One shouldn't underestimate human capabilities. Especially when that human is smart, brave, cynical, and ruthless. And there were no other types among Coil's mercenaries. After the appearance of capes in their bright costumes with their superpowers, the world began to forget that a human's main weapon is located between their ears, in their skull. Ninety-five percent of capes could be easily eliminated with a bullet to the head or a car bomb. Everything else was just details. Even Lung, the Great and Terrible Dragon of Kyushu himself, could be eliminated by a shot from a high-caliber sniper rifle to the head from a decent distance. And just in case, there should be a control group near the target—for the unlikely event that one shot wouldn't be enough. Of course, it would require a special high-velocity bullet with an armor-piercing core, a high-precision rifle with minimal tolerances and a free-floating barrel, and someone capable of making such a shot... but Coil had such a plan available.
And a couple times he even tried to implement it, but something went wrong, Lung survived and... alright, fine, Lung is a bad example. But if you take the other capes in our city—Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Aegis, Assault, Battery, Kaiser, Fenja and Menja, Rune, Cricket, Circus, Squealer... they were all vulnerable to such a shot. If given time to prepare, most of them could protect themselves, but a surprise attack... only Alabaster and Hookwolf were protected against that. And we're talking about the obvious method, a sniper rifle shot. But mercenaries have many such methods in their arsenal: directional mines, thermobaric ammunition, monomolecular tripwires, poisonous gases and mixtures, flamethrowers and grenade launchers, heavy construction equipment, plus experience and sharp minds that allow them to apply all this in practice, creatively and with flair. Any of the mercenaries could have taken down Sophia Hess alone... track her down and either a bullet to the head or a tranquilizer dart. So Coil's mercenaries are a force. They don't have cape abilities, but that doesn't make them less dangerous—quite the opposite. Capes often become overconfident, both heroes and villains, while these guys and girls know their limits and don't take risks—they do everything with certainty. And under Coil's command they're practically immortal—not a single loss during their entire service. No wonder Coil enjoys such respect among them.
Lisa says that in one of the realities I went through Coil's entire mercenary team like a knife through butter, then ate his eyes with insects... but that's me, Butcher Fifteen. I could already be placed in the top hundred most dangerous parahumans on the planet... and I probably wouldn't be at the end of that list.
And besides, someone has to handle the small matters on the ground, and it should be people, not insects. The Administration should inspire trust, not fear. Well, it should inspire fear too, but only in those who break the established rules of coexistence in the city. It's not royal work to chase hooligans and robbers through dark alleys—everyone has their function. I can be brought in for important matters, while I'll leave all the small stuff to Coil's mercenaries and put Lisa on top of them as a supervisor. Especially since Lisa herself says she knows how to do everything with minimal costs. I trust her, though in Calvert's presence she sometimes becomes simply unbearable, but at the same time... somehow tightens up, if you will.
"That's it?" I ask Lisa, raising my head from the table with papers. "It should be everything. I simultaneously reviewed a hundred documents, Lisa. That's more than enough. We held meetings with the Undersiders and Travelers, confirmed their contracts, saw Noelle who, thank God, is sleeping today. I approved your plan to start the operation, gave orders to the mercenaries, put Coil in his place... everything?"
"This is just the beginning," she says, sitting on the edge of the table and swinging her leg in a very expensive shoe. "I need approval and assistance in conducting a preliminary campaign on the internet and in the media."
"Yes, yes," I nod. "Of course. Do it. You have free rein, do what you want and how you want."
"You're not listening to me? I need your assistance. I can't manage two dozen accounts simultaneously. It's necessary to create the illusion of a wave of public support. Some of the accounts I created myself six months ago, but mostly I just took ones whose owners hadn't been online for a long time. So there won't be suspicion... besides, I have forums written here. Of course, we'll start with PHO, but there are very influential forums with high citation ratings... there are thematic sites about capes or politics, there'll be short articles and opinions, plus comments under news on official media sites. And I need influencers. Opinion leaders. But most importantly—I need our local clowns."
"Then take money and hire yourself a team of clowns," I grumble. "Forgot where Coil keeps his checkbook?"
"Ouch... below the belt, Taylor," the expensive shoe slides off her heel and hangs on her fingertips. "Reproaching a girl for spending a little money on herself. This is moral compensation—it causes him moral anguish to see how I spend resources on dresses. And you need to dress up too. We're definitely going shopping Tuesday, clear your schedule. Money is money so you can afford a little extra. You should look expensive and chic. After all, you're the Administrator."
"Don't drag me into a conversation about Brockton Bay's economy again, I'm begging you," I reply, stretching my arms on the table and laying my head on them. "I'm scared to go home. What will I tell Dad?"
"The truth. Telling the truth is easy and pleasant," Lisa shrugs and her very expensive shoe falls from her fingertips onto the plush carpet. "That you worked like hell all day. Kicked a huge mercenary, put Grue in his place, growled at Bitch so much that she tucked her metaphorical tail between her very real thighs and sat down, promised Trickster you'd find a way to return Noelle to normal so he could finally grope her tits, and familiarized yourself with Coil's plans developed by Accord. And then..." she smiles and puts her bare foot on my thigh, "then you wanted to lay your friend right on the table and tear off her very expensive dress... equally expensive underwear and properly punish her for being so smart. Maybe it's envy speaking in you... well, you're the muscle and I'm the brains of the team. And you like violence and my helplessness..." she raises her hands up, surrendering. "Big scary Butcher and such a weak little Tattletale... you could do anything you want with me. Here, in an armored shelter with soundproofing... no matter how much I scream—no one will hear me."
"You're provoking me, Lisa," I say and lower my hand, touching smooth skin and small toes. "You know I can't... at least not like that. The Butchers won't give me peace afterwards."
"Oh, spit on them," she squints and her foot slowly slides up my thigh. "They're just losers who'll never have a girl like me. Let them be envious. Stuff them in cockroaches and forget about them. I have so many ideas in my head... we can play strict teacher and naive student..."
"Come on, what are you waiting for, four-eyes!" says Butcher First. "Rip her clothes off, let me look at her tits! Stick your tongue in her, she should like that... she's a bitch after all. Fuck her so she forgets her name, so she ends up next Tuesday, so she lies there whimpering like a little bitch!"
"Be quiet," sounds another voice and the Butcher shuts up. The voice addresses me: "Sorry, Taylor, sometimes he just can't help himself. But... he has a point. Lisa is a control freak—she wants to control everything, thinks her knowledge allows her to do that. From the moment she gained her abilities, she hasn't had sex. With anyone. Think, Taylor, why is she provoking you?"
"What?" I freeze for a second. Internal dialogues with the Butchers always proceed at escape velocity—it's not a calm and unhurried exchange of phrases, but rather flashes of concepts and images. In the time Lisa hasn't finished her sentence, I've already understood what Fifth is saying and been surprised by it: "Never?"
"Not once. Though she's older than you and... far from a virgin. Children are so advanced these days," he sighs. "Remember your trips to cafes and the dead woman in the foundation? Cockroaches in kitchens and centipedes with spiders? That's about the same thing she experiences—she sees what exactly a guy did with his hands in the bathroom and didn't even really wash them. She knows all the dirty thoughts in the heads of people who follow her with their eyes on the street, and she can predict to the millimeter and nanosecond exactly what and how will happen if she decides to invite a guy or girl to her cozy apartment... so from the moment she gained her ability—no more sex for Lisa Wilbourn. So think—why is she provoking you?"
"I see..." thoughts flash through my head about what exactly I'd want to do with Lisa. Of course, tie her up, tie her up and undress her... gag her mouth... or another way. Make her eternally know-it-all mouth spouting barbs finally be occupied with business. I swallow. Too vivid images. And... why do I want to punish her, never thought about bondage before... but here—I even know how to tie knots so limbs don't go numb. And... she knows what I'm thinking! I throw a panicked glance at Lisa. She smiles and folds her hands together, bringing them together at the wrists as if offering them to be tied.
"Lisa, stop," I say. "You'll push me too far and I really will rape you, young lady. You're asking for it. We're just friends, remember?"
"Oh... we weren't just friends. I asked you to help me get rid of slavery under Coil and you fulfilled my request. True, you left the bastard alive, but now I think it's even better. He'll suffer longer. You should have seen his face when I bought myself a necklace... I even know what he was thinking and it was very amusing. So you're a knight in shining armor, Taylor. Moreover, a knight who didn't just defeat the dragon and free the princess, but a knight who made the dragon work for him. And in every fairy tale where a knight saves a princess—there's a special part. Reward," she pulls the strap of her dress, sliding it down from her shoulder. "You know, children's fairy tales usually skip this part, but we know exactly what the knight did with the princess right in the dragon's lair... so much that he had to marry her afterwards, right?"
"You know how to vulgarize children's fairy tales," I admit. "Poor Rapunzel..."
"Forget Rapunzel. Imagine what Snow White got up to with seven dwarfs. They say when a man is short, it means all his height went to his privates. The dwarfs clearly had adult-sized equipment," Lisa smiles slyly. "Or is that your fantasy? Tie me up and throw me to sweaty hairy dwarfs who would defile my young body with their tongues and hands? Abuse me and throw me at your feet, and you'd step on my face with your bare foot and make me lick every toe? Because I'm a fallen girl, and you..."
"Lisa!"
"Come on, I can see you like that thought... keep thinking along those lines, Taylor. You're a natural Mistress, you've got it."
"Lisa, stop," I say, but don't dare remove her bare foot from my thigh. What if she gets offended?
"I... Fifth explained to me that for you, all this sex is more disgusting than attractive," I say, hurrying to explain everything before she can take it to heart. "And last time we didn't succeed and I don't want to force you. You see, if you just want to reward me or fulfill some promise, then don't. I did everything as I wanted myself and primarily for myself. Moreover, I even had the thought that you alone would be unbearable and would sooner or later completely subordinate me with your knowledge and nerve games. And Coil is your natural balancer, antithesis. I need him so you don't turn me into your puppet completely. And I already think about you more than I should. Sorry."
"For what?" Lisa leans back, her gaze becoming serious. "What are you apologizing for, Taylor?"
"I... was afraid of you. No, not like that. I'm still afraid of you," I admit. "You have some amazing power over me. And I don't know if it's part of your abilities or I'm just madly in love with you, but I don't like it. I only recently realized I want to be free. Strong. But next to you I sometimes feel like a small and foolish girl. I want your attention, want your approval. And largely out of my stubbornness and desire to oppose you—I left Coil alive."
"Look at her," Lisa crosses her arms. "So you didn't kill a person at my request not because you have high moral principles, but just out of spite? Just to spite me?"
"Well... and moral principles too... probably."
"Oh don't lie to me, Taylor Hebert!"
"Well... okay. I didn't kill Coil out of spite."
"There. Now we've gotten to the essence," Lisa leans forward and fixes my hair with her fingertips. "Taylor, I have no power over you. You were amazing before too—you saved us all from Lung, remember? When I entered that alley—my knees were shaking. You were terrifying from the beginning because unlike the idiot Regent and brave Grue—I knew what you could do to us. All the power I have over you is only what you give me yourself. Nothing more." She smiles sadly and shrugs. From this movement the second strap falls from her left shoulder and her shoulders remain bare. She leaned forward slightly and I see much more of Lisa in her dress's neckline than I planned.
"But... you don't like all this sex and..." I lick my dry lips, stuffing the clamoring Butchers into cockroaches. "You know everything, and it's disgusting and uninteresting to you and..."
"Who said? Fifth? Wait... that asshole is in your head, right?" She takes my head in both hands and looks intently into my eyes. "Fifth! Do you hear me? Go fuck yourself, old bastard, what do you understand about girls, fifty-year-old virgin!"
"..." silence in response.
"You got him. Is he really a virgin?"
"That's not the point, Taylor. Let's be honest..." Lisa says. "It really is difficult for me. I tried... more than once. But every time these thoughts in people's heads... to hell with hygiene, you can wash. That's not the problem. The dirt in people's heads—that's where the problem is. And you can't wash it out with any brush or soap. But now... you see, Coil... he did it with me. Right here, just two levels down—where he has his torture chamber. And for me it's like a bad dream. I know it didn't happen to me, not in this reality, but... you saw how he flinches at my 'scr-scr-scr'? You left him a scar on his soul, though he tries to deny it. Same with me—it's like I remained in that torture chamber, and it really interferes with my concentration. That's why I react like this—I'm still afraid of him. Rather, not him himself, but ending up on that metal table under a bright lamp again... naked and defenseless. And... there's only one way to root out these memories from my head—replace them with others. It's still hard for me to trust other people, and the thought of lying tied up and naked terrifies me. But if you're gentle enough... and I know you won't abuse my trust."
"Th-thank you..." I don't know what to say. Chose to say "thank you" as if she handed me a bottle of water. God, what an idiot you are, Taylor!
"You're welcome," the smile returns to her face. "And of course it helps to realize the fact that whether I'm tied up or not, dressed or not, with weapons or in armor—there's no difference for you. If you want, you'll do whatever you want with me... so..." she shrugs. "No difference."
"So what... turns out I'm like a trainer for you? A means to fix your post-traumatic stress disorder?"
"What an idiot you are, Tay," Lisa gets up from the table, tosses aside her remaining shoe and raises her arms up as if stretching. Her expensive dress slides along her body's curves and falls to her feet. I swallow. She didn't bother choosing underwear.
"Well? Will you cure my PTSD, my doctor?" she asks me and smiles her sly, mocking smile. "I'm so traumatized. Rape me gently..."
"I definitely won't tell my father about this," I say firmly, standing and putting my hands on her waist. "But you came to me yourself, Lisa. This is your choice."
"Oh. Don't worry, I'll tell Danny everything myself. He'll like it."
"Lisa! That's it, you asked for it..."