5.x

Tattletale Interlude

Despite what I thought about Coil, I had to admit, things were pretty good with him in charge. Did that mean I wanted to be under his thumb? Hell no! The fact that he recruited me at gun point was another point against him. Hell, even if he came at me diplomatically I would've turned him down and walked away from the creepy son of a bitch. It was probably why he went with the gun method honestly.

No matter how useful I was to him now, I was under no illusion that he wouldn't shoot me if he didn't need me anymore. If I wasn't so awesome, I'd be depressed. I didn't mind having people in charge of me, in fact I preferred being the power behind the throne so to speak. I just didn't like being controlled. If I was going to follow you around, I wanted the choice.

"Hey Lisa, how's your leg?" Case in point, Brian, the current official leader of the Undersiders. As much as I manipulated him I had to admit he was a good guy. I didn't mind him being in charge of me, of him telling me what to do because at the end of the day, he didn't force me. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that he cared about the team, our success and our survival.

"Yeah, I'm good, not even a limp any more!" I did a quick skip showing him that the shrapnel from Bakuda's explosives hadn't hindered my movement.

"Good, good." He nodded before walking off. He didn't say it, but I could tell he was getting anxious. Ever since the run in with the ABB at the docks with Uber and Leet we had been laying low. All Brian's idea of course but it was something that we all agreed on. However with a relatively long period of quiet, even he was getting impatient despite the relatively recent jobs.

Lots of factors contributed to this of course. Rachel of was the most obvious. While she was content to be left alone with her dogs I could tell that she was more agitated than usual. While we wouldn't be hurting for money in a while she always was concerned when no jobs came through. Alec was content to just lay around, any agency either non-existent or muted but today was different. He was getting on our nerves on purpose, like he was craving attention or conflict.

It wasn't just the team that Brian was worried about but also our reputation. If we stayed dark too long, it'd look like we were cowards.

It was one thing to get away from every robbery without a fight but it was another to stay hidden.

This nervous energy is exactly what I needed, because without it I wasn't sure if I could convince anyone to follow Coil's insane plan. What was this insane plan you ask?

Well we had to interrupt a Wards media debut where all the local heroes were present!

Not just interrupt them either, we had to kick their asses and just leave. In his words, we had to humiliate them! No way this could possibly go wrong, right?

We had just finished a high stakes bank robbery and escaped the ABB (again) and as much as I was sure that Brian wanted to continue doing big stuff to cement his name, I was skeptical that he'd go for this without some major manipulation and quite frankly, that wasn't something I wanted to do.

But as I learnt oh so long ago, sometimes what you wanted to do and what you actually do are two very different things. So I took a deep breath and began going over what I'd tell Brian and the rest of the team.

============

It was going as well as I had expected it would.

"Too risky." Brian predictably replied. "With every Hero there it's not a question of if they'll capture us, it's a question of when, Miss Militia alone could take us out with a rocket launcher."

I just waved him off, dismissing his exaggerated concerns. He knew that Miss Militia wouldn't resort to such force, he was simply trying to make a point and he replied on my power to pick that up, which I of course did.

"Too many civilians around, they won't want to risk anything, especially on camera." I explained. "Besides, I have it on good authority that Armsmaster won't be around."

"Oh, the guy in the power armor and the halberd won't be there?" Brian rolls his eyes. "I guess that just leaves the guy with a super powered lance, the electric lady who can run through a wall, her boyfriend who can also do that and Miss Militia who has all the guns not to mention every other Ward." He crossed his arms as if he wasn't going to budge on this issue. "I feel so much better about our chances."

I looked to the side to see what our other, less vocal teammates thought. Bitch just huffed.

"Hey." Regent calls out with an easy grin. "If you're such a pussy about getting caught, you can always tell them that you're only evil because I Mastered you or something." Terrible idea and I tell him so.

"If they believe him then you're painting yourself as Heartbreaker 2.0." He shifted slightly at that. His reaction was subdued but I saw it. Interesting… "Which of course means huge target on the rest of us, assuming we escape in the first place and of course if they don't believe him, we're still down a leader." And frankly having any of our remaining members take up that mantle was not a happy thought, myself included.

"Assuming we escape?" Brian asked again with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing is ever one hundred percent is all I'm saying." I told him.

"Alright, just get on with it." He huffed. "What makes you think we have a chance in hell in doing this?"

"Well for one, the crowds." He nodded impatiently as I repeated my point. "Besides stopping the heroes from using their flashier powers, we can sort of use them as a smoke screen, a pseudo hostage situation if you will."

"We might've used that tactic before but we're not talking about making two or three heroes hesitate, we're talking about a dozen Capes, we'd be outnumbered three to one!"

"Technically they have thirteen Capes." He scowled at that. "And it's not three to one, we have the dogs."

Speaking of which… "Bad odds, don't like it." Bitch piped up.

Looks like I was losing ground. I had to do this job though. I could tell that Coil was almost desperate for it. If I wanted to be free from his grip I had to get a better sense of his powers and motives and this was the best way to do it. I'd have to play along for now.

"Cash." I spoke grabbing their attention. "The boss is willing to fork over ten times more than usual for this job."

They all paused and I was afraid that the number was too high.

"That's suspicious as FUCK!" Alec called out, but I noticed he hadn't rejected the money out of hand. In fact, his grin and almost eager posture told the opposite story.

"Why does he want us to do this so bad?" Brian asked. I smirked, I had him listening to my words at least.

"In his own words, he wanted us to get a reputation." Brian nodded. Using the specific word 'reputation' resonated with him. "I only half believe him, I'm under the impression that we're also a distraction for a different project of his."

"So what? We're expendable then?" He spat. "Look, I'm grateful for what he's done and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but if we're just distractions…"

"You can be a distraction and still be valuable." I told him. "He wouldn't have invested so much into us if he didn't think it'd pay off."

"Maybe this is the pay off?" Alec mentioned. "A one shot distraction so he can kidnap Armsmaster! I bet that's why he's missing!"

Brian rolled his eyes, clearly not believing him and frankly neither did I. Armsmaster was an accomplished Tinker and Hero of which there was no doubt. But for Coil to consider kidnapping the man, he would've had to build some sort of sustainable Tinker Tech and even then, the amount of turmoil that would come from removing the leader of the local heroes would make any advantage gained minimal at best.

Something that wouldn't be worth sacrificing the Undersiders for.

"No, he's got other plans." I told him. "I don't know what they are but we can trust him for now."

"Lisa, you spoke to him and I trust you… did your powers say anything about him stabbing us in the back?"

"Nope!" I replied confidently. "He wants us to succeed." I didn't have to lie there. Coil might've been a slimy scumbag but he truly did want us to pull this off.

"So, we're getting extra money." Brian confirmed. "And we're confident the boss isn't trying to get rid of us. That still doesn't explain how we're going to pull this off."

"Well, that's where these come in." It was then I grabbed a suitcase. Opening the box I showed off our new toys, more specifically security cards.

It was then, I began detailing my plan.

============

Our saving grace was that we were outside in the park where anyone could attend these events, thus the security didn't search anyone for weapons. No metal detectors, no pat downs and most importantly, no advanced Armsmaster Tinker Tech scanners. Honestly the hired security was probably just for show, the real security were the heroes themselves. With that in mind, we were able to smuggle everything in ahead of time. Equipment was replaced and soon the trap was set. We could only hope that the PRT wouldn't be able to find anything in their sweep before the show.

On the day itself we all hid throughout the crowds wearing novelty hero masks. Both Alec and I both had Clockblocker, if nothing else I could appreciate his tastes. Brian hadn't cared at all and wore a Dauntless mask. Only Bitch was absent from the crowds, her powers and dogs necessitating a different starting point.

The area was packed and as the media debut for Browbeat continued I grinned. I looked over to the side and began climbing a tree, something noone else besides the other Undersiders were doing.

"Hey!" Someone shouted. "Get down from there! You'll hurt yourself." It was then I pressed the button that I had hidden up there.

The cameras pointed at the heroes suddenly exploded into action. The lens shattered outwards revealing the payload! Containment Foam! They were all gathered up for a photo opportunity, a perfect chance to get them all at once! It couldn't have gone any better for us if we tried!

Sabotaging PRT equipment would've been impossible. But media equipment? Well, considering we were getting paid a lot more then usual meant that we were willing to put in the extra work.

Then panicked confusion set in. I ripped off my overly baggy clothes to reveal my skin tight purple suit. The Clockblocker mask came off as well, dazzling everyone with my smile. Grue had quickly put on his own helmet, hidden in the trees before discarding the cheap plastic Dauntless one while Regent retrieved his scepter from another concealed branch.

"GIVE IT UP FOR THE UNDERSIDERS!" I shouted into a conveniently placed microphone. "FEATURING GRUE! REGENT! THE LOVELY TATTLETALE AND OF COURSE…"

Already channeling his powers Grue had covered the streets with his darkness.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRR!!!!!"

"BITCH!" Bursting onto the scene through the cloud came our getaway ride.

Well, everything had gone to shit for the good guys. It was kind of funny to be honest. With the Heroes covered in containment foam it certainly fit with the boss's 'humiliation' criteria. All but one of the cameras were damaged, we still wanted this to be recorded.

The new kid, Browbeat tried to struggle his way out but brute force wasn't going to cut it with this stuff.

"RARRGHHH!" Triumph shouted. The fact that he was only buried from the neck down didn't stop him from using his powers blasting me away from atop the tree I landed on my butt with nothing more serious than a large bruise. Unfortunately for my ear drums I was still holding onto the mic. With his shout and the amplifying qualities of the speakers the mic was attached to, everyone there was deafened.

Shit.

I turned to Bitch and her dogs. I couldn't hear them but judging by how they twisted around, it was clear that they were in pain.

The civilians had already fled the scene, ushered out by the non-superpowered white hats. Well, this looked like enough damage and honestly I didn't want to stick around for Glory Girl to turn up like at the Bank heist. Considering what happened with Panacea I was confident that New Wave wouldn't be around but better safe than sorry as they say.

Eventually my hearing returned. It was possible that the Heroes could've escaped with their powers but everyone grouped up for the photo opportunity it was also a real possibility that they could've hurt themselves or each other to do so. The fact that Triumph had deafened everyone was proof of that.

"You're not getting away this time!" Shadow Stalker shouted. Her presence was predictable.

She was one of the few Wards that was immune to the containment foam as she could just shift right through it. She had a real hate boner for Grue, seems like she blamed him for her leg breaking at the bank.

Was hit whilst in his darkness.

Undersiders know better then to go into said Darkness at high enough speeds for injuries to occur outside of specific circumstances.

Shout of pain only occurred after Glory Girl had entered the scene.

Only healed up due to Panacea being on the scene.

Was too upset to realise real source of pain.​

I smirked. I already had come to that conclusion but it was still fun to think about. Still, I needed to either bring her down or distract her. Triumph didn't shout at me again, his ears no doubt more affected then I due to the fact that he was on stage next to all the speakers. Still, despite Shadow Stalker's hate for Grue I had painted a target on myself by using the microphone to announce our presence. She lined up a shot and fired, however I didn't bother to dodge, I had no need. It went wide, hitting a fleeing civilian.

Regent's work of course, just as planned. She cried out in frustration as she lost control of her arm.

"Shadow Stalker!" Miss Militia shouted. "Stop firing! You'll hit an innocent!" Judging how the Ward reacted I assumed that her hearing had returned enough to understand that command. As a reply she threw down one of her crossbows in frustration and turned into a cloud of smoke flying towards us.

Miss Militia hadn't seen Shadow Stalker hit the civilian from earlier.

Containment foam restricted head movement.

Recognised the sound of a crossbow being used.

Assumed the attack had missed.​

Shadow Stalker was then covered in Grue's darkness.

"Time we get out of here." Called Grue. "These heroes have had enough for today!" Despite his bravado he was obviously nervous. He was professional about it of course but it was clear to me that he wanted to get to safety before Shadow Stalker could either get into melee range with us or get a clear shot. Between the four of us, we could've brought her down but once again, we didn't want to risk a third party intervening.

The Heroes glared daggers at us as we made good our getaway, the civilians had long since cleared. Only a few full hearty civilians and members of the press remained intent on taking our pictures with their own hand held cameras which we of course hadn't or couldn't sabotage.

Another part of humiliating the PRT was having the media see it and by extension the rest of the public. The idea of hiring Leet and Uber to record this event using their drones had crossed my mind earlier but of course was quickly dismissed.

Climbing onto one of the dogs Bitch grunted and they shot off.

"See?" I smirked. "I told you it'd all work out."

"Better be worth it." Bitch growled. "Ears hurt."

"Wasn't that bad, your power helps out with that." I replied referring to her dogs. On one hand their hearing became more sensitive. On the other, they were tougher. Considering that they weren't whining or pawing at their ears anymore was a good sign.

She fumed, unable or unwilling to reply. Her agitation was clear, but she'd play ball with us for now. I made a mental note to avoid her in the coming days and let her cool off. Hopefully nothing would happen to piss her off even more.

Rounding the corner we managed to eventually get out of the public eye. Just to be sure we split up before making our way back to our safe house. It seemed I was the last one to come back.

Alec was already on the couch playing video games, Brian was dusting off his jacket and while I couldn't see Rachael around, I noted that there was a fresh layer of dog hair near the door indicating her presence.

"I think we could've done more." Alec noted. "I wanted to draw a dick on someone's face, seriously, with all that containment foam it would've been perfect."

"Did you even bring a pen?" Asked Brian.

"No…. but the fans did!" He grinned pulling out an autographed picture of Miss Militia with a crudely drawn penis on it.

I laughed, I just couldn't help it. While Coil continued to plot, I was just happy that we pulled through and right now that's all that mattered to me. I'd get out of this mess and I'd drag the rest of the Undersiders out of it to, even if they wouldn't know it.

Edit: As pointed out, we had Alex hanging out with the Undersiders. This Stranger has been caught and replaced by Alec.