“I do, and that’s totally the entire reason you’re doing that,” Tattletale said.  She glanced over in the direction of the fighting.  “How long before the area is bombed?”

Time to set the countdown clock.

Also, be sure to use your power to find out how much time you should cut from whatever she says because there’s no way she won’t inflate the number.

“Can’t say.  On the record, as with your teammates, we’re forbidding you from entering the area, but I expect you’re doing so anyways.  Against my recommendation.”

Coddammit. That’d totally work to cover their bases.

It’s like my analogy about Amy’s responsibility and cliffside warning signs from yesterday. The PRT is planning to claim that they – metaphorically speaking – set up warning sings and fences that the Undertravelers rudely barreled past despite how thoroughly the PRT pleaded for them not to!

After that it’s not the PRT’s fault if the Undertravelers happen to get caught in the crossfire…

Piggot may not be a genius, but she has thought this through.

The Director offered a noncommittal ‘mm hmm’ in reply.

“And you’re telling us this because?”

“Because we’ve studied you.  We know what you prioritize, and I believe that you’ll enter the fray to save your teammates.”

I… yeah.

They totally will.

I already took that for granted, actually, which only goes to show how right Piggot is.

“Or we could phone them.”

That’s at least partially a bluff, given that that already failed once.

“Do you want to try?”

Tattletale glanced at me and Grue.  “No point, I guess.  You’re blocking unofficial communications in the area.”

Oh. I guess that might be why they failed to get through last time too.

“Yes.  We have to hamper communication between the Nine if we want to catch them off guard.  You understand.”

Yeah, like fuck that’s why you did that. The Nine don’t seem the type for phones.

Them getting phones would actually be a bit of a logistical issue for them, even. Shatterbird broke the ones in the city, including any the Nine might’ve had with them, and they don’t seem to have access to a provider of satellite phones the way Coil has. I suppose they might have gathered the phones they had outside Shatterbird’s Shattering range, but it seems like a lot of trouble to go to.

…

It’s totally possible that Bonesaw made biological satellite phones inside their heads or some shit like that.

“It’s breaking the rules between capes.  The same rules that hold things together in an Endbringer event.  We’re fighting a common enemy.”

Is she going to point out that she’s not a cape again?

“True, but not the full story.  We made no agreement of cooperation, and so there can be no betrayal here.”

That’s complete bullshit and you know it.

“My teammates are there, fighting the Nine, and they’re doing it for this city.  You’d be punishing them for that.”

“Legend did warn them that they shouldn’t.  He was told to, I quote, ‘suck shit’.”

Pfft.

Bitch’s words?

That would be Bitch.  Or maybe Imp.  Probably Bitch.

Ahahaha

Tattletale quirked an eyebrow, “Did he specifically tell them they shouldn’t because you’re bombing the neighborhood?”

I’m sure that was part of why he warned them, at least, even if he (against his will) didn’t say it.

“Would you believe me if I said he didn’t get the chance?”

…

Yes. I would, actually. Especially if Bitch was taking the lead.

“I’d say fifty percent of it is that he didn’t get the chance, and fifty percent is that he didn’t try that hard.”

And fifty percent of those last fifty percent were probably because he wasn’t allowed to. Piggot is his superior. Which brings us up to 75% that he didn’t get the chance, sort of.

“Hmm?”

“You’re planning something.  Something you’re wanting to keep a secret, and it’s big.”

Yep, here we go. Can’t keep this from the Undersiders, Jirector.

“Tattletale, you’ve been observing and gathering information on the PRT for some time now.  Do you think I’m a stupid woman?”

“Stupid?  No.  Genius?  No.”

Not smart enough to have figured out how Tattletale works.

There was the sound of a dry laugh from the other end of the phone.  “No, I admit that’s true.  But I’d like to think I’m resourceful.  I’m fighting in a ring where my opponents are bigger, stronger, smarter, faster and better equipped than I am, and the cost of failure on my end is far greater than it is for any of you.  You understand?

Because she’s not (just) fighting for the heroes against villains, she’s fighting for the mundanes against parahumans.

In retrospect I like that that’s the kind of person who breaks the Rules of the Game for (in their own view) good. The Game is between the parahumans, turning the world of the mundane folks into a playground for demigods. That’s what she’s fighting against. She’s not following the Rules of the Game because she’s fighting against the Game itself.

Incidentally, I just lost a different Game.

I’m competent, and I wouldn’t waste my time trying to pull the wool over your eyes.”

Not if you actually thought it was a waste of time.

“So?”

“No secrets.  I’d planned to bait you here with the same subtle offers of information you praised me for earlier, but you’re here anyways, so I’ll tell you what I’m planning.

Fair enough! At least this way we can skip the Undersiders trying to figure it out for themselves while we readers already know.

In a matter of minutes, we firebomb the area where the main group of the Nine are situated.”

So the area where the other half of the Undertravelers are. I guess even with Siberian… hindered… the rush to get over there and extract the others is still on.

“That’s insane,” I spoke.

And she hasn’t even mentioned which bombs they’re using yet.

“Was that Skitter?”

“Yeah,” Battery replied.

“It’s necessary, Skitter,” the Director told me.

To take out the Nine, maybe. The rest of the targets being involved is just a massive dick move.

Also, how much have you done for any civilians that might be nearby?

I didn’t miss the Monochrome getting the real body out of the crater, did I?

That last comment nettled me.  I spoke up, “The Nine don’t really leave you alone once you’ve scored a win.  We had to seize our advantage.”

Good point. If they didn’t push, the Nine would.

“I see.”

“And she has a weakness.  Siberian, I mean,” Tattletale said.

“Do tell?”

This is not one to barter for. People need to know. The more the better.

“She’s a projection.  Like Genesis is, as I’m sure you’re aware.  Like Crusader’s duplicates.  A quirk in reality that draws from her creator’s brain to create a body complete with all the physiological substructure.  Which is largely for aesthetic effect, and I’d guess it gives her real self something the brain is familiar with controlling anyways.”

That’s a believable reason for the Monochrome’s humanoid nature, yeah.

“And the controller is vulnerable?”  There was a note of interest in the Director’s voice.

Vulnerable and currently trapped in a crater.

Again, provided someone took Skitter’s text as a cue to pay attention.

“Particularly vulnerable.  She can’t extend her invincibility over her real body.”

“I’m not sure I believe this.  The Nine would have discovered this and I doubt the baser members could resist taking advantage of such a weakness.”

It’s incredible what some people can manage to keep secret.

“The power has range.  I suspect the creator can stay miles away and still manage some control, but ventures closer for voyeuristic purposes or because it offers more control and faster response times.”

More control when closer? Sounds familiar.

“Much like Regent, hmm?”

Yep.

Tattletale paused.  “So you know that.”

From the tone of the conversation, I would have expected a ‘No, you just told me.‘, but Tattletale wouldn’t have done that.  More likely that her power confirmed her thoughts.

Yeah, Lisa’s too used to doing this herself to fall for a trick like that this easily.

“Shadow Stalker debriefed us.  What do we know about this woman who controls-”

Based on what they saw of Regent controlling Sophia, do the Undersiders have reason to believe she’d know that, or more importantly, reason to believe she wouldn’t?

I wonder if Lisa has figured out what Alec did to Sophia yet.

“Man.  The person who projects Siberian is male.  But he creates a female body.  I think it’s tied into his trigger event.  Someone he lost.

…aww. That’s pretty sad. He lost someone dear to him, so the Dandelions gave him the power to make a copy of her.

Though Brian’s Monochrome when borrowing the power still manifests as a copy of himself.

If I had to guess, he sought revenge for her, but something happened.  A side effect of the power, or just a seriously unhinged mental state… he lost it.”

And that’s how he turned into a monster who’d fit into the Nine?

“I see.  Thank you for the information.  Unfortunately none of those possibilities are narrow enough that we can use them to track him down.”

I wonder if Lisa has been prolonging the buildup to the bombshell that “actually he’s right here, stuck in a pit” on purpose.

“Not in the short-term.  In the long-term-”

…

“I don’t intend for there to be a long-term, Tattletale.  This ends today.”

Tattletale paused.  “What did you do?”

Uh oh. Lisa has caught onto something.

“Thank you.”

“And you did catch me off guard here.  I didn’t expect you to contact me.”

I suppose it is possible that contacting specifically Tattletale on sight was pre-planned, so that Piggot didn’t need to specify it over the radio.

“You’ve been busy, your groups.  Fighting Burnscar in the Docks, I gather that didn’t go so well,” the Director said, pausing.

That was less of a fight and more of an escape, except for Genesis’ contribution.

I didn’t even want to think about that.  I hadn’t been back to check on my people or my territory since then.  We had been busy.

If she puts this off much longer her territory might become like my old NeoPets account. I was away from it for an extended period, and then I never returned because I didn’t want to face the death of my NeoPets due to neglect. (I’m not even sure that would’ve happened. Again, I never returned.)

My point is it’s just going to get harder to face the longer she puts it off.

But yeah, they have been super busy, so she has some valid reasons.

“Then you ambush the Nine, capturing two, one of whom you enslaved, but you lose one of your own in the process.  You mount a rescue attempt.  I take it that you were successful?”

I mean, he’s standing here next to the phone, so…

Honestly, I kind of want Grue to answer this one, just interjecting with a “Yeah.” and letting his spooky voice say the rest.

“Grue’s here,” Battery informed her.  “But he looks different.”

Right, because the darkness surrounding him is a bit different now.

“So they were successful.  And now we find the Undersiders mounting a pincer attack, with this group targeting Siberian?  I suspect you’re crossing the threshold of fearlessness and entering into foolishness.”

Perhaps, though you don’t have the information they do. As long as the Monochrome doesn’t return and the real body stays in the crater, this was actually a success. Probably the first one there’s ever been against Siberian specifically.

Though the real body is still dangerous as long as they’re capable of unsummoning the Monochrome and resummoning her next to the people trying to arrest them.

Battery drew a phone from her belt and tapped her fingers on the keypad for a moment.  She gave Tattletale a dark look as she held the phone out.

…what? Is this so you can put it on speaker?

A woman’s voice said, “Not like you to tip your hand, Tattletale.”

She is acting a bit less subtle than usual. Now the PRT can demand the return of the earpiece, and she’s given them more to go on when it comes to figuring out her power.

They’ll also change the encryption key either way, but that won’t help for long if she has the earpiece.

“Director.  Are we really going to pretend you didn’t know I was listening in?  You’ve been putting out misleading details to screw with my information gathering.

Has she, or did you just pick up the misleading details meant for Chariot?

Done quite a good job of it, if I may say so myself.  Very subtle, all of it just right enough that even I was thrown off.  Couldn’t trust much of it.”

Huh, not bad, Piggot. I’ll give you that one.

(Of course, if it was the misinformation meant for Chariot, Piggot can’t exactly say so.)

Battery stepped forward, glancing over at our team, “This one is already set to the encrypted channel, it’s faster if-”

Tattletale probably did that with the one she has, didn’t she. There’s a good chance she’d Know how to if she tried.

Tattletale interrupted, “Uplink three-three-five, encryption forty-two mod three-four-two-one-zero-zero-six-six-three-one-zero-”

Ahahaha

Shenanigans like these are part of why I like her so much. 😛

“You have access to our channel,” Battery growled, interrupting Tattletale’s spiel of numbers.

Tattletale shrugged.  “Have for a while now.”

I wonder how much info she’s been able to glean that way.

Battery raised one hand to her ear.

“Yeah, Battery,” Tattletale grinned, “Let’s do as the Director says and get down to business.”

Pffft.

So wait. Wouldn’t Lisa have heard Piggot tell Chariot– oh, that’s how she knew that “they want to talk” last chapter. I guess Piggot didn’t specify Tattletale after all? In which case this is on Chariot, Glory Girl and Battery. (Yes, all three of them, even if it was all Chariot’s decision.)