by wildbow
Clockblocker nodded.
“Vista, I’m counting on you to help control the movements of the Nine. Siberian is immune to powers, but not to external influences. The timing will be sensitive.”
She clicked the remote, then turned her head to look at the result. It was a warhead.
“On my command, a stealth bomber is prepared to drop payloads of incendiary explosives at a designated location. We evacuate civilians from the area or lead the Nine to an area where evacuation is possible or unnecessary, then we drop a payload on site. If they move, we drop another payload. Clockblocker, you protect anyone that’s unable to clear out. Legend will ferry you to where you need to be. Cache can rescue people as the effects wear off.”
“That’s… still not reassuring,” Flechette spoke.
“You’ll be equipped with fire resistant suits. I ordered them in anticipation over fighting Burnscar, but the plan has been adjusted. You’ll all look identical, except for agreed upon icons, colors and initials on each costume. Ones Jack and the other members of the Nine will not be able to identify, please. There’s a team ready to prepare the costumes at a moment’s notice. It will help mask the identities of those involved, and postpone any reaction from Jack over our having broken the terms of the deal.”
“But we are breaking the deal. Even if Legend’s team doesn’t get involved—” Miss Militia started.
“The incendiary deployments will serve three purposes. They’ll forestall any biological attacks Bonesaw attempts, they’ll force Siberian to stay put to protect her allies and they’ll kill Jack or Bonesaw if she isn’t able. Humans aren’t biologically programmed to look up, and whatever else Siberian is, she’s still human at her core.”
“And if Siberian does protect her allies?” Weld asked.
“Flechette will see if her enhanced shots can beat Siberian’s invulnerability. Failing that, Clockblocker contains the woman. His power won’t work on her, but we can cage her in thread or chains that he can then freeze. If we can do the same with Jack and Bonesaw, we can starve them out, or wait until they let go of Siberian. If you’re prepared, Clockblocker? We can support you with relief teams.”
“If it means stopping them, I’m down.”
“Unless she’s able to walk through that,” Weld spoke.
“It’s inviolable,” Clockblocker said, leaning back in his chair. “I’d sooner expect her to fold the universe in half.”
“You’re sure?”
“It’s what the doctors say.” Clockblocker said.
“And Crawler?” Legend asked.
Piggot spoke, “Legend, Ursa Aurora, Prism, Weld, Assault and Battery will occupy him until we can contain him. He’s still vulnerable to physics. I’m hoping the white phosphorous explosive will keep him in the area long enough for us to put measures in place. As I said, we can’t afford to do this halfway. If they get cornered, or if they think they’ll lose, we run the risk they’ll lash out.”
She glanced around the room at the fourteen parahumans present.
“We carry this out this evening, before any of our opponents catch on to our intentions and complicate matters with their own agendas. That will be all. Prepare. See to your suits in the lab.”
She watched everyone file out. Legend stayed behind.
“You’re not saying everything,” he murmured.
“No.”
“Fill me in?”
“Some of that is to mislead the spy in our midst. We have a follow-up measure.”
“Does it pose a risk to this team?”
“It does. Unavoidable. I suspect Coil will inform Hookwolf and encourage the Chosen, the Pure and even Faultline’s group to act. Tattletale, I suspect, will know something’s going on, and I intend to leak enough information to pique her curiosity. It’s in the moment that the villains enter the situation that the risk to our capes occurs.”
“But?”
“But we have a store of equipment we confiscated from Bakuda when we raided her laboratory. Miss Militia deployed a number against Leviathan, but we have more. Once the other factions have engaged, we bombard the area with the remainder in a second strike. Our research suggests that several of these explosives can bypass the Manton effect.”
“This breaks the unspoken rules between capes. And the truce against the Nine. I don’t like this.”
It’s a world gone mad. Do I have to join the madmen to make a difference?
“Don’t worry. I’m the one who’s going to push the button,” Piggot answered. “And I’m not a cape.”
Prey 14.1
The noise of the microwave beeping jarred me from the first restful sleep I’d had in some time. I moved my head, and my pillow moved in response.
“Tried to tell them to stay quiet,” Brian said, his voice low, “They’re not the most considerate pair in the world.”
“Muh?” I mumbled something, and even I wasn’t sure what I’d intended to say. I’d been deep in the throes of some dream that felt strangely familiar, and I’d been pulled out of it quickly enough that I felt momentarily disoriented. I wiped at my mouth where I’d drooled a little, and was suddenly aware that Brian was there. I felt my face heat up as I realized I’d been leaning—and drooling—on his arm. Alec and Aisha were unmasked and rifling through the ‘kitchen’ to find something to eat.
Brian and I both spoke at the same time, with me mumbling something to the effect of, “Sorry, I must have fallen—” before shutting my mouth.
He waited, giving me a chance to talk as he wiped at the damp spot on his arm, then finally broke the awkward silence with, “I’m glad one of us slept.”
“You didn’t?”
“Not a wink.”
He did look tired. Not just like someone who had spent the night sitting upright, but like someone who had just finished a swim from one edge of the bay to the other.
“I hope I didn’t keep you awake by leaning on you. Don’t even know when I nodded off.”
“It wasn’t you, and I didn’t mind. It was…” he searched for the word. “Okay.”
‘Okay’. How was I supposed to interpret that? Or did he intend for it to be vague and noncommittal?
I shouldn’t even have been worrying about that. I blamed the fact that I was just waking up. Brian was in a bad state. Was there something I was supposed to say? Something I should do? Every gesture that normally demonstrated caring or sympathy or whatever else was a tender point for him. A touch on the arm was an invasion of his personal space, which he was keenly aware of at this point. Asking how he was doing was a reminder that he wasn’t okay. Would offering to help him out or giving him support make him feel more powerless, like he’d felt when Bonesaw had gone to work on him?
No. That last one was probably okay. “You want anything? Breakfast? Coffee?”
“Coffee, please.”
I nodded, stood and rolled my shoulders. Outside of the fact that none of the sleep I’d picked up over the previous night had been in a bed, I felt recharged. Scrapes and bruises I’d only been dimly aware of were gone, as were the more obvious, attention-grabbing injuries. That, in turn, made me think of the circumstances that had led to my good night’s sleep and healing job. It was bittersweet. Like a young child that was being forced to stand in a corner, feeling as low as she ever had, her stomach full with the entire birthday cake she’d just devoured.
Okay. Still a little out of it.
I joined Aisha and Alec in the kitchen. “Morning.”
“Sup,” Aisha said, curt. She’d found some frosted cereal and was pouring herself a bowl. She gave me a sidelong glance that wasn’t so flattering.
“How is the man?” Alec asked.
“Stressed, anxious, not sleeping. Can’t blame him.”
“And you’re using all that to get closer to him?” Aisha asked.
I blinked. “No.”
“Looked awfully cozy,” she replied.
I glanced back in Brian’s direction. He was standing at the window at the other sid
e of the building, peering outside, his back to us.
“I drifted off. An accident. Trust me when I say I feel bad enough about doing anything to make him feel less than a hundred percent comfortable when he needed rest.”
“Bet you a thousand bucks he didn’t mind,” Alec said. Aisha gave him a dirty look.
“He’s nice enough that he wouldn’t want to disturb me, even feeling like he does right now. He must have gone out of his way to stay still.” I didn’t look at either of them as I filled the kettle the rest of the way and put it on the stove.
“Sure,” Alec drawled. In a more normal voice, he said, “But what I’m saying is he wouldn’t mind. Now, it’s been a little while, but there was a time when I had someone in my bed every night.”
“When you were with Heartbreaker,” I said. From the look of disgust on Aisha’s face, and what I imagined was a similar expression on my own, I suspected we were on the same page. At least on this one thing.
“Sure. Cape groupies, my dad’s girls, people I used my powers on toward the end.”
There wasn’t even a trace of guilt or shame on his expression, no regret in his tone. He just looked bored.
He went on, “What I’m saying is that I’m speaking from experience. Having someone cuddled up beside you, even if it’s a little bit of a pain in the ass, having that body contact isn’t so bad. Especially when you’ve had a bad day.”
Was that Alec trying to be supportive? I glanced at Aisha, and she gave me something of a dirty look.
I was awkward, screwed up and feeling guilty on a lot of levels, from Brian to Dinah to the people in my territory that I hadn’t seen to. Brian was traumatized, and that was layered on what he’d described to me as an unfamiliarity with social situations and emotions. Alec was fucked up in a way I couldn’t even label. Aisha wanted to protect her brother but didn’t know how, lashing out at me instead. Damaged people.
Much of the water in the kettle had been heated, already, and it didn’t take long to boil as we got our individual breakfasts together. I took it off the stove and began preparing Brian’s coffee and my tea. After a moment’s consideration, I began preparing bacon and eggs, and rummaging around for toast, bagels or english muffins. I’d use whatever I found first.
Tattletale, Bitch and three of the dogs came in through the front door. I didn’t miss how Brian turned to face the door, tendrils of darkness creeping through the gaps between his fingers and crawling up his arm. It took him a second to relax. Tattletale threw me a package. I opened it and found a pair of glasses. I slid them on.
Leaving the food cooking on the stove, I brought Brian his coffee. Maybe some normalcy would help.
“Morning,” I said.
“Morn,” Lisa replied. “We were out making sure there wasn’t trouble. Very, very quiet, after the last couple of days.”
Rachel glanced at me but didn’t say a word.
“Want food?” I offered. “I’ve got some stuff on the stove. There’s some bacon if you want to give some to the dogs, Rachel.”
“It’s bad for them. And I don’t give my dogs human food.”
“Right. Thought they might want a treat, sorry.”
“But I’ll have some,” she said.
“Cool.”
I returned to the stove and started preparing breakfasts. I served Brian first, then prepared some toast and bacon for Bitch and some scrambled egg for Lisa. It was almost a relief, having something concrete to do, a way to help, when I didn’t know how to act around Brian.
By the time I had Bitch and Lisa served, the Travelers had been roused by the smell of breakfast. I offered them some breakfast, and Ballistic took over at the stove to cook for his team.
We arranged ourselves on the ground floor, Alec and Aisha sitting on the stairs, Lisa and I sitting on the couch, and Brian in the corner by the window, looking distracted. Bitch seated herself on the floor, her back to the wall, her dogs at her side.
While we waited for the Travelers to get settled, I asked, “I’ve been meaning to ask. What is Bastard?”
“You mean what breed is he?” Aisha asked.
“No,” I said. I left it at that.
“He’s a wolf.” Bitch scratched the skin at his shoulders, digging deep.
“No shit?” Alec said.
“Where do you even find a wolf?” I asked.
Bitch didn’t venture an answer, so Lisa spoke, “She didn’t find him. He was a gift. And since it didn’t come from Coil, that means—”
“Siberian,” Bitch finished.
“That’s crazy,” I said. How long has it been since we had a chance to talk and touch base like this? “She’s crazy powerful. Majorly scary. And she just, what? Handed you the wolf cub and told you that she’s picking you to be a member of her team… how?”
“She told me with words.”
“She doesn’t talk,” Brian spoke up.
“She told me,” Bitch repeated. “She showed up, I tried to fight her, didn’t work. She explained, she left. Left the cub at my place.”
I saw Lisa glancing between Bitch and me with a curious look on her face. When I raised an eyebrow at her, she shook her head a little and then turned to Bitch, “That’s potentially a problem. What’s to say Bonesaw or Mannequin didn’t put some sort of tracking device in him?”
“They didn’t,” Bitch said.
“How can you be sure?”
“He smelled like the forest when I got him.”
“It would have taken them seconds to stick it in him. It would mean there was a way to find you. Find us.”
“No. Doesn’t make sense, what she was talking about. Being free. Accepting that we’re animals.”
“I wonder about that,” Lisa said, pulling her feet up so she was sitting cross-legged on the sofa. “Maybe she was playing you?”
“Is she really that smart?” Alec asked. “Jack is smart. Bonesaw, Mannequin, sure, to varying degrees. But Siberian?”
“My instinct?” Lisa shrugged. “She’s an actor. Playing up the feral angle, hiding a deeper strategy. She might even be playing a long con on her team. Or maybe her intentions are pure but she’s keeping them in the dark about the key stuff.”
“Like?” Trickster asked, as he found a seat on the arm of the chair Sundancer was sitting in.
Lisa said, “Brian’s new powers. He was copying powers from the people who were in the darkness, yeah?”
Brian nodded.
“He got the ability to grant healing from Othala. Regeneration from Crawler. But who was the shadowy figure he used to pulverize Burnscar?”
“You’re thinking Siberian,” I said.
Lisa nodded. “Sure. What if she’s like Genesis? Or Crusader? What if Siberian has a very real, vulnerable human body somewhere nearby, always has, and the body she’s using is a projection? Maybe it’s something even Jack doesn’t know.”
That gave us pause. An in. A way to stop the unstoppable beast-woman.
“No,” Bitch clenched her fist, and I could see her dogs responding to her body language, tensing. “Don’t buy it.”
“Why not?” Lisa asked, her voice gentle.
“What she said made too much sense. She said things and she understood. I’m fucked up. I know I’m fucked up. Not good at dealing with people. But I could deal with her. I understood her.”
“That doesn’t mean she didn’t lie, Rachel,” Lisa said. “It only means she understood you well enough to know how to deceive you.”
“No. It’s not—” Bitch stood abruptly, and Bastard yipped.
“Rachel,” Lisa tried, but Bitch turned away.
“There’s one way we could try to find out,” I said.
Bitch turned at me and glared. There was a viciousness in the look that I couldn’t blame entirely on her grudge against me or the current conversation. Just like Brian, there was a minefield there. I couldn’t hope to guess at what would press her buttons.
“You’d want to know, right?” I asked. “You wouldn’t want to
give her the benefit of a doubt if she was playing you.”
“You assholes are saying I’m gullible.” If Bitch had hackles, they’d be standing on end. Her fists were clenched at her side, her feet planted apart, as if she’d be ready to start swinging, whistling for her dogs to attack, at any moment.
“Hey,” I raised my voice. “Answer the question! Would you want to know?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Then we get in touch with Cherish. We get an answer from her. She’d know.”
“I’ll get in touch with Coil, then,” Lisa said. She got up and headed into the room where she and Aisha had been sleeping.
I focused on my breakfast, hurrying to finish it before it got cold. I’d been distracted by the conversation, and cold toast was depressing.
When I looked up from my plate, glancing at the others to double-check that they were okay, that I wasn’t missing anything, I saw Bitch staring at me.
“You want more food?” I offered.
“You mean what you said?”
About the food? “I don’t follow.”
“Last night. You mean what you said?”
“You’ll have to remind me.”
“You said something about doing the same thing for the rest of us for what you did for Brian.” She broke eye contact, looking down at Bastard.
My fight with Brian. “You heard that.”
“Mm,” she grunted.
I glanced at the others. Trickster was talking with his two teammates, Genesis still elsewhere, and Alec and Aisha were talking. Alec was apparently demonstrating his power, making Aisha’s fingers twitch. Brian looked on with a glower on his face, but I got the impression his attention was divided between that dialogue and my own discussion with Bitch.
“Yeah,” I told Bitch. “We’ve been over this. I really don’t know how to make it clearer. If it came down to it, I’d risk my life to save yours.”
“Why?”
“I—I don’t know if I can really say. You’re my friend. We’ve been through a hell of a lot of crap together. We back each other up because we have to.”