Chapter 1069 - 3.5

Waking up in my new house was still a strange experience.

When I'd made my dramatic declaration against the Empire at the villain meeting, I hadn't expected to spend the next week or two on bureaucracy, working through the various steps to finally establish my new identity, set up my bank accounts, et cetera, all of which ended up taking up entirely too much of my time and energy.

Then there was the wasted time of walking a realtor through all of my documentation and convincing her that I was a) legally able to buy property and b) financially equipped to do so- though in the end Sheila had proven fairly helpful, and it had actually only taken her a few days to find a place that was more than good enough for me- a large, Victorian-style house. I liked it because it had a rounded turret built into one corner- not quite an actual tower, but still.

I bought it because it had a large, clean, finished basement, and a hedge planted around the backyard that made it reasonably private, and was reasonably close to a bus stop. I was also considering putting up a fence to block the view from the street, although it would probably just be easier to leave the curtains closed. And it was already empty, so I could move in almost immediately

Buying it had taken up a good chunk of my remaining cash- the feeling of spending over a million dollars had honestly left me a little light-headed for a moment, not that it was actually my money, really.

I was a homeowner now, which still seemed a little insane even compared to everything else that had happened to me since January- and that meant more time spent on the phone with various utilities, arranging furniture deliveries, and the various other chores that needed to be done in order for me to actually move in.

All in all, it was not exactly the grand crusade I wanted, but still- needed to be done. And it did leave me some time to research, plan, and do a little light stalking of Tattletale.

Mostly, I was thinking about what would happen after I got rid of Coil and the Empire- reading up on the Boston Games had been illuminating- and about how much of my life I really wanted to spend fighting supervillains.

The more I weakened the Empire, the more it would embolden other villain gangs to move in- and in the Bay, that meant Lung. Sooner or later, he would get involved, trying to take as much territory as he could. I didn't think he could hold the city- his gang just didn't have the numbers. Neither did any of the other minor villain groups in the city, so far as I knew.

(Obviously I was planning on Coil being gone by this point)

I was also assuming that Lung expanding would provoke a Protectorate response, sooner rather than later, which would at the very least slow Lung down. Hopefully they would be able to catch him, because I did think that sooner or later he too would need to go.

But whatever happened with Lung, I was creating a power vacuum, a tempting target for any outside villains who wanted to move in.

But Tattletale had caught my attention- and that had made me think about the Undersiders. On paper, they weren't exactly a credible choice when it came to gangs that might take over a city. But if I backed them- helped them establish control, drive out other groups, maybe recruit a few new faces...

There were simply too many capes in the world to permanently free the city from villains, probably even if I devoted all my time and energy to fighting them off. But if I propped up the Undersiders, made them rulers of the city's underworld, they would do a lot of that work for me- if nothing else, they would watch out for new threats. Keep the chaos to a minimum.

Tattletale had signalled that she was willing to work with me against Coil, so as ridiculous as anointing her little gang of super-teens rulers of Brockton Bay seemed, I actually thought the idea was workable.

Besides, chasing them would give the Protectorate something to do.

The meeting with Tattletale had gone fairly well, although we hadn't actually accomplished that much- mostly just sounding each other out. I wasn't exactly jumping at the opportunity to reveal any of my many, many secrets to someone who had literally named herself Tattletale, and she was wary of me- pretty understandable, once she revealed that she'd been forced to work for Coil.

If I hadn't already been planning on getting rid of him, that would have been a good reason to do it.

It had been interesting to watch Tattletale's aura. She obviously had some sort of Thinker power based on the way her emotions kept randomly spiking during our conversation- in response to information her power gave her, clearly. Whatever it was, it seemed to only work on me to a certain extent- there was no sign she knew anything that could seriously hurt me. Still, I would have to keep an eye on her.

Long-term plans aside, I especially needed her help with Coil. Not necessarily the man himself, depending on the nature of his power and the scale of his operation, but the fact that he had Nephandi watching him.

And they were- I knew it. They had to be.

And it made sense, if part of his modus operandi involved the forced recruitment of unaffiliated Parahumans, to monitor his activities in case he stumbled across a newly Awakened Orphan by accident.

It made sense.

That meant that I couldn't simply storm his base when I found it- not unless I wanted to risk bringing the Fallen down on me. I didn't know if they would actually risk a confrontation, but I did know that they had cause to want revenge, if Nephandi cared about that kind of thing. In any case, it wasn't really a risk I wanted to take. Hopefully Tattletale would help me find another way.

She certainly seemed to like the idea of becoming the crime queen of Brockton Bay when I pitched it to her.

That had been about the limit of what either of us was comfortable discussing publicly in some random coffee shop, so we'd exchanged burner numbers and made plans to make plans- once we could meet somewhere where we could actually talk.

In the meantime, I assembled furniture, waited on hold to get my electricity hooked up, assembled furniture, and tried to get used to the fact that I- Taylor Hebert- owned my own house. I'd even caught myself having opinions about property taxes.

The other benefit of installing the Undersiders- or whomever- as crime lords was potentially getting a cut. I didn't exactly feel great about the idea of prospering from their criminal activities, but I was going to need income- ripping off the gangs wasn't really a stable source of funds, especially since my plan was to get rid of them. Maybe in that process I would be able to steal enough cash that I wouldn't have to worry about it, but it wasn't something I could count on.

There was a definitely spell to handle this sort of thing; I'd learned the rote back in maybe '93 or '94. But the details kept skittering away when I tried to remember how to make it work.

Something to think about. For now, my priority was turning this basement into a halfway decent ritual space. Have a private place to prepare and cast spells would be a huge asset for me, and was honestly a big part of the reason I'd gone through all the effort of legally buying a house.

Well, semi-legally; under a false identity with money stolen from gangsters. But the purchase itself was completely legitimate.

Gathering supplies and preparing the space- not to mention assembling regular furniture for upstairs- occupied my time for the next few days as I waited for Tattletale contact me. She'd warned me it might be some time, which was fair given that she had to make sure Coil didn't suspect anything.

Three days after our first meeting, Tattletale finally texted me to set up another. Which, for lack of a better idea, led me to rent out yet another room in yet another of Brockton Bay's many, many cheap motels.

It's not like I was comfortable inviting her over. Yet- maybe ever.

She came out of costume again, dressed to look like the kind of teenage runaway who might frequent a place like this. I was just wearing a dark brown trenchcoat over a white collared shirt and brown slacks, with a cheap domino mask tucked into a pocket just in case- although I sometimes found the whole costume thing faintly ridiculous, I had to admit that being able to wear a mask in public without seeming insane had its advantages.

"Interesting meeting spot," Tattletale said, as she walked through the door- I took a moment to scrutinize her aura- nothing alarming. She glanced around the room, grimacing slightly as she looked at the bed I was sitting on.

"It's a motel," I said. "Nobody stands out coming here. You have something for me?"

Tattletale sighed.

"Not as much as I'd like," Tattlesaid said. "I know Coil's been talking to the Empire, and I know he's been moving money around- I think he might have reached out to Toybox, but he could just be hiring some extra Capes, or even just more mercenaries. And..."

"And?"

"I have to tell you something," she said nervously. "And I'm pretty sure it's going to really piss you off. I didn't want to tell you before, but only because we were in public. I wasn't hiding anything from you."

"Tell me now," I said. Tattletale sighed again.

"It's about about a girl named Dinah Alcott," Tattletale said. "I don't know if you've seen the news, but she was abducted. She's a Parahuman, some kind of powerful Thinker... that's why Coil took her."

My fists clenched. Tattletale took a step back.

I felt anger, welling up in my chest and throat. I took a deep breath. Closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, Tattletale looked even more worried.

I hadn't even heard about it- hadn't been paying attention to the news- Too wrapped up in my own problems.

How many times did I have to learn this lesson?

"You're certain Coil took her," I said. Calmly, I thought.

Tattletale flinched.

"Yes," she said, warily. "Like I said, she's Parahuman too. He wanted her power." I opened my mouth, but she cut me off before I could speak. "I don't know exactly what it is, but he thought that it might give him an edge against you."

"How old is she?" I asked. Tattletale looked away, not meeting my eyes. I stood, jamming my clenched fists into my pockets. "How. Old."

"Twelve," Tattletale said, her voice quiet and unhappy.

I produced one of my burner phones from my pocket. Popping the back off, I re-inserted the SIM card and the battery, and turned it on before tossing it to her.

"You have a number you use to call Coil," I told her. "Put it in the phone."

Tattletale gave me a dubious look, but then visibly thought better of whatever it was she was going to say, and turned her attention to the phone. I waited as she fiddled with the buttons before closing it and sliding it back towards me.

"I'll contact you when I've found her," I said. "Call me if you need me. And get ready."

And I left.

Laurel Alcott looked nothing like my mother- categorically, there was nothing about her that was at all reminiscent of my mother.

There was no reason at all I should be thinking of my mom right now.

None.

What she looked, instead, was brittle. I could practically feel the grief and exhaustion and fear coming off of her as I watched her, invisibly, from outside of her very nice house. Everything about her, from the way she carried herself, to the way her expensive dress was subtly disheveled, spoke of a woman holding on by her fingernails.

Her husband was worse- and it wasn't just because the hollow look in his eyes actually did remind me of dad, after.

Well, after.

There was a heavy police presence in her neighborhood, naturally, for all the good that would do them now.

I watched the house invisibly well into the evening. It was the day after my abortive meeting with Tattletale. I'd done nothing since but prepare for this meeting.

What I was doing was risky. I knew it. There were better ways to handle this, no doubt. Smarter, more patient ways. I knew that. I knew that being reckless probably reduced my chances of freeing Dinah, and it would be better to take my time, be prepared. I knew that.

What I didn't know was who I would be, if I left a child in Coil's hands.

Maybe there was some past life, some more pragmatic version of me who would have handled this the smart, calculated way.

He'd stolen a child, to use against me, and I had the power to make it right. Nothing else mattered.

I waited. Finally, as it was getting dark, Mrs. Alcott opened the door to her backyard, and stepped out, unsteady hands fumbling with a pack of cigarettes, standing on the deck behind her house, staring into the darkness as she smoked.

I moved closer, trusting that any sounds I made would be muffled by a spell I had placed on myself. Waiting until she was finished, I followed her as she went back inside. In my thoughts, I held her name in my thoughts, focusing my will like a blade, and as she stepped inside and turned to close the door behind her I struck, murmuring a word of power under my breath, quietly as I could.

She was already so tired.

So tired.

Just for a second, her eyes closed, and in that moment I slipped past her into the house. I heard her close the door, locking it and arming the security system.

Soundlessly, I ran up the stairs, searching for Dinah's room. I didn't exactly feel great about breaking into the home of two terrified parents of a kidnapped child, but it was unfortunately necessary. And if they never knew I was there, then there was no real harm.

I flinched as Dinah's room's door creaked a little as I opened it, but nobody seemed to have heard- both the Alcotts were still downstairs. I stepped inside, and looked around- there. Hairbrush.

I pulled a few strands of hair free and stuffed them into a little plastic bag and pocketing it before I crept out of the room.

I'd wait until the Alcotts went to sleep, magically disable their back door alarm, and be on my way.

Then, I would find Dinah- trivial, using some of her hair as a connection. If that didn't lead me to Coil, his phone number would.

Either way, he had just run out of time

--------

a/n: a little ambivalent about this, hope people can forgive a bunch of setup if it comes with the promise of things happening soon.

and, yeah, Taylor has Mind 2 now, which allows for both the reading of surface thoughts, and the sending of low-level mental impulses (in this case, a little tiredness to stop Dinah's mom from closing the door before Taylor can sneak inside).

Actually having a place to work was a huge relief. Even if my currently mostly-empty basement was still going to need a lot of work to turn it into an actual, proper, ritual space, it was still so much better than any of the alternatives. Even just the security of knowing nobody was going to randomly wander in was reassuring. Much better than some random abandoned building.

I'd been doing what I could to improve the place as I could, but it was a slow process and there were a lot of things that I couldn't really get. It wasn't like I could just go down to the alchemy supply store, for example.

Still, it was a significant improvement.

Case in point, the ritual I was performing to locate Dinah. Even without perfect tools, simply having the opportunity to properly prepare the ritual space, consecrate the circle and draw the correct patterns and characters, was comforting and helpful. It would have been better if I'd had a proper shewstone rather than a glass basin that I'd carefully scratched an Enochian symbol onto the base of, before filling it with water.

Good enough. I began to chant, slowly and firmly reciting ritual phrases, gathering my will, strands of Dinah's hair twined through my fingers. Her hair.

Part of her.

Slowly, precisely, I began to cast.

And I saw her.

In her room- a windowless room that wasn't a cell. Except that it was.

If his attempt on my life hadn't been incentive enough to kill Coil, this-

I took a deep breath, trying to remain calm.

I had found her- now I needed to know where she was, and how to get her.

Attacking me had been a big mistake. Taking Dinah, a worse one. He'd abducted her, according to Tattletale, to use her power against me. Instead, it was going to be his undoing.

Not that I especially relished the idea of killing Coil- I was no Euthanatos death-mage. But it was impossible to say that he didn't deserve it. He clearly wanted me dead, and he'd stolen a child.

And any doubts might possibly have had remaining would have vanished as I continued to watch, and I saw one of his minions inject Dinah with something.

I spent the rest of the day watching Coil's base- an actual underground base, although it didn't seem to be finished. Honestly, it was a little underwhelming- by my standards. There wasn't even a high-tech lab to blow up, which I found obscurely disappointing.

The problem was that the only entrance to Dinah's room was through Coil's office/suite, which was upsetting on multiple levels. Practically speaking, it meant that there were multiple sets of heavy metal doors plus maybe two dozen mercenaries at any given time.

So I might need some help.

I fully intended to kill Coil before I even set foot in his base, but that still left the problem of Dinah- I was going to have to actually go and get her, which was going to mean dealing with his mercenaries. I could try to take them out at range as well, but that would mean attacking one at a time and I was pretty sure that they would notice that fairly quickly. Sooner or later, they would decide to simply flee, perhaps either taking Dinah with them, or potentially even killing her so that she couldn't talk. A risk I was unwilling to take.

Not that direct assault was without its own risks, obviously. The most pressing being the Fallen. And not one I could mitigate, since I had no idea how they were watching him- if they were simply reading his email, I was probably safe, and I didn't think that they could or would be observing him constantly. Even if they saw me, would any Nephandus risk a fight to avenge a colleague? It seemed implausible, but I had basically zero confidence in my ability to predict their actions.

And while I thought there was at least a chance I could talk and/or fight my way through Coil's mercenaries by myself, but not if even a single hostile mage appeared. The same went for trying to sneak in- if anything went wrong, I was going to be in a lot of trouble.

Reluctantly, I texted Tattletale to call me when she could.

"I found them," I said, in lieu of a greeting, when she called me barely half an hour later.

"Wait, seriously?" Tattletale said, after a second.

"Yes," I said. I hesitated for a split second- but there was no sense in delaying the inevitable. "I need you and your team to help me go get her."

"...That's not a good idea," Tattletale said, after a moment. "Coil-"

"Will be dead before we ever set foot in his base," I cut her off.

"He- you can kill people at range," Tattletale interrupted herself. "Not just find them, you can hurt them too."

"Yes. Sometimes," I said. I was a little wary of revealing anything resembling a limitation to Tattletale, but if we were going to be allies there needed to be some slight measure of trust between us.

I heard a soft scraping sound, as if something was rubbing against the phone, and realized she must have put it down, which was confirmed a moment later when I heard her, distantly, cursing to herself.

"Okay," Tattletale said, picking her phone back up a moment later. "We're just going to table that for now. You obviously have a plan. Let's hear it."

"I take Coil out, your team helps me storm his base and get Dinah," I said.

And where was my honesty now? I needed- I really needed to tell her that there might be... what? How could I explain Nephandi so that Tattletale and her team understood the severity of the potential threat without revealing too much? How could I do it when I didn't even know what the Fallen might be able to do. Magic was... there was too much. Too much to explain.

It wasn't a conversation I was eager to have, and certainly not over the phone.

"I might be able to subvert some of Coil's men," Tattletale said reluctantly. "I'd need time, and money, but-"

"No," I said. "We're not waiting."

"Ta- Decima-" Tattletale began.

"He's drugging her," I talked over her. "To ensure her compliance, I imagine. A twelve-year-old girl, taken from her home. Kept in a cell. Forcibly addicted. I'm not going to let that stand. Are you?"

I heard her breath catch, through the phone, but she didn't speak. A silent moment passed.

"Dammit," She muttered.

"I know you're scared of him," I said. "Don't be. I promise you that he'll be dead long before you even get near his base. Plus, after he's gone, all his assets are yours. All his money, connections, resources, and any of his mercenaries willing to defect, all of it. Less a small tithe. I do have bills to pay, after all."

"You could have led with that, you know," Tattletale said.

"I'm not sure I wanted to work with you if you were only doing this for the money," I replied. "At the very least, I wanted to know."

"Yeah," Tattletale said, a little hesitantly. "You may not be cut out for this whole villain thing."

Surprised, I actually laughed.

"Okay," she continued. "But there's another problem. The Undersiders- this is going to be risky, and they're going to need a good reason to do it. I think we need to tell them what's going on."

"Saving a kidnapped child isn't enough?" I asked.

"You're asking them to maybe die for a girl none of us even know," Tattletale said. "We're still villains, at the end of the day. So we need to explain the plan. Show them the money."

"Fine," I said.

"We can't meet at our usual base," Tattletale said. "Coil helped us set it up. It's unlikely, but we can't take the chance that he managed to hide a listening device that I couldn't find. There's a place out by the Trainyards we could meet."

"The best place for a secret meeting is usually somewhere where people won't find it strange for you to be," I said. "Surely there's a hotel or restaurant or someplace in this city that will let us rent out a lounge or conference room for a private gathering. A birthday party, or something.

"That would mean coming out of costume," Tattletale said. "My team may not be comfortable with that, yet. Given everything."

"Fine," I said. A little paranoia was fair enough- it wasn't like I was going to be inviting them over any time soon, for example.

"I'll text you back when I've talked to the team," she replied, after a moment.

The next evening found me nervously waiting by the entrance of the Trainyards. I'd arrived almost six hours early, and spent the time painstakingly searching the area, then preparing yet another temporary ritual space so that I could cast various defensive and sensory spells.

Also, eating the packed meal I'd brought with me, in anticipation of spending most of my afternoon there.

Finally, a little under an hour before the meeting was set to take place, I sensed six creatures entering the area of my detection spells- four Parahumans and two... things, the likes of which I'd never encountered. Hellhound's super-dogs, at a guess.

Not that I would ever have guessed that's what they were, once they finally got close enough for me to see them in all their massive, mutated-lizard/tiger glory. And yet the Undersiders sat comfortably on the backs of the beasts as they bounded towards the Trainyards- and me.

They stopped, dismounting neatly.

"You're early," I called, stepping out of the shadows into the wan light of the failing nearby streetlight.

I saw surprise in all of their auras, as they turned to face me, and took a moment to study them. They looked much the same as they had when I had seen them outside the storage lot, although I was surprised to see that Hellhound's costume was about as bare-bones as my own- although it looked like she had a different cheap plastic dog mask, this time. I was wearing another variation on what was becoming my usual outfit- white shirt, dark pants, trench coat, domino mask. Compared to Regent, Tattletale, and even Grue, we both stood out a little.

Their auras were stranger- Grue and Tattletale seemed normal, but both Regent and Hellhound were off- Regent's colors were almost as faint as the Vampire's had been, and Hellhound... there was just something odd about her.

Tattletale opened her mouth to say something, and then did a double-take as I walked towards them- her aura flickering confusion. But before I could respond to that-

One of the dogs growled- alarmingly loud.

I stopped.

The other joined in.

Hell, I hadn't thought of this- it had been so long since it happened, and not in every past life, but...

Sometimes animals didn't like me. It was a mage thing, somehow sensing my strangeness- who knew why.

I froze. I could see Hellhound, in her cheap-looking dog mask, tilting her head to look at her dogs, confusion (and anger) mottling her aura, before her attention snapped back to me, and she laid a hand on one of her dogs.

"Judas," she said, which was just confusing.

"Wait, bitch," Tattletale interrupted urgently, increasing my confusion. "She's not here to fight us, she's a friend."

I took a step back, raising my hands a little.

"She's not going to fight us," Tattletale repeated.

"Stand down!" Grue added- he had an impressively deep voice, which had taken on a strange reverberation under his helmet. "Now!"

"She's bad," Hellhound said.

I took another step back.

"What does that mean?" Tattletale said, aura flaring with curiosity.

"She's not right," Hellhound muttered, still glaring at me. "The dogs don't like her."

"Maybe," I said, soothingly. "But I'm not going to hurt them- or any of you."

"Shut up!" Hellhound yelled at me.

"This is not why we're here," Grue said, stepping in front of Hellhound to block her view of me. Hellhound took a step back, edging around Grue to continue glaring at me. Grue stepped forwards, grabbing her by the shoulders. I backed off a few more steps.

Hellhound shook off Grue, glancing at her dogs- they were still watching me intently, but they seemed to have relaxed, a little. She glared at me again, and crossing her arms in front of her chest angrily, but said nothing.

"This is going to be a problem," Grue said, backing off a little and turning to Tattletale.

"Don't look at me," Tattletale protested. "How should I know this was going to happen?"

Regent laughed.

"You're really on a roll lately, Tats," Regent laughed. "Is fucking everything up your new thing? Because honestly, I'm kind of loving it."

"Shut up," Tattletale said, taking a few steps toward me. "Okay, what's that about?"

"I don't know," I said. "Sometimes animals just don't like me."

"Great," Grue muttered.

"We can still make this work," I said. "I'll just... stay way over here."

"Tattletale's been telling us some-" Grue began.

"Tales," Regent interjected.

"Things," Grue said irritably. "Like how we work for Coil, who apparently kidnapped a little girl. You want us to get her back, and then take over Coil's organization? But frankly, I'm still not convinced that teaming up with you is a good bet."

"It's the only bet," I said. "Coil is done. The only reason I haven't killed him already is because I want to maximize my odds of getting Dinah Alcott out safely. I'd like you to help me with that."

"And we get Coil's assets in exchange," Grue said. "Sounds like you're trying to pay us with money you don't have."

"Coil's assets less my cut," I said. "We've all got bills. You're right- I'm offering you money I don't have yet. But it's also your only option if you want to get paid. Because one way or another, Coil's not going to be giving you any more jobs. You help me now, and you get anything and everything of his that you can take. You don't help me, you get nothing."

"We do this, and I can deliver on everything Coil promised us, and more," Tattletale said, meaningfully. "Everything."

"Why wouldn't you just keep it all for yourself?" Grue asked me, doubt and suspicion plain in his aura.

"I have bigger plans," I said. "They don't include spending my days running Coil's operations. That's why I'm looking for long-term partners who can step in and fill the power vacuum. And not just for Coil. All the gangs."

"Now you're offering to pay us with money you'll never have," Grue said. "You think you're the first person in this city to hate the Empire? They have too much muscle, too many capes. Money, connections. You're going to end up dead as every other independent who ever tried to fight them, and I'm not signing us up to die with you."

"Grue," Tattletale whispered, but I cut her off.

"I'm not asking you to help fight the Empire," I said. "I don't need it. The only reason I want your help now is because there's something like twenty mercenaries between me and Dinah, and I don't want to take the risk that Coil gave them instructions to kill her rather than let her be rescued. But I will do this on my own, if I have to. In which case, you all get nothing. That's the choice, Grue. Help me, and you get everything. Don't help me, you get nothing."

"I don't trust you," Grue said.

"Who asked you to," I replied. "I'll be right there with you, when we take Coil's base. Tattletale will be in charge of breaking into his files and securing his assets."

"This is a good deal," Tattletale interjected. "Better than anything Coil could ever offer. And she can deliver."

"Do you want to run this city or not?" I asked.

"I want to run this city," Regent said. "Actually, I want you and Tats to run this city while I sit around and be rich, but that's basically the same thing."

Grue sighed heavily.

"I feel like I'm going to regret this," he said. "But I'm in."

----

fun fact, I would have had an update last week or earlier except I was rereading something and realized my description of Coil's base was way off (lol off base)- for example, I'd forgotten that Dinah's room is apparently adjacent to Coil's room and/or office (which, yikes) so I spent a bunch of time rewriting stuff.

And then it occurred to me that I was reading a description of the base he moved into after Leviathan, and decided that maybe it would be thematically appropriate to hurl myself into the sea in frustration. Anyway, we're going to assume that Coil was moving back into his base because Leviathan damaged it, which seems at least semi-supported by the text, because I'm already way behind schedule. I was torn between waiting to make this a longer update that included the attack on Coil's base, but I figured it would be better to split it here and have an update out now.

Dogs not liking Taylor is a function of her generally being kind of a locus for supernatural oddities (also sort of an Ars Magica reference, given that iirc the Gift riled up animals in that)

(nephandus is just the singular of nephandi)

uh yeah, I think that's it, hope you enjoy

Finally, it was time. I'd taken another day, to prepare, and now, two nights after my meeting with the Undersiders, I was ready.

I'd had to keep them in the dark- I didn't know exactly what was apparently protecting me from Coil and Dinah's powers- it could be any number of things- but I had to assume that the Undersiders didn't share my apparent immunity. Which meant not telling them anything specific in advance. Not ideal, obviously, but I was pretty sure that Tattletale at least had figured it out.

A large portion of my preparations had gone into finding the closest building with no cameras on the roof- once again, I found myself seriously missing my half-finished ritual space in my new basement, but I wanted to be fairly close to the entrance to Coil's base, and my house was on the wrong side of town.

Before I'd left home, though, I'd spent most of the day in ritual preparations, casting spells of protection and awareness on myself, arming for the battle to come. It was tiring, especially because of the extra effort required to ensure a spell cast in the morning would actually last through the day. Finally, when I was reasonably ready, and more importantly out of time- Coil didn't usually stay in his base overnight- I departed for my chosen building.

There, I spent over an hour painstakingly chalking designs onto the roof of this building, elaborate circles ringed with symbols and Enochian words, that I was standing in the center of, linked in turn to a smaller circle, inside of which I placed a spare burner phone.

Now, in the waning light of the setting sun, I began to cast.

As much as I might have liked to simply hurl a fireball at him across the intervening space, it was beyond my current abilities to do so- I knew there was a rote for this kind of thing, but I couldn't for the life of me remember the details.

Instead, I planned once again to lean on the modern world's staggering abundance of electricity. More specifically, I was going to hex the hell out of Coil's cell phone.

But as necessary as this was, as justified as I felt in light of Coil's attempt on my life, and abduction of Dinah, there was something a little unpleasant about this. Standing here, calmly and deliberately taking a man's life.

It was hard to think of this as anything other than murder. And already knowing that I was going to feel this later- It's not like I hadn't done this kind of thing before- didn't exactly help. But it had to be done. My reasons were good. My conscience was clear- intellectually, at least.

And above all, my will was absolute.

Taking a deep breath, I began to cast- my first spell a simple scrying. I'd already spent a large portion of the day watching Coil, and his base, but still, I needed to see him now. I needed to make sure that this worked.

I was still slightly paranoid- I knew Coil had a penchant for using body doubles. But the man sitting at the desk in his private office had the same face I'd seen before- and he was a Parahuman. I'd made sure to incorporate that into my scrying. So, unless this was an incredibly clever trap, it was Coil. It had to be.

I was sure.

I straightened up, and began to chant, reciting Enochian phrases along with precisely timed gestures. Slowly, gradually, I built my spell, taking my time. I needed to make sure I got this right, so I stood on the roof on the office tower and cast my spell as the light faded around me and the sun crept below the horizon.

And then, at the precise right time, I crouched down and hit the speed-dial on the burner phone- Coil's number was already programmed in.

On his desk, Coil's cell phone began to buzz, vibrating against the wood.

But he didn't pick it up.

Instead, he leapt to his feet, looking around wildly, a gun suddenly appearing in his hand- something had warned him!

Frantically, I adjusted the spell, concentrating as hard as I could as I felt the magic wavering in my figurative grasp. Half stumbling over my words, I held onto the spell by sheer force of will as Coil turned on his heel and sprinted towards the door to Dinah's room.

His hand was on the doorknob when a bolt of electricity arced down from the overhead light and hit him in the back. He contorted violently, thrashing against the door with a heavy thump before he fell to the floor in a twisted heap. Smoke rose from his body.

Dead.

Panting, I reached into my pocket and pulled out another phone, dialing Tattletale with shaking fingers- that had been too close. He'd almost gotten away. My spell had almost blown up in my face. But it was over.

"Coil's dead," I gasped, the second she picked up. "Meet me, now." I hung up, before she could respond, dropping the phone into a pocket. I kicked over an open two-liter water bottle I'd left sitting nearby, rolling it across the design, and smearing the chalk with my foot, making sure to soak the burner phone before I stomped on it several times. I snatched up the broken remains of the phone, and sprinted towards the edge of the roof, pulling myself over the low wall surrounding it and hurling myself into the air. Conjured winds rose to meet me, carrying me safely towards the ground.

Normally, I would have been a bit more hesitant to leap off a high-rise- people did look up- but I figured that the evening darkness would help to hide me as I flew/glided towards the parking garage that hid the entrance to Coil's base, making sure to toss the ruined burner phone into the trash as I landed.

The Undersiders made good time- they were there in just over half an hour, pulling up in a nondescript van- I'd been half-expecting them to arrive riding the monster dogs, but no.

The delay had given me enough time to locate the secret entrance, and figure out the spell I would use to open it- easy, as the thing used an electronic lock. It had been a bit irritating to do it without getting into range of the security cameras I'd also spotted, but I didn't want to disable them until I had to.

Which is exactly what I did as I saw Grue, Regent, and Tattletale pile out of the van, before smoothly shifting into the incantation- whispered, this time- that would open the doors- well, unlock them.

Tattletale eyed me curiously, before looking around the room, but none of the Undersiders said anything.

"You could have given a bit more warning," Tattletale said, a little bit teasingly, before dropping the act and become serious. "Does this mean that-"

"Coil's dead," I said. Grue shifted uncomfortably. Tattletale seemed relieved. "But his power saw me coming at the last second, and I had to act quickly. I'm sorry I couldn't alert you in advance."

For a moment, nobody spoke.

"The door is there," I said, pointing. "You know the plan- get Dinah, get Tattletale to Coil's computer, take down any of his mercenaries that get in our way- and they do patrol the halls." I hesitated. "And one last thing... if anything happens, and I tell you to run, you run."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Grue asked me suspiciously.

"It means that Coil was a thinker," I snapped. "He might have come up with some countermeasures I don't know about. Defenses I didn't detect. Anything. I can sense things you can't. So if I tell you to run, run."

"Noted," Tattletale said. I relaxed, a little.

I was lying, of course- oh, all of those were potential concerns. But it was Nephandi I was worried about. I still had no idea if they were actually watching Coil, or if they would choose to act to protect him, if they were. But I felt like I owed the Undersiders at least some sort of warning, even if it was at best a half-truth.

The fact that no Nephandus had intervened to help Coil in the weeks since my encounter was promising, at least. But the Fallen were tricky. I would need to be ready, for anything.

"I'm hoping your friends dogs can mostly deal with the mercs," I said. "I'll be hanging back as much as possible- not that I won't jump in if you need help. But we need to go, now."

"Fine," Grue said, after a moment, turning back to the van. I took several steps backward, and then a few more for good measure. Tattletale walked over to join me.

"Come on," she said, lightly taking my elbow, "Let's give Bitch- Rachel, if you prefer- a little more room to work."

I was more than happy to oblige.

I watched, a little nervously, I have to admit, as Rachel and her dogs climbed out of the van. She led them over to the hidden door, and even as they were moving the dogs began to grow.

She was obviously keeping them relatively small so that they could fit in the hallways, but they were still intimidatingly large, taller at the shoulder than I was.

Grue produced a crowbar, and levered the door open, revealing a brief glimpse of a nondescript hallway before his darkness swept over it like a wave of smoke. Undeterred, Grue walked confidently into the shadows, followed quickly by Rachel and her dogs.

"Work, work, work," Regent said, with an affected sigh, walking into the hallway and stopping just short of the cloud, keeping pace with it as it began to recede down the corridor.

Tattletale held up a hand for a moment, and then gestured for us to move forward. The darkness was moving ahead of me, a black wall advancing down the hallway which made walking there somewhat surreal.

I wasn't sure about the properties of that darkness, so rather than attempt to guess at a spell to see through it, I had sidestepped the issue and turned to the Ars Conligationis, giving myself awareness- not sight- of everything within a fairly short range, with added flourishes to help me detect living beings, among other things- only creatures of a certain size, though. I didn't really feel the need to know how many insects there might be in the walls or anything like that. On the other hand, I definitely wanted some warning if any of those dogs should turn around and start coming in my direction.

So, rather than being able to actually see what was happening in the darkness, I simply knew where everything was, as the giant dogs stalked the narrow hallways of Coil's base, charging forward to slam bodily into a group of patrolling mercenaries- no sound escaped the impenetrable wall of shadow.

One of the mercenaries had turned to run, but Regent gestured casually- apparently his power let him detect people in Grue's darkness, good to know- and the man's leg twisted out from under him mid-step, sending him to the floor just in time for Grue to dash forward and stomp heavily on his gun-hand, kicking his weapon away when the man involuntarily released it before bending to secure the man and the other mercenaries with zip ties taken from one of the pockets on their harnesses. Convenient.

It really was good to have help. Allies. I suspected I might miss it, when I returned to my war with the Empire. But the Undersiders didn't want to get involved with that, and I wasn't going to force them. Even if I did find the casual indifference toward the Empire displayed by so many in this city- Faultine, for another example- baffling, and even a little contemptible.

The Undersiders were children, at least, which probably made it unreasonable to hold them accountable for defeating the Empire.

I was distracted from my musings when I sensed Grue and the dogs stopping ahead of me.

"I think we're at the next door," I said. "Can you check? I don't want to get too close to the dogs."

Tattletale gave me some side-eye, but she did as I asked, moving forward toward the darkness. Which was fine- I just didn't want her literally standing next to me as I cast a spell. Because the door, like all the doors in this place, had electronic locks.

Tattletale gave me a dirty look when I caught up with her, Grue's darkness already moving forward down the next hall, but she didn't say anything.

As we moved deeper into Coil's base, I started to sense certain tell-tale signs- faint, but there, the unmistakable ripples and spatial distortions that spoke of past scrying. Some of them were mine- I could recognize my own Resonance, naturally. Others... weren't.

Someone had certainly been watching this place- someone other than me. But as far as I could tell, they weren't watching now.

There was no choice but to keep going. Between Grue, Regent, and especially the dogs, we made excellent time through Coil's base- taking down another group of mercenaries patrolling or maybe just wandering the halls as we went, but just before we reached the second door, a loud alarm suddenly went off, complete with red flashing warning lights.

Heedless, of the possibility of Tattletale hearing, I quickly chanted the spell to disable the door's lock. Grue's darkness receded into nothingness, revealing him, Rachel, and the dogs- one of them growled at me.

"It's open!" I called. "We're almost there, go!"

Together- well, I was still hanging back because dogs- we charged down the hallway to Coil's office. I saw Grue wrench the door open, letting the dogs charge in, followed quickly by Rachel, and then Grue and soon after, Regent.

I ran to the door, looked in just enough to see that the dogs were on the far side of the room- and slightly smaller- before I followed Tattletale in- and stopped dead.

Coil's body was just where I had left it- the smell was certainly something- but the door to Dinah's room was open. And nobody was there.

I stormed over to the door, heedless of the chorus of growls from the dogs- and stepped into the room, looking around. Nothing. Nothing!

She had been here. She should be here. She had to be here!

I turned- Tattletale was already sitting at Coil's desk, staring intently at his computer. She pointed with her off hand, not looking up as she clicked around with the mouse. I looked- a section of wall was slightly open.

A secret exit. And I'd missed it. And someone had taken Dinah. All because of me, my overconfidence. I'd been so sure that I could handle this- what else had I missed?

And now someone- the Fallen- had taken here. A child! Because of me. Because I-

"I've got camera footage," Tattletale called, distracting me from my spiraling.

"Come on," Grue said, grabbing Rachel- who had been glaring at me the whole time-and leading her and thus her dogs back out into the hallway.

I ran to the desk. Tattletale already had it cued up- it was mere minutes ago, by the timestamp, and I saw two men- two Capes- enter the room, flanked by a pair of Coil's mercenaries, all four of them freezing at the sight of his body. The mercenaries had turned back, running into the hallway, but the capes didn't follow them. They spoke- there was no sound, but you could tell, even with the masks. Both were in red and black, one of them a sleek black costume with a red top hat, and the other in a blocky outfit covered in pockets, with a square mask. Square mask turned to watch the door while the other man wrenched open the door to Dinah's room, emerging moments later with the girl in his arms.

By now, the alarm had apparently gone off, judging by the flashing lights from the hallway. Off-brand Baron Samedi put Dinah down, seeming to speak to her, and she pointed towards the section of wall that hid the secret door. She even seemed to direct the capes to a button under Coil's desk that opened it up, before Top Hat picked her up in his arms and they set off through the secret door and out of the camera's view.

"Decima, wait," Tattletale said. But I was already at the door.

"I'll be back," I called over my shoulder, as I pulled it open, revealing another nondescript hallway.

I took off running.

---

a/n: surprise!

hopefully constantly suggesting Nephandi and then not having any show up doesn't feel like an anti-climax.

anyway, enjoy

I ran down the hallway, cursing myself- not literally. But this was my fault- or at least, my responsibility. And the idea that, after all of this, I might lose Dinah because I had missed a few extra Parahumans... I couldn't let that happen.

I didn't know anything about these Capes- not their names, and certainly not their powers. Perhaps if I had taken more time to study Coil's operation... perhaps my urgency had betrayed itself.

But what I did know was how to find Dinah. I'd done it before, and nothing had changed. I could still fix this. As long as they didn't hurt her before I could get there.

I burst out of the hallway into what looked like an alley between two office towers, winds swirling around me and lifting me into the air before I had taken three steps. Even as I rose into the air, I was already casting a new spell.

Find Dinah.

There!

Farther away than I'd expected- maybe one of the capes had a speed power? It looked like they were actually circling around... they were going back to the very same parking garage I'd met the Undersiders in!

It made sense- if they had driven to the meeting, why wouldn't they park there? But it did make me feel foolish for nothing thinking of it. I could have doubled back and beaten them there, if I had.

My next spell amplified the force of the winds propelling me through the air, but it wasn't enough, I saw their car peeling out of the garage.

No.

I turned, diving towards the ground as I landed smoothly on the street, just as the car turned a corner that brought it heading in my direction. Enochian syllables rang in the air as I chanted.

And I lifted the car into the air.

It was too heavy for me to properly lift, but all I wanted to do was get the tires off of the ground. The car continued to drift forwards on momentum, but a few seconds later my next spell slowed it down to a stop.

I could hear the engine revving, and I was actually close enough to see the two capes- the one had evidently taken off his hat when he'd gotten into the driver's seat. He looked worried, twisting his head around looking for a reason that his vehicle had suddenly halted.

Then he saw me, and there was a sudden rushing sound and-

Suddenly, I was sitting in the passenger seat beside him, but by the time I realised what was going on, his fist had already connected hard with my gut. Hard. Twice. I wheezed, doubling over. I felt the car lurch as I lost my spell, and it dropped to the ground and then suddenly-

I was huddled over on the street, gasping for breath, right back where I had been, curled up in pain from the hits.

I let myself collapse to the pavement as I heard the car's engine starting up again. But my spell of awareness, at least, was still functioning, and I knew exactly where they were as they started to drive past me. I didn't even stand up, focusing on getting my breath back, as I began to whisper another spell.

And just as the car was passing me, the driver screamed in sudden agony, jerking the steering wheel hard and sending his car into the side of a parked car with a heavy crunch.

I pushed myself to my feet, recasting that same spell for good measure, focusing hard. I saw his body flickering, rapidly fading in and out, like a flickering shadow, before finally going limp- passed out from the pain. I almost felt sympathy- I knew from personaly experience just how agonizing Rubbing the Bones could be. Having one's internal Quintessence forcibly agitated was high on the list of painful experiences I could remember.

I didn't like using the spell- it felt too much like torture. But I would, if I had to. Lacking other options to quickly disable what appeared to be a line-of-sight teleporter. Besides, while it was intensely painful, it wouldn't actually harm him in any way.

And I felt the burning cold of Paradox, tearing at my insides. I staggered, catching myself against the wall.

Meanwhile, the other cape had thrown himself out of the car, crouching behind it for cover as he pulled something out of his pockets. He held up his hand, opening it, and I heard a loud crack as something smashed into the wall next to me- several somethings, too fast to see.

I raised my wand, as the hurling cape grabbed for more ammunition, and spoke a single Enochian word.

And handful of ball bearings slammed hard into the empty air before me, bounding off of nothing before clattering to the ground.

"I don't want to kill you," I told the cape. "But I will, unless you take your friend and go. Now. Leave the girl."

The cape paused, hand raised threateningly- and I saw/sensed him dipping his other hand into a different pouch.

"You don't understand," he started.

"I don't care, child-stealer," I snapped.

"We're not stealing her!" He protested. "You're stealing her!"

"So I'm supposed to believe you're planning to take her home to her parents?" I scoffed.

"Yes!" The cape said, but I could see the lie in his aura. I could hear the ring of deception in his voice.

"Don't lie to me unless you want what your friend there got," I told him.

"No, we are," he said. "Just... we need her help, first. Coil told us about what she can do. We just- it's our friend, she needs... she needs help. But after that-"

"Oh, well in that case, by all means go ahead and kidnap the twelve-year-old girl," I said. "I killed Coil in order to bring that girl home. I am not negotiating with you."

The cape stared at me- I could see the fear and desperation rippling through his aura. He glanced at his partner, still unconscious in their car.

"If he wakes up, I'll have to kill you both," I told him.

"We weren't going to hurt her," he said, wounded. "I'd never- never do anything like that."

In the distance, I heard sirens.

Enough.

My next spell hurled him into the air towards a wall, but even as I cast it I was throwing myself down behind a parked car as a hail of ball bearings shot towards me, punching through the roof and windows of the vehicle like it was nothing.

He hit the wall hard, and then fell five or six feet to the ground, but he was struggling to his feet when my next spell hit him, and he screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground.

I didn't actually want to kill these people- it had seemed like this one was telling the truth about wanting to help his friend. Not that that was any justification for child abduction, or would have made me trust him with Dinah, but it was still enough to make me leave him and his partner alive.

Or maybe I just didn't want to be the person who murdered her enemies when they were unconscious and incapable of fighting back.

I moved towards their car slowly, carefully, watching for any signs of anything. Dinah was in the back seat, limp and unconscious, but buckled carefully into place. She looked okay, and I carefully unbuckled her and then lifted her out of the car, immediately remembering that I was a scrawny teenage girl- she was heavy. But not too heavy that a single spell couldn't lift both of us.

She was still unconscious when I landed back at the entrance to Coil's secret tunnel. The door had swung closed again, and I was ultimately forced to rip it open by main force in order to get in.

Hopefully Tattletale and the Undersiders had the situation inside handled. As much as I wanted to simply take Dinah home, I had kind of left them in the lurch, and I felt like I needed to go back and make sure that they weren't fighting Coil's mercenaries or something.

Magic or no magic, my arms were starting to get pretty tired by the time I made it back to Coil's office. I stopped, laying Dinah down gently against the wall, before I drew my wand again and moved to the door.

The Undersiders were in there, as well as several of Coil's men. I could sense them. But they didn't seem to be fighting, which was probably a good sign.

I opened the door.

"Finally," Tattletale said. "I told you she would be back."

In the background, one of the giant dogs growled, and I thought I heard Rachel mutter something uncomplimentary.

There was also a dead mercenary lying on the ground who hadn't been there before. By the looks of things, he'd been shot in the back of the head.

"Decima," Tattletale said. Were there drops of blood on her costume? She was playing it as relaxed and in control as ever, but I could tell she was feeling a lot right now. "We were just negotiating the terms of the change in leadership, but our new friend here is insisting on speaking to you."

One of the mercenaries stepped forward, slowly reaching into one of the pockets on his harness and producing a phone. He pressed a button.

"My master wishes to speak with you," he said, and held the phone out to me.

I hesitated for a moment before I took it.

"Good evening, Ms. Hebert," the Vampire said smoothly. "I take it Coil is dead?"

"Yes," I said, reluctantly.

"Well done," he replied. "In that case, I have a piece of information that I think you might find useful."

He paused, obviously waiting for me to ask.

"What information?"

"Kaiser's real name," the Vampire told me, "is Max Anders. And he is the Chief Executive Officer of the Medhall corporation."

---

a/n: I had a plan and then I decided I didn't like it, or my next plan, and time makes fools of us all.

So I dunno if this is my best work, but at least the story is moving.

Enjoy!

Also, as penance for the delay, I did another thing.

edit: "Rubbing the Bones" is a Prime 2 attack that basically causes the Quintessence (the primal energy-stuff that everything is made of) that makes up a person's being to fluctuate. It deals Bashing (as in non-lethal) damage and is so painful that it's potentially incapacitating.

She had just put Aster down for the evening, and finally stepped away- hard as it was to do. Her daughter was perfect- the best thing in her life, and the only part of it not touched by the chaos of the world around her. If Kayden had her way, she could have watched the baby all night. But even on the nights when she didn't... go out, she still had to eat. And so, reluctantly, she had left Aster in her crib and returned to the kitchen.

Only to be interrupted by a knock on the door.

She moved to answer it, feeling her power gather- just at touch, the slightest humming inside as energy began to build.

She looked through the peephole.

The man outside was tall, and something about him vaguely reminded her of Max, although he was obviously older, with touches of grey hair at his temples that only made him look more distinguished. But there was something, some subtle self-assuredness, in the way he carried himself- that was at least a little Max. That, and his obviously expensive suit.

She opened the door, a little.

"Ms Russel?" The man's voice was smooth, cultured. "My name is Peter Hawkins. I am an attorney. I apologize for troubling you at home, at this late hour, but I have a delicate matter that must be discussed privately. I believe you will benefit from our conversation. May I come in?"

She opened the door a little more. Tried to think of what to say.

"Who do you work for?" She managed.

"Not your ex-husband, or any of his associates," Hawkins said. "If you will pardon my frankness. May I come in? I would describe my business as moderately urgent."

"I suppose," Kayden said, reluctantly opening the door fully. "But only for a moment. And please, don't be too loud. My daughter is sleeping" She flinched- why had she mentioned Aster to this- this stranger?

"Of course," Hawkins said smoothly, stepping inside. "Shall we sit?"

"This way," Kayden said, allowing instinct to take over. "Can I offer you anything to drink?"

"No, thank you," Hawkins said, following her into the living room and taking a seat on her couch- she took the chair opposite. He took his (expensive-looking) leather briefcase, laid in on the coffee table in front of him. "In fact, it is precisely your ex-husband that I wish to discuss."

"Max?" Kayden asked.

"Indeed," Hawkins said. "Although he has another name, does he not? As do you."

Kayden froze.

"Who do you work for?" She asked, raising a hand. "What do you want?"

"My employer is, among other things, the owner and proprietor of the establishment known as Elysium," Hawkins said. "He knows many things. Including the names- both adopted and real- of your husband and all of his... compatriots."

"The Keeper," Kayden breathed.

"Precisely," Hawkins said. "As for what I want- it is to discuss your future, and your ex-husband's lack of one."

"What?"

"I'm afraid I must inform you that your husband is going to die," Hawkins said. "Very soon. Not by my employer's hand. He will be killed by the one you may know as Elementalist, or perhaps Decima. My employer believes this to be inevitable, along with the deaths of many or perhaps all of his, mm, teammates."

Kayden seethed. That girl. Max had been pressing her hard to come back, and it was harder and harder for her to see why she shouldn't. Elementalist- or whatever she was calling herself- had killed Justin. She was clearly a maniac. Her hand raised.

"You're working for her?" She snarled.

"Not at all," Hawkins said, unruffled. "We are simply aware of her activities."

"But- if you know about her," Kayden stammered. "You could... you could help. Whatever it is that you want, Max-"

"I'm afraid that will not be possible," Hawkins said.

"Why not?" Kayden asked, plaintively. Justin-

"Ms. Russel," Hawkins said, "your ex-husband's organization- and his European partners- venerate an ideology that is as historically pathetic as it is morally disgusting. Such groups are beneath my employer's contempt."

Kayden flushed. She was actually trembling. She-

"My employer is not concerned with your personal beliefs," Hawkins continued. "Judging you does not serve his interests. But even if my employer was capable of preventing the unlamentable deaths of your husband, and his associates, he would make no attempt to do so. Make no mistake, Ms. Russel. Your ex-husband will die. His associates will die. His empire will die. And so will you, should you be foolish enough to attempt to aid him against Decima."

"You... you can't know that," Kayden protested, weakly- but he did. She could tell. Somehow, he truly did.

"My employer is certain," Hawkins told her. Kayden sagged back in her chair. "I trust his judgement in such matters. Which brings us to the purpose of my visit. Very soon, your husband will die or disappear. When that happens, you will inevitably be interviewed by the police. You will not speak to them without a lawyer present, either myself or should you prefer it another attorney from my firm, for which you will pay the sum of one dollar. When you do speak to the police, you will give them a signed written statement, which we will provide. This statement will detail- among other things- your decision to leave your husband due to your growing fear of your ex-husband's violent temper, and your disgust when you discovered, recently, that he had ties to a certain criminal organization; and the terror you felt when he told you of his personal friendship with the leader of said organization, who would gladly arrange for your death should you reveal any information to the authorities."

Kayden stared- that was- what was this?

"You will continue to assist the police fully," Hawkins continued. "You will tell them what we wish you to say, and nothing else. You will sign documents we give you to sign, and nothing else. You will request protection from reprisals. You will tell them that you wish to legally challenge the custody agreement between yourself and your ex-husband regarding your daughter. You will also seek custody of your stepson. Once your husband had been declared dead, you and Theodore Anders will launch a joint legal challenge against his estate, to invalidate his current will- a document in which neither of you are mentioned, by the by. In all legal matters, you may be assured that you will be met with friendly and cooperative judges. In the end, you, Aster and Theodore will all receive generous portions of Mr. Anders' personal estate, as well as his controlling interest in the Medhall corporation."

"Medhall?" Kayden sat up. She was reeling, from all of this, but that- "Is that- is that what this is about?"

"Correct," Hawkins said. "The legal implications of the revelation of your husband's other identity would be troublesome to unravel. Better if he should simply be known as a now-deceased individual of low character with suspected criminal ties. Shortly after your husband is declared dead, Medhall will be subjected to a hostile takeover. You and Theodore will not contest this. Indeed, you will arrange to sell your interests in Medhall, for which you will be well-compensated. Then, you will be offered a consulting position in a company located in any other American city of your choosing, so long as it is out of state. Chicago, for example. This offer will include a signing bonus, reimbursement for all relocation expenses, as well as a comfortable salary, which you will receive for the next five years. That should be enough time for you to arrange for other employment."

"You want me to leave town?" Kayden asked.

"Yes," Hawkins said. "We believe that if you were to continue your... hobby activities... in Brockton Bay there is at least some chance you will be caught and unmasked by law enforcement, which would then potentially reveal other identities, and cause legal complications we prefer to avoid. In general, we would advise you to curtail any such activities, although we recognize that that may not be possible."

"You... you don't know that I'd get caught," Kayden said, weakly.

"My employer prefers to eliminate such risks," Hawkins said. "In another city, another state, you will have the opportunity to reinvent yourself as you see fit. Perhaps shedding certain... associations, in the process."

"I..." Kayden's mouth worked, soundlessly. She stared. "I need... I need time."

"Of course," Hawkins said. He leaned forward, opening the clasps on his briefcase with a crisp snap, and reached in and retrieved a thick folder and placed it on the table. "Please review the details of our offer." He produced a shining silver card holder from an inside pocket, and produced a business card, laying it on top of the folder. "I believe you will find it to be in your best interests to accept. Please, feel free to contact my office at any time."

Hawkins stood- Kayden stood too, reflexively.

"One final matter," Hawkins said. "If you discuss this matter with anyone, my employer will find out. And you will face consequences that you will not enjoy. And know regret for the rest of your long, unfortunate life." He paused, letting his words sink in. "Thank you for your time. You have a lovely home. Please, allow me to show myself out."

Hawkins turned, and walked to the door.

"Have a pleasant evening, Ms. Russel," Hawkins said, nodding to her politely before turning and opening the door. "Do consider the offer."

And he walked out, closing the door smoothly behind him.

Kayden practically fell back into her chair.

It was a long time before she could bring herself to sit up, and open the folder in front of her.

But she made sure to put the business card aside safely when she did.

----

a/n: Peter Hawkins is the name of Jonathan Harker's boss in Dracula, fyi (just a shout-out)

And, so, let's just be abundantly clear that Purity is terrible and she is getting a better deal here than she deserves. Very very clear on this. But this is a crossover between Worm and the Old World of Darkness and sometimes good things happen to bad people.

Anyway enjoy.

"Kaiser's real name is Max Anders. The Chief Executive Officer of the Medhall corporation."

I froze, hand squeezing the phone hard. Everyone was staring at me. The Undersiders, the trio of Coil's mercenaries, and the man who had handed me this phone- he actually took a step back.

"Why are you telling me this," I said.

"As I said, I thought you might find the information useful."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

There was a moment of silence, and I could almost feel the Vampire smile.

"Because it's time for you to repay a favor," he said. "And because the manner of Coil's death suggests to me that you can do what I need you to do."

"And what's that?"

"I'd like very much for Max to disappear," he told me. "He can die, of course. I have no issue with that. But I'd like for it to happen in a way that leaves... doubt, as to his fate."

"Why?" I asked again, hating the way that this conversation had turned- he, it, was in control here, and we both knew it.

"That information costs," the Vampire told me. "And you already owe me. Suffice it to say that his death complicates plans his disappearance simplifies."

I thought furiously.

"And if it happened it in such a way that he disappeared, but his identity became public knowledge?" I asked, after a moment.

"That would also complicate things for me," the Vampire said. "And I wouldn't like that. Nor would I consider it adequate repayment for the favor of telling you his name. Let alone your other debts."

"I think I understand," I said.

"Good," he said.

I ended the call, dropping the phone into a pocket- I'd destroy it later. Right now I had other things to deal with. I took a deep breath, well aware that everyone in the room was staring at me.

"Coil is dead," I said, before Tattletale could open her mouth- and I could tell just how much she wanted to. "That was me. What about him?" I gestured to the other corpse on the floor- the mercenary.

"He was loyal to our previous employer," the man who had handed me the phone said. "Or at least loyal enough to be a problem."

"And them?" I nodded toward the other three mercs standing behind him.

"Well paid to reconsider such ties," the man said.

"Why do this?"

"I didn't ask," the man said, almost sounding honestly surprised. "I was simply told to assist you, and this one-" he gestured at Tattletale- "said they were working with you."

I hummed thoughtfully, glancing at Tattletale. 'With', was it? That might need to be dealt with, at some point- but not now. Probably she was just playing to her team and/or the mercenaries, which was fine.

"They came in just after you left," Tattletale added, eyes still fixed on me. "I dropped your name trying to talk them down."

"Yeah, and then that one shot the other guy in the back when he started yelling for us to get on the ground," Regent added. "Total twist ending." Grue sighed.

"I see," I said. I turned back to the mercenaries. "You all know that Coil was trying to have me killed. I consider that fair justification for killing him first." I pointed to the body. "It was not difficult to accomplish. And now we have everything. All his assets. His money. This place. Everything. Which means that you, and all the rest of your coworkers, are out of a job. Luckily, we're hiring." I turned my gaze to the Vampire's minion. "Not you."

He just nodded.

"You three, go and tell your colleagues what's happened. Tell them that Coil is dead," I said to the others. "Tell them that if they want to keep getting paid, they are to disarm immediately. Once that's done, we'll be doing interviews. If they don't like that, or if we don't like them, then we'll buy them a plane ticket with no hard feelings. Anyone who doesn't come to work for us will have 24 hours to get out of this city. And tell them that I will henceforth assume that anyone who brings a weapon into my presence is still trying to kill me, and will react accordingly, and without hesitation. Go."

"And me?" The vampire's minion asked, as the other three left- slowly, with a few furtive glances at each other and a general air of uncertainty.

"I'm assuming you won't have a problem answering any of Tattletale's questions," I said. "About Coil's operations, that is." I gave Tattletale a meaningful glance, but at some point she had slid into Coil's chair and didn't bother to look up from his computer, just giving me an off-handed wave as she continued to stare at the screen.

"I'm going to go check on Dinah, so I'd like someone to move those," I said, gesturing at the corpses lying on the floor. "Put them in there, and maybe get some pillows and blankets for her. Oh, and clean up the blood."

Grue's helmet turned toward the bodies, and then back to me, and he shifted his weight uncomfortably. Coil's ex-minion was already picking up the body of the man he had shot. None of the other Undersiders moved. One of the dogs growled.

"Please?" I offered. Grue sighed softly, and bent to grab Coil's legs- I heard him gag quietly, at the smell I assumed. "Thank you."

I turned and went back into the secret tunnel. Dinah was still just where I'd left her, and I bent to check her quickly- she was a little pale, but her breathing was steady and her pulse seemed strong, but I didn't exactly have the tools or time to check her humors more properly. Grunting a little at the weight- I needed to remember that I had the arm strength of an unmuscular teenage girl- I picked her up and carried her back into Coil's office.

Someone had laid a blanket over the pool of blood, and Regent was halfheartedly shoving it around with his foot, in what might theoretically have counted as an attempt to mop it up. As I came back in, Grue returned with a pillow, and balled up sheet, laying them out like a makeshift bedroll in the corner of the room.

"Is she OK?" Grue asked quietly, as I laid Dinah down.

"I think so," I told him. "But I don't know what they were giving her. She should probably see a doctor sooner rather than later."

"Cool, whatever," Regent interrupted. "Hey, are we gonna talk about the whole thing where you're working with that guy's Master and making guys disappear? Maybe I wasn't really paying attention to the planning process, but I definitely don't remember that part."

"Regent may be an idiot-" Grue began.

"Hey!" Regent protested.

"Sometimes," Grue conceded. "But he's not wrong. You're partnered with some Master, and you didn't tell us. It doesn't look good."

I sighed, adjusting the pillow under Dinah before straightening up and turning to face the Undersiders- suspicion was plain, even in Rachel and Regent's weird auras.

"If it helps, I think the whole 'Master' thing is just him being pretentious," I said. Well, lied. None of them looked particularly convinced. "If I had known that this was going to happen, I would have told you." That, at least, was true.

"You're not answering the question," Grue said.

"Elysium," I said.

"Oh, good, she's just crazy," Regent said, after a moment.

"Regent-"

"What, we all know to stay clear of that guy," Regent said. "That's like... Brockton rule number... maybe not one, but top five for sure."

"I needed information, when I started," I said. "Now we trade favors."

"Great," Grue muttered. "Listen, you cannot trust the Keeper. He is seriously bad news. If you'd heard half the stories I've heard-"

"Whatever you've heard, the truth is probably worse," I said. "He's... incredibly dangerous, and you absolutely should stay away from him- from Elysium in general. Everything else is my business. It won't be a problem for you."

"Tattletale?"

"I don't think she's lying," Tattletale said. "Well- she doesn't think she's lying. But that doesn't mean I like this any more than you do."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, being mounted on a spike isn't my idea of a good time," Tattletale said. "Seriously, if there was one cape in the city you shouldn't cross-"

"It's me," I interrupted her,

"oooh," Regent said, so softly I almost didn't hear him.

"Look," I said. "This doesn't concern you. I'm handling the situation. None of you ever need to get involved. It won't affect our arrangement, I promise."

"We're not going to go down with you if- when this blows up in your face," Grue said. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine," I said.

"Oh, also, I think the kid's awake," Regent said, gesturing lazily with his scepter. I whirled, just in time to see Dinah's eyes slam shut as she pretended- badly- to be unconscious.

"It's OK," I said. "You're safe. Nobody's going to hurt you."

Dinah just lay there.

"We can all tell you're awake," Tattletale said, irritably. Dinah's mouth moved, so slightly I almost didn't see it, and then she flinched, and open her eyes.

"W-w-who are you?" She asked, trembling- a little theatrically, I thought. Although, for a twelve-year-old, it wasn't a terrible performance. "What- what's going on?"

"I'm Decima," I said. "These are the Undersiders. We're here to take you home."

She flinched again, almost seeming more fearful.

"I- I don't-" She stuttered, looking around at us all until her eyes finally fixed on me. "It's you. You're the one-" she sat up, looking around the room as if just realizing where she was. "This is Coil's room! He-"

"He's gone," I said. "He can't ever hurt anyone again."

"He was afraid of you," Dinah said, staring at me. "He wanted me to help make his power work on you. He got so mad when I told him you made the numbers strange."

"Numbers?" Tattletale asked, standing up from her chair. Dinah flinched.

"Your power?" I asked. Dinah nodded, nervously. "It's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." I resisted the urge to give Tattletale a look. I was pretty confident that she, and the rest of the Undersiders, would take my point. Dinah blinked at me, pulling her legs up to her chest, and hugging herself.

"What happens now?" Dinah asked.

"I have to help Tattletale with a few things here," I said. "After that, we can take you home. Or, if you don't want to stay here, Grue and Regent can take you now."

"But... what do you want?" Dinah asked.

"From you? Nothing," I told her- she narrowed her eyes at me like she didn't believe me. I suppose it was hard to blame her for that. "I promise."

"We've got company coming," Tattletale said. I turned to look. She had a security camera feed open on Coil's computer, and I could see some of his mercenaries approaching. They didn't appear to be armed, but I wasn't exactly in a trusting mood.

"Grue," I said, "Tattletale and I need to be here for this- could you and the others maybe take Dinah home?"

Grue hesitated- he pretty clearly wanted to stay- but I saw his helmet turn as if he was glancing at Regent and Rachel, pretty visibly considering the wisdom of putting either of them in charge of Dinah. He sighed.

"It's okay," Dinah said, pushing herself to her feet, a little unsteadily and walking over to stand beside Tattletale. "I can stay."

"Are you sure?" I asked, surprised. She nodded. "Okay, then."

"Regent, can you actually finish that?" Grue grumbled. Regent heaved a put-upon sigh, and bent to scrub- lazily- at the floor before finally picking up the now-bloody blanket and tossing it at the door to what had been Dinah's room. He missed. Not only that, he had left a number of bloody streaks on the floor. Dinah's eyes widened as she looked at it.

"Did you-"

"They're coming in," Tattletale interrupted. "Remember to let me do the talking."

"I'm walking my dogs," Rachel suddenly announced. Everyone turned to her.

"Dammit, Bitch," Grue started.

"They don't like being in here with her," Rachel said, glaring at me. It was true- I had been trying to ignore them, but the dogs had been fixated warily on me all this time, which was a little disconcerting given their current size and appearance.

"Don't go far," Grue said, after a moment. "And answer your phone."

Rachel scoffed, and led the dogs out to Coil's escape hallway.

That was when the door opened, and the first of Coil's men walked in- hands raised, and empty, thankfully.

After that, it was mostly boring- Tattletale and sometimes Grue asking the mercenaries questions. Dinah occasionally leaned in to whisper into Tattletale's ear, which surprised me.

I didn't really pay a lot of attention, beyond keeping a vague eye on everyone's auras. I was far more focused on looking for any sign or sense that we were being remotely observed.

Unsurprisingly, none of the mercenaries seemed to have any great loyalty to Coil, unless it was those that had already fled the base entirely. The rest seemed entirely happy to keep getting paid.

A few of them Tattletale rejected, at least once based on whispered advice from Dinah, and I was forced to reiterate my threat/promise to give them time to flee the city- but none of them were stupid enough to bring in any weapons, or otherwise try to pick a fight with a room full of Capes.

Finally, it was over. Tattletale took a little bit more time to fully go through Coil's files, and search the room, and whatever else she was doing, but eventually we made our way back out into the parking garage.

"You can never go back there," I told the Undersiders, as we were climbing into their van- apparently, Rachel would make her own way back to their lair. "Never. None of you. It's not secure."

I hadn't sensed any sign that the place was being watched, but it didn't mean that that would always be so. It made sense to me that anyone watching Coil might not be watching him full-time, and the last thing I needed would be to have Tattletale or one of her team-mates get spotted by the Fallen.

"You think Coil had partners," Tattletale said. I nodded. She hummed thoughtfully.

Grue drove, and as we drove, I noticed Dinah looking more and more frightened.

"They won't take me back," she whispered, finally.

"Of course they will," I said.

"I saw it," Dinah whispered. "Before I ever met Coil. The fear in their eyes. When I said the numbers and I was right. They're scared of me. They were relieved when I got taken. They won't want me now that I'm free."

"They do," I told her. She shook her head, curling up into a ball. She was pale, and I could see beads of sweat at her brow. She was coming down, I realized, from whatever those other Capes had given her to try to keep her asleep- I suspected they had under-dosed her, out of caution and ignorance. "I know that they do."

"You don't," Dinah said.

"I saw your mother," I told her. "When I was looking for you. I saw her, and I know. I looked into her mind and her heart and I saw how much she missed you and wanted to have you back."

"I look weird-" Dinah started.

"Dinah," I interrupted her, leaning awkwardly to lock eyes with her in the back of the van. "Your parents want you back. They missed you. They love you. I won't lie to you, it won't be perfect, when you get home. But it will be better. It will be better than all this. Every day, a little better, and soon, all of this will be nothing more than a distant memory."

As I spoke, I was focusing my will, summoning feelings of safety and calm, and pushing them into Dinah. Manipulative, yes, but I didn't want her to have a panic attack. She looked fragile enough. She sat back in her seat, eyelids drooping a little.

"Did you just-" Tattletale whispered, barely audible, but I shushed her with a gesture.

Finally, we arrived, parking a little way down the street from the Alcott house.

"Take her home," I told Grue, as he was helping Dinah out of the van- she was still a little unsteady. "Make sure you tell her parents she needs to see a doctor, tonight."

"You don't want to do it?" Grue sounded surprised.

"This should be an Undersiders thing," I said. "Leave my name out of it."

"You want us to take the credit?" Tattletale asked. I nodded.

"You remember that we're Villains?" Regent asked.

"'The Undersiders might rob your bank, but they're not going to hurt your kids'," I mock-quoted. "Ideally, you're going to be the only major Villain group in this city for the foreseeable future. It would be helpful if people saw you as the least of this city's various evils. Remember, 'a prince ought to make himself dreaded only in such a way that if he cannot be loved he should at least not be hated.'"

"Yeah, uh, I don't speak Italian," Regent said, after a moment. I blinked.

'Il Principe farsi temere in modo, che, se non acquista l'amore, e' fugga l'odio'. That was what I had said. After all, why not. I had only ever read Il Principe in the original Italian.

"Machiavelli," I said, awkwardly. "It's good to make people fear you, but you shouldn't make them hate you." I coughed. The Undersiders- and Dinah, and especially Tattletale were all staring at me as if I'd grown a second head. Or, well, as if I'd just started speaking in tongues. "Will you just go?"

"Sure," Tattletale said, still eyeing me.

I sighed. This was getting to be a problem. On the bright side, maybe it had distracted Tattletale- the truth was, more than anything else, I just didn't want to be witness to a tearful parent-child reunion right now, and I was sort of hoping that Tattletale wouldn't pick up on it. Keeping a little bit of a lower profile was also a concern, of course, as well as giving the Undersiders' reputation a boost. But that was the main reason.

Instead, I stood by the van and watched Grue and the others lead Dinah back to her home.

And then I left, before they could get back.

---

a/n: fun fact- no, un-fun-fact, I lost a big chunk of this to a power outage and then got so frustrated I didn't even want to look at it for a long time. FUN.

Also, I lifted a little bit of this straight from whichever chapter of Worm Dinah goes home in (Queen something? I forget), which is where I also found out that Dinah's mom has a canonical name, oops.

Lastly, I'm hoping that the whole Machiavelli quote thing isn't too goofy, I just want to keep referencing the idea that her past lives are weird in her brain.