Amy managed to come without her sister. I didn't ask whether she told her it was a second date. I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Sofia came a few minutes after that and didn't comment on the company. Both were dressed in nondescript clothes, good.
"You must be wondering why I've summoned you here", I started.
Amy rolled her eyes, "Dramatic much?"
"I've always wanted to say this, never had a chance", I admitted, "Amy, Princess, Dad, we're starting our first active operation. For it, I'm going to tell you about my power. Unfortunately for you, you will not remember what it is by the end of this op. But, based on your performance under fire, I will decide whether I will tell you again in a more permanent matter."
"I knew you were a fucking Master!", Sophia shouted.
"No, she's not", Amy said, "she's not even a Parahuman!"
"Great, Amy, you lose points for disclosing stuff without my approval", I reprimanded her, while smiling, "luckily for you, I was going to tell the whole story, but do be careful. And, I am indeed not a Master and not a Parahuman. But I used to be a Parahuman, and a Master, except I used to Master bugs. I triggered on the first day after the Winter Break after a few of my bullies put me in my locker full of garbage. That was about two and a half years ago for me; it was in January 2011."
"Wait, now is 2011, and ... what the fuck, um, Boss?", Sophia was struggling to keep up.
Amy was thinking quietly.
"I've lived at this time already, I got powers then, I did a lot of things, I got older, I died and then I came back here. I'm not a Parahuman, according to our resident medical and powers expert, but I can go back in time at will. After we finish this data gathering operation, I'm going to Reload to just before I called you today and nobody besides me will know anything has happened - if we do our jobs right. Based on what we learn, I will either disclose you again and we will go after Coil for real, or I will rethink the approach and repeat the op until we get results. Yes, it'd be long and boring for me, but I will manage. Any questions so far?"
"I knew something was off when you suddenly showed up hard as nails compared to before the break", Sophia said. "And that's why you didn't remember your locker code!", she exclaimed, having a eureka moment.
"Is there a question in there? Note that it took me a few years to forget about all your bullshit and move on. That's the only reason you're alive right now, and I'm even giving you a chance to do something important with your life. Last I met you, I got you out of prison to help in the big fight. You helped a bit and then ran for the hills like a little bitch, when things got tough. But it was THE fight, way over your pay grade, so I'm going to give you a break for that one", I conceded. She was glaring but didn't argue.
"You know what happens in the future. That's how you know all the stuff you know", Amy was paying attention.
"Very accurate. I know a lot, but we've talked about it with Dad in the past, and we think it's not a good idea for me to spoil too much of it for you. Mostly because I'm actively working on preventing most of the bad stuff that's going to happen. Also because you might be compromised, and I don't want to tip our enemies if that happens. True, I can Reload and undo some damage, but sometimes it might be hard, or I might not be around. So, try not to die or get captured; I might not be able to save you. I promise to try, of course. For instance, this op is going to last a few days; every Reload will require me to both bring you up to speed and live all these days out. Luckily, I'm studying for the GEDs, so I will keep myself busy."
"What if you die?", Sophia was finally paying attention, too.
"I got here after, I think, I did. So, maybe we all reset, or maybe I just die. I'm not planning on finding out. But I'm sure it will happen anyway with what's coming."
"So, what's the op?", Amy asked.
"Right, so we're after Coil, the main trouble in the city, a Thinker/Precog, sort of. His real name is Thomas Calvert, he has some job with the PRT, he is and/or going to be hiring a lot of mercenaries and Cape teams, controlling them from the shadows, he will be playing the gangs against each other and he managed to become the local PRT Director in my time. I've shot him in the head shortly afterwards. I have no problem doing it again, but it's not easy, hence the current stage of the op."
I've explained the basics of Coil's power and how it was dangerous against mine - if he caught wind of us before my Save point. That's why this operation was rather long. We will do nothing active for the next week. We won't meet or communicate with each other at all, and we will be gathering info. Sophia will try to visit the PRT as often as possible and will attempt to note down on which days and hours Calvert is there and what his job was.
Amy will be paying attention to the wounded she gets to treat, noting down the more important Cape fights we might be able to use for our needs on the next run.
Dad will go to work as usual.
I will be monitoring the PHO for the same reasons as well as look for more assets we could use.
After a week, we will meet, compare notes. I will note everything down and Reload.
We finished the pizza and they left.
The week was boring, but at least I didn't spend tens of hours a day studying in Reloads, just 6-7 hours a day, the normal way, which was still boring, but not as much.
On the last day of the intelligence gathering week, I took the bus and visited the site of Coil's base. It was still a big construction site and it was very far from being done. It was supposed to be ready in late April or so, and it didn't look like he could use it as a base just yet.
Nothing much happened through the week otherwise. There was some minor fight between the E88 and ABB on Wednesday. Alabaster fought Oni Lee. They had a draw as neither one could win or kill the other. A few unpowered gangsters got injured, but who cared? Sophia learned that Calvert was a part-time consultant, acting as a strike team commander for some ops, and figured out he visited the office on Monday and Tuesday, but stopped coming starting Wednesday. Interesting coincidence.
Speaking of coincidences, Void Cowboy got unbanned on PHO, and immediately got banned again for claiming that all the Capes had their powers controlling them, but some could hide it well enough and pass up as sane. Which meant I was pretty sure I knew the idiot behind the keyboard. Note to self, don't be an idiot again and don't share powers insights with the other idiots.
I wrote down all the reports and facts and spent some time trying to remember them as much as possible. After I was sure, I Reloaded and quickly wrote them down again. I didn't have enough input to know whether I could trust Sophia with my power details for real. She did her job well, though, so I decided to cut her some more slack and give her some more dangerous tasks - like flushing Coil out.
I suspected he was Saving, or whatever he called it, at least once a day, except he couldn't go back and Reload more than once, choosing one out of 2 paths. Sucks to be him. So we had to find out where he was in his backup reality. His base wasn't supposed to be ready yet, so where was he?
I called Sophia up and tasked her with waiting for 2 days and then stalking (huh!) a dirty PRT guy called Thomas Calvert, so that in case she got caught she'd not give him much background. She was to find out where he went after work, what he did, and where he slept. She was to repeat this every afternoon she could.
He wasn't at work on Monday this time, which was worrying. Did he make her and dropped the 'work' timeline that day? I didn't hear back from Sophia on Tuesday at all. Her phone seemed to be disconnected. I assumed the worst and Reloaded. Coil was good, and he probably had some backup.
I called Sophia for a face-to-face this time and gave her the full info on Coil again. If we were made and he was already onto us, she'd need to survive long enough to let me know she was being pursued. If not, she needed to know what she was dealing with - and I could still Reload if she got caught again. I didn't tell her of my powers. I asked her to only note whether Calvert was at work on Monday but start following him as carefully as possible on Tuesday.
He was back at work on Monday, which meant that we probably weren't made. The next day, Sophia managed to track him to a quiet suburb and provided me with his car license and description. She lost him inside a sleepy neighbourhood where she couldn't keep up without being noticed.
I Reloaded and tasked her to follow the said car on Tuesday, getting to the same spot she'd lost it the last time. She found his home this time. I asked her to get back there at night and take a look inside the house, and she triggered a nasty tinkertech alarm. Also, he wasn't home when she did. Which meant he was also passing the nights somewhere else as backups, which was even more challenging for my plans.
I Reloaded and had another brainstorm with Dad. He offered to try a brute force approach, and I agreed. I Saved again.
I called Sophia, and this time I just told her Calvert was a Cape and asked her to follow him when he left the office and shoot him in the back with one of her hunting arrows. No need to be lethal, but I needed him seriously injured. She said, "Finally, some action". I was relieved I didn't need to convince her to shoot a PRT officer. Silly me.
Dad and I drove to his little cul-de-sac and waited for around the time Sophia was supposed to shoot him. We knew when that was as we knew when he was leaving work on Monday already. 10 minutes later, we've knocked on his door. Calvert opened the door with a gun in his hand and shot Dad in the face. I Reloaded while he moved the gun on me. It took me a few minutes to calm down and make sure Dad was fine besides me.
I told Dad what happened. I asked how he felt about killing this guy. I also told him in general lines what Coil did in my time, including kidnapping Dinah, trying to burn me alive, and how I dealt with him. Dad poured himself another shot of the good stuff, without offering me any, this time. He sat and thought.
"If you see no other way, I trust you with your decisions", he finally said, "but maybe let's try more options first?"
"Let's see, he is a part-time PRT consultant, he has a lot of money and people working for him. While taking him out the legal way would be the right thing to do in general, we're on an expedited timeframe. He will become more active soon, and it will be much harder to stop him then. We need to deal with him soon, and then we can try and recruit his Undersiders team."
"I don't hear a must-kill conclusion in there", Dad noted.
"Killing or maiming him is what Skitter would, and did, do", I said.
"What would the hero-you do?"
"I don't think I was ever a real full-sized hero. But I see your point. There's a Capes fight on Wednesday, we could try and somehow use it against him. Though, considering he wasn't at work on Wednesday, he might be the one orchestrating it in the first place.", I theorized.
"Does he have other enemies?", Dad inquired.
"Well, besides the other gangs, I imagine Piggy isn't a big fan", I thought out loud.
"Piggy being?"
"Director Piggot. Pretty much everybody, even the Wards, call her Piggy", I explained, "she and him have some common history, from what I understood. Nobody knew the details, but she couldn't stand him, people said."
"How about you bring her in in one of your loops? She might have better ideas how to get him, it's her job, after all", Dad proposed.
"And that's why you're on the team, thinking of things I never would", I really didn't think about the legal way of dealing with the bastard.
Dad just smiled. I've set up a new Save point, so I can report back to up-to-date Dad.
I waited till Monday, ensuring whatever I did next didn't tip off Coil too early. I called Sophia around the time she was usually on her way to PRT to track Coil in the past loops. She didn't have such a task today though.
"Princess, can you think of a way for me to meet Piggot? With or without you, whichever works better? I want to try and capture a villain I know of, and I thought of just info-dumping on her instead of getting our hands dirty."
"Dunno, what should I tell her about you? How do I know you?", she asked. Good questions.
"OK, tell her I'm a rogue Thinker, hold your horses, it's not actually correct", I stopped her 'I knew it' rant in its tracks. "It's just something that will be easier for her to accept. You know what, give her my name, tell her I Thinked your ID out, confronted you, and I'm considering joining the Wards. No, not really, just to get a meeting! And that I have info just for her, and my decision will be based on how she acts on the info."
"That's ballsy, you're just blowing your ID like that?", Sophia commented.
"I'll be fine, just give her this number", I said.
"OK, I will call her and tell her I have a potential recruit for the Wards. She will be ecstatic", Sophia promised.
My phone rang 7 minutes later.
"Am I speaking with Taylor Hebert?", Piggot asked.
"Yes, Director, I'd like to meet and provide you with some information. Based on your actions on that information, I might consider joining the Wards. Though truth to be told, I prefer to work alone for my reasons, but I don't see why we can't cooperate even if I don't join directly", I said.
"What kind of information?", she asked.
"I can't be too specific on the phone, but I'm pretty sure you will be very glad to learn it. Is this line accessible to anybody except you at the moment? Is it being recorded?"
"It's not", she said. Since I was never going to keep this continuity, I decided to trust her.
"I want to help you take down the villain named Coil", I tried to keep it vague.
"All right, I will bite. Can you come to my office in the PRT?", she asked.
"Definitely not, as I believe he has PRT moles; also, he's a PRT employee or contractor", I replied.
"Interesting accusation, what about the Protectorate?", she asked?
"No accusations, just facts. I don't think any Heroes of Wards are involved with him, though I'm less confident about the Wards; he's an expert in finding pressure points on people. Please bring in the bare minimum amount of people you trust, we will meet, I will tell you everything I know about him, and then you will decide how to deal with him. Makes sense?"
"I guess it does", she said, and we agreed on a time and a place.
I insisted on neutral grounds, and we eventually agreed on the same park I've met Amy at.
I considered inviting Amy as a mutually trustworthy party, but then I realized that Armsy will probably be present with his truth detector and decided against dragging Amy into this. Me knowing too many people might look suspicious.
Dad and I arrived some 20 minutes early, only to find a small PRT squad already patrolling the park perimeter and Armsmaster's bike parked in its center. Its owner was doing some measurements with his halbert. We just went in, troopers eyeing us but not reacting otherwise.
"Hello, Armsmaster," I said.
"Ms. and Mr. Hebert, I assume?", he asked.
"That's us", I replied, looking for the Director.
"Are you armed or trying to ambush us?", he reasonably asked.
"We are not, we do not, and we're here to help catch a villain.", I answered.
"Sir, can you also say the same?" Armsmaster asked Dad.
"I'm with her, no weapons, just a backup for my daughter, she's in charge", Dad replied, taking my lead. I told him about the hardware in Armsy's helmet on the way.
The hero froze for a moment, probably communicating something, and after a short while, the Director came out of a parked car and approached.
"Director, glad to see you."
"Ms. and Mr. Hebert, what do you have for me and why this cloak and dagger?"
"Thomas Calvert is actually Coil", started with the big guns. No point in beating around the bush.
She stared at me. Then she went to the bench we sat with Amy on and heavily slumped on it. I went and sat beside her. Dad and Armsmaster approached and stood a few feet away.
"How do you know this?", she finally asked after a pause.
"As I told your Ward, I know a very great deal about many things. Knowing you've had a history with him, I thought to start our working relationship with helping you getting rid of him, before we move on to the other things I can help PRT with."
"That does not answer my question."
"It doesn't", I agreed and moved on, "Coil is a Parahuman, he can split reality into two parallel timelines, observe both, and then choose the one he benefits more from. Every day he sits in the office, he also sits at home or in some other safe place. If you're to go and arrest him when he's in one place, he'll drop that version of reality and will use the other one to escape.
"He is some sort of Thinker/Precog. He has moles in the PRT and in all the major gangs. He hires high-end mercenaries and arms them with tinkertech weapons. He bankrolls the Undersiders, though most of them don't know this yet. He knows or will know soon the Empire's civilian IDs and will leak them. He is making the gangs fight each other, discrediting the PRT and mostly you. His goal is replacing you, Director, and playing both sides while controlling the city. He's building a large underground base in downtown using an abandoned Endbringer shelter, but I think it's not ready yet", I added and provided the approximate address. I knew Armsy was recording everything.
Piggot looked at Armsmaster. He nodded. She leaned back on the bench.
"What else do you know?", she asked.
"A lot of things. His civilian name", I nodded at Armsmaster, who didn't visibly react, "and that he has a truth detector of a sort in his suit, your health condition, some of the Wards and Villains' civilian names. More importantly, I know where and when the next Endbringer strikes. But I want to see you deal with Coil before I decide how our future cooperation will look like."
She looked at Armsmaster again. "Truth", he said, staring at me too.
"Are you a Precog? Thinker? Nobody can predict Endbringers!", she demanded.
"I will not answer any more questions about myself. I do not actually plan on joining the Wards, that was my way of getting you to the meeting, sorry. But, depending on the success of this operation, I might decide to cooperate with you on a lot of the issues I'd like to solve", I said.
"Truth. As opposed to what alternatives you might decide on, if the operation does not go as well as you want?", Armsmaster entered the conversation.
"Contacting you was actually Dad's suggestion", I nodded Dad's way, "I was originally planning to deal with Coil myself. I am building my own team with a few part- and full-time powered assets, both from heroes and converted villains. The goal is saving the world from the bigger threats. No plans to become a gang or do anything illegal for profit. I will build this team regardless of what we do or do not do with Coil together. But if our cooperation proves fruitful, I will outsource more work your way, to a limit. There are some threats within the PRT and the Protectorate that you will not be able to deal with."
"Are you considering Shadow Stalker one of your 'assets'?", Armsmaster continued to investigate me.
"This is the last question about my plans or my team that I'm answering, as this starts to stray away from the goal of this meeting. Yes, I have a way to make her do what I ask of her."
"You're blackmailing her", he stated, ignoring my warning.
"This meeting is over." I got up. "If you have more questions about Coil or want my close support apprehending him, you have my number." I started to walk away.
"I will not just let you blackmail our Wards!" he started approaching me, changing the way he held his weapon.
"Your Ward is responsible for my Trigger event, happy?" I glared at him, turned around, and walked away. Dad followed me closely. Armsmaster didn't pursue us.
We went home and waited.
The next afternoon, Piggot called my phone. "You were right", she said without preambles. "We found backdoors in our computer networks, but he didn't show up to work and he wasn't at his home. The base you described is there, under construction, but besides construction workers, nobody was there either. Looks like he caught wind of this and left the city", she admitted.
Typical. "Well, Director, it seems the old saying is accurate: if you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself." I hung up.
I passed the info to Dad and asked whether he had any other non-violent ideas left.
He asked what was wrong with the current state of affairs. Coil wasn't caught, but he's lost his position, his base, probably some of his money, and his civilian ID. There's no way he'd achieve his original goal now.
I thought about it.
"I'm not keeping this timeline anyway, too many people know my ID, and we didn't get Coil. The problem with keeping Coil loose is that he might run and start over elsewhere, or he might stick around, figure out who burned him, and come after us. I fought him once on his terms. I've had powers then, and I almost got killed a few times. I don't want to do it again."
To emphasize my statement, our lights went out. I ran looking for my taser and a flashlight, while Dad went to check the fuses.
Our front and back doors were kicked in at exactly the same time a few seconds later. Armored and helmeted people with closed visors stormed the house, aiming the guns on Dad, but they didn't shoot. I decided to take a risk and try to learn how Coil found us, so I didn't Reload right away. I stood with my arms up and waited.
We were both led to the living room and sat on the couch. The lights went back up. Coil entered from the back door, tall and thin and visibly very angry.
"Hello, Coil, I was expecting you much earlier, what took you so long?", I told him.
"Ms. and Mr. Hebert", he replied, sitting up opposite of us, "I wasn't expecting this at all. You have caused me a lot of lost investments, and I'd like to understand who you are and what your plan was."
"I am taking over your operation", I told him, then I turned to his mercenaries, "if you cooperate now, I might consider continuing to employ you". They didn't react. Still, worth a try.
"Really", he said, "and how do you plan to achieve that? Who are you? I've never heard of you till today."
"How did you hear of me, by the way?", I asked.
"Oh, I have many ears and eyes", he replied.
"Same here", I smiled.
"Are you going to tell me how you knew of me, or do I start the artistic part of the evening?", he asked.
I ignored him. "So, Dad, about what we've talked earlier. Do you still think we should keep trying to capture this dickhead alive, or can I just kill him?"
"I now see your dilemma much more clearly", Dad conceded.
"Hey, I asked you a question!", Coil raised his voice.
"Yes, yes, we're all very scared of you, Tommy boy, now don't interfere, the adults are talking. So, I was thinking about a sniper rifle. Can you shoot one?", I asked Dad. He shook his head. "That's a shame, me neither. Tommy, which of your guys can I borrow to shoot you in the head from a distance?", I turned to a bit shocked Coil again.
"I am the one asking the questions here!", he was really angry now.
"Sure. I just choose to ignore them. So, guys, which one of you is the best shot?" I asked the mercenaries. I recalled the quartet that went with Lisa and me to the Merchant party. "Is Minor around? Jaw, Brooks?", at the last name one of the men visibly flinched. "Oh, hi Brooks, didn't recognize you with all these clothes on, it's been a long time", I told him.
"What the fuck, Brooks?", Coil barked at him.
"What the fuck, Tailor?", Dad asked at the same time. I winked at him.
"I don't know her!", Brooks said. He wasn't very convincing, even though he was telling the truth. Maybe he had a bad face memory and wasn't sure himself? Did he mess with girls my age?
I smiled and turned back to Dad. "OK, so let's talk more options. Blowing up or burning down his house - no go. What else?"
"Knockout gas?", Dad proposed.
"Hm, that could work; but where do we get the gas from? Brooks, do you have any gas that would put a person to sleep without him noticing it?", I asked.
"Sure", he replied, then caught himself, noticing the entire room looking at him. "I mean, we do, back at the base, but I still don't know her!"
"Come on, we've been through a lot, how can you say you don't know me?", I teased. "We should catch up later. How's Senegal doing?"
"He's fine ... stop fucking implying we know each other!"
"Where's your base, by the way?", I asked.
Brookes opened his mouth to answer, but then Coil's shot him in the face. Guess his patience with my bullshit has finally run out.
"Oh, why did you shoot poor Brooks? He's a fun guy!", I fake-cried.
Coil aimed his gun at me. "Start talking. Where do you know me from, or Brooks? Or the others?"
"Come on, villain 101, if you were to shoot me, you'd have done so a long time ago!", I said. And immediately got shot in the shoulder. Fucking ouch.
I Reloaded, as it was getting boring and I wasn't learning much.
I updated Dad with the most recent loop and explained how relying on PRT was a bad idea and how Coil was a dick. He conceded on both points.
We were back at square one. It was time for another extended brainstorm.
I invited the whole gang and ordered pizzas. I did the whole introduction to my backstory and powers and made a summary of what we've done about Coil so far. They took it about the same way as the first time.
"So, ideas on how to take him out?", I asked the group. "The first try, when Sophia shot him in the back and we found him at home, sounds like the simplest and most direct way. But we need to figure out how to take him out without too much risk there. He might shoot me next time, and then we're all screwed."
"How about I approach him on the street and take him out?", Amy asked.
"You?", Sophia, Dad, and I asked at the same time.
"I can put anybody down in less than a second if I can get to their exposed skin", she explained. "And if your explanation of his power is right, he will drop that timeline, and nobody will know it happened except for him. He will be at his home, and the rest of you can storm it."
"All right, it's worth a try. I am getting tired of explaining my and Coil's powers to you folks, so I'm keeping this timeline for now, please don't screw it up. I'm pretty much ready for the GED. I don't want to Reload this stupid week anymore. Make the best of it." I hoped my pep talk would instill some extra motivation in them.
We've planned to strike on Monday. Amy was to appear at the parking lot when Calvert was to finish his day at the PRT. And if she saw him, she was to get close and incapacitate him. If she managed that, she was to call us, as it would mean something was wrong with our plan and we'd be walking into a trap. If she hadn't found neither him nor his car, she was to call and tell us about that too.
On Monday afternoon, Dad borrowed an old, rusty van from their carpool at work. Sophia, Dad, and I got inside and put on our full costumes. Sophia's new costume was simple - a light gray running suit with a hoody and a matching colored balaclava.
I took a look at her and sighed, "I told you to choose bright AND happy colors. Light grey is bright enough, but happy? Fine, today your name is Bunny. Bunnies go grey sometimes, I think."
She facepalmed, "Really, Boss?"
"Really. Make a happier costume next time and I will think of something better." I promised.
She was still armed with a crossbow, similar to her usual ones, but it was bulkier, had a scope, and a sharp-looking arrow stuck out of it. "Is it different enough from your regular weapon?", I asked her about it.
"It's stronger, used for hunting deer, sold at hunting stores. Cost me a fortune of Merchants' drug money." She grumbled. Good enough for me, so I shrugged and didn't comment.
We arrived at Calvert's home area and parked behind the corner. Amy called informing us she didn't find Coil's car. Sophia went around the house hiding in the shadows, which wasn't easy with her new color scheme. She had one of the frequency-hopping radio setups, and I had the other one.
"In position," she reported.
"Moving in", I replied, and we've left the car with Dad and quickly moved to the front of Calvert's house. I didn't see any mercenaries, but this time I did spot a camera, too late to not be noticed. No matter. I knocked on the door and retreated from the porch, getting behind a bush, while Dad was on the other side of the entrance behind another bush. It was supposed to look like a bad ambush, and it was. The door slowly opened, but nobody came out.
"Who's this? I've called the police!", Calvert lied. Probably.
"Coil, get out with your hands behind your head, and you might live today!", I called, while keeping the mic open, signaling Sophia.
The day was promising to be rather ordinary for Thomas Calvert. He woke up in his home, while in his other timeline he finished a night of research and intelligence gathering in a small caravan parked near an office building with password-less WiFi. He could, of course, use the Tinkertech communication setup he had, but stealing things or, well, data bandwidth in a disposable timeline had its own thrill.
At home, he ate a good breakfast, finally dropped his sleepless timeline, getting the night's worth of information and the well-rested body together, and immediately split it again, calling in sick for his staying at home self in the backup timeline, and going to the PRT in the main one. The day was uneventful; his plan to keep the gangs in the city fighting was working, slowly eroding the gangs' resources as well as PRT and its Director reputation.
During the day, his home-sick self visited the base construction site as the building company's owner, and later checked up on his mercenaries, stashed in a few safe houses around the city. He couldn't wait to finish the base and consolidate them all into it. At the end of the work day, he was back at home waiting to be dropped when his office self got there.
His office self left the building and was approaching his car when he saw Panacea, in her costume, running and looking behind her.
"Help!", she screamed, "a villain is behind me!"
She reached his side, turned, and looked back, panting.
Thomas pulled his sidearm out and started to scan the street for threats. Saving Panacea would definitely not harm his PRT career and future plans. He was considering dropping his home timeline to get the best of this one, but decided first to ensure he wasn't facing something too big to handle, like Lung or Hookwolf.
The parking lot remained empty. He turned to Panacea. She seemed to try and hide behind him, got close, and touched his hand without the gun. He lost consciousness.
He thought about trying to keep that timeline to understand what happened when his home intrusion detection system sounded a movement alert. He took his gun out, approached the front door, and looked at the camera monitor. Two people in self-made costumes were moving towards the house. The backyard was empty. He dropped the office timeline; this looked like a too-well-coordinated attack. He immediately split again and started thinking on the double.
Panacea was in on it? The people in the front yard didn't look like anybody in the New Wave, nor like any heroes on the East Coast he knew about. Somebody new?
In his one timeline, he stayed by the door and monitored the video feeds from all the cameras around the house. In the other one, he trusted the front door's strength and went around the house to check for break-ins.
He called his mercenary captain from both timelines and ordered a strike team to his address, tasking them with securing the person inside from an attack. None of the mercenaries involved knew his identity, and he intended to keep it that way. He didn't ask for the best team, in case he'd have to get rid of them later, if they learned too much today.
He didn't find anything out of order around the house. Meanwhile, one of the attackers, a tall female, climbed the stairs, knocked on the door, got off the porch, and stood behind a bush. He could see on the monitor both her and the other one, a male, trying to ambush him if he got out. Amateurs.
He dropped the patrol timeline and split again. One version safely remained behind the closed door while the other opened it and called out, "Who's this? I've called the police!"
"Coil, get out with your hands behind your head, and you might live today!", the female called back.
His identity was out. That was not good. He'd have to first get a full list of people in the know before disposing of the intruders. The strike team's ETA was 10 minutes; he'd have to warn them, before they arrived, not to kill the assailants before he could investigate them.
"You've got the wrong guy; I work for the PRT!", he shouted in the open door timeline.
"Sure you do, asshole", a gruff voice behind replied to him, at the exact same moment his monitor duty self was hit with something sharp in the neck and passed out, collapsing its timeline. He didn't even see who shot him and with what.
He split the timelines again. In one of them, he turned around trying to shoot the intruder and had enough time to see a crossbow arrow embedded into his chest. In the other one, he slowly put the gun on the floor without turning. He split the timelines again but did the same things in both for now, looking for opportunities.
"Boss, he's dropped the gun!", the grey-clad girl with a big crossbow called.
"Be cool, Honey Bunny!", the other one, the Boss, called from the outside. Neither of the Cape names was familiar to him. He should have kept an armed mercenary at home or hired an independent guard or two.
"Fucking... whatever", Honey Bunny murmured.
The Boss and the third, yet unnamed attacker entered the house, armed with a collapsible baton and a shotgun, respectively. He figured he'd had about 8 or 9 more minutes to stay alive till the mercenaries arrived. The Boss walked to his gun, picked it up, checked it, then aimed it at his head.
"All right, Thomas, I can kill you and leave before your mercenaries arrive, or you can call them now and tell them not to come. If they do arrive, the first thing I do is shoot you in the head. Am I clear?", the Boss said.
In one time he claimed he had no idea about any mercenaries - and got shot in the face for it. He'd split the timelines again, nodded in both, and slowly took his phone out. He called the incoming force lieutenant, and in one timeline told him to abort the mission, while in the other used a code phrase that sounded like that, but in fact signaled that he was compromised but the mission was still on.
Now he was at a loss-loss scenario. If his force managed to rescue him, he'd have to later dispose of them as they'd definitely figure out he was their employer. And if they failed, he was left at the mercy of the attackers. Considering the intruders didn't shoot him on the spot, there was a chance they just wanted money.
"You cool, Honey Bunny?" the Boss asked.
"How do you come up with these fucking names?", Honey Bunny replied. Or maybe it wasn't her name after all?
"Wait, have you never watched Pulp Fiction? With Sean Bean as a boxer?", the Boss asked.
"Are we killing this asshole or what?", the crossbow wielder asked.
"We wait a bit more to see whether his mercenaries arrive or not, we interrogate him and then we decide what to do with him", the Boss replied.
"Who are you, people, and what do you want?", Thomas asked in the no-rescue timeline.
"You can take whatever you want, just don't shoot me", he begged in the other one, hoping to waste some time.
"Monitor the cameras, let me know the moment you see anybody outside", the Boss told the third person, ignoring Thomas in both timelines. She then directed him to into the leaving room. She searched him for weapons, relieving him of his backup gun, the knife, and both of his phones. Unlike the initial impression outside, she knew what she was doing. She then tied his hands behind his back and sat him on the couch, which was extremely uncomfortable in this position. It was probably her goal.
She then sat up across from him, still pointing the gun at his head.
"Now, I'm the Boss, and I am going to let you buy your life for most of your money. Do you understand?", she asked.
"Yes", he answered in the hopeless timeline he started to consider as being his only lifeline.
"I don't have much, but you can have it all. There's a safe behind the picture", he said in the rescue incoming timeline, pointing with his head to the picture and the safe rigged with shaped charges for exactly such scenario. However, it'd probably not work against 3 people, unless they all stood in front of the safe.
"We'll get to the safe and you will open it yourself later. If I find explosives in it, that you don't tell me about, you die. Deal?", the Boss asked in that timeline. In the other one, she just hummed and thought for a few seconds.
"Alright, the next step is, you call Tattletale and tell her to come here ASAP", the Boss suddenly said in both his timelines. How did she keep doing that?
"I need my phone", he said in the timeline he now called 'acceptance'.
"Who?", he asked in the one called "last hope". He got shot in the left shoulder in that one. Despite the pain, he kept it.
He was shown his phones, both of them, in both timelines, at the same time. He chose the Coil's one in both, called Tattletale, and ordered her to arrive at his home address. She wasn't thrilled at the idea and claimed she was in the middle of his previous task.
The Boss took the phone from his ear and said, "This is the Boss speaking. I'm holding your favorite employer at gunpoint, in both of his timelines. Lisa, cut the crap, move your ass here ASAP, and help me rob him for all he's got before I kill or arrest him. Pretty sure you want to be here when I decide", she hung up before his pet Thinker could reply.
"His rescue team arrived, as you said they might", the third member of the team called from the entrance, back in his 'hope' timeline.
"Figured", the Boss said and promptly shot him in the head, ending his suffering and his last 'hope'.
AN: Is it considered a cliffhanger, when the villain is doing the hanging? I think not.
Haven't managed to find a good spot to break the chapter, so this one is much longer than the most.
Taylor decided on her course of action with Coil well in advance and wasn't reacting to Coil's distractions she assumed were coming, so for him, it looks like she's synchronising his timelines by doing the same things in both, freaking him out. Coil is under a lot of stress and is less and less of a reliable narrator at this point.
"This is the Boss speaking. I'm holding your favorite employer at gunpoint, in both of his timelines. Lisa, cut the crap, move your ass here ASAP, and help me rob him for all he's got before I kill or arrest him. Pretty sure you want to be here when I decide", the voice on the phone said before the line went dead.
Lisa was too slow to switch her power on during the phone call. Too tired after trying to pull details from a grainy security video and the internet about a maybe Cape that cleared just over 2 grand from a local casino. At least that's what the security guard claimed when he sold the tip to Coil.
And now she was left without any clues about what was going on.
Coil sounded panicking, the Boss sounded in charge, sure of herself - and she knew Lisa by name. Maybe she got it from Coil, though he himself was still professional enough to call her Tattletale when he called.
It didn't matter. If Coil was in trouble, it meant she had a chance to break free from the asshole. So it wasn't a question of whether she would come. The question was whether she should bring backup. None of her teammates even knew they were working for Coil, but they all grew to enjoy his employment. They might decide to help him to keep the money coming. But going alone ran the risk of getting under the new ... Boss, which might not be better than the old one. On the other hand, if the Boss was just taking over, she'd not have called her to help rob Coil. She needed Thinker help, bringing an opportunity to buy her freedom or make a more open-ended arrangement. Bottom line, it was best to keep all her options open.
"Brian, Alex, Bitch, suit up, we have a situation, I will fill you in in the car!", she called to her teammates.
"So, you know we have a boss that pays us, that none of you know who it is? It's a guy named Coil. I just got a call from him demanding I come to this address", Lisa said a few minutes later, as they walked to Grue's van.
"So, why are we coming too? Isn't it between you and him?", Alec asked. Grue just silently got into the driver's seat and turned the engine on, while Rachel and her dogs climbed into the back.
"I believe Coil is in the middle of a life-and-death crisis and we might be getting a new boss, called The Boss, apparently. She knew my name and asked me to come help rob Coil. Which I don't have a problem with since Coil is a piece of shit. But I figured, you might want to meet the new management too and perhaps make sure it's not worse than the old one and have a say in your employment perks. You don't have to come in, stay in the car and just be my backup?", Lisa explained. Nobody objected.
After a few minutes, they arrived at a suburban house on a dead-end street and Grue parked at the front. The house wasn't particularly new or old, but it was well-maintained. Lisa switched her power on.
Security camera above the entrance, Tinkertech intrusion alarm, owner a single male, gardening service visits every other week, garbage disposal arrives...
She dismissed her power before it went on a tangent and made her nascent headache worse.
She got out of the car and approached the house. The front door opened, and a man in a black oversized duster and balaclava, holding a shotgun, let her in. Not a Cape, not sure what he's doing here, nervous, pretends he's Batman. What? Who?
He pointed her at the living room, where she found 3 more people. An unmasked tall black man sitting on the couch with his hands tied behind his back, Coil, her power needlessly supplied when she let it in for a pick. Scared, tries not to show it. Was recently shot and died, a few times. She stopped her power, it wasn't helping much. The man had no visible injuries.
To his side stood a masked girl all in light grey, holding a high-end hunting crossbow that could probably shoot through steel. She was aiming at the floor in front of Coil, but she was glaring at Lisa. Knows who you are. Experienced Cape. Doesn't like you. Has orders not to harm you. Afraid of the Boss. Hates the Boss. Respects the Boss.
The last person in the room was sitting across from Coil, holding a gun on her knees, trained in Coil's general direction. She wore a hunting getup and headgear similar to the fellow who opened the front door.
In charge, relaxed, family ties to the front door man. Experienced Cape. Not a Cape. Killer. Killed Coil. Can kill everybody in the room in no time. Older than she looks. Knows you well. Lisa shut her power off.
"Hello Tattletale, I advise you to keep your power off me, to avoid headaches", the Boss said, and Lisa heard a smile under the face mask. "Please take a seat. I am going to ask him for his bank account details. I want you to confirm he's telling the truth. If he doesn't, I will shoot him in the head. Since he's splitting timelines all the time trying to get himself out, I am going to assume that for every lie he tells, he has a backup timeline where he doesn't lie. Same if Tommy here mouthes off or tries to convince somebody from the present company to help him out. With me so far?"
"Why am I here? You really couldn't do it yourself? You seem to be in control here", Lisa asked.
"Well, I know a lot of things, I know your name, how your power works, how it probably gives you a bunch of contradicting shit about me right now, and how much it pisses you off. Most notably, I know how our friend Thomas here recruited you, so I figured you will want to have a front seat view for this", the Boss replied. "Also, you can tell he's lying, which would save me the trouble of trying to check the bank accounts, potentially triggering alarms or failsafes."
Lisa sat on a free chair and watched the show. The Boss had her with the words 'rob', 'kill', and 'Coil' in the same sentence, of course.
"On the second thought, do you want to find his computer and see if we can make the robbing part more efficient than just writing down numbers on paper?", the Boss asked.
Lisa shrugged, looked around, and approached a picture on the wall. She found the safe behind it. Trapped, the wrong combination opens the safe and blows up in the face of the opener.
"Pretty sure it has some trap or trigger, so be careful; Tommy here tried to tempt me to take a look just before you arrived", the Boss supplied.
"I noticed, but thanks", Lisa said. She used her power to get the combination used on the safe in the past based on the dirt on the buttons and Coil's life preferences. She said the combination she devised out loud and confirmed it was correct based on Coil's defeated reaction. She opened the safe and found a laptop computer. She got to work.
"So, where do you want your money?", she asked the Boss after a few minutes.
"Our money. Let's see, we're four so far, and you're four as well? Undersiders, I mean?", the Boss asked. Lisa nodded. "So, I think splitting everything eight ways sounds fair."
Lisa wasn't expecting a cent from this situation, so she wisely chose not to argue, even though she counted only 3 members of the Boss's team. The fourth member helped get Coil into a single place in both timelines.
"Did the rest of the team come too, or are you alone?", the Boss asked.
"They're in the car", Lisa admitted.
"Want to invite them in? It must be chilly outside?", the Boss offered and then turned to the crossbow girl, "Honey Bunny, remember to stay cool, these are our new allies. If you have some past grievances, work them out when not on the job". Honey Bunny (really?) definitely didn't like it, but didn't reply.
Lisa called Brian's cell, "A, cucumber, Grue, you can all come in and meet the new management. They seem reasonable, and we're getting rich."
"C, avocado, all of us?", Brian asked.
"If somebody wants to sit in the car and lose their share of Coil's money, feel free", Lisa replied.
"Dad, let the others in, please", the Boss called. Dad? No code name? That was odd and contrasting everything else Lisa saw with regards to the Boss.
The rest of her team, including the dogs, got inside and squeezed into the small living room not intended for 8 people and 3 big dogs.
The Boss got up and greeted the newcomers, while still keeping Coil in her field of view. "Grue, Bitch, Regent, meet your ex-employer, Coil here. I'm shutting down his operation and we're splitting his money. I will be interviewing each of you later on, so we can decide together whether you want to work with me or move on with your lives and money."
Her team looked at Lisa and she nodded, in confirmation.
"I can't say we were unhappy with our existing arrangement", Grue said, giving a side glance to the man on the couch.
"Well, he did recruit Tattletale here at gunpoint", the Boss supplied. "Also, in a few months, he was about to kidnap a Thinker even younger than your sister. He was going to keep her drugged up in his basement."
Based on Coil's reaction, the second part was news for him too. Or, he was a good actor. Coil tried to deny this and just died.
"I am pretty sure I know what each one of you wants or needs, and I will try to address it in our one-on-one interviews after we're done with Coil. Just be patient. Bitch, you're getting the same share as everybody. If you don't want to sit here, you can take a walk with your dogs but keep your phone on and with you. If you see dark vans with mercenaries around, please give us a call for a heads-up. Otherwise, I will call you when I'm ready to talk about organizing a place for your dogs", the Boss said. Bitch glared at her, looked at her team members, shrugged, and left with her dogs, muttering something about wasting her time.
The Boss understands Bitch, knows how to talk to her. There seemed to be a first time for anything these days.
Getting Lisa on the computer was a smart decision. She quickly cracked all the protections and got all the accounts out of Coil. Then she set up 8 new accounts for all of us and transferred everything we found to them. Each one of us ended up with just above 10 million. Less than I got when I was Skitter, but it was a few months later, so Coil probably had time to earn more money by then. It was still much more than I needed, but it helped not to need to rob the gangs to buy equipment anymore.
I also now had the contacts for his mercenaries, in case I wanted to re-hire them. And the keys to the base. And his construction company, which I wasn't sure what to do about.
"Thank you, Tattletale", I said. "Now we need to decide what we do with the dickhead here". I pointed at Coil with the gun, and he flinched.
"Tommy boy, how many times did I shoot you by now?"
"I stopped counting after about 20 times", he said defeatedly. "You have some power that trumps mine. I have nothing left that you can take. What can I do so you don't kill me? Can I work for you?"
"Nah, I don't need you, and you will stub me in the back the first chance you get. Do you owe favors to the bitch in the fedora?", I asked. I was guessing here. His flinch confirmed my guess. Lisa tensed too.
"Do you have a way to contact her?", I asked.
"She said never to try and that she will find me when she needs me."
"OK, you're even less useful to me than I thought", I shut him up.
"Alright people, here lies the dilemma. Coil here would kill everyone of us if he had a chance, his power allows him to torture people for information or pleasure, then to drop the timeline and pretend it didn't happen. He probably did it to some of you already. We've just robbed him clean, so he won't be able to do much at this point. He has a bunch of mercenaries he can't afford anymore, so they might kill him too, if they find him.
"We could drop him at the PRT along with some evidence he's Coil, hoping they find use for him, but he might slither his way out in time. Or, I can kill him right here, we leave and torch the place, and then he can never get his revenge. Me, he won't find, probably, but he knows everything about all of you, so you're more at risk, as well as your families". I glanced at Grue. "Thoughts?", I opened the floor for the most important decision in Calvert's life.
After nobody replied for a minute, I looked at Dad, who was still standing near the cameras' display but was looking my way. He shrugged. I looked at Sophia. She shrugged too. I looked at Tattletale. She raised her thumb and then pointed it downwards, smiling with a lot of teeth. Classy.
"Anybody here at all cares if we keep him alive?", I asked.
"You're not asking Bitch?", Coil tried.
"I suspect she'd be fine with feeding you to her dogs, except they'd probably get food poisoning. Most likely she won't care either way. Right?", I asked Tattletale and Grue. They shrugged.
"Anybody who's not Coil?"
Silence. Dad averted his gaze.
"Any last words?", I asked Calvert. He dropped his head.
AN: And so ends the reign of Coil. He won't be missed.
Wasn't sure Undersiders will already be using the name/color code that was introduced to Taylor before attacking the ABB (in 5-05), but figured they might've used it earlier too, and it was only new for Taylor.