Dragon didn’t reply.  Had Tattletale found a sore spot?  I knew the Dragonslayers were mercenaries who had taken the parts of one of Dragon’s armored suits to outfit themselves as high tech mercenaries.

Everyone has sore spots, and this one is fairly well known, so you don’t even need the power of knowledge to find it.

You were saying about not being affected by Tattle’s words, Dragon?

Tattletale looked up and glanced around the room, then whispered to me, “Don’t worry about misfires.  I think my power will help us spot those.”

Ah, yeah, that’s helpful.

I wanted to believe her, but she’d been wrong before.  It would be Murphy’s law for her power to go awry here, with us blowing our faces off or something.

Hm, fair enough.

Still, I didn’t stop her from picking up a gun without a handle.  She pointed it at the wall and pulled the trigger that sort of dangled beneath the gun.  A yellow dot appeared on the wall, then started smoking.  She glanced over her shoulder, and when I turned to see what she was looking at, I saw a matching dot on the wall.  She moved the gun, and the dots both moved.

…don’t use whatever this is near any cats.

I followed Tattletale into one of the rooms at the other end of the Ward’s headquarters.  Pieces of technology littered the area.  There was a small bed in one corner so littered with pieces of junk, screws, scraps of metal and unfinished projects that I doubted the occupant had used it to sleep in a long time.

Kid Win’s room, it seems.

Kid Win’s room, had to be.

“Gear up,” Tattletale said.

“What?”

Oh damn. The Undersiders with Kid Win’s tinkertech guns… sounds like a fun time.

“Taking a tinker’s stuff to keep is a bad idea, what with GPS signals and tracking and all that, but at the very least, we can use this to get out.”  She swept her arm over the room, where stuff lay on every surface.

Ah, right, they can’t keep it. Still, though, fun time while they’re still around here!

Dragon’s voice echoed through the chamber, “I can hear you, Tattletale.  Do not use a tinker’s devices.  Power supplies can overload, weapons and equipment can misfire.  Only the tinker who made it can verify the devices as safe and operate them properly.”

You say as if the Protectorate wasn’t using Bakuda’s bombs against Leviathan and isn’t constantly providing plenty of PRT soldiers and capes with equipment made by tinkers other than themselves.

“Right, sure,” Tattletale called out with a note of sarcasm in her voice.  “Because it’s not like there’s any high profile mercenaries out there who’ve made a career off of using a tinker’s stuff.”

Ahaha yeah, that too. Getting personal here, bringing up the Dragonslayers… nice.

“You tried to steal official data, and you put a virus on my system.  Epeios’ work, I believe.

Shit, I fell into the “can’t it be motherfucking both things” trap…

So, Epeios? Mundane virus programmer, or one who is parahumanly good at that?

…would that make them a tinker?

I’m more insulted by the fact that you went to that hack than I am about the virus.”

Pfft.

“Had to slow you guys down somehow,” Tattletale called out.

So does that mean the virus is the only reason Dragon didn’t interrupt this until the end of the transfer?

She motioned to me, and I hurried toward her.  Imp let go of the axe to rub and shake her hand.  Regent grabbed the weapon to take over the job of hacking at the door.

Hm, whatcha want with Taylor?

“So few think they will,” Tattletale said with a grin.  “So.  I guess you’ve locked us in here, huh?”

Hehe.

“Yes.  You’ll get out, perhaps, but not before reinforcements arrive.”

“We’ll see,” Tattletale answered.  She began moving toward the Wards’ quarters.

I mean, it’s not a bad plan. I imagine there’s more Dragon could do if she felt the need to, but she evidently doesn’t right now.

She looked from one security camera to the next, as if trying to figure out if she was being watched.  I did have my bugs covering the lenses of the cameras I’d been able to find, but that wasn’t to say that they could have something more concealed.

(I assume that’s supposed to say “couldn’t”)

Yeah, considering how common it is to disable any apparent security cameras, it makes total sense to install some hidden ones too, and the PRT probably has access to a hidden sensor tinker somewhere who can make some damn well-hidden cameras.

It was kind of creepy, that the kids here were observed constantly like that.

Eh. Dunno, seems reasonable to me. I mean, if there’s security cams in the bathrooms, that’s a whole other matter, but this room is essentially their workplace. I don’t find it any more creepy than security cameras in a shop watching over the employees.

In the dim light the monitors shed, I could see Imp trying the door by the stairs.  It didn’t open.  I gave it a try and verified it had sealed shut.

You are currently in a building where Dragon presumably has remote control over just about everything. You’re gonna have a hard time getting out of here if she’s intent on keeping you trapped.

I wasn’t entirely sure why I’d expected a different result.  Maybe I’d been hoping Imp had been making a horribly timed joke?  It wouldn’t be beyond her.

Heh, fair.

“We were, but we’re done now, so we’ll be on our way,” Tattletale called out, her voice raised to be picked up by whatever microphones Dragon was using to listen in on us.  I could see her pulling the USB drives from the computer.

Ahaha! Have I made it clear enough how much I love Tattletale’s frankness yet? 😛

Dragon informed us,  “I’m reading the files and notes we have on you as we speak.  Tattletale, it seems you have a penchant for needling your opponents.  Rest assured, if you intend to try it, I won’t rise to the bait.”

Good luck with that. This girl is good.

Imp hefted her fire axe and struck just beside the handle of the door.  The door itself was hollow, but it was made of something like fiberglass, and the axe only made a small hole, a half inch across and less than two inches long.  She struck again, slightly higher.

A small hole is better than nothing, I suppose. It means it’s possible to make a bigger hole if you’ve got time and stamina.

krixwell-liveblogs:

Janine might be another good name for Piggot.

Ooh, or for the ironies, Director Joy(ce) Piggot.

I wasn’t kidding when I said there are a lot of good J names.