Saturday, March 12…
"Oh, who could have predicted this sudden, but inevitable betrayal?" Tempestus said, his voice flat and droll. "How could Chariot, sorry, Elysian, a Tinker of unknown background and recommended by a known mastermind supervillain, and been working for us for two days, turn his back on us?"
Taylor growled at Tempestus. "If I hear another pop culture reference out of your mouth Timothy, I swear I will replace your tongue with a ham radio."
Tempestus put up both hands in surrender. "Fine. But still, the point stands. How are you surprised by this?"
"What did he even do?" Artisan added on. "He left like, what, an hour ago? What could he accomplish in so little time?"
"I've had one of my servitors monitoring the internet activity in Mr. Medina's home since he joined our organization," Taylor waved off Artisan as she moved to the computer screen, interfacing with it so she could display what she saw to her followers. "It seems that as soon as he returned home, he sent a large data packet to an encrypted account, most likely Coil."
The computer screen flickered to a low-angle video recording of the workshop, showing Amy operating on a vivisected Taylor. Elysian had apparently recorded the entirety of Taylor's procedure from a hidden camera.
"Not only did he send this, but he also sent detailed numbers of our Guardsmen and Skirtaii forces, work schedules, and even what Chariot knew about our plasma generator and Chimera projects," If Taylor could spit on the ground, she would've. "And I had such high hopes for the boy. Oh well, servitorization it is. Kill Team Ryza, bring Elysian to me."
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Tempustus shouted, waving his hands back and forth in a crossing "no" motion as he rushed to the computer. "Kill Team Ryza, belay that! Stand down!"
"Standing down," The Alpha of Kill Team Ryza said over the computer speaker, and Tempestus let out a relieved breath.
But when he turned and saw Taylor glaring at him, he stopped breathing.
"What gives you the right to countermand my Skitarii in front of me?" Taylor growled.
Again, Tempestus immediately put up his hands placatingly. "When I'm stopping you from making a huge mistake, I think I'm well within my right to do that." When Taylor's eye narrowed on him, he hastily added, "Ma'am."
"Uber's right boss," Artisan cut in. "Look, I get your first choice whenever someone fucks with you is to kidnap them and turn them into a cyborg slave. Do I agree with this approach? No, not really. Am I far too scared to go against you on it? Most definitely. But something like this?" He pointed to the computer. "This requires something more subtle."
"And you're about as subtle as a Tinkertech doomsday boss," Tempestus added on.
Taylor glared at the audacity of her two subordinates, but ultimately sighed and relented. If both of them were so adamant about this, they probably had valid reasons. "Fine. So what would you two suggest?"
The two former villains glanced at each other, and after a small mutual nod, Artisan spoke first. "Okay, well first off, unless you can perfectly Master Elysian without changing any part of his personality, you're going to tip off Coil. Coil wants to spy on us, that's obvious. And a spy we know about is far, far better than one we don't know about. This is classic espionage, and we need to Splinter Cell, Metal Gear this bitch."
Despite her emotional control enhancements, Taylor couldn't resist raising an annoyed eyebrow. "Which means?"
Tempestus followed up. "What that means is we leave Artisan alone, maybe limit his access to the more restricted parts of the Manufactorum. Hell you could even give him fake numbers on personnel or capabilities of your inventions for him to pass onto Coil. Trip Coil up by letting him know what we want to know, versus whatever he can take from us."
"And who knows, maybe if we treat Elysian with some you know, actual respect and human decency, maybe we could convert him to our side without having to lobotomize him. Worst case and this all fails, then you can cyberize him." Artisan shrugged.
Rubbing her chin, Taylor couldn't help but see the logic in their argument. While it was not the most efficient way nor full proof way to remove this spying, Taylor could appreciate the multifaceted approach to actively sabotage Coil in response to his espionage.
"Very well. We shall do it your way," Taylor conceded, eliciting a relieved sigh from both Tempestus and Artisan. "But just in case… Sicarian!"
Both Tempestus and Artisan stiffened at Taylor's shout. Moments later, a living shadow phased through the roof, solidifying as she dropped from the rafters and landed behind Taylor. Landing on a pair of digitigrade prosthetic legs attached above the knees, Scarian stood and presented everyone in the room with her terrifying glory.
The prosthetic legs were connected into what was left of Sophia's thighs, which along with her torso and upper arms, were covered in a skintight black body glove. Interlocking red-painted armor plates covered her stomach, chest, and groin, but this armor was mostly obfuscated by the flowing red trench coat she wore. The coat itself was blood red like those of the other Skitarii with a bone white trim, but unlike their coats, Sicarian's was cut off at the sleeves.
Sicarian's black gloved shoulders were all that remained of her arms. Where her biceps and triceps should have been, extended out a pair of robust, battle-ready prosthetic arms. Her left hand clutched a short, machete length single-edged blade that hummed at a low, rumbling frequency, while her entire right hand had its digits replaced with knife-long needled fingers that similarly hummed with power.
"You called, mistress?" Sicarian's voice was a harsh, binaric cant, just barely audible enough in English for Tempestus and Artisan to understand. Like all Skitarii, Sicarian's head was encased in a fully enclosed helmet. But Taylor modeled her new countenance into something that she knew Sophia would enjoy. Sicarian's helm was a red rounded skull-shaped mask, the only two holes being for her augmetic eyes. The mask's "cheekbones" pushed into a rebreather tube that covered her whole mouth and connected directly to her cybernetic lungs.
"You are aware of the situation with Elysian?" Taylor knew Sicarian was listening the whole time, but she wanted to make it clear to the others what Sicarian knew.
Sicarian bowed her head lower. "I am. Do you want him dead?"
Through her connection with Sicarian's MIU, Taylor could feel the elation at a possible hunt surge through Sicarian as her adrenaline levels spiked. And it wasn't even Taylor's mind conditioning that did that. Sophia, at her core, was a hunter. A predator. And there was nothing that Sophia enjoyed more than the idea of chasing down a target.
"Unfortunately, no," Taylor said, and there was a visible sigh of disappointment from Sicarian. "Elysian still has use to us, but by no means are we to trust him. When you are not on mission, you are to watch the boy, hound his every movement, and if he does anything else to betray us," Taylor had to resist the urge to tell Sicarian to simply kill him, "Report it to me, and we shall decide what needs to happen next."
Taylor could tell that Sicarian was holding back a roll of her eyes. On the outside however, Sicarian delivered a perfect, "Yes mistress."
Sicarian stood and moved for a nearby wall. With a thought, Sicarian shifted to her shadow form, and phased through the wall and to the outside world. Unlike her assassin,Taylor had no reservations at rolling an eye. Sophia had to be dramatic. Why couldn't she just use the door like anyone else?
Turning to her two fellow Capes Taylor said, "Are you two satisfied?"
Tempetus and Artisan glanced at one another, before they both gave a nervous nod.
Sunday, March 13th…
Coil's eyes ran down Chariot's report. The boy was as detailed as Coil hoped in everything he observed. All in all, Tech-Priest had developed as a powerbase far faster than he had anticipated. Combining the numbers of both Taylor's Skitarii and Guardsmen, the girl had nearly 40 Tinker-tech armed soldiers who protected both her headquarters and her Father, most of whom were also cyborgs.
Not only that, but Tech-Priest had a total of 4 other Capes under her command, not including Chariot. Vaguely, Coil recalled seeing Enginseer during his first meeting with Tech-Priest. But the woman didn't say a single word during the whole encounter, and based on her appearance and demeanor, Coil had assumed she was just another one of Taylor's cybernetic Skitarii.
With the fact that Chariot reported that Enginseer was a busty, blonde vehicle-based Tinker with complete and utter loyalty, coupled with the fact that there have been no traces of Squealer anywhere for weeks after Coil baited them into attacking Taylor, it wasn't hard for Coil to put two and two together. Taylor had captured Squealer, operated on her, and mastered her, getting a fanatically loyal Tinker to augment her status.
Coil would've been impressed if he weren't so utterly jealous. Kidnapping and forcing Capes to work under duress was supposed to be his specialty, and Taylor went ahead and made him look like a rank amateur. Of course, he knew from her first day as a Cape she could and would do that, it was still strange working with someone willing to go so much further than he normally would.
His annoyance for Taylor only grew as he shifted over to her next two Capes. Tempestus and Artisan, or as they were formerly known as, Uber and Leet. Now that was an acquisition of Taylor's that truly galled Coil. Like with Enginseer, Coil had seen Tempestus during his second meeting with Taylor, but again, did not know who he was, nor that he was a Cape. But besides his own failures in the meeting, he was more annoyed with how he handled Uber and Leet themselves.
Coil had thought he was the only one in the city who saw the potential of the villainous duo. They were fools, yes, content with playing the game of heroes and villains and their little streams, but Coil could see what they could be if they truly applied themselves and had access to the proper resources. Uber could be a mercenary or assassin on par with the Empire's Victor, and would be deadly if properly outfitted.
And while Leet's limitation of building something only once was concerning, the amount of funding Coil could've given him would have been enough for him to constantly build new tech without having to worry about scraping by for parts. Coil was lazy in their acquisition because he thought no one else would bother to hire them. Now, Taylor had another Tinker and a Tinkertech armed Uber under her command.
And finally, there was Sophia, or Sicarian, as she was now called. Chariot didn't have much information on her, just knowing that she had been modified into a Skitarii like the various other criminals Taylor had imprisoned. That didn't surprise Coil. He knew that once he gave Sophia over to Taylor, she'd either kill or convert her former bully, with the latter being far more likely. But Coil had anticipated she'd be Taylor's second Cape, not fourth. And while Chariot ultimately counted as his Cape, the boy would have to fight for Taylor on paper, ultimately adding to her combat potential.
All in all, Taylor's cult was growing, and growing fast. Too fast. That thought was a strange juxtaposition. After all, Coil wanted Taylor's organization to grow. But he wanted her to grow on his terms. To have her organization develop in a symbiotic relationship with his, a melding of his funds and her technology, where the two would have to remain enmeshed or face mutually assured destruction.
In some way, they already were. Coil had proof of Taylor's atrocities concerning her Skitarii and mastered Capes, meanwhile Taylor had proof of Coil supplying her with the means to make more, in addition to the kidnapping of a former Ward for said procedure. The revelation of either would damn them both, netting them immediate Kill Orders if not an outright Triumvirate intervention.
And currently, the problem was just how little Taylor cared about this possible outcome. She had her Guardsmen openly patrolling the Docks near her territory, and apparently her Skitarii were prowling the night hunting for new recruits. She was far too overt with her forces, and was growing too fast with no one to keep her in check.
Someone somewhere would eventually catch onto not only her Skitarii, but whatever other horrors Taylor was making in her laboratory. And if the gig was revealed too soon, they would all face the consequences together. Or perhaps she may grow enough in power that she may decide that she might as well cut out Coil as a middleman, and try to take him out for his resources.
At best, she may grow large enough that she could try and attract other buyers to diversify her revenue streams, but Coil had done everything in his power to prevent that from happening. It would be a cold day in Hell before Piggot purchased anything made by Taylor. And while not overly powerful, he did have some pull within enough bureaucratic parts of the government to stall any other military or alphabet organizations from buying from her in the near term.
No, Coil needed to slow her growth before any of those possibilities even came close to occurring. The simplest option would be to just stop buying technology from her. But that came with its own problems, as he still needed to be the one lifeline Taylor's organization had, and pulling out now may break whatever trust she has in this relationship.
What Coil needed was a distraction for Taylor. Something that Taylor could focus her energy and resources on rather than just continue to build and consolidate. Or at the very least, some kind of handler who could rein Taylor's rapid expansion while Coil could focus on consolidating his own power. He already had to bring in the Travelers weeks ahead of schedule in order to capture Sophia, and it took more money than he would have preferred to get Circus to join the Undersiders. But still, that wouldn't be enough.
Some of his contacts have informed him of a potential trigger named Dinah Alcott who has reported all of the signs of precog Thinker. He was forming plans to acquire her, but unlike Taylor, he was less inclined to just attack the girl in her home haphazardly. At the very least, he needed a distraction.
Not to mention he still needed to find a way to weaken the ABB's and E88's grip on their territories. His raids on the E88 have been proving fruitful, but the Undersiders had yet been able to draw the dragon out of his lair. There were so many problems, and only two timelines he could work with at a time. And Tattletale could only help him so much while she tried to slip her leash.
At the thought of his pet, an idea struck him. And after a quick double check of his security systems to make sure there were no threats, he split the timeline and in his primary, called Tattletale.
She picked up on the third ring.
"Boss?" Tattletale asked, obviously confused about the unscheduled call.
"Tattletale," he said smoothly. "I have a job for the Undersiders."
"I gathered as much," Tattletale replied dryly. "Is it the casino job?"
"No. In fact, we are putting your operations against the ABB on hold."
There was a pause in the conversation as Tattletale took in what he was saying, her powers no doubt working through what was happening. Coil let her powers run its course, if anything the more taxed she was while talking to him, the easier it was for him to keep things from her.
"So the E88 then?" She asked, her voice lacking the usual mirth and barely concealed venom. "They're the only other logical target."
"Indeed. But steps first, Tattletale. Tell me, do you recall Tech-Priest?" Coil asked with a casual tone.
Another pause. "Yeah, Brockton's resident Bonesaw junior." He could envision Tattletale pursing her lips in thought. "Or senior, depending how you look at it. What about her?"
"I want you to go to Tech-Priest's workshop and recruit her and her forces to join you on raids against the Empire. You are to go during the day and without weapons, with only good intentions. I can provide you with a list of targets and times once you accomplish this."
The pause was much longer. "Wow, you must really have a big scheme if you're pulling her into this."
"Tattletale…" he said low, warning her of digging too deep.
This time he envisioned her putting up a hand in surrender. "Okay, okay. Well, regardless, would Tech-Priest even be interested in hunting Nazis? Far as I've seen, she's more than happy to stay in her hermit kingdom, which is uncomfortably close to our base by the way."
"She will be interested," Coil said confidently. "It will be up to you however, to restrain her more… base, instincts."
"Okay, what the Hell does that mean?!" Tattletale shouted, no doubt frustrated at the lack of answers her powers were giving her.
Coil didn't hold back the chuckle that left his mouth. He wanted Tattletale to hear it, to draw what conclusions she would about the task he was setting her up for. "You shall see, Tattletale. Do not fail me." Coil hung up the phone.
Seeing that the conversation went well, Coil dropped his backup timeline and split again. In one he would stay the night here and continue to plan and research, while in the other he would return to the home of Thomas Calvert and go to sleep. After all, even he needed rest. And if he wanted to bring this wild city that was Brockton Bay under his boot heel, he'd need plenty of it.
"Tell me again why the Hell we're doing this?" Grue asked from behind his skull-faced helmet. He sat in the passenger seat of the unmarked white van that Tattletale was currently driving.
Lisa had a whole list of reasons she could've given Grue. That their boss told them to. That Coil would probably paint the walls with her brains if she didn't do it. Or even that it somewhat made sense to do so since Tech-Priest was a very powerful, nearby Cape who was relatively neutral. Actually they all made pretty decent points that Grue would accept.
"Because the boss told us to? And the fact that Tech-Priest is a powerhouse Cape who lives a few blocks down, annihilated the Merchants, and is a neutral party who might work with us?" Lisa reiterated her inner thoughts that she thought Grue was privy to.
"I hear she sells laser guns. Can I buy a laser gun?" A male voice from behind her said.
Glancing in the rear view mirror, she saw Regent leaning forward on the front seats. Regent, Bitch, Bitch's dogs, and the Undersiders' newest member Circus, all crowded in the back of the van.
Now that was a row of seats that Lisa was extremely glad she was a few feet away from. From what Lisa could tell, Circus was practically forced by Coil to join the Undersiders via either a very tempting carrot or very painful stick. Probably both if Lisa knew her boss. And they weren't particularly happy at being forced into a team dynamic. Especially when Bitch was a part of said team and sicced her dogs on them upon their first meeting.
That night ended with Circus getting stitches for dog bites and Brutus treated for 3rd degree burns.
All in all, the back seats of the van were rather tense, and Brian had his work cut out for him as team leader.
"You can buy whatever you want with your money, Regent," Tattletale said, drawing a side glare from Grue. "But I hope you have a few ten grand laying around. Tinkertech is expensive." Tattletale specifically held back that Tech-Priest's tech was cheaper than most Tinkertech, but she didn't want Regent to know that. He did not need a laser gun.
"I could save some cash from our next few jobs," Regent countered.
"We both know you don't have the willpower to do that."
Regent opened his mouth to counter, but found he didn't have an argument. "True," he said with a shrug.
"Can we get back to the topic at hand," Grue cut in, agitated. "Namely, how do we make sure we don't get blasted by a small army of Tinkertech wielding soldiers as soon as we pull up?"
Through her trademark smile, Tattletale said, "Well that's simple, we're going to drive through the front door, all smiles, and ask to see Tech-Priest."
"I don't trust it." Circus said, their voice a high tenor that sounded like it could be a higher pitch male voice or a lower pitched female voice. "Are you sure we can trust the boss on this?"
"Honestly, yeah." And Tattletale didn't even have to lie about it.
From what Tattletale could gleam, Coil had some measure of trust with Tech-Priest. Or perhaps trust was too strong of a word. Professional expectations sounded better. Which Tattletale could only surmise meant that Coil has had dealings with Tech-Priest in the past.
"Everyone just relax and let me do the talking," she finished.
Everyone groaned at her words.
Within minutes, the Tattletale turned onto the street where Tech-Priest's Manufactorum was located. When she pulled up in front of the factory itself, 3 gray-fatigued soldiers stepped in front of the van, Tinkertech rifles raised. Everyone sans Tattletale in the van tensed, small smoke leaking out Grue's helmet while Bitch's dog Angelica growled in the back seat. Tattletale ignored them all as she exited the van with both hands raised.
"Hello!" she called out with all the cheer she could force into her face when there was a gunbarrel shoved in it. "We're the Undersiders! We're here to do business with your boss!"
The two closest soldiers glanced at each other, and one whispered into a communicator in his jacket collar before shouting back, "Everyone out of the van with hands up. Tech-Priest has been informed of your arrival."
Tattletale glanced pointedly at her allies, who looked at her back in disbelief. When she glared at them harder, they begrudgingly exited the van with their hands raised as well.
They stayed like that for what felt like a few hours, but was in actuality probably only a minute at most. During their waiting, Tattletale decided to do what she did best, and let her powers roam to gather some intel.
Tattletale spied what looked like prosthetics replacing various parts of the soldiers. The first soldier had his arm replaced with an obvious Tinkertech cybernetic, and her powers supplied her that the man's stance and weapon's discipline showed extensive comfort with both firearms and high-stress situations, and that the arm was lost from an explosion. So he was most likely a veteran, either from the military or a police agency, who lost his arm, probably lost his job, and now worked for Tech-Priest in exchange for his arm back. Not a bad way for her to keep men loyal.
It was at this point that the door to the Manufactorum opened up, and two figures walked out, both of whom Coil had briefed her on. The first was Sgt. Major Merrick, the leader of Tech-Priest's Guardsmen, and the second was Tempestus, one of Tech-Priest's Capes and the former villain Uber. Luckily, both of them didn't have their weapons raised
Tempestus looked them all over, before speaking through the modulated voice of his helmet. "Undersiders. I've heard of you guys, and not all good."
Beside her, Grue crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side, his own voice reverberated by his powers. "Funny. I don't think I've ever heard of you."
Tattletale glared at Grue. A quick gleam of her powers told her that Grue was feeling extreme frustration, most likely from his lack of control over all the recent changes, and saw Tempestus' words as a kind of challenge that he could actually confront head on. Tattletale rolled her eyes. She didn't have time for this Alpha male bullshit between Grue and Uber.
"Which is probably on purpose," Tattletale cut in. "Secrecy and all that, I get it. Speaking of secrecy, mind if we head in, rather than standing out here in view of God, Scion, the PRT, or any asshole with a camera phone to see?"
Tempestus' eyes flicked over to her, and she could tell that he was annoyed that she was right.
He stepped to the side and gestured to the door. "Come on in. But everyone on your best behavior. Somer's Rock rules. And I'm sure none of you are dumb enough to try something in a Tinker's workshop."
"Of course not!" Tattletale said with a trademark grin, moving past Tempestus and into the factory. One by one, the Undersiders followed and moved into the workshop as well.
When Cirus walked by Tempestus however, he did a double take and said, "Circus?"
Circus stopped dead in their tracks and looked at Tempestus with a confused scowl.
"C'mon Circus, it's me," Tempestus pushed, and the clown's eyes widened in recognition.
"Uber?" They half shouted, voice rising in disbelief. "What the Hell? This is where you disappeared to after you ended your stream?"
"Yeah!" Tempestus excitedly said back. "And I go by Tempestus now. Leet's here with me too."
Circus' eyes looked Tempestus' armor up and down. "Well, you're looking good, Tempestus."
Tempestus scratched his cheek nervously, which was an interesting visual as he was wearing a full helmet and armored gloves. "Thanks. Perks of the job, y'know?"
"Tempestus." The grating, static voice of Tech-Priest boomed out from inside of the factory. "I would appreciate it if you didn't delay my guests any further."
Flinching as if he were struck, Tempestus coughed into his hand, clearing his throat before he said, "Right, sorry boss. Alright all of you, head in there."
Circus was disappointed as they caught up with the rest of the Undersiders, and the clown pointedly did not look at Tattletale, who was staring at them and Tempestus, drinking in all of the undertones and subtexts that their interaction had. God it was going to be fun to tease them later. But for now, they had a job to do.
The Undersiders found Tech-Priest in the center of her workshop, the robotic arm on her back holding a piece of metal she welded onto a skeletal chassis of what looked like a massive vehicle. Around her, non-Cape workers were busy cutting metal, wiring electronics, and working on the general non-Tinker aspects of the invention.
When the Undersiders reached her, Tech-Priest, put down the blowtorch and as the robotic arm retracted into her backpack. As soon as Tattletale caught sight of Tech-Priest, she let her powers go.
Augmetics now include all four limbs, made of Tinkertech-alloy that is both extremely durable and light. Servo-actuators in prosthetics extremely efficient, providing extreme dexterity and strength increases. Power armored exo-skeleton based on same design principles as augmetics, and uses same Tinker alloy, providing further augmentation of her strength and durability. Okay so all her gear turned her into a Brute, one by Tattletale's guess was probably at least a 5 or 6 minimum. She kept going with her powers.
Vehicle is modular design for a Tinkertech APC. Vehicle Tinkering is outside of her specialization. Has the ability to create technology outside of her specialty. Augmentations extend to her brain and nervous system. That one was a bigger surprise than the Brute rating. Every Tinker worth their salt builds some kind of power armor, most specialties leading into it. But vehicles were more rare, as was the ability to break out of her specialty. Did her brain augmentations enhance her intelligence that much, or was she able to modify herself to get around her limit? Either way, immediate Thinker rating too.
When Tech-Priest looked at them, her eyes slowly analyzed each of them. Analyzing each of you with hidden scanners. Now visibly more relaxed, perceives you as less of a threat. Has already set plans to eliminate all of you should you prove hostile.
Tattletale swallowed, hoping no nervousness showed on her face. "Hello Tech-Priest, nice to meet you! We are here with absolutely no ill-intentions, whatsoever!" A few of her teammates gave a side glance at that, but she was being completely truthful. From what she could tell, Tech-Priest preferred direct, efficient communication.
"Good," Tech-Priest nodded. She then turned her head to Bitch. "Rachel, it is good to see you again. I see Angelica is doing well."
Bitch just responded with, "Sup."
Now all heads shot to Bitch, none of the Undersiders able to keep their mouths close, Tattletale included.
"You know each other!?" Tattletale shouted, unable to comprehend how she didn't know this.
"Met her on a walk," Bitch replied nonchalantly.
"And you didn't tell us!?" This time it was Grue who was yelling.
Bitch just shrugged. "Didn't seem that important. And you guys didn't ask."
Tattletale felt her brain melting, and not from a Thinker-headache, when Tech-Priest interjected.
"We only met while I was out scouting for locations to expand, nothing more," she said, in her best, placating voice. "My apologies for bringing it up if it is a point of contention in your group. Shall we return to the focus of this impromptu meeting? Namely, why you are all here? Do you wish to purchase Tinkertech from me?"
"Can I buy that tank?" Regent immediately asked.
"Regent, no." Grue immediately cut in.
"Regent, yes!" He countered
"Unfortunately, Regent, no. This is still a prototype and thus not for sale." Taylor answered completely seriously. However, if you return in say, two weeks time, I will have a catalog of vehicles which you can peruse."
Regent pumped his fist and quietly whispered, "Yes."
"Is there anything else you would like to buy? I have several weapons in both lethal and non-lethal varieties, as well as a whole suite of upgrades and enhancements I can implant onto any one of you." Tech-Priest seemed to grow more excited at the prospect of someone purchasing her bionics.
Sales of her cybernetics have been abysmal, forcing her to focus on weapons development. Well that was rather unfortunate for a cybernetics Tinker.
Tattletale put up both hands to slow the mad Tinker down. "Unfortunately, I don't think we'd be able to afford anything you're selling. We're actually here to give you an offer. We wanted to see if you'd be interested in joining us for a job."
Tech-Priest sighed in an overly-dramatic fashion, genuinely disappointed that they weren't there to shop. "I am rather well read on the local Cape scene. There is not much about your team, but I know that you are a group of smash-and-grab heisters." Now Tech-Priest's good eye narrowed on them, her stance becoming more aggressive as she leaned towards them. "Now, Tattletale, if you are half as good as a Thinker the PHO thinks you to be, you should understand how I, a neutral rogue, would feel about going on a heist."
While the others around her stepped back at Taylor's intimidation, Tattletale's grin only grew wider. Tech-Priest wasn't as good of a liar as she thought she was. Tech-Priest's morals were far more flexible than most people, after all she was more than willing to sell to them, and Tattletale knew for a fact she sold to Coil. But that fact wasn't what would hook Tech-Priest in right now.
"Not even if it's against the Empire?" Tattletale said ever so sweetly.
Tech-Priest moved to respond, but cut herself off at Tattletale's words. She glared at Tattletale, eye narrowing as she thought. "Go on…" she eventually said.
Tattletale grinned. "Well you see, you may know a little about the Undersiders, but let me fill you in on a bit more. Like you said, we're heisters. Villains, yes, but Nazis? Hell no. We want to see the Empire taken down a peg like any good Brocktonite. But, we're not exactly heavy hitters," She gestured to her allies. "Bitch is mean and her dogs can take on a lot of people, but we don't have the power to take down the likes of Hookwolf, Purity, or Kaiser if things go South."
"While you think I do?" Tech-Priest said softly.
With a roll of her eyes, Tattletale let out an unimpressed huff as she crossed her arms. "Tech-Priest, I know you do. All of your guards are ex-military armed with Tinker-Tech, Uber over there is a walking super soldier, and right now you're packing enough heat to go toe to toe with an angry Lung. Hell your group's probably strong enough to be one of the top three dogs in the Bay, next to the Empire and ABB."
It was subtle, but Tattletale saw what she was looking for in Tech-Priest's response. A slight tilt of the head back, a microexpression of satisfaction and pride at being acknowledged. Something Tattletale could latch onto. But just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished behind a wall of null emotion. So, Tech-Priest had some way to manipulate her own emotions as well.
"Let us say I do have the forces you will need for such a campaign. What do I get out of this then? Outside of drawing undue attention from the Empire and the PRT?"
This time, it was Grue that cut in. "Of course we wouldn't expect you to help out of the goodness of your heart. The E88 has plenty of cash flows. Weapons trade, racketeering, drugs, dog fighting rings," Bitch's dogs let out a low growl at that. Grue continued. "Tinkering costs a lot of money. You help us, and you can help yourself to a solid fifty percent of the cash we take."
Tech-Priest rubbed her chin, thinking for a moment before saying, "Seventy-thirty."
"What!?" Grue, Regent, Circus, and Bitch all yelled while Tattletale shouted out, "Deal!"
The rest of the Undersiders turned to glare at their blonde companion, and she just gave them all a small shrug.
"Agreed," Taylor said before any of them could respond. "I will have my cut of the money and other… resources from these raids." Taylor's eye roamed up and down the Undersiders.
Assessing all of you, assessing potential for cyberization.
Tattletale's smile faltered at that line of thought. And to her horror, she saw Taylor noticed.
Noticed your change in temperament. Knows you are a Thinker. Surmising that you have some kind of knowledge of her thoughts. Knows that you know what she's thinking. Realizing that you know that she knows that you know what she's thinking.
"Well then it's agreed, I suppose." Grue cut in, unintentionally interrupting the metal battle going on between Tattletale and Tech-Priest.
"Yes! All agreed!" Tattletale shouted before her and Tech-Priest could resume their mental battle. "We have a list of suspected Empire hideouts we want to hit. They'll need to be cased first, of course, but our intel is good on this."
Tech-Priest kept her gaze on Tattletale, before nodding and saying. "Send me the locations, and I will have my forces scout. Once we have a better idea of what we are attacking, we can coordinate a time and place to strike."
"Roger that!" Tattletale gave her best impression of a soldier's salute. "Well that's all the business we had, so we really should get going. Don't want to take up too much of your precious Tinkering time!" Immediately Tattletale spun around and began shoving her team out of the factory.
"But what about my laser gun?" Regent complained.
"Shut up Regent, you do not need a laser gun!" Tattletale hissed between her teeth as she hurried her team out.
"I shall contact you tomorrow with my choice of target," Tech-Priest called out after them. "I look forward to this… partnership, and the changeas it will bring to both our groups!"
Tattletale moved faster as she pushed her team back to their van.
3/23/24: Hello. I am not dead, just busy. Anyway, I know Uber and Circus wouldn't have actually known each other by this time, but I find a relationship between them cute so changing a bit of backstory there.