We don't go boom

With Coil taken down, the worry about the Snake slipping away and escaping was nill. So he started to send clone after clone to clean up the base and get it under control.

He could have slipped away with his unconscious victim, but there was value here. Coil had a vast amount of money underneath his fingertips, and while he had no clue how to deal with that, Lisa did. So he would not take any chance of one of these Mercs ruining his good deed.

There was a danger of the Mercs blowing up this base underneath his relentless assault, but he figured it was unlikely. Coil would never want that option available to anyone but him, which was respectable. He would not want a button that could blow himself up slipping out of his grasp either.

There was still a chance, but he was at the core of the base. Coil's office should override any other order, and while he could not figure out the passwords easily, Lisa would. Hell, he could wake Coil up to disable the fucking thing.

Something told him that the Snake would very much not want to die in a fiery explosion. It was not like Coil could threaten him with his own death. Cole could slip out of here whenever he wished.

Yeah, effectively bombing a part of the city would be devastating, and he was planning on doing everything that he could to stop it, but he was prepared to put the lives of his loved ones above all of this.

Even if that price was something that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The resources that this place could provide were just that worth it, if only to increase the energy levels of his System. He was already sitting with a frankly baffling amount of energy from getting the Undersiders underneath his heel.

Perhaps it was arrogant risking such a horrible thing, but he thought he had it under control. It was not like the Mercs would not know that Coil had some issues.

Before he had sent out his clones to take care of things, Coil ran an entire Mag into him. While this base was large, the sound of such frantic gunfire was bound to catch attention. So he had to do something about them either way, but he doubted the protocol for their boss being missing was to blow up the base.

Cole let out a sigh and kicked the downed Snake. Knowing what he knew about the guy, Accord might come breathing down his neck as a contingency, which was fine. Accord was reasonable in comparison to the control freak, Coil.

Okay, reasonable was a stretch, but Cole figured he could deal with Accord in a more pleasant manner. It was also not like he could afford to drop his holdings in Boston to attack Brockton Bay. It was not worth it economically and would introduce him to a whole new set of foes. 

So Accord was not someone he was all that worried about. Cauldron was an issue, but he should be able to coast by that. Coil did not strike him as all that important to them. 

Cole felt his lips twitch as Lisa took down Brian. The way things were going on with the Undersiders was unexpected. His Clone had transported Tattletale to make her deal, but he stuck around in case she needed help.

He figured Alec would be a nightmare for Lisa to deal with as the guy was more than familiar with her nervous System, even if he did not show it. It turns out that was not even an issue. Oddly enough, Cole solved that problem child.

RCT was amazing, but he never expected the sheer rush of positive energy to have such a drastic effect on the boy. Then again, Cole was almost addicted to it himself, and he had a typical mindset. For a boy with dull and muted emotions, the sheer positive rush would be enthralling.

Seeing Lisa stress out over everything being so god-damn easy for her was amusing. He knew where she was coming from. The girl wanted to prove her usefulness, but she really picked the wrong angle here. Sure, her showing off her competence was great, and her help with taking over Coil's network would be amazing, but that was not why he appreciated her.

It boiled down to Tammi. She needed the help, and Cole knew Lisa was capable of helping her. Even if there were people better suited to help in that regard. Beyond that, having Lisa in his circle of influence was slowly adding energy to his pool, and that was worth the price of having her around.

Fuck it, he wanted Coil's assets just to have them, so she was free to do whatever she wanted with them. This was something that was sure to surprise her, but Coil's vast wealth was really worth next to nothing to him.

The world was ending, and he needed the power his System could provide to save the day. He needed that power to protect everything he held dear. Finally, he needed that power to bring back all that he had lost.

Petty wealth really lost its allure when faced with that comparison. Although having that wealth would make his thefts easier.

Gunfire and alarms started ringing out throughout the base. It was a bit worrying, but considering the fact that the men were continuing the fight against him, instead of evacuating, he figured everything was still within control.

The clones he sent out were expendable, but they also had RCT. So the Mercs were dealing with a horde of nigh unkillable Capes who could take them down quickly. They did not have access to his inventory, so the Clones had to rely on brute force for the most part, but Kaito was pretty good at non-lethal takedowns.

He went to the computer where Coil was sitting and started interacting with it. He was not Lisa, but Kaito Kid really had a handle on cyber security for the most part. A fact that he was able to prove earlier when he broke into the security room.

As he started getting control of everything, he let out a sigh of relief. The alarm was to alert everyone in the base of the intruder. It was not a prelude to an explosion that would take out the entire city block above his head, which took a load off of his mind, even if he found that it was a very real worry.

If he wanted, he could use this terminal to blow this place sky-high. Coil really was a bond villain who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Cole was also able to find the secret entrances to this place and the escape tunnel that was only available to Coil.

Seeing that his worries were alleviated for the most part. Cole shut down the alarm, blaring around the base as it was annoying to hear. He was sure that the Mercs would be freaking out even more at the alarm being taken out, but he was not all that concerned about them.

It was time to meet his new minions. Lisa managed to get the room under control after all. So Cole hefted Lisa's victim over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. After that, he swapped locations with the Clone that was keeping track of The Undersiders.

He walked down that familiar staircase while whistling that jaunty tune once more. As he made his way down, he heard an exasperated sigh coming from Lisa and Brian breaking down from his world view being assaulted.

As he entered the room, he noticed what was happening there. Alec's masked face lit up as he caught sight of Cole. Rachel focused on him with everything she had before grunting and marching towards Cole. Brian was on the ground, not reacting to anything and mumbling something to himself.

Lisa was the one who let out that sigh. Seeing Rachel walking towards Cole, she made to say something before pausing. She read something and let it pass.

"Wake up, my dogs," Rachel demanded with a tone that said there was no point in arguing. Cole looked at her for a moment before shrugging and putting Coil down on the ground absently.

"Might as well," Cole spoke out, walking calmly towards her dogs. Rachel was watching like a hawk, but the sense of anger he was getting from her faded as he agreed.

Lisa was watching this byplay with an amused smile, but she looked away to glare at the comatose Coil. The finger holding onto the gun in her hand twitched, but she held herself back for now.

Cole tapped the two dogs and flooded them with RCT. Awakening them from their slumber and incidentally healing them to the peak of their health. The rottweiler's stubby tail twitched and swelled as the missing flesh sprung out of it. The German Shepherd tilted its head, and some of its flesh wiggled, but Cole could not tell what was being healed.

The two dogs looked over at Cole, enthralled at the positive emotions being thrown at them, but as he stopped RCT, that faded. They seemed to recognize him, and the both of them growled and were preparing to take action, but a sharp whistle from Rachel stopped that.

Cole looked over at Rachel, who was again laser-focused on him.

"You can heal dogs?" She asked in the same sort of no-nonsense tone that she used earlier. He wanted to give her a shrug and a playful smile, but that would not roll with this girl, so he decided to keep things simple and direct.

"Yes, I am a healer, among other things," Cole spoke out, and that gathered some mutterings from Lisa.

"Can attest to that; Brutus and Judas over there really messed me up, but when the Bossman healed me, I was perfectly fine," Alec spoke out from his position on the couch. The dude was giving Cole a flattering smile that had him on edge.

"You will heal my dogs?" Rachel asked again directly. Cole blinked but figured that would be her main interest.

"Yeah, no problem. You will find working for me has the best health benefits, and as far as I am concerned, your dogs are my dogs, so they get the same treatment." Cole spoke out, explaining his stance. Alec seemed to relax further at his words. 

"Good, you're the boss," Rachel spoke out simply before heading towards her dogs and petting them to calm their excited mood. Alec nodded along and gave a thumbs up to express his take.

Lisa let out a sigh, went over to Coil, and kicked the guy. Brian, on the other hand, finally seemed to recover from his broken worldview. He let out a deep, helpless laugh, sat up from the ground, and faced Cole.

"Great, betrayed on all sides." Brian spat out as he looked over at Cole with a bitter smile. Cole looked over at him for a moment as if trying to gauge how to handle him. Brian might want to use his powers to make a break for it but Alec would take care of that. Brian was also not fully an idiot now that his emotions had some time to cool down.

"Look, Brian, this is not as bad as you think. In fact, this is far better for you. The boss over there took over Coil's organization, so if there is anything Coil could do for you, he can do it as well. In fact, he is probably willing to actually help instead of holding it over your head like Coil did. The guy's got a bleeding heart, after all." Lisa spoke out as she looked over from her position.

Brian let out a scoff, but some of the tension that was building on his shoulders was let go.

"I'm just supposed to believe that? You already talked me into a shitty deal once. How can I trust your word now?" Brian spat out, and Lisa sighed at his question.

"Don't trust our words then; trust our actions. Coil has already been taken out, and you are not going to escape with the Snake by yourself, so there is no point in thinking about that route. You might as well play around with us until you get what you want. If you want to get out of this life after that, then do so. I don't care, but you would be giving up a vast amount of money and Cape healing that could quite literally save the life of what you hold dear." Cole spoke out his two cents.

Lisa frowned at Cole speaking out here as she wanted to prove herself, but he needed Brian underneath him to get that energy. Brian bristled at the mention of what was precious to him but actually looked like he was considering his words.

The guy was looking over at the unconscious Coil but looked away when Lisa gave him a vicious glare.

"Fine, you're the boss," Brian spoke out flippantly as he marched towards the couch and sat down, ignoring everything around him like a sullen child.

Lisa let out a sigh but faced Cole with a pleasant smile. She was likely going to ask something, but Alec beat her to it.

"Hey Bossman, can I have my cane back? That thing was expensive." Alec asked, breaking the tension. Cole gave him an amused smile, but that was not happening. He stole it fair and square and he quite liked how it fit with his costume.