Welcome to another Chapter everyone, and this one was a bit of a dozy for me. Though I will go ahead and say this ahead of everything else, that this is an AU universe so the interactions between people might fall a tad bit outside of expectations, but this is how I view these characters. It is just my view on how I think they might act in this situation, though I am trying my best to stick to what I think would be their most valid reactions and attitudes for something. As far as the other concerns that were brought up, I understand those valid takes though I did what I did for a reason that should be more evident as you read. Given how I feel some powers interfere with others, preventing them from working the way they do as well as simple human error and inexperience which provides some context for why things happened that are confusing.
I do thank you for the reviews you have submitted so far, and look forward to seeing more of them and getting your take on how I am doing so far. This is my first story after all, and any reasonable reviews and judgements of my story will of course be welcome. I take your thoughts in mind, so long as they based with valid statements and will do my best to convey my thoughts in the story in a way that is better to understand as well as easy to visualize. Again forgive any errors you may find, and I will correct them as I find them of course but sometimes these fingers don't keep up with my thoughts when writing.
As always, please enjoy the chapter for what it is and I hope this makes your day a bit less boring where I can.
I own nothing but the time I have dedicated to writing this shameless piece of fiction.
Pleased Enjoy, OldTundra out.
[Brian]
"This is not a good idea Tattletale, you saw what I and Bitch saw, hell you're still looking at him with that smile on your face and ignoring me aren't you." he said as Tattletale practically chuckled to herself like some madwoman. This was the most vexing part of working with this woman, it was almost like dealing with an older, powered version of Aisha, and he could already feel how this was gonna bite him the ass somehow. Putting his hand on her shoulder he turned her away from where she was enjoying the burgeoning Kaiju fight, watching as she frowned as she put the binoculars down.
"Tattle! Listen! I know you wanted to jump in to help the Bug Girl, but this changes things." he started as he stared her down through the helmet. He knew she would be able to understand just what he was thinking, and even now she was probably picking apart how to make him agree to whatever convoluted idea was coursing through her mind. She always needed to be the smartest in the room, and whenever she got it in her mind that she could get something out of someone, she always dove feet first into it and the rest of them just had to deal with the fallout and make it work.
To be fair, she generally wasn't wrong with her assumptions, but she always dragged them along typically with no regard to how they would feel about it. So sharing a look with Bitch, who just shrugged as Brutus stood next to her and Angelica just waited, staring at them as if waiting for commands. He rubbed the front of his mask, before he heard a massive slam, and watched Lung shoot into the air, only for the gang leader to be slammed back into the ground and pinned there by massive metal beams. "Fuck me." he said out loud, as Tattletale practically looked giddy. "Fuck yea. Take that you giant lizard." she called out, almost like a kid in a candy shop with free samples.
She was no fan of Lung, not that any of them were, but when your power allowed you to read people and see what they were thinking for the most part, or what they planned to do, did that dislike turn to hate. Lisa had never been a very restrained girl, but when you were getting stared down by a Dragonman that was going to kill all your friends, or subject you to a far worse fate right after that, did that hate become very personal. No woman ever wanted to be raped, and Lung did that quite often to female capes he got his hands on, and far worse in some cases, hell he was pretty sure that he still made a habit of entrapping women and 'enjoying' them before either killing or whoring them out alongside others. So despite how much he knew this night was going to suck, he relished seeing Lung getting put in his place by a couple of kids, even if one of them could potentially be the unholy love child of Lung and Kaiser, if the 9ft burning Metal monster he saw was anything to go by.
He and the girls had watched from the moment Bug Girl had begun beating feet, his darkness obscuring them from everything as they looked out from the small breaks he had made in the fog. They had made to start intervening when Lung had taken off after the girl, a massive swell of flame had blocked most of what they could see, but even as Bitch was about to sick Brutus on the dragon, a blooming cascade of steel had blocked the flames and caused them to pause. Seeing the flame shoot off in multiple directions, washing away even as the Bug Girl continued retreating, phone in hand.
They got to see just what had interfered with Lung's hunt, a man of liquid burning metal that took on an almost unholy look crossed between a golem and some sort of knight. Thick plates of metal had formed, fingers hooking into wicked claws as the creature swelled up to nearly 8ft tall instantaneously, and met Lung with a titanic crash that sent them both slamming against brick and steel. Fire washed off both of them, swirling together in a storm he was surprised didn't start to slag the buildings immediately. Watching from his darkness, Grue could only feel his terror rise at the show. This was the start of another big name, he could feel it in his gut, because how could anyone that could go toe to toe with Lung be anything but? So the pragmatic and logical part of him understood Lisa's excitement, but at the same time the realistic part of him understood the terror of such a person, especially when they didn't know anything about them.
Bug Girl would have been a reasonable outreach, her power was manageable and lowkey enough while also seeming to be versatile enough to be used in a variety of situations. The Steel Demon currently tossing Lung around like a toy was all that and far more, all with giant red warning labels slapped all over him. If they reached out to him, and even somehow managed to convince him to join them, it would thrust the Undersiders into the light in a way they really didn't need. Of all things, they were doing so well because they were more or less unknown or considered not really worth dealing with. Anonymity was just as useful as power, more so in many cases, than most people stopped to truly consider.
So naturally, when Lisa came up to him with that smirk on her face, he knew that this night wasn't going to go that well.
[Lisa]
It was glorious, absolutely glorious, to see Lung getting thrown around like that. Hell, one might call it positively arousing in the case of how some women reacted to violence. Not her though, well not fully, she was a practical girl after all. She saw something beautiful, something cathartic like this was not something you got every day, and on top of it all, her Boss had said nothing about this. He had mentioned someone attacking Lung tonight, someone that would push him and open him up to getting taken down with help from the Undersiders. But their boss had been wrong, Coil had been wrong, and that thought was enough to fill her with a joy she couldn't begin to put into words.
She had been craving this, a chance had revealed itself to her, something their boss couldn't see. Because Coil would have most certainly mentioned a Lung Kaiser hybrid if he had known about him, and would have pushed hard for recruitment. Yet from what I could tell, Coil had only informed them on what to do in reference to the Bug cape, so that meant the Steel Monster currently giving Lisa the much needed vengeance by proxy, was something she could use to her advantage. Lung had it coming in all honesty, this beating was one that he deserved, especially after the Rape eyes he had thrown her way in their last meeting. She didn't even need her power to tell her, Lung's history and actions as well as the intentions written all over him in that one short meeting had been enough for her Power to put together a multitude of ways Lung would defile and torment her before finally killing her. It had kept her throwing up for nearly a full ten minutes, as her power didn't shut up and she couldn't just forget it once it had been shown to her. TMI was a saying that was most fitting, and yet no one would understand just how deep TMI truly went without a power like hers.
Though understandably, Brian was less than pleased with the idea but she tended to get her way, he just needed to see the benefits of having a at least cordial relation to the new Lung. Tapping her chin as she watched them, it was odd that she wasn't getting too much from the Steel Demon, which honestly was a terrible name. Horrible for PR and would need to be revised, then again they didn't know what the man was going to call himself, and she couldn't even use her power to try and dissect the conversation Bug Girl and her Iron Savior was having with Armsmaster, given the PRT hero had his back to them and both the newbies had full face coverings. It was vexing, in a minor fashion, but given the body language coming off of Bug she could tell she was very new, and also extremely excited. Bit of an Armsmaster fangirl huh?
Given his control over the metal he produced, Lisa could deduce that he has an enhanced and similar version of Kaiser's Ability to call forth metal constructs. Given Kaiser limited himself to bladed objects typically, due to the breakdowns she had found about the Nazi Leader, she could piece things together from there. The newbie had not called forth a sea of blades though, so perhaps the majority of his power was producing it for body mass, but he could also create durable constructs out of it with remarkable finesse and speed, as well as form it anywhere he wanted. Kaiser's ability was limited to coming out of solid objects given the Wiki's sources, while the new kid could manifest them in the air and even direct them and their speed from what she had observed.
It made his own ability far more impressive, and given how his size was notably increasing as he fought Lung, and even surpassed the rampaging wannabe dragon, it was clear he could grow with conflict as well. Then again, from what she had been getting off of Lung that whole fight, he was not in top form, his body was not healing properly like it should have and his growth had slowed down to a near crawl, and that was all due to Bug Girl. She had pumped him full of venoms and toxins from her insects, to such a point that Lung's body was desperately trying to fight off the clearly very lethal doses that were swimming in his veins.
So she had Brian watch them, because from what she had been able to tell it was highly likely they were going to have a private conversation. Moving across the roofs, Brian's Darkness being the only thing keeping anyone from seeing or sensing them, and given the fact that she watched the man form a sphere around him and bug, she felt a bit more vindicated at having been right. She got off Brutus, and watched as Grue extended his darkness down and across the entirety of the alley, all the way up to the sphere.
"You sure about this Lisa? Last chance to back out." he said as he watched me go over to the edge and look down at the sphere before jumping over the edge and sliding down one of the fire escapes. My lack of answer would be all he needed as he followed me, with Bitch right behind him. I had a fair idea what they were talking about, given the information I had at hand it is best to assume the Bug Girl was saved at the last minute by the Iron Man, most likely they are either acquainted or the impromptu looking metal casing he had been wearing was to protect his identity, which the bug girl was privy to in some fashion. There were other plausible conclusions, perhaps deals were being made, threats were being levied, or they could be engaging in some very personal after battle hot and heavy moments. That last one was thrown out, it was the least likely, even as amusing as the idea was.
No, her power was coming back with the most likely being introductions between two prospective heroes fresh on the block, and that meant in order to throw them off the most she would need to surprise them but in a way that did not scream aggression. Allowing them a moment, and in order to have the most weight to my statement, I cleared my voice before the fog pulled back all of the way and I reached out to knock on the side of the metal sphere, praying that I don't get immediately speared by something pointy.
"And I am Tattletale, I would love it if we could talk for a bit.~" coming out in the most pleasing voice I could make, right before the sphere rippled and a band of metal snagged around my throat and body, I felt the panic rise before I was pulled into the sphere and it felt like I was being pulled through sludge and dropped onto the floor with cuffs around my hands and feet, behind my back. Well, this could have gone better.
"That was a tad rude don't you think hun?" I let out, looking up at the two of them, masks in place. Perhaps I might have pushed this a bit too far, a bit to fast huh.
[Kol]
Staring down at her, my mind was racing at the moment, the moment the sphere had gone up I had stopped paying attention. I did not concern myself with my surroundings at that point, thus I did not pay attention to any sources of moving metal in my vicinity, and now I was paying the price for that. It was so strange, that when you let your guard down was always the moment it should be at its highest. I could see Taylor backing away a bit, her form half obscured by my own and that was perhaps for the best. I knew of Tattletale, or at least, what I have read about her on the Wiki. She was a rather notorious Thinker, but considered more an annoying one because of her ability to pick out information about you in an interaction she would use to needle you and push your boundaries. If she was here, then that meant the other Undersiders were not far away, because no team would let their Thinker go into a situation without backup. My thoughts were confirmed when the sphere around us rattled, and dented as something large smashed into it from outside. I was tempted to open the sphere up to attack back, but I felt it might be wisest to make room.
Holding up my hand the sphere began to expand as more metal was pulled from wherever it was it was stored, and rapidly expanded and conformed to whatever it hit so as to not knock down any buildings. However, as I felt the metal wash over two other people I locked manacles around their feet and sealed them to the ground, as well as the two truck sized Dogs currently looking like they would tear me in half if they could. Tattletale sat up suddenly at the newly expanded area, before I saw my vision disappear in a haze of black. Yet with my metal in the area, I still knew where everything was at the moment. Well, everything currently connected to it, even if I couldn't see it personally.
"Whoa Whoa! Let us all just calm down a bit before we jump the gun here." came Tattletale's voice through the darkness. "Grue, you can go ahead and let up the fog. We can all talk like friends here, no one is here to fight. I just wanted to talk a bit and give a bit of thanks." she said I heard another girl bark up. "Bad Idea. Dangerous." a voice sounded, seemingly very much in the mood to cause violence. "Tattle, I told you this was a bad idea." the only male voice in the group sounded, the irritation was clear and made Tattletale laugh. "Perhaps. But I think this is going rather well honestly." she said as the darkness began to actually let up and I saw them again still in the same place I left them.
Taylor was still behind me, but I could already hear the gathering of bugs swarming behind me as I was ready to lock them all in iron cages if I needed too, but I held back because I knew this wasn't everyone in the Undersiders. They had been known to work with others, and even hire other freelance Capes as extra muscle. But they had a rep of being petty thieves and more nuisances than anything else, so it was one of the reasons I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. That and I had no interest in starting up another fight with potentially unknown capes. "No one moves, or the next I do involves very pointy objects." I said as blades rose around me, just to prove my point before Tattletale nodded enthusiastically. "No worries, as I said. Just here to talk, give a few bits of thanks to you and Bug." she said as I looked around and nodded, before Tattletale's restraints melted off her simply fading away.
"Okay then, I will let you out. Though I would appreciate your other calming her dogs, she very much looks like she is more than willing to continue this once freed." I said before Grue turned to face her. "Bitch. Heel the Dogs." he commanded, before she looked ready to fight him on that before he continued with a harder voice. "Now!" The tone broked no contest, and the girl reluctantly obeyed. "Brutus. Angelica. Heel." she said and the dogs calmed down noticeably, and then and only then did I free them all. The street returned to normal, the faded gray steel outline that had coated everything fading away but leaving enough on my end to use should I need to toss up a wall. Grue straightened up and the dogs returned to their sides as Tattletale popped up off the ground with a smirk on her face that dug into my skin, despite being covered in iron.
"As I said, I am Tattletale, and this is Grue and Hellhound but she prefers Bitch." she said as she walked up to me, perhaps being able to see that the situation had de-escalated from volatile to tense and that I wasn't about to start tossing blades if I didn't have to. Though to be fair, I was feeling fairly exhausted at the moment, and I was feeling the mental strain of having used my powers for the first time ever in such rapid succession, as well as trying to calculate everything I would need to do with minimal damage to my surroundings and to the people here. As easy as it would be to simply let loose, I was not eager to dice anyone up currently, I wasn't Kaiser or Hookwolf after all.
I looked at them, nodding once as I stood up as Taylor stood up and stood at my side. "I ain't got a Cape name yet." I said as Taylor piped up, "Same here. What do you want." she said, far more bluntly than I would have expected but she sounded tense and I could still hear the bugs even if I couldn't really see them. Tattletale seemed to chuckle a bit at that, and it dragged at my nerves. "No need to worry, I will keep it short and sweet then. We were watching you Bug, when you jumped the ABB goons with your bugs. You have our thanks for that, because you saved us some trouble because Lung was gunning for us tonight. You helped save our hides in more ways than one, and we wanted to pay you back for that somehow. We were going to jump in when Lung started to get a bit heated, but your Knight in Molten Armor here beat us to it. What a Dashing hero you have here, jumping in front of the Dragon for you." she said and from the choked intake of air Taylor made, Tattletale's attempt at getting under Taylor's skin seemed to work a bit.
"Uhh." Taylor stammered once before I held my hand up, cutting anything she was about to say off so that Tattletale could use it to fish for more to use against her. "Enough teasing, is that it? You just wanted to say thanks to Bug?" I asked before Tattletale smiled again. "Yes but No, it was the main reason but there was another. We wanted to see if you would be up for a bit of a scouting offer. You both got some very good powers, and we could put them to good use." she said as Grue stepped in. "We get paid to do small jobs, it's a steady bit of pay and it offers the protection of a group. Its hard out here for the ones that just start out, especially those with abilities like yours. You would be snatched up by some gang before the week was out, or in the case of the ABB, probably killed. They are far less likely to simply let you walk off scot free for what you did tonight, and the gangs are less than honorable when it comes to recruitment, willing to blackmail and threaten you and we can help provide you security so that doesn't come to happen." he said, his tone professional and mature and I could respect his candidness in this situation. Though I was not exactly eager to be a villain at the moment, especially considering I still had things to do and a life I wanted to live.
Though Taylor pulled back a bit, looking up at me once to see how I would react. Tattletale looked at her, and her smile disappeared a bit and she let out a sigh. "No need to worry about it, its just an offer and you can think about it. But you don't have to worry about saying No, because we won't try anything even if you decline. This is just a friendly offer." he said as she stepped back towards her group. It was odd, she seemed to be looking at Taylor the most, but when she looked at me she seemed like she couldn't find something she was hoping to see.
Grue seemed to understand that this conversation was drawing to a close and he looked around before he began to step back as well. "Thanks for the help, you really did us a solid. If we can pull you out of the fire sometime, then we are willing to return the favor to a degree." he said as Bitch got onto one of her dogs, pulling Tattletale up behind her as the playful blonde winked at me once. "So Molten Knight of Mystery, perhaps next time you tie me up you will ask first. Consent is important doll. But until then, have fun. If you want to talk, we will be in the Boatyard Warehouse off Anderson in 2 nights at midnight, if you change your minds." she said as the dogs jumped away and took off. I let out a sigh and rubbed my forehead, and turned to face Taylor. "Well this night has certainly been something huh?" I asked as she stared at me with a 'No Shit' expression if ever one could be conveyed through a mask. However this time, I did not let down my metal sense for a moment, even if I was getting nothing from it currently aside from rusty stairwells and old dumpsters.
[Taylor]
Well No Shit Sherlock.
The moment he made his last remark I wanted to slap him for some odd reason, but still the thoughts Tattletale had brought up were replaying in my mind suddenly. Kol did just jump in front of Lung of all people to protect her, and from what he had said this was his first real time using his powers. "Isn't there a saying about jumping in the deep end?" I mentioned, before Kol laughed a bit. "Yea, seems we really ignored that one huh?" he responded as we began to walk again. However this time I was using every single bug to watch the area for any more rooftop dwelling people, and I knew to a degree the location of every single person for an entire block. "It is getting rather late, and I think I need to get home before my dad wakes up and potentially has an aneurysm with me not being in bed. I have school in the morning too." I said, staring up at him once more to see the man nod.
"Let me walk you home, you know, after we find a place to change." he said and I stopped and realized something, I would need to change back before walking home just in case someone saw something. But that little encounter with the Undersiders in the alley had reinforced the need for vigilance. Yet, there was no one nearby, and Kol had already shown he could disable cameras once so there was no reason he couldn't do so again. "You think you can take out the cameras?" I asked, as I sent my bugs down a few alleys for a more thorough double check. However, no matter where they went there was nothing but brick and trash, and it seemed safe enough.
"Cameras are down for the entire block, in every direction just to be safe. I could go further if needed." he said as I nodded, it never hurt to be safe and he was seemingly of the same mindset now as me. Given I could see the metallic partitions forming above us, just to stop any sort of aerial view that may have happened, even if I believed that it was more than necessary it was good to see he was taking this seriously. He would make a good partner, if he would agree to it, though who am I kidding. He is practically the next Lung with all of Kaiser's powers and more, and all I got is bug control. It wasn't hard to see that he would probably end up just joining the PRT and moving on after this, perhaps it would be best to simply just join the wards like I had planned. I got a takedown under my belt, and it was Lung of all people! What better resume could one get than that? Seeing him come by, he made a small room for me, and I found the politeness and courtesy flattering. "Thanks." I let out as I stepped inside with my little bag and began to change. I heard the sound of metal melting and him cursing, "Well fuck. I was hoping some of it would have survived but I guess not." he said as I stepped out, and saw him and paused. He was practically buck naked aside from the metallic looking towel around his waist. He turned and looked at me, and I had to admit, he had a very nice body. He was not super jacked, but he was fairly fit.
Wide shoulders, thick chest and clearly well formed core. His musculature was refined and simple, I could even see the hint of a six pack on his core and a slightly hairy chest. I found that I rather liked looking at it, before that thought made my face go crimson with heat and he chuckled a bit at me. "Sorry you gotta see me like this, it seems my clothes were all burnt off in the fight." he said as he held the towel, before a wistful look crossed his face. The towel shimmered, before he took on a more focused look and it adhered to him more cleanly, and almost immediately shifted to a sort of padded running pants that did wonders for showing his legs off but still covered everything important. They still had a dull sheen to them, before it darkened and that luster disappeared and they just looked like black running pants. Hell the metal even shifted and moved like cloth, oddly enough, it was like he took away all the rigidity of the metal and simply made clothing. He did the same for a compression shirt, even going so far as to add an Addias logo on the back and on the pants to sell the look. All in all, it looked like he had gone for a midnight run instead of fighting a dragon.
"You look good, I mean, that looks good on you. Fuck." I said, slapping my face once before he raised an eyebrow. "Thanks Taylor, it is certainly better than being naked. And seemed I can really push my power when I focus on it. I lowered the rigidity down to that of cloth, while also lowering the overall mass until it was roughly equal to some weighted clothes I own. I seem to have a minor Thinker ability related to my power, allowing me to judge the composition of metals I would need to accomplish the task I am envisioning, as well as calculating the efforts and required steps to get there." he said as he started to walk. I hurried up and came up next to him as the metal all melted away behind us leaving everything untouched and unchanged as he stepped out onto the street with me. We started to talk a bit, just discussing things as we made our way to my house. It felt good to have someone like this, simply to talk to and one that seemed to understand. It was like having a friend again, something I desperately wanted, even though I knew that this wouldn't last. He would move on, and sad little Taylor would get left behind again.
[Kol]
The walk was utterly uneventful, aside from the small conversation I had with Taylor. She was a bright girl, telling me all sorts of things about the bugs she employed against Lung and his crew. How she had measured which bugs to use against who, and even having prepared antivenin just in case something had occurred beyond her control. It was rather remarkable, the sheer control and versatility she had with her power. She weaved her outfit together from spider silk, making it easily one of the best pieces of protective gear he had seen all the while being lighter than armor of the same quality. She had managed a great deal with her power, in the time that she had it, and I honestly was extremely impressed with her. She chose to step into a situation, believing Lung was going after children, knowing she was very outgunned in just about every way. And she had almost won, all on her own, and that was a remarkable feat to consider. A new cape, with what many would consider one of the most underwhelming of powers, took down someone that had duked it out with an Endbringer.
She was going to go places in time, and hell she might even be on the next Triumvirate in 10 years. It would be good to know her, useful in many ways, especially since my own life was going to be complicated by my actions tonight. My family would need to be told, to be made aware of any potential dangers that could be included in our lives from this. Power attracts Power, that is a dynamic that is true in every point of life and ultimately I knew I would end up attracting all sorts of attention even if I didn't seek it out. The universe abhorred a vacuum, and would always fill it with something, and my Shard agreed. Conflict would find us, it was our purpose, our greatest source of information. No, that wasn't right. That was the shard's purpose, not mine, ours. I held my head as a headache split it suddenly, before vanishing. What was I thinking about? Taylor looked at me, there was concern on her face as she offered me a napkin. I was confused for a moment before she pointed at her nose, and then I realized the heat on my lip and the taste of blood.
"Oh? Shit." I said as I understood, taking the napkin and cleaning myself up. "I don't know why, but I have been getting these things a bit more often lately. Typically when I am stressed it seems." he said as he tossed the napkin in a bin as they walked past it. Taylor pursed her lips a bit, the concern not disappearing but it did fade. "Don't pass out on me, I don't think I could drag you to a hospital Kol." she said as she perked up. "Ah, that's my house." she said as I saw the one she was pointing at. "Cool, I live further up, nearer to Jackson's." I said, referring to the old Ice Cream place further into ABB territory. She took on a knowing look, before grimacing, because my house was a solid mile or so away and going that far was practically begging for trouble at this time of night.
She rubbed her shoulder once as I walked her up to her front gate, "You could….stay the night if you wanted." she started, opening the gate as I escorted her up to the door. She purposefully stepped over the bottom step, turning to face me again as she pulled her keys out opening her door a bit. "We have a guest room, and I am sure Dad would be okay with it if I convince him." she said with a bit of force to her voice. Then a second voice broke the silence, a heavier and old male voice. "What is it I am going to be okay with? Because it sure isn't my Daughter being out on a school night at 1 in the morning." the sound, both frustrated and angry, coming from a man in a night robe who finished opening the door and staring down at Taylor and then looking at me, a look of worry on his face replaced by fatherly anger. "And who is this? You wanna introduce me to your friend Taylor? And then perhaps tell me why you decided to sneak out to meet him." he said as I felt my blood chill. Fuck. Angry Father.
For some reason, a near instinctual fear rose up in me. Hell, what the fuck was my luck.
[Brian]
"So, did I tell you so or did I tell you so Lisa?" I said as I tossed the helmet onto the couch. Alec let out a cry of shock. "Come on man, really? I am gaming here." Alec called out as I simply ignored him. "I told you it was a bad idea, and what do you do? You prance up to the man and get tied up in less time than it takes for Alec to put his foot in his mouth." I said as Alec let out a displeased sound but said nothing else, because he knew it was true. Lisa for her part, and to her credit, did not seem to shook by the potential bad end she could have secured for them. And simply took a seat with a bag of chips, "You worry too much Brian. It went well all things considered, not ideal but far better than it could have. It was good that we made contact here, and you know it. Not that we would have had a choice, you know the Boss wanted us to reach out to the cape that made a showing tonight." she said, popping a chip between her lips.
I let out a groan, rubbing my face. "He said one cape, things didn't go to plan and that would necessitate a change. He said we'd be meeting a new Cape tonight, not two, and not one that was as dangerous as the one who had us all at his mercy I will remind you." I said, the heat in my voice returning. It was a dangerous game they were playing every time they reached out to new capes, and given these two had heroic leanings despite how much of a villain Bug looked like, the fact they had spoken to Armsmaster at such length without confrontation only solidified his stance on this. Lisa was still, frustratingly so, confident in herself and her actions. "Trust me Brian, no matter how much you may think it was a poor decision it was one we didn't have any choice in. I simply did the best I could with what we had, and you know this don't you?" she said as she pulled at his strings like she always did. She was right of course, their Boss was not exactly flexible and when he asked them to jump they had no choice. Too much was riding on him, and Brian knew that their Boss would have demanded them to at least make the offer.
"Fuck. Fine. But couldn't we have been a bit more cautious?" he said and finally Lisa looked a bit pensive, "Perhaps. But it went well. Though that isn't the main problem from this all." she said as she got up, tossing the empty bag in the trash. "And what would be the main problem Lisa? Aside from the fact he could have diced us, but didn't." I asked as I finally sat down as she was heading to her room, stopping by her door with her hand on the frame. "I couldn't read him. Not exactly. I got small bits from him, but it was mostly from the metal around him. I could tell when he pulled metal from wherever he got it, but I got nothing from him. No body language, no intentions, no little tidbits. I am thinking it is because of the suit he was wearing, but even then when he was in that protective stance I got nothing, even the most plain to see emotions. And that is the scariest part about him. He is a man my power doesn't work on, or at the least is someone that can hide from it so long as he has his metal on. And ultimately, it just makes me more curious. I need to know. I need to understand why. I am going to enjoy this." she said as she stepped into the room.
