24

Summary:

Lisa!

I should preface this by saying I tweaked Lisa's power. It's mostly identical to canon, with one major change. Try to figure out what! I'll reveal it in the footnote.

...formatting ate all the indents for Lisa's power insights. I'm going to just try and ignore that for now.

Starting to really hate HTML formatting.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

THU FEB 24

Lisa hated her boss.

This wasn't a particularly uncommon trait, especially considering her status as a pretty white teenaged girl from a fairly wealthy family, stuck in her very first job which she didn't want, having been forced on her by someone with authority over her life because they thought they knew better.

She snorted to herself. Yeah, there were ways to spin anything, if you knew how.

So here she was, staking out the PRT building almost six hours after she'd gotten here in the middle of the night, because the boss that'd recruited her at gunpoint called her up after she'd been woken up by the fucking Endbringer sirens, and told her to.

At least the coffee around here was pretty good, and she was relatively fresh power-wise. It'd been a slow day yesterday, and she'd kept a tight lid on it ever since the new girl had shown up. Fancy new most-of-a-costume straight from Parian, and all. Ostensibly Lisa was there to watch for the Empire's capes, and throw her Thinker power at them until she figured out the last couple identities she hadn't found, yet.

She had no intention of doing that, now.

Parahuman. Has no powers.

She'd nearly given herself a headache trying to figure that one out. It wasn't until she'd clamped down on her power that she realized it was the problem. Somehow the new girl, Terraform, had some sort of partial anti-Thinker power. Lisa could still read the girl just fine, but trying to get anything on her powers got that weird, impossible answer.

Of course she had powers. Lisa'd seen her file, had watched the girl come dashing in on an insane supernatural tailwind. The girl had powers.

But if her power didn't work right for some reason, how would Coil's power react to her? The thought made her grin every time it came to mind. She'd have to find some way to pit the two against each other. Arrange it so the new girl came out on top.

She was sipping her latte espresso when the door to the PRT building opened.

Parahuman. Rune. Cassandra Herren. Touch-based Telekinesis. Control diminishes with increased number of objects. Weight limit per object, not total controlled mass.

Lisa rolled her eyes. The Herren trio hadn't taken ten minutes to figure out, and Coil had already known their names when she'd given her first report on their capes. It'd been part of a test, to prove whether she'd really give him a cape's real name.

Is determined. Is emotionally tired. Is physically tired. Is alone. Likes being alone. Wants to be left alone. Determined. Frustrated. Angry. Not happy with her group. Not happy with the Empire. Wants to leave the Empire.

Oh-ho, now that was interesting. She briefly considered trying to recruit the girl, before second-guessing the thought. Even renouncing her Nazi gang, she's still a bigot. She'd never take orders from Brian after finding out he's black.

Determined. Wants to leave the Empire. Thinks she has a way to leave the Empire.

Ahh, oh well. Lisa clamped down on her power again as she watched Rune make her way down the street. Either it had something to do with Terraform or her team, or it probably involved leaving the city. She didn't need to waste her power on that.

The important thing was that Rune being here meant the kiddy ride to get back before school was here, which meant she should be here. About a minute later, Shielder came out and flew away. She almost let her power slip, until she'd noticed he was alone. Nothing useful to learn, there.

Then the door opened again.

Bingo.

Parahuman. Forcefield. Aura. Flight. Forcefield grants additional powers. Forcefield grants flight. Forcefield grants Brute strength. Aura radiates Master effect. Forcefield grants 'Alexandria package'. Forcefield temporary. Forcefield can be removed. Forcefield grants transient invulnerability. Flight not restricted to forcefield. Multiple sources of flight powers. Stressed. Relieving stress. Happy. Spending time with sister. Spending time with a friend. Likes her sister. Likes Terraform. Considers Terraform a friend. Enjoys their company. Emotionally tired. Relieving emotional stress socially.

Lisa ripped her power's focus away. She didn't need to hyperanalyze Glory Girl, she needed information on Terraform. Lucky her, that's who came through the door next.

Parahuman. No powers. Costume anachronistic. Costume incomplete. Costume stitching matches Parian's work. Mask hand-painted. Mask based on Eidolon. Costume incomplete. Sleeve hems lower quality. Intended to be hidden. Intended to be hidden by gloves. Pant hems lower quality. Intended to be hidden. Intended to be hidden by boots. Shoes are not boots. Shoes are low quality. Shoes are damaged. Shoes intentionally damaged and reconstructed. Shoes intentionally lower quality. Costume new. Costume expensive. Shoes inexpensive. Shoes intentionally inexpensive. Contradiction implies significant financial prioritization. Is financially middle-class. Is stressed. Has trust issues. Is relieving stress. Is emotionally exhausted. Is relieving stress socially. Has trust issues. Is physically tired. Considers Glory Girl a friend. Considers Panacea a friend. Enjoys their company. Has trust issues. Trusts Panacea. Trusts Glory girl. Enjoys having friends. Not used to having friends. Not used to socializing. Not used to enjoying company. Has trust issues. Recent trauma involving trust issues. Recent trauma involving other people. Recent trauma regarding social isolation. Recent trauma is trigger event. Trigger event involved former friends. Trigger event involved former trusted friends.

Hmm... the only big trigger-like event she'd heard about recently was-

Is Locker Girl. Is Taylor Hebert.

Gotcha.

Just to round out the set, Lisa turned her power on Panacea.

Parahuman. Healer. Physically exhausted. Mentally exhausted. Stressed, Relieving stress socially. Relieving stress with friends. Likes her sister. Likes Terraform. Enjoys their company. Close to her sister. Loves her sister. Is not straight. Is sexually attracted to her sister. Is romantically attracted to her sister.

Her eyes widened. That… was way too much information. Potentially dangerous information. Then Panacea turned her eyes from her sister, onto Terraform.

Is sexually attracted to Terraform. Is romantically attracted to Terraform. Is comfortable around Terraform. Trusts Terraform. Knows Terraform is Taylor Hebert. Is attracted to Taylor. Is pursuing Taylor romantically. Is comfortable pursuing Taylor romantically. Taylor knows she isn't straight. Taylor is comfortable with her not being straight.

Lisa hadn't been expecting suddenly lesbians today, but it's not the weirdest thing she'd seen this week. She watched Glory girl turn and kneel, Panacea climbing into her arms.

Is exhausted. Is sexually attracted to her sister. Likes being held by her sister. Inhibitions lowered by exhaustion. Is fantasizing about her sister. Wants to kiss her sister. Wants to have sex with her sister.

She rolled her eyes and waited for them to lift off.

Is going to get coffee. Is going to get coffee somewhere else. Is going to get coffee at a place Glory Girl likes. A fancy coffee shop 1.3 Kilometers south on the Boardwalk, Glory Girl's favorite coffee shop.

No danger being discovered by them for sitting in front of this coffee shop, then. Good. She turned her attention back to Terraform.

Wistful. Enjoys having friends again. Likes friends. Wants friends. Has trust issues. Trust issues prevent friendships. Wants to preserve existing friendships. Wants to do something nice for her friend. Considers Amy Dallon her best friend. Is going to do something nice for her best friend. Is going to go home. Best friend exhausted. Best friend desires caffeine. Is going to get coffee for her best friend. Is going to go home and change clothes first. Is tired. Is not exercising proper vigilance because she is tired. Is going to go straight home. Is not going to obfuscate direction of home. Is middle class. Lives in a middle-class suburb.

And with that, she knew roughly where Taylor lived, and which coffee shop she'd have to go out of her way the least to stop at on the way to school. She watched the girl speed out of sight, finished her drink, and got into her car. She'd have to hurry if she wanted to find a good parking spot before Taylor got there. Trying to talk to her in the coffee shop was a non-starter. The morning after the Endbringer alarms went off? Literally everyone was going to need coffee today. Best to pounce outside, and hope she could convince Taylor to talk to her somewhere more private. Knowing how fast Taylor could be, she almost started to worry that she'd picked wrong, when the girl came jogging around the corner.

Parahuman. No powers. Jogging. Exercising. Hasn't showered. Knew she'd be sweaty again. Clothes mismatched. Doesn't care about fashion. Chooses clothing based on cost. Lower-middle-class. Money potential point of leverage. Cares about fashion. Doesn't want to care about fashion. Intending to shower at school. Intending to make it to class on time. Lines longer than she's expecting. Isn't going to make it to class on time. Isn't going to make it to class on time without skipping shower.

Bummer for her, she was going to be late even if Lisa didn't try to talk to her. She waited for her to get closer, and that was when Lisa caught Taylor's eye.

Thinks you're pretty. Thinks you're prettier than her. Is sexually attracted to you. Has trust issues. Does not like that she is sexually attracted to you. Does not like that you're prettier than her. Jealous of you for being prettier than her. Does not like not being straight. Is repressing non-straight sexual urges. Thinks she is now straight. Knows she was not always straight. Has experience being in a relationship. Has experience being in a homosexual relationship. Has trust issues. Trust issues linked to prior homosexual relationship. Trust issues linked to former friends. Trust issues linked to trigger event. Trigger event caused by former friend. Trigger event caused by former best friend. Trigger event caused by former girlfriend. Associates non-straight sexual leanings with former girlfriend. Is Locker Girl. Locker Girl's hospitalization involved rotting menstrual blood. Associates menstrual blood with femininity. Associates former girlfriend with personal standard of femininity. Believes trigger event an assault on her femininity. Associates trigger event with non-straight sexual leanings. Has trust issues.

This girl was a fucking mess. Lisa smiled at her anyway, looking away so she wouldn't scare the girl off. She waited until Taylor got closer, for her to start turning into the shop. Then she called out. "Hey!" Taylor turned, and Lisa sashayed up to her. Being pretty had its perks, and she was hoping Taylor's attraction would more than balance out the other stuff. "I'm Lisa." She introduced herself, giving her widest and brightest smile.

Thinks you're lying. Confident you're lying. Knows Lisa isn't your name.

Fuck.

Doesn't like you. Doesn't trust you. Thinks you're lying. Hates liars. Has trust issues.

Double fuck. Taylor either had some sort of Thinker power of her own, or she was way too paranoid to work with. She was hoping for that first one, but needed to nip this mistrust in the bud now. "Okay, you got me. My name's actually Sarah." She was a little worried, trying to sound contrite, and giving a wry smirk instead of her grin.

Thinks you're lying. Confused. Doesn't know why you're lying. Doesn't know Sarah is your real name. Wary of you.

Wait, what? Lisa shook herself slightly, throwing off the shock. She needed to roll with the punches, this was weird, but she could handle it. "Alright, alright." She held her hands up to give herself another second. "The name on my actual birth certificate is Sarah. Does that make your lie detector happy, yet?"

Lisa didn't even need her power to know she'd just fucked up. The snarl on Taylor's face said it all.

Doesn't like you knowing about that. Doesn't want anyone to know about that. Doesn't have powers. Doesn't like you. Doesn't trust you. Knows you're a parahuman. Knows you know she's a parahuman. Doesn't like you knowing that she's a parahuman. Thinks you're threatening her. Thinks you're outing her. Thinks you're breaking the Rules. Looking for a private place. Wants to take you to a private place. Wants to threaten you.

Taylor had glanced about very briefly, before grabbing Lisa's hand and dragging her into the nearest alley. There were a couple passersby who caught sight of them, and surreptitiously checked to see if the two girls were running off to do something naughty together. These people lost their interest when they found Lisa bodily hoisted by her coat and pinned to the wall by an angry amazon of a girl.

Stronger than you. Is a Parahuman. Is a Brute. Has no powers. Not afraid of you. Not wary of you. Angry with you. Not worried about your powers. Thinks she can handle your powers. Not afraid of physical confrontation with an unknown parahuman. Confident in her strength. Confident in her durability. Is a Brute. Has no powers.

Lisa winced as that contradiction kept snapping back and forth in her head. Her power was really not happy with it. She tried to pull it away from the physical confrontation, and all thoughts of powers, regardless of whether Taylor had any.

Doesn't trust you. Doesn't like you knowing her secrets. Has trust issues. Is angry with you. You remind her of someone. Doesn't like that you remind her of someone. Does not like the person you remind her of. Doesn't like you. Has had secrets used against her before. You remind her of someone who has used secrets against her before. You remind her of someone she hates. You remind her of someone who betrayed her. You remind her of her former best friend. You remind her of her former lover.

Oh god, she was going to die. Her gun was in her purse, which was in her car. "Truce! Truce!" She snapped out, desperately.

Is calming down. Is forcing herself to calm down. Is forcing herself to think rationally. Does not want to break the truce. Thinks you are threatening her civilian identity. Thinks you are breaking the truce. Does not consider you a physical threat. Knows you are afraid. Knows you know she's stronger than you. Wary of you. Pities you.

Lisa slid down the wall as Taylor set her back on her shaky legs. "Explain." Taylor growled. Lisa nodded, taking the time to breathe deeply and let her power work.

Doesn't like you. Doesn't trust you. Doesn't want to like you. Doesn't want to hurt you. Looking for a reason not to hurt you. Doesn't like violence. Not a violent person. Pities you. Thinks you might need help. Likes helping people. Has a hero complex. Trigger left her helpless. Feels she needs to help people. Trigger left her feeling trapped. Compulsive need to save others.

"I need help." She really hoped this wasn't going to come back to bite her.

"Seems like a stupid way to ask for help." Taylor groused, letting go of Lisa's jacket and dropping her hands to her side. She didn't move away, though.

Thinks you followed her. Thinks you're stalking her. Has experience being stalked. Doesn't like being stalked. Is tired. Is irritable. Stance intentional. Martial stance. Ready stance. Hand fisted. Arm tense. Ready to debilitate you if you threaten her. Ready to knock you unconscious if you threaten her. Doesn't like violence. You remind her of the girl who caused her trigger. Wants to punch the girl who caused her trigger. Wants to punch you. Doesn't like violence. Wants to punch you anyway.

That was an incredibly unhelpful rabbit hole her power was running down. "Did you know I would be here?" Taylor asked. "Are you stalking me or something?" Lisa refocused her power, giving herself a moment by slowly smoothing out her jacket. Taylor's eyes followed her hands.

Wants to help you. Looking for an excuse to help you. Doesn't consider you a threat. Knows you don't have any weapons. Knows people who don't need weapons. Knows members of New Wave. Remembering Blasters from New Wave. Knows you don't have weapons. Watching your hands anyway. Likes your curves. Is sexually attracted to you. Enjoys having an excuse to look at your body. Rationalizing her reason for looking at your body. Wants an excuse to touch you.

Another dud. "I need help." She kept it vague while she wrangled her power again. "I'm a Thinker."

"Kinda' figured." Taylor deadpanned. "And?"

Looking for a reason to help you. Wants to help you. Is a hero. Wants to be heroic. Has a team. Has a hero team. Is recruiting for her hero team. Is attracted to you. Wants a reason to stay near you. Wants to recruit you. Isn't trying to recruit you. Wants you to be independent. Doesn't expect you to be independent. Thinks you might be a villain. Doesn't want to recruit villains. Wants you to not be a villain. Wants you to be a hero. Willing to recruit heroes. Wants to help you. Doesn't trust you.

She could work with this. "And, Thinkers are a hot commodity. Villains will do anything to recruit a Thinker, even put a gun to their head and say 'you're working for me now, or else'." As long as she stuck to the truth, she should be fine. Usually she embellished, threw in half-truths and assumptions, but without her power to tell her how Terraform's powers worked, she had to assume that was a bad move. Thinkers were so annoying. "Like my boss did, to me."

Wants to help you. Feels protective of you. Has a hero complex. Wants to save you. Doesn't trust you. Doesn't think you're lying. Knows you're a villain. Willing to help unwilling villains. Wants to save you.

The tension kept bleeding away from Taylor as she listened. "And what do you expect me to do about that?" She thought for a moment. "You're not Empire, you're not Asian, you're not a Merchant... I don't know who your boss is. If I haven't heard of him, why should I have to deal with him?"

Doesn't like the gangs. Knows the Empire would flaunt you if you were a member. Hasn't heard of a female Thinker in the Empire. Knows you're not a member of the Empire. Knows you're not a member of the gangs. Doesn't want to go out of her way to fight the gangs. Doesn't like violence. Likes dominance. Control freak. Likes showing dominance without violence. Likes showing dominance with minimal violence. Likes being in charge. Likes being in control. Likes showing that she's strong. Wants to show she's strong. Wants to help you. Wants to catch your boss to prove she's strong.

Checkmate. "His name is Coil. He's a Thinker, a mastermind Bond-villain type. Controls things from the shadows, hiring mercenaries and arming them with tinkertech, hiring villains as patsies he can pretend aren't connected to him, and 'hiring' people like me, who don't have a choice, or don't have a good option." There. Everything true, and hopefully none of it was too repulsive to Terraform's overinflated sense of heroism.

Doesn't believe you. Doesn't think you're lying. Isn't sure she believes you. Thinks you think you're not lying. Hasn't heard of Coil. Doesn't think someone like Coil is realistic.

Taylor's lips pursed as she thought. "And what happens to you if you don't have a boss anymore?"

Lisa smirked and shrugged. "I get to start making my own choices again. I was a relatively harmless pickpocket when he grabbed me, not a lawful person, but not a villain, either." Be honest. Give Taylor something to chew on as her 'bad side' so she thinks that's as bad as Lisa could get on her own. Telling others your flaws engenders trust. It was just basic psychology. "I doubt I'd go back to that, but I'd prefer to be a rogue or something." Can't lie and say she'd stop being a villain. She'd switch sides if the situation called for it, but didn't actually believe it was possible anymore, and she didn't know if Taylor's powers would pick up on that. "I could be convinced to go hero, in the right situation." Technically true. The best kind of true. Her grin faded. Now to ease into the real problem. "I don't think my team could make the switch, though."

"Your team?" Taylor prompted, warily.

Hasn't heard of your team. Doesn't think you have a team. Doesn't think you're lying. Confused. Doesn't know why she hasn't heard of your team. Doesn't want to believe she could have missed a villain team.

"We're pretty small-time." Lisa conceded. "Just thefts, some corporate espionage, a few runs against some gang holdings... we don't really want to be villains." Lisa didn't add that, as a whole, the Undersiders probably wanted to be heroes less than they wanted to be villains.

Doesn't believe you. Doesn't think you're lying. Knows you know not to lie. Knows you're smart enough to trick her. Doesn't trust you. Doesn't like you.

Taylor shook her head. "I'm gonna need more than that. Why can't you go to the PRT, or New Wave? Why me?" She leaned in, glaring harder. "And what about your team? You'd just run if you thought you could get away, or if you didn't care about them. What happens to them when their boss is gone?"

Angry. Tired. Rambling because she's tired. Knows she isn't thinking clearly. Doesn't like that she isn't thinking clearly. Knows you know she's tired. Knows you planned this meeting. Thinks you've been stalking her. Thinks you've been planning this meeting for days. Thinks you might have been planning this meeting for weeks. Knows she's tired. Knows she's not thinking clearly. Thinks you knew she'd be tired. Thinks you intended to confront her when she wasn't thinking clearly. Doesn't know how your powers work. Assuming worst-case scenario. Assuming she has no secrets from you. Assuming you are manipulating her. Feels violated. Hates not having control of her secrets. Hates being manipulated. Dislikes your power. Dislikes Thinker powers. Doesn't trust you. Doesn't know your team. Dislikes not knowing your team. Dislikes not knowing your teammates. Doesn't like villains. Doesn't trust villains. Dislikes that you might betray your team. Has history with betrayal. Dislikes traitors. Doesn't want to enable villains. Doesn't want to be tricked into enabling villains.

Lisa hadn't anticipated being overestimated to be such a minefield in this conversation. Taylor had taken her spur-of-the-moment gambit and assumed it was the work of a master manipulator with weeks of planning and preparation. She swallowed thickly, and even though she knew it would have made the situation so much worse to have, she still dearly missed her gun. Best to just go down the list, for now. "He has moles in the PRT, I wouldn't be safe there. New Wave either wouldn't help a villain, or would make me out myself joining up." She really hoped she didn't have to go into detail why that would be bad, given her parents. "The team would either fall apart... or keep doing its thing with fewer resources and less funding, making them easier for heroes to catch." She shrugged. "We're called the Undersiders. I can't tell you any more without breaking the Unwritten Rules. You know what those are, right?" Lisa hoped Taylor would take the hint and drop it.

Not surprised. Expected those answers. Has experience with espionage. Knew the PRT could be compromised. Didn't know the PRT was already compromised. Now has confirmation the PRT is compromised. Has spoken to New Wave. Doesn't want to be outed. Forming her own team as an alternative to New Wave. Forming her own team as an alternative to the Protectorate.

"The rules are bullshit." Taylor drolled with a shrug.

Doesn't believe in the Rules. Wants to believe in the Rules. Doesn't think they work. Knows you broke the Rules. Thinks you don't believe in the Rules. Thinks you are using the Rules. Thinks you are hiding behind the Rules. Doesn't trust you. Doesn't trust you to not break the Rules again. Doesn't trust you to not share her secrets. Wants insurance you won't share her secrets. Wants insurance you won't break the Rules again. Wants leverage. Needs control.

"Usually, whenever someone tells me about the Rules," Taylor continued. "they follow it up with all the reasons they think the Rules don't work. Lung doesn't care. He's too strong for anyone to hold him to the Rules, and he knows it." Taylor fidgeted slightly, before she took a step back and started pacing a couple feet in front of Lisa, making short meter-long circuits to stay close and keep her hemmed in. "The Empire pretend to care about the rules, but we have no guarantees they actually do, and I know they've got people sick enough to try if they thought they could get away with it. I'm not convinced the thing with New Wave wasn't just them fumbling the hit. The Merchants? No one cares about the Merchants. They could be doing anything, and who would even know?" Taylor stopped dead in front of Lisa, her hand snapping up to point in the girl's face. She was already nearly leaning on the wall, which led to her skull bouncing lightly but painfully off the hard stone, blonde hairs catching on the old, aesthetically rugged brickwork. "The worst part about the Rules is it's not an even split who has what say in them." Her hand dropped, and Taylor gripped at her face, smooshing the flesh of her cheeks and screaming internally for a bit, a quiet whining groan escaping her nose. "If the PRT want you gone and can find a good reason for it, they can just have a Kill Order signed, and declare the Rules don't apply to you anymore. If they can't do that, they can just choose not to save you when you're fighting someone like Lung or Hookwolf, or not investigate someone breaking the rules against you in particular." She let her arms drop after that, taking several deep breaths and trying to calm down.

Doesn't believe the Rules work. Wants the Rules to work. Is distressed the Rules don't work. Knows you broke the Rules. Assumes you also believe the Rules don't work. Wants the Rules to work. Wants to be safe in her civilian life. Wants her father to be safe. Wants a way to hide from cape celebrity. Wants her identity to remain a secret. Knows you know her secrets. Wants to know your secrets. Calming down. Meditating. Intentionally altering her emotional state. High degree of mental control or Thinker power. Likes control. Needs control. Trains control. Has no powers. High degree of trained mental and physical control.

Taylor turned to Lisa again, glaring tiredly into her eyes. "And then there's you."

Doesn't trust you. Doesn't trust the Rules. Knows you know her secrets. Wants to know your secrets. Wants control. Wants insurance. Wants mutual secrets. Wants mutual insurance. Needs control. Wants mutual blackmail. Wants mutually assured destruction. Knows you broke the rules. Willing to spread that you broke the rules. Will target you if you spread her secrets. Will intentionally target the Undersiders if you spread her secrets. Will break the Rules to target you if you spread her secrets.

Shit, shit, shit. She just had to jump the shark, didn't she? It was more and more clear to Lisa that getting Terraform to help against Coil would just be trading one boss for another. Coil and Terraform were more alike than they seemed at first, both control freaks who wanted to make the city better, but it was a matter of scale and priorities. Coil wanted to own the city, and then make it better, because it would be his possession he was improving. Why settle for a beat-up pre-Leviathan Subaru you needed to jerry-rig parts for, when you could show off your rebuilt Ferrari instead? Terraform was similar, from the opposite direction. She was a creature of compulsions and obsessions, rather than ambitions. She needed to help people. Needed to save people. Needed control over her personal life, and the things closer to her. It was the saving of people that brought them closer to her, which compelled her to have some level of control over them.

At least Terraform was more likely to care about her wellbeing, making her easily the better choice.

Taylor stepped back into Lisa's personal space, pressing one hand to the wall over her shoulder, while the other hand was flat, fingers curled back at the second knuckles, which were pressed to the middle of her chest. This pressed Lisa more fully against the wall, the hard joints pressing slightly painfully into her sternum. "Now, Sarah, who are you?" Taylor asked, leaning forward and looming over the slightly shorter girl.

Looming. Intimidating. Didn't intend her stance to be intimidating. Intimidation not original purpose. Physical contact original purpose. Physical contact improves lie detection. Realized stance intimidating. Likes that stance is intimidating. Playing up intimidation. Likes being intimidating. Likes having power. Likes using power. Likes having control. Likes exerting control. Does not understand sexual connotations of current stance. Is sexually attracted to you. Likes touching you. Likes dominating you. Would be turned on by sexual connotations of current stance. Would enjoy sexually dominating you. Would hate herself for non-straight sexual leanings. Would enjoy it anyway. 

Oh god, this couldn't be happening...

Is a hero. Is heroic. Not willing to sexually assault others. Would require consent. Would not act if given consent. Hates not being straight. Would deny accusations of not being straight. Would be enraged by accusations of not being straight. 

...she let out a small sigh of relief, and waited for her power to keep digging.

Looking for an excuse to hurt you for manipulating her. Wants to hurt you. Wants to help you. Knows you need help. Would attempt to help you if she rendered you unconscious. Would turn you over to the PRT if she rendered you unconscious. Would attempt to get PRT aid. Would target Coil. Is underestimating Coil. Would incite retaliation from Coil.

Lisa wanted to buck at the dominance plays, especially after that false rape flag tripped her fight-or-flight responses, redoubling her internal stress. She tamped down the frustration, the indignation at being forced to give up her own secrets, instead of spewing someone else's. Getting angry would just make Taylor violent. Trying to lie would just get her knocked out and dumped on the PRT. She couldn't help the glare she leveled at Taylor, but the taller girl wasn't moved. They kept glaring at each other for nearly a minute, Taylor patiently waiting her out from her position of power. Lisa flinched as the first twinges of a Thinker headache started to creep through her skull.

"My name is... I've been going by Lisa Wilbourn." When Taylor nodded, she continued. "I was born Sarah Livsey." Taylor tilted her head in a 'go on' motion, causing Lisa to scowl, but comply. "I ran away from home after my parents started using me for my power. I don't want to go home. That's why I can't go to New Wave, they'd want me to go public, and my parents would find me. The PRT would be almost as bad if they forced me into the Wards. Their handlers don't care about happy families, just covering their own asses and stomping out custody battles. I'd give even odds they'd send me home anyway and ignore that my parents used my powers illegally before, if it meant they'd keep quiet from now on, as long as my parents signed me into the Wards." Taylor was frowning now, but looking a lot less likely to one-inch-punch her hand the rest of the way into Lisa's chest hard enough to make her pass out. "I started roaming around, picking pockets, using my power to pick targets. Getting by okay. Then Coil's goons grabbed me, and it was join up or die. He keeps my apartment bugged, keeps our base bugged, he knows when I try to leave. Keeps trying to bug my car, but that's a lot harder. He doesn't know I'm here. Doesn't know I'm talking to you." She kept a grip on her power, only letting through a trickle of information instead of the flood that'd rapidly incapacitate her anyway if she kept it up.

"Why me?" Taylor asked.

Lisa scoffed and shook her head. "Because your power keeps telling my power that you don't have powers." She snapped. The poleaxed look on Taylor's face was glorious. "I have no fucking clue how that works, but if it works on me, it might work on him, and that gives you an edge."

Taylor pushed off the wall, stepping away. Lisa rubbed her aching chest, sure there was going to be a bruise there tomorrow. "How long have you been planning this?" She asked incredulously.

"Since this morning." Lisa shrugged. "Boss wanted me to watch the Empire roll up, try to get information on them." Taylor's stare sharpened, quickly realizing the implications. "Yeah, he's kind of a dick. Like you, he hates not having dirt on people." It wasn't as low as her usual blows, but Taylor still snarled at the insult. "Anyway, I was told to wait for them to leave, too. Then you showed up. My power went screwy, and I knew I had to talk to you. So I waited, watched you leave, figured out where you'd be, and here we are." Lisa threw her arms up in a grand gesture, instantly regretting the way it pulled at her new aches. Taylor stared at her hand as she rubbed her chest again.

Wants to help you. Can help you. Doesn't trust you. Hesitating. Doesn't want you to know something. Doesn't trust you to know something.

She stopped her rubbing, staring blankly at Taylor. The girl snarled again, having realized she'd figured out another secret. Terraform was a healer? That... was an absurd amount of versatility in her powers. Lisa held up her hands to ward the girl off. "Won't tell, not telling." Taylor huffed, but accepted it. She muttered something about 'fucking thinkers' that had Lisa grinning. "But yeah, I figured you'd be my best shot at catching him off guard. My own heroic savior." She grinned, knowing Taylor thought her smile was pretty.

Thinks you're pretty. Knows you're manipulating her. Doesn't like that you're manipulating her. Thinks your dimples are cute. Thinks your freckles are cute. Assumes that you're distracting her. Trying to remember what you're distracting her from.

"What about your team? The Undersiders?" Taylor crossed her arms, scowling at her. "What are their stories?"

Isn't going to stop digging. Thinks you want her to stop digging. Thinks you're hiding something. Doesn't care she's breaking the Rules. Rationalizing that you broke the rules first. Doesn't intend to reveal the information. Doesn't intend to reveal the information unless you betray her. Wants to make an informed decision. Wants the Rules to work. Doesn't think the Rules work. Is willing to play by the Rules. Is willing to play by the Rules when she has all of the information. Willing to pay lip service to the Rules. Willing to keep secrets. Willing to keep secrets that don't harm her. Wants to know your secrets. Wants to know your team's secrets. Wants to make an informed decision. Doesn't want to be manipulated. Doesn't want to enable villains.

Lisa cursed silently to herself. How to play this? How to make this work? "Do I-?" Taylor nodded, cutting off her question. Yes, she had to. "...no real names?" She asked. It was a simple compromise, and after a good fifteen seconds of thought, Taylor nodded. "The Undersiders are mostly in it for the money, if you could pay them enough, give them what they're after, they'll stop being villains." That's what Taylor was really after, she knew.

She sighed, and Taylor let her have the time to think. Half a minute later, she started again. "Grue's in charge. He doesn't know who the boss really is- none of them do- but Coil's been hiring him for years through various proxies. When-" She checked again, and sure enough, Taylor still wanted her to spill everything shy of names. "When Coil got the idea for the Undersiders, and offered him a steady job, he took it. He needs it. Needs money and a good work history, so he can take custody of his sister. Her dad doesn't want her, and her mom's a druggy who keeps shacking up with abusive boyfriends."

"Why didn't he just join the Protectorate, or one of the gangs? Or-" Taylor stopped herself, and Lisa could tell she'd wanted to ask 'Or just get a job if he needed one' but stopped herself. Most of her father's work was trying and failing to find work, after all.

"Too young, not white or Asian, Merchants are a shit option, and the version that was around when he started was even worse." Skidmark was an asshole, but the Merchants had calmed down since he'd taken over, mostly because he'd still been consolidating his power base within the gang for the past year or so.

Taylor took in her words and thought, before rolling her eyes. "The Wards, then. I know you said they're terrible with parents, letting past crimes slide, but I refuse to believe they'd leave a child with a druggie parent, or an actively abusive home." Taylor had no idea how corrupt the system was, but she'd convinced herself it couldn't be that bad, and wasn't going to budge.

Now Lisa just had to make it sound good, or at least not bad, without actually lying about it. "He doesn't want to move her to a home that's less shitty, he wants a good home for her." She silently begged Taylor to just drop it.

"How old are they, and how long has he been at this?" Taylor asked, coldly.

Lisa winced. "He's seventeen, she's thirteen. He's been trying to get custody since before he had powers, about three years now."

Taylor frowned, thinking it over. "Would her father have abused her?" Lisa hesitated, but shook her head. "So what you're saying is, he let his sister say in an abusive home, because he didn't want to sign on with the Wards for a few years, because he thought he could do better, and still hasn't managed it." Lisa winced a little harder at each of her points. "How long until he actually gets custody?"

She sighed. "Coil's helping with the paperwork, but isn't actually going to push it through unless he needs something from Grue. She's the carrot and the stick, with him."

Taylor shook her head, unimpressed. "Hell of a team, so far."

Lisa sighed, and carried on. "Bitch is better and worse." Taylor was about to get indignant about the name, before she held up her hands. "She calls herself Bitch. The PRT calls her Hellhound, but she hates that name. Her name is Rachel, she doesn't really have a secret identity. She's wanted for murder, but it wasn't her fault." She pieced together how best to frame the story until Taylor started getting impatient. "She makes dogs grow, bigger, stronger... she needs to train them, though. Her first dog killed her foster mother, when she triggered. The PRT still says she can flat out control them, though, which makes it murder. She's been on the run ever since." She shook her head, throwing her hands up helplessly. "The big problem with her is the way she thinks. I'm not sure if she was autistic before she triggered or if her powers fucked up her head, but she thinks like a really smart dog that can talk. She values dogs more than people, saving dogs, caring for them, training them, but doesn't care if she has to hurt humans to do it. Coil gives her the money to take care of them, and being a villain means she can attack whoever she wants to save dogs from fighting rings, or abusive homes, or whatever." She crossed her arms, flicking a flat hand toward Taylor. "If you can manage that, get her the money for her dogs, fix her legal trouble, give her too many dogs that need her to go running off saving more, she will not give one single fuck who you are or what you do. She'll be happy with that."

She rather deliberately failed to mention Rachel's penchant for aggressive dominance plays. Terraform could take it, and the bitch deserved to have her shit rattled a little. "That it?" Taylor asked after shaking her head and trying to process Bitch being Bitch.

Lisa shook hers, too. "There's also Regent. He's... okay." Lisa waggled her hand in a so-so gesture. "He's a bit of a sociopath, but he's a hedonist. Pay him not to cause trouble and he won't, unless someone outbids you." Taylor raised her eyebrow and gave her an incredulous stare before motioning her to continue. "He's a runaway, like me. Except his dad is worse. Much worse. please don't make me talk about it." Taylor thought long and hard about it, but eventually relented. "Like I said, we don't really care about being villains but..." She shrugged. "You're gonna have your hands full if you want to go full hero complex trying to save them."

Wants to save them. Needs to try.

Lisa clamped down on her power again, closing her eyes and letting Taylor think. "It's all a fucking mess." She muttered. Lisa opened her eyes to find Taylor shaking her head and rubbing her eyes.

"You could always choose not to save them." Lisa said softly, knowing that would drive Taylor to decide to do exactly the opposite. From the glare she got, the other girl knew it too.

Knows you're manipulating her. Hates being manipulated. Needs to be heroic. Needs to save others. Hates you. Wants to save you.

"Fuck you." Taylor growled. They both knew she'd already won.

Lisa barely choked down the snarky retort that would just make the situation worse. "I'm sorry." She lied. "I really do need help, though. I'll make it up to you. To start with, you still want that coffee, right?" Taylor grimaced, checking her phone and realizing just how late she was. "Hey, it's okay. You can just say you slept in. Lots of late kids at schools today." Lisa moved, sidling past and motioning Taylor to follow, and she reluctantly complied.

They made their way into the coffee shop, and Taylor briefly boggled at the lines, before accepting it. "I knew it was crowded, but..."

"Seeing it yourself, yeah." Lisa nodded. "Go sit, I'll grab drinks. I know what you like." Taylor gave her an odd glance before letting herself be shooed off into a seat. It was just a matter of glancing back at her to see where her eyes were landing on the menu boards to have a good idea what to get. When she finally made it to the front, she ordered her usual along with a few varieties of caffeinated chocolate. Taylor didn't want to talk, so she just stood off to the side and waited.

When the queue caught up and their drinks were done about ten minutes later, she consolidated the trays properly and brought the order over. Her own drink in hand, she set the full drink tray at the table. Taylor gave her a confused look. "Enough for the walk, and the shower, and your friend, if she still wants one..." Lisa trailed off, grinning.

Taylor was still glaring slightly, but it wasn't as bad now that she had chocolate, and time to cool off. "Thanks, I guess."

Lisa shrugged, humming out a whiny non-committal sound. "Wasn't hard to figure out my usual Mean Girls shtick was the worst possible thing for keeping my face not-broken."

Taylor grumbled, taking a sip of her chocolate and sounding incredibly disappointed. Lisa was having trouble caring. If she wanted her to be honest, she could suck it up and be happy Lisa was even still playing along. Taylor did something to her drink, then really started into it despite how hot it should still be. Probably temperature stuff, she could turn water to ice, if her file was right.

Seeing the other girl was going to leave her out to dry if she didn't start things off, Lisa kept talking. "Do you have a number you want me to get ahold of you on?"

She hummed, thought for a bit, then gave her cape phone's number once she'd remembered what it was. Lisa could've gotten the number herself, guessing it with her power after a while if it wasn't on file somewhere, but this saved her a little effort. Taylor was zoning out pretty hard, and the trickle of information from her power told her the girl was coming down off the fight high their initial confrontation had caused. Even that was causing painful twangs behind her eyes, now.

"Hey, I'm gonna run. Boss probably isn't expecting me in today," Lisa winked when Taylor gave her a confused glance. Big crowd in a public place, no cape talk. "and my head's starting to kill me. I'll call you sometime?" The stare briefly hardened back into a glare, before she gave up on it and nodded with a sigh. "Great! Talk to you then!" Lisa chirped happily, standing back to her full height since she hadn't bothered to sit. "Remember to head to class soon if you're doing the school thing, today." She didn't actually care, but that seemed like a good, friendly note to end on.

After that Lisa headed out to her car, hopping in and pawing for her purse. She sat it in her lap and slipped a hand in, leaning her forehead heavily on the steering wheel while she gave herself a few seconds of enjoying the comforting weight of her pistol. That had been way too close to a fight she couldn't win for her liking, and she shuddered slightly as her power poked her with just how close she'd come to a PRT cell.

The feeling of nails slowly pushing themselves out of her temples wasn't helping, either.

"Not even nine and my power's already shot for today." She groaned. At this rate she'd be lucky to last the rest of the day without ending up bedridden. She hated having to sit around bored in the dark just trying to keep her headaches from getting worse, but it felt like one of those days. She idly debated just taking some sleeping pills, or one of the stronger painkillers, but dismissed it. She wasn't risking an addiction over this.

Coil kept their medicine cabinet ludicrously well stocked, to Alec's glee, for exactly that reason. Easier to control his pet Thinker if he could trick her into hooking herself on something. Her hand drifted through her bag to grab her aspirin instead, and she popped a couple. Then she stretched and started the car, heading for her apartment. Comfy bed and thick blackout curtains were exactly what she needed right now. The boss was probably going to throw a fit and threaten her for leaving her assignment, but they both knew today was about posturing anyway. She'd have the rest of the Empire's names soon enough, he just wanted to order her around and prove he was still the boss.

With any luck, though? That was changing soon.

Notes:

I've based a significant amount of how shards work and interact on Mauling Snarks and Taylor Varga.

That is to say, they behave a bit like networked computers. Most of the time they send communications to a hub, which relays it to the recipient, or another hub that gets it closer to said recipient.

Shards *can* communicate with other shards via Host proximity, this is how QA was talking to Shaper without using the network.

Anyway, given the canon name GU called Lisa's shard (Negotiator), how being a 'pericog' makes very little sense, and given I was building a semi-new way the shards were working, I decided to just make Lisa's power one of those network hubs. It has its own processors for data analysis, but its PRIMARY power is the ability to query any *other* thinker power with simple questions whenever it wants. It can also just *ask* most shards what powers their host has, and feed that info to Lisa. Cauldron shards are finicky, and certain natural triggers have reasons not to answer, but most of the time, it works. Just not with QA and Terra. ;D