"That's what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object," Tattletale says, leaning over Alexandria's torn body.
"I never thought that simple inertia would tear her in half… I understood there'd be consequences—blood pooling or whatever—but this…" I shake my head, standing next to her.
"Inertia!" Tattletale scoffs, tucking a stray lock behind her ear. "What inertia? Alexandria in motion—she's the textbook definition of an unstoppable force, Taylor. When she lands a blow, nothing stays put. She doesn't even have to exert herself—she can accelerate nearly any object. Even the Killers got knocked off their feet by her punches, you saw it. When Big A starts moving with intent to hit something, from that moment, she is—unstoppable. And our darling Tomoko's bombs, they're a 'do or die' type of power. We know now that her Zero Time works even on the Killers. So, I'm telling you—an unstoppable force meets an immovable object… the upper half of Big A trapped in a Zero Time bubble, and the lower half kept moving with unstoppable force. And… well, here we are. By the way—why can't you revive her?"
"I don't know." I place a palm on the dead heroine's cold forehead. "It just won't work. It's like… it's as if she's been set in amber. As if nothing can be changed about her body at all."
"Hm." Tattletale leans in, examining the corpse. "Probably why no one could regrow her eye after Siberian gouged it out. She must've gone to Panacea… should ask Pan-Pan about that."
"She doesn't talk to me. Only pokes out when she's around Glory Girl, and even then barely speaks." I sigh. "Alright, we don't have much time. Are our people ready?"
"Aye-aye, captain!" Tattletale gives a jaunty salute. "Your ruthless mercenaries are prepped and ready, and so are two teams of capes, all set to seize PRT and Protectorate HQs! Trickster grumbled, but he'll follow direct orders, which means the Travelers are with us. If Trickster's in, the rest will be too. But…"
"Yeah, I know. Noelle." I nod. About time to keep my promises, something needs to be done with her.
"Exactly. I told her you'd check on her as soon as things settled here."
"And I will."
"The Undersiders are with us. Grue's grumbling too, but deep down, he's glad. The closer to legal status, the easier it is for him to take his sister under his care. Bitch and Regent… could care less. Just a job." She shrugs. "Haven't seen them in a while… but they're fine overall. Grue wanted to talk to you after this."
"Alright," I nod, turning toward the lab door. My bugs have signaled me that Coil is about to enter.
"Thomas," I greet him. "Glad you could join us. Any objections to the plan—" I stop, seeing his face. He's pale but stands at attention, taut as a bowstring. He's wearing tactical armor, no helmet, boots shining, every element of his belt in place, collar buttoned up.
"I don't have much time," he says, cutting me off, then turns to Tattletale, gives her a nod.
"Sara Livsey," he says, and Lisa's eyes go wide, she rises slightly from her seat.
"No…" she says. "No, not like this. You still owe me, you son of a bitch!"
"Sara, I ask your forgiveness. Everything I did, I did for the future. For the people. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I went too far. Hell, I know I did. I know you'll never forgive me, but still—I am sorry." He bows his head.
"Taylor! Don't let him—"
"Taylor Hebert." He turns to me. "We haven't known each other long, but it's been an honor serving under your command."
"What's with you? Got too much sun?" I ask. "We're just about to take over the PRT. This is your dream—city under control, in safe hands, now's not the time to fall apart. Pull yourself together."
"I don't have much time." He winces, as if from a toothache. "Please don't interrupt me, Taylor. Besides those accounts I passed you—there are hidden assets. Gold in Switzerland, connections in the Elite Army. It's all here." He places a small plastic rectangle on the steel autopsy table beside Alexandria's body—a flash drive.
"And… if I had kids, I'd want them to be like you." He lifts his chin. "Just as… fearless. Never give up, Taylor. Always stand against—" He doesn't get to finish. Behind him, a small portal opens and through it, I see a hand with a gun! I grab his collar and yank him aside, covering him with my reinforced body… there's the clap of a shot, the portal closes.
"Who was that?!" I shout. "Thomas, who were you dealing with? If I hadn't pulled you aside, you'd be…." I trail off, looking down. Thomas Calvert is on the floor, a pool of dark blood spreading around his head. Wasting no time, I kneel next to him and place my hand on the back of his head. I still can… can… but how did they hit him? I moved him out of the line of fire—did the person behind the portal anticipate that move too? A good shot, a very good shot… an incredibly good shot.
His heart's still beating, he's breathing, all bodily processes are normal, but… the brain! A hollow-point, small-caliber bullet burst inside his skull, completely obliterating the Gemma and Pollentia Crowns, turning the brain into a metal-laced mush. The bullet must have been custom-built—Coil's reinforced skull can't be pierced by any rifle, and here it's a small-caliber pistol! I extract the bullet fragments, I'm restoring the brain tissue as per the DNA's blueprint…
"Useless," Tattletale says quietly. "It's… useless, Taylor."
"I'm not giving up," I growl back, fusing the wound and jumpstarting regeneration. "I won't give up…"
"Taylor…"
"Just give me a minute, Lisa… one more minute…" I remove my hands and Thomas Calvert opens his eyes. He glances around. I smile. Fuck you, I think, fuck you, whoever you are—no one kills my people. Not on my watch, freaks… not when I'm in charge.
"Uuugaaa!" Calvert says, drooling.
"Fuck." My heart falls somewhere far, far down. "Shit… they… his brain."
"It's useless, Tay-Tay." Tattletale sighs. "You can revive anything… but that's no longer Coil. That's just an empty shell. The woman behind the portal knew exactly where to shoot for a final death. And… it's a message."
"A warning?" I frown, standing. The resurrected Calvert tries to stuff his hand in his mouth, drools more. Looks like he's pissed himself.
"Look at his collar," Tattletale suggests. "In the back."
"What?" I walk behind the sitting Calvert and bend down. There, tucked behind the collar at the nape, is a slip of paper. I pull it out and unfold it. In beautiful calligraphy, it reads: 'An eye for an eye.' I look at the note. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Lex talionis. I killed Alexandria. They killed Coil.
"With one shot," I say. "Through a portal. Any time of day or night—they can open a portal to your head and pull the trigger. And they know exactly where to shoot. A warning? Feels more like blackmail! And… she still managed to tuck a note behind his collar!"
"Uuugaaa!"
"There were two shots," Tattletale says, lips quivering into a smile, but I see she's deathly pale.
"Two shots?"
"Yes." She unbuttons her blouse. A large bruise marks her chest. She pulls on a chain and takes a small locket from her neckline. The locket is smashed to pieces. A small-caliber bullet's lead core is poking from the metal.
"God! Are you alright?! Hold on, let me…" I place my palm on Lisa's arm. Yep, fractured ribs, sternum crack, heavy bruising… I heal everything. I realize even I couldn't have pulled off that trick, the first bullet pierced Coil's reinforced skull—it must've had the punch of a .50, an anti-materiel rifle. The second bullet got stuck in the silver locket, just transmitting a bit of energy… and I saw it was a pistol—they loaded the magazine deliberately: first an armor-piercing round, then a weaker one. As if everything always works according to plan…
"It's Cauldron," Lisa says, biting her lip. "They were behind Coil. Still are… That woman—she can kill any of us at any moment. Just—like that—a portal, a gun, to the head. I… I've never felt so powerless before."
"Uuuuugaaa!"
"They warned him." Lisa looks at Calvert, flailing in a puddle of his own piss, drooling, shaking his head. "They killed him in every other probability… let him know he'd die today, no hope. That's why he came—to say goodbye. All this—was scripted to the last second. They wanted you to see. Wanted you to understand."
"To understand what? That they can kill me? Who the hell are they?! What is Cauldron, anyway?"
"Powers in vials. An organization selling powers like that. Rumors have always been persistent… I always figured there was something to it. Rumors don't last without fire, and the details matched—people even described similar suitcases."
"You're as good as new," I say, letting go of her hand. "But if these bastards think they can negotiate with me or squeeze concessions by killing my people—then I recommend they think twice. Maybe three times."
"Thanks." Lisa rubs her chest, removes the locket, stares sadly at the crushed metal.
"There's still one thing I don't get: eye for an eye." I touch the shoulder of what was once Thomas Calvert, push him into a deep sleep. "What does it mean? Don't kill more of the Triumvirate? Don't take over the PRT and Protectorate in Brockton Bay? What are they trying to say, Lisa?"
"What are they saying?" Tattletale looks at the sleeping shell that used to be Coil, chewing her lip. "Well… there are a couple of layers here, Taylor. First—they're showing off their power. And your place. Who they are and who you are. Showing they can do anything, and you can do nothing about it. Stop it, avenge it—nothing."
"I got that part, loud and clear," I say, clenching my fists. "That part of the message is crystal clear…"
"Yeah. That's how they wanted it. And…" she hesitates.
"Lisa! Just say it."
"And they also wanted to show that they know," Tattletale says, "about us. Your feelings. Your fears. All of it. And… that they can take anyone you care about at any moment."
"Ha." I narrow my eyes. "That part? Got it too. Implied threat."
"They want you to believe they even know what you think, you know? That you can't do anything, that they'll always be a step ahead. But… it's not like that. Actually… I don't know why, but they don't really know. They know what and how to do, but not why. Or what it's for." Tattletale presses her hands to her head. "God, this hurts!"
"Come here." I grab her hand, heal the pain, give her some energy, and boost her cognitive functions a bit.
"They know how…" she says, lifting her head, "but they don't know why or to what end. And that's wrong. If someone tells you every move, you can build a house, plant a tree, fold an origami—but you won't learn a thing. You'll just obey whatever your power suggests. Even worse, you lose your ability to make decisions, your critical thinking goes away, you become a robot doing whatever you're told. This is the Way, and that's it. They're stupid, Taylor! Dumb as a brick, lab-born idiots… but incredibly powerful idiots. And… they're right—we can't match them yet."
"Dumb but strong…"
"Powerful."
"Dumb and powerful. That's a description for most capes. Maybe all of them. Like Zion, or the Ash Beast."
"You know, Taylor, I got carried away," Tattletale says. "We can't underestimate them. When you call them dumb, you start to. Let's walk that back, okay? They're not dumb, they just think they know exactly how to fix the world. But they don't get it through reasoning, it comes from some incomprehensible power. And what makes me better? I'm just using powers, too. Without my powers, who knows if I'd have got into any university? And you… right now, you're ninety percent your powers. So let's not call them dumb just because they rely on power—we're the same. Actually, I'm starting to think we need our own thinktank—no powers, no capes, just smart people. Capes get too used to relying on powers… and we have smart people at base."
"Alright," I nod. "Not dumb. Just power-dependent. Like us."
"Yeah. Exactly. I get carried away… whenever I start figuring out how things work, I call everyone idiots." Tattletale glances down, rubs her chest where the bruise was. Nothing should hurt now, must be from shock.
"I see," I reply. "So what's the upshot? They showed off, showed how strong they are, demonstrated they can snap their fingers any time… but what do they want from us right now? For me to kneel to the PRT? Surrender? Sign a treaty?"
"No." Tattletale shakes her head. "You'd be surprised, but nothing like that. They just wanted to show they exist. And that we have to take them into account. In time, they'll get in touch… but for now, we can do as we wish. When our paths cross, they'll say something."
"Killing one of my people just to get my attention?" I shake my head. "Not a great start for cooperation."
"Coil worked with them before. Seems they didn't like how he started acting. So they think it's their right to handle 'their own people.' He was theirs before he was yours," Tattletale notes rationally.
"Hm. I don't care. He was my man. When we meet those Cauldron people face to face—it'll be a tough conversation… and besides…"
"Besides what?"
"I used to feel guilty for killing Alexandria. Now… I'd kill her again." I say firmly.
"And that's just what they wanted," Tattletale says with a sad smile. "Now there's mutual debt. That's the start of cooperation, whether you admit it or not. Eye for an eye is the basis for trade—if it's pure enmity, it's eye for eye till the end, no compromise. But once you trade eye for eye, it's a relationship, darling…"
"Maybe. I'll think about it tomorrow. Or when the time comes," I say. "Right now—there's too much going on. Get ready, Lisa, the PRT won't capture itself. We've still got work to do in this city."
"It's odd," Lisa says, looking at what's left of Coil. "I always thought I'd be the one to kill him. Always wanted him dead. But now he's gone and… I'm empty inside."
"He's not dead yet…"
"He's dead. All the way. He will never be back, Taylor. Please, stop keeping this… vegetable alive. Better to remember him differently than like this. And… we'll bury him with honors, the way a soldier deserves. A rifle salute over the grave, a folded flag… the bastard earned it. A ruthless, cruel son of a bitch… I hated him, always… but lately I came to respect Thomas Calvert. Because he was ruthless and cruel not just to others, but to himself, too. Not many can stand tall, back straight, knowing death has come for them. He didn't beg. Remember—he didn't beg you, or me either… dumb, selfish, cruel son of a bitch…"
"Lisa, are you crying?"
"Go to hell, Taylor…"