Interlude 5
11th of May, 2011
Brockton Bay, Coil's underground lair
"Le-Leviathan, vanquished." Dragon's voice shakily echoes out of Thomas' computer speakers, and the villain known as Coil slowly leans back in his office chair a bit numbly.
"Well, shit." He whispers to himself while spinning back a couple of new timelines.
In one timeline, Coil instantly lifts the high alert he had put his troops under as soon as he was made aware that the Endbringer was going to make landfall in the city, before taking hold of his landline's speaker to make a couple of phone calls.
In the other timeline, Thomas elects to adopt a more conservative approach, updating his men via his base's com system about the situation at the surface and generously authorizing them one - and only one - choice of an alcoholic beverage in celebration of the death of one of the monsters plaguing humanity as long as they keep to their scheduled rotations.
In both timelines though, the villain known as Coil readies himself to jump on the opportunities offered by being ground zero of the first confirmed case of 'Endslaying'.
Eyes on the prize, Thomas, the man grins under his mask, the early bird catches the worm, after all.
***
11th of May, 2011
Devens, Devens' outskirts
Brad puts an end to his call, before giving a long, thoughtful look at his cellphone.
Then he lets it fall on the ground before stomping with his booted heel a couple of times on it for good measure.
"The fuck, Brad? What was that for?" Connor asks, prompting Brad to give him a look over his shoulder and through the eyeholes of his wolf-shaped mask.
"Leviathan's dead." The man known as Hookwolf answers while lazily turning to face his old friend, his eyes alternatively looking between him and Melody.
Both of them have ditched their prison garbs by now, but they still look a little rough. Connor is sporting a nasty black eye for some reason while Melody's nursing her ribs.
Brad had seen his opportunity as soon as the Endbringer's attack had been made public. No need to wait for normie backup if every state's cape were suddenly too busy fighting a force of nature, after all. He would have been late to the party anyway, what with him busy casing Deven's federal prison.
"Apparently, naked and scary did it." He grunts while crossing his arms over his bare chest, before chuckling, "Gonna send everyone for a loop."
Connor looks at him a bit dumbly, his mouth open at that while Melody goes all stiff and quiet.
Pit fighters' instincts at work, that. His friend always enjoys a good scuffle, but she knows her limits. A freak of nature like the motherfucking Siberian vastly exceeds them.
To be fair to her, the cannibalistic nutjob's limits are also far above Brad's own, so there's that.
"Shit, man, that's…" Connor successfully reboots, a little, hopeful smile blossoming on his lips, like so many other normies out there Brad wager.
"Yeah, well, Kaiser crooked it too." He adds before his partner in crime can build up a steam, "So, we're kind of fucked."
"What do you mean?" The man asks, looking perplexed, "We can just swoop in, bring in the guys together under you and-"
Melody interrupts him with a jab of her - sharp, very sharp, Brad knows from experience - elbow before snapping a couple of quick, haphazard gestures.
Gotta find her another goober-thingie, he privately muses, no fucking way I'm busting my nuts learning ASL for this shit.
"I don't get it?" Luckily for him, Connor asks the obvious question aloud, so he doesn't have to sound like a retard.
Though he thinks he got the gist of what Melody 'said'.
"Yeah, yeah, that's all fucking nice and dandy, but Victor and Purity both have a claim for the Empire's leadership, assuming Krieg remains missing." Brad explains while leaning against the nearest wall, before tilting his head as he adds, "And that's discounting the fact that the Bay is going to become a hotspot real quick-like. Connor, an Endbringer died. Fucker's corpse is at the intersection between the 13th and 24th streets, smack dab in Downtown."
"And?" His less intellectually gifted friend presses.
"It's gonna become a fucking shrine. The Canadian, the chinks, hell, even the fucking grease-stain italians are going to make a pilgrimage out of it!" Brad grimly, slowly explains while looming forward to impress how fucking serious this is, "There's going to crowd all over the city like flies on a stiff. And with more shitty tourism, comes more security. Gotta make it all proper-like and shit."
"... Which means more heroes. Shit." Connor finally got it.
"Ayup." Brad answers while popping the 'p', before spitting on the ground as he straightens away from the wall, "So, we're ditching this joint."
"Wait, what about our guys?" His friend insists, taking a step forward, "We can't let them hang like that!"
"Tough, because Imma just do that." He snorts back, "S'not like we were in it for 'the cause' and shit. It was always for protection."
"... You're serious about this." Connor realizes, eyes a little wide and wind rippling around him as he whirls to look at the last member of the trio, "Mel', tell him-"
The woman flips him the bird, making Brad snort a laugh.
"See? Mel' gets it." He gestures in her direction, "Loyalty's good and all, but my cred' is shot to hell since we weren't on the frontlines. Give it up, Connor. Time to start again somewhere else. The Empire's dead without Kaiser anyway."
It takes a while, but Brad and Melody eventually manage to make their friend see reason.
It's for the best anyway, the man known as Hookwolf darkly muses as they climb back in the car to cross the border, s'only a matter of time before someone pisses off the Remnants again, and I'd rather it not be me or those two.
***
11th of May, 2011
Brockton Bay, Brockton Bay's slums
Sherrel's leg bounces as her thoughts run miles a minute, her blunt long gone cold between trembling fingers.
If she could, she'd probably do something other than pot, but she has to think right now, and meth isn't going to cut it.
Her boyfriend's dead, Mush too, she got rescued from the Teeth by a fucking rabbit of all things, an Endbringer died in the city and she's now at the head of the Merchants for some fucking reason.
Ah, and she's way in over her head too.
Of course 'Wreck and her didn't answer the call when the sirens started blaring out of nowhere. It's an Endbringer, what's the point, right?
Well, jokes on them, since the fucker bit it after redecorating Downtown, and now the Merchants are even more a joke than before!
Gutter-rats, druggies, hobos, Sherrel heard it all before. Coward, though? Now that's going to be a new one.
The Tinker gets pulled out of her musing as the lumbering, armored figure of Trainwreck steps into her workshop.
"Wassup', 'Wreck?" She grunts while lighting back her blunt, peering back at him through grease-stained bangs.
"Got an idea. Wanted to run it by you." The blob-shaped cunt drawls while crossing his metal-clad arms, steam hissing out of his armor.
"Could always use some of those." The woman known as Squealer answers in a self-depreciative way while scratching her side, "Shoot."
"Truce is going to stay longer this go 'round." The man explains, "And if we stick out too much, the PRT is going to fall on us like tons of bricks."
"So we stay low." She answers, her legs still bouncing and her hand still shaking as she brings the blunt at her lips.
"That, but better." 'Wreck answers while splaying his arms apart, "We change."
"... What?" Sherrel looks back at him like he suddenly started doing a cheerleader routine.
"Without Skid', the hard drugs are going to dry up." He elaborates, "We still have a couple of meth labs and most of our pot, but the coke and heroin were from out of town. So we stop the heavy stuff, keep the meth on the side for the crackheads, and make a show of working with the heroes as the town gets back on its feet."
"Getting more acceptable and shit." The Tinker mumbles under her breath as she considers the idea, "Nail that sticks up gets hammered down."
"So better not stick up." 'Wreck comments.
A beat passes as Sherrel smokes, before suddenly rubbing at her forehead in frustration.
"Shit, yeah, yeah you're right. Let's do that for now, see what comes next. Endure." She mumbles back, "Like fucking cockroaches, alright."
She looks back at him, locking eyes with his own beady orbs.
"Say the word to the smart ones. We keep the labs safe, secure. Close look on the plantations, too." She tells him, smoke heavy in the air, "I… I'm gonna build something."
"Oh yeah?" The man comments as Sherrel stands up, absentmindely scratching at her side.
"Yeah, always wanted to build a fire truck, Squealer-brand." She answers distractedly.
***
11th of May, 2011
Brockton Bay, the Undersiders' lair
"Heeeyyyy, wassup' bitches?" Lisa strolls back home after flinging the door open, making it bang against the wall as she throws gang signs at her colleagues.
Brian and Alec look back at her with bewilderment and an undercurrent of amusement respectively from the couch, and the standoff remains until the Thinker finally cracks up and howls in laughter.
"Shit, Tats'! What happened to you?" Her fearless leader scrambles out of his seat to rush to her side.
"I'm fiiiiine." She answers back while shrugging off his touch, "Just took one of Loony-Boney's headache medicine. It's starting to kick in, like, reeeaaallllllyyy hard!"
"You took-" Brian sputters as he frogmarches her toward the couch, "Why would you do that?!"
"Overstressed my power." Lisa grunts as she sinks on the couch with a happy sigh, "I stayed behind to organize the relief effort. Lil' Cassandra has a mean puppy-dog eyes look, it's, like, totally unfair!"
"You're speaking like a Valley Girl." Alec points out with a shit-eating grin.
"Fuck off, Regent." She answers back while flipping him the bird, "Piggot is a hard ass and she hates my guts."
A pause.
"So I had to rile her up too!" She giggles while hugging her sides.
"How long was she like that last time?" Brian asks aloud while looking skyward.
"Dunno. Half a day maybe?" Alec answers with a grin as he rises from the couch, "Be right back, I have to record this."
"You suck Alec!" Lisa yowls in his vague direction, before whirling toward Brian and pouting at him, "Bring me a beer? I'm thirsty."
"... Fine." Her fearless leader lets out a heavy sigh while rubbing the bridge of his nose as he makes his way toward the kitchen.
"Thanks!" She chirps, before frowning, looking a little cross-eyed for a beat.
Her domino mask flies off a moment later and she happily sighs once again.
"Here." Brian hands her a can before letting himself sink on the loveseat.
"Where's Tay-Tay?" Lisa asks after popping her can open, studiously ignoring - a blatant lie, she scowled in his direction - Alec as he comes back into the room with a camera.
"With her dad, I think?" Brian answers while scratching at his chin, a hint of stubble peppering it, "Rachel is still stuck in the hospital."
"How is she?" She asks back, sobering for a moment.
"Mopey." Alec answers first as he jumps on the couch, jostling the blonde a little, "Leviathan tore through her dogs."
"G-Gotta make something nice for her." Lisa stutters a little, before taking another sip of her beer.
The Thinker straightens a little on the couch to put her can on the low-table, before attempting - inelegantly - to shimmy herself out of her catsuit's top - it's hot in here!
A paper flutters out of her sleeves, making her frown, and she bends over to retrieve it while ignoring Alec's shitty catcalling.
She opens it, take a moment to read what's written on it, then boggles as her power confirms that she has written that note earlier in the day and its content is, in fact, true.
"... Brian, I-I think you might want to see this." She mumbles, before handing him the note, held between two fingers like it is a poisonous snake.
"Cryptic much?" He asks, an eyebrow raised as he snatches the sheet of paper between two of his fingers, "If this is a joke-"
A pause.
Her fearless leader frowns, and Lisa can almost picture the gears in his head turning.
"MOTHERFUCKER!" Brian yells while jumping out of the loveseat, his eyes locked on the note as he blindly fishes out his cell phone from his pocket while stomping in his room's direction.
The door slams shut behind him, making Lisa wince a little.
"What was that?" Alec asks puzzedly.
"Weeellllll…" She trails off while absentmindedly tying her castsuit's sleeves together in front of her, "His sister's Cheshire."
A pause.
"Wait, Brian has a sister?!"
"E-Exactly!" Lisa grins, before letting herself sink in the couch with another giggle, "And she, like, totally kicked his ass the last time they crossed paths!"
Her colleague lets that sink in, before guffawing.
"Tonight is going to be legendary, I can already tell." He chuckles.
[AN: And we kick off the interludes with the Bay's villains side first!