4.4 Allies Expansion
Once dad was comfortable with it, I made a batch of super skin for myself. I tested it on my legs for a few days. There was no real difference that I could tell. Sensation and texture were unaffected. Hmm, maybe a bit firmer. Still, it was good. I'd need to mix up a batch every month. Dad and I were easy manage, Lisa not so much. I'll have to send some special turtles to carry her batch to her.
Lisa had been very helpful. She provided insights into all of Coil's stuff that I recorded. I hadn't actually gotten into his office yet, it was on the distant side of the complex from the main entrance. Said entrance was a service alley for food court. The sort of place that got occasional vans and other vehicles dropping stuff off all the time for a bunch of places. The entrance to the downtown lair was in an alcove and had a couple doors and shutters. At least according to what the mercenaries said, since none of us had seen it.
Coil had finally given up on Lisa, or Sarah, as it turned out her name was originally. She really preferred Lisa, and we didn't push. Coil had found Lisa's car the same day she has been missing and had apparently been both backtracking her movements and trying to establish where she might have gone. He eventually decided that ABB or Merchants had killed her, not knowing she has a power. Her car being unlocked, and robbed of everything in it was suggestive to him of a hold up. The lack of blood or a body though was what had kept him looking for months.
Lisa was worried about the Undersiders, they were sort of like assigned friends to her, and while she didn't necessarily want to see them again, they were, in her words 'too decent, desperate, or straightforward to recognize how Coil didn't care about them'. Rachel was doing the worst of the three. Apparently, Lisa had frequently needed her power to able to figure out the right ways to interact with her. Coil had resorted to threats to kill her dogs if she didn't cooperate. Coil hadn't made a move to start actually blackmailing or physically threatening the other two Undersiders, but their value was apparently very diminished without Lisa. They did thefts occasionally, and that was Lisa's best clues to figuring out his power. Coil made things more dramatic when he talked, but so far, he just seemed to get information about whether a plan was going to work or not.
I still thought his power was some kind of 'remote viewing', but dad and Lisa disagreed.
Lisa wanted me to rescue the other Undersiders, or as she had actually wrote in a letter, 'put them through a kidnapping, lock them in a small individual rooms underwater, and then leave them there until they like you ;-) Or, you know, something reasonable'.
I felt Lisa was being overly sarcastic. She'd been a lot happier with the internet and going through the data on Coil. She had even stopped going out to hit Merchant safehouses. She still went and got takeout from restaurants occasionally, but that was a lot less taxing on the powersuit v3, and it took me a lot less effort to maintain.
As such I could focus on one of the many projects I wanted to accomplish. The first priority was actually the hardest. Passive sonar mapping was quite difficult. It was coming along though, and I worked on it whenever I had inspiration. Active sonar mapping was nearly done, the v4 powersuit would have it, and would be annoying to dogs, but silent to humans. Only annoying, not painful or harmful. The next big thing was chromatic camouflage, like an octopus. The changing color was easy, to my great annoyance, after the work I put into my jellies and their variable color foam extruders, but the reflectivity was a work in progress. Not only did the color have to match, but the surface had to be shiny or dull as appropriate. I hadn't made much progress beyond super skin either. It was simple and worked and that was about it.
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Amy sat with me occasionally in the cafeteria. Not a lot, but sometimes. Basically whenever she didn't go heal at a hospital and when Vicky was on again with Dean. It was nice, and she even helped me with ideas.
"I still don't understand why all lairs have to be trapped."
"It's an inherent property of a lair, otherwise it's just a basement or an office floor or a house. It just doesn't fit the theme. Have you seen Home Alone 1 & 2? Those are houses, but they become lairs after they're booby trapped. Or take the PRT building, would it be the actual PRT building if it didn't have the containment foam sprayers in the lobby, or the taser elevator?"
Amy turned up from her salad. "The what? It's not a taser."
"Yes it is, that's why the doors scissor shut like they do, so the PRT can electrocute the occupants without frying the people outside, but while still letting outside people see what happened right before the door finishes shutting. It's for psychological warfare. Void_Cowboy and some others on PHO worked it out."
Amy does not give enough credence to the analytical powers of large groups of people on the internet.
"Why can't it just be something simple anyway? I can't believe I'm arguing this, but why not just use like a pit trap that opens to drop people down the elevator shaft? Or you know, something sane, like more containment foam?"
"Well first off, what kind of pit traps are we talking about here? Because my favorite are the easily found kind, but when you apply force to an edge, as if you were going to jump over it, then the edge collapses, because it is hinged, and not only is the villain blindsided, but it's funny, which is morale boosting for the heroes. Or air vents. That's how you deal with the sneaky sort of people who come at you sideways, you put up screens you can see, and as the screens are cut, nothing happens. No trap, so they think they're in the clear, when actually the screen prevents your pet anaconda from getting through the air vents, and it then hunts down the intruder. This does require you to teach 'fetch' to a snake, but it's a work in progress."
Amy raised her index finger. "OK, one, no pets bigger than a dog for you, ever." And then another finger. "Two how often do you think heroes need those kinds of things?"
"Uh, all the time. When was the last time a gang cape actually got successfully held and then transferred out of the Bay? Not just the new occasional trigger that decides to hold up a bank the middle of the day by himself, but one that is part of the four gangs in the bay?"
"Well, OK, fine, that's fair, but it's the transports that are usually attacked, not the PRT building."
"Really? Why not just fill the back of the truck with containment foam until they're out of town? It'd make it harder for the prisoners to run off if the truck is attacked if they're sealed in 200 cubic feet of foam."
That actually manages to stump her. "That's a surprisingly good question. Maybe expense? That's a lot of containment foam and the PRT doesn't actually use all the time."
"Well, my dad thought of it, not me, regrettably. I just hadn't realized it was a common problem when he and I were talking about the news the other day. I would just tether capes being sent out of town to a balloon and do a skyhook pickup from the PRT lair.
"I'm not touching whatever you think a skyhook is, but still, most heroes don't have lairs."
"Yes they do. Armsmaster has several that he lives in at random, that's why he can occasionally ambush gangs and villain capes right when trouble gets started, keeping them wary of him."
"Armsmaster is a workaholic and has a fast motorcycle. No lairs."
"Amy, I believe that if you would do your research, the internet has clearly shown that it's called the arms-cycle, because he maintains the arms-cycle from Hookwolf's metallic arms that he's cut off of the villain, from their various encounters."
Amy just stares at me. I maintain a straight face for as long as I can, and then start laughing quietly.
"I can't believe I almost believed that you would believe that."
"Yes of course, there's no way to build an engine just from steel, much less a motorcycle. Armsmaster has been using Squealer's wrecks for designs."
"I can't tell if you're serious anymore."
"Excellent, now phase 2 is complete."
"What was phase 1?"
"I don't ever have any phase 1 steps, too many great plans are stopped before getting passed the initial phase. I prefer that all my plans to start successfully."
"OK, whatever. Well, if you ever get powers, please don't become a villain. You'd be like the horrible mirror image of Mouse Protector."
"I can assure you that I'm not currently accepting applications for chief minion, and do not leave one in my mailbox for consideration."
Amy and I end up talking for the rest of lunch. I still won't be near Vicky or Sophia, so Amy and I don't interact all that much, but when we can, it's fun. Amy had started to wear gloves at school, some thin opera style gloves. I asked her about it once, and she said it was nice to have them on.
We got along fine, but I was unwilling to rely on her, Emma had seemed nice too. What I had with Amy was good enough, and safe.
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"Taylor, I think we need a better plan for what we're considering with Coil." Dad spoke up during dinner later that evening. "Let's say you seal his base, and then call the PRT. He's got spies, or whatever, so it's pretty fair to assume he gets busted out of jail fairly quickly. Then what? I doubt we can get all of his assets, and then he'll be coming after us. I think what we need is leverage. Secondly, I don't think Lisa is cut out to do this, and she had the most experience fighting of the three of us. I think we should recruit some more help. I think Lisa can do the investigating, I'll do the pitch, and I think we can convince some more mercenary inclined capes to help."
"I don't see why sealing the lair wouldn't be enough?"
Dad rolled his eyes at me, overly dramatically in my opinion. "Taylor, you haven't called the downtown lair 'Coil's base', since the first few days you heard of it. I know you're hoping that you can figure out a way to keep it. That means we need to do more than just win, we need to do it without the PRT. I don't think the three of us can manage that, but I think we might be able bring in more help such that we can do it safely."
"OK, so what's your idea then? Faultline? She does mercenary work." Thankfully, I had read Lisa's description of cape groups and their members.
"I'm actually thinking Uber and Leet."
I'm not sure how to respond to that, on a number of levels. "The nerd capes? But they never win."
"Sure they do, they win all the time."
"Leet had to regrow his arm once, after a flame sword blew up. That's the only video they censored."
"Did he? Well, I'm pretty sure a couple of surprisingly capable fellas were able to patrol the docks for the union last year during a valuable shipment that the dockworkers needed to have happen without a hitch. Uber and Leet are quite interested in being on TV, and not being threats, I think they manage themselves pretty well."
"You guys have hired Uber and Leet?"
"Not to my knowledge," dad winks at me, "but if they are the same guys, I'd expect they could help us. I think they might be, the union holds itself separate from the gangs, and Uber and Leet need both money and anonymity. I'll have to ask Lisa to find a way to contact them, and see if they'd be interested. I also think it would be a good idea to vet them myself and she what Lisa thinks."
"Why not Faultline's group?"
"I don't think we have enough money to convince them. I think if we let Uber and Leet film it, they might do it. Also, if I was Coil, and Faultline wasn't scrupulous, I'd pay them give me warning if they are ever they're hired against my interests. Still this is all just ideas and guesswork. If it's too risky in the end, we can always send the information to the PRT."
"Well, fine, so I like idea of claiming Coil's lair for my own, but still, you've always been pretty paranoid about revealing myself to others. Why the change?"
"Lisa is believed to be a case 53, not a Tinker, according to PHO, so Lisa can be point man for this without spilling anything new. That actually segues nicely into my next topic. I think you need to make Lisa's armor look more like a body. It gives Lisa better protection on her identity if nobody believes there is an identity to find. Most of PHO believes she's a kind of fish creature. Like she has a creature from the black lagoon sort of body. Could you make those changes to her power suit?
"Oh, uh sure. The v4 is almost ready anyway. I won't make too many changes, maybe a slit to look like a mouth, and put the hot grenades on a belt, so they're more obviously an add-on. Oh, I can give the suit the ability to spit capsaicin, sort of like actual pepper spray, which would imply the Lisa makes the hot grenades from spit or something like that. I could maybe give it a fake jaw even, that moves in sync with her mouth."
"Yeah, that sounds good. I'm proud you want to be a hero in general, but give this particular plan some more thought over the next couple of days. Odds are we'd have to start talking to Lisa in person, or at the very least by phone, to get this done in any reasonable amount of time. Lisa has a very subtle power, if she meets us, she'll probably figure out everything about us, and we would simply have to trust her. Lisa is where she is now because a Thinker took over her life, and then she got very lucky that you could save her. You need to be sure before you talk to her that working with her is what you think the best choice, because it may be her choice afterwards."
That takes my enthusiasm out back, executes it, and then buries it. "Yeah, I'll think on what I want. I am skeptical of Uber and Leet though."
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After a few days, dad and I decided to meet Lisa. If dad hasn't made such a big deal about it, I would've been a lot less nervous.
We were headed to an abandoned building near Lisa's lair, but not adjacent to it. We could get into the storm drains and from there we could walk underground to Lisa's lair. It would be several extra blocks of walking though. The drains weren't connected in an ideal fashion.
Arriving at the disguised door to where Lisa lived, dad glanced at me one more time and then knocked.
Lisa promptly opened the door. "Hi, I'm glad to meet my mysterious benefactor, and... Ah, I had the dad pegged as the Tinker."
Dad and I exchanged a look in which dad conveyed 'I told you so'.
I turn back to the blonde girl. "Hi Lisa, it's nice to meet you in person."
She doesn't seem perturbed that I didn't provide my name. I don't want to share that right now. She grabs my hand to shake it. "Hello! Thanks for saving me, well not so much for the rampant paranoia, but that's not wholly crazy when getting involved in a Thinker fight."
"Hello Lisa, I'm Danny." Dad also shakes her hand.
Lisa beckons us into her place, nodding to herself. "Hello Danny, thanks for all the food. So, how do you guys see this working? No I can't brainwash you just by talking to you. You guys are pretty cautious and paranoid. I do really want to take down Coil. I think the Undersiders might help us eventually, but maybe not with this part. Other help? Yeah, maybe, it's hard to tell with Uber and Leet. I think Faultline would be fair, but I don't like working with her, so you'd have to be the one to talk to her. Yeah, I dunno if you, Danny, actually know them, but I can check. Thanks for the internet by the way, god, thank you. I had missed that so much. It's been really frustrating trying to figure out Coil's power. He just seems to learn stuff, but it's really inconsistent. He learns things slowly, but with no obvious exertion. He really wants to find a fast Thinker, like me. Somehow that's a complement to his power. I can tell you he hasn't found one yet, but he's pushing for it. He is weirdly confident that he can eventually get a Thinker. I think if he has to, he believes he could buy a cape with a Thinker power. He hasn't caught onto you infiltrating his lair. His lair, well, the lair that your kid really wants to have if she can."
She orients to me while I stare, surprised at her introduction so far. "You have 3 lairs, and this one that you built for me. Two of those lairs you've never even seen. Oh, you've got a better map than the drawings that you've sent me, so you know what they look like, but still, you just built them. You use the only lair you've been to for storage? Oh, that's because you've spent time maintaining the armor I use. Well, rebuilding it, excepting for the structural framework. That sucks that it breaks down so quickly, I was curious as to what kind of work it needed. You're making a new version? Ah, it will match the case 53 idea that has been on PHO, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I guess it's worked out pretty well that I've only hit Merchants. So, the lack of socialization was really hard on my Thinker power, I wasn't actually crazy, or getting crazy, I just was so relieved to be doing something other than looking at walls, and reading books. The books weren't bad, but I could see the ending and twists coming from the halfway point. Especially the sequels, because my power had so much time and so little to distract it. Oh, it is such a relief to be able to have actual conversations with people again, and not just ordering food, or saying things to druggie Merchants that cause existential crises due to their incredibly poor life choices."
Dad finally found his voice, while I was still just staring at Lisa. "Oh, 'conversation', is that what you call this?"
"Yes, and do come in, it's not much, but it's safe and it's home." Lisa responded snarkily.
We talked for awhile, and I was glad to see Lisa was ok. She calmed down pretty quickly, and confirmed that she was simply excited, and also socially deprived, rather than that talkative all the time. Physically, she was very pale with bright freckles, but had kept in reasonable shape.
The big motivation in Lisa's life at the moment was going after Coil and she agreed to find out a way to get in touch with Uber and Leet. We offered to bring her dinner from a restaurant, and have a sort of picnic, but I guess our paranoia had rubbed off on her as she declined. She wasn't happy, exactly, to be stuck at home, but being out from shipwreck lair and having the internet was good enough. She figured a couple more months of being sequestered, and she could have actual freedom, not just running about and hoping for Coil to not find her. She didn't want to risk that.
Dad checked up on her stuff and how she was doing. He wasn't particularly subtle about it, but just sort of brought the conversation back to her living conditions and how she was doing occasionally. The only thing remaining that she really wanted was lots of hot water. My tech could heat up her lair as much as she wanted, as long as she sealed off the major air vents and such, but water purification, plumbing, and heating hadn't been something I thought much about. She got by, but hot showers was the next thing that she wanted. She was stealing electricity from a nearby warehouse, so maybe an electric water heater?
Eventually, time ran out, and dad and I had to leave before it got dark enough to be overly suspicious that we were running around near the docks. Lisa thanked us again for saving her, and then we left.
