechanics of Takato killing people. Coil was the trickiest to work out, as his power is technically precognition (but honestly I wouldn't mind if people wrote it as genuine time manipulation, it almost never makes a difference in a story). I posted earlier in this thread about how that happened, which represents to me a failure as an author. If I have to pop in to explain something, then it's my fault for not writing a scene that is either a) perfectly understandable or b) so interesting it doesn't matter.

Sidenote: Turns out that the relationship between Coil and Tattletale is hard to write because of how much fanon has confused canon. The first draft of this had Tattletale not knowing how Coil's power worked, but then I reread 8.8 and it turns out she totally knew his power before canon started. I also included Coil's underground base initially, before realizing that in 8.x (Coil's Interlude) we see people unpacking and moving into the base, implying it wasn't completed until just before or just after Leviathan.

In that interlude, we see the Travelers moving into the base (literally carrying boxes), but we also know that the Travelers have been in town since at least 5.01, meaning they were staying elsewhere. I figured it was logical that the Travelers would be showing up in town a few days before the meeting at Somer's Rock, which probably makes this the earliest in canon they would plausibly be in Brockton Bay. Since they definitely weren't in Coil's underground base, I left it vague where they were staying, but implied it to be one of Coil's other safehouses.

For the Endbringers and Scion, I decided to make Takato need to look at a picture or video to use his power, mainly just so I could have some sort of visual prop for the audience – I'm not actually sure if his power requires any sort of aid like that, it just made for a better scene. In the manga, we never really see him killing someone from across the world who wasn't in the process of actively attacking him. Of course, this means that both these deaths (colossal entities who are major players in Worm and Ward) are hugely anticlimactic – but that is definitely the point of the source material, and I tried to find the humor in the problem just disappearing, with no real closure.

In the end, Takato comes from a comedy series where the entire premise is that he no-sells literally every possible threat. Therefore, in this work, the same should hold true, and the mechanics are secondary. There were all sorts of questions raised about how Takato would interact with Contessa, or Coil, or Scion, and so on – but they were all so technical. Ultimately, I charted what I thought would be the most interesting path forward, and Takato's power is so nonsense that you can pretty much justify any decision. My main guiding impulse was to look for the biggest anticlimax possible, and use that to set up smaller scenes where the characters could have their funny moments. So, even if it was "more likely" that Scion would notice Takato, or that Contessa couldn't path Takato, I made my decisions based on what I thought would be the strongest story beats.

The epilogue came very late in the game, and I agree that the story needed something a little more to finish on. However, I also felt like I didn't know enough about Takato's earth to do an extended sequence featuring Tattletale. Instead, I decided to resolve what I had left hanging with Armsmaster and Cauldron, and show that, even though Lisa had won, she still had a whole different adventure in front of her. It's not totally satisfying, but I like a lot of the jokes in there and think it leaves each character in a more clear place. However, poor Taylor is still nowhere to be seen. She's a Ward in like, Portland Maine or something now. Thank you everyone for reading! I had a great time writing this fic, and I hope you enjoyed it.