AN: there are snippets I consider more interesting, more exciting. But this one had a dark appeal all its own. Figured a rewrite might be in order and it came to life pushed aside my other fics and demanded I write it.
Laying back in the hospital bed, my mind kept circling round a few key points. Dad took a settlement from the school, the investigation had been dropped, I would need to go back to class two weeks after I was let out of the hospital. The only thing that changed was now the trio knew they could get away with attempted murder.
That gave them two and a half more years to get it right.
I couldn't do this anymore. I couldn't spend two and a half years constantly looking over my shoulder for the next sadistic murder attempt.
… I could save them the trouble. Save myself the stress and suffering. Go out on my own terms.
The feel of millions of little lives hidden out of sight anchored me. It let me lose myself and breathe. When the depression receded, it was swept away by a rage.
I didn't deserve this. And they did not deserve to win. Never mind winning, they didn't deserve to escape the consequences of what they had done.
I deserved justice. I deserved to be allowed to live my life in peace.
… But no one else saw it that way. No one cared. Not even Dad seemed to get it if he was willing to just roll over and accept the staff's word that this wouldn't happen again. He expected me to go back.
No.
Not just no but, hell no.
I'd go back over the trio's dead bodies, and Blackwell's as well for good measure.
No. I wasn't going to just take this anymore. But I needed a plan. I needed to calm down and think or I was going to just bury everyone in the building under a swarm and bite and scratch until….
…I needed to calm down… I needed time to think, and plan, and act.
The school was giving me two weeks. Should be more than enough time.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Breaking into Winslow after school let out was pathetically easy. The two security cameras by the entrance and the one in the office suffered from bugs on their lenses. Turning the bolts on door locks required teams of bugs hauling on spider silk, but I had the numbers to make it happen and cleaned up the meager evidence as I went. It only took a few minutes of searching the school's records to find Sophia's address.
That had been the hardest part in all this. I couldn't kill all three without making myself the obvious suspect. Killing Madison would change nothing. Even after everything I wasn't sure I could bring myself to kill Emma, so that left Sophia.
She was the most physical of the three so getting rid of her was probably for the best. She was the one who turned Emma against me in the first place so that just made it feel appropriate. Finally, sickening as it might be… she would be the most convenient to kill. She was black, and in this fucked up city that was all the motive needed to explain her death. If everyone blamed the Empire? No one would bother looking for a more personal motive.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Finding a gun in Brockton Bay was not as simple as checking behind dumpsters and in storm drains. I'd had the bugs check, no luck. More than that, finding the type of gun I wanted wasn't so simple either. That wasn't to say that it was difficult though.
Handguns could be stolen from the gangs relatively easily. Especially the Merchants. I should know, I'd gotten one from them and the owner was too high to realize. But I didn't really want a handgun. Not for what I was planning.
They could absolutely be lethal. But I didn't want to get close. I wanted to take the shot from a few streets away and be gone before anyone could track me down. I wanted her dead before her body even hit the ground. I'd done my research. There was plenty of info on how snipers operated online. I was only missing the hands on experience, and a rifle. My power should be more than enough to make up the difference in experience so long as the target was in my range.
Luckily a white girl wandering around Empire territory wasn't at too much risk, and the Empire had much better toys than the other gangs. The safe house was mostly abandoned. I just needed to wait and hope these idiots went out for something soon.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
The .308 hunting rifle I'd stolen from the Empire was… adequate. The scope was nothing special but considering how little practice I had I wasn't going to be pushing the rifle's maximum effective range regardless. The bolt action rifle had a three round magazine, and I'd made off with several boxes of ammunition. The best part of my new score was the fact the rifle fit into a guitar case one of the gang members had left lying out.
A girl with a guitar case was a lot less attention grabbing than a girl carrying around a rifle case. I needed to practice. Knowing the theory was not the same as actually being able to shoot. Timing would be tricky but… well I still had a week before I was supposed to go back to school. I wasn't going to win any awards in that time, but I just needed to be able to hit a human sized target. Not easy, but it should be doable.
There was a bus stop near the edge of the city I could use and the suburbs were mostly abandoned these days so the forest outside of the city should be empty. With my bugs I would have no trouble avoiding anyone who did come looking.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Breathing out, I listened to my heartbeat. Timed my moment, and squeezed the trigger. Three hundred and fifty yards away my bullet impacted a tree about five inches to the left and three high from the bug I had aimed for.
Breathing in I took a moment and jotted some notes down in my book. Three hours of work and a great deal of power assisted cheating later I was steadily dialing in my shots and my rifle. If I wanted to shoot something outside of my range I was going to need a lot more practice, but for things inside my range?
My power lets me cheat by placing bugs on my target and on my gun barrel. Just make a line from point A to point B. Account for wind, and gravity, then squeeze. Given the distance involved I was barely even worrying about those factors yet. I needed so much more practice if I wanted to actually act on the level of a real sniper.
Watching my accuracy and groupings improve was… it was a special kind of joy. Quiet and proud covering a razor's edge of anticipation.
I chambered another round but paused before putting my eye to the scope. Someone had just entered my range. And they were making their way towards me. Not perfectly, but they were working their way in my general direction.
I suppose firing a bit more than two hundred rounds was bound to attract attention even this far out. Well, I should probably pack it in. Steal more ammo and come back another day.
Cleaning everything up I triple checked that my rifle was unloaded and that the safety was on before I started hiking out of the woods on an arc that would take me around whoever was looking for me.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
There were four blocks between Sophia's apartment building and the nearest bus stop. There were fifteen abandoned apartments that gave an unobstructed line of sight to the road between the bus stop and her apartment. Three of those apartments had some kind of alarm. Two were more than three stories up and therefore more of a vertical than I had practiced with and six would give me a window of only a few seconds to make my shot. I picked the one closest to a storm drain with a fire escape.
Two days ago I had tagged the dead center of Sophia's back with a tick. I'd spent three hours waiting in my chosen apartment. I'd have to take the shot from one knee, but it was only a hundred yard shot.
I felt the tick come into range, and slipped into my firing stance tracking the bug through the wall before it came into sight. Sure enough, there was Sophia. I sank my reactions into the swarm, forcing myself to be calm, methodical, cold.
I focused on the crosswind pushing my bugs, but between the distance and how light the breeze was it was negligible.
I pulled the trigger and Sophia was knocked off her feet. I worked the bolt chambering the next round even as a puddle of red started to spread under her. It was a good hit. Upper middle of the chest. She wasn't moving. A fly flew by her mouth. No breath. They might be able to resuscitate her, but I wouldn't bet on it unless they got Panacea on her quickly.
There was definite temptation to put a second round in her, but people were moving, making calls, I didn't have time to waste. Safety on, gun back in the guitar case. Brass into my pocket. Out the window and down the fire escape.
Everyone not ducking for cover was watching Sophia drip all over the concrete. No eyes on the storm drain. Down the rungs, slide the cover back into place, move.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Having a small army of crabs drag the rifle into the bay was… disappointing. I liked that rifle. But I shouldn't keep it. The whole reason this was going to work was the fact the police would blame the shooting on the Empire. Hanging onto the gun only left a way for someone to prove I had done it. If I used it on anyone else, the ballistics would match up and people would know the mystery vigilante gunning down the gangs had randomly shot a teenage girl. That wasn't a connection I was willing to have people make, so the gun needed to go.
I'd see how things changed at Winslow before doing anything else. A bad termite infestation might collapse Blackwell's house if things kept going the way they had. Actually, I might do that anyway; it would be a good long term project.
{}{}{}{} Aegis
Pacing did nothing to make me feel better but I couldn't sit still. I tried. Didn't work out. So now, pacing. Dennis looked about ready to make another joke to try and calm me down. Dean was looking incredibly nervous no doubt because he could read my emotions and Chris just seemed lost. The door chime went off and Missy walked in looking grumpy but before she could say anything I waved her towards the couches.
With a deep breath I planted my feet on the floor and faced the rest of the team, because we were down a member now, because someone…
Another deep breath and I started talking.
"As of right now, all of us are going into lockdown for the next week at a minimum, and our families are going to be quietly moved into temporary protective custody." They were all now laser focused on me and I hated this more by the second. Armsmaster should have been the one giving this briefing, but he passed it off to me so he could go through the PRT and Protectorate computer systems looking for leaks.
"Sophia…" Deep breath, come on, just fucking say it! "Sophia's dead-"
Missy was up on her feet in an instant and the guys rocked back into the couch like they'd been punched between the eyes. I rushed on hoping to cut through any yelling and questions that I was already planning to answer.
"She was shot with a hunting rifle on her way home from school. So far no suspects. Leading theory is it was the Empire, but it was nowhere near their territory, and it was a lot cleaner than their usual hate crimes. The Director is concerned there might be a leak, so, lockdown."
For a moment everyone was silent. Then the shouting started.
{}{}{}{} Emma
The world was broken. I'd known that before. Survived it and rose above. Become the predator it takes to thrive. But now…
Now Sophia is dead. My hero, one of the apex predators of Brockton Bay. She didn't even get the dignity to go down fighting! She was gunned down in the streets! Taken by surprise, when she was meant to be the ambush predator striking from above!
And now I was supposed to just carry on like the world hadn't been upended. Like I was still invincible. And it hurt. But I can't show weakness. I needed to make a show of strength need to remind everyone not to fuck with me. To remind myself that I'm better than all the losers and posers and prey.
Maybe the universe decided to throw me a bone, a sad pathetic consolation prize, because Taylor walked through the school doors and gave me just the target I needed.
With a gesture some of the girls fell in behind me and I stalked up to the leggy weirdo.
"Taylor, you came back, how… disappointing." I said sweetly.
"Must be pretty stupid if she hasn't figured out no one wants her here."
"I think I can still smell all that shit wafting off her."
"Maybe she should have been locked up outside the school, away from the regular people."
"Ooh they could tie her up to a lamp pole like a dog outside a store!"
The group giggled. I smirked at Taylor, but something wasn't right. She wasn't shrinking back or flinching. Her mouth was pursed into a thin line and her eyes…. Angry. Cold, restrained, but like she was plotting murder in her head.
That was unacceptable, how dare she look at us, at me, like that.
She glanced up and to my left, then smirked at me, completely ignoring the other girls.
"You sure you want to keep playing this game now Emma?" She asked.
What? The hell was she on about?
"I saw a really interesting story on the news last night." Her grin grew a smidge wider and her eyes... "You don't have your thug backing you up anymore after all."
For a second I was lost in a sea of white noise as the other girls reared back like Taylor slapped them. Julia opened her mouth to say something, I saw her stepping up again out of the corner of my eye but Taylor spoke first and rolled over whatever Julia meant to say.
"I laughed myself sick when I saw that. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving bitch." Taylor's grin became almost demented. "Never believed in karma before, but fuck, I hope whatever luck she had catches up with the rest of you soon. Then this place might actually be bearable."
The girls started to speak up, to shout at Taylor, but I was so far past words. My vision went red and I lunged at her with a scream. Nails going for her eyes.
Taylor fell back with me on top of her, one arm up to protect her face, the other caught me in the gut. Not bad, but enough to knock some wind out of me. Taylor snarled and something, a fist? crashed into my temple and the world went fuzzy for a second. When I could think again Taylor and I had switched positions and her fist smashed down on my face.
{}{}{}{} Danny
Sitting in the Principal's office with Taylor, Allen and Emma, who was sporting at least a broken nose and possibly a mild concussion, only an hour after school started was not what I expected. Taylor's darkly satisfied grin was also a surprise. Especially when that Blackwell woman had spent the last ten minutes either placating Allen or ranting at Taylor about not getting away with violence in her school.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself Miss Hebert?!" The woman finally demanded.
Taylor leaned forward slightly.
"Play the security tape." For a moment no one spoke so Taylor continued. "Only cameras in the school are at the entrances, we should have been in clear view. You always said I didn't have any proof when I came to you with complaints? They finally slipped up and acted in front of a camera. Probably because after getting away with nearly killing me they decided they were untouchable. So, stop taking witness statements as gospel, and play the security tape."
Taylor leaned back in her seat, crossed her arms and glared.
Allen opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off.
"You promised me the bullying would stop. I for one would be very interested in seeing that tape as well."
Blackwell glared but started tapping away at her desktop. It took a few minutes for her to find what she was looking for, then she turned the screen so it would be visible to everyone even if the angle wasn't great.
"There I am walking in the door." Taylor pointed. "And that's Emma and her gang heading my way immediately and unprompted. They start insulting me and bring up my locker… and I tell them I'm glad Sophia's dead. Emma attacks me like a psycho… and I punch her in the face before some jock that wants into her pants pulls me off of her. Just like I told you an hour ago. When you ignored me in favor of believing those bitches." Taylor said with obviously forced calm.
Then she looked at Blackwell and smirked.
"I'd like an apology, for your victim blaming, now." My daughter demanded, still smiling. Blackwell looked like she'd been presented with a cup of curdled milk.
"Our school has a zero tolerance policy for violence Miss Hebert. Even if you didn't throw the first punch you still escalated the situation, and besides that you baited Miss Barnes!" Blackwell snapped.
"She baited me first. Which means she started this and escalated it to violence! Don't you talk to me about escalation! She and her friends were the ones who sent me to the hospital!" Taylor was out of her chair and snarling at the woman and I had to pull her back into her seat.
"Principal Blackwell, my daughter has several very good points and video evidence on her side. I'd appreciate it if you would stop attempting to blame my daughter for defending herself after you promised me she would be safe here. Which was clearly a lie."
The woman scowled at all of us like we had personally offended her.
"Regardless, we do have a zero tolerance policy for violence." She said with the air of someone who just wants a problem to go away. "You're both suspended for a week." Allen looked like he wanted to protest, but after the security footage was played, he'd kept his mouth shut in an angry scowl.
Taylor only huffed and shook her head.
"Miss Hebert, take this more seriously! You've already missed three weeks of classes!"
"Doesn't matter. I'm not coming back to this dump ever again." Taylor declared. "No way I'll learn anything if I'm watching for her next murder attempt." She waved a hand in Emma's direction. "I'd get a better education self studying for a GED."
Blackwell bristled but Taylor was already up and moving out the door. Sparing a moment to glare at everyone I chased after her.
"Taylor!"
"I'm not coming back here, Dad." She snapped, not even turning around. "I don't care what anyone has to say about it, I won't do it. If I have to share a building with Emma for another two years and change, one of us is going to end up dead, and I won't let it be me!"
She blew out the front doors storming towards the parking lot and my beat up old truck. Honestly, I couldn't disagree with her. I'd give her until we got home to calm down… then we'd talk about her options.
{}{}{}{} Kaiser
I tossed back a full tumbler and slammed the empty glass onto my desk before glaring at Krieg.
"What the hell happened." I finally asked. "How did we go from business as usual to three of our capes being arrested in a single night?!"
"The PRT had… extra support. A few out of town capes in addition to their usual roster. They hit one of Brad's fight clubs. Cricket and Stormtiger were there to watch the fights and when the Protectorate knocked the door down… Everything that moved got foamed. Anything that escaped that got beaten into submission. They hauled all the non capes to the police station and the other three… someone saw a dragon transport enter and exit the city. There's a good chance we won't be able to retrieve them, or at least Brad."
I threw my glass across the room and it shattered against the far wall.
"Why the hell are they escalating like this?! It doesn't make any sense, they've never moved this aggressively before, never mind taking our people out of the city immediately!"
Krieg hesitated and I knew I was going to hate the answer.
"A sympathetic officer with the BBPD asked one of the out of town heroes. Apparently one of the Wards is dead. We're considered the most likely culprit."
I whipped around to glare at him.
"Are we?" I demanded.
"If we are, no one is claiming credit. It's possible someone took a shot at an undesirable and it was simply bad luck they chose a Ward out of costume. Or someone could be framing us. I've put the word out for everyone to shake down their men and find out if any of ours did it."
That was bad. Very very bad. If the Heroes thought we had assassinated one of their precious Wards… No wonder they had hit us so hard out of nowhere.
"Put everything on lockdown while you investigate. No one goes out in costume for at least a week. Tattoos covered, no wearing the colors, no attacks. Spread the word that this is only a temporary push by the heroes and things will settle quickly. I doubt these out of towners are staying long. But find me whoever was responsible. If it's one of ours we're handing them over."
"And if it's not one of ours?"
"… Find out what you can. And have our contacts keep an ear out. If we're being framed… this is too subtle for Lung or the Merchants, but Coil or an out of town group looking to make a play…." I shook my head. "Get me answers, Krieg. And spread the word to go to ground. We're already down three capes, let's not risk losing any more."
"Yes, sir."
{}{}{}{} Taylor.
Something stirred up the whole city. The Protectorate pulled in a bunch of out of towners for a couple weeks and hammered the Empire. I couldn't remember them going that hard on anyone before. Three villains captured, two major drug busts, and more than two dozen rank and file members arrested, though if those ones would stay locked up was anyone's guess.
The Empire went to ground, at least that's what PHO was saying, and the Merchants for some reason thought it was permission to try and expand. That prompted another major drug bust and the Merchant capes only escaped arrest because their getaway vehicle could somehow turn invisible.
I put any further cape plans on hold and waited. Dealing with Sophia made my life better, hell it probably made the world better. But unless I was willing to go on a killing spree that would absolutely give people enough clues to figure out I was responsible… well I'd just have to accept that punching Emma in the face was the best I was going to get.
It was really damn satisfying.
Still. There were others out there spreading as much misery or more. And what worked on one would work on others. It wouldn't be a quick solution like the Protectorate's arrests and raids, but I could chip away at the gangs slowly and methodically by acute lead poisoning. Would be a lot safer than rushing in to act in person and best of all it kept my real powers and identity secret. That could very well save my life down the line.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
This weapons cache had to be one of Coil's. No one else would have stocked exclusively military hardware. Security was also tighter than the Empire's had been. I mean it was just a standard apartment, the spare bedroom converted into an armory. But they had fucking claymore mines pointed at the door and window from the ceiling. Thankfully they seemed to be currently unarmed. I'd tested with a small mass of bugs and then gotten extra confirmation when I saw the guard go out for something and arm them remotely.
Personally, I'd call it overkill, but it wasn't my small fortune in guns and ammunition so what did I know?
Well. It wasn't mine yet. No way was I getting all of it, but I wanted a suppressed pistol, the best rifle and all the ammunition for each. Maybe some explosives if I thought I could risk another trip after getting all that. Lucky me there was an empty apartment three floors down I could use to temporarily stash some of it in then retrieve later. Like in the middle of the night from the fire escape.
With just the guitar case I could still make off with two guns and a good amount of ammunition. So long as I was quick about it and properly covered the one hidden camera in the apartment. Which really only left the guard. But, well, he left the bedroom window open and I'd put the spiders to work so now…
With a deep breath I finished looping the silk cord around his neck via spiders then jumped from the first floor fire escape.
Instantly the cord went tight, digging into his neck and my body weight dragged the unprepared man out of the bed and three feet across the floor to crack his head against the wall beneath the window. My landing was a little rough, but I held on tight to the cord and ran as far down the alley as I could to keep the silk garrote tight.
He clawed uselessly at his neck struggling for purchase but the silk was dug in too tightly for that. A pulley would have made this easier but between just waking up and the blow to his head he was too disoriented to think and I only had to hold on tight. Eventually he stopped thrashing. I held on for an extra two minutes to be sure then finally let go.
I had to fight so hard to not break down giggling there in a dark alley in the middle of the night. God, the adrenaline rush was crazy! The fact that worked so well was just extra absurd. That man must have been at least twice my weight in pure muscle, but with a little power and a little planning… it was so easy!
Right, right, ok, deep breaths. Looting the safehouse. Move everything to the empty apartment and run with the essentials. Get those home. Get back and if the coast is still clear take another load. After that if there was still more I wanted? Wait a few days and be absolutely paranoid before collecting whatever I hadn't managed to bring home before that point.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Researching my new weapons was a bit of a chore but thankfully the internet knew everything, even if it took some time to dig up the correct answers.
The rifle was an M110 SASS which the military apparently loved. And because Coil seems happy to pay up for all the bells and whistles it came with a suppressor, a small undermount bipod, and a scope with dials on it which might just call for a user manual. I was going to need a lot of practice to master it. Honestly though that was sounding more like a fun challenge than anything.
The handgun I stole was a berretta. What model? No idea, but it took 9x21mm ammo according to the helpful labels from the safehouse. It had ten round magazines, a suppressor, and I loved it dearly. Even if I hadn't had the chance to fire it yet. Having an up close option better than a knife made me feel infinitely better about going out. That it could be suppressed just made me want to cheer.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Spending days riding around on city buses was kind of dumb, but it did give me plenty of chances to search the city for targets. And oh boy did I ever find them.
I'd filled a notebook with question marks that needed to be investigated when not moving, but I'd also found a few places that couldn't wait for me to finish up my costume.
Point in fact…
I didn't want to sit here and wait. Not when I knew exactly what was happening inside that building. But I would not risk fucking this up. I needed to wait for the place to be emptier and for a clear shot. Not that any of the bastards deserved to live, but I wasn't confident I could deal with more than two or three people at once and I wouldn't risk them taking hostages.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
I only waited long enough to see the bastard drop like a brick before my rifle went into my helpful guitar case and I exited the empty apartment I'd taken my shot from. Once in the hallway I power walked away casting "fearful" glances back in the direction I'd taken the shot from like anyone with sense would. Lucky me this whole floor was almost empty and I made it downstairs out of the building without anyone giving me a second glance.
Outside my destination I pulled on a ski mask and got my pistol out. Opening the door, I took three quick steps and fired three shots into the back of the ABB thug working as security where he kneeled over the pimp he worked for. He dropped like a rock. I only stopped long enough to take a ring of keys from the pimp.
When I stepped into the first bedroom the naked, bruised, and painfully thin twins flinched.
"Hey, hey, easy. I'm getting all you out of here. The bastards outside are dead. Come on, up, into whatever clothes you can scrounge, wrap yourself in a sheet if it's the only option, but I'm not leaving you here."
It took thirty minutes, lots of fussing and one more dead asshole who came looking for some fun… But I got them all up and moving.
"Out this door hang a right and walk straight. Go two blocks to the bus stop." I pressed a dead jackass's phone into the hands of the woman who was most put together. "Call 911 as soon as you're through the door. I'll be on the roof, if anyone tries to stop you wave the phone in the air and I'll take care of them. Once you're at the bus stop you'll be out in the open and they'll have to think twice about making a move because there will be witnesses. I'll keep watching for a few minutes but then I have to move. Or the cops will arrest me too. And I can't let them stop me. I already found another place just like this and I need to get them out too."
The woman, who couldn't be more than twenty nodded sharply, took the phone, and looked me in the eye.
"Thank you. I, I don't-"
"Someone needed to do something. Maybe I could have called in a tip, but… they deserved to die, not just go to prison, and I wasn't sure the police would have believed me. I'm sorry I wasn't faster."
The woman nodded again and the group headed out onto the street while I dashed up to the roof and set up to take care of any potential trouble.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
"In other news the Brockton Bay Police department is reporting a string of vigilante actions which resulted in seven deaths and the release of twenty four human trafficking victims." The news anchor for channel six spoke with… what do you even call that tone of voice? Chipper neutrality?
"The BBPD reminds all citizen's that vigilantism is illegal and acting against parahuman gangs is likely to lead to reprisals."
I snorted and shut off the news. Typical, do anything other than cower at home and suddenly you're the bad guy. Never mind the real monsters loose in the world. I might have nightmares about what happened to all the girls I'd saved, but the men I'd killed today? They'd weigh on my conscience like a feather.
Clearly the city needed more help, and apparently, I'm pretty good at this. So, what's the next priority, drug labs, weapon caches, capes?
Well, I wouldn't even know where to look for capes at this point. Probably shouldn't be hitting the same kind of targets one after another anyway. I'd just have to take things one at a time for now.
{}{}{}{} Assault
"So, place your bets, some kind of thinker, normal with a gun and some training, or Coil trying to stir the pot?" I smacked my hands together and rubbed them quickly feigning excitement. Honestly, I felt exhausted just thinking about the trouble this could drum up, but someone needed to break the ice for all these sticks in the mud.
"Forensics confirmed there were only two guns used at all three crime scenes. One nine millimeter and one .308. It could be a two person team, or one shooter, though the various reports strongly suggest she was acting alone. That no one reported gunshots could be attributed to exceptionally good suppressors, the neighborhood being in ABB territory, or powers. Likely multiple options overlapping." Armsmaster rattled off as he flipped through a paper report. "The trafficking victims claimed their rescuer was a young woman, estimated age anywhere from fifteen to twenty five. She wore casual clothes, a ski mask and glasses. No observed power use but that doesn't necessarily rule out more subtle abilities."
"… That doesn't actually narrow the options down, boss." Velocity offered from his seat at the table. "Could be Coil mercs acting covertly, a cape or civilian. Though getting their hands on a marksman's gun would be a decent trick for someone on their own without contacts."
"But why would Coil risk angering Lung?" Puppy asked, leaning forward. "He's not one to step on the toes of the Empire or the ABB."
"Could be a push." Militia offered. "Seeing how the ABB reacts? But frankly I agree, cape or not this feels like someone new. I'm more interested in how they tracked down three of those hell holes. Because this certainly wasn't random."
"You think they're a Thinker?" I asked.
"It would make sense." Armsmaster grunted. "Some sort of reconnaissance ability to find the targets then make use of guns to deal with the gang members from a safe distance."
"Ok so we have a killer out there gunning down gang members who is potentially some kind of thinker. We've got almost nothing in terms of a physical description beyond; thin female under thirty." Dauntless rattled off as he read over his own briefing packet. "They probably are either blissfully unaware of the fact that capes don't go this hard for a reason or she knows, and has decided she doesn't care. Given just what she busted up I'd say that could go either way. Are we assigning her a name?"
Armsmaster hummed thoughtfully.
"The most famous female sniper was Lyudmila Pavlichenko with three hundred and nine credited kills nicknamed Lady Death. I don't believe our suspect rates a related name with a kill count of seven. Especially when only three of those were done with a rifle."
"Calamity Jane!" I declared hoping that if we named the new girl the meeting would end so I could catch a nap before patrol.
Amrsmaster hummed thoughtfully, no doubt looking the woman up on his visor.
"It might not be the best idea to name our killer, who's only targets to date are suspected traffickers, pimps, and rapists, after a woman who is alleged to have worked as a prostitute and known to have been a dancing girl. No matter the woman's more celebrated jobs and history. That comparison might provoke a hostile response if the killer takes offense."
Huh… well alright then.
"Then how about just Calamity? It's shorter that way too." Come on, come on, come on. Let's be done already.
"Bit much for only seven dead, and almost zero property damage." Puppy countered. And I wilted right then and there because of course we couldn't just be done with this.
"They did find three places to target and hit them all quickly." Miss M spoke up. "Is Scout taken?
"… It was used by a hero from Michigan but they're confirmed dead, and that was eleven years ago." The boss reported.
With no dissenting votes the temp name for our shooter was added to the books and I was free to explore the inside of my eyelids for an hour.
{}{}{}{} Lung
There was a chance that this was in fact a new player. Perhaps even a good chance. But if that was the case hunting the nuisance down could take time. Time I did not have if I wanted to address this insult to my authority.
The Empire would never have risked this in their current state but the snake, Coil? It was similar to how his men operate. Though that slimy fuck was almost as difficult to pin down as a complete unknown. I only had one target I knew belonged to that fucker, a warehouse he used to move guns and products. It wasn't much, but burning it to the ground would remind the city not to fuck with my property.
And if this was an unknown and not Coil? Well, the snake was hardly a threat to fear provoking, and Lee could chase down the potential new element if it came to that. For now the important thing was to be seen responding to the attack.
{}{}{}{} Coil
In one timeline I continued plodding through the never ending paperwork that came with running a criminal empire. In the other I drank good bourbon like water and cursed up a storm.
This was ridiculous. The warehouse Lung burned to the ground and the product I'd lost with it was a minor loss. That it happened because some vigilante had badly mimicked my operating procedure to rescue a bunch of whores, with my own weapons, which she'd stolen after killing one of my men? It was a slap in the face!
Tattletale hadn't even been able to give me any concrete information except to dismiss the idea that Parian had snapped and randomly decided to raid that weapons stash. Which was frustrating as all hell because something had strangled the man and Parian's power was the only thing which fit. Further proving this was someone new and completely unknown. Someone smart enough to keep themselves hidden and ruthless enough to kill without a second thought.
Still. They were likely to make some kind of stupid mistake soon. The trick would be actually capitalizing on the inevitable stupidity of an untrained amateur when I had no idea when or where they might strike next. I might have to resign myself to one of the other gangs taking out the upstart.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
It was sort of insane that I could find instructions on how to be a scout sniper on the internet. Not step by step guides, and it wasn't as useful as having an actual teacher walk me through it all, but… a lot of the basics were just, out there, for people to find if they were willing to take some time watching videos and reading articles. Some of the best videos were actual sniper's critiquing movie scenes of all things. Just, crazy. Still, super useful. I had so much research to do and so much more practice to put in, but I was putting my life on the line every time I went out. If I didn't treat this seriously I'd just get myself killed. There were definitely going to be gaps in my training and knowledge but on the bright side I also got to cheat with more than two blocks of local omniscience.
{}{}{}{} Coil
Collapsing the throw away timeline where I was now too inebriated to function I sighed and got on with my day. Yes, sooner or later this bitch would slip up and be killed. This was only a temporary annoyance.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Drug labs posed an interesting problem. The most expedient way to get rid of the damn things was to burn them to the ground, but then you would be filling the air with some really nasty smoke no one should be breathing. Slightly more problematic I wasn't sure I could prevent the fire from spreading. I could have dumped the shit in the bay but that wasn't exactly an improvement for my environmental concerns. More importantly I had no way to move the literal piles of drugs I'd found in this one building across the entire city.
Sighing to myself I chambered a round in my pistol and told the spiders to pull in the slack on the trip line I'd set up and secure it. The Merchant guard walking to the restroom face planted onto the floor just as I strolled through the door. I shot him in the back before he had the chance to get up and start shouting. Even suppressed, the shot was loud enough to draw the attention of the two other guards. Unfortunately for them they were both high as kites and only carried knives. And well, never bring a knife to a gunfight.
Glaring at the pile of drugs I accepted the reality that I only really had one way to get rid of this shit, it was just a slow and annoying method.
Moving slowly and carefully so as to not get any of this stuff on myself I cut open every bag and opened every bottle. Then I sank into the cleanest looking chair and set my swarm to spreading what had to be thousands of dollars in drugs all over the floor. Half an hour later I triggered the sprinkler system on my way out. Twenty minutes later I called in an anonymous tip using one of the druggies' phones. Which I then tossed in a dumpster.
{}{}{}{} Miss Militia
"We just got the ballistics report back from the drug den murders. It's the same pistol Scout used." Armsmaster declared as he glared at several crime scene photos.
I could feel a rock sink into my stomach.
"She's not just going after sex offenders then." I did my best to keep my voice neutral, but internally I was cursing. If this had been a targeted crusade against the ABB's sex trafficking? It wouldn't have been good, but it would have made her a sympathetic figure, a woman with a vendetta, or an absolute line. If instead she was murdering any and every criminal she could find? That was the kind of attitude that had sent vigilantes to the Birdcage in the past.
"And she's not just attacking one of the gangs." Velocity spoke up. "This just cost the Merchants an estimated forty or fifty grand. What if they rile up the Empire next? Yeah, we smacked them down hard not even a month ago, but if Kaiser feels like his reputation is taking too much of a beating he'll have to respond. Lung already threw a fit over Scout's debut. What happens if she gets all the gangs riled up at once?"
"They aren't taking very long to find this stuff either." Assault offered looking a bit more awake than he had at our last meeting. "Guess Scout was a fitting name after all."
"Still no confirmation that our vigilante is a cape." Armsmaster says. Not arguing, just making the reminder. Maybe hoping this will stay a problem for the police.
Battery grunted and leaned forward, elbows on the table. "If she's going after more than just the ABB or human traffickers it's going to be a lot harder for anyone to arrest her. No clear pattern means no way to set an ambush. And while killing criminals and destroying something the gangs use for income might qualify as an MO, in this city that doesn't narrow things down by much."
"Only way we'll catch them is if they get sloppy, or we get lucky." Dauntless offered. "And I hate to say it. But if they get sloppy in the middle of gang territory chances are we won't be the ones catching them."
Another depressingly likely possibility. It was a damn shame they hadn't come to us and joined the Protectorate. With this kind of reconnaissance we could have organized fully legal raids. Instead people were dying and a would be hero was likely to have their life cut extremely short.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
I sank my consciousness into my swarm. Leaving only enough focus to run through the necessary calculations as quickly as possible. It kept my pulse even and slow and prevented my hands from shaking.
Oni Lee was standing on the edge of a high rise scanning the city with a pair of binoculars.
I slung the guitar case off of my back, pulled out my rifle, chambered a round, and took a knee. Three calming breaths and I could focus enough to track my heartbeat. If I missed this shot, I would probably die, but if I made it…. Oh, if I made this shot, I'd do more good for the city in a matter of heartbeats than most managed in a lifetime. Couldn't wait too long or he might move, or see me. Had to be quick and I had to make this shot…
I squeezed the trigger with the pad of my pointer finger, gently and steadily, maintaining my aim. My gun barked and given my stance I momentarily lost sight of Oni-Lee. A heartbeat later I brought the scope back on target and watched with unrestrained joy as the murderous bastard tipped off of the roof.
I wanted to go confirm the kill. I wanted to shoot him again to be sure, but I couldn't risk it. I wasn't really in cover for that shot and I wasn't going to stick around for people to find me now that I'd fired my gun in the middle of the night.
Rifle and spent casing went back into the guitar case and I got the hell out of there as quickly as I could without drawing attention to myself.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
"The recent string of vigilante murders which have so far included three human trafficking brothels, four drug distribution centers and two weapon caches escalated to new heights last night with the murder of ABB cape Oni-Lee. Lee was found dead early this morning. Sometime late last night Lee was apparently shot and then toppled off of a five story building. Ballistics confirms that Lee was shot with the same rifle used in many of the previous incidents."
"So far investigators are still reporting no leads on the potential identity of the shooter. The Protectorate and PRT have stressed that the shooter may be a Parahuman with some kind of thinker ability and they have assigned the shooter the designation Scout, but they stress that this is entirely conjecture due to lack of any real evidence for or against the possibility."
"Finally, the police department is offering a reward for any information leading to the capture of this vigilante, and the public are advised to not approach them should they be seen, but to call law enforcement immediately."
I shut off the TV with a scowl. Rid the world of a murderous bastard and what happens? The world acts like you're just waiting to turn around and start murdering random people in the middle of the street. Typical. People can't be bothered to solve their problems themselves so heaven forbid I do it for them.
Ok, that's not fair. Plenty of people online were cheering me on. But people in power? People with authority? They couldn't stand what I was doing. Which was just so typical. That was the way of the world. Suffer in silence, let the people in charge pretend they were doing some good, and never ever prove them wrong or they will take offense.
I'd hoped heroes wouldn't suffer from the same flaw, but here I was staring the evidence in the face. It wasn't about protecting people or making sure the guilty are punished. No, at the end of the day it's all about appearing to be in control. To hell with that, and to hell with them. If they couldn't be bothered to get off their asses and deal with the problems? I'd just do it myself.
{}{}{}{} Lung
Downing good sake like water I marched through the streets. Someone was going to die for this. The bitch who shot Lee would absolutely die for this just as soon as she could be tracked down and strung up by her feet. Until then Kaiser and his dogs had forgotten themselves. Just because I did not have Lee's mobility did not mean they could try to encroach on my territory.
Burning Neo Nazis alive would at least take the edge off of my rage.
{}{}{}{} Coil
"Look, Boss, believe me, I get why you're concerned. But near as I can tell none of this is intentional on Scout's part." My Tattletale said.
"Are you certain? Framing me for her first action, riling up all the gangs and now this, Crusader dead, several Empire capes injured until Othela's healing can get them back on their feet. You're certain this wasn't intentional." I needed to be certain on this topic.
"Positive. Lee had binoculars on him. Probably hunting for Scout, but she saw him first and took the shot. I don't know if that's luck or skill, but Lee wasn't a planner and certainly not the kind to leave a schedule out for anyone to find. It's possible that that location was one he frequented and Scout knew about it, but even then, it's doubtful. Her only plan is to not have a plan or pattern. She's intentionally varying her targets so no one knows what to defend. Odds are she's been hoping to take out some capes for a while now but Lee was the first one she got a clean shot at. On the plus side it means however she's finding her targets it isn't anything that will let her pick out a cape from a crowd."
"So, she really isn't trying to start a gang war… Will she back off now that it's obvious her actions are causing one?"
"I can't be sure. I don't have nearly enough information. If she's doing this to save people she might double down and try to kill more capes hoping that will force it to end, or she might back off if she feels like the deaths, it will cause aren't worth it. If she's doing this because she has an axe to grind with every criminal in town, which is the bet I'm leaning towards by the way, then I doubt she would consider backing off."
"You expect this woman to throw even more fuel on the fire." I frowned beneath my mask. Really could this Scout be any more troublesome?
"Afraid so, boss."
"Very well. Keep the team on standby and stress that they do not risk anything flashy in gang territory. We haven't seen Scout go hunting elsewhere yet, and if nothing else that provides some safe areas to work in for now. I'll contact you when I have a new job or if more information becomes available."
Hanging up I massaged my temples to fight off a growing headache.
A lone cape should not be capable of causing this much trouble with nothing but a pair of guns and a subtle power. This was the kind of chaos I'd expect from someone like Lung moving into town.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
A large part of me wanted to hunt down Lung for his latest stunt, but the truth of the matter was I'd probably get myself killed if I tried. Not to say he's unkillable. It's just that it's not safe for a non asian to be wandering around ABB territory right now.
I could dip into Empire territory. Rumor had it they had capes on patrol to show the flag… but I had some reservations. Several of their capes could shrug off being shot and they were supposedly moving in groups. No matter how tempting that might be I wasn't sure I could pull it off. So instead, I resigned myself to very carefully scouting Merchant territory.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
If there is any kind of higher power up there, I was rapidly becoming convinced that they rewarded caution and patience. Because my bugs had just found the most ridiculous combination of chop shop and auto garage. It came complete with one foul mouthed, drugged up, tinker. She was just waiting to suffer an acute case of lead poisoning. The place even had a busted up skylight I could aim through!
Now if only she would come out from under that fucking engine block and give me a clear shot! I'd been here twenty minutes already and while I was more than happy to be patient, I didn't trust the Merchants not to wander into the random warehouse I was using. Frankly I was deep enough in their territory that the number of their idiots wandering around was seriously starting to concern me.
A thought struck me and I had to blink. It wouldn't be as clean a kill. But the engine block was massive…
I adjusted my aim upward a bit and squeezed the trigger.
The oversized pulley Squealer was using to suspend the engine block off the ground exploded. The engine block dropped. I was up and moving immediately and half a block away when my bugs reported a rapidly growing puddle of red seeping out from under the formerly suspended load.
{}{}{}{} Director Piggot
Staring at the battered and bruised forms of the entire Protectorate team I asked the only question that still needed answering.
"What the hell inspired the Merchants of all groups to try burning the city to the ground when we were already on the brink of a gang war?"
"Squealer was killed in one of her garages." Dauntless answered tiredly. "This only got passed along an hour ago but BBPD backtracked one of the nastier trails of destruction to one of her labs. Forensics haven't had a chance to dig in yet, but preliminary analysis suggests Scout. They dug the remains of a bullet in her preferred caliber out of what was left of a large pulley. Apparently it caused enough damage that it dropped the engine block it was suspending on top of Squealer. Or, we're assuming it was Squealer, based on testimony from captured gang members. We're going to have to wait on a DNA test to confirm the deceased's identity, her body… isn't exactly presentable."
Fuck. Whoever Scout was, I was almost tempted to be impressed with the sheer bravado on display with her casual murder of yet another cape. Killing a Tinker in their own lair no less. But the damn fool was stirring up so much shit. If she'd just worked with us we could have busted all those locations lawfully. Could have avoided so much gang violence spilling out onto the rest of the city. Instead this lone assassin bullshit was threatening to burn the city down around us all.
"Really should have named her Calamity." Assault muttered like a tired petulant child.
Battery in contrast to her usual response only sighed and rubbed her husband's back.
Deciding to let that comment slide for now I moved the meeting along.
"It's still early, but we've got at least thirty fatalities between the Empire, Merchants, and unfortunate bystanders caught in the crossfire. With at least triple that number injured. Including a few of our own troopers, and I know several of you sustained minor injuries. Among the dead are Skidmark and Rune. Sources are already reporting that Kaiser is putting out a bounty on the remaining Merchant capes and any known lieutenants."
All around the room people flinched.
"We're going to do what we can to get to these people first, but our top priority is keeping a lid on more major fighting. Some of these people are going to turn up dead, and it's entirely possible that we'll put some of them away only for them to be murdered in prison. We'll do what we can, but they are not our priority." I looked meaningfully around the room to make sure I was understood.
No one present liked it, but they'd all been in this business long enough to know the reality of our situation.
"Given the way Scout has constantly worked to stir up the gangs and her entirely lethal method of operation she is now our second priority right behind keeping the gangs in check. I don't care what this girl thinks she's doing or what the woman she's saved have to say about it. If we don't put an end to this the city is going to become a war zone. Find me this girl and bring her in."
"Ma'am, not to disagree, but Scout hits targets all over the city." Armsmaster spoke up. "Sometimes two in one night. Sometimes going almost a week without an attack. And she's been keeping her distance more and more frequently as she gains experience. We don't even have a description beyond; female, five foot nine, and a runner's build. That's not enough to find her."
I closed my eyes and tried not to curse the man out. Because the unpleasant truth was he had a point. Even if we knew every potential target we couldn't stake them all out. If Scout really did have some kind of thinker rating to help her find these places she may even notice a stakeout. We could try and set a trap, but given how far the girl ranged, that could take weeks or months for her to spring it assuming she didn't spot it for a trap. Also, there was every chance the girl would kill whoever we put there to sell the illusion if she thought it was real.
{}{}{}{} Gallant
It was blind luck I'd seen her. We were only four blocks from a report of a would-be rapist being gunned down from the mouth of an alley by a suppressed pistol. If not for Vista we would never have gotten there fast enough. I only caught a brief glimpse of satisfied blue giving way to worried yellow as the girl ducked around a corner.
"Over there, Vista, get us onto that building." I pointed.
Three steps later and I was looking down at a young woman in a hoodie who fit Scout's vague description and while she was acting nonchalant, she radiated a muted yellow of concern and fear. No sign of a rifle, but if this was her looking for targets and she'd just decided to stop a crime she stumbled across…
"Console be advised I have a possible lead on Scout, but it's iffy. Young women in jeans and hoodie leaving the area of the call. Her emotions went from satisfied to concerned basically the moment we were close enough to catch a glimpse of her, and now she's radiating a fairly muted concern. If it is her, she's not in any kind of costume, we really don't have enough evidence to act on."
Vista shifted nervously and I couldn't blame her, especially not with the tangle of conflicting emotions she was feeling right now. Confronting an unrepentant killer you knew to be armed out of costume was… well it was a lot of things, and none of them smart. But going out and killing people out of costume, well that was still a criminal, and we still had a job to do.
"...Orders from up the chain are to follow, but do not engage. Keep us updated."
And so we went on a merry game of tag through the city following the girl as she hopped from bus to bus. She stopped to get a burger, go into a few stores, and made occasional notes in a little notebook. And all the while the concern she had been showing when we first spotted her gave way more and more to mirth.
"I'd bet three weeks' pay she knows we're following her, and is doing her best not to just point at us and laugh." I grumbled
"No bet." Vista grumbled. "She's made it a point to keep her hood up and her head down. It's been two hours and I still couldn't give a decent description of her face."
"Oh my, two Wards stalking someone?"
Spinning around I stared blankly at the burner phone which somehow appeared in the middle of the roof.
"Hmm, I did remember to put this on speaker phone, didn't I? Hello?"
Spinning around again I cursed a blue streak when I realized the girl we had been following was gone. Which was highly suggestive, but not proof, and wouldn't have helped even if it was, because we still didn't know what that girl looked like!
"She's gone!" I snapped before turning to glare at the mysterious phone, for all the good it would do me. The voice on the other end chuckled. With a sigh I walked closer to the phone, but made absolutely no move to touch it. "Scout, I presume."
"Well, that's what the news has been calling me. Now what can I possibly do for two Wards?"
"You could turn yourself in." Vista snapped.
"Why on earth would I do something stupid like that?"
"Because killing people is wrong, and if you keep this up you are going to start an all out gang war." I answered quickly.
"... Where the hell did they find you, the boy scouts? You do know what it takes to become a member of the gangs in this city right? No one gets into the ABB or Empire without at least maiming someone, you want to worry about someone? Worry about the victims and potential victims. And why should I care about starting a gang war? If they start killing each other that's less work for me to do. If you all sweep in and arrest the survivors that's better still."
"And what about all the innocents that will get killed in the fighting?!" I snapped back. "A gang war won't be neat and tidy especially not if Lung gets involved. People will die, homes will be burned down. What you're doing can only make things worse!"
"...And what about the people dying and suffering now? You say this isn't the way to get rid of the gangs? Tell me, what's the PRT's solution? The gangs have been around for as long as I can remember and you all haven't done anything to get rid of them. So gun to your head, metaphorically, you've got to get rid of the gangs, how are you doing it."
"Not by murdering them."
"That's not an answer. What's your plan?"
"I'm just a Ward. I don't set policy."
"Do you even know what your policy is? No seriously, stop deflecting and answer the question. How would the PRT stop the gangs?"
"It takes time, we can't just roll them up overnight!"
"You've had my whole lifetime!" Any amusement was now fully gone from the voice on the other end of the call. "Always the same story, always the same excuses. Things take time, we need evidence, it has to be done in the proper way. Wake up and face reality, you don't have a plan. You're not even trying to win, you're just trying to maintain how things are because you're too afraid that they'll get worse! And all the while people suffer and die and beg you to do your damn jobs and nothing, fucking, changes!"
The voice on the other end of the call huffed.
"Well guess what, you're all so worthless I've decided to do your jobs for you, and it's actually pretty easy. Two months and two dead capes all on my own. Never even mind the amount of weapons and cash I've denied them. You had to call in out of town back up just to make an arrest stick because you couldn't be trusted to get Hookwolf to the bird cage. Hell, you can't even seem to hold onto Uber and Leet."
"Don't you realize how outgunned we are!" Missy snapped. "The Empire has the Protectorate outnumbered, and Lung already proved he can solo the Protectorate! We can't just go on an unplanned offensive, or we'll lose and the gangs really will run the city!"
"So what you're telling me, is you're all collecting paychecks, for a job you can't do."
"That's not what we're saying." I denied sharply.
"Isn't it? The point of having heroes and the PRT is to enforce laws on people cops can't deal with. Now you say you can't do your job because the criminals are stronger and have more people. So you're just collecting a paycheck while stopping random street crimes, and being bright, visible, and reassuring. Bread and Circuses. Merchandise and Heroes. You're not out here to make a difference, you're just out here to make the public feel better."
"That's not-"
"But you can't let the world know that or you lose all credibility. And in the end, that's what an organization like yours really cares about. Your authority, your power, your way of doing things. Forget the gang war, if dead innocents really bothered you so much, you'd have actually done something about the gangs. You want me to stop because I'm proof that there are other ways, better ways, of dealing with the gangs."
"And if Lung burns the city down?! If Purity comes out of retirement, snaps, and starts blowing up buildings?!" Missy was shouting now. "This isn't some cheesy wild west movie, this is reality, and powers are a lot more dangerous than guns!"
"So take them out!" Scout snarled. "Stop playing and end them! You know they have no respect for human life, you know they'll kill people and not bat an eye. Stop playing games, and kill them! You don't have the advantage in numbers or power? Neither do I! It's not stopping me or even slowing me down! Armsmaster could whip up little bomb robots and detonate them on the backs of their necks and that's if he wants to keep it simple. Miss Militia is probably five times the sniper I am. Give Battery and Assault weapons that can handle the enhanced forces they dish out and they'll be putting people in the ground. Give Velocity a knife and watch the villains bleed out. You claim you're protecting this city? Put your government paycheck where your mouth is. Stop whining about how and why it's dangerous or hard and just do it already!"
And then the call disconnected.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Stepping out of the alley I'd walked down, I kept my head down. Losing the Wards had been easy; losing the plain clothes PRT troopers had been a bit more of a trick. Couldn't very well distract them with something flashy so I had to rely on hard won lessons about how to vanish into a crowd. Half things I learned at Winslow, and half things I'd found online I couldn't be sure really worked, and a whole mess of relying on my bugs to fill all the many gaps in my experience and knowledge with local omniscience.
Still, I managed in the end.
{}{}{}{} Piggot
"Sanctimonious bitch." I spat as the recording of Scout's conversation with Gallant and Vista finished playing back.
"Girl has a massive chip on her shoulder." Assault muttered. "Bets she's got long standing issues with authority, the government, or both?"
"Not the time." Battery muttered darkly.
"She's not going to stop." Miss Militia sighed and leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table. "I'd hoped we could talk her down, but this is sounding more and more like a crusade."
"She's not right, but she's not exactly wrong either." Velocity sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I beg your pardon, Velocity?" I asked frostily.
The man had the decency to flinch, but not enough to retract his comment.
"We can't win against the gangs if we're fighting to capture, Director. And if we fight to kill, the gangs will fully cut loose, and we'll still probably lose. We keep the city from being run by the gangs, but that's a far cry from stopping parahuman crime. Her expectations are unrealistic, but her core argument, that we're not fulfilling our role?" He shrugged. "The fact she's had the skill or luck to kill two parahumans in as many months, never mind everything else, without ever being in a proper fight is probably giving her a skewed perspective as well. For her this is easy, and we've been doing it a lot longer so we should be better at it than her."
Which was absolutely infuriating, but not an invalid point. The girl, and this had to be a teenager, with this level of self righteous anti authoritarian vitriol. The girl didn't have the perspective to see the issues and limitations we were faced with, and because she was so successfully leveraging her power and conventional weapons she expected us to be operating well beyond her abilities. And we weren't measuring up to that because we actually had to consider the repercussions of our actions.
"Did forensics get anything from the burner phone she left? Do we know how she left it?" I asked.
"No, Director." Armsmaster shook his head. "No prints or viable DNA from the phone and no indication of how she got it onto the roof."
Wonderful another mystery and another dead end.
"Are we any closer to identifying her?" I demanded.
"… Voice and speech patterns suggest we're dealing with a late teen, but that's hardly conclusive and still leaves us with maybe two or three thousand potential suspects." Armsamster stated. "We could start comparing her build to known high school and college students with enough time we might be able to narrow it down to a few hundred and start looking for potential trigger events."
Which would be a massive investment of time and personnel and if the girl turned out to be in her early twenties we might end up wasting weeks of effort before needing to expand our search parameters.
"And coming at it from the other direction? Hospital and police records for the last six months focus on women between fourteen and twenty five?"
Armsmaster hummed an acknowledgement and projected a holographic keyboard onto the table before typing away.
"Better prospects." He admitted, typing rapidly. "Three hundred forty five results matching those criteria… sorry, two hundred fifty three. The remainder resulted in death, crippling injuries, comas, or the victims/patients moving out of the city. Director, I should warn you it's possible none of these will be a match. Not all triggers are a result of violence, injury or illness, and not all incidents are reported."
"True, but it's a much shorter list. Set the analysts on those reports and see if they can't find anything. Normal code of conduct be damned we need to put a stop to this before things go completely out of control."
{}{}{}{} Taylor
If they were so worried about a gang war and Lung, then really the answer was really, really obvious. Kill Lung. Yes it would probably be better to take out a bunch of Empire capes first so they couldn't cause as much havoc, but doing that would kick off the war and leave Lung in play.
If the PRT wants to use Lung as an excuse to stay on the sidelines? I just needed to remove the excuse. Then when the Empire comes rushing in to claim new territory the government can focus on one group. I'd take the chance to remove some of the E88 capes in the chaos. I'd need to be careful about it, but if I picked a spot on the Empire side of the border and waited until they were in ABB territory… well I'd still need to be careful about picking my targets and waiting for a good opportunity, but it had decent odds of success.
Now, it was time to revisit the sewers and storm drains. So long as I stayed underground it shouldn't be too much of a risk to search ABB territory.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Three weeks. Three weeks of not knocking over gang operations. Three weeks of false starts and losing leads and dealing with the nearly unbearable stench and the dark cramped underground. But I found the bastard. By shear fucking chance I found his mask hung up in a closet and staked out his home just to be certain. Which was probably the simplest part, man lit an incense stick without owning a lighter or matches.
And the bastard was so damn careless. He left his window open. Every night! Yeah I had to cut through the screen but Dad owned some really thin metal files and there was a small break in the mesh large enough for me to get it in there and work it back and forth. Working it back and forth with insects was a chore and a half. It took four hours to make a big enough opening, but it worked.
Now, I had three high explosive grenades I'd stolen when I raided Coils weapon cache. And while I'd spent the last few hours on the painstaking task of filing through Lung's window screen, I'd also meticulously tied down the striker handle of one with spider silk and set up a line to haul this grenade up into Lung's apartment.
Standing over an open manhole cover in case this didn't work and I needed to drop the grenade, I pulled the pin. Then I eased my grip. The striker handle stayed firmly in place. Quickly marching over to Lung's building, I put the grenade in its little silk basket and then started moving away even as I set an army of insects to the task of hauling it up. Just like I'd done with the cellphone I'd used to talk to the wards.
Twenty minutes later I was back in the sewer a block and a half away. The silk basket and line was in a dumpster two blocks away. Finally a lone spider was gnawing through the silk covering the striker handle one strand at a time as a stream of insects took away each broken stand. Forty minutes later the handle flew off and the grenade primed itself. Lung grunted and started to wake. And then I lost every bug I had in his room as an explosion I could hear even at this distance went off right in his face.
I sent bugs streaming into the room to confirm the kill.
His skull was a ruin.
He wasn't breathing.
I kept them on him and waited.
I waited until the police arrived.
I waited while they sent in the bomb squad.
I waited while they called in paramedics.
I waited until he was shoved into a thick black bag.
I pulled out a gang member's cellphone, made a post to PHO, then dropped the phone.
Then I went home and slept like a log.
{}{}{}{}
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Topic: Death of a Dragon
In: Boards Places America Brockton Bay
BBSniperQueen (Unverified Cape) (Original Poster)
Posted On April 10th, 2011:
The Protectorate named me Scout. Had a talk with Vista and Galant a few weeks back. They tried to convince me killing is wrong. That allowing the gangs to continue operating was better than a gang war. Their argument basically boiled down to; killing bad, Lung can solo all of us, the Empire has more capes, and if a gang war breaks out everyone loses. Apparently the city slowly dying, and everyone living in fear, is better than just accepting the cost and cutting them out like the tumors they are. Sounded like bullshit to me. But I thought about it and decided to meet them halfway. I can't exactly hunt down enough of the Empire to matter. But Lung's one guy. Sorry was one guy. Grenades are amazing. That makes three dead villains in three months for me. So, I'm still really unimpressed with our government sponsored protectors. Might want to up your game, because the ABB's about to dissolve. And while I'm perfectly happy to take out as many members of the Empire as I can, even a sniper rifle won't let me deal with some of them.
But hey, look at it this way, if you sit back and do nothing now, people will die, and everyone will know you're a bunch of cowards who allow this state of affairs to continue.
(Showing Page 6 of 45)
TongueTied78
It's fake right? The girl sniping gang members all over the Bay didn't actually just tell the nazis the ABB turf is up for grabs if they don't mind dodging heroes and sniper fire right?!
SirenSingAlong (verified LEO)
Yeah so about that. We got a report not even an hour ago about an explosion in an apartment building. One DoA. Preliminary investigation suggests a high explosive grenade going off point blank. No idea if it's actually the bastard in question, but given the girls track record… well, we were all wondering why she went quiet for so long. Before this she was hitting something at least twice a week.
HellaHigh345
Look I get that the city is about to explode and just how bad that is, but can we take a minute to appreciate one person ending the ABB? Especially goddamn Lung? Like, I figured the only thing that would kill that guy was Eidolon dropping by. And this chick just offs him with a grenade?
CollectableCape275
Yo, yes, what the hell? Dude fought off the entire ENE Protectorate and the answer all along was a grenade?
TorchIT
Forget the how, the girl just called out the PRT and Protectorate! Over the fact they didn't want the city to turn into a crater! WTF! I live here. I don't want to be part of a crater!
BlessedBastard09
But she's not wrong. Aside from that one lightning raid a few months back with the out of towners, when was the last time the heroes made a major push? Here she is plugging along and she's killed three capes, and knocked over, how many gang targets?
SirenSingAlong (verified LEO)
BlessedBastard09 A lot. Stash houses, human trafficking brothels, weapon depots, distribution centers… twenty one targets in less than three months not counting the cape kills. Don't get me wrong this is going to be deadly chaos when the Empire marches, but holy fuck this girl has been on the war path like no one else I can remember. After the first month the office had a betting pool going on what she would hit next.
ToughLuck
It's really nice to know that for once a cape is actually kicking the gangs in the teeth, really it is, but it's going to be a cold comfort when we're all dead because the Empire decides to riot.
Blam626
So we shoot 'em all. Scout has made a pretty good case for capes not being bulletproof. How many of the Empire capes can actually tank a gunshot?
TatForTit
A lot of them, the Valkyrie wannabe twins once they grow, Krieg, Alabaster, Fog while using his power if someone talks him out of retirement, and anyone Othela gives an invulnerability boost while it lasts. Oh, and maybe Kaiser, depending on how thick that armor is, though that's iffy. People stopped wearing suits of armor for a reason.
Blam626
Ok… but… we can pick off the gangbangers right?
TatForTit
I… cannot say that you are wrong, but trying it may well lead to death.
Blam626
Yeah, but so could going for a walk after dark. Taking my life in my hands sounds a lot more appealing if self defense can mean I'm not the only one who ends up in the ground.
{}{}{}{} Piggot
"Enough stalling." I glared at Mark Martinez, the head analyst. "Your people have had three weeks to go through those files, and I am out of time. Do we have a possible suspect or not?"
The man shifted nervously and handed over a stack of four files.
"Those four fit the rough build we've had to work with, and all four have either a motive to go after the gangs, a solid reason to be so anti authoritarian, or both. Marrie Shults, was sexually assaulted as part of a gang initiation, and the police barely bothered with an investigation before giving up on the case. Riley Morgan was badly beaten and nearly died in a home invasion, again the investigation was dropped quickly. She spent two months recovering and she has a relative who is ex-military, Force Recon. If she asked for training, well it's one of the strongest possibilities. Sara McCafery, caught up in a drive by on a cafe she was in, the proprietor shot back and killed two of the attackers before being gunned down himself. The surviving shooters were arrested. But it's very possible seeing the target shoot back and kill two attackers made an impression. Finally Taylor Hebert, hospitalized after a 'prank' which could be interpreted as a bioterrorism attack if the DA felt particularly vindictive, and was at least unlawful confinement and assault. She claimed it was just one incident in a nearly two year bullying campaign, the school claimed she was a troublemaker and lack of evidence to ID the culprits. Then they ended things with an agreement to cover the medical bills if Hebert's father didn't sue. The day she went back to school she got into a fight and then dropped out, immediately."
I narrowed my eyes.
"Why so much more detail in the last case?"
Mark took a deep breath before answering.
"Hebert claimed one of the girls who assaulted her was one Sophia Hess." Oh hell. "It's possible that Hess's death wasn't just some Empire grunt shooting a random black girl. But given the forensics doesn't match that bullet to Scout's kills, it's not conclusive. And like I said we do have three other suspects. And Riley Morgan is the only one who had an actual expert she could go to for training. It's also entirely possible that Sophia's death was an Empire member deciding that letting a black girl get away with an attack like that against a white girl was simply unacceptable. It's suggestive, but it's not conclusive."
I took my time mulling that over. Part of me wanted to claim there was no such thing as coincidence and send everyone after this Hebert girl. But Mark had a very good point. If the allegations were true, it was entirely possible someone in the Empire had decided to kill Sophia as an example without knowing she was a Ward. And as Armsmaster had pointed out there was no guarantee that any of these girls was our culprit, it could just as easily be someone who lost a relative to the gangs and that death was their trigger. And if word got out about us raiding homes… well we couldn't keep that quite not in this day and age. If we guessed wrong and Scout caught wind of it, she could disappear, abandon any semblance of a civilian life, and live entirely as her mask.
"Talk to Judge Hawthorn, I want warrants for all four residences. We'll organize simultaneous raids. Two capes and a squad of troopers each. We can't have this girl killing capes in their homes or every villain in the city is going to riot."
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Having three oversized vans roll into my range all at once was a warning sign. A fly inside one of those vans landing on a face visor was a blaring neon sign complete with air raid siren. I snapped up my guitar case that held all the essentials and incriminating evidence, then I was out of the back door over the fence and making as much distance as I could heading for busier parts of town. It was absolute bullshit that it seemed the only lesson the PRT was willing to learn from my example was going after capes in their home. Or, no I was actually a little proud that they had decided to act decisively for once. It was still downright infuriating that they only did so to me, and not the neo-Nazi's prepping for a hostile takeover of a quarter of the city.
About the only thing I could really be thankful for in all this was that my military fatigues inspired costume was complete and with me. The spiders were busy evacuating the house and brutally murdering each other down to the last now. I'd have to hit up one of my hiding spots for cash, then buy some spare clothes, and find a motel that wouldn't ask questions.
Dad was going to be disappointed, but I could hardly back down now. I would not be a bystander. I would not allow bullies to do as they please. I was going to rip out the gangs by the roots. I was going to end the threat with violence because nothing else works on these people. If the PRT didn't want to accept reality that wasn't my fault, but it wasn't going to stop me either.
Mom raised me on the classics. I know what a real hero is supposed to be. And while it was too late to do me any good, I did know where at least one person contributing to the downward spiral of the city would be.
{}{}{}{} Piggot
"Alright people, we have three suspects in custody, one in the wind, and you've all had three hours to hold interviews and review evidence. What have we got." I demanded as the last investigator took their seat at the conference table.
Jeff Miller coughed and leaned forward.
"Marrie Shults' apartment had no incriminating evidence and she was incredibly angry that she was being accused of multiple homicides. After a brief discussion with a state appointed lawyer she demanded a brain scan to prove she isn't a cape. Which came up clean. If she's our shooter she's doing it all the old fashioned way. And after the stunt with the cell phone I'm highly doubtful that Scout isn't some kind of cape.
Dan Fletcher spoke next.
"Sara McCafery, it turns out, is a parahuman. She's a mid tier shaker who can mess with gravity in a range of about five meters though details are still a little sketchy. She claims she hasn't gone out yet and was still planning her costume. Things were very tense for a bit until Assault managed to de-escalate and properly explain the situation. At which point she grudgingly agreed to comply with the investigation, but we're fairly certain she's already discussing what kind of lawsuit she could slap us with or how she might be able to leverage this for a better deal if she signs up."
Damn it. That was going to cost us. I'd be thrilled if it only cost us a signing bonus or a larger percentage of merchandising rights, but depending on how angry she was it might just cost us a potential recruit and we really did not need that right now.
"When this meeting is over, get down to legal." I said. "Warn them and tell them to draw up a better than average contract. A larger percentage of merchandising rights, and generous signing bonus would be a good place to start. Let's try and get her onboard and improve her opinion of us."
Dan scribbled down a note and nodded decisively.
Chuck Hawthorn didn't so much as twitch when I turned to him.
"Riley Morgan complied with investigators easily enough and while she does own a gun, it's not a match for Scout's, and it's legally registered. No evidence to suggest she's our culprit though she hasn't yet agreed to a brain scan, mostly I think she's enjoying being difficult. She's got that energy my ex-wife did when she decided to be petty about something."
I gave the man a distinctly unimpressed look for that bit of unprofessionalism. And possibly for being sexist though I'd reserve judgment on that. Even if it was sexist as long as it didn't interfere with his work… well regardless.
Mark Martinez, the last member of this briefing wore the look of a man forced to eat crow and hating it.
"I take it Miss Hebert really was our culprit?" I asked.
"Not that we could prove it in a court of law. We still have no real proof. But she's in the wind and while there wasn't any physical evidence her browser history is highly suggestive. A lot of wiki walks about insects which has us all scratching our heads but the rest of it? Lots of PHO dives about the local capes. She's following a lot of the threads discussing Scout's kills, on a three year old account, not the one Scout used to claim credit for Lung's death. Whole reams of youtube videos about gun safety, maintenance, and what some of my coworkers with a bit of sniper training insist are hidden gems where actually military snipers criticize and compliment movie depictions of snipers."
Damn. I was hoping for actual evidence. Yes this was highly suggestive but it really wasn't proof.
"I also got an alert about an hour ago." Mark continued. "I flagged a few names in the system as likely targets. Winslow's principal was found strangled to death in her home an hour ago. If Miss Hebert has decided her identity is blown… Well it would explain why she only went after one of the people responsible for what we suspect is her trigger until now. I've had the troopers round up the other two alleged bullies, their being put into temporary protective custody until we can figure out if it's going to be a long term situation or not."
Fuck… that also painted a not so pretty picture of the girl's mentality. She didn't just blame the people who assaulted her, she also blamed the administrator whose job it was to deal with the issue and prevent it from going that far in the first place. Which did line up with her response when yelling at the Wards. Would she go after us if the gangs really did end and she managed to survive the fallout? Did she know about Sophia's status as a Ward? It was unlikely, but given her ability to find information not impossible.
"Good work. Do we have any leads on where the girl might be now? Did her father have anything to contribute?" I asked.
Mark shook his head.
"She and her father have a poor relationship, from what he says it sounds more like two people sharing an apartment than father and daughter. From all reports she has been intentionally isolated by her bullies since the start of high school. Given how she gets around the city… it's entirely possible she could squat in a different abandoned apartment every night. If she really wants to stay hidden, we're going to have a hell of a time finding her."
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Camping out on the edge of Empire territory was finally paying off. Kaiser, the dramatic fuck, decided the best way to showcase his new superiority was to march his capes and an armed contingent of idiots down a major road straight for the heart of ABB territory.
I was incredibly tempted to pick off one or two then relocate to do it again. But there was one thing stopping me. The E88 skill thief and sniper Victor was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Othala.
They weren't the Empire's most dangerous capes. Not conventionally. But a healer was the kind of force multiplier worth more than any regular cape and the lack of their known sniper when they had to know I was out here somewhere? I was either being baited into a sniper duel with the hope I'd be killed by their more experienced shooter or they had left him to guard their precious healer. Either way, to me that meant the real prize wasn't marching through the city. No, the prize was waiting somewhere for me to find them while having minimal protection.
Pulling up a map I'd been annotating with building heights I did my best to figure out where I would want to set up if I was a much better sniper and not half reliant on lining up my shots with my bugs.
{}{}{}{} Victor
"Any sign love?" Othala asked.
"Nothing yet." I answered as I continued to scan rooflines and open windows. "There's no guarantee this Scout will show up at all. She's shown a maddening preference for hitting unwary targets. Baiting her like this may not work at all, and it's possible that sheer numbers and the power of our capes will keep her from sticking her neck out."
Othala started to say something but immediately broke into a hacking cough, then she started to wretch. Looking away from the scope I turned to help her. As I stood the door to the room burst open and what had to be a teenage girl in jeans and a hoodie wearing a mask that covered her lower face and mimicked mandibles. Before I could react, wasps swarmed my face and then there was the sound of a suppressed pistol and a searing pain my neck.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Two dead Nazis. And the night was still young, heck it wasn't even night yet! And as a special treat for me the bastard had the perfect sniper's nest all set out for me. Granted I had zero practice shooting targets at this range, but I knew the math, and the Empire were lined up down the road just waiting for someone to greet them. It would be downright rude to make them wait!
Laying down I took a minute to familiarize myself with this new rifle. I didn't recognize it, but researching potential upgrades had never been my highest priority. And once I emptied a magazine or two I was going to leave it here. Not like I had any way to get more ammunition for it after all. Still, the armor piercing rounds already loaded in the gun made me downright giddy to begin.
{}{}{}{} Alabaster
Standing outside Krieg's area of effect playing sniper bait was a shit deal, but every cape who could survive a bullet was in the same boat so I couldn't really complain. And we really did need to make a show of this. The rank and file needed some kind of show of strength to reassure them after our losses. And yeah being shot hurt, but not for long. Not when I'd just reset in a few seconds. And we really did need to nail this bitch to a wall sooner or later. Sure, she wasn't as obvious a threat as fucking Lung had been, but that almost made it worse because at least with the scaly bastard we could see the him coming.
Finally, there was the tell-tale crack of something small shattering the sound barrier and someone shouted, "Sniper!"
Kaiser and Krieg stayed glued to one another as they moved for an alleyway. A quick glance around didn't show anyone bleeding…
A second crack and one of the normals dropped with a hole in his chest. Now there was panic. Everyone was screaming. More cracks, in quick succession now, and the rank and file were dropping fast. Too packed together for the sniper to miss as they all ran for the alleys.
I got up next to Kaiser after a minute of shoving.
"-answer me, Victor! Can you see the bitch?!" Kaiser shouted into a radio.
"Victor, can't come to the phone right now, he's got a terrible case of lead poisoning."
"Son of a bitch!" I cursed.
"It wasn't a bad plan, but having everyone immune to gun fire out in the open while the really valuable target and the sniper were nowhere to be seen was kind of obvious. Shame I couldn't get more of you today, but being greedy is a great way to end up dead. So I'll take two capes and a few grunts as a win."
"You no good, bitch! We will hunt you down and kill you for this!" Kaiser snarled.
"You can certainly try, but no one has managed it yet. Besides, I didn't stop shooting just because you all got behind cover. You're about to have company! So nice to see the heroes actually doing something for once!"
There was a moment of stunned silence and then lasers rained from the sky as New Wave made themselves known. I burst back out of the alley and into the road to escape that tiny kill box in time to get shot in the chest with a bean bag round courtesy of Miss Militia.
Things went downhill from there.
{}{}{}{}
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Topic: Welcome to the War!
In: Boards Places America Brockton Bay
BBSniperQueen (Unverified Cape) (Original Poster)
Posted On April 14th, 2011:
Just wanted to congratulate New Wave and the Protectorate on finally getting in on the action. Sure I had to end Lung and they didn't move till the Empire started marching right into ABB territory in force, but better late than never! Shame the twins, Krieg, Kaiser, a bunch of the mooks got away, but hey, you got most of the rest! Oh right, I left Othala and Victor where I found them. Sniper nest in apartment 736 of Brockton Heights.
No rush, they're dead.
And just like that the E88 is down to four capes! Don't you just love knowing the city is safer?
(Showing Page 10 of 36)
SaladSauce
They tore up two freaking blocks. More than two dozen people who had nothing to do with the gangs were hurt by either capes or stray bullets! This is not safer.
LivetoDie
Yeah? You wanna run that logic past my family because this is the safest we've felt in more than a decade. The Empire's hanging by a thread and if we can just shut them down entirely… god what I wouldn't give for that.
sinbus
I mean we're safer for now. If the Empire decides to no longer give a fuck and attacks all out we could be in trouble until the heroes can shut them down. But with only four capes? I like those odds.
rabidrat
But they still have how many regular people with assault rifles and shotguns?
ManicSquirel
Probably plenty, but no more military grade sniper cape so that's something.
Ecliptical
And no healer! How many of the people that got away were injured? How long until they're in good enough shape to fight again?
SesbianLex
One more push! Take em out! Free the city! I wanna go on a date and not have to worry about getting murdered!
killRoy
Yeah, woo, empire bad. Can we talk about the murder cape who casually claims credit for their kills on the internet please?
Ecliptical
If they stick to killing villain capes and gang members I'm all for them. Hell I'd pay them to keep it up if I had any money.
AppleJohn
I got to agree, if she sticks to the gangs I'd happily pay for her ammo.
faith
This is ridiculous. The girl is murdering people. That is not ok!
swordStick
Yeah, but you know who she's killing? Murders, and people that support murders. And human traffickers and rapists and drug pushers. People that were mostly getting away with that shit before she turned up.
faith
And that somehow makes it ok?!
clapBack
Ok? Maybe not. A relief for those of us living here? Yeah, oh yeah.
hotbath
City used to be stable which meant you knew roughly how many people would die from gang violence every month. Now? It's a little crazy, and it might get worse. Maybe in a year the bay will be a crater, but there's finally a chance things could improve.
PRTENE_official (verified PRT)
We are formally requesting the cape codename Scout who we believe to be BBSniperQueen reach out to us at the following number xxx-xxx-xxxx
clapBack
Holy FUCK! Do they really think that's going to work?
ClownKisser
Dunno about it working, but jeez I want to be a fly on the wall if that conversation actually happens.
{}{}{}{} Piggot
The intercom going off pulled me from my thoughts.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Ma'am, phone call on line one for you. The caller claims to be Scout."
I sat up sharply.
"Are we tracing the call?" I demanded.
"As we speak, ma'am."
"Good send a team as soon as you have that location." I took a bare moment to collect myself before taking the call."
"Scout?"
"Speaking, and would you happen to be Director Piggot or was saying they were connecting me to the director just a delaying tactic?" The voice on the other end of the call asked with good humor, though there was a surprising amount of feedback and distortion on the call. Bad signal, or a voice changer?
"I am Director Piggot. I've been hoping to talk with you for quite some time now."
"I'm flattered, I think. What can I do for you, Director?"
"Besides turning yourself in." I huffed.
The girl had the audacity to laugh.
"Yes, besides that. If you need someone dead I'm not really for hire though if you have intelligence on a villain and can convince me you're not just leading me into a trap we might have something to talk about."
"Not a chance, miss Hebert."
"Huh, so that was you coming to raid my house. Good to have confirmation I suppose. Not that it matters much."
"You call not having a civilian identity to hide behind not much?" I asked, honestly curious in spite of myself.
"Oh no, my Dad who I barely talk to won't be able to talk to me without implicating himself. All of my many many friends and relatives. The wonderful joys of high school and dealing with other teenagers." She deadpanned. "I'll just have to comfort myself with living comfortably off of stolen gang money. If you've figured out who I am you have to know I'm not exactly losing much like this."
Which was true, and all the more frustrating for it because that was one more bit of leverage we just did not have over this girl.
"Now seriously, what did you want to talk to me? Please tell me that wasn't all?"
"... Are you aware that gangs from outside of Brockton Bay are starting to look at the city as an opportunity to expand or dig in?"
"... No, I was not. I'll have to expand my search area if I'm going to find them. Though the less established they are the harder that could be. Took me so much effort to find Lung's apartment. Do you think it would be better to hunt down the newcomers or focus on finishing the Empire? I don't really want to give up the momentum now that they're on the back foot."
This fucking teenager.
"That is not the point I was trying to make. Don't you understand what you've done? Yes the ABB is dissolving as we speak and the Empire has never been weaker but now new threats are flocking to the city."
"So talk to whoever is in charge of the cities where they are established, get a feel for how they operate and stop them before they dig in. I know it won't be easy, but it's not complicated. I'll pitch in whenever I find something that the city would be better off without."
"Miss Hebert, you can't fight the whole world. Even if you remove all the gangs and fend off the first wave you can't fight forever. Sooner or later someone will come along that you can't kill with a gun or grenade and then what will you do?"
"Kill their people and cripple their source of income." She responded without hesitating.
"Damn it you stubborn girl, don't you understand this strategy of yours can't work long term!" I snapped as my patience for this foolishness ran out.
"... Director Piggot, your Wards insisted that what I was doing could not work because Lung was too powerful and the Empire too numerous. Now you are insisting that it won't work because no matter what I do more will come to take the place of those I kill… Maybe you're right. Maybe this can only end with me on the run or dead. But I have yet to hear any alternative that doesn't boil down to maintaining the status quo and accepting that things can't get better. Do you have an alternative pitch?"
"Fucking teenagers, Miss Hebert you have to understand the realities of the situation. There is only ever so much we can do."
"Playing by your rules, that might be true. But how much have I accomplished by doing things my way? You've never even slowed down the ABB or Empire in my memory with the exception of the one time you called in out of town support. Compare that to my track record and tell me my methods aren't working."
"Maybe for now, but what will you do if a stranger starts hunting you? What if the Butcher decides to come back to the Bay? You can't shoot all your problems."
"That would be a much more compelling argument if you were actually managing to stop any of the local villains. You haven't even managed to nail down Uber and Leet. So I can't deal with every cape ever. I'd still say I've stopped more than most of your organization. Five dead capes and a lot of dead gangsters who can't bribe a judge and get right back onto the streets is a hell of a lot for three months."
"You are going to get yourself killed!" I snapped.
"Then I'll die fighting." The response is so matter of fact it momentarily stumped me. "Mom raised me on classical literature. A lot of my bedtime stories were barely sanitized legends. You know what a hero used to be? A flawed individual given an impossible task and told to get it done anyway, and if you listen to the Greeks, it usually ends in tragedy. Heroes killed their enemies, lied, stole, seduced, assassinated, whatever it took to see the job to completion and return home in glory. Maybe there won't be any glorious homecoming where they give me the key to the city, but I've been following the discussion on PHO. You might not care for methods, but the people of the city are breathing easier with every dead villain and destroyed drug lab. Oh, a lot of them are still scared things will get worse. But that just means I can't stop. I know what happens when you let bullies do as they please, and the gangs are the biggest bullies in the city. I have the power to act now, I refuse to be a bystander who allows others to suffer just so I can keep my head down and pretend it makes me good."
I breathed out a long breath of resignation.
"You know I can't allow this. We'll hunt you through the city and see you arrested. You know that right?"
"I know you'll try." There was definite mirth in the girl's voice now. "Administrators just can't stand it when someone comes along and demands they actually do their job, or when you make them look bad by doing it for them. But if you couldn't catch any of the other villains when they weren't marching down a street in force… Well, you're not at the top of my list of concerns. Besides, it's all about maintaining that status quo right? How long do I have to survive before I become part of the regular scenery? Six months? A year? Do the world a favor, give up early and focus on the gangs like you're supposed to."
There was a click then a dial tone as the girl hung up. I cursed a blue streak as I punched in the extension to reach the mission room.
"Ma'am." Whoever picked up responded sharply.
"Did you manage to trace the call?" I demanded.
"Velocity is almost there now, Director. Thirty seconds."
I waited two minutes before they responded again.
"Ma'am, Velocity found the phone used to make the call. It was propped up directly across from a second phone. He suspects both were on speaker phone for the entire call. No sign of Scout still being in the area."
I slammed the phone back into its cradle. It wasn't professional, but it did make me feel better.
{}{}{}{} Kaiser
"Kayden if you would just come back-" I tried to cajole her only to be cut off.
"I will not!" She slashed a hand across her chest. "This girl has torn a swath through the city. I am not bulletproof! I'm also incredibly obvious even in daylight, if she sees me coming all she'll need to do is put on some sunglasses and shoot me out of the sky before I'm close enough to aim properly. I will not risk leaving Aster an orphan in an attempt to save a dying organization. I won't do it Max. And even if I managed to kill the girl before she killed me it would only make me a target for the PRT. You don't have the forces to hold them off, not anymore."
She wasn't even wrong which just made all of this even more infuriating.
"I know there are risk but I can promise you-"
"You can't promise me anything, Max, and you know it. Not with how badly things are going for you right now. I'm sorry about the others. Genuinely, I am. But I retired to look after our daughter. I'm not going back on that decision especially not for a suicide mission. If you're smart you'll retire too. They don't know your identity, and it's not like running a major corporation doesn't pay well."
If she'd said that even a month ago I would have scoffed, but now… now it was actually tempting.
"I can't. Our allies in Germany… they wouldn't accept that. And while we are a long way from Germany if they decide to send one of their kill teams for what they might consider reneging on our arrangements…" I sighed. "I'm afraid for better or worse I'm committed."
Kayden's face softened.
"I'm sorry, Max, but I can't help you. You could go on the run if your options are really so bad, but I can't risk Aster. I'm out Max, and for her sake I have to stay out."
And that was that. I'd hoped I could convince her, but I'd known it would be a long shot from the beginning.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Cool thing about bases with a self destruct function. If your army of insects stumbles onto plastic explosives in hidden corners of the base, and if they find a bunch of detonators in the armory and you take the time to set things up, you can add second triggers to all those explosives.
I had to sit and watch for a week to make sure I would kill the bastard Coil and not end up murdering anyone in the building above. But I finally got my chance when the nut job was busy throwing a fit and shooting some of his own men in the face.
Having most of those bugs die in an explosion and watching an office building collapse into Coil's fucked up bond villain lair was beautiful.
{}{}{}{} Taylor
Finding the Empire's identities was a major stroke of luck. Truly and honestly, it was. I was just close enough to notice the twins growing a bit for some casual intimidation of their underlings and it was a bit of a mad dash through town to keep them in my range. Sure, figuring out exactly who they all were was a bit of a trick, but they met in the Medhal building and all went to their respective offices in the building over the next three hours while I watched. Tracking down home addresses was trickier, but that still only took me a week.
After the ridiculous pain in the ass sawing through a window screen had been I'd taken the time to come up with something simpler this time. It took me a week to track down the remnants of the Merchants and raid one of their stashes for what I needed before destroying the rest, but sure enough mixed in with all the illegal drugs were a few bottles of fentanyl.
I hit all four targets in one night. Air lift the drug a few grains at a time then drop in open snoring mouths until they OD'd and died in their sleep. It was so stupidly simple and easy. No more Empire Eighty Eight.
No more Asian Bad Boyz.
No more Merchants.
No more Coil.
Three and a half months and the Gangs were gutted. No more capes meant regular law enforcement could handle things from here. Rumor had it that Faultline's crew were packing up and leaving.
The Undersiders, and Uber and Leet might go or stay, but they were not the same kind of threat that the gangs had been.
Out of towners might try and take over, but I would be here. The PRT would be here. The Protectorate and even New Wave would be here. The city isn't saved, this isn't a permanent victory.
But for the first time in my memory I felt like there was a real chance that things might actually get better. And really, that's the whole point, isn't it?
Take a stand and do something. Even if it's not pretty or perfect, doing something was better than giving up and accepting death. Maybe I'd gotten lucky. Things could have easily spiraled completely out of control and the city might have burned. But you couldn't make a change without taking risks. And it worked.
I stayed up another few hours to watch the sunrise, then headed for an abandoned apartment a block away to get some sleep. Things were better now, but there would still be remnants of the gangs to hunt come nightfall and new faces sniffing around to shut down. I'd need to be rested.
