Title does kind of say it all
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There aren't many times the original Christopher Raines and me agree on anything, Coil's plans for Dinah Alcott would have had even the cold blooded logic of this body's former occupant near frenzy. Children were always sacrosanct to the scholarly lawyer turned before the Great War. Add in a distaste for unwilling servants like Tattletale, 'willing servants did better and looked out for you rather than just the bare minimum,' and Coil would have been near the top of his shit list. Even if the rules of the world kept him from acting.
Till Judas had his talk with Ms. Wilborne at least. Purposefully putting her out as a stalking horse to watch which faction killed her first. His simulations make him arrogant, that he can avoid any blowback and learn more. Find ways to control Brockton Bay's Nightlife as well as the Parahuman contingent. All the major players knew it; Ol' Drive By of the local wolves had an open bounty on Coil's mercenaries after one team he had brought in turned out to be 'testing' Pentex combat drugs. One of his attempts to get a mole into the ABB found out about the Chi drinker's the hard way and another got literally out-foxed. Only reason Jacob Millners keeps running guns for him, is his credit is still good.
'So, if he's been such a thorn in our side, why hasn't he just 'disappeared?' I know a few younger supernaturals have wondered, and the answer has been twofold: knowledge of who he actually is and not knowing how much he knows. He wants to be the schemer's schemer. Between simulating the outcome of a binary choice and gathering information from anywhere and everywher, he has set himself up in a pretty secure position. We don't know know how many 'dead man switches' he might have with the knowledge of the night set to go off.
That's what we don't know. We know he's Thomas Calvert, between Fortress Construction's 'failed' Endbringer shelter and financial transactions that those who have spent centuries hiding and moving money can find. It's pretty clear to those of us on this side of the divide, but our rules also kept us from really doing anything about him.
Can't get rid of him without destabilizing the city even more than it already is; even with the local PRT Director's legendary hatred for Mr. Calvert, him dying or disappearing at this juncture will raise too many red flags. We're already dealing with someone having leaked that Amy might still be 'alive' and Taylor being considered a runaway after attempting to poison the school with the crap in her locker.
All of these concerns bring me to the front of his house in the early hours of the night.
Show time.
*****
Thomas Calvert had felt it safe to celebrate tonight, he'd finally got a team of men assigned as Dinah Alcott's security detail after the most recent threats on the Mayor's family. A few more breadcrumbs to keep everyone on edge, an active shooter to ingratiate the team to the family, and then…boom a car bomb takes them all out.
Or more accurately a Tinkertech portal that implodes upon itself on one end to help mask everything. Sending them all into a warehouse on the waterfront, a few boats and cargo haulers passing beyond the bay mean that even if they figure out that it was a kidnapping and not just a retaliation for the Mayor's policies, there are too many places she could be by then. Far more complicated than he would like it to be, but a power like hers was worth the risk.
*Knock Knock Knock*
The sound of a knock on his door stills the slippery man's heart. His house is in a gated community for a reason.
*Knock Knock Knock*
He starts to move for his Calvert smartphone when it begins to buzz. Looking at the message on the screen chills the blood in his veins.
'You will want to answer the door Coil.'
*Buzz* His backup phone lights up.
'Your devices will not reach beyond your house for the next 30 minutes Mr. Calvert, please don't keep your guest waiting.'
*Knock Knock Knock*
Calvert tries to dial out and gets nothing but silence. Two minutes down. twenty-eight more to go.
Calvert moves slowly and steadily to a desk in the sitting room and pulls out a handgun, checking its clip as he chambers a round, nodding to himself he does what he does best.
Timeline A: He moves to his office in the back of the house, its reinforced windows and doors could stop anything short of a mid-brute or blaster and if the person at the door had those abilities, Thomas figures he would already be face to face with them. As he closes the door his phone buzzes again.
Timeline B: He starts to head upstairs to hide in the panic room he'd built into his closet…after five stairs his phone buzzes again.
The message reads the same in both timelines: 'Your room won't save you."
He starts in both timelines 'Which room are they talking about?'
Timeline A: He settles down in the closet of his office his handgun pointed at the door. 25 minutes remain.
Timeline B: Pulling the door shut and locks it in place. 25 minutes remain.
"Boo!" Calvert is lifted off the floor of his office by his throat, his gun clattering to the floor, by a well-dressed short haired man in shades. He does what he always does when something goes bad, he drops the timeline…only to find himself still in the hand and his upstairs timeline receding.
"Tried to run away Mr. Coil?" The man's steady voice seemingly bored as he holds Calvert as easily as a child might lift a doll. "You'll find I'm a bit outside your ability to process. I was in here before you even grabbed your gun."
"What do you want?" Calvert's words wheezed out as hand on his throat keeps a firm control of his airway.
"You've angered a lot of people Coil, gotten involved in a lot of things you shouldn't have. Lord Ulric is displeased to say the least."
"I left Lord Eric's domain alone, like I promised!"
"By the barest of threads because you've used multiple tiers of cutouts to do so. But I'm also talking about your scheme against the Mayor and his family. Your little blond vixen dropped some hints after one of us saved her from a hit team." The vampire holding him could have been talking about the weather with how nonchalant he sounded. "The Mayor's office right now is the one perfectly balanced public office in the city, no one has enough control over the Mayor to put that office to work against anyone else. And your little hunting expedition threatens that balance far worse than any E88 squabble with the ABB."
"I…don't…want…the…Mayor!"
"I know you don't Coil. You want the girl." Coil goes slack in the vampire's hand. "Lord Ulric and I have a thing about hurting children. Based on how your teller of tales was recruited, somehow I doubt that Ms. Alcott would even get a choice of death from you."
"What…are…you…going…to…do…with..me?"
"As much as I would like to kill you, I can't at this moment. You serve as too useful a foil and thorn to all the parahuman gangs. So instead…" The man's words trail off as he reaches up to take his shades off, showing Coil his deep black eyes, "a taste of things to come if you step out of line again."
A dark portal opens below Coil's dangling legs. "When you land, don't move. Otherwise, I might not be able to bring you back." He lets go and Coil falls into the soulless dark or as Mr. Raines knows it…The Abyss.
****
With a start Thomas Calvert awakens in a hospital bed, the only sounds those of his monitors and his rapid breathing fill the room.
Flashes of dark, cold, indescribable things and a voice. 'If Dinah Alcott dies, this is your fate. If Tattletale dies, this is your fate. To all of them you accidentally ingested a tinker drug, the very same one you planned for Ms.Alcott, and when coupled with wine it gave you a psychotic episode. Be glad you're still useful to us.'
