Now that I had "income," I needed a way to utilize it. Parian could be paid in cash, but I don't want to bring fat stacks everywhere. Robbery wasn't uncommon, even in PRT territory, so all it took was one opportunistic dude breaking in when I wasn't home and I could say goodbye to my wealth.
I contacted The Number Man. I was wary of any interaction with Caudron, but becoming one of Number Man's assets was probably the closest thing I could do to making a good first impression.
He wasn't hard to find. A quick web search led me to a nondescript website offering parahuman banking and other financial services, with an 'about us' section mentioning 'The Number Man' as the manager of the company. I sent the manager's contact email a message explaining my situation as a new independent cape looking for a way to deposit 'cash from assorted sources.'
Not a minute passed before I received a follow-up. It outlined a short contract wherein I would exchange 7.41% of deposited income in exchange for providing a bank account with linked credit and debit cards.
I accepted. I wasn't going to try and out-negotiate the fucking Number Man. I was given an address to a location in Brockton Bay, presumably one of his branch offices, along with an appointment at noon to finalize the agreement, drop off my money, and pick up my cards.
So, the next day I went. I left 15k in cash hidden at the bottom of my closet, saved for Parian. The rest of the money was organized into a single bag. Before heading out, I changed into a generic white man in a business casual suit to keep my appearance a complete secret.
The lady at the front desk directed me to a back room. I met a man named John Barron, who explained that his boss had prepared a finalized contract, talked me through it, and the next thing I knew I was walking out the door with a pair of black-and-gold corporate-looking cards branded with the name "John Doe."
Will anyone not immediately suspect I'm faking my identity? No idea. But the unwritten rules will help with that, nobody wants to accidentally unmask a cape. Scratch that, a few people will bother unmasking a cape, but the only one I'm worried may successfully do so is Cauldron. Of course, they're the ones providing me with the card, so a moot issue.
I grabbed an unreasonable amount of Chinese takeout on my way back home. It felt like the right thing to do with laundered nazi cash.
March came and Ruby Dreams Casino was robbed. The Undersiders became slightly known on PHO, and they were now Lung's priority target. Taylor was going to get caught in the middle of their mess any day now, which meant I was running out of time to prepare.
Parian finished my cape outfit and we were meeting in a rented warehouse in the docks. I arrived about a minute before the agreed time, scouting around the area as a crow. When nothing presented itself, I flew down to the entrance to the building.
I landed in a puff of smoke, signifying my henge dispelling, and I rose from my landing crouch. A simple medical mask covered the lower half of my face and I wore a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. My duffel bag of cash lay over my shoulder.
I knocked on the door. The handle twisted and the door opened, a teddy bear larger than me politely opening the door. It opened to a large work area full of cloth and thread, with Parian at the center.
Parian was dressed as a doll. She was shorter than me and it was impossible to discern what she looked like under her costume.
I greeted her with a nod. "Hello. May I see my outfit?"
She gestured to a workbench, a costume flying off and between us. It floated in the air as if filled with an invisible body. It was as expected, the Akatsuki cloak adapted into something more form-fitting. I reached in and felt the red interior lining of the cloak. It felt soft, thin, and surprisingly breathable.
Parian telepathically unbuttoned the exterior cloak, revealing the interior bodysuit. It was as black as the cloak, covering me from wrist to ankle. It had a plethora of buttons sewn into it, which could be slotted through loops inside of the coat to fasten it all together. Metal plates were slotted into it, providing my torso and limbs some level of protection.
The face mask was a sleek black band with red threading, designed to be stretched across my lower face and held with elastic tension. I looked to the workbench the costume was pulled from, seeing the boots I was expecting. They weren't bulky or ugly, just simple black leather boots that blended well into the dark fabric of the rest of the costume.
"Thirteen thousand, was it?" I held up the bag.
It floated from my grasp to the workbench, and bills stacked out. After a minute of counting, she nodded. "Everything seems to be in order. Would you like to get it sized now?"
"I would."
Tape measures flew around me, stretching out and gathering measurements. Parian set to work, and I was fitted into my red and black outfit.
April 10th came and I napped well into the afternoon as preparation. Before heading out, I dressed in my cape outfit, secured my family katana to my back, and stored my throwing knives in one of my many pockets.
I was as ready as I'd ever be, I think. The closest thing to a new chakra technique I'd managed was the water walking exercise. It was cool to have the power of Jesus on my feet, but it wasn't a powerful combative technique. I didn't need it, though.
I was as physically fit as I'd ever been, the months of training paying off. I was fast and strong, if my plan went horribly wrong I could at least flee.
Taylor would be handling the majority of the fight, I just needed to provide some assistance. I'd already tracked her back to her house by following her from Winslow, so I knew where to start.
As a crow, I watched her home for half an hour until she crept out of her house. Her dark spider-silk cape costume was more intimidating than I'd expected. No wonder people assumed she was a villain.
She walked towards the docks, slowly building up swarms of insects in her wake. I didn't have crow instincts, but if I did, I would imagine it would look like a buffet. If Taylor could take out Lung with randomly gathered bugs from Brockton Bay, I couldn't wait to see what she could do with more dangerous ones.
She stumbled across the expected gangsters, making her way up a fire escape and onto a gravel rooftop. I landed on a nearby roof, hiding in the shadows with my Sharingan lit and waiting for the moment to strike. It was interesting to observe her power, which manifested as webs of lines linking her swarm and her together.
Taylor eavesdropped, presumably hearing the "killing kids" line, because when more ABB members arrived on the scene, a plague of bugs swarmed at the group. Lung managed to roast a swarm before Taylor adapted, concentrating on Lung.
Lung was swarmed, and he fucking blew himself up, becoming more draconian by the second. His mooks were caught in the blast, sending them scrambling. More bugs swarmed and Lung self-detonated again, causing his men to run like bitches on fire.
Lung got pissed when she started going for the eyes. It didn't put him down. It only made him more furious, and therefore more powerful. Taylor finally realized she was outclassed, and made to leave.
Lung heard her feet scrape the gravel. He launched himself at her building, claws digging into the side as he scaled it with ease.
Taylor abruptly turned back around at the sound of his roar, whipping out her pepper spray. She sprayed down at the climbing dragon, igniting a small fireball on his shoulder.
I finally interfered. I threw my throwing knife with precision, the blade speedily impaling into his eye. Lung howled in pain, his temporarily useless eye spurting blood. Taylor finally realized she should aim for a weak point and sprayed again at his head, exploding with enough force to rattle Lung off the side of the building and into the ground. Taking a pepper spray explosion to a knife in the eye must be agonizing, because Lung could only writhe on the ground for a few moments before the Undersiders showed up.
I was hidden in the shadows, but I decided to henge into a crow again to reduce my chances of being caught. The last thing I wanted was Tattletale to catch a whiff of me and report it back to Coil.
The Undersiders arrived riding massive dog abominations. Bitch's handiwork. The group dismounted and began to talk to Taylor, sending Bitch's other monsters to beat the shit out of Lung as they chatted. They were visibly impressed by Taylor, or at least Tattletale was. The rest were fully masked, after all. Once Lung became a barely breathing paste in the concrete and a motorcycle's engine could be heard in the distance, the Undersiders left. Taylor remained, presumably to speak to Armsmaster.
Before he arrived, Taylor made it down the fire escape and began to fiddle with Lung's body. Once accomplishing whatever she did, she stood and waited.
Armsmaster arrived and immediately pulled his halberd on Taylor. She panicked, waving her arms in surrender. She must have managed to explain she was a Hero, because he stepped down from the short stand-off.
The blue Tinker gave her a stern talking to, loud enough that I managed to make out bits of the conversation from a few buildings down. He was demanding that Taylor surrender over Lung and heavily suggested she turn over the credit for 'her own safety.'
Taylor, being a bit of a doormat, agreed to both after a moment of thought. Armsmaster poked Lung with the staff of his halberd, presumably sedating him. He then hauled the beaten Dragon onto his bike and drove away, leaving Taylor alone in the street.
I finally left my hiding place, flapping down and landing in front of her. She stared down at my crow form, tilting her head. It was pretty funny knowing she was just baffled by the random bird landing in front of her, but the costume imbued an ominous aura to her inquiring gaze.
In a puff of smoke, I dispelled my transformation, revealing myself in full Akatsuki glory. Taylor squeaked my sudden appearance, staggering backward as her swarm began buzzing like mad.
I stood still, letting her recompose. Her bugs stopped reacting, and she stared me down. We stood at the same height, I realized.
"Were…" She began, hesitating. "Were you the one who helped me knock him down?"
"I was," I nodded.
"Thank you!" She exclaimed quickly. "I mean, I don't think I could have gotten away from him fast enough, if you hadn't…"
"Thrown a knife into his eye?" I did my best to smile with my eyes.
"Yeah, uhh, that," She trailed off awkwardly. "Oh! Right!"
She reached behind her, some bugs pulling something from a pocket in the back of her costume. "Here. I got it back for you. It's a bit melted, though. Sorry?"
I took the time from her outstretched hand, inspecting it. It was a warped piece of blackened metal that I vaguely recognized as my knife. "Huh. Wasn't expecting to see this again. I think I'll put this on a shelf and show off 'The Knife that Blided Lung."
She bit out a nervous laugh, clearly unsure of how to respond.
"Armsmaster played you, you know?" I chose to break the silence.
She renewed her focus on me. "What do you mean?"
"I mean he tricked you. He got you to give up the credit for defeating Lung."
"He… He said that independent heroes don't last long. That by not taking credit, I wouldn't get targeted."
I snorted. "Do you know who you just fought? That was the Dragon of Kyushu. The man who fought an Endbringer alone and lived. The consolidating force of the ABB, dangerous to keep the Empire out of his territory with only one other cape."
Taylor shrank the more I spoke, the realization of what she stumbled into finally setting in.
"And you kicked his ass!" I continued, perking her back up. "You drove off his henchmen easily, and with minor assistance took down the man himself! PRT policy is to run like a bitch when they see the man, what do you think would happen if everyone heard of someone who walked right into Lung and came out without a scratch?"
"Wouldn't the ABB still go after me?" She persisted.
"I don't know about 'go after you.' They would hold a grudge, but that's what happens when you play hero. But they wouldn't risk confrontation without a good plan, and unless you advertise yourself the best they could do is make a trap."
"So would you have taken the credit?"
"Oh, nah." That got a tilt of her head. "I don't want to risk any confrontation yet. I've been keeping my head down. I have a plan in mind that requires me to be an unknown factor."
"A plan? What do you mean?"
"Ah, that would be telling. I'm afraid I'm only willing to divulge that sort of information to a teammate, which leads me to my next topic. You are an unaffiliated cape, correct?"
She nodded. "It's my first night out. It was kind of a… spur of the moment decision. I don't even have a name picked out yet."
I detected a hint of self-loafing in that last sentence. "Well, I would like to formally invite you to a team I'm forming. I intend to form an independent hero group. I could provide training and funding, and I have plenty of reasons why you shouldn't join any other groups."
"Funding?" She perked up at the word. "And why shouldn't I join any other groups? What's wrong with them?"
"I've got a decent bit of cash, and I could transfer it inconspicuously to you should you require anything, be it in your cape or personal life. So long as it is reasonable, of course. And as for other groups, you don't want to join the Merchants, Empire, or ABB because they're horrible people. You don't want to join the Undersiders, because they're a villain group being puppeted by a secretive psychopath mastermind. Speaking of, the Undersiders will likely contact you at some point soon, they're looking for new members to throw at a bank robbery.
"You don't want to join New Wave, because they force you to reveal your identity. Your anonymity is your only shield against some deranged asshole deciding to ignore the unwritten rules and target whatever family you have. Admittedly, the Wards are my best competitor. They have the most funding and training, and having the backing of the government gives you a decent bit of protection.
"The downfall of the Wards is the red tape. As you've seen with the blue bastard, the PRT is more interested in maintaining appearances than effectively combatting crime. They don't even give Vista a taser under the reasoning that it would look bad to give a small child a weapon, and she fights villains more regularly than most Protectorate capes. Expect them to get capes with villainous powers to fight without major portions of their power to keep up appearances.
"More than that, the PRT has more holes than Swiss cheese in their security. I'm pretty sure even the Merchants have moles in the organization. It's either impressively incompetent for the PRT or unexpectedly clever on the Merchant's part, considering most Merchants are meth-addled psychopaths with half-assed firearm training."
She flinched a bit when I mentioned villainous powers. I guess she still hasn't come to terms with being the bug lady yet. "Any you can do what they can't?"
"For the most part," I shrugged. "I don't have all their money, but I can still help. I have no intention of restricting your power; in fact, I'm willing to drive you out to any local forests and help you collect as many bugs as I can fit into whatever rental car I get. Hell, I could even rent a moving van if you wanted to stock up to the extreme, assuming you have the space.
"As far as identities go? I won't ask you to share yours if you don't want to. I'm willing to share mine if you join, and would appreciate if you returned the favor, though. I'm proficient in a few dozen martial arts and fighting styles, stealth, knife throwing, swordplay, and a smattering of other skills you could learn. You don't have any brute powers, so I'd advise avoiding direct confrontation, but they could be nice to learn as a fallback."
Taylor didn't say anything for a good minute, just staring and thinking. "And what do you call this group?"
"Akatsuki. Translates roughly to 'dawn' or 'daybreak.' Tell you what," I stopped, fishing a pen and notebook from one of my many glorious pockets, scribbling quickly. "You've had a hell of a night. I don't want to pressure you into something you're not comfortable with and haven't had time to think about. Here's my cell number and PHO handle. Sleep on it, and shoot me a message when you come to a decision."
She silently accepted the paper, and I gave a short bow before turning to the nearest building and walking directly to it. I suppressed my chuckle as I stepped onto the side of the building casually strolling parallel to the ground.
Taylor's neck craned forward comically when I defied gravity, her swarm buzzing up for a moment. She continued to stare until I reached the top of the building and pressed my hands together. In a puff of smoke, I again took the form of a crow and flew off.
Taylor had an extraordinarily shitty life, and she was desperate for any positive human contact. Lisa got her to go full Villain despite Bitch doing her best to keep her away. How far could I get her to go for me if I simply supported her and helped her become a hero?
I woke up to a private message on PHO, as expected.
Welcome to the Parahumans Online message boards.
You are currently logged in, Akatsuki
You are viewing:
• Private Messages
• Threads and private messages are ordered chronologically.
Currently messaging: DocksGirl12
DocksGirl12: I'm interested in joining your group.
Akatsuki: Great! You interested in meeting today, then?
DocksGirl12: Sure? Not until after 3:30, though.
Akatsuki: Sounds like a plan. Want to do the rental thing, or do you prefer something else?
DocksGirl12: I guess I could do that. Not a van though, I don't have that much space
DocksGirl12: Oh and they tried to contact me like you said. You can see the post in the Brockton Bay Connections Thread.
Akatsuki: Good to know. Want to meet somewhere or have me pick you up? I'll be grabbing the rental before heading your way.
DocksGirl12: Pick me up, I guess? As long as you aren't dressed up. 3:30 at Winslow High?
Akatsuki: I'll bee there.
Which meant I had to figure out how to rent a car. Shit. Don't you need to be 25 or something?
That turned out to be partially true. That being said, once I tossed over my 'John Doe' card, the rental associate was much more willing to work with me. He wasn't going to risk pissing off the guy with an obviously fake identity and plenty of money, certainly not in Brockton Bay.
I got a medium-sized truck for the day. A quick stop at a hardware store got me a tarp and some straps. The truck was full of gas, so nothing to worry about. I had an hour to kill before Taylor's school got out, so I drove around the city for a bit. I'd experienced Brockton Bay from the sidewalks and the sky, but the roads were a new experience.
Flying is way better. I wasn't able to blast music at high volume while flying, though.
I pulled into Winslow as people started leaving the building en masse. I parked near the entrance to the complex, waiting for Taylor to escape the cursed halls of high school. She didn't exit until the wave of students trailed off to a few stragglers. I can't say she looked too healthy, slouched over with heavy bags under her eyes. Her back looked like it was weighing her down, a far cry from how she carried herself as a cape.
Taylor nervously scanned the lot. When her eyes reached my truck, I stuck my arm out the opened driver's side window and gave her a wave. She froze, blinking owlishly, before walking over.
"Hop on in!" I smiled at her. "DocksGirl12, yeah?"
She flushed at the PHO handle, slipping into the passenger seat. "How'd you know?" She stared at me. "And why did you pick a hot pink truck?"
I snorted. "Guessed by the hair. It's pretty recognizable." That got a quirk of her lips. "Very recognizable. Recommend wearing it in a braid or something in costume to keep people from guessing. As for the truck? Who the hell is going to think we're using it for Parahuman shit? They'll see it and think, 'Wow, look at that dipshit with a pink truck!'"
"That makes sense, I guess," Taylor agreed. "The truck bit, at least. I… like showing off my hair in costume."
"Hey, it's up to you," I shrugged. "I don't really follow that advice either. I've got my hair out and everything too. Oh! The maps in the glove compartment, it's got the path we're taking marked out. There's a national park area about an hour away, I was thinking we fill the bed up with your bugs, assuming I'm right about your powers and you're a bug Master, not some sort of bug conjuror."
"Yeah, you're right," Taylor agreed, fetching the map from the glove compartment. "Do you need me to give directions?"
"Nah. I memorized the map earlier. Part of my powers, actually—"
I was cut off by mocking laughter. Taylor shrunk into her seat at the noise, and I turned to see the source. A pair of girls were laughing at Taylor and me, sneers on their faces.
"Aww, did Hebert find herself an older boyfriend? Too weak to protect herself, so she sold herself off for protection, I bet," said the black girl, who I suddenly realized had to be Sophia Hess. She was projecting her voice loudly, obviously trying to 'accidentally' let us overhear them, despite blatantly staring at my pussywagon.
"No, I don't think that's it," the redhead cut in. Had to be Emma Barnes. "She probably found a way to make a bit more money in the only way she could, in someone else's bed. Maybe her daddy isn't able to cover the bills this month?"
I stuck my hand out the window, flipping them the bird.
I twisted the key in the ignition, the sound of the engine starting up drowning out whatever Hess snarled back at me. I peeled out of the lot, burning coal as I passed by the pair. I snickered as I saw Emma start coughing her lungs out, the exhaust burning her throat. Sophia must have had the presence of mind to hold her breath, but it didn't stop her from leveling a furious glare at us as we left.
Taylor stared wide-eyed at Winslow until we drove out of view. Once it was gone, I started the conversation again. "High school, eh? Assholes like that were why I dropped out. Can only hear so many 'subtle' digs before getting sick of it. My advice: just tell them to fuck off and forget about them. Maybe knock some teeth out."
She sighed. "They're… Well, they're the worst. What were you saying about your power? I've been curious about what it is."
"Hard to describe. The best way I can put it is that I've got an energy system in my body. I can use that energy for a bunch of things. You've already seen me use it to walk on walls and transform. The other big use is to enhance my body. Can also improve my senses with it, especially my eyes."
I flicked on my Sharingan as we hit the highway, giving her a good look at them.
"Your eyes… spin? And they're red."
"Yep. I call it the Sharingan. That translates to 'copy wheel eye.' Instant visual processing, perfect eyesight, and perfect memory along with some other stuff when I have it on. By far my favorite part of my power. Except maybe flying, but that's for entirely different reasons."
"You can fly!?"
"Only as a bird," I shrugged. "I can perfectly imitate any creature or object so long as I get a nice look at it. Including mass, which is weird. It lets me fly as a bird, but I didn't get any instincts. Had to learn to fly by copying other birds. The technique itself was a pain to figure out, but I managed."
"Oh. Still, that's… a lot of things," Taylor admitted. "I can only control bugs."
I laughed. "'Only control bugs' my ass. Imagine if we got you some Asian Hornets. Those things are as big as my thumb!"
Her lips quirked back up again for a second. "Well, I guess it's not just controlling bugs. I can sometimes see through them? It's not very clear or easy, and I haven't been able to get better at it. I can kind of sense things by covering everything in bugs, but that's just because I can tell where all my bugs are."
"See," I nudged her, "more than just controlling bugs."
"Speaking of… cape… things. What's your name? I mean, your cape one. And your real one, I guess."
"Name's Indra Uchiha. Just call me Indra. I go by 'Pain' as a cape."
"Pain?" Her eyes widened. "Don't you think that's a little…"
"Aggressive? Villainous?" I completed her thought. "Maybe. The way I see it, the more intimidating I am, the quicker cowards will surrender. Don't go talking down my name though, 'DocksGirl12.'"
Taylor flushed at the reminder. "I'm Taylor. Taylor Hebert. And I've been trying to pick out a name, but all the good bug-themed names are either taken or sound…"
"Like I would name myself?" I chuckled. "I get that. I could help you pick out one, but I can't promise I'll suggest names you'd like."
"What would you pick?" She asked.
"Off the top of my head? Plague, Scarab, maybe something in Japanese. Beetle is translated to 'Kouchou,' which I think is adorable. If you're looking for something more generic, then maybe 'Weaver.'"
"Scarab and Weaver aren't bad," she admitted, "Plague makes me sound like I spread diseases, though."
"You could probably start a Lyme epidemic with enough mosquitoes," I suggested.
Taylor gave me a scandalized look. "I don't want to start an epidemic!"
"Hey, you asked for my help. I'm just offering suggestions."
"Maybe you shouldn't think about causing plagues."
"Well, there goes that hobby."
She rolled her eyes at me, but her lips finally pulled up for longer than a few seconds. She shook her head, turning her eyes back to the road. We fell into a comfortable silence.
She came up with the next topic after a few minutes. "What was the plan you said you had, that you'd let me know about if I joined the team?"
"Ah, shit. Right into it. So, remember the Undersiders' bank job I mentioned?"
"Ohh!" Her eyes widened in excitement. "Are we going to stop them?"
"Close. No, we're going after their backer."
"They have a backer?"
"Alright, so prefacing this with a warning: This is not going to be a pleasant conversation."
"Go on." She raised her eyebrow at me.
"Have you heard of Coil?"
She furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "The mercenary guy?"
"The the same. Coil, also known as the PRT Consultant Thomas Calvert, is a supervillain Thinker and a monster. He can split his perception into two timelines, in which he can make any feasible set of decisions, and pick the most optimal timeline while still recalling the events of the dropped one. He uses this to do things such as getting a full night's sleep while pulling a theoretical all-nighter in his supervillain identity, gathering perfectly accurate data before committing to engaging in combat situations, and torturing whoever he pleases for information before tossing away that reality.
"Most relevant to you is the way he controls the Undersiders, particularly Tattletale. She is a thinker being forced to work for him under threat of death. She is constantly trying to subvert him, but due to his ability to torture her for information without her knowledge, he is always one step ahead of her. I tell you this because it gives you an idea of how dangerous he is and how he is willing to treat Thinkers.
"The Undersider's bank job will be in broad daylight, as a distraction. It will attract a ton of hero attention without any action from us. It is a diversion from his real goal: kidnapping a girl named Dinah Alcott."
"And she's a Thinker?" Taylor analyzed.
"Right. She triggered around January. She's a precognitive Thinker who can answer nearly any percentage-based question. Coil intends to kidnap and imprison her. To keep Dinah in line and dull the migraines her power overuse causes, he will inject her with Tinkertech drugs engineered for addiction. He will use this addiction to make her desperate to serve him."
I took my eyes off the road and looked Taylor dead in the eyes. "Dinah Alcott is twelve years old."
Silence hung like a specter in the car after that sentence. Taylor bit her lip, thinking deeply.
"How do you know about this?" Taylor tried to poke a hole in my story.
"I've spent the last four months preparing for this. I know how he acts, where his desk is at work, and where he sleeps. The only thing is, we can't take any strikes of opportunity. He will always have two timelines up at any moment, and the moment we make a move he will drop the unfortunate timeline.
"The way around this? Track him for long enough, and attack him at a planned time no matter the circumstances. One of the unique abilities of my Sharingan is to be able to see the pathways parahuman powers take, which I can use to decipher someone's power, so the moment I laid my eyes on him, I made the promise to prepare until the last possible day to commit.
"There's only one attempt to catch him by surprise, and when we do go about this, he's most likely going to holed up in his base in at least one of his timelines. His base is an endbringer bunker. I don't have a clue what his defenses are, the moment I discovered the location I committed to not risking accidentally revealing myself trying to scout him out."
"Wow, uhh…" Taylor said, "that sounds very paranoid of you."
"Paranoid isn't the half of it. I'm not addicted, I'm committed. Unfortunately, he warrants the paranoia. He does not fuck around. He fully intends to take over Brockton Bay from the shadows, and then move on to surrounding cities with more capes and resources. The thing is: he has backers. I know he works with the Boston crime boss: Accord, who is a supervillain Thinker who sells his services in creating incredibly effective plans of action for people. He has a literal mastermind schemer behind his plots.
"Worse, he occasionally has contact with an unknown organization. They drop him slips of paper that he immediately burns. I don't know what they say, but he never looks happy with it. My guess is they're his boss."
I'd only seen a Cauldron note once, while watching Calvert before bed at night. Seems that being a precognitive blindspot fucks with the Path to Deliver Notes without Being Seen.
Taylor looked determined, "So, what's the plan then? We have to commit to a day now, right? when will that be?"
I frowned. "We only have a few days till the bank job. Three or four, max, I think. Tomorrow or the day after are our best options. You're the one with a restricted schedule, so your convenience is the priority."
"Tomorrow," Taylor instantly committed, "If he's as bad as you say, we need to stop him before he causes more damage."
"I agree. Now, here's the thing. Remember, this guy is a Thinker with the ability to almost always make the right decision. He has a master planner. What are the chances he has backup plans for if his identity gets revealed, and he succeeds?"
Taylor cursed. "He'd be willing to kill people to get out of custody, at the very least."
"My thoughts are 'hostage situation, with his freedom as ransom.' Now, I came to an unpleasant answer to how we permanently deal with someone who can almost certainly escape PRT custody."
"Are we sure he can escape?" She pressed. "I know you said the PRT is corrupt, but it can't be that bad… right?"
"It wouldn't even be the corruption that got him out. He knows all the PRT's policies because of his role as a Commander, so he'd know how to act to get the smallest slap on the wrist. But don't think he doesn't have connections in the PRT, too. Did you know he was one of the Ellisburg survivors? Take a wild guess who the other survivor in the department is."
"Who?" Taylor sighed.
"Emily Piggot, the Brockton Bay PRT Director."
"I don't like the answer you're trying to lead me to..."
In reality, Piggot would do her best to eat Calvert alive. It wasn't her I didn't trust to do her job. Coil was a slimy fuck with fingers in every pot, and the PRT's general incompetence at keeping prisoners implied an eventual breakout. But, I had to convince Taylor to get on board.
"Neither do I. But the only alternative I can think of is to kidnap and imprison him ourselves, and he strikes me as the type to have ways around that. Not that I could keep a prisoner, anyway. Going full vigilante is genuinely looking like the only option. But can you come up with anything else?"
"No, I can't," Taylor admitted. "I just… I don't want to kill someone."
"You won't have to," I promised. "This is something I will do myself. I won't go in my costume, and I'll do my best to never think about it again. I don't even want you to involve yourself in any fighting, just use your bugs to scout the place out for me. I will do this purely because I see no other way, and I will not sacrifice other people for my convenience."
"Did you know I could sometimes see with my bugs because you saw my power with your eyes?" She suddenly brought up.
"Your power appears as a web, spread out and intertwining the minds of all in your swarm, including your own," I deftly dodged the question.
The dreaded silence returned.
"Fine." Taylor agreed. "I'll help."
"Thanks. You don't know how much you're helping me."
"Oh!" I pointed at a sign on the road. "Look, White Mountain National Park, five miles away. We'll get you your swarm soon. Where are you planning on putting these anyway?"
"Under my house. There are a few ways to get into the foundation. I've just been gathering bugs wherever I go, so I hadn't considered storing mass swarms until recently."
"Good idea for the short term, but who knows what they'll do under there. My suggestion is to get them to build tunnels with air holes under your lawn, divide them up into caverns, and gather a food supply. Not perfect, but it should keep them alive for you to use."
I paid the entrance fee to the park and we were let in. I followed a dirt road down to a remote trailhead, parking at the hiking path entrance. A pair of cars were parked there as well. Neither was a ranger vehicle or had anyone in them, so no worries about getting caught committing wildlife theft.
Taylor left her backpack in the truck as she hopped out, eagerly grinning at the opportunity to amass a swarm.
"I'm thinking we go for a short hike. A mile there and back, or something around that length. You gather everything you want during that time. When we get back, we take whatever we can fit into the back of the truck."
She nodded. "I'm in."
Holy shit, that was a lot of bugs. Taylor mostly kept them off the path in fear of running into a random hiker and making them shit their pants. The few times she gathered them all into a single clump was something of a nightmare, and I generally like insects.
I think I forgot that Ants were the dominant animal on Earth. I would never make that mistake again. Taylor was shivering with excitement. I'm certain the Queen Administrator had a data orgasm from the sheer quantity of insects to command.
The culling came all too soon. We had nowhere near enough room for all of the bugs. Taylor didn't take long to decide on who to keep. Half the bed was filled with ants. Another quarter went to a wide variety of winged, stinging insects and beetles. The last quarter was venomous spiders.
Taylor took a liking to ants. She said the ability to influence other ants through chemical signaling and their natural tendency for group function was made commanding them incredibly low maintenance compared to other insects. It's not like it was harder for her to direct whole groups insect by insect, just less annoying. Like pressing a macro key to do a task instead of manually performing it.
The ants were dedicated as her digging corps, with the brave soldiers destined for their afterlife as spider-food whenever they passed away or completed the tunnels under her home. I can't believe Taylor brought the military-industrial complex to ant civilization.
We strapped the tarp over the back, covering her horde of bugs from prying eyes. The drive back was thankfully less intense, sticking to small talk about our pasts.
On the way back, I stopped by a store and bought a $50 burner phone for Taylor. I told her that I'd need a way to contact her tomorrow night with my location, and she didn't protest.
Taylor instructed me on the way back to her house. I parked nearby, and we sat in the truck for about half an hour. I kept a Sharingan out looking for bystanders while Taylor slowly transferred her swarm into her backyard and through a tunnel leading under her home.
"Alright, that's all of them!" Taylor smiled.
"Nice. Still good for tomorrow night?" I inquired.
"I'm committed."
I snorted. "Alright. I'll send you my location around 10. Should give you plenty of time to get there. I'll be starting at 11 no matter what. I'd appreciate it if you brought me something with a fuckton of caffeine, because I'm not going to take my eyes off this man for over a day. I'll even pay you back~."
Taylor huffed. "Fine, I'll get you a coffee."
We said our goodbyes and I left, heading back to the car rental. I had a pink truck to return and a dead man to follow.
A/N: I love reviews!